5/25/2015 P-Day #29

5/25/2015

Hola familia!!! Como estas!? I have been doing really great!

Thanks Noel for the birthday package! And thanks Alison for the letter! Also, thanks so much Sister Ward for bringing a package down to Riverside! It was too bad that I didn't get to say hi! 

Well this week has gone really well! Even though it's been hard, I've been super happy!

To start off, Elder Justice goes back home to Virginia in one week! I think he's ready to go home. Which is good! But it's kind of sad, because he's starting to give up on the work. He's not really motivated anymore. So there have been times when he just doesn't want to go out and proselyte. At first, I was really angry/annoyed with him. But now I have decided that no matter what my companion does, I will be as obedient as I can! That's helped me a lot!

We started teaching our Bishop's son, Eric, this week. He's a member, but has had a really rocky past. His wife joined the church after they were married and is really active! He is going through rehab right now, but wants to be sealed to his family. So we are going through the lessons with him and it is an amazing experience! He is very humble, and even though he fell away from the church, he never lost his faith. He's even shared the gospel with people as he's gone in and out of prison! I'll keep you updated as we continue teaching him!

We had a Multi-Zone Conference this past week. We combined with a zone from the Jurupa stake (not my old zone :( ) and had really good trainings! We were there from 7:00 am to 5:30 pm! It was a long day! One thing that was really stressed was how important members are in missionary work. The conception most members (including missionaries) have about missionary work, is that it's only for missionaries. THAT'S FALSE! Missionaries are there to help the members with their missionary efforts. Not the other way around. It makes sense to me, because I don't stay in an area very long. The members of the ward will be there for new members/investigators even after missionaries leave! 

We also had apartment inspections this week! There is a senior couple in charge of the housing in the mission, so they inspect apartments once a transfer. We passed! I'd like to take a moment to thank my mom and grandmother for teaching me how to be a clean-freak. If it weren't for your efforts, we most likely would not have passed! Haha but that also means that when a general authority comes in June, he will want to inspect our apartment because it got a good rating :P 

We picked up a new investigator this week! His name is Hijinio! (pronounced hen-yo). He's awesome! He's in his 50s and is super humble and willing to learn. We taught the Restoration, and the Spirit was so strong! He committed to read the Book of Mormon and to be baptized when he comes to know that it's true! It was an amazing experience! 

Well I've got to go now! Thanks for all the love and prayers! I really appreciate it!

Love you all!

Elder Warren 

5/18/2015 P-Day #28

**I just want to say THANK YOU!! to everyone who supports Cole...he always says the other missionaries get a little jealous of all the letters and packages he get!  We are truly grateful.**

5/18/2015

Well, first I need to say thanks to lots of people! Thanks Omie and Papa, Kam and Brandy, the Leathermans, and Alison and Madelyn for the birthday presents! They rocked! I'm pretty sure the apartment managers are getting a little tired of me walking in and asking to pick up another package! Haha! Now when I walk in, they don't even have to ask me which apartment number I live in! It's pretty funny!

Well, anyways... this week has been super good! 

We went on exchanges with the zone leaders this week! I stayed in the Lasselle ward with Elder Catchatoorian! We had a ton of fun! He's super funny! I love Elder Justice, but he is SUPER quiet! Haha it was good to have a day with someone that it's not a huge effort to hold a conversation with! It was supposed to be super cold and rainy all day, so we set up members to give us rides. And then it ended up being sunny and really nice outside! Haha but we got a lot of lessons that day!

We also had stake conference this weekend! There were a lot of really good talks! The bishop of the Samoan ward spoke about how we act in holy places, especially our homes. He shared the story of when Moses saw the burning bush, the Lord told him to take off his shoes because he was standing on holy ground. He challenged us to always leave our "shoes" outside when we enter a holy place, where it be our homes, a church building, a temple, etc... Don't bring in the cares of the world to a place where the spirit is.

On Sunday, we had dinner with a family whose daughter just got back from the Utah Ogden Mission, and she invited her nonmember friend to dinner with us! It was super cool! She was very interested in learning about the church, but at least they invited her to learn! 

