8/31/2015 P-Day #43

8/31/2015

Hi Family!

Thanks Noel for the letter! And thanks Mom and Grandma for the packages!

Well this week has been a lot of fun and a lot of work! 

My new companion is Elder Godfrey! He's from Virginia, and he's been out for about 20 months! He's been a zone leader for 6 months now, so he's kind of showing me what's going on. Being a zone leader is a lot of work! A lot of missionaries in our zone have been sick, so we got to drive them around to doctors appointments, pick up their prescriptions, and babysit them so their companions could go out and work! Lots of fun. We spent a lot of time driving around Moreno Valley! It is super nice being in a car! I do miss being on a bike, but it's great to have A/C, it doesn't take forever to get anywhere, and I don't have to rely on everybody else to get anywhere! We were also on time for ward council! Haha our ward mission leader is usually a little bit late!

We went to go teach McKayla at the Nunley's house this weekend. She's ready to be baptized, and all she has to do is talk to her dad! But she is scared that he will say no, or he won't understand. So we talked about how God doesn't give us a commandment that we can't keep. And told her to pray for the strength to tell her dad. She told us she wakes up every morning at 5:20 and thinks about how she hasn't told her dad and can't sleep after that! 

Well not much else happened this week.. It feels like we were always busy, but now that I'm trying to write down what we did, I can't think of anything! Haha well sorry this has been a short email. I love you all and miss you tons! I pray for you every day! Go and serve God with all your heart, might, mind, and strength!

Love

Elder Warren

8/24/2015 P-Day #42

8/24/2015

Hi family! 

Thanks Danielle for the letter this week! The mission office held all of our mail last week, so if you sent something, worry not! I should get it sometime this week!

This past week has been amazing. I'm pretty sure I'm going to accidentally leave some details out, just because so much happened! 

Transfer calls were this week! Saturday morning President Mullen called us. I answered the phone and he asked me if I would help out by serving as a zone leader Haha at first I was scared. As a district leader, I watched over just a couple missionaries. Now I have to watch over the whole zone/stake (ten companionships). No pressure. I already had to deal with drama of reassigning areas, new companions, etc. Haha I also get to go to meetings once a month with the mission leadership council (all the zone leaders and sister training leaders), hold zone meeting once a month, and help out all the missionaries in the zone! Crazy crazy! I'm really excited though. My new companion is going to be Elder Godfrey and we will be staying in the Lasselle ward! I'm super pumped! I really love the members here and the people we are working with! I am going to miss being Elder Turner's companion. We got along really well and worked hard together. He was definitely my favorite companion (so far)... BUT Elder Turner really isn't leaving. We're going to be splitting the ward! He'll be in the north half on bike, training a new missionary. I'll be a ZL in the south half in a CAR!!! Of course I get a car once the worst of the summer is over! Haha I'm a little bummed I won't be on bike anymore, but it will be nice to have a car.

I was also sick this week. Elder Turner being an awesome companion made me stay inside for three days straight. I was about ready to hurt somebody at the end of that! I don't understand how anybody can sit around and do nothing. It drives me crazy. Also, there's not much you can do as a missionary besides read scriptures, watch old church movies, etc.. Needless to say, I'm glad I was able to recover and go out and work! Our zone leaders were nice enough to come babysit me when we had set appointments and one of them would go out and work with Elder Turner! 

Chelsea's baptism was this week! Whoooo! We have worked really really hard to make this happen! And it finally did! We were worried that nobody was going to show up on a Saturday morning, but there were TONS of people there! People were sitting out in the hallway! Her husband got to baptize her, and it was an awesome experience. We had dinner with them that night and it was crazy to see the change in her, even just a couple hours after her baptism. She's really excited to serve in the ward and really wants a calling! I love how much this gospel changes people for the better!

We started teaching a guy named Steve this week. He's 27 and served in the Air Force for a while until he was injured. He has a crazy story! Heavenly Father has really prepared him to receive the gospel! He has already accepted everything we have taught him! He read from the Book of Mormon and loved it. He came to church and loved it. And we had a lesson with him at a member’s home and he loved it! He said that everything is lining up in his life and he is certain that this is where he needs to be! He's already said he wants to be baptized on September 27! I'll keep y'all posted!

