This was sent home Feb 23, 2010
FAMILY!!
Yay, I finally have the chance to write you! So here’s the skinny: I LOVE Gama. Wow, where to begin? Lets start at the very beginning; a very good place to start.
The first week in Gama was full throttle. I love being transferred. Its like arriving in the mission field like a greenie all excited and running around because your stoked to figure stuff out, meet everybody, and get going. The first week – this area had a bunch of possible baptisms (people who had been to church before, people who had already been taught, but never quite committed to baptism.) So we just went after these people and we were blessed with 2 baptisms the first week. A young man named João and his little sister, Julianna. Sweetest little things. The Sunday morning when we went to get them before church, they were standing outside, completely ready to go, in the rain. (this is a big deal because whenever there is the tiniest bit of rain here, people absolutely refuse to leave the house. I’m still having trouble understanding this. Heaven forbid we get our shoes wet?)
The first week was also eventful because of my first trip to a Brazilian hospital. My companion, Sister Lima, got super sick and really needed a doctor. Luckily, we live in an apartment across the street from a hospital. So at like 9:30 pm, we left to go to the hospital, and it turns out I failed to learn adequate medical vocab in Portuguese in the last 8 months. So we get there, and I was responsible for her, and she could barely speak she was so sick. The doctors and attendants looked to me and started asking me 8 billion really hard questions. (for example, What’s her name? haha I didn’t even know. I was like, uhhh Sister?) But then it was worse when I had to call the mission president because I had to explain what was happening. Once again, I had no idea how to explain. But it all turned out ok, she got some medicine, and was hooked up to this IV thingy. The nurse who was hooking her up, put in the iv WITHOUT GLOVES. It was an abhorring scene to behold. I could honestly not believe it. She was touching bloody gauze of someone else with her bare skin. Has she never heard of body/substance isolation? Anyways, Sister Lima fell asleep while she was on the meds, and I hung out in the hospital chatting it up with the nurses and playing with the medical instruments until like midnight when she was dismissed. I love America. This experience helped me develop a real opinion on public health care – but I don’t want to go into it right now.
Lets talk about week 2 in Gama! Week 2 – I got a bunch of letterrrrrs. Christmas cards to be specific. Thank you Brazilian postal workers, for your incredible dedication to the punctual delivery of missionary mail. Not. But thanks a bunch for all the great Christmas cards and for the package from the Sunbeams in our ward! Loved it. The second week we had a gift wrapped baptism. There’s this lady in the ward who was inactive for like 12 years but now she’s coming back to church. She called us up one day and said, “Sisters, my son Gabriel wants to get baptized. Could you come teach him?” Me (stunned) on the other end of the phone, “yaaaa we could do that.” So it was literally a baptism handed to us on a silver platter. Thanks for the blessings! Gabriel’s baptism was the 14 of Feb. happy valentines day.
Week three: This was really the week that Sister Lima and I totally clicked. Not that we didn’t have a great first two weeks, because we did, but this last week especially, I have been LOVING this companionship. She is hilarious. She has SO much personality and I LOVE it. We just crack ourselves up in the streets all day long, and she is a joy. And she TEACHES! I love having a Brazilian companion because she understands whats going on in the lesson. I can toss control of the lesson over to her at any given moment, and she knows how to pick it up. Plus she knows how to talk to the people because she is one of the people. It’s fantastic.
