Week Sixty-two: Still haven't found a forest here...

my daily breakfast (moms gonna be so proud!)

I'm still really confused as to why this place is called forest. after lots of searching i still havnt found a forest.

Everything is great! the ward is really willing to help us and we actually received over 100 names of references from the members this week! the bishop had us give out slips of paper to everyone at church and before starting the testimony part of the meeting he spoke a little about missionary work asked that everyone wrote all the names of all their relatives, friends, and neighbors on the piece of paper! now all we have to do is visit all the members who gave us names and go visit these people and share the gospel with them!!! we are really excited for this upcoming week!!! 

Elder Gonzalez sleeping on the bus (it was a long second week on the mission)

Oscar is our only investigator with a high possibility of progressing right now. he is about 25 and has a christian background. he likes listening to us and learning more, but he has troubles getting up and going to church because its at 9 and thats early for him (to be honest, it would be hard for me too if i wasnt a missionary hahaha). 

We visited a lot of members this week to get to know the ward leaders and were able to help a family paint their house! i was really scared i wasnt going to do it well and they would thank us for our help and then start re-painting what we did the second we left the house hahaha. but it turned out good and they said they didnt have to put on a second coat! hahaha i had no idea i knew how to paint! or maybe they just lied to us to make us feel good lol. oh and my companion painted the ceiling, but i think he got more paint on his face than on the ceiling hahaha.

a few days ago we went to a big supermarket kind of like walmart named chedraui to use the bathroom and this is what i found. ive never seen a step pedal next the the toilet to flush it hahaha. welcome to mexico elder wagner! youve been in the offices too long!

Challenge: think of someone who needs the gospel in their life and go with the missionaries to visit that person. i think this has been the challenge like 5 times already, but i can tell you with 100% certainty that helping others gain a testimony of the restored gospel is one of very few things in this life that will bring you real, everlasting joy!

Scripture to memorize and ponder: last week i chose D&C 121:44-46 because the mission has a goal to memorize verses 34-46 before the next zone meetings and those are the only two i have left. I did it!!! this week i chose alma 26:30. what scripture will you choose?!?!

I love you all!!!!!! thank you for all your love and support!!!

Elder Wagner

Week Sixty-one: Week one in Bosques

giant bread that i found here. it wasnt too good to be honest :( but it was big!

Week one in Bosques: Well, it was a week of a lot of walking and calling the other missionaries in our ward for directions. Neither one of us knows the area very well, so we got lost almost every day trying to get the the food appointments. Example: Wednesday we went to eat with the garcia family and they told us to talk a certain bus. i asked the sister if we needed to take the bus going up the hill or down the hill and she told me going down and i asked her about 3 times to be sure and she responded the same each time. so when we took the bus we noticed that we left our area and entered the zone leaders area which wasnt too alarming because i we had to do it once before to get to a food appointment. After about 15 minutes in the bus we called the sister to make sure we were going the right way. we explained where we were at and she had no clue where we were. so we got off and she had us talk to her husband. after talking for a little bit we realized we had taken the bus going to wrong way! the sister had told me to take the bus going down because in this area there are two neighborhoods named "Altamira" and she thought we were in the other one!!! so that sums up pretty well how well weve been able to get around the area this week, but we have already improved a lot!

welcome to my new area! its called bosque (forrest)
 but theres no forrest here hahaha

After 9 months of being in a nice comfy chair all day i get a little bit tired at the end of the day... or maybe at about 4 pm hahaha but im getting my legs back and were hittin the pavement! we had a great meeting yesterday with the ward mission leader and the bishop, so we are really exited to work hard this week!

I hope you all enjoyed general conference and received the answers you were looking for! 

Challenge #1: Find a talk that you like and study it deeply. its always good to listen to talks just once and get the general message, but when we deeply study the words of the living prophets, we can find more answers than we ever thought was possible!

Challenge #2: Take Brother Durant´s challenge the choose a scripture every week and ponder its message daily. write it on a piece of paper and put it in a place you will see it every day. our mission has taken the challenge, so join us!!

