Week 7

the elder that plays the violin is elder birtcher!  he is my zone leader and he is sooo awesome!! we get a long way well!! ya my comp and i have been tearing it up here in Samegua!! haha not really, it is hard cause our focus is on less actives and we dont know anyone or where people live so ya! but the other companionship is helpful so thats good!! The bishop here is the coolest guy ever!!! like seriously he works soooo hard ands he loves his people in the ward!! he's amazing! he wants one of my ties hahaha i will probably give him one but i dont know which one yet! our ward is soo good and super nice! they are all so loving and ready to help!! it is sooo much fun being with these people!! they love us soo much it isnt even funny!! we have been working hard and walking a lot!! i will send some pics of our area in a bit! it is huuuge!! it goes all over the place and has hills and lots of dirt and lots of sun!! it is really hot here!! but i really love it here soo much!! 

ok, here is a story for you about a kid named jordan.  so being here i think i have literally said hi to every single person in samegua! haha every one i pass i say hi.  there was this one kid that i said hi too and later on we saw him as we were walking to an appointment and we stopped and talked and gave him a pamphlet.  We could tell that he wanted to learan more but he was super shy and hard to hear, we got his address and said bye. then that night guess what happened!? we walking into our appartment building and we were talking to this lady who is one of our investigators, when we said bye we turned and JORDAN WALKED RIGHT BY US!! we were stunned!! we looked at each other and ran to our room and freaked out and were like no that couldn't be him!!!! so we looked out the door and it was him, but he moving some stuff into a room, then he was gone so we thought we could catch him later. so yesterday as i walked out of my room HE WAS RIGHT THERE,  i started talking to him and elder boyd came out, we sat him down and had a great lesson!! it was soo awesome!! he is so prepared and ready, he wanted to learn more and we have an appointment tonight with him, we are pumped!!  that was probably my biggest story so far.... I know more to come!  i love it here, spanish is getting better! My comp is great, life is great, samegua is great!! lovin it for sure!

email back i love you sooooo much mom, i am thankful for all that you have done for me, i think often of being in the army of heleman and thinking about how my mom taught me how to be who i am today and follow the commandments!  of course with some help from dad;) haha but seriouslty i love you sooo much and am eternally grateful for evey single thing you have done for me momma. love you 

Elder Wagner

Below are some questions i asked in my email to Tanner:

1.  Tell us about the details of your travel to arequipa?
travel was good!! it was an hour flight then when we got there we had orientation.  then we took a bus all the way to samegua!! 4 hours.... long.. haha but ya travel was pretty basic! 

2.  Details about your time at the mission home?
I never went to the mission home, we just went to the stake center and then to my area! but the stake center was nice! 

3.  Details about your travels from arequipa to monqugua?

It was a 4 hour bus ride and that was really long hhaha, there was this guy with a speaker on his belt and a micro phone and he was selling this Chinese tea stuff, it was soo funny cause all the old ladies wanted it after he basically lied to their faces. 

4.  Send me pics of where you are living?
See below

5.  How is your comp??? His mom is on the missionary mom thing on Facebook.
Elder Boyd is awesome!! super good guy and works hard and is super helpful!! he is a huge blessing, we get along really well and like a lot of the same things, so we have a lot to talk about and never get bored!

6.  How is the city?  Are you in samegua or Moquegua?  Give me details of whAt the city is like.  I looked it up online and it looks small!
I am in the city of Moquegua but my area is Samegua and it is like 5 minutes from the town! my area is spread out and small but it is gorgeous and hot!! I absolutly love it!! it is way way cleaner than lima though so that is sooo nice!!

7.  Are you drinking the water?  How is the food so far?

ya i am drinking enough water and coke and inca!! haha ya the food is bomb!! my pension is the best!  the first night her husband was like, "he needs more food from now on" haha to me! so now i get ahuge plate every meal!! its great, the family is awesome! and the dad is so funny! 

