TRIO

FIRST SECOND WITH OUR AMAZING TRIO! everyone was telling us trios are so hard... i beg to differ

First and formost.... we broke a world record this week...yep not really sure why we were included in it but we had to go read this book Farmer Will and the Growing Table to this third grade class because everyone in the world was going to read that same book at 10 o'clock... not sure why they asked us to read it since they all have teachers but it was a super fun time and I'm kinda a professional with children's literature after my class from UVU. But this elementary school was sooooo freakin nice. holy cow. I was like is this Harvard Law? I mean hate to hate on Driggs Dragons but that color scheme.... got to go! It's time! It was a really fun week though

 EVERYTHING IS JUST SOOO HAPPY! We got the cutest cutest new companion. Her name is Hermana Rivera. She's been living in West Jordan for 8 years and she's from Lima Peru. Sweetest thing you'll ever met but feisty at the same time. i love it! Her testimony is golden and literally she is amazing! She is training me! WE are the happiest three some you'll ever met! I'm going to become a bit more Peruvian I'm determined!!!!! I made rice for us the other night and she said it was good- woot woot! Rice! i can make it! And then the other night i was doing a small irish jig in my bath robe, on her bed while spraying the bugs on the ceiling and she paddled my bum with her hair brush while saying/laughing, " Hermana Wagstaff why didn't you tell me we had bugs!" Yep still got bed bugs... we were trying to hide it because we thought they were gone since we got new beds, and they sprayed but NOPE still here and biting our cute new comp... Goodnight don't let the bed bugs bite has never been so real... We got a wagon.... i mean bunk beds though they are so much fun! they sound like an old rickety 1567 wagon straight from Martin and Willy. Not R.C Willy. The handcart company. If i even move my big toe it sounds like I'm headed straight down rocky ridge... So sketchy sleeping top bunk. I just think happy thoughts till i can fall alseep because i feel like it's about to fall AND i'm about 40 feet closer to the bug situation. Hna. Palmer was like "i can sleep up top" but 21 year olds just don't sleep on top bunks ya know. And she came up top for a second and realized yep your right 21 year olds shouldn't be up here. 

So don't know if you've heard about hurricane Patricia but she was an ANGRY one. like the last one-Bill wasn't even bad but Patricia was mean! It rained soooo hard this weekend and I was scared our bayue (however ya spell that) was gunna overflow. I'm about to make our car/ bike area into a paddle board area because you could paddle board down these streets and it would be more effective. I'll call president. There were floods everywhere and the power was out at church on sunday. It was kinda creepy in sacrament I'll be honest. It kinda looked like the Iglesia Catholica because it was all dark and there were like a couple emergency light glowing but that's it... sketchy! But right as i was about to take the sacrement the lights switched on! And i was just kinda like yep this is the light of my week-makes sense. Thanks Heavenly Father for this amazing covenant that we have! 

Hermana Rivera didn't have a bike so we had to borrow one from the mission office and literally i think it was ridden across the boarder, hit by a semi and then just ductaped back together. Riding it was quite the adventure. I didn't want her to have to experience the sidewalks here.. those are a whole other story so i rode her bike and at first it was a fun adventure. I felt like i was riding a small pony because it was also a bike for like a fourth grader. I had the seat all the way to the top and I could barely reach the handle bars it was so little. It was fun and by the end of the day it was SOOO stinkin hard and i could hardly move my thighs AND on top of that it didn't have a light so i felt like that one talk from conference where i was relying on my friends light. And it just came to me stupid analogy but I so willingly jumped on that bike and by just looking at it you could tell it would be a terrible ride but it was fun and an adventure for a minute just like the things of the world. We can tell they are bad and won't take us where we want to go but we so willingly get involved in the things of the world. STAY ON YOUR BRIGHT SHINY BIKES(PATHS). THEY WILL TAKE YOU WERE YOU WANT TO END UP, WITH OUR SAVIOR!

