Birthday for a Missionary

 Letter from 1-5-14 

First day as a grown up... a respectable 20 year old! 

 Last night as a teenager...

weeell here's the scoop.

I'm officially NOT A TEEENAGER!!!!!

funny as it worked out, as of this very day. so now that i'm officially 20 years old, guess what i'm gonna do? 

that's right, have a normal pday and then get back to missionary work! :) haha pday will be fun today though  we are going to lunch at this awesome pizza place, because this amazing member gave a rather generous check, and then we are going bowling, and then we are finsihing the pday off at the home of a member, and then after 6, the best part. back to work! I'm really loving my mission work. it's definitely hard, the hardest thing of my life so far, but it's totally worth it. for instance, yesterday, we found this pretty cool guy, who is a member, just hasnt been to church for a year and a half, that wants to get back. he's really great. you know, of all of my mission, for me personally the greatest thing is reactivation. Don't misunderstand, baptisms are amazing, and it's so wonderful to see the joy that comes into peoples lives and the light that comes to their eyes when they go under and come out of the water, but so much more exciting and wonderful, is to see the blessings that come to peoples lives when that light comes back to their eyes! i absolutely love it when we have the opportunity to work with members who for whatever reason, have fallen away a little bit, who may sometimes feel they have gone to far, or just can't come back, and then we bring them back. i love to see the blessings they get in life, and the pure joy they feel, when they feel the pure love of our savior. that is the thing i love the best.

so we are working with that brother, and we are also working with a guy named steve. Long story short, we found steve, prayed with him, taught him about the atonement, (because he told us that he want's to feel gods forgiveness,) and we invited him to be baptised and he said yes.

so we were at church and we ended up talking about baptisms for the dead, and he wants to do baptisms for his family, and asked what he needs to do to be able to do that. 

we are more than happy to oblige :)

haha Well i love yall, 

Till next week,.

Elder Wardell

 Some days are tougher than other days...

Especially when you have to fix your bike a ton...

Arm Wrestling....

Christmas in Florida...

 Letter from 12-29-14

 Me, about to step into the Stingray...

 Calender from Home

 Elder Rubio bowling...

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeell here's the scoop

well, as you all might very well possibly know, unless you are buddhist, it was cristmas this last week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder rubio and i had a blast this past week. we woke up and immedieatly went out to open presents, and boy was there a plethora (mom ;) hahaha) of wrapping paper to be torn. that was becasue i got an awesome box from not only my parents, but also my awesome grandma as well!!

and actually family, i think gram loves me the most because i got TWO boxes from her! yeah, guess who i'm livin with after the mission ;) haha and also an awesome box from aunt val and uncle stacey. Elder Rubio and I loved the stockings. they are so cool.

well, this past week we also had the opportunity to skype home, and after all of the many tears not shed, hahaha yeah it was awesome to get to see the fam bam! it's crazy to cuz next week when i email home, i will be 20! and it will officially be 10 months since i left for my mission!. that was yesterday wasn't it?

well another amazing thing that happened this past week, was we got invited over to a members home, for a christmas eve dinner, dessert, and awesome gift exchange game. and as most of you know, Elder Wardell loves cars, luckily, brother Jaimes, does as well, and he was kind enough to let us take some awesome photos with/in his BRAND NEW 2014 CORVETTE STINGRAY!  I was overjoyed. haha it was awesome. 

and this last pday, we also went bowling! i just remembered that. we went with the sisters in our district to a bowling alley and we had a blast! well i love you guys! that'll be all for this week

talk to you guys next week.

Elder Wardel

Baptism!!

Letter from 12-22-14 

weeeell here's the scoop.

BAPTISM!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAND CONFIRMATION!!!!!!!

so nica was baptised and confirmed this past saturday and sunday!! She is so awesome! and if all goes well we will be working with her family this next couple weeks.!!!!! she is awesome, in her baptismal interview with elder hayward, he asked her if she knew who thomas s monson was (Prophet, and President of the Church) and she kinda laughed and said "oh i watch general conference!" that's how awesome she is!

well with this up and coming christmas we will be getting to skype home, which is gonna be awesome! the last time we did that was 7 months ago on mothers day. crazy how fast the time moves by right? :) 

speaking of Elder Hayward, he gave birth this last week! haha he has a brand new son!

His name is Elder Kertamus! funny enough, when we first met him, he steps out of the car and i said "are you the one from montana?"  (elder rubio and i listened to the transfer read outs over the phone)  and he looked at me and said, "Wardell.... do you know Kelly and Jason and jessica and kara?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" MIND BLOWN haha He lived in helena montana, for i think like 10 years, in the same ward as a bunch of my wardell family up there! it was awesome! well

i love yall! can't wait to talk to you guys next week. and for 5 of you this thursday! ;)

Elder Wardell

Mission Christmas Conference

Letter from 12-16-14  

 Elder Rubio and I enjoying some Christmas packages. 

