No Water, No Power, (No Photos :( ), No Worries!

This week our email exchange was short on both sides. Life was kind of crazy this week for me with the rest of the kids going back to school. It makes me happy that his email was short too because it means that he is busy as well. I asked him where he was on his Spanish and this was what he said "I am a little more confident and can communicate. it isn't perfect i still have a lot to learn but it is better!"  This further explains why his e-mails are getting shorter. Now that he can communicate it really opens up the work for him. Here is his e-mail this week. He did not send any photos this week either. I will just have to rely on ones that I have here. It's been six months since I have had a really good "Jayden" hug. I miss his hugs the most- he was a hugger.

Wow you are old, canning mom?.... I honestly don't even know what to say ha. I guess as long as you are doing something that you like. I can't believe that Bailey is home already that flew by!! Tell her i said hi! Oh and whats with all these people growing up? Getting married? That's weird i don't feel like we are old enough to be getting married already thats freaking nuts! Everyone is growing up it is really weird.

Everything around here is normal nothing really interesting happened. 

My weekly recap isn't going to be very long because not a whole lot of interesting things happened this last week:

Monday- Last Monday we went to McDonalds and got something to eat. It is sad that i have to say we went to McDonalds like it is a 4 star restaurant. While we were there we met a guy from Florida that spoke English and everything. We talked to him for a little bit and kinda told him what we do and all that it was pretty cool.

Oh man this is going to be really short because the rest of the week was normal we just had a normal week of teaching and nothing really crazy or interesting happened. On Thursday and throughout the rest of the week we had no water in the house so we had to shower with bags of water and thats quite an experience ha. Basically you bite a hole in the bag and spray yourself down:) Also another problem we had with the house is the power. The power went out Friday night for the whole night and we didn't sleep worth poo. Oh we were sweating so bad. I felt bad for Elder Aust it was his like second week here and he literally woke up in puddle of sweat, it was so bad. No worries though we have water and power and everything now!:) Sure makes you realize what you take for granted though.

The only thing cool about this week is this old less active we found, Hermano Pupi. He is like 88 years old and just a cool old dude. Other than that is was a really normal week. 

Sorry that it was really short, really nothing cool has happened this week. Also i want to apologize for the lack of dead things in my emails but there hasn't been much of that either. 

The questions I asked this week:
1- what is your area like? Is it mostly a city/town or are there mountains or is it near a beach or anything? Is there anything cool to see around you on pday other than the mall?
2- I thought you got a washing machine? What happened to it?
3- I would like to hear one story of a miracle you have witnessed.
4- any service this week?
5- are our seasons the same? Is it cooling down at all?
6- do you need anything? How is your health? (I feel like I am always going to ask those two questions forever because I am your mom! Sorry!)

1- My area is pretty flat. We have like hills off in the distance and the beach is like 45 minutes away in bus i think. It is like a small town.

2- We rent the machines from members.

3-Miracle, well nothing really huge but there have been billions of little ones. For example one of the ones i have noticed recently is this is really the work of the Lord and He is here to help us. Sometimes we will be struggling to find a new person to teach and then some random person walks up and starts talking to us or we get a referral ( No idea how to spell that) from somebody. He is always there to help us and is always looking out for us!

4- We haven't done any service, i keep offering to do some but nobody takes me seriously.

5-The weather is about the same all year round.

6- Everything is good!!:)

This is my short lame email! I Promise next week will be better! I love you! Let me know if there is anything you want or need! Have a great week!

Elder Wadley

"Routine" Week, a Baptism and a Flying Frog

This week I am secretly happy to be getting everyone back into a routine, with school starting up again. This was an unexpected surprise gift of Jayden serving a mission. A mission trains these boys to have a healthy, daily routine. Something I tried for years to do- but was unsuccessful at my attempts to scrape Jayden's back off of the mattress before noon. Bless him.
This summer has been chaos, like always. Kids coming and going at all hours. I love it- I love the happy chaos, but I am looking forward to some order around here.
I love my Mondays.
Sunday evening, I sit by myself on the couch and re-cap our week for Jayden in an e-mail. It is a good time for me to reflect on what has been accomplished, and what I would like done the next week.
Then Monday comes, and my missionary e-mails start hitting the inbox. I am always amazed by the spiritual growth of my boy(s). He, or one of his friends serving (my other missionary boys) usually say some little thing that inspires me to try a little harder to be a little better.
It is a good way to start my week.
Who knew that sending a missionary out would help me find a routine too.

