Tegucigalpa Week 43

Happy new year! 

wow this week i complete the year mark! super crazy i think i am going to order a pizza that night or something. but yeah the time sure is flying. This week was alright, it was basically impossible to work the 31st and the 1st, but that's okay. new years here was exactly like the 24th and 25th. 

and we kind of received a giant bummer sandwich this week, we had an investigator who was going good for baptism this saturday, he had stopped smoking for a week, but then the 31st he drank and smoked an entire packet of cigarros. and he felt so bad and discouraged that now he doesn't want anything to do with us, but oh well we will keep working with a good spirit! 

Since Marvin has been back we have been working with him, and he has been showing us a bunch of his friends, and he came to church with his friend kevin and we challenged him to baptism in the church! so that was a cool blessing, we had been fasting and praying for a baptismal date, because Oscar had fallen. So that was definitely a tender mercy from padre celestial. }

We found a golden family that is ready for the gospel, and they were going to come to church this sunday, but then their dang granddaughter was born Saturday night! haha we were pretty bummer, but hopefully this week they can come. 

but yeah that was pretty much it, this transfer is starting to wind down, the changes are the 19th. elder gomez is a good guy, we have been working well together. 

nothing much else... oh this week we found a super interesting family that are like hindi/buddhist, but at the same time they believe in the bible and in Jesus Christ. krisna i think it was called. but yeah.

okay well happy new year! hope y'all have made great resolotuinos and plan to follow through with them! One of my metas is to develop a really really great relationship with padre celestial. I also want to take advantage of every day here, the time is going by too fast.

Alright well love you all! hAVE a great week!

Love Elder Wagner

Tegucigalpa Week 42

Good week it was great to talk to you all! this time was way better. i think last time i got super homesick but this time nothing at all! which was great! but yeah it was great to see you all time really has been flying by. 

But yeah like i was saying Christmas here was absolutely nuts. And it was pretty hard for the obra misional too. Like the 24th all day everyone started drinking and all day they are setting off fireworks (cuetes) and it felt like we were in a war zone iit was nuts. But yeah it sure didn't feel like Christmas at all, really sad actually. Couldn't sleep at all because music was blasting all night from the apartment above and below. And they light off these dinamte sticks which are crazy super loud, and rushes of air would enter into our apartments it was nuts. And then the 25th it was like a ghost town. But yeah we ate lot lots of food, torejas and nacatamales (basically tamales) . ANd grapes and apples. But people have been telling us that the 31st is going to be even crazier, which kinda sucks because these party things really slow down the work. But i imagine in January the field will be ripe.

ON sunday the temple president of honduras gave a talk in our ward it was super awesome. He talked of the stories of how the members would have to travel a week to get to the temple in arizona. Then of like 5 days to mexicol. Then of the day trip´to Guatemala. He talked of those faith building experiences of saving up to go for a weary travel trip. And then he gave us some really interesting statistics, of how MORE people from outside of tegucigalpa are coming to the temple than from the people super close. because he told of how pueblos from nicargua making thee sacrifices to come here, and the members here just take the tempmle here for granted. It was really great talk. 

What else? oh really funny there is this fat white guy super shy who served his mission here 11 years ago and got a girlfriend here. Haha its really pathetic but i guess its good hes still trying. 

Oh and my convert Marvin got here from San Pedro! He is so strong! We are going to have a sick week this week talking to all of his friends and stuff.

Well I love you guys! The mission is awesome!

Love Elder Wagner

Elder Wagner talking with his family- Christmas Day 2015

Tegucigalpa Week 41

This week was crazy first we had the mission Christmas activity with half of the mission there. but elder paz wasn't there i still haven't seen him since i left him (haha he has called me a couple of times tho). but yeah the activity was super weird we got to watch Hotel Transylvania 2 ( i was pretty bummed because last year they watched frozen) but I laughed so much during that movie holy cow it entertained me so much. but then i felt super bad because of all the worldly things that were in the movie. 

On Friday we had a crazy day, because the night before we started to fast because our 3 baptismal dates fell so we were fasting, then we had district meeting, and then I had to interview the two dates the sisters had. basically we ended up fasting for ever and we were so weak, but then we returned to our area, and went back up (because where the sisters are they are like on top of this mountain thingy) and the lady and her daughter showed up to the baptism but then they didn't want to anymore. It was crazy and the sisters were crying it was nuts. it was hard for them because their area is hard and they had a bunch of members at the baptism waiting the font was full. crazy stuff. but yeah later our three dates for this Saturday accpeted otra vez, so much power in the fast. 

On church we had the primary program like 238 peopel came it was crazy full the kids are so awesome and spiritual. It was a good day, only a little bad because i had a crazy bout of diarrhea satruday night i hardly didnt sleep. but now i'm better. but yeah we had 6 inv in the church, things are going well. 

