A Lesson on Contention

In his e-mail to Sam this week Jayden speculated that this may be his last area on his mission. My heart is heavy for him. I would have never guessed that this two years would have gone by so quickly. Especially during those first couple of months when I missed him every. single. day. I still miss him, but it is not that all-encompassing black hole of ache. So I guess my advice for moms that are sending their first kid off- it does get better. When they are 120 days from being home again, it feels okay. :)

He also mentioned in his e-mail to Sam that this area is a knee killer. I can see why. There are no roads, just some meandering dirt paths connecting houses. I am quite sure I would need to carry around granola bars- I would be lost a LOT here.
Here is his e-mail this week:

Well our week was pretty good.Like i said i am in a new area so i am still learning how to get around a little bit but it has been good! I have been get to know a lot of people and we have some pretty good investigators. We found a couple new people that live in the mountains basically but they are really cool and we should be starting to officially teach them this week! They even came to church this week! The ward here is awesome and i am honestly really loving it here! It is kinda like Manizales. Lots of hills and the weather is nice! I will shoot you some pictures of when we were up in the mountains looking for those investigators. 

A cool thing i noticed this week is that at the beginning of the week we weren't getting along a whole lot as comps. (Basically getting used to each other and everything) and we were averaging like one lesson a day. Well we kinda got everything worked out these last couple of days and started getting 3 to 4 lessons in in one day. It is crazy to see how important the Spirit is in this work. At the beginning it was more like contention but once we got over that we have got along really well and have had more work and success. The Spirit is really importante in missionary work and in our lives. After we got over everything we taught some great lessons and you could feel the spirit really strong there.

That's about the only cool thing from this week i will shoot you some fotos really quick!

Love you! 

Elder Wadley

Learning to make arepas with a member.

"a dog thats in a shopping cart that is like on the side of the house"

I don't think Elder Wadley has told me the official name of his area?

I love his wisdom this week. I too have learned that whatever I am doing, whether it is in my home, job, or general relationships, nothing gets accomplished if there is contention.Often it takes some apologizing, swallowing my stubborn tendencies and pride, and prayer. (I have learned that a nap and a snack always help too.) Once we separate out our desire to be right- contention dissipates, and love creeps in. It is a good lesson for him to learn at 20- it took me a whole lot longer.