I'm training a new missionary!

Hola Familia!

I am doing great! Sister Romero (my new companion) is from Colombia and she is 19. She comes from a member family, she has a younger brother. She isn't expecting anything for christmas so if you want to send something, that would be really nice :)

Training is hard. It is like having a baby because you are teaching someone who doesn't know ANYTHING! She knows a lot more than I knew because she was in the MTC for 8 weeks but she has NEVER ridden a bike and she can't speak English very much but she's doing great! She is really tired but I remember what is was like to go into the mission field. I was so tired and homesick and couldn't speak the language and didn't know what was happening! I was clueless! I need to go back and read my journal......it was so hard. But having a greenie made me realize how much I have grown over the last year. I can ride a bike. I can speak spanish. I can have fun with the members. I can help others come unto Christ by being baptized! I didn't realize how much I have changed and grown until I had to help someone enter the mission. Time has gone by so fast! I have to enjoy each day! I am so excited for our week next week....we have a lot of fun things happening for christmas :)

Next Wednesday (P-day next week) I will email you the address of where I will be skyping and what time. You will skype me from Grandma and Grandpa's house, right? I will let you know what time and address next wednesday.

This week we had a baptism. Maria and Cesar were baptized. I have been working with them since I first came into the area in August! Sometimes the Lord's timing is different than ours, but they were finally baptized and they are excited to go to the temple to do baptisms. Hopefully we can take them next week!

The velez family is supposed to get baptized this saturday......pray for them please, they are acting shady again. they already had their interviews....we didn't have contact with them yesterday. We have to have contact every day the week before the baptism. I know that Heavenly Father is aware...I just need to trust him.

I am not going to write a lot, I want to have a lot of things to talk about next week :) 

I am sending a present to you all, but I won't send it until later because I will send it to our house. When are you getting back home?

Thanks for the prayers and support. I got letters from the Ward, Young womens, and Grandma Shaftoe :) Thank you!

Sorry this is short. Just know that I am fine, the weather is good, my bike works, I am being fed and I am loving being a missionary!

SLY!

Hermana Warren

News from Utah

Hola Familia!

Drum roll please..............................................................................................................................................

I AM TRAINING THIS NEXT TRANSFER!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

She is from Colombia and she is supposed to be in an English assignment but President is changing her to spanish because he doesn't want to close any spanish areas. He told me that I am probably only training her for one transfer because he will switch her back to English the next transfer because we are getting 3 spanish sisters the next transfer! I am really nervous but I am excited and happy to stay in this area because there is a lot of work to be done here and I am really happy.  We got called into President's office yesterday and that is where he told me that I am training one of the 3 missionaries coming in and that Sister Peralta will take Sister Merrill's spot as sister Training leader! So we are getting split up and I am sad. She reminded me a lot of Jenna, how she jokes around and we have fun but sometimes we butt heads.....but who doesn't right? She is a great friend and I love her a lot. 

So that is the big news for today. Time just flies faster and faster, that transfer was over so fast! I couldn't believe it! I only have 5 transfers left! That is really scary for me to think about. I can't believe that I get to talk to you all in like 2 weeks. Didn't the time just go by so fast? I feel like I just talked to all of you on Mother's day. 

I'm glad that everyone is doing good! I got a letter from the Palmers this week, for Christmas. It was so sweet  and made me smile. Thank you Palmers!!

The weather is beautiful! 50s this week! and my bike needs help on the back brake, it pretty much broke when I fell off my bike a couple months ago :) But everything else is good :) My boots are doing ok, and I am good health-wise :)

Please send me letters! I miss knowing about what is happening in your lives! Jenna, who are you dating?!?!?!?! 

Sammie, Congrats on the new job!!.....how is Costa Vida?

Ronnie, how did your skit go at the Christmas party?

Shonna, are you playing any sports right now?

Lydia, what are some of your quotes that you put on the Wall of Wisdom?

Jess, are you ready for your test? I kind of forgot what it was like to take tests. Other things make me nervous now.......I never thought that training a "baby" missionary would be my "test". 

Mom and Dad, that picture made me almost pee my pants! that picture is so funny!!!!

We are having 2 baptisms this weekend, the parents of 2 other the kids that were baptized that last week. The branch is focusing on these two families that we have brought into the church: the Ojeda Family, and the Ibarra Family. The branch is doing a little bit better.....our Stake Mission Leader told us that when the new year comes, a lot of things will change in the stake and in our branch. I don't know what is going to happen but we need some changes in our branch. 

We are teaching another family, the Velez family, and they are going to be baptized on the 20th of December. They are looking great, this is my family of 5 I prayed for! They are awesome! 

We went to a spanish concert in Temple Square with our investigator and it was awesome! I feel the spirit so much when I see cultural things like that. I love being a spanish-speaking missionary. It is the best. We are going to go to the lights with our girls from the Velez family that we are teaching :) I am so excited!!!!!