Here is Elder Wadley's e-mail this week:

Hey glad everybody made it home safe and you made all your flights. I think that was one of the weirdest parts about flying down here. Having an actual ticket is a totally different experience, a little bit less stressful but different. I was sitting there watching the cleared list for awhile haha! I love the scripture you found in D&C!

(D&C 60:2
"But with some I am not well pleased, for they will not open their mouths, but they hide the talent which I have given unto them, because of the fear of man. Wo unto such, for mine anger is kindled against them.")

It's awesome!! I want to study D&C when i get the language down pretty fluent. The scriptures are really powerful though! A lot of the time i am scared, especially in the beginning, to open my mouth and speak but really if you at least try to share something with people the Lord really will help you.

That's crazy that school is starting up again!! It feels like it just ended! I am sure everybody kinda feels that way but man did that go by fast!! Good luck to everybody thats starting school haha! 

Oh and sorry about not sending any dead animals last week there were not any really good ones... Anyway this is what happened in my week:

Monday- We got all our regular stuff done pretty early so we actually had a lot of time to do stuff on Monday. We went to the Primera and saw some iguanas and monkeys. We also went to the mall here, the same one that we have been to the last like 6 weeks haha! There is not a whole lot to do here and the mall has air conditioning. We also went to McDonalds, also has AC haha! Basically for P-day we try to get out of the heat.

Tuesday- My buddy Elder Larroza left today and it sucks he is an awesome dude! He helped me quite a bit and is a great zone leader. We had a normal day teaching wise and everything. The other Elders were a little messed up until their comps got there on Wednesday. 

Wednesday- So all the new comps got here today and we got Elder Aust! He is from good ol Spanish fork! We have four white dudes in our house haha its pretty fun so far, it has been good. One of my personal highlights of this day is when we went to Sixtos house to teach him. He told us he was working and has a friend that was asking him a bunch of questions about the church and Sixto had no idea what to do. He told us he didn't know a whole lot about the church and said he did the best he could to tell him about the church. One thing struck me though, that despite his lack of knowledge he could tell this guy that our church was true! I thought it was cool, really one of the best parts about being here is watching the people progress and their whole process of becoming a member. 

Thursday- The only thing that happened on Thursday is it rained a little bit and a gay guy took a picture with us.

Friday-Friday was pretty normal also my comp spilled a bunch of juice and tutti frutti. While we were walking in the night this frog started jumping across the road and this kid ran up and kicked it so freaking hard it was crazy! That frog went flying!

Saturday- The zone leaders had a baptism! My comp and I went to set up the font and everything for their baptism and we were filling the font but the water always comes out pretty nasty at first so we had to drain it. Well you drain it by a pipe thing around back that you twist to open. My comp was trying to look in to see how it works and all his stuff fell out of his shirt pocket into this nasty hole and he had to fish it all out, while he was doing this he got his shirt super dirty. Other than that everything ran really smooth.

We had probably one of the best lessons ever as a companionship on Saturday as well. Everything just flowed really well and we kept building off each other it was awesome!!

Sunday- This day was pretty normal. We taught Sixto about The Family Proclamation to the world and that thing is awesome! If you haven't read it in awhile you should because it is so cool!

Anyway that was my week they go by so fast it is nuts!!! 

1- Don't need anything for right now:)

2- I am healthy, had some zits this last week but thats about it haha! I am super happy!:) My and my comp get along pretty dang good!

3-I am getting more comfortable with it but i still have a lot to learn.

4- Nothing crazy huge but just little miracles with Spanish and with the people we are working with.

5-I haven't eaten anything really weird this week, sorry.

6- We have a couple new people we are working with a little bit of everything.

7- The next transfers are in 5 weeks. So like the middle of September.

