Wednesday, June 16, 2010

we've got spirit, yes we do...

HI FAM.

so have you heard about the world cup? Given the noise generated from
Brasil alone, i dont think its possible for anyone not to literally
hear the world cup craze. Everyone here is asks me if I'm rooting for
Brazil or the USA. i'm going with brazil. :) I have watch with the
brazilian flag, and earrings in the shape of the country with the flag
too. haha and on the days that brazil plays, i wear yellow/green/blue.
But you guys have to see the way Brazilians get pumped up for these
soccer games to believe it. it is unreal. it puts every other "sports
fanatic" to SHAME.

for the past 4 weeks people have been going crazy for the world soccer
cup. the apartment buildings put up HUGE flags, or HUGE banners of
yellow and green. And everyone gets string and puts up pieces of
yellow and green plastic and makes these decorations in the street
that go from the electrical wires all the way down the street. And the
people paint the curbs in all the sidewalks in the city alternating in
yellow and green. and they paint huge banners or logos or flags in
the street. or ginormous murals on random city walls to cheer for
brazil to win the world cup. and everyone has those flags that hook up
to the car window. or people get big flags and put them on the hood of
the car. and every single store you walk into sells brazilian flags,
t-shirts, key chains, paraphernalia, everything you can imagine, and
more. its sweet. I thought that BYU vs the U of U was a good example
of an excited group of people. but no.

Brazil has spirit.

Aside from the world cup soccer fans, we've got some good spirit on
the mission too. I'll just tell you real quick about the incredible
spirit of the restoration of the gospel. It kicks trash. This week we
taught the restoration with a recent convert named Bruna from aguas
claras. she has a friend in our area and she came out to Gama to teach
her friend, Raissa, with us. The cool part about the lesson was how
Bruna was so stoked to be there with us to help her friend have the
same spirit of the restoration. I was telling about joseph smith to
raissa, and as I was saying the first vision, out of the corner of my
eye i saw Bruna reciting it with me. with a glow in her eyes. she has
been a member for a month, and she had it memorized and recited it
with love. it was so cute. anyways, raissa accepted a date to get
baptized. we're working on it.

another example of the spirit of the restoration was a street contact
we made, and it turns out the guy had been baptized like 25 years ago.
he only stayed active in the church for 2 years, because his wife is
semi-crazy and doesn't let him go to church. but while we were talking
to him, he got all teary and looked at us and said, "i know that the
church is true." then out of no where he started humming "How firm a
foundation" and then switched to singing, "oh how lovely was the
morning..." and started full on crying in the street, just from the
spirit of the music of the restoration. we were like, poor thing, just
come to church again - dont you realize what you've been missing for
23 years?

another one was teaching Emerson and Rosali and our family of GOLD. we
went and watched the film of the Restoration with them and the kids.
usually its a struggle to teach with 6 kids under the age of 12 and to
keep everyone paying attention, but during the movie no one moved, no
one talked, no one wiggled, no one giggled. the only words were when
God and Christ appeared and the choir is singing, and Emerson said,
"whoa i just got goosebumps." At the very end, the son who is 11 years
old said, "that's it? sister wardle, dont you have another movie
that's like 2 hours about Joseph Smith? i want to watch more." We had
a sweet lesson that explained more about the restoration, and
blessings for their family, etc. at the end Rosali was pretty
emotional and she said the closing prayer, kneeling with her whole
family together. she's been having a real struggle to quit smoking in
preparation for the baptism. But ever since the night we re taught the
restoration, she hasn't smoked a single cigarette. its because the
spirit of the restoration, and the spirit of the truthfulness and
fullness of the gospel is SO TRUE.

No one and nothing beats the Spirit of the gospel. not even brazil
during the world cup.

I LOVE IT.

have a wonderful week,
Sister Wardle

Its good to have a testimony

HI FAM

I love and MISS you. This week has been, oh you know, ups and downs. I
just want to tell you really quickly about how grateful I am for the
truthfulness of this wonderful gospel of Jesus Christ, and how
grateful I am to be a member of the church. I am almost coming up on
one year, and I can't count the number of times that I've born my
testimony. It is growing stronger, and i know that the church is true.
My testimony and my heart grew this weeek when I had the priveledge
and pleasure of hear those whom I have taught bear their testimonies
to me. feel free to open up my tear ducts and just let the tears flow
faster.
1. Arthur bore his testimony in front of the whole ward in fast and
testimony meeting on sunday. He adorable up there with his white shirt
and tie and telling about how he knows that this church is true. And
he received the priesthood afterward, awwwww.
2. Emerson bore his testimony about how he is so happy that they
entered the papers to get married. He said, "if i had known that
things would already start to get better so fast after keeping this
commandment, I would've gotten married a long time ago." We taught the
whole family about the proclamation to the world on the family, and
they loved it.
yay. the church is true.

in other news, MOM thank you for the Ensign. i love it. As far as
other letters and stuff goes, I think i'll get it all tomorrow because
we're having a conference. yay.

k sorry, gotta jet.
LOVE YOU
SisterWardle

family of 8 becomes 9?

