Dear family and friends,

 

Well Happy New Years tomorrow everybody! It was great to talk to you all on Christmas and to hear what is going on with all of you guys. It sounds like you all had an awesome Christmas and a fun time up at Mom and Dads and it also sounds like it is super cold over there right now. Here it is about 80 to 90 degrees during the day, so it is staying nice and warm I think at night it has been getting down to about 70 degrees which is pretty chilly here. But I am glad to here that everything is going good, well we had transfers on Friday and I am training now. My "kid," as they call it here, his name is Elder Nelson and he is from Belize, it is a little country that is connected to guatemala. The funny thing is that they dont speak spanish in his country they speak english. So he speaks english and is learning spanish right now, and he looks like Rajon Rondo, for all of you who dont know who that is, he is the point guard for the Boston Celtics, I will send a picture next week. He is a really cool kid and has a crazy life story, his parents died when he was younger and he is the only member from his family and doesnt have a ton of support from his family. So basically he is a super strong kid and we are going to work really good together and hopefully keep finding new people to teach everyday. As far as Ana she is super awesome, we shared with her the other day and she told us that she was reading the book of mormon the other morning and was studying the gospel pamphlet and the spirt touched her, and she said that she started crying. She has felt the spirit and she knows that things are true so she is really cool and I am way excited for her and the decision that she has been making. We have found some more cool people that we just have to share some more with them to see if the seed plants but everything is going super good right now. The time is going super fast and I am just enjoying it out here and Im enjoying this new experience to learn from Elder Nelson. So all is well I hope you guys have a good New Years Eve and a good wedding on the 3rd for Heather and Chase. I love you all and hope you have a good week.

 

Love Elder Wadman

Well Family and friends, Merry Stinking Christmas! 

Well today is Christmas eve and I know I will be talking to you tomorrow but I want to give a little update about these past two weeks. In these last two weeks I have been seeing the Lords hand in the work. Every day as we leave to go to to the street me and my comp ask the Lord to help us be lead to the chosen and elect people that are ready for the gospel in their lives. So about 3 weeks ago we found Ana, the one with the son on the mission, I have already explained a little bit about her but she has been going to church and has really been progressing. She even stopped drinking coffee before we had even taught her the word of wisdom. She has went and found all the paper work she needs to get married and we are planning on have the wedding at about the first part of January, probably a little after Heather and chases wedding haha. And then she will be getting baptized on January 19th so everything is on track with her right now. We also found this other 20 year old kid named Scrailin about 2 weeks ago and last week he committed to a baptismal date and will be getting baptized on January 26th. After the lesson when we put the baptismal date he told us that he had been praying a lot and that he knows that the church is true and that he wants to prepare himself for his baptism. So the other missionaries in our district were have a baptism on saturday and scrailin came and really liked the baptismal service and then he went to church on Sunday and then he came to an activity this morning with us and the young men, so everything is right on track with him too. We have been finding a lot of elect people and the missionary work is really getting rolling here in Los Alcarrizos. I am hoping that the Lord will continue to lead us to the elect people. Just like yesterday we found this guy that has a big family and he told us that he used to share with the missionaries and that he used to go to church. He told us that he really likes our message but that 3 years ago the missionaries that were teaching him were taken out of the area and no one went back to go find this guy and to keep teaching him and his family. He knew a ton about the Book of Mormon and about the church, and his only question for us was why no one went out and kept teaching him when the 2 missionaries got transfered and that he has been waiting for missionaries to come back and start teaching him again. It was a really cool experience, to know that the Lord is helping us find these people that have been waiting for the gospel for so long. So that is what has been happening here in the DR lately. Well I am excited to talk to you guys tomorrow and I will be calling like 12-1 ish, anyways Ill talk to you all tomorrow love you all.

Elder Wadman

Dear family and friends,

 

Well it sounds like this last week was very busy for all of you and that the christmas season is here and that you are all enjoying that. Well I have to send out a congrats to Meagan and Tyler who are going to have another baby July 10, congratulations! There will be a lot of new faces for me to meet when I get home, I am excited for you guys. Well this week was an awesome week in the work. Last, Sunday we knocked on this door and a middle aged lady answered the door and we started talking to her, turns out her name is Ana and that she has a son in the East mission here, and that she isnt a member. So we shared with her, and bore our testimonies and we told her that she needed to read and pray to know the truth. So we went back a couple days later and she told us that she had read and had prayed and that she knows that the Church is true. She told us that Sundays are here only free days, and that she usually does all of her house chores on Sunday but that she was going to do all of her house chores on Saturday from now on and go to church every Sunday. And congratulated her for making that decision and then I asked her if she would be willing to be baptized and she said yes, but that she just needs to get some things done first and I asked what she needed to do, and she told us that she needs to get married, she has been living with her basically husband for 19 years but they just hadn't gone and got legally married. So she told us that she will go and round up all of her information, and that she talked to her husband and that he is willing to get married and then we will go get them married. And that once she is married then she will get baptized, and I said welll that is perfect. So we are going to be doing that this week trying to get all of their birth certificates and papers rounded up and then we will take them to the judge and get them married. She also told us that her husband has shared with missionaries before and that we should try to start teaching him too, so tomorrow night we have an appointment with her and we are going to invite him too, to come and share with us so that the whole family can recieve the blessings of the Gospel. But anyways yesterday at church she showed up early in skirt and everything, basically just a golden investigador, I am so thankful that the Lord led us to her, I bet it is an answer to her missionary son's prayers, so hopefully God can use us as the instruments to help this family come into the gospel. We also found this other guy named Elias and he is just finishing egineering school, but is in the middle of getting a divorce, so basically a pretty crappy time in his life. We shared with him last saturday and he was very sincere and truly wants to come unto Christ and change his ways, so we are going to let the gospel help him out a little bit. Anyways fam the mission is awesome, I am so glad that I have this opportunity to serve the Lord and the people here in the DR. The field is white and it is a great time to be a missionary and to be able to testify of Christ everyday and of his infinite atonement, that through him we can overcome all hardships and all trials, and recieve a remission of our sins. Like President Monson says, the true meaning of Christmas is easy to remember, just drop the last syllable, it's Christ. I love the Savior and I know that He lives and that he truly has given us the greatest gift, and that is that through him we can have eternal life. Anyways fam, I love you all and I hope you have a great week this week. I wont be writing next week because we have a Mission Christmas Conference, but i will write you guys on the pday before Christmas which will be Christmas eve. But I am thinking that I will probably be calling at about noon or one oclock on Christmas. But write me and tell me what would be the best time for all of you and we will figure her out on Christmas eve. Anyways have a good week.

