Old Fashioned Letters please

Most of you have heard this info before, but I just want to make sure it gets out there!

Only immediate family can email Cole or he can lose his email privileges.  So grab a stamp and send him a paper letter.  I know it feels like we are cavemen but that's the rule!  I think it's much more fun for him to get mail anyways!

Thanks!

Phew....

We got our first letter on Monday, it was short and sweet and eased my mind.  Wednesday, today, is his P-Day.  Every time my phone email notification went off I was wondering if it was from him!  Finally at 11:49 am it was from him!  I just wanted to put down my thoughts after reading his email so I never forget how I felt today.  I am so proud.  Not of me as a parent, but of him as a grown MAN!  He is not my little boy that left home one week ago.  He has already changed in so many ways, and the fact that he realizes those changes in himself is amazing.  I can't even fathom the level of spirituality at the MTC.  I wish I could experience it.  All those missionaries milling around, spending 24/7 immersed in the gospel, with nothing better to do than be ready to give someone a Book of Mormon!  I am a little jealous of his experience.  These are things that he can keep with him forever.  When he feels down he can look back (if he's a good journal writer, that is) and draw strength from previous experiences.  Reading that your son, who was just at your house a little over a week ago, playing Minecraft with his friends, is now giving his companion a Preisthood blessing was a humbling experience.  Hearing him admit that he has to rely on the Lord to fill his mouth with the words to say is awesome!  Understanding that his confidence is through the roof is unbelievable.  When have I ever changed that much in one week?  Will I ever change that much in one week?  I dare say the answer to both these questions is probably no.  He, and 88,000 other missionaries, are lucky kids!  They enter the mission field and come out changed, for the better, in ways that could never happen anywhere else in their lifetime!

All I can say it Phew.... he's loving it, he's learning it, and he's happy about it!

I've learned more in one week than I have in 18 years of church and seminary!

10/29/2014

Hello Mother!!!

I'm glad my letter went through! Now I understand what Myra meant when she said Kaitlyn has no time to write back! I'm always busy!!

I LOVE it here! I thought it would be hard for me to adjust, but relying on the Lord 24/7 has really helped me! I'm so grateful for you and Dad teaching me to be self sufficient and how to take care of myself. It's sad to see elder and sisters here who have such a hard time jumping into the work. The food here's pretty good, but it takes your body a couple days to "adjust" to it!

Elder Knights from Baltimore, Maryland. We get along really well! We're teaching two investigators, Kitty Zhou and Dreazo, and it's definitely a learning/humbling experience! I started out trying to teach them from my own understanding, and when it came time to say something, my mind went blank. That first night, after teaching, I got down on my knees and let God know that I was turning to Him because I can't do it on my own. Now, I'm relying on Heavenly Father to fill my mouth. And it's amazing to see the results. We've committed Kitty, who didn't even know who/what God was, to pray and read the Book of Mormon to find out if it's true and if God's really her loving Heavenly Father. Dreazo felt like he wasn't worth Heavenly Father's time, but during our last lesson, we had the Spirit with us, and he was able to feel God's love!!! How cool is that?! It's amazing for me to see how much I love and care for these people!

My teachers are awesome!! Their names are Brother Whiting, and Sister Westover. I'm really grateful for them and for all the help they've been. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is so simple! I've learned more in my week here than I've learned in church and seminary during the past 18 years!! 

I'm sad I missed Preston's farewell! But I'm glad that he's learning and getting ready to go! I wrote him today and gave him some advice about the MTC! I've been bearing my testimony every day! It gets easier and easier every time!!! 

I'm sure if you saw me now, you wouldn't recognize me! I still look the same, but I'm not the same 18-year-old kid that came into the MTC one week ago! I've gained so much confidence, not only in myself but in the Lord, too. I'm not afraid to open my mouth! Because I know that when I open my mouth, God is going to put words in it that whoever I'm teaching needs to hear!