Hello Family, and DANIEL

Welcome to the FAMILY! (in the near future)
CONGRATULATIONS ON THE WONDERFUL ENGAGEMENT, KELLY AND DANIEL.

I
AM
THRILLED

Yay. Purple and coral? or something like that? I say congrats, and get
married whenevs you wants - august, novembro, december next weekend -
as long as its in the temple, does the date really matter? keep me
updated with wedding plans, announcements, invites, flowers, pictures,
and anything else thats happening on the down low, and i'll be just
happy as a clam at high tide

In other news, you know, missionary work is good. we had a wonderful
week with wonderful things happening every day. Excellent progress
with Rosa an Arthur - two of the sweetest little testimonies ever. I
LOVE the transformation the gospel makes, and seeing how people make
subtle but meaningful changes in their lives to keep the commandments
and live the gospel. When we were teaching them on saturday night, we
were getting ready to leave and head home. it was 8:45, and Rosa said,
"we'll walk down to the little bakery with you to buy milk, because
tomorrow is sunday and we cant buy stuff anymore." so cute :) yay for
keeping the sabbath day holy.

good news: the birth certificate of Emerson arrived!!! Remember that
family of GOLD with 8 people that has been investigating the church
all month? they havent been able to get married because the dad lost
his birth certificate, but we 'ordered' a new one, and it finally
arrived, so we're going to the civil office to start the process for
their legal marriage this friday. I hope everything goes according to
plan for it, and then it takes 30 days for the documents to go through
the full process. we'll start planning their wedding for next month.
Mom you said that planning a wedding in 3 months is a challenge? We're
going Lon and Cheryl wardrop style - planning a wedding in 30 days.
bahah jk its going to be so low key - they'll get married in the Gama
chapel, and it'll be a very very simple affair. but i'd really like to
spruce it up with a balloon arch. i'm thinking like a cbad or byu
homecoming theme? haha all those years of asb planning will go to good
use. brincadeira.

funny news: unibiótico! There is this activity they hold at the church
called unibiotico. have no idea how to say it or if we have it in the
states, but its this full body excercise thats supposed to good for
your body, your skin, your internal organs, and your mind. its a mix
of yoga/pilates/and mellow aerobics, for all ages and gender. (this is
not a commercial, just background info.) we were talking to a lady
here who participates in it, and we were super curious to know how the
exercises go. Her name is Kenia, and she was super embarrassed and shy
to show us how to do it, but i was like, "no worries, we'll do it
together, just teach me how to do it." finally she gave in, and
started out with little stretches, then showed us some "exercises."
i. died. laughing.
we both laid down on the floor at the church (this was going on during
an interview, and we were doing nothing, just waiting). so we laid
down and she put her arms and legs in the air and started wiggling -
but like out of control wiggling. and it reminded me of mom when she
would show us the stuff the old byu frats used to do to rush the
freshman, like "i am a dying cockroach!!" you guys, i was crying, i
was laughing so hard. i love unibiotico, and highly recommend it to
all.

physical therapy news: its pretty much a love/hate relationship.
its good because it makes my hand better.
its bad because at the end they ice my wrist and its real cold and
turns red for a long time.
its good because they play all these 90s hits on a satelite radio station
its semi-annoying because there are random timers going off all the
time for 10 different patients' exercises, etc.
its funny because the beeping timers make me think, "its time to get
the cookies out of the oven"
its bad because it throws off our schedule for the morning
its good because the bakery close by has really good cheese bread
(claro que é pão de quiejo por nickole e bre - quase igual ceilandia)

