7-29-13

Dear family and friends,

Well this will be my last email home to you guys in the mission. Well I dont know exactly what to say, but one thing i know is that im eternally grateful for my Father in heaven and his Son, Jesus Christ for giving me this opportunity to serve them and the people of the DR for these past two years. The time has gone by so fast and I couldnt have asked for anything more. I owe so much to the mission and to what i have learned during it. The most important thing that I have learned is that Jesus lives, He truly lives and is the Christ, my Savior and my Redeemer. This is His work and His church, I am so grateful that I got to be an instrument in His hands to bring this work forth. I truly have seen miracles in the lives of people here, the changes are immense that I have seen in others and in me for the better. Last week I was able to visit Los Alcarrizos, I visited Ana and Mari, and they told me that Ana now is the first counselor in the relief society and Mari is the second counselor. They are faithful and firm like the anti-nephi-lehi and a great example for me. I know that the atonement is real not only can it heal us from sin but also from heartache, pain, and affliction caused by stuff that happens to us. Or better said the atonement of Jesus Christ covers all and through it we can become completely healed from all sicknesses, all we have to do is come unto Christ have faith in Him and repent of our sins and he makes up for the rest. For that reason we have our purpose as missionaries to invite others to come unto Christ through faith, repentance, baptism, gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. For the past 2 years I truly have been trying to complete with that purpose, and I will continue to do my best to complete with that purpose. I know that this is the Church of Christ, Joseph Smith truly saw God the Father and the Son Jesus Christ and the gospel was restored, for that I am eternally grateful. The Book of Mormon is true and a book that contains power to change peoples lives. It truly testifies of the truthfulness and the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am grateful for the Father and the Son, my biggest desire is to please them and live in a way to glorify them. I have seen many conversion stories here in the missions but my biggest convert here in the mission was me, I am converted to the Lord and His gospel. Im so thankful for all of you guys and for all the help you have giving me during these past 2 years. I truly could not ask for a better family and friends. I love you all and I am exited to see you all on Wednesday. The Church is true and this is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Elder Wadman

7-15-13

Dear family and friends,

Well it sounds like you all had a pretty good week this last week and that you are going to have a pretty busy one in this upcoming week. Well everything here is going great, we are working hard and are finding some cool people. All still goes well with wenifer, she is progressing right toward her baptism and is reading a lot in the Book of Mormon she is very smart and is learning a lot. With Jorge all is going well but we might have to postpone his baptism because he hasnt gone to church for the last 2 weeks, he still is planning on getting married the 20th and really wants to get baptized but weve got to make sure that he has got the habit of going to church every week before he gets baptized, so we will see what happens with him. Life just keeps chugging a long here in Canastica, we are trying to get the ward excited about the missionary work. On Saturday we had a ward counsel and we determined what we are going to do get the ward focused and working on missionary work and on activating the less active people in the ward. We have been asking for referrals for people to teach and for less active members to go and teach too, and the work is getting going here. We also have found this lady named Nelyi and she is super cool when we contacted her she told us that she is Catholic but that she would be fine with listening to us. We shared with her and we invited her to read the pamphlet and to pray to know if it were true, when we went back she had read the whole pamphlet and had marked it and had questions ready for us, when we asked her if she´d prayed she told us that she had prayed and that she feels that the message is true, so we are super excited for her and for her potential. Anyways life is going great here, just seeing the Lord´s hand in the work, the church is true, this is the gospel of Jesus Christ. I love you all and I hope that you all have a good week this week.

Love Elder Wadman

Jul 8

Dear family and friends,

Well first of I have to congratulate Meg and Tyler with the new baby Trey, congratulations that is awesome! Im excited to be able to meet him and reggie and also russell and sara, the family sure is growing over there getting a little bigger and bigger everyday! Also, happy birthday to grandma Montgomery, Gabe, Brad, and happy 4th of July! Sounds like you guys had quite a week filled with all sorts of fun activities, I hope it all went great! Well this week was an awesome week filled with teaching and looking for new investigators. To let you guys know everything with Wenifer is going great she is reading all of the pamphlets and the book of Mormon and is going to church and mutual and truly is  gaining a testimony of the gospel, she is right on track for her baptism on the 27th of July. Also, Jorge is going to have his wedding on the 20th of July and then he too will be getting baptized on the 27th of July! It will be a great dual baptism and a great day to finish my last day in the field. We also will have to more baptism that are right on track for the 17th of August, so when we are celebrating my birthday over there,there will be two baptisms here. One of them is named Manuela and she is progressing rapidly for her baptismal date, she also is ready the pamphlets and the Book of Mormon, and she goes to church every week. She is right on track and is making great changes in her life. The other one is named Jose Manuel he is completing with all the commitments except for one really important one and that is that he has to work on sundayand he has been asking his boss for sundays off for a while and his boss hasnt let him go to church, but we are going to keep praying and keep helping him so that his boss lets him off or so that he can get a different job, but he really loves the lessons and has told us that he has received an answer that what we teach is true, so im pretty excited for him too. There also is one more family that goes to church every week, they read the scriptures, and keep the commandments, but the only thing is that they need to get married. And what happened is that he has some sort of problem with his birth certificate and he has to do a lot to get it fixed. Me and President Rodriguez talked about it and we made a plan for him to be able to get his papers fixed and once he does that they can get married and then baptized. I have been praying a lot for them to resolve this problem and I think we will be able to get it done. The work is going forward here in Canastica, lots of souls are ready to come unto Christ and have faith in Him, repent, get baptized, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and endure to the end. We are doing are best to find and teach them and we are seeing the Lord´s hand in all of His work. I love the mission, the is the most important wok that the Lord has given us to do and as we go forward with faith, us as missionaries and members working together, we will find lots of people that are waiting for the restored gospel to come into their lives. Christ leads this church, he is at the head of it all and I know it with all my heart. Try and find someone to share the message with and invite them to listen, whats the worst that could happen? I love you all and I hope that you have a great week this week.

Elder Wadman

Jul 1

Dear family and friends,

Well it sounds like this last week has been pretty busy and that in this next week you guys are going to have a lot of birthdays and the 4th of July, Im sure it will be a fun time. Well Happy birthday to Gabe, and to Brad, and to grandma, I hope you guys all have a great birthday this year, and a great week this week! Well everything here is going great we are still on track with are investigadors that have dates to get baptized. With Wenifer she looks like she will for sure be getting baptized at the end of this month and with Jorge he is looking good for the end of this month too, we just got to get him and his wife married and then he will be all ready for his baptism. Also, on saturday we were contacting in the nightime, we had knocked on quite a bit of houses and we were about to go to a lesson but we decided to contact a couple more houses we contacted a man and his wife and we told them who we were and asked them if there was another time in which we could pass by and they told us yes. So last night we passed by their house and we shared with them a little bit about the blessings that are received through the gospel of Jesus Christ, they then asked us why there are so many different religions when there is only one God and we explained to them a little bit about the apostacy, and the restoration and we told them that they needed to pray to know for sure if our message was true. They accepted the invitation to pray and to read the pamphlet and they really have got true interest. The wife told us that she had shared before with missionaries and that she had even went to church a couple times but then she lost contact with the missionaries, but that she wants to learn more, and the husband told us what day we should pass by again to teach them, at a time that he would be there. Basically they are a golden family with a lot of potencial to progress, Im excited to see their progress and growth as they come into the true restored gospel of Jesus Christ. The weeks are going fast, sometimes too fast, I truly love the mission and all of the experiences that I have had. Im truly thankful to the Lord for this opportunity that I have to serve Him, the church is true, this is His work and I know that with all my heart. I love you all and am so thankful for all that you do for me, I hope you all have a good week this week and that everything is going good.