8.  Does your pensionista have children?  What kid do stuff has she cooked?
ya she has three kids, herself and her husband!! so she cooks for 9!! she is an awesome lady for sure!

First area: Samequa, Moquegua Peru

Week 6: (we were fully expecting a phone call from tanner when he left the MTC, Dale tossed and turned all night in anticipation! When we didn't get a call, we were both very disappointed!  I got a sweet message from another mother who's also left the MTC the same day, who reassured me that my son was probably among the most obedient cause her son said they didn't say they couldn't call, but not that they could call either.  This made me feel so much better!  For some reason knowing that Tanner was amongst the obedient made the not getting a phone call worth it!) no pics this week.... He forgot his camera😢

Hey momma, dad and family!  i love you soo much!! i am in my area! i am sorry i didn't call you from the air port, we weren't supposed to i guess... i am sorry! i miss you guys a ton! my area is Samequa, in Moquegua city! it is the hottest area in the mission!  my comp, Elder Boyd (a greengo), and i dont have a room yet so we are staying with other missionaries! we have been searching all day for a place to stay with the zone leaders and we found one and are movin in tomorrow!! my comp is great! he is a hard worker and he was the branch president in his the last area he was in!! its pretty sweet i think!  i love it here already so much! it is sooo pretty here in Samequa! i love it! its a desert so it is kind like home haha!! i will be sending pictures on monday, my pday and i have two hours so you better get on line... haha!! we are opening this area and it is 2  companionships in my ward! it will be a lot of working with less actives here! thats the huge huge problem!  Man its hot here!! I love my comp, i love my area, i love the zone leaders, and i love my savior!! we already had one lesson with a less active and she talllllkkkkkkkeeedddd for ever hahah! it was good!  my pansionist is awesome, her name is mari and she is super nice! her husband is super funny and we get a long well! my comp and i work really well together and we have lots goals!! and one of the goals is to read the book of Mormon once every 6 weeks!! IN SPANISH!! its gonna be good!!:D soo pumped to really get to know my ward and get to work even harder!! love you guys! 

Love 

Elder Wagner

Week 5 CCM recap

Week 5

HEY HEY HEY EVERYBODY!! how is life at home? peru is doing fantastic!! i love it here so much, like seriously i am lovin it! first of all this week has been full of great things!! i cant believe i have been here for so long already!! it is going by so fast!! i am sooooo pumped and soooo nervous to go to the feild but i am more pumped!  it is going to be sooo amazing! i am so ready to start the work in arequipa!!! well i read all the letter that were sent with me this last week and holy cow they are so great!! i didnt read them because i was sad, i read them cause it has been long enough that they wont make me home sick !  i loved them sooo much!! and the ones from holli and the fam were great!! I still havent got the letters you sent me though..... i am kinda worried..... but it will be ok! my spanish is improved a lot!"!! i love talking in spanish to everyone, it is soo fun to use on the streets during pday! actually today i was walking with elder gleave and this guy was behind us, and i had a feeling we needed to talk to him, so i turned around and asked him his name and how he was?  we were walking by the temple at that time and i asked if he knew what the temple was and he said ya and i told him how i loved it soo much and then gleave was like," tell him it is for our church" and i did and he was like that's cool and then i gave him a restauration pamphlet and asked him to read it, he said yes he would!! it felt good to act on a prompting of the lord!! another prompting acted on was last night!! i was praying and after my pray i didnt move and was pondering and trying to listen to the spirit and then all of the sudden, elder kline ( the new guy in our room) sits up and was like "elder gleave can you give me a blessing, and wagner help?" and we both said yes and got up and gave him a blessing cause he was feeling sick! gleave and i were both shaking cause we where sooo nervous!! i anointed the oil and he gave the sealing and blessing! it was an amazing experience really one to remember!!! also a kid saw elder christensen at migrations and he told the kid to tell me hi!! that day wasnt the best for me but when i heard that he wanted to say hi it turned my day around 100%!! i was great! then in the devotional on tuesday we watched a live broadcast of the talk at the provo mtc and guess who i saw singing?! Sarah Risenmay!!!! holy crap huh!! i was flippen oput!! tender mercies for sure!!  i got to go to pizza hut after we went to get our peru IDs !! it was soo good!! and i was still hungry and the lady let me go to bk next door too]!! haha it was a great lunch for sure!!! then as i was sitting with elder gleave studying my scriptures, my letter from you mom,( which i keep in my scriptures always) fell out and he asked if he could read it. then he looked up and said," elder wagner, do you know how lucky you are to have a mom like that?" he said "like really though, do you know? you and i have moms like this and do you know how lucky we are?" then he said "there are kids like us that don't even have a mom. we are very fortunate" that hit me soo deep down.. i really felt the love of you and of my savior at that moment and i cried.. cried for a while and i started to realize what we do have! my family, you guys are everything to me ! i love you soo much!! i was soo grateful for those words by elder gleave! he is such an awesome guy!! him and i are tight and get a long well and talk alot! also my comp is getting better! i have been praying soo much for him and it may not be a huge change but i can defiantly feel a different mind set and spirit developing in him! it is amazing what prayer can do!! oh and i finally golt my scripture case!! it is sooooooo sweet ! cant wait to show you guys!! well love you all!! hope you are all doing well!!

