Week Fifty-five and a half: Ups, Downs, and Dragonfruit

 This week we ate dragon fruit! 

This week started off really relaxed and chill because i handed everything off to Elder Zurita and let him take the wheel on all the financial stuff. Then on thursday i realized that i had maybe given him a little bit too much to handle with the little time he has in the offices learning this position and we had to work crazy hard thursday and friday to get everything done on time.. oops! the good part is that we got everything done and learned a lot!

Also, this week we ate dragon fruit! Elder Zurita and me had never tried it, so we each bought one and it was WAY different than what i was expecting. I thought it was pink on the inside, but it is like a giant kiwi. anyway, i attached a picture, so you can all see it.

This week a couple elders came to Guadalajara and stayed the night with us to sign their visa papers and stuff and i met Elder Freeman from Othello Washington (i have absolutely no idea where that is haha) and Elder Loo who is going to play football for the U of U, so we obviously hit things off really well and hes now one of my best friends in the mission.

On Monday we went to eat with the assistants at Sams Club (which i didnt know existed here) and right as we started eating we got a call from the other secretaries and they told us we had a food appointment which was weird because we never have food appointments on Mondays. so we got done eating and then got lost trying to get the the food appointment and took about 2 hours to get there and i think we might have left the mission boundaries, but to be honest i have no idea haha.

Sadly, we weren't able to leave the offices very much, but the schedule for next week looks a little lighter, so hopefully we can get out more and work in the field!

Not too much happened this week to be honest, so sorry if this email was short and uninteresting haha. heres another picture, of me eating ramen noodles :D

Me eating Ramen Noodles

Challenge: Today i was reading in the book of Mormon, and i stumbled upon a scripture that we used as our theme as a teachers quorum when i was a teacher. Ether 2:17 "Tight is right" was our theme and it meant that we should be tight like the ships that the brother of Jared made and resist the temptations of the world. So the challenge is to read this scripture and think of how you can make yourself tight like unto a dish like the ships in the scripture and find those gaps where the water (or temptations) get into your ship and start making you sink.

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

Con Amor, Elder Wagner

Week Fifty-four and a half: Flood and Transfers

 

Flooded Street

This week was full of a lot of changes, but it wasnt very exciting... im not sure how that happens, but it did.

So after we wrote last week we babysat all the missionaries who finished the mission until church the next day. at church it started to rain really hard and when we left the building we found that the whole street/intersection was flooded! apparently its normal for the people who live here, but it wasnt for us! we had to stay in the chapel for about 1 hour before we could leave. also, we saw someones bumper floating down the street and then 10 minutes later some guy came wading down the street asking if we had seen his bumper hahaha. Later sunday afternoon, Sister Egginton sent us a text and invited us to the farewell dinner for all the missionaries finishing the mission and we got to go! (this is the first time this has happened in 3ish years).

Elder Garcia, Ricardo (recent convert), Juan (member) and me

Monday we did the normal routine for transfers. Elder Zurita and i went and took all the finishing missionaries to the airport and when we got to the offices again, Elder Ramón and Elder De Los Reyes were there! Elder Zurita and i are now companions with Elder Ramón (Who is from Tobasco, Mexico). he is awesome! So this week we have been doing a lot of teaching and learning in the offices. Elder Zurita is progressing really well, i think he just has a great teacher haha. So this week we didnt really get to leave the offices, but we are getting a lot of work done here and making a lot of progress. 

Elder Ramon, me and Elder Zurita

Chorizo, Nopales, and onions. This is what we ate a few days ago

Challenge: Find the hand the God in your life. Sometimes its hard to realize it, but God is very involved in all our lives and loves each and every one of us because we are his children. So the challenge is to look for the blessings that God gives you everyday and try to be more grateful for the things He does for us.

¡Gracias por todo que hacen por mi! ¡Les amo muchísimo y quiero que todos ustedes lo sepan!

^ Spanish homework

With love, Elder Wagner

Selfie with Elder Raya with a TON of tacos behind us

The sisters eating all the tacos :(

"Remember God loves you"

Another Selfie. This time its with Elder Miller who went home last week

Week Fifty-three and a half: Transfers

After 3 months of very little change in the mission and 8 months of very little change in my part of the mission, everything is changing! We will be getting 2 new missionaries in the offices monday and they are two missionaries i dont know and they are latinos so maybe we´ll stop speaking so much english and i can work on my spanish! Also, the mission will have a bunch of changes of leaders and its super exciting. Oh yeah and my trainer is going to train again so im going to have a brother!!! ill send you a picture of us all next week.

Weve been really busy this week with getting ready for transfers (which are happening right now) and teaching Elder Zurita more about how to be the "money man" as President Egginton calls it. so yeah nothing else really exciting happened this week and i didnt take any pictures, so sorry for being boring this week, but thats just how things went.

