7/27/2015 P-Day #38

7/27/2015

Hola family!! 

Thanks Mom, Maddy, Danielle, Myra, Noel, and Alison for the letters! And thanks Omie and Papa for the letter/package!!

We had an awesome week! I'm super super excited to tell you about it!

So last week I mentioned the Nunleys, the family where the wife and the two daughters aren't members. So there's Bryan, Chelsea, and the two daughters are Haylei and Mckayla. We went over on Sunday to have another lesson with them. We started teaching about the Restoration of the gospel. Which is my favorite message to share with people because it's truly what sets us apart as God's true church on the earth. The only problem is that Chelsea tries to think about everything logically. Which you can't really do with the gospel. It's not going to make sense or work. You have to have faith and trust/believe in God and Jesus Christ. So we talked about that and she agreed that she needs to have faith, it's just hard to get her head to stop thinking about everything logically. So we then asked her if she would prepare to be baptized on August 23 and she said that she would! So we now have Maggie being baptized onAugust 9 and Chelsea on August 23! It's really exciting! We keep seeing miracles left and right!

Speaking of Maggie, we hadn't been able to see her all week because her mom had doctors appointments every day and they weren't home when we tried dropping in! But she came to church on Sunday and we were talking to her about her baptism and she's still super excited! She's really excited for Antonio to baptize her! And so are we! Our Bishop is actually going to ask him to speak in sacrament meeting in a couple weeks when we have a sacrament meeting focused on missionary work! It's really exciting! He paid tithing for the first time on Sunday! I forgot to get a picture, but the shoes he was wearing would have fit right in with the red velvet room we had in Stansbury!! They were pretty much the same material as the carpet! I was laughing so hard!

For Pioneer Day, our stake had a party at one of the church buildings. There was a barbecue, petting zoo, [Styrofoam] cow pie throwing competition, and kickball! It was a lot of fun! I definitely missed all the fireworks, parades, and rodeos back home, but it was still a lot of fun!

Our ward mission leader, Brother Poulter, has been super helpful with missionary work! He went out and tried to talk to some people at the gym and work but no one was interested.. At least he went out and opened his mouth! That's all we can do! He also invited his neighbor to meet with us and we had a lesson with him on Saturday! It went pretty well. It was hard to gauge how interested he was, but it was just really neat to see a member of the ward reaching out again and again even though he had been rejected many times! What would happen if missionaries just gave up the first time someone said now, slammed a door, or yelled something rude as they drove by?? Never be afraid to share your testimony! If someone is offended because you tried to share the blessings of the gospel with them, then that's there problem. You fulfilled your responsibility as a member of the church!

I love you all and miss you tons! I'm so grateful for this gospel and all the blessings that it brings into my life! Go out and serve God with all your heart, might, mind, and strength!

Love,Elder Warren

7/20/2015 P-Day #37

7/20/2015

Hi all you folks back home!

Thank Danielle for the letter this week! 

This week went by soooo slow and yet it flew by at the same time! It was really interesting!

On Tuesday, it was Chik-fil-A Day! We dressed up like cows with the zone leaders and got free food! It was a lot of fun! Everyone else in the zone was really lame and didn't join in.. Their loss! Haha 

Cool story for this week... There has been a part member family that has been coming to church for the past few months and we've been trying to meet with them, but they have been super busy. We stopped by yesterday right after church and started talking to them. They each have a daughter from a previous marriage and neither of them have been baptized. We asked them if we could start coming by every week and teaching the family. The one daughter that was there started nodding her head and said she really wanted to learn more! Then, the mom said she isn't sure if she was ever baptized. Sometimes her mom will say that she was and sometimes she will say she wasn't. So we looked up her information and surprise! She hasn't been baptized! So now we have a family with three nonmembers that all want to be baptized really soon! It was an amazing miracle! It was a really big blessing for us!

We also had a lesson with Maggie (Antonio's sister). She told us that after Youth Conference she made the decision to be baptized. She even started crying a little bit when she was talking about Youth Conference. we asked her if she would be ready to be baptized on August 16th. She told us that she wanted to be baptized earlier on August 9th! We're really excited for her! And Antonio, because he will be able to baptize her!