Last night I had the opportunity to give my companion a priesthood blessing. He was feeling down and homesick, and asked me for a blessing! I was scared out of my mind!!! But as I put my hands on his head, a feeling of peace came over me and I knew exactly what our Heavenly Father wanted me to say. He truly does love all of us and knows us better than anyone else will ever be able to!

So take our normal Sunday meetings, and level of spiritualness, and multiply it by 6!!! Haha! That's what it's like at the MTC. We have personal study and district meetings in the morning. Afterwards we go to priesthood, with our zone, where we talked about why baptism is so important! In the afternoon we have sacrament meeting with all the members in our branch/zone. Our branch president's name is President Boone! He always has some personal experience or story to share! He also is full of great advice and definitely loves and cares for all of us missionaries in his branch. Sunday night we had a devotional with ALL the missionaries! Brother and Sister Allen were speaking. Brother Allen is in charge of the whole mission program for the Church. After the devotional, we have four options of films to watch. We stayed in the gym and watched "The Charachter of Christ". It was a devotional Elder Bednar gave at the MTC a few years ago. I know that it's not released to the public to watch, but I know he's given that talk before. FIND IT AND READ IT!!!! It will change your life!!! It's definitely change mine!

Last night (Tuesday), we had another devotional with the whole MTC. Sister Wixom, the Primary General President, and her husband spoke! She told us to come to a better understanding of Christ, follow Him more diligently, and to love others as He would!

I leave Tuesday, November 4! My flight leaves at 8:41, but I have to leave the MTC at 3:35 (YUCK)! I can't wait to get out in the field!!! Yes, I can call from the airport!! Buying a phone card is on my very extensive list of things to do!

Tell Ryder that I pray for him too, and I pray for all of you! I know that God is watching over you wall I'm away and want everyone to look and see how God's reaching into their lives every day! I know I see His hand in my life constantly!

I love you and miss you! 

Love, 

Elder Warren

Mom,

Make sure that piano gets used!!! That's what it's there for! Music is a powerful way to invite the Spirit!!!

There are six of us in our room and sometimes it can be a little overwhelming, but it's a lot of fun and I love them all!

If you could give my email out, that would be great! I don't have very many people's email addresses and this is a little faster than writing a letter!

Thank you!

Lots of love,

Elder Warren

p.s. will you throw a binder and some paper into my package of bedding? I wish I had brought one with my, and they're uber expensive here!

The First Letter

I cannot express my joy and excitement when Maddy brought the mail in and said we had a letter from Cole!   It's been all of 5 days and I just can't stop wondering how he has been doing!  So, as all of you experienced missionary families know, the first letter was amazing! It is short and sweet but it did it's job...set my mind at ease.
So, here it is in all it's tiny little glory!

Hi Family!

I’ve only been here for nine hours and I already love it!  It’s crazy how strong the spirit is!  My companion’s name is Elder Knight! He’s great!  We’re already really good friends.  The Elders in my room are all pretty good. One kid’s a little strange, but I’m looking for the good things!  In class today we taught an “investigator” who recently lost his wife and best friend about Jesus Christ and His Atonement.  Even though he wasn't real I couldn't help but care for him and I wanted him to know that Christ loves him and suffered through the same feelings that he is.  I’m so excited for the next two years!  I can’t wait to get out in the field!  I love you all!

Love, Elder Warren

p.s. my next P-day is on Wednesday. Oh! And tell Kam that I’m a Zone Leader! And the pianist! (that all happened after I wrote the letter)