Hope that answers everything. Let me know if you want to know anything else! I love you and miss you! Talk to you next week! Have a great week!!

XOXO

Elder Wadley

"Here is me and Elder Larroza."

"All of us at McDonalds."

Transfers: Happy to Stay in Mogambo

This week I am posting late and from the iPad. Our family took a few days off and went to stay with my sister Hollie and her family in Hawaii. We fly standby and it was the first time we have flown since Jayden left. It was strange to be "Wadley, party of 6" instead of "Wadley, party of 7."
It was also strange to be in such a different time zone from Elder Wadley.

We went to church while we were here in Hawaii.  The chapel decor was island- teals and lots of sisal rug looking textured fabrics. There were bright tropical fresh flowers. Very different from home, but it is always comforting to know that the gospel itself doesn't change with culture or zip code. It feels the same. We were right at home.

Jayden's email this week:

Well freak haha Hawaii sounds awesome and swimming sounds pretty good also!! I would freaking love that cliff jumping spot! Shaynes hair is awesome by the way ha i love it! Thats cool that you went to the Hawaiian ward that sounds like a lot of fun honestly! Overall glad that you had fun! Not a whole lot has happened here either they have just been normal days nothing crazy. Oh and to answer your questions like always.

1- I don't really need anything, American food is always good:) Maybe some cracked pepper seeds or something;)

2- We haven't done any service projects or anything lately.

3- Miracles, nothing really crazy. Mostly just little things in our area and with Spanish and everything like that.

4- We have a couple news but we haven't taught them a lot. So far they seem really awesome!

5-Spanish is still a pain but it is coming along little by little. Always working at it.

6- I am good i really don't need anything, i found a couple of the Spanish ones in the house.

Anyways i will tell you how my week went. Nothing crazy interesting this week.

Monday- So we did our laundry in the morning and my machine totally didn't even work so i ended up mixing my freaking laundry with a stick. It totally sucked and took way longer to do than it normally would. After we went to the mall here because Elder Velasquez had to buy a couple things and we just kinda chilled there.

Tuesday- The ZLs went to Medellin early in the morning for the meeting they have every transfer. While they were there we ended up teaching one of their investigators because they are trying to get her ready for baptism, it was a pretty cool experience. Me and my comp are starting to get along really well now which is awesome! It really helps when you are teaching and really just in general when you get along. 

Wednesday- Wednesday was complete crap haha. All of everything fell apart. Our citas fell and the movie night that we have every Wednesday went to crap also haha overall a terrible day. Then at night at about 10:20 the power went out, so we couldn't sleep. Because without the fans you were literally just laying in your own sweat. So we stayed up forever just talking and cracking jokes. The power finally came back at about 2 in the morning. Oh we were so tired.

Thursday- Just a normal day, nothing bad or cool happened.

Friday- So we had another intercambio, i went to the other area again with the same elder haha it is like the 4th time in a row going over there. Everything went good, we taught good lessons and had a good day. Turns out they had a movie night also this day so i got to watch another movie ha! When i got back home we got our zone jerseys. The ZLs made zone jerseys and they are pretty sweet!

Saturday- It was a normal day. With the transfers that were coming i got thinking a lot about this area and really about how much i like it and will miss it if i leave. 

Sunday-Was really good weather, the rest of the week was hot and Sunday it rained. Other than that Sunday was normal. We got our transfers though and..... i am going to stay here with Anderson! I am honestly pretty excited! We have a lot of good things planned for this transfer! 

Yeah that was my week. Nothing crazy cool but some good stuff! Anyway hope you had a fantastic time in Hawaii!! I love you and i miss you! I will talk to you next week!

"This is my in my zone jersey"

"Here is a random band that was playing in the street"

From the e-mail Jayden sent to Mikayla "This house reminded me of minecraft and that reminds me of you!! It looks like upside down stairs."

A Colombian Talent Show

Today's email included a lot of photos!
The highlight was the branch talent show. Elder Wadley sent a bunch of pictures of the talent show. If anyone has been scrolling through channels and happened upon a Spanish variety show- well, this would put Sábado Gigante to shame! HA! Fun fact- our family isn't what I would call "talented"- but I guess in Colombia we would be!
These are the questions I asked him this week- to reference the first part of his email.