I had the sweetest experience on Sunday. This sunday was a lot better than the last 5. Every other sunday was so stressful but this last sunday was great. We had Testimony meeting and I sat in the chapel, looking at all of the people I have taught and all the people we are teaching and the members that I love and I just had the happiest feeling come over me. Before my mission, my happiness came from being with my friends or passing my class or going out to eat or something like that......but now, my happiness comes from seeing my investigators walk through the door of the church, or from seeing them enter the waters of baptism, or from taking them to do baptisms in the temple. I never thought that I would feel so much happiness from being a missionary! Honestly, I didn't feel  this before, it took time but now.......all I want to do is find, teach, and baptize, and help these people get to the temple! That is ALL I want to do! I hope ALL of you go on a mission....Mom and Dad, I hope you can go again and be a senior missionary couple or teach english to people here in Utah :)

It is the most wonderful thing I have ever done in my life......I have also met the meanest people, I have never been persecuted for being a member this much in my life. But I have never been able to see the gospel change someone's life like I have here on my mission. 

Keep working with your friends that live down the street. Post the new video by the church He is the Gift! Have you seen it? I love that video. BE MISSIONARIES!!!!! You will feel a happiness that doesn't compare with anything else!

We had the branch christmas party and ALL of our investigators came! It was great, I love this branch and I feel like my spanish is improving a lot, thanks for the prayers!

I love you all so much! I can't wait to see you in a couple of weeks on Skype

For Christmas..

I love you all so much and miss you. Have a great week! I will pray for all of you :)

SLY!
Hermana Warren

"I'll Be Home For Christmas".........next year!! :)

Hola Familia!

Sorry about the subject line..I have been singing that song a lot because this is the first time that I won't be home for Christmas :) hehe

Anyway, thanks for the emails, Thanksgiving weekend sounded super fun. I loved looking at all the pictures of everyone, everyone seems to be growing up without me!

I love the Christmas lights on the house! I always loved putting up the tree and seeing the lights!

I have been doing pretty good here. Dad, it is 48 degrees today. The weather has been beautiful for this time of year. Everyone here is so surprised that we still don't have snow, but I keep praying that this winter will be better. I don't want my hands to fall off from freezing. 

"Beat the President" fun run

My Thanksgiving was a great and sad day. First of all, our mission ran with President Moffat, I have a picture of that. I walked mostly because I wasn't sure if I could run the whole 3 miles. But I pretty much walked the whole thing with Sister Moffat. We just talked about a bunch of stuff. She was asking me about my companion, my spanish, and my area. I love the Moffats, they are so sweet and do so much for us.

Sister Merrill

Then after, we had a quick meeting, where we listened to departing testimonies of missionaries going home, one of which is Sister Merrill :( I was bawling the whole time because she has become such a great friend to me. After, we ate dinner with our Landlady and so I ate American food and it was good! Then that night, we visited some families that we are teaching and they kept giving us more food! I was so full! Then we went to the Ibarra family and we were teaching the uncle when the kids ran into the house and told us that a man was outside and wanted to talk to an adult. So the aunt went out because she speaks English. We were all wondering what was going on so we all went out and there was a man at the bottom of the drive way, holding their dog. He had hit it on the road and went back and got it. He saw the kids running outside, so he assumed that it was their dog. It was probably one of the saddest moments I have had on my mission. All the kids were crying and sobbing. The mom was sobbing and I just held the kids and tried to comfort them as they cried. I started crying with them because I could FEEL how they were feeling, I imagined me losing Pongo and how sad I would be. They had Toby for 5 years and he was a member of their family! We just said a prayer with them and left. I cried to whole bike ride home. I felt so bad for them and wanted to make them feel better and know that even pets resurrect. They are doing better but my heart hurt and I could get a glimpse of how God feels, seeing his Children in pain and sorrow, I love the story of how the Savior wept with Mary when her brother died, even when he knew that He was going to raise him from the dead. 

 

This weekend was a great weekend though, we had 4 baptisms, which finishes our month of November with 7 baptisms! We had a very successful month :) We are still struggling with our branch but we are involving Stake leaders and mission leaders to get this problem fixed. 

So the only other thing I want to share is about the video "HE is the Gift". It is on christmas.mormon.org. Watch it and share it with someone, it reminds us of the most important gift. This movie is so powerful and you feel the spirit so strong. I also thought it was ironic how we have thanksgiving, where we share what we are thankful for, and then the next day, we go out and buy EVERYTHING that we don't have. This Christmas, I don't want a lot. I want to focus on the Savior more. Of course, there is nothing wrong with giving gifts, that is how we share our love for others, but the BEST gift we can give is the knowledge of the Gospel. So I invite you, Warren Family, to give the gift of the Savior to someone else. Pray and ask God to tell you  who you know who needs the Gospel. Look for the answer and He will tell you :) be ready to share it with them. God knows His Children.

I might be transferred next week, I will let you know next p-day. Christmas music is always appreciated :)

I might have to fix my brake on my bike

I love you all so much, I am so grateful for you and can't wait to see you all in about 23 days! (on skype).

Have a great week! I pray for you all every night!

SLY!

Hermana Warren