Juticalpa Week 35

It has been a good week (what looks to have been my last here in juticalpa) My heart is with all of you for the funeral of Grandma Wagner. 

Speaking of which, in reference to this week, i had a cool experience about Grandma.  On Sunday, in priesthood, (we have Sunday school, then priesthood, then sacrament mtg here) the branch presidency asked me to give a talk, last second -- haha. But i literally had no idea what to talk about. As we entered the sacrament meeting, i still had no idea what to say. But, upon pondering as I took the sacrament, and thinking about the Atonement and what it is has offered for me, I began to think about how, with out the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, I and everyone else would not have a chance for eternal life. And that i could not see my family again. Then i thought about Grandma Wagner, and her recent passing. As i thought about these things, I got called to speak and I began to bear my testimony of the Plan of Salvation, and how i knew, with 100 surety that I would see grandma again, all thanks to Our Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ. I talked about how we shouldn't lose these basic truths that we have thanks to the restored gospel, and i shared Moroni 10:32, about how can become perfected in Christ, thanks to His grace, if we do our part. I felt the Spirit testifying strongly through me about these simple truths that we have, and that we should do all that we can to help others to understand these truths. 

What a great experience that was, and I am so grateful for the Spirit guiding me and also comforting me with this knowledge that we have. Grandma Wagner will be missed, but, we will all we able to see her again, becuase of what Christ did for each and every one of us. How grateful i am for the Atonement!

Other things that happened this week: we have found a bunch of families, and I know that we can bring one of them to baptism! Already they are reading and praying about the book of Mormon, and like these 5 families couldn't come to church this Sunday but the next. I have a surety that at least one will get baptized (the most positive is a couple that is married!!) She had a great experience reading the book of mormon and praying, and she told us so excitedly that she had hugged the Book of Mormon despues haha. 

the fecha we have, David is awesome, he is the only investigator i have had so far who does the additional study questions in the back of the pamphlets haha. super cool. a shame i'm leaving tomorrow (we think so, but we haven't received the call yet) It has a been a good time with elder paz, i have learned a bunch from him, and he now isn't pedro anymore (haha i got him to talk more animatedly and stuff ) We'll see where i go next... 

Also i had a crazy dog experience! there was one dog down this one street and elder paz is always so scared, but i was like, lets go down here, and then literally 20 dogs came out from the monte (mountain), the super tall grass and they almost started to chase us, luckily we didn't run. I think the Lord protected us on that one. 

I love you everyone! Saludos a todos! 

Elder Wagner says hi to all of the cousins and aunts and uncles! 

Love,

Elder Wagner

Click Here for a link to Riley's Grandmother's obituary.

Juticalpa Week 34

wow great to hear from y'all. the emails were all great.

Alright so the reason i'm writing today and not yesterday is because we went to these crazy caves in catacamas! but the zone leaders planned it pretty poorly so we didn't get back until 6 at night, without dinner or lunch. so i don't think the missionaries from juticalpa are going to be able to go to the caves again. But yeah we got back and then the power went out. The power goes out so often its so frustrating because we cant work. 

But yeah other than that we had a good week, with Sunday an answer from our prayers. we've really been struggling because we don't have any people we know that we are going to baptize for sure for sure, so we were just praying so hard and working so hard that we could get, at least one new investigator to church who can be ready to be baptized (because our others just have problems that have been insurmountable.} i think with the Kevin guy, he is moving to the states, without his girlfriend, so we hope that we can give him the dates to get baptized there in Miami. i swear everyone here goes to Miami. And Devin is still coming to church, he just has mighty struggles with smoking and he returned to drinking, which kind of was not good . But yeah the miracle from God was that our prayer was answered miraculously on sunday!!! A guy named david showed up, he had been with the missionaries for like 2 years ago, and he went to church a couple of times but then had moved. But yeah he is super fijo for the 14 of november. But yeah transfers are next week, and it looks like i will leave (we dont know yet, but it is highly probable) sure gonna miss juticalpa, it has been hard here but i have learned a lot. 