On Sunday, we confirmed Antonio and ordained Omar to the Aaronic Priesthood. It was a really great experience! Both of them are on fire right now! The gospel has blessed both of them as they've learned about it and started living it. It's cool how it blesses all of us in different ways. If I hadn't decided to go on a mission, I definitely wouldn't be who I am right now! Being a missionary has blessed me in so many ways I would never have thought of!

I love you all so much! Go out and serve God with all you heart, might, mind, and strength!

Love, Elder Warren

Here are pictures from Antonio's Baptism from last week

 Happy 4th of July!

7/13/2015 P-Day #36

7/13/2015

Hola familia y amigos!!

Thanks Danielle, Maddy, and Tenley for the letters/post cards! 

This week has been a little bit slower, so this email might be a bit shorter! 

We got transfer calls on Saturday! Both Elder Turner and I will be staying in Lasselle! His visa may come soon, so I'm not sure what will happen with me when it comes! I might be in a trio with the zone leaders for a little while! 

I'll share a few spiritual experiences from this week. Firstly, Antonio was baptized on Sunday! It was an awesome experience! There was a huge turnout from the ward. It was amazing to see everyone come and support him! He went to stake youth conference last week and had a great time! He invited all the youth in the stake to his baptism, and a lot of them came! His mom and Sister Tatum brought a lot of food, so we had a lot of fun afterwards! Secondly, the Garcia family has invited their friend Alexis to meet with us and take the lessons. She has been coming to church with them for five years or so, but her parents haven't let her get baptized before. She had asked them last week and they told her they would be fine with her meeting us and being taught, so we scheduled a lesson for yesterday night. Her parents apparently changed their minds... She was still at dinner with us and we had a short little "lesson" from a scripture in the Book of Mormon. We read Mosiah 24:9-16. Alma and his people are under the control of Amulon, who is a pretty wicked man. He starts to put them to work, forcing them to labor for him. It is a really hard situation the people are in, so they lift up their voices in prayer. And because of their faith, patience, and willingness to submit to the trial they were going through, the Lord eased their burdens and eventually delivered them from bondage. Afterwards, Alexis texted us and told us that was exactly what she needed to hear at that time. We invited her to keep praying for her parents to soften their hearts and allow her to be baptized. Hopefully through our faith, patience, and humility, we will be able to see this happen!

I am so grateful for this gospel and the way that it touches the lives of anyone who hears the message we share and then lives it! We teach a lot of different people, and somehow the gospel of Jesus Christ blesses each and every one of them! I know that it has blessed my life. I wouldn't be who I am or where I am if it wasn't for my Savior. I love you all and pray for you each and every day! Go out and serve God with all your heart, might, mind, and strength wherever you are!

Love,

Elder Warren

7/6/2015 P-Day #35

7/6/2015

I apologize in advance. This email might be a little bit short. My attention span is not very long today!!! 

Thanks Danielle and Omie and Papa for the letters!

This week was super weird! The time flew by so fast, but at the same time it felt like it took forever! I hope you all had a great 4th of July! Ours was pretty fun! In the morning, we got to volunteer at the Moreno Valley City Parade! It was actually kind of lame... There was only one float!! I think there were more people in the parade than were watching! I've also never seen so many non-American things in a 4th of July parade.. Then we had dinner with the Detlefsen family. We had some super yummy hamburgers, watermelon, baked beans, potato salad, etc.. Then we had a watermelon eating contest with our zone! It was a lot of fun! We had to be in our apartments by 9:00, so we watched the fireworks from one of our balconies! It was a pretty good Independence Day! 

We confirmed Omar on Sunday! Other than that, it was a pretty uneventful fast Sunday.. There weren't any crazy testimonies... Haha but Antonio did get up and bear his testimony! He called out the entire ward for sounding like robots when they go up and bear their testimonies! It was super cool! He's ready to be baptized next week! We've got everything all set up and ready to go! I love how much support the ward shows to people that are investigating the church! 

Well now I am out of time. I'm super sorry that this is so short! I'm also sorry for everyone I didn't get to emailing today! I love you all and miss you lots! 

Love,

Elder Warren