Elder Wadman

Jun 24

Dear family and friends,

Well it sounds like you all had a good week this past week and that you are all doing good. Happy birthday to Eric, I hope you had a good one! And happy birthday to heather tomorrow, I hope that youve got something fun planned to do. Well I am here in San Cristobal, in Canastica, my companion is elder Mendez and he is from the DR and I live with a columbian and a honduran, so its all spanish again in my house and its going good. Me and Elder Mendez have got some cool investigadors, first off we are teaching this guy named Jorge and he is the husband of a less active lady. The bishop told my comp and his old comp to go and teach the less active familiy, they invited Jorge to share and he has been sharing and going to church for a couple weeks now. When my comp explained his situation I asked him if he has got a baptismal date and my comp said no and that he needs  to get legally married to the his wife. So on Thursday we went to his house and we put a date for his baptism for the 27th of July, my last saturday of the mission and he accepted the date and told us that he has already bought rings for him and her, and he expressed to us his desire to get baptized and basically he is just golden, and another preciouse soul coming unto Christ, I am excited to be able to be here and help him. We are teaching another couple named Alexander and Virginia and they are so awesome, they have been going to church for almost 4 months straight now and the are reading like crazy in the Book of Mormon and in Doctrine and Covenants, they just got to get married legally to be able to get baptized, and he has some problem with his birth certificate, so we are putting some goals with him to do what he needs to do with his birth certificate so that they can get married and get baptized also. So there is quite a lot of work that we need to do here, and a lot of awesome people that we can help come unto Chirst. Watching the capacitation for leaders and missionaries last night got me super pumped to be able to be here full time in the most important work that can be done in this world, and that is preaching the true and restored gospel to all the world, what a maravalous work we have and what a great time it is to preach the restoration of the gospel. I love this time that I have, miss my old area, but already feel sad to not be able to be in this area very long, the ward here is great. Lots of willing brothers and sisters to help the work go forth, the Lord truly is hastening His Work. I love you all and hope that all is going well for you guys back home and that you have a great week!

Elder Wadman

Jun 17

Dear family and friends,

Well it sounds like everything is going just great back home for all of you. I want to wish dad and grandpa and all the other dads a happy fathers day yesterday, I hope you had a great day! Its good to hear that all is well with shambree and with meg and with the two new babies that are coming. It sounds like its all just going good back there. Well last night we received transfer calls and after 7 months here in this area I am getting transfered. It is crazy because I have came to love the people here in this ward especially the people that I got to help come to the gospel here. Ive got some mixed feelings about it because it sure is going to be hard to say bye to these people here, but I know that I worked hard here and I got to see the fruits of the labor and I couldnt have asked for a better place to be for the last couple months. I got to see Ana, Isamay and Mari enter into the waters of baptism, and Ana and Mari have already set the goals themselves to go and do take out their endowments. Ana in January and Mari next June, they are two strong women that will complete those goals. Yesterday, Mari was assigned to teach the relief society class after just a week of being baptized, it was a lesson from the teachings of Lorenzo Snow, I didnt even know about it but after all the relief society ladies told us that she taught it as if she had lot of years in the church, bishops wife came up to me after and told me that just for that lady alone I can go home happy, its cool to see how strong of a lady she is and how prepared she was to receive the gospel. Also, Isamay and her husband have got their goals set on a temple marriage and hopefully that can happen this next year too. They are great people here in Los Alcarrizos, great bishopric, and we have had a great ward mission leader, things are firing on all cylinders here and I know the work will keep going forward here and Im thankful for the time God has giving me to be here. Well, I am going to an area called Canastica of San Cristobal, its back outside of the city and from what I hear it will be a little countryish, my companion´s name is Elder Mendez, I dont know him but Ill get to know him. Im excited to go and work over there in San Cristobal and hopefully we can bring a couple more precious souls unto Christ in my time there. I love the mission and this time that I have been giving from God to do His work bring forth the establishment of His kingdom. I love you all and I hope all is well back home have a great week.

Elder Wadman

Jun 10

Dear family and friends,

Well it sounds like life is going just great back there for all of you guys. Mom told me that its hotter right now in Liberty than it is in the DR so Im glad to here that it is heating up back there for you guys. Well this week was an awesome week, on Saturday our ward all went to the temple so we had Maris baptism on Sunday right after church. It was such an awesome baptism almost the whole ward was there and the place was packed and we had some awesome messages there and then she was baptized and recieved the Holy Ghost right then and there. She was so excited for her baptism and had been anticipating here baptism for a while. She is going to be a very strong lady and is going to help this ward out a lot. I think I have only found a couple people like her on my mission that have been so golden. We knocked on her door about 7 weeks ago, and she hasnt had problems with any commandments she was already living the law of chastity and was already living the word of wisdom. All we did was knock her door and tried to let her feel the spirit and receive a testimony, well the spirit touched her and a few short weeks later she is baptized. Her daughter also went to the baptism and we have started teaching her too and are hoping to bring more members of her family unto Christ too. It was an awesome baptism and I am going to try to send some pictures home to you guys. Also, our other investigators are progressing along real well too. Rosani has got a baptismal date for the 6th of July we are hoping that she will keep on progressing and that she will be ready and prepared to get baptized. We also have starting teaching this other lady named Yudelki and she is really cool, we have taught her a couple times and we put a baptismal date with her for the 20th of July. We are hoping that she too can get prepared to be able to be baptized on that day. We have been praying a lot to be able to find the chosen ones and the ones that are waiting for us and the Lord truly is guiding us to them. The work is going good just enjoying this time that the Lord is giving me to be a missionary and try and find those that need the gospel in their lives. Anyways, life is great here I truly am enjoying it, I hope that everything is going great for you all back home. I love you all and hope you have a good week.

Elder Wadman

Jun 4

Dear family and friends,

Well it sounds like you guys had a great week this last week, it sounds like it just keeps warming up and that you all are enjoying that summer weather. Well this week was a great one for us we really worked hard we knocked a lot of doors. We are trying to find the people that are chosen and ready and that are waiting for us so we are knocking a lot of doors to be able to find them. We found a couple cool people and hopefully this week we will find a couple more. I am super excited for this week because it is going to be Mari´s baptism. She is super cool and has a strong testimony. In a class on Sunday she stood up and told her testimony about the book of mormon and about the church. She said that she didnt want to get baptized unless she new that for sure that everything is true and she said that she has received that answer from studying the Book of Mormon and praying a lot. She is very excited for her baptism and we are too. Also, our ward is doing a temple trip this week and some of my converts from here are going to go and the ward wants to take Mari too just so she can see the gardens there at the temple, I think it would be an awesome opportunity for her to feel the spirit that you feel by just walking on the temple grounds, so I hope she can go and that everything goes well for her baptism. We have invited a lot of members to go to the baptism and I think that we are going to have a really good turn out, I will send the pictures. Well there is quite a bit of work here to do in Los Alcarrizos, all though I have been here for a while it will be hard to say bye to this place. But I just keep getting the feeling that Heavenly Father has some peopled prepared and waiting for us here, people just like Mari, and Ana, and Isamay. That we just got to keep working really hard and that we will find them. Im very grateful for this time that I have to be a missionary and for all of the learning opportunities that I have and for this time to serve the Lord my biggest hope is to please Him. I love you all and hope that you guys have a good week this week!

