"B" for Baptize and other pictures

The "B" is for Bautizar!!

My District

The Hermanas 

My favorite snack

Hermana Childs in our classroom

Studying Spanish!

Week 3 in the Mexico MTC

Hola Familia!!!

 

I miss you all so much! This week has just gone by SO FAST!!! Muy rapido. I swear I was just here on the computer last Tuesday. Well, I have exactly 3 weeks until I fly to Utah!!! I can´t wait! I really love it here at the CCM but I just want to get into the field. I want to teach real investigators....not my teachers who are just pretending. But I know that the weeks will just be gone and then I will be really sad when I have to leave so I try to enjoy every day....even when it is hard.

So I am doing well.....I am healthy and I think I am losing weight! BOOYA!! I dont really understand how that works but I feel really good. I do eat a lot here.....so I am kind of confused haha. They have had Costco pizza three times here (I was so happy :) and cookies and French Toast. The only milk they have is whole milk but it is super good...I love it. And then for every breakfast and dinner, they have...................A PEANUT BUTTER AND NUTELLA BAR!!! It is such a blessing when you don´t want to eat the mystery meat they are serving and you are starving haha. I will send a picture of it.

So I have a lot of random things to say! They have birds here that are really cool! You know the sound that Iron Man´s suit makes right before he shoots a gun? The birds sound like that haha....it is awesome. One day, while we were walking to gym, there was this HUGE bee on the sidewalk. It took me a second to realize that it was a bug......and then I FLIPPED out. I seriously almost wet my pants haha....it scared me so bad. But, we laughed about it after because I looked really funny, according to Hermana Childs. 

So I am in the choir that is singing for the dedication of the CCM! We are singing Lord I would Follow Thee, but in Spanish. It is gorgeous :) I can´t wait for Feb 9!

So, in clase, Hermano Silva said that since we have made it past week 3.....solamente Español! Whenever we say something in English that we can say in Spanish, he says VEINTE! meaning.....20 push ups. My arms are getting pretty buff haha. We always mock him in the casa...VEINTE,VEINTE, VEINTE! One time, we were talking about Pokemon and I told them that I watched all the Barbie movies instead. Then Hermano Silva was like....Oh, that is why you look so plastic every day! I wanted to smack him but he was just kidding.

On Sunday, my jaw started hurting really bad :( I don´t know if you remember but it did the same thing right before my Farewell talk. Well, I couldn´t eat and I was super hungry. So I asked my DL for a blessing, I felt like it was a stupid thing to get a blessing for but it hurt super bad. His comp. did the oil and he dumped the entire thing on my head! I could feel the oil going down my head hahaha.....it was funny. And then my DL gave me a blessing that I would be able to chew....very straight forward. BUT they were happy to do it and I think that they liked using their Priesthood.

On Saturday night, me and the hermanas in my room were all quoting The Best Two Years. We were seriously laughing so hard, my stomach hurt super bad. That movie is the best, I miss watching those. We also can´t listen to music here :( I miss my Vocal Point!!!

Well, I don´t know if there is more to talk about. All of the days feel the same, with class and eating and personal study(which I love!!!) and more class and language study. We are learning about spanish commands....man those are tough :( But the Spanish is coming...I hope to be able to do an entire discussion without notes on how to say things in Spanish.

I love the Scriptures!! I can´t believe I never read them as much as I do now. They are amazing and the BOM is wonderful. I love reading every morning. I memorized the first vision in Español and recited it in a lesson to my teacher. I got a sticker haha

This week went pretty well, each day is a challenge but I love it. I can feel the help of Heavenly Father and Grandpa Shaftoe.

We watched the Lamb of God on Sunday. I remember watching that with Dad once.....it make me miss home. But I am so excited to share the Gospel, invitar a las personas a venir a Cristo!

I love being a missionary.....I can´t wait to find the people that the Lord has prepared...to find the people that I promised I would bring the Gospel to :) It´s a cool thought.

 

I love this Gospel, I love my family, I love Jesus Christ. I try every day to be a better representative of Him.

