8/8/2016 P-Day #94

8/8/2016

大家好，

This has been yet another crazy busy week for us!

I spent Monday night and Tuesday morning/afternoon with our zone leaders. They dropped me off at the mission office around1:00 when we had a training for all the missionaries who would be training. It was a lot of fun! That evening we ate dinner with all of the new missionaries. They made baked potatoes and chili (I thought the weather was a little too hot to be eating that!). Afterwards we found out who our new companions were going to be. Since there was only one Chinese elder coming in, it was a huge surprise for me! Haha but my new companion is Elder Yang, 杨长老. He's from Zhuhai, China (which is right next to Hong Kong). The AP's had told me that his English wasn't going to be good at all, but it's actually pretty good! He joined the church five years ago, when his aunt introduced his family to the church. She had joined when she a colleague at work had invited her to come to church. I'm really excited for these next two transfers with him!

When we talk to each other, it's all in Chinese, so my brain is really confused right now! Many many times this past week, I'll be talking to somebody in English and then all of a sudden I'll say something back to them in Chinese! Or I'll try and literally translate a phrase from Chinese to English and it just sounds really weird. Hopefully I'm not going to forget all my English over the next three months!

I was so excited to take Elder Yang to go and visit Brother Yang, because our last lesson with him had been so amazing. We went by last Friday and as we were talking with him, he told us that he had talked with his wife and they had decided that they didn't need to be baptized twice. Afterwards, I was really worried because he was the most solid person that was going to be baptized this month! We didn't have anybody else. So I decided that now was the time to continue working diligently and obediently to find somebody that was! We kept working and working but nobody seemed ready. So we were at church on Sunday and there were some investigators that we hadn't seen at church for about a month (Brother and Sis Zhang). They had been taught about two years before but went back to China and were never baptized. Now there were back in the US so the wife could have here baby. We met them a month or so earlier but never had a chance to go visit them because they were busy and we didn't have an address for them. So I thought, maybe they're the ones! So I went up to talk to them and found out they go back to China on the 20th of this month. I realized that there probably wasn't enough time for us to teach them everything and felt a little disheartened again. We had to leave the Eastvale ward early to go to a ward in Riverside for an investigator. After church, Brother Jiang called us and told us that we needed to get in contact with the Zhangs as soon as we could. They had apparently talked to the members after church asking if they could have a baby blessing for their son before they go back to China. The ward clerk said that one of them needed to have record number in order for them to do it, so the huband said "Perferct! I was wanting to join your church anyways!" We were both a little shocked when we heard this, but we got Bro Zhang's telephone number and gave him a call. We're going over tonight to visit the two of them with Brother Miao. I know without a doubt that the work we are involved in is the Lord's work. He is in the middle of it, working right alongside us. It's an exciting work to be a part of. I feel incredibly blessed to be able to participate in it! Pray that everything goes well tonight! It will be a tight squeeze, since they leave in less than two weeks!

I hope all of you have an amazing upcoming week! I love and miss you all! Look for the Lord in your life each and every day. I promise that He is there!

Much love,

Elder Warren 

 Elder Warren's Ward had a talent show and a thoughtful Sister in his ward sent this pictures to me.  He accompanied 4 of the 12 musical numbers. One he was handed the music minutes before the performance!

8/1/2016 P-Day #93

8/1/2016

Yep, it's transfers again!! It's crazy! It's pretty sad to see Elder Dyer leave since we were together for 6 months! That's the longest I've ever been with anyone, but it doesn't feel like it was that long! Today has been really crazy! We only have about 30 minutes to email because we have to run home so the Miao's can pick up Elder Dyer! It's going to be a short one this week! Sorry :) Elder Dyer's family is still in Shanghai, so he will be going back there for a few weeks and then coming back to the US for school.

I'm staying in Eastvale (so you can send the package to Sister Biehn)! My new companion is Elder Yang 杨长老 (pronounced like "yawn" with a soft g at the end!) who is from Guangdong, China! I'm so excited! A little nervous, but I think that's a good thing! I feel like missionaries coming from China are a lot stronger and consecrated because it's not just a part of the "culture". They sincerely want to go and serve the Lord! I'll get to meet him on Tuesday afternoon! I'll be spending the rest of the day with our zone leaders. Unfortunately, I am no longer a zone leader :( I'm a little sad because I've been one for about a year now, so I'm not sure what to do! Haha jk I'll be a district leader and it will be a lot of fun! Before, I was a little worried about the language, but now I'm not really worried. We had a big party with all the Chinese members last night to say bye to Elder Dyer, and I was just easily chatting with all of them and had a really good time! It's amazing to see how the Lord blesses us when we truly need it!