Other things I like about Sister Lima -- she always refers to me as Gringa, and I honestly love it. (zero sarcasm here, I think it’s the greatest thing). She just does and says funny things, we make fun of each other in the fun happy way, and we get along really well. She basically refers to the mission as marriage prep. She has all these things I need to learn to do so that I’ll be ready to get married, and then whenever I learn how to do something right she says, “that’s one more point for your letter of recommendation.” Or whenever I do something stupid she says, “oh Gringa, that’s minus one point on the letter of recommendation.” I think my over all favorite thing is how she talks to Carlsbad. (The teddy bear that Janie Chapman gave me for my 18 bday that I honestly cannot sleep without.) When we come home at night, the first thing she does is calls to Carlsbad and goes to check on him to make sure he’s ok. She has this teddy bear she sleeps with too, and she named him Oceanside. And at the most random moments she’ll talk about Carlsbad. One time it was raining and we had left the windows open by accident, and she shouts (with an expression of genuine concern), “Carlsbad vai tomar banho!!” (Carlsbad will take a bath!) I was dying of laughter. And we’re practicing with her English. Omg funnest thing ever, teaching her how to say stuff. Faith = faif. Bathroom = bafroom. This = ziz. So she always says, “ah gringa, you’re choosing the hardest words to teach me, isn’t there another way to say, I need to go to the bathroom?” So we’ve adopted the newer and easier phrase, “I need to go potty.”
But I have to tell you: the number one best phrase to teach anybody: “Its cool, baby.”
She says it all the time. With the funniest accent. I LOVE IT. Please, share the joy of this phrase. You cant help but smile when you say it. And its pretty much guaranteed that the receiver of will smile as well.
Sorry I got super side tracked there, but other good stuff that happened in week 3. For example, the baptism of João Paulo. Great guy. Loves the gospel, loves the church, understood and accepted everything perfectly. His baptism was on 21 of Feb. After the baptism ended, I was playing post-lude on the piano, and João Paulo came up with his nephew holding his hand. And the nephew is this little 9 year old. The first time I met the nephew, Ed, he was this little tough kid, but after I started making stupid faces and winking at him all day long, he really warmed up. When he came up he was all shy, and he was like, “you tell her” and joao Paulo was like, “no you do it.” And then Ed said, “I want to get baptized too.” MELTED MY HEART. Also present at the baptism of João Paulo was this other investigator we’ve been teaching named Karina. She loved the baptism, is super excited for this Saturday when she’ll get baptized too, and she asked to make sure that her baptism was announced in all the meetings last week, so everyone would be there. SOLID.
I LOVE Gama. I love my mission. I love the church and the gospel. I love my Savior and I love His work. This transfer in this area it doesn’t even feel like work because we are being so incredibly blessed. The members are super involved, the bishop and ward mission leader are excellent, and there’s just an all around good vibe here.
I love you all and I hope you have a great week!!
Gringa
Saturday, February 27, 2010
forgive me for the lack of correspondance
hi fam.
k so here's the deal. i just wrote a long email apologizing for not
writing the last couple weeks, and explaining eeeeverything thats been
going on, in relatively good detail. um and then i sent it and the whole
thing deleted. and now i dont have time.
stinking internet. its literally heartbreaking to sit here and put my
heart and soul into an email for my family and friends who i love more
than anything, and then it all gets deleted.
sum up:
i was transfered to Gama Centro
i have a brazilian companion named Sister Lima
we have had 3 great baptisms in 2 weeks, and we have 3 more firm
baptisms for this sunday.
i love this area.
i LOVE this work. i want to RUN to appointments to teach these people.
the mission is wonderful.
love you so much
until next week.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Gama Gama Island
HI FAM.
i have 8 billion things to say but it will all have to wait. Presidente
Pizzirani asked all of the mission to do a complete apartment cleaning
to temple standards, and it literally took all day. here's the quick 2
lines just so mom doesnt get mad at me for next week. But seriously i
have SO much good stuff to tell you, but suffice it to say for now that
i LOVE Gama. this place is golden. we had 2 baptisms this week. :) happy
kat.
LOVE YOU!
i have 8 billion things to say but it will all have to wait. Presidente
Pizzirani asked all of the mission to do a complete apartment cleaning
to temple standards, and it literally took all day. here's the quick 2
lines just so mom doesnt get mad at me for next week. But seriously i
have SO much good stuff to tell you, but suffice it to say for now that
i LOVE Gama. this place is golden. we had 2 baptisms this week. :) happy
kat.
LOVE YOU!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
best sunday of my entire mission
HELLO FAMILY!
