Dear
Mother,
It was super awesome
to talk to you on Christmas! I really enjoyed talking to you guys and being
able to see everyone! Even though it's only been about two months!
Thanks to Mom, Dad,
Maddy, Tenley, Grandma, Grandpa, Omie, Papa, Kam, Brandy, Adrienne, Deatons,
Great Grandma Clark, Alison, and Madelyn for the Christmas presents!!! It was a
good first Christmas away from home! Thanks Alley, Becca, Madelyn, and the Memmotts
for the letters!
After I got to Skype
you guys, we went to lunch and had ham, turkey, potatoes, gravy, stuffing, etc!
It was really good! We played Spot-It! Elder Hughes introduced all of us to the
game and I loved it! If you send it to me I definitely won't complain :) After
lunch, we went home and played croquet for a little while! We didn't really
have a dinner appointment.. The Shumway family just invited us to come over
Christmas night. So we got to the Shumways a little bit after 5 and were just
in time for dessert! There were a lot of homemade pies and they were really
good! They have three huge German Shephers that just follow Brother Shumway
around! It's so funny! They never leave his side! After dessert, we went to the
Stake Center with all the missionaries in the stake. We played Banana Grams
with a bunch of people, Phase 10, and volleyball! Some of us wanted to watch a
movie but we were outvoted when people found the volleyball net. Maybe we'll
get to watch a movie on New Years Eve? New Years Eve is just a regular day for
us. We proselyte until dinner and then go to the Stake Center at 6:00 with
the other Elders and Sisters in our stake! New Years Day is a deep cleaning
day! Whoo! It'll be nice to get everything cleaned up! I got A LOT of stuff for
Christmas and I'm not entirely sure where to put all of it!
I went tracting for
the first time this week! There are two newer neighborhoods in my area where
there aren't dogs and fences in the front yards! Elder Taylor and I went to
them a couple times to go tracting! I actually like doing it! For some reason
it's a lot easier than talking to people on the street. We found a couple
people that seemed interested so stayed tuned and I'll let you know how our
return appointments go!
We met with one of our
recent converts, Sister Tibbett, the other night. We just randomly stopped by
because our appointment across the street fell through. It's a good thing that
we stopped by because she's having a hard time understanding why she needs to
pay tithing. She told us that she has a bunch of charities that she has paid to
for 40-50 years and if she pays tithing, she won't have enough money to give to
the other charities. At first she was trying to find a loophole so that she
wouldn't have to pay tithing on the money she gave to the charities. We talked
to her about faith. We told her that tithing doesn't take money, it takes
faith. If we show God that we are making sacrifices for Him, He is going to
bless us more that we can imagine! She started to understand more about it, so
hopefully after she talks with the bishop at tithing settlement, it will make
sense to her! She told us that she's very stubborn (it took missionaries
meeting with her for 25 YEARS before she got baptized!!!!) and if she can't do
something her way, then she won't do it at all.. So I pray and pray that her
heart will be softened and this doesn't turn her away from the Church!
ALFREDO IS BACK!!!! We
remembered that he told us he would be around on Sunday, so I asked Elder
Taylor if it was alright if we moved some of our appointments back so we could
see if he was home. And he was! He was there with his ex-wife (she seems to be
over there a lot) and kids. When his mom brought us inside, Alfredo asked us if
we could go meet outside. We walk out back and he just starts crying. Neither
Elder Taylor and I knew what to do so we just let him cry for a couple minutes.
Eventually he started telling us about what has been happening in his life. He
divorced his wife, Erika, a couple years ago because things weren't working out
between the two of them. Erika didn't want to let him go because she still was
in love with him. Alfredo started dating another girl and had a baby with her.
I think Erika got jealous and kept calling the new girl and telling her that
Alfredo is still Erika's and the other girl has to back off. So Alfredo's new
girlfriend left him because of Erika and now he can't see his new daughter
anymore. We talked to him about the Atonement, and how neither of us knew
exactly what he was going through, but Christ does. I asked him if he
remembered how he felt when he got his answer that the Book of Mormon was true
and promised him that he could feel that peace/happiness again. It was the most
spiritual lesson that I have ever had with anyone! After we finished talking at
his house, he asked if we could go see the Verdejos. They're an older couple
who have offered to give Alfredo a ride to church and live just down the street
from him. When we got there, he really opened up to them and told them
everything he told us and more. He talked to them in Spanish though, so I only
picked up bits and pieces of the new information. Alfredo told us he'll
probably quit his job in Palm Springs and move back here so he can be around to
work out all of his family problems. He also wants to meet with the Bishop for
some counseling. The only people that he's told about what he's going through
are us and the Verdejos. Hopefully things start to work out for him because he
is a really good guy!
Well that's all I have
for this week! I love you all and pray for you every single day! Thanks for all
of your support!!
Te quiero,
Elder Warren
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