Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

As of right now I have 14 minutes left... but hopefully they will let me have more time. 

A whole lot happened this week that I have to say! 

SO, on Monday we went caroling as a zone which was pretty fun. It's a little bit awkward to carol. But most people enjoy it. We finished by caroling for some members and they were prepared for us with some hot chocolate and apple cider. Which was really nice of them. I like apple cider. 

On Tuesday we had a crazy day. It was the day of our Mission Christmas party... it's a "Wa-Tac" tradition.... and WOW the missionaries let loose at that Christmas party. It was crazy. (Phew! 60 more minutes! Prayer works!) 

We got to Tacoma at 8:30 and socialized with all of our friends from the mission and then we got together as zones and had a white elephant gift exchange. My gift was a wooden walking cane with a honking horn and a rearview mirror attached. I found it at goodwill. The perfect gift. A few elders fought over it and eventually an elder from my last zone got it. I was lucky and ended up with a jar of nutella, some socks, and a framed embroidery of a girl and it says "God loveth a cheerful giver." 

After the gift exchange we sang songs in the gym. The gym was decked out with tables that were all nice and fancy. plates and cups were already set up, and there were plants and things on them. There were about 200 of us missionaries in there. Turns out missionaries love Christmas songs. We sang the 12 days of Christmas Wa-Tac style and oh my goodness. That was when the crazy came out. Each zone was supposed to stand up and yell out their part and each time the zones stood up they got crazier. We had ever missionary standing on chairs stomping their feet, we had missionaries sitting on chairs that were held up in the air by other missionaries, we had plates, cups, hats, plants, and everything else thrown in the air. There was screaming and yelling, and singing, and all sorts of craziness. At one point someone threw a FULL cup of water in the air and it landed right in front of me. And water went EVERYWHERE. I had to quickly save a few cameras that were sitting on the table... but nothing was damaged. Apparently last year they broke 4 tables... This year we were told that we could not stand on the tables. (probably for the best...) 

After that we had skits. Each zone introduced themselves and presented an ornament to hang on a Christmas tree and then they did a skit that was SUPPOSED to only be 10 minutes long. Some people didn't follow that. The skits ended up taking 2 hours longer than they were supposed to. The skits were supposed to be done by 2 and the party done by 4... But the skits didn't end until 4:30.... and the party ended at 6:30. 

It's probably good that this only happens once a year.

We finished up with a spiritual meeting about what it means to have a Savior. We also had some really pretty musical numbers and then we read Moroni 10 as a mission. (I finished the Book of Mormon for the 9th time this week! :))

Then we took a panoramic picture as a mission, and then we went home. 

On Wednesday, we were all a little wound up still from the party and excited about Christmas eve the next day, so we had a bit of trouble focusing during our District meeting... but we were able to learn about Why our purpose as missionaries is so important and why we are helping people come unto Christ. It was pretty good... 

The other sisters had brought a whole Costco pumpkin pie that some members gave them and it was going to expire that day. Something that you may not know about missionaries is that around the holiday season we get TONS of treats. We have no counter space right now because we have so many treats. So none of us really wanted any pie.... Someone came up with the brilliant idea to pie our zone leader in the face... so that's what ended up happening. It was really fun and really messy and some good District bonding time... The way one elder put it was "it was a great idea, it just wan't executed very well." We had to clean up the kitchen for a little while longer than we thought we would. 

Thursday was our Christmas eve. We weekly planned and then we visited some members and followed up on their challenge to pass out a Book of Mormon. Then we went caroling as a zone. 

After that we went to the Barneys and ate dinner. They had a yummy dinner all put together for us. They have the missionaries over for Christmas eve every year, so it was fun to go there. They gave us really cool Hoodies and a scarf with our name embroidered in it. 

We each got to share a Christmas spiritual thought, and that was fun too. 

After the Barneys we went to the Church building on Bainbridge island. The ward there had put together a fancy dinner for all the missionaries and gave us each stockings full of goodies. We were able to enjoy that time and then played games in the gym. It didn't really feel like a normal Christmas Eve but it was fun. 

On Christmas we got to sleep in til 8 am. That was a gift our Mission President gave us. Then we opened presents and studied. We spent sometime at the Military Relations missionaries home and played some games. Then we went to the Barneys and I got to skype my family. :) That was probably the best part of the week. It's nice to email each week, but it's way more fun to tell stories in person with my hands and my face and my voice and to see my family's reactions. 

After that we had dinner at a young families home on the Navy Base. They fed us German food. (He served his mission in Germany.) Then we went home and watched Mr. Krueger's Christmas. 

It was a great Christmas week. We really enjoyed our time with members and our families. 

The rest of the weekend was a bit hard. We had to get back in the swing of things. But we got one little tender mercy on Sunday that we weren't expecting. 