So you asked how we would respond to an investigator who feels like they've been doing all the right things (reading, praying, going to church..), but hasn't got an answer. There are a lot of ways to respond. I may talk about real intent. Are they scared of the answer being "yes"? I really like using Moroni 10:3-5. Moroni gives us a pattern on how to ask God the questions of our souls. First, we need to do something about it. Read, pray, attend church, meet with the missionaries, etc.. It's not enough to merely ask. Second, we have to ask God with a sincere heart. Why are we asking the question? Because we're supposed to? Or maybe because someone wants us to? We need to ask out of a desire to know for ourselves. Also when we ask, we need to have real intent. Regardless of what the answer may be, we must be ready to act upon it as soon as the answer comes. If I'm asking if the Book of Mormon is true, but have absolutely no intentions of being baptized, then why will God answer my prayer? If I'm asking God if this is the right church for me, but don't plan on being active, then I shouldn't expect God to answer me. We also must have faith in Christ when we ask. We need to believe that it is possible for God to answer our prayers. Sometimes people do all those things and still don't recognize their answer. I didn't say that they don't receive an answer, just that it's hard to recognize it sometimes. I even have a hard time recognizing answers to my own prayers! I really love the advice that our Heavenly Father gives to Oliver Cowdery in D&C 6:23- "Did not I speak peace to your mind concerning the matter? What greater witness can you have than from God?". So many people want a huge display of God's power as their answer. But that's not always the case. Like the story of Naaman. He wanted Elisha to give him some grand task in order to be healed, and was offended when it was something as simple as bathing seven times in the river. Sometimes we will receive those simple answers. Calm, peaceful, positive feelings. That's how the Holy Ghost works!

Thanks again for all the birthday cards, presents, letters, etc.. It was a great first mission birthday!

I love you all and miss you lots!

Love,

Elder Warren

 Birthday Festivities - We forgot the hats!

 There are humming birds everywhere in SoCal

Adventures or Exchanges with Elder Catchatoorian.

5/11/2015 P-Day #27 and Birthday #1...Elder Warren is 19

5/11/2015

Thanks everybody for the birthday wishes!!! 

Also, thanks Mom and Grandma for the packages! And thanks Cami, Danielle, and Omie and Papa for the letters!

Well I don't have much to email about today, since I shared everything on Skype yesterday!!!! Haha but I'll just talk about today!

Oh! So after we skyped, we went to the Jensen's for dinner and they made some yummy chicken taco stuff for dinner! And they had cake for dessert! It was all really good!

So I woke up this morning and got all ready for the day. Elder Justice took "P-Day nap" at 6:30 in the morning! Haha then our ride to go shopping and such said they weren't coming until 1 or 2, so I opened my presents, studied some Spanish, played Bananagrams, and then cleaned the apartment! I'm not sure what Elder Justice was doing... Haha and then we came to the library to email! 

We have dinner with our bishop tonight and his family is super cool! It should be a lot of fun!

So not much else has happened today.. Maybe we'll try and do something fun to celebrate the day of my birth later!!

I love you all and miss you all a lot! Sorry this was so short!

Te quiero mucho!!

Elder Warren

 Cole Bbq'd Bruschetta Chicken at their apartment.

This cute couple in their 80s was baptized on 5/10/2015.  They had 60 family members come to support that have been waiting for them to be baptized.

Happy Birthday Elder Warren.  A new shirt, some punching balloons and a rousing solitary game of banangrams.

5/4/2015 P-Day #26

5/4/2015

Time is flying by so fast! I'm already halfway through this transfer!!! It's so crazy! 

Thanks Hna. Leatherman, Danielle, and Alison for the letters! 

It's almost Mother's Day!!! Only six more days until we can Skype! We set it up with the Tatum family in our ward to Skype at their house. We will do it right after church at 3:00 CALIFORNIA time. Which means it will be 4:00 UTAH time! I can't wait! I remember thinking at Christmas that Mother's Day was forever away!! But now it's here!

Well this has been an interesting week! It was REALLY hot a couple of days! In the high-90s!! UUUGGH! I guess I'd better start getting used to it! I have to drink a lot of water, though! It's annoying to carry it all around, though.. Maybe I'll invest in a CamelBak sometime soon!

We're still trying to work with Omar. We found out that he has autism this past week so that kind of changes how we're going to approach teaching him. He hasn't seemed really interested lately and is kind of avoiding us. Hopefully he starts opening back up! He was doing so well, and he's falling away again.

We started teaching an awesome family! It's the Morales-Cortes family. Bro Morales is a member and he served a mission in Houston, Texas. He hasn't gone to church for years now and is wanting to come back. Cynthia is his second wife and she has three kids: Maggie, Antonio, and another daughter who we haven't met yet. They're so awesome! They just showed up at church a month or so ago and wanted to meet with us and learn more about the church! We finally got in last Thursday and taught the Restoration. Cynthia had a lot of awesome questions and really understood the concept of the Restoration! She and her son want to get baptized, too!! They came to church on Sunday and stayed for all the classes and they loved it! Bro Morales has been a huge help. He still knows a lot about the church and missionary work, so he will be there to answer their questions if we aren't! The only downside is that they are super busy and can only meet with us once a week :( oh well! I can't really complain when the Lord has blessed us with such awesome investigators!