Thank you for all your support and love! i love you all!

Elder Wagner

Elder Rojo and I several months ago
(He has finished his mission, and recently tagged Zach in this photo on FB)
 

Week Sixty: Transfers

New companions
Elder Gonzalez and Elder Wagner

So last week President Egginton told me he was going to have me train, but i didnt say anything in the other letter because sometimes things change, but now its for sure!!

His name is Elder Gonzalez and hes from northern mexico near texas. HE LOOKS LIKE A MEXICAN AUSTIN FOLSOM! and everyone here says we look alike and i totally see it too haha so he really is my son!! (mission slang for trainee)

Before receiving elder Gonzalez i was reassigned to the offices for a few days and now i am assigned to a new area named Bosques (forests). I dont know the area at all and neither does my companion, so its an adventure!! We somehow found the food appointment today and thats a pretty dang good start!

Also before receiving elder gonzalez i got to say goodbye to elder and sister guillen who are going to finish the mission in about 3 weeks :( im gonna miss them a lot.

I also got to say goodbye to a lot of friends from
 my old area "Cruz del sur" in the offices.
Ricardo Esparza and Enrique (i think) Espin

Last week after writing we went to a market called "San Juan De Dios" which is the biggest market in Guadalajara. i was really excited, but when we got there a guy was fixing a parking meter and when he saw us he said "Elders! youre in the wrong place!" that may or may not have startled me a little bit haha but we went with a member so that made me feel better. While there i bought a bunch of stuff to send home for christmas and some other stuff. Dont worry mom, i already sent the package and it should get there within 2 weeks i think. All throughout the mission everyone always told me there was a wrestler (literally luchador like from nacho libre) whos name is Doctor Wagner, so naturally i was always looking for his mask. I FOUND IT!

Luchador- Doctor Wagner

Challenge: get out of your comfort zone. you cant grow if your in the comfort zone and you cant be comfortable in the growth zone. thats just how it is. the natural man doesnt like change, so get out of your comfort zone and do something that you wouldnt normally do. this is what im going to be doing with elder gonzalez and i know hes going to grow a lot, so join him and take the challenge!!

Thank you for all your support! i love you all!!!!!

another picture of the doctor wagner mask and a sweet mexican hoodie i found.

me and the second counselor of the bishopric in my last area
 brother jesus zertuche

burn line from playing soccer in the sun for too long :(

my son (elder gonzalez)
and daughter (elder zurita) because i trained him in the offices
(mission slang, when you train new elders)

Special Edition: VIDEO'S of Elder Zach from the Mission's Facebook page

The AP's randomly asked Elder Wagner how he gets his hair to look so nice, haha.......

Elder Wagner ends with a humorous quote from the movie "Nacho Libre".

Sister Egginton wasn't able to attend the conference, as she wasn't feeling well

so their zone sends her a special message:

The missionaries from the Bugambilas Zone,
 I suggest you start at 30 seconds and watch til 45 seconds, 
then skip forward to 3:55 minutes
for a friendly good-bye from Elder Zach :)

Week Fifty-nine: 1 Year in the Mission Field

 (This is a frame-capture from a video that was posted.

He looked so happy I just had to share it! -Pam)

This week we had a zone conference the 16th and i realized that exactly one year prior i was in the same chapel at the same time to receive my trainer and i was assigned to the same area!

Bugambilas Zone Conference Sept 16, 2015

haha Are those posed Circus elephants in the back on the right?

Also, the 15th of September was independence day here in mexico, so everyone was lighting off fireworks and partying. but to be honest, we do it better in the states and have way better fireworks.

