Snow and Investigators!

Como le va??

So this week has been wonderful even though it has been freezing. Christmas was really cool and it was so fun seeing all of you guys, it felt like I was just there again. I felt a little sad after, but the members we live with were so sweet and let us intrude on their family for the day. We went over to their son's house for dinner and he had all these reptiles and snakes and stuff that he showed us, so I got to hold a couple of snakes, a bearded dragon, a tarantula, and some hissing cockroaches, among other things.

One good thing about it being cold is that people let us in more often and we had a bunch of lessons this week. We actually got seven new investigators and we are teaching a family now!! They have a baptismal date and have committed to prepare so hopefully that works out. 

The dad's name is Carlos and he works as a Spanish translator at the hospital so I bore my testimony to them in Spanish at the end of one of our lessons. He is super spiritual and is really willing to accept everything we say, so we made sure he understood to ask for himself. He and his wife are from Ecuador and then they have two teenage daughters. 

Carlos is hilarious and we just like being over there and having those spiritual experiences with them. We were over there too long last time, about an hour and a half, because we just want to keep teaching them stuff because they eat it up.

Oh, I fell on my bike this week, too! Don't worry, it was very graceful.  My bike slipped on the ice and I slowly fell on my side. Riding in the snow is actually kind of fun because we slip around. 

I think that is basically it for the week. Oh! I had my first lady who wanted to argue with us, and she told us that if we don't join the Roman Catholic church we are going to burn and that right now we are in a cult and Joseph Smith had an agenda and all that. My companion wanted to argue with her, but I just said thanks and walked away haha. 

Alright, love you all! The Church is true and I feel privileged to be in this work, and see the change in their eyes when we testify of truth.

Love,
Elder Wardle

Merry Christmas from Colorado!

Feliz Navidad!


Well, my week has been pretty eventful and that's sweet. Wednesday morning it snowed and so I had the experience of shoveling snow for the first time, and it was actually pretty fun! But it was snowing pretty hard while we were doing so when we were done it didn't look like we'd done much. We walked that day, and a lot of people let us in cause they probably felt bad for us.

There's this inactive guy named Bob that we met with this week who is pretty interesting. He lives alone but he has a caretaker that lives with him, his daughter is a member and so a while ago he got baptized so that he could go to her wedding in the temple eventually, so he doesn't believe really anything, he just went through the motions.

So we had a pretty deep conversation about the Gospel and the possibility of other churches being true and that whole kind of thing, but we were able to get our point across, and we didn't argue at all, the Spirit was just super strong when we bore testimony about this Gospel.

The work continues and I'm getting used to the cold for sure. Other than that I think that is basically it.

Thanks everybody for writing, and I'm stoked to talk to some of you tomorrow! Adios!

Love,

Elder Wardle

Last days at MTC

Denver is Pretty Darn Cold!

Well, I've been in Denver for about a week now and it's been pretty good. Last Monday President Maynes and his assistants picked us up from the airport and then we had some orientation stuff and a little devotional at his house that evening. Then on Tuesday we had our transfer meeting in the morning and I've been assigned to the town of Lakewood in the Dartmouth ward, which is a suburb of Denver. I'm on a bike! So that is pretty fun, though we get cold with the wind and all. 

Elder Nielsen is my companion...again, my last companion's name was Elder Nielson. My current companion is from Pocatello, so we know a few people, including Missy which is kinda cool. We also are living with members, and they are an awesome older couple who have served a few missions in Denmark and Sweden. 

We don't have many investigators but we have been meeting with a lot of less actives who we are trying to reactivate, so that's good but it's just kind of hard to wake them up so to speak and get them doing the things they should be doing. I'm also speaking English here, so hopefully I don't lose all my Spanish before I get to Argentina. 

We were able to meet with the consulate about a week and a half ago and we just had to sign some things in front of her. It was pretty awesome to hear her speak Spanish because of her accent. She said that the visas should be done within the next few weeks, but we will probably be in Denver for at least six weeks so we arrive with other missionaries at the same time. 

