WHOA!

left to right: Pres. Smith, Elder Wagner, Elder Lewis, Elder Moore, Elder Logan, Elder Peterson, Elder Young @ Transfer Day in February!

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been awesome. The sad news is Elder Hendrickson is leaving Nacogdoches after 7 1/2 months here. I'm staying though. And the crazy thing is... I'm training a brand-new missionary. So this afternoon we both are going into Dallas for transfer meeting tomorrow. I'm so scared/nervous/excited/pumped to be training. It will be hard and its a big responsibility, but with the Lord's help I'll be able to do it. I've been with two really experienced missionaries and now I'll be the 'experienced' one. It will be awesome.

So this week we had some big thunderstorms roll through. It rains a lot harder here than in California. We did a little bike riding in the rain, since its the end of the month and we are running out of miles... it's a blast... try it... Well. Tuesday we had a lesson with this girl, Yadira. She is 18 years old and has been coming to church for a little while with her friend who is a member. She was raised Jehovah Witness so obviously the doctrine is a lot different. She was scared to commit to baptism before, but we had an amazing lesson. We read Mosiah 18:8-10. And after we read it, Elder Hendrickson asked her some questions straight from those verses. Like if she was willing to follow God, If she had desires to help others at all times and to be a witness of God all the time. She said yes to all those. And then he asked her, 'so what then do you have against being baptized?' just like the tenth verse says. After an eternity that happened to be only like fifteen seconds, she said, "nothing, I don't have anything against being baptized." So we asked her if she would get baptized in two weeks and she said yes.

So this Sunday after the morning session we should have the baptism. The only thing that might cause problems is if her parents don't support her decision. They are 'inactive' Jehovah's Witnesses, but still. We are going to pray lots that it goes well. I'm so excited for this area and branch. We are really being blessed with so much success. This week will be crazy but really amazing. I'm so ready for General Conference. I'm like more excited for it than The Super Bowl, Masters, NBA Finals and Olympics all combined. We get to hear what our Heavenly Father wants us to know in this year, 2009. I can't wait to listen and learn.

Happy late birthday to everyone and I love you so much. I miss you, but mostly I wish you could be here to see the miracles that happen on an everyday basis. Keep up the good work. Try hard and when there is nothing left try even harder.

'We become what we think about'! Cool story about some three Nephite work going on. Thats awesome Jacquie, introduce your friends to the missionaries!!!

Love,

Elder Wagner

PS. Thanks for sending the package and getting that card deal worked out.

Happy Birthday!

Dear Family and Friends,
Sounds like your week went really well. Lots of exciting news. Well, Happy Birthday to Andrea and to Mom. I'm going to send ya'lls birthday letters today. Be excited.

Good job rissa-roo. 29.7 is awesome!!! (On her 50 freestyle) Only tip I've got is that the turn is huge in the 50 free. Cut a second off your turn and boom! You'll go straight to valley if you work hard now.

Thats cool your going to yosemite. And riley ate some bear!?! I'm glad everyone is having a good time. And everything seems to be going good, except for JQ's broken arm. poor,poor jacquie.

We had a good week. We had interviews on Thursday and Friday we had Zone Conference. It was awesome. So 'out east' its kinda crazy. Zone conference was in a city 2 hours away and interviews in a city right next to it. So Thursday night we stayed with the Zone Leaders in a town called Longview. It was really fun. I saw Elder Barney there, he is doing good. He told me that the elders in our last area got transfered out already and now there are two different elders there. Kinda Crazy.

Zone Conference talked a lot about teaching skills and the book of Mormon as a tool for missionaries. We listened to a talk during the car ride there about the Book of Mormon and how we can make it come alive. It was written for our day (Mormon 8:34-38). I love it. The stories are super-applicable to our everyday problems and struggles.

Well the Branch is doing good here. The branch president went to a training by the area seventy and President Smith and now he is way pumped for missionary work. We're going to all work together in reactivation, retention and baptizing. It should be awesome. We've started teaching a new part-member family were the wife is less active. The husband has so much potential. We are also teaching some other less actives and the Lord is working miracles. Although the situation seems impossible he is providing a way so we can soften their hearts and help them overcome concerns they have. Elder Hendrickson is great, he has so much experience and skill when he is teaching. I hope I can keep learning from him. Speaking of which this is the last week of the transfer so saturday we'll find out if we're staying or going. Who knows...

I really liked Keith's letter, especially that experience with the evangelical preacher. There are lots of people like that here too. In one lesson we were teaching about the restoration and the Book of Mormon and the lady called me out on my testimony. Then her sister said that the Lord had told her that one of us wanted to be 'touched by the Holy spirit'. She was dead serious too. After that we said no, we're alright. And we said a prayer and left. Some people are pretty blinded by priestcrafts and false doctrine.