I guess that's all the exciting stuff that happened this week... I've got to save some stuff when we Skype on Sunday! Which will be happening at 3:00 CALIFORNIA time and 4:00 UTAH time!!!! One more time:

3:00 CALIFORNIA time

4:00 UTAH time

I can't wait to see you on Sunday! May the Fourth be with you!

Love all y'all and miss you tons!

Elder Warren

4/27/2015 P-Day #25

I love Moreno Valley! This has been an awesome week! But before I get into that, I want to say thanks to Omie and Papa, Noel, and Maddy, Tenley D, Tenley  and Aspen for the letters!

Sister Mullen has created a blog for the mission!! The website is downbythecaliforniariverside.blogspot.com!

So to give a little background about my new area... I'm in the Lasselle ward. We are on bikes and the area we cover is quite a bit bigger than the one in Mira Loma! We are the only missionaries in the ward. We live in a really nice apartment building! It's weird not being in a homeshare. Especially since there's no piano :( but it is nice not having to share everything with another family! Missionaries haven't been staying in this apartment for very long so it's still pretty clean! And I'm going to keep it that way! I've heard stories of what "real" missionary apartments are like.. I'm not excited for them! The ward here is awesome! All the members I have met so far have been extremely nice!

Elder Justice is my new companion! He's from Berryville, Virginia and he has been out for 21 months! He goes home at the end of this transfer! He's super fun! We get along really well! I can't really describe his personality.. He's just really goofy and a little bit awkward, but in a good way! He also drinks a lot of milk! He's gone through about two and a half gallons since I've been here! He's also really tall! I got used to feeling like a giant around Elder Bangerter, and  now I feel really short around Elder Justice!

I was pretty sad last Sunday, because Alfredo and Maria weren't home so I didn't get to say goodbye.. But on our way out to Moreno Valley, I saw Maria out working in her yard and we stopped by so that I could say bye to her. That was probably the hardest goodbye I had! She started crying and kept thanking me for bringing Christ into her home and family! That's why I love being a missionary! Seeing how the gospel of Christ changes people's lives for the better!

I'm really excited to be in the Lasselle ward, though! Elder Justice has only been in the ward for about a month and he goes home in 5 weeks. Hhis last companion, Elder Hughes, went home last week. So the area has been falling apart a little bit. Not that they are bad missionaries, but they're both so close to going home, they just didn't bother updating the area book, organizing the ward list, etc.. So that's what I have spent all of my free time doing! I'm still not 100% unpacked just because I've been trying to get everything organized! But I like a challenge so this is going to be a great transfer!

On Tuesday, we went to visit a less active member, Sister Osburn. We sat down and got to know her a little bit better. She has had a really rough past. She is trying really hard to come back to church so she can become temple worthy. She has a really strong belief in the Atonement! It was amazing to hear her bear her testimony about it! While we were talking to her, she told us how she has made a lot of really good friends in the ward, she said that she is so close to one sister that they've gotten to the point where they "finish each other's sandwiches"! Haha I think she had been watching too much Frozen with her granddaughter!!

Speaking of Frozen, on Thursday night, we were helping at a Relief Society activity. They asked us to go help out in the nursery... I'm not sure why... But they had Frozen playing and it was SO hard not to watch! I tried, though! 

We are teaching a guy named Omar. He's in his 20s and his aunt/uncle, the Smiths, are members of the ward. They were baptized about two years ago. His aunt is an amazing artist and she draws the picture for the sacrament program cover each week! Anyways, Omar is living with the Smith's and is trying to turn his life around. It's a little difficult to teach him because he has a hard time focusing and retaining information. We're working on super simplifying everything we teach. He wants to get baptized so hopefully we can help him start to understand the gospel a little bit better!

Yesterday at church, there was a lady there that nobody knew and we didn't recognize so we went to go introduce ourselves. Apparently she is a member! Her name is Anna and she is 24. She was going to college in Utah and was baptized there about 2 years ago. She moved back here and is staying with her family. They are super against the church! Her family is moving soon and they won't tell her where they are going. They gave her a P.O. box if she needs to get ahold of them.. It's really sad! We have an appointment with her tonight and we are bringing one of our recent converts with us for fellowship!

