I'm staying in Midvale!!

Hola Familia!

Thanks for the emails. I did get both your letters yesterday, thank you so much for the news and for the names. 

I did cry when I read what happened with Br. Solorzano. The Solorzano family is so close to me, I can remember having sleep-overs at Sam's house. I remember Bro. Solorzano taking pictures of me and Sam before my first dance as a 14-year-old. He was such a humble person, always happy, and I am grateful for his example. Gracias, Hermano Solorzano! Please give them all a hug for me especially Sam. The Plan of Salvation is true! I studied it this morning in my morning study. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, all the unfair parts of life will be made up.

So......I am staying here with Sister Peralta!!!! YAY! This area was kind of dead when I got here, baptisms are hard in this area because it is so close to the mountains and not very many spanish people live out here. BUT, we have found a ton of new people and there are so many potentials here. So, nothing changes, my address is the same. 

We are still going to the Temple this friday!!! Best halloween EVER! YAY! We are also taking our recent convert to the temple tomorrow to do baptisms! We received permission to do that with them. I love the temple. Thank you for putting their names on the prayer role. I need those extra blessings for my investigators.

Your weeks sound pretty crazy....I need to see homecoming pictures next week!!!

We are hopefully having a baptism this week. Her name is Maria
and she is 17. I absolutely LOVE her and her family. They are going through a lot of things and it is hard to see them dealing with these things. They are already tight on money but we went over on Friday and they told us that they got robbed! Someone broke into their house and stole their TV and all of their rent money :( Our welfare missionaries are helping them a lot and our branch president. They have to find a new house and they might move to West Valley, which is a different mission. We are going with Patricia, the mom, to go look at some houses in our area. They don't want to move out of the area, and they don't want us to change. We told them about transfers and they were super sad. BUT we will make them super happy to tell them that we are staying. We are teaching 4 people in that house and I absolutely love them. They recognize us as representatives of Jesus Christ and they always say they are so grateful for us and what we have done for their family. They all want to be baptized. They are an amazing family.

We have a lot of people who need to be married....they can't really progress until they do :( The problem is the boyfriend. He doesn't want to get married and it is so frustrating. 

This friday, we had an activity "Dia de Hispanidad" and everyone brought food from their own countries and people performed their own dances and I was just so happy!! I love this branch! I love these members! I love being spanish speaking!!!!

I did have a humbling moment this week. The Welfare Missionaries are awesome, they are the Hawkes and she is from Mexico. She pulled me aside on sunday and asked me if me and sister Peralta are speaking more english or spanish....I told her more english....and she told me that she can see a BAD difference in my Spanish. She said that when I first got into the area, my spanish was perfect. Then she noticed that I sound like a Gringo now. It was humbling for me because I can understand most spanish and communicate pretty well, but I am not fluent. I got kind of lazy about studying spanish. I finished reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish last week and I was super happy, but I forgot to keep studying spanish and practicing it. I am glad I am still with Sister Peralta...I get another chance to improve my Spanish and become fluent :)

I think I have more to write but this computer room is FREEZING and my fingers can't type anymore. I know that this gospel is true. I love being a missionary. I love my Savior. I love my family. I will talk to you all on my BIRTHDAY!!! Last week to be a teenager :) hehe

SLY!

Hermana Warren

Fear God, Not Men!!

Hola Familia!

Como estan? I am doing awesome! This last week was a long week! Since P-day was on Monday, this week was like 8 days long. I am so tired, I plan on taking a nap when I get to our house. 

Thanks for keeping me updated on everything! Everyone sounds like they are doing great. 

FELIZ CUMPLEANOS, Jessica!!!!!!!!!! I am sending you a birthday card so be looking for that in the mail.

That is so cool about the Family History, mom! I want to do that too when I get home.

I have heard about that book (Visions of Glory), Dad. I heard that it was really good, so I will read that when I get home too. 

Let me know about the Stake conference and how that goes! I am excited to hear about that. Everyone sounds like they are growing up! I just know that I won't recognize anyone when I come home.

BIRTHDAY:

Could you send me some type of Spanish workbook? I need a workbook that has some spanish tests in it, to help me learn vocab and stuff. I am almost done reading the entire Book of Mormon in Spanish! I have 2 more weeks to be a teenager!!!! :)

We are going to the temple on Halloween, we were able to squeeze some info out of our Senior couple and they told us that we will go to the temple during the night time on halloween. From past experience, people get really CREEPY and you meet a lot of weird people and plus, families are busy and no one lets you in. I am excited to go to the temple, if you can find a name for me, that would be awesome.

