7/27/2015 P-Day #38

7/27/2015

Hola family!! 

Thanks Mom, Maddy, Danielle, Myra, Noel, and Alison for the letters! And thanks Omie and Papa for the letter/package!!

We had an awesome week! I'm super super excited to tell you about it!

So last week I mentioned the Nunleys, the family where the wife and the two daughters aren't members. So there's Bryan, Chelsea, and the two daughters are Haylei and Mckayla. We went over on Sunday to have another lesson with them. We started teaching about the Restoration of the gospel. Which is my favorite message to share with people because it's truly what sets us apart as God's true church on the earth. The only problem is that Chelsea tries to think about everything logically. Which you can't really do with the gospel. It's not going to make sense or work. You have to have faith and trust/believe in God and Jesus Christ. So we talked about that and she agreed that she needs to have faith, it's just hard to get her head to stop thinking about everything logically. So we then asked her if she would prepare to be baptized on August 23 and she said that she would! So we now have Maggie being baptized onAugust 9 and Chelsea on August 23! It's really exciting! We keep seeing miracles left and right!

Speaking of Maggie, we hadn't been able to see her all week because her mom had doctors appointments every day and they weren't home when we tried dropping in! But she came to church on Sunday and we were talking to her about her baptism and she's still super excited! She's really excited for Antonio to baptize her! And so are we! Our Bishop is actually going to ask him to speak in sacrament meeting in a couple weeks when we have a sacrament meeting focused on missionary work! It's really exciting! He paid tithing for the first time on Sunday! I forgot to get a picture, but the shoes he was wearing would have fit right in with the red velvet room we had in Stansbury!! They were pretty much the same material as the carpet! I was laughing so hard!

For Pioneer Day, our stake had a party at one of the church buildings. There was a barbecue, petting zoo, [Styrofoam] cow pie throwing competition, and kickball! It was a lot of fun! I definitely missed all the fireworks, parades, and rodeos back home, but it was still a lot of fun!

Our ward mission leader, Brother Poulter, has been super helpful with missionary work! He went out and tried to talk to some people at the gym and work but no one was interested.. At least he went out and opened his mouth! That's all we can do! He also invited his neighbor to meet with us and we had a lesson with him on Saturday! It went pretty well. It was hard to gauge how interested he was, but it was just really neat to see a member of the ward reaching out again and again even though he had been rejected many times! What would happen if missionaries just gave up the first time someone said now, slammed a door, or yelled something rude as they drove by?? Never be afraid to share your testimony! If someone is offended because you tried to share the blessings of the gospel with them, then that's there problem. You fulfilled your responsibility as a member of the church!

I love you all and miss you tons! I'm so grateful for this gospel and all the blessings that it brings into my life! Go out and serve God with all your heart, might, mind, and strength!

Love,Elder Warren

7/20/2015 P-Day #37

7/20/2015

Hi all you folks back home!

Thank Danielle for the letter this week! 

This week went by soooo slow and yet it flew by at the same time! It was really interesting!

On Tuesday, it was Chik-fil-A Day! We dressed up like cows with the zone leaders and got free food! It was a lot of fun! Everyone else in the zone was really lame and didn't join in.. Their loss! Haha 

Cool story for this week... There has been a part member family that has been coming to church for the past few months and we've been trying to meet with them, but they have been super busy. We stopped by yesterday right after church and started talking to them. They each have a daughter from a previous marriage and neither of them have been baptized. We asked them if we could start coming by every week and teaching the family. The one daughter that was there started nodding her head and said she really wanted to learn more! Then, the mom said she isn't sure if she was ever baptized. Sometimes her mom will say that she was and sometimes she will say she wasn't. So we looked up her information and surprise! She hasn't been baptized! So now we have a family with three nonmembers that all want to be baptized really soon! It was an amazing miracle! It was a really big blessing for us!

We also had a lesson with Maggie (Antonio's sister). She told us that after Youth Conference she made the decision to be baptized. She even started crying a little bit when she was talking about Youth Conference. we asked her if she would be ready to be baptized on August 16th. She told us that she wanted to be baptized earlier on August 9th! We're really excited for her! And Antonio, because he will be able to baptize her!