Elder Wadman

May 27

Dear family and friends,

Well it sounds like you guys had a good week this last week. It sounds like Gabe is off the feeding tube and is just loving life, and it sounds like dad had quite the trip down in Texas but it sounds like all went well. Well you guys are probably all eating some good old barbecue right now and I hope that you are all enjoying it. For me, this week has been an awesome one, it starting to get back into hurricane season so it has started raining a lot again so that's always fun. Also, the investigators are doing really good, Mari is looking great for her baptismal date. She always has so many questions and wants to learn so much about the church. She is reading a lot in the Book of Mormon and she has been going to every activity in the church, her daughter has started coming to everything too and on Saturday we set a baptismal date with her daughter too, now we only need to get her husband on board too. It is so great to see how much happier Mari has gotten through living the gospel and through  finding the truth that she has been looking for for years. On Sunday in the investigators class she told the class about how she has wanted to join a church for a long time but was just waiting to find the true church, she said that she had been praying for a couple months to find the true church and then we knocked on her door. She always talks about how she accepted a baptismal date in the first lesson and that she cant wait for her baptismal date. So we are really excited for her and for her daughter. We also have been teaching Candido, we had a really spiritual lesson with him this last week about the restoration and about the church being restored to the earth again. He understood it completely  and said that he is praying a lot and that he wants to know for sure if everything we teach is true before he gets baptized so we just told him that if he wants the answer then he just has to pray and ask God and that God will answer his prayer. We also have been finding a lot of inactive people and have been sharing a lot with them, trying to get a couple reactivated, not a ton of success with that yet but we are working at it. So the other day I read a scripture in Doctrine and Covenants that explains a little bit about missionary work. It says that we are here to find the chosen ones, and that the chosen ones, or the people that are ready, wont harden their hearts. That got me pretty motivated, so we have been knocking doors like crazy lately trying to find the chosen ones that wont harden their hearts, I know that their are some more that are out waiting for us right now in this area so this week we are going to go hard and we are going to find them. Well I hope everything is going good back home I love you all and hope you have a good week.

Elder Wadman

Dear family and friends,

Well it sounds like this last week was a good one for you guys back home. sounds like mom is getting back to planting and that it is starting to get really green back there. I saw pictures of Gabe and it was great to see him out there playing outside and being able to play again, so I was excited to see that. Well this week was pretty great here in the D.R. the work is just continually moving forward, we are just finding more people that could have a lot of potential to progress in the gospel. With Mari everything is going good, on Saturday we went and shared with her and the bishop´s wife went with us too. It was a great lesson and bishop´s wife is really cool and shared her testimony and it was on like a perfect level with Mari because she told about her conversion story and it really helped Mari. Also, on Saturday the other missionaries in our house had a baptism and we invited Mari and her and her daughter went. After the baptism she had a tear in her eye and she said that she loved it and cant wait for her baptism so we are super excited for her. And then her daughter came to church on Sundaytoo and she is about 18 so we are going to start sharing with her because it looks like she has got a lot of desire to learn about what her mom is doing. So everything is going great with Mari. We also found this other guy named Candido this week. He is probably about 45 years old and we knocked his door and he let us in right from the get go. So we shared with him and set a baptismal date with him and asked him to pray about it to know if it is what he should do and to know if our message is true. We also invited him to go to church and he told us that he was going to go and then on Sunday he showed up with a shirt and tie. We were pretty excited about that, he has a lot a questions about the gospel, he really liked church but he asked me a couple times who was Joseph Smith, so I told him that our next lesson that we would explain who Joseph Smith is. Its crazy because we havent shared with him very much but he decided to come to church and tonight we invited all of our investigators to come to the church and we are going to watch the restoration, so it will help the newer ones to know more about Joseph Smith and how we have the church and to feel the spirit. Candido said that he is going to go tonight too. He told us that he wants to change his life around and come unto Christ so Im pretty excited for him. So right now the work is going really good, we are working hard to try and find the chosen ones. All and all everything is going great here, just enjoying this time that Ive got to do this work. Anyways, I love you all and hope you guys have a great week this week.

Elder Wadman

Dear family and friends,

Well it was good to talk to you guys yesterday! It sounds like all is going well for you back home and that you all are enjoying life right now. Well when I got done talking I realized that ididnt wish mom a happy mothers day. So Happy mothers day mom, and grandma, and tashaand megan, and all the other moms that are reading the email. It was good to get an update on everything that is going back there at home and hear whats going on. Well I gave you guys a pretty good update yesterday about what is going on here but Ill just re pass. Well I told you all about Mari and everything is going just great with her she is getting ready for her baptismal date on June 8th and we are pretty excited for that, we still need to teach her some more stuff but for now she is looking really good for that day and she is going to be really strong too when she gets baptized because she is really smart and knows a lot, so we are just going to keep teaching her and get her prepared. Also, I told some of you guys about Amouris, he is a police man and we have been teaching him for about a week and a half. Well he has been reading everything that we give him and yesterday during sacrament meeting he leaned over to my companion and he told him that he felt really good and that he wants to get baptized, so we are excited to keep teaching him too. Also, with Maira and Orfelio they are just constant, they have been going to church for about 3 months now and are just turning into dry members but this week we are going to visit them with a member from the ward and she is a lawyer. So she is going to explain to them all the process of divorce, if you guys dont remember he needs to get divorced to his wife from years ago and get married to maira so they can get baptized. It will be a little bit of a process but we are going to get them started on it so they can come to waters of baptism and make covenants with the Lord. The ward here is doing great and the work is coming a long just great too. Im loving the mission and the time ive got to serve the Lord here. Well I love  you all and I hope everything is going well back home and that you guys have a good week this week.

Elder Wadman

Dear family and friends,

Well it sounds like you guys had a good week last week. It likes we had quite the miracle with Gabe and it sounds like he is going to be able to come home this week, that as a great blessing from God. It also sounds like grandma`s funeral went really well and that it was a very happy funeral, so I was glad to hear that too. Well this week has been a great week, I told you guys about the women that we ment last week named Mari, well she is super cool. So we have shared with her about the restoration and also about the plan of salvation and she told us that she has recieved an answer from God and that she knows that what we have explained to her is true and that she wants to get baptized. In our first lesson we put a baptismal fecha with her for June 8th and every time we pass by after she always reminds us of that date and how she is preparing for that day. She said that before we knocked on her door that she had been praying for a couple months to know which church is true and to know which one to join. Well we knocked on her door and she has completed with the commitments and is preparing for baptism. She went to church on Sunday and she really enjoyed it so God definatly helped us find her because she was truely looking for the truth. And we asked her if she is married to her husband and she said yes! which is very rare in this country so she is just golden and Im really excited for her. Well we recieved transfer calls last night and Elder Neslon is leaving and I am staying and Im getting a new comp named Elder Mahn, or something like that. By the end of this transfer I will have almost 7 and half months in this same area, but its good because I really like this area, and there are a lot of people to help here and our investigadors are super cool, so lifes good. We are just going to keep working hard and we are going to keep trying to to find the chosen ones here. Anyways, next sunday is mother`s day so I am going to be calling you guys, mom said that you get done with church at 2 so I will call at like 230 your guy`s time and we will chat it up! Well I hope everything is going good with you guys this week, everything is going great here, I love you all and have a good week.

