Hola!!
I can't believe it's
almost Christmas! The time's gone by so fast! Thanks so much to Danielle, Noel,
Hna. Leatherman, Papa, Grandpa, Brother Tongish, Brother and Sister Parris, and
Mom for the letters/packages!
16 December: This
morning, we helped Sister Smith put up her Christmas lights! Sister Smith is
the best! She's 81 years old, but she's the most active 81 year old that I have
ever seen! She's always out visiting with people, giving people rides, doing yard
work, cleaning, cooking, etc! It dumped rain on us today! We had to bike all
the way to the top of our area for out lessons! I'm super glad I have a
raincoat! We had a lesson with Matthew tonight! He's so much fun! We watched He
is the Gift with him and it was so powerful! He really wants his grandpa to
baptize him, but his grandpa lives in Hawaii... So he's going to be baptized in
the summer when his family goes out to visit his grandparents in Hawaii!
17 December: Today was
the first District Meeting of the transfer! I'm not the only greenie anymore!
Sister Spring got transferred into my district (she was in the MTC with me) and
there's a brand new missionary, Elder Schlueter, in our district! We were on a
team up with Brother Kranz tonight and all of our appointments fell through! We
tried to visit some less active families but they either weren't home or they
didn't want to let us inside.. So Brother Kranz asked if we were hungry and
wanted to go to Jack in the Box (apparently Jack in the Box is super popular
here and they're everywhere! I think Dad would like it here!). When we walked
into the restaurant, we saw Mark sitting inside! We haven't seen Mark for weeks
because he works 12-18 hour days, 7 days a week! So I know have a testimony of
the power of Jack in the Box! Haha just kidding! But it was really cool to see
how the Lord's hand can be working in our lives in the smallest/strangest ways!
18 December: This
morning we went to serve at a Senior Center. Elder Child told us we had to be
there at 8:00, but when we walked in they told us we weren't supposed to
be there until 11! We went outside to study and then some of the elders that
were with us played soccer in the parking lot. I talked with Elder Murray (he's
one of the Chinese elders) because he didn't really want to play soccer. So we
practiced speaking Chinese with each other! He wants me to talk to President
and see if he'll let me go Chinese speaking since there are only four Chinese
missionaries! I think it would be really cool to learn to speak fluent Chinese!
So when I have my interview with President Mullen this transfer, I'm going to
talk to him about it!
19 December: Today I
realized how much I have in common with Maddy... Elder Taylor and I were
getting ready to leave for an appointment when we saw a stray German Shepherd
walking down the street. We sit and wait for it to pass because we really don't
want to be chased by a big dog! But instead of walking away, the dog walks
right up to us. Obviously I had to pet it! BIG mistake! The dog (whom I named
Kevin...) followed us around all day! He would wait for us outside our
appointments and then walk with us to our next one! We felt super bad because
we were biking and he was running to keep up with us! Eventually we decided
that missionary work with a German Shepherd is too hard, because everybody
avoided us! So we went home and hid inside our house, hoping Kevin would leave!
We sat inside for over an hour and he never left! Eventually the zone leaders
came by to pick us up for dinner and Kevin was still outside! He was gone after
we came back from dinner though! It was really sad because I was all down to
keep him! But that's not allowed.. Tonight all of our appointments fell
through! Nothing seems to be working out! We haven't found anyone new and our
investigators aren't making any progress. So tonight Elder Taylor and I sat
down and talked about what we need to do and how we can help each other. We
decided that we need to pray/fast to find out what God wants us to do. It was
really cool and it was a super spiritual experience!
20 December: Today we
handed out Christmas presents to kids from low income families! They came to
one of the high schools near us, had lunch, watched a magic show, and then got
a present, backpack, and blanket! It was so much fun to see all these little
kid's faces light up when we handed them a present! It was so much fun! So
tonight we had a dinner with all the missionaries in the stake at the stake
president's house. He called Elder Bushman and asked him if he would put
together a musical number! Guess who he asked to be the pianist!? Me! Whoo! So
I got the music two hours before we had to perform! Six other elders and
sisters were singing and I had to play the accompaniment for them! I was super
stressed out but it actually went really well! We also got to go caroling with
30 missionaries to some of the stake president's neighbors! It was a lot
of fun to be able to bring the spirit to these families! Tonight we finally
made progress with Ignacio!!! He opened up to us and told us A LOT of stuff! He
talked about how he feels like the devil keeps throwing chain after chain onto
him and something dark keeps pulling him away from the stuff he knows he should
be doing (coming to church, reading from the Book of Mormon, praying..).
Hopefully this is the push that he needed to get onto the right path!
Well I can't wait to
talk to some of you on Thursday! I love and miss you all!
Merry Christmas!!
Elder Warren
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