On Sunday, we confirmed Antonio and ordained Omar to the Aaronic Priesthood. It was a really great experience! Both of them are on fire right now! The gospel has blessed both of them as they've learned about it and started living it. It's cool how it blesses all of us in different ways. If I hadn't decided to go on a mission, I definitely wouldn't be who I am right now! Being a missionary has blessed me in so many ways I would never have thought of!

I love you all so much! Go out and serve God with all you heart, might, mind, and strength!

Love, Elder Warren

Here are pictures from Antonio's Baptism from last week

 Happy 4th of July!

7/13/2015 P-Day #36

7/13/2015

Hola familia y amigos!!

Thanks Danielle, Maddy, and Tenley for the letters/post cards! 

This week has been a little bit slower, so this email might be a bit shorter! 

We got transfer calls on Saturday! Both Elder Turner and I will be staying in Lasselle! His visa may come soon, so I'm not sure what will happen with me when it comes! I might be in a trio with the zone leaders for a little while! 

I'll share a few spiritual experiences from this week. Firstly, Antonio was baptized on Sunday! It was an awesome experience! There was a huge turnout from the ward. It was amazing to see everyone come and support him! He went to stake youth conference last week and had a great time! He invited all the youth in the stake to his baptism, and a lot of them came! His mom and Sister Tatum brought a lot of food, so we had a lot of fun afterwards! Secondly, the Garcia family has invited their friend Alexis to meet with us and take the lessons. She has been coming to church with them for five years or so, but her parents haven't let her get baptized before. She had asked them last week and they told her they would be fine with her meeting us and being taught, so we scheduled a lesson for yesterday night. Her parents apparently changed their minds... She was still at dinner with us and we had a short little "lesson" from a scripture in the Book of Mormon. We read Mosiah 24:9-16. Alma and his people are under the control of Amulon, who is a pretty wicked man. He starts to put them to work, forcing them to labor for him. It is a really hard situation the people are in, so they lift up their voices in prayer. And because of their faith, patience, and willingness to submit to the trial they were going through, the Lord eased their burdens and eventually delivered them from bondage. Afterwards, Alexis texted us and told us that was exactly what she needed to hear at that time. We invited her to keep praying for her parents to soften their hearts and allow her to be baptized. Hopefully through our faith, patience, and humility, we will be able to see this happen!

I am so grateful for this gospel and the way that it touches the lives of anyone who hears the message we share and then lives it! We teach a lot of different people, and somehow the gospel of Jesus Christ blesses each and every one of them! I know that it has blessed my life. I wouldn't be who I am or where I am if it wasn't for my Savior. I love you all and pray for you each and every day! Go out and serve God with all your heart, might, mind, and strength wherever you are!

Love,

Elder Warren

7/6/2015 P-Day #35

7/6/2015

I apologize in advance. This email might be a little bit short. My attention span is not very long today!!! 

Thanks Danielle and Omie and Papa for the letters!

This week was super weird! The time flew by so fast, but at the same time it felt like it took forever! I hope you all had a great 4th of July! Ours was pretty fun! In the morning, we got to volunteer at the Moreno Valley City Parade! It was actually kind of lame... There was only one float!! I think there were more people in the parade than were watching! I've also never seen so many non-American things in a 4th of July parade.. Then we had dinner with the Detlefsen family. We had some super yummy hamburgers, watermelon, baked beans, potato salad, etc.. Then we had a watermelon eating contest with our zone! It was a lot of fun! We had to be in our apartments by 9:00, so we watched the fireworks from one of our balconies! It was a pretty good Independence Day! 

We confirmed Omar on Sunday! Other than that, it was a pretty uneventful fast Sunday.. There weren't any crazy testimonies... Haha but Antonio did get up and bear his testimony! He called out the entire ward for sounding like robots when they go up and bear their testimonies! It was super cool! He's ready to be baptized next week! We've got everything all set up and ready to go! I love how much support the ward shows to people that are investigating the church! 

Well now I am out of time. I'm super sorry that this is so short! I'm also sorry for everyone I didn't get to emailing today! I love you all and miss you lots! 

Love,

Elder Warren

6/29/2015 P-Day #34

6/29/2015

Happy almost 4th of July!! 

Thanks Danielle and Maddy for the letters this week!

