A Long Week...

Dear Family,

So this past week was an adventure!!! On monday Elder Hendrickson and I rode back into Dallas. He was really quiet and sad because he had been in Nacogdoches for almost 8 months!!! That night we stayed in the asistants' apartment with all the new missionaries in Dallas. There we only 2 new spanish elders so I knew I was going to be with one of them. Tuesday we had transfer meeting. It was a pretty exciting one for the mission. They just set up two new zones in the mission and the overall number of missionaries is still increasing. It's neat to see the work expanding here. The mission is doing great and the Lord is working tons of miracles.

So Elder Haslam is a great Elder. Funny note: In the MTC he broke his hand so he had a brace and its still sore. Playing basketball... He is pretty quiet, but his attitude is great. Its hard for new missionaries with Spanish and everything. And he still has to learn how to eat a lot (lol). We had a good week. It was a big change for me. I've never had to be senior companion in an area and I still don't know a lot about the area, but the Lord is helping me. The branch is pretty interesting here. The number of real strong, temple-going members is few. However, that is going to change. We are going to really work more closely with the Branch to reactivate, complete part-member families and strengthen all the members in their testimonies.

So Yadira didn't get baptized this week but will this sunday. Basically she hadn't told her parents too much and about how serious she was about it and needed another week to discuss it with them. She is so determined to get baptized and as she said herself, 'Before I wasn't even considering getting baptized!' but now she is really excited. The spirit works miracles.

This partmember family we've been teaching came to General conference and is awesome! The non-member mom basically asked me how to do the whole 'pray to find out if its true'. They are going to get baptized this transfer, even though they don't know it yet...

Elder Haslam is going to be great. He has great desire and potential. One thing I realized throughout General Conference and last week is that we all have divine potential. We all have the capacity to be great and we are all great. The only thing that holds us back is how we use our agency and time, the gifts God has given us. I LOVED General Conference. Its like the Thanksgiving of spiritual food! One that really hit home was Elder Perry's talk from Sunday about member missionary work. I've gained such a testimony that without member's help, missionaries are pretty helpless. Of course we find the elect, but we are just two people. Imagine if everyone in a ward was looking for the elect. Inviting people and giving them a chance to learn. When two young white boys knock on someones door they rarely listen to us or are rarely impacted. They see us and automatically shut down and don't listen. But if they are invited by a 'normal' looking person or even better, their best friend, they are more willing to listen. I'm so excited for Yadira to get baptized. Even more excited is her best friend Lys (liz), who is a member in the branch. We have something great and its our purpose and duty to share it. Not everybody will listen but if we don't try, we will be held responsible in the last day.

I love ya'll and I'm so excited to be a missionary and love this work!

Love,
Elder Wagner

Ps. I haven't gotten the package yet (i'm really really far from dallas and civilization).

PSS. Have fun in Yosemite!!! Don't feed the animals!!! Enjoy the mountains. There are none here.