Week Sixty-seven: Giant Rabbit

This week I learned about the importance of keeping in contact with investigators. We had plans to have about 5 different investigators in church this Sunday and then we lost contact with them and were only able to get 2 of them to church :(

Oscar Pantoja was one of them and we pretty much had to get him out of bed and drag him to church and the other investigator that came was Oscar Davalos who is an investigator who we found by searching through the former investigators in the area book. Its great that they came to church, but we still have a lot of work to do with them to get them ready for baptism. We´ll see how things go this week.

Andrea was doing so great and promised to come to the movie night we had saturday night, but she never showed up and we were'nt able to confirm our plans with her before sunday morning and when the member showed up to church, she wasn't with him and we were'nt able to ask what happened because we were busy taking care of the other two investigators. So this week we are going to have a ton of contact with her so she goes to church!

In the mission, we have changed a lot since i got here. Nowadays we are focusing in a lot on the less actives in the ward. President Egginton told us that in Mexico there are 1.5 million members and there are .5 million active members. Yeah its pretty heavy stuff. So we have been working with a few families in the ward and one of them is the Limón family. This week we went to visit them and we found out they have a massive rabbit named Tambor (in English: drum). *Photo attached below. The family has been making progress and were really exited for them.

Tambor

Lately, Elder Gonzalez and I have been really tired. Most of the streets here are made of rock. I don't think I have a picture, but I'll take one this week to show you what it's like. To show you what Elder Gonzalez thinks about walking all day on these streets, I took the liberty of capturing his exhaustion in a picture.

Elder Gonzales giving into exhaustion :)

The scripture I chose to ponderize this week is... D&C 82:10. Its so simple and direct. I love it.

Challenge/Spiritual thought for the week: Put your trust in The Savior. This week I heard a quote that went something like this "In stead of telling your God you have a big problem, tell your problem that you have a big God". Sometimes we see all the overwhelming problems we have and we think that by just praying we can have God fix it for us. Almost everday I teach people that faith leads us to action. So when we have a problem, we should remember that just having faith that God will fix it isn't sufficient. Our Heavenly Father requires action on our part so we can learn and grow. So when you run into a problem remember that you have a loving Heavenly Father who is at your side ready to help you out. All you have to do is ask for help and give it your all knowing that God will be fighting right along your side.

Thank you for all your love, support, and prayers! I love you all!

With love, Elder Wagner

Week Sixty-six: Transfers and Divisions

Elder Stirling (from Pleasant Grove Utah) arrived on the mission with me

Elder Clifford (from my district in the MTC)

This week i was outside of my area for 3 full days in divisions and i was able to do it with 2 elders who arrived to mission with me! First i had divisions with Elder Stirling (from pleasant grove utah) and then i had divisions with Elder Clifford (from my district in the MTC) *pictures one and two. Elder Clifford and i went to a family home evening and they gave us tamales!! *picture 3. But we had transfers today and now neither of them are in my zone :( but the work goes on!

Elder Clifford and I enjoying some homemade tamales!

Neither my companion or i had transfers this week, so we will be together for another 5 or 6 weeks at the least. there is something weird with the next transfer dates because of Christmas, but i guess well find out when it gets closer!

This friday we had our zone meeting and it was really good! i also got so see some elders who finished their mission today who i met really early on in the mission (picture attached). we also did an activity to continue learning our foreign language (the latinos practiced english and we practiced spanish) and in this activity we had to reenact the first vision and i was selected as Joseph Smith, so ill send another email with some pictures of that and also some pictures of the zone.

Farewell Elder!

Here are the pictures from our language activity in the zone meeting and some pictures of the zone!

Farewell Elder!

Elder Gonzalez and I have been working really hard and have seen a lot of results!! the other day we looked over how much the area has improved since we got here and we are really happy with what we have achieved. HARD WORK BRINGS RESULTS AND BLESSINGS! We have been working a lot with Alejandra and she has been progressing really well! she came to church yesterday with her daughter and her daughter went up on the stand and "participated" in the primary program (this week was the primary program! :D). In fact, Alejandra is progressing so fast that we are about to run out of stuff to teach her and she still needs to come to church 4 more times before she can be baptized! but its okay because now were going to work on her in laws and baptize them as well!

My scripture to ponderize: Alma 26:27. this scripture helped me a lot while i was in my training over a year ago and was struggling with the change of country, culture, and language.

