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