Hello, world! I’m here on my mission, and everything is going great. I’m currently in the Provo MTC, although that is going to change as of the next two days as I finally fly down to Sao Paulo. Portuguese is going well, although the fact that so many things look like German that don’t work anything like it is annoying. And all of the silly rules that I learned about German are getting in the way (how to place multiple verbs, for example).

My companion is Elder Loveless, and I’ve been in a room with Elder Shewell and Elder Chandler. We are all at this point great friends, and it’s sad that we won’t be hanging out after tomorrow (except for my companion).

That’s really all I have to say right now, I hope everything is going well at home. Please continue to keep me in your prayers and thoughts when you can, and I would love to hear from all of you (john.wardell@myldsmail.net). Have a great week!

~Elder Wardell

As I prepare to leave on my mission, I just wanted to thank each and every one of you who has had some influence on my life. While the specifics may have faded with time, the lessons I have learned will forever be etched on my life. I have enjoyed all my time serving you, and working with you, and receiving your aid. Words cannot truly show you all how I feel to know that I have friends like you.

If anyone wants to e-mail me (which I HIGHLY encourage), my e-mail will be john.wardell@myldsmail.net for the next two years. Thanks for the last 20 years, and here’s to the next 2.

~Elder Wardell

For those who don’t know it, I’ve been making my own trading card game called Star Commander. You can read about it at http://www.starcomtcg.com, although there’s very little that’s there right now. Since I’ll be gone for awhile, if anyone has any suggestions, feel free to let me know.

Everyone else has been talking about 9/11, and how it changed their life. I honestly can’t remember what the world was truly like before that, since I was only 10 at the time, and barely starting 5th grade. But I’ll still tell my account of the day, and the days that followed, because it just feels right to finally record them properly.

As I said, I was 10, and I had just started 5th grade that year. I don’t remember why, but I went into my parent’s room, saw the TV, and saw my mom crying. I asked her what was wrong, what had happened? She told me someone attacked the World Trade Center. Now, bearing in mind that I was 10, I had no idea what that meant, or what true impact it could possibly have. This was the first time I had seen live coverage of an attack. Sure, I played war games, but this was something completely different. The combination of the two, sadly, meant I didn’t have a truly emotional experience, except that I knew my mom was horrified, and something bad had taken place. I gave her a hug, which lasted a very long time.

Later, at school, the principal came to each of the classes and talked a bit about what had taken place. She tried to comfort us, but I remember I still had no real idea about why it was important. Since the actual attack (it had been at least a day), no one had explained the significance of the attack to us (or at least me, but I expect few in our class really understood). For some time after that, all we knew is that the teachers were sad. It was only far later (in the eyes of a 10-year-old) that I truly understood, as we went to war in Afghanistan, that it was the first attack from an enemy that truly wanted to kill Americans because of who we were and what we believed in.

Growing up since then, I have seen the consequences of this attack. I have seen the security at airports grow (we semi-regularly flew places for vacation), I have seen the tensions between those who favor the wars and those who abhor them grow, I have seen our nation swept into a righteous fury worthy of a cornered predator. I’ve grown up forming my opinions of what America should be based on history, not current events, because everyone agrees that current events are either something to be changed, or a sad reality that is needed for this trying time. I see that not only have these wars harmed lives, they have become political platforms, and have further driven the two ruling powers away from ever agreeing on anything. I had to force myself to stop being cynical towards our leaders, and have done my best to help others on this same point.

I guess I have two real messages I want to share through this story. First, teach all children you interact with the significance of things in the world. I had no clue until much later what the World Trade towers were, and I truly wish I had know such things. I didn’t understand as President Bush began his campaign into Iraq why so many questioned him (whether justly or not), and that there had already been conflict in that country. It’s great that schools teach the history leading up to World War II, but we need to know our current history even more. How else can we make reasonable decisions?

Second, we as Americans (and, by extension, citizens of what is referred to as the Western World) need to remember our place. We call ourselves the Free World, and because of that we are held to a higher standard. When we act, the world takes notice, and in many cases will follow. The rise of capitalism is one such example. So is our American Revolution, and by extension every revolution and every thought about the universal rights of humanity. The United Nations exists because we, as smaller States, proved that such a thing could exist. We have shown through our history and heritage that our method works. Currently, our method is stained with blood, both within and without our lands, where our soldiers fight for our freedoms and where they have never tread. The name of America is the name of a higher standard, a beacon to all nations of what must be obtained to be truly free. We took on that responsibility, and with it we are required to show the world how we must treat each other. To look at our society, it’s no wonder the world has changed for the worse. We rejoice in violence, we rally to the calls of conflict. The name America stands for everything that we are, and everything that we do. We, as a people, must not let it become a word for barbarism.

I don’t call for the end of our current conflicts. We are there, we should help until help is no longer wanted or required. But to mindlessly call for the downfall of another people, or even a single person, is wrong. We need to control our worse instincts, so that those who watch and learn from us can do the same.

I’ve already begun this, but just to add it to my website, I am working on a photo a day project. I may not upload them every day, depending on what’s been going on, but each day there will be a picture taken. I am uploading them to my Flickr account (three060), my Facebook account, and here. Wish me luck!

