Finding a Surprise Testimony

Man. I am late posting this week. We went out of town for Moab Easter Jeep Safari. This is a family tradition that Jayden always loved. It seems surreal to think that next year- he will be with us again for safari!
Things have been crazy around here. Our second oldest sent his mission papers in, and we have been stalking the mailbox! I am thinking his call will come tomorrow.
Elder Jayden hit 13 months this week. 11 months to go!
No photos this week. Again. Does anyone have any suggestions for prying those out of him? At least it makes it easy for me to keep his mission scrapbook current, since I have nothing to add to it. :/
Since occasionally Elder Wadley pops on this blog and reads it, maybe I will just start posting embarrassing photos of him until he sends me some. I have plenty of material for this plan. Let's start with this gem. Elder Wadley is in the center. His BROTHERS are on both sides. They REQUESTED to put these outfits on so they could dance with my girls to my Nutcracker CD.

Here is the email from Elder Sugarplum Fairy this week.

So this week went good! I had some really cool experiences and we have been leaving to teach a lot lately haha we get kinda bored in the office sometimes and leave early. I am somewhat caught up on my work which is good!

This week has been Holy week (Semana Santa) where it is basically a week where they have a bunch of catholic traditions that they do around here so a lot of stuff has been closed and there hasnt been a whole lot of stuff we can do. A lot of people don't work this week and so they travel and visit family and stuff like that. For example the office building where we work has been completely empty the last couple days.

I had a really cool experience the other day! I left with Elder Flores and Elder Allen to go and teach a couple lessons that went pretty good! We were teaching one lesson and at the end i shared the experience about going to the temple and baptizing the name from our family (when we did the whole "look for the name and take it to the temple challenge" in our ward/stake) and i felt the spirit really strong. I thought it was cool because it was a testimony that i didn't even know that i had! I think that it is really cool that i got the opportunity to share that experience and discover that testimony. 

Other than that though there were a couple other little things but nothing to crazy. Life is going good and i am enjoying every little minute i have here! It is crazy how fast the time is going by!

I am trying to get better at a lot of things, i still feel like there is so much i can learn and i need to apply myself a little bit more to achieve that. Also i don't know if half my email is spelled right haha i cant spell at all anymore. I might need someone to translate my emails haha!

Well i love you guys! I hope you had an awesome week in Moab!

Elder Wadley

Blessings of Jayden's Service: A Skatepark in Lehi ;)

Even after a year, I am still excited when I hear my e-mail chime with a letter from my missionary.
I realized the other day, that I communicate more with him than my kids who are still living at home. I sit down once a week and re-cap family events for him- but more importantly I ask him what plans he has, what things he might need, and I share things with him that I have learned studying the scriptures.
It really hit me this week, that I should take the same time with all of my kids. I think I just take for granted that they are HERE, and if I need them, or want to talk to them, I can.
But I don't really spend the time to have "good" conversations with them.
Definitely a little whispering of the spirit that I finally heard.
We are all living on borrowed time.
I need to be better about really connecting with those that I love.
Here is Elder Wadley's e-mail this week:

Well its nice to see that the blessings from my service have finally paid off! A skate-park in Lehi ha i cant believe it!

Nah i am just playing, but that does make me super excited! When are they going to start and when should it be done?

Well this week hasn't been too interesting, we had all the ZLs (zone leaders) come in for a leadership conference with President Calderon and we had to set up a little bit for that. We have had a normal amount of work in the office but have been a little more outside teaching than in the office which has been really good! Finally have been able to get caught up on everything and now we are able to leave a lot more.

Oh and everyone still thinks it is weird that you want to go to Moab because before you hated it and basically threw up when we even mentioned the word, but i will give you props you have been pretty good the last little while. I am proud of you! I mean for the very least you can take a trip to the ol rock shop! HAHA! 

Oh I read a really sweet chapter the other day in my personal study, 1 Nephi 13. It is sooo good! It talks a lot about the bible and about the restoration. Also about how there are really only two churches, Gods church and the devils church. Honestly really good-I want to invite you guys to read it.  

I don't have a whole lot to say this week. Kinda bummed about the Carmel apple suckers i will be honest but i appreciate everything you do for me!

Well the church is true! 

I love you guys!!

Have fun in Moab! I want lots of pics!

Elder Wadley

Sister Calderon, Elder Wadley, President Calderon

The office Elders, President Calderon, and the Colombian Easter Bunny

"Dudes from the office."

Last week I got two new friends on Facebook! President Calderon's wife, and his daughter! Sister Calderon sent me some photos! I am so happy! They are an awesome family, and I am so grateful that technology makes this world a smaller place, and really grateful for the love that the Calderon's show my boy.

