Elder Wardle's Mission Letter

 FREE FROM THE SHACKLES OF TRAINING Hello Everyone! I hope you all had a fabulous thanksgiving! And now that Thanksgiving has passed, it is officially Christmas time! What a wonderful opportunity to reach out to those around us in love and support, and to focus on our Savior Jesus Christ! I know I am excited to do just that during the coming month, and being able to do it as a full time missionary just lets me focus on it all the more! Yesterday was transfer calls. That also means I am out of training! Several of the people from my district have been assigned to be trainers, which is absolutely unreal to me. Yes, on paper the function of training is to turn trainees into trainers. but the language is a very large hurtling block over here, and there hasn't been much of a precedent for that before, and yet here we are! Good luck to my district mates! Me and my companion are staying in 김제 (GimJe), but we are splitting our areas. That means we will no longer be serving in 정읍 (Jeou...

 Hello everyone! I hope this week's update finds you in good health! This week started off with interviews with President Sargent. As I continue to get to know my mission president I am more and more amazed at how perfect he is for his calling. His advice as well as words of encouragement were inspired, and I know he was called to his office by God. It was a great, full speed start to the week, and we kept that momentum going by immediately going on an exchange. This time I was with the one and only Elder Patterson! He is an amazing Elder, and even though we are both equally green, I learned a ton from him from little finding tips to larger work ethic ideologies. His area in 남원 (Namwan) is likely the most similar to my own area, but what him and Elder 황제하 have managed to accomplish over there is incredible. It was also a good taste test for the coming transfer, where I will be out of training and can't afford to be led around by the collar.  Immediately coming off the exchange...

 Double Doozie This email is gonna be an update on the last two weeks! We had a zone activity last p-day, which was a blast, but it meant I didn't have enough time to write one of these. I've been busy, but also a lot of the same, so I'll try to hit all the interesting points briefly! Firstly, the p-day activity was really fun. There was soccer and basketball, but me and my companion who have regularly had to wake up early (yes, even earlier than missionary early) took the more chill route of board and card games. It was really fun getting to know the missionaries in this half of the mission!  I also had an exchange with Elder Carter in 전주. It was really fun, and there was so much to learn from their whole apartment of missionaries! There are so many ways to do missionary work, and I always enjoy seeing more slices of the missionary spectrum! That and the boys in that apartment are all super fun. I actually quite enjoy the quiet nature of having an apartment to ourselves, b...

  Conferences Galore! Hello everyone! This week was less wild then last week, but it was still somewhat of a doozie! We had Zone and Stake conference, which was a wonderful opportunity to feel the spirit and receive revelation. Zone conference was mostly in English, and there was translation for the Korean, so it was also a comforting opportunity where I knew what was going on and what people were talking about. Stake conference was less english friendly. Let me tell ya, as hard as it is to stay awake during Stake Conference normally, it is a whole different beast when you can't understand what the speaker is saying! It is easier when you can focus in on the Spirit though, which was present in spades. It was a great opportunity to practice listening to more formal Korean language as well! My listening and comprehension skills are by far my weak point with the language right now, so I love every opportunity I can get to practice listening in all sorts of different places! Opening up...