We have seen so many miracles together already! We found 2 new families and we just have the coolest things happen to us! like Louis from mexico at the gas station just walks up to us and asks us if we are mormons. he tells us that he hasn't been to church in 8 years but would love a book of mormon.

Then Fernando our recent convert called and we asked how work was going because that was the reason he moved to Alabama and he said, " hermanas, i quit because they wouldn't give me sundays off. I'm moving back to texas to be with my brother because he's lonely." HE'S COMING BACK! WOOOOOHHHHHHH soooo happy you have no idea! We are planning to go to the temple with him and i could not be more excited! It was also a miracle because the other day i had the feeling that we needed to go see his brother (this was before he called us) and he was never ever interested in our message but he was like, "Hermanas, it is such a miracle that you guys came to visit me. I've been feeling so lonely. (he's here all alone) he's like i miss my wife and kids so much it hurts! his wife called and told him, "just come back to me. i would rather eat a tortilla with salt than have you living away from me."

THIS GOSPEL IS AMAZING AND I'M SO GRATEFUL FOR YOU MY FAMILY I LOVE YOU ALLL SOOOOOO MUCH!!!! 

HAVE A FABULOUS WEEK! 

MUCH LOVE,

HERMANA SWAGSTAFF

Our first Peruvian meal.... i think she calls it chaufa.. i cooked the rice! woooo

English class training

TACO NIGHT!

TRIPLE THREAT

MY WAGON

REALLY PATRICIA

Just a quick spedy windy selfie

10 frights before halloween

Temple trip. I love my President and his wife soooo much!

Dear Fam,

What up what up in the hollahooooooodddddddd???? This week was filled with more adventures than dads snorkel as he skimmed the waters in Brazil. Holy hanna I love me a good adventure but when you've got the 10 frights before halloween... you end up just scared.

Scare #1

PROJECT SAVING SMILES... yeah that was my thought too. I'm no Jack Newton. How do you expect me to save a smile? We got a call from our zone leaders telling us just the address and where to meet for service on Tuesday. We roll up and everyone's like Project Save Smiles right this way. I just kept saying it to everyone that I saw because it was so fun. "Is this Project Save Smiles? Ok good. Right place right place." "Oh are you here to save a smile too? oh good we are in this together!" I was expecting to be doing dentist work but nope, they didn't even trust me to floss the fake teeth to demonstrate for the children. They brought all these children in who are in second grade whose parents don't have money for the dentist and gave them free work. I was in charge of teaching dental health and entering their test scores into the computer. A B D F A C... FOR HOURS! So I didn't have to do dentist work but it was a scare... because you know how I am with anything to do with teeth.. no good!
#2 

Family History night Tuesday night! What a humbling experience helping these hispanics who didn't even know their grandmas names. (it was hard to help them because they have like 1,739 names) This Tuesday night we had Walter and Bartola who WERE less active but it's been incredible to see them come back! He's never used a computer before and it just brought me back to the endless nights helping dad and mom type... such good times. It was the most darling thing, He's like, "Backspace, say what??" At the same time there's Wilver my bff looking at our family tree because I don't know who in the fam is the fam history nutso but my tree goes back to Christ. I'm pretty sure.  Anywho Wilver wanted to see how far back it went and he found one of our relatives. Sir William Walace and I just see him taking selfie's with the name and just so stoked. So I'm like who is that? He's like, "you're kidding me! He saved Scotland and you don't know him." Long story short, we talked all about the movie Braveheart and Wilver turns in on family history! Then Houston just loves to play little trickster tricksters on me and shuts down every freeway to get back home and it's about time to get home. Somehow I find Walter driving and follow him, unsure if he's going to stop for dinner or who knows- diapers for the kids. But little walt walt took us the sneakiest way! and we made it home on time!
#3

