If You're Happy Then You Will Be!

As background, when Kat’s sister Corinne was three years old, she and I were walking along hand in hand and she said “Dad, you know what; if you’re happy then you will be.” It’s now a Clark Wardle family axiom – a self-evident truth that requires no proof.

For those of you who have enjoyed her email and sharing her mission experiences, now would be a good time to send her a note. Mail to Brazil is slow. She’ll be home five weeks from today. I’m certain she would love to hear from you.

Sister Katherine Wardle

SHIN CA 05 Lote B1

Salas 304/307

71503-505 Brasilia - DF

Brazil

Regards,

Clark

P.S. I’ve inserted hyperlinks for those of you who want to click through to see what Kat is talking about.

Hi fam!

I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to write super quick today. We're going downtown in a minute, and we're already kinda behind schedule - so I'll be brief.

The big lesson that I'm learning is about "If you're happy then you will be" because it is SO SIMPLE. The big idea in the church is to just act, just do. We know the gospel - so live it. Stop being wishy-washy. We know the commandments - so obey them. Stop making excuses. If life is hard and you dont think you can be happy - get over it; be happy.

ACT, WORK, DO. I love how simple the gospel is. I think it’s so funny how we, as people, love to complicate things with our own little excuses. Corinne was WAY ahead of her time when she said that quote.

Alma said basically the same thing, and i was just studying this today, so I'll pass it to you really quick because i loved it. My Book of Mormon study usually goes like this - I read the great lesson on

faith he taught in Alma 32, and then i get all excited knowing that Alma 34 is another good chapter with solid plan of salvation doctrine.... so usually i read Alma 33 really fast without paying much attention. BUT, I realized today that in the context of the situation, Alma was teaching the little poor people about how to live the gospel, not just "how to plant a seed of faith" and so at the end of chapter 33 he bears his testimony of christ, and then tells them that there is a lot to do to live the gospel. And then he says, "All this ye can do if ye will." Haha. And reading that, I just hear Corinne's words echoing out. We just need to do it... We just need to act... but only if we will. And who's going to stop us? We're the only ones who stop us from living the gospel principles, from doing what we need to do. I'm not kidding; the simplicity of the restored gospel is so amazing to me. I love it.

Anyways - this week was reaaaaally good. We have some men and families we're teaching and they're actually progressing!! Yay! The Ward is helping us out so much; they're so great. I love Lago Sul. The members are worried about us, and the missionary work, and the investigators, and they're involved, and they care, -- it makes all the difference in the world. Yayyy.

This one man we're teaching is starting to really gain the strongest testimony, and when I hear him pray with sincerity at the end of the lesson, my little heart just melts.

Things are great. Couldn’t be better. And transfers are next week - this transfer FLEW by. And I hope I stay in Lago Sul with Sister Tsukuda. If I get transferred for the last 4 weeks I'll be semi bummed, but its all good.

Which brings me to the last 4 weeks - LAST CALL FOR LETTERS. A very big thank you to Nickole Canfield and her letter, and for everyone at home, I would kindly remind you how much missionaries love getting mail. And that everyone says that, "at the beginning of your mission people still miss you and they write you a bunch, and then in the middle everyone forgets about you, and then at the end of your mission you get a bunch of mail." So let's see if this comes true, and if I get a letter or two this last month. Thanks a bunch :)

welp, love you, gotta go

Sister Wardle

Elder Bednar has Beautiful Eyes

Hello my wonderful faaaaamily

This week was really short - it feels like time is going quicker and
quicker. On Tuesday we had a conference with Elder David A. Bednar. it
was SO cool. This was the third visit our mission has had from an
Apostle since I've been here, and this one definitely marked me the
most. As we did with Elder Richard G. Scott and with Elder Russell M.
Nelson, the whole mission lined up and we shook hands with Elder
Bednar. But this time, the quick moment of shaking his hand really
left an impression. He was so personable during the whole conference.
He didn't come, give a talk, and leave. He came and said, "today we
are not having a mission conference. Today we are having a revelatory
experience." And then the whole rest of the time it was like a big
Question and Answers session.

A few weeks prior, he had sent a talk for the mission to read and to
study, and then during the conference he asked us to simply respond to
the things which we had learned. It was really interesting, and then
he commented, asked another question, and it continued like that. The
cool part was how clear it was that he was not there to be the
"teacher." he left 100% of the teaching to the Holy Ghost. we all
learned a lot. and he talked about how we need to use this process in
our teaching to really make the investigators become a part of the
learning by faith experience. he explained that 'teaching by the
spirit' is important, but that doesnt bring about conversion. what
brings conversion is "learning by faith" - and he was speaking not
just as investigators are baptized, but as members are converted as
well. and we learned how we are agents, and not objects. therefore we
need to act as agents seeking to act in our own learning and
conversion process, and to also treat others as agents, helping them
to act in their learning and conversion.

it was basically dynamite. in the course of the afternoon we had
together, he was so natural, and made it seem SO simple to use this
teaching method, but it just goes to show how he's really developed
this technique of letting the spirit do the work, and the so called
'teacher' isnt really the teacher, but is just acting as the conduit
to let the holy ghost teach and convert people. i loved the
conference. If anyone wants to read the talk that we all read (hint:
its REALLY worth devoting some decent study time) I'm attaching it,
but i dont know if it will work. its called, "Seek Learning by Faith"
an address given to CES Religious Educators at the Jordan Institute of
Religion on February 3, 2006.

in other news, here are a couple of pictures from sister tsukuda's
camera.
1 - me and her going to the conference with elder bednar - last week
2 - all of the sisters together at the mission home - a month ago
3 - a few of the sisters at the stake center watching general conference

yayyy

welp, i love you a whole bunch, and hope you have a wonderful week!!
Love, sister Wardle




Olha que BONITO...