"By small and simple things are great things brought to pass"

Well hello everyone!

Can I say that today has been seriously one of the coolest experiences ever! I shall explain! So we went to the U.S. Open! The qualifiers were going on today and there was a pretty good amount of people there! The part that stunk though was that I had to leave my backpack outside, which meant that I couldn't bring my camera in! Ah I was so so sad! But seriously being at the U.S. Open was soooo cool! Like seriously one of the biggest dreams come true! I loved it so so much! So first when we got there I got to go on grandstand and Jelena Jankovic was playing, so that was sweet! We were in the front row and were able to watch her for awhile! Then, Stan the man Wawrinka (Stanislas Wawrinka) walks onto the court with Richard Gasquet! Oh my goodness it was so awesome! I was freaking out! I was like 5 feet from both of them at different times! It seriously was just incredibly amazing and I loved every second of it! I wanted to get on that courts and play with them so so bad! It is so incredible to actually be there and to experience it in person! It is so much cooler than seeing it on TV!  They are just all so ridiculously good… it is incredible!

Then we heard from a kid that was sitting next to us that Andy Murray was on another court.  No way!!! Sure enough he was, and it was so cool! I got right next to him too and I got to watch him play! Man that guy is a baller! It is just amazing how good these guys are! It was really cool that they were there just practicing! I got to go on Louis Armstrong stadium too, as that was where Andy Murray was playing! It was so cool! Then I realized Ivan Lendl was right there too! Oh my goodness!  So then I went and watched Wawrinka and Gasquet play for a little longer and they were playing a practice match and man they were going at it… let me tell you! I said to Stan "Beautiful" and then he turned around and said "Thanks"! I loved it! Boom… Stan Wawrinka was talking to me! It was so cool! He is soo good! His backhand was so beautiful!

So then we got ready to leave and just walked around a little more and this is the sad part … I checked the phone and had a missed call from the other Elders.  I found out that I had missed getting a tennis ball signed by Andy Murray, Wawrinka and Gasquet as they were leaving.  Elder Hernandez got pictures with Wawrinka and Gasquet too!  I could not believe that I missed that. Bummer!  It was still so cool to be there though.  Elder Hernandez as loving as he is, gave me his ball that got autographed!  So that was way sweet!

So enough about tennis... :) This week was really good! We had a zone conference this week and it was awesome! I learned a lot and it is always so awesome to have those meetings and be able to see our Mission President, President Calderwood! We have a new investigator …which is sweet!  We also had some good lessons with some other families in the ward. Overall it was really good! We met some cool people who we hadn't seen before and that was great. Little by little more things are happening and the Lord is blessing us which is great. Just like the scripture in the Book of Mormon states, “ (6) Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise. (7) “And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes…” (Alma 37: 6-7)  By small and simple things, things are happening and the Lord is making a way. The work is tough, but it is awesome and I am so very blessed to be here! It is crazy that it has been 6 months already! I just know that I am where I am supposed to be and I am so grateful to be here and I am so blessed too! I love it! It is hard, but so wonderfully good!

I love you all so much! Stay strong and love the Lord. He knows all and is so good to us.

Love, Elder Waidmann