We had a mission temple trip and the sister trainer leaders were coming to stay at our apt. And they are really healthy and worky-outy so i hid allllllll my treats that you guys send me for my b-day above the fridge like this was some imprisonment camp thing. We had them sleep in our beds and we were sleeping in the study room... after they went to sleep, I realized I was starving and needed a snack so I crawled like a little night mouse to the kitchen for an Italian ice (shout out to Minds- they are fantastic thank you) and a slice of pepper jack cheese. I didn't get caught! whoo whoooo But the temple was literally the most amazing experience ever. President Hall talks a lot about marriage and his family. Ah they are so darling! I loved one thing he said, "God's not going to judge me on what calling I have, or how well I did in my job. But just how I treated my wife as her husband and my kids as a father." I loved that! You really see your true potential in the temple. It's so hard to leave and see how confused people are in the world!
#4 

We just are casually getting done teaching lessons for the day and driving home like usual when this stinky, big hipped truck started following us. At first we were just laughing like that would be scary but then it actually really did get super sketchy and he made every turn we were making and would flip around really fast if he missed a turn.... but prayer and God are so good and we got away!
#5 

Just biking on Long Point very busy crazy street... never something you want to do alone.. fist pump the heavens for companions. There was this wheelchair in the middle of the sidewalk so I stop and I asked this lady if she needed some help. I could barely understand her. She had welts all over her face and body and she started showing them to me. It was scary but from what I could understand she was trying to cross the street. So i told her i would help her and i turned around to tell Hermana Sanchez, who i was on exchanges with that i was going to help her but man that lady just threw her life into my hands quicker than i ever imagined. She had her feet up and was about to hit the street full of illegal, drunk, unlicensed drivers. I know because we teach most of them and they all drive that way. So I grab the back of her wheel chair with my bike helmet still clipped real tight and took her for a ride! Luckily all the crazy houstonites stopped for me!
#6

We went to try this old investigator who hadn't been taught in two years. We go to his house and this lady comes running at us and again i could barely understand her english. She's like yelling at us, "you you you you speaka speaka spanish. fab fab fabian is in the backback back yard." We met Fabian and he like whispers "we don't want Karen to find us! She's this homeless lady that just hangs around my house and I feel bad for her so I let her go inside." She just kept getting really close to my name tag and breathing fresh beer into my face. "Ohhh ohh ohh Herman wagstaff. What a beautiful name!" She would just keep running inside and out of the house like she was a caterer for a huge wedding. She comes running at me with this glass that's just spilling everywhere and i was like, "Sorry i can't drink tea." She's like, "It's just sugar sugar water water water water and lemon DRINK IT!" Fabians like take it or she'll get angry. Man it's usually the other way around. Us feeding the homeless but she wanted to PARTY! She brought me saltines, apple jacks that were soggier than an old flappy boot.... never trust karen and fabian.. If people are hiccuping thats a sign of drinking... who knew? i didn't?? and i always have hiccups!
#7 

We got a bad bad case of the bugs! But i got to be on a conference call with Elder Chang and Elder Embody- favorite humans! they are hilarious office workers! We told them there were bugs everywhere in our bed room biting us, roaches out the sinks, and i'm still positive there are frogs above the shower but no one will believe me! But they came and saved the day and stole moms amazing carmel popcorn that everyone's obsessed with! Bomb diggity! 

Elder chang and Elder Embody favorite humans

#8

Judy called us Saturday night after not talking to her once that week and says, "hermanas, I have something to tell you.... I'M COMING TO CHURCH TOMORROW!!! all she needed was a one week drop. holla! and she got next week off work too so hopefully this will be it! home run folks! 

JUDY CAME TO CHURCH AND LOVED IT! She shared her story about stopping drinking coffee and how she has so much energy now and everyone just loves her! she's so easy to love!

#9 

We had a missed call from President on Saturday... I mean calls from president are exciting EXCEPT when it's transfer week and he only calls Mondays unless your training. So we were sad thinking about getting split up but when president called back he said, "Can you both hear me? The Lord wants you two to train one of the 2 incoming sisters!" I'm so stinkin nervous and feel so inadequate but i know it's going to be an amazing, amazing experience that i will learn so much from!
#10

We volunteered at a 5k where our Pres and a lot of the missionaries were running. It was just so scary. there were so many reasons why but i'm not going to list them here!

