Saturday, November 21, 2015

Hey you were right!  P day is Saturday this time around! 

Time is just flying by! In 6 changes, I´ll be home! Don´t worry I´m not thinking about it that much, but it´s crazy how much faster the months go by the second year. This week was a lot of fun! We´re teaching a christian woman who just happens to have a neighbor in the building over who went to her same church and had her same problems. It helps so much to have her there teaching with us. The first time we taught her, we just gave a brief overview of the first lesson. The next time around, when we brought the sister with us, I decided to start with the plan of salvation because it includes a lot of things that she obviously has never heard of before, and the spirit made me feel like I should teach it while we were praying. 

The first lesson we talked about the pre-existence, the creation, Adam and Eve, our purpose here on earth, and the atonement of Christ. She basically just spent the whole lesson saying it was things she had heard before, but finishing the lesson the sister we were with talked about her experience, and got Griselda excited about listening more. 

The next lesson we started with death and the Spirit World, and everything went crazy, because she realized that we were teaching things she had never heard before. She started explaining how her interpretation was different and things like that, and we respected her opinions, but testified of the truth, and that she could know for herself if she read the Book of Mormon and asked God. After that we showed her (very humbly) why her interpretation didn't agree with what the Bible said in the context of the passage. She still isn't super excited about going to church, but we definitely left her thinking. I think that´s what the mission is like for other people in other countries. Because usually here either they don´t want anything or they basically baptize themselves because they´re looking for the truth.

Anyway, having a great time here, and glad to hear from you guys!

Elder Wadman

Monday, November 16, 2015

[Note: items in blue brackets have been added for clarification]

That´s a great experience! [We shared an experience from another missionary serving in England in our letter] Glad to hear about other missionaries giving it their all! Glad to know you both are still working so hard! 

We´re trying to get some momentum here! One of our investigators went to a young single adult convention and with that has gone to the church 4 times. Since his dad is a member, he technically could get baptized right now, but he doesn't really feel ready yet. Haha it´s like Angel 2.0 [see earlier posts]. He knows the Book of Mormon is true, and wants to prepare himself to be able to share the gospel! We could get this guy out on a mission!!! We've also been teaching the son of the family who we baptized last month, he´s progressing, slowly but surely. and we've got a baptismal goal for him on the 29th of this month. I think he´ll be ready. It would be good too because everyone else for this month has fallen through. We also have found a few less active members with a bunch of kids who need to get baptized, from age 9 to 23! we´re going to be working with them this week so they can start going to church and become converted, and help their kids learn in the process!! So that´s super exciting!

We also found an inactive member who works as a cartoonist in a park and he gave me this haha!

​I also found some frozen eggs in the house and tried to cook them...

​But I couldn't bring myself to eat them.

LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

Monday, November 9, 2015

[Note: items in blue brackets have been added for clarification]

Hey guys!

WOW! Looks like you've done a lot of work at the house!! [We have been redoing the yard] And you didn't even have to bring in the deacons quorum? [From church] 

I liked what you said about the primary questions, it's really very true. [The four primary questions are 1. Is there a God who is our Father? 2. Is Jesus the Son of God and our Savior? 3. Is Joseph Smith a prophet of God who laid the foundation for the restoration? and 4. Is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the church of God restored to the earth?]   In [the] preach my gospel [manual] it explains that all of the doubts the people have come down to the Book of Mormon. You'll notice that in the last paragraph of the introduction to the Book of Mormon directly applies to three of those four questions, and the first one about God is really the fundamental idea, even though it isn't specifically addressed.

This week went alright. Erik didn't go to church, in fact we didn't see him all week, so that was kind of a downer. We did get Willie, the son of Willie, to go to church for the first time, and the daughter of another less active member started going. Several missionaries went home this week for some poor choices they made, among them my less than favorite companion from Alamo. Sounds like some more are going to be on their way out this week. The rough part is they generally pass their last night in my house, which makes for a less than pleasant evening usually.

Anyway here are some pictures!!

​We had two more uninvited guests!!!!

​Here's the offices once you walk in the door.

​And there's going upstairs to where I work. I guess I should probably take a picture of upstairs for next week. The board on the wall has the pictures of all the missionaries, and as of today.. I´m in the top row with the oldest missionaries! gAHHHH WHAT IS HAPPENING!!!!

​I was too lazy to take a picture from outside, but maybe someday!!!

Lots of Love,

Elder Wadman

Monday, November 2, 2015

[Note: items in blue brackets have been added for clarification]

Hey Guys!!!

We´re having quite a bit of rain here too!!! Too bad the people don´t let us into their houses regardless, haha! 

This Sunday we had some miracles. A youth who lives in our ward [church unit] has been going to church with his dad in another ward for the past couple of weeks, and we just started teaching him, so he could get baptized a few weeks from now! 

We also had a family of four who came to church. What a story! 

We were going to a conference at church and I taught the taxi driver about the gospel while we were on our way. He said he knew some people who had really changed after starting to go to church, and that he had gone to a few different christian churches. He decided he wanted to go to church that Sunday, but we couldn't get an appointment with him and he didn't show. The next week we contacted a neighbor of a very helpful member. Her name was Ayare and she told us we could pass by Friday at 7. We pass by Friday at 7 and the TAXISTA [cabbie] comes out, super happy to see us!! They couldn't attend with us because his wife had surgery and was a little weak, and then Sunday they had to leave suddenly for Veracruz. 

The next week we passed by and they still didn't let us in, but assured us they would be there on Sunday early so we could teach them first. When they didn't arrive we had basically given up, but went to the appointment we had scheduled the week previous. We found out that Ayare had just lost her mother on Saturday, and they didn't go to church for the same. Still wouldn't let us in the house but we taught about the Book of Mormon in the street and left him a copy. Erik, the dad, Ayare, and their two sons came to church on Sunday and LOVED IT!!!! Erik was bouncing off the walls and gave us both hugs!! It´s still a challenge to find them during the week but they are very excited to keep coming! The next challenge is getting them to read the Book of Mormon, and setting a baptismal date. 

And then comes the question... What if I had been to tired to teach the Taxi Driver?

Lots of Love,

Elder Wadman 

Monday, October 26, 2015

[Note: items in blue brackets have been added for clarification]

Hey Guys!

How exciting for Rachel [Kevin's cousin was married October 17], and that you got to go to the Temple!!! This past week was a little less great than the last one, but we´re going to have a better one this week! The only people who got to church were the ones who were getting confirmed this week. Everyone else fell through. The whole mission practically is having a hard time finding new investigators from week to week, and we´re no exception. On other occasions we've been able to find 8, 9, 11, and now we´re working like crazy and finish the week with three people who disappear Sunday morning. We´re trying to work more with the in-actives to find the people who are prepared, but it´s been kind of hard to do. Anyway, outside of that I´m learning a lot, having fun with Elder Castañeda, and putting up with constant calls from missionaries with money problems. 

Sorry I can´t write more, wasted 25 minutes fighting with the internet!!!

Love you guys!!

Elder Wadman