It was a CHEESECAKE week!

​Hola Familia!!

Thanks for the emails and the pictures, I love getting pictures from you all. Getting those pictures with Jenna and her boyfriend was really weird but I got over it. I hope that she still is home when I get there, can't she put her availability date for after July 8th? That is when I come home, I know that for sure.​

​Sounds like a busy week for you guys, this week went by super fast again, I can't believe that this transfer is almost over. I think each month goes faster and faster​ and I will be home sooner than I think. I have this fear that when I go home, my mission will seem like a dream and that I will go back to how I was before, I don't want that to happen, I want my mission to change me. This is reality for me :)

Alisha and her husband

We had two baptisms this week and they were awesome! They were so spiritual and I just wanted to cry, I was so happy. There is nothing more satisfying than to see someone get baptized who you love and have worked with and gone through so much with. Alisha was crying when she came out of the water and Kayla, who is Shonna's age, was so happy and pretty. I sang at both baptisms and one man came up to me after, asking me if I took singing lessons, which I told him that I never took lessons. He was really surprised :) My weekend was crazy but amazing. We are teaching a family of 4 kids and they are so cute, I love teaching them. Children are so receptive to the spirit and they teach me so much. There is a reason that the Savior wants us to be like little children.

Kayla

My Sunday went really well! An investigator just showed up to church! That was a miracle! and the members are amazing in this branch. I keep feeling like I am going to get transferred but I can't really know until next week. I don't want to leave the ward but at the same time, it is time to be somewhere new. I can't believe that I have been here for 7 months. I am definitely coming back here when I come down for school. These members are like my family.

We hit our "Standard of Excellence" this week which are the goals that President Moffat has set for the key indicators. When you reach them, he takes you to "The Cheesecake Factory"   YAY!   so that is why it was a cheesecake week.  Lunch with President Moffat is really fun. 

I got to spend the whole day yesterday with President Moffat at our Leadership council. I feel like he is my dad, who corrects me when I need correction but he is so loving and only wants the best for us. He just wants to baptize before the mission ends, and I do too!

Being a Sister Training Leader is fun but stressful, we have a lot more responsibility but it helps me to grow. I am trying to love my sisters that I am over but sometimes they don't love me back, which I know happens a lot. I just want them to know that I am only here to help them and support them, not to judge them or criticize them. Hopefully their hearts can soften.

RANDOM INFO:

-I need to buy a new backpack but it has to be cute. That is sister Moffat's requirement. I might just buy something from DI that can last me for the rest of my mission and then buy something cute when I come home. My backpack always ends up smelling like peoples' houses and stuff :) SO I might need like 20 dollars for that. I had to buy a new watch and sticky notes and stuff today, which is why I spent money at Walmart from my card. 

-I deferred my spot in BYU for the fall of 2015. I already have a spot and 14 credits is fine. Just do general classes but make sure that they use any AP credits that I earned. Maybe sign up for an interior design class, just in case I want to go into Wedding planning haha

Someone sent me a card with $20 in it! There was no name but if they are reading this, THANK YOU SO MUCH!! That was so kind and I will use that money for something very special. 

I might need some new shirts soon but I will just wait until it is warm again, This week is supposed to get chilly but the members help us a ton.

My companions are awesome! We are having a lot of fun together and working hard! It will be weird  to go back to just one companion, it will be too quiet :)

I love you all and I am glad to be serving here in Utah. We are reading in the Book of Mormon in 2nd Nephi, about how Utah will be upon the tops of the mountains and all nations shall flow unto it. That is so true and I know that the Lord is preparing his Children to receive the Gospel.

Have a great week! Keep sharing the Gospel!

SLY,

Hermana Warren

One Year in Salt Lake!

Hola Familia!

Thanks for the updates! 

Dad: The weather is a little bit chillier, but it is still sunny and warm. It snowed a little bit yesterday but just for like 5 minutes. We just kept on biking! I got the things on my bike fixed, which made me feel a little bit better. I might need to use the money you put in to buy a new backpack, mine is falling apart and one of our recent converts wants it, even though it smells funny and isn't as pretty as it used to be :)

I got a small package from a Sister Brinkerhoff? Apparently her son served in Duportail and she sent me a package! It was super sweet of her!! :)  THANK YOU!!!

Mark (Elder McDonald), that sounds cool, is going to have a lot of fun in Mexico. The Bueno bars are the best and he is going right when it is beautiful weather. 