It was Rui's baptism on Saturday! It was a really awesome experience! He was really nervous about bearing his testimony after his baptism, but he did a really great job! President Mullen came as well and I think he really enjoyed it!

Brother Yang is amazing! We went to visit them Saturday and talked about baptism. They had been baptized a few years previously in another Christian church. But their baptism they did wasn't by immersion, it was just sprinkling some water on their head. So we taught the doctrine of baptism. How it's performed and why it's necessary. He told his wife they should have just gone to Rui's baptism service earlier that day in order to be baptized properly! Haha so he's working towards being baptized the end of August! He came to church again on Sunday and has made really good friends with Brother Chen! It's so funny, they'll sit together and you can hear Brother Chen whispering to him and explaining things that are happening and answering his questions!

Much love,

Elder Warren

吴长老

7/25/2016 P-Day #92

7/25/2016

大家好!

This week was quite interesting to say the least! On Tuesday, we met one of investigators, Brother Yang, at the park to practice some Tai Chi! Haha I'm sure we all looked pretty ridiculous but it was a lot of fun! We met him while walking around his neighborhood and he started coming to English class. He told us how he has been doing Tai Chi for 22 years and has taught a lot of people before! It was surprisingly difficult! It's all very slow and controlled movements. He also came to church on Sundayand really enjoyed it! He joined a Christian church in China and was looking for one out here. So, it's a good thing we ran into him!

On Thursday we had our multi-zone conference in Riverside! It was a really long day (7:00 am-4:30 pm), but it was amazing! I really enjoyed President Mullen's training that he gave at the very end. He talked about having the faith to baptize. He asked us if we each have the faith that the Lord is preparing people to meet with us right now. Do we believe that there are multiple people within our are who are ready and willing to listen to us? If we do believe that, then how are we going to exercise our faith to find them? Elder Dyer and I gave a short training on contacting referrals that we get from Church media (mormon.org, temple square, etc...). We went through a bunch of scenarios of how not to go about visiting these people! It was a lot of fun! I really enjoyed doing it.

After the multi-zone conference, we had to drive all the way out to Hemet to go visit a family who had three foreign exchange students from China staying with them. So we spent over an hour talking with three 14-year-old Chinese girls... It was definitely an unusual experience. None of them were interested in church and thought it was really boring when they went the Sundaybefore. But we gave them both copies of the Book of Mormon and some pamphlets, so hopefully they will have some interest later on. They go back to China this week, so we won't need to drive all the way out there again!

Friday was also very interesting... We were supposed to exchange with the Jurupa elders Thursday night, but because we were out in Hemet, we didn't get home until really late. So we went by Friday morning to exchange with them. It was a "Mission Heat Alert" day, which means the temperature was over 100 degrees, so missionaries who are on bike are not allowed to go out and work during the day unless they have a team-up driving them around. I was with Elder Olsen back in Jurupa. Thankfully we didn't have to bike for very much! We just had to get a ride over the the church building where they had left their bikes and then bike back to the apartment! Even at 9:00 in the morning when we were biking, it was really hot! Afterwards, we took them to a meeting they had in Riverside and exchanged back the same afternoon!

Saturday was another exchange! We both went with the APs in their ward.It was a little weird for both of us to be away from our area for a full day, but it was a lot of fun to both be in the other ward! I went with Elder Sy and it felt like we knocked on a ton of doors without much success! When we had knocked on one door that nobody answered, we went to talk to this old lady who was taking a break in the shad across the street. She was walking home from the grocery store with a bunch of stuff, so we helped her carry the groceries back home and they have a return appointment next week! 

Sunday was our Chinese sacrament meeting again! These are probably my favorite Sundays during the month! The Jiang family gave talks this week, and their two kids gave them in English and their parents translated for them! Their daughter is really smart and I felt so bad for her mom who was translating! She used some really big words and really long sentences! Thankfully I wasn't the one who had to translate for them!

Q was also confirmed this Sunday! I was able to confirm him in Chinese, and it was an awesome experience! (I only made one pronunciation mistake during the blessing, so I think that's an accomplishment haha!) We're going over tonight to visit with them since they've been on vacation for two or three weeks! 

Well that's all for this week! It's pretty busy and this week is going to be the same! We're working hard and seeing blessings each and every day!

I love and miss you all!

