Picking up Caleb at the Mission Home in Des Moines August 13.

We arrived just at 9 p.m. as Caleb had told us.  We were invited into the family room as the missionaries were still meeting; I think having a testimony meeting.  We first met Sister Jensen, and then also President Jensen.  They had a short film of photographs put to music which showed the experiences of the group of missionaries going home (about 12).  There was one other family picking up their missionary.  One of the adult missionaries prepared Caleb a batch of cookies.  They also had cake and brownies and ice cream after the short film.

We were then on our way to the hotel room where we were staying for the night.  No doubt we stayed up late and talked considerably.

Pictures inside the mission home

Life in Manteca 120: Miranda's Homecoming

Miranda reported her mission twice this Sunday.  Her talks were very nice.  She had more time in the adult ward and so that talk was a bit better.  In the singles ward she had to cut it a bit short.  Counsellor in the singles ward gave a funny talk on dating and marrying.  I wonder if they talk about that a lot.  I was really proud of Miranda.  Mark, Dianna and family as well as Jeremy Kayla and Charity were there for the Singles Ward talk.

Tony continues to do well at soccer.  He usually plays defender and is getting pretty good at it.  I think he could be a really good soccer player, but I really think his best sport is basketball.  He needs an older brother back to work him some.  He seems to be doing well in school.  I keep pushing him in Cub Scouts.  They are changing the program so he has until the end of June to finish his Wolf or he has to start over with the new program.  He has gotten four sports belt loops, flag football, fishing (he did at pack meetings) soccer and marbles.  He is really into ipad and ipod.  I guess he has inherited one of each. 

Mom and Jeremy redid the entertainment center.  It now has drawers for putting the movies into.  I think we should get rid of some of the VCRs as they  take a lot of space.  However you never know when you want to watch a particular movie.  The DVDs take a lot less space however.  Mom and Miranda painted it white.  At first I didn’t like it, but with it decorated it looks ok.  

Miranda Sends Pictures and some Positive Words

tower of Benjamin

car hit 1000 miles

zone

Wow! It's been a good week! There have been many miracles! 

On Tuesday, we went to the temple and I had an amazing experience. It wasn't anything special, but just being able to feel the peace that is there was enough. I love going to the temple. The spirit is so strong and you can truly focus on Heavenly Father. It helped get my mind into that eternal perspective I've been looking for. Trials are just a small moment in an eternity of happiness. I've learned that a lot over the past couple of months. I feel like I'm beginning to be myself again. I'm excited to get to work in the morning and excited to teach these people. It's a wonder feeling. 

The work is progressing!  It wasn't easy but it was rewarding. First off, a part member family we are working with came to church yesterday. I was so excited to see them there. They seemed to enjoy it and stayed for the whole three hours. It was definitely a miracle. We taught them on Friday about Jesus Christ and who He is to us. I think I learned more in that lesson than they did. It was amazing! 

We have met several times with Duane this week. He is preparing for his baptism on March 21st. He seems excited. 

On Thursday, we had Zone Conference. We built a tower for King Benjamin out of Red Solo cups, had a traffic jam, watched the Assistants and Sister Training Leaders demonstrate the worst companionship inventories I've ever seen, and learned about grace. It was a lot of fun and I loved every minute of it! 

This week I've been studying about the Atonement. I've learned that the atonement is not only for the worst of times. It's for the best of times too. The atonement is not only for the wicked, but for the righteous. The atonement not only takes us from bad to good, but from good to better. We all need the Atonement in our lives. We could all be doing a little bit better. 

I love you all and hope that you have had a great week! 

Sister Wardle

district

Missionary Portraits from Tony and Caleb

Caleb's portrait of Tony

Tony's portrait of Elder Wardle

Tony's picture of Sister Wardle and companion.  Investigator is saying Yeay with his hands up

Miranda's White Christmas

COLD

in doors tent

a local house

The tree and gifts, three stockings each

Merry Christmas from Twin Falls

Miranda Sent a Special Gift Home to Moma

Don't you just love Idaho spuds.  Miranda sent home a box full of potatoes, and mixed in were a few Idaho Spud candy bars.  These are Sheri's favorite, and you can't get them in California. 
I enjoyed the real spuds.  The were perfect spuds and became hash brown, baked and boiled potatoes.  Someone had given them to her.  Who cares how much it cost to ship them.

Sheri had already eaten a couple candy bars.

Love At Home First Verse

Miranda on the piano

Miranda recorded this for me before she left one her mission.  Now I can play it whenever I want to hear her playing.  She use to play frequently, and I think this was her favorite.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqXiJ6y5XEg

Meet the Mormons Film Presentation

http://meetthemormons.com/#/filter-all/page-1
I thought I would share Miranda's comment with regards to this movie.  She is serving a mission in Twin Falls, and was able to preview the movie.
On Friday we had the opportunity to see "Meet the Mormons". Wow that is an amazing movie! It is a documentary that shares the story of 6 very different LDS families. I won't spoil it but it is one of the best movies I have seen. You will laugh. You will cry. You will be moved. I recommend everyone goes and sees it. It will be in select theaters but I believe it will also be on Netflix and youtube.  Invite all your friends to see it as well.

Our mission president got a special copy of it so we watched it as a zone at the church building. It doesn't open until October 10th everywhere else. I am really excited to see how this helps the missionary work. Burley is the only theater showing it in our mission so I'm pretty excited. We aren't allowed to go see it or to be near the theater but we are allowed to invite others to come.

Caleb, serving a mission in Iowa, added this comment, "Oh! We also got to see Meet The Mormons this week! Holy cow that's a great film. Go watch it! It's amazing!"