I love what I'm doing here and soon enough we'll have quite a few baptisms. I just have to remind myself that its better to baptize someone who is really prepared and ready than to force someone and then have them go inactive. The Lord is working miracles and I know he will too with the Fosters. What would be best for you to do is to be their friends and get the missionaries involved. We practice resolving concerns like the ones they have. Pray for them as a family and the Lord will prepare them. And try to get the missionaries teaching them in our house. That would be the best.

I love yall so much. Take care.

Love,
Elder Wagner

PS. Just send the package to the mission home. And my Chevron Valley card expires in April, so if you could get that renewed or whatnot, it'd be awesome.

Spring Break!

Dear Family and Friends,

So this week coming up is spring break!!! Actually it doesn't mean any changes for us as missionaries.

Cool to see the pictures from Mormal. Marissa and Jacquie sure are pretty. I'm so glad I can say that as an older brother I taught them everything they know. It made me laugh so hard to see the 'cast cover'!!! Jacquie, you can be glad to know we'll always remember how you wore a cast to mormal.

Ya'll got a big fish tank? Thats sweet. And even cooler you get to go to Yosemite!!! I hope it doesn't snow on you... Its been rainy and cold here for that past few days. Happy Saint Patrick's Day! I'll be wearing a green tie for sure.

Another random story, a few weeks ago I found a great scripture that made me realize that one of Dad's sayings is based in scripture!!! The end of Mormon 9:27 mentions that you have to work out your own salvation!!! I still laugh reading it.

Other random thing, last week we went golfing for preparation day! A member owns a golf course so it was all free. It was pretty cool. The clubs were rental ones, so they weren't that good but the course was nice. The other elders aren't very good so it wasn't a serious game of golf, just having fun...

So we had a good week. We figured out a plan to really help the branch here a lot. We've started to 're-teach' the lessons to a few families. Some of them are part-member and others have a few less-active members but we hope it will increase the spirituality of the branch. We've been encouraging all the members to read from the Book of Mormon daily, as families and/or individually. All you older folks reading this probably remember or have heard of when President Benson spoke about the Book of Mormon in General Conference and how if we read it we will become more spiritual and our houses will be more spiritual. Its an awesome promise. The Book of Mormon is light for us in these dark and difficult times. No matter how many times we've read it, we will always learn and be uplifted if we spend a few minutes of each day learning from it. The other scriptures we have are good and inspired too, but the Book of Mormon has a spirit and power like nothing else!

So thats what we invite everyone to do as missionaries, to read from the Book of Mormon and apply the principles and stories to our lives. I love that each day I get to study the Gospel and learn from the Book of Mormon. In every lesson we use passages from the Book of Mormon that are so clear so powerful it always brings the spirit and teaches me, although I'm supposed to be teaching. Its a true book and the words are the words that God would speak to us if he was here right now. I hope we can all become more converted to it and in so doing more converted to Jesus Christ.

I love being a missionary and I'm grateful for all your prayers and everything you've taught me to lead me to this point in time. I'd be a liar if I didn't say I missed ya'll, but its so worth it. The Lord is using me to accomplish his purposes.

Love,
Elder Wagner

Didn't get to be there...but it is still awesome!!

VICKI AND ZURIEL SORIA'S BAPTISM

with Elder Barney!

Nacogdoches!

Dear Family,

So we had a pretty good week here in Nacogdoches. It is a lot of hard work and finding right now, but its going great.

So I just got an email from Elder Barney, he got to go back and baptize Vicky and Zuriel got baptized too. I'll send the picture. I couldn't make it since I'm now 3-1/2 hours out of Dallas but its still way awesome. I feel so glad that I was able to be a part of their conversion.

Well, the work is a little different out here, but its pretty much the same. Nacogdoches is a little town, the sign says 29,000, but there is a big university here that has like enrollment of 30,000. So now that school is in the town is twice as big. There is an English ward here and a spanish branch. The branch is great. There are some really good families and we should have lots of success. But there isn't tons of priesthood leadership and quite a few nonmember and less active fathers that need to get baptized. They just don't know they want to yet...

