1/25/2016 P-Day #66

1/25/2016

Hellooo!!!

Thanks Danielle for the letter this week!This week was fantastic! The time is going by like crazy! We went on two exchanges this week and I stayed in Eastvale both times. The first was with another elder that speaks Chinese, so that was good! The second was with our district leader, Elder Heelis, who does not speak Chinese! Nobody was home that day, so I didn't really have to use that much Chinese! Just a little bit while we were talking to people in the park. My Chinese is getting better, though! The Lord has really helped me learn quickly. Sometimes my brain gets stuck in Chinese mode, so I'll start speaking Chinese to English people! Haha

We started teaching this awesome lady named Sunny this week! She's from Taiwan and visited Temple Square a few years ago and got a Book of Mormon and was talking to missionaries on the phone. But she changed her phone number and lost contact with them. Then we talked to her on the street the other day. We taught her about the restoration of the gospel, and it went really well! She came to church on Sunday and loved it!

Lucy was baptized on Sunday! It was an amazing experience because Antonio was able to baptize her! The spirit was really strong at the service. She got up at the end to bear her testimony and it looked like she was glowing. Now they get to start preparing to go to the temple!

I love you all and miss you! Have a great week!

Elder Warren

1/18/2016 P-Day #65

1/18/2016

Hello everybody!

Thanks Omie and Papa for the letters this week, and thanks Alison for the package!

This week was pretty slow. Elder Zeng and I decided that the Lord must be trying to teach us patience, because we work so hard this week and nothing happened until the very end! I guess that enduring to the end is a real thing!

Lucy should be getting baptized this upcoming Sunday! She had her baptism interview this week and hopefully everything will go smoothly! Her husband will be able to baptize her, which is awesome! Antonio had his Aaronic Priesthood interview with our bishop this week and I got to go and translate for it! Thankfully he understood all of the questions, except one! So I just kind of sat there! But that's okay!

We took Antonio with us to go visit Shirley this week! She hadn't read from the Book of Mormon since we visited with her last, so we sat down and read with her. We read the introduction to the Book of Mormon and talked about what we need to do to come to know it's true. First we have to read from it, and then we need to ask God whether or not it's true. I think this is one of my favorite parts about the message we share. We don't ask anybody to just trust us, or to take our word for it. We don't try and convince people this is true. But they must come to know for themselves our message is true. Through the Holy Ghost, they can receive a personal witness about Jesus Christ, the Book of Mormon, and Joseph Smith.

Since this week was slow, I don't have much to email about.. But this upcoming week will be super busy! So look forward to a longer email next week!

Love and miss you all!

Elder Warren

1/11/2016 P-Day #64

1/11/2015

Hello All!

This week was amazing!!! It was super spiritual and super exciting!

Thanks Noel for the package and Alison for the letter! I finally got all the thank-you notes into the mail for the Christmas presents! Haha they have been sitting on my desk for a week or so now.. I decided it was about time to send those out!

First off, we had to stop teaching a few of our investigators this week... :( the Ding family, and Rocky/Melissa. They weren't progressing towards being baptized and weren't willing to come to church or read scriptures. Hopefully within the next few months, they will be able to feel what they're missing! We also found out the Levy's parents took him back to China. Hey may be coming back soon. I hope so! But we'll see. He's been in my prayers a lot lately!

Yoyo and Antonio were confirmed yesterday! Antonio is meeting with our bishop tomorrow to be interviewed to receive the Aaronic priesthood. Then he can baptize his wife in two weeks! We're super excited for their family!

We started teaching a lady named Shirley this week. She came to English class for a few weeks and stopped coming after that. We randomly ran into her at the park this week and asked if we could come by and teach her about Christ! She seemed to accept the message of the restoration, and was willing to pray and come to church! She was a little hesitant to be baptized, but over time as she reads, prays, and comes to church she'll feel more prepared! She came to church with her two little boys (one is 6 and the other is about 8 mos) and it seemed like they all enjoyed it! Her son really enjoyed Primary and wants to come back again!

It rained quite a bit this week, so we got to experience the "joy" of knocking on doors!! Haha it wasn't too bad, but it definitely wasn't very effective! People aren't as friendly when you come knocking on their door asking if you can share a  message about Christ with them. Thankfully, we only have to do that when it's raining! Otherwise, we walk around and talk to everybody that we see out and about. It's much better!

On Friday, Elder Hamula (of the Seventy) came to visit our mission. It was an awesome meeting! We got together with the east half of the mission and met with him for most of the day. He gave some really good training on the Plan of Salvation and repentance. We talked about how any "why" question can be answered through the Plan of Salvation. The whole purpose of us doing missionary work (the why) is so that when our Heavenly Father's children return to His presence to be judged, they can stand clean before Him and be able to stay in His presence. So basically the "why" of missionary work is repentance. Being able to become clean and return to live with our Heavenly Father. All of us will return to Him, but not all of us will stay with Him. It was an interesting thought. I hadn't thought of the Plan of Salvation in that way. We also talked about how the world has taken the word "repentance" and made it sounds like a chastisement. But that's not the way it is to God. It's Him desiring us to turn away from whatever is distracting us from Him, and turning back to Him. Leaving behind whatever is holding us back. Letting it all go. It made me really think about what are the things that I need to let go of. It's not necessarily big sins, but small and simple things that are slowly pulling us away from our Heavenly Father. Whether it's music, a TV show, maybe the language we use. It's a lifelong process of preparing ourselves to return to Him.