Con Amor

Elder Wagner

Week 4 CCM recap

Week 4

holy poop its been about a month!! time flys when your havin fun huh?!  well just to start out everything is going fantastic in lima peru!! lovin it here more than i could have imagined and cant wait to get to the field!

    any way this week i got to go prosyliting and it wasnt like the last one at all..... we didnt go contacting, we went to less actives, it was good but we talked to only 2 people in the 4 and a half hours that we walked around... it was really hard.. but i have to say that my testimony grew of the power of a sincere testimony! in the first lesson it was with a guy who didnt really want to listen, we tried our best teaching him and trying to help him feel the love of our savior, nothing was working until elder jeffery, my comp at the time, started to bare his testimony and i bore mine too. the spirit was soo strong in that room.. the problem was he wasn't open to it at all. his heart was hardened and that was hard for me to see.... we ended with a prayer and he asked for us not to come back.. it was sad but i know the missionaries will go back and maybe crack him then;) also then we went to visit a guy named rick and we found him and we talked to him in this little tiny room with 3 chairs for 6 people so some where standing and some were sitting, there was no front door, and there was metal bars every where because he makes like cage guard doors for people! Anyway it was him and his cousin oscar who isnt a member. oscar had a lot of questions for us which was super cool and with the help of elder baldwin ( a missionary from the area) we helped him understand what our message was. i got to recite the first vision from memory to him and he was touched! he wanted to learn more and read about it in the pamphlet! he excepted the book of mormon we gave him and we told him about the testimonies that elder jeffery and i wrote for him in the front of the book of mormon! also rick said he would come to church soo that was a super awesome experience!! it just goes to show that those small moments can make up for a long time of no success!! i love this work!

       I was able to go to the temple today again and it was the best session in my opinion so far! i dont know what it was, i was just so intuned i felt my saviors love so much! it was sooo good!" so ya i love the temple and i am gonna be sad when i have to wait two years to go in again!! gosh the time is going soooooo o fast but i am SUPER EXCITED!! i cant wait to get out there haha!! man i am pumped....

      we got new guys in our room!! they are cool dudes! oner is from texas and one is from utah! they are tight! we are already good freinds as a room so that is super good]!

well i am doing dandy down here in South america!! missing home a little bit but i love looking at the letters i have from all the people that wrote me one!! its way nice to have!!  also my spanish is improving a lot !! not fluent by any means but i can get around !   holy crap, i still cant believe it has been a month.... but i am soo happy!!

       i want to challenege all you guys at home, kids included, to share your sincere heart felt testimony with someone that isnt a member! i can promise you that if you do this you will be blessed beyond compare and the person you tell will feel the spirit and want to have it more! plant seeds people!! please try it! hastening the work is in Washington too!!

 i love you guys to the moon and back! nothing can compare to the love i  have for each of you!! you are my rock!! i love you mom, love you dad, love you ty, love you turner, and love you allie girl!!! tell me how evrery one is doing!!

