Week 15

(Tanner and his little future missionary buddy)

What a week!! gosh missionary work is so hard... it is really hard when you walk to every single house, and they are there... but dont have "time" to talk!!!  we had appointments too!! they all fell through!!! soooo lame... But we just kept working!  Elder boyd and i were thinking of what we could do better and one thing that came upon us is to increase our studies! we do our studies but on the days we have our meetings sometimes we don't have time to finish all of them and we just go to work.  so we decided to make sure we get in all our studies everyday, then get to work! wow what a change!!  i know that might seem like a dumb little thing to do, too make such a big difference, but it did!!  just think, we are given all these simple things to do everyday, like read your scriptures and pray, that can just take 20 minutes! thats it, and i think then of the blessings you recieve from those few minutes, in my case PEOPLE ANSWER THIER DOOR AND WANT TO LISTEN!! hahaha what i am trying to say is we have all these simple commandments that take little from us, but God blesses us more than we could ever imagine!! why are we not all taking part in that deal?!  i promse you that if you push your self and strive to become a disciple of christ you will be sooo blessed! its the small and simple things that keep us going and make the biggest difference!

(Taking a break from the heat) 

     Well anyway, back to the week!! i dont have the squirts anymore!! so thats a plus!!:) i am doing great health wise and drinking lots momma:) this last pday we played in the stadium here in Moquegua and it was pretty fun! it was really disorganized... but it was fun! we got to play soccer with ILO and we won! 8-3! ya we kicked some bootie haha! 

my bud elder birtcher came down from arequipa!! it was sweet to see him and talk! we went to pizza and then i talked to him at the district meeting for a bit, but he's a busy man being the assistant to the president!  it was really good to see him!  they are all coming back for christmas too so that willl be sweet too!! oh and my comp and i are getting along really well! we work hard and we have a good time too!!  

    Got Some news! 

we got another rescue!!!!  Hermano Pedro has decided to come back to church! he is such a great guy!! i love him, he is my bud! he is probably 50 something years old and loves learning, it's so great!! then we gave a blessing to an hermana in our ward and she was perfectly healed the next day!! it was absolutly amazing!! i am so grateful for the power of the priesthood in my life!! it is a blessing that i cherish close to my heart!!  

our baptism is still on this Saturday!! YAAAAA!!! I am so excited!!! i am baptizing, i am nervous but i cant wait!!!! it is going to be awesome!!! she is progressing well and we are helping her along!! i will send pics next week of the special day.

MOMMAS Qs

1.  Are they doing anything for you guys on thanksgiving?

1.  i dont think we are doing anythig for thanksgiving... its sad... 

2.  How often does someone from the mission home come and see your zone?

2.  not very often! it seems like once a transfer.

3.  Any mail yet?

3.  haha no mail yet.-....  i am getting impatient!!! but i hope it gets here soon!!!

4.  How often do you meet with the president?

4.  ummm we dont meet with him very often! just when ever he is around he will come! it isnt like a set time ever!

5.  Any news on how Christmas works?  I'm kindof excited for that....can you tell

5.  ok ya you need to make a skype for christmas and then it will probably be in the after noon cause we have meetings in the morning! i cant wait!!!!!

FOOD!

ok first of all never eat cow utter!!!!!!!! ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!! hahahaha its nasty!!! We had it this week and let's just say it's not one I would choose to eat again.

also i had cuy (guinea pig) for the first time!! it was really good!!! i like it!! 

we had a pot luck this weeek sooo i got to try a bunch of different foods!!! my favorite was the Rocoto relleno! sooo good!!! It's like a filled pepper!! yum

This drink is called a chicha, they use a bag instead of cups😊 and yes I'm sweating... It's hot!

love you all,

Elder Wagner

Week 14

Well.... this week was a lot alot and a lot more fall throughs!!  these people don't know what they are missing, but we will keep working on them, like normal!! 

The highlight this week is our investigator Celeste, her baptizm date got moved up to november 29!!!!! holy cow we are happy for her!!! It is going to be amazing!! we will be workng hard with her, she is our main forcus right now!! 

We are also working with a girl named jannett who has a bunch of questions, but doesn't seem to really care about the gospel yet.  We also have the less active members, but its hard cause they never follow through..... we walk a lot and haven't had much success. It's ok though... We will still keep trying and doin the work of the Lord!

(FHE at a ward members house.  They are great)

The progression here isn't happening as quickly as we thought it would, i have a feeling there isnt going to be 4 missionaries here for very much longer!! The people are great but they dont know how to work with missionaries, it makes the work hard to progress the gospel here.  Hopefully we can show the president some success and keep this area open and full of missionaries, but I dont know!! 

(Cute little boy on the street filling some BIG shoes)

my companion and I continue to be doing good, he is such a great guy!  he helps me out a ton and we have a good time together.  I am making lifelong friends for sure! cluff, nicholls, birtcher and boyd are homies for life!! 

i got some not so good news... i have Diarrhea!!!!!!!! its is so pleasant !! i love it!! nooooottttttt!! I am starting to feel better with meds and stuff but ya!! the life of a forgien missionary.... Let's just say I have spent alot of time in bathroom. I don't know the cause, but it was bound to happen!  just making me a little weak, i will get better.  

