Family and Friends

We had a great week this week. A whole lot of strange adventures though. On Sunday, Monday and Tuesday we were inside all day because of the cold weather front we were having. And today it is currently 30 degrees or so. So I have been feeling so warm! But the weather has been ridiculous this week. Up and down and high and low. It has been interesting to try and stay warm. But surprisingly I am doing fine. On Tuesday we taught Jose and Jessica and had the Gillespie's come with us. we talked about the Law of Chastity and The Word of Wisdom and they accepted to live both of the commandments which was great. We are still working towards getting them married. Jessica is really growing as well. She is excited to be back in the church and Her testimony has really been strengthened as we have gone over there more and more and invited the Spirit into their home. A fun fact for ya, Jose has read all the way to Mosiah in the Book of Mormon. He gets up at five every morning and studies and it is amazing to see his progress. And I love his dedication. Spiritually he is ready to be baptized and wants to be, we just have to change the physical situation that they are in. And get them married but they are progressing. We also taught them on Saturday, and we showed them the Restoration DVD and talked about following the Prophet. And it's amazing to see how just the simple DVD of the Prophet Joseph's life can change people. It is such a miraculous event in the course of history and it strengthens testimonies. We talked a little more about getting them married and we ran into some roadblocks. Jose was going to use Emmanuel's birth certificate to get his passport so that he would have something in his name, but when they received it in the mail this week his name wasn't on it. And there was a note that said that his license wasn't valid. So we are stuck and He is really getting discouraged. So we called President Jensen Saturday night and he gave us some advice on how to move forward with things. 

On Friday we had Zone Training Meeting and it was the best one I have ever been too. We talked a little bit about our 2013 goal for baptisms of 550. And we talked about how to measure success since we got 545. And I think we kind of think about things different than we should sometimes. Rather than dwelling on the five souls that cold have been, President wants us to focus on the 545 souls that we brought to Christ. What a great gift we gave to the Savior this year. 545 more people are headed home. What an amazing thing. 

We also received some pretty amazing news at zone training as well! Everyone was anxious to hear what the baptismal goal for 2014 is going to be. So here is the story:

President Jensen was sitting in on a coordination meeting with the stake President in Cedar Rapids (President Hodgeman) and the Zone Leaders in the stake. President Jensen in the middle of the meeting mentioned something about our goal of 550 in 2013. And President Hodgeman said straight up, "President Jensen, I do not care about your goal." And President Jensen really to that to heart. And after a lot of praying he received revelation that we shouldn't exactly have a goal this year. The way it works is that each Branch or ward submits the baptismal goals for the upcoming year to the Stake President, and then the Stake Presidency uses those numbers to make a goal and then all of the 6 Stakes submit there goals to President Jensen and He would normally pray about it and figure out what the mission goal should be. But this year our goal is the ward and stake goals in the mission. So combined the number is 732. But really we are pushing for 24 baptisms in the Manchester branch. And we are the first mission in the world to ever do goals this way. And President Jensen had to receive permission from the Prophet in order to do things this way. The Prophet has asked the mission to pilot this new way of setting goals. We are making history in the Iowa Des Moines mission. This new way of thinking will bring the missionaries and the members so much closer together when they realize that their goal id our goal. I love President Jensen. He is truly called of God. I love this mission  and I love the wonderful things that are going to happen in 2014. I love being a missionary. Thank you all so much for all that you do. You are my strength.

Love,

Elder Caleb James Wardle

Mi familia y amigos

This week was on e of the most spiritual on my mission so far. We taught three great lessons and the work is really progressing here in the Manchestetr West area. I am so grateful to be a missionary. And I just want to bare my testimony that I know Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. We had the opportunity to go to Nauvoo and do a temple session and we also went to Carthage jail. IT was so great. Probably the longest day of my life, but one of the most spiritual as well. But I am getting ahead of myself.