Week 3 recap of CCM

Week 3

it has been 3 weeks last tuesday!! holy cow this is going by like lightening!! i love it though!!

 I love it here and dont worry about me i am all good i promise!:) i cant wait to get in the field though!! these weeks are flying so that is good !! its gonna be sooo great getting out there and working my tail off like i am in here!! the spanish is coming good and i have been feeling closer to my savior every single day! i love the spirit and the relationship i am building with my heavenly father!! i have grown soo much and i just love it soo much!

    well the new group is pretty cool here! there is a guy from linden and he played a year of football for Army! hes a super cool guy! but ya they are all cool and lots of fun! it is weird being like the kinda older elders here! i feel a lot more mature haha idk why! the advancados are leaving on tuesday so that will be weird, we have two in our room and they are super cool and i will miss them a bunch but then we will be advanced so that will be sweet!!

     yesterday i had a fake lesson with my "investigator" or my teacher, and it was absolutly amazing! the spirit was so strong and i had the gift of tongues for sure, i used some english but thoughts came to my head and words came out that i would never have thought of i guarantee!! i know that in the field it will be like that but even better cause it will be real!!  That really helped me feel the love of my savior and focus more on him!

       i have been really trying to work on my christlike attributes and it has been a huge blessing}!! i would like to invite all of you to try it!! in preach my gospel there is a section on all the attributes of  Christ you should check it out!! i am working on faith and service and it has been such a blessing!! i love the thought of serving my savior! there is nothing i would rather be doing!! so you should try that family!

       also i have been using my study time way better and that has been a huge blessing]! i have been picking up on Spanish more and have been learning the doctrine better!! it has been my goal to try and use every resourse they give me in the mtc because it is what the lord KNOWS i need and that has been such a tremendous blessing in my time here°! the thought that i am a disciple of Christ and to know that he loves me no matter what, is a blessing no one can take from me!! my testimony has grown 100x stronger and my faith has grown through the roof!! i am really learning to trust the lord in everything i do! at first it was me me me, but now when i look at my name tag i cover the name ELDER WAGNER and focus on the real reason why i am here; JESUCRISTO! he is why i am here and he is what will help me through all the hard times, i have all my heart trusting in him and i have faith that what i am doing is in his name and the right thing for me to do! he is why i am here, and that is what wakes me up, gets me out of bed, and pushes me to be the best i can be. i love my savior with all my heart and i will never, ever, deny that... ever! i feel my self changing for the better and putting others first, my heart belongs to my savior and the people of Peru for the next two years and i am happy to do it! i am not only devoting two years, i have never said this before, but i am devoting my entire life to my savior jesus christ and my father in heaven! they gave me everything and i will give as much as i can back! i love this gospel with all my heart and i love sharing the love with others.

my tesimony in spanish:

yo se que el libro de mormón es verdadero y la iglesia de jesucristo de los santos de los ultimos dios es verdadero. yo se que josé smith fue un profeta y restaurado la iglesia verdadero. yo se que jesucristo es mi salvador y mi redentor. yo se que jesucristo y dios tienen muchas amor para nosotros y para todas las personas en el mundo. tengo mucho amor por mi salvador y mi padre celestial. en el nombre de jesucristo, amen.

