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

Elder Marshal and a Baptism!

 Elder Marshall, my trainer! He is totally Awesome!!

The baptism of Paco Dejesus with his family and Elder Marshall

The scoop!

weeell, time for all of the exciting news.

lets see, Quentin l cook came and visited us last Saturday, i forgot to mention that. and he spoke to us at our mission conference. it was amazing we took a photo with him, the whole mission, and when he was walking in, he patted my shoulder and looked me right in the eye, smiled, and it was awesome. after, as we were making our way to the chapel, we all got to walk past and shake his hand. just being in his vicinity you can tell that he is truly an apostle of the lord jesus Christ. he gave a wonderful talk to us, (none of it was written all by inspiration) and he ended by giving us an apostolic blessing on the whole mission, that by our diligent service in the mission, all of us, and everyone that we hold dear would be blessed for it. it was truly comfort to a bit of trouble in the soul, especially when i have a lot of worries for others at home. it was amazing. also we had an investigator that we taught all of the lessons to, and she was ready from day one to be baptized. she just took everything in it was sooooo great. and the most amazing thing, was when we just finished a lesson one night, her and her husband were at the table, and i had just given him a book of Mormon, with a pass along card of the Nauvoo temple on it as a book mark, when i just felt a prompting to tell those two about the temple. i picked up his pass along card, and said, i want to tell you about this. This is a temple. i pointed at her book because she had a card with the salt lake temple on it and said so is that. there are about 140 something temples in the whole world, and theres even one brand new one here in fort Lauderdale. the temples are a place where we can be with our family for forever. and we can also feel the sweetest feeling there that we can ever feel. the temples are the most beautiful place on earth. they are houses of god. when i told them that i looked over to her, and saw her eyes light up and i could tell that she felt something big when i told her that and that that is what she deeply desired. almost like she had been wondering about it for a while, and had finally just got her answer. it was truly humbling. well that's pretty much it for this week if i had more time, but sadly i don't love yall.

Elder Wardell

Arrived in Florida...April 21, 2014

weeell its scoop time cuz I only have forty minutes left. yeah our mission gets an hour and a half. for email. its totally awesome! whew anyway, so on Tuesday, for the first time in six weeks, I left mexico. we left the ccm at about 230, and rode all the way to the airport, got in checked our bags, everything went off without a hiccup, up until we had to say goodbye to elder lorimier and Hermana melchor. there were a lot of tears. Hermana salima we had to say goodbye to before we even left the ccm it was saddening. but on the bright side, we will see each other again. so we got on our flight, and my head hit the window and I was out. (we didn't sleep Monday night, sooo) then I felt takeoff, and was awake for that, then fell asleep again, didn't wake up until we were getting in to dallas. we get there, go through customs, get our bags checked for the next flight, and then we had to say goodbye to Hermana leatherman and Hermana bailey. it was again sad. but we still had me elders swensen and tenny and four hermanas. it was still a party haha. we got over to our terminal. and we went to the payphones and I called home. asked if it was the wardells and then said, hi mom. :) mom was quiet for a second and then we just laughed and talked. so we got on the plane for fort Lauderdale, elder swensen sat right behind me, and we get going. and I hear this lady talking to elder swensen. she was an older lady, a Baptist, and she was asking him about being a missionary, you know she saw the tag, and we ended up teaching her about the gospel the restoration, and the plan of salvation. mom has more of that in a letter. im almost positive she was touched by what we talked about, and id be interested to talk to her a couple years from now. we got to fort Lauderdale, and when I stepped onto the jetway, my right palm was instantly sweaty. like soaked. dripping, wet. ahaha yes I had my first taste of humidity. it was very interesting. and when we walked into the airport, it was still the same I was like ayayay. haha president and sister Anderson were there waiting for us with big smiles on their faces, we got the bags loaded up, and drove to the hotel. we dropped bags off, then went to president and sister andersons house for dinner and first night orientation. we had a dinner that was roast, carrots potatoes, and cookies and ice cream for dessert. sister Anderson, Is an awesome of a cook as my mother is, I felt like I was home. hahaha well we went to the hotel, slept got up the next morning and went to transfer meeting. we started. and elder swensen and tenny got plucked away, and stayed in the same zone. luckys hahaha. and then, I got my papa. his name is elder marshall. he is TOTALLY AWESOME. he came walking over with a huge smile on his face, and gave me a big hug and was like, aaaah man I knew it! he told me he had picked me out when we came walking in. it was cool. so we loaded up and started for home. we are in north western Miami. the beach is our eastern boundary. haha we are out in the suburbs so theres not a whole lot of city but its not bad. it reminds me a lot of the show burn notice. that was the first thing I thought of when I got to our area. ahaha. we stopped by walmart on the way home to do a bit of shopping, and when got home, the inside of our car was so loaded with stuff, that elder marshall had to get our and unload a bunch of stuff before any of the other three of us could get out. im in the same apartment as my district leader and his comp. yeah so its good, weve had some good experiences so far. we don't do tracting here. we do what is called harvesting, where we knock doors, and tell people that we are representatives of jesus Christ, snd that he sent us there that day to share a prayer of peace and comfort with them. and we actually have a lot of success with it. theres a lot we have to refer to the creole missionaries and the English ones, but theres a lot of people whose lives we touch with it, and we are also one of the highest baptizing missions. well, we have a couple of investigators, one her name is Marilyn is a solid investigator, already accepted baptism we just are teaching her the lessons and she is just taking it all in its so cool. because that apparently doesn't ever happen to greenies in their first transfer, let alone week. so its good. well sadly I haven't anymore time so ill have to sign off till next week. btw I wont be able to send photos till next week cuz I don't have anyway to upload them :( so its sad, but ok anyway, till next week! elder britton wardell