[Show as slideshow]

Just realized that I never posted this one here. This was originally written on July 26, 2010.

***

Woke up around 6 AM today to shower and go to breakfast. We headed out for Gettysburg soon after, between 7:30 and 8. We arrived with about an hour before our tour, so we went inside the museum and saw a lot of cool stuff. Our tour guide was amazing, and was directly related to the guy who was on the very edge of the left flank in the battle. Got a good video of the troop ‘loading’ a cannon.

After Gettysburg, we headed over to FEMA and ate at the training center’s cafeteria. We went from there to DC to go around to different monuments. On the way, the bus for troop 723 broke down in front of us. After a lot of communication problems we were told to keep moving, rather than load as many of them as we could onto our bus. Turns out they waited about five hours for a new bus.

We then went to the Einstein statue, and then got some pictures of the White House and Washington monument. After dinner at the Reagan Center, we headed over to the Lincoln monument, and the Korean and Vietnam memorials. We were separated from two of our boys and a scoutmaster, which was an easily solved problem. We then headed back home around 10, and sent the boys to sleep.

I’ll be able to upload pictures later, currently having some issues getting those back home. The system I had planned on using doesn’t allow HTTPS without paying $30, and I need to find out if I can get a code for free. But things should start flowing soon, I hope.

Today I headed out with my Jamboree troop at about 4 AM for Washington DC, Virginia, and other such places.Our first flight had a great captain and main flight attendant with great senses of humor. The captain told us to keep everything inside the vehicle because it would be going very, very fast. I mostly slept on both flights, although I did wake up long enough to have peanuts thrown at me. The second flight was fairly uneventful, I slept through the whole thing.

We leave the airport on time, and get to our bus. Our driver doesn’t have our dinner break listed, but we figure it out and go to the Pentagon City food court. We then head to the Marine Barracks in DC and watch a great show, with the band playing various songs and other things. We then had an adventure getting to our hotel, but now that we’re here, I’m going to bed. This is going to be a great adventure.

As with last time, I was tagged, but I’m posting it here so I will not be tagging anyone.

1. What time did you get up this morning?
8:30-ish.

2. How do you like your steak?
Cooked?

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinemas?
How to Train your Dragon

4. What is your favorite TV show?
Babylon 5.

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?
Germany.

6. What did you have for breakfast this morning?
Dirty rice (I wanted something spicy).

7. What is your favorite cuisine?
German.

8. What foods do you dislike (HATE)?
I don’t know, I haven’t eaten them yet.

9. Favorite Place to Eat?
Red Robins

10. Favorite dressing?
I don’t use dressing.

11.What kind of vehicle do you drive?
A bicycle.

12. What are your favorite clothes?
Whatever I’m wearing. Just not jeans.

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance?
Everywhere.

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full?
Are you filling it or draining it?

15. Where would you want to retire?
If I was going to retire, Boston.

16. Favorite time of day?
Evening

17. Do u have under garment piercing?
No.

18. What is your favorite sports to watch?
Baseball.

19. Who do you think will not tag you back right away?
As I tagged no one, no one will tag me back.

20. Person you expect to tag you back first
See previous.

21. Who are you most curious about their responses to this?
No one, really.

22. Bird watcher?
Sure.

23. Are you a morning person or a night person?
Morning person.

24. Do you have any pets?
2 cats.

25. Any new and exciting news you’d like to share?
Nothing to share, no.

26. What did you want to be when you were little?
Uh… astronaut.

27. What is your best childhood memory?
Jamboree 2005

28. Are you a cat or dog person?
Cat person.

29. Are you married?
No.

30. Always wear your seat belt?
Yes.

31. Been in a car accident?
If you count it as one.

32. Any pet peeves?
Yep. Bet you still wish you knew what they were.

33. Favorite Pizza Toppings?
Pepperoni.

34. Favorite Flower?
Yeah, flowers are nice.

35. Favorite ice cream?
Chocolate or cookie dough.

36. Favorite fast food restaurant?
Burgerville.

37. How many times did you fail your driver’s test?
Haven’t tried it yet.

38. From whom did you get your last email?
Butch Keepers.

39. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card?
Uh… Newegg? Steam? One of those.

40. Do anything spontaneous lately?
I’m about to spontaneously do my homework.

41. Like your job?
If I had one.

42. Favorite veggie?
Carrot.

43. What was your favorite vacation?
Germany.

44. Last person you went out to dinner with?
Parents.

45. What are you listening to right now?
Flashforward season finale.

46. What is your favorite color?
Orange.

47. How many tattoos do you have?
None.

48. How many are you tagging for this quiz?
None.

49. What time did you finish this quiz?
7:51 PM

50. Coffee drinker?
No.

51. Who tagged you first ?
Mom.

52. Who is your favorite cartoon hero ?
Calvin and Hobbes.

1. Whee!!!!!
2. Vroom vroom!!!
3. Excuse me, how much are pedestrians worth?
4. Flank speed!
5. Am I allowed to…?
6. Uh… how do I do that?
7. Sorry.
8. Is that going to hurt my grade?
9. Yeah, I tried to practice a lot in Mario Kart before I came here.
10. Did I pass?