 

Elder Wadman

Dear family and friends,

 

Well it sounds like this last week has been pretty good for all of you, some thunderstorms and stuff like that but all and all a good time. It also sounds like this month is going to be a pretty busy one with all the stuff that is going on for you all back home. With all the weddings and with Christmas and everything, its going to be busy but super fun for you all. Well this week was a great week for me, we have been working a lot. We have basically been knocking doors like crazy trying to find people and we found this one guy on Friday his name is Elias, we contacted him a couple days earlier and he told us to come back and teach him. So we went and taught him and he is actually a really smart guy he is just finishing his schooling and is going to become a civil engineer. Well when we started sharing with him he asked us why there are so many churches in the world today when there is only one God. So we explained all of the restoration right then and there, and about the apostasy and how all the  other churches got started and then how Christ restored his same church in these last days to the prophet Joseph Smith. The spirit was very strong in the lesson and he said wow that makes sense about all the other churches but that God should only have one true church one the earth. We told him that if he truly wants to know if these things are true then he needs to pray and ask God and that He will answer his question so I have been praying for that a lot lately. Also something really cool that happened this week was, like I said, we are knocking a lot of doors these days trying to find people to teach. And a lot of the people that have been listening to us all have to work on Sundays and haven't gained enough faith yet to quit their jobs and look for another one. So yesterday at church we weren't expecting to have any investigators there because we had been inviting a lot of people there and they had been telling us that they couldn't go. But for some reason in my prayers I kept asking for it, that some one, anyone of our investigators  could show up for church on Sunday, well church started and nobody had showed up and I just thought to myself, well maybe next week. And then about 20 minutes into church a guy that we had taught 2 weeks before, that didn't seem really interested when we shared with him, showed up. It was totally unexpected, i was very surprised and then I remembered that it was a answer to our prayers. I truly believe that God hears and answers our prayers and that if we seek we shall find and if we knock it shall be opened unto us. So I was very grateful for the Lord for listening to our prayers . Well as I was sitting in church yesterday something kind of just hit me, it has hit me before, but this time it was completely clear and seemed so easy. Right now in the world there are a lot of bad things and a lot of wickedness, and a lot of ways to get caught up in Satan's traps. Like Alma says we know that wickedness never was happiness, so i was thinking if we want to be happy then we have to be righteous. How are we righteous? It is by keeping all the commandments of God. Think how much the world would change if everybody in this world decided right now to keep the commandments of God, it would be completely different but we know that it is not like that. We also have no power over what other people in this world do but we do have power over what we do. Think if each one of us made a conscious effort to obey all the commandments, to be honest in all things, and to love one of another how much of a difference we could make, and how many blessing we would receive. Like the Lord says countless times in the Book of Mormon if we keep his commandments we will prosper if we don't, we wont. He also says if ye love me, Keep my commandments, so if we love God then we will keep His commandments and when we keeps his commandments we receive the blessings. So basically it all goes back to the primary song keep the commandments in this there is safety in this there is peace. When we do what God wants us to do we have safety and peace and the blessings, when we don't, we don't have any promises. Basically when we look at it in the eternal scheme if we obey the commandments and help others to understand them then we don't have to worry about anything else, because in the eternal scheme nothing else matters. But anyways this week has been a great week for me I am learning a lot these days and trying to be a little bit better everyday. Anyways I love you all and I hope you have a good week this week.

 

Elder Wadman

Dear family and friends,

 

Happy thanksgiving last week! It sounds like you all had a pretty nice thanksgiving, a lot of you went down there to the yellow house and i bet that sure was a lot of fun. Also congrats to Jaine and Paige on the mission calls that is way exciting! Are they going to be going Spanish or English? Wow that is crazy how many people are going on there missions right now, the field is white and it is going to receive a lot more harvesters. In my mission a lone we have almost 200 missionaries here but in 2 or 3 more transfer we are supposed to have 250 missionaries in our mission so the number will increase a lot. Well as for me this week has been super awesome, I got transferred and I am in Los Alcarizos it is back in the capital. I am with Elder Von Gunten and he is a super cool kid from West Jordan Utah, I am his 2nd comp in the mission so it has been pretty fun so far this last week and i feel like we will have a pretty successful transfer and that we are going to work hard. So I got here and we are have basically been opening up a new area that no missionaries have been before and we have been finding a lot of cool people out there that haven't heard about the gospel before and they have been very accepting to the message. We found one family that when we got to their house they all came and sat down and we taught them the Restoration and we told them that they needed to pray to find out if it  was true. Well we passed by a couple of days later and the mom had read the pamphlet and had prayed for the last 3 nights asking God to give her an answer about our message. She says that she isn't sure yet if she has received an answer but we told her that she just needs to keep praying and that God will give her the answer so she is really cool. And we also had another lady named Cindy that agreed to a date of baptism so we are pretty excited about her and I think she really will keep progressing. There is also another couple named Ishmeal and Dulce the wife is super cool and she told us that she prayed and recieved a great feeling even goosebumps after. I asked if she believes that the church is true and if Joseph Smith was a prophet and she said yes and I asked her if she wants to get baptized and she said yes but that she needs to change a lot of things in here life and that she wants to be sure before she makes the covenant. I told her that if she has the desire to change than that is more important than anything. I told her that she is completely free to choose who she wants to become and that if she has the desire to change than she is more than capable of doing it. And that what determines who she is doesn't depend on things that happen or have happened to here but what determines here is how she decides to react to certain situations and how she acts, that behavior speaks a lot louder than words. So I hope that she starts changing and I know that spirit will have that affect on her heart, we will see what happens.  So really we are just getting the ball started here and i know it will be rolling here soon. Also, this thanksgiving I actually ate turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, and pie. We live in a 4 man house and they had been planning on cooking a thanksgiving dinner so I got there and it was all planned out and I just helped pitch in on the money and then ate a pretty awesome dinner. It definitely doesn't match up to a Montgomery family thanksgiving party but it was pretty good. I took pictures of it I will send them to you all next week. Anyways this week has been a great week just learning a little bit more everyday and trying to get a little better each day, the field is white here in Los Alcarizos and we are going to start harvesting it. I love you all and I hope you have a good week.