CCM weekly highlights

The following are Elder Wagner's weekly highlights from his time at the Lima, Peru missionary training center.
Week 1 

> the ccm is pretty interesting but super awesome!  its just hard to focus on spanish and learning the lessons and then trying to teach them in spanish! haha pretty stressful but i am still loving it and my purpose is what gets me up and my testimony is growing so much! i gotta just have faith and keep putting the effort forth!  i know it will come in time!! well anyway i basically sit in class all day and then play soccer then sit in class the whole rest of the day! its pretty killer!  But here in the ccm it is really an emotional roller coaster! i feel the spirit super strong then feel frustrated the feel like crap for like 5 minutes then feel on top of the world again with the spirit! i definataly feel great more than most of the time but i for sure have a hard time every once and a while but never more than a few hours for sure!! but i am still just working my butt off and doing my best and trying to stay as focused as possible!!

> OH! i am district leader in my district, so i am in charge of the district for the first 3 weeks! its such a blessing! my district is so diverse but soo awesome at the same time! its so much fun to be with some cool people! the spirit i am able to feel with them as we do district meetings and stuff is amazing!! I love the spirit here in the ccm!! i love this place soo much!

> haha quick story, there was this one kid who was like dieing of diahrea on the day we had a devotional and so at the devo the mission presidents wife went up to the mic and was like "if any of you have-had diarrhea please raise your hand, i NEED to know now!" haha everyone broke out laughing and people went up and told her, it was great! haha the food doesnt bother me and i like it a lot! but i can feel the weight coming on because i eat so much rice and bread!! gotta work out harder i guess!! 

> ! i got to go to the temple today and i LOVED it! i love the spirit i can feel in the temple and the love my Savior shows me not only in the temple but every day here in the ccm!! i just am in love with my mission, peru, and this amazing gospel!!

CCM weekly highlights The following are Elder Wagner's weekly highlights from his time at the Lima, Peru missionary training center.

Week 2

 hey there everyone!!! Life in Peru is doing super duper good still!!! nothing really huge is different because we just sit in the class!  we did get new elders in the ccm yesterday so that is cool! they are pretty awesome! there is one guy from linden who is here and i got to talk to him about football and stuff so that was fun. it has been a great week but the sad thing is its my last week as district leader... i love being the dl and i will miss it... also the advanced guy left on tuesday so that was super sad cause i got really close with two of the guy that were my zone leaders but i got their email so thats good!! spanish is really hard... i get frustrated some times and have to slap my self to get my head in the game haha! but i can teach the restoration in spanish, resite the first vision in spanish, and almost teach the whole plan of salvation so that is good!! gotta just keep memorizing vocab thats what's frustrating, but i am ok i promise!

          ok so last satuday we went prosyliting and it was AMAZING!°!  i loved it soo much! i had such a blast and i was with a guy named elder tolman and he was good at spanish so that helped a lot! we had 20 contacts and 9 refferals and 2 lessons!! it was soooo sweet!! i placed of book of mormon to this guy who promised to read all day long and finish it as soon as possible cause it was short haha! it was soo great! funny story, there was these two ladies on a bench and we went up to talk to them and they brushed us off cause they were catholic, but i had the impression to bare my testimony and i did and she asked for the restoration pamphlet to read and i gave it to her and left, but a little later some other elders talked to the same ladies and they told me i gave her the ENGLISH pamphletand she  couldn't read it so they switched it out, it was embarassing but what ever hahah!!

(CCM)

      one more story! my comp and i were knocking doors and you are supposed to push a button and say hi so i did and said we have a message for them, then all of the sudden 3 floors up a lady yells down and asked what we wanted and we said we have a message and she said she couldnt come down but would listen from there!! so we taught here from the ground and asked if she wanted the pamphlet to try and get her down, and she said hold on. so we were like perfect, then she came to the window with a bag and a rope and through it down to us and i put the pamphlet in the bag and she pulled it up and was like gracias adios!! hahahahahaha it was the funniest thing i have ever seen!!

 

Best 2 Years.....