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.