Jenna! Go on the mission! Naki is your boyfriend? KEEP ME IN THE LOOP!!! I don't know anything about this kid! I want to see a picture.

MOM: Thank you for the package! It was super cute. The cookies were amazing! Can you send more? I am glad you liked the card, I really liked the one that said "Meh" or "Who farted?" hahahaha I laughed so hard when I saw it. 

When is girl's camp this year?  That's cool you are the YCL leader. I am glad that Pongo is losing weight, I need to do the same thing. I just get so hungry and I don't know how to shrink my stomach haha. I was thinking about the leaving the bike here until I come to school but I don't know if I can wait a month and a half after my mission to bike! I love it so much!

Speaking of school, have you been able to contact BYU this last week? Just applying the principle of "Following up" haha

This last week just flew by! It was really busy and fun. Valentine's day was a very interesting day. I woke up at 2am to Sister Montoya telling me that she threw up and felt really bad. Sister Banka then got up and threw up! The flu is now in our apartment! So that day was weird because I wasn't sick I was drinking airborne like Crazy! I would help them and cleaned some things, and since we are a Trio, I was able to leave and go out with some sisters to have contact with investigators and get Kayla to her baptism interview. I spent a lot of the day with other members and at home. But it was fun because I was able to show love to my companions by serving them.  

Friday was a special day because we took Mirna, our recent convert, to do baptisms for the dead! She was so excited and loved it and she wants to come back and get sealed in a year! I just need to get my converts to the temple! My first family get sealed in about a month! I hope the ward is getting them ready to go as a family. I have pictures of that :)

Things are going well as an STL, I sometimes feel clueless and unqualified to do it but I just try to help them as much as I can. I am giving a training in a special training meeting on Thursday. Thursday is a very special day! Do you know why?

IT IS MY BIRTHDAY!!! YAY!

Thursday, February 19th is my year mark in the mission FIELD! I never thought, my first day in the field, that I would be giving training to the missionaries in our mission as a training, Sister Training Leader one year later! I never imagined.

It is crazy how much I have changed this last year. I have learned so many things about myself and others and the Gospel and the Savior and about accountability and about planning and about EVERYTHING! I will never regret coming on a mission and I would encourage ALL of my sisters to go on one. It is like a refiners fire. It hurts sometimes and sometimes you want to quit and go home, but you have to endure the heat and soon, you will look back and see how much Heavenly Father has changed you. The Atonement is amazing!

We have 2 baptisms this weekend, Alisha wasn't able to get baptized last weekend due to work but Kayla and her will be baptized. I am so excited. I love them both so much.

Transfers are coming up in 2 weeks! I have the feeling that I am leaving this area...I have been here for almost 7 months. It is time for me to know MORE people and love MORE people. But I am not sure yet, I will find out in 2 weeks.

I love you all! I am so glad that we are sealed for eternity and that we all live the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Be exactly obedient in all things! keep reading together and praying together. 

SLY, Hermana Warren

Having the Pure Love of Christ

Hola Familia!

Here I am again! I swear I was just here, writing to you all, and now I am back. 

 

Thank you for all the updates! TOLO dance looked super fun Sammie!  Jenna, I about started crying when I heard that you are going to work on your mission papers. The mission is amazing, you are going to learn so much from it! The time goes by so quickly! You will never regret serving the Lord, it is one of the few callings in the church where you can devote all your time and energy to it. 

 

Mom, I would definitely get a perm again, probably a beach wave. That is what I wanted last time but I didn't know very much about perms so I ended up looking like Tigger :) But I actually just cut my hair again, like when I cut it like the girl from Safehaven. I realized that my hair isn't meant to be long, it brakes too easily. This time, my bangs are the same length which makes it cuter :) I have to have my hair short because it is HOT HOT HOT here! In February!!!! It has been about 60 each day and beautiful. I don't know who else was praying for a mild winter but God answers prayers. Of course, the snow can still come but many people are saying the the winter is over. I am pretty happy, I don't know if I will need all the hand-warmers that you sent me :)

 

Thank you for the supporting emails and letters. This week has been a tough one, thinking about the state of our mission right now and how everything is struggling. I want to "kill" this mission with a BANG! I want to give my all and leave it all on the field. I want the other missionaries to have this desire as well. I just want to baptize!

 

Whenever I see an airplane, my stomach feels weird. There is a thing in the mission where you ask your companion, "How far away is that plane?" and then they respond with how many months you have left. I saw a plane today and asked myself that question. I scared myself by responding with "Less than 5 months". I can't believe that I am on the downhill part of my mission. I only have 5 more months to do this!!!!! This doesn't make me trunky, but helps me to feel the urgency to find, teach, and baptize. 