Oh haha i used a new way to ask for references, i call i the 'pity' way, and it's worked!!! I just talk how we are sweating all day under this dang sun, and we want to know where your friends live. haha we've been getting way more! 

Oh yeah the caves were super cool!!! and cheap! if i come back to Honduras i'd take y'all there. it was super chill because the guide just let us go off the path a lot and there were so many bats. and at the end there was a cemetery with dead people from 300-700 before Christ, super interesting slash scary haha. they said there was a lot of unexplored stuff too, it was huge, with lots of passages. 

I love y'all! I really wish i could be with everyone at Grandmas funeral, but yeah that is super cool that me and Tyler are honorary pall bearers, made me tear up a bit reading that. It just brings me back to the absolute trueness of the gospel, it really gives us so much peace. 

And way to go Jacquie for testifying at work!! Happy birthday and that's awesome!

i'm planning on buying stuff on Monday before i leave here, i bet the nativities will show up like in December. i will keep my eyes peeled.

love yall! 

Love, Elder Wagner

Juticalpa Week 33

Hey family!

writing somewhat late today because we decided to embark at 530 in the morning to go and climb this mountain! it was super fun but yeah we got to some serious jungle craziness. i found a baby snake. we also found this guy who decided to guide us through the jungle coffee growth and we were just following him it was nuts i ran into this huge beehive, and the four sister missionaries were right behind me luckily i didn't get stung or anything i just ran, but unfortunately they got bitten a few times. i really didn't mean to and all i could do was just tell them to run! haha. but yeah we are super tired haha. 

Yeah so last night the power went out at like 5 so we just hung out at the house all night and i got the call from mission presidents wife that Grandma Wagner had passed away.  We have all lost a great teacher and mother, and Grandma Wagner will be greatly missed. But, as I thought about it all, How grateful i am for the Gospel, and our knowledge of the Plan of Salvation! It gives us all so much hope and peace, and we know that Grandma is now happy, freed from the pains of mortal life. I am so grateful for that, that we know what happens after death, and, thanks to Our Savior, we will all overcome death. God really is our loving Heavenly Father.

But yeah this week was interesting we did a bunch of contacting on Tuesday . and on Wednesday we had a super powerful lesson with our investigator, Kevin (the one that reads the blog haha, he keeps showing us pictures) The problem is that he is going to the states soon and doesn't want to get married :(   

However! We found a super hilarious guy named Kewin, he is so funny! and he really is looking for the truth! like during the 1st lesson he like changed his seating position and just ripped his pants! and then it happened again so he went and changed in the middle of the lesson. I was laughing so hard and so was he hahaha. We also had interviews with President, which basically took all day. The sun seemed super bright this week and a lot of mud from the rain. Also i had a good fast, and we had a super great branch council, it think the branch is going to fast to help us find families. 

Good week overall, i m really trying to be and get animated! Cheerful! my ponderized scrip was from 2 Nephi 10:26.  it talked about that we have the power to choose eternal life, and that we must cheer up our hearts! 

Love you! 

Love, Elder Wagner

Elder Wagner and Fred the snake

Juticalpa Week 32

general conference was sick i feel so fat spiritually and so pumped to work this week. I also felt that it went by wayyy too fast haha. But no yeah it was awesome, like many of you, I loved Larry Lawrences talk! It was so applicable! I also learned a lot from the talk eyring gave on the Holy Ghost.. Also it was an amazing experience to watch and hear the testimonies of the 3 new apostles. I also loved bednars talk about the old apsotles and how they combat with age. Unfortunately only one investigator came to conference, after a week of inviting everyone :/ BUT, he is super awesome looking for the truth. Haha he found the blog mom! and he showed us the pic of me and elder paz. problem is that he has a girlfriend. 