Last night we were going to contact a referral from the Wilson family. We went to the Wilson's home before and asked if Sis. Wilson would come with us to her neighbors home. She came and knocked on the door but they weren't home! Instead of going back to her house, Sis. Wilson marches across the street and introduces herself to the people that are out in the yard and tells them all about the church. They weren't interested! Most people would probably give up and send us on our way at this point, but not Sister Wilson! She takes us to her other neighbors home who she has been working on sharing the gospel with for 20 years! She knocks on that door and asks if we can come and have a lesson with her! Haha it was so awesome! The members here are amazing! The lady's name was Eleanor. She's 87 and has studied about every religion that you can think of. She has a hard time believing Joseph Smith because he was just a man. She feels that since she is so close to the end of her life she doesn't want to get started in some false religion. But there is a lot of potential! She told us we could come back and visit her and keep teaching her!

Well I can't think of what else I can write about.. I love you all and miss you all a lot!!!

Lots of love,

Elder Warren

Alfredo's Dog

Cole & Marie

4/20/2015 P-Day #24

SIX MONTHS ON 4/22/2015!

4/20/2015

Hola!

Well I'm leaving the Jurupa 2nd Ward now :( I'm kind of sad but I'm also really excited too! I'm going to be in Moreno Valley in the LaSelle ward! My new companion is Elder Justice! He was in the Jurupa stake when I was being trained, so I know a little bit about him. He's super goofy and quirky! It'll be a fun transfer! I'll be riding a bike again! My new address is:

25419 Alessandro Blvd. #1611

Moreno Valley, CA 92553

Well this week was pretty uneventful.. There was some bug going around the mission that I caught so I was out for a day and a half! And allergies have been getting pretty bad, so that hasn't been too fun.. But the weather has been really nice! 

So I had started reading through the Book of Mormon in Dutch a few weeks ago just for fun. I picked up a few things and was starting to understand it a little bit. But then I stopped for a week or so because I just wasn't having time. Then the past few nights, I've been dreaming in Dutch! It's super super weird! In one dream, Omie was giving a talk at General Conference in Dutch! Haha I just thought it was really crazy!

I had a cool experience with a recent convert named Adan yesterday! He and his wife, Maribel, have been less active for the past couple of months. We set up an appointment with them, but he was the only one that could meet with us. We were just talking for a little while, getting to know him better, and out of nowhere, he told us that he's been getting really angry lately. He felt like he didn't have any patience and was getting frustrated all the time and he didn't want to feel that way. Instantly I thought of a verse in the Book of Enos, right before Enos kneels down to pray, he says "and my soul hungered". Before I had him read that, I asked him what it feels like when our body is hungry. It's pretty obvious. Our stomach might make some weird noises, we feel weak, we start thinking about food, etc. Our bodies are pretty good at telling us when it needs nourishment. So then I shared the scripture (Enos 1:4) and asked what it feels like when our spirit is hungry. That's something that may be a little bit harder to recognize. So we read Galatians 5:22-23, and that tells us what it feels like when we are spiritually full. Peace, joy, patience, meekness, goodness, etc. If that's what it feels like when we are full, when we are hungry, it goes the opposite direction. Instead of peace, anger. Instead of joy, sorrow. And so forth. When we are feeling those negative feelings, that's our soul's way of letting us know it's hungry! Just like our body gets hunger pains, our soul does, too! So what can we do to fill our soul? In Alma 32:42 and also 2 Nephi 32:3, we learn that if we read from the scriptures and "nourish the word", and feast upon them, we will be filled! In 3 Nephi 18, the Savior institutes the sacrament among the Nephites. When they took the sacrament, it says they were filled! In Acts 4:31, the people prayed, and then they were filled with the Holy Ghost! When our spirits are feeling a little malnourished, there are three simple things we can do! Read the scriptures, pray to our Heavenly Father, and then take the sacrament. It's so  important that we take care of our spirits!

Well I don't have much else to say! I know that this Church is true! I am so grateful to be serving my Heavenly Father as a missionary. There is no place I would rather be. I love you all and I am grateful for all the prayers, love, and support you send to me!

Have an amazing week (and to quote one of my favorite aunts) and end each day with no regrets!

I love you all!

Elder Warren

Cole & Sister T & Molly

Cole and Bob

Cole''s first home in Mira Loma.

4/13/2015 P-Day #23

Hola amigos y familia!

Thanks Danielle for the letter! I wrote you back so it should get there soon! 

