3 months

Well it sounds like the deer hunt up black canyon wasn´t way successful for deer but it sounds like it was a good ride and it is always a good time up there. Also I saw the pictures of mom on the walker... thats a little scary. HA, I hope those lines are still staying straight. It is crazy that is it is starting become fall and cool down there. It is weird I don´t know how the people tell time here because it is the same temperature and the same weather everyday all year round. Besides hurricane season i guess. But that is good that all is going well and that halloween has been good. Halloween is not that big of a deal down here. The only thing I have seen of halloween was last night, This big lady had a witch hat and a broomstick between her legs and she was chuckling and stumbling down the street, really drunk, it was pretty funny. But basically the only holiday that they are worried about is Christmas. Its funny people started putting up christmas lights like 3 weeks ago, and this week in church we started singing christmas hymns, so now we will probably be singing christmas hymns for two months so that will be a good time! Also this week was super cool we have been teaching this lady that is about 55 and she has really been struggling with smoking. We have been telling her to keep praying for God´s help to quit and she just hasn´t had a lot of faith that she could overcome it. So the other day we asked her if she would fast for help and if she wanted a blessing, and she said yes. So she started her fast and then we went home and started our fast and we went back the next day after both of us had fasted and we gave her a blessing, and the spirit was felt very strongly, my comp blessed her to have the power to overcome this addiction. we have been visiting her almost everyday since the blessing and everytime we ask her how she is doing she says estoy luchando, I am fighting. But now she has gone 5 days without smoking and she says that she is done for good and she is getting baptized this saturday. So it was so cool to see how the Lord will work miracles if we have the faith necessary, he can do all things. It also strengthened my testimony of fasting, prayer, and the priesthood power. They are real and when we use them we can overcome the difficulties in our lives just like Carmela overcame smoking. So we are really excited for her baptism this next week. Also this week, there was a baptism in our district of this man that has been investigating the church for almost 20 years! He has one of the strongest testimonies I have heard and is going to be such a strong member of the church. Well The DR is still here and rocking (literally, lots of music, everywhere). Anyways I love you all and everything is going great down here. 
Love Elder Wadman

Colmado

Well this week has been a really good week. This sunday it was stake conference and it was crazy. The stake center was packed with people lots of people, mucha gente. Our President, president rodriguez, and his wife talked at conference at they gave way good talks. Also the stake misson leader talked and he told the members down here how they need to work harder at bringing in all the new converts, and it was really cool, because that is what the members down here need to do. So it was a great stake conference. Also  it was cool this week we found a new place in our area that we didn't think was part of our area but it ended up being a part of it. And it is out on this dirt road, and as we got out there a ways we started to see fields and the thick jungle so that was pretty cool to see this week. The people out there were pretty chill too. Really chill, like sit on a lawn chair all day chill Ha. but we talked to them and they are really funny because a lot of them sit out on a lawn chair and then we contact them and ask them if we can come back and share with them, and they are nice and don't want to say no so they say that they don't live there. That they are just visiting for the day. And we say oh yeah where do you live, and they say oh over there, pointing a far ways away and we say oh ok. But everyday we go back they are still just sitting on that same lawn chair. HA. Also on last monday we ate pizza! Which is crazy,  because we usually eat rice and beans but we passed like the only pizza place here and got some pizza and it was really good, we were loving it. But this week has gone really good and this next week we have a baptism in our district coming up with a really cool guy that has been investigating the church for like 20 years and now he is getting baptized, and has such a strong testimony. So we are all pretty excited for that.

Well it sounds like everything at home has been going good. That you have been getting a lot of canning done and that the hunts are going good. That is crazy that the weather has been changing up there and that it is starting to get cold. Well everything here is good and I love you all. The work is going forth right now down here and it is really cool to see. anyways I love you all and hope everything keeps going good up there!

Elder Wadman

Scroll Down to Later Posts for more pictures of Ryan in the DR.

 District

 Elder Buswell, Elder Beutler, Elder Wadman

Elder Hansen, Elder Montgomery, Elder Wadman

Boda

Well this week has been a pretty awesome week. On saturday Yuan and emperatriz got married and then emperatriz got baptized that night. The baptism was really cool we had a ton of people from the ward there and a lot of investigators too. During the time after the baptism when they are getting changed, we showed the restoration and it was really spiritual. It was really cool for our investigators because they saw kind what happened and it clicked a little bit more to them. We have got a lot of progressing investigators that are coming a long really well this one lady that we are teaching has a really strong testimony of the gosple and she wants to get baptized so bad. She addicted to smoking though right now but she is working and praying really hard to stop it. Our last lesson we taught her about fasting and how we can fast for more help from the Lord. So we keep praying for her and I know she will brake the habit, we set a goal for her and I know she will brake it if she has faith that the lord can help her. 

