Week Thirty-two and a half: Mexico Shmexico

This week was pretty normal, were getting caught up on a lot of work because things have really calmed down in the offices, but next week is going to be super crazy so im just trying to get prepared for that so i dont get so swamped.

Picture: Meet Elder Guillen. Office missionary extrordanaire! sometimes the office life just gets to be too much and you need to take a quick nap.

This week i was in divisions with Elder Sanchez (who lives in our same apartment and is from Mexico city) and we were talking about spanish and english stuff because he is trying really hard to learn english and then all of a sudden it hit me that i speak 2 languages! i had never really thought about it before, but this week i realized that i live in another country with another teenager who is from that country and speak a different language that i barely started learning about 8 months ago.... crazy stuff.

Miguel: we have been working really hard with miguel, but were not really sure if he can mentally comprehend what we are teaching him because we got done with what we thought was a really powerful lesson with really clear doctrine and powerful spirit and when we asked him if he would prepare to be baptized and this is the response he gave us... "well, i dont know. ill have to talk to the father in my (catholic) temple to see if i can be baptized again". so were going to work with him and see if we can help him see what were trying to teach.

Luis: After not talking with him for about 2 weeks and hearing that he fell down some stairs when he came to church (we just barely found that out) (oh and he is like 70 years old) we saw him and taught him a lesson and he said he wants to keep listening to us! we went to visit a sister in the ward (who is super duper active) and we couldnt go into her house because we cant go into a house where there is no male of 18 years of age or older. she came out and said that here son wasnt home and then said something we couldnt understand and then told us to wait and left running down the street. we had no idea what to think, we thought she was going to buy us something or something like that because one day a few weeks ago she texted us and told us to meet her at a street corner and when we got there she tried to buy us new shoes! so we had no idea what she was going to bring back, and then a few minutes later she comes back and right behind her was Luis! it was amazing! so we are super greatfull for all that she does for us and because of her we are now teaching Luis again!

Challenge: Learn how to better recognize the whisperings of the holy ghost in your life. Chapter 4 of Preach My Gospel is one of my favorites because it teaches how to do this! so this weeks challenge is to read "Learn to recognize the promptings of the spirit" in Preach my Gospel chapter 4. heres the link if you dont have the physical copy: https://www.lds.org/manual/preach-my-gospel-a-guide-to-missionary-service/how-do-i-recognize-and-understand-the-spirit?lang=eng

If we are looking for the promptings of the holy ghost in our lives and are worthy to hear his whisperings, Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will teach us through him.

¡Les quiero mucho! Con amor, Elder Wagner

Week Thirty-one and a half: Another week in the offices

Photo: left to right: my trainers trainer, my trainer from the offices, some really really ridiculously good looking guy, and my brother!

This week was a lot more calm, so im trying to get caught up but at least im not falling more behind on the office work! this week i found that im a lot happier when im out of the offices working in the field. sometimes i found myself getting a little down when i was in the offices for long periods of time just thinking about all the work i had, but when i forced myself (i mean my companion forced me) to leave the office work and work in the field i found that i wasnt thinking as much about the work i had in the offices and i was a lot more happy trying to find people and teach them.

This week we had our zone conference with the mission president (wich happens about once every 3 months) and it was great! we learned about how we can work in different ways to overcome common issues that almost every missionary in the mission has with their investigators (not coming to church, not keeping commitments, etc) and it was super helpful. plus i got to see my "brother" of the mission. my trainer from the offices is called my "mom" and right now he is training in the field, so i have a "brother!" ill attach a picture.

Challenge: this week i focused a lot on my prayers and how i can improve them and it really helped me have the spirit more! So the challenge for this week is to look up in Preach my Gospel the section called Pray with faith. if you dont have your own physical copy, heres a link to it: https://www.lds.org/manual/preach-my-gospel-a-guide-to-missionary-service/how-do-i-recognize-and-understand-the-spirit?lang=eng read it and do the personal study activity and watch your prayers improve and faith increase incredibly!!!!

I love you all and i hope you have a great week! With love, Elder Wagner

 a cockroach that was dumb enough to fall into a cup of water and drown itself.

food from Chile that we ate with a sister in our ward.

 Elder Denton in front of the flag of Chile.

