Monday, January 25, 2016

last email!

This last week has been crazy.... So first off big bummer... Kristin's
Baptism was on Friday, but that s when the big storm hit so no one
would give us a ride down. Then her baptism got moved to Sunday and we
found a ride! Then it got canceled again because the Bishop could not
make it. I will have the chance to say goodbye on Tuesday as some of
our last hours in the mssion is spent street contacting in Downtown
Richmond on the VCU campus. Which will bring back awesome memories of
when that was my area with Elder Neuman. I will get say goodbye to a
lot of great friends down there.

Earlier in the week Julie was on date for Sunday evening well it turns
out that her family though accepting of her joining the church wanted
her to wait a couple of weeks.. Her Dad wanted to have a sit down Q
and A with us. So we met at the church and talked. We quickly found
out during our disscussion that he was Athiest. Now this could have
gone a couple different ways. When it comes to Athiests I have found
that there 2 are different attributes that they all have. I guess this
could apply to everyone, but here it is. They are 1.) Either Really
intellignt or really dumb 2.) Either adamant about destroying religion
or indifferent. Thankfully he was the intelligent and an indifferent
kind of athiest. It was a really great meeting and though I am bummed
that we won't be there for her baptism she will have some more time to
prepare which I am not opposed to.

So once the snow hit the whole week changed. People here are very
paranoid about snow, almost annoyingly so. We could not leave our
apartment complex for about 2 days and we live about 3 miles away from
our area. So we spent those days shoveling snow and helping people get
their cars unstuck. People were very grateful and offered us money and
doughnuts... We took the doughnuts haha.

On Sunday I decided to check my snow driving skills. While helping
people get unstuck I tried to my very hardest to pay attention to what
worked and what didn't work. This is what I learned 1.) it's all about
momentum. 2.) if you start to drift, let off the gas, break and then
slam on the gas to straighten out. 3.) when you get stuck ( which will
most definitely happen ) don't just sit there and spin the wheels. It
will turn the stuff that your car is on into an Ice skating rink.

When I came on my mission I felt like a little boy, probably because I
was haha. But I have learned so much about solving problems and taking
control of situations that sometimes I can't help but feel that
missionaries in a lot of different occasions have their heads on more
straight than the adults that they come in contact with. Maybe I am
wrong haha.

This is my last day in the field... The fields of Virginia that is ;)
I know it will be sad leaving but hopefully the only thing I am
leaving behind is a place and people. As far as who I have become, the
lessons that I have learned and the testimony I have strengthened, I
am taking it all with me. The calling as a missionary? I will only
miss it as much as I don't use it and I am not going to give that up
without kicking and screaming.

I am so grateful for all the prayers and letters and support that came
from everyone. I know I have not been forgotten.

I will see you all very soon!!!!

I hate to end with this quote, because it does not accurately display
my feelings, but It fits.

"I'm gettin pretty tired... I think I'll go home now."

Love -Elder Wagner

Monday, January 18, 2016

I don't think the last week of my mission could end any better!!
Today Me and Elder Green Are having lunch with President Wilson. I
told him in my last email that it is hard dying with someone. I think
he finds it amusing haha.

Tomorrow we go to the Temple!!! It has only been 2 years since I have
been able to return and report. When I served in Dale city I was
literally a 15 minute drive away but we still couldn't go.. So I am
super excited.

On Wednesday there is a world wide mission conference. This is the
first time they have ever done this and I get to see it while on the
mission!

Thursday will be a day full of applying the principals that we learned
from that conference. Plus we get to go interview one of the district
leaders Baptismal Candidates out in Piedmont. I am pretty sure Elder
Green will be dong this one because I did the last one. Interviewing
people is one of my favorite things to do. You get to talk to someone
firsthand about their conversion while it is still so fresh on their
minds.

Friday is Kristins Baptism. Me and Elder Neuman found her down at VCU
6 months ago and now she is ready. We are are going to drive down
together with a member to Richmond to see it. I get to have 3 hours of
quality time with my son not long before I go, which I am super
grateful for :) I am sure he will chastise me on the kind of person I
need to be after the mission.. I am looking forward to it haha.

Saturday we are teaching Ethan's girlfriend and then there is a laurel
who invited her friend over to dinner with us last week. We taught her
and then she came to church that Sunday! We are meeting with her and
the other girl on Saturday. The youth have really come alive in this
Ward! It's to bad we are leaving because things are picking up
amazingly fast as far as referrals go.

