Planting Seeds

I shared with my missionary boys this week a spiritual experience I had that was just short of a full fledged miracle. Along with this experience came a little bit of guilt for me. I am not sure why I received this blessing- or why I receive all of the blessings that I do, especially the blessings that come from knowing and living the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have been reflecting on how I demonstrate my gratitude. Am I truly an example of what I believe? Do I take advantage of (or even recognize) the opportunities I have to share the gospel with others? Am I aware of the needs of others?
It is always a little depressing to give yourself this checks and balances assessment, I always fall short of my service versus the blessings I receive.
Here is Elder Jayden's e-mail this week:

I have thought a lot about stuff like that while on my mission. Am i really not doing everything that i can or do people just hate me or what haha but a lot of times we are just planting seeds for stuff in the future! 

Well this week has been decent we finally have some people that are progressing towards baptism and we are seeing a little more success in our area! It has been good to finally see the progress we are having. We still have a lot of work to do and a lot to get better at but we are getting there little by little. Really there is nothing new this week.

Congrats on the family history there is a big push for that here as well! 

Wow this email is really boring!

I will share with you something cool that i saw the other day! 

We went to a recently reactivated members house and turns out her whole family was baptized when they were younger! She has a family member that has been a member of the church since he was a little kid! But later on in his life he got into drugs... he has been a drug addict for a long time. But to this day he remembers that he is a member and gets excited that his family goes to church and everything. He still carries around a couple books from the church with him in a little bag and is proud of them, and never denies that he is a member! It just goes to show how much of an impact the church can have on someone in their life!

Well thats about it for this week! I will talk to you later!

Love you!

Elder Wadley

No photos from him this week.
It was this week, two years ago that he opened the white envelope that would forever alter his life.

We were naive to the changes we would all make.
It's been a good two years.

Villa Hermosa, Colombia

It was a rough week for me here at home.
I felt bad that my e-mail to my missionary Elders was kind of a downer, but I guess sometimes life is like that. I think it is important to be honest about what is going on with our lives back at home, without dumping a load of problems on them. I also try and balance it out with good things that happen. So when I sit down on Sunday night to write my boys, and I reflect on the week- it is a good opportunity for me to count my blessings, and look for tender mercies, even when sometimes I feel like am in darkness.
There are always, always blessings.
Here is Elder Jayden's e-mail this week:

Well my week wasn't all that good either. We were in a trio or in other words we were three missionaries here in Villa Hermosa. Well this week we got a call and long story short our other companion from Ecuador went home this week. It was really sad to see him go, i mean i think i was just starting to like him ;) Other than that the week has been alright. We have been able to find a good group of new people to teach and they seem like they will be able to progress pretty well which will be awesome!

I am with Elder Guerber now, he is from my group-we were comps in the MTC and now we are comps again and it has been really fun! He is a really good guy! I have really enjoyed my time here with him.

I am sorry to hear about all that has happened that really kinda sucks! 

I will shoot you some pictures from this week with our other comp, Elder Morillo that left.

Love you!

Elder Wadley

I was able to catch him online for a little back and forth. It was a good day.

Any ideas on things you would like for your Christmas package? I am going to be mailing it soon. Do you want or need anything?

No just seeds and food kinda stuff.

Don't send me any like clothes or anything i am not really going to need anything like that. Um is there anything specific that you guys want as like souvenirs??

DID YOU SEE THIS? He is making plans for coming home.

I will ask the kids. Whatever you think is cool. Don't go crazy. We don't need you to worry about getting stuff. I will just be excited to see your face.

Haha mom 

What are you up to?¡

This is what I read about in D&C today. Hiram Page, an early saint found himself a stone and told people he was getting revelations like Joseph Smith. The Lord reiterates that He will only reveal things for the whole church to His prophet. It's in section 28. Then he says a kind of sweet thing- instead of rebuking this Page guy- he tells Oliver Cowdery to: (vs 11)  And again, thou shalt take thy brother, Hiram Page, between him and thee alone, and tell him that those things which he hath written from that stone are not of me and that Satan deceiveth him;

I liked how he wants Oliver to pull his "brother" aside privately, and lovingly, to let him know that he was deceived by Satan.