 

Love Elder Wadman

Dear family and friends,

Well it sounds like it was a pretty crazy week last week and that a lot of things happened. I feel it for the Tidwell family and I will keep them in my prayers and also grandpa. It is a hard situation but as we put our faith in Christ we can overcome any trial or any hardship because he already has, I believe that with all my heart. Anyways, this week has been an awesome week. We found this guy named Papo he is from a pentecostal church but we were contacting and when we knocked his door he said come in come in. So we went in and started teaching him and he was actually really open to the message and we told him that if he truly wants to then he needs to pray and that God will give him an answer. So we left him a pamphlet and we went back and he had read the whole pamphlet and had prayed and told us that he felt good when he prayed but didnt know if he had truly recieved an answer and we told him that he just needs to continue praying and learning more and more and that the answer will come. So we left him the pamphlet of the plan of salvation and when we came back he had read the whole pamphlet and we explained to him the plan of salvation, and he said you guys explain it so much more and it makes so much more sense now. He said that he truly enjoys our message and is going to keep praying and is going to visit our church next sunday so I am way excited for him and have been praying a lot lately for him to get an answer. Once he gets his answers he will go forward not worrying about what other people think, he is that kind of guy and he will be very strong. So I am way excited for him but I wont be able to be here to see him go forward I recieved a call last night and I am getting transfered back to the capital the place is called Los Alcarizos. I am sad to have to say bye to everybody here but I am happy for this new experience that I will have over there to do the work the way the Lord needs it done. So today I have been packing up a lot and tonight I will go around and tell everybody goodbye and then tomorrow at 5 oclock in the morning I will get on a bus and go back to the capital. My days on the beach are coming to an end haha but I cant help but think about how much I have learned here in this small branch in Barahona and how close I have ended up getting with the people here. Well the email is a little short this week because some people from the branch are going to feed us, a going away dinner I guess. But anyways I love you all and next week I will feel you all in on my new area. Have a great week this week and count your blessings!

Elder Wadman

Dear family and friends,

Well this week has been a great week here in Barahona. The Lord has given us the helping hand this week a lot. On Wednesday I had an exchange and I stayed in my area with a mini missionary. Kids here can do mini missions for a couple weeks or so when the mission needs them to come and fill in until the end of a transfer or so. So I was with the mini, and we were knocking doors and we had been knocking doors for about 3 hours straight and we had another appointment that we needed to go to. So I said ok we need to head over to an appointment and we stopped and were about to start walking to the appointment when i looked up and saw three more houses on a little street. I was thinking to myself we should go and knock those houses before we go to the appointment so I said lets go finish these three houses and we will finish the street. We knocked the first house and they told us no, the second house there wasnt anybody inside and then the third house a lady answered the door and told us to come in. I thought well we have the other appointment but we still have a little bit of time so we went in there and shared with her briefly and told her to pray and ask the lord if what we had explained if it is true. So we left and didnt think much of it, I just thought well she is pretty cool we will see if she progresses. Then on Friday we went back again and she had read the whole pamphlet. I asked her if she prayed about our message and she said that she did, I asked her how she felt and she said that she felt a change in her heart and that she wants to keep learning more about our message. The spirit was super strong with her and I really think that she recieved the anwser from God and that she is going to be very strong in the church. Also, on saturday Pepe got baptized it was an awesome baptism all of his family was there and a bunch of people from the branch and it was a great baptismal service. The gospel is going to help him out a lot as he is entering into being a young man, he has got potential to be very strong in the church here. Also, last night at about 8 o clock we had just left from an appointment and we were walking to go to another appointment when a member that is less active from the branch drove up on his motorcycle. He told us that his baby boy that is about 2 years old was in the hospital with amebas, jardia, and other parasites and that he is really sick. He asked us to go give his son a blessing and we said of course and we headed to the hospital. So here in my area a river started up, that goes through the middle of the streets, it started after the hurricane. This family was over visiting their family that has a house right in front of the river. I guess the kids were out there playing in the river and the little boy drank the water and for that he got really sick. So we went to the hospital and gave him a blessing and shared with the family. I shared with them Ether 12 27 were it talks about weaknesses and that the Lord will show unto us our weaknesses and if we humble ourselves before the Lord he will make our weak things become strong. I told them that last night that they were feeling there weaknesses because truely they were powerless that wasnt anything that they could do. They could only give him the proper medical treatment and put it in the hands of the Lord. So that is what they did they were humble enough to come and give us the spiritual priviledge of giving their son a blessing and they had been praying a lot for him. We are going to pass by their house tonight and see how things are going or if they are still in the hospital. But the wife told us yesterday after the blessing and everything that she knew the baby would be better and that they would leave the hospital today so we will see. But it truly was a spiritual experience and I am grateful I got to be apart of it. Anyways I hope you guys are doing good back home and that you have a good week this week. Everything is going great here with me, I love you all.

Elder wadman

Dear Family and Friends,

Well from the pictures it looks like you guys have had cool week this week. With Jack´s baptism and Sara´s baby blessing and then with Heather and Chase getting engaged, it was pretty exciting week for you all back home. And congrats to Heather and Chase, and Jack and Sara. Well this week was a good one for me too, we have been working away here in Barahona and the work is going good here. We are finding and teaching a lot of cool people and a couple have started to progress. This next saturday we are going to have a baptism his name is giezer but everybody calls him pepe. He is a recent convert´s son and is 12 years old but he has a good head on his shoulders. For example, we taught him about tithing the other week and the next time he went to church he paid his tithing. He is really excited to get baptized and his mom has helped him quite a bit. She is the recent convert and we are trying to work on his dad still, to get the whole family in the gospel so they can become a eternal family. So we are pretty excited for the baptism and for the decision that he has made in his life to get baptized. Also, with Bolivar we are going to postpone his baptism for a couple weeks to prepare him a little bit more. Last night when we were finishing teaching him he told us that there was something on his mind. And I asked him what it was and he told us that he just didnt know how he would be able to pay tithing after he gets baptized. He told us I am really poor and I have got to pay for my family and for everything and I just dont know how I am going to be able to pay tithing after my baptism. So I explained to him that that is his test of faith. I said Hermano, if you want God´s help with all of your financial troubles pay your tithing. If you want to stay in the same financial boat that you are in right now then dont pay your tithing and it will be the same. I explained that God will pour out his blessings upon him that he wouldn´t be able to contain if he would pay his tithing. And then I told him a story that I heard during a priesthood class back home as a priest. One of the Leaders told us that when he was younger he didnt know how he was going to pay his tithing and the bishop at the time told him to test the Lord and pay his tithing. And he did it and gained a testimony of tithing because of how blessed him and his family were, not only just financially but spiritually also. Dad I am sure that you remember the story. Well I told him that story and that he just needed to put his faith in God and take the first step, pay his tithing and test God. Well he committed to pay his tithing so if he comes through with his commitment he will be blessed. Also we moved houses and our new house is really cool it is a 3rd story and you can see the beach from our back balcony and the breeze from the ocean keeps it nice and cooler in our house. Well I told you guys that water came back last week, well it only came back on sunday of last week and there hasnt been water since, so it has been a pretty interesting week with the water situation and all. But all and all life is going great and I am loving it out here, the time truly is going by to fast and I am super thankful that I have to serve the Lord right now. Anyways I hope you guys have a good week this week and I love ya all.