Omar's baptism was yesterday!! It was super awesome! It was a little bit crazy, though! We had to change the time of the baptism last minute, some people cancelled, and we had to find a ride for a family of 6 an hour before the baptism started! But we pulled through and it all worked out! There was a ton of support there from the ward! Omar looked so happy afterwards. I'm really excited to see him start on this new path now. One of the speakers talked a lot about how baptism is just the first step. It's not the end. It's just the beginning of our journey back to our Heavenly Father!

We have been using the Tatum family to help fellowship the Morales family. On Wednesday, we are going to have a lesson with them at the Tatum's home! I'm super excited! The Tatum's daughter, Sarah, has become really good friends with Antonio and Maggie, so they have been asking her tons and tons of questions that they may not feel comfortable asking us. Which is great! This is why I love member missionary work!!! We invited the Morales family to come, but Antonio was the only one who could make it. Afterwards, he was talking to Sarah and told us that he decided that he wants to be baptized! He said that it feels right, and that it's the step he needs to take to get the answers to his questions. Then he corrected himself and said that he knows it's the right thing for him to do! It's amazing how we can teach someone something over and over again and it may not stick or it won't make a difference until they feel the spirit bearing witness to them of the truth! I know that he felt the spirit at the baptism, and now he has decided to be baptized in two weeks!! I'll keep y'all posted on what's happening!

So Elder Turner got back from Anaheim right after I finished emailing. His paperwork should get to the mission home today, and then they will forward it to Salt Lake City. After that, his visa could come any day. It could be this week, in three weeks, or longer! They may keep him here until the end of a transfer, or he may just bounce and leave as soon as his visa comes. It's up to President Mullen and the mission president in Perth. I think now that he realizes he's leaving, he's starting to go back to his older ways... Which has been really sad. I tried talking to him about it the other day, but he just doesn't really care, and I can't make him care. He told me that the only reason he is serving a mission is because God has commanded us to. I'm kind of at a loss for how to help him. All I can do is be a good example and keep working diligently. 

I love being a district leader! I have been super busy with exchanges, district meetings, nightly calls, etc! But it's been a lot of fun! A little stressful, but it's a good kind of stress! This week was supposed to be our zone meeting, but last night, the APs called and said that zone meeting will be next week, so I get to have another district meeting tomorrow! I haven't even started preparing!! Haha

We had dinner with the Lewis family this week. They said they had been visiting one of their relative's wards when it was stake conference. The stake president asked the missionaries to come up and pull out their planners. He went through the following weeks and asked why it was so empty. Then he turned to congregation and told them it was their job to fill the missionaries planners. So the Lewis' told us that in two weeks, they would find someone for us to teach and invite them into their home to have a lesson! Then they asked us to teach them the first lesson (the Restoration). If any of you have the missionaries in your home, ask them to teach you the message of the restoration!! It was an amazing spiritual experience! Even though they are active members, the spirit was still there teaching the truth!

The 4th of July should be fun! We are volunteering at a parade in the morning. We are supposed to walk around and keep people from walking into the street! We are supposed to go out and work during the day, so we'll try and set up scheduled lessons beforehand so we're not dropping in on people during the holiday. Then, some members invited us to a barbecue at their home. They want us to stay late and watch the fireworks from their porch, but we have to meet with our zone at 8:00 to play basketball, watch a move, etc.. And then we have to be in our apartments by 9:00. Hopefully we can see the fireworks from the zone leaders apartment! Ours is on the first floor and is facing the wrong direction :( It will be kind of sad not setting of fireworks in the street in front of our house! 

Thank you all for the letters, love, and support! I love you all so much! Have an awesome (and safe!) weekend and I'll talk to all y'all next Monday!

Love,

Elder Warren 

6/22/2015 P-Day #33

6/22/2015

This transfer is flying by! I can't believe it's halfway over now! 

Thanks Omie & Papa, Grandpa, and Danielle for the letters! I'm working on responses, so hang in there! Haha :) 

Elder Turner is out doing some visa paperwork in Anaheim right now with Sister Mullen, so our awesome zone leaders are babysitting me! They said his visa should come anytime in these next few weeks! We were talking about it last night, and he was saying that he doesn't really want to leave (which is awesome!)! You can't help but love the people that you serve, whether it's as a missionary, family member, friend, etc.. You just come to love the people as you share the gospel with them and as you see them progress!

