Miracles (1-26-2015)

family :)

     Im afraid I will have to be quick this week as we have some appointments and business to attend too. But things are going absolutely great here. My new companions name is Elder Smith and we act as if we were best friends going up. He is a great teacher and he loves to follow preach my gospel. Which I love! We have not stopped laughing since day one. I will be training him on how to be a zone leader. But he all ready knows what he is doing... so there are now worries there. He is a stud! He goes home in two transfers though. I miss him all ready!

    We have three baptismal dates set wit investigators in our area right now. The work is progressing nicely and we are staying really busy. Which I love! 

    Jessie is a new investigator that we found this week. His wifes name is Sherry and they are both 18 and she is pregnant. They are also homeless. So we have a lot on our plates but we also have an amazing opportunity to help them. It's amazing to feel like you are needed. But also exhausting! aha. We taught Jessie for the first time on Tuesday and then we have taught him everyday since. Which has been really cool. And it's what PMG says to do. Which is awesome! he is progressing really nicely and he has been to church twice! They were living in a hotel for a couple days and during that time they had a meeting with the bishop. When the Bishop was finished he called us into his office and told us that we needed to see them everyday and help them pray and read the book of mormon. And that's what we did. And God provided a temporary place for them to live at a less active members home. Which is really cool! It's interesting how the Lord does that! aha. Jessie is working towards a baptism date for Feb. 28th. He is super stoked! 

     Kim is doing really well. We moved her into a new apartment this morning and it is going to be so good for her. It's her own place where she can just feel at peace. We have a lesson with her tonight. Hopefully things go well. 

     Allie we havent been able to meet with in a while which is a bummer. :( But she is a great girl and hopefully we can be bale to teach her shortly.

     Father in Heaven is constantly looking out for me. I am so grateful for all the blessings that I receive each and every day. I am so grateful for a gospel of peace. That the world doesn't have to look so dark and pale all the time. What a blessing.

I love you all :)

Elder Wardle

quick email (1-29-2015)

family :)

     Im afraid I will have to be quick this week as we have some appointments and business to attend too. But things are going absolutely great here. My new companions name is Elder Smith and we act as if we were best friends going up. He is a great teacher and he loves to follow preach my gospel. Which I love! We have not stopped laughing since day one. I will be training him on how to be a zone leader. But he all ready knows what he is doing... so there are now worries there. He is a stud! He goes home in two transfers though. I miss him all ready!

    We have three baptismal dates set wit investigators in our area right now. The work is progressing nicely and we are staying really busy. Which I love! 

    Jessie is a new investigator that we found this week. His wifes name is Sherry and they are both 18 and she is pregnant. They are also homeless. So we have a lot on our plates but we also have an amazing opportunity to help them. It's amazing to feel like you are needed. But also exhausting! aha. We taught Jessie for the first time on Tuesday and then we have taught him everyday since. Which has been really cool. And it's what PMG says to do. Which is awesome! he is progressing really nicely and he has been to church twice! They were living in a hotel for a couple days and during that time they had a meeting with the bishop. When the Bishop was finished he called us into his office and told us that we needed to see them everyday and help them pray and read the book of mormon. And that's what we did. And God provided a temporary place for them to live at a less active members home. Which is really cool! It's interesting how the Lord does that! aha. Jessie is working towards a baptism date for Feb. 28th. He is super stoked! 

     Kim is doing really well. We moved her into a new apartment this morning and it is going to be so good for her. It's her own place where she can just feel at peace. We have a lesson with her tonight. Hopefully things go well. 

     Allie we havent been able to meet with in a while which is a bummer. :( But she is a great girl and hopefully we can be bale to teach her shortly.

     Father in Heaven is constantly looking out for me. I am so grateful for all the blessings that I receive each and every day. I am so grateful for a gospel of peace. That the world doesn't have to look so dark and pale all the time. What a blessing.