Transfers are next Monday! I can't wait! I'm not ready for a new area, but I'm starting to get ready for a new companion! I've been spending time trying to learn Spanish and I've learned a lot, so President might let me go Spanish sometime? The assistants (the missionaries in charge of helping with transfers) said that they were going to bring it up when they have their transfer meeting with President. I think it would be really cool!

This week was pretty awesome! We had a few really great days!!

Monday: Maria fed us dinner tonight! I'm not sure what the dish was called, but it was a Mexican meatball soup! It was soooo good! She also made rice pudding. The texture is a little strange, but once you get used to it, it's delicious! We had an awesome lesson with Lizette (Alfredo's fiancee) and talked about how she can recognize her answer of whether or not this is the true church. She said that she wants to believe it because it feels good, but she needs to put in the effort and read from the Book of Mormon.

Tuesday: We taught the Ostler's the Word of Wisdom today! It went really well! There were zero problems that came up, so we're just going to keep moving on! They told us that they have 30-40 family members that are coming into town for the baptism! There are going to be tons of people! We may have to do part of the baptism in the chapel! We taught Matthew and they are still trying to figure out the trip to Hawaii... We think his dad is purposefully trying to postpone so Matthew won't be baptized. If Matthew's baptized, then the dad will have to become active again and start taking Matthew to church! We're going to talk to the mom and see if we can work something out! Bob finished the Book of Mormon this week!! He's reading Doctrine and Covenants now!!

Wednesday: We went on exchanges today! I stayed in Mira Loma and Elder Dalmer took Elder Bangerter's place. We had a lot of fun! He's been in the mission for about six weeks now and is leaving next Tuesday to go to Taiwan! We picked up a new investigator named Jesse. He used to live on our street but moved away because people didn't really like him. He was another person who legally grew marijuana and our neighbors weren't too happy about that. He's super nice and friendly and wants to learn more about our church!

Thursday: Today was weekly planning again... President Mullen asked us to do it a different way, where we use a whiteboard and it's MUCH more organized! I like weekly planning now! Even though it takes three hours :P We also went shopping with Brother McDowell to get all the supplies to help Veronica quit smoking! So we were basically inside until dinner time today. Monday (today) night we'll have a lesson with Veronica and get her started on quitting smoking!

Friday: Today was awesome! We had about 9 lessons today! On an average day we get about 4-5 lessons! We talked with Kathy H. about going through the temple. She's taking the temple prep classes and should be going through the temple in May! I'm so excited for her! We had lunch over at the Verdejo's and they invited their cousin, Lupe (who isn't a member), to come over and meet with us. We had an awesome lesson with her! The spirit was so strong! Towards the end, I felt like I should invite her to be baptized, but something felt different about it. I asked her and she got really quiet and told us that she can't do that right now. She said that she believes everything we said and that she knows it's true. Her husband is really Catholic, though. And really drunk, too. She said that when you're married, you have to go along with what your spouse wants. We're going to keep working with her, though. Hopefully she'll see that she needs to be baptized and her husbands heart will be softened! We brought Sister Smith with us over to the Ostlers today. We talked a lot about their baptism and their family that will be coming in town. 

Saturday: Today we had tons of people to go see and nobody was home! We went over to Eastvale and had a "blitz" with all the missionaries in our zone! Each companionship was assigned a portion of their area and we walked around and talked to as many people as we could, so that we could find the missionaries there some people to teach! I went with Elder Murray, who speaks Chinese, and we had a lot of fun! It was cool to listen to him talk to people in Chinese and I was able to follow along with most of what they were saying!

Sunday: We had an awesome lesson today in Gospel Principles. We taught about the Atonement and it went really well! Sometimes I enjoy teaching the class! But next Sunday we are going to ask Bishop in ward council to find an actual teacher for the class. We just don't have any time to prepare the lessons and the people in the class need a ward member to teach so they can get to know more people in the ward. If we bring an investigator, they don't want to sit and listen to us talk! We teach them all the time! Hopefully they'll get us a teacher!! The Ostlers came to sacrament and we had asked a couple people to go sit by them, but they didn't want to leave their little group. Sister Smith decided to leave her group of single old women to go sit by the Ostlers! I love her so much! She's as close to exaltation as anyone can probably get on this earth! If I get transferred I'll miss her a lot!

I love you all and am so grateful for all the letters, packages, and prayers! They help a lot! Have a good week and end each day with no regrets! Te quiero!

Elder Warren

P.S. I don't remember if I put this in my email, but if anyone wants to send me mail, they should sent it to the mission office since transfers are this week!!!