Elder Wadman

Oh and one of these photos is from when we got caught in the hurricane rains on the way home one night.. we got soaked and the other one is of the sun here in barahona in the morning.

Sandy

Dear family and friends,

Well from the pictures it looks like you guys got hit pretty good with a little bit of snow this past week. That is crazy to see snow from the pictures when it is still so hot down here. Well we too got hit by a little storm, well i guess it was a big storm, I think they called it Hurricane Sandy. Well luckily we didn't get hit by the big part of the storm but we did get hit a little bit. From, Tuesday until Saturday it poured and when i say poured I mean that it poured! We still went out and worked and everyday it felt like we were just swimming between appointments. Like no lie it would have been the same if we would have jumped into a pool. We got soaked from Tuesday til Saturday and on top of that because of the storm a big tube broke that gives water to all of Barahona. So the whole city of Barahona hasn´t had water in the pipes since Tuesday and then they fixed the tube and we got water last night so it was like we were camping, being without any water, it was quite the week. However, the Lord did bless us for going out and getting soaked everyday this week. On Wednesday it was the worst day of the storm and it was just coming down and the assistants told us that it wasn´t mandatory to stay in the house but if the rain made it impossible to work then we could go back to the house. I looked at my comp and told him that i wasn't going to stay in the house and he agreed with me so we went out and decided to give her a try in the rain. Well we showed up to the first house and it was a lady named Natasha, she told us to come in so we went in and started teaching her. We taught her about how families can be together forever and it just so happens that she had just given birth a couple weeks before that so it really struck her heart. And it is a true desire of hers to have a eternal family. So we left her a pamphlet about the plan of salvation and then we went back on Friday and she had a ton of questions for us and we explained the plan of salvation to her and then last night we had another lesson with her and she accepted a date for baptism and promised to come to church this next week so we are pretty excited about that. So that was our first lesson on Wednesday, and then our third lesson on Wednesday we met this other lady that was confused about why there are so many religions and how she can know which one is the true religion. So we explained the restoration and how Christ formed his the primitive church with prophets, apostles, and authority and that through time there was a loss of the true authority of Christ. And that in 1820 God called Joseph Smith to restore the church with prophets, apostles, and the authority once again in the earth. And that the only way that she can know if it is true is through praying and asking God if Joseph smith really was a prophet and if the church was restored through him. Well we passed by yesterday and she said that she has been praying about it and that it feels right, and we asked her if she is willing to be baptized for someone who holds the priesthood of God and she also accepted a date of Baptism. So the Lord definitely gave us blessings for going out and working through the storm. But all and all its ended up being a really cool week for us, our other investigators are progressing, Pepe and Peluche are getting baptized on the 10th and then Bolivar will be getting baptized on the 17th so things are really rolling right now for us and its really exciting times. Well I hope everything is also going good for you guys back home and that you are enjoying that snow. Jack congrats on the baptism and Sara on the baby blessing! Anyways i hope you guys have a good week this week and I love ya all.

Elder Wadman

Dear Family and Friends,

Well this week has been an awesome week! Looks like it was a pretty awesome week for you guys too. With all of the pumpkin carving and all of those apples and apple juice, and topping it all off with a hot dog roast, that is just a great time. Well everything is going really good, just seeing lots of miracles happening here in the area. So first off our mission president has given us a new schedule we usually go and knock doors during the days and then look for referrals at night and he told us that we should go look for referrals during the day and knock doors at night so we can find families all together in there houses. So we decided to put presidents new schedule to the test. So we left the house after lunch and went to a members house to find a referral and it just so happens to be that there was a guy there with the member family talking. So we started talking to him and he said to us, Hey i would like to learn a little bit more about your church and maybe one day i will join your church, so we will see what happens with him. And then the member family told us about another family that lives behind them that were asking them about the church and that they want to learn more about our church. So we received two referrals right off the bat. And then we went to another member families house and received 3 more referrals. For the past 6 weeks we have received 1 referral from the branch and then to receive 5 in one day is quite the miracle! Then in the nights these week we have been teaching and knocking doors and we have found a bunch of cool people. So our president really received an awesome revelation for the mission and i think the work here will start getting even better. Another miracle that happened was with Claudia. So this whole time while we have been teaching she has been looking for work and hasn't been able to find anything. She was really worried about finding work and about moving before her baptism and for this she didn't want to accept a date for baptism. Then we had a lesson with her and we explained to her that if she would put her faith and trust in God and take the step of faith and show God that she really has faith that he would bless her. Well she took the step of faith and got baptized and yesterday her 2nd Sunday after her baptism a lady from the branch asked her if she would come work at her house and be the nanny and that she would pay her and everything. She was very relieved that she finally found work and I told her, Claudia, i told you when you put your trust in God and go forth with faith, he always provides the way and i told her to never forget what happen. So that was a pretty cool little miracle, also on thursday we went to the temple, it was 6 hours worth of a bus ride but it was totally worth it. I love the temple, there is such an awesome spirit there that you cant explain. So it was a great trip, all and all life is great here in Barahona doing the Lords work and helping others to come unto Christ. Anyways I hope you all guys have a good week this week, love ya all.

Elder Wadman

Bautismo

Dear family and friends,

Well, sounds like you all had an awesome week this last week! First off, Happy birthday kenzi and Jack and congrats on the upcoming baptism! All the grandkids are getting big and just keep getting older and older, the time just keeps going by way too quick. Well, this week was an awesome week for me, first off i got a new comp and he is from salvador a pretty cool kid. We had another lesson with Claudia and we decided to put her baptism for last saturday, so on saturday she got baptized. Her baptism was super cool, her sister, that isnt a member, showed up and really liked the baptism so we are going to start teaching her. Claudia has really changed a lot since when we first starting teaching her. She really has recieved a strong testimony, and it just shows because of everything she has changed to be able and ready to be baptized, it was an awesome baptism. Also, a lot of our investigadors showed up for the baptism and it was really spiritual and it got them all excited to get baptized. One of them that showed up is named Bolivar he has a family with 3 girls and a grandchild, they are pretty poor but he supports them all by doing all sorts of different kinds of work. He really is just a good guy, a lot of guys here dont support their families and have kids in all different places and dont even know what their kids are doing, so for him to settle down and support the family just shows that he is a good guy. Well on tuesday we had an awesome lesson with him and we talked about how he needs to ask in prayer what the Lord wants him to do. The lesson was super powerful and the spirit was definitely felt, and he commited to a baptismal date on the 10 of November. When we asked him if he is willing to get baptized by someone that holds the true priesthood of God, he paused and thought about it for a second and then he said, yes I am going to get baptized. After that he has came to all the church activities and is really progressing a lot. We also are teaching two kids of a recent convert and they are going to get baptized on the 10th also and another kid that moved out here from the capital and is living with his grandma and his uncle and they are both active members here in the ward so they gave us the referal and we have been teaching him and he will be getting baptized on the 10th too. So the 10th looks like it should be a pretty good day i am hoping that with the Lords help we can get all of them completly prepared to take on the sacred covenant of baptism. Things here on the rise and we should be bringing a lot of new people into the fold of God this transfer. Also, this week we are going to go to the temple! It will be my second time here in the DR going to the temple. I am pretty stoked, but we will have to take a bus for a little over 3 hours to get back to the Santo Domingo at like 4 in the morning, it for sure will be worth it though. Well, i am going to send some photos of the baptism and preparing for the baptism. Anyways I hope you guys have a good week this week and that everybody is having fun back there at home, I love you all.