Love,

吴长老

7/18/2016 P-Day #91

7/18/2016

大家好!

Thanks Brother Farr for the letter this week! 

Gloria's baptism happened on Saturday! It was a great experience, as always! Brother Yu was able to baptize her, which was really cool because his family were the ones that invited her to come and meet with us in the first place! After her baptism, she bore her testimony and told us that even though she has only known many of the people there for about a month, she feels as if we were all a part of her family! 

There rest of Saturday was actually a lot of fun as well. We had a young man from the ward come with us all day. He's submitted his mission papers and the stake president wanted him to come and spend a whole day with us. We took him out to talk to people on the street, he came with us to the baptism, and then we went to go visit some people! We had a lot of fun with him! He is way more prepared to serve a mission than any other young man I've ever met! 

Saturday was our last time to visit Liu TingTing. :( She flew back to China really late Saturday night! We saw here to say bye one last time! She told us that she plans on coming back to the US in two years since her son is an American citizen and can only be in China for two years at a time! And she said that at that time, she wants her daughter to be baptized in America because it's much more sacred that in China! We told her that it's just as sacred in China, but she was set on having her daughter baptized in America! Haha I'm going to have to go to visit her and Elder Zeng in Chengdu when I get home!

On Saturday, we also got to have dinner with the new couple that just moved from BYU-Hawaii! They took us out to eat at a buffet and I was sooo full afterwards! They are both extremely funny! She served an English speaking mission in Australia, so her English is really good. He served a Chinese speaking mission in Vancouver, so his English is not so good! Haha but it's still pretty good! I'm super excited to see them working within our group! One step closer to a branch!

We had ZDM again this week! We had Costco chicken wraps for our snack, and Krispy Kreme doughnuts on the side! Haha we trained on remembering our Savior, and faith! I thought they were both really great messages! It focused a lot on us as missionaries instead of on our investigators. We talked about what we need to do throughout the week to remember our Savior and prepare to partake of the sacrament on Sunday. We also talked about how we develop our faith through daily prayer, scripture study, and church attendance. And also how our faith will help carry us through the trials that come. To go along with the faith activity, we all planted seeds in little terracotta pots! (We started germinating them a week ago, so they are growing really fast now!)

In English class, I have been moved down to teach the basic level class! It's exhausting, but I like it! I feel like I get to see them make more progress! One of the students, Brother Yang, is probably one of my favorite people I've taught! He's just really curious and asks a lot of questions that really make me think about all the crazy rules in the English language! He said that he wants us to come to a park with him on Tuesday night to learn some Tai Chi! It should be really fun! He told me that he has studied it for 22 years, and went to competitions in China! I'll let you know how it goes! Haha

On Thursday, we had three people invite us to their home to eat meals with them! We had lunch with a recent convert, Cheryl, and the Jiang family! They made 羊肉串, which are really yummy lamb kabobs! We ate a lot of them! Then the Jiang family took us to dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant. An investigator also called and said they had made a ton of food for us to come and try! So right after the Vietnamese restaurant, we went to have second dinner with Gao Lei! We were so full afterwards, we could hardly move! 

On Wednesday, we went with the Li family to go help them buy a car at CarMax! It was pretty fun, but Elder Dyer and I know nothing about buying used cars! Unfortunately they weren't able to find anything that worked for them, but we had fun going with them!

This week was pretty eventful! I hope this makes up for the past few emails that have been pretty short!

I love and miss you all!

Love,

Elder Warren

吴长老

7/11/2016 P-Day #90

7/11/2016

大家好!

This week was insane! So many miracles!

Gloria was supposed to have her interview Saturday afternoon. We were going to go pick up Elder Zeng from Lake Elsinore to come and do it, but we found out that she was going to go with the members to their day activity in Oceanside! So we set up the interview for Saturday evening and Elder Dyer translated while our district leader interviewed her. She is all ready to go on Saturday! I'm so excited for her! It's been so different teaching her. Everything went so smoothly and she fits in so great with the members in our group! 

On Sunday we witnessed an amazing miracle! During sacrament meeting, I usually scan the congregation to see if there are any Chinese people around who need translation. This couple walked into the back and the wife looks very Chinese, but I wasn't 100% sure about the husband. I leaned over and asked Elder Dyer if he knew who they were, but neither of us recognized them! I thought they were nonmembers until I looked back during a hymn and they were reading the hymn off their phone. After the meeting was over, I went back and introduced myself and they told me that they had just moved to Rancho Cucamonga from BYU Hawaii. Both of them joined the church in China and served missions! All of us have been praying for new strong members to move into our ward, so it was great to see such a direct answer to our prayers! They signed up to feed us dinner this Saturday and said that they have a friend that wants to learn more about the gospel! I'm so excited!

