Endure

The last few weeks we have been working a lot with a family of four. They are not married and smoke. So they now have a new wedding date for the 11th of March and they have a baptismal date for the 18th of March. We just started yesterday with the smoking program that we have as missionaries use to help them stop and they are doing super well.  It was such a joy to see them come to church and participate in the classes!

Also we are teaching another individual.  He is a super humble guy but he LOVES to analyze and question everything. At the end of the lessons it always comes down to, "Will you pray to ask God to know if these things are true? Because he's the only one that can tell if it is true." It was like 20 minutes into Sacrament Meeting and I was thinking, “c’mon, you didn’t come again!!” Then someone tapped me on the shoulder and it was him! I about jumped out of my chair because I was so happy to see him.

We have been trying to visit a less active ex-bishop and we always have set visits and at the last minute he cancels so we haven’t even met with him! So after being canceled again this last week we were like, “Well lets kind of move on because he's not too interested.” On Sunday, I noticed someone in the back sitting alone and he looked like a tourist. So I went and sat next to him and said, “Hey do you speak Spanish?” He said, “Yeah” and I said, “So what’s your name?” It was the man we have been looking for!  That made me soooooo happy!!! It was him! We will also be visiting him tomorrow.

The Toa Baja zone has had struggles for years to get investigators to church. The standard of excellence is 24 investigators at church because we only have 12 companionships in the zone. This Sunday we had 26 investigators in church!!! We are super happy and grateful for our missionaries and all the hard work they have put in.

Neil. L Anderson will be coming in a month from now and we are so anxious to see him.  We will have a whole mission meeting the 18th and then the 19th he's coming to the Toa Baja Stake for stake conference. LET’S GOOOOO. haha We are super excited.

I have been trying to do a workout program called Insanity and WOW I am suuuuper out of shape. After five minutes of it I’m sweating and out of breath. haha The mission is the best. If we are obedient and diligent the Lord will always pour out blessings to us. I am sure of it because I've seen it. If we really understand the blessings we can receive through living the Gospel, no challenge will be big enough for us to overcome.

Love you all,

Elder Waidmann

Fotos

MLC TRAINING

Teaching

Hugo Martinez from the Seventy

Elder Yanaz finished :(

PR needs Jesus

Another Transfer

Escuché que hacia falta mi carta semanal. perdonenme de verdad :) But yes I am alive and another transfer has finished!! WHHAAAT, yes Elder Paniagua and I have been together for 6 weeks now!! We will be together for another transfer! We are super happy and excited to see the progress in Levittown.

I would say it was Thursday and all of our plans fell through so we were contacting at 8pm in a neighborhood near our house.  It was one of the hardest moments of my mission.We had already had like no success Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday and when we arrived at the first house to contact a guy just gives us his hand, denies us, and then about every single person after that. I was like, “You have got to be kidding me.”  We were both like ready to give up so we went to Burger King and had ice cream to eat away the pain.  The negative thoughts left our minds we finished the day positive. Then from that day to Sunday there came a bunch of miracles.

When teaching one of our male investigators this week, it was one of the most special moments in my mission. We were teaching him about true repentance and he explained to us his past and how he used to be in the streets. And he said, “Before I stopped doing bad things because I knew I should. And now I’m stopping because I want to stop and it comes from my heart.” He held something in his hand in front of us and said, "And this has made the difference.”  He had in his hand The Book of Mormon. BOOM, the spirit was super strong and he agreed to truly repent to prepare to be baptized. His girlfriend is doing well and she is also progressing. They have a marriage date of the 18th of February and their children are starting to have interest.

On Sunday we were out trying to follow up with some people and we couldn’t find any of them and so we were like, “Okay let’s go contacting.”  A guy came to my mind that I had contacted like 6 weeks ago and so we went to follow up. He accepted us and it turns out it’s a whole family! YESSS finally we have found a whole family!! They accepted the message well and we will go back on Wednesday. The father is like in his 30’s and also the mom and they have a daughter of 15 and a son of 8 years. We are super excited for them. We had only found 5 new investigators in the week and on Sunday we found 5 more. Such a blessing.

On Sunday a 70 was in our ward. His son's wife had a baby so they came to the baby blessing. The 70's name is Hugo Martinez. He is super humble, he talked to me and my companion after church for like 10 minutes and I took in every moment. He gave us suggestions and thanked us for our work. It truly was a special experience. 

I truly know as we hit rock bottom but we keep enduring, the Lord will change us, and we will come stronger than we were. Job 23:10

Love you all,

Elder Waidmann