Elder Wadman

Dear Family and Friends,

Well it sounds like you guys had a good week this week and that the temperatures are cooling down over there a little bit. Over here the temperature is still the same. But this week has been an awesome week. First off on Friday we had a lesson with Claudia and we talked to here for about an hour and 15 minutes about going forth with faith. The thing is that she has been needing to move but cant find a house, but her ex boyfriend has moved out and we asked her if she is now ready to be baptized and she was having some doubts about it. Not doubts about the church or her testimony because she has solid testimony but just some worries about moving forward and taking the next step, so we shared mosiah 18 8-10 and we asked her if she is willing to help those in need, to comfort those that need comforting, to serve others, to be a witness of God at all times, in all places, and in all things, and if she is willing to obey all the commandments of God. She said yes that she is willing and wants do all of that. And then I asked her, if you are willing to do all of that then what is holding you back from getting baptized. After i asked the question we all just sat there waiting for her response, she thought for a while and looked up and said nothing. And I said are you willing to get baptized on the 20th of October and she said yes! We got way excited the spirit was so strong in that lesson and it truly worked in her heart and changed her point of view from being without hope, to a view of hope and of faith. We are super excited with her decision and I know it will bless her more than she can even know right now. So that was an awesome experience this week and then after that we had the general conference, to be honest i love general conference it is so awesome to hear the prophets and apostles words and counsel for us in this precise moment. What struck me most was about all the talks about peter and having a true love for Christ our savior. If we have a true love for him than we will feed his sheep, we will look for opportunities to serve others, we will look for ways to help others who are not of the fold of Christ to come unto the Shepard and accept the atonement in their lives. I truly love my savior. He is my Lord, my God, and my friend. I want to be a disciple and a true follower of his Gospel. His Love for us is perfect i have felt it so much in my life and am so thankful for it. I feel it right now as i write this letter. He is the Christ, his atonement is real. Through the atonement we can overcome our weaknesses and become strong, even perfect as He and the Father are perfect. The gospel is true, Joseph Smith was a prophet and Thomas Monson is the prophet of the Lord in these days. I love you all and pray for all of you and i hope that you guys have a good week this week.

Elder Wadman

Dear Family and Friends,

Well it sounds like you guys had a fun week. With all of the horseback rides and the birthdays and the Brigham city temple dedication it looked way cool. So first off, happy birthday Tasha and Rylee I hope you guys had fun birthdays and that you ate a lot of cake. Second off the horseback riding was probably really cool up in the mountains with all the leafs changing and everything. And President Packer dedicating the temple would have been way cool to hear. Anyways, this week was an awesome week for me. First off, on Friday we had a conference with 3 zones and President Anderson a seventy and the President of the Caribbean came and talked to us. He explained what are purpose is hear as missionaries, he told us that our purpose is to help people gain faith by teaching and letting the spirit touch their hearts. Every time the spirit touches someones heart their faith grows, we need to help them get to the point that they have enough faith to repent. When they change their old habits and start living the commandments of God then they are ready for baptism, after baptism they receive the Holy Ghost and then they need to endure to the end. So basically all of that starts with us bringing the spirit to the lessons. So then we talked about all the things that we can do to have the spirit with us and to be able to touch their hearts. And one of the most important things is to have a sincere interest for the people and a true love for them. And a desire to help them have the gospel in their lives. Also he talked about how we need to study hard so we can know all of the doctrine and then teach it in a way that permits the Spirit to touch their hearts. So I definitely learned a lot there at the conference and it was an awesome experience. Then yesterday we had a district conference here in Barahona. Basically it is stake conference, but there isnt a stake here, there is a district so its called district conference. And President Dominguez of the area seventy was there and he gave an awesome talk about charity and how we need to have charity and how the members need to support their leaders and work to have a stake here in Barahona. He told everybody if they pray for a patriarch then a stake will come so that got everybody really excited. He told them of all the blessings that will come when they have a stake here in Barahona, so that is what we are working for. Also, we have new investigator that is progressing a lot, he is 30 years old has a nice family and is really well off financially. Yesterday, all of his friends went to the beach and he told them no, that he wasnt going to go because he had a commitment with us. So we got to his house and we sat down and started teaching him the plan of salvation. He had read the pamphlet and had a lot of questions, well it came down to us explaining the atonement. I explained to him that it is like if he has a kid and his kid really wants to buy a bike and the bike costs 500 pesos so he tells his kid, look you need to work and save up and then we can go and buy the bike. So the kid starts working and working for a couple months and he comes to his dad and say dad I have been working all this time and I only have earned 100 pesos. And the dad says well son give me those 100 pesos and because off all that you have done i will pay for the rest of the bike. I explained that is the same as the atonement, that we arent perfect and that we cant make it back into the presence of God without the help of Jesus Christ and the atonement. And the spirit was super strong and it just clicked in his head and he asked us and when can i accept this atonement? what do I need to do? And those are probably the best words that you can hear when you are a missionary and we explained that he needs to start living the commandments of God and get baptized. He told us that he wants to get baptized but that he wants to be sure before he does anything and we talked to him about faith and how his faith will grow as he continues to learn and let the spirit work in him. So the lesson ended up lasting almost 2 hours but it was probably one of the coolest lessons that i have ever had on my mission and he is one of the coolest guys that i have met. So i hope the Spirit will keep working on him and that he will accept the gospel in his life. So all and all life is still going great i am just loving being out here on the mission, it is one of the greatest times that i have had to learn and to help others. I hope i can keep learning more and keep helping others more and more everyday. Anyways family I hope you all are doing good and having fun. I love ya all and hope you have a good week.