During our studies I looked out the window and noticed that it was raining pretty hard. Then I noticed what looked like a few flakes of snow. So, I obviously had to run to the window to look closer. But it just looked like rain... so I sadly went and studied some more. BUT then! I looked up and there WAS snow mixed with the rain. Then half an hour later it was JUST snow flakes. Washington snow is really wet so it wasn't sticking to the ground. But I prayed that it would stick and within 10 minutes it WAS! The world started to turn white and it was really pretty and I was just really grateful for all the beautiful things we have because God loves us.

We went to church and we weren't sure if people would show up but they did and we had a great sacrament meeting. But then the rest of church was cancelled. Which was weird. But nice for all the families, so they could have more time to spend with each other. 

So, that was our week. The snow is gone now. It just lasted for one day. It was very slushy, and made knocking a little bit difficult. This area is very hilly so we were slipping and sliding all over the place. 

So there you go. Now you have the longest email ever from a missionary that has almost no missionary work in it. Next week we will hit the pavement and find lots of people to teach and share the gospel with everything in us. :) 

For my spiritual thought I will share a quote from Thomas S. Monson:

"Courage is the word we need to hear and hold dear to our hearts-- courage to turn our backs on temptation, courage to lift up our voice in testimony to all whom we meet, remembering that everyone must have an opportunity to hear the message." 

This is a good reminder that it is SO important that we open our mouths and share our testimonies. This message must get to everyone and it's hard to do that if ONLY the full time missionaries are the ones opening their mouths. It's not just our responsibility, but everyone who has been blessed by this gospel message. So go out there and share your testimony this week! Make that your New Year Resolution! :) There is work to be done! 

I love you all and I hope you have a great week! 

Love, Sister Warburton

My white elephant present.

A cool water bottle that each of the missionaries got for Christmas

Elder Anderson about to pie Elder Werk. (Sister Taylor actually ended up doing it.)

Elder Werk after the pie. 

An ornament that we got at the Christmas party.

Elder Anderson posing with Sister Wilsons purse.

The candy from Elder Werk. 

My new hoodie.

Me in the 'hood.

My new punching bag.

Using my punching bag. 

My pajamas.

Me being diligent. 

More diligence.

The remains of some kind of bird on someone's porch...

More remains...

Me being really excited when the snow started. 

Pictures with Santa at the Christmas party. 

If you go to the website you can see a few pictures of what the Christmas party was like.

Merry Christmas!

So, I thought I'd be able to get more time on the computer, but I guess not. So I only have SIX minutes to type this. That is way more stressful than last week. 

This week not much happened anyways. 

We have been finding, finding, finding. Or actually TRYING to find. Nobody really wants to talk to us and nobody has time for us. We did have like one quality gospel conversation with a lady that invited us in for hot chocolate. 

It was kind of a rough week. I don't want to complain too much but since I try to be honest, this week was dark, and rainy, and cold, and my companion got me sick. AND I haven't admitted it to anyone, because I spent the last 10 months telling everyone that I never get sick. But that came back to bite me in the butt because the past few days I've been miserable. I have blown my nose SO many times. 

BUT this week is Christmas and so I won't let the fact that I'm sick get me down. 

Wellllll, I have 2 minutes left... so sorryy that this isn't a better email. 

I love you all and I hope that you have a great Christmas! 

Remember the reason for the season. Our savior Jesus Christ. :) 

Lots of love,

Sister Warburton

Merry Christmas from Sister Taylor and Sister Warburton

Me being a gangster missionary :) 

Sister Taylor in a field of grass.

A mural on a little stream thing. It's a mural of Seattle.

Hey Everyone!

Hello Friends and Family! 

How are things going?

I only have like 15 minutes for sure to email... maybe I'll get 30 extra minutes.... but I am just going to type as fast as my little fingers can go to get all the information to you as I can! 

Ready? 

So, Monday was great! It was my last day in Winlock (sad day) but we made it a great day! We got to have a zone activity... which, since the elders were in charge, was super creative.... We played Board games at the church... and then we played pictionary for a bit. Then we all went caroling instead of knocking which was pretty fun. To end the night I had to say my goodbyes to a few people and then we went to the Giffords and FINALLY burned the beehive couch! :D It was great! Best ending in an area ever! Then we roasted marshmallows over the couch fumes. (Just kidding, we made a separate fire.) 

Tuesday I got to say a few more goodbyes and then we drove to transfer meeting. It was a good meeting. Lot's of good testimonies from the missionaries going home, and some fun skits to welcome the new missionaries. It was dark outside when the meeting ended so finding everyone and getting the luggage switched from car to car was kind of fun... but we figured it out. 

My new companion is Sister Megan Taylor and she is great. She's from Elkridge, Utah. She's super relaxed so my stress levels have gone down considerably. Also, I don't have to drive this transfer! For the first time in 7 months! I think that probably contributed considerably. 8000 miles later and I can finally take a break! What a relief! 

Also, the bed in this apartment is the comfiest bed I have ever slept in. I slept 2 nights in a row without waking up at all and without having any crazy weird dreams. For some reason though, this week I've been super tired.  It could have to do with the rain that doesn't seem to want to go away. 

The Silverