Monday, May 25, 2015

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

Ahh new cat! SOOO CUTE!!! [We sent Kevin pictures of a new kitten in our home] I wish I had a cat. That will be something to look forward to I guess! Glad to know you guys got home safe, and I just can't believe that Austin is already home! Is Ayrelyn thinking about a mission or is she already about to get married?

This week was great, but also kind of odd because we were gone so much.  With two mission conferences, one with half the mission and the other with everyone, I wasn't in my area that much. We got on a bus at 1 in the morning to go to Xalapa and got back home like ten o'clock the same day because we got to hear from Elder Piper and Elder Craig C. Christiansen of the Seventy [General Authorities for the Church]. They basically just took questions for an hour, but it was a really great experience and opened my eyes to some things, especially about how other missionaries think when they lose focus and stuff like that. They really are trying!

Were having a hard time getting people to church, what a surprise, and this week didn't really do such a great job getting people to commit to things. We've been teaching several families but they just don't have a lot of interest, and really just accept us out of courtesy and because we are very insistent. Hoping we can get some stuff going, and work more with the Spirit.

That's about it though!! Sorry the computer is being stupid about letting me send pictures, but I sent one with about half of the mission in it that has Elder Pino. Notice that I'm only in one of the pictures, the other one is the other half of the mission in Xalapa. 

Love you guys and wish you the best!!

Elder Wadman

[Kevin is peeking out from the middle of the second row of this first picture]

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

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

Sorry I'm writing a day late, we saw a Seventy [a General Authority for the Church] yesterday so our P day [preparation day] got moved. Remember Elder Pino from conference? Well he talked to us for three hours yesterday! It was super amazing to see how well he really understood the scriptures. He'd just think of a lesson or something he wanted to explain, some obscure principle about growth or something, and just tell us some scripture reference to support it off the top of his head. Anyway I was also really appreciative of his wife, because she talked to us a lot about humility, and that we have to be here looking for the glory of God, not to prove to others or ourselves how righteous or diligent we are.

In other news, we had a baptism on Sunday, and her cousin is geared up and excited to get baptized in 3 weeks. She told us she already knows its true, because of how she feels from changing and talking to us. Anyway this lady is named Angelica, she's a single mom with two little girls, one of whom she's already planning to baptize next year!! Her cousin will hopefully be in a picture in a few weeks. Our other investigators that are progressing are also pretty cool. One is a 19 year old named Alejandra who is trying to stop drinking coffee, and the other is the daughter of an active sister, her name is Mara. She already pays tithing, is reading in Alma in the Book of Mormon, and knows it's true. We're still trying to get the father of the family excited, he goes to church every week but refuses to get baptized even though he feels that it's true. Everyone in their own time, right?

The other missionary there who baptized her is Elder Duran. He taught her before me and just got moved over to another branch so he did the Ordinance.

Ok, it's usually prettier because this was a foggy morning, but this is the view from my house!!!

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​Anyway hope you guys have a great week! Love you!!!

Monday, May 4, 2015

Hey!!

I'd send pictures of the house and stuff but this cyber doesn't read SD cards. 

Anyway it's awesome we have this huge view of the river like 30 meters from the house because we live on a hill and the roof of the house below us is our patio. And the river is huge. My companion is Elder Gonzalez, he was actually in Alamo his first 6 months, and left for Tuxpan when I got there. He has one change more than me in the mission, and he's the District Leader. At least according to him it's more than likely he will leave after this change since he will have had 6 months in Tuxpan, and I'll be left as the district leader. It's weird because a ton of elders who got here with me and after me are leaders and senior companions and stuff. I also finally don't feel like the little kid of the group because a ton of new guys are here, so it's not just people with a year or more and me anymore!!!

Elder Gonzalez is from Panama and he's awesome. We work and get along and like the same stuff and think the same way in a lot of stuff and I just know God wanted to give me one change to enjoy and improve before he threw me in the mix again!!!

In other news, things got crazy. Because so many missionaries went home, they cut the missionaries in my ward here from 6 to 4 and gave us all of the area of the old missionaries in addition to ours. Then this first Sunday, they created a branch across the river in the Island place, Santiago de la Peña. I haven't gone there yet. But they also sent the other two missionaries in my ward to the branch and cut their area in half. So basically I'm arriving to inherit 3 areas that I have to learn and navigate in the next 5 weeks because my companion is on the way out. So that's kind of crazy. 

We're finding a lot of people, but getting them to church is another story, hahaha! Also I'm soo going to gain weight here! The members give us awesome food and it's an actual city with actual things here!! Alamo was pretty tiny. I LOVE TUXPAN though, and I'm hoping this will be my first area with 6 months, but we'll see. More than likely I'll hit the year mark here. The weather has been nice this week, but apparently it's going to get crazy hot this month. Like humid and 120. We'll see what happens! 

Anyway, love you guys!

Monday, April 27, 2015

Looking forward to mothers day, ahh!!

I just got changes, so tomorrow I am headed to Tuxpan! Everyone is going to think I'm from their city, hahaha. 

My companion was dropped to junior companion and is going to stay here in Alamo under the district leader, working my old area and the area the other elders had, since there aren't enough missionaries to have 6 in the ward anymore. 

I had a super awesome experience though, with my last Baptism here in Alamo. Her name is Herlinda, and she believed in everything and had read a lot of the Book of Mormon but was afraid because even though her husband said she could do what she wanted, he and her mother were both against her baptism, and she was very nervous and afraid. After getting permission from President, we went ahead with the baptism, and afterwards she shared that the moment she came out of the water, she felt all of the weight go away, all of the worries go away. It was exactly the way that we had promised to her when we read from the scriptures and testified of the blessings of baptism. She knows it's true and wants to continue faithfully. The spirit was so strong as she shared her testimony, and she and the sister who invited us to teach her were both in tears. I was pretty close, to be honest. I felt like after all of the drama and problems, I had really done a good thing here in Alamo. 

Here's some photos. Looks like maybe you can't read the first one but its a thing that's announcing the largest glass of orange juice in the world that they're going to have here next week. I guess God didn't want me to be tempted to go take my picture with a glass of orange juice on Sunday!!

Love you guys!

Elder Wadman