At the President's house for a BBQ, Jayden is in the very back.

Sister Calderon bought the boys four boxes of donuts, Jayden ate a dozen himself.

A good week.
It's not Krispy Kreme, but it's also not a tazer to the butt.
Next week on the 25th, marks his 13 month. 11 to go.
Crazy, right?

"I also got tazed this week haha! Super rad!" -Elder Wadley

I finally got a couple of pictures this week! Woohoo! The drought is over!
Here is Elder Wadley's weekly update:

Well my week has been pretty interesting as well and kinda busy. This last week is what we call transfers week. Basically we have a bunch of people switching areas and other people finishing the mission and people starting the mission so we had to facilitate all that this week. It went good though and everybody did a really good job! All that stuff took quite awhile to set up though and was a little bit stressful for everybody. But looking back it went really well!

Other than that Elder Opheikens and Elder Cruz left the office this week, they got done training their replacements and went back into the field. Honestly super excited for both of them they are really good missionaries and have been here for a long time and deserve to just go out and preach even though i will miss them i am happy for them. 

The day before they left the president invited all of us over for a small BBQ with him and his family. He has a daughter that left on Thursday to BYU. OH! She is probably going to go to the house to drop off a little box for you guys, nothing special just something little. The BBQ was cool, its one of the best parts about being here in the office is being so close to the president all of the time. He and his family are amazing people! 

OH and the best news!!! On Thursday Krispy Kreme opened!! And the presidents wife, (like i said they are nice people) went early in the morning to buy us some. She bought like 4 boxes to the office and it tasted amazing! I have already eaten over a dozen! 

Other that not a whole lot happened because of all the transfer stuff we didn't have much time to go out and teach.

I also got tazed this week haha! Super rad! 

Anyways that was about my week! 

Also got my bingo candy this week!:)

(I mailed him General Conference bingo candy on the 26th, and that package already got to him!)

Elder Wadley

Elder Wadley, Elder Flores in sugar comas.

BBQ with President and Sister Calderón

Now that Jayden is in the office, I catch him online on his Saturday p-days, and we chat back and forth. So the first thing I wanted to clear up with him was the "I got tazed" thing! What a dork!

Yeah we have a tazer in the house and i told Elder Opheikens to taze me because i wanted to know what it felt like!

We chatted for a bit about the President's daughter, hopefully we can go grab her for dinner and bowling while she is here at BYU. It would be nice for me to be able to pay it forward while her mom is supplying my boy with donuts.

Colombia gets a Krispy Kreme- the Church is True.

I am just going to let this email speak for itself:

Well hey fam!

First off i want to apologize mainly to my mom because i totally forgot my camera in the house and so i don't have any pictures......

Well glad i got that out of the way haha! 

Well this week has been pretty decent, a couple little surprises. There are some changes that are happening in the office and there are some new people that came in and they are really good friends of mine and we should be having a really good time i am super excited for this next little bit!

So basically this week has been adjusting to the changes and getting the new kids trained up. We have been able to leave and teach more lately which is awesome. Actually had a weird experience yesterday where i left with Elder Oliveira, i don't know if you remember him, but we went looking for a referral that someone gave us and got lost. We ended up talking and teaching this guy that was a little drunk and told us that he had seen and talked to Jesus Christ and God. Next prophet?? hahaha!

Today we went and played soccer because there are eight of us right now with all the training and all that good stuff. We had a really fun time. I ran into a wall. 

Other than that i have really big news!!!

There are only 5 days left until the Krispy Kreme opens down the street! Goodbye eating healthy and hello fat life! The church is true.

Well i don't have much else to say this week. Lots of cool things are happening here and i am loving every minute! 

Love you guys!! Have a great week!

Elder Wadley

Here was our back and forth:
You are a jerk. Your next package is going to be full of all gross things. Peeps. Raisins. Neccos. Prunes. Dates. Peeps. 

You are the spawn of the devil....you will never see another photo in your life if that happens.

Are you freaking threatening me from 3500 miles away?! You haven't sent me a picture in a MONTH. I should fly down there and paddle you with a wooden spoon.

Fetch it has been a month!? Bueno la próxima semana te mandaré muchas fotos. Voy a ver si me puedes entender.

Tu eres muerto a mi. Wait: Estas muerto para mi. That one I looked up the other one I was winging. Needless to say my Spanish is at about an 11 percent for fluency.

Pero casi estaba.

hey but you spoke way better than i did when i started the mission!

 

We will see if next week I finally get some pictures, and he gets some donuts.