Challenge: Bring a friend to church! its kind of like bring your child to work day, but a little different and there are eternal blessings for those who do it! This week we helped get an inactive family to church and it was so great to see them there and see their old friends! so find a friend and get them to church. it can be a less active member, an active friend, or a non member. I know from experience the joy that can be had for those who do it!

I love you guys!!!! thank you for all you do! thank you for your prayers!! Les amo muchísimo!

Con amor, Elder Wagner

Bonus Picture: Our district last change.
Elders: Left to right, Tzub, Tempest, Herbert, Clifford, Wagner, Gonzalez.
Sisters: Left to right, Villagomez, Mamani.

Week Sixty-five: Día de muertos

Photos compliments of Google Images

Today is the day of the dead here in Mexico. Its kind of weird because here in Mexico they double dip on the holidays this time of year. They celebrate Halloween, but they mostly just throw stuff at the buses and have parties and then on the day of the dead they mostly just use it as an excuse to not work. I know there is a real reason for the holiday but I've mostly just seen people with their faces painted like skulls. I think its a day that they use to remember the people who have passed away.

Dia de Muertos decorations in the mission area
Photo compliments of Sis. Egginton

We had a meeting this morning in the offices for the trainers and trainees at the half way point of the 12 week program, and we just barely got back to the area and washed our clothes and now we have very little time to write. Oh, and since its a holiday, a bunch of internet places were closed :(

P.day "activity" for this week was a training meeting.
The following photos are compliments of Sis. Egginton

Elder Wagner and Elder Gonzales, the dynamic duo!
Always looking so good and radiating happiness!

Well, this week we worked a lot with a new investigator named Alejandra. She is almost 30 years old and has a daughter named Lupita. In the last 2 weeks they have almost received all the missionary lessons! The only problem is that they couldnt come to church because Alejandras sister had a birthday party and she had promised prior that she would go, but she promised us that next week she will go. She was able to go to a baptism we had in the ward and she met some members, so we are pretty excited about her progress in that aspect.

Found! Elder Wagner! :)

Sorry about not having many cool experiences this week and for the mostly boring letter, but we have very little time to write :(

The mission is great!!!! Thank you for all your love and support! I love you all!!! 

Con amor, Elder Wagner

PS. my camera ran out of battery last week and I never remembered to charge it, so i couldnt take any pictures,,, sorry!

There he is again!
Can't get enough of that smile! 

Bonus Photos from October 31, 2015 Our district at a baptism

Photos compliments of Elder Clifford (tallest)
These pictures are pictures of my district from some baptisms on Saturday.

Week Sixty-four: Hurricane Patricia

 Hurricane Patricia survivors:
Left to right: Ramon, Zurita, Myself and Gonzalez

So this week Thursday we decided to travel to the offices to help out Elder Zurita the next day and return to our area Friday.... no one decided to tell us that the biggest hurricane to ever hit the northern hemisphere in recorded history was going to hit Guadalajara the very next day. So we arrived at the offices, stayed the night and the next day started working in the offices.... we then found out about hurricane Patricia. all of a sudden our leaders started calling us and telling us that we needed to be in our houses by  4 pm that day and also needed to buy food to last 2-3 days. Then Elder Zurita told us that they had known about the storm since Monday or Tuesday!!! Apparently they had already been making plans as everything but no one informed us haha but its all good because we ended up staying with the secretaries in their house! On Friday we played chess, watched "Seventeen Miracles", and played around with the soccer ball to pass the time and were prepared to stay all day Saturday in the house. When we woke up Saturday, we were really confused because it was only sprinkling outside and wasnt windy at all. Then our leaders said that everyone could work as if it was a normal day. We were all safe and nothing happened, but to be honest we were a little let down. We were so ready to bunker down and have a man cave day, but then it ended up just being a few hours of light rain. 

Nothing was damaged, and no one was hurt and that's the most important.

Elder Wagner and Oscar

Saturday We returned to our area and went with our investigator Oscar to the temple!  It was a miracle that we were able to go. the entire ward was  going to go, but then everyone got scared from the hurricane and almost no one went, but we still went on the bus with Oscar. After seeing to temple from outside, we went into the chapel next door to teach Oscar, but when we went inside, we found a bunch of missionaries from the other mission and found out they were having a baptism! So we stayed for the baptism and it was a great experience for Oscar. Also, he went to church yesterday, so we are hoping that within the next 3 or 4 weeks we can get him ready for his own baptism!!