Elder Wadman

Dear family and friends,

Well it sounds like you guys had a great week this last week, It sounds like it warmed up a little bit and that you guys got to enjoy the sun a little bit this week. It sounds like Gabe is getting better and I heard that he even got to ride a train, so its good to here that he is doing better. Well this week was a great week for me here in the work. We had an awesome experience on Friday, we were teaching a bunch of first lessons in our area and we would teach the people but not very many of them had very much interest in the message, but then we showed up to last house on the street and we taught a lady named Mari. We got there and we started sharing with her and she told us about how she has seen a bunch of messages of the church on TV and she said that the messages are always so positive and that she always feels so good after watching them. For some reason, I felt impressed to talk about all of the joy, peace, and happiness the gospel brings into the lives of those who accept it and live it. We shared for a while and after a little bit she told us that she had been suffering from depression, she said that she believed in God and that she has been trying to find a way to bring peace and happiness back into her life again. We told her that through the gospel she would be able to feel the peace and happiness again and that the message would greatly bless her and her family. We came back on Sunday afternoon and she said that she had been praying a lot and had been thinking about what we said on Friday and that she was feeling a lot better. I could tell because on friday she wasnt smiling at all, but when we went back on Sunday she was smiling and was very excited. She told us that she will be going to church on Sunday and she accepted a baptismal date right then and there. Now it will be the process of teaching her but she is really cool and I believe that this message is going to help her out a lot, and that through the gospel she will feel the peace and happiness once again in her life, so that was a really cool experience. Also, with Maira and Orfelio, the couple, they are becoming dry members, they are coming to church every week and have been reading a lot in the Book of Mormon and have told us that they know the church is true and that they will be getting baptized once they get everything figured out so that they can get married. They are really cool people and have made big changes in their lives. Really it has been great to be able to see all the changes that these people have been making in their lives to be able to come unto Christ and receive all the blessings of the gospel. The mission is going just great, I am enjoying the time and all of the experiences that I am having. I hope that you guys are enjoying life back home. I love you all and hope that you have a good week.

Elder Wadman

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, It sounds like it has been a pretty crazy week for all of you last week. I was super happy to hear about Gabe and that he is getting better. I was praying a lot for him last week, Im glad that he is feeling better and I just saw a picture of him in Tasha´s arms so it looks like he is doing really good. I am glad to hear that grandma got to go and be reunited with grandpa once again it sounded like she missed him a lot and I bet he missed her too, so it is happy that they are back together again. You guys are going to have to tell me how the funeral goes and send me the pictures and everything, she was a good lady. I will miss seeing grandma getting mad at grandpa and him saying, yes dear. They were good people and now they are together again.

Well, this week was a great week with the missionary work. We have still been going strong with our goal to put baptismal dates in the first lesson with everyone that we share with. It has been helping out so much, the lessons have been so much more spiritual and we find out a lot sooner about who are the people that have true desire to recieve all the blessings of the gospel and to come unto Christ. So we are still finding a lot of cool people in that way and some of them have really started progressing. There is one couple that we are teaching that are super cool. They have been coming to church for about 2 months straight now and both of them have reciven answers to the prayers and they know that the church is true. Yesterday in the investigaders class in church the teacher taught about the atonement of Christ and how we can all receive the blessings of the atonement we only need to have faith in Him, repent and be baptized. And then the teacher invited all the investigadors to accept to be baptized and they both said that that is what they want to do. They really do have a lot of desire and are super cool, but they also need to get married too, but with them it will be a longer process so we will see what we can do for them. Also, on Saturday we shared with a guy named Negro and he lives with his wife and they have three kids that are all grown up. Well we shared with him and his wife on saturday and at the end of the lesson he agreed to go to church and sunday at 8 in the morning he showed up. He really liked it and we are super excited to start teaching him and to see how he progresses in the gospel. Really, the work is going great right now and we are just trying to bring as many unto Christ as possible, so its going great. I hope all goes well this week with you guys and with the funeral, I love you all and I am thankful for all you do for me. Have a good week.

Elder Wadman

Also, a special shoutout to Spencer and Dallin Happy Birthday guys! In all the pictures they look so much bigger, I guess I will just see how much bigger they really are in a couple months. But Happy birthday to both of you guys!

Dear family and friends,

Well I just got on and saw the letters it looks like there have been some complications with gabe´s surgery and that he is going to get open heart surgery tomorrow he is in my prayers and will continually be in my prayers this whole week. I hope that all of you guys are staying strong through all of this too, I know that the Lord will help us make it through this. Gabe is a strong little boy and I hope that these surgeries help him make it through this. We just have to keep our trust in the Lord, He knows the plan that He has for each one of us. If we keep our faith in Him then we can make it through any difficulty and challenge, the Savior knows what each one of us goes through, just like it says in Alma 7 that He would go forth suffering pains, afflictions and sicknesses of his people so that he could know how we feel and know how to help us. I know that if we rely on the Savior and trust in His redeeming power in our life and during this time we will make it out on top. I love you all and know that I will be praying for all of you guys too and especially for Gabe.

To give you guys a quick update on what happened here, Isamay got married on Thursday and bapitzed on Saturday. It was an awesome baptism the spirit was definatly felt at the baptism. We had a couple investigadors show up and at the baptism we watched the short movie about the restoration, and everytime I watch it I feel the spirit so strongly. I am glad to be born into this family that has the knowledge of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I am thankful that God has called prophets once again and has revealed to us the way to make it back into His presence and His Son Jesus Christ after this life and for the temple covenants that make it possible to be able to have eternal families. It is all true, I have felt it and I know you guys have too, keep the faith and all will go well. I was going to send pictures but this computer wont send the pictures, I will find a way to get them to you. I love you all you are in my prayers and Gabe too, have a good week and keep me informed on what is happening.