To answer some questions we walk everywhere to get around. when we go somewhere we walk, it is our mode of transportation. Also we eat rice and bean everyday. They have want they call "the bandera" which is like their main meal that they have at least once a day and it is rice and beans. They always ask us what is the bandera in america? and we tell them that we don´t have one, we eat whatever food we want to eat anyday, and it is crazy to them. For them it is basically not a meal if you don´t have rice. Like you can have a ton of other food but if there isn´t rice then its not a meal it´s pretty funny. But it is good because I really do like rice and I like the bandera too it tastes good.

That picture is taking at a place we were contacted one day, which is pretty close to my apartment.

Also, for the wedding we baked a cake! HA we gave it to them at the baptism and like had them cut it and stuff. It was really funny because the cake cutting tradition doesn´t exist down here so we had them do it and then we gave cake to everyone at the baptism. They went crazy over it, they thought we bought it. But that is probably just because people don´t think you can bake for yourself down here. Most people that have ovens use it as a storage area because they think that that is what it is for, its pretty funny.

Anyways all is good here and we are just going to keep being gringos and of course we are going to keep eating our rice! I´ve notice that the mission and Mcdonalds have a lot in common because Im loving it! HA anyways I love you all


Elder Wadman

Alright well this week has been Awesome! We have been getting a lot of good work done. We have been finding a lot of new people that want to hear about the gospel and it is so awesome, how some people genuinely want to make a change in their lives when they hear the message and start gaining a testimony, and a relationship with God and their savior. They are willing to give up everything to pull away from the world and it is super cool to see the changes in they make in their lives. Also there is this really solid investigator and she has been ready to get baptized for a long time now but she hasnt been married to her husband. So today we went and got all the papers ready and they are going to get married on saturday morning and then she is going to get baptized that night, so we are really excited for them because she is so ready for it. A lot of people don't get married here because it is really expensive and they don't have the money for it, but she is awesome and is really excited to get baptized on saturday. And im pretty sure he will get baptized sometime soon too, he tries to act like he isn't way interested but then she talks to us and tells us that she will walk in and catch him reading the book of mormon, which is really cool to hear. We have some other investigators that are progressing a lot to and church was awesome yesterday, we had a bunch of people show up and they really loved it. I think they can feel the difference and the spirit when they come to church. A lot of churchs down here have big drums and stuff and ours is just peaceful and they like it because they can feel the spirit.

That is so awesome that the groundbreaking of the payson temple happened and you got to hear Elder Oaks i Bet that was awesome. Also that is crazy that it snowed back there. Here it stays the same temperature all day every day, it cools off a little a night but usually just really warm and humid. The people here are funny though they think if the rain hits the top of your head that you will get sick. And when it drops below 80 degrees it is freezing for them. And yes right now I am in the capital, so I am in the city of Santo Domingo right now. Well I hope everything is going well at home and that the hunts are going well too, hopefully dad and eric dont shoot them all, and there will be an elk 2 years bigger and older when I get home. HA! Anyways I love you all the gospel is true, and makes such a big difference in the lives of all those who accept it and their savior Jesus Christ, it is really cool to see the change in people's lives down here. All is going well down here and im lovin it en la RD.

Love Elder Wadman

santo baca

Well everybody I made it down to the DR. It is a place that I haven´t ever experienced before. Anyways so I met my trainer and my mission president on tuesday. My trainers name is Elder Peterson he is a good missionary and a cool kid from Idaho. 

Our area is Bayona, it is in the capital, which means its in the city of Santo Domingo. Elder Peterson was here the transfer before and he has got the area on Fire! We are teaching so many people right now and we have lots of people with baptismal dates. We had 2 baptisms on saturday and I got to baptize one of them. The one that I baptized, her name is Yuelli and she is an awesome haitain lady, and then the other one that was baptized is named Caroline and she is a 12 yr old little girl with a great testimony. So this week has been Crazy! I watched conference in spanish and it was great. I saw the very first of Carl´s talk and then we had to go check the font. It ended up filling up with dirty water, you couldn´t even see the bottum, I will send pictures. So we were trying to think of what to do and then the stake president just told us to go and do it in the water so we did. It all turned out well, and was a really cool baptismal service. It got the ward here pretty pumped which is the best and our ward is really cool too. I was super blessed to be able to come into this area.

A little bit on living conditions, we usually don´t have power and bucket showers are the Bomb.Com! They really do feel good and cool, very nice. Well I am loving it here and we are going to get some great work done in this area. The Lord has prepared these people and they are so ready hear the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.
Our investigators really liked President Monson, and his stories. They also really liked Elder Tad Calister´s talk about the book of mormon and the bible, it was so perfect for them! Anyways the work is coming forth down here and it is so awesome the gospel is true and the book of mormon is the word of god. I love you all!  Nos Vemos or in dominican spanish No Vemo 
Elder Wadman