3/7/2016
Hello
family!
Thanks Mom for the letter this week! I hope all of you had a
great week!
Let's see... This week just flew by like crazy!
Thursday, we had MLC. So we met with President and Sister
Mullen, all the zone leaders, and all the sister training leaders to talk about
how to help the mission progress! We focused a lot on commitments again, and
specifically the three most basic ones we have: church, prayer, and reading the
scriptures. One thing that stood out to me, is that I haven't been too good and
teaching the "why" behind prayer. We have been super good at teaching
the "how"; Dear Heavenly Father.... We thank thee... We ask thee.. In
the name of Jesus Christ, amen. But I have failed to help people realize that
we pray to build a relationship with God. He is our Father and He wants to help
us. He loves us. Prayer is the way that we communicate with Him and how we come
closer to Him.
On Saturday, we were on exchanges with the assistants to the
president, and I stayed in Eastvale with Elder Westenskow (who doesn't speak
Chinese). I am sooooo very grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that didn't
let me crash and burn! I feel like my Chinese improved a ton just for that one
day! I definitely wasn't fluent, but I was at least able to make it through all
the conversations we had with people! Haha we met with Brother Li and he was
asking questions about college tuition and student loans and I was really
struggling to answer his questions! Haha, but everything went well! Sunny had
her baptism interview and passed! So her baptism will be this upcoming Saturday! I'm so
excited for her!
There was one day this week where we didn't have a dinner (there
have actually been many days, the ward here has been slacking a little bit!)
and we weren't sure what to do. We were just planning on going to some fast
food place or try and find something at home. But we were driving around this
neighborhood and saw the mom of one of our members, Brother Yu (but she is a
nonmember). So we pull over and wave hi to Yu Mama (that's what you call the
old single grandmas in Chinese! Haha we also have Brother Su's mom, who we call
Su Mama!). We talk to her for a minute out the car window, and Elder Dyer asks
her when we get to come eat her homemade noodles again (apparently they are
delicious, but I hadn't ever eaten them). So she tells us to come over right
now and eat some! In the Chinese culture, you have to accept an invitation like
that by not actually accepting it. You first have to tell them "oh no,
it's okay! we'll be fine" twenty times, throw in a couple "oh it's
not convenient right now for you", maybe two "we don't want to
trouble you", etc.. She responded by telling us 现在是方便 (now is the time!) and so we came back an hour later and ate
some delicious homemade noodles with sauces! Sooo good! She's from 四川 (Sichuan province) where Elder Zeng is from, and they are
famous for their insanely spicy food! Thankfully this wasn't too bad, but I'm
slowly developing a taste for spicy!
We also got to watch the Church's new Easter video they're
making called "Hallelujah"! It is so powerful! The message is
incredibly simple, but the Spirit is so strong when we watched it! It isn't
techinically available until March 13th, but we got a preview of it, and we have it on
our phones, so we've watched it many times! Make sure you go and watch it next Sunday!!! I'm
incredibly excited for the upcoming Easter season when we get to celebrate the
resurrection of our Savior. Because of Him allof us get to return
to our Heavenly Father. We all can overcome the
trials and temptations of this world, so we will be worthy to stay in our
Father's presence! I'm grateful for the Atonement, and the power that reaches
beyond any pain or suffering!
I love you and and hope all of you will feel the love of you
Savior in your lives this week!
Love,
Elder Warren
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