I keep saying the same annoying phrases to Hermana Palmer. She's going to kill me if i say it one more time. hahaha but gotta love bugging her! It was a wonderful week and I'm really nervous but President Hall told us some really cool things in a training today! Please pray for me! And go eat a Christmas Ham bam!

love you all so much!

hermana tony malony wagstaff

My favorite friends from manvel! sister sanchez is the one in the striped dress and sister robinson is on the left

something to explain the carnival... batman... good choice!

ohhh i forgot about this scare... trying to be a homemaker and make some simple pasta. turned out looking like the things hanging from the cave at timp

CLIMB A LADDER AND GET THE HECK OUT!

WAGGERS WHAT UP! 

READ MY PINK FURY LIPS...TIME FLIES WHEN YOUR EATING 18,937 TACOS, RUNNING DOWN CANCUN MEXICO IN THE DARK (IT'S THE SKETCHIEST APARTMENT COMPLEX),  FINDING BLACK SOCKS IN YOUR LAUNDRY EVERY WEEK, AND PREACHING THIS GOOD MESSAGE!  

Literally sketchiest thing ever! every monday we go put our laundry in, in the apartment complex machines. Then go back to our apt to personal study and when we come back don don don there is always a mysterious mans black sock in my precious laundry and i have strong feelings about black socks... DONT LIKE EM! I'm just trying to picture this creepster man who sneaks in and does this every week... he's got to have something better to do with his life.

Hna. Palmer asked me one night as we were driving home with the windows down past all the city lights.. ahhhhh so gorgeous... "Hna. Wagstaff what do you do when you get in a slump?" 

I'm like, "Well what's a slump?" she explains to me it's when you just feel down or are in a hole. and i just yell, "climb up a ladder and get the HECK OUT!" ha ha we both were laughing but I've decided that's my new life motto! climb up a ladder and get the heck out of those bad days, bad situations, bad conversations, whatever just get the heck out! 

This member took us to this buffet.... no joke fam this buffet had been sitting out since 1904. They had put the plastic cover stuff over all of the bins and uhhh never want anyone to go experience that ever again! All the food looked exactly like a cow's trough. There was like corn on the cob mixed with soups with every kind of animal possible to kill... so i thought i would just play it safe and order a quesadilla because hopefully they would store that in the fridge in the back or something... and the lady rudely tells me, "we are only serving what you see in front of you." NO  NOOOOO NOOO NOT TODAY. NOT THIS COW MIXTURE! but proud to inform you- i made it out alive. 

So this week was realy really hard! We have to drop everyone... including Judy and my heart is broken.... no one wants to drop their best friend! She got work off and when we went to her house Sunday morning to pick her up for church she went into work and told us nothing. We have tried everything to help her! WE ARE LITERALLY WILLING TO DO ANYTHING AND SO IS GOD! but she just isn't keeping her commitments and we can't keep playing this game with her. So it's been really really sad! We even went and ate at the restaurant she works at (it's really gross but we love her) and these cutest ladies we have no idea who they were just paid for our lunch without telling us! Judy brings us our check and she's like those ladies who just walked out paid for you guys! People are so sweet!!! But i really think it's judy's boyfriend... i don't have the greatest feelings about him. Hopefully we will only have to drop her for like a week then she will realize that she really needs this! And we had to drop Marc because getting anything out of him was like trying to pull your wisdom teeth out with a candy cane... IMPOSSIBLE! but God blessed us and we keep finding more people! We found Rosa and her three daughters who are ABSOLUTELY DARLING! 

WELL THAT'S ABOUT IT FROM HOUSTON FAM! I HOPE YOU ARE ALL OUT ROLLERBLADING IN THE SUN TODAY! I HEAR IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY! I'M GOING TO PLAY SOME GAME WITH THE ZONE I GUESS. PEACE AND BLESSINGS' 

H-TOWN WAGSTAFF

When the members smash cake in your face... i guess it's a birthday tradition...

what my companion has to deal with

The things i have to deal with....

don't tell her i sent that. she would kill me!!!