I did get to speak Spanish once when we were knocking doors and the guy didn't speak English, but I really don't know what he understood haha. We are having a good time and it is pretty awesome being able to bear my testimony all day. We have also been working a lot with members, which has been awesome because it feels a little like home as the members seem to be pretty similar here. 

Alright, well I guess that is it, the work goes and it has been wonderful preaching the Gospel during the Christmas season. We should be focused on Him, and the sacrifice He did for us, and I invite all of you to be focused on Him throughout the whole year, and let a spirit of Christmas be in your hearts always, because in all reality we can't do anything of real worth without Him.

Love,
Elder Wardle

Thanksgiving in the MTC!

Que tal!

Alright, our week has been incredible and super enlightening. Stoked to hear that Kaley and Danny are naming their son Fox! One of the games we've been playing here at the MTC is trying to guess others' first names just by what they seem and look like, and sometimes I'm right on and others I couldn't be further from reality.

Anyways, I've been focusing on the idea of agency in my studies and the Seventy that spoke with us yesterday spoke about agency as well. Agency is so important to Heavenly Father that He allowed a third of His children to leave and "lose their first estate" to preserve it. If we are given this incredible chance to choose for ourselves, what are we doing with that gift? 

I have been reflecting on what I have done with my agency and I know that I can do so much better. I want to live in such a way that my will is completely aligned with my Heavenly Father's and He can trust me. As we were speaking within our district last night, I had the thought that I want my obedience to the commandments and covenants to be reflexive, never having to worry about what decision I am going to make when it comes to moral decisions.

Besides that point, I'm so excited for Thanksgiving tomorrow and gratitude is something so simple that we forget to do daily. The Lord blesses us with so many things, big and small, DAILY and we fail to express our gratitude for them. While being on a mission I have tried to be more thankful for my blessings, especially for my progress with the language and learning of the doctrine. As I have done that, I have seen the Lord's hand in my life more and more, which has made me more grateful. It's an awesome cycle! 

Alright, well, I hope you all enjoy your Thanksgiving and I encourage each of you (whoever is reading this) to kneel down at your bedside tomorrow evening and pour your heart out in gratitude for all of your many, many blessings to your Heavenly Father. I love you all! 

Durante manana, estara pensando sobre ustedes y orando por su felicidad.

Con amor,

Elder Wardle

Moments from the MTC

Halfway there in the MTC!

Hey fam!

Well we are a month old now, so I guess that gives us leave to strut around like big dogs on campus here at the MTC. Oh and there are now two younger districts in our zone, so we kind of are! Anyways, I'm appreciating all the support! 

Our district is progressing and our Spanish is coming along with our awesome castellano accent. There are moments when my teacher talks and I just understand without translating, so I feel really blessed that the Lord is helping me out in everything while I am here.

Our district had a really strong testimony/prayer meeting last night and we remarked how the five of us feel like a single companionship. We are all extremely different, but I guess that goes to show that when you are working in the Gospel together, differences are celebrated rather than contended against and we truly become brothers in the work. 

We watched Elder Holland's talk, "Missions are Forever," this Sunday and it was extremely powerful. He challenged us to take the scripture, Moses 1:39, and personalize it, being able to say that this is MY work and MY glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. That is really the big picture of what we need to focus on during the mission and for the rest of our lives. When we place our will in His, we want to continually help others enter into His eternal rest after this life. 

I'm so grateful for this opportunity to serve because it truly doesn't feel like a sacrifice to me to not have to worry about money, girls, or anything else and just focus on others' progress in the Gospel, and I hope that never changes.

Another thing I have been thinking a lot about this week is contentedness (don't know if that's a word but the spell check didn't grab it) and about what happens to progress when we become content. When we are content, we don't worry about pushing ourselves, but just kick back. So I've made it a personal challenge not to get too comfortable, with the language/lessons/whatever, so that I am always striving to improve and better myself. 