My comp had a pretty bad fall this week! we were walking and he jumped up and grabbed this bar on the gazebo in the park, on the other side there was two big drops and a curb! He swung, slipped, tried to catch himself, slipped again and then face planted on the side walk and then flipped over the curb!!!! It was quiet the fall and looked like it hurt.  He laughed it off and so did we!   cluff, rameirez and i laughed for like 20 minutes!!!!  it was sooooo funny!!  

Food of the week is Salchicono!! it is a paper cone with hot dogs sliced up on top of French fries! they are not american hot dogs, but with sauce and french fries they are good!!  

I have to add the the hamburgers we had too.  The second counselor of the stake presidency has a burger place that we can go to on pdays and eat burgers and a pop for only 3 soles!!!! what a deal!!! it makes me happy, and they are pretty good for a Peru burger!!! (Those are potato chips on the burger)

We had a latino v greengos game of soccer the other morning, during our morning exercise.  we played for a 3 liter of pop! Ummm, guess who won!!!!!!! THE GREENGOS!!!!!!!  oh ya!! it was awesome! we won 11-8! It was fun, then we went to do service which was good!! lifted bags of dirt out of the back yard of a ladies house, it was a good work out.   then we had a ward activity, where we walked around with members and visited the less active (menos activos) and recent convert's, it was fun to work with the ward members.  

     Mommas Q´s

1. Are you still having English classes?

1. No not doing english class anymore.. bishop canceled it cause it wasn't accomplishing the goal they had.  

2. How many people attend your ward meetings?

2. the average is about 75 but this week we had 83!!! when we started it was 65 so thats great improvement!! 

3.  What are the schools like there?

3.  the schools are ok!! everything is fenced in here for some reason so it all looks like prison! so they do like 6 years of elementary and then 5 years of high school.  So it's kinda different! 

4.  What do the people do there for employment?

4.  everything you could think of! Work in mines, farm, taxi, conveys, sell stuff, government, police, military, and everything/anything!!! 

5.  Do they have some sort of thanksgiving dinner for the elders?

5.  There is no thanksgiving here,  it's of course a USA holiday! Hopefully we will get to celebrate it, not sure yet.  

Challenge read of the week is alma 24.  Its powerful!!!  Repentance and having faith in the atonement.  (Able to repent of their sins, even after all they had done!)

Today for p-day we are going to the 25 de noviembre stadium and play soccer!!

i am excited!! it is right in the middle of town in moquegua.  We are walking there after our writing time. 

love yall"!!

Con Amor

Elder Wagner

Week 13!!!

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS IS TRUE!! 

 i know that and have a firm testimony of the truthfulness of this gospel!! i love this church! i love my savior Jesus Christ who suffered and died for me so i can better my own life, repent daily, and change my life!! if you are reading this and you dont know about this church or you want to know how you can change your life for the better please ask my mom/dad or a friend who is a member and they will help you happily with all your needs!! please, everyone needs the truth, its right here just take it! 

     Anyway, this week has been filled with Peruvian holidays and lots to do!! but all the stuff to do made it so people were out of their houses!!  No Bueno!!! the begining of the week was like normal,  but the weekend was like a huge 120th anniversary parade that went on and on for over an hour and a half of non stop walking and dancing.  it was really fun haha! we got to watch most of it and eat churros, they are mini here and so good!! Then on saturday there was another huge parade, this one for all the schools.  so every class, from every grade, from every school, walked and walked and walked!! haha they were all like proper and straight legged martching.  it was really neat, but looked like it hurt honestly!! 

    So I didn't get to eat guinea pig, yet... but we did get to kill a rabbit and eat it!! haha it was really fun! we picked the ones we wanted, then killed them and skinned them! it was a good experience!  the lady fried them up for us and it was pretty good! Although, it is really tough meat but i am sure mom could cook it way better.  it was fun to do!

throughout the week we did some good teaching and we have some new investigators!  yesterday at church, Celeste (our investigator) came again by herself! it was awesome!! she is progressing to her baptismal date very nicely! also our friend pedro, who hasn't been to church in over 4 years came with us!!! he had a great time! it was a good day of church, not only for the people that came but also for the awesome spirit that was felt during lessons and the sacrement! it was a really good day!

ok mommas Q´s

1.  How hot is it there?

1. well i dont know exactly how hot it is, but i am always sweating and it is always sunny! Id say it is in the range of 85 and 90. not too bad but the sun is like BOOM! it is really close with the high altitude so it feels like you are baking! 

2.  How is your Spanish coming along?

2. Spanish is coming good!! I don't always understand everything but i get the gist of it and i can communicate. 

3.  How are the new zone leaders?

3. the zone leaders are pretty cool! not like birtcher and chipman but they are fun guys, so we will have a good time!