I DONT JUST LOVE YOU, I LIKE YOU

BIRTHDAY PARTIES AT THE FAVELAS

Welcome. This is the 34th semi-weekly email from Hermana Natalie Brynn Wagstaff. Coming to you live from the Houston First ward building. A special thanks to the Jeff Brazell, President Aaron Hall, and all my other sponsors. Any copyrights or documentation of this email will be noted.....

HELLO FAMILY! sorry just had to get that out of the way.... I think one of my favorite things about conference is that mans voice that goes around the temple and announces what year it is and he says all that other good stuff! I must meet him one day! (side note- other life goals: get in the ensign with a story and picture. Be on a pass along card. AND on the chastity pamphlet.. they need help. pics are way too cheesy) And what's going to happen when he dies and another guy has to say that... it won't be the same that's for sure!

Conference was literally UNREAL! I had no idea how good conferences were until i actually prepared for it! I thought of 4 questions, and i REALLY thought about these questions. I knew that God would answer them through the living prophets and he did! We watched all the sessions live at our ward building. They had english in the chapel and spanish in the relief society meeting. So i got my investigators all tucked in and snugged ready to hear the words of the prophet, got a member to sit with them.. and ditched faster than i can doorbell ditch to the english so i could get the full effect. It's just not the same in your second language. The quotes don't translate over quite right. So saturday went great. Then sunday i go in 5 minutes till and  IT'S NOT SET UP! EVERYONE WAS FREAKIN OUT. Especially this lady sitting in front of me... i even offered her one of my precious mambas but she denied it! It was so scary. Everyone was running frantically and i was just sitting peacefully, eating mambas, singing like the tab choir because i knew God wanted us to watch conference so he would make it work. Finally they get it up with 28 seconds... and we got to see the 12 starting line up! What great men! All the talks were ABSOLUTELY FA NOMINAL but i was thinking we could all send each other our scripture we are going to ponderize each week.... because i really want to do that every week so you guys keep me accountable and I'd love to hear what yours are every week! deal? deal! Also, I promised my president last week in interviews that i would read my scriptures everyday for the rest of my life. And i'm committed to keeping that promise. He said he would follow up with me at the gates of Heaven.. So if i ever miss a date.. I, Natalie Brynn Wagstaff give my full permission to Rhett Peterson to kick me in the shin 17 times if i don't! Thanks guys! but for reals WAS CONFERENCE NOT THE MOST AMAZING THING EVER??? I couldn't help but want to just run to every investigator and shake them and say, "YOU HAVE POTENTIAL! GOD LOVES YOU! YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE ANYTHING PERFECT. JUST START WHERE YOU ARE! IF YOU CAN'T DO WHAT YOU'VE ALWAYS DONE, DO WHAT REALLY MATTERS! CENTER YOUR LIFE ON CHRIST! THIS IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL MESSAGE IN THE WHOLE WORLD!" But then i remembered i have to act like I'm not crazy sometimes! 

I just want to quickly thank you alll for making my b-day the best one yet! I love when the mailman leaves me angry letters that i have 4 packages waiting in the office! The sign of such wonderful siblings and parents! kev and rach... your package scared my comp so bad i was dying! she was so confused! i forgot to tell her i love mini things!!! and just thank you a milliion trillion!!! 