CHALLENGE: Read 3 Nephi 27. i think i have read this chapter about 100 times in the mission and every time i read it i learn somethings new. Also, i have been reading the scriptures and marking every reference or name given to Jesus Christ and it really helps me stay focused on Him and the reason we are all here on earth.

Les quiero mucho! thank you for all your support and love!

Con amor, Elder Wagner

Week Fifty-two and a half: Exciting News!

Elder Zurita is from Provo Utah and is super awesome!
He was trained in the same ward as me and has had two areas just like me!
its kind of crazy how similar we are... except
 for the fact that hes bolivian and im white.... but we can look past that :)

​So last week i was excited to announce that in the upcoming transfer i was going to receive a replacement... then we spoke to president......and were discussing exactly how he wanted to do the transition and everything and in that very moment he decided to change everything again! The first plan was to wait until the next change to change everything and in that change, Elder Garcia and i would get our replacements and brother and sister guillen would finish their missions (they are on an extension right now. they were supposed to be released a whole transfer ago). Now, Brother and Sister Guillen are going to stay ANOTHER transfer to train new missionaries for their spots as materials secretary and visas/references secretary, my companion will be leaving the offices next week with transfers and i am currently training Elder Zurita to be my replacement!!!

Oh yeah and thats the temple in the background... WE WENT TO THE TEMPLE TODAY!!!!! With all the rule changes, President Egginton is allowing us to go to the temple on our P-Days and it just so happens that the secretaries and the assistants are the only missionaries who have their pday when the temple is open. Yay! The blessings of working in the offices are great!!! 

Me at the Temple

This week it rained ice balls! i know youre all thinking hail, but im talking about literal ice balls the size of grapes. 

This is a giant ice ball that fell from the sky!

me with the giant ice ball!

Elder Zurita taking on the financial secretary spot

Una Torta Ahogada. this is a famous food from Guadalajara. directly translated it means drown sandwich. thats pretty much what it is! its a hard bread filled with pork meat with refried beans. its really really good!

CHALLENGE: Discover the blessings of the temple! it astounded me to see how little people were at the temple today and i was honestly really sad. A lot of times we dont realize how blessed we are to have a temple nearby where we live. In the temple we can feel the spirit really strong and receive peace that cant be found in any other place. So, the invitation for all of you is to attend the temple if you have a temple recommend, if you dont have a temple recommend and are a member of the church, get one and attend the temple, and if you are not a member of the church, get in contact with the missionaries and ask them about the blessings of the temple!

Life in the mission is great! im so happy to be here! thank you for all your love and support! I love you all!!!

Con cariño, Elder Wagner

Week Fifty-two: Changes in the wind

Zone Activity

So last time i spoke to President Egginton we pretty much came to the conclusion that i was going to stay as financial secretary until the senior couple gets here in November. Last week i spoke to Elder Del Toro over a mcdonalds burger about what we could do because President Egginton really doesnt want me to be in the offices for a full year. We thought of some situations and options we had and then presented them to President in the meeting we have with him every week and after much deliberation and tons of ideas and lots of using the whiteboard we decided that Elder Garcia and i have too much time in the offices and needed to leave and that one of the other office elders would take my spot starting last week and i would be out of the offices in about 2 months... then we realized it wasnt realistic, so as of right know i think im going to be getting a replacement in 2 weeks! This morning i sent the assistants a list of possible candidates so im pretty excited!!

Yesterday we had a very successful day! the whole week was just full of plans falling through and disappointments, but yesterday we found 3 new investigators! Also, Rosalba and her 2 kids couldnt come to church so that was tough and they have been on vacation a lot so we havnt been able to teach them :( Good News! when i first go to the offices in december of last year, the secretaries who trained us baptized someone named Ricardo Esparza and his father (also named Ricardo Esparza). He went through a rocky start after his baptism but now is improving a TON!!! he comes with us to work almost every day and is preparing to serve a mission!!!! we are so excited for him!

This upcoming week i will be completing one year in the mission!! Also, Elder Zuritas birthday is this week so we decided to celebrate by going to a brazilian buffet called "Fogón" is was suuper good but suuper expensive... when we were thinking about it in pesos it was super expensive, but when we transferred it to dollars it was only about $15 bucks with tips and everything, oh and they had a live singer with a guitar singing covers.. not that we were listening or anything... but i think he might have sang "youve got a friend in me" from toy story in spanish! i mean... i wouldnt know for sure because as i said i wasnt listening, but i think someone said he sang that......

This last week President Egginton changed the mission completely. With the other mission president we had a lot of extra rules and didnt really have them written down, we just kind of heard about them from district and zone leaders and from other missionaries and obeyed them. Well now none of that exists. We have about 2 or 3 rules from the area presidency of mexico and then other than that we just have to follow the mission handbook. This president has put a lot of trust in us and has the faith that we dont need to be led through our missions holding his hand the whole time. Also, he took off the ban of temple attendance for missionaries so now missionaries can go to the temple on their pday with his approval! the only problem is that everyones pday is on monday and the temple is closed that day... oh wait, my pday is saturday!!! temple here i come!!! i hope... we still need presidents approval.