This upcoming week we get to meet with Elder Hamula again, and next week we will get to watch a worldwide broadcast for all missionaries and mission presidents! It should be awesome!

I love and miss you all lots! Keep going strong and remember the reason why you're here!

Lots of love,

Elder Warren

 Cole didn't send any new pictures this week so for fun here is the MTC Map picture from October 2014 and below is Cole at the Redlands Temple in December 2015.

1/4/2016 P-Day #63

1/4/2016

Happy New Years! 

My week was fantastic! Deep cleaning was good! President Mullen gave us a checklist of stuff to do and we finished it all! But we didn't have time to do much else. It basically just needs to be tidied up and then we'll be good! I'm realizing that I have a tonof stuff. Well not really, but in missionary terms I have a lot. It's not necessarily junk, but it's stuff that I may need eventually, that I don't want to spend money on later haha. I realized that I sound like a really big hoarder!! 

It's super quiet now that there are only two of us around! It's kind of sad! I got used to just always having other people to talk to! Whenever Elder Zeng is cooking, writing letters, etc.. Or when we get a little annoyed with each other haha (not that it happens all the time, but I think it's inevitable in a companionship!) We have two bedrooms, but the white handbook says we need to stay in the same room as our companion. So we moved the extra set of bunkbeds into our bedroom, and turned the other room into a study/office space! It's quite nice. We both have a top bunk, and we each have our own bathroom! Except we share one of the showers, cause the other one has super crappy water pressure!

New Year's Eve was fun! We got together with our zone and played some volleyball and board games! Elder Zeng and I were super tired and were in bed before 10:30! Other than that, it was a normal working day for us!

Levy still hasn't gotten baptized.. We haven't even seen or talked to him since the day after Christmas. We've called, texted, stopped by his house... and nothing. His uncle told us a week or so ago that he might be going back to China with his parents? But we have no idea. He's basically disappeared. I've kind of come to peace with the whole situation. It obviously wasn't his time to be baptized, so maybe this was just one of the steps on his way to living the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Maybe one day in China, he'll make friends with a member of the church and realize what he's missing out on. I don't know! But I know it's in God's hands and He's taking care of everything! That's a pretty reassuring thought.

I love and miss you like crazy! Have fun in Disneyworld! Take lots of pictures, and don't forget to email your son! Haha! :)

Lots of love,

Elder Warren

12/28/2015 P-Day #62

12/2/2015

Helloo!!

Hope y'all had a great Christmas! Thanks to everyone that sent me Christmas presents! I left my list of who sent what back at our apartment, so I'll send out some thank you notes this week! :)

Unfortunately, Levy's baptism didn't happen on Saturday. His parents told him that he's not mature enough to make this decision and he needs to wait for a few more years.. He's 18 and his parents leave to go back to China on Thursday, so we'll probably baptize him this upcoming weekend! Fingers crossed! He was really upset, but he wants his parents and aunt/uncle, that he lives with, to see that this is good for him and that it's true. 

Christmas was great! We opened presents early in the morning so Elder Zeng could skype home at 7:00 am! His parents were really tired because it was 11:00 pm for them! They we ate breakfast, and I skyped home at 10:00! We had lunch with an investigator and their family. They made some really good food (a little spicy, but I liked it!) and we taught them how to play Uno and Spot-It! Afterwards, we left to go to the Sebra's for dinner. We had ham, mashed potatoes, rolls, and pie! Super yummy! We played some games with them and their family! They had a couple kids and grandkids at their house, so it was a lot of fun! That night, we went caroling with our district! It was a lot of fun. We went around and visited members and investigators who are struggling right now and it was awesome to see how happy they were! Christmas is a magical time of year!

We got our transfer calls this week, and Elder Zeng and I are staying together! The other elders in our apartment are moving into a home-share! They're super lucky, cause they get to live with Sister Smith! Where I spent the first 6 months of my mission. So Elder Zeng and I will have the whole apartment to ourselves! It will be kind of quiet, but it will be nice to be able to keep everything clean! Haha

Hmm this week was kind of slow with the holidays. But this upcoming week is going to keep us super busy! We get to deep clean our apartment on New Year's Day! That will be interesting, because there's probably a year's worth of dirt and dust accumulated throughout the apartment! 

Love and miss you all! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Elder Warren 

12/21/2015 P-Day #61

12/21/2015

Merry Christmas to aaaalllll!

Thanks Danielle, Kaitlyn, Grandma/Grandpa, and Deriegs for the letters! Thanks Grandma/Grandpa/Kam/Brandy/Adrienne for the packages!