scriptural news: we finally got a new box of books of mormon! yay.
what a relief. i dont know how well known this personal factoid is
about me at home, but i absolutely loved having a full tank of gas
when i was at home. for me, there's some sort of inner
peace/tranquility/happiness/comfort in knowing that i have a full tank
of gas. Well its pretty much the same thing with a brand new box of 40
books of mormon. there's this happy feeling of knowing, "ok i'll be
good to go for a while," basically the same as a full spiritual tank
of gas? i dunno... just go with it. other scriptural news, we had a
great follow-up lesson with a woman about the book of mormon. we were
teaching her to read, pray, and ask for an answer. We repeated this
commitment for a long time with her, but she kept saying, "I'm just
not getting an answer..." so finally one time we went there, and we
were getting ready to cut her and stop teaching, but this time was
different. We went, and shortly after the opening prayer, she said,
"Sister Wardle, you were right, I got my answer." of course i got all
giddy when she said that her answer came directly from the book of
mormon, in Mosiah 5:2. its the response that the people give to king
benjamin, when they all say, "we know that these words are true.. and
we have no more disposition to do evil..." etc. 100% golden answer. i
love the answers from the book of mormon. i love love love it.

mission news: this is the last week of the transfer here in Gama. I've
been here for 3 transfers, and I'd really like to stay here next
transfer because i LOVE this area, love the ward, love the people, and
especially because i want to be here for the marriage/baptism of
Emerson and Rosali, and their family with Junior, Eduardo, Elias, and
Melia, (with little Eleina and Ana Clara too). But i dont know what
happening with the mission. There's talk about drastic changes in the
mission, but nobody really knows anything for sure - the elders are
just chatty. so we'll see what goes down.

food news: there is a burger place here called Geléia Burger. Its as
good as In-N-Out. seriously.
Its another really good reason i like this area :) plus they serve açai. yum.

k so thats the end of the news.
i love you all!
until next week,
sister kat

what does mamma say about slidding down the banister?

hi fam!

good news, the doctor took off my cast. yayyyyy i'm free at last!
i'm doing physical therapy for the next week to regain all the range
of motion etc. its good

so as my birthday present to me, Heavenly Father gave me two excellent
presents
a marvelous sunrise (why were we awake at 5:00 to see it? who knows)
AND a phone call from the young mens president saying that Arthur and
his mom Rose want to get baptized. BEST PHONE CALL EVER.

we have been working with them for over a month, but feeling
discouraged with the lack of progress they were making. but in
reality.-- they were progressing :)

happy birthday - happy baptisms.

k, sorry this is short.
gotsta go
love you so much
KAT

5 days to mothers day!

Hello faaamily

Our mission changed P-Day to tuesday again. go figure.

The place where we use the internet every week has the same guy working here and today for ONCE he changed the music. Usually it's this terrible Brazilian style of music called funk (it's like a guaranteed headache in 30 seconds or less). But, today he's playing classic rock and roll from the U S of A. Right now it's "Eye of the Tiger" and it makes me miss D-rock.

This week's rating was average to good. Unfortunately our baptisms fell through. But, we have some good prospects for this week. I don't have much time but i'll just tell you one quick story...

Last week we were teaching a family who we found because the wife had requested a DVD from a pass a long card. We went and delivered the DVD and left a message with them. When we were getting to know the couple, the dad told us how his son was in jail for something that he didn't do and it was really un-just and how he was hoping and praying that his son would be freed and that the legalities would be sorted through so he could get out of jail. We left a short lesson about how when we keep the commandments we are blessed and left an invitation to go to church. We are trying extra hard to help people fulfill commitments by promising specific blessings. Sometimes as missionaries we hold back on promising a specific blessing. But, really this is a lack of our faith, not the faith of the investigator. So, we decided to go big or go home on this one. We promised him that if he went to church with us on Sunday that the paper would go through and his son would get out of jail. The dad agreed to go to church, but the mom didn't.

The next day we went to follow up. The woman didn't want to have anything to do with anything. She didn't even open the DVD, and she was ready to return it to us. But, she said that it was ok with her if her husband wanted to keep learning about the Church. The husband, Luis, had really been touched the night before and he was willing to keep the commitment and go to church.

Sunday morning we showed up at 8:00 and he was standing at the gate, ready to go, with the pamphlet we had left in hand. He went to church and liked it, and turns out he has a few friends who are members of the Church. The next time we had the chance to talk to him, the first thing we did was to ask about his son. Luis was alll happy and he was like, "my son is free, he got out of jail." yayyyy. I think it was more a test of my faith than it was for his. So, it was pretty cool that it worked out. We are teaching him the gospel now. :)

The Church is true. Ask for specific blessings and make specific promises to be obedient and the Lord blesses us. Yay.