I love you all :)

Elder Wardle

New Investigators and an Engagement (1-12-2015)

Dear Family,

Wow, what a week. We were blessed a ton. And it seems like life just can;t get any better. And then more wonderful blessings keep coming. So I don't even know what to do with myself because the Lord is blessing us so much. It's so great. This week we found four new investigators. Our teaching pool has gotten pretty bignLife is just so great! aha. 

A little bit of news. Elder Belliston will be going home on Thursday :( So I will be blessed with a new companion on Thursday. greatest thing about being a zone leader is that you don't have to worry who you will get as companion because you know that they are going to be obedient and they will know how to do great work. So am I excited! 

We taught Kim this week. Twice actually. She is doing really well. And she has really felt the Savior changing her life. Its amazing. She has been ravages with several addictions and now she is feeling herself being freed because of the Savior. It's been wonderful for her to be able to meet with us and we are learning so much from her true repentance. She is amazing.

We met with a wonderful girl named Allison this week as well. She is another friend of a return missionary in the ward. And she just hasn't felt forgiven for some of the things she has done. So we are striving to help her feel forgiveness through repentance. 

I have such a wonderful testimony of forgiveness. It's amazing. Because of the atonement of the Savior we can all feel forgiveness.

So... the engagement party!! 

We were told last night to go to the Clemons house at 6 so that we could watch the CES devotional. And that's what we did... but no YSA people were there. But The entire Clemons clan (there is like 13 of them) and Emily Clemons bf's family was there. So we were invited in and there was a bunch of food. And we were just so confused with what was going on. aha. Wheres the devotional?! Anyways, Edward proposed to Emily! It was crazy! ahaha. I wrote all about it in my journal. It was awesome. I didn't think I would witness that on my mission!

Anyways, I love you all! Thanks for all that you do!

Elder Wardle

Blessings, blessings blessings (1-5-2015)

Hello :)

It seemed like with such a wonderful Christmas that the Lord would hold off on some of the blessings he has been giving us, But we were wrong. He has blessed us so much! I guess it's because we have asked for them. Funny how that works? After Virgilia was baptized we had 9 investigators who we thought would progress. But for some reason we just had the hardest time getting in with them. So we were back at square one. Well, the week before last we found 3 new investigators and then this week we found another 3 and then 1 more this morning so we are truly being blessed! On Saturday, the weather was great. So we decided to let the North Elders borrow the car (since theirs is in the shop) and we just went a knockin! And it as amazing! We just found a ton of people to teach. A fifth grade teacher named Sammy, A nineteen year old named Erica, a women named Tammy and the list goes on. It was amazing. It seemed like everyone was interested! So we will definitely follow up with all of them and see where things go from there! But a little about the new investigators that we found this week:

Tammy, is a young mom who lives with her son and boyfriend. She is super great. We talked with her for about 10 minutes on the doorstep and gave her a plan of salvation pamphlet. She is great! Totally prepared to hear the Restored gospel. So we just invited her to be baptized right there and then set up a return appointment. We have an appointment with her today. We also taught a woman named Kim after church on Sunday. A week or two ago, Elder Belliston and I were talking about how awesome it would be if someone would just show up at church who we could teach. And then we thought, well the Lord won;t do it unless we pray and ask for it. So we did. And yesterday, Kim came to church! She is so great. She has plenty of addictions that we will need to help her get over. But I have never seen someone so repentant. She cried throughout the whole lesson. Telling us that she wasn't asking for anything physical. She didn't want help from the church. And then she pointed at her heart and said "I need help here." It was a beautiful opportunity to testify of the Savior. "Kim, Christ can heal you. We know this, because he has healed us. We want to help you, adn we can show you how to use God to get over these things that tie you down." It was an amazingly spiritual experience. We invited her to be baptized. And she had concerns. Not knowing enough and things like that. But we read D&C 20:37 which showed her that she could be ready. We extended the date of February 28th. She is wonderful and will one day enter into the waters of baptism. We love Kim. She is truly humble. 