Elder Wadman

Dear family and friends,

Well it sounds like you guys had a good week this last week, and that it is warming up back there. I hope you all enjoyed general conference and the great messages that we heard onsaturday and sunday. It also sounds like you guys had some spiritual experiences at Ryan and Tasha´s and the fast and blessings for Gabe. He has been in my prayers and fast too, he is a trooper and all will go well. He will be in my prayers this week too. Well this week has been an awesome week, weve have seen the Lord´s hand in His work. I am going to tell you guys about a couple different investigators that are taking some big steps to get closer to baptism. First off, Isamay is going to get married on thursday and then will get baptized on Saturday this week. Everything is looking really good for her she is reading a lot in the Book of Mormon and has a solid testimony about the restoration of the gospel. So this Saturday she will get baptized. Also, we have set a new goal to set specific baptism dates with everybody that we teach. If they accept then those are the ones we need to be working with, if they dontaccept then we are going to waste the Lord´s time on someone that isnt serious about making covenants with Him. So last week, we set specific dates for  8 different people and we told them all to pray about it to know if the church is true and if they should get baptized. It is working out really good, we had 8 people that showed up to general conference, and out of the 8 there were 6 that have baptismal dates and that are progressing toward those days. So the excitement levels are high for the work right now we are finding some really cool poeple. For example, on tuesday we left at 10 after studying to go and work and we had to walk about 25 minutes to get to our area. We had a lesson planned out with a lady and when we got to her house we saw that she wasn´t there, so we decided to start tracting, the next house that we got to an older lady answered the door and she didnt really want to let us in but asked us how long our message was and we told her about 10 to 15 minutes and reluctantly she let us in the door to share with her. So we started sharing with her and I could feel the spirit there at her house during the lesson, at the end of the lesson I remembered our goal to commit people to get baptized even in the first lesson. I explained to her the importance of baptism and the importance of being baptized by someone the holds the true priesthood power of God. I asked her, that if she prayed, and if God told her that the church is true, and that she needs to get baptized, then would she be willing to follow the example of Jesus Christ and get baptized. She said that she would pray and that if God tells her then she would get baptized. We asked her to pray and ask God right then and there, in her pray she sincerely asked God to know and by the end of the prayer she was crying, we explained to her that what she was feeling was the Holy Ghost and it was telling her that the message is true and that she needs to get baptized. We set a baptismal date with her for a couple months in advance, so we can teach her everything but she felt the spirit and received an answer from God. Also, a couple weeks ago I told you guys about a referral that we received from the stake secretary that lives in our ward. The referrals are his in-laws, we have had a couple really cool lessons with them and very powerful, but the mom has to work on sundays and the dad just didnt want to commit to go on Sundays. Well on Wednesday we had a lesson with them, and at the end of the lesson I remembered the goal that we had to commit everyone to follow Christ´s example and get baptized. I explained about the same thing that I explained to the other lady and they also said that if God answers their prayers then they will be willing to get baptized. We told them that they needed to pray fervently to receive the answer and they committed to pray to know for sure. Well it looks like they started praying because for the first time the dad decided to go to church with us, and it just so happened to be general conference. I was super excited to see him in church and the best part was is that after conference he told us that he loved it and that he felt peaceful and good inside and that he really enjoyed it. We will be passing by this week to talk more with them but we are really excited for them. Also, Maria has got a date for baptism on the 4 of may, we have been working a lot with her. She is reading a lot in the Book of Mormon but she was having some troubles with getting to church and we had a very bold lesson with her and we told her that her commitment to go to church isnt a commitment between her and us but it is between her and the Lord. Right there she committed to go to church and then she went to general conference. So she is back on track to be able to receive the great covenant of baptism. Basically, we are finding a lot of cool people and are having a lot of spiritual experiences just trying to help these souls come unto Christ. The work is going great, the mission is great and all is going good. I love you all and hope that all is going well back home with you guys too and I want you all to have good week this week.

Elder Wadman

Dear Family and Friends,

Well it sounds like you guys had a fun time down there in hurricane this last weekend and it sounds like the baby blessing went really well. Congrats to Brad and Teri and to Russell, the pictures look like it was a lot of fun and a good turn out. Well this week was an awesome week for us, it was a week full of service, I got to do a little bit of EW excavation Dominican style. There is a member family in our ward that are super poor but they are building a new house and we had to dig out the footings for the house with picks and shovels. We invited all of the 20 missionaries for the zone to come over and help out too. We got a lot done and we dug her down a lot, one thing that I noticed is that my hands have gotten soft, because I cut them all up, but it was a lot of fun it felt good to get back in a hole with a shovel and to go to work. So we did that twice this week, it was a good little service project. With the missionary work it is going really well, this week we found an awesome new investigator. Her name isMagalis she is about 40 and has 2 children and we had our second lesson with her on Thursday and she was there waiting for us, we went to her house with the ward mission leader, and we started teaching her. She seemed super interested, she committed to go to church and the lesson was super spiritual and at the end we invited her to pray and when she got done praying their were tears going down her face and she was smiling, we told her that what she was feeling was the Holy Ghost and that the Spirit was telling her that what we are teaching is true. She said that she was going to invite her husband to share with us for our next visit and on Saturday we passed by and her and her husband were sitting there waiting for us with the pamphlet in their hand ready to share. We had another cool lesson with them on Saturday and she committed to go to church again but her husband couldn't and he told us that next week he is going to go to church. We told her that we would pass by in the morning early on Sunday to go and find her. Our church starts at 8 o'clock and she lives a good 20 minutes from the church so we went and got to her house at about 730 in the morning and her and her 10 year old son were ready to go to church. Her son told us that they had woke up at 6 to get ready to go to church. We went to church and she told us that she really likes it and she has already expressed desires of getting baptized but like everyone else in this country she needs to get married legally to her husband. So we are going to be working a lot with her and I am super excited to see her progression in the gospel. Also with Isamay, we are going to get all of the birth certificates in this week and hopefully have the wedding next week so she can get baptized on the 13th of April, that is what we are hoping for and so far it is looking like we will be able to make it for that day with a little help from up above. We have another couple that have been coming to church for a month or so now and they are really cool. They want to get baptized but the thing is that he got married by the law before to a different lady and then they split up a couple years ago and then he moved in with this other lady that we are teaching. So in order for them to get baptized, he has to get divorced and then they got to get married and then they can get baptized. Here in this country divorce is a super big process and it cost lot... money that people don't have here so we are going to keep teaching them all of the gospel and keep praying and figure out someway to get the divorce process going. But this couple  is super excited for general conference and to see and hear the prophet and the apostles and so am I, it is going to be a great weekend, to be able to hear the Lord´s chosen Prophet and the Apostles here on the earth. It is great opportunity that we have as members and as the world to hear them so we are getting pretty excited. All and all everything is going really great I am just enjoying this time that I have to serve the Lord and see the changes that are coming in to these peoples lives. Anyways, I love you all and I hope you all have a good week this week.

Elder Wadman

Dear family and friends,

Well it sounds like you guys had a pretty cool week this last week down there in Salt Lake, staying at the hotel and going to the play, sounds like it was a pretty fun time for you guys, and sounds like you are going to go have fun down there in hurricane this week too, so I hope that you  all enjoy it down there. Well this week was a great week we taught a lot of lessons and found a lot of new people, hopefully we can find those who have true desire to progress out of all the people we taught this last week. But I do want to tell about one of my favorite lesson from this last week. We taught the In Laws of a priesthood holder from our ward and he went with us too. We taught them the message of the restoration, and it was a very spiritual lesson. They understood the message, the understood prophets, and the apostasy, and the reason why the Lord needed to restore his church. We told about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and we all bore our testimonies. It was a lesson were the spirit filled us with the words to say and it all just  came out great and the spirit was felt by all that were there. They are super cool they both have interest but the wife seems to have a little bit more interest. The only bad thing is that she has to work on Sundays but we are going to explain to her the sabbath day and hope that she will use her faith to change jobs so that she can be able to go to church and receive the great blessings of the gospel in her life and in the life of her husband too. They are super cool and we will be passing by again this week to see there progress. We are also teaching a lady named Isaman and she has almost finished 2nd nefi in her reading of the book of mormon, which is quite a bit of reading in the amount of time that we have been teaching her. She has now heard almost all of the lessons and is willing to keep the commandments of God and has a desire to get baptize, the only thing is that her and her husband have to get married first. So this week we are going to go and get the papers and everything taking care of for their marriage and we are planning on a baptismal date for the 13 of April so that is what we are going to be working at a lot in these upcoming weeks and once we get that taken care of she will be ready to get baptized. Oh and by the way we got transfer calls last night and I am staying here one more transfer with Elder Nelson, so I am excited because we are teaching quite a bit of really cool people and we are going to be having some success in the next transfer. It has been a good time here and we have got a lot more work to get done so I am excited for this next transfer. Anyways I hope that all is going good back there for you guys and that you are having fun. I love you all and hope that you have a good week.

