¡Milagros en Argentina!

Hola familia!

We had an awesome week in the Parque Chacabuco ward! My Spanish is doing a lot better. So, I´ve got some stories so I´m just going to jump right in.

Brandon and Jon, two cousins who are 16 and 12, respectively, came to church last week and they were super stoked to come to church this week, so we went to their house probably every day to see them and they weren´t there, but we met about 4 different family members that live there. It was really funny because they live on the second floor so we just have to yell at them and someone comes to talk to us through the window. 

We talked to Brandon´s younger sister on Saturday afternoon when we were supposed to have a lesson with all of them, and she tells us that none of their family really likes church and that they´re probably not going to come. So, then we go and look for them to take them to church on Sunday morning, and no one answers. We were super bummed and then later in the afternoon we go by to see what happened. There is a soccer field out in front of where they live and we turn the corner and look over at the soccer field and we see Jon running away from us. Then we wait for a little bit and we see him come around the corner, see us, then walk away. We went all Mission Impossible and snuck up on him a little bit and talked to him, because we thought that maybe one of his parents told him not to talk to us.  We asked him what was up and he told us that he was just scared because he thought we were mad that he didn´t come to church. We explained that no way we were mad, just sad and we invited him again. He also told us that he had been reading the book we´d given him, so that was awesome.

When we actually showed up to church all we had with us was our confirmation, which was great but none of our other investigators came. So we go in and the bishop tells us there is a family whose dad isn´t a member and he wants to be taught. We sit by them and then in Elders´ Quorum the subject was priesthood blessings, so he tells us after the meeting that he would really like if we gave his wife a blessing. I guess they just moved to be closer to treatments for her health, we think she has cancer, so we give her a blessing and they were both very emotional.  It was just a miracle, though. Incredible

I know that we are so blessed when we just do what our Heavenly Father wants us to do. He doesn´t ask much, just obedience, and He promises EVERYTHING in return. Doesn´t matter how worn out I am while on the mission, it doesn´t matter how much I do or don´t understand, I am always happy. I love being here and I wouldn´t want to be anywhere else. Of course I miss all of you, but this work is the most amazing thing in the world. I love these people, people that I haven´t even met I already love and it is such a blessing. 

Thank you all for all your support. Pray for me, cause I´m praying for you. (And yes, I know it doesn´t exactly work like that but hey, it´s no big deal, right?) We´re doing three different divisions this week so I´ll be with three different latins for three days this week, hopefully I come back speaking like a native. Alright, until next week!

Love,

Elder Wardle

NEW PICS FROM ELDER WARDLE! 4-15-2013

MIRACLE BAPTISM!!

Hola familia!

So we had one of the awesomest weeks ever, except I was sick for half of it and couldn´t eat. I got really really sick between the sessions of conference last Sunday and then couldn´t really hold anything in for the next 3 or 4 days, so I´m pretty sure I lost most of my chubbiness so woohoo! 

Anyways, we had a miracle baptism. We met Daiana Mamani a week and a half ago.  Her whole family knows about our church and she went when she was little but never got baptized so now her whole family is inactive. We started teaching her and she came to three of the four sessions of conference.  We taught her all this last week in preparation for her baptism, and then she got baptized yesterday! It was incredible. Every time we taught her the Spirit was so strong and there was no way any of us, especially her, could deny that this is the true church. 

I´m so happy to be here in Argentina. I know I´ve been blessed with the gift of tongues because when I am in lessons I can understand basically everything and I barely have to think about it, but outside of lessons I really have to work to understand. It is such an incredible blessing. 

On Wednesday we were given the special opportunity to watch the First Presidency talks from the Priesthood Session of conference because we didn´t watch it last week because the broadcast was too late. So we got to watch that and it was incredible how focused on missionary work both the talks of President Eyring and President Monson were. President Uchtdorff´s talk was amazing too. 

Just pray for missionary opportunities, because I know without a doubt that Heavenly Father is preparing people that all of us know so that they can accept the Gospel in their lives. If we all just prayed and asked, names would come into our minds of who we should invite to church, or something like that. 

I've experienced too many miracles already to be able to deny that Heavenly Father loves each of us so much, and He loves our neighbors and friends just as much and wants them to be experiencing the blessings of the Gospel NOW, ALREADY. 

I feel like I´m preaching but I just love this work. Keep praying and reading, because that´s what is going to keep us in the right way. Read Alma 37 :) I love all of you so much. I pray for all of you every night. 

Con amor,

Elder Wardle

CONFERENCE AND END OF THE TRANSFER

¡Hola!

We had a really awesome week and conference was so awesome, though it was in Spanish. I think I was taught more by the Spirit than I ever have before because I would get pieces of what they were saying and then I´d think about the topic and think of things that I didn´t know before that I know the speakers weren´t saying. 

Elder Scott prerecorded his talk in Spanish, so his awesome voice was speaking to us instead of the translator.

We started teaching this girl named Daiana who is 15 and she is the youngest of 12 kids and she´s the only one that hasn´t been baptized. All the rest of her family is inactive, so we are hoping and praying that we will be able to reactivate them and she´s got a baptismal date for this Sunday. She knows it is all true so we´re going to see her every day and make sure she is prepared for her baptism!

It was the end of the transfer yesterday so we got transfer calls at about 10:45 and Elder Pastrana and I are both staying here in the Parque Chacabuco ward together for another transfer! It´s what we both wanted. Elder Pastrana told me that when President told him that he would be training me here, he said initially he had wanted to put me with a Latin but the Spirit was so strong that Elder Pastrana and I were supposed to be together. I love this Elder so much, this transfer he got called to be a district leader and he´s super nervous but I know he is going to do awesome. 

Oh, and I´ll be sending pictures of weird things that are here in Argentina too. 

Love,

Elder Wardle

Recent Pics from Argentina

HOLA FAMILIA!

So today has been kind of crazy because we went downtown to buy cheap soccer jerseys and we spent a lot of time there so we have no time to email today so I'm sorry if this is short.


Our week was really good though, yesterday we had the confirmations of Uriel and Kevin and they were really excited to come up in front of everyone haha. The whole stake is on a trek, yep just like the ones we do in the States where we dress up like pioneers and pull handcarts, so we had about 25% of the ward in church yesterday which was really weird.

So as for the Spanish, I´m basically able to understand everything, or at least catch the gist of what people are saying, and then if I don´t I've got my trusty companion right next to me to ask, though even he doesn't know what they´re saying sometimes. I`m speaking alright, and the other elders that live with us say that I speak perfect Spanish in my sleep, I just wish that happened somewhere else besides my dreams haha.

We found a ton of people this week so that was great. We met with this one kid, named Walter, who is 15 and loves basketball and knows all the American teams. My companion was flipping out because no one here knows any teams except the Spurs because Ginobili plays for them. Anyways, Walter is awesome and was super excited to read the Book of Mormon, so we'll see what happened when we talk with him tomorrow.

Oh and they kind of celebrate Easter the same here, but mostly just with candy, I don´t think they have any kind of Easter egg hunts or anything like that. Just chocolate eggs. Alright, I love you all and keep being awesome!

Elder Wardle