On Monday we had a lesson with Jose. Jessica and Destiny weren't there because Destiny wasn't feeling well so they went to Jessica's mom's to see what they could do for her. So we just had a lesson with Jose. He is such a funny guy. And although He has a thick Mexican accent, we don't have too much trouble understanding what he is saying. But everything went so well. We talked with him for about 45 minutes. Just about life and how things were going. He told us that he lost his job the day before and that he was looking for employment. We talked about the different things that were keeping him and Jessica from getting married. And from what I understand, here is the dealio:

Jose isn't actually a citizen of the United States. And so he needs a passport in order to get a marriage license. But his passport expired recently. So in order to get a new one he has to drive all the way to Omaha Nebraska which is about 300$ of gas money. Which he doesn't have. And even if he did have that money, He isn't even sure they would allow him to get a new passport. So that is what lies ahead of us. A pretty hefty roadblock. But we invited him to baptized on February 22nd. Which hopefully gives us enough time to figure out the marriage and everything else. The lesson went so well though. Jose is feeling things he has never felt before. On Thursday, we had another lesson with Jose and Jessica (she was there this time). We were able to take them on a tour of the church to get them more comfortable with how things were going to go. We talked about the importance of the Sacrament and what it all means. And we invited them to church on Sunday. Jessica is so desperate to come. And Jose really felt the Spirit as well. Brother Christensen went along with us and told us that the lesson was one of the most spiritual he has ever been in. he did most of the teaching too btw which was awesome. 

On Thursday we also stopped by a referral from a less active woman in the ward. Her father's name is Richard and He is super great. We were able to knock on the door, and teach him the Restoration when He invited us in. We asked him in the lesson, after we recited the first vision and the spirit was strong, what his feelings of Joseph Smith were. And he told us that he knew Joseph Smith was a prophet. We invited him to pray about it and to be baptized. It was such a Spiritual experience. On Saturday we woke up at four to drive down to the Nauvoo temple. Elder Davis who was serving here in Manchester with us, was a trial missionary. Which means that they just send ya out in the mission that you live in for 3 months to see if you can handle being a missionary. And then, based on the Mission President's decision they are recommended for full time missionary service. And he was called to St. George. Which is awesome because Elder Wood is from there and He trained him! Anyways, Elder Davis hadn't yet gone through the temple. So we were able to go and be there for him. Elder Wood was his escort. I love Nauvoo. The temple is gorgeous and the Spirit there is so strong. After the session and taking a tour of everything, we went to Carthage jail where the prophet was murdered. And the Spirit there was even stronger. What an amazing place to be. I got to stand right next the window that the prophet fell out of when he was shot. I envisioned what it would have been like to see the mobs coming up, I felt the bullet hole in the door. It was such an awe inspiring experience. And it was so spiritual. I love this missions. I get to walk where the Prophet who brought me here walked. It was amazing. And I wish these computers wold let me send pictures. 

Sunday, we sat through Fast and Testimony meeting for about a half hour nervous out of our minds because Jose and Jessica hadn't showed up yet. And then... they came!!! It was the best feeling in the world. I've never felt so relieved in my life. It was so amazing. They had a fantastic time and they really felt the spirit. Jose shared in Gospel Principles class that he had never felt the way He was feeling. He is growing and changing and I am so happy for him and Jessica. I love you all so much!

Please stay safe. It's negative 20 degrees to day with a windchill factor of about negative 40. So mission president wants us all to not to proselyte today. It's crazy! I love you all so much. Please stay safe and keep warm!

Love,

Elder Caleb James Wardle

Family and friends

Thanks for such a wonderful Christmas. I couldn't have asked for anything better. It was awesome to be able to focus on the Savior so much this year. I'm grateful for all of your support. You are all a wonderful blessing to me. It was so great to skype my family! I wrote in my journal and I read what I wrote back to myself, and I don;t think I have ever been so happy in my life. It was amazing! I love my family like nobodies business. And I really appreciate all that they do for me!

