300 Days Later...

Hola hola!

300 days ago I started my mission?!?! Crazy! It's been a wild week. I spent about 15 hours driving to and from Santa Rosa (we went down there twice this week). We had 2 hours of church meetings IN PERSON on Sunday! I got to meet a bunch of people here and I love it!!! I got to get to know my comps better and I LOVE them so much!!

McKinleyville Vibe:

Weed, hippie, long hair, surfer, ocean, tiedye vibes :)

Life tip:

The little things, like baking soda, matter. Especially when making cookies.

Challenge:

General conference is coming up!!! My favorite thing is to go into conference with a sticky note of a few questions. I invite you all to go in with some questions and I promise that you will recieve answers!!

Amo a Cristo y amo su evangelio!

xoxo

Hermana Wagner

Woodland --> Redwoods

¿¿Qué onda folks??

Funny story: We walked over to our appointment with some Jehovah's Witnesses and their 3 year old son punk son with a grill answered the door, stared at us, slammed the door in our face, told his mom we were the police and then looked out the window laughing at us. It's okay though Alex and I are actually totally homies haha :))

This week has actually been crazy! I going to have two new callings, two brand new companions, and I will be moving 284 miles away from Woodland to McKinleyville Eureka! I am going to be follow-up training and being a Sister Training Leader. Kind of crazy! I'm excited but so sad to leave Hermana Sandoval and Giles and the spanish branch. :// It'll be good though.

Something cool I have been learning about this week is how trials are necessary for our eternal progression! 

"the Apostle Paul said that “God … provided some better things for them through their sufferings, for without sufferings they could not be made perfect.” You see, the very nature of God and aim of our earthly existence is happiness, but we cannot become perfect beings of divine joy without experiences that test us, sometimes to our very core." - Holland Jr.

I've been thinking about if spiritually leads to spiritual survival in our trials or if trials lead to spiritual strength. I think that the answer is both, and it all comes down to willingness. Are we willing to trust in God in our hard times? Are we willing to learn and deeper our faith through our trials?

De todos modos, espero que eso tiene sentido jeje, pero los quiero mucho a todos y wish me luck on my 5 hour drive... I'm driving.

Espero que tengan una buena semana! Adiós! 

xoxo

Hermana Wagner 

I Might Be Concussed rn

Hola hola!!

So sorry if this letter makes no sense, I blame it on getting smacked in the head with a volleyball this morning haha!

Highlights of the week though... SUPRISE! Elder Holland (that's right THE Elder Holland the apostle) spoke to all the missionaries in our mission this week over zoom!!! I have been looking forward to it for months:)) it was so cool to hear him speak. He talked to us mostly about being missionaries but one thought I loved that he said was that we need to give it our all and be all in the gospel for the long haul. "This has gotta be forever". We already know who wins and we know what we need to do to be on His team! When we stick to that the blessings will come.

Now that everything is out of order, here are the funny things from this week:

- we bought 6 pints of street strawberries the other day. 100% worth it.

- we got to have dinner with one of my favorite families in the branch yesterday and I have a picture :) we guled a googly eye on their son's forehead with a glue stick.

- my favorite, Julissa is getting baptized soon and she came to church in person with us! Everytime we see her she gets a huge smile on her face. :)) love her!

- we had a bunch of miracle lessons, we are starting to teach a couple and they are so awesome! Full of questions and just want to learn more about Jesus Christ ♡ it's so good!

Anyway, this week rocked! Next week is transfers (dun dun dunnnn) so peace to the out talk to you all later

xoxo

Hermana Wags

Pictures: Holland, fam Rodriquez, Julissa, sunset, creepy cowboy, district

Over the Hump

Hola hola buenas!! Cómo están??

Okay this week was awesome!! So we had lots of fun things this week! 

La Familia Flores: So we are teaching a family from Honduras and a few of them have lived here for 2 years but this week the wife and one of the sons finally moved here!! They are a family of fashionistas (I almost teared up when the mom complimented my outfit lol). The branch came in clutch and made a huge dinner for them and we got to go to their house and chat with them!!! They are so so cool and it was awesome to see them together finally :) and then on Sunday they all came to church in person! It was so fun ♡♡♡♡ so that basically made my life.

Church with the Branch: Also there were a bunch of little kids at church this week and after the meeting they all ran to the other side of the gym and started playing with the soccer/volley/basketball mix. I think it made everyone happy to see kids playing :) One of the sons from Honduras (who reminds me so much of Stew) was playing basketball. He passed the ball to me and I made one perfect shot. After that I walked away because I want him to think I'm a baller and I couldn't ruin it. 

Happy Halfway: Also this week was my halfway!! So crazy!! I actually can't believe it. Also I realized that I've been out long enough that I don't know pop culture anymore so that is weird, I feel like an abuelita. Hermana Giles has been updating me on the trends ;)

Julissa: Another cool thing!! We are helping a little girl in our branch get baptized this month!! She didn't baptized because of COVID and so we've been teaching her and she decided to get baptized on the 27, WHOOT WHOOT! She's like a little marshmallow and reminds me of Vanelope from Wreck it Ralph hehe

Spiritual Thought: Something cool I've been thinking about this week is the Christ-like attribute of hope (shout out to my super cool sis) and waiting on the Lord's timing. In Elder Holland's most recent talk in conference (which you should all listen to!!) He said, "COVID and cancer, doubt and dismay, financial trouble and family trials. When will these burdens be lifted? The answer is “by and by.” And whether that be a short period or a long one is not always ours to say, but by the grace of God, the blessings will come to those who hold fast to the gospel of Jesus Christ. That issue was settled in a very private garden and on a very public hill in Jerusalem long ago."

Los quiero muchísimo, y espero que tengan una feliz semana! Cuídense!

xoxo 

Hermana Wagdawg

Pics: store, after church, taco truck, us, sunset

Everyone Needs to Get Their Hair Chopped by Their Companion at Least Once

Buenas! 

Highlights:

- *snip snip* Hermana Sandoval cut my hair jajaja 

- we had exchanges with the hermanas in Dixon so we got to sleep over there and do missionary work there for a day

- we had some awesome lessons!!!

- Hermana Giles keeps making cookies at 9:30 and I am getting enough sugar in my diet so don't worry

- two missionaries from my district went to their original assignments!! I was sad to say bye but really happy for them ♡

- our friend Freddy came to church with us!!!

- And last but not least!!! CÉSAR GOT BAPTIZED!!!!! And I got to go!!!! WHAT?! So so cool!!!!

César is the first person that I've taught that has gotten baptized :) it was so cool! We drove an hour to get there and I got to play the piano at his baptism (shout out to McKayla for teaching me piano haha) but yeah it was a really cool day. His life has done a 180 and the gospel has given him a light and happiness that he didn't have before. I am so glad I got to teach him!!!

After César's baptism we joked with him and said "okay now you're totally clean and perfect so don't make any mistakes otherwise... yikes!" We laughed but then we got to testify that baptism is not the end goal, it's the beginning!! We are going to make mistakes and mess up... but that's why we have Jesus Christ. Through Him we can repent and change, the coolest thing!!! He's not just Plan B, He is the only plan, the only way we can return to live with our Father in Heaven and our families for eternity!! So grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and for the knowledge I get to share with people here in California!! I love the gospel and I love my Savior Jesus Christ!!

Les quiero mucho :) gracias por leer :) Adiós!!

xoxo

Hermana Wagner