Oh little town of Missionary Apartment 

weeeeeell, here's the scoop.

     so first off, i just wanted to start with a little piece about my mother. i'm quite positive i have the most excited mother on the face of the whole planet, who has about the most excitement i think i've ever seen for her child on a mission. so at our christmas conference this past wednesday, we walked into the gym of the chapel that we were at, and there were tables set up, and next to each place there was a little ornament that showed the nativity. one of the senior missionaries told the whole mission to be quiet, and said, Elder Wardell! where is Elder Wardell. stand up elder Wardell!

Everyone look at the ornaments on your table, Elder Wardell's mom was so kind as to make all these ornaments so everyone give elder Wardell a big round of applause! haha i don't think i've ever been so red faced in my life! haha it was great though.

Well, this last week elder rubio and i got to make gingerbread houses! it was the first time for him, he had a blast! we also got to decorate our super duper charlie brown christmas tree. it's ok though we are on our mission so the mini tree is acceptable! haha

so somehting awesome this week, that happened, was that WE HAVE A BAPTISM THIS SATURDAY!!!!!!!! her name is Nica, she has been coming to church for the past two years and was never able to be baptised because her parents would never sign off on it, but now she's old enough so she is getting baptised!!!!!!!!!!!!

it's so exciting, A common term amongst the missionaries, is the word throw down. There are many missionaries who like to "throw down" meaning to chastise, in a loving but blunt way. well, elder rubio and i discovered through our personal studies, that the lord is able to throw down as well, especialy when you read something in your personal studies that literally just open your eyes to changes that need to be made. it's ok though, this is the purpose of life! 

Well, i love yall, can't wait to talk to you next week!

Elder Wardell

Note from Mom:  We wanted a way to help our missionaries serving in the Great Florida Fort Lauderdale  Mission. We sent these ornaments to the missionaries hoping they could use them to teach others about Our Savior Jesus Christ and  his earthly mission. The birth of our Savior is a gift we can all be grateful for.

My new updated bike-- Genius idea from Elder Park 

Lessons we learn....

Letter from 12-8-14

Well, Here's the scoop.

     So, this past week, i had an AWESOME opportunity to go on an exchange with my BOSS zone leader, Elder Mendenhall. He is just awesome! we talked about alot of cool missionary things, and alot of ways to improve in missionary work. it was AWESOME. we finished the night with dinner with his recent convert, (Elder Mendenhall served in jupiter north, i think right before i came into the mission) Matt. Matt is the bomb. we actually today for pday are going to matt's beach house for a barbecue with us the other two, and four other elders it's gonna be sweet!

so last pday, we went to the duck pond, and fed the ducks, and elder Moorali, convinced us to go to this Hippie store!!!!! it was rather interesting. well, our week here, this past week wasn't our best week. Some of the people that we have been working with are not ready to recieve the gospel. or as we like to say, bums. And, we have commited the unforgiveable sin in the mission of, not working with the members. Let me explain to you the difference of working with members, and working by yourself as a missionary. You can cook with a fire, or with a lighter.  slightly exaggerated yes, but truly, members are THE gamechanger in missionary work is the members. do all that you can to help the missionaries in their missionary service, because if every investigators were to meet members, and if every lesson with an investigator had member present, baptisms would skyrocket and we would see the membership grow dramatically! this is why prophets have spoken, every member a missionary. it's a mistake that i need to rectify, and something that every missionary needs. so wherever you are, please help the missionaries. you don't just help them, you literally save souls. and great is the joy when we labor in the service of our god. you do not need a name tag and a fancy title to be a missionary. 

well i love yall.!

Elder Wardell

Man that Cooks--gets many blessings!

Letter from 12-1-15 

weell, here's the scoop!

I've discovered that biscuits and gravy in the mission field, and in the misssionary apartment, made by another missionary fresh in the morning at 7 oclock, seems to be a rather awesome bribery tool! haha Elder Rubio and I kicked off last week with biscuits and gravy, and i later had them with Elder Hayward, whilst we were on exchange. And as soon as the zone leaders heard that i had made biscuits and gravy, they decided it was high time that we had an exchange with them too! so i think i've decided to just make it an exchange tradition. also, because it was thanksgiving week, i had decided to go a little crazy in the kitchen, and also made some kind of a corn bread, with pork sausage mixed in, Elder rubio and i loved it and it made for a good breakfast and lunch. Yes, we are striving for a healthy diet! haha. but thanksgiving day was pretty good! we got to eat at 3 seperate appointments, and then again with this awesome recent convert family on friday. it was AWESOME!!!!!!! Well, Elder Hayward and I were on exchange last week, and i discovered that this exchange was the first one out of my whole mission, where i acutally spent the night at a different house. i had never been on exchange before where i left the house so it was pretty cool! We had a gnarly comp study that talked about the difference between captain moroni and teancum and why it's important to do as moroni did.

it was pretty cool!

well, i love yall, talk to ya next week!

Elder Wardell