This is the Moreno Valley Zone
6/1/2015
Hola
a todos!!
Sorry for such a short
email last week! We had some memorial day activities planned (which I will talk
more about later!).
Thanks Hermana
Leatherman, Maddy, and Danielle for the letters! And also, thanks to everyone
who has sent stamps to me! That's been a huge blessing!
For Memorial Day, the
Jenson family took us to the March Air Force Base Museum! It's kind of like the
Hill Air Base Museum but smaller. It was a ton of fun! We spent a few hours
there! It was a fun, different thing to do on a P-Day. It's nice to get out of
the routine of basketball, clean, email, then shop. I really enjoyed it!
We
also had dinner with the Lewis family! They barbecued hamburgers and had pasta
salad and watermelon! It reminded me of barbecues back home! They live in the
farthest corner of our ward, and we don't get to go down there very often
because there aren't any former or potential investigators (yet). When they
heard that there weren't a lot of people for us to plan to go see, the started
making plans of who they could befriend, invite to church, etc.. It was so
awesome! I love the members in this ward! They are pretty new to our ward, so they
don't know a lot of the people. There's a recent convert family that just got
baptized that has disappeared. I don't think the Lewis' know them at all, but
they were also making plans to go invite them to dinner and visit them!!! I
want to be like the Lewis family when I grow up!!
Well this week has
been super crazy!! Since there are about 18 missionaries going home, and only
six coming in (this has happened the past two transfers), a LOT of stuff
happened with transfers! So Saturday is when we get our calls of
where we will be going, who our new companion will be, etc.. In the morning,
President Mullen calls people who will be in leadership positions. So I always
wake up early Saturday morning, just in case one of us gets a call.
No call came, so I just started getting ready, and started studying. Then
President called and asked if I would serve as a district leader! It was a
little scary.. I have a meeting on Thursday for new district leaders,
where they will train us on what exactly we need to do. But basically I watch
over three other companionships, have a district meeting every Tuesday,
and go on exchanges will all the missionaries in my district. I'm excited! That
night is when we got our transfer calls. Our entire zone was completely moved
around! A lot of missionaries got doubled out (both companions were
transferred), and we will have two new zone leaders! My new companion is Elder
Turner. I've never met him before. He's been in the mission for about 4 1/2
months and is waiting for a visa to go to Australia. The only things that I
heard about him the other night is that he doesn't want to be here. He doesn't
care about this mission because he's going to Australia. So Saturday night,
I was very overwhelmed. I had been hoping and praying for a companion that is
motivated to work, and will work hard, because my last two have not! It was a
pretty humbling experience. Sometimes, well most of the time, what we want is
not in our Heavenly Father's plan for us. He knows what is best for us. It's
not our job to tell what to do! So that night, feeling very humble, I knelt
down and poured out my whole soul to God. This transfer will probably be
difficult, but I can make it through with my Heavenly Father!
Last night, we went to
a youth fireside with Maggie and Antonio Morales. The youth had submitted
questions for the bishop to answer. It was really cool! It was an actual
"fire"side, so we made s'mores, sat around a campfire, and had a lot
of fun! The youth in this ward are awesome! They were great at fellow shipping
Maggie and Antonio! The whole ward is very missionary-minded! It's amazing!
Everyone is always willing to help, and they are pretty good at inviting their
friends to learn about the gospel!
We taught Eric and
Jayme Johnson this week! We talked about the Plan of Salvation and they both
had really good questions! It was a neat experience to see that even members
don't have all the answers. None of us do! I've found that one of my favorite
ways to teach is with parables! I noticed in the New Testament, Christ would
teach people through a story that they would then have to relate to the gospel.
Not only does it help the learner relate to the gospel, but it forces them to
think and discover on their own. Not just listening to us rattle off some bullet
points from a lesson. For example, Jayme asked why Christ had to pay for our
sins. Why couldn't it be one of us. So we asked her to imagine that she wanted
a really nice, brand new car. She didn't have the money to buy it, but she had
a car she could trade for it. If she had a beat up, rusty old junker, is that
going to be a fair trade? Not really. But if she has a brand new car that's
just as nice as the one she wants? That's a fair trade! Then we let her figure
the example out on her own!
We saw Hijinio this
week, but he has been pretty busy. We talked to him more about the Book of
Mormon and how it will help him. We read 3 Nephi 11 with him, which is one of
my favorite chapters! The spirit was so strong there! I just
hope that he will continue progressing towards baptism! He understands that
it's a life-changing decision and doesn't want to take it lightly, which could
be good or bad!
Well I'll keep you all
updated next week with all my district leader stuff and my new companion! I
love you all so much! And miss you tons!
Love,
Elder Warren
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