Side note - The music playing right now is AC/DC you shook me all night
long - i'm staying focused on the mission and humming MOTABs ;)

Mom, Dad, Paul, Elizabeth, Llama, Crown, and Jette i am so excited to talk to you on Sunday. I've been working on my English ever since Elder Nelson basically burned all the Americans when he told us that he thinks it's pathetic when returned missionaries go back to the United States and claim to have forgotten English. He says its no excuse, and that we should excel in both languages. ai ai. eu tava me estressando apenas com o portugues o tempo todo, e agora tenho que me estressar com os dois idiomas. que bom. :)

EMILY LONAS - Congrats on the wedding. I'm so happy for you and i got your letter today (the 2 in one was excellent and i LOVED the plan of salvation teaching aid you included).

ALICIA LAGENDIJK - I miss you a bunch and I have a letter in the process of being written to you. Thank you for the patience and the support :). Tell Evan I love him and think he's adorable.

Side note 2 - The music is AC/DC Thunderstruck - makes me miss Corinne and her ridiculous cds (sick mix 12-22 for me when i get home).

BRE - que saudades! caraca q isso - vc vai embora dia 8 de dez? rapaz,
eu nem consigo pensar nisso agora. como é que vc já sabe da data? Por
favor me perdõe pela falta das cartas. rs parece que eu peguei aquela
caneta de novo, e eu vou ter que começar os cinco passos mas uma vez.
mas não se preocupe com os negócios dos cachorros ou os hospitais
aqui. não é nada quando você comparar com a história da sua
companheira que vc tava treinando. flip. desde o ctm, eu falei pra vc
q vc é a folha, e suas companheiras e responsabilidades são os
pedrinhos. kkk lembra? mas amo você, e espero que tudo esteja bem
agora. Vam pra a pria de floripa? já tô ai. bjo!

K gotsta go,
love you all!
Sister Wardle


I apologize that the last two post were out of order.

hi


Hi Fam!

It was so wonderful to talk to you yesterday. I thoroughly enjoyed
myself. The overall best part was just the fact that everyone is doing
so well. I am so so so grateful and so blessed to have a wonderful
family. Thank you for being firm in the gospel and in the church.
Thank you for having testimonies. Thank you for supporting me on my
mission. I love you SO much.

Other than that - I feel like since I talked to the fam on sunday, i
dont have much to say today. So instead of anything specific I'll just
throw out some random commentaries:

So i was thinking about gifts for people at home... There is a lot of
jewelry in Brazil thats really different than the type of stuff we
have in the states. Its super cheap (both in the sense of quality and
in cost) but its kinda out there. I dont know if any of you want it or
if you'd rather have something else. Personally i would pretty much
never wear it or use it because to me it all looks like costume junk.
But if anyone is wanting some jewelry from the streets of Brazil, feel
free to let me know and i'll bring some home.

Other random: I really like the people who we are teaching who give us
food. This one family - our elect family that needs to get married and
baptized - gives us cheese! The dad's name is Emerson, and he drives
to Minas Gerais (another state) just to buy cheese and then he sells
it in Brasilia. and he gives us free cheese when we teach his family.
Every time we walk out the door with a huge sack of cheese i remember
that one Nsync song, celebrity, when justins like, "if i did have
cheese like ever-y-day..." hah but its like uncanny how good this
cheese is.

Then there's this other guy named Tomaz who gives us fruits. His mom
sells fruits at the street markets on the weekend, and so when we
teach him on Friday nights there are tons of crates of fruits in the
front. and we walk out of the house with a sack full of banana maça,
papaya, melons, and other goodies. delicious. I wish sister canfield
could be here so we could make smoothies.

nickolecanfield shout out - (rs, sabia que é esse jeitinho que a
bárbara fala seu nome, como se fosse um nome só? ah, mas tenho
saudades de vc e queria que vc ainda estivesse aqui. oh ps, eu pedi
permissão da sister pizzirani para ter um encontro com a sis hill e
christensen no meu aniversario semana que vem. E não foi autorizada.
:( rsrs talvez seria melhor se eu seguisse sua dica que voce falou pra
bárbara o outro dia. pois é, próximo vez, neh?)