It also says in this chapter that we are all entitled to personal revelation for ourselves but that the Lord will give us revelation for others ONLY if we are called and set apart to do so.

This means you, as a missionary, can receive revelation for the people you serve. Also parents receive revelation for their kids. But never will the Lord give someone revelation for someone who presides over them.

Pretty cool.

It's crazy how Satan can make spiritual imitations that deceive so many.

Oh hey i totally read that section like yesterday!! Ahaha really cool! DyC is super sweet!

I think its pretty cool that he and I are on the same page with our scripture study.
Literally.

Elder Guerber, Elder Wadley, Elder Morillo

Villa Hermosa (beautiful village), Colombia

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.

A Really Good E-mail This Week (and also I'm nesting.)

Pre-mission pic, he didn't send any this week.

We have a pretty large bedroom in our basement. We call it the frat room, or bachelor pad. When Jayden moved down to that room, we cast off our old king sized bed, and would often find his friends sleeping in there with him after a late night. On a couple of occasions there were 6-7 kids in the bed at a time. There were some afternoon "bro naps" as well. The room is always cold and dark and apparently the conditions are so perfect that is the most prestigious room in the house.

It was no surprise when Elder Jayden left, Brendan staked claim on the bachelor pad the same night. He didn't so much move in, as take occupancy. We never really cleaned Jayden out of it. Brendan just piled his crap on top of the previous crap. It saved me from work, and tears so I let it roll.
When Elder Brendan left on his mission, I decided the place needed to be gutted. We moved the bed and found a lot of treasures. The previous tenants had boxed up their important things, and the residual junk was finally hauled out and trashed.

Shayne, our remaining son moved in.
Shayne is patient and a peacemaker and never wants to ruffle feathers.
He is also the tallest and biggest son.
He had been sleeping on a twin bed for a long time, that unbeknownst to us- had been entirely too small for his frame.
His first night on the king sized bed was heaven. He could finally stretch out fully, and not wake himself up when he tried to turn over.
Needless to say, he is not willing to give up the frat room when Jayden gets home in Februray. I don't think it is fair to him, since he will be going on a mission this September.
So.
I ordered a new bed for Jayden, and we are fixing up Shayne's old room for him to return to. Musical beds here at the Wadley casa.
It is kind of exciting though, fixing up a place for JAYDEN! :) I feel like a nesting pregnant lady but without all of the water retention and bladder issues.
That being said, here is Elder Jayden's e-mail this week:

Well first off i want my old room back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!;)

Well this week has been interesting! We were able to find a good group of new investigators and that are really good and can progress! I started thinking how much i was liking that area and how much i was looking forward to keep working with those people! And i got transferred.... I am in Medellín again. I am in a trio with Elder Guerber, the really tall kid from my group, and another Elder from Ecuador. It should be fun and a little interesting.

Well we had a sad thing happen to us the other day. We having been trying to help this family in Cartago. The mom is a recent convert, the dad is a member basically his whole life (less active for awhile) , and they have 3 kids. The oldest is 17 and the other two are like 10 and 11. So we have been struggling to get them to be better in the church. They have a lot of problems and fight a lot and they don't have a lot of love between them. We have shared with them about families and stuff like that but they haven't done anything yet and it is really frustrating. We passed by the other day and ended up talking to the kids a little bit, the 17 and 11 year old. It was a normal conversation and then we started talking about their family prayers and stuff like that and they told us that they weren't doing them at all. So we talked about how much the church could help the family and all that. Well the little kid started tearing up and eventually cried. We all thought that it was because his older brother bugged him a little. He finally spoke and said "i wish our family could be like you guys always talk about." His older brother teared up a little bit and they started to tell us that it was yelling and fighting in the house and all sorts of stuff like that. It was really sad. It just goes to show how much we are blessed as a family when we live the gospel. Really there are four main things that we should do as a family. They even talked about them in conference, they are read, pray, go to church, and family home evening. I have seen many blessed families that have lived and done that and they have and are living very happy lives. I wanted to share that with you so you guys keep doing them or if not that you can start doing them because they are important!