I got to go downtown with Elder Hostetter to sign visa papers and all that good stuff. I had to go to the offices for half the day to help out and so we decided to go Thursday night and sleep with the secretaries so we could help out in the morning and not loose our study time. it just so happened that the rest of the missionaries from my district in the MTC did the same thing because they had to sign their visa papers on Friday! so we ordered tacos Thursday night and the next morning we all got up early and played soccer. it was really good to see all my buddies and play soccer with them! i have some pictures, but i cant upload the pictures in this internet place :(

(Pam got this photo of them, off the Mission FB page from Elder Dance's mom, rumor has it they also enjoyed going to Dairy Queen together :)

We have been visiting a lot of the people i was teaching the first time i was here in the area and we have visited Ernesto and Mercedes a few times. A lot has happened in their life and they have been going through a few deaths in the family. We visited them earlier in the week and Mercedes was really frustrated with God and confused as to why she had so many troubles even though she is a good person. we were able to teach the plan of salvation with her and explain that everything that is unfair about this life  is made fair through the atonement of Jesus Christ and that all her relatives who have died will be waiting for her on the other side and she can do their temple work and we finished the visit by giving her a blessing of comfort. when we entered the house she was upset and frustrated, and you could feel it in the house, but when we left there was a feeling of peace in the house and it was amazing to see how much the spirit can do and change a situation if we invite it.

Challenge: Invite the Holy Ghost into your life/home. Try to focus on finding the Holy Ghost in your life by eliminating distractions and temptations in your life.When we look for the Holy Ghost and invite it into our lives, IT COMES.

Love you all! thank you for your support and love!!!

Elder Wagner 

                 

(Waving (video) to all the missionary's families and friends,

  this is a frame-capture from it. -Pam)

Photo's from 2015-2018 Misiòn Mèxico Guadalajara Este Facebook page: Elderes de Zona Bugambilias...

           Hermana Egginton the Mission President's wife, posted these photos on the 

2015-2018 Misiòn Mèxico Guadalajara Este- Facebook Page

Zone Conference-Bugambilias 

(comments by Pam)

Love that mischievous smile and boy!!!

Who's that photo-bomber on the back row?

Think he's glad to be out of the office?

Elder Wagner's new companion Elder Antuna!
(notice the double name tags on them, must be so you don't have to be
changing it from your suit-coat to shirt pocket, back and forth....
and so your suit-coats don't get switched by accident)

What are they all smiling about, on that back row? 
Must be up to something.....

Elder Petersen worked with Elder Wagner in the office.
(back left- Elder Wagner being "normal" lol)

Snack time! Bottom's UP!
"Where's Wagner?" :)

LOL maybe they need to put him...BACK in the office! :) 
When I asked him about the photo bombing, he said: 
"the assistants made us stop because we were 
actually doing a lot more crazy stuff haha"

Week Fifty-eight: The return!

Old Photo previously sent- of Patria, the area he is now serving in

This Thursday i got a call from the zone leaders and they sent me on "Special divisions" to my first area again!!!! there was another elder here who got injured, so they sent him to the offices with Elder Zurita and now im back in Patria where i was trained!! i am sooo excited to be here again! A lot has changed, but at the same time its really familiar. so ill be here until we have transfers on the 28th of this month and then well see what president does. my companion is Elder Antuna. he already has 3 transfers here, so its possible that they keep me here next change and to be honest, thats exactly what i want! we have been visiting converts and members and everyone who recognizes me says that ive changed a lot and that before i was a lot more serious, but then when i explain that i didnt understand anything they told me while i was here the first time because i was really new haha. Its crazy to realize how much can change in just 9 months!

I am now getting to work with the people i taught 9ish months ago and its great! i honestly cant express how excited i am to be back in this area.

Old Photo, previously sent-of someone he worked with 9 months ago, Mercedes.

So hopefully the rest of my letters from here on out will be just like this one and i will just be super excited all the time haha. 

Yesterday was a really special day for Mexico. The temple of Mexico City was rededicated and they turned all the church buildings in mexico into "Extensions of the temple" and we all got to participate and watch the re-dedication.

Challenge: Realize the importance of the temple. the re-dedication of the temple has started a spark in the members here in Guadalajara to go to the temple more often. So, the challenge is to go to the temple, get a recommend, or find out more about temples (depending on your current status: member, non member, etc)

I love all of you and hope you have a great week!