Elder Gonzalez and Elder Wagz

We also had a great experience with a family in our ward yesterday, we went to eat at their house and then we met with them about which of their friends would be ready to receive the gospel. It took us a while, but it was all worth it. They gave us the names and addresses of 13 families that they are going to visit this week and Sunday they are going to give us a report!!! They are both returned missionaries and it shows!!! They are named the Yañez family. The father asked me if I have any relatives around the age of 70 or 80 who served a mission in Mexico because his father was baptized by an Elder Wagner, so there's some homework for you dad!!

Mexico Guadalajara Temple

Scripture to ponderize: Moroni 7:48 Pray to be filled with love.

Challenge: Yesterday at church one of the lessons was a metaphor about different types of seeds and the dirt they are planted in and the results of how the plant grows. There were 3 types of dirt, the shallow earth, the thorns, and the good soil. Long story short, the seeds that are in the shallow soil grow a little, but when challenges come along, they dont have the roots (or a real testimony) to withstand the trials and they are destroyed. The seeds in the thorns are surrounded by trials and cannot grow well and it is hard for them to see the light (someone who is surrounded by trials and cannot progress well). and finally, the good soil is where we can grow, be nourished and be nurtured by the word of God. WHERE ARE YOU PLANTED? The challenge this week is to search for the good soil and plant yourself there! If you are in the shallow soil or in the thorns, get out and plant yourself where the Lord can nourish you!!!

I love you all so much! Thank you for all your prayers and support!

Con amor, Elder Wagner

Mexico Guadalajara Temple at night

Week Sixty-three: Visit from Elder Durrant with video and photos

Meeting Elder Durrant
 (who used to live in the same neighborhood as Elder Wagner's mom)

Elder Gonzalez, Oscar (investigator), Rogelio (Recent convert), and I

This week was going fine and normal until Wednesday night.. we had eaten really spicy food 2 days in a row. Disclaimer: the food was more spicy for my Mexican companion than it was for me. But then Wednesday night i felt really weird and felt the second round of spiciness in the bathroom before going to bed. then Thursday i woke up and felt really crappy and we went out and worked because i thought it was something small that i was going to get over in a few days. then it got better then worse, but the worst part was a raging headache and i didnt want to eat anything. we only went to our appointments and then went back to the house to rest until Saturday. Saturday morning we got up early and had a meeting with Elder Durrant which ill tell more about after this story. we got back from the meeting (during the meeting i felt fine and didnt have many symptoms of sickness) but when we got back i felt really bad and pretty much just went to sleep. Sunday morning i woke up and had a huuuge headache and couldnt even get out of bed to go to church, so later in the afternoon, the bishops sons took us to the hospital and they told me i had a stomach infection (big surprise) and they gave me an iv and medicine right there on the spot. yesterday i stiff felt sick so we didnt get to leave the house, but today i feel a lot better and we were able to get the necessities done and thats why im writing on Tuesday! Welcome to Mexico! the land of delicious food that you love and hate at the same time because it gets you sick!!!

Elder Del Toro and I. This was also my last time seeing Elder Del Toro (tear)

Elder Toala and I. This was the last time I"ll see Elder Toala
before we are both back from the mission.
He's going to play football for UW, so look out for him!

Meeting with Elder Durrant: They told us about a week ago i think, or maybe two that we were going to be meeting with him so we were pretty excited. my first thought when he walked into the room; holy cow this guy is huge!!! he is seriously like 6,8 or something like that. hes enormous!!! and he speaks Spanish! it surprises me to see how many leaders in the church speak Spanish. He is the first counselor in the presidency of Sunday school for the church, so he did a lot of activities with us to help us learn how we can teach better and be better missionaries and i liked it a lot. he helped me realize that i need to get to know the New Testament better hehe. 

Thanks for all your prayers and love!!! I love you guys!!!

Con cariño, Elder Wagner

Elder Wagner with his buddies Elder Del Torres and Elder Clifford
at the Leadership Conference 

(Left Elder Gonzalez) Elder Wagner and Clifford with their "sons".
(Missionaries whom they are training)

Elder's Gonzalez, Tzub with their "dads" Elder Wagner and Clifford
Wagner and Clifford were in the same district in the MTC

Below is a video clip of the leadership conference that Elder Durrant taught in. 

Elder Wagner can been seen in it at 1:10 and 4:54

Below are random photo's from Hermana Egginton that she posted on Facebook: