week 32: We Sell COKE!

Hola Todos, 

Another amazing week this week!!! The weather was so nice and my companion and I did our studies outside a few days because it was so nice!! I am loving this Texas heat but it has given me a few bloody noses👃 hopefully my nose strengthens up and stops just randomly bleeding sometimes lol. 😅 

I don't think I included this in my email last week but we played sand volleyball and it was so incredibly awesome!!! We had the best time ⏲️ outside. My companion played basketball in high-school and she challenged me to a 1 on 1. Not trying to toot my own horn but I did beat her.... she is a few inches taller than me 👀 maybe I do have my basketball 🏀 days still in me! Anyways to the good missionary stuff...

Our mission president was an executive for Coca-Cola! When he was introducing his message he asked us if we knew the 2 most most recognized words in the world 🌎 are. I had no idea 💡 he said that the first is OK and the other is Coca-Cola! Interesting right???  He was telling us that it is sad that one of them isnt Jesus Christ or God. He told us that it was our job to helo shade that with people. He had a meeting this week with us where he was telling us his purpose as an executive. When he was working there he said, "we woke up every day and sold coke, not chips, not beer, not candy just coke!" He told us that our purpose as missionaries is to Find, Teach and Baptize! Not just to have fun on p-days and have cool stories when we get home. He said those things are good and will make your mission more enjoyable but when we focus on Jesus Christ and try and help others come unto him we will be so much happier and our missions will fly 🪰 by! I feel like my mission is already going by so quickly and I love the work the Lord has called me to do!!!! 

My fear for dogs still exist.... not a fan of pitbulls, Doberman, basically all the aggressive dogs that just love to reproduce with the other stray dogs here in El Paso... I can say the power of prayer has helped me a ton to not get eaten and torn to shreads by these dogs.  I do carry a rock and a libro de mormón (because they are bigger than english book of mormons; if you want to know what im talking about contact your local missionaries and they would love to hand deliver it to your house 🏠 for free 😁 https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/believe/book-of-mormon) with me everywhere I go incase I need to use it for protection. 

Abrils Girls were baptized this Saturday!!! It's so special to see someone get baptized and I can always feel the spirit so strongly 💪🏽 at baptisms! It has been so awesome to love their little family and I love seeing them grow closer to christ!!! 

Love you all bunches 💗, 

Hermana Wait 

If you ever want to send me a letter i will love to write you back :)) 

12130 Pebble Hills Blvd, El Paso, TX 79936 Apt M307

Week 31; Sharing the Love

Hello All,

 My companion and I have been praying for many many miracles this week!  Zone conference this week (It is where all the missionaries in the El Paso area which is about 70 of us get together and be here talks about how we can be better missionaries and how we can help others come unto Christ)  We were able to hear from our Mission president and he helped us understand and taught us new ways to help realize that we feel the spirit a lot more than we think.  I know that most of the time especially as a missionary I am able to feel the spirit so strongly! 😌  I was also able to see my old companions and it was so fun to say Hi to them and ask them how they're doing. 

Sorry I am so bad at writing emails this will be something I will try to get better on at my mission…  We were able to put our friend Leticia and Carmen on date to get baptized this week! Have been taught by missionaries for over 10 years and they know that this is the church of Jesus Christ restored on the Earth! They are just a little scared to commit to get baptized.  This is something I have run into a few times as a missionary.  I was able to help them realize this week through the help of the holy ghost that as we make goals to make covenants with our heavenly father he will help us and we have something to work towards!!! 🙏  They have their baptism date planned for July 1st 2024 which is in a few months but I know that they will be able to make this day as they work towards this goal! I totally see how changed the people are when they turn to our savior Jesus Christ and decide to make covenants with him. 

Our friend Agustin  Who got baptized a week and a 1/2 ago is so awesome and he wants to share the gospel with everyone he knows!!!  This is another Testament to me that when we come unto Christ we so much joy and peace in this gospel that we want everyone to be involved in it as well. 

The food I have eaten this week has been absolutely incredible!!! 💯  I will attach pictures so you all can enjoy the beautiful food I enjoyed in my stomach 😋 

Love you all bunches 💗, 

Hermana Wait 

If you ever want to send me a letter i will love to write you back :)) 

12130 Pebble Hills Blvd, El Paso, TX 79936 Apt M307

Week 100: THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

Queue that random geico comercial with the microwave.  

We had a pretty eventful week! First of all. It included 2 carne asadas. Last Monday we got to eat with the castellanos family and it was amazing! He had a bunch of different meats he smoked and we played a bit of Frisbee. Then on Saturday a member dropped off 8 Pounds of raw steak and we didn't have a grill. We ended up finding a fire starter log and got some logs from the wooded area and made a fire in the charcoal grill thingies. Then we cooked it up and ate it with some tortillas and avocado and guacamole. It pays to have Elder Torres in the companionship. 

We also got our hair cut by someone from the branch! We talked about the history of the spanish branch here in lancaster and he just shared a bunch of miracles that have happened. He's been here for about 10 years and it was exciting to see the progress. 

On Wednesday night we got to play volleyball with some people from the area and it was fun as always. One person from my team spiked the ball hard and Elder Barnes went up to block it. Then the ball hit the side of his arm and went perpendicular to the right and hit a girl square in her face and her glasses cut a bit of her nose. I felt soo bad but at the same time it reminded me of this from studio c. 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DoY2nVQNlUB8&ved=2ahUKEwjI_vXztbH-AhU1ElkFHVm7D-4QwqsBegQICRAF&usg=AOvVaw0jbQEQ_KpLrOOzqrtpQz_d

Ruben also was baptised! It was great because I was able to invited someone from Facebook and they loved it! Then someone else came to church from the Dominican Republic and her and another lady from the church talked about the Dominican republic for like an hour. We ended up all going over to her house and making some Mangu and it was amazing. We had a nice lesson and we're able to hear the wonderful testimonies of Christ. 

Matthew 16: 13-17. Read it! It's good. 

Love yall, 

Elder Wait 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/cf3A3DQ4FkEUin23A

Week 30: Happy Easter

 

Week 99: Jesus Is Risen!

Happy Easter to all! It was the best week to focus on the last week of the Saviors earthly ministry. Palm Sunday to Good Friday to Easter Sunday! It's awesome to see how much everyone loves easter. Its like putting the Christ in Christmas, people put Jesus back in Easter! 

This week we were able to see Jefferson, Maria, and Alicia get baptised. It was super special as they were baptised during the Easter weekend. There was a big turnout and I got to baptise Maria. The next day they were confirmed and it was a beautiful service. We sang like three different times, with all the guys, with the young adults, and then with just the missionaries. It was awesome and like just amazing to celebrate together. 

This week we spent 2 days walking around town handing out invitations to the Easter service. It was interesting to say the least. First of all, it was the first day of the year to be a nice 75 degrees and sunny so everyone and their dog was outside. We met people from EVERY different type of background from the recent visitor to the Lancaster native. Got a few rundowns of family trees, local history, food joints, and conspiracy theories. We made it a competition between us the missionaries and just went crazy. Talked with everyone we could see and wow it was awesome. We were able to go out with a few members from the church and it was fun to see a strong and young 75 year old run around for for hours telling everyone about the joy he got when he found the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Anyways love yall hope you have a great week. Only a few more emails but the work isn't done yet. Just keep swimming! 

Check out the pics! There are a few golden ones. 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/cf3A3DQ4FkEUin23A

Here's the link for the Easter message!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cb6UGnSEDi4

Love yall,

Elder Wait

Week 29: Charlotte is getting a Temple!

Hey everyone,

I'm so excited that Charlotte will soon be getting a temple!!!!  For those of you who do not know what a temple is...  It is a place where we can do family history work for our families who have passed way so they can have covenants with God!  It is also where we can make extra promises with God and he blesses us with more blessings in our life!  The closest temple to our house in Charlotte right now is in Columbia South Carolina so we're having a temple in Charlotte we will be able to go more! I am so excited to see the building and construction of the temple ❤️❤️❤️

 Onto my week…  We had another awesome 🔥 lesson with our friends Vicente and Isaias!!!  We taught them about the plan of salvation. They loved learning that we lived with our heavily father before we came to this Earth! That is something I have learned a lot of people do not know and I get so excited to teach people that they and all of us lived with our heavenly father and our families before we came to this Earth 🌍  They always ask us so many questions and it brings me so much joy to be able to share with them what you believe and help them grow their faith!

 This week we have seen so many miracles… like always. Especially with our friend lupe. She has been praying for a date to get baptized for a really long time now and she just doesn't think she is ready quite yet. We have been working with her to try and help her feel more comfortable that we don't need to be perfect before we get baptized because we have the opportunity to partake of the sacrament every week  and renew are baptismal covenant ⛲️  Anyways we went over to her house this week  Just to read the scriptures with her because she has a hard time understanding the scriptures. While we were over there we asked her if we could finished with a prayer and she offered to say it.  She said the most sincere prayer asking heavenly father to help her decide on a date to get baptized. After that experience with her I realized that heavily Feller's timing is perfect and even though we may not see it I know that he is helping our friends and our friends are constantly thinking about Making a baptismal covenant with him. 

 Also funny story… I got in the most scary situation with stray dogs. My companion and I were going to knock on a person's door who we haven't been able to contact in a while and they had the largest German shepherds 🐕 inside this fence that was slowly breaking. They were growling and barking at us like they wanted to kill us. My companion said that we should probably leave and I agreed… when we turned around there was a huge dog behind us barking and growling at us. I told my companion that I was very scared and she offered a very sincere prayer that I hardly father would protect us. After she finished praying the dog stopped barking and walked away. The power of prayer is real and I know how my father is protecting me everyday!

Also before I finished for all of my Latino friends  I had menudo for the 1st time  In my life and I think it will be the last time I will ever have it.  I had it last night at 4 o'clock and I don't think my stomach has recovered sense. I don't think I spelled that correctly but if you want to look up what menudo is go for it!

Love you all bunches 💗, 

Hermana Wait 

If you ever want to send me a letter i will love to write you back :)) 

12130 Pebble Hills Blvd, El Paso, TX 79936 Apt M307

Week 98: General Conference

Its easter season! Yesterday we celebrated Palm Sunday and this week we get to focus on the Lords final week leading up to Easter or His Resurectiion. Im excited to enjoy and remember Jesus on Easter Sunday. 

This week was pretty great! Last week we got a new companion, Elder Moore and now we are in a trio companionship. Its Elder Torres, Elder Moore and I. We are having a blast. This week we fixed up our bikes and were able to have a bunch of lessons.

On Monday night, it was raining a bit but we ended up playing tennis with a returning member in the rain. Lets just say my tennis skillls are more suited for the rain then the sun. WE also played Volibol this week and also some uno. We were able to teach a bunch and go to Maryland to see all the other spanidh missionaries for a day. It was great. 

But also this weekend we had the chance to listen to the Prophets and the 12 Apostles talk to us in what's called General Conference. Let me know if you want to see the video.  The prophet talked about neing a peace maker. He said. 

"Brothers and sisters, we can literally change the world — one person and one interaction at a time.

In situations that are highly charged and filled with contention, I invite you to remember Jesus Christ. … As we follow the Prince of Peace, we will become His peacemakers.

Now is the time to lay aside bitterness. Now is the time to cease insisting that it is your way or no way. Now is the time to stop doing things that make others walk on eggshells for fear of upsetting you. … If your verbal arsenal is filled with insults and accusations, now is the time to put them away. You will arise as a spiritually strong man or woman of Christ."

I know we have a living Prophet that helps us grow closer to Jesus Christ. Please this week think of Jesus and Easter. Easter is what gives us hope. 

Love you all and see you in a month,

Elder Wait