HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

So we had a pretty hot awesome Christmas here in Argentina. Alright, so the way they celebrate here is nowhere near how awesome it is in the States but it is alright. Basically Fourth of July kind of with barbecue and then fireworks at midnight. A few gifts too. The fireworks went on for a while and my companion tells me it will be worse on New Years so wish me luck. 

Ezequiel, who got baptized last week, got confirmed yesterday so that was pretty good. 

Yesterday we went to got pick up our lunch because they didn´t have time for us to eat with them so we walked to their house, which is probably a little over a mile and then back. We got home completely drenched in sweat it was really gross but pretty funny also. 

Something I learned in this last week is that the Gospel is easy. I was testifying of the Gospel and this came into my mind and I realized how true it was. I already had heard it but not sure if I really understood it. The decision to leave behind our old life is what is difficult. When we give up everything and give it to the Lord, He makes it a lot easier for us. 

There is a quote from C.S. Lewis that I heard lately and really liked. Something about how the Lord doesn´t want to bind or subdue the natural man, but has come to kill him. If we can take off the natural man or kill him, then the Gospel life is easy to live. Not really sure if this makes sense to anyone else but me but I liked it. 

Thank you all for being such an amazing family. Christmas away from your family is not the most fun thing in the world but I know that I am where I am supposed to be and that makes me happy :) 

Happy New Year! Take a bunch of pictures and send them on down here! 

Love,

Hot in Buenos Aires

Hey everybody!!

So, Elder Walker left yesterday and it was kind of weird to send him off to his house. He didn´t really want to leave either but his two years ended so I guess it was his time. 

Found out last night that Elder LeBaron from Arizona is my new companion, and I was super stoked. I already knew him because we have sung together a few times and we met when I first got here, so we are pretty excited. 

So it has gotten pretty hot here in the last few weeks and I am afraid I am going to melt but if you don´t really think about it it isn´t that bad. I learned that eating a ton of meat (a LOT of meat) and then walking fast in the hotness is not healthy for your body. We´ve got a few investigators that are progressing for their baptisms so that should be good. 

We´ve realized that the zone has been a bit disobedient lately so we need a lot of help from the Lord to help us out with that. On Friday we went to the temple with all the other Elders that are going home so that was pretty sweet. 

We did not get to sleep that much this weekend just because a bunch of things happened as Elder Walker was finishing up packing and things like that. So grateful that I got to serve with him. He taught me a lot of what it means to be a leader and how to lead as Christ would. 

I´ve learned a lot more about patience this transfer and I know it is something I need to keep working on. Alright we´ve got to go but you guys are awesome. Keep the faith!

Love,

Elder Wardle

Hot in Argentina

Hey fam!

We´re had a super hot week here in the country side of Buenos Aires. We have a ceiling fan in our room that kind of works but not super well and so we just sweat all night. Hopefully that means we´re just losing a ton of weight every night. 

We´ve got a few solid investigators that are progressing nicely and we are about to finish this transfer up and send my companion packing to go start working and looking for a wife. Pretty crazy. The zone is struggling a bit and so we´re responsible to help them so we need to lift them up a bit more. 

As the Christmas season starts coming in we know that a ton of people are going to be more receptive to the message and that we just have to be diligent in order to help them. 

Sounds like you guys are freezing over there. haha your turn :) 

We had a really cool lesson yesterday in the house of a member with her friend. We realized that you don´t have to teach anything in a fancy way or for super long to have a powerful lesson. We spoke with them for about 15 minutes about basic faith and the Spirit was felt very strongly and the friend is now preparing to be baptized. 

I know that God just wants to give us so many blessings and that if we are faithful that He will give us everything. Love you guys so much

Elder Wardle

November pics 2013 - Zone meeting and Baptism

Summer has Arrived!

Hola Familia!

So we had a pretty solid week here in La Zona Escobar, the zone numbers are improving so we´re happy about that. Tuesday we had a Leader Council meeting that was super cool just because we learned a ton from President and he fed us, pulled pork, which was suuuper good. Then Wednesday we had a zone meeting where we had to teach the zone what we learned and I realized I talk a lot sometimes haha. 

We had a baptism yesterday of an 11 year old kid, Santiago, and he was super prepared. His parents are less actives and got offended a few years ago so they stopped going to church. The dad used to be in the bishopric so it was a big stir in the ward of them coming back. A ton of gossip for sure. 

Oh and another fun fact, since I played the piano last week for the Primary Program they unofficially have made me the ward pianist and so I get to play the hymns  EVERY sacrament meeting, lucky me right? I mess up a ton but I don´t think they mind too much, hope not. 

Heard it was Thanksgiving last week, hope you guys ate some turkey for me! Turkey is not ever eaten here in Argentina, kinda weird. Really thankful for my family and the Gospel. The ability to feel and recognize the Spirit and know that I´m a member of the only Church that has the authority to act in Christ´s name here on the earth. Don´t forget it! Praying that all is well with you all. 

Love,

Elder Wardle

Baptism and also mosquito bites.  And the Temple!

So Tired!

Pretty chill week. We had the primary program in our ward yesterday and yours truly had to play the piano, and yes the told me that I had to do it Sunday morning, so let´s just say I was a little nervous, but it went well. Just played the right hand anyways haha. 