 

I love you all. Only two more emails and I will be in UTAH!!!! :D SLY

 

Hermana Warren

Less than One Month Left in Mexico

Hola Familia!

I can´t believe I am emailing again! This week went by so fast...the days just melt together and I can´t remember what happens on certain days because they all feel like I am doing the same thing each day.
 

Well, I will go chronologically. Last Wednesday was tough. We taught our “fake” investigator and it didn´t go very well. We tried to just speak to him in Spanish but we were stumbling for words most of the time and we were just so frustrated. Hermana Childs went into a separate room and then I went in and she was crying. We both started crying, it is the first time I really missed you guys, and vented about how hard the mission was...and it has only been a week!! Our teacher came in and talked to us and told us to believe in ourselves and that we could do it. He is such a blessing to all of us.

So just some fun stuff that happens here in Mexico....we have huge palms trees here and during the middle of the day, they are FULL of green parrots! It is so cool! Also, at night, people like to shoot cannons from the mountains...I don´t know why, but it sounds like the Hunger Games!! Like a tribute has died or something..haha, we always kiss our fingers and put them in the air when they do that....even though District 12 has the exclusive right to do that. We are District 14 but we don´t care.

I love to put hot sauce on EVERYTHING!!!!! It is so good! I even put this spicy pepper stuff on my strawberry ice cream...I know that sounds weird but I thought it was good. Mexico is growing on me :)

Last week Hermana Childs and I were asked to be Sister Training Leaders!! Woot Woot! Super stoked for that. We got a new district this week and most of them are going to Chile! They are awesome and I just love everyone in my branch. Branch 14 is the best!
We got our new night teacher....he was the fake investigator. He is 21 and is married and his wife is pregnant. He is probably the happiest person I have met in my entire life. Whenever he comes into class, he gives all the elders a hug and I can´t help but smile when he is teaching. He is great. All my teachers are awesome.

Hermana Childs and I taught the District Lesson on Sunday...it was about spending our time wisely. We did a really good job, Heavenly Father helped us out a lot.
So our favorite Latino Elders left on Monday :( Super sad day....they were so awesome. They always wanted to take pictures with us; one of them wrote us the sweetest note. Even though we couldn´t understand them a lot, they were so much fun and made me so happy. I am so excited to teach people like that in Salt Lake.

So here is some EXCITING NEWS!!! On Feb. 9, the CCM is being dedicated and I will be here for it!!!! YAY!!! A member of the 12 Apostles is coming and Hermana Childs and I were interviewed for a video they are gonna show for it! They are also putting together a choir and I really hope I get to be in it. I would love that so much. I can´t wait for that day! I am so glad I get to be here.

So yesterday was a very emotional day. It was pretty normal during the morning but then we taught our teacher a discussion...his name is Daniel Fernandez. We were teaching him and we felt pretty confident in our lesson plan but then he started to fall ASLEEP!! I was super frustrated......my teacher knows that we were upset when our other investigator did it to us! But I know he is only trying to help us...he wouldn´t drive an hour and 55 minutes to make us frustrated with ourselves. Well, even though I knew that, I still felt down and depressed. The language barrier gets so irritating sometimes. I know what I want to say but I just don´t know how to say it! Well, during our night class, Hermano Montes started asking us how we were feeling about the CCM and I just started crying! I couldn’t hold it in anymore. Hermana Childs gave me a hug and our female teacher gave me a hug too and told me that what I was feeling is normal. Then that night, Hermano Silva, our morning teacher, came into our class room while we were studying and told us that a member of our district was struggling and thinking about going home. We all prayed together and asked God to give him an answer NOW! It was one of the most amazing prayers I have ever heard. The Elder is still here! I am so happy.

 I know this Gospel is true! I know that Joseph Smith restored the true church to the earth. I know that God lives and loves his Children, so much that he sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to atone for our sins. Missions are tough but worth it......I love you all very much and miss you. I have pictures by my bed that I look at every day.
 

