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

Monday, October 19, 2015

We had a great week, and 3 baptisms!!

​Willie, Sebastian, and Blanca got baptized. About half of their family are members. I baptized Willie, hes the big guy with the mustache, and when he came out of the water he started clapping with excitement, and kept talking about how this was just the first step. He wants to get all of his children into the church and there are already plans for them to go to the temple next year! SO EXCITING!!!! HAPPY MISSIONARIES!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was the first baptisms they had had in the ward since June, and it looks like we've got some more on the way!! Elder Castañeda is a really great companion. He finishes the mission in 3 months. Also there is a snake somewhere in our house but we cant find it haha!!!! Let me see if I can find some more photos for you.

​This was me cleaning the shower that literally every missionary in the mission has used....

OH ALSO I don't need batteries anymore because I traded a tie and a handful of pesos to Elder Ortiz for his extra camera with a rechargeable battery. This is my zone from last change. You might recognize Elder Gonzalez from Tuxpan! He wasn't very close, but I got to see him a few times. Now he's in the other zone here in Xalapa, and his replacement... Elder Mota... woohoo.... Haha no Elder Mota seems to be a little bit more on track than he was there in Alamo.

Happy... Saturday??

Hi Guys!!!

Today things are a little bit different because we're going to be working Monday when the new missionaries get here, so my preparation day is today. That means I won't get to read your letter this week :(. I also, as usually happens, forgot my camera in the house, so I don't get to send you any of the exciting pictures from the week.

Fun story to get you thinking. A couple of weeks ago we were talking to one of the families in the ward about who their neighbors were and who we could go meet to teach about the gospel. They talked about a few people who they wanted to share the message with. Elder Ortiz asked them if they knew the woman 3 houses down who had a piano in the front room. THATS REALLY, REALLY UNCOMMON HERE. They told us her name and that they didn't really think she would be interested. They told us that they didn't get along and this and that and the other.

Well we talked to the other neighbors they had told us about, all of which informed us that they had no interest in learning more about God, or that they were more than content in the church they attended and didn't want to accept a message about how to be happier in their family, etc. you know the drill.

So we stopped by and talked to the woman with the piano. She was on her way out and told us to come back the next day. Haha, I've never heard that before. The next day we get there and she lets us in but is on her way out because she had forgotten about an appointment. She introduced us to her 12 year old son and left. (The grandparents are very Catholic and live there too, but refuse to acknowledge that we exist.) So we talked to the smartest 12 year-old I have ever met, who asked the kinds of questions people ask in institute. The next time we visited the mother was running around the house the entire time, but mentioned that every time she entered the room with us and her son, she felt a peace that she couldn't really explain.

At the next visit, last night, we find out she's a member of the church, who got baptized at age 16, that she let us in for a reason, that she fell away from the church because of the pressures of being a single parent, and that she had been waiting for the time to come that her son could understand enough to make his own decision about his faith.

My favorite of her son's questions of the week:

What do I have to do to change religions?

What exactly do I have to do to repent? I'd like to know the steps so that I can carry them out in my life?

What does "Christ" mean?

What's the difference between a prophet and an apostle?

And that's just the tip of the iceberg!

So yeah, it's been a good week! I'll talk to you all again a week from Monday!!!

AND KATE!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY ON WEDNESDAY!!! YOU'RE 22!!! You've only got 3 milestones left! The age required to rent a car, the age required to be president, and the ever sought after age of the senior discount!!! How does that feel???

Lots of Love,

Elder Wadman

Monday, October 5, 2015

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

I loved [church general] conference. I went with 4 specific questions and wrote down everything that applied to all of them. I left with 10 pages of notes, and was amazed by how specifically the talks could help me to find answers. I really enjoyed a lot of the talks that you two mentioned, and also appreciated several speakers who mentioned that the Lord takes people as they are, and our abilities come more from our ability to trust him and less from ourselves. I loved the Seventy [one of the church general authorities] who talked about the question ´What lack I yet´. It really helped me see how I should be treating my relationship with God.

Happy and trying to get all sorts of things done at the same time!

Love you guys!!!

Elder Wadman

​Se va volando Elder Ortiz!!!!!