Elder Wadman

Dear Family and Friends,

Well it sounds like life is going pretty good for you all back there at home. Mom still is getting all of the vegetables and fruits from the garden, and everyone is back into school, sounds like it was a pretty chill week for you all. Well this week was a good week for us too, don't worry there weren't anymore tear gas bombs this week. Claudia still hasn't moved because another person rented the house that she was going to rent but she found another house and should be getting moved here pretty soon. She is still really strong and is learning a lot and her faith is growing a ton, she will be a strong convert. We also have been finding a lot of new people that have a lot of potential to progress so things are looking up right now. And the branch is doing better too, yesterday we had 60 people in church and we had some really good meetings. Yesterday, me and my comp had the opportunity to teach the primary. The primary is really really irreverent here, and there are a lot of kids that are quite a handful so the branch president threw us in there to control them because they have scared away all of the other teachers. When we are in there they stay a lot more reverent but i took a DVD of the ¨living scriptures¨ the book of Mormon stories in cartoon version and they were all hooked on it. Still though after an hour of being in there i was tired and wanted out, I have a lot more respect for all of the primary teachers the ones that put up with me and the other guys from our ward when we were little, you definitely would learn a lot of patience with that kind of calling. Also, on saturday we had a huge service project with all the people here in Barahona and we went down and cleaned the beaches. All the beaches close to the town here in Barahona have a lot of garbage, so Saturday there was a big service project to clean up the beaches and the majority of the people down cleaning were members of the church so it was fun to be able to help out with all of that. The beaches looked a little bit better when we left but still have a little bit of garbage. Also, on Friday i spent the whole day in the chapel, from 9 in the morning until 1015 at night. Our zone had interviews with president and because it was our chapel and our house was closest to the chapel we were the last ones to recieve our interviews. We even had a big activity at the church that started at 7 and got over at 830 ish, and when it got over we still hadnt got our interviews but then at like 945 we got our interviews and finally went home and slept, so it was a pretty long day. But next friday we are going to have a conference with Elder Anderson of the area presidency so i am pretty excited about that. Anyways things are still just rolling right a long here the work is coming forth and we are doing our best to help these people out here. Well I love you all hope everything is going good back home and that you all have a good week this week.

Elder Wadman

Dear Family and Friends,

 

Well it sounds like you guys had quite a fun week this week. WIth the montgomery family party and with the boating out there at pineview, looks like it all was pretty fun. I am glad to hear that you guys had some really good soup and geeze oh sheeze, the little kids are getting so big from the pictures i saw. I saw gabe out there on the tube and the last thing i knew he was way to small to be out there on the tube and now he is just tubing away! So that kind of surprised me. Anyways this week was really good for us we had a lot of opportunities to serve this week. First one of our investigators lives in a really rough area there are a lot of gangsters more or less that live where she lives. For example, something crazy happened to us this last week. First off, Elder Morgan from Idaho, is back in my district. I lived with him for like 5 months back in Enriquillo and he is one of my best buddies in the mission. But on Wednesday i went on an exchange with him and he came over to my area. We went to my investigators house, the one that lives in the rough area, and we started teaching her. We started talking about tithing when we heard some hit the top of the roof and it was people throwing rocks at the police. Then we heard something else hit the top of the roof and it fell down in front of the house and it was a tear gas bomb and it exploded in front of the house and started shooting out the smoke stuff. So she grabbed her kid and took off running out the door, she went to the right and another one exploded in front of her and then she took of running to the left and a guy pulled up with a motorcycle and picked her up and they took off. So me and Elder Morgan looked at each other and we decided we should probably start running because the smoke stuff stings really bad, so we took off running. And we heard 3 more bombs go off behind us, we were about to take a left at the street and we saw the police with there shotguns and other guns coming our way some we decided to run the other way and we got aways from everything. And now we walk past there the people always those mormons are really fast, i guess we were booking it pretty quick out of there haha but dont worry all is good there. Well that investigator happens to be Claudia and she has been trying to move for a long time. She told us that she wants to move before she gets baptized because she separated with her ex husband and he wants her out of the house. So she wants to have everything resolved before she gets baptized, so i finally just asked her what is keeping her from moving and she told us that she need 3000 pesos to move to the other house like 75 dollars and her ex husband doesnt want to help her. So i told her that i didnt want her in that house anymore so i am going to give her the money she needs to finally get out of her house and out of that neighborhood. So that is what is happening with her and then another one of our investigators houses got pretty messed up during the hurricane so we had the opportunity to help him out too. And we have found another investgator and he uses a wheelchair so on sunday we went and passed by his house early in the morning to go and take him to church he lives like 20 minutes from the church, and he has went the whole way all by himself before and i told him to not go solo and that would pass by and take him to church. So we took him to church and then when we were coming back from church i asked him what he was going to eat for lunch and he told me that he doesnt have any food in his house so we went to our house and gave him a big bag of rice and avocados, and then took him home. So it was a really rewarding week to be able to be in the right spot to help some people out here in Barahona. So, the work is coming a long and Claudia will be getting baptized any saturday now we just need to get her moved first. But other than that everything is still just chugging right a long, we are getting a lot done and i am thankful for this opportunity i have to serve and to learn. Anyways, i hope you guys are all doing good and that you have a good week in this upcoming week. I love you all.

 

Elder Wadman

Dear family and friends,

Wow, well it sounds like it was quite the week for Brady this week. I guess he just wanting to get his bike up in the trailer... cant blame him for that haha Its good that that kid came by and found him and that he has got the cast now and that he his doing good now. It also sounds like you guys have a lot of fruits and vegetables from the harvest this year, its good to hear that she produced this year even with all the heat and no rain. So I am glad to hear that things are going good back home and that you all are enjoying life. Well, this week was a pretty awesome week, we saw a lot of progress in the branch. First off, on Saturday president worked with us the whole day, we used half of the day to visit our investigators and half of the day to visit the less active people in the branch. Well on Sunday it payed off, we had about 60 people there and there was 9 priesthood holders and then after church president had a meeting with 5 other priesthood holders that have been reactivated and now we are going to have activities almost everyday of the week. Which will be really good to keep the members motivated and to invite nonmembers so things should keep getting better and better every week. At least the attitude has changed in the branch and the members have even told us that they can feel the difference, so to be honest with you all i was pretty stoked and really happy yesterday to see the progress. Also, we still have Claudia and she is getting prepared for her baptism the 15th she said that she has quit drinking coffee and she is just really excited to get baptized and tonight we are going to watch together forever with her and teach her about temples and eternal families so we are pretty excited with how much changes she has made in her life and really she is going to be really strong when she gets baptized. Anyways, life is just rolling along here we are having a lot of fun and the time is going by too fast the Lord is working miracles here in Barahona and we are hoping that with his help we can see more miracles happen. Anyways I love you all and I hope you have a good week this week.