But yeah we had quite the experience Thursday or Friday. It was late, and we didn't have anything to do but contact, so i asked, kind of in frustration, which calle, this one that one or this one, and elder paz was like This one! so we went, found this house (we both could've sworn that we had contacted this house before... and that we had talked with this woman before... it was like  a deja vu or something) but then she let us in and we just started talking to her and her husband. After getting to know them, we had an amzing 1st lesson, and she told us after that she had prayed that morning at 3 for guidance in her life. So we answered their prayers! it was so cool, and they accepted the restoration. The problem is that the guy needs to divorce his old wife and then we have to marry them.. (But gratefully they have money and are willing to do the sacrifice to pay for their wedding to be baptized!) Sure was an answer to our prayers, because other than that we really haven't had all that much success. I know that the Lord watches us and continues to guide us, and sometimes we just have to be super patient until He answers. 

I also started this week off PONDERIZE

i hope everybody one can ponderize a scripture every week!!! i want to hear back from yall on the scriptures you chose and how it went

haha hope yall have a good week! its been quite rainy and at the same time super hot. lots of mud. and the power goes out like all of the time here so annoying

Love y'all!!

Love Elder Wagner

Elder Wagner & Elder Paz

Elder Wagner

Juticalpa Week 31

Hey family!! 

good to hear from y'all!!! this week was filled with lots of work! Elder Paz and I set a goal to have 10 people in church this Sunday, so we decide to have 20 people commit to come to church. so yeah we really worked hard this week, found a lot of new people as well.

However,we only had 3 in church,. a little frustrating because we went all out woke up super early and did divisions with or lider misional and a rm and we went to walk some investigators but they basically rejected us. so this week we just have to find better people who wont lie to us, it reminds me Of what president nelson told us when he was here, that if an investigator lies and doesn't keep his/ her appointment or doesn't go through commitments, they definitely are not honest enough to take upon themselves the covenant of baptism. Presdient Ferman has really focused on that as well, that we really need way better converts. Speaking of which, we've been really working hard with Devin, we put another fecha for the 17 this month (3rd times the charm ) he will be an amazing convert he just still has his problem with smoking. But we are going to fast with him this week and also give him a blessing.that, coupled with prayers of faith and his study of the Book of Mormon will get him to baptism and true conversion. Other than that the other guy we were teaching who is quitting smoking just started working on Sundays :/  But on Friday we had intercambios with the zone leaders and i went to catacamas and elder paz found an awesome prepared guy! He came to church, and he has really been searching the truth. We will see with that.

other than that, we had a pretty crazy Sunday because I gave a talk like last minute lol and elder paz taught gospel principles and we both taught elders quorum. Really felt like we were carrying the branch. But yeah we had an excellent ward council afterwards, and we are really starting to gain their confidence. It has been really cool to see how this branch has changed since i first saw it. 

ate a bread. called {pan de pan{  bread of bread? but it was super delicious. Ony have the goldfish left, but i do feel fatter. We've been running in the mornings. crazy stuff haha.

super pumped for conference. But i think our leaders might make a rule that if we don't have investigators we wont be able to watch some :/ but hopefully we can bring everyone and their mom to church this weekend.

Love y'all!!!

May we never lose the awe of Atonement, and of the restored truths that we know, including the Book of Mormon and that fact that we have a living prophet that guides this church.

Love, Elder Wagner

Elder Wagner at a well

Elder Paz fixing a well

Elder Wagner

Elder Wagner again 

killing ants

Looking for people to teach  ;)

a little pizza time

Juticalpa Week 30

hey familia!

this was a good week, filled with lots of finding and trying to replace investigators that just aren't progressing (or we cant find them haha) (or they don't answer their phones) 

but yeah! lunes the power went out again, so we couldn't work :( 

butt martes we had a big day found a lot of new people to teach.

this week alejandro, the one with the super powerful tstimnoy on the book of mormon... his now pregnant gf doesnt want anything to do with us :/ but hes so awesome!! 

another guy 51 yer old israel came to church for the 2nd time, we have him for the 3rd of octover, looking pretty good there, we hope and pray that he can cumplir con la palabra de sabiduria and castidad. 