Well thats all i have for now! 

Love you!

Elder Wadley

I caught him online for a little bit:

Medellin?? Oh that's kinda awesome. When did transfers happen? Are you close to the office again?

kinda close i guess. I got here this morning at about 2 or 3

You must be so tired from that bus ride from cartago. Any plans today besides bedtime at 7?

No nothing haha i dont know we are going to have to invent something! 

Have you ridden the cable cars yet?

yeah i rode the ones in Manizales but in Medellín not yet! 

I feel like when you get home there are going to be a lot of long talks about all the things you haven't written me about. :)

haha could be haha! 

Hey but i was serious about my old room! :)

Colombian Non-Off-Road Jeeping

This week I got ripped off in the missionary mom department.
Both of my boys were busy, and all I got was crumbs. At least Elder Jayden came through with some pretty awesome photos. If you know Jayden, you will realize the miracle of him finding a Jeep in Colombia! It isn't a "Jeep" by our standards, but not a bad substitution for his almost two year withdrawals.
Here is his e-mail:

Hey mom sorry i am on a little later today we went to a little pueblito outside of Pereira as a zone activity!

It was cool! 

The weather was awesome and we had a good time! I don't have a whole lot of time this week so i will send you some pics and i hope that makes up for it! 

Love you!

Elder Wadley

Here are some pictures of his adventure. The area looks green and pretty. The "jeep" is a little awesome too.

Pereira, Colombia

 Just a reminder, this is the Jeep Elder Wadley left back home. It's still running strong!

(Although it might be a little lonely for its original driver.)

Elder Wadley I and II, circa 2014

Fruits of Labor, and just regular Fruits.

This past week Sam and I took a trip to Ecuador. It was Sam's mission reunion (23 years), and a good excuse for us to escape for a while. We happened to be about 15 hours away from where Elder Jayden is serving, and it was a little tempting to just hop a bus to where he was. It was really cool to be in South America- in the same type of areas my boy is living in. The same sounds, smells, and sweet people.
I discovered that I have a super power! My body is super heat efficient. While everyone else was sweating puddles, I found the heat to be very comfortable, and rarely broke into a sweat. I think I was born in the wrong America.
I got to practice my Spanish a bit too, which was both exciting and terrifying. We attended church in South America. That is where I felt the closest to my Colombian boy. The church was the same there as it is back home- the same feelings, the same organization and ordinances, the same hymns with foreign words. The spirit can testify to your heart even if you don't speak the language.
Probably the coolest part about the trip is that practically every city we explored, we would run into missionaries! I was able to take photos, and send them to other missionary mama's. This church program is so inspired. These young people who serve really do stand out in a crowd. They exemplify His light, and draw people to them.
Monday came while we were driving to a city in Ecuador called Libertad. Before we left, Sam added an international plan to his phone so I would be able to catch Elder Jayden and his brother, Elder Brendan online. The other couple we traveled with have a sister missionary in Brazil, so both of us mamas were anxiously waiting for e-mails.
The wifi was sketchy, but it worked.
This post will contain both e-mails- from last week, and the one I got yesterday.
Here is Elder Wadley's e-mail from last week:

Well i am glad you are having a good time and that you have been able to practice a little bit of your 13 percent fluency in Spanish! I am totally with you South America is awesome! I absolutely love it! I am actually really jealous of the gift that you have of not sweating! I sweat like a pig here! It is honestly really gross! I only knew of one other person that never sweated while we were in the coast and i thought he had something wrong with him!

It is kinda different being in a church in south america and doing everything in spanish! I remeber my first time haha it was super different and i didn't understand anything! Really fun though! I am glad you got a little taste of what its like! 

Our week wasnt a whole ton of interesting. We have an amazing investigator that totally received her testimony and told us that everything is true! The only problem is that had to move back for a little while to her home town in a pueblito outside of Cartago but she comes down for the weekends to study and is trying to get a job and everything here so she can stay! She is really awesome! We have been able to find a little bit more people to teach this week and it has been getting a little bit better! Me and my comp have been trying to be really really obediente with everything and i am seeing the blessings! 

