"This week my soul has been filled with joy!"

Hello my wonderful family and friends!

The Baptism

My district

This last week has been one of the most life changing weeks for me. Our investigator, Carlos, was baptized on Saturday. What a miracle. He has been prepared for a long time to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ in his life. He has read all the way to Mosiah in one week in the Book Of Mormon. He has such a strong testimony of it. The first time he read he said he had to stop or else he was going to read it all that night. He plans on finishing it next week. Carlos means a lot to me. He has strengthened my faith over and over. He went through some tough challenges before his baptism. He said whenever he was tired or had bad thoughts or didnt feel good, he decided to pray and read the Book Of Mormon and he says after he felt so much better. Elder Fox baptized him and when he came up out of the water, he hugged Elder Fox.  When they got out of the font he said he felt so clean and he said “I’M SAVED”! 

He is so awesome and he is so grateful, as are we to experience this miracle. On Sunday he was confirmed a member of the church and he received the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I asked him about it and he said when he received it, the feeling was indescribable, like a burning feeling filled his body. He said “Waidmann, I feel the Holy Spirit with me.” Oh man how wonderful it is to see him so happy. Man, this whole week my soul has been filled with joy! I am so happy for him.

I am now going to be serving in a different area in Ponce with Elder Wilcox. I will be in the same house. I will miss my old area, but I am excited. Elder Wilcox my new companions is a great missionary. We will start tomorrow as companions. I Just finished training yesterday and so now I’m not a greenie anymore! Yay!

Puppy

Lion King

I know this Church is true without a doubt in my mind. I know that God gives us commandments to help us and as we live them we will be the happiest we have ever been. The church is for everyone. The gospel will bless and help anyone in any trial they have in their lives. The atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ makes it possible to repent, and to be clean from our sins. What a blessing. Let us put our trust in Jesus Christ, and our Father in Heaven, for they know exactly what we need. I know God loves us, we are his literal children, and I know that my Redeemer Jesus Christ lives. Love you all. Thank you for everything.

Elder Waidmann

"I will do anything for my God and my Savior"

Service with Olga

Hello everyone!

We had another wonderful week this week in the mission. I have come to see how aware our Heavenly Father is of his children. Last week we found Michael and after that we found Olga and her son Carlos walking to the store. Olga is a less active member and her son Carlos was never baptized! We had our first lesson with him on Saturday and we had an amazing lesson with her and the spirit was so strong. I was challenging him to decide to be baptized and he accepted and wanted to get baptized soon!  He came to church and he loved it, he is reading a ton in the Book Of Mormon. He is preparing himself to be baptized! His friend across the street is coming home from Maryland and just happened to be baptized 2 weeks ago… so that is also a tender mercy from the Lord. He said he was reading the scriptures and was moved to tears because of how strong the spirit was.  It was so amazing. He had a huge beard and shaved it all for Sunday. He is such a champ.

This experience is what really hit home for me. I realized how amazing this work is and how grateful I am to be a representative of Jesus Christ. In the lesson on Sunday we asked Carlos how he was really feeling about everything. He said he felt joy. That single word hit me so hard. I am so grateful for the Gospel Of Jesus Christ. The gospel and the spirit touch hearts. We meet with a less active man named Jaime, he has not been attending church for about 10 years. He shared his testimony that he has learned and come to know that the gospel is true.

The spirit was so present, and I was able to share my testimony. I had no idea what I was going to say. I know I was guided to say the end of my testimony, that we are in these last days, this work needs to move up, God needs you now on His side, and we need you too. In this moment, I don’t know if i have ever felt the spirit so strong in my entire life.  It was wonderful!

Puerto Rico is the BOMB. Its so hot, like so hot, and at times its really hard here. But its okay, because Jesus Christ paid the price, and its our responsibility to help people come unto Him. For this glorious purpose, I will do anything for my God and my Savior.

Lift your heads up, do what is right, serve always. Love your life.