Week Thirty and a half: The calm after the storm

So it wasnt really that calm, but it was the week after the storm haha. we were still really busy, but we got out of the offices more than the week before and got some lessons in! we also had a family home evening with the ward which went pretty well! every companionship in our ward (2 sets of elders and 1 set of sisters) brought someone and it went really well! we brought a man named Juan Antonio who we met about a week ago. he showed up to the chapel right before sacrament meeting ended and we have taught him 2 lessons this week and he is great! he is a little odd, and we dont really know where he lives, but we are really excited for him. he has a strong desire to learn and wants to keep learning. We are pretty sure that he lives in the area of the other elders, so its going to be tough to hand him over, but well still get to see him on sundays! We got a new elder last week, im not sure if i told you, but yeah his name is Elder Denton and he is from southern Idaho. He seriously looks really really young haha the people here in mexico are really blunt and kind of just say what is on their mind, so his first week here we were eating with a sister and she just flat out said that he had a small face and looks like hes 14 hahaha. and then at the FHE a member said something like he couldnt believe his eyes and then asked if they changed the rule again and 16 year olds could serve missions now haha. hes a really good elder and im glad to have him here. Also, it distracts everyone from the fact that i look like im 17, so thats a plus haha oh and im the tallest missionary in our district! i think im going to enjoy this while i can haha.

sorry i didnt send any pictures this week, my companion needed to borrow my memory card for some stuff in the offices and forgot to give it back to me, so when i went to take pictures the camera said their wasnt any memory and i just thought it was full, but there wasnt a memory card in it! ill get the pictures from my companion and the other elders and send them next week!

Challenge: We had a special training a few weeks ago with our president where we learned about inviting members to share the gospel and how angels are preparing people right now to hear the gospel. talk with a neighbor or a friend about the gospel this week!

les amo mucho! con amor, Elder Wagner

Week Twenty-nine and a half: The perfect storm

All of my zone

My district and our zone leaders

Eating tacos for the last supper of Elder Gawrych

The elders from my district in our last zone conference together (Elder Gawrych goes home monday)

This week was insane. i had pretty much every big event happen in one week that could possibly happen. sunday we had about 14 elders stay the night in our house for various things the following day, then the next day i had to help out with a bunch of stuff for the meetings that the mission was having. Then i had to finish all of the financial stuff for the end of the fiscal month. that night a bunch of zone leaders came to sleep with us for the leadership council the next day. the following day we had the leadership council and i was running around all day for that. finally that was all done and the next day i had a day semi free to just work on the stuff piling up in the offices. the next day we had our zone conference and i lost pretty much a full day of work for that, but it went really well. then the next day we had to prepare for all off the missionaries who are ending their mission to come to the offices. today they all got here and my companion and i just worked like crazy all day instead of having a p day and we just barely left at like 6 to eat (for the first time all day) and then write, but we only have a little bit of time because we have to get back to do more stuff for the leaving missionaries who are all going to stay the night with us until sunday night/monday morning when we take them to the airport at 2 in the morning and then start getting ready for the arriving missionaries who will arrive that same day. Overall it was an insane, stressful, crazy, tiring week... and it continues to be haha. oh yeah and through all this we found out that the family we found a few weeks ago who was really positive now doesnt want to listen anymore because their grandfather is really catholic and he doesnt want us to teach his family. But i know that through all this, the work we do in the offices is helping all the other missionaries in the mission to have more time to work out in the field and find the sons and daughters of God who are ready to hear the message of the restored gospel.

Challenge: Preserver (Endure). Life throws some crazy stuff at us some times and we just have to endure them and learn from them so we can improve and become stronger people with stronger faith and testimonies. Ether 12:6 says that we receive our testimony after the trial of our faith, so keep enduring the trials that God gives us so you can receive a stronger testimony and stronger faith.

¡Gracias por todo que hacen por mi, les amo mucho! Que tengan una buena semana! Con mucho amor, Elder Wagner

Elder Sasser (my companion from the mtc), Elder Larsen (from my district in the mtc) and me after watching meet the mormons!

Week Twenty-eight and a half: ¡Todo está bien!

After being stuck in the house all of last week and not being able to do much, i got better this week and was able to get some stuff done! 

 heres my work space... super exiciting, i know. haha

This week we had special training with our mission president and his assistants and it was great! we learned about how we can work with church members more effectively, and i got so see one of the members from my old ward because he came to help out! the only downside to the training, was that i lost a lot of time to work in the offices and fell a little behind, but i worked hard and got caught up and we were able to have splits with our zone leaders. I didnt know we were going to have them untill a few hours before they showed up in the offices, so i didnt have an overnight bag or anything and when we went to the house, i realized that i left my keys with my companion and couldnt get anything, so i just went with my teaching stuff and what i had on, so  i went two days with the same clothes! its all good, its not like i havnt done that before the mission haha.

We havnt been able to see Miguel since he came to church 2 weeks ago, but we have plans to see him tonight to see how hes doing and see if he can go to church tomorrow.

