Wow! What a sweet week that this has been! Man the time flys by so quickly!
This week was quite an adventure! We had our transfer meeting on Tuesday and those meetings are always incredible! The spirit is always so present there and it is a very uplifting and edifying experience. I love it. So we had some changes in the zone and there is just energy for days here! We have so many new missionaries here and it is so cool! In the English district there are four missionaries that are being trained so they bring great positive energy here to the zone and it is just so cool to be able to be a part of. At the transfer meeting our mission president talked about the principle of obedience and why it is so truly important to us. I know that being obedient really does bring us blessings. I have seen this here in my mission and I know that as we are obedient in life we are truly happy. When we are disobedient we receive happiness for a very temporary time and then we regret our actions. It is only when we are truly obedient that the happiness springs forth from within us and it is everlasting.
That night we went and visited a Bolivian less active family and it was really cool! We had a traditional dish called Silpancho and it was he bomb! Man! I love spanish food so much!!!! If I come home and I disappear randomly it will probably because I moved to another country because I like their food so much. Sorry America.
On Wednesday we had a finding activity as a zone and it went really well! We went out and we gave out copies of the Book of Mormon and Restoration pamphlets. It was a lot of fun! Elder Rogers and I were walking down Woodside Ave. and we walked by this church called the Winfield Reformed Church and there was a Chinese lady outside and I started talking to her in Chinese and surpridingly enough she understood me! Usually when I do it the people usually say hi back to me and laugh haha. BUT! This time was different! She started talking back and then I I just thought "Oh no!" So I just kept walking and then I realized that I love talking to Chinese people so Elder Rogers and I turned around and we went back and then I started talking to her again and then I told her in Chinese that I didn't speak Chinese. haha Pretty ironic I know right. But then she wasnt really understanding my English and then I forgot that when I speak English with a Chinese accent then they understand me perfectly! So I did that and it was so much fun! It just brought me back to Dyker Heights!! Elder Rogers was just laughing so so so so hard when I was talking to her because I sounded so weird. Haha so the lady and I had a great convo and we said bye! Elder Rogers then said that to him I sounded like a foreigner from a Chinese country. He was wondering why I wasn't a Chinese elder haha! :)
Later that day we were out trying to find people and we were trying to be really diligent and we didn't have too much success in the sense of finding the people that we were looking for. Then on our way back we said hi to this lady and straight miracle!!! She is from Colombia and is from Medellin! It was a tender mercy! Elder Rogers and I love the people from there because they are so nice and their accent is so cool! ;) In the words of another missionary when you do your best the lord throws you a bone haha :) We also taught English class that night
and it was a lot of fun! We always say so much spanglish in there and it is so much fun! :)
This week was 7-11! Did you all go??? I hope so! free slurpies! It was the bomb! :) That morning we were out trying to find some less active guys and then I said hi to an old lady and tried talking to her! I thought that she would be super cool and nice! But nope! When we were standing and waiting to cross a street she turned around and asked me this: "Why do you go around picking on old people??!?" And I was really confused because I was nice to her haha....so yeah that was funny haha :) Also that night we found a brand new family!!!! They were former investigators and they are so awesome! They have two adorable little kids and we are so excited to be able to teach them.
On Thursday we had our monthly MLC meeting and our mission president really wants us to focus on PMG more! That is what Elder Neilson, who came and visited the mission, received inspiration on what we should improve on. This week Elder Rogers and I have been studying the guts out of that book and there are so many incredible promises and all we have to do as missionaries and as members of the church is just to have the faith to act upon them and they truly will happen.
One of the reasons why Elder Rogers and I have had such a good week this last week is because some of our mission heroes went home this last week. Elder Jensen and Elder Carlson, who I served with in Little Neck, and Elder Briles who trained Elder Rogers and was the assistant for the last 8 months went home. Wow. That was a tender day. We were just so motivated to carry on this work because those missionaries gave everything they had and it was so hard to see them. We love those missionaries and we learned so much from them. We have been seeking ways that we can improve ourselves and our efforts and we have just been so guided this week. It has been incredible.
So this is my scripture of the week! :) It is found in D&C 123:13 "Therefore, that we should waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light all the hidden things of darkness, wherein we know them; and they are truly manifest from heaven--"
I want to continue to waste and wear out my life in this service! We can never serve God enough :) I am so happy to be here! I love you all so much! :)
Much love from the Goodside!
Love,
Elder Waidmann
