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...

Key indicators for the week ending on October 17th

HI FAM

Every week we report on the key indicators of our work. The numbers
are designed with goals and to track progress and make us progress. We
report on, baptisms/confirmations, lessons with members, other
lessons, referrals, etc. This week was very very good. Not just with
numbers but with other key indicators that I feel like are really
changing in the ward. I LOVE IT. there are some other key indicators
that you cant really place a number, but its the kind of thing that I
see in the attitude of the members, and they way that they are, and
their feelings for missionary work. we are making some serious
progress. yay.

This week we had a lesson marked to go teach a family in French. we
knocked on a womans door, and i started talking to her in portuguese,
but i could see that she was kinda struggling to understand me. I
thought, "dang it my portuguese must be really bad today." and then i
paused for a second and said the word "well" and started talking
again. She noticed that i had said an english word, and switched to
english right away. Turns out she's french, but her english is way
better than her portuguese so we talked in english, and marked to go
back on sunday. and just as a little blessing, the Relief Society pres
is fluent in FRENCH. she was SO excited to go teach with us. haha
cutest thing. she got all excited and got her book of mormon in
french, and we went to go teach her. fun stuff.

um, sorry this is super short. but i have to go. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH.
bummer, i feel like i have more to say, but thas all for now.

love you!
Sister Wardle

Tsunami, Toshiba, Sukudo, Mitsubishi... TSUKUDA

HI FAM

I so HAPPY. The new transfer is off to a lovely start. My new
companion is Sister TSUKUDA. She japonese! Just kidding, she's
Brazilian, but her grandparents are Japonese, and she has a wonderful
last name... Tsukuda! (it took me the whole first week to start saying
it right-- i had to keep looking at her name tag haha)

She is WONDERFUL. (sister canfield, she got here shortly after you
left. pity that you didnt get to know her, she's a gem)

On Tuesday we had Family Home Evening with the mission! Presidente
Pizzirani used to do this Mission FHE when we had transfers. It was
super fun and we got to see everyone every six weeks, but then he
stopped doing it. But this last week we got to see the whole mission
together and it was way fun to hear about all of our old areas and
ward news, and updates about the recent converts, less actives, etc.
Then we practiced a little for a visit that we're going to have from
an apostle. Elder David A Bednar is coming to Brasilia just to visit
our mission. He's going to be here for 1 day - just to meet with Pres.
Pizzirani, and then to have a conference with all of the missionaries,
and then he's leaving again. I'm rather stoked.

On Wednesday we planned for some new ideas to use in the area this
transfer. I have some high high hopes to really make things work. I'm
so glad that the mission presidents have instructions from the church
mission department to leave missionaries in the areas for longer time
periods. we got a chance to really know how to work better in the
designated ward. and we can really develop better relationships with
the members to work together. I used to think that it was a bummer to
stay in an area for a long time because i liked to get to see other
cities, other wards, etc, but now i realize how to keep working in the
same area can be a blessing. anyways, its going to be a good transfer.

On Thursday we had a mini-conference with all of the sister
missionaries. SO FUN. it's been like 6 months since we had a Sisters
play date, and so it was really good to have an afternoon at the
mission home with little activities for the sisters. hah I love sister
Pizzirani. (nós atualizamos nossos cadernos de desejos... so cheesy,
gotta love it)

On Friday our district leader gave us a district challenge. We had to
make 100 street contacts in one day. This may or may not seem easy to
you guys at home, but just to explain the situation a little... The
required minimum of street contacts per day is 10 per missionary. In
other cities and other areas, this is extremely do-able. BUT in Lago
Sul its extremely difficult just to make 10 contacts a day because
there is no one in the streets. So to make 100 contacts was indeed a
challenge. But we did it! yayy. haha and only about 35 people live in
our area, and of the 35 we got like 10 addresses out of it, and of the
10 addresses about 5 people are going out of town for the next month.
ah welp, at least we have 5 addresses!

