1st Transfer

well, this week saw some pretty nice things. :) all of our investigators have progressed even more! this sunday should hopefully see two people swimming!

im so excited. its so amazing when you see peoples eyes light up with the light of the gospel of jesus Christ, and when they come to feel his love in their lives.

the scripture this week that was really a huge help many times, was alma 34 41 where it says. that you would endure all things with patience, with a firm hope that you will oneday rest from your labors. that helpes some of the members that we visited with, and me also this week as well. we should always remember that there is all the blessings of god and jesus christ waithing for us at the end, as long as we work hard. work now, and rest later.

 

i also had the opportunity this week to watch "on the lords errand the life of thomas s monson", a truly wonderful inspiration, and a great source of much wisdom. it also makes me grateful for my small responsibilities in life, when i see what some others have been placed with, at an age just above my own.

 Elder Marshall and i had an encounter with a man who was totally borracho. it was rather interesting. Borracho means hes had a bit to much to drink.

 

well,

love yall always keep the faith

Faith is the key to everything.

Elder Wardell

 

Note From Mom.... This is a picture of Elder Wardell's 1st District in Florida. Two of these Elders have been transferred to a new area and will have two new Elders take their place in this District. In the mission field the missionaries are grouped into Districts, then Zones, and then the Mission. These groups work together for training, support and leadership purposes.

 

Meet Maren....

May 19, 2014

 

 

Elder Wardell with Maren...(He says yes, I named my bike Maren, NO, I'm not telling you why!!)

 

weeell. this week was pretty good. we saw a definite miracle and it is AWESOME

so we have this investigator, that from day one, has just been taking it all in, and loves everything that we share with her, and most importantly, she believes that it is true. The only set back we had with her being able to get baptised, is that her and her boyfriend live together, and they are not married, but she was planning on moving out anyway, but couldnt find a place anywhere, so we told her we would fast for her, so we did, and the literal next day, when we stopped by, she informed us that he had just decided to move out! it was a complete miracle! and now, as a result she will be able to be baptised like she wanted to. her name is so aweome too, it's Dulce Rico, which in english would be, sweet candy. haha soo funny.

 

so a little cute thing that happened this week was when we visited this family. now the mom is a member, but not active at all and the dad has been investigating for a long time, believes everything, knows its true, but cannot get baptised yet. within abt two weeks though that will change :)!! anyway we were visiting them its the first time ive ever been over there, and i was sitting on the couch, and their little boy comes running up to me, hes a year and a half, and gave me five. i then said to him, "mira" which means "look!" and i held up my watch, close to my face, and whislted and really subtly hit the light button. he thought it was the coolest thing. haha so i did it a couple more times, and then he ran over to elder marshall and said "mira mira!" , and grabbed for his watch. elder marshall started laughing. it was the cutest thing ive seen thus far on my mission. haha. and apparently my spanish IS! improving. because while we were there, they were shocked that ive only been out two and a half months, because they said that my accent was almost perfect. i still think they are just tryin to make me feel better haha.

 

well i had some great times in the scriptures this week. and also in preach my gospel.

on page 61 in PMG there are two quotes that really stuck out to me "because of his atonement christ can plead with the father on our behalf"   I've always grown up always knowing that his atonement was necessary but never really actually understood like WHY it was necessary till i read that quote. because christ took upon our sins he, when the day comes, will be able to talk with the father on our behalf, with complete understanding of us.

 

the other, is "..(christ) forgives our sins when we accept him, repent and obey his commandments. through the atonement and living the gospel we become worthy to enter gods presence.."

the two key words in that are forgives, and living. forgives is in the present form which means it is happening right now, every progessing second. its not just a one time thing.

the other is living. we dont just live the gospel one time, thats it we are good. we need to live it, and keep living it, always renewing and remembering every covenant and we can have the reward. its a day by day thing.

 

in alma 34 alma is talking to the zoramites, and tells them about prayer, Cry unto him for mercy, humble yourselves, continue in prayer, in the fields, houses, morning day and night, against your enemies, against the devil, for the crops, for your flocks, pour out your souls, in your secret places. continually for your welfare and for those around you. he teaches them to pray for everything everywhere always. and then teaches them that its not all, but to do as christ would, and that if they dont their prayer is in vain. Faith (prayer) without works(do as christ would) is dead

james 2-17 and alma 34 14-29

 

gotta run! next week!

Loving Florida....

May 12, 2014

 

Our chapel sits on the water....

 

weeell, heres the scoop for the week. not  a lot of exciting stuff, like nothing major happened.

however we did learn a valuable lesson about teaching.

 

members present.

we also had a lot of MPL's (member present lessons) this week, and myyy how they make a HUGE difference. MPL's the difference that having a member with you can be described as the difference that Alma had, when Amulek was there: you had alma, who had just this great knowledge of the gospel, and was ready and willing to teach it, but nobody listened to him. they didn't know him. he was different from them. When he had amulek there with him, he had someone, that the people recognized to be one of them. Some one they could relate to. some one that was the same as them. As missionaries, ive already seen this manytimes. how people just shut us out because they see a couple of teenage white guys who can't hardly speak their language. they see someone that they don't know. someone that is different than them. And then we bring a member by, they see someone that is around their same age. who has had their same experiences. someone who looks the same as they do. someone who speaks their exact language. and when that person bears pure testimony in the same fashion that we do, and when they see that he testifies of the same truth that we do, and brings the same spirit that we do, they see us as the same. they listen to us. the difference in missionary work with members, than with out, is like using a rowboat, or a powerboat. you'll get there, but the one gets you there faster. Elder Marshall and I will definitely make it a priority to have a member at our lessons whenever we can.

that and always saying our prayer of thanks after everything. it makes us look for all of the good that we get in life, and from that we receive even more blessings.

 

love yall Elder Wardell.

Baptisms and a New Temple

May 5, 2012   

heres the scoop! ait. so this week, was AWESOME!!!!!

 

oh wow how awesome this was.

lets see, i had my first baptism!!!!! her name is marilyn and this week she was baptized. she has been golden from the start, everything we taught her, just makes so much sense to her and she has been just taking it all in, and half the time she would finish sentences for us. hahaha it was soooo funny. anyways she was baptized and confirmed, and was able to attend the other cool thing that happened this week. THE DEDICATION OF THE FLORIDA FORT LAUDERDALE TEMPLE!!!!!!! its the first and only temple in our whole mission, and we were able to go to its dedeication. President Uchdorf was who came, along with Elder D Todd Cristopherson, Elder Ronald A Rasband, Elder Kent Richards, and Bishop Gary Stephensen. oh my gosh the dedication was beautiful, as is the temple itself. i got here in the last week of the open house and wasnt able to attend that, but now that it is in operation, missionaries may go once a quarter, and you bet ur behind that i will be there every possible time that i can.! oh this week was great. we saw so many miracles and blessings, and had so many wonderful lessons. well unfortunately i do not have more time, so i will have to leave but i love yall, and till next week!.

 Elder Britton

                Walker