Week 55

Wedding festivities.... Baptism next week!

(Wedding food!)

well this week has been crazy, running around dropping off elders and picking them up, but i am glad its over now for another 6 weeks! hahaha... I have my new comp, Elder Nicholls! its awesome being with him! we are working hard and doing our best here in the area.  We are beat tired at the end of each day!!

This week i wanted to tell a story about what happened during a lesson. 

Well, we are teaching 2 less actives, a mom and her daughter.  I felt the prompting to ask the mom if she loved her daughter and the same question to the daughter, they both responded yes. Then felt to ask, what would you do for your daughter, and the same for the daughter for her mom.  They both became very emotional, and even cried. The spirit was very strong. Then we asked what would God do for them?  they both said everything! My companion shared a powerful testimony about the atonement and the family.  I followed with my testimony also, the spirit really filled the room, and to finish, we asked "please don't respond just think and meditate on this question, what would YOU do for God?"  the spirit was so powerful in that room as we sat and let the spirit talk to their hearts.   we humbly ended with a prayer and left them with the amazing feeling of the truth!  that was a lesson that helped us strengthen or testimonies of our savior, his atoning sacrifice for us, and the power and importance of the family in our lives. 

i know this is the true church, and when we listen to the spirit and let Him "talk" we feel that it is the truth and with out a doubt we feel the love of God! 

(Great family!!!)

today for our pday we are gonna cut our hair and have a zone bbq!:) it will be great:) 

(Our group that is just over the one year mark!!)

have a great week! and just think "what would you do for God?" :)

love you all! 

Elder wagner 

Week 54

(This week we didn't get a blog update from tanner, he was super busy and didn't have time to write, just a few interactions with us.  That's what I'm posting for this week) 

Bon fire... 

This week was really hectic and crazy, with a little fun of course! 

I didn't have a comp for like 5 days! hahah so i was running all around the zone with the missionaries, buying bus tickets for the people that have changes. 

the zone before the transfers 

 Meidell and i went and did a service project in the hospital, for the organization Operation Smile!  It was a blast, we played with kids and helped the teens! it was an amazing experience!  The organization gives operations to children with clef pallettes for free, they did about 58 here in Arequipa! It was so amazing!

My new comp is ELDER NICHOLLS!!!!!!!! he is one of my buds from moquegua and is from my original group!

Well i gotta go guys!! i love you! next week will be better.  i promise, I'll a write!! i love you guys soo much! have a great week, I'm off to pick up my new comp! 

Love you 

Elder Wagner 

Week 53

(An awesome family in the ward!)

well this week has been a party, not literally but it was a good week!  we played football on pday, had divisions with elder Meidell which was awesome, got a reference of GOLD from a member, did a cool service project, and celebrated the 15 of augost which is the independence day of Arequipa!   also this week an area Sevenety, elder Uceda, 

came to the mission and gave some awesome words to help us get better and be better missionaries! It was a busy, which makes it a good week! 

(Playing football on pday)

(Divisions with Meidell) 

(Ran into my old comp elder Andrade)

(Service project, cleaning up the aftermath of a house fire)

(Celebrating 15 de agusto with the zone, love our Arequipa flags)

(Celebration dinner)

I wanted to share with you an experience that happened when we were visiting the members this week.   i went with angel and we visited an active member who is blind.  his name is Julio, he goes every week to church and sits right next to the door. when we knocked on his door he told us to come right in! we went in and sat down, there was no light, it was 8 at night and he had no light in his room.  All he had for light was the tv on mute which we used for light. he can see some shadows of things, but in a terrible blur, so he has to use his stick to guide himself or else he will fall! we started talking about faith and he told us that he had lots of faith!  One thing about people in this world, is that all people "say" they have faith, but when he said it, I could feel it in my heart! he spoke with such a power that it blew me away! he isdoing treatments for his eyes and he said when he is in the clinic he always sings, Nearer My God To Thee, he loves that song! So we sang that song together and the spirit filled the room even more!  He Didn't just "say" that he had faith, he lived it! he showed it and julio showed me what a faithful person looks like! he helped me want to grow my faith like his! Julio Wants to be NEARER to his God, and so do i!! that was an amazing experience that I wanted to share this week! i love the mission! 

(Fun guy in our ward!) 

Food of the week:  

this week i ate rocoto relleno, its a stuffed spicy pepper thats stuffed with meat and topped with cheese, and a pastel de papa on the side! which is potatoes slices and stuffed with cheese in the middle and milk and cook! its kinda like funeral potatoes! 

thanks for your love and prayers! ilove you guys!! have a great week!!!