Hope you have a great festive week! super jealous about star wars! 

love you all!

love elder wagner

Tegucigalpa Week 40

o sea, you gotta GRAB THE BULL BY THE HORNS! hahah that phrase came into my mind as i studied diligencia this week, i love when i get sweet revelation like that.

But yeah, we didn't have changes this week! so me and elder gomez are here together until January for sure! so that was pretty cool, one of the sisters got changed so things are going pretty good here in country. 

Also! I got two packages this week! One from Mom and one from Rissa! yippee! i love the memory stick with the talks and the music! except elder gomez doesn't like them because he cant understand the talks, but i've been teaching him English little by little

This week i really just felt the incluence of the Spirit on my life here. I have been counting my blessings and writing them down every day, its crazy how the Lord blesses me. 

But yeah we had a good week 6 people came to church! And president ferman spoke in our ward, so that was cool. But yeah we have 3 baptism for the 26 from a less active family and i think we are going to baptize a family in January! but we have to marry them and the problem is that now us missionaries we cant pay for the wedding, so we have to do fundraisers (which is good because the family sees the sacrifice and it motivates them) . But yeah not much else happened this week.

trying to think of what else happened this week... 

well, hope you have a great Christmas final week! Christmas will be strange here, everyone says like the 24th is a crazy holiday and everyone is drinking and there's fireworks, i think we enter the house super early that day. 

But yesh thanks so much for the packages! Ive been giving slim jims to investigators and members, they think they are so weird! haha. perhaps an idea for packages is chocalate. chocolate is super expensive here and the people love it! haha

okay well love y'all! have a fantastic week! make sure to read your scriptures every day and your daily prayers, it will help in the long run! and immediately too!

Love, Elder Wagner

Tegucigalpa Week 39

Hey Family! 

Had another good week, and we have two baptisms this week! Marvin, a 28 year old guy who has really turned it around and adrian a 9 year old kid from a less active family.

After we wrote we played like 3 hours of basketball with all of the gringos here it was super fun like they're so many elders here in the city got to see elder dunn. Also, this week i learned it is WAY harder to contact here. The people in Juticalpa were so so nice and everyone would let us in, so there i learned to be super direct with the people to figure out who. But here, super dificil. but luckily the memebrs are so good here we have been getting lots of references. Also we met witht eh stake president last night to talk about teh missionary work and we have this sick movie nighgt planned for navidad and i think we are going to invite presdient ferman and we are also going to have lessons in the house of the stake presdiente and with our bishop. Through this way, we will really gain the confidence of all of the members. ON saturday i had interchanges with myZL elder Thorn! It was super awesome i learned so much and he is super cool. 

Oh yeah i guess a little more about elder gomez, he is super chill, still learning and stuff, but yeah super chill doesnt get mad and wants to work. He is from guatemala and he has crossed the border 3 times, all unsuccessfully resulting in deporting flights from houston to guatemala. haha but hes super cool. 

oh hey are we like at war with siria? Everyone and their mom here are saying that I am at war with siria. its weird not knowing the news and stuff.

Oh and today we went to Picaccho!! It is this giant Jesus statue on top of this mountatin that overlooks teguc its super cool! its in the other mission but we got permission, i wonder if cole ever went? but yeah it was crazy to see the airplanes land and cool to see all of our churches with teh white pointy points. and teh temple. 

We also reread the dedicatory prayer that Elder Nelson gave in 1991 at that same spot, and then we read our mission letter calls. Super spiritual and quiet up there, and it reminded me so much of my experiences in the mountains in young mens.

Have a great week!

Love yall! 

Elder Wagner

Tegucigalpa Week 38

Hey family!

This week was a good week, with a baptism! Super awesome, and there's more coming! Its been awhile since my last baptism, so that was nice, but it was a little crazy because he showed up 4 hours late lol but everything turned out okay, he{s come to church now 8 weeks in a row and has left behind alcohol and smoking, which is super duper! haha.

I really like this ward, and i really have fallen in love with  doing noche de hogar with everyone. Since we eat a lot here, i have extra money to buy ice cream for the family home evenings, which everyone loves (including me haha,, i bought this Neapolitan ice cream and the people here love it but i just couldnt help but remember the experiences we've had with Neapolitan ice cream haa with dad lol.  

But yeah a we had a sweet NDH with a menos activo family, and they have 4 daughters who are above 8 years old and arent baptized, and they came to church!!!! And Marvin is doing great, going to be baptized on the 28th, along with a couple of others. 

People here already have their christmas trees up and going and christmas lights, which is fun. this rich family gave us cinnamon rolls last night holy crap it was so delicious and they gave us hot chocolate because now its winter here apparently haha

oh yeah mom the lady who facebooked you is a recent convert she gave us the referecne of norlan who we baptized. 