Elder Wadman

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, this week was quite and windy and rainy one. Friday, we got a call from president that told us that we couldn´t leave the house because the hurricane isaac was coming, so all day friday we stayed in the house. Luckily the hurricane didnt hit us here because if it did this whole city of Barahona would have been wiped out. We had little bit of it hit and just the tiny bit that hit did quite a bit of damage. A lot of trees got pulled out of the the ground and the streets were rivers because of how much rain we recieved. Their is a bridge that connects the whole south part of the country with the Santo Domingo and it got taken out because the river got so high. But from what ive hear it got replaced yesterday so things are connected once again. The good thing is that no one died here in the DR, but i heard that 4 people died in Haiti so i hope it didn´t do any more damage over there and i hope it doesnt do too much damage up there in the states either. But it was quite a spectacle, my first cyclone! haha Anyways, the only damage that happened with our house is that it started leaking and we had a little pool in the house. Then we went to the church and everything was perfectly in tact but there was a little pool in the church from all the water that came in so saturday morning we spent our time getting all of the water out of there, it reminded me of my days at Brad and Teri´s house after it flooded haha But all and all we made it through the storm. Anyways, this week the work went good too, with claudia i was praying quite a bit about her because i didn´t feel like she was ready to be baptized on saturday, so we postponed the baptism for the 15 of september, she too felt better about this new baptismal date. She has had a lot of things going on in here life lately, especially in this last month so we couldnt share with her as much as we wanted to but now we are reteaching her everything again and i already feel that she is a lot more ready to take on the covenant of baptism, and she will just keep on progressing and be more ready everyweek, and she will be prepared for the 15th so we are excited for her. Also, in the branch good things are happening. My first week we had the president and one other preisthood holder there, and a lot of inactive preisthood holders but we have been visiting alot and been doing a lot of visits with president and there are  a couple priesthood holders that have gotten reactivated, And yesterday three of them got callings. One to be elders quorum president, another to be secratary of the branch and the other to be the young mens president. And our president is going to call the one that has been active this whole time to be his counselor so things are turning around here in the branch and with the Lord´s help things should continue to change for the better. So everything is going good here and we are all safe no problems with hurricanes or nothing haha. We also just had transfer and president is leaving me and my companion together another transfer here in this branch so we are going to continue working hard and have another good transfer. Well I am glad that everything is going good for you all back home. I liked seeing the pictures of all the guys trying to put up the greenhouse and grandma and grandpas´s house.. hopefully it will last the winter. Also, the day of service sounds like it is a pretty cool event, i bet you guys got a ton done. Anyways family, I hope you all have a good week this week and know that i love ya all.

Elder Wadman

Dear Family and Friends,

Well it sounds like and looks like you guys had a fun time in Jackson! It always is a blast being up there and i know you guys had a fun time. How was the water this year, cold as always? haha Well I hope it was a fun time. Mom told me that this week they had a big birthday party in the conference center for me... I called church headquarters this last week and told them that they didnt need to have the party but it looks like they went ahead and did it anyways. Oh and I heard that president Monson´s birthday is coming up soon, so I hope they celebrated his birthday at the party too and not just mine. Haha Mom also told me that you guys went to the open house of the Brigham city temple i bet that was really cool, I will have to check it out when i come home. Well for me it has been a good week! We have been working a lot and it is paying off, yesterday in church we had 8 adult priesthood holders which is a lot better than the 2 that were there my first sunday here in barahona. We also have a investigador that has a baptismal date for this saturday, she has went to church for months and has a testimony but is still a little nervous about baptism because she doesnt want to make the commitment and then a couple months down the road decide that it isnt for her. So we are going to visit her a lot this week and see if she feels ready to be baptized but really she has a lot of faith and a really strong testimony. I am really glad that she has this as her doubt about baptism because it really shows that she takes serious the covenant that she is going to make with Christ. But if all goes well and if its God´s will she should be getting baptized on saturday so we are pretty excited about that! We also have 2 other investigadors that have been reading a lot in the Book of Mormon and are really progressing so things are going good here in Barahona. Well for my birthday we had a conference in Azua, it is like an hour or 2 from Barahona, and it was really cool because we got to see all the other missonaries and here a message from president. And then afterwards we had an activity in the church and we had quite a bit of people show up and we had a good spiritual message and then we played games. Afterwards we came back to house and all the guys sang me happy birthday, so it was a good birthday this year! Also today we woke up early and went to a different beach to take photos so i sent some more photos of the beach and also some pictures of when we burnt our shirts. 

 I think i explained it but here in this mission there are traditions and when you have 6 months in the mission you burn a tie, a year you burn a shirt, 18 months pants, and 2 years a suit. In my house there are 3 of us from the same group so we all burnt our 1 year mark shirts together and these are the pictures. Anyways familia, everything here is going really good and life is just a blast. I hope everything is going good for you all back there, that you enjoyed Jackson and that the kids are getting excited for school this next year. Anyways have a good week and I love you all.

Elder Wadman

Barahona Conference

Dear Family and Friends,

Well I am glad to hear that the trip up in Jackson was a success! I heard that there were some fighting words, and that next year i am going to receive an L on my forehead in Ticket to Ride... we will just have to see about that haha. Am glad to hear that you got  the boat out on the water and did a little bit of skiing and wake boarding. Well this week was a good week, we got a lot of work done. We've won the confidence of the branch president and he has started doing lots of visits with us and it truly has been working. There is one other strong Melchizedek priesthood holder in the branch and he did some visits with us this week too, needless to say it paid off. We had a little over 60 people in the church this week and 6 Melchizedek priesthood holders, that might now sound too great but trust it is really good here haha. Also this Sunday president Rodriguez came to Barahona and the whole mission presidency, because here the branches and districts are underneath the mission president. The first counselor in the mission presidency came to our Branch and he gave an awesome talk. It got all the people fired up. There were two inactive Melchizedek priesthood holders that showed up for church on Sunday and the talk from the counselor got them fired up. Then President gave a conference last night for all of Barahona and it was really good. He talked about love and the importance of love and how barahona is only going to grow when there is love in there hearts and they are helping each other grow in the gospel. So everybody here has caught a new bit of excitement and are wanting to do the lords work. Also with our investigadors we are having some that are progressing. we started the week out with two people that have baptismal dates and now we have 6 people that have baptismal dates! So with the Lords help hopefully we can help them make their covenants with the Lord and recieve the cleansing affect of baptism. So things should be changing around here in Barahona and hopefully we can get the work rolling the way the Lord wants it done. Anyways, I hope you all have a good week this  week, everything is going just great for me down here. Supposedly there is small hurricane coming this way but last week a small hurricane passed and it just rained a lot, i guess that is what happens this time of year but dont worry we are always protected. Anyways i love you guys and i hope you have a good week.