A Mom's Thoughts on the Day After

I just wanted to put my feelings down so I don't forget since it's been a chaotic mess inside my head and heart the last 24 hours.  I can't understand why I tear up?  Certain things and thoughts just trigger the tears to flow.  I am so happy he's where he's at, there's no other place I'd want  him to be. We've talked about it his whole life..."when you go on your mission..."  It's one of those steps of life that was just talked about matter of factly but I never considered the emotions we would all go through.  I am overjoyed that he is worthy to go, that he made the choice, that he wanted to go and he was ready to go. Then why am I sad?  I won't see him for two years.  He's left the nest.  Our family dynamic is forever changed. I look at his sisters and think how much they will miss him. I can't hug him, I wish I could go back to yesterday and give him just one more hug!  I know he will be back at home but things will be different.  Once you move out and then come back to your parents it's just not the same.  When will I stop wondering if he's going to be home for dinner, or when I see his car in the driveway stop thinking that he's home, or when the delete button pops up after watching a show on the DVR when do I quit wondering if we should save this in case Cole will want to watch this?  Does time just pass and then I stop wondering these things?  Do I gradually shift to thinking things like who is he teaching today, who is feeding him dinner, or is he getting rained on riding his bike today?  I think in this day and age of technology it makes separation harder.  We go from constant and instant communication to nothing at all.  He can't text me and tell me about his companion or what he ate for breakfast.  I can't call him and see how he's holding up.  I just have to wait for an email or a letter.  I know that I will adjust to that too.  Time will pass and things will settle into a routine for both of us I'm sure.  I know it's going to be an adjustment for him and I can't wait to hear about it.  I know he is being kept busy and is surrounded by hundreds of missionaries and the spirit is just emanating from all of them.  Me at home in my quiet house with just my own thoughts is harder.  I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea that I wish he was home.  That's not it at all.  I am just trying to sort out my feelings. It's confusing and that makes it so much harder.  I can't put my finger on it.  Why, when things are just as you want them to by, are we sad?  I guess love is that way.  Even though he's doing what we want him to do, because we love him, we will miss him.  His first letter or email can't come soon enough!

The MTC Curb Drop Off

Day one. We had Cole fill in one circle on his countdown chart...and we will save the last for him to fill in when he gets home.  Cole and the girls slept in the basement.  They helped him finish memorizing D&C section 4.  They all woke up together at 6:30 and kept working on scripture memorizing.  We went to McDonald's for breakfast at 7:30.  We were back home by 8:00.  We had a couple hours to finish packing, shower, and load up the car.  We took a walk through his room and bathroom to make sure he had everything he needed and everything he was leaving was boxed up.  We zipped up the two suitcases, they weighed in at 42 and 46 pounds. We sat together in the family room and everyone shared their favorite scriptures and we had family prayer.  We left the house about 10:15 to go to Wal-Mart to get luggage tags.  We were in the parking lot of Brick Oven, in South Jordan, by 10:45.  We sat in the car until they opened at 11:00.  It was slow going in the restaurant and we were starting to get nervous.  Our worries were in vain as we arrived to the Missionary Field by 12:30.  We had 45 minutes until we needed to drop him off at the MTC.  We took pictures, talked and walked around a bit.  We decided at 1:05 we would say our goodbyes and head over.  We all handled it pretty well.  Cole seemed so confident and ready that it made it much easier on the rest of us.  There were very few tears shed and it really was a happy moment.  We piled in the van and drove across the street.  They put a blue post it on our windshield, since we had an Elder in our car.  We pulled up to the curb and we were informed we had 2 1/2 minutes.  That seemed like an eternity since we had done all our goodbying for the last 45 minutes.  We were greeted by a chipper Elder Valentine.  He asked Cole what his name was. Cole replied, "Cole Warren". Elder Valentine said, "Elder Colburn" Cole said, "Cole Warren" He said, "OH! Elder Warren"  He's really not Cole anymore, just Elder Warren!  He was a great Host, he kept Cole talking and moving, he took a couple family pictures and off they went.  That was it!  Then he was gone.  We drove off and realized that he wouldn't be texting us if he forgot something or telling us who his companion is.  We stopped at the Outlets by Cabellas and did a little shopping.  As we got off the freeway at 114th South it hit me.  He isn't coming home.  He can't call or text me.  He is gone for two years.  The tears began to flow.  I feel so proud of him and all he accomplished to be able to go.  There is no other place I would rather have him be.  I look forward to hearing his adventures and how he will change.  All those things don't change the fact that I will still miss him and will probably cry a few times over the next two years.