We still bike in the snow! I am trying to enjoy the warm weather a long as I can. I am really scared for the winter time, I HATE being cold, and my hands and feet don't do well in that. Thanks for the BOOTS!

I will buy a blow dryer next week! Thanks!

THIS WEEK:

We had an amazing Conference with Elder Clarke this last week! He would interact with us and would make us think about our own lives and how we can apply our own experiences with the people who we are teaching. I learned so much and there are SO many things that I want to improve on.....sometimes it is overwhelming but I will take it one step at a time :)

On thursday, I fell off my bike for the first time!! YAY! I hit Sister Peralta's back wheel and I fell over and scratched my knee really bad and I have some big bruises on the other leg. The bad part is that my knee can NEVER heal because I am always bending it when I ride my bike. But it is getting better now. It has a scab but I think I took off most of the skin. That was an adventure though, a first time for everything!

 

On Saturday, Teresa was baptized!!! Her baptism was so powerful. I sang "Yo siento el amor del Salvador" or "I feel my Savior's love" and when she was baptized, she was so happy! Then she was confirmed on Sunday and received the Holy Ghost. It is amazing to see the physical change that happens to people when they receive the Holy Ghost. They look different! They almost glow! It is so cool :)

Sunday was probably the craziest day for me, Sundays are NOT a day of rest for missionaries. First, I was fasting because we REALLY needed someone to come to church, who I will talk about later. Then we had Ward council and that went well. Then we went to pick up investigators for church, which is always stressful. Then we had class and then we have round 2 of picking up investigators because Sacrament is the last meeting. Teresa was confirmed but at the same time, I am freaking out because our other investigators are showing up. After church, I am trying to talk to members to get them to come out with us and talking with our investigators and with our Ward mission leader and I lost my jacket so THAT time was super crazy. Then, we didn't even eat lunch, we headed over to our investigator's house and we fought so hard to get them to come to church. We were able to take them to an English ward so they are still on date for baptism. Then we are dinner with our ward mission leader and his wife and then they went out with us for the rest of the night. 

Now for the cool and scary story. From this experience, I KNOW that God is aware of what is going on and that He has a perfect plan and that we should do what He wants us to do when He gives us the opportunity!

We are teaching a nonmarried couple named Miriam and Danny. Danny is Teresa's son, the one who just got baptized. They aren't married and ever since we were teaching Teresa, Miriam has been really interested in the church and she wants to be baptized as well. But since they aren't married, she can't get baptized. There is an older missionary named Elder Daylie, or Elder Guapo for the latinos, because his only purpose is to help people get married. He works a lot with the latino population. 

We scheduled an appointment with Miriam, making sure that they would both be home. This was Sunday night. At 7:00, when we had the appointment, we went by and Miriam told us that Danny was hiding in the room and didn't want to talk. Our ward mission leader encouraged us not to push him or he will push farther and farther from marriage. We didn't know what to do because Elder Guapo was waiting outside and we REALLY needed this lesson to happen. We went outside and talked with Guapo and he understood, he said this happens all the time. Just as he was leaving, we headed back to the apartment and we heard Danny's voice! He had come out of the room! So we called Guapo to come back and all three of us went up to the apartment. We were standing outside the door, we were so scared because we had NO idea what was going to happen and if Danny was going to be mad or run back into the room, and also because our WML advised us not to do it, BUT we remembered that as missionaries, we only fear God, and no one else. So we knocked, and we came in and we found out that a friend of Danny had passed by, who was a member, and so Danny left the room and was talking with him at the table. The friend left when we came in and  we were able to sit Miriam and Danny down and have the lesson. He didn't want to be there at first, but throughout the lesson, we found some of his concerns and he now seems more open. He didn't say "yes" to marriage but at least we have our foot in the door. Elder Guapo is AWESOME. He teaches so boldly but with so much love, it isn't offensive at all. It turned out to be a very powerful lesson. I learned that God has a plan and will arrange everything so that certain things can happen. God wants them to get married and if we would have feared what others would think and NOT called Elder Guapo back, that lesson wouldn't have happened and we wouldn't be helping Miriam get closer to being baptized. We have to show God that we will do everything that he wants us to do. He won't help us if we don't put our trust in Him.

So that experience was  a testimony builder for me. I was scared to death but I did it anyway and I am so grateful that I did it and didn't back down. 

This week will be awesome, we have a mission conference on Thursday, I think we are watching Meet the Mormons :) I am not sure though.

I think that is it for today, thanks for everything that you do for me! 

Keep helping in missionary work! Always be looking for people that the Elders can teach. Pray as a family that you can find someone who is ready for the Gospel. How cool would that be to be a part of ANOTHER baptism. Just like Bri Horne. 

