Kentucky Fried Sister: Adios Jasper

The time has finally come. After 8 1/2 months of laboring here in the
Jasper Area, the Lord sees it fit for me to do the work else where. My
heart is broken and torn in so many different directions. It kills me
to leave these people I have served and grown to love. The Members
here are my family. The strangers, my friends. The streets memorized and
the smells familiar. The thought of being so far from my new found
home for so long, without knowing when I'll be back, makes my heart
truly ache. But I'm more than blessed to have had the opportunity to
get to know this area, and the people so well. So many missionaries
don't have that same chance in their areas.

I'm excited though! Excited to grow and learn in new ways with a new
companion! But for now, lets focus on 10 lessons that I have learned
from the one and only Jasper, Indiana :)

1. As gruesome and down trodden as things may seem, after some time, things pick back up.
2. People are not as bad as they seem...except for when they are.
3. I have seen and thus learned the corn cycle.
4.All the smells that come along with the corn cycle.
5. Indiana People and Kentucky people are on opposite ends of the spectrum
6. Indiana people rarely have accents.
7. Don't complain right away, if you just wait, you will have your ideas changed..and if you already
complained...then you just feel like an idiot.
8. after 8 months, people consider you an official part of the ward.
9. Hispanics LOVE to learn about God.
10. No matter where you are, people are wonderful,
and the gospel is the true.

This week in the life of Sister Wagner just a major tender mercy
miracle from God. So back in the day, my trainer, aka the missionary
that taught me to be a missionary, served her in Jasper. And so when I
got sent here, she gave me a task. "Find Jose R, he is great" Jose R
was a person that she taught and because of circumstances it didn't get
very far. So I totally forgot about this until this week.. This week
we were on exchanges and I was with Hermana Bown. We had an
appointment set with these two guys, Matt and Wayne. So we head to
their house. We get there, and it's dark. We knock, the door opens,
and 4 Hispanic men come onto the porch, one of them being Wayne. We
look past them and see multiple beers on the floor of the house. At
this point I thought I was going to die. And then they pulled up two
chairs and I REALLY thought I was going to die. This whole time they
are all just speaking Spanish and I have no idea. Then one of the men
I think saw that I was confused and started speaking English to me!
And he talks about how he knew a sister, and used to be taught, I asked
him his name...and he said "Jose R" WAIT WHAT?!?!?!!?!? nnoooo
wayyyyyy, IT WAS THE MAN THAT I WAS TOLD TO FIND! and the week before i
left.. I found him. It was a glorious day! And then we proceeded to
teach them all about the restoration of Christ's original church! :)

Hermana Magalei and I were asked to give a training this week, and we
had some time to prepare it. As we were preparing and seeking
revelation our minds were blocked! We spent more than half the time
trying to figure out what way to take the topic. and we had nothing.
So we said another prayer. Once we said another prayer the revelation
startedd flowing and we created this epic training on
R-E-A-L-ationships with the Help of the Lord. We just trained
missionaries on being real with people, keeping your personality while
being on the Lords errand. It was a fun topic! we had minimal time to
prepare because we were on exchanges, but with the help of the Lord,
we accomplished much and things went really smooth! R- relate E-
engage A- ask questions L- listen and laugh. That is how you be real
with people. And you can accomplish much with God!

I had the chance to give a talk in church about serving as Christ
would. It was a great chance to address the lovely Jasper ward.
Because of that I have really been pondering our Savior. Jesus Christ
is amazing! As I read from the scriptures I am just amazed by the
things that he does and the attitude in which he does them. No matter
the circumstance Christ serves whole
one he is serving. It is an unconditional love that he has for us, and
in turn he gives unconditional service. I just want to become a little
more like my elder brother and with his help, I can do just that.

Thank you all for what you have done for me! And your support! You all
are fantastic. Next time you hear from me...who knows where I will
be!!!!!! Have a great week! I love and miss you all!

SHOUT OUT TO THE FUTURE MR and MRS JACK STOUT WHO ARE GETTING MARRIED
THIS WEEK! I LOVE YOU SYDNEY! Just my best friend and ex-companion...

-Sister Wagner