We had our zone activity this week and we changed our pday to monday just for this week so thats why im writing today.

 Our zone after the zone meeting

CHALLENGE: Lately i have been studying covenants a lot and also the role of the 3 members of the Godhead. Primarily i have been studying to relationship between our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. It is extremely interesting and has brought me a lot of good questions that have strengthened my testimony and deepened my desire to learn more about the gospel and to study it in depth. I invite all of you to study more about Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost and find how each of these distinct personages have influenced your life how they continue to influence and bless you. I promise that as you study the scriptures and pray about what you study, pure truths will be revealed to you as you study though the Holy Ghost.

I love you all!
Elder Wagner

Week Fifty and a half: EFY!

This is a sweet hat that was made by a sister in our ward.
Im pretty excited about it. TMNT!

This week we got to go to EFY! it was pretty cool! we taught the kids how to teach the restarotion to their friends using a pamphlet really fast and powerfully and it actually helped us out a lot with using the pamphlets more and having shorter, more powerful lessons. There were about 50 missionaries who went.

me and elder garcia at the efy site

 

While we were at EFY i got to see my ward mission leader from my first area!!
He was there as an ex missionary to help us out.

We were stuck in the offices pretty much the entire second half of the week because we have a sick elder with us and he cant to go out and work in the field, but he is helping me out a lot organizing papers!!

me, elder peterson, and elder starley

I studied a lot of the restoration and im studying a lot of the sermon on the mount, so the CHALLENGE: is to read the Joseph smith testimony in the front of the book of mormon and pray to receive a testimony of it even if you already know! i have found that when i pray to know with more certainty, Heavenly Father gives me even more of a testimony and i love it!

I love you all! 

Elder Wagner

Week Forty-nine and a half: Interviews with President Egginton

Me with a mini banana

Yesterday i had my interview with President Egginton and the first thing he asked me was how long i had been financial secretary. I told him a little over 7 months and he said "Holy mamacita!!!" hahaha. we talked about different options for finding my replacement and pretty much came to the conclusion that i will have to wait until November to start training his brother in law who will be coming to the mission with his wife. that means i would be leaving the offices a little over a year after i got here and would be leaving just before christmas. President told me "Well, im sorry. its kinda sucky that youre gonna have to be here for so long, but ill think about it and see what i can do to get you out of here" So hopefully with enough fasting and prayer i can get out of the offices before then, but if not ill just have to stand in the office in which i have been appointed and work diligently having faith in Christ. We also did the interview in english witch was a lot more laid back and i liked that.

Elder Mills who went home about two weeks ago
 (he picked me up from the airport as my first AP
 and was AP when i got to the offices) and me

Me and Elder Balbuena
(my third AP and Elder Mills companion as AP when i got to the offices)

This week we worked pretty normal and didnt have anything too exciting happen in the offices.. but outside of the offices we have been having some really great things happening! We got a reference from the secretaries from the other mission (one of the elders who gave it to us was actually one of my zone leaders in the MTC, Elder McGregor) and we couldnt seem to get in contact with the reference. finally, we called the other elders to confirm the address and everything and i realized i had written down the address and everything perfect but for some reason i was ringing the doorbell of apartment 4 in stead of 3! so we went back and after about 5 minutes of ringing to doorbell and waiting we were turning around to leave and we saw two women walking up to the entrance. we asked them if they knew rosalba and she said thats me! so we got to know her and her daughter and taught them really quick because we had to get home. then we visited them 2 days ago and we didnt get much time to teach them but tonight they are going to come to a baptism we are having and were going to teach them afterward! they are really receptive and willing to pray and go to church and everything so hopefully all goes well tonight and they come to church tomorrow! oh and her daughters name is Paloma (dove in english) and shes studying to be an engineer so thats pretty cool!

Me and Elder Neddo
 (my first Zone Leader)

Challenge: When i got to the offices, one of the assistants (Elder Mills) gave me a talk by someone with the last name of Skousen, that speaks about the plan of salvation and why its so important that Jesus Christ carried out the atonement. This talk drove me to study even deeper into the scriptures about this subject and i have found some JEWELS! so, i invite all of you to read Alma, chapters 40-42 in the book of mormon. it talks about the atonement and the plan of salvation and what will happen after we die. ITS AMAZING. READ IT.

Thank you for being to great people you are! Thank you to those of you who helped me come on the mission and those who continue to support me! i can honestly say that going on a mission is the best decision i have ever made in my life and it has changed me beyond belief in the best ways imaginable! THANK YOU! I LOVE YOU ALL!

-Elder Wagner