Other news - the Carlsbad 4th ward primary kicks trash! on mothers day
the primary in our ward sang a primary hymn for the moms, and it was
nice... but lets just say that the C-4 primary really has it goin on.
yay

oh ya - highlight of my week - yesterday we had lunch with the
Bishop's family and omg they have THE CUTEST kids you have ever seen.
Pedro Jonas (4 yrs old) and Cecilia (2 years old). When we got there,
they had just gotten out of the shower and pedro jonas came to the
gate in a towel. loved it. cecilia was running around like a little
naked baby. loved it. then they put clothes on (kind of a let down)
but its ok. on the kitchen table there was a big fruit basket with a
bunch of LIMES. emily lonas morris you would have loved it. i was
teaching pedro jonas to juggle (kinda) and he did a really good job
and we practiced for a while. He would get SO proud of himself when he
caught the limes. and we had an altogether lovely time. then cecilia
got a runny nose and her mom was teaching her to blow her own nose.
she would take such a big breath of air, blow all the snot out, and
then put the tissue up to clean it out. it was so funny. instead of
just blowing it straight into the tissue. we were all cracking up.
love those kids.

OTHER HIGHLIGHT that is even more of a highlight than watching a 2
year old blow her nose - Megan Lynn Rasmussen Fagergren! holy cow, i
got your wedding announcement today and i am SO happy for you! you and
dave are a beautiful couple. And i'm stoked that tomorrow is your
special day! of the 5 wedding announcements that i have received while
on the mission - this was the first time that i got the announcement
before the day of the actual marriage. (albeit by one day)
Congratulations for you both! yayyy eternal marriage in the temple
yayyyy.

oh ya, and yesterday the zone leaders brought packages for our
district! i got an excellent package from Martha - THANK YOU VERY
MUCH, and big envelopes from mom and dad. Thanks for the easter
decorations haha. oh well. i'll give them to the families we're
teaching with little kids. they'll love it.

welp, have a wonderful week.
love, Sister Wardle

Added is a picture Kat sent the week before from a conference with Elder Scott of the 12 apostles

Kats and Dogs dont get along


HI FAM

This last week has been eventful to say the least. Lets start at the very beginning, a very good place to start (sound of music)

Monday
I didnt really get a chance to say much about the conference we had last week, but it was incredible. It was like a spiritual pep-rally. I needed that boost, and it has really made a difference this week. One of the things i really liked was when Sister Nelson spoke about being the type of missionaries that our mothers are praying for us to be. I thought it was so cute and motherly of her, but then realized that it really means a lot. Thinking about how mom prays for everything, everyone, and their dog, i realized how i can and should do better to be the type of missionary that my mommyyy wants me to be. And how moms pray for all their childrens, and how if each of us tried harder to be the type of children that our parents pray for us to be, we would all be a lot better off. Then you take it to the level of our Heavenly Father. If i try harder to be the type of missionary that Heavenly Father wants me to be. ANd if each of us, as children of God do more to be and to become what the Master has in store, we can all reach our divine potential.

Tuesday
Transferrrrs. Goodbye Sister Lima, hello sister França. They are super different, but i'm learning to get used to the change and it'll be a good transfer :)

Wednesday
we were going about our merry little way finding new people to teach, and we met a man named Robson in front of his house and he was going to introduce us to his sister who lives next door. We said hello, she opened the gate, i walked through the gate, and was attacked hahaha. This dog came out of NO WHERE and bit me near the ankle. It wasnt bad at all but it mostly just scared me and i screamed like a little girl. So we went in the house and washed it with soap and water. It hardly punctured the skin, but you can never be to careful, right? Then a few minutes later we were leaving the house and I walked out the front door and we were headed towards the gate, when I was attacked AGAIN. This time it wasnt quite as funny. The ferocious beast jumped up and bit the back of my thigh. It tore my skirt and he really dug into my leg, and its a legitimately deep gash. But I didnt want to stay. I tried to play it off like everything was fine and made a lame joke how the dog just didnt like the color of my bright green skirt, but basically i wanted to get out of there. We left and then i called Sister Pizzirani (mission preisdents wife) and she called the area doctor. Haha then the Area Doctor called me and it was like the most morbid phone call of my life. He told me how we needed to clean it and signs of infections etc. and how if the dog has rabies then i will absolutely with certainty die in 10 days. or i could go get the rabbies vaccine. obvoiusly i opted for the vaccine and we spent the rest of the day in the public hospital to get the stinking shots. now we have to go back to the house everyday for 10 days to monitor the dog and make sure the dog doesnt die or have rabbies, because if it does it will turn into a real mess. But the good news is that Robson went to church and accepted a date to get baptized this sunday :) So its all good, baby.