After church we went and saw a former investigator named Kenneth. He is a stud! 18 and knows his bible super well. And he just wants to follow Christ extremely bad! So we invited him to be baptized as well and pray about the things that we share. He knows the bible like the back of his hand. And he would make such a good missionary. That kid is so prepared! 

We also taught a lady named Margaret Henderson this morning. She is super great. She is part of the TM movement. Which means that she meditates a lot! But she absolutely loves the Book of Mormon! Hopefully things will progress with her as well! The Lord is truly blessing us.

The Lord is truly blessing us. Continue to pray for blessings, and if it is the Lord's will, he will grant them to you. But we must also be thankful for the blessings that we do receive.

I love you all. Thanks for all that you do. I thank the Lord for the blessing that you are to me. Please continue to love one another.

Love always,

Elder Caleb James Wardle

I Love You! (12-29-2014)

Hello family :) 

This week was absolutely wonderful... Plenty of miracles to go around. We had such wonderful Christmas. The members here took very good care of us. We didn't get many pictures though. I don;t know why I didn't think of that. But everything was really great. We spent Christmas eve at the Bishops house. He has such an excellent family. And we really enjoyed being a part of their Christmas. We ate dinner and then read the Christmas story out of Luke. And then we were able to go deliver some presents to some kids who were less fortunate this year. Then we went and visited one of my favorite members of the ward. Brother Rogers! He has Parkinson's and struggles to walk and talk. But he has such a powerful testimony of the restored gospel. Visiting him and his wife was the best way to celebrate the life of the Savior because he has lived a like the Savior. What a great man. On Christmas day we ate breakfast with our ward mission leader and his family. It was amazing! and then I had the opportunity to skype my beautiful family! What a blessing. Everyone seems to be doing really well. And then we opened some presents that we got from the Cornicks. All of us missionaries got ties and a shirt. And we got Brother Cornick a tie. We made Rena (Brother Cornick's wife) a super sweet pop up card and then we tied a blanket for Pato. It turned out really nice! Man! I love that family!

Our Christmas was super great. By far the best Christmas I have had. We just got to serve the Lord! It couldn't be any better. 

Elder Belliston and I found 3 new investigator's this week. That was a big blessing. We have just been putting in the time looking for those who will allow us to teach them. Everyone needs the message. But some won't accept it. We are on the search! And we will soon find some wonderful people who are ready to make a covenant with Father in Heaven. 

As far as miracles go, yesterday was probably one of the best days on my mission due to the fact that I know for sure the Hand of the Lord was guiding me. I had the opportunity to interview to interview Pato (the ward mission leaders daughter) for baptism. Pato is 19 and has had a wonderful life. She has been taught by the North Elders but Elder Belliston and I feel very invested in her conversion due to the fact that we eat dinner with her family every Thursday. Elder Belliston has been on a few exchanges and taught her a couple times as well. She is so great. In the interview we just talked about life and her concerns and struggles toward becoming a disciple of Christ. She came into the interview not knowing whether or not she would commit to being baptized on Saturday. And the spirit led the entire discussion. After some tears were shed and the spirit felt, she has made the decision to be baptized this Saturday. What a miracle. It was amazing. Somehow, the questions that I was prompted to ask through the spirit led her to be taught in such a way that she made a positive decision and step towards following the Savior. I have never felt like such an instrument in my life. The Spirit was so strong. I am grateful for my testimony and the impact that it has on others to choose for good. God is real. he guides his children. Everything about my life and things that I have been through, matched up exactly with a concern that she had and she was then able to see the similarities and what that meant. God has orchestrated my entire life for so many reason. But up to this point I feel that this is the biggest. It was amazing. 19 years of Father in Heaven putting things into my life so that he could use me to help another one of his children to enter into a covenant with him. I will keep you updated on Pato. But she will be a life long friend. The Spirit of the Lord is real. I know that. Because of my experiences. I testify that the Savior lives and loves us. 