So everything that I want to say deserves like 5 hours of time and ihave like 3 minutes left. BUT here's the very summarized version of thebest sunday of my mish:
(leading up to Sunday)on Saturday, Lucio was baptized. Greatest thing you've ever seen in yourlife. After how many months of working with him? and he finally wascommitted and ready to get baptized. I have SO much to say about this,but just imagine the joy. AND his best friend, and a recent convert,Renato was the one who actually performed the baptism. Sweetest thing.
SUNDAY:
LUCIO - was confirmed a member and received the Holy Ghost
EDUARDO - was confirmed and received the Holy Ghost
RENATO - (friend of Lucio) blessed the sacrament with a white shirt and tie
RAIMUNDO - (recent convert) went to church in a suit and has a callingin the young mens presidency
BRIGHT - (recent convert) wore white shirt and tie and received thepriesthood
SARA - cutest thing you have ever seen - came to church all dolled up,absolutely beautiful, and was baptized at 16:00
2 baptisms
2 confirmations
1 ordenation
Total: JOY
And just to ADD TO IT - barbara (member from another stake) came tovisit our ward and we all know how i love her. Barbara, Taina, SisLindenlaub and I did the musical number for sara's baptism. they sang"each life that touches ours for good" and i played. Hello, new favoritehymn in the book.
AND for lunch on Sunday we had TOAST for an appetizer. This issignificant for two reasons: 1 the last time i ate an appetizer was onJune 13, 2009 at the cheesecake factory, so its been a while... and 2its significant because its TOAST. i LOVE toast. and i miss toast. andit was delicious. like nobody has toasters here. (i've seen 2 this wholetime) AND we had peanut butter, but no jam, so she gave us chocolatesyrup and sprinkles. delish.
Yep, that sums up the best sunday ever. It was completely the work ofour Heavenly Father because everything lined up SO PERFECTLY. everythingwas just fitting and clicking, and it is so sweet to watch it go downand play the tiniest little part in the work of the Master.
Love you so much!
beijo, tchaus
ister wardle
So everything that I want to say deserves like 5 hours of time and ihave like 3 minutes left. BUT here's the very summarized version of thebest sunday of my mish:
(leading up to Sunday)on Saturday, Lucio was baptized. Greatest thing you've ever seen in yourlife. After how many months of working with him? and he finally wascommitted and ready to get baptized. I have SO much to say about this,but just imagine the joy. AND his best friend, and a recent convert,Renato was the one who actually performed the baptism. Sweetest thing.
SUNDAY:
LUCIO - was confirmed a member and received the Holy Ghost
EDUARDO - was confirmed and received the Holy Ghost
RENATO - (friend of Lucio) blessed the sacrament with a white shirt and tie
RAIMUNDO - (recent convert) went to church in a suit and has a callingin the young mens presidency
BRIGHT - (recent convert) wore white shirt and tie and received thepriesthood
SARA - cutest thing you have ever seen - came to church all dolled up,absolutely beautiful, and was baptized at 16:00
2 baptisms
2 confirmations
1 ordenation
Total: JOY
And just to ADD TO IT - barbara (member from another stake) came tovisit our ward and we all know how i love her. Barbara, Taina, SisLindenlaub and I did the musical number for sara's baptism. they sang"each life that touches ours for good" and i played. Hello, new favoritehymn in the book.
AND for lunch on Sunday we had TOAST for an appetizer. This issignificant for two reasons: 1 the last time i ate an appetizer was onJune 13, 2009 at the cheesecake factory, so its been a while... and 2its significant because its TOAST. i LOVE toast. and i miss toast. andit was delicious. like nobody has toasters here. (i've seen 2 this wholetime) AND we had peanut butter, but no jam, so she gave us chocolatesyrup and sprinkles. delish.
Yep, that sums up the best sunday ever. It was completely the work ofour Heavenly Father because everything lined up SO PERFECTLY. everythingwas just fitting and clicking, and it is so sweet to watch it go downand play the tiniest little part in the work of the Master.