Well that should be about all for today.. I love you all and miss you lots!! Go serve God with all your heart, might, mind, and strength!

Love of love, Elder Warren

8/17/2015 P-Day #41

8/17/2015

Hola familia!!! 

These past six weeks have flown by. I can't believe I have already been in the Lasselle ward for 4 1/2 months! It's crazy. But anyways... Thanks Danielle, Maddy, Tenley, and Omie & Papa for the letters! Thanks Momma for the mini package! This week has been extremely busy for us, so I haven't quite had a chance to write back yet, but I will got on that asap!

It was REALLY hot this week! It was over 110 degrees! Our zone leaders were kind enough to let us go on a mini exchange with them on Wednesday. I went with Elder Gibson and Elder Turner stayed with Elder Reeve (who is not actually a zone leader, but was already on exchanges with them). We took their car to go visit some of our investigators and some of theirs! We stopped by a less active member in the Spanish ward (thankfully they spoke English) and started talking about how he came in contact with the church. Then his eight year old son walks out and he was super funny! He was just a very proper kid! Haha he was very polite, nice, asked really good questions, and wasn't bouncing off the walls like most kids that age! We invited them to church, and the dad asked if their was a meeting in English since his kids didn't speak Spanish. We told him that there was and the little kid asked what time, where it was at, and told  us that he would be there! Then he said a prayer and asked Heavenly Father to help him with his Spanish! It was so cute! I was trying really hard not to laugh! 

Then the next day, I got to spend the WHOLE day inside! Whoo-hoo! Well I'm going to need to tell another story first.. On Saturday, Elder Gibson got hurt while they were playing soccer with their ward. Some member kicked his shin and it was swollen up like a cantaloupe. It was pretty nasty. He went to the doctor when the swelling didn't go down and was told to stay off of it for a while. So I got to spend the day babysitting him while Elder Turner and Elder Aguilar (our real zone leader) went out and worked. I don't understand how anybody can go throughout the day and not do anything. I thought I was going to die!!! Being lazy is the worst!! It felt like such a waste of a day!

Chelsea's baptism is on Saturday!! We're so excited! There was a little complication when she got interviewed for baptism, but hopefully all of that is resolved.. She is meeting with a member of the mission presidency tonight and will be good to go for Saturday! We talked to McKayla the other night and asked her if she wanted to be baptized. She told us she did because she feels really good when she goes to church, and when she came to the baptism the other Sunday. So she's working towards being baptized September 20th! All she needs to do is talk to her dad and make sure he is okay with it! And then we will start teaching her! Haylei (the other daughter) is a different story. She has some problems with her mom, who doesn't want her to be baptized, but Bro Nunley said he will work on that problem... Keep them in your prayers!

Well other than that, not much else happened this week. I love you all and miss you tons! 

Love,

Elder Warren

8/17/2015

Sorry, I forgot to tell you this story in my last email! Haha!

On Sunday, we were asked to give a talk at a baptism for the Moreno Valley ward. Elder Turner and I show up at 4:30 (half an hour early) to find out that the missionaries forgot to fill the font! And nobody had keys to unlock the door to get to the faucet! The keys didn't show up until 4:50! So two other missionaries and I were running back in forth, filling up buckets, pots, coolers, mop buckets, etc with water and dumping them into the font to help it fill up faster! It was crazy! We eventually got it filled up around 5:40. Thankfully, they started the program in the chapel so people weren't just waiting around for the font to be filled! ALWAYS make sure the font is filled!!!

And if y'all could send letters and such to the mission office this week, that would be great!!!

California Riverside Mission

5900 Grand Avenue

Riverside, California 92504

Moreno Valley Zone Conference

8/10/2015 P-Day #40

8/10/2015

Hey everyone!!!

Thanks Danielle for the letter! And thanks for the package, Mom! 

This week was awesome!! Most of the ward was up at a youth activity in northern California, so we thought it would be super slow because a ton of people were out of town, but it actually wasn't! We had a lot of help from members and it was great! 