We had another super busy, really crazy week! It makes the time fly by super fast! I had my first District Meeting on Tuesday! And the APs were there! So I was a little bit nervous about  it! But it went pretty well. Most of the companionships in my district are doing super good! I gave a training on our purpose as missionaries. And then we watched a video! I tried making a brownie recipie Mom sent with me, where you mix a pudding mix into the brownies, but they didn't turn out right... They were basically brownies with the texture of a gummy bear... So I will be having the Sisters bring treats this week :) Haha 

Omar is getting baptized!!! He's doing amazing now! He really has opened up and started progressing this past week, and he's going to be baptized June 28th! He had his baptism interview on Saturday, and came to another baptism with us yesterday! It's so cool to see how the gospel has changed him. And it's so much more than just living the commandments and making good decisions, but you can actually see and feel the change in him. He looks a thousand times happier than when I first met him. He laughs with us, tells jokes, he'll say prayers in lessons, and read scriptures. He's improved a lot. 

The Morales family gave us a bit of a scare this week. They texted us Tuesday night at about midnight and said that we wouldn't be able to meetWednesday night and they would need to give us a call and talk to us.. So we went by Wednesday night anyways! The daughter was the only one home, and she told us that they were going to try the Catholic church for a little while, because they haven't done it before.. BUT we called Sis Morales Saturdaynight to get the scoop from her, and she told us that they were originally planning on going to the Catholic church on Sunday. Right before we called, the kids decided that they wanted to come to our church. They like the way that they feel and the Spirit we bring into their home! We were a little excited after we heard that! There have been a few other complications pop up with them recently, so it may be another month or so until they can be baptized, but at least they know that the message we share is true, and they have felt the spirit at church and in their home.

I went on another exchange this Friday! I went with Elder Dall. He's a new missionary (from Sandy!!) and has only been here for about three weeks. We had a lot of fun! It was a little bit of a weird exchange, because he was sick and then the brakes on their truck went out, so we were stuck in their house most of the day. I was a little bummed because I didn't get to see him work, but it was a good chance to talk and get to know him better! He's super cool and has a strong testimony of the gospel! I'll probably go on another exchange with him just to see how he teaches and stuff, but it was a fun Friday! They live in a homeshare up on this hill kinda of out in the middle of nowhere. The house is a freaking mansion! They're so spoiled there! The guy who owns the home designed it himself. And he's super rich, so he buys everything for the missionaries! Haha they're pretty spoiled!

The work here is really starting to pick up! We have a lot of new people we're starting to work with and a lot of potential, too. I hope I get to stay in this area a little while longer! The ward is awesome, the people here are super nice and receptive, and it's a lot of fun! We've gotten really close to a lot of the families here, so it will be really hard if I have to leave! The only downside is biking in 90-100 degree weather! It's not that bad, but it's still no fun! 

I love you all and miss you! Thanks so much for the prayers, letters, support, and love you send! I have the best family and friends! Go out and end each day with no regrets!

Love,

Elder Warren

6/15/2015 P-Day #32

6/15/2015 

This has been another crazy crazy week! Super busy!  

Thanks Danielle and Brad for the letters this week! Missionaries like to give me a hard time because I get so much mail! Haha but I can't complain :) 

Like I mentioned last Tuesday, we had Elder Neilson of the Seventy come and visit our mission. He was the one the gave the talk at conference about his sister falling away from the church and then coming back after 12 years! We feel like there is going to be a big push for us to start working with less active members. Not only to help them come back into the church, but also because they are an amazing source of people that are not members. Active members don't know too many people outside the church, and the ones they do aren't the best investigators. So I'll keep you posted on how the mission starts changing!  

Tuesday was our P-Day! We played soccer with our whole zone and it was a lot of fun! We had dinner with one of our ward missionaries, Brother Palmer, and his family! Elder Turner left right after dinner to go teach the Young Men how to fish, because no one else knows how to do that in our ward! I went out with Brother Palmer to go try and visit people, but nobody was home! We tried knocking on a ton of doors and I eventually went over and helped Elder Turner with the fishing activity! It was a lot of fun. There's a man-made lake in the middle of one of the nicer neighborhoods in our ward. We went to Bishops house and sat out on their little shoreline. Nobody caught anything, but apparently there are fish in the lake! 