Love you so much!
beijo, tchaus
ister wardle
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Fanny Packs/Surfing/and missionary work
Hello faaamily.
you might ask yourselves: what do fanny packs, surfing and missionary work have in common? sore hip bones. So this week I bought a fanny back - among the best decisions i have made on my mission. Its fantastic. (but SO ridiculous looking - oh well, its brazil) But its funny because when i walk, the straps are like right on the hip bone. After I wore it for the first day straight, the next morning i realized that my hip bones were a little bit hurty from the strap... anyways, its just like the day after surfing all week long. because we all know that I was not blessed with the snappy little pop up that dear little cocoa maria has, and so when I used to surf a bunch my hips would get sore. anyways, it made me REALLY happy to have that sensation that I could relate to the beach. on top of that, I've decided to start using sunscreen because Brazil decided to turn into full summer heat and sun. And so now i have the BEST smell ever - coppertone sunscreen. love it - its intoxicating.
the other slightly beach related thing that happened this week is a little embarrassing. so we are teaching this golden family, and they have a little 4 year old girl who kinda reminda me of Jill Collins except she's brazilian. and the mom was telling the little girl to stop eating because she was going to turn into a little fat whale. and i started laughing (i think i was just happy because i knew the vocab word for whale because i had just seen it in the dictionary like that same morning). but i was laughing a little bit too hard, and i feel bad because i think she was semi offended. ah welp, my apologies little whale.
Other fun vocab words i learned this week - We were in the car with Barbara last P day after she took us to buy the fanny pack (love her) and we're cruising along this huge main road, and all the sudden we hit a bump and she shouts "alguém sabe trocar pneu?!" "Does anyone know how to change a tire?!" She hit a gnarly pot hole and blew up the tire, so we were stranded on the side of the road for like an hour until her friend could come and bail us out. Dont worry, i had my christmas calender with me so i made her look at all the family píctures and i made her listen to stories describing each of you. :)
other good news: WE ARE FINALLY going to baptize Lucio. there is this guy who we've been teaching FOREVER. and i kept going through fases where i thought we should just cut him because he knows so much and wasnt getting baptized, but he keeps going to church and keeping commitments, and it just never felt right to completely cut him. Its like the longest 2 month drama, but the point is, we finally had a throw down (obviously not like WWF but like the spiritual throw down) and he finally prayed again to get an answer if he should get baptized, aaaaand he got the answer and is preparing for this Saturday. SO HAPPY. he is a great guy and knows SO much about the gospel. his questions are way intellectual, so it just makes me nervous that he was going to let his intellect get in the way of the answer from the spirit that you cant deny! so its good. real good. And the other good news is this girl named Sara - elect. she wanted to get baptized from the get go, but her mom and family told her crazy lies about the church and scared her away for a week or two. but then she watched a baptizm that the elders had last week, and she called me afterwards - this is her on the cell phone, "Sister, I've been thinking, and I want to get baptized. Can we do it this week?" my response: pure joy. yes. so happy, so glad the work is going well. so glad that heavenly father answers prayers.
i'm also SO happy he blessed me with you family in my life. I got letters from you guys this week, and i just love love love you. AND someone please tell Sister Auton thank you SO much for the chirstmas message that she sent me from President Eyering. I was balling.
k thas all
love you!
BYE
Sister Wadd
you might ask yourselves: what do fanny packs, surfing and missionary work have in common? sore hip bones. So this week I bought a fanny back - among the best decisions i have made on my mission. Its fantastic. (but SO ridiculous looking - oh well, its brazil) But its funny because when i walk, the straps are like right on the hip bone. After I wore it for the first day straight, the next morning i realized that my hip bones were a little bit hurty from the strap... anyways, its just like the day after surfing all week long. because we all know that I was not blessed with the snappy little pop up that dear little cocoa maria has, and so when I used to surf a bunch my hips would get sore. anyways, it made me REALLY happy to have that sensation that I could relate to the beach. on top of that, I've decided to start using sunscreen because Brazil decided to turn into full summer heat and sun. And so now i have the BEST smell ever - coppertone sunscreen. love it - its intoxicating.
the other slightly beach related thing that happened this week is a little embarrassing. so we are teaching this golden family, and they have a little 4 year old girl who kinda reminda me of Jill Collins except she's brazilian. and the mom was telling the little girl to stop eating because she was going to turn into a little fat whale. and i started laughing (i think i was just happy because i knew the vocab word for whale because i had just seen it in the dictionary like that same morning). but i was laughing a little bit too hard, and i feel bad because i think she was semi offended. ah welp, my apologies little whale.