Elder Wadman

Dear Family and Friends,

Well it sounds like you guys had a good week this last week. I hope that all went good with Caitlyn´s talk and that all went well up there in Rexburg. It sounds like it has been a pretty busy week and that things are starting to warm up a bit up there. Well this week was a great week for us down here in the DR. On tuesday we went out and had a great day of work, some of the investigator are progressing really well and we are just trying to help them come unto Christ and have faith in Him, repent, be baptized, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and preserve until the end. Some of our investigators are really making big changes in their lives so that they will be able to receive the saving ordinances of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. For example, we have been teaching this guy named Martin and he was a referral that we received a month or two ago. And at first he had the desire to learn but I feel like he was going to church and everything more out of his friendships that he had with the people that gave him to us as a reference and not because it was truly his desire. But we kept teaching him to see if he would receive his own testimony of the restored gospel and the teaching went slow when we started but he kept going to church so we kept teaching him and at first we couldn't get him to read the pamphlets or anything that we were leaving and it seemed like he was just kind of going through the motions. Well the last couple lessons that we have had with him he has read all of the pamphlets and has explained all of them to us and is going to church and has been completing with all of his commitments and we set a baptismal date with him and he should be getting  baptized next transfer. Also, Maria is still progressing right a long and also has a baptismal date for next transfer. We are going to get transfer calls on Sunday and I got a feeling like I might be leaving Los Alcarrizos, if so it would be difficult because we are teaching some really cool people that have a lot of potential, but we will see what the Lord wants. Also, on Wednesday we went to the temple, it was my 3rd and last time in the mission. It was super awesome, the spirit was definitely felt in the lord´s house and it was great to go and receive the spiritual nourishment of the temple, it was a great temple trip. On Thursday, we received two referrals, it was a couple. The couple are the father and mother in law of the stake secretary, that lives in our ward. He went to do visits with us on Thursday and he asked us if we would have time to past by their house and share with them and we told him yes and went and visited them. They seem really cool, the stake secretary says that he has been waiting for the right moment to give them as referrals and he feels like right now is the right time. So it feels good to know that we have the trust and the confidence of the members for them to give us their family as referrals. Most of our good progressing investigators are family members of the members here in our ward. So the work is progressing here in Los Alcarrizos, we are staying super busy and Im just enjoying the moment. I love you all and I hope you all have a good week.

Elder Wadman

Dear family and friends,

Well it sounds like you guys have had a good week in this past week and that you have stayed very busy. First off, I got to say happy birthday dad! I hope you had a good birthday and that you guys enjoyed the day, I think mom said that you went to the temple, that is a good way to celebrate the birthday! Also, I want to say good luck to Caitlyn Mccoy as she does her farewell and as she goes to the mission.

This week was an awesome week, we are starting to get a lot of help from the members of the ward. They have been going out with us a lot and visiting our investigators and it has been helping the investigators a lot. Like on friday we left with our ward mission leader to go and teach some investigators, and we went and taught Rosani. In our lesson we shared about the Book of Mormon and we all testified that we knew that it was true. After she stopped us and she asked us how we all got our testimonies, she said you guys all say that you know that the church is true but what happened how did you guys receive your testimonies. And all three of us told her how we received our testimonies, it was very spiritual and she told us that she has felt the same feelings in her heart when she goes to the church and when she shares with us. We told her that it is the Spirit that is telling her that what we teach is true. She has a difficult situation because her husband doesnt want her to get baptized, he doesnt even want her to go to church. Its tough because she has a testimony but we are just going to have to be patient and see if the Lord will softens the guy´s heart. Also, with Maria, Rosani´s mom, we shared with her yesterday and she is going through some trials right now because her mom is really sick and she is about going to die and her dad just died a couple years ago, we explained to her again about the plan of salvation and about how she is going to see her relatives again after this life. She told us that every time she feels bad or disheartened that she starts reading the pamphlets and the Book of Mormon and it always brings peace back into her heart, she also told us that she knows that these things are true. She has a baptismal date for April 6th and she has given up coffee and other things and is right on track to recieve the blessings of baptism. So we are just going to keep working with here and keep helping her through the trials she is having.

Also, yesterday we shared with this mom named  Rosi, she told us that she has shared a lot with a lot of different churches and with a lot of missionaries from other churches but she feels something different when we go by and teach her. She said that their is something special and that she can feel and she hasnt felt it with all the other churches that have passed by. We told her that she wasnt feeling those things because of us the missionaries, but it was because the Holy Ghost is telling her that the message is real and that our words are true, that is why she was feeling those feelings. It is so awesome to be able to be a witness of the Holy Ghost testifying the truth of our words to the people. I know that the message that we share of the restored gospel is true, that Joseph Smith was called of God to restore the fullness of the Gospel to the earth. That the Book of Mormon is the word of God, along with the bible. And I know that my Savior Jesus Christ lives, He lives and through Him we can all live. I love the Savior, and His Gospel its all true, and Im very thankful for the testimony that I have and that has grown so much more here on the mission. So everything is going great here just taking this great message to as many people that are willing to accept it. I love you all and I hope you have a good week this week.

Elder Wadman

Dear family and friends,

Well, it sounds like all of you had a good week back at home, st. George trip for some you and the Thailand trip for the others sounds like you guys had some fun trips. I also saw a picture of Megan and Tyler with a tiger, so that looks like it was pretty interesting. Well this week was an interesting week for us. The work is still going just great, we have been finding a bunch of cool people and our investigators are progressing. We set a baptismal date with Maria she is mom of the mom that found us on the street and told us to come back to her house and share more with her and her family. Well on Saturday we were sharing with her and she told us that she had been praying a lot about the message and that she knows that it is true because she has felt the peace and happiness inside. She received an answer from God through the Holy Ghost. I am really excited for her and for the decisions that she has been making lately to make her life and the life of her family better. Also with Isaman, the lady that has the baptismal date for the 23rd of March, everything is just rolling along quite nicely except that her and her husband need to get married, she is in the same situation as almost all Dominicans, they live with someone for years and they call each other husband and wife but they never go and get married legally so she needs to get married before she gets baptized so we will be working on that. This week was a little sad for us and for the ward because the 2nd counselor in the bishopric in our ward died. He was a great guy always smiling and a young guy too. He had a diabetic attack and he went to the public hospital and because the hospitals aren't very good here he ended up dying. So it has been a week full of funeral stuff here so its been pretty sad. But yesterday in the fast and testimony meeting was very powerful and very spiritual, lots of people bore their testimonies about how we never know when it is our time to go to the other side but we need to be prepared, and that we can be prepared through keep the commandments and making sure that we do all of the ordinances in the temple so we can be sealed to our families. Our counselor was sealed to his wife and his kids, and although it puts them in a very tough spot and a sad situation they at least have the knowledge of the gospel and know that he still lives and that they are going to see him again. I'm very grateful for the knowledge that I have of the plan of salvation and that knowing that through Christ we will all live again and that through Christ we can repent and be cleansed from our sins and be ready for whatever happens. I know that He lives and is our Savior and He just wants all of us to go unto Him and receive the peace and the joy that he gives. Anyways, other than that all is going very good here, the work is going forth and we are just looking for the people that are waiting for the gospel in their lives. I love you all and I hope you have a good week.