Elder Wadman

Dear Family and Friends,

Well for all of you that were wondering... yes I am about to be 20 years old, or an other words, man im getting old! haha Mom dad and heather thank you for the package i got it this week and dont worry on the 17th we will bake the cake and have a nice little fiesta. Well it sounds like you guys had a nice little week this week, i dont know if it is the same for you guys but the weeks here are like days. I swear i was just here last monday writing you guys and now i am here again, the time is going to fast! Anyways I hear you all are going to be heading up to jackson this week i hope you have a good time and that you get the boat out there on the water and do a little skiing and wakeboarding! Well, this week was quite the week. Probably one of the most spiritual weeks of my life. I cant explain all that has happened this week over an email, and some of the things are to sacred to write but i can say my testimony. I want you guys to know that this is the church of Jesus Christ, that he truely lives and loves us and wants the best for us. I know without a doubt that he restored his church through the prophet Joseph Smith and that he saw Jesus Christ and the Father in the Grove. And that everything that he said he saw is true and that all the revelations that he recieved are true. I know that the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants contain the Words of God and are true. And that President Monson is the prophet today and that he leads and guides the church through divine inspiration that he recieves from God. And that we can know what God wants us to do, all we need to do is listen to the words of the prophets and we will stay on track. In the Book of Mormon there are many times when the people  believed on the words of the prophets and they prospered, There are also many times when they didn´t believe on the words of the prophet and were not blessed and recieved many hardships, many battles and in the end, for the nephites, they were destroyed completly. In the account of Helaman and the first of 3 Nephi, you can see how the people repented and believed on the words of the prophets and then how quick they were to hardened their hearts, to develop pride and reject the prophets. We can learn a lot from there example, we can see how pride really is what causes such great destruction in their time and our time today. Also, in the Book of Helaman we see that pride within the church caused a lot of destruction, and trust me pride can cause a lot of destruction in the church today. I have seen a little bit of it here and what it does and its not good. Anyways, i guess what i am saying is that we need to be humble and listen to the words of the prophets and we will always recieve the blessings of the Lord. The Lord is bound when we do what he says. Ok well I have wrote a lot now but i know these things are true and that they can bless us. Anyways, everything is going really good here and me and my comp are still working hard here and learning alot, and trying to be a little better each day. I hope everything is going good for you all back home and that you have a fun trip in Jackson this week, I love you all 

Elder Wadman

One Year

Dear Family and Friends,

Well its sounds like this week has been quite a fun week for you guys. The pictures of the Rodeo, and of Sara and Reggie, looks like you guys had a lot of fun. Happy Birthday Reggie! hope you had a good first birthday and i am pretty sure that you will have a pretty cool second birthday haha Anyways, here in my house i live with 3 other missionaries, and 3 of us are from the same group. So there on the day of our year mark we all burnt a shirt. There are traditions here in this mission when you have 6 months you burn a tie, a year you burn a shirt, 18 months pants and 24 a suit. So i have burnt a tie and a shirt and i will burn pants but i probably wont be burning a suit haha so that was a lot of fun talking with them about how fast this last year went and all the things that happened in the mission in this last year. So the year mark was great and thank you mom for the packages that made it even better. Well this week was a good week, we worked really hard. During the day we worked with all of our investigadors and during the nights we went around visiting all of the inactive and less active people in the ward. So it was a lot of worked but it payed off because we had 10 more people in church this week then what we did last week. There was a little over 50 people in church, the branch presidents goal is to have 100 people attending church by the end of the year. It will take a lot of work but with the help  of the Lord we should be able to meet that goal. Well our investigadors are progressing right a long we are teaching a Lady named Claudia and she is completely ready to get baptized but she isn´t married to her boyfriend but we are going to work with that. However, she is super cool, she is reading the book of mormon and is in 2 nephi and she said that she has recieved her answer and wants to get baptized so we are pretty excited about that. Also, Elder Garcia my last comp told me that Isabel from Enriquillo got baptized yesterday and that another lady that we were teaching is getting baptized in the 2 weeks so i was super happy to hear that things are still rolling there in Enriquillo, and that Isabel got baptized. Anyways here in Barahona things are looking on the upside and things are rolling pretty good. With our investigadors we have been sharing a lot about faith because there are  alot of them that are learning and progressing but havent taken that next step of faith with their commitments. There is a scripture that i really like that talks about faith and its in helman 14:13 and its when samuel the lamanite is giving his sermon to the nephites. He says that if we truely have faith in Jesus Christ then we will repent of our sins and so that we can recieve a remission of them through his atonement. In other words we will be willing to give away all of our sins and our will, to do his will. I really like that scripture about faith and i know that through having faith and trusting in Christ and his atonement we can recieve a remission of our sins and be able to experience true happiness in this life. Anyways i hope everything is going good for you all back home. I love you all

Elder Wadman

Dear Family and Friends,

Well first off congradulations Tasha and Ryan with the baby! I cant wait to meet Sara Ann when she is a year old! And Reggie when he is two haha I saw the pictures and it looks like kenzi jack brady and gabe will be helping out a lot with her, so congradulations! Well mom it sounds like you made it through girls camp and that it was alot of fun too. Well I am here now in Barahona and it is quite the paradise. From the top of our house i can see the beach and there is always a nice breeze from the ocean that hits us. Well, i spent all day tuesday traveling and i got here in Barahona at 9 at night. The buses to bring us out here were full so we spent about 7 hours at a bus stop waiting for a bus to bring us out here but in the end we made it. My first morning here we woke up early and we ran out to the beach, so now i can say i have been to the beach in the DR. So that is really cool well half of my area is up in the mountains and when we are contacting i feel like I am at home up in the mountains... and then i see dominicans and palm trees  and i remember that i am still here in the DR. But the area is really cool.  Yesterday we went to church and this branch needs a lot of work. The branch president is strong but he doesnt have much help. We went to church and with our investigadors there were 41 people at church and besides the branch president, and a couple kids that are about to go on missions, there wasnt anybody there who has the melchezidek preisthood. So it is a little weak but with the Lords help we should be turning it around. I talked with the branch president and he is going to give us a list of all the inactive priesthood members in the branch and we are going to start visiting all of them and start getting them reactivated. We are going to try and work with the Branch President a lot and be the help he needs to get this place turned around. So i am excited for the oportunity to work in this area and get things rolling. The people here are super nice, everybody says hi to everybody and everybody wants you to come in and sit down and talk to them, so they are easy to love here. The literacy rate is a little bit lower here than in the city but the people are nicer here than in the city. My companion is a mexican named Elder Vicente and we live with a missionary from Honduras and one from Peru so i am still sticking with the 24/7 spanish. So thats always good to keep practicing the spanish. My new house has got water and power 24/7 so i am basically just living the dream right now haha. Well we have a couple of investigadors that are progressing and i have a feeling that with the Lords help we definately can work some miracles here in Barahona. So I that is what is going on with me these days but I hope that everything is going well for you guys back home and that you are having a fun summer. I love you all

Elder Wadman

ps here are some photos