Other fun vocab words i learned this week - We were in the car with Barbara last P day after she took us to buy the fanny pack (love her) and we're cruising along this huge main road, and all the sudden we hit a bump and she shouts "alguém sabe trocar pneu?!" "Does anyone know how to change a tire?!" She hit a gnarly pot hole and blew up the tire, so we were stranded on the side of the road for like an hour until her friend could come and bail us out. Dont worry, i had my christmas calender with me so i made her look at all the family píctures and i made her listen to stories describing each of you. :)
other good news: WE ARE FINALLY going to baptize Lucio. there is this guy who we've been teaching FOREVER. and i kept going through fases where i thought we should just cut him because he knows so much and wasnt getting baptized, but he keeps going to church and keeping commitments, and it just never felt right to completely cut him. Its like the longest 2 month drama, but the point is, we finally had a throw down (obviously not like WWF but like the spiritual throw down) and he finally prayed again to get an answer if he should get baptized, aaaaand he got the answer and is preparing for this Saturday. SO HAPPY. he is a great guy and knows SO much about the gospel. his questions are way intellectual, so it just makes me nervous that he was going to let his intellect get in the way of the answer from the spirit that you cant deny! so its good. real good. And the other good news is this girl named Sara - elect. she wanted to get baptized from the get go, but her mom and family told her crazy lies about the church and scared her away for a week or two. but then she watched a baptizm that the elders had last week, and she called me afterwards - this is her on the cell phone, "Sister, I've been thinking, and I want to get baptized. Can we do it this week?" my response: pure joy. yes. so happy, so glad the work is going well. so glad that heavenly father answers prayers.
i'm also SO happy he blessed me with you family in my life. I got letters from you guys this week, and i just love love love you. AND someone please tell Sister Auton thank you SO much for the chirstmas message that she sent me from President Eyering. I was balling.
k thas all
love you!
BYE
Sister Wadd
hello 2010, tudo bem?
HI FAMILY!
whats kicken?
Missionary Work! yayy. things are good. the church is true. I love the gospel and I Love the power of the Holy Ghost. It is so real. It is the power that speaks to the souls of men - 2 nephi 33:1. it is the power to keep us in the gospel and firm in the faith. As missionaries (haha and i feel like this is especially true when speaking another language) we have these promisses that it will be given to us exactly what to say in the very moment what we need to say. and its TRUE. but the spirit gives us more than the words, it gives us the power and the authority to teach the message of the gospel. BAM.
Yesterday we were teaching this silly evangelist woman who had allll these silly ideas and misinterpretations of the bible... anyways, Bible bashing and showing what the scriptures really mean dont get anywhere with people, but the Holy Ghost gets straight to the heart. BAM.
È verdade. Não pode negar.
Anyways, today for P-day we're having a little play day with sister christensen and her companion Sister Armstrong, and our beloved Sister missionary coordenator, Barbara. (I told you guys about her on Christmas - love her. what a gem.)
LOVE YOU SO MUCH,
TCHAU!
beijo beijo beijo,
sister waaaaaaaddle
whats kicken?
Missionary Work! yayy. things are good. the church is true. I love the gospel and I Love the power of the Holy Ghost. It is so real. It is the power that speaks to the souls of men - 2 nephi 33:1. it is the power to keep us in the gospel and firm in the faith. As missionaries (haha and i feel like this is especially true when speaking another language) we have these promisses that it will be given to us exactly what to say in the very moment what we need to say. and its TRUE. but the spirit gives us more than the words, it gives us the power and the authority to teach the message of the gospel. BAM.