Yesterday we got a reference from a sister in our ward and when we went to see her, we asked her family if anyone wanted to join, and her father and 2 grandkids (who are teenagers) joined us! the lesson went really well and we have an appointment to see them again tonight! I think this family has a lot of potential to progress and im really excited!

This week another elder showed me a scripture and told me to substitute some words and it was amazing! i cant remember the verse or anything haha, but it was where Nephi was building a boat and he didnt make it after the manner of the world, he followed the direction of the lord, and he prayed often in the mount. the way the other missionary told me to read it made it sound like Nephi build his life after the manner of the lord instead of the way the world teaches how to build your life, and he went to the temple to pray often. 

Challenge: Build yourself the way Heavenly Father wants you to be built and not how the world tells you to do it. If we listen to our father in heaven and are in constant prayer, he will show us how we should build ourselves and others around us so we can lead happier lives and be better people.

¡Les quiero mucho! ¡Espero que todos tengan una buena semana! Con Amor, Elder Wagner

ps, sorry i dont have many pictures, but the offices arent too exciting haha.

some weird tea from chili that a sister gave us at lunch a few weeks ago. its kind of like the Brazilian stuff that ben and celeste like.

 Me wearing a luchador mask that another missionary had. im still looking for one to buy haha

the other 2 elders in our district Elder Gawrych from sandy utah and elder Sanchez from mexico city

Week Twenty-seven and a half: ¡Dont eat the tacos!

This monday we went to eat some tacos that we heard were good, so we went.... and the next day i was reallyl sick. so all week weve been in the offices and directly after that in the house because the presidents wife says that we can go out to work untill im completely better and im still kind of sick so were still resting. I always just thought getting sick from tacos was a steriotype, but its totally true! never again! and they werent even that good! and they were expensive!

Today we went to the supermarket (called "soriana", its kind of like wal mart) and i bought some apples from washington, so i think ill be good in no time!

At the end of last week we met a man named miguel. he partly mentally and physically disabled, but he is amazing! hes so precious haha he is always sharing little parables and things with us that he has heard in church haha like salt and soup. we have to share our salt so others can have their soup taste better and so we dont have too much salt. (we should share the things we have with others who dont have much). The first day we went to teach him, he told us he had been reading a book about God and that he was going to bring it out for us and my companion and me though "oh great hes going to bring out some catholic book that says that mormons are bad because he says he always goes to mass" and then he brough out a gospel principles book! we couldnt believe our eyes! it tourns out he hadnt really been reading much because he has a reallyl hard time reading, but from the 2 or 3 pages he had read he said he knew it talked about God, so i guess thats good! we havnt been able to see him all week because we have been stuck in the house, but hopefully next week ill have more news from our friend Miguel!

Challenge: Share your salt so your soup isnt too salty! I love this story that Miguel shared with us because it is so true. sometimes we get caught up in trying to get all the salt we can and then we complain that our soup doesnt taste good, but we dont know why. its because you have too much salt! Be aware of others around you and look outward this week to find those in need who might need help and help them. Serve others, and i promise youll feel better than if you hadnt!

Les amo mucho! con amor, Elder Wagner

Week Twenty-six and a half: The Office....s of the mission

This week was a little more calm that the last few weeks which was nice. we are getting caught up on stuff and can leave the offices more. In this area there are a lot more people who have money. they are more closed off and EVERYONE is catholic. whenever we try to talk to people in the street they tell us they are in a rush, or they are on their way to mass, or that they have their religion and they respect us, but theyre not going to change. its been tough on us, but were working hard and trying to find the sons and daughters that our Heavenly Father has prepared for us to teach. The other elders that are in our district had to move out of their house and havnt been able to find a new one, so they are staying with us in our house and its pretty fun, but it makes it a lot more difficult to focus on the work. Their names are Elder Gawrych (from Sandy UT) and Elder Sanchez (from mexico city) ive learned that all the americans here are from utah and a big majority of the mexicans are from mexico city or the federeal district of mexico haha. Right now we are teaching a recient convert named ricardo. he is amazing. before he was baptized he said that he want to serve a mission! So we are working with him to get him ready for that and hopefully by the time we leave this area he will be ready to come join the ranks!

Challenge:Read Alma 32. this week i have really noticed how humility affects us. Since coming to this new area i have seen how people who are humble act and how people who are proud act. And im here to tell you, you want to be humble haha. Pride is a tough challenge that satan puts in our path, but if we put our trust int the lord and ask for his help, he will help us develop this christlike attribute and help us become better followers of our savior Jesus Christ.

I hope everyone is doing good on the other side of the border in the cold!

Con mucho amor, Elder Wagner