4.  Have you gotten any mail yet?

4.  nope no mail yet.....

5.  Where do you attend church?

5.  we have a small building in samegua

Read Alma 5 this week!  is a great study. 

food of the week is fried rabbit!!! hahah

 Sorry, not many pics this week.... The Internet cafe that we usually go to was full and I'm at a new place and not sure if there are viruses.  The connection is super slow!  Sorry😁

love you all,  

Con Amor 

Elder Wagner

Week 12

Last weeks pday trip to the waterfalls! Super fun!!!

Well this week was transfers, i am not leaving anywhere and neither is my comp! But.... Elder Birtcher is gone now... he is the new ASSISTANT to the president!!! he is gonna tear things up and be an amazing assistant! i am gonna miss him.. but we will see eachother around! also Elder chipman is gone home!! he is now an honorary return missionary!  i am grateful for the blessings of them being in my life for this short time, they are both huge examples to me! So now we have new zone leaders! i haven't met them yet, but i am excited too and to make new friends! its gonna be fun! 

    Any way back to the week! It was a solid week of work for sure!! there was a lot of success in finding and serving! I have been drained though... lots and lots of walking in the heat! but it is soo good! we decided on Halloween to go down this different street that we never went on before and guess what happened?!? we found a new investigator that is golden.... right now!!!! she told us to come in right away (that doesn't happen here, haha) and we had a great great great lesson with her, the spirit was there and she understood and wanted more!! elder birtcher was with us that day cause elder chipman went to Arequipa for his going home training, so he was teaching the lady with us and WOW!!  i learned a ton from him!! anyway, we taught her and set up another appointment and so now we gotta help her gain a testimony!! 

    So funny story actually, so Birtcher, Boyd and I were knocking doors and birtcher was like, "ask the next person to be baptized first!" of course i said "ok!" haha so the next door we knocked at a lady came to the door and i was like "hello we are here to baptized you and help you come to christ!"  she looked at me and smiled and said "oh well, my family is doing really good right now but the people next door have a lot of problems you should help them out!" hahahahahaha i was like ok... thanks!  it was sooo funny!! Her response was great and she took it so well!! 

    So we celebrated halloween at the Zone Leaders pensions house!! we made tacos and carved squash! it was a blast!! I loved it a ton! i sent pictures of the carving and cooking! birtcher and i carved them all! it was a ton of fun and we also taught thier pensioin how to carve cause they dont do it here! also they dont know what tacos or burritos are....... that is the saddest thing i have ever heard!! they are deprived, not only the gospel but of good food!!!! gosh its sad... we will live i think! haha

    Also there was a HUGE festival for the DAY OF THE DEAD on saturday! it is when all south america goes and visits graves on the same day! but i still think it is just a reason to have a huge party, sell things, and get drunk hahah! but we took it as an oppotunity as a zone to pass out pamphlets! we passed out pamphlets and then when it got dark we shined shoes until 8:30 pm for free!! we would like chase people around and stop them just to shine their shoes!! it was a blast!! Just imagine 20 missionaries shining shoes at one time! it was sick! people loved it!   

   One more funny story! while we were shining shoes, a guy came up and kicked our shine stuff away, then picked it up and ran away with it!!  birtcher looked at me and was like "go get it!" haha so i started after him and i found him at the top of these stairs where he had put the shine on top of a statue(not high).  i walked up to him and he rubbed his finger in the polish and then rubbed it all over my shirt, and ran off! i was like ok... so i grabbed it and went back and continued shining shoes]! haha i know i am protected by my savior and i know not everyone likes us, but thats ok with me! i am here to serve not to HATE! so i love that guy:) he is just a little off the path!  but ya so that was funny!!

    i bought a dart gun and so did elder cluff and we have been having a blast with those haha!! they are just little crappy guns from like the fair at home, but so fun! 

HUGE NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WE HAVE A BAPTISMAL DATE!!!!!!!    AHHHHHHHH our investigator Celeste set a date with us for December 13!!! gosh we were sooo happy!!   we gave her a reading challenge of doing a reading activity in 90 days and she was like "oh, i can do that in 30 days"!!!! hahah wow she is awesome! I love the feeling i have when helping people in this work!! the gospel is true and i know that with every fiber of my being! nothing will turn me from my testimony and nothing will ever stop me from spreading the wonderful things the lord has for us!! 

Scripture of the week doctrine and covenants 103:36, read it..... It's awesome!

Pastery or treat of the week is PANATONE! it is like sweet bread ( but not that sweet ) and has like fruitsnack chunks... i dont know how to explain it other than fruit cake that everyone hates in the states but they eat it alllllll the time here, especially in the months around christmas!! Boyd told me i will be eating it a lot in the next couple months! 

i love all of you soo much!! you all have helped me and i would like to thank everyone! i love my momma, my dad, tyler (stud), turner (champ), and allie (princess)! love you guys more than you could ever imagine!!!! thank you soo much..... well thats all for this   week!! 

Con Mucho Amor

Elder Wagner