Thursday, August 28, 2014

Week Three

There werent any fights this week, but it was still a pretty interesting week! Today was especially cool because my companion and i went to the "main campus" of the mtc and i saw 2 people i knew within 10 minutes of each other! Then i saw another girl who was in my ward at BYU-I but i didnt know her very well so i didnt say anything to her haha.


Elder Sasser, Elder Hansen and me killin the selfie game in the bathroom



I"m not sure if i told you this before, but there are 2 campuses at the provo mtc. the main campus is the big one with tons of different languages and stuff and the west campus is where all the spanish speaking missionaries go. the west campus is a lot smaller so i dont get to see as many people, but its nice to be able to speak spanish with whoever i want.

My companion and i pointing to where we will be in less than a month.

Yesterday our district started practicing our farewell song for our final sunday and its going to be sweet! we are doing "Come unto Christ" the youth song and translating parts of it into spanish so it will be part english and part spanish. Also, the sister that is from Belgium wants me to do a part of the song with her in french because she says i have a good french accent so i might be singing english, spanish, and french!

Elder Sasser and me after a devotional


A few days ago me and my companion taught 5 lessons entirely in spanish and it was the hardest thing ive done since being at the MTC. we had almost no prep time for any of the lessons and my companion hardly speaks any spanish so i had to do most the talking and then translate to my companion what we were discussing haha. its ok though he tries hard and theres nothing more he can do to improve his spanish so i just try to help him as much as i can.

Elder Gilbert and me. he is from the virgin islands and is in houston texas right now. he was the first elder i traded ties with and hes pretty legit.

Yesterday our district had the opportunity to "host" the new missionaries coming in. we pretty much greeted them as they came off the bus, took them to their apartment and dropped them off at their classroom. it was really cool because i remember thinking that the elder who hosted me on my first day knew so much spanish and everything there was to know about being a missionary, and now im the one who looks like they know everything, but i dont know anything!

Me doing a Julian Smith impersonation
Luckily ive only gained like 3 pounds since being here. i dont know how im keeping off the weight, but somehow this "ice cream sandwich and all you can eat" diet is really paying off.

Spiritual Thought: Sunday night we listened to a devotional from the director of missionaries or something like that and he shared a story about how this little boy was trying to get a drink from the drinking fountain and he kept pushing his button to change the water pressure so it would splash the little boy and the boy had no clue he was the one causing him grief. He then told how sometimes we are the little boy and lucifer is right beside us pushing our buttons and causing us grief and we have no clue he is hurting us, or that he is even there at all. 

Thanks for all the love and support! -Elder Wagner

                                              My Zone right before the oldest district left.

Another picture of the zone. i cant tell which one looks better so ill just send both of them. the blonde girl in the front row on the left is from squib washington. apparently thats close to carnation so thats pretty cool haha. oh and her name is Taylor 
Willis



Email to Mom and Dad, Titled "NEEDY MISSIONARY!": sorry this sounds demanding, but i would really appreciate it if you would send me the following items: Handkerchiefs (for wiping my nose, and sweat for when im in mexico) ear plugs for my snoring companion, a belt from my rubbbermaid bin under the stairs (for some reason i only brought my new one and i dont think it will last 2 years) and the alarm clock we got from the ctr place doesnt work. for some reason it wont go off. it makes sounds when i test it, but it doesnt go off when i set it. i made sure it was the right am/pm and tried everything i can think of. maybe i just need a new one? Oh and Elder Dance says he has an uncle who lives in seattle. i dont remember his first name,but it started with a "D". also you and dad didnt tell me where austin paxman is going on his mission. you only said he was going to the mexico mtc and he was speaking spanish in the us

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Week Two



This week was pretty interesting. we had one companionship of elders almost get in a full on fist fight and another companionship of sisters yelling at each other and slamming doors on each other... so yeah i guess you could say this week was exciting.

The Spanish is coming along really well and im teaching 2 lessons a day entirely in spanish. Its amazing how in just a few short weeks i can carry on a decent conversation with someone about the gospel and teach them about it. My companion is still struggling, but i think is actually doing alright. I think he just gets discouraged because hes a little below average and im a little above so he gets frustrated when he cant remember stuff and i have to remind him. but its all good, its just another challenge that the Lord has given us and with His help we can work through it.

All the elders in my district after church our first sunday.

Nothing really that exciting is happening other than that though. i dont really know what to put in these letters because its pretty much the same thing every single day. if anyone has any questions about the exciting life of a missionary in the MTC just ask and ill do my best to answer!

My district having a party for Elder Larsens birthday.

For our devotional on sunday we got to hear from Jenny Oaks Baker, the daughter of Dallin H. Oaks, and a very accomplished violinist who has a masters degree from Julliard. She talked alot about her experiences with how The Lord has answered her prayers in ways that she never expected and how we should always trust in him even if we think he has forgotten us. She also played about 4 or 5 songs on the violin accompanied by her children and it was incredible how good she was at playing the violin. im not really a big fan of the violin, but she was really really good.