Love, Elder Waidmann

"Everyone has their story"

Me and Elder Wilcox

Buenas!

Hello my people! How are you all doing? As always you are in my constant thoughts and prayers! Sorry that I have been slacking on the big emails lately! This week was really good, not a whole ton of success number wise, but the success we had was amazing. On Tuesday our member appointment fell through and so we got dropped of in an Urban called Santa Clara. We said a prayer for God to lead us to someone who is ready to accept the Gospel Of Jesus Christ. At the second house we found a man and he came out side and opened up to us. He told us about his life and that a few years ago, his son was shot and killed right in front of him. As he began to tell us this story my heart was torn for this man, the hardest part was see the hurt and pain in his eyes. I am so thankful that God lead us to this man because, one we have a message from Jesus Christ that can heal all the hurt and pain and two to help me realize how everyone has their trials and that this life is oh so precious. He invited us in and we testified of the healing power of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and how this man can live with his family forever. His wife was also there. The Holy Spirit was present and was one of the most powerful, humbling experiences of my life. We will be seeing them again soon. We are hoping for a baptism.

Mandarins in the mail!

On Thursday we made a goal to find someone to teach in the area book. We went out the next day with names that we had written down.  We found the house of a lady the missionaries had taught previously, but she wasn’t there.  So we decided to go across the street and we began talking to this guy who is absolutely huge (ripped).  At the time he was working out, but he invited us in and we shared The Restoration with him. The spirit was so strong in the lesson and he turned out to be a big old teddy bear. He described how he felt as we spoke and how he felt that what he was hearing was true.  He spoke of feeling peace and joy.  We taught him that these feelings were from the spirit. It was such a powerful lesson. He has accepted to be baptized. He told us that he let us in because when he saw us, he knew that God had put us in his path. It was so special and humbling. We prayed and gave thanks to God for this miracle! Then right after we found an old lady and her son, walking close by. It turns out she a member of the church and he is interested to learn more! It was so great!

We are so very grateful to have found these people! Puerto Rico is great, I have never sweated so much in my life, or have ever been so tired, but this work is incredible. There are the hard days yes, but those days we can choose to be sad about or choose to grow and learn from them. I know God lives, I know He know everyone of us by name. We are literally His children. Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and the Savior, Redeemer, the light, and life of this world. The Holy Ghost testifies of all truth. I challenge you all to read the Book of Mormon and meditate on its words.  I love you all,

Elder Waidmann

"I love this work!"

Hello everyone!

Thank you for all you guys do for me. I have truly felt divine help this week from your thoughts and prayers. I am praying for the well being of you all as well. We are staying busy and we are working as hard as we can and giving all we can to this wonderful work.  Today was an intercombio and I was able to go with another Elder, named Elder Wilcox. He is such a stud. He came to my area and my trainer went to his. We pleaded for divine help because I am somewhat a newbie.  It turned out to be a wonderful day.

There were so many miracles. We had a goal to get two new male investigators and another one, no matter who it was. We were in an area called “Crist Rey” with little time left to contact and we were on our way to leave, when we came upon an older man on his porch.  We began to teach him and later on his wife came out. We taught all of the Restoration and it was so amazing how the spirit worked with us throughout the lesson. The spirit was felt and we have a return appointment soon. T

Then we went to an area called “Glenvie”, and there walking on a street was one of our investigators.  We talked with him and he said he still wanted to be baptized and that he knows our message is true! That was awesome! We continued contacting and it was getting late and we had a feeling we should leave the area.   So we left and the second house we contacted we found great man to teach! We were able to teach him the Restoration and the spirit was so powerful. Testifying is the most powerful thing you can to do share with people of what you know is true.   On the way home we saw a former investigator!  We had not seen her in awhile, so we will meet with her again soon!

I love this work! God lives and Jesus is the Christ, and through them all things are possible.! Love you guys so much!

Elder Waidmann