 

I went on exchanges with a sister in Murray yesterday and I was able to talk to my first family that I baptized! The Roman family! Remember them? She called us and was so happy to hear my voice. They are preparing to enter the temple in the end of march! I can go to their temple sealing as a family! I am so excited!!!! I just wanted to cry when I heard her voice, I love this family so much! Your mission is all about the relationships you have, with God, Jesus Christ, your leaders, those you teach and baptize, members........these relationships make it all worth it! Isn't amazing? When it comes down to it, PEOPLE are more important than anything else. I can feel the love that Heavenly Father has for every one of his children. 

 

My companionship is going great! I love being with these sisters and we have a lot of fun together. I feel like a trio again, when me and jess and jenna all slept in the same room downstairs. 

 

I hope you all have a great Valentine's Day! I love you all so much! I am sending a letter :) I just appreciate you all and I feel like I won't recognize anyone when I come home, you all have changed so much. That is my favorite part about the Gospel, that we CAN change if we want to! You can be a different person! How beautiful is the plan of Salvation!

 

This is what president moffat said to my email to him:

 

Sister Warren,

 

I don't think the Lord ever punishes us with "slow baptizing" months. He blesses us for our obedience (DC 82:10) according to his own will and time (DC 88:68). I think you are right to set high goals and not lower your expectations (PMG p. 10) PMG p. 10 gives us the conditions of a successful missionary which you are!!

 

Keep baptizing,

Pres. Moffat

 

That brought peace to my heart :)

 

Other things:

I might need to fix my bike, it will cost $40. I am debating if I should wait to fix it right before I go home, but my back brake doesn't work so I will probably take it in next Tuesday. So you could put a little bit more in, that would be awesome.

 

I might need some new or different clothes soon. I am getting really tired of the clothes that I am wearing. I might look through some bags that I have but I will probably get a new shirt or something.

 

Just let me know about BYU, and I need to do anything.

 

LES AMO MUCHO A USTEDES! QUIERO QUE SEPAN QUE TENGO UN TESTIMONIO FIRME EN EL EVANGELIO. SE QUE EL SENOR VIVE Y QUE NUESTRAS FAMILIAS PUEDEN SER ETERNAS!

 

SLY!

HERMANA WARREN

I Know This is the Saviors Church

Hello Family!

Thanks for all of the updates today! I love hearing about everyone and what's happening!  Good luck in basketball, Shonna and Lydia! I wish I could be there to watch you play.

I have such a beautiful family :) I am so grateful for all of you. You are such great examples for me and I can't wait to give you all a big hug in 6 months. But don't worry, I get lots of hugs from members so that will hold me over until then. 

We have a lot happening this week! Then Temple tomorrow.....BOO YA!! Super excited. That temple is beautiful. Then a mission conference the next day, and then the BODA (wedding) on Saturday. It will be really fun and a miracle because he is finally getting married! Sometimes we just need some patience, the Lord's timing isn't our timing. That is something that I am learning. 

Sorry, my email won't be that long today. We are going Ice skating as a zone today! I will take some pictures and send them next week.

I am doing ok, I feel a little sick and I am SUPER tired each morning.....I am going to take a nap today. I don't want to get sick, it sucks to be sick on the mission. 

Here is a cool story that we had this week:

Mirna and Felipe are  on date for the 31st, they are solid. We had a really cool experience on Sunday with them. Felipe just got a new job and they scheduled him to work on Sunday right during the hour of our meeting. We told them that there was another spanish ward that he could go to at 9, and it was very close. So he said that he will go to the other sacrament meeting. Sunday night, we had a lesson with them and he told us of his experience that morning getting ready for church. Their small baby started coughing all night that night and didn't sleep, so therefore, he had to stay up with the baby until 3 in the morning. He was super tired but he still was able to take the baby at 8ish to a member's house so he could go to the sacrament meeting. He couldn't find his keys and he was just so tired and frustrated that he was about to give up and not go. Then he remembered that we had told him the day before that Satan would throw EVERYTHING at him on Sunday to keep him from going. When he remembered that, he KNEW that he needed to go and he wasn't going to let Satan win. He went to church and felt so peaceful there. That was a testimony builder for me that we can overcome all the problems on Sunday. Isn't it interesting that we always had problems right before church? I have seen that a lot on my mission and it is just evidence to me that church is the most important place we can be.