1- Have you experienced or witnessed any tender mercies/miracles in your life during the past couple of months?

2- Do you have any advice for us to help us be a better family/member missionaries?

3- Do you need/ want anything?

4- Is there anything specific you would like us to pray for? (Investigators, etc)

Here is Jayden's email this week:

First off tell Shayne that his hair in that picture looks freaking awesome! Sounds like you guys had a good week, makes me happy! We had a pretty fun week here, but at the same time normal. Oh and to answer your questions:

1- I have seen so many things it is honestly so crazy. Everyday there are tender mercies in my life. Basically my whole mission is miracles and tender mercies. 

2-My advice for you would be try to help out as much as you can. Lessons with members are wayyyy better than regular lessons. Not that normal lessons are bad it is just that it is way more powerful with other people there to testify. Maybe every once in awhile

you can visit and invite the less actives and people like that because a lot of time they feel like they are forgotten and stuff like that. Always just be a friendly person in general.

Oh and take care of my jeep and scooter.

3-Pray for specifically i don't think so i think for right now we are alright, everyone is doing good. I will let you know though! Thanks!

Thank you for the quote it is really cool. I also like what you said about the temple because we really do take it for granted and i know i miss it really bad! 

Anyways here is what happened this week....

Monday- Like i said we went to the Buena Vista, it is a mall a little ways from our house and i bought everybody frozen yogurt. I ate Subway and they both tasted super good! Overall my birthday went really good! There was a HHHUUUGGGEEE lack of chicken

pillows though oh man thats like all i could think about!

Tuesday- The coolest thing that happened on Tuesday is we started teaching Leo. He is the dad to Aydees baby. It was super cool because he was telling us of all the changes that he could see in Aydee. Leo and his family have known Aydee since she was young 

and they can all see the change she has gone through after her baptism. That is one of the coolest things about being here and teaching the people- to see this change in them. 

Wednesday- Wednesday i had an intercambio with Elder Esquivel again and it was fun we taught a bunch and the day went pretty normal.

Thursday- Nothing cool happened on Thursday. It was too hot.

Friday- We had a lot of funny/weird things happen on Friday. We were at Aydees for awhile talking to her and one of the kids that lives above her can do some super weird stuff with his body, it was kinda nuts. A couple other things happened throughout the day like Hermana Betty singing into a broom. At the end of the night we were teaching the family Puerta and we got done with the lesson and invited them to the Talent Show we were having on Saturday and we told them there would be refreshments and stuff like that kinda describing what it would be like. The 12 year old kid basically asked us if the refreshment was going to be the sacrament and i about died laughing it was so funny and so perfect.**

Saturday- We didn't get to teach at all on Saturday because like i said we had this talent show. We spent all day preparing this show. It ended up going really good. We did a skit as missionaries that went really well ha! Basically it was me as a brand new missionary that doesn't know anything and my comp is a loser. It went really good and we made a bunch of people laugh. 

Sunday- Honestly Sunday was normal we got a new girl from the other Elders and turns out she was in a cita when i was in the intercambio with Esquivel. Other than that super normal. 

Yeah that was my week nothing really interesting i do have a decent amount of pics for you but nothing super interesting. I think thats about it...

I love you and will talk to you next week! Tell the twins i say Happy Birthday!

**Did you notice that this was a whole summary of what sounds like a pretty funny day but I guess you would have to be there. Elder Wadley is reverting back to "not giving enough info." A Sister with a broom microphone, and some weird body tricks? I don't get it. Jayden? I just love you.

The photos are fantastic though:

"Me and my comp ( Anderson still doesn't have a good face here! haha)

"

"These are the sweet spoons we got to keep after we ate the yogurt"

"Elder Larroza with a turtle on his head"

 

The cast of the infamous talent show!

Colombian Talent Show participant. I have no words.

You may recognize this talent show cast member from Jayden's previous emails. "Cabeza de Puerco" as "LABAN!" haha

And as per tradition, a dead thing. A bird of some sort.

I asked about his skin disease. He said it is gone. Healthy and happy. Another good week.