"They just make all the work that we do worth it"

Hello there everyone!

I have been having so much fun here in Woodside. I just love being a missionary. I keep realizing it more and more every day that I am here serving of just how special

the time that I have here is. It goes by so quickly and I am just so

grateful for everyday… For the good and the sad times and for

everything in between because that is what makes a mission just so

worth serving. I am learning day by day on how to become better and to

use what I have learned in the past to help me act now and it just

makes me grateful for all of the things that I have experienced to

help me grow on many levels.

So last week! On Monday Elder Martinez and I returned to Brooklyn! We

went to Park Slope and went out to lunch and got Thai food for his

birthday! It was pretty fun. So we got the same plate of food and the

lady told us that the noodles were mild on the spicy level. So I

thought that mild on the spicy level would be pretty much no big deal

because I have eaten some pretty dang spicy Spanish food right? WRONG!

I was dying! They were so so spicy and my mouth was on fire, but the

good news is that it was really tasty! :) We then went out and walked

around Brooklyn for a little bit which was really nice. I love it

there! Actually we went there again today! For a BBQ at an

investigators house in Bushwick. It is so nice because Elder Martinez

and I both served there so we both know a lot of the same people. Then

that night we went and visited a family in the ward and had a Family

Home Evening with them it was awesome! They are a great family and we

had a lot of fun there.

On Tuesday we had our usual district meeting and we had our finding

activity as a zone! It was pretty good! They are always really fun and

helpful to get us excited. Then later in the day we had a sweet visit

with a recent convert and we talked about how we as children if God

can reach our full potential by doing small and simple things. It

really is so true. I love how it is written in the scriptures, in Alma

37: 6-7.

As we do simple things like read the scriptures everyday,

pray, and go to church… this is how we show our faith to God and how we

receive many blessings from our Father in Heaven. This I know to be

true because I have see it have a huge effect on others lives here

that are around me. Also that night we went to a families house that

are from Bolivia. They are so cool! The mom always cooks SOOO GOOD!

She made us a meal called Silpancho and it was so good! She gave us so much food

and we had so much that we took some home! It was nice!

Wednesday we taught F. It went pretty well!

We also that night taught the Y family. They are from Peru and are really

cool! We had a good visit there and their daughter had been gone in

vacation in Peru for the summer so the father asked us to teach her a

few things and it was the best lesson that we had over there in a long

time. And to finish the night off they have us some Chi cha Morada and

Inca Kola! They are both super Peruvian drinks and are really good!

The first one is made out of purple corn and the second one is a soda

that is yellow but tastes like bubblegum almost! Pretty good stuff!

Thursday we had our MLC meeting which was really good! It is always so

good to see our Mission President. He is just so full of wisdom and

always has so much to teach us which is so great to be a part of those

meetings there. After the meeting I went on an exchange with the new

Assistant Elder Nugent. He just got called to be the new assistant and

we had a pretty good night together. We talked to a lot of people that

night and got a few new potential people to visit which was pretty

awesome. One guy we talked to Elder Rogers and I had met earlier. He

is from India and he also speaks Spanish! Pretty crazy right? Elder

Nugent and I were talking to him for a little while by a deli that is

by our house and then he said "You thirsty? I'll go buy you drinks."

Pretty random but super nice of him! We had a good conversation with

him and learned more about Hindu religion and culture which was really

interesting! Then we  taught a lesson to the ward about having Faith in Jesus Christ and how that is important to have and to share.

Friday was a great day in that we talked to some really cool people

before we another meeting with the district leaders in our zone. We

had a good meeting together and then Elder Martinez and I exchanged

back! Reunited! We then went to go and teach M! We had a

really good lesson with her and we brought a recent convert with us who

had just gotten his mission call. It was a great visit there. She has

been in dialysis for a long time and just found out this week that she

was available to receive a transplant. She told us and just started

to cry because she was so happy. It was a beautiful experience!

Then on Saturday we did service and that was a lot of fun!

We did a lot a painting and that was good! Then after service we

taught a teenager that did service with us. It was so good!

Probably one of the best lessons that I have ever taught on my

mission. He asked a lot of questions while we were doing service with

him and then we took him on a church tour. There we taught him and he told us of how he wanted to change his life. It was amazing. We helped him to recognize the power if the Holy Spirit as we taught him and he loved it. He told us how he felt

something different, but that it felt good. I love those experiences so

much!  They just make all of the work that we do worth

it, to help one of God’s children to recognize the spirit to tell them

that what they are learning is true. It is such a beautiful thing. He

asked us what the purpose of life was and why he was here. As we

taught him you could just see that the eyes of his understanding were

opened. It was such a wonderful thing to see. We are going to see him

next week and teach him again! We are excited!

Sunday was great! We had church and then later we went out to find

some people at home and ended up finding a new person who was

interested in the church! It was awesome!! He is from Korea and we are

going to teach him soon!

It was such a good week! We also had a funny experience with an intoxicated man who was jumping all over us on Saturday on our way to the meeting. He yelled at us from afar saying “My boys… the Mormons! I love you guys! “ Gotta love it!

Love you all!

Elder Waidmann