BTW, I need a new debit card. I need to pay for my luggage out of Mexico so if you could send that, that would be great! Let me know if you want any Mexican candy or cookies! They have a ton here.

I love you all and miss you. I pray for you every night. I am so blessed to have such a great family and such great friends. I sent a letter last week let me know when you get it.

Love you! SLY!
Hermana Warren

Pictures From Mexico #2

The MTC Bus

Mi Companera Hermana Childs

Pictures from Mexico MTC #1

Our Dorm

The food really is good

I'm official now with my badge "Hermana Warren"

Me Gusta Mexico!

Hola mi familia!

How is everyone doing? I miss you guys so much, I hope everyone is safe and getting used to school again. I just want you guys to know that I have a ton of things to tell you about...and a lot of pictures. So........after I emailed you on Wednesday, I was taken to mi casa....which is so awesome by the way. I went inside with all of my stuff and a girl peeked out of her room and asked me what my name was. I told her Hermana Warren and then she just screamed and ran over to me and gave me a hug.......can you guess who it was? :) Mi compañera!!!! Her name is Hermana Childs and she is seriously one of the biggest blessings in my mission. We are so similar, it is kind of creepy. She loves to sing and play the piano so we are singing hymns all the time. She has curly hair like me...well, i guess mine isn´t really but we seriously look like twins. She is super positive and we are always talking in Español together. That is the best way to learn the language! By the way, I am so glad I got a perm porque it is so nice when we wake up at 6:30 and I have to be en la clase at 7:00. I am very grateful for that. Anyway, we have so much fun together and we are planning on singing Savior, Redeemer of my Soul in our Sacrament meeting :) I am super excited for that.

So the first days were really long. We were always in a meeting or devotional or something. We had to learn all of the CCM rules and stuff like that. My district is 14A. The elders in my district are so fun. Hermana Childs y yo are the only Hermanas in our district. No one else is going to Salt Lake City...which is a bummer. Mi compañera is going to New Jersey. Everyone I talk to is so jealous that I am going to Salt Lake, they wish they could go there and they think that it is so cool. 

My Spanish teacher is Hermano Silva and seriously, he is the funniest person ever!!! He makes me laugh so hard....which helps when I am sad or frustrated. I don´t have a picture but I will send one next week. 

The Spanish is coming along bueno. We gave a lesson to an investigador on Friday.....scariest thing of my life. The frustrating part about all of this is that I know what I want to say and I want to seem interested in the investigador and understand what he is saying pero no puedo hablar en Español!!!! I am getting better though and trying my best to be patient with myself. The language will come. 

i got new Spanish scriptures!! They are beautiful! i love them.

The food is really good here. Me gusta la comida......and they have chocolate milk!!!! I was so happy when I saw that. They always have fruit to eat and their pastries are the bomb. Sometimes they serve weird stuff or reserve hamburgers they had two nights ago but there is usually something else to eat. Also, they always have hot sauce which makes the food taste great!

Ok, well, el Espiritu Santo is very strong here......my teacher always brings the Spirit to class and we are always studying.....ALWAYS!! Whether it is Predicad Mi Evangelio or las Escrituras o Español. Sometimes it gets overwhelming pero it makes the time go by fast. I am getting used to the schedule...I really like it. 

The first day we were here, we sat in on a discussion with real investigators. The one we teach everyday isn´t real. But that day, we were told to follow the Spirit and ask inspired questions to Mario, the investigator. So about 20 elders y hermanas were asking Mario questions about his life and what he knew about the church. Then we started sharing our testimonies about prayer and talking to our Heavenly Father. Then we ended by saying a prayer with him. The Spirit was so strong and I was warm inside. That experience helped my get through Friday when I was having a hard time with being homesick and being frustrated with Spanish. It helped me remember why I am serving a mission.

There are just too many experiences to talk about, funny ones and spiritual ones. Yesterday I accidentally said Tenemos  pescados ("We have fish") instead of Tenemos pecados ("We have sins") .....hahaha...Hermana and I were joking about that all day. President Pratt´s cat walks around campus and so we named him Pescados.