On Saturday we had our Concert Night. We have been planning this ward
activity for MONTHS. omg if it were in the states, i'm pretty sure
that we would have planned and excetued the activity in 4 weeks, tops.
But things work just a little differently here. But we finally got it
all together, thanks to some big time help from Amy Zimmerman (this
wonderful American lady in the ward who i love) and Danny Boy, and
another lady named Ameli. Loooove these people. The activity was a
cultural night for the community and we had a free concert of
classical music at the church. We had a winds quintet, a few clarinet
pieces, vibraphone, and professional musicians from the city who came
and performed. It turned out really really well. There were a few
people from the ward who sang, and then the ward choir sang at the
end. The visitors loved it and the members were shocked with how well
it went. hahahaha. i love brazil. they were like, "oh wow, now we feel
like we can actually invite our friends to ward activities" therefore
- it was a success.

On Sunday we had these 2 new guys at church. Blessings sent from
heaven. We made a contact with a guy in the street on saturday, and on
sunday morning he showed up with his friend. Yay! Then our lunch fell
through and we made food at home!!! Any other days when we dont have
lunch with members, they give us money and we end up eating out. But
since it was sunday, we couldnt eat out, and she gave us money on
saturday night, so we bought rice and beans and beef. I learned to
cook!!! (sorta). it was a huge step. i'm so very pleased.

On Monday we had such a good day of work. Hahaha the good days of
missionary work in Lago Sul are semi few-and-far-between, but
yesterday was really really good. it makes me excited for the rest of
the week.

WELP, thats the update.

I love you so much!
Sister Wardle

SHE"S COMING HOME!

We found out that Sister Kat Wardle is coming home on December 13! Thank goodness its before Christmas.

a Tribute to the Beatles

hey there familyyyy!

HEY JUDE - shoutouts really quick
Happy Birthday to Elizabeth next week!
and to Alicia Lagendijk - did you ever get the book i sent you?
and to Elisabeth Hilverda and Emily Morris - I have letters for you
that I wrote ages ago, but i dont know your addresses, so if you could
send them to one of my sisters to send to me, i'll send you a little
letter

8 DAYS A WEEK
you guys, its getting ridiculous. I am eating so well every single
day. I eat like a king in this area. And not just any food - but like
8 days a week I'm eating american food. I loved that package that
elizabeth and paul sent a little too much. I'm eating pbj sandwiches,
pancakes, breakfast burritos, danny boy gave us a tub of ice cream and
i had a chocolate milkshake for breakfast the other day. and Amy (an
american in the ward) makes the yummiest treats for the choir
rehearsals (i'm the ward choir pianist?). The other day she brought
graham crackers with chocolate frosting. omg so delicious. has anyone
ever tried it? and this other lady in the ward made homemade bread
that is EXACTLY like macaroni grill. the secret receipe is out. bottom
line - yum.

HARD DAYS NIGHT
We just keep working. its the greatest thing. It gets harder, then it
gets easier, then it gets hard again. Just when you get something down
right, and you feel good about it, something happens and you realize
that you dont know how to do something and you have to learn all over
again. isnt it nice to make progress?

HELP! I NEED SOMEBODY
hah, so this was the big lesson of the week. I learned about a very
important aspect of missionary work. Its super common for the members
to ask us, "so Sisters, how's the work going?" And I always (no matter
what the circumstances may be) always tell them how great its going. I
thought that I was showing them a good attitude, and energy, and
excitement by telling them how everything is wonderful and we're
having a great time working hard. But the truth of the matter is, we
had nobody to teach, nobody progressing, and nobody to take to church.
I think that aside from just trying to show them how I was in good
spirits and 'keeping the faith' that I also had a lot of pride getting
in the way to truly ask for help. So I finally learned to humble
myself and have a heart to heart with our ward mission leader. He
realized that we were serious about the work, and he gave us some
great ideas. Then on Sunday, he randomly called us out of Relief
Society, and we went around to the different classes to ask for
referrals from the members. The sweet part was, that we didnt have to
give the schpiel to ask for referrals, but he was the one talking and
asking the members to help us out. As a result, the members were more
willing to tell us about their friends and started listing off people
we could teach. I was beyond shocked. I cant even tell you how much i
loved it. So this week i really gained a testimony of, "ask and ye
shall recieve." turns out it works.

LET IT BE
With the up's and down's and the hard's and the easy's, I'm also
learning to have patience and trust in the Lord. I'm also learning
that we have to trust in the Lords time. "missionary work is to do be
done with urgency, but not rushed." So I just try to keep that in
mind, and do the work Heavenly Father wants me to do.

ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
The good part about His plan and His gospel is that its the same thing
everywhere and with everyone. Nations, languages, and races dont
matter at all. We have the message of ETERNAL TRUTHS. Eternal in all
aspects of the word. I love the gospel. I love being a missionary. I
love the message of the restoration. I love my Savior. I love the
prophet. I'm so excited for General Conference. I love my family and
my friends.

Sister Wardle

All is Swell

HI FAM

So I've decided that if I were a mormon surfblog writer, forecasting
the surf report with good waves, i would announce the conditions as,
"All is Swell." The chorus of "Come Come Ye Saints" is such a good
life anthem... and its basically the update of the week, all is swell.

This week I read a scripture that I was reallllly needing. I cant
actually remember the reference - i think it might be D&C 127:4...?
anyways, its to the saints that are building the temple in Kirtland,
and the Lord tells them to REDOUBLE their patience, their
perseverance, their diligence, and their work. And thats not to say
that they weren't already doing good work before this revelation was
given. But God requires that we redouble our work. So thats what we're
doing :)

As a result, we decided to break out of the Lago Sul comfort zone and
leave the area around our apartment. (aka pra nickolecanfield - we
stopped walking up and down the endless streets of Solar de Brasilia,
and the ridiculously overworked Jardim Botanico 5. We're working in
the QI-s and QL-s down by the lake...) We have been working in some of
the different parts of the area and it has been going surprisingly
well. There are great people here - and we're excited about the fresh
prospects, fresh investigators, fresh everything. I happy. Haha, and
as a total coincidence we came up to a man who was looking at
something on his rooftop, and introduced ourselves, etc. He was like,
"I already know all about you're church, my wife is a member" Except
that people say stuff like this all the time, but they're usually
confusing us with another church. But then we later found out that his
wife really is an active member, but that he's inactive, etc etc. The
good news about it is that we talked to his wife and she's super nice,
and we marked a family home evening with them and then invited like
the whole street. yay for referrals. So there is a definite good vibe
in the other parts of the area. It requires quite a bit more on our
part, and thats exactly what I'm needing right now. yay for
challenges.

The only thing i was going to tell you from last week, but then i
forgot was about the fastest prayer to ever be answered in all time.
We accidentally got on a bus that took us almost out of our area, and
then we realized we were going the wrong way so we got off at this
dark and deserted corner. And then we had NO idea where we were, and
we had no money to get back... oopsie. So after being on the corner
for all of 15 seconds, I told my comp that we werent going to do
anything until we said a prayer first. so we said a prayer. check.
then we we turned around to go up the little hill where there was a
little light of a gated neighborhood, to figure out where we were. I
started to call one of the elders to let him know the situation, and
when he picked up i started to explain but before finishing the
sentance, we heard someone calling our name, "Siiisterrrsssss" And
then we looked and saw a member of our ward - Celia to the rescue! i
almost cried i was so happy to see her. She was like, "what are you
girls doing here? do you want a ride?" Seriously the fastest prayer
ever answered. I loved it. I was SO grateful because i'm not
kidding... i was scurred. Anyways, my testimony of prayer tripled that
night.

So here's some outrageous news - we had a baptism in our area this
week. Outrageously cool circumstances for this baptism. His wife has
been a member her whole life, but he never ever accepted the doctrine
of the Restoration. Because it would mean that his church activity in
another religion was based on falsehoods. So that was it. end of
story. he had already been to church a bunch of times, but never
believed in the church because he never believed in the restoration.
Then one night, totally out of the blue - his wife was reading the
Book of Mormon out loud to her 5 hear old son. Her husband was out of
view, but he was listening to them reading, and he felt in his heart,
and knew in his mind that the book of mormon is TRUE. And he knew that
Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that the restoration is true, and that
the church is true. And he decided to get baptized. GAHHHH is that the
coolest thing ever or what? He's pals with President Pizzirani, and so
the two of them worked everything out, and then President Pizzirani
came and baptized him on Saturday night and he was confirmed Sunday
morning. miracle. miracle. miracle. the Spirit brought by Book of
Mormon is the coolest thing ever. read it. love it. live it.

K well, we best be going.
I love you a bunch, and have a wonderful week!

Sister Wardle

side note: Tomorrow I'm going to the foot doctor! hooray! my feet are
horrifyingly thrashed hahaha.