I'm still getting to know the members and the investigators. We are in a 'finding' stage right now and did lots of finding. With Hispanics it is easy to get in and teach a lesson but its harder to really find those who are ready and prepared. We are changing the way we teach a little bit to be bolder and to really testify powerfully and to challenge people to act on feeling the spirit. Its neat but I'm so far from being a good teacher. Sometimes the Lord doesn't just lead us to those who aren't members. We knocked into a lady who was baptized and raised in Mexico but came here and never came to church. Her husband passed away from cancer 2 years ago and she is raising her 3 kids on her own. She was really nice but you could tell how hard it is for her. We gave her a Book of Mormon and taught her a little. Before we left we helped her clean up a bit since her kids (oldest is nine) had been home alone and had made a mess. It was really neat to see the Lord lead us right to those who needed help.

Sounds like life is going well back in Bakersfield. I liked those pictures of Riley skiing. 10 new inches! Too bad JQ has to wear a cast to mormal. sad day. Keith is so right, I'm a true southerner now. I haven't eaten squirrel yet but it won't be long. I actually might get some armadillo sometime soon because apparently they eat them. Oh I did have a country-fried steak burger after district meeting out in Hemphill (hour further away from Nac). It was good. They just opened a branch in Hemphill and they meet in a house turned chapel. Way cool.

Take care, I love ya'll to death and hope you stay out of trouble.

Love,
Elder Wagner

P.S. Michael Shafer served out here... did you say he got married?? A picture to show people would be cool...

Wow. Crazy Week!!!

Dear Family,
Crazy week. Yours sounded crazy, but mine was up there. So. Last Tuesday we had district meeting and after I went on exchanges with Elder Carlson in his area. Note: Elder Carlson is like 6'9", tracting was pretty fun, I kept thinking this is just like what tracting would be like with Brent. So his area is just east of Dallas and is really big. We had an appointment out in the far corner of his area and a member took us there (like 50 minute drive there). We taught this really nice lady in her camp trailer she is living in. Pretty fun. Well, we rode back with the member and I drove to the apartment. After planning, we got a call at 10pm from the assistants, they wanted to talk to me (!!!). Well, it was Elder Bain (he is from Scotland, so imagine this with a scottish accent) told me that I was being emergency transfered and the next day I had to be all packed up at 9am when they would pick me up. -btw: It wasn't for anything I did... one Elder went home for who knows why... Crazy. So I drove back to my apartment in Dallas w/ Elder Carlson that night (like a 30 min drive) and started packing. The other Elders stayed the night at our apartment. I packed until like midnight as we listened to the Prince of Egypt soundtrack. I Woke up the next morning and finished packing. When the asistants got there they told me where I was going. We rode in the car for 3-1/2 hours to get to my area where I am now.

So now I'm in Nacogdoches 2nd Ward. I'm 'out east' as they say in the mission. Its a spanish branch. My new companion is Elder Hendrickson. He's been out like 20 months and been in this area for like 6. He's from Riverside, CA. Pretty laid back Elder and a great teacher. Well Nacogdoches is a little town out here in Eastern Texas. Lots of trees! Lots of trailer parks! Its really different from Pleasant Grove (the area that I was in in Dallas). Its a neat area and the branch is pretty cool. We actually went with the branch on Saturday back to Dallas for a temple trip. Elder Hendrickson hadn't been to the temple for like 18 months since he's been out in East Texas for most of the mission.

Well its been a crazy week. But I know this work is inspired and that everything happens for a reason. We had a broadcast STake conference this week. President Uchtdorf and Elder Cook spoke. It was for the Texas/new mexico/oklahoma area. There are 74 stakes and 6 temples in the three states. I love what President Uchtdorf said about the three things we have to do to be spiritually prepared. 1. Have a current temple recommend - he said to live worthy of one you just have to follow for the strength or youth 2. study the scriptures every Day - so true as I've seen different members (active or less-active) the ones who read the scriptures are the ones who are progressing in the Gospel 3. Talk daily with Heavenly father (prayer...) - prayer changes things.. Well I'm getting tired of typing... just kidding I don't have enough time to keep explaining but I want ya'll to know the church is true!!! Oh I don't know my new address... sorry. It just changed.

Love,
Elder Wagner

PS. The river is the best!!! (The River- for those of you who don't know what this is-- is a game that Kevin played through out his entire childhood. It merely consisted of an area of dirt and a very slow running hose. The kids played 'the river' for hours and hours throughout the spring, summer, and fall. When we put in a swimming pool two years ago-- we destroyed the area where 'the river' was played. Kevin has pretty much accused me of ruining Riley's and Andrea's childhood because they can't play 'the river.' Yesterday we experienced 80+ degree weather in Bakersfield. Riley and Andrea determined a new area for 'the river.' Alas.... their childhood is not ruined!! You can checkout the family website for pictures.... sevenwagdogz.blogspot.com)