I love you all! But I am not ready to come home yet :) I had a dream last night that I had to come home early from my mission and it was sad! I didn't want to leave! BUt remember that I love you all and pray for you every day :)

SLY!
Hermana Warren

Half Way! Still So Much Work To Do

Hola Familia!

 

Thank you so much for emailing me :) I hate having P-days on Mondays because the week feels so much longer and we can't have contact with our investigators...especially those who didn't go to church.

 

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Warren for the letter! I love getting mail :)

 

Anyway, Dad, your email was awesome! I am going to print it out. Thanks for telling me about what is happening with everyone. That is so cool that you all fasted for the Solorzano family. I used to think that fasting and prayer was just telling Heavenly Father the things that we want and hoping that we get them. Really, prayer and fasting is aligning our will with God's. Prayer has definitely changed for me here on my mission. I always keep them in my prayers. I also know that the power of the priesthood is real. Our investigator's daughter was REALLY sick. She is only 5 and had a really high fever. That night we had our ward mission leader go over and give her a blessing. I haven't had contact with them since, but she seems to be doing better. I think the blessing was more comfort for the mom because she is from Mexico, doesn't speak any english and she is trying to figure out how to help her daughter. 

 

Thanks Mom for your little email. I am glad that you liked "Meet the Mormons". I don't know when we will get to watch it, I really want to! I bought a water proof storm jacket for about $25 dollars. It looks good and it will keep me dry. it is also thin so I can wear it under my coat when it starts to get COLD and wet. I am just trying to enjoy the beautiful weather we are having right now! Everyone is saying that we NEVER have this warm weather in the middle of October and I am PRAYING that this winter won't be as bad as they usually are. 

 MY P-DAY WILL GO BACK TO TUESDAY NEXT WEEK! 

ELDER CLARK IS DOING A ZONE CONFERENCE WITH US ON WEDNESDAY. I AM SUPER EXCITED. 

 

So this week was actually a little bit harder...who knew that missions were hard? :P I was super tired this week, Sister Peralta told me when she hit her 9 month mark, she got tired too! Every night, I sleep super DEEP and suddenly it is 6:30! I have never appreciated sleep as much as I do now.

 

I hit my HALF MARK!!! I can't believe that half of my mission is already over! But it is like the talk by Elder Dube:

 

While I was a boy working in the fields with my mother, she taught me one of the most important lessons in life. It was late in the morning, the sun was up, and we had been hoeing for what I thought to be a very long time. I stopped to look back at what we had accomplished and said to my mother, “Look at all we have done!” Mother did not respond. Thinking that she had not heard me, I repeated what I had said a little louder. She still did not reply. Raising my voice a little higher, I repeated again. Finally, she turned to me and said, “Edward, never look back. Look ahead at what we still have to do.”

 

I still have SO much to do :) I am glad that I still have 9 more months of teaching the Gopsel, I won't get to do this EVER again.

 

We are having a baptism this weekend! Teresa is getting baptized. I love her and her family. She has 4 kids and the 3 daughters are members and her son isn't. She is such a great missionary! She always brings friends to church and family members are coming back to church! They filled an entire pew in Sacrament meeting!

 

Maria is 17 and she is preparing to be baptized. She came to church for the first time yesterday! Sundays have changed so much for me. I don't just get up and study and then go to church and enjoy the lessons and talking with the members. Sundays are my most STRESSFUL day because you are trying your hardest to get ALL your investigators to church. You go before church, praying that they will open the door. You go back again before Sacrament meeting and they won't answer the door or they tell you they are coming and then they never show up. The Velez family didn't come and the Ojeda family didn't come and Felipe and Mirna didn't come. I am sitting during the Sacrament, praying to God for forgiveness and for him to show me what I am doing wrong, asking him why my investigators aren't coming to church. I actually cried during the Sacrament. I wanted my investigators to come and experience the cleansing feeling of the atonement and the Spirit that we feel at church. I have learned so much about the importance of the Sacrament. It is an ordinance, just like baptism. It is a commandment that we take the Sacrament each week. If we repent each week and partake of the sacrament with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, we can be COMPLETELY forgiven. it is like we were basically baptized again. THAT IS AMAZING! I never knew that! I have learned so much here on my mission :) Anyway, while I was taking the Sacrament, I looked over and saw MAria Ibarra! I was so happy! She came in and listened to the rest of the meeting! 

 

I think that is pretty much it! Thanks for all your support! I love you all so much, I talk about you with everyone that I see. I testify of how families can be together forever! That is my favorite part! 

 

I love you all so much! Have a great week! Share the gospel with someone!

Hermana Warren

My Stressful and Spiritual Week :)‏

Hola Familia!