The CCM is muy bonito. Someone told me that they treat the CCM like a temple and everything is gorgeous. I will send pictures. The sun is always shining and it is so warm. I love it. We like to sit outside and have personal and compañionship study.

 

I thought I met an Elder from Scotland pero he was faking. Sad day :(

i have met so many people here. It is awesome. En our casa, there are like 3 other rooms with hermanas in them. I just love them all so much. I met the girl who i talked to on Facebook!!! she is in mi casa!

Sunday was great! I had to say a prayer in Sacrament meeting and I did pretty well! It is amazing to see how much Spanish I have learned over the last week. The Gift of Tongues is real, familia :) It just comes to you little by little though so patience is definitely needed. We watched The Mountain of the Lord as missionaries. They have a big auditorium that we have devotionals in and stuff. We had a devo with Elder Holland!!!!!! it was a recording of him in the Provo MTC  though :( But it was so good and got me so pumped to be a missionary. But I heard that a member of the 12 Apostles is coming in February!! Hopefully I am here for that.

Everyday we have gym...which is a very exciting part of our day. We play volleyball, which I kick booty at, and there is an exercise room. It is the best.

Well, i don´t know if I have time to talk about everything. Send me an email about what everyone is up to. Ask me questions about stuff, it makes writing the email easier haha. Shonna, I want your talk! please send it if you can :)

I love you all and I miss you. I am doing great and I am thankful for your prayers! I wish I was home with everyone but I know that this is where I am supposed to be.

Yo se que La Iglesia de Jesuscristo del los Santos del los Ultimos Dias es verdadera. Yo se que el Libro de Mormon es verdadero. Yo se que Jesucristo es el Salvador y el hijo de Dios. Estoy agradecida por la opotunidad servir una mision y yo se que mi familia es eterna. 

SLY!!

Hermana Warren

I made it to Mexico!!

I made it to Mexico! Yeah, with all the flight changes and stuff, it was a little bit stressful. If I had to stay in Houston over night, I would have been completely fine with that, I knew Steph would have picked me up :) Well, I guess a good thing about the flight problems is that I got to sit in first class to Mexico! YAY! It was kind of weird.....I didn´t know what to do with the warm towel haha. And Mexico City is CRAZY.....seriously, the drivers are nuts and I swear that there were angels protecting the van because there were many opportunities for a car crash...but I am fine and safe. I was alone the entire day...I kept looking for other missionaries but since my flight was changed, I assumed that I wouldn´t be traveling with anyone else. And yes, the MTC rep was there and he doesn´t speak english but he tried to explain things to me with hand motions and everything so that helped. 

So, that is everything that has happened today! I am kind of exhausted and really confused BUT I have my badge on!!! HERMANA WARREN :) I can´t believe I am actually here!!!! It is so crazy.

By the way, this computer is in spanish so every word I write is underlined in red so sorry about any wrong words haha.

Thanks Sam for the email! And you too Dad. I miss you guys already and I love you all! I will email you soon!

Love,

Hermana Warren

Mail in Mexico!

Tonight, I will be set apart as a full-time missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I will be attending the Mexico MTC and then head to Salt Lake City to preach the Gospel in Spanish. I am so excited (and a little nervous:) to serve this mission and I would love to hear from everyone during the next 18 months. If you would like to send me a letter while I am at the Mexico MTC, please send it to this address:

Hermana Helen Alex Warren

Utah Salt Lake City Central Mission
Mexico Missionary Training Center 
Carretera Tenayuca-Chalmita #828 
Colonia Zona Escolar, Gustavo A. Madero 
07230 Mexico, Distrito Federal 
Mexico

When I know my mission address in Salt Lake City, my parents will post it on my blog.

Thank you everyone for being such wonderful friends, I will miss you all very much! Adios!

Two More Days!!

Hello everyone! This blog will be where my family will post the emails that I send home every week while I am on my mission. I am so excited to serve a mission for my Heavenly Father. I am sure the next 18 months will just fly by!