10/26/2015 P-Day #53

10/26/2015

Hello to anyone who may be reading this! 

Thanks Danielle for the letter and Mom for the package this week! 

This week has been quite interesting. Elder Turner and Elder Folau went home, so Elder Jewkes and I were companions for the week! But today I will be getting a new companion, Elder Catchatoorian! He was actually my zone leader when I first got to Moreno Valley! His companion at the moment, Elder Dunn, will be companions with Elder Jewkes. I'm excited! It will be a lot of fun with him! 

                     

We saw a lot of blessings this week! We were only able to go out and work full-time for the past few days, and yet we found a lot of new people to teach, had a lot of people at church, and will hopefully be seeing a lot of success next week as well! 

We saw Cynthia this week. We taught them about keeping the sabbath day holy and they came to church! Which is a great way to keep the sabbath holy! Haha she is still preparing to be baptized in January. Hopefully everything continues to go well!

Chelsea got her patriarchal blessing yesterday! We are super excited for the whole family! They're going to go do baptisms for the dead in December with the ward and they can take McKayla with them because she just turned 12! Yesterday was her first day in Young Women's and I guess it went really well!

Well we have a lot of packing, rearranging, and moving to do today before our new companions get here! I love you all and miss you lots! Have an awesome week and end each day with no regrets!

Love,

Elder Warren :D

10/19/2015 P-Day #52

So, I found out today that the 18th (yesterday) is one year from when he comes home.  I've been going off the 22nd, the day he went to the MTC.  So I guess now I know he is scheduled to come home October 18, 2016!

10/19/2015

Hey y'all!

Thanks Danielle, the Leathermans, Grandma Clark, and the Parris' for the packages this week! I really appreciate it!

Sunday marked one year left on my mission.. It's kind of bitter sweet. I've loved being a missionary for the past year, but it's also exciting that I'm a year closer to seeing all of you guys again! I'm really excited for this next year and I'm going to keep working hard to the end!

Well this week was interesting...

Elder Turner hurt his knee last Saturday and possibly tore his ACL and hasn't been able to go out and work. Church medical/insurance policy is that if you stay in for 10 days they automatically send you home to recover. So he flies home on Tuesday at 2:30.. I'm super sad! I'm going to miss him but it's for the best. He needs to take care of his knee and get better. So Elder Folau and I were taking turns staying in with him and taking Elder Jewkes (Elder Turner's companions) out to work. But then we find out about Elder Folau's knee. He basically has no ligaments left in it.. He hurt it a year ago and was supposed to get an MRI, but didn't tell anybody because he didn't want to get sent home. So now that it's been a year it's hurting him a lot and he can't really walk on it. President Mullen has been talking with his family and stake president and he is going to be going home on Saturday. When we found that out, we left Elder Turner and Elder Folau inside and Elder Jewkes and I just went out and worked in both areas in the ward. I'm sad that I didn't get to spend more time as his companion, but he also needs to go home and take care of himself! It's been pretty stressful trying to cover two areas, and watch over the zone on my own. But I was definitely blessed with everything I needed to accomplish all the things that were placed in front of me! Which was awesome! 

Umm we saw Cynthia this week!! She is doing really well! She has made a lot of progress and her heart has been softened a lot! It's so incredible to see that happen! She is willing to learn about and keep the commandments! The only problem is that she still isn't married :( But we're working on it! If it wasn't for that, then she would probably be baptized sooner than January!

Both Chelsea and Bryan have callings now! They're secretaries for the Relief Society and the Young Men's! It's super exciting! Chelsea also got her recommend for the temple to do baptisms and for her patriarchal blessing! I'm super excited for her! I'm going to be really sad to leave that family when I get transferred! But since Elder Folau is leaving I may stay another transfer? We'll see! Haha We still have no idea what is happening with Elder Jewkes and I!

I'm trying to think about what else to talk about.. Haha it was definitely an interesting week. The time went by super slow!

I love you all and miss you lots! Go out and serve God with your all! End this week with no regrets!

Love, Elder Warren

10/12/2015 P-Day #51

10/12/2015

Elder Warren and Elder Godfrey (his last companion) at The Redlands Temple

Hi Family!

Thanks Madelyn for the letter this week!

This week was awesome! My new companion is Elder Folau! Who is also from Sandy, but he went to Bingham High School :P but it's okay, we won't hold that against him! Haha he's a lot of fun! We're always laughing and having a good time! He's a really hard worker so this will be a good transfer!

We set a goal to go out every day and walk around for an hour and a half and talk to everybody that we see! (Like our mission president has been asking us all to do!) and we saw sooo many blessings from it! We found seven new people to teach, a super cool family, and had a lot of fun doing it! There are lots of blessings that come from being obedient! I used to hate going and walking up to random people and trying to start a conversation, but I love it now! Sometimes it's awkward, but that makes it even more fun! 

We also had our zone meeting this week! It was my second time doing one (the first time actually being in charge!) and Elder Folau's first time as a zone leader! It was pretty good! We went a little bit longer than we should have, but we did all right for our first time! We talked about agency and how it only works for us if we are obedient. If we disobey, we actually lose agency. Satan wanted to take away our ability to choose, so when we follow him, why would we think that will bring us more "freedom"? The biggest expression of independence is when we choose to follow God. He will never take away our agency, so when we give it to Him, it shows our love for him and willingness to do His will! Like when Christ came to visit the Nephites, He told them that He suffered the will of the Father in all things! He did what He was supposed to do. I'm so grateful that we have the ability to choose right! To choose good, to choose to be obedient. We are so much happier in this life if we keep the commandments that our Heavenly Father has given us! I noticed that was a big theme at conference. the purpose behind the commandments. They are here to keep us safe and to make us happy!

Well that was about all that happened this week. Hopefully next week I'll have more people to talk about!

I love you all and miss you lots! Have an awesome week!

Love,

Elder Warren

10/6/2015 P-Day #50

Hi Mom!

I was a little nervous/sad when I saw no email! Haha, but all is well now!

So the news with Elder Godfrey is that he's going home... :( President Mullen decided that he needs to go home to heal and recover so he leaves today! He found out last Tuesday and still hasn't quite realized he goes home! Haha I'm pretty sad. I really enjoyed being his companion, but this is the best thing for him! His family moved from Virginia Beach to Blackfoot, Idaho!! Super close to us! Haha I told him that if you guys ever go up to Idaho, you'd stop by and say hi! He's excited to go home and see his family, though. Which is good!

I loved conference!!!! It was so amazing! There were a couple talks that really stood out to me, and I was going to print out a copy of my favorite talk and highlite/write some notes on it and send it to you! It was Larry R. Lawrence's talk where he asked the question "What lack I yet?" That's something that I have been thinking about a LOT lately! That answered a lot of questions I had!

I'm staying in Moreno Valley!! Haha I'm excited. I don't really mind. I really love the ward here which is good because I'm going to spend about 7 1/2 months here! My new companion is Elder Folau. He's from Sandy also! I think he went to Jordan High School... This will be his first transfer as a zone leader, so it will be an interesting one for both of us! I'm still trying to figure out what I'm doing!  But it will be fun.

Elder Turner is also staying in the Lasselle ward!!! Haha I just can't seem to get away from him! His visa is finally coming, though! He has one more transfer in Riverside, and then he leaves for Perth, Australia! Crazy!

We also got to go to the temple on Tuesday! It was so amazing! This was probably my favorite temple trip. I learned more this time than any other time! It was amazing. I'm so glad that I get to go to the temple! We're pretty lucky here!

Well not much else happened this week. Sorry this is so short. I love you and miss you like crazy! You're always in my prayers!

Love,

Elder Warren