It has been a pretty decent week and i am loving it right now with my comp and everything! 

I will shoot you some pictures as well. We had interviews with President this week and played pool! 

Love you guys! Have a great week! 

Les quiero mucho!

Saludos a todos! 

Chao

Cuídense!

Elder Wadley

This week I greeted him in my e-mail with a slang term I learned in Ecuador from a local. "Cubo parce."  I also asked him about a couple of South American fruits that we found and tried while in Ecuador.

Pitahaya

Granadilla

Here is his e-mail from this week:

Well glad to hear that you had a good time in south america! Just to let you know it is Q´hubo parce. That is like the typical colombian greeting i guess you could say!

Also i have tried both of those fruits and they are really good! Kinda slimey but really awesome! 

My week has been alright here! Nothing really interesting! We have been getting some more people on the baptismal date and have been having a little more success in our area. We are slowly seeing the fruits of our labor i guess you could say! 

We have been able to have some really good spiritual lessons this week and my comp has been learning a lot, he just needs to be able to refine it a little bit and he will be really good! 

Here in Colombia there are skateparks and skaters it is not as big as it is in the states but it is here! In Medellín there are two skateparks that i know of and here close in Pereira there is another.

Oh i wanted to give you a quick heads up that i started Doctrine and Covenants this week and it has been awesome! It is pure revelation and it has been a good little bit of reading! DyC 3:10

But remember, God is merciful; therefore, repent of that which thou hast done which is contrary to the commandment which I gave you, and thou art still chosen, and art again called to the work;

It hit me this week, not because i have broken a commandment or anything big but i haven't been the best with the area book and a couple other things like that and this scripture hit me saying that i can get better, repent, and that i am still called to be a missionary and that these little things are important but are not going to hold me back like crazy!

Well i don't have much to say. I am good! Having fun and working at the same time! I am glad you got to see a little bit of how south america is! Its awesome!

Love you!

Elder Wadley

PS Here is a taxi that caught on fire and blew up a little.

After spending a week with the Ecuadorean people, I fell in love with them.
They are humble and pure, with an innocent kindness. Those who have the least, smile the most. My heart is heavy that in four months Elder Wadley's service in South America will come to a close, and it will be time for him to leave these people.
I am quite sure this farewell will be harder on him than the one that separated him from us.
My excitement at seeing him again will be tinged with the painful tenderness I know he will feel from leaving the country and people he grew to love.
140 days.

I had a hard time editing the photos this week. ((shudder))

A busy boring week here, and a busy, boring week in Colombia. (Just how this mama likes it!) I got a few interesting photos though. Elder Wadley's email explains them a bit.
This boy has officially five months left in Colombia. Or 150 days. :)
It has been simultaneously the longest and shortest two years of my life, and probably his too.
Here is his short update (in response to my short e-mail to him) for the week:

Its kinda funny to see that both of our emails kinda suck. They are just short and give a brief recap of what happened ha! Well at least we are on the same page! 

Well this week wasn't a whole lot of interesting we found a really good new investigator and she is understanding everything and progressing really well. The only problem is that she doesn't really like it here in Cartago and might be going back to her house and it is about 3 hours away in a small town where there aren't missionaries or a church:(

I had an intercambio (or exchange, where they trade companions for the day to switch it up) with the zone leaders this last couple days and it went pretty good. The picture i sent to you is while we were in the intercambio we walked by this place that had a ton of nasty spiders! Then these people took us in the back of their like moving truck and that is why the picture is blurry. Also found this lady in the street and this is what her bag said!! Haha!

Other than that nothing really interesting has happened! My comp is doing good and learning quite a bit! I am also learning and growing everyday! 

I will let you know if there is anything else that happened!

Love you!

Elder Wadley

THESE ARE SPIDERS. NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE.

Sometimes translation gets lost.

My boy just hops into the back of a random van. Isn't this how people get kidnapped?

Elder Wadley, Elder Flores