Elder Holland talked about how if we want to see miracles, do the things that Jesus did, we have to go out to where He did those things, outside of the comfort zone where God can do incredible things. I think the quote was, "Man's extremity is God's opportunity." 

So I guess that is it for this week. I love you all and love hearing from you. Until next week!

Love,

Elder Wardle

End of Week 4!

Hola Familia!

Well, in the MTC bubble the news of the reelection of Obama came quickly which is not the greatest outcome, but as our branch president said, "This too shall pass." haha Sorry to you guys but I won't be living in the country for the first two years of this term!

Our district continues to be super strong because we are so small. We had some leadership changes this week, so the other companionship in my district got called as zone leaders on Sunday and I got called as our district leader, so I pick up the mail, which is a very exciting experience and I get to feel like Santa bringing gifts to mis companeros. 

The Espanol continues to come and we are beginning to speak in coherent sentences! In lessons sometimes we repeat what each other has said because we don't really understand what they said and our investigators, who are also our teachers, say, "Yeah I know he just said that," which is pretty funny. Hermano Herman, or Cesar when he is our investigator, never can keep a straight face in our lessons and always smirks at us when we are struggling to understand him.

We're are learning every single day and one of the Elders remarked the other night how it is a rare occurrence when we don't have a spiritual experience during a day or class period. He also remarked on how grateful he is that we are all able to invite the Spirit so we're good friends but we are also brothers in the Gospel, which is something that he hasn't ever really had. Basically, we're being humbled and realizing how much that we need to rely on the Lord, not only during this mission but throughout our lives, and when we do that, He can perform miracles through us. The MTC does feel like prison sometimes, but at least I know that it is temporary!

In the first chapter of 1 Nephi, he talks about being blessed of the Lord but he still had many trials in his life. Just because we are having a hard time and feel like we are alone, we can still be incredibly blessed of the Lord. When we rely on the Lord, it doesn't mean that the trials will be lifted, but we will be better able to endure them, and even make them strengths in our lives. Alright well there is the spiritual thought for the week. I love you all and I'm grateful for all of your support.

Love,

Hola World!

We discovered this week how isolated we are in the MTC. We got on our emails and all found out about this huge storm that has hit the East Coast this week? and we haven't heard a thing about it. Well we are now praying for those people and hope everything turns out okay.

Congratulations to Kelsey for getting engaged! That was quick!

Well, the MTC is good, just monotonous sometimes being in class all day but we find ways to have fun still. My teacher, Hermano Herman, is pretty awesome because he is always so focused on everything, but when we aren't paying attention he'll pull out a little paper airplane and throw it at us to wake us up haha.

Yesterday we had TRC, which is where we teach Spanish speakers who live around Provo, just members who want to come in and help us out. Anyways, we got to meet with a man who was actually from Argentina yesterday and we actually got to experience the crazy Castellano accent in its pure form (Hermano Herman tries to do it, but doesn't really get it.)

I guess in Buenos Aires, there is a lot of Italian influence so the accent is also very sing-songy, which will be pretty cool.

Ok, so we met with this man and one of my companions bore his testimony in the small amount of Spanish that we know and the Spirit was so powerful as we met with him. It was an incredible experience because, as Elder Bednar said, "Who you are is far more important than anything you will ever say."

When we testify of Christ and the Book of Mormon, the Spirit is present and touches the hearts of those we are with and they will gain a testimony and become converted. They may not even understand what in the world we are even saying, but as long as they feel the Spirit they will commit to live the commandments and read the Book of Mormon and truly pray for guidance from their Heavenly Father.

I really don't know who reads these letters, but I encourage and exhort you all to please read the Book of Mormon, no matter how many times you have read it, because when you are reading from that book, you will "come closer to God by living by its precepts than by any other book." <-- That's paraphrased so forgive me. I love you all and keep enjoying life!

Love,

Elder Wardle