We went by and visited Liu Ting Ting this week and she came to church on Sunday! After Chinese women give birth, they all stay inside for about a month afterwards.. It's a little strange, but we were excited to see her! And sad, because she is leavingon Saturday :( But she said that if ever we go visit in Chengdu to give her a call! I may have to make a trip over there when Elder Zeng gets home and see both of them! Her husband flew in this last week and she brought him to church!

I'm super excited to see our branch growing and progressing! They definitely have the fire! They've changed so much since I got here last November. Soon we'll have a branch!

Thursday was MLC again. I really enjoyed the trainings that we received this time. President Mullen gave a really powerful training on Remembering Christ. As we take the sacrament, we promise to always remember Him. It seems like a bit of a hard task, to always remember the Savior, to always have Him on our mind. But I don't think it means that I literally have to be thinking of Christ and His Atonement every second of every day. Remembering Him ties into our actions, it ties into having clean and pure thoughts, doing what He would do. If I serve someone around me, I'm remembering the Savior. If I repent and change, I'm remembering the Savior. It's how we use the Atonement each and every day to help us become a better person. That's how we continually remember Him and as a result, we are promised that we will always have His spirit to be with us. Isn't that amazing? As we just do our best to change and become more like Him, we can always have the presence of the Holy Ghost with us! 

Well that's all I have for this week! I hope each of you can find something different you can do this week to remember your Savior. I love and miss you all!

Love,

Elder Warren

吴长老

7/5/2016 P-Day #89

7/5/2016

大家好，

国庆节快乐！Happy Fourth of July!

Thanks Momma for the package this week! 

Yesterday was a lot of fun! In the morning we went to a car show that two of the wards in the stake put on. Apparently last year, it was a whole stake activity and was much bigger! They had a free pancake breakfast, and some musical performances too! We invited a bunch of our investigators and a few of them came. It seemed like they all had a pretty good time! For some reason, a lot of the missionaries in the stake didn't have anyone signed up for dinner last night. So Elder Dyer and I planned a big barbecue for all of us! There was only one companionship that couldn't come, so in total we had 20 people there! We barbecued hamburgers, hot dogs, and some carne asada. We also had some watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple, salad, chips, etc.. It was all really good! We have tons of extra food now, but we'll probably just have another zone barbecue to finish all the meat and buns off! After the barbecue, we went and played glow-in-the-dark chair soccer at the stake center! To explain... in chair soccer, each person has their own individual chair you place anywhere on the gym floor. The object of the game is to kick the ball into someone else's chair to get them out. The last person standing wins! We bought 476 glow sticks and threw them all over the gym, attached them to the soccer ball, chairs, and ourselves! It was so much fun! Afterwards, we cleaned up all the glowsticks, drove home, showered, and went to bed because we were so exhausted!

Q's baptism was on Sunday! One of the priest in his ward was able to baptize him! I gave the talk on baptism in Chinese and had to translate into English as I was giving it! Haha it threw off my train of thought having to switch between English and Chinese, but at least I had notes written down! I'm super excited for him! He has a lot of good support from the family he's staying with, so he's going do be great. He's out of town at the beach for the next few weeks, so he won't be confirmed until the end of the month.

We taught Gloria this past Sunday again! I'm blown away every time we meet with her! She is so willing to live and accept the gospel! Not that she has to make many changes in her life, but she's so excited for everything that we're teaching! During church, we all introduced ourselves during open exercises before Sunday School, and she announced her baptism and invited everyone to come! This is truly the Lord's work and He's preparing so many people to accept the gospel!

On Sunday, we had to opportunity to accompany the Li family as they received their patriarchal blessings. We went to help translate for the conversation the patriarch had with them before the blessing. It was an incredibly spiritual experience to be there! They were both so excited to be able to receive the blessing. The patriarch told them before hand that there were blessings the Lord would promise them and also things that He wants them to do within this life. Brother Li wanted to make sure the patriarch would write down the things Brother Li would need to do so he wouldn't forget! I'll never forget that experience! It also made me realize how grateful I am for my patriarchal blessing and the guidance and hope it has given me!

Thanks everyone for your love, prayers, and support! I love and miss you all! 

Love,

Elder Warren

吴长老