Thanks for all that you do!

Love always,

Elder Caleb James Wardle

Merry Christmas (12-22-2014)

Hello Family :) This week has been wonderful! I have grown to feel the love of the Savior more and more. The Christmas season is a wonderful opportunity to invite others to come unto Christ. Yesterday, Elder Belliston and I made it a goal to talk to everyone that we possibly could... no excuses. Whether they were walking down the street next to us or climbing a tree or in a hot air balloon. We tried to talk to them. It was really kinda fun! There were several times that I would tell Elder Belliston to pull over and then I would run after people who were just pulling up in their driveway. It was pretty fun! And we just handed out a ton of "He is the gift" cards. It was great!

We are working to get our area up and running again. Our only progressing investigator was baptized this Saturday. So we are looking to find new people to teach. We had some really great meetings this week that we got to attend. Mission Leadership Council was one and then we had Zone training Meeting on Friday. I love that meeting. The spirit was so strong. I have been getting tons of letters from all of you! Thanks so much for all of your support as I have been on my mission. I love it all. I am so grateful to be a missionary. On Sunday we had the opportunity to teach part of the gospel principles lesson which was on Missionary work. And basically, I didn't know how to describe how I have felt as I have been a missionary except that I have never been happier. Elder Belliston will sometimes say things when we are driving like " I have the absolute best life. I feel bad for everyone else in the world" or "I love being a missionary. I have never been so happy." And then I chime in and say... "Elder Belliston your wrong... I have the best life ever!!" haha. It truly is the most wonderful thing that I have ever done. I know my Savior lives. And he loves me too. :) Thanks for all of the continues support. I love you all!

Elder Caleb James Wardle

Family (12-15-2014)

Hey guys! This week was amazing. We were super duper busy the entire week though, and not in our own area! That is always a bummer. But we were able to get a lot of work done for other missionaries. On Wednesday we went out to Muscatine for exchanges there. We were originally going to just have trios in each area (Spanish and English) but Elder Nelson ended up being sick. So we unexpectedly blitzed the Spanish area. I t was awesome. The Spanish Elders white washed the area this transfer so they are just being super diligent and looking for new people to teach. Those Elders are so great. I went with Elder Roberts and he is just an absolute stud. He just got called as the District Leader so I trained him a little bit on his calling. But he really new everything. And we just went out there and did the work. We knocked a bunch of doors and we talked with everyone that we saw. It was amazing. We just worked super hard. And we saw miracle after miracle after miracle. Elder Roberts and I found like 20 potential investigators and 3 new investigators. And the area really needed that. I love Elder Roberts. We had so much fun!

Thursday was zone conference. We did a skit in which I was the narrator. It was pretty funny! I would attach a video but these emails don't let us. bummer.

On Friday I was with Elder ontiveros on exchanges here in Fairfield. And we just tried to recover some of our old investigators and get them all rolling again. Set up lessons and everything. So that was productive. 

And then Saturday we went to Nauvoo with one of investigators. Virgilia is awesome! She has had so much to go through with her mom though. Her mom has gone crazy and is basically working for Satan. It's a real bummer. She just comes over and yells at Virgilia telling her that she is joining the church of the devil and that she is a demon, then she truns the kids at school against Virgilia's daughter Harmony and they start calling her a demon. Anyway's it has been a super big bummer. But Virgilia is holding strong and hasn't smoked. whoooo. She knows the church is true. It's amazing! And she loved Nauvoo! She wants to move there! And I love Nauvoo! I love the temple so much. The knowledge is endless. And it really has helped me throughout my life. I am so grateful. Virgilia is so amazing. Hopefully things go well the rest of this week for he baptism this Saturday. 

I love you all. Thank you for diligently serving our Lord and Savior. I pray that things go well for you all. 

Merry Christmas!

Love ya!

Elder Caleb James Wardle