Sunday. The girl I wrote about last week who believes in God now( her
name is Julie), she is getting baptized!!! There is a whole long story
about this one and most of it we didn't know until Saturday. It came
by surprise to us. (They were worried her parents wouldn't approve but 
her mom asked her if she was thinking about converting, Julie said yes and
she asked if that would make them mad and the mom said no but that she
wants to be involved and learn with her)

I can't tell you how grateful I am to have worked with her! She is so
full of faith and positivity you can just hear it in her voice. I am
so grateful that the Lord has allowed us to see one more person to
make covenants right before we leave.

In the beginning of the Transfer me and Elder green made a bunch of
goals that we called the Sacred Six Sweeks. I wanted to keep with the
S theme haha. We have tried really hard to make them. Some of them we
fell short on and some we have kept. Whatever the case this last
week will be be very special to me. Every morning I put on my name tag
while looking in the mirror and I make that a moment where I kinda
center myself and remind myself who I am and who I represent. This has
been going on for quite a while now and it has helped me so much. The
day where I am not Elder Wagner will be a very sad one. "But it is not
this day!" -Aragon

I love you all -Elder Wagner

Monday, January 11, 2016

Member Referrals

This last week flew right on by. I love member referrals. I know I
have mentioned this a lot lately but it is so much easier and so much
more effective. More than half the people I worked with who joined the
church had members who led them there. Julie the girl who's boy friend
brought her to a church activity is now progressing amazingly well.
When we first taught her she said that she didn't believe in God. We
then  taught her  all about prayer and asked her to pray every night
that week. We met with her again on Saturday and she said that she did
it everyday. Her Boy friend was surprised  haha. We then asked her "Do
feel like your prayers were heard?" She responded by saying " Ya know
what? I think I always believed in God I just forgot. But now I am
sure there is." She came to church Yesterday and loved it. The only
thing we need to work with now is once again getting her parents on
board.
  How amazing is that?? It kind of reminds me of probably 20
different stories in the Book of Mormon. Sometimes we just forget and
all it takes is a couple nudges to help us remember. "Oh now my sons
remember, remember and perish not."
   There is a priest who comes out with us a lot and he has a
girlfriend as well. So we have kind of been hinting that we should
meet with her and after he has heard about his other friends who are
inviting there friends to church and taking the lessons he has invited
her to meet with us! Now we have got an appointment and everything.
It's a week from now which is slightly disappointing because we won't
be able to teach her all the way through due to us getting transferred
to another area and such.
  I don't know who's idea it was to have me and Elder Green die
together, but it was not a good one haha. He is probably my best
friend on the mission which is good but it's hard not to think about
the end when your companion is brining up home every 30 minutes....
  I am doing my best though!! This last transfer I feel closer to
Heavenly Father than I have ever felt before. I think it's because I
am being honest with him in my prayers. Telling him the things that I
messed up on and what I need help with. And guess what he answers :)
This helped me out so much with the work.
  Miracle time! So there is this part member family in which the
husband is not a member. He comes to church every week and
participates. He has been meeting with the missionaries for over a
year now and yet there has been no sign of him wanting to join. He is
the Sisters Investigator so we see him all the time but we never got
to teach him. Out of curiosity to see what was going on we had the
family sign up on our dinner calendar. We were on exchanges that night
so Elder Green wasn't there. The dinner was fine and I ended up
sharing a spiritual thought about who knows what and his wife asks us
to a have as all little testimony meeting . So she bares hers, then I
bare mine along with my companion, and then... He... Bares his... In
it he said that he knows that the Book of Mormon is true, that Joseph
Smith is a prophet and the this is Christ's church. I was
flabbergasted haha. His wife was watching my reaction and was waiting
for me to jump in and so something, but for whatever reason the moment
had past and we had a closing prayer. During the prayer the spirit
prompted me multiple times, "ask him what his concern is." So just as
we were about to leave I say " I gotta know man, what's your
concern??" Slightly taken off guard he pauses and says I don't really
have a concern, I am just waiting for her Brother to get into town so
he can be there for my Baptism. Now I am watching his wife's reaction.
Her jaw drops and after a few seconds she says "that's it? That's why
you haven't gotten baptized? Honey, he would have flew here last week
if he knew that was the case!"
  Pretty cool huh?? Now things are finally in motion for him and his
family. We will never miss out on anything if we simply do what the
Lord asks us to. Probably the best lesson I have learned out here in
Virginia. Love Elder Wagner