The Work Goes On

Last Sunday we had the privilege of visiting one of the wards here in Guadalajara. The son of the lady who helps me, leaves on his mission next week and my husband and I were invited to speak in sacrament meeting with him.

It was such an honor to attend! A year ago when we arrived in Mexico, there were only about 90 people attending the ward. Now there are consistently over 200. The ward has given wonderful support to the missionaries as well as supporting the new members. Also a year ago there were only 2 missionaries there, and now there are 8. And eight is a lot when you have to feed them!! (All of our missionaries have their main meal during the day provided by the ward/branch they serve in. The members do this for free, and often at a great sacrifice.) I heard from a sister in the ward that she fed all 8 enchiladas and two of the elders ate 12 enchiladas each!

But there were two very memorable things that happened when we were there. First I learned that a photo was taken of all the members of the ward who went out at night to help the missionaries teach and there were around 40 people in the picture. I haven't seen the picture, but I would love to!

And second, at the beginning of the meeting the bishop had two people stand up who were being baptized this Saturday. Then two more were called up to be confirmed members of the church. I loved that!! How wonderful it would be if that happened in every ward, every Sunday!

We are so grateful for the dedicated missionaries who work so hard to share the gospel with the people here in Mexico, and very thankful for the wonderful members who work right along side them!

Week Three of Interviews, Days 3-4

This zone was so large--we decided to divide it into two days. We began the first day with just 8 missionaries--the four brand new ones, and their trainers. We intended to give some additional training to them all before interviews, but due to very bad road construction and a lot of traffic we were an hour late and so the zone leaders filled in for us. A big thanks to them!!

Here are our new missionaries and their trainers.

 The sister on the left is one of our sister leader trainers. We will miss her very much when she returns home the end of September.

 The sister on the right only had six weeks in the mission when she was given the assignment to train. So basically she is also training herself.

And here are the zone leaders who stepped in and helped us out. So grateful for awesome zone leaders we can trust to always do a great job. 

 Look Mom, I have my anti-parasite meds all ready to go!!

 Always ready to lend a helping hand . . .

So what do we do when interviews are all over??? Celebrate with pizza of course!! We had to be quick though because President Wagner had a meeting with the stake president and then went to work with the zone leaders.

But that gave us a little time to enjoy nature . . .

Next up is mission council and then transfers--plus a lot of little things in between.

Week Three Of Interviews!! Days 1 And 2

Day 1--Once again I am sorry to say I didn't take pictures of the first district. I also missed the first district on day 2. Apparently I don't get it all together until after the first round. So sorry to all the parents who are missing pictures of their children. I promise to get them all during zone conferences.

These four work together in a little town south of where we were. They are doing a great job and we are so glad to have them there. And by the way, Mom, Elder J got his package!

 These three work in another small town, one of my favorite towns actually--and it isn't just because one of the members has a bread store and is always very generous with their bread! :-) In this group, one is from Mexico, one from Guatemala and another from Ecuador.

 The elder on the right is the fourth member of their district. He also serves as the branch president in the branch and is training the elder on the left. Yes, he is being asked to do a lot--and is doing it all well.

 Here he is teaching some of the missionaries the story line of the Book of Mormon. I usually do this but had to leave for a few minutes and so turned it over to him.

 Our cute sisters. Love them!! (I love the elders too, but I get to hug the sisters)

 Looks like someone was sneaking into the cookie jar. :-) Hermana Wagner (our daughter) gave out Mrs. Field's cookies, making her the favorite Wagner of the day.

 The zone leaders with a young man from their branch. We actually had two young men with us that day. The branch was having an activity called, "A day in the life of a missionary" and the young men all spent the day with the missionaries. Hopefully we didn't bore them too much. This young man has been in the church for only 3 months.

And last but not least . .

Day 2

 Got the package!!

 A little coloring while waiting for interviews . . .

 Loading up the car at the end of a long day.

 Oops. Just remembered we forgot to get their pictures as well. Thank you elders for your help carrying everything out to the car!

More Interviews. This week in Guadalajara!

This past week we conducted interviews in Guadalajara. As always it was fun to meet with the missionaries for training and interviews. We do this every three months. Next week we will finish this round and then begin preparing for zone conferences beginning in August.

I am sorry to say that for each of the days I forgot to take pictures of the first district we met with. I was particularly sad about this because I know that many of their parents read the blog. So--for those whose pictures I didn't take, please know that your sons and daughters are safe and doing well, and I apologize for not having pictures of them.

However, I do have a lot of pictures, so be sure and scroll down to see all of them.

Day 1--in this group I think I am just missing Elder Mellott who was in his interview. So sorry about that!!

Day 2  I missed a whole district here. So sorry!!
 Yes Mom, I got the package.

 And here we are missing Elder Shawkey. He was in his interview with the President when we took pictures. Sorry Mom!

Day 3. Once again I missed the whole first district--I don't know how many mothers read the blog, but I apologize to Sister Pew and any others who are wondering where their sons or daughters are.

 As you can tell we had a very fancy office.:-)

And that ends the second week of interviews. Next week we have Vallarta, Tepic and Guzman.