Yesterday we were teaching this silly evangelist woman who had allll these silly ideas and misinterpretations of the bible... anyways, Bible bashing and showing what the scriptures really mean dont get anywhere with people, but the Holy Ghost gets straight to the heart. BAM.
È verdade. Não pode negar.
Anyways, today for P-day we're having a little play day with sister christensen and her companion Sister Armstrong, and our beloved Sister missionary coordenator, Barbara. (I told you guys about her on Christmas - love her. what a gem.)
LOVE YOU SO MUCH,
TCHAU!
beijo beijo beijo,
sister waaaaaaaddle
Merry Christmas from Brasilia
MERRY CHRISTMAS FAMILY!!!
Yayyyyy. Who's excited?! EU ESTOU. This will be a wonderful Christmas because things are wonderful here in Aguas Claras and I get to talk to you soon! I am seriously so stoked for christmas here, because tomorrow we're having this christmas activity with alll the missionaries, and mostly i'm just happy to see sister Hill and Sister Canfield and all the wonderful sisters who i LOVE.
oh sidenote - today is transfers, but its super calm today because I'm staying here with sister lindenlaub! HOORAY. I love her and this area. its the greatest.
K, Christmas again. yayyyyyy. Obviously the most joyous thing about Christmas is the spirit and love of Christ. Last week we had this GREAT ward activity with EVERYONE there - all the members, recent converts, investigators, and it was a huge hit. People got there around 8:30 (it was announced to start at 7:30) and people didnt want to leave until like midnight. (So we heard, we had to leave way early.) Anyways, i was talking to the bishop and he gave me an assignment to speak in church this week, and my topic was, "the Love that Jesus Christ has for us." Best subject. Ever. I really enjoyed the chance to prepare and share that talk. Especially because on Sunday I had just finished studying the Book of Mormon. The first time i read it in the field, I read it in portuguese, with the focus on learning the language, and how to use and apply the scriptures in our lessons and for the investigators. When i finished it, I started it right afterwards in English with the focus on studying the book of mormon as a true testimony of Christ for me personally. It is incredibly true. So it all came together in a really sweet way for me, and i just want to share a little of what I learned through studying the last 7 weeks, and what I shared in my talk on sunday.
I found great power in studying the Book of Mormon. It is not a record of an ancient people, it is a testimony and holy withness of the Lord and Savior of this world. Jesus Christ is the Son of God who was humbly born to the virgen Mary. He lived a perfect live. He gave us the perfect example. He loves us with a perfect love. Because of this love, we are His. This perfect love of Christ is the motivating power that dictated every action that He made. Because of His love for God the Father, Jesus Christ submitted all things to the Father's will in complete obedience. Because of Christ's love for us, He took upon Himself all of our pains, afflictions, sorrows, and sad moments, and suffered them so that we wouldnt have to. This love is the core of the atoning sacrifice of the Savior.
Through completing the Atonement and fulfilling the law which He was sent to fulfill, Jesus Christ made it possible for us to repent and become clean. Though we are far from perfect, the invitation to "come unto Christ" is an invitation to be perfect - to be perfected in Him. If we want to accomplish this we have to get to know the Savior. This is done by studying his birth, purpose, calling, life and teachings. Most importantly, we come to know the Savior when we meet him in Gethsemane. In Gethsemane, the Lord of lords suffered. When we pass through the garden with Him, it breaks our heart and changes our spirit. We realize the personal suffering that He made for our personal sins. That is the place where we gain a broken heart and a contrite spirit, and we have no more desire to do evil.
The Savior has done everything for us and given us everything we have. All He asks is that we come to Him, because He loves us and doesnt want to lose us. We have everything to gain in Christ. Our number one hope is the salvation that He promisses to us - the place in heaven that He is preparing. This is the message the the Book of Mormon teaches , and the doctrine that every human soul needs. Christ is theway and the life, and we have the simple commandment to follow Him and keep His commandments.