So one of my new responsibilities as a zone leader is we have to call the district leaders every night and see what is happening and how we can help them and I realized I do not enjoy it. I love these guys but I´m super selfish and just want to worry about my own missionary work not theirs too but hey, part of the gig I guess. Also got to do some of my first baptismal interviews this past week which was pretty cool and the came out well. 

So turns out all the American missionaries here in the mission were confused and thought that Thanksgiving was this past Thursday and not the coming one so now we´re super confused. I thought it was the third Thursday of November! So yeah, we were telling everybody happy thanksgiving since they have no idea anyways. 

Alright well that is basically everything super cool. Oh, and the mosquitos destroyed me this past week, counted my upper body and stopped counting there because I had 47 bites! My companion just laughs haha. We´ve got a baptism for this next week and he´s a super cool 11 year old who says words from other countries all the time. Hope you guys enjoy your turkey, I´ll be sweating it up loving every minute of it down here. Love you guys!

Elder Wardle

Crazy Week!

Our week was super busy but way awesome. On Tuesday we had a training meeting for leaders which was pretty boring but it was alright because we got home fast afterward and got to do a lot of work. We´re teaching an 11 year old kid whose parents are less actives because the dad got offended, but now they are ready to come back to church.  And Santiago should be getting baptized in a couple weeks so that will be cool. 

Wednesday was a normal work day, and we planned, so that was enjoyable.  Then Thursday we had interviews with President and I don´t know what in the world happened but now I´m basically the designated pianist whenever nobody else is man enough to say they can play, so I have to make a ton of mistakes. Funny thing, as a zone leader, President just basically assumes he doesn´t have to worry about you at all and your interview lasts about 2 minutes. Some of our zone is pretty lazy so we´ve got to get ´em motivated and converted. Then that night we had a meeting with the stake president and President Ayre, so President came and picked us up in his car and we got a little lost out here in the boonies but it worked out alright. 

Friday, one of my companion´s converts was endowed so we got to go to accompany him and it totally rocked. He was super excited and now he is the ward mission leader in his ward so Elder Walker was contento. And Saturday, the best part, we had a meeting with all three missions from Buenos Aires and the MTC here and Elder Holland came to visit us! I sang with a group of 9 Praise to the Man and Elder Holland smiled at me and said good job. All the sister missionaries get front row seats and from all the missions they basically just filled up the pews in the chapel, but we got lucky and sat in the front because we were singing. 

Elder Holland talked for about an hour, which was awesome, and his wife spoke too. He spoke about a lot of things, was super funny, and said some things that were definitely hard to translate so after a particularly difficult translation he looks at the translator and gives him a kiss on the cheek, that was awesome. What hit me more than anything was when he talked about true conversion. We are a church of 15 million people and we cannot go to every single house and fix every single little problem. 

We are disciples of Christ and if we are converted we will be able to solve our own problems. I love being a missionary. He was saying that he knows there are always obedience issues in the mission but he said it is ridiculous if there is even one. We are representatives of Christ and we have to do this His way, not ours. Alright, I´m done repeating exactly what he said, so let´s just say I´m motivated to keep working a ton. You guys are awesome. Love you a ton

Elder Wardle

Baptism in Garin

RE CAMPO

Hey familia,

First week here in Garín was super sweet. It is basically the opposite of my last area, whereas my last area was pretty rich and tall buildings and basically downtown Manhattan now I´m in super poor area of the province of Buenos Aires. The assistants called last night to get the numbers of our zone and one of them said a little different from Caballito no? 

It rained a few days and we got super muddy because many of the streets are dirt and so everything turns into mud when it rains, which I love, nope, that is a lie. I realized after one of our lessons with less actives that all the members here are cool, so I´m pretty stoked to be here.

We had a baptism here yesterday of the mom of a convert that got baptized back in March. She´s 51 and was already ready to be baptized when I got here so it was pretty smooth sailing for me for her to get baptized. She was super happy to get baptized and then we went to her daughter´s house yesterday for lunch and I learned how to make empanadas and they were super delicious, we made a ton. 

Alright well that is about it, just happy to be here in Garin and hope you guys are doing awesome. Love you!

Elder Wardle

TRASLADOS!!

Welp family, I got kicked out of the city finally haha.

We had a really good week, super busy. I sang in a group for the farewell of the Elders that go home this week on Sunday and then we went to a meeting for trainers yesterday, so obviously I thought I was going to be training but surprises come haha. 

President called me yesterday about 7 in the evening and called me as a zone leader and my companion will be training this transfer. I will now be serving in Garin, which is the country basically and I´m out of the city with a ton of huge buildings to lots of trees and pretty humble surroundings. 

My new companion, Elder Walker, finishes his mission this transfer so I will be ¨killing¨ him as we say in the mission haha. Elder Anglade was and is very nervous to receive his newbie this evening but I know he is going to do great. Always a little sad to leave an area but I feel good about the service I gave there and I´m excited to work where I am at now. 

Everyone was telling me how cool Elder Walker is so I´m super stoked to be with him, and I´m back to being a junior comp, which is always more fun haha. 

Alright, well, I´m just so happy to be on the mission, wherever I am serving. I love you guys so much, and know, with all my heart that this Gospel is true and we´ve got to be prepared NOW. 

Love,

Elder Wardle