Maggie went up to the trip this week and had an awesome time! It was a great spiritual experience for her to have right before her baptism! She made a lot of friends and was really ready for her baptism on Sunday. Which went really well! We were running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to get everything ready! We didn't have programs because we had to make a ton of last minute changes since everyone was out of town! We finally got the program ready an hour before the baptism and ran to the church to make copies, only to find out that the copy machine was out of toner.. And we had to be to the stake center in about ten minutes... So we had to go without programs. There were a ton of people that came! Half of the relief society room was filled with her family who came to support her and the other half was filled with people from the ward! There were even a few people sitting out in the hallway!!! A member of the bishopric got up at the end of the baptism to give a few words and he talked about how she has all of those people to support her. He told her that she will never be alone. There will always be someone there to help her out. She started crying during his talk. I'd have to say that was my favorite part; being able to see everyone there to show their love and support! It was a great day!

Also, to add to our crazy Sunday, we had a lesson with the Nunleys right after church! We had stopped by earlier in the week to have another lesson and we talked about basically everything we needed to teach her! She had so many questions and we were able to answer all of them within an hour. It was an awesome lesson! They were already making plans to go to the temple in a year! But anyways, back to Sunday... I had to go with a team up so Elder Turner could finish making the programs for Maggie's baptism. We sat down and were talking with them and her daughter Mckayla. Sister Nunley is super excited for her baptism in a couple weeks! We taught the Word of Wisdom and then she committed to live it! We started talking to Mckayla to see if she still wanted to meet with us and learn about the church. She would just shrug her shoulders and say "I don't know" (I know how much Mom and Dad LOOOVE it when people do that!). So we decided that we would try and start teaching them after Chelsea's baptism. The Nunley's came to Maggie's baptism and Sister Tatum (who is basically our mom away from home, and is Mckayla's best friend) grabbed Mckayla's and pulled her up to the front to watch the baptism. Afterwards, Mckayla told Sister Nunley that she's ready to be baptized and she knows this church is true!!! It was so exciting!!! So hopefully she will be baptized sometime in September! 

Well that's all for this week. I love you all and miss you lots. I know that this gospel is true. I have truly seen it change the lives of those around me. Go out and serve God with all your heart, might, mind, and strength this week!!

Te quiero!

Elder Warren

8/3/2015 P-Day #39

8/3/2015

Hi everyone! Hope you are all having an awesome week!

Thanks Omie and Papa and Brad for the letters, and thanks Mom for the packages!!

This has been a really good week! On Friday we had zone conferences. Normally we get together with another zone, but we were only with two other companionships in Riverside... I guess we're a little short on missionaries.. Haha but it was really good. We focused a lot on becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ. We become a disciple when we are converted, not when we have a testimony. I can either be a missionary, or I can just do missionary things. It was really interesting and I don't feel like I'm explaining it very well! But I am really excited to become a more passionate disciple as I lovingly and faithfully serve my Heavenly Father!

Maggie is getting baptized next Sunday!!! She had her baptism interview right after sacrament meeting and now she is good to go for August 9th. She is going with the Young Men and Women this week up to Big Sur for a camping trip. Which will be a really good experience for her right before her baptism. She is really excited for next Sunday!

We were a little worried on Sunday when sacrament meeting started and we didn't see the Nunleys! But then Chelsea and her daughter, Mckayla, walked in! We were glad that they made the effort themselves to come to church without Brian, who is the member! We were supposed to go over and teach them after church, but she told us they were going to her sister's birthday party so they wouldn't be home until late Sunday night. Normally we can't stop by during the week, so we didn't think we would be able to teach them until next Sunday. But they texted us last night and asked if we could come by tonight and give them a lesson! We feel like it was a little tiny miracle!

Last week we taught Brother Poulter's neighbor, Jeff. During the lesson, we didn't feel like he had been very interested. He hadn't answered our texts/calls during the week either. So we dropped by on Saturday to see if he was home and he answered the door! He told us that his phone had been shut off during the week, but he had read part of the chapter we had left him and wanted to meet with us again! We're super excited to start teaching him and hopefully his family!

 I love you all and miss you lots! Thanks for all the love and support you give! Go out and serve God with all your heart, might, mind, and strength!

Love,

Elder Warren

 Caught in a rain storm!