Last day of Missionary Training

well its my last day in the mtc and we get to email really quick. so, heres whats happening. i leave at about 230 in the morning to go to the airport and then ill leave the airport at like six to go to dallas, and then its over to fort lauderdale.

 so yesterday, was amazing. this just cant wait for the scoop. so i had to speak in sacrament meeting and i talked about the apostasy and the restoration of the gospel. and so i started out by talking about what the gospel was and that christ established it on the earth, and after he left the apostles were in charge of preaching the gospel. after they were killed off the gospel was gone. so when i talked about the gospel i talked about how it included the ordinances necessary for salvation in the kingdom of god. which are baptism, confirmation, for men the reception of the priesthood, then temple ordinances and then temple marriage. and theres also enduring to the end and all that entails. (its not an ordanince, but its the other part of the gospel) then i talked about how when the father and the son appeared to man once more, they began their restoration. the first thing restored was the prieshood, which allowed baptism and confirmation to be restored, because those are performed through the priesthood.

 then i had an interesting thought. most people think that the restoration was the first vision, the translation of the book of mormon, and joseph  and oliver recieving the priesthood, and while those are three important parts, its not all. most people dont realize that there is more to the restoration, and that it took a long span of many years for the restoration to be complete. becuase the ordinances in the temple couldnt be completed until the temple was once again on the earth,  there were more temple ordinances restored when the nauvoo temple was built, and that was many years after the first vision. its something we dont always think about.  the word restore, in basis means to bring back, and the past tense, means to have been brought back.

 love you all, say your prayers, read your scriptures, goodbye
Elder Wardell

Note from Mom:
As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we know that our Church was not
"started" by Joseph Smith, but rather Joseph Smith was called by Our Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ to restore Christ's Church to the earth. Just as Elder Wardell mentioned above after Jesus Christ was crucified and resurrected His 12 Apostles kept teaching Christ's doctrine and helped His work go forward. After the Apostles were killed Christ's church disappeared from the earth. During this period of time known as the Great Apostasy the Gospel of Jesus Christ was no where to be found on the earth. After the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ  through the Prophet Joseph Smith Christ's Church can again be found on earth today. We have a prophet who leads and guides our church and we have 12 Apostles just as Jesus Christ did in His day.  If you have any questions or would like to learn more please visit www.mormon.org  of course you can always ask questions here and I will do my best to answer them. 

The link below will take you to a written Testimony  of Jesus Christ from our Prophet and  the Twelve Apostles. This was written in 2000.  https://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/images/gospel-library/manual/34591/34591_000_APP_04-livingChrist.pdf