He found out what planking is... Elder Ortiz will be on his way out in a week, and I´ll just be with Elder Castañeda

​Here´s most of the crew right now! From left to right, it´s Elder Hernandez, one of the assistants to the president, Elder Calhorra, our zone leader, Hermano Aldo, a member from another ward, Elder Nordhoff, the other assistant, Elder Littleton, the other zone leader, Elder Ortiz and Elder Castañeda, the other secretaries. And then that one missionary no one wants to talk about..

Monday, September 28, 2015

Hey guys!!!

Having a good time in the offices. We're teaching a family where half of them are members, and the rest are really excited to get baptized in three more weeks!! We've also been teaching another family, but they have so many economic problems that they can't take a moment to think about anything else. We have been trying to help them with resources to get work and donating some clothes that they can sell, but they're not being very active in doing something. It's complicated because of their 8 year old disabled son. They also have a ton of marital problems and don't want to get married after being together for ten years. Were turning them over to the ward primarily, and were going to have to look for some more people to teach, (as always).

Got to give a talk on the fly this Sunday. Haha, it's so much easier when you have 20000 references flying through your head.

Really excited for General Conference this week.  I need to prepare some questions I'm going to bring so I can learn what I really need to do. I'm trying as hard as I can to consecrate my time and make the most of it, especially since I am only in the field from 3 to 9 or 930. I just want to serve the Lord with all I am, but I always come up short. Regardless I'm giving what I can, and I feel like I'm improving.

So my district is 2 normal companionships, the zone leaders, the assistants to the president, and the sister training leaders. here's a photo with the zone leaders and the assistants we took today. Ohhh, actually I can't send it from here because my memory card has been all over the mission and probably has viruses that I don't want to share with the offices, haha. We'll see what I can do about that.

Monday, September 21, 2015

Hey!!!!!!

Surprise!!!!!! 3 days ago I participated in... special changes...

because I'm being trained to be the financial secretary in the offices of the mission! That's right! I got moved to Xalapa, and I work with the president for like 4 hours every morning and do a bunch of accountant things haha. That means I'm now with companions number 9 and 10! Elder Ortiz is from Costa Rica and he'll just be here for a few weeks teaching me his job, and my other companion is Elder Castañeda. He's super fun and we'll be together until he finishes the mission in like 4 months. Sorry I forgot my camera again!!! It's weird being here in the offices, with the president and the assistants and the senior couple, but I think I'll enjoy it.

The ward is SUPER SUPPORTIVE. Wherever we show up they have references and want to help us to teach their friends and neighbors. They also feed us a ton, and I never have to pay for food because Hermana Greer brings us food for the zone leader conferences and the new missionaries when they show up every change. They all stay in my gigantic house that has a washer AND DRYER! AND HOT WATER. Anyway it's a lot of stuff to learn about. We've got some families we're teaching. We have a couple with a special needs son that we're teaching, but they are having a lot of problems and never got married, so that will be interesting. They really enjoyed the church today though.

I miss Tuxpan, but I'm happy to help if this is where they want me! Definitely came out of the blue though!!!

Monday, September 14, 2015

Hey!!!

Elder Soto has a few problems with the language, but his accent is really good, so everyone thinks he knows it really well!!! Ohh washing clothes by hand. Hoping and praying that I won't have to do that again after this change!! I got 6 months off but back in Alamo my hands were always all itchy and gross from doing it haha.

This week we got to attend the re-dedication of the Mexico City temple via satellite. I was really struck by the things that Elder Holland shared. He talked about the verses in Malachi 4 in the Old Testament that are found in all 4 of the standard works. He talked about the Jewish tradition of leaving a chair for Elijah to come to their table every year, as they've been doing for like 3000 years. And when on the 3 of April, 1836, when the Passover was happening and all of the orthodox Jews left the chair at the table and the door open, Elijah came to the Dedicated temple in Kirtland and restored the sealing keys, which make all priesthood ordinances have a binding power in heaven, not just on earth. A big deal! I was overwhelmed by the Spirit during the talks and prayers, it was truly a powerful experience. 

We found some good people this week who are planning on going to church this Sunday, and we have a man we've been teaching for a while who's having a lot of problems with his family, but should be getting baptized in a week or two. We'll see how that goes!

Lots of Love,

Elder Wadman

​CUATES (Fraternal Twins)

We bought exactly the same food last week...