He has done everything because of LOVE. in turn, we do all that we do for Him and for others, trying to develop and excercise that Godly love. I have found that living (and sharing) the gospel every day is key. I am so grateful to be here as a missionary to share this message of love and of Jesus Christ. I am eternally grateful for the oportunity i have, for 18 months to be here, and to learn these truths. I love my Savior, and I love His gospel, and His perfect plan.
and i love you, and cant wait to talk to you on christmas day!
Sister Wardle
Yayyyyy. Who's excited?! EU ESTOU. This will be a wonderful Christmas because things are wonderful here in Aguas Claras and I get to talk to you soon! I am seriously so stoked for christmas here, because tomorrow we're having this christmas activity with alll the missionaries, and mostly i'm just happy to see sister Hill and Sister Canfield and all the wonderful sisters who i LOVE.
oh sidenote - today is transfers, but its super calm today because I'm staying here with sister lindenlaub! HOORAY. I love her and this area. its the greatest.
K, Christmas again. yayyyyyy. Obviously the most joyous thing about Christmas is the spirit and love of Christ. Last week we had this GREAT ward activity with EVERYONE there - all the members, recent converts, investigators, and it was a huge hit. People got there around 8:30 (it was announced to start at 7:30) and people didnt want to leave until like midnight. (So we heard, we had to leave way early.) Anyways, i was talking to the bishop and he gave me an assignment to speak in church this week, and my topic was, "the Love that Jesus Christ has for us." Best subject. Ever. I really enjoyed the chance to prepare and share that talk. Especially because on Sunday I had just finished studying the Book of Mormon. The first time i read it in the field, I read it in portuguese, with the focus on learning the language, and how to use and apply the scriptures in our lessons and for the investigators. When i finished it, I started it right afterwards in English with the focus on studying the book of mormon as a true testimony of Christ for me personally. It is incredibly true. So it all came together in a really sweet way for me, and i just want to share a little of what I learned through studying the last 7 weeks, and what I shared in my talk on sunday.
I found great power in studying the Book of Mormon. It is not a record of an ancient people, it is a testimony and holy withness of the Lord and Savior of this world. Jesus Christ is the Son of God who was humbly born to the virgen Mary. He lived a perfect live. He gave us the perfect example. He loves us with a perfect love. Because of this love, we are His. This perfect love of Christ is the motivating power that dictated every action that He made. Because of His love for God the Father, Jesus Christ submitted all things to the Father's will in complete obedience. Because of Christ's love for us, He took upon Himself all of our pains, afflictions, sorrows, and sad moments, and suffered them so that we wouldnt have to. This love is the core of the atoning sacrifice of the Savior.
Through completing the Atonement and fulfilling the law which He was sent to fulfill, Jesus Christ made it possible for us to repent and become clean. Though we are far from perfect, the invitation to "come unto Christ" is an invitation to be perfect - to be perfected in Him. If we want to accomplish this we have to get to know the Savior. This is done by studying his birth, purpose, calling, life and teachings. Most importantly, we come to know the Savior when we meet him in Gethsemane. In Gethsemane, the Lord of lords suffered. When we pass through the garden with Him, it breaks our heart and changes our spirit. We realize the personal suffering that He made for our personal sins. That is the place where we gain a broken heart and a contrite spirit, and we have no more desire to do evil.
The Savior has done everything for us and given us everything we have. All He asks is that we come to Him, because He loves us and doesnt want to lose us. We have everything to gain in Christ. Our number one hope is the salvation that He promisses to us - the place in heaven that He is preparing. This is the message the the Book of Mormon teaches , and the doctrine that every human soul needs. Christ is theway and the life, and we have the simple commandment to follow Him and keep His commandments.
He has done everything because of LOVE. in turn, we do all that we do for Him and for others, trying to develop and excercise that Godly love. I have found that living (and sharing) the gospel every day is key. I am so grateful to be here as a missionary to share this message of love and of Jesus Christ. I am eternally grateful for the oportunity i have, for 18 months to be here, and to learn these truths. I love my Savior, and I love His gospel, and His perfect plan.
and i love you, and cant wait to talk to you on christmas day!
Sister Wardle
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