Devin! we put antoher date for the 26th! he is down to 2 cigarrettes ad ay and now is dropping that and coffee cold turkey (and he hasnt drank for like a 1 montha nd a half now!) 

alos en jjueve s we found a old guy and he came to church with us! he just is super old, has a hernia (a really bad one, it stikcs out eeekk haha) 

OH AND ON FRIDAY I GOT MY PACKAGES (haha emily sent me one too ) 

IM SO HAPPY AND NOT HUNGRY

Also i have very good plans to put sausage in the mac and cheese

fruit snacks

TWINKIES

oh and the slim jims are so dope, i gave the latinos a couple and they went crazy over them haha. but yes, thanks so much for the package mom:) and the pictures of my nephew!! 

on domingo was a really slow day... and then all of our good appointments at night fell. So it was like 7 at night, and we really had no idea what to do, so we decided to pray. we were so tired bec we had pretty much walked and contacted all day,  but I know God answers prayers and HE gave us strength, energy and also the Spirit , which guided us to 2 guys who talked to missionaries in tegucigalpa, but then they moved. I just know that God is alwasy there, and we have to be Patient, patient not meaning not doing anything and waiting, but, waiting whilst doing and working. working with teh firm hope that God will go through with His promises. That is true patience. 

I love you guys! transfers tomorrow so that'll be interesting, elder paz and i staying here for another change for sure. The Gospel really is true, and there literally so many blessings waiitng for us, all we have to do is obey. 

I CANT wiat for general conference! (those tlaks if you send me them need to be in mp3 format)

Love, Elder Wagner

Juticalpa Week 29

Hey fam!

this was a pretty awesome week actually, we saw a lot of results of our hard work this week. Although like 2 or 3 times in the night the light went out like at 6ish 7 which was super annoying because we aren't allowed to work when there is now power. We almost went to the appointments we had, but then i was like, would mom want me walking around in complete darkness? haha so we obeyed, and the guy we usually have apppointments with at like 7 at night, devin, va a bautizarse este sabado. so there's not much damage from that, i know that there are lots of blessings from being obedient. But yeah we really kicked of the week good, me and Elder Paz have really been planing more efficiently, and in pretty much all of the lessons we are super unified. Which is awesome. The time with elder paz is really going by super fast.

But yeah we found some really awesome investigators!! We found this 51 year old israel, we put a date with him and he came to church! and his former wife is a member! she goes to the other rama. And we also found an awesome 19 year old, alejandro. Like we taught him the restaauracion en la calle, and then the next day we gave him a book of mormon. then the next day! we showed up and had prayed and he said he felt something that he had never ever felt before, something so good and great, and he knew that what we've been teaching him is true. He also came to church and is super animated for his baptism (except we found out that he has a gf..., but well work with that. We also have a couple that came to church too and we are planning to marry them and baptize them. looks like we are going to be hurting on food haha. 

yesterday was sweet, always love the opportuntiy to fast, even though it can be super hard. 

also we were teaching a lesson to a family and this car parks and started blasting nickebalk, if today was your last day... hahah idk but it really pumped me up in the lesson to teach and be the instrument in the lords hands to have the Spirit /(although it is always hard here to have good environments for the Spirit because there is always loud music regaton stuff. 

but yeah a super awesome week. but yeah elder paz really has taught me a lot, last week when i was struggling (and him too) because like there are other missionaries here that have way more baptisms and everything, and they are so disobedient. But elder paz showed me the scrip in mosiah where it talks about the peopel who were patient in their afflictions. flip i cant think of where it is exactly haha. 

mom- yeah we are going to teguc this wednesday so i should get my package then. also with the general conf talks, they need to be in mp3 format to work. and if you could get me some efy music that would be dope! or motab too:)

love yall!! thanks for all of your prayers in my behalf!

Love, Elder Wagner

Elder Paz's first baptism

Elder Bingham, Elder Wagner, Elder Paz