This week was super good for Elder MacDonald and I! We got two new investigators. And they are so great. Jose is a wonderful man. He doesn't speak too much English though so we struggle there. But He is a super good guy. So just for explanation,

Jose is living with a woman named Jessica and they just had a baby named Emmanuel two months ago. Jose and Jessica have been together for four years. They lived in Georgia for two of them, Oelwein IA for another two or so. And they moved to Manchester about 5 months ago. So there have been a lot changes in their life. Jessica has a 13 year old daughter named Destiny who invited to be baptized along with Jose. And Jessica was actually baptized in 2009 and is super excited about having the missionaries over again. From what I gathered, she has not been coming to church due to family relationships. When she joined the church in Georgia her mother actually kicked her out. And she was homeless. So she is afraid that coming back would mean that those relationships would be severed. Jessica and Jose have been looking for a church to go to but Jessica just can't feel the Spirit like she did when she was baptized. And she knows that she needs it. But she just feels a little guilty about breaking the law of chastity and these types of things. But the Spirit has been present when we have taught them. We taught them on Monday the 23rd. and then once again on Christmas. And the Spirit directed us so much. It was amazing. Jose mentioned to Jessica after we left that He felt something when we talked with them. hopefully the spirit will help him understand the points that we can't. I'm just so grateful for this family. They are so great. And we hope and pray that we can help them in coming closer to Jesus Christ. our message strengthens people. And our message lets them know that God truly loves them. It's been so amazing to see the progress that they are making. Please pray for them. They need all the help and support they can get. We have another lesson with them today and we plan on teaching them about the law of chastity, word of wisdom, and tithing. We are going to invite them to get married today and to be baptized on a specific date. So please pray that the lesson will go well. 

I love you all so much. Real quick, We got a text the other day that said we are super close to 550 and that a ton of miracles have happened in the mission the past couple of days! so please pray that they will continue to happen. We are so close. Please pray for us. I love you all so much. You are the best support I could ask for. Please continue to pray and follow the promptings you recieve. I love you all!

Elder Caleb James Wardle

Merry Christmas!!!

Wow! Christmas has come so fast! I'm so grateful for the opportunity that we have to celebrate the birth and life of our Savior Jesus Christ. Although Christmas can be a fun time of year as it should be, please remember the true meaning of things as we celebrate this wonderful season. And even though I am away from family this year I am excited to be able to spend the day serving Christ, which is the best way to remember the Christmas message. This week was slow. We had some long days of finding and we had a New Trainer's meeting on Thursday which was fun. We learned a little bit about the divine companionship between Joseph and Hyrum Smith. What a sweet companionship! In the talk we listened to it spoke of Hyrum giving his life for Hyrum, which then drew me to think about the Savior. And how he gave his life for us. I've been wondering how I can give my life for the Savior more fully. And also how I can give my life for Elder MacDonald. I invite you all to think about ways that you can improve and find greater happiness in serving others. 

We have a lesson today with a wonderful 30 year old woman named Ashley. And another with a man that Elder Wood and Elder Davis met by their house. (They live in our area which is awesome for us!). They are both going to be first lessons and we are really excited to get some new investigators today. Jose just moved to Manchester form Georgia and is looking for a church for he and his wife to go to. They also have a brand new baby so it's a perfect time to teach them about the plan of salvation as there are many changes being brought about in their life. We hope to invite him and his wife to baptism. Ashley is interested in hearing a message about Christmas which we have taken to mean the Restoration. Which is all centered on Christ and Heavenly Father and their love for us. So we hope to invite her to baptism as well. I love you all so much! Just an update we are at 484 baptisms as of today. And we have 45 super solid investigators set for the 28th. So please pray that the missionaries in this mission will be able to set more dates and that miracles will happen! We hope to give Christ the best Christmas present of all. More souls saved. I love you all so very much. Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. Merry Christmas!

Love, 

Elder Wardle

This week was nuts!

