11/16/2015 P-Day #56

11/16/2015

Well another transfer is complete... I can't believe how fast the time flies by.. I feel like I say that a lot, but it's true!

Thanks Maddy, Tenley, Alison, Danielle, and Noel for the letters!

So we got our transfer calls this weekend! *drum roll*

I'm going to be leaving Moreno Valley :( but I'm going back to the Jurupa zone (as a zone leader)!!! I'll be serving in the Chinese branch!! I'm still recovering from the shock! I'm super excited and super nervous, too! My companion will be Elder Zeng, and he is from China so that will help me learn the language!

I'm kind of sad to be leaving, but excited for the new adventure!

This week has been pretty uneventful. We went on exchanges with Elder Dall and Truman. I stayed in our area with Elder Truman because he was sick. So I cleaned our apartment before we had inspections the next day! 

We had stake conference this weekend and it was amazing! There were some really good talks given. The new Redlands temple president and his wife (Pres. and Sis. Bawe) spoke and I their talks were my favorites. They talked about temples (surprise) and why we need them. It's through temples that all of our Heavenly Father's children receive the blessings of the gospel.

I know this is a short email, but I feel like next week I will have a lot more to talk about! Love and miss you all!

Love,

Elder Warren

11/9/2015 P-Day#55

11/9/2015

Happy P-Day!

How is your Monday? Mine has been great so far! I got a haircut today! It was starting to get a bit too long, so I got my ears lowered a bit! Haha my hair seems to be getting thicker and curlier now.. strange! We are going to go drop our suits off for dry-cleaning and going bowling! We have dinner tonight with the Tatum's and that will be a lot of fun! I really love that family! They've basically adopted me (my picture is on the family side of their fridge!) and it's good to have a "family" away from home. Not that I'm replacing any of you! Haha but I thought you would like to know that there are amazing people out here that are taking care of me :) 

I'm becoming a bit of a baby... It has been around 60 degrees here and I'm FREEZING! I don't know what's happening! I look at the thermostat and think "I should not be this cold!" I guess I have just adjusted to the California weather now. I'm thinking coming home next October is going to be a bit brutal! I had to go and buy some sweaters on Wednesday it's been so cold! Haha but of course I would never wear a coat in the house 

We got a call from Antonio and Maggie this weekend asking us if we could come by and have a lesson. We found out that have been going through some trials, and their mom was out of town, so they just needed somebody to be there for them. We shared a mormon message with them about hope, and we all really felt the spirit. It was powerful. Then we listened to some Christmas music, helped clean up the kitchen, and made some brownies with them! We were late getting home that night (whoops) but they needed us to be there. I was thinking of a quote Myra sent me by President Monson. "Don't ever let something to be done get in the way of someone to be loved." I think this applied perfectly to this situation! Normally I would feel guilty about staying out so late, but I don't. I honestly felt like we needed to be there. And it was good! They came to church on Sunday and we are helping them out as much as we can! They're also helping Cynthia learn more about the gospel so she can be baptized in January. (They maaayyy be coming up to Utah this weekend and may want to stop by and say hi again... I'll let you know what their plans are haha)

We went to an awesome youth fireside yesterday! Peter Vidmar, he was an Olympic gold gymnast in 1984, spoke. I'll just share some of the notes that I wrote!

-champions don't work "twice as hard" as their competitors. They win by 1/100 of a second, centimeters, or inches.

-Do just a little bit more over a long period of time to get so much farther! Spending fifteen minutes a day, every day, adds up to 91 hours in a year!

-Choose beforehand how you will react/respond

-Flee temptation! Don't walk away, look back, take your time, but RUN. (He shared a funny story about how he literally ran away from some girl that tried to lure him into her room!)

-Don't test the waters. If the signs say "no swimming", don't see how far you can get in before you're swept away.

-Why are you here? What is the goal? Is it still worth working for?

-The most important time to put forth effort is when we don't feel like it

I really enjoyed his message! I felt like it was something I really needed to hear. Sometimes I catch myself pushing myself to go twice as hard, when really all I need to do is a little bit more, and slowly add on. It takes time, patience, and effort to reach our potential. 

Yes, I saw the email of the MoTab tickets! Haha hopefully I don't get transferred! If I do, I'll make sure the new missionaries know to look out for them! I just realized that I'll be home for the next Christmas concert!!!! It's crazy that this will be my last Holiday season as a missionary. Ugh it's going by so fast! Tenley sent me and email saying "we'll see you in 51 days!" haha

Well Mama, I love and miss you lots! Thanks for all your love, prayers, and support! I miss you soooo very much! 

 Have a great week! Don't freeze!

Love,

Elder Cole

11/2/2015 P-Day #54

11/2/2015

Hey all!

Happy Halloween!! Hopefully you all had a spooktacular weekend! Haha

Thanks Grandma and Mom for the packages this week! And thanks Kam and Brandy for the letter!

Halloween was a lot of fun. We went out and worked a normal day, and then at 6:00 we went to the stake center to hang out with the zone. We played soccer and basketball. I played a game of soccer, and then started some board games with some missionaries that aren't as athletic. I didn't want them to feel left out all night, because that sometimes happens with zone activities. Everyone gets so caught up in the sports that they forget there's one or two people that don't want to do that! So we played Phase 10 and a game called Munchkins. It was a lot of fun! The sisters showed up dressed like Disney princesses, and my companion was the Joker! We had some treats that some missionaries brought! Members in our ward gave us two HUGE bags of candy they weren't going to use and I'm still trying to figure out what to do with them!

This week was really good! We saw a lot of people and got a lot done! Cynthia (Maggie and Antonio's mom) gave us a call this week and asked us if we could come and teach her daughter, Vi. We went over and had a really good lesson with them! We talked about how the commandments keep us happy and how coming to know our Heavenly Father will bless us! We're going back tonight, so I'll keep you posted with what happens!

Friday was our ward trunk-or-treat! We combined with the Spanish ward and we had a lot of fun! They had a chili cook-off in the cultural hall, and had some prizes for the hottest, and then 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place! The Young Men's was the spiciest, and I didn't dare try it. I had heard some rumors about what they put in it and what happened when they tested it, so I decided to stay far away from it!

I was playing the piano for Primary on Sunday, and I've decided that I like Primary a lot more than Elder's Quorum! Haha maybe we will keep going back to help! But it was really cool to listen to some of the kid's answers to questions. Some were a little crazy. Like, "What is tithing" and the response, "the money we pay for our baptism!" but other times they had really good answers. They're all pretty smart! And it was nice to listen to a lesson on the basics, which is what we teach people!

That's about it for this week... This upcoming week is going to be interesting with multiple meetings and exchanges. It'll be fun!

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

Love,

Elder Warren

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