Bold, Biking & Burnt!

Hola Familia!                                      Here is my new mailing address  --------->

 I feel like my email titles are like the titles from a "Cake Boss" episodes haha :)

Thanks for telling me about the Silverwood trip.....I actually forgot that you all went on there until Sunday morning. I was getting ready and realized "Oh, everyone went to Silverwood on Friday!" I guess that is good that I forgot because that means that I am staying busy. Thanks for wearing the Superman Shirts for me, I love the picture!   I can just imagine everyone smiling at all of you wearing those super hero shirts. That reminds me when me and all my friends wore BYU shirts to Silverwood and all the members of the church would always say hi or give us High 5's or something. I hope everyone went on AFTERSHOCK! I absolutely LOVE that ride.

 SO I filled up my journal! I am starting a new one :) I don't know if I should keep it or send it home?

Saying Goodbye to the members in Murray

Ok, so this week has seriously been the craziest week of my mission. With my first transfer and everything, it was super stressful trying to pack and then trying to say goodbye to all of my recent converts and investigators. I was crying by the end of the night...I just love Murray so much. I missed my investigator's baptism on Wednesday :(I will never forget that ward. BUT I was super excited to go to a new area and meet new people and have to completely rely on the Lord because you have NO idea where to go or who to visit, so that was a nice change for me. 

My companion is Sister Zufelt and this is her last transfer.  HAHHA Dad, good one....me a trainer? I don't know what will happen but I do know that I will have to know this area in 6 weeks and this are is HUGE! I am now in the Union Fort 10th branch so the area is just as big as Murray but the branch is TINY! About half of the branch area is in the mountains and only the rich people live up there....so we pretty much stay in about 3 stakes pretty close to State Street.

My own closet

We live with a member and she has a GORGEOUS house compared to the Legacy Apartments where we were. Half of the living room has a pool table in it and a ping pong attachment, you will have to send some paddles and a ball for us to play :) Just that room alone is about the size of the Legacy apartment. I have my own closet and we have a living room with a TV so we can watch church movies during lunch. I love where I am living! And the area right around my house is super nice too, so we go outside in the morning and run around and enjoy being in the cool weather ( I am trying to enjoy it before winter comes back!)

Aren't you jealous Dad?

The only bummer part about this area is that the members of the branch don't really help us that much, so we are biking ALL day. I have been SO tired this week, I feel like I am starting my mission all over again! I am getting really tan and I actually got burnt on my neck and nose yesterday! That was surprising! I guess I was pretty pampered in Murray with the ward members, I am really grateful for rides from members now. But because we are biking, we meet a lot of people on the streets....and let me just tell you, I have more crazy experiences this week than I had in those 6 months in Murray. The people in Midvale are crazy! There are 2 experiences that I want to talk about.

 So I have been the boldest missionary that I have ever been this last week. The first experience was with an older man who we stopped and asked if he knew anyone who spoke Spanish. Then he started bashing the Church and Joseph Smith, saying that he "did his research" and we thought that he was going to stop but he just kept going and going, and soon I couldn't take it anymore! I asked him if he believed that everything on the internet was true and he said no but then tried to make excuses that the things that he read were true and that we are on the wrong path and that we need to do our research and know for ourselves. Then he started bashing about things that we do in the temple and at that point, I drew the line and cut him off and told him straight up that he is wrong and then Sister Zufelt told him that he doesn't know Jesus Christ. Then I bore my testimony that I know that these things are true and God told me personally that they are true. Then I invited him to be baptized and he was shocked! Then we told him that we needed to go and then we biked away. This was the first time that I have been this bold and my heart was pounding when we left. The words from the Book of Mormon came into my head, when Alma talked about only having his testimony to fight with and that is so true. I haven't read the things on the internet and I don't know the scriptures perfectly or anything like that but I realized that I really do know that these things are true. I sometimes doubt if I have a testimony of these things but God always blesses us with an opportunity to share that testimony with someone. Sometimes we need to talk to someone who attacks everything that we believe to be true...then we REALLY understand how deep our testimony is. I am really grateful for that experience.

 The next experience happened 2 days ago. We have a lot of shady apartment complexes in our area. We set up an appointment with a man a few days before and we went by for the appointment and of course, he wasn't interested BUT his friends came out and talked to us. They are younger guys....ok, they were gangsters. They were smoking, and drinking beer and cussing like they were in high school, one of them was 21 and 17 and I just knew that these two guys were just lost. If you could take everything bad about this world and squish it into one apartment, THAT was the apartment. Their lives were filled with parties, drinking, girls, and crime. They even admitted things that they had done, both of them had been in jail, sold drugs, things like that. But they were asking us some of life's deepest questions, like, "If there is a God, why do bad things happen in this world?", or they would say "I feel so lost. I don't know what to do." or "I want to change my life but I don't know how." or "What is the purpose of this life?" We stood there and talked to them for 50 minutes, answering their questions. We walked away just shocked at how powerful Satan can be and how these people are so stuck into this hole, they feel like death is the only way out. I felt so grateful to have grown up in this church and have the gospel in my life. I felt so grateful to be able to meet these guys, even though they were drinking and smoking and cussing, I felt like the Spirit was right there with me, telling me what to say. I honestly can't remember what we talked about but I know that the Spirit will tell us what to say. I have grown so much this last week in my testimony and in being bold...there is no time to sugar coat things!

 So yeah, those are the cool things from this week. Just biking, being bold, and having fun with Sister Zufelt. She reminds me so much of Samantha Solorzano, it makes me so happy. We talk about a lot of things and laugh at all the things that happen to us here in Midvale.

 WE got money from a lot of random people this week so we went to Savers and bought some new clothes! YAY!

 Send me letters! I miss you all and love you all so much. Enjoy the rest of Summer! Once schools starts, I will be back at the end of the school year! AAAHHH! I am trying to enjoy each day and live it up! LOVE YOU!!!!

SLY
Hermana Warren