GUYS GUYS GUYS!!!!! CAN I GET A WOOT WOOT??? We saw a HUGE miracle with judy this week!! So it had been really hard to see her lately. like the past two weeks( and for heavens sakes she lives in our complex- shouldn't be too hard) and she's been kinda fishy so i was like ohhh no! The only two problems people usually have at this point are word of wisdom and chastity and i know she's living the WOW... so we do what any person would do when they are about to lose a friend or neighbor- MAKE BROWNIES. and of course that did the trick! If you guys are in a situation with someone, need to make up for rough times, or just feeling generous, i fully suggest brownies! We go over friday night and we had no clue what to teach her so we just simple said a prayer and asked that the spirit would guide our words. We ended up having thee most amazing lesson on repentance I'VE EVER HAD! The spirit was so strong! Because i know the restoration happened and i know that Joseph Smith saw God the Father but i wasn't there so it's not very personal but heck I KNOW HOW TO REPENT! (from experience..at least i hope. I try it everyday) It was just the coolest lesson and there was nothing special about it we could just feel the true beauty and joy that comes from repenting! She told us that when her dad died when she was 6, his family abandoned them and she said some mean comments to them so thats what was keeping her from being baptized. And also that she works on sunday but she knows she needs the blessings of baptism. We changed the date to october 18, the day before transfers...(we are hoping neither of us gets transferred)  So we asked her, "Can you ask your boss one more time for sunday's off?" so she said she would the next day and we were all going to fast together .Hna. palmer and I just felt so good about it! It was just the most beautiful day of conference and right when we got out of the afternooon session and broke our fast she texted us and said MY BOSS SAYS I CAN HAVE SUNDAY OFF!!! We fell down to our knees quicker than a small potgut will go back down into his hole. GOD IS SO GOOD! I AM JUST HIGH ON LIFE! HOW COULD YOU NOT BE AFTER CONFERENCE?? wow so please oh please pray for Judy! We can definitely feel them! Also if you guys could send me next week the blessings you've seen from not working on sunday and making the sabbath a delight so i could share some experiences with her...GOD BLESS MEIERS PHARMACY FOR GIVING ME SUNDAYS OFF! 

One last miracle I would like to share from this week would be in the small apt of Hermana Ruthies. We call this the pasta miracle.... Hermana Palmer can't eat any gluten or she gets SOO SOOO SICK! she gets migranes for days on days. So first Ruthie brings out quesadilla and i am trying to gulf mine down quick so that i could eat hers because i just love hermana Palmer. So i eat mine and I'm just about to grab hers as we are trying to secretively exchange plates but she comes out with a HUGE BIGGEST THING OF PASTA I'VE EVER SEEN! And Hermana Palmer just starts eating it... I'm like constantly keeping my eyes on her making sure i don't need to call a stretcher... but hand in hand we walked out and as soon as we got to the car i just yell, "are you ok??? how in the world did you just eat that???" and she's like, "I prayed that God could somehow make it gluten free."
 because this pasta meant alot to hna. Ruthie and God did!!! God can tell people to clean their rooms, he can heal a wounded heart, and by golly he can make a plate a pasta bigger than texas gluten free!!!! that's a christmas miracle if i've ever seen one! 

Ohhhhhh also so living in the city i thought all I'd be dodging on the street would be nails, and homeless men... and yes we dodge alot of those. but the other night i had a glimpse back to manvel when a small baby possum was underneath our stairs just wishing us good night. I was chasing after it Hna. Palmer says i was yelling, "I need it!" but i don't remember that! TEXAS JUST HAS SO MUCH HAPPY TO OFFER! 

and to explain the title! this was the cutest thing that hna. Palmer said to me as we were laying in bed last night. She's like, "Hna Wagstaff i not only love you. Becasue you have to love your companions but i like you! i would choose to be with you every single day! because we have so much fun together!" We really are like sisters we share all our clothes it's just like one big giant closet and you'd think we've known each other for YEARS! IM REALLY NERVOUS FOR TRANSFERS 

WELL I LOVE YOU ALLL SOOOOO VERY MUCH! 

HAVE THE BEST WEEK! 

HERMANA WAGSTAFF

you guys are the bestest ever

all the little things! 

 i'VE GOT HER ON MY BUBLE GUM! WOOOHHH WOOOHHH THANKS FOR THE NIGHTGOWNS. VERY MANY PARTIES IN THEM!

CONFERENCE FRIENDS! I'm submitting it to the ensign... picture it! The Texas Houston South missionaries with Investigators and ward members gather to watch conference. (Neptali our investigator is the one standing next to me. he LOVED CONFERENCE!)

My scripture to ponderize this week! send me yours