Thursday
The blessed day of thursday april 22 was the day for me to take off my jumbo cast. I was so glad! The cast wasnt that bad at first, but after time it got really old. And less and less comfortable too. The inside padding was super packed down by the end of so many weeks and it got way hard--basically like a ski boot after a couple of seasons. So i was thrilled to take it off, and wash my arm. I had a funky allergic reaction to the inside of the cast and my arm came out super red and bumpy haha. But the cast isnt off for good, it just got smaller. Now i have a cast that just covers my hand and goes almost to the elbow. Its like a micheal jackson glove. Right now i'm trying to coordinate a p-day to get together with sister adams to have her teach me to moonwalk. The downside of this day was that we were at the hospital the whole day. there was a power outage while we were there and it took forever to get everything rebooted and all the systems going again. typical. loved it.

Friday and Saturday
Finally we had two good solid days of work without interruptions or disasters. We had some excellent lessons these two days. The spiritual pep rally got me stoked again, and I loved teaching the message of the restoration. I feel kinda selfish sometimes because i love teaching about joseph smith and the livro de mormon. i like to have my companions teach the other parts of the lesson so i can have the good stuff. i feel the spirit so strong with the restoration and the first vision and it makes me so happy to talk about it. So these two days were gooood.

SUNDAY - miracles
We got up early, went around to get everyone who said they would go to church, pretty normal -- until we actually got to church. In gospel principles there was a man and woman there who we had never seen. They were intelligent, participated, asked questions, responded, etc. Nobody knew who they were - they didnt come with other members, they just showed up. And they have 6 kids. The bishop was like, "sister wardle, did you see that enormous family at church today?" haha, but we found out that they used to go to church all the time in taguatinga, but they couldnt get baptized at the time because they arent legally married, and couldnt get married because there was a problem with the documents. Anyways, long story short, they are elects. and they fixed the problem with the documents. we went to teach them yesterday afternoon and the entire family sat together and we taught them the gospel of Jesus Christ. The 12 yr old son said, "but i was already baptized in the catholic church" and the dad said, "ya but that baptism was wrong and didnt have authority, this is the correct baptism in this church." (acredita!?) Then we told them how they need to get married to get baptized, and the dad looks to the mom and said, "what do you think, will you marry me?" Then the mom giggled and said, "sure!" cutest thing ever. so in about 4 or 5 weeks this family will be together in white getting baptized, and in about a year they'll be heading to the temple.

Alrighty well this email was the longest thing ever, but i just want you to know that i LOVE my mission. and i love you all so much. And i'm pumped to talk to you on mothers day! yay its just around the corner.

Much love,
Sister Wardle

I attached a picture of naked baby that i stalked for a week (yay!)
and a picture of the doggy bite on the back of my thigh (yuck!)
and a picture of me and a few other sisters.
On the far left is Sister França (my new companion) and then me (please notice the shirt that i made. i bedazzled an anchor on the front. classy, i know.) and then sister Lima (yes, we bought matching 5 dollar skirts that dont really fit and that i will never again wear in my life because its about 3 sizes too small) and next to her is Sister Silva - the drill sergant

transferrrs

Hi Family!

quickest email ever...
today is transfer day. i'm staying in Gama again (3rd transfer here). Sister Lima is leaving and my new companion will be sister França. She is brazilian and from the north-east of brazil. i've talked to her like one time in my life on the day she got here, and it was for 30 seconds. (hi welcome to the mission. etc.) i dont know her at all but i'm excited to get to know her :)

the conference with elder nelson was i.n.c.r.e.d.i.b.l.e.
we had 4 general authorities and their wives and all 8 of them spoke. it was like a mini general conference and they said everything i had been needing to hear. It was so so good. Sister Nelson is a GEM. Elder Nelson is the sweetest thing ever. the others were brazilian members of the quorum of 70, and they were equally excellent.

real quick random side note - thats funny that you guys celebrated darren collins bday because i had a dream last night about hanging out with the collins and siaosis and we rode beach cruisers, went surfing, and told stories about D rock.

other shouter outer is a big congratulations for emily for her wedding! i hope it is a magical affair and i cant wait to hear about it/see pictures (hint hint)

k, welpppp, gotta goooo
love you so much!
sister wardle

oh ps and las, value pela dica! gostei muito das copas pra ensinar a restauração. espero que vc batize tdo mundo até o pózinho, rs rs. MAS. 4513584 dias