Pictures from this week

A RM, Jenson Marte, left to work in Alaska. 

Contacting in Old San Juan with President

BBQ for the New Missionaries

He's In the Small Details

After lunch on Sunday!

Kanepa... my Favorite fruit in PR!

Hello to my wonderful families and friends!

Another week has passed and transfers have came and the verdict is........I'm finishing my mission here in Guaynabo!! It will be my 3rd transfer with Elder Gonzalez! I love him and am grateful for him and that he has to put up with me for almost 5 months of his life! This week was rough on finding new investigators, but ones we have found earlier are starting to progress. Recently I have read many letters from missionaries and have heard of all their great miracles and I always just kind of laugh or sigh and wish that could happen here in our area. And it was not util today and that my eyes have been opened and now I realize all the miracles that have indeed happened here in Guaynabo. We have been so blessed!

This week we taught an investigator that is named Gabriel. He is great! We have had difficulties meeting with him, but he did came to church this week! He even walked halfway there! He had a great time and said he learned many new things.  We visited Joseph on Sunday and had a good visit. On Saturday we had planned to visit a lady named Yorlenis with a member. She was there along with her sister, so we taught them both and we invited them to church and we received  the best answers I've ever got! Yorlenis said “yeah! Vamos!” Her sister Virginia also committed to come. They both came and said they had a wonderful experience at church. The sisters at church did a wonderful job meeting and supporting her.  We are so grateful for these miracles. We know the Lord is in the details.

A Dominican family, The Martes, from our ward had us over for lunch after church.  The food was soooo good! Rice, beans, chuletas, amarillos, tostones, aguacate, and salad.  I was in heaven. Loved it. They are a wonderful family. We have 19 new missionaries coming in tomorrow and 17 leaving… so the mission is changing more and more! We are excited and hopeful though:) we planned for transfers for 4 hours on Saturday. It was a very sacred experience. The Smarts are so wonderful and we do love them!

Anyways, I'm so excited that I have so much time left. It'll be a blast. I know we do have a Heavenly Father and He does love us! I know that because He has helped convey His love through me to His children here. I do love them. I know Jesus Christ is the Savior and that this is His church. I love you all. Have a wonderful week!:)

Love, Elder Waidmann

Setting Goals

Went to work with a brand new RM named Angel and Jose in the back right seat who is in our ward preparing for his mission! And my Comp Elder Gonzalez!

San Juan Zone Leaders! Left: Elder Celaya, Right: Elder Hilario

Hello!

I have got a little bit of time so I'd thought I'd write out a quick summary of the week. We have been putting more into practice more from what I learned from my dear friend, Elder Tanner Boatman. That is, putting specific times to find specific people. It is super fun and exciting and it helps us show our faith and stay focused. The last two times we have done it, it has been miraculous. So on Saturday I was working with Elder Hilario here in Guaynabo and we had a great time. We set apart a specific time like from 3:30 to 4 and earnestly sought to find a young married couple in their 20's or 30's.  Normally, we would never find families out at that time. I was being a little doubtful, but we agreed and went out to work.  The time came and I believe the first contact we made is was a younger man in his 30s that we talked to and he agreed that we could pass by later in the day. He is a new investigator now! He lives with his wife and two kids. He was only able to listen to us when we went back but the goal was met!

Additionally, yesterday we set a goal from 4:45-5:15, that we would find a father and a son. And at 5:30 we had to leave to go pick up the Smarts from the airport, so 5:08 came around and I was counting down the time. We keep walking and we were disappointed because nobody was outside… but we did end up seeing a son and his father. They didn't even live there. His son had came with him to work because they were fixing something on their house. We are not sure if he will later accept us but it was such a testimony builder to me that as we make goals, get out on our feet and work to them that he will always bless us. God is ever so aware of his Children. We are hopeful and prayerful for our investigators. I love my Boricua brothers and sisters, and hope to help them find their way back to their heavenly home. 

Love you all:)

You Just Have to Believe

President and Sister Smart

MLC Group

Silly Photo with MLC

Hello Everyone! After weeks like these you come to a complete awareness that there is some unseen power that leads and guides us…and that would undoubtedly be the Holy Ghost. This week was a busy.  On Tuesday and Thursday we were with President and Sister Smart accompanying them around to the 5 different zones. It has been so good to get to know them.  They are so happy and excited to be here and I know they will help this mission so much. I am grateful for their examples of dedication and love. On Wednesday we had an MLC.  The Smarts had had a busy week, but still delivered fabulous lessons during MLC.  Elder Gonzalez and I also taught about Ch. 4 in Preach My Gospel.

After the tour on Thursday I went on splits with a missionary that has almost 5 weeks now in the field. It brought me back so many memories that I will forever cherish of my trainer. This missionary was humble, full of faith and energy. What great examples they are to me. With the limited time we had to go out and find people we felt impressed to kind take a way we don't usually take to go to a neighborhood we usually go to. Once we crossed the street we contacted a young man and her grandson. His name is Joseph, he is 23 and he just moved here from Boston so he speaks English and Spanish. We taught him another day and he came to church! So that was a miracle for us this week! 

Later on Sunday night at 7:00 all of our plans fell through and usually here at 8:00 everyone is inside their house we had prayed to know what to do. I started flipping through my old agenda looking for someone who we could visit at 8:20 at night.  Then we saw a name and we remembered we had contacted this kid a while ago and so my companion said,  “I'll call him”.  He answered and said he could come by and at this point we were speed walking like a mile to get to this kids house.   We get there and his grandma comes out and says, “So Sebastian invited you over…well I’m a Christian/Catholic”.  She saw we were pouring in sweat and she was surprised we had walked all that way to see Sebastian.  So we went to his front porch and we started talking and he is the most mature/humble 14 year old I know. It blew us away. He has some certain sad situations going on in his life and later on we taught him how to pray and it was so so special.   It was just such a tender mercy for us to help be an answer to the needs of this young man. How can we not believe that God knows His children? All of our plans fell through, so we could go comfort a 14 year old a mile away.  It was amazing! I'll never forget weeks like these. I love you all and I thank you for all your love and support!!

-Elder Waidmann

Goodbye to the Bouchers

Saying goodbye to President and Sister Boucher

We said goodbye to the Bouchers this week! We will miss them a lot! They are amazing people who have changed my life in so many ways for good.

Our new President and his wife came, President and Sister Smart. They are so great and we know they are called of God. You can see and feel it. We are excited to be with them!