So, I decided that I will kind of organize my letters, so I can remember everything that I want to say. I will first, "follow up" with anything that you wrote in your emails, then I will tell you anything like announcements, and then I will talk about my week. Just to let you know :)

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE PACKAGE!!! I went on exchanges yesterday so I came home this morning and Sister Peralta yells "MERRY CHRISTMAS! I put your christmas present under the tree!" I look over at a little lamp with lights wrapped around the pole (our "christmas tree") and I see the package! I was so happy! Thanks for the boots, those will work perfectly! I didn't buy a jacket today, Sister Egan told me that rain wasn't in the forcast for this week. Sister Gonzalez left a lot of stuff when she went back to chile and she left a nice rain poncho. I will just use that this week if anything happens. Then I will buy something next week.

 Sorry about scaring you for almost dying.....sometimes cars don't see us. I am ok though...I am always looking around and being careful.

I will keep Bro. Solorzano in my prayers. And also Samantha. Sister Gonzalez's mom had cancer while she was on her mission.....her mom is now healed. Being on a mission really does bless your family.

ANNOUNEMENT!!!

P-Day is monday next week. Elder Clark from the Missionary Department is coming and speaking to us so our P-day is monday.....again. 

That is the only thing, I think...

So this week.....

We went to the Sunday Afternoon session with Teresa, did you see me? I wore a yellow polk-a-dot cardigan. My investigator got to hear Elder Bednar's talk! PERFECTO! I also got to hear the talk in Portuguese ( I could pick up a couple of words) and SPanish, which I understood almost perfectly! I sat on the floor seats, not on the balcony. I could see all the apostles and I was just crying when the Mormon Tabernacle choir was singing "I am a Child of God". I never realized this before but this song contains some of the most simple truths about the Gospel.

1. I am a child of God,

And he has sent me here,

Has given me an earthly home

With parents kind and dear.

2. I am a child of God,

And so my needs are great;

Help me to understand his words

Before it grows too late.

3. I am a child of God.

Rich blessings are in store;

If I but learn to do his will,

I'll live with him once more.

4. I am a child of God.

His promises are sure;

Celestial glory shall be mine

If I can but endure.

Chorus

Lead me, guide me, walk beside me,

Help me find the way.

Teach me all that I must do

To live with him someday.

I love the fourth verse. It is so true :) Me and sister Merrill are singing this song in Spanish for our Zone conference next week with Elder Clark.

One thing that I found interesting was that I could FEEL Satan working on me and doing things to prevent us from going or to ruin the experience of conference. My bike decided to fall apart on the way to Teresa's house, Teresa lost her phone and was running around looking for it for a while. We needed $15 for the TRAX and I only brought 14, luckily Teresa had a dollar, we were on the TRAX, late because we took time looking for her phone, all the seats were taken when we got there BUT at 2:00, we were all seated, listening to conference. We had to divide us to sit down. I was a couple rows in front but  I just sat there, completely wiped out from the stress of not knowing if we were going to get there on time but EXTREMELY grateful that everything worked out and Teresa was there in conference. It was a learning experience for me to put my faith in GOD, and to do the best I can and leave everything else to God.

Conference was amazing this october, I think it has something to do with me being on a mission but I just loved it! That is true, the theme was Prophets and testimony/personal revelation. We are all going to need to support our Prophet and have our own testimonies because one day, he is going to ask us to do something as a church, from the Lord, and we are going to have to rely on our testimonies and knowing that he is a prophet. Just like Joseph Smith! When he asked the people to move AGAIN, leaving behind the temple, they needed to rely on this testimony of the church and of a living-day prophet.

Yesterday I went on exchanges in Murray and it was fun...and weird! I walked in to the building Legacy and the smell just washed over me and I was instantly taken back to when I was a greenie and it was a horrible but humbling feeling. Horrible because when I remember that time, I remember being SUPER homesick, I couldn't speak spanish, and I had no idea what I was doing. But I also remember how I had to completely rely on the Lord to get through each day. Now, as I hit my half-way mark tomorrow, I am not homesick, my spanish has improved dramatically, and I have learned to lean on the Lord while also using my experience in the field. It is amazing to see how much I have learned and changed over the last 9 months. Thank you so much for EVERYTHING you have done for me during these 9 months....I am so grateful for you all :)

We are still working on the Velez family, they have a lot of problems to work through but we will help them. 

I think that is all for this week! It was a very fast week! We are in week 4 and transfers are on the 29th. We are getting a Colombian sister next transfer so that means that changes will happen again among the Spanish sisters, we will see what happens!

I love you all! Sounds like everyone is going good :) I always pray for you, every night!

SLY!

Hermana Warren