Hello family!

What a terrific week. It was one of our most successful weeks on my mission. I was busy every second! I love being busy and having a long list of everything to do and then coming home at night having done all of it! 

However, I will have to tell yall the details later, I'm off to go hiking!!

xoxo

Hermana Warner

picture:

My new companion (on the left) she is from Mesa, Arizona and went to high school with the sister on the far right...then Sister Broach who is also in the middle went to my high school. Coincidentally we all went to high school at "Mountain View" 

Officially a ZEBRA!

Transfers were this last week. My new companion is Sister Durfee from Arizona. She has been out the same time as me. She was an English speaker so now I'm starting to teach her Spanish, and we are teaching both English and Spanish! (That's what you call ZEBRA missionaries)

We are still teaching a lady named Melinda. She is 63 years old and has been smoking since she was 13. We are helping her quit smoking, and the progress is amazing!! She has been attending the Journey church and this last week she called that pastor and told him she quit that church. She said that she has never met more charitable people, who care so much for her, than the Lord, and us 2 missionaries. (including her mom too) The first time we met her, she told us all about how she loved the church was was going too, but I have seen in her eyes the change. She has come to know for herself, that there is more light out there. It truly is amazing! She loves reading the Book of Mormon. She got sick yesterday morning so wasn't able to come to church. However, next week she is coming, and then we are going to baptize her! (She says she can't be baptized because she is on oxygen, but... miracles happen) One thing that has opened her heart to us as well, is that her sister was Mormon and lived in Utah. She had cancer and went blind. Everyone took such good care of her. It means the world to Melinda who was not able to help take care of her. Its a great reminder that we never know who is watching us or the impact we are going to have on others, so its so important to always be a good example. 

We are teaching another family of 3 that has been coming to church since before I got to this area. They love what we are teaching. We have seen a change in them as well. They want to be baptized but are afraid they will mess-up after they are baptized.

I love it here, and I'm so grateful for all of your support, I wouldn't be here if it were not for all of you! 

Have a great week! 

shout out... to my uncle GRANT! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! 

Love you, 

Hermana Warner

Life Never Stands Still!

Well, the past 2 transfers have been amazing, and I'm sad to say that my companion is being transferred this Wednesday. We have had soo many great times and I'll never forget them. I however, am staying in this area and I couldn't be happier to stay. Its a bittersweet feeling. My companion and I were like a package. We came in together, we were inseparable... literally... and now its not going to be the same, but I am excited for what lies ahead! Hermana Peterson taught me so much, I am so grateful for the opportunity to be her companion. I'm for sure going to go down to Vegas and watch her play soccer when we both get home! 

This past week here was on Fire! We have so many people we are working with that are solid. Funny Story actually. A few weeks ago we had a ward council meeting and the elders gave us a referral right? Well they told us the daughter was struggling and that we just needed to help her... So we went to that house and when they answered we were surprised. It was a family that had been coming to church every week since even before we got there. Therefore, we thought nothing of it and just thought this 15 year old needed some help. Yeah... i guess we didn't catch something, or they didn't tell us but they are not members. SOLID. We are jumping all over that and teaching them! 

We went bowling with another investigator this week, along with the Spanish elders. (That's about all you can do in this town!) 

It SNOWED!! Say what? Friday night it snowed maybe 1 or 2 inches! I loved it! Made me really miss the good 1 foot of snow we would get in Utah. (Never, ever, ever did I think I would say that)

We had another investigator tell us that Lehi's dream was of the devil and then we tried to explain what everything meant and she wouldn't allow us. However, she is willing to try reading a different part!! She is not giving up!

Love you all. Never forget to look unto the Lord in every thought, doubt not, fear not! 

(D & C 6:36)

Have a great week!

Happy Valentines day!

Hermana Warner

Happy February!

What a week. Every week in a mission is filled with a lot of great experiences that I will treasure the rest of my life. 

and I'm getting a little lazy to write so this is a little bit of what my companion wrote to her family... if only i did this every week... just kidding...love you all.... but really.. this is a section of what she wrote!! 

So first, we had a lesson with Maria!!!!!!!!! We had her teach us the restoration and ohhh my. so we are teaching and all is going great! and so we are ending with prayer. and we are kind of feeling all sad and yada yada. so then i tell her in her closing prayer to pray about Joseph Smith. and she does! So we are sitting there, and the spirit was there! We were like, how do you feel?? Her response, peace and tranquilidad... su casa es Dios casa (your house is God's house) and then goes off how she knows it's true, and how the Book of Mormon was written in the Americas and pretty much bore her testimony about that! and explained how it is just hard because her family has always been catholic so she is scared to make them mad. but her kids came to our ward party this weekend! and we are only progressing! YAY!!!!! pray for maria!!!!!!

Then we met this lady names Ciddy :) Hahahaha. Hahahaha. So we found her sitting on her porch cutting her old cast. Yea... She got her ankle shot off! and so it was reconstructed from cartilage and all sorts of stuff, and she was making a brace type thing. but she had like 7 knifes on her table, and i will say i never felt worried! but we were just so real with her and it was so fun! She would scratch her head with the knife, and had a knife necklace and I invited her to church and told her to just not bring a knife. hahahaha,. yea she was cool. She asked if Jesus came back as a zombie for three days. and pretty much all of her views were right in line with the gospel!! with just a few twists... She also didn't quite understand how we could have our bodies back because they would be all decayed and gross in the earth... hahaha i mean solid!

So we are walking around this neighborhood like we do, and we see a construction site they are pouring concrete and all that fun stuff. and a lot of the workers are hispanic, so Hermana Warner goes and talks to one of them because they were on break or something. So we give him a card and continue walking down the road. Then someone starts yelling at us, so we turn around and wave and continue walking. he keeps yelling and starts running after us! so we go back and talk to him, and he is like i saw you guys in walmart!!!! And so we got his address gave him a card and told a little about the gospel! His name was carlos! hahaha. 

ok, back to me....

On Friday night, Elder L. Tom Perry came to the mission and had a fireside. He came, along with Elder Rasband, Elder Meredith, and Elder Swix. They had the meeting in Memphis so it was broadcasted to my church building along with a few other missions in the southern states. It was about Hastening the Work of Salvation. There was a question and answer period where even people that were not there were able to text in and ask questions. This world is getting so technology savvy. I love one thing that was shared was that we have so many opportunities to share the gospel if we will just look for them. There are many times people ask us if we want coffee, or want to go somewhere on Sunday and we simple just say no. But this is a perfect opportunity to expand more and share a little bit about what we believe. 

Friday we learned how to make tamales from some of the members in the branch. We had a huge party on Saturday with papusas and tamales. They were very good. It was also someones birthday so we celebrated that too!

Oh yes, church was cancelled yesterday due to the rain/1 inch of snow. However, I completely agree and would way rather have everyone safe than risking  driving to church. (Especially since there are no snow plows in this state)  However, I personally think people are a little too paranoid to just drive in it. (JUST MY OPINION) 

Well, life is great. Thanks for all of your support. Love you all, the church is true and its the greatest blessing in my life!

Hermana Warner

PS. Shout out to my grandpa and dad who have birthdays this week! I love you both!

pictures:

district photo

fiesta

making tamales