I love you all so much. 

I need new glasses, they are falling off my face :)

Any news on school? I am not sure when I am supposed to sign up for classes.

I haven't gotten mom's letter yet. Enjoy those Jesus videos! I love watching them.

Thanks for being amazing! 

I know that this church is true. I wouldn't be biking in the snow and rain if it wasn't :)

SLY!

Hermana Warren

1 Nephi 8 Missionary Work

Hello Family!

1 Nephi 8

This is  the chapter that we read today! I LOVE this chapter. It is one of my favorites.

Thanks for the family updates, don't worry if you don't have time to write a lot. I just like to know what is going on and if everyone is ok :)

I had a good week this last week. We had a lot of things happen.

On Wednesday, I went on my first exchange as a Sister Training Leader with Sister Sosa and it was SUPER weird, I feel like she should be leading me, not me training her. She has been out in the field longer than I have and she is older than me and I just feel super young. I was able to go to her area and help her a little bit, she is in Murray and so I went back to my greenie area! I showed her a lot of new areas that she hadn't been to and it was great to be back for a day. But I love where I am at now. I am getting the feeling that this is my last transfer here in Union Fort so I want to leave this area better than I found it. 

On Thursday, we had a Zone conference and it was great! Our recent converts came, Maria and Cesar, and they talked about their experience while they were preparing to be baptized. I had to translate for them and I just wanted to cry when I was translating because the whole time, they were just saying how grateful they were for us as missionaries and for my perseverance in visiting them even when they didn't want us to come over. They are so converted to the gospel and whenever I see them, I just want to hug them and help them get to the temple, so they can be sealed for eternity. The Roman family can be sealed at the end of March! I need to make sure that they are getting ready to go to the temple. I also sang "come unto Christ", the 2014 youth theme. I just love singing, I am not amazing but I feel the Spirit the most when I am singing. I really want to take music at BYU and voice lessons, so if there is anything like that for classes, sign me up! 

Saturday was a crazy day! At 10 am, Alisha and Loren were married so that she can be baptized. She is from Puerto Rico and she had her mom and sister in town this weekend for her wedding and it was a very simple but beautiful wedding, right after she had her baptism interview. Before, she had told us that she was nervous about her family and how they would react to knowing that she was going to be baptized. I promised her that if she was baptized, she would be an example for her family and they would be baptized. She would also do temple work for her family members. 

After her interview, she told us that she told her family that she was going to be baptized and that they were ok with it! When we went back to the room where her family was, we found them talking about baptisms for the dead with some other members! She was super happy and wanted to take her mom and sister to temple square. But then later that night, she called us and told us that her dad had just died in Puerto Rico and that she was going there for the funeral. I felt peace, especially when I heard that the first reaction of her mom and sister when they heard about the death was them telling her to be baptized for her dad. It was amazing to me to see that the promise that I made her actually happened!! We have power as missionaries and sometimes we don't recognize that or don't use it. But we can make promises, as long as we follow the spirit, and the Lord ALWAYS keeps his promises. That was an amazing experience for me. She will hopefully be back on Friday and be baptized on Saturday. I know that this was part of Heavenly Father's plan for her. I could have gotten mad that we was leaving but I felt peace and I know that Heavenly Father can use her to help her family members accept the Gospel.  

Also on Saturday, we had the baptism of Angel, Mirna, and Felipe. This was the first time that I have cried at a baptism because I have worked SO long and gone through SO much with these people. Angel's date was pushed back because of members pushing his wedding and baptism off so THEY could be there. That was super frustrating for me. Mirna and Felipe were formers that we had to drop and then we picked back up. My testimony is just growing as I see that the Lord has a plan for his children and he knows when they need to be baptized. 

 Sunday was a hard day for us, we didn't have a ton of people at church and I feel like the area is going downhill again, and I don't want that to happen. We are looking for more people to teach and I just need to baptize before I leave this area. Baptizing is now my passion.

I love you all so much! If you could send me some more stamps, I would love some more. I am just amazed at how old my sisters are and how much everyone is growing. It is weird to think that I hit my 13 month mark on Sunday. That last month just flew by, I don't know where it went! We are doing another book of mormon reading challenge as a mission and it is basically a count down to the end of my mission :( it was really sad. The time just goes by so fast! I can't slow it down.

I miss you and love you and pray for you. Keep sharing the Gospel! All my sisters would be great missionaries :) I hope you all are praying about going, if that is what Heavenly Father wants you to do!

SLY!

Hermana Warren