Elder Wadman

Dear family and friends,

Well it sounds like you all have had a really good and busy week this last week. Meg and Tyler were out in across the world riding elephants and petting tigers and stuff. Mom´s been tending their kids and dad has been busy with all the Stake stuff, so it sounds like its been a good week. Well this week has been a great week here too for me. We have been finding some more cool people and some of our investigators are really starting to progress. This past week we contacted this lady and we started teaching her husband and her and they just felt the spirit from the get go of our first lessons and we invited them to go to church and they showed up. We asked them if they wanted us to go look for them before church and they told us that they would find it, and so that is what they did they showed up by themselves without really knowing where the church was, so it was really cool to see them show up. Also the rosani, the lady we found a couple weeks ago, is still just progressing and her mom too. They are reading all of the pamphlets and are going to church so they are right on track to receive the great blessings of baptisms. And we are also teaching this other lady her name is isaman and her husband is a member who is coming out of inactivity. We found them a couple Pdays ago, when we got finished writing you guys we started walking back to the house and on our way home the guy saw us and called out to us and told us that he wanted to repent and come back to the church and that he wanted his life to hear the lessons. Well they have been going to church every week for about a month now and she is reading the book of mormon and is already in 2 nephi 10, so she has a lot of interest in the message and accepted a baptismal date and will be getting baptized on March 23, we just got to get them married first and then she will be ready. So we are finding a lot of people and we are just trying to be the Lord´s instruments here in Los Alcs, so all is going well. So I am still just learning a lot, one thing we teach a lot to our investigators, is recognizing the holy ghost in their lives as it gives them answers to their question. Like it says in Galatians that the fruits of the spirit are love, peace, joy, goodness etc. We explain to them that the spirit will talk unto our minds and unto our hearts, so when they pray about the message, and if the message is true, then they are going to feel the peace, the happiness, and the joy in their hearts and then they will know that it is the spirit that it is testifying that the message is true. I have noticed that when we really explain it to them so that they can understand how to recognize the spirit, they receive and recognize so many more answers from God. It is the same with us in our lives, when we realize how to recognize the spirit in our lives then we will strive so much more to have those feelings with us everyday. And we will be guided to help a lot more people. Anyways, everything is going good for me here, I hope that all is going good back home. I love you all and I hope you have a good week.

Elder Wadman

Dear family and friends,

Well, first off that is big news about dad and being the new stake president. So dad you will do a great job and like I said in the other email youre prepared for this calling. I also was excited because now I know that him and mom will be home for the next 9 years and it looks like dad will be setting me apart when i come home so that will make things easier haha. But anyways that is a great opportunity to serve the Lord my prayers will be with you both, dad and mom. Well this week has been an awesome week in the Lord´s work. The coolest thing from this week had to have been yesterday in Church. So what happened is that we have been teaching a family for a couple weeks and them mom and the kids have been going to church for a couple weeks straight but we have been having troubles with getting the dad involved. But on Saturday we went out to their house and we taught them and the dad decided to sit down and listen to us. At the end of the lesson we committed him to come to church and he said that he would go and he went. So the mom and dad and the a girl of 14 and a boy of 11 all went to church yesterday. And our lesson on satuday we taught them the word of wisdom and the mom has a problem with coffee but she committed on Saturday that she is going to stop drinking coffee and she is going to pray for strength to stop doing it. So this family is super awesome, and it is weird because at the first they just werent keeping commitments and didnt seem like they had a lot of interest and then we had a very bold lesson with them about getting their own testimony about the restoration of the gospel. The Lord spoke unto their hearts through the power of the Holy Ghost and after that they have been keeping their commitments and are getting closer to being able to making covenants with the Lord. So I am excited for them and their progression in the Gospel and in coming closer to God. Also things with Rosani are still going really well we are just trying to help her to grow more faith and to get closer to God too, so it has a been a good week. What I learned this week is about the same as last week, if everyone just had the same mindset as Joshua to serve the Lord and put Him first in all things then how much better off would we be as members of church and in the world. If each of us had the mindset that no matter what comes a long in our life, if we remember that we are going to put the Lord first and the we are going to keep the commandments and serve Him and others, how much more good could we do? So that is whatIm striving to do in my life and im going to strive to help the investigators here in Los Alcs to do the same. Anyways, I love you all and I hope you have a good week this week.

Elder Wadman

Dear family and friends,

Well you guys dont know but I just wrote this whole email and I accidentally hit a button and it all got erased so this is my second time writing it, so I will see if i can remember everything I wrote the first time. Anyways, first off Happy Birthday Grandpa! I dont know if he reads these but if not will you guys tell him that I say happy birthday. Well this week was an awesome week for us here in Los Alcarrizos. Yesterday, in church we had almost 10 of our investigators come for the whole 3 hours, most of them even got there early, which is something cool here because Dominicans are never on time for anything, theyve kind of just got that island no time feeling I guess. But one of the investigators that showed up was that Lady that I told you guys about last week. She is the one that found us in the street and told us to come back and visit her again. Well, we passed by her house on saturday and she was washing all the clothes and and cleaning her house and she told us that she was getting everything done so she would be ready for church on Sunday. And she showed up with her 2 kids and with her mom, that we are teaching too. She really liked church and I am pretty excited for her and her mom and their progression in the gospel. Also, there is another family that we are teaching and they are really cool but havent wanted to commit to doing very many things. So on Wednesday we had a pretty blunt lesson with them. We told them that they need to pray about what we are teaching and they need to receive their personal answers to the church, and that they need to meditate about if they have true desires to learn about and follow Christ. We left them with basically that thought in their minds, the spirit was felt and it was a good awakening lesson for them. Well, when we went back the next time the mom and the daughter had read the whole pamphlet and had prayed, they said that they werent sure if they have received an answer yet but they committed to go to church and then they went to church too. So I am pretty excited for them too and Im praying that they will receive the answer to their prayers. Also, we receive a referral this week and she is a single mom of 3 kids and it just seems like she has been trying to find the truth for a long time and we told her that the easiest way to recieve an answer is through praying and asking God. So we have some people that are really taking this stuff seriously and the ball is rolling her, Im just praying that they will receive the answers to their prayers and that they will commit to put the Lord first in their lives, just like Joshua when he says, as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. So Im pretty excited and I think we will be able to help the Lord bring forth His work down here this transfer. Anyways, everything is going really good for me down here, Im just enjoying this time that I have to serve the Lord full time. I hope everything is going good for you all back home. I love you all and have a good week.