I wasn't feeling to good on Wednesday, but we had a ton of appointments, so we went out and worked! We did service for the Salvation Army in the morning. We moved some furniture, and sorted some boxes of donated goodies for a few hours. Then we went home, watched Legacy, took a nap, and went to do some more service for a lady in our ward! She has tons of trees growing in her yard that aren't supposed to be there. We helped chop them down, trim some other trees, and cut up the huge piles of branches we left behind! It was super hot and we got a little sun on us! But it was a lot of fun and I was feeling a lot better afterwards! We had dinner with one of our favorite families in the ward, the Tatums. It was a ton of fun! It was their daughters birthday, so we had to sing Happy Birthday"Tatum style". Which means you sing it as bad as you possibly can! So much fun! Then we went to the Morales family. We brought a return missionary, Jessica Garcia and her sister Makayla, with us! It was a super good lesson. We taught about the Plan of Salvation and they had a ton of great questions for us. They were working towards June 27 for baptism, but I don't know if that will happen.. The daughter isn't ready yet, and we found out that the parents actually aren't married, and the wife is working on her divorce from her ex-husband from about 10 years ago.. We are going back this Wednesday to figure out all the bumps and such, so hopefully they will be able to be baptized in July!  

On Thursday, we got to go to the temple again! I love love love going to the temple! It's such an amazing spiritual experience. I learn more and more each time I go! We also got to go to Cafe Rio!! Which only happens every three months, because the nearest on is in Redlands by the temple! 

Friday AND Saturday I was on exchanges! Friday I went with the elders in my district, Elder Glathar, and Elder Calvert. I went with Elder Glathar to the Hidden Springs ward (where they have a car!!!). We had a lot of fun. They have both been struggling with missionary work, so the zone leaders and I have been trying to help them a lot. It was a good experience for me to see how he works and what he is like. This way, I know more of how to help him and his companion! While I was with Elder Glathar, the zone leaders called and asked if we would exchange with them on Saturday! So I went with Elder Aguilar to the Nuevo ward in Spanishland (and also in a car again). I learned a lot from being with him! So I wasn't in my apartment or ward for two days! It was crazy! When I finally got back, Saturday night, I crashed! I was so exhausted! It takes a LOT of hard work to be a district leader! But it's very worth it. I love being able to serve the missionaries in my district and help them improve and use the enabling power of the Atonement!  

Sunday was pretty normal. The Morales family came to church! After church and dinner, we were supposed to weekly plan... Normally we do it on Thursdays, but we had the temple trip, and exchanges on Friday and Saturday.. and then we had lessons on Sunday... Whoops! Haha we saw Serena (one of the recent converts) because she hasn't come to church in two weeks now. She told us that she doesn't feel like she is fitting in. She doesn't fit that perfect cookie-cutter shape of a Mormon woman. But we told her that it doesn't matter if she feels like she's "different". Nobody is the same. It takes all sorts of people to help our Heavenly Father's work along. If we were all the same, we wouldn't be able to learn from each other and progress. Like with Elder Turner and I. We are COMPLETE opposites! And somehow, we work great together. We teach and learn from each other. So hopefully Serena will feel better now and keep progressing towards the temple! 

Speaking of Elder Turner, I was able to have a really good conversation with him last night! I've noticed that he is very laid back, and just doesn't really care. Which isn't always a bad thing. Sometimes I get wound up and upset over something that really doesn't matter, so it's good to have him there to help balance me out. But at the same time, he doesn't really care about the rules, being obedient, etc. He'll do it, but his heart isn't in it. I've been wondering what is the best way to go about talking to him about it. I didn't want to just call him out and ruin the friendship we've built, but I do want to help him. But last night somehow it just all worked out. I can't tell what I said or what he said, because I can't remember. But I DO know that the Spirit was there, putting the words in my mouth. I don't know if he will change, but I have this feeling that I at least helped him a little bit last night. It was a really neat experience! 

Well, thanks for all the love, prayers, letters, packages, and support you send my way! It really means a lot to me! I love you all and miss you so much!! 

Love, 

Elder Warren