It felt like this week we were all over the place. But I really drew closer to Heavenly Father as well. Last Monday I was feeling pretty down. Had a rough day. And then we went to teach a lesson to a man named Denis and the spirit wasn't guiding the lesson like I should have let it. And Elder MacDonald noticed that. He said that I was being pretty pushy with him and He's right I was. So that night I had the opportunity to say a big long prayer. And to ask Heavenly Father how I could better myself to follow and feel the spirit. And I also apologized to the Lord. I didn't do my best that lesson. And coming away from that prayer I learned two things. One is that the Lord understands that we have weaknesses. He gets that. But through him we can turn those weak things in our lives into strengths. And that's a real positive thing for me. It's been amazing to know that I can come to him and He can help me. The other thing I learned is that I can do better. And
we all can. Elder MacDonald and I read a talk by F. Enzio Busche called Unleashing the Dormant Spirit. What a great talk. He speaks of categorizing our thoughts and actions so that we an feel the spirit more fully. There are things that we say in order to be funny that can drive the Spirit away, or things that we do that helps the spirit understand that we aren't so serious about following him. The effort we put forth has to be serious and thorough and then the Spirit says, o.k. here ya go. Here is what you need. And that knowledge has been a huge blessing.
for the rest of the week we did a lot of running around. We knocked a ton of doors on Tuesday and gave Sister Meck a blessing. On Wednesday we had an awesome zone conference. The A.P.'s spoke about our goal of 550 and how to obtain it. W need 89 baptisms in December and we have 89 dates set. So staying close to each and everyone of them is going to be important. Daily Contact. we can't let those with dates slip out of our hands. They also told us the story of how they achieved there goal of 400 last year. They said around this time of the year it was looking like it was literally going to be impossible to achieve 400. A guy who is high up in the MTC came to the mission as well and he did some stats and he basically told President Jergensen that it was impossible to get that many baptisms in that short of time. And President Jergensen said to him. No. We will make it. You haven't met my missionaries. So the MTC guy goes to Zone Conference the next day and
then after the meeting says to President Jergensen "O.k. I've met your missionaries and I believe you will reach your goal." Andon December 31st they got the 400th baptism. how amazing. please pray for our mission and the goal of 550.
We also got to watch Ephraim's Rescue at ZC. If you haven't seen that or 17 Miracles you need to watch them both. They are some of the most toughing movies I have ever seen. And they both got approved for us to watch on Christmas! Do I smell a movie marathon coming on? I think so! And we get to sleep in until 8 on Christmas day! YES! What A BLESSING!

On Friday we went out to Independence and taught Brother Ledjte. And we really got on a different level with him I think. We taught him about finishing and enduring to the end. His Cancer is getting worse and he doesn't have much left in him. But we told him that He has so much to offer the world still. And so much to offer the branch. He could be such a great example if he would just come out to church. The Branch needs a good example of someone who endures hard things.
We also taught Brother locke who told us straight up that he will never come back to church. He thinks the Church is perfect but he has been confronted in different wards that He has lived in about not coming every Sunday. So we were kinda frustrated with that. He loves meeting with us though. His wife and daughter need the support the church can give him. Because they are both converts and they don;t have a testimony like his. They need church attendance even if he doesn't. Which we all do. So we will see where that goes.

On Saturday we drove up to Elkader to usher and attend a Christams show put on by kelly Lord who is a convert of about 13 years. She is eccentric. But she is so cool. She flies in two piano freaks (they are soooooo good), one who served his mission here and one who served his mission in Oakland. The show seriously blew my mind. Kelly has a great gift of discernment and when we were eating dinner with her she kinda read our fortunes if you will. she told me she would tell me mine later cause it was special. And it was a really sacred and spiritual experience for me. And so I won't share it. But the concert was amazing. We handed out cards with our number on them at the end of the show and people weer pretty interested because of the spirit they felt. So I was pretty stoked about that. Anyways, I love you all so much. Keep us in your prayers. We are taching Lisa Sifrit tonight and hopefully setting a date forJanuary 11th with her. So please pray for us. I
love you all!

Elder Caleb James Wardle

Mi familia y amigos

What a fun week! We had a great lesson with Lisa. She is awesome and is a golden investigator. She would be such a valuable asset to the Branch. She has such a wonderful testimony of service and loves to be involved in the community. The only issue is that Her mother is holding her back. Lisa has a younger brother who is looked down on by her family and she doesn't want them to do that same to her by Her joining the Church. But she knows it's true and she wants it really bad. She is just stuck. And she even admits to us that she has a hard time keeping commitments. She said "Can't you just come back after my mom passes away and then I can join the church?" I thought that was pretty funny. She understands how monumental the Book of Mormon and the restoration are. She just needs to take a leap of faith and then the rest of her life (including her family relationships) will all fall into place. So I hope she can get past that. She needs the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. Does anyone have any advice? 