Well I'm extremely super excited for Christmas!!! I can't believe it's so soon! This year has literally just disappeared!

We started teaching this awesome family in Rancho Cucamonga last week! It's the Zheng family and they're from Taiwan. They have been reading from the Book of Mormon and love it! The only problem is that the Rancho Cucamonga mission will be getting 6 Chinese missionaries next month.... :P So we won't be able to teach them anymore. It's kind of a sore subject for us Chinese missionaries. Haha

Levy is getting baptized on Saturday!!!! He had his interview this last week, after all our translators, and other Chinese missionary bailed on us, we just prayed and prayed that he would be blessed with the gift of interpretation of tongues and had an English elder interview him! It went pretty well. I gave him my planner with the baptism interview questions in Chinese for Levy to read if he gets confused. He will be getting baptized at 10:00 on Saturday!

The Li family is doing really well too! They came to church this Sunday (thankfully!) and we actually have dinner with them tonight! We were talking to Brother Li the other night about the Book of Mormon and he's already in 2 Nephi! He said that when he was reading in 2 Nephi 2, he just felt that it was true inside! Especially the part where it talks about where if we keep the commandments, the Lord will bless us in the promised land. Hopefully everything will continue to go well with them and they can be baptized on January 3!

We started teaching Rocky and Melissa Yang last week (I think I talked about them...) and we visited her yesterday evening. This is probably one of my favorite families that we are teaching! (Not that I don't like the others! Haha) They just seem to light up whenever we come by. They are going out of town for the holidays to pick up a motorcycle for Rocky in Oklahoma... Haha just a little bit of a drive! So we asked them to read 3 Nephi 11. She told us that she has read it before, but didn't really pay attention, but she promised to do so this time!

When I was in Jurupa last year, we were able to volunteer at this awesome service project where they hand out presents to children from lower-income families. And we got to participate again this year! It was an amazing and humbling experience! To see these little kids just light up when you hand them a present was priceless. It was a good reminder of how much our Savior gave each and every one of us!

On Saturday, our stake president invited all the missionaries over to his house for dinner and Christmas caroling (which we also did last year!). They had a trailer with hay-bale benches for us to sit in as we drove around his neighborhood! It was so much fun! Elder Zeng really enjoyed it as well! It's fun to watch him experience all these cultural traditions for the first time! Christmas is a magical time of year!

Well that's about all that happened this week.. I hope you are all so excited for this weekend! But don't forget the reason we celebrate! If you need a reminder, a pick-me-up, or just some Christmas joy, go watch the video "A Savior is Born"! christmas.mormon.org

Love and miss you all!

Love,

Elder Wu :)

12/14/2015 P-Day #60

12/14/2015Hellooo family!

This week has been quite exciting!!! 

First off, thanks Deatons, and Mom for the Christmas package/card! I'm getting super excited for Christmas!

This week we were able to go to the temple on Tuesday, which I always love doing. I wish we could go more, but I can't complain. We're pretty blessed to be able to go every three months! It makes me realize how lucky I will be back home, because there are so many temples that are all so close. It's a great spiritual boost for the next couple of months!

Wednesday night, we were able to go to downtown Riverside to see the Christmas lights! It was like temple square on a bit of a smaller square. And a little more chaotic! But I really enjoyed it! We asked the Tatums to drive out and take us, so that was a lot of fun! We just walked around the block and looked at all the lights. 

Thursday was our zone meeting. Elder Zeng was really nervous about giving a training because he's never done it before, and he had to do it in English. He did very well! He talked about how the spirit helps us become converted. Something that stood out to me, is that conversion is a process. It's not a singular event, but continuation of events. Constantly striving to do the right thing. I gave a training on setting expectations with our investigators. Figuring out what they expect out of meeting with us, what we expect them to do, and also what the Lord wants them to do. Setting the expectation that we, and the Lord, want them to keep commitments (such as reading, praying, attending church, baptism, etc..). And as they do these things, their relationship with Jesus Christ will be strengthened. Elder Zeng and I have been working on this recently and it's really stood out to me that if you're bold and loving with people, it's a lot easier for them to feel the Spirit and for us to recognize those who are sincere and those who are not.

I also learned that dress shoes are not appropriate attire for playing tennis! Neither is a shirt, tie, and sweater! Haha our investigator met us at the park, where her 7-year-old son was practicing tennis. He was actually really good! Elder Zeng was talking to the mom in Chinese and I was distracting her son and learning how to play tennis! His name is David and his mom's name is Julie. After our game of tennis, we showed them the Christmas video and talked to them about God and Jesus Christ. David doesn't really believe in God, which was kind of sad. But we were able to help understand a little more about who God is! They came to church on Sunday and both of them loved it! David loved primary and already knew some of the kids there!

Well that's about all that happened this week..

I love and miss all of you lots! I hope you all remember the reason why we celebrate Christmas! To remember the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ! Do your best to strengthen your relationship with Him each and every day!!

Lots of love,

Elder Warren