Diligent and Steadfast!

Hola!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!! I can't believe you have been married for 22 years. I am so grateful for you, that I have such wonderful parents who are so supportive and write me the best emails.

For Jess and Jorday: Call Sister Egan, Mom has her number. I will give her the box of stuff today and you can call her and coordinate with her where to pick up the box. I just have some clothes in it and some other stuff. The girls can share the clothes. Most of the clothes are ones that don't really work for biking or just as missionary clothes. ENJOY! I love looking at pictures of everyone and being able to see someone wearing one of my shirts or something. Just make sure that I have SOMETHING to wear when I come home :)

Speaking of pictures, President Moffat checked with the Missionary Department about the cloud and they told him that we can't use them :( ......Sorry, President didn't even know but  the missionary dept. of the Church said no:( The bummer part is that you can only attach two pictures to each email, and it takes forever!

Sounds like you all are SUPER busy and that is awesome. Being busy is the best! I remember right before my mission, when I was just working and waiting, it was HORRIBLE! I was so bored and the time seemed to go by so slow. But as a missionary, we are busy all day every day and the time just flies! This week was really hard though, but it still went by really fast.

So this week, we picked up a lot of new investigators.....but then they all dropped us by sunday!

One family, the Garcia Family, was awesome and we were really excited and had a lot of members coming with us to visit them and they were never home. We didn't see them for a couple of days. Then, Friday I think, the mom texted us and told us that they weren't interested and not to come by anymore. Of course, we don't "break up" over texts so we went over on sunday morning and she told us that she and her husband talked about it and they don't want to join a church where they have to pay 10% of what they make to be a member...referring to tithing. We explained the doctrine of tithing right there to her and explained that it is a commandment from God, not a requirement of the church, and also that we are paying back 10% of what God has given us. I think she realized that she was being ridiculous but, not wanting to look weak, still said that she made her decision and wasn't interested. Then another girl, Erika, she is really overwhelmed with her house and family, she has 2 kids and is only 21, so when we come by and offer to teach her or help her, I think she just sees us as another burden, not a help. We tried to visit her yesterday but she saw us and hid from us and had her husband, who is member, tell us that they weren't interested. So we have been having a hard week, trying to find people to teach and those we are teaching, dropping us. The thing that I need to realize is that those who are ready and prepared won't mind when we come by every other day, because they know our purpose is to help them prepare for baptism. We will try to keep working with these investigators but I am PRAYING that God will lead us to those who are ready...or they can be lead to us. It just makes me super sad to see people reject the message we share, but they do it because they just don't understand! Once they understand, they will be calling us to come back and teach them! That would be super cool!

Yesterday, we had a lesson with a friend of some members of our ward. Her name is Carolina and she has true desires to be closer to God and that her daughter can learn about God as well, and she is only 4. She seems sincere and knows the importance of baptism. I am really hopeful for her, especially because she is friends with a family in our ward, which means that she has an immediate support system. 

We are trying to work with the ward this week, to help them get more involved in missionary work. One day, about a month ago, I had an idea to do a MMTC (Member Missionary Training Center) for the ward, so in Spanish, it would be CCMM and we are doing it this Friday. It is to help the member become familiar with Preach My Gospel and the life of a missionary. One thing that I thought about is that before my mission, I had NO idea what missionaries had to do, what their schedule was like, or how accountable they were for everything that they did. I didn't know about the importance of the members and referrals! I think that if I knew these things, I would have helped a lot more. So we are doing some classes about Preach My Gospel and missionaries. I hope all the members come, so we can get them more involved. You can try doing this in the ward! I will let you know how it goes!

I am so happy that Alyssa is in the MTC! I was so happy reading her letter. What is her email? That would be so cool if I saw her at Temple Square! If we have an investigator on date, we can take them to Temple Square. That would be amazing but we we will see what God has planned :)

WE had a great Zone Conference on Thursday. I always learn a TON at Zone conference, and also how much I am doing wrong and can improve on. As a mission, we just read Mosiah 4 this morning. AMAZING chapter, I just love the Book of Mormon so much. I really like reading with a theme. Go buy a new Book of Mormon, just a generic copy and then read the Book of Mormon, highlighting anything talking about repentance or faith or the word remember...whatever you want! You get so much more out of your reading!

I went on exchanges with Sister Sosa, from the Dominican Republic and she is so fun! I was in her area and the bike I was using had a flat tire so we had to walk the entire day but we just talked and talked and asked each other questions and it was super fun. I can't wait to be companions with her. Our companionship is ok, we are still working on things and I know that I can't connect with everyone, or be BFF with all my companions but I am trying to be obedient and serve her so we can teach in unity. Sometimes it is hard but I am learning a lot. I am glad that I am learning these things right now, before I am married. Once I am married, there are no more transfers :) hehe

I got letters from Lydia and Shonna! thank you so much, they made me so happy to read and I will get some letters to you today.

I am getting a hair cut today, don't know if I am going to chop it or just trim. I think I might cut it a little bit more than a trim....I just need a change! Change makes life for fun!

Two more weeks of the transfer! Then who knows what will happen! I don't really want to leave this area but at the same time, I need a change of scenery and new people. But I love everyone in this area :)

I have been studying diligence this week, and like in Mosiah 4:27, to be diligent but not run faster than I have strength. Something that I have been learning in the mission is that everything has a balance and that being extreme in ANYTHING is not God's way, but Satan's. Finding the balance is something that I am working on but something that I have been understanding here in the mission. I have been helping Sister Gonzalez with this, she goes really extreme sometimes and I have to help her balance the most important things. REad the talk in the Ensign about perfection! Super good! I read my farewell talk recently and it taught me a lot! Who knew that it would help me 6 months into my mission!

Anyway, I think that is all! I hope you all have a great week and I love you all so much. Have fun and keep praying for missionary opportunities! They will come if we show God that we want them!

SLY!!

Hermana Warren