Love Elder Wagner 

Week 52

(One year mark for Tanner... Honestly can't believe it!  I know the worth of the souls in Peru are soooo worth it!)

(High up in Arequipa... Love this city)

well honestly, its been an interesting week of running around and helping missionaries, working in the area, doing trainings and having conferences.  Lots of stuff has gone on this week! the work in the zone is doing great and we are all working hard! 

(Best zone!!!)

This week i came to a better understanding of the atonement of Christ.  I made a Mistake in one of our lessons and i felt really sad after, but it came to my head that its all about progress! so i thought to myself, why am i sad, i just gotta fix it! i looked at that experience and progressed in my personal teaching! i learned from my mistakes and now my Savior is helpíng me to move forward and progress! i am glad that i was able to humble my self enough to see my faults and get better! and now my only desire is to humble my self more and find more to fix! I invite you all to look for things to get better at! i promise you the feeling that you will receive as you are getting better will be the best feeling ever! you will feel the hand of God working in you and helping you on your way! its amazing the power that he has! All we have to do is use it!

Mommas Qs 

1.  How are you feeling? 

1. i am feeling really good here and my health is great:) 

2.  What kind of foods does your pension cook you? Any vegetables or fruits? 

2. my pension cooks a lot of great food that is really good!! she makes good soups and does stuff with noodles and meat and chicken!!  its great!! ya we always have veggies and fruits! we eat a lot of fruit, i love it!:) 

3.  How are you feeling about your year on your mission so far?? Any thoughts on your progression since you arrived at the MTC? (I can see a ton of changes) just want to hear what you think...:) 

3. well to think about the Elder wagner in the CCM to the Elder Wagner now, i have seen changes that are crazy, i feel that my relationship is stronger with my Father in Heaven and my Savior Jesus Christ! My testimony of the Gospel is stronger and still getting stronger!  i have seen a bunch of progress, but i still need to change a lot more, and i know i can keep progressing through the atonement of my Savior!  The President of my mission says that, "we are the future leadership of the Church."  so we are just working super hard to keep progressing so that we can be the best leaders we can be!

4.  How was your week? 

4. this week was a blast working really hard with the people we have! Jessica and Jose moved the date to the 29th so it will be good!:) they are awesome!! 

5.  What are your plans today?

5. we are going to one of the big institute buildings, to play sports and games and stuff!  i am going to bring my football and we are gonna play catch with whoever wants to play:D 

(Angel a member who leaves on his mission in September, he comes with us a lot to teach)

i love you guys!!  keep getting better! 

love Elder Wagner 

Week 51

well what a week! hard work and blessings!! we worked hard all week and fasted a ton! it was a great week and you know what happened? We were blessed for it!!! we are teaching a couple that is not married and we talked about marriage, we challenged them to get hitched and they accepted! and with out a doubt they accepted to be baptized the same day!! it was amazing! we have been working sooooo hard and too see the Hand of the Lord work like that is amazing!! We are super happy! 

In my reading this week, i was reading in the book of mormon and i found something really cool! when Jesus went back to the heavens, he came down again to find his disciples preaching! this made him super happy! he told everyone to kneel and pray and he went up and prayed to the Father and when he came back they were still praying, and this made him ever more happy and it says that "the smile of his face was upon them," honestly i dont think i have ever read a scripture that said that He smiled until today! it was amazing. and if you think its a comparison to when He was in the Garden of Gethsemane because when he went to suffer the apostles slept. this made him really sad, but in this story they stayed stong and faithful and that made him smile! could you imagine His smile? i cant, but i think it would be the most perfect,  full of love smile then any other I've ever seen!!! 

we have to do what he wants, so that one day we can see that glorious smile! that is a great motivation for me! and i hope that it helps all of you! a great big smile from YOUR Savior would be the best blessing ever to happen! 

(this story is found in 3 nephi 19)

Today for pday we are going to play football and soccer! its gonna be fun with all the zone leaders and assistants! 

we did a ward activity that the whole ward went and cleaned the church! it was awesome.....

Some of the cleaning crew!!!!

This is my pension she is the best (I guess I say that about all my pensions :)! They live about 3 blocks away, not too far! she is soo sweet and her husband lived in the states for a while! but like 25 years a go so he doesn't speak much English! haha but its funny cause he has his costco card and stuff like that so we talk all the time about America! 

(My awesome pension)

(Pensions cute puppy)

i love you all and i hope you have a great week!!! 

love Elder Wagner