We had a great zone training on Thursday where we talked about covenants and what that means. And we also talked a little about the sacrament. So I wanted to share with you my thoughts and insights about the sacrament. It really opened up my eyes. Church leaders have said that when we take the sacrament we renew all covenants we have entered into with the Lord. Not just the baptismal covenant. I didn't know that!! How awesome. So I can literally start my mission over every week. I can say, ok Heavenly Father, I didn't do my best this week. But I promise that if you forgive me I will do my very best this week to fulfill my purpose. What a blessing. The Savior can take off my name tag that bares his name once a week and then He can put it on again like it's the first time. SO I don't have to dwell on the mistakes I made three months ago. I can look ahead and say ok I'm forgiven, now what can I do to push the work forward and to lengthen my stride. Anyways, the meaning of the sacrament hit me so hard and I have been taking the opportunity to take the sacrament for granted lately. I am so grateful
for it. I am grateful that I can renew my covenants and start fresh. What a wonderful feeling. 

We also talked about opening our mouths. And opening my mouth is something that has  come very forcefully into my mind at different times on my mission do far. Some weeks I think.. o.k. no investigators. I need to make  a goal to talk to atleast 10 people a day. And then some weeks we are doing pretty good so I neglect opportunities to talk to people. But we did a pretty good job this week. After zone training we drove back to Manchester and went to the Window Walk that they have every year here. We handed out pass along cards to people on the street. Talked with lots and lots of people and drank some hot chocolate at the same time. It was pretty sweet. I loved it. Anyways, it was just great to be able to go apply what we learned earlier in the day. I loved it. 

On Saturday Elder MacDonald and I had to do a lot of finding. And we had thought about where to go and we walked... in the freezing cold to Howard street. Nothing was really going our way so we left for a little bit and then Elder MacDonald was like... o.k. we need to go back. So we did and in five minutes we set up 2 appointments. Got a referral and contacted the referral and met a former investigator. It was sweet. And it was awesome to see the spirit work through Elder MacDonald like it did. It was great day. 

I love you all so much. Thanks for all that you do and all of your hard work and dedication to the Lord. Please keep pushing forward. I know that the Lord answers our prayers and Ipray for you all.

Love always,
Elder Caleb James Wardle

I love you all so much

This week was great. We had a great Thanksgiving out here in Manchester! We first ate at the Weber's who have like 10 kids and the Bockensteads came as well. Brother Bockenstead is the first councilor in the Branch presidency and the Ward mission Leader. They have a great family. The  Weber's have a barn with a hay loft and in the hay loft they have a basketball court. So we got to play some ball which was awesome! The day before Thanksgiving we helped Borther Weber split some wood and I was soooo cold. But once we were doing it for about an hour I felt a whole lot better. The Weber's have 3 Foster children. And Julio is about to turn 8 so the East Elder's will be teaching him. But He looks exactly like Tony just a little bit older. And He acts like him too. It made me miss him so much. We played some sweet basketball together. He was on my team and I would pass it to him and then guard for him and He would make it every time. It was sweet. The Webers are amazing. I figured out at Church that just about everyone in the branch is a convert... It's incredible. These little towns in Iowa are really growing in regards to membership in  the church. It's awesome. The Branch will be ward soon. They just need 120 more members and they are set! aha. I love it out here though. Elder MacDonald and I get a long super well. We love serving together. It's the greatest, He is such a funny guy. We seriously could have been best friends in High School. He loves to work hard too. And He wants to be exactly obedient with me which is a good attribute to have in a new missionary. well in regards to the missionary work, We have been contacting a lot of the less actives and former investigators that are in our area book. We taught a 75 year old man named brother Ledjte who was baptized in 2001 a little about the importance of coming to church. We hope to get him reactivated and hope that he can feel the spirit as He strives to come back. He has lung cancer though and He has a hard time sitting through 3 hours of church. Plus He lives a half hour away and He can;t drive. So we have some hurdles to jump over. We have a lesson with lisa Sifrit tonight. Lisa was going to be baptized about a month and a half ago but she is afraid of Her family and how they will think of her. So we need to bare testimony about putting our trust in the Lord and knowing that He will always be there for us! Once we get more investigators and are teaching more these emails will be a little longer. but for now, I love you all. Please always remember that you have a Savior Jesus Christ who atoned for your sins. Use his grace. Puch forward. Enable his power. And I promise you that things will fall into place. I love and miss you all. 

Elder Caleb James Wardle