Dear
Madre,
My greenie package
came a couple of days ago and the second package came this morning right before
we left to go email! Thank you so much! Also, thanks to Omie and Papa, Tenley,
Alison, and Noel for the letters! I wrote back so they should be getting there
soon! Will you let people know that it's usually easier for me to respond to a
letter from them than it is for me to respond to an email?
So the only people who
notice, or have said anything about my accent, were the other missionaries in
my ward, and my companion. But almost all of them are from Utah, so we're all
in the same boat! I guess I don't say any "t"s. Either they're silent
or it's a soft "d" sound! Crazy!
I just uploaded all
the pictures I had to the OneDrive account! It's way easier than emailing like
five at a time!
I can't believe it's
almost Thanksgiving!! This past month has flown by so fast, it feels like I was
still at home just the other day! We're going to be spending Thanksgiving with
the Budica family. I'll definitely be thinking about you guys the whole time!
I'm also grateful for emails and letters! I can't wait to Skype and see all of
you guys! I'm grateful for all of the miracles that I see every day! I'm also
grateful for all of the humbling experiences I have and all the trials!
That's cool that you
have two new elders! What are their names? As a missionary, it's always awesome
when we ask someone if we can help, and then they let us help!! How do I find
solutions to my problems... Hmm... I think the most important way to find a
solution is prayer and scripture study. I know that it sounds like a
"primary answer", but that's really all it takes. Like the king in
the Old Testament who had lepresy, and the prophet told him to go and dip in
the Jordan River seven times, but the king didn't want to do it because it was
too simple. But when he went and washed in the river seven times, he was
healed! If we are faced with a problem, all we need to do is pray. Don't pray
for the problem to disappear, but pray for strength to endure through the
trial. Pray and ask God for a solution. I've found that going to God with a
plan and asking if this is what He would have me do works better than just
asking for a solution. If we show God that we are wanting to change and take
the initiative, He will help guide us down the right path! Another thought that
I think will help is about grace. Grace is the power that we can get through
the Atonement to do better. It's an enabling power! It's the strength that God
will give us to push through. For example: Say we need to run a mile in seven
minutes but we can only run a ten minute mile. Grace doesn't mean that God will
make up the extra three minutes. Grace means that God will make it possible for
us to run a seven minute mile! Oh and read through Ether 12 before your lesson
and see if anything in that chapter will help you with your lesson! Sorry if
that was a little jumbled, but I hope that something in there will make sense
and help you in your lesson!
The question
"Does the Holy Ghost love me?" is soooo awesome! I've actually never
thought about that, but I definitely will now! I remember a talk Elder Bednar
gave about recognizing the promptings of the Holy Ghost. Sometimes I wonder if
it's the Holy Ghost telling me to do something or if it's just something I want
to do. Elder Bednar taught that we don't need to worry about it! If a
thought/idea prompts us to do something good, don't waste time sitting there
wondering if it's inspiration from God, but go out and do it!!
I'm so glad you
invited the neighbors over tomorrow (I mean today...)!!!! I'll be
praying all day that it will go well and that hopefully they might want to
learn more about the gospel? It's funny because today in companion study, we
talked about the importance of members in missionary work! Maybe as you
fellowship our neighbors (I feel really bad because I don't even know their
names!), you could invite them over to have a lesson with the missionaries! I
know that teaching a lesson with a member present makes the lesson go about three
hundred times smoother! It's also helpful for the members involved, because
it's an opportunity to bear testimony and teach the gospel!
I just want to take a
moment and say how grateful I am for being taught how to clean. Because the
bathroom at our house was AWFUL when I got here and it was driving me crazy
because I never had time to clean it. But now it's nice and sparkling clean! So
thanks Momma (and Grandma!) for teaching me how to be a bit of a neat freak!
It's a great blessing that I didn't quite appreciate until now!
Baby Rex is soooo
cute!!! It's super sad that I won't get to see him for a couple years but
hopefully I'll get to see him when we Skype?
So this past week has
been really crazy! I broke our phone (whoops) when we were biking and it fell
out of my pocket so we had to get a replacement! So our zone leaders drove down
to the mission office and picked up the new phone to find out that the
microphone on it doesn't work! So on Wednesday when I was on
exchanges (I'll talk about that more later), Elder Hendersen and I had to
borrow a car from the sister missionaries in our area, drive to the mission
office to pick up a new phone, and then drive down to Hemet (which is an hour
away!!) to go to a doctors appointment for my prescription that was apparently
scheduled for the first week I was in the field (no one told me about it..) and
then they rescheduled it forWednesday afternoon (and told me about it Wednesday morning!).
Crazy day! That night at dinner was super awkward too! This ward gossips like
crazy, so this family, the Kranz's, we were having dinner with also has someone
that lives with them named Sue. Sue found out from someone else that she might
have to move out of the Kranz's home. So everyone was really angry that night
and it was really uncomfortable for Elder Hendersen and I!
And now for the better
side of the week! I had my first exchange this week! I took over the area with
Elder Hendersen. Elder Taylor left to go to the area that Elder Hendersen
serves in. With everything that happened on Wednesday, we didn't even have
to go teach anybody! It was a really weird exchange! We met with Alfredo a
couple times this week, and he's still doing really solid! He's been reading
from the Book of Mormon and he's going to be baptized on December 27! We
also started meeting with Ignacio's fiancee, Amanda. They both want to get
baptized and said they will prepare for baptism on December 20!!
It's crazy how much
Heavenly Father looks after us! I see little miracles every day! The other day,
we had to walk to a member's home to pick up our bikes and someone stopped and
asked if we needed a ride! That happened twice! Then one night we were walking
home in the dark, and no cars ever passed us! Which is awesome because people
here drive like madmen and there are no streetlights!
I thought about some
things that I might like for Christmas! A GPS would be awesome, I need a Gospel
Art Library book, a Gospel Principles manual, some ties, and definitely some of
Grandma and Omie's Christmas goodies!! Could you also send me some of my other
t-shirts? I don't have very many! Also, could you send us some piano music? We
have a piano in our homeshare, but we don't have any music!!
Thanks for all the
letters and love! I miss you so much! I pray for you everyday!!!
Te quiero,
Elder Warren
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