Elder Wadman

Dear family and friends,

Well sounds like it was a great week for you guys in this last week. I got to see all the pictures of Russell and mom and dad´s trip down to st. george. And I also heard that Liberty made the news with 32 inches of snow, so its good to hear that we are getting plenty of snow back there, i hope you guys are having fun in all of that. Well, this week was an awesome week for us we saw the Lord´s hand in the work. So a couple weeks ago we contacted this family and we started teaching them, but they werent really reading the pamphlets that we were leaving and they just didn't seem way interested in the message so we decided to let them have more time to get ready to hear the message and i put our number on the back of the pamphlet and i told them to give us a call when they had read the pamphlet and we left and started working in a different area. But the other day we were finishing up teaching at the end of the day and we were about to walk back to the house to finish up the day, but we needed to talk to one more person on the other side of the area but it wasn't very important and we were thinking well its late lets just go back to the house, but for some reason we decided to go back and talk to the person. It ends up the person that we needed to talk to wasn´t even in their house, so we thought, dang whatever, lets go back to the house and there as we were walking we saw the mom of the family, and she was a far distance from her house, and she said that she was hoping we see us again because her and her family had all read the pamphlet and that they wanted us to pass by and start teaching them again. So we passed by and they had read everything and they were praying about the message. We will see what happens with them but it was a crazy way to run into her again and then to find out that she was reading and wanted us to go back and keep teaching her and that she wants to change her life, which was a great little miracle. And then the other day we taught a first lesson to this guy that only had one leg because he had lost it in a working accident, anyways we started teaching him about the Savior and about all that He has went through for us, how he has suffered for all of our pains, sins, and weaknesses and that through Him we can become whole, and that the Lord has a plan for each and everyone of us and the spirit was felt and the man started crying.  And we explained to him that what he was feeling was the spirit. It was a nice little miracle to see God touching someone´s heart. All and all the work is going forward and we are looking for those who are ready for the gospel here in Los Alcarrizos and I'm just loving it, things are going great. I hope that everything is going well for you all back home. I love you all.

Elder Wadman

Dear family and friends

 

Well, to start of  I have to say congrats to Brad and Teri and the new Russell Wadman, thanks for sending the pictures, he looks like he is going to be an athlete haha and for reals congratulationsthats great news. So it sounds like you guys have had a great week this week with Russell´s birth and with the snow and everything, sounds like its all going good back home. Well, over here life is going great, Ana got baptized on Saturday and her son came over from the east mission to baptized her. It truly was an awesome baptism, the place was packed with people supporting her. I will send pictures, also we were talking to here before her baptism and we shared with her the baptismal covenant and we asked her if she was willing to make and keep the baptismal covenant and she told us that she would. We explained that she would be taking upon herself the name of Christ and she would be making the covenant to obey his commandments until the end of her life, and she told us something really cool. She told us that when we come back in 20 years and visit her that we will see that she is still firm in the gospel and that her greatest goal is to make it back to her Heavenly Fathers presence with her family and that she is ready to work for that goal for the rest of her life. Really she is a great example to me of faith, because even though she doesn't know everything about the gospel yet, she has felt the spirit and she knows that these things are true and she is willing to put her whole heart into it. We passed by yesterday after and we passed through the commandments again and we told her to never worry about what other people do or say only to worry about the covenant that she has made with the Lord and to complete with it. And then she said that the spirit has touched her heart and that she wont ever go against that. So everything is going really well with her and with our other investigators too. Also, today our zone went to the botanical gardens in Santo Domingo with president and his wife. They did a special activity with us, but it really turned out pretty cool and I am sure that mom would of loved it. I took a lot of pictures and I will send them back home too, but I am going to send pictures next week because the Internet center is having problems and we had to walk to a different Internet center to finish. So next week I will send the pictures.

Anyways I hope that everything is going good for you all back home, I love you all and hope that you have a good week this week.

Elder Wadman

The Wedding

Dear Family and Friends,

 

Well, it sounds like it is still just staying cold for you guys over there and that you are all just settling in to this new year. From what i hear, I take it that you guys didnt go up to Park City this year, or did ya? Well here everything is going really well, I am sending some pictures home of the wedding. This is of Ana and her husband and her family, they got married on Friday and she will be getting baptized on saturday this week. It was a pretty cool little wedding and her husband is really cool too. The older couple in the picture are his parents and they are members of the church and are sealed so he knows a lot about the church. And Ana told him after the wedding that she wants him to start listening to us so that they can go and get sealed together in the temple, and then he actually started asking us questions about stuff. So I am hoping and praying that he will get motivated and start coming to church and get baptized so that whole family can come unto Christ and be sealed for time and all eternity. Also, we started teaching this other lady named Yoris and in the first lesson the spirit was super strong, I could just feel it and I knew that she could feel it too. And then we couldnt find her at home for a while and then we passed by the other night and she told us that she had read the whole restoration pamphlet and that she had prayed and that she knows that these things are true. So I am excited to see what happens with her in this upcoming week. And see how her progression keeps going a long. Also, Yesterday all the stakes in the carribean recieved a broadcasted stake conference from Salt Lake, and Elder Beck, Elder zwick, and Elder Nelson all talked. They gave some great talks, Elder Beck told the people here that if the want to recieve blessing that they need to pay their tithing and offerings and that if they do that they will recieve many blessings that the Lord has in store for them. Elder Nelson told them that they are a blessed people and are a remant of the house of Isreal. He also told them that they need to teach their children English because english is an international languange and also needed to teach them math. And that if they learn those two things that they will prosper. He also told them that they need to stay firm in the faith and always keep the commandments, and he warned them a lot against pornography. So it was a really cool conference and their was a great spirit that filled the room has they were talking. All and all it was an awesome week this last week and now we are just getting ready for Anas baptism this saturday and we are pretty excited. Anyways, i hope all is going good back home for you guys love you all.

 

Elder Wadman

Dear family and friends,

 

Well I am glad to hear that all went well with grandpas funeral. It sounds like it was a very spiritual event, I wish I couldve heard the talks and Elder Summerhayes promises from the Lord, I bet it would have been great but mom and meg feeled me in pretty good. So its good to hear that all went well.

 

Here in the DR we had a pretty good week, we now have got a wedding date set for Ana. She will be getting married on friday the 18th and will be getting baptized on the 26th. Her son will be coming over from the east mission and he will get the opportunity to baptize his mom, so it will be a very special experience for them. Ana is just great and is super commited to what she has now put her mind to. She even payed her tithing yesterday and she isnt even a member yet, she has showed me true faith and devotion and has been one hundred percent comitted to everything since we conctacted her, so I know she will be a great member of the church and is set on having an eternal family. So I am really excited for her and for this big step that she is taking in her life. We also recieved a reference last week, and it was this guy named Martin, he showed up to church with his girlfriend, who is a member, and then he came up to us and asked us to start visiting him. So on tuesday we had our first lesson with him and we set a baptismal date with him in that same cita and he accepted. Then he showed up to church by himself yesterday, because his girlfriend is in a different ward, and then we shared with him yesterday. In the lesson he told us that he had prayed aobut what we have been teaching and then he explained what he felt after he prayed. He explained the fruits of the spirit and we told him that it was the spirit that was telling him that these things are true. He said that he knows that they are true and that he wants to learn more and keep feeling the peace and the happiness that he has been feeling lately in his life. So he is a super cool guy and I hope that he can keep moving forward and work so he can be ready to make covenants with God. So all and all it has been a great week, we are just trying to find the chose people here in Los Alcarrizos. Life is going great and i am enjoying this time that I have to serve the Lord. I love you all and I hope that you guys have a good week this week.

 

Elder Wadman