Elder Wadley and His First Baptism in Colombia!

This week's e-mail was a pretty exciting one!
Elder Wadley and Elder Bigelow had a baptism! This was Jayden's first baptism in Colombia. Aydee had set a previous date, got nervous, and cancelled. They have been working hard to get her to this wonderful day! Aydee has been in my prayers as well.

Elder Wadley, Aydee, Elder Bigelow

Here is Jayden's e-mail, where he talks more about the baptism and his week:

Hey sorry! I totally forgot to tell you happy anniversary last week! Happy Anniversary! I cant believe you guys went to the zoo haha! You are fun parents! But wow the zoo sounds pretty rad with the whole dinosaur thing they got going on. I have two questions about it though, do they still have the lion drinking fountain and the butterfly exhibit?

I do love the people here, well most of them haha some are really weird and mean sometime but i try to love all of them as much as i can! They are all children of our Heavenly Father and i try to view them like that. What you said with Chris and Dad, its super true like this time I have to be a missionary really is kinda sacred-like it is a once in a lifetime deal. Sure you can do couple missions later but it is not the same. I am trying to make the most of it that i can but its hard with the whole language thing. I am loving it though!

Anyways this last week!

Monday we didn't have a whole lot to do for Pday so we just kinda hung out with the zone leaders all day and really didn't do a whole lot. We went to the mall there and had Subway and i found the cookies and cream Oreo's again! Then we had our regular meeting and thats really about it, it was just a really relaxed day!

Tuesday- We had another service project at the same house. we basically just carried around bricks for them haha it was lame but it was service and i was excited to do it! Other than that we had a few lessons and had a regular day it was nothing really interesting.

Wednesday-I had an intercambio on Wednesday with Elder De La Cruz, he is an Elder from Perú. He is really nice, a convert of two years and we had a good full day. We got a lot of references from members and other people. We taught a lot of good lessons to people and it just went really good. I think the key to having such a good day is that we were really obedient, with our studying in the morning and throughout the day we were obedient.

Thursday- It was just a regular day on Thursday, the only thing that was eventful on Thursday was that there was another red worm in the shower and thats really it. Not a whole lot to report on that day.

Friday-I had another intercambio with Elder Larroza, one of our zone leaders. He is super cool! We had a really good and really funny day! We had a really full and planned day which was super awesome! In the morning Elder Larroza had to go to the bathroom but the toilet was clogged. So we went next door to borrow a plunger, which i thought was gross, but they didn't have one. The girl that was there said we should try pouring hot water on it... We both started busting up laughing in her face! I felt kind of bad but honestly hot water that has been sitting there overnight! Anyway so we bought a plunger and all is good now. Later we had lunch at a members and there were two people there from Bogota and they were super cool! They were telling us about their cousin that was on a mission in Australia. Kinda crazy but they told us that they had cars and everything and got more money than we did. He also told us how his mission president bought him shoes one time because his got ruined. Then on the way back home Larroza was saying a bunch of crap about how our mission is hot and there is poop water and he had to super glue his shoes and all this stuff it was super funny! We had a lot of lessons and references that day too! At the very end of the night we had a Family Home Evening at Aydees house! It was fun we played some games and had a good time. When we got there Aydee said that the Jehova Witness that we taught, threw the Book of Mormon out the window haha!

Saturday- AYDEES BAPTISM! She finally got baptized! Oh it was so cool! So i guess the church didn't have any baptism clothing and so she had this huge jumper on and we had to roll it up a little bit so it would fit a little bit better haha! Oh but it was so awesome! The font was kinda nasty and the water was gross when it first came out. We got it cleaned up the best we could and filled it up. The water was still greenish but apparently thats normal ha! Our ward mission leader forgot to call the people who were supposed to be part of the program so we had to improvise. So it was short and sweet which i thought was way better! I think Aydee liked it better a little bit shorter as well! This is also the day i got my haircut and sent that snapchat.

Sunday- Sundays never feel like Sundays here, they are so different. anyway it rained in the morning and i was soaking wet because i lost my umbrella a while ago. Then it got really hot after. I got to participate in the confirmation of Aydee and that was a super cool experience! We also got all the transfers today!! I am staying here and getting a new comp! Bigelow is leaving:( But my new comp is also a gringo! Super rad! I am excited! I don't know if i am ready to take over the area yet though! It will be fun though! But yeah this was my week i will send you some pics! You are really going to like one of them;) I love you! I miss you guys tons!

Elder Wadley

A couple more picture from Aydee's baptism:

Elder ?, Elder Wadley, Aydee and baby?, Elder Bigelow and Elder ? (Jayden needs to fill in some holes here...)

Freshly baptized Aydee. She just glows here. I love it!

Jayden bringing home a lavadora (washing machine) previously they used a bucket and plunger. Apparently NOT a toilet plunger. :/

The home they did service at. Yep. This is a home in Colombia.

This is the photo he thought I would like. I do not like it. Not at all.

All in all, a good week.
I love this boy of mine.
When he left, I had never experienced such sorrow. Sending him off, knowing I wouldn't be able to take care of him, or see him for two years. I'm not going to lie, it was painful.
Sometimes it still is.
But I love the happiness I now see in his face from serving.
That he is bringing that happiness to the people of Colombia by teaching them about their Savior.
The gospel is true- and the peace and happiness it brings is worth it all.