   A mix of elders from my district and another district in our zone smoldering after devotional under a tree.

Last week i went to Salt Lake to get my picture taken and fingerprints taken for my visa to go to mexico and it was awful. first, we got on the wrong bus, then we had so sit for 40 minutes waiting for a van to pick us up. The van tried to get us to the train that took us to SLC, but we missed it and had to wait another 45 minutes for the next one. Once we finally got to the consulate, we had to wait for them to open and let us in then wait for all 20 elders and sisters to go through the process of getting their pictures taken and getting asked questions. finally we started our route back home and it all went well untill we got to the provo train station and we all had to wait 45 minutes for a bus while we were in full suits, had no shade, and hadnt eaten in 7 hours. oh yeah and this was on my first p-day so while i was waiting around for busses, vans, and trains all day just to go through a 10 minute interview, the rest of my district was actually enjoying their first p-day. But i guess i cant be too upset because im pretty sure i had to go to the consulate because my visa is pretty much done, so hopefully i wont have to wait for my visa after im done at the MTC!

My companion and i outside the provo temple

oh and theres a cold virus going around the entire MTC and ive been sick for the last 6 days so yeah even though it sounds like i had a terrible week ive actually been the happiest i have been in a long time and i love being out here doing the work of the Lord!

Thats about it. if you have any questions for me or anything, feel free to email me atzachary.wagner@myldsmail.net or send me packages or letters at:

Elder Zachary Thomas Wagner
SEP15 MEX-GUAE
2023 N 900 E Unit 862
Provo UT 84602

Thursday, August 14, 2014

One Week Down!

Hello everyone!

My first week at the MTC has been incredible! I have learned so much in such a small amount of time! so my typical day at the MTC is wake up at 6:30, breakfast at 7:15, Lunch at 11:35, dinner at 5:00, bedtime at 10:30 and whenever im not eating im studying or being taught. Even though it seems like way too much to learn and retain, we are all able to remember it because we are here to learn the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he is blessing us because of that. My district (or my class for the next 5 weeks) has 8 elders and 4 sisters. One of the sisters is from austalia and is EXACTLY like fat amy from pitch perfect! Another sister is from belgium and she loves that belgium beat the US in the world cup. lets just say our relationship didnt really get off on the right foot but its okay now because weve moved on and im trying to teach her american idioms because she doesnt understand them. All of the elders in my district are going to the same mission as me and the sisters are going to idaho, new york, texas, and canada. One thing i really like is that all the spanish speaking missionaries are on a separate campus from all the other missionaries so you can speak spanish with pretty much anyone and practice. My companion, Elder Sasser, is from Idaho and is HUGE. Seriously. hes like 6'4'' 250. i look like a dwarf compared to him. but i really like him. hes really positive and always looks for the good in others. He struggles with spanish, but i am actually doing really well so since im not challenged that much witht the language at this point, the Lord has decided to give me the challenge to also help my companion! our teacher is awesome and last week he told us the story of the blacksmith and i really liked it. it went something like this. A blacksmith recently joined the church and he was talking with his athiest neighbor. his neighbor said to him that he noticed when the blacksmith joined the church his life got harder instead of easier and that he thought that God would make his life easier and bless him because of his decision  to join the church. the blacksmith responded and said he at one point thought the same thing, but he came to realize that God is much like a black smith and we are his pieces of iron. God plunges us into fiery furnaces and then once we are about to melt, he takes us out and punds us with his hammer over and over, then he throws us into a bucket of ice cold water. he repeats this over and over and over. this process seems like its too much for the pieces of iron, but the blacksmith knows us and knows our breaking point and wont push us past it. because those pieces of iron that break during this pile are thrown away and are useless, but those who told up to this grueling process are made into sturdy, useful tools that the Lord can use to make the world a better place. Sometimes we may think that our burdens are too heavy and that we cant take the plunge into the furnace or that last blow from the hammer, but i promise that if we endure to the end and put our faith in God that he will craft us into incredible tools that can be used to change the world for the better.

My pday is thursday so you be getting emails toward the end of the week instead of the beginning like i thought at the beginning. i have pictures, but i forgot my camera so ill make sure i send some next week or maybe later today if i have some time. Today i am going to the mexican consolate in SLC to get my visa stuff finalized. or at least i think thats what its for. so hopefully i wont have any trouble waiting for my visa to come through and i can go straight to Mexico on September 15th! Oh and if youre wondering how my spanish is; i can pray in spanish, bare my testimony in spanish and i have already given 4 lessons to a "investigator" entirely in spanish. the lessons werent exactly perfect and it was incredible difficult,but my companion and i were able to get throught them with the help of Padre Celstial and the gift of tongues.

Dont forget to write me;D my mom can add my mailing address and you can also send food.. wink wink