I ve really learned a lot about patience this week with teh hermanas, it seems theyre always sick, but thats okay. 

cant think much of what else happened this week. We're really gonna start working for december!

A cool thing to imagine what Elder Duncan told us is to imagine stakes where there are only wards. It really helps us to imagine and to have to vision to have lots of success. Can you imagine a stake in the olive knolls ward? crazy stuuff.

But yeah solid week love yall! This work is true!

Love Elder Wagner

Tegucigalpa Week 37

hey peeps! 

Solid week, i love the ward here! Bunches and bunches of referecias, and we have a baptism this saturday! Norlan, 18 years old, its dope! We are really encouraging him to prepare for a mission.

Also, we put a date with Marvin, who just separated from his wife, he is 28 years old, super awesome, he knows a lot because he was in a bunch of other churches, but yeah! 

What else happened?

Oh yeah, Elder Kevin R. Duncan, the president fo the central american presidency area vino! It was super awesome, we learned a crapton! These men seriosuly are servants of the Lord and tehy are called from God. He really animated us to have a bunch of progressing investigadores and to envision a stake, where there are only branches. But yeah super great. 

We also did a super cool activity where we put a table in the middle of a neighborhood with a bunch of pamphlets and liahonas and we just contacted a bunch. It actually worked really well! This one dude who lived in frisco texas that i had contacted came to church! And this week we are going to start the english classes, which will really help us to have more and more investigators.

Church is super awesome here, we don't have to teach sunday school or priesthood, which is awesome because we can just worry about the investigators making friendships with members. Although thsi sunday the power was out all morning, so we had a church without lights (imagine that back home) luckily the chruches here have windows

What more? 

Oh Elder Duncan showed us this video of missionaries in guatemala who shared a message with a member family, and then went and knocked their neighbors doors with the family, contacting them and inviting them to  a family home evening (i had thought the video was fake because the neighbors were so positive) But we decided to do this with a recent convert family and holy crap it worked! References are so awesome! 

My birthday was good, that was the day Marvin accepted his baptismal date. A family bought me a donut and sang to me happy birthday, so that was fun. this ward is great. 

I hope everyone has a great week, filled with work, studies, and of course daily prayer adn scripture study:)

I love yall!

Love, Elder Wagner

p-s. the water here is SO COLD holy crap it takes a lot of willpower to shower in the mornings, 

and a member washes our clothes for free, so thats nice. but we have to dry the clothes. maybe i should wash my sheets

Tegucigalpa Week 36

Hey family!! 

I really loved all those photos form the funeral.

I have had a pretty crazy week this week, filled with LOTS of change!! so last Monday was my last day with elder paz we put two fechas with two familias there, super dope, i was pretty bummed to leave juticalpa. And on tuesday, all of the missionaries who had changes we all met up at the capilla at the temple! it was super cool to see all of my buddies, like elder dunn and just a bunch of other missionaries. So now i am here in the city! The city is nuts! Its completely different! I am here with elder gomez, he is from guatemala and he came in the same group as elder paz. But yeah its like all concrete here pretty ugly, but not as hot, which is nice. the water in the morning here is super freezing But yeah the barrio here is super strong, i look forward to working off of references here, we already put a baptismal date with a solid reference, and about 200 people assist here. (it felt like our ward back home, just without the cultural hall. So there are lots of new people to meet here. And they give us so much food!! and today we are writing late because we played soccer in a 5 zone soccer tourney thingy, it was like half the mission! so many missionaries! Tegucigalpa is crazy becasue all of the other missionaries are here super close. Also, I got called as district leader as weell, pretty crazt, and my district its just hermanas (so me and my comp, and two sister companionships) they do try my patience sometimes haha, and theyre all latinos except me haha. but I really have been learing a lot with all of this change. Pretty crazy stuff. 

the barrio is called Country. We have this huge 2 story church it is dope. (Also mom don't worry about the danger here, we share the area with the hermanas) 

Also there is a lil casears pizza hut burger king complex, so today i was basically in heaven. to my utmost disappointment my stomach has shrinked holy cow i could only barely eat 4 slices of pizza from the hot-n-ready, and i was starving! 

Also my experiences has really helped, i really have been correcting some streaks of disobedience, but with love of course 

What are everyones shirt sizes? like the whole family? 

Shout out to Jacquie for the dope package!!!!!!!!! ive practically inhaled all of the food haha

Change really helps us learn so much! I miss Elder PAz and juticalpa, but the ward is great and I see a lot of potential here!!! The Church really is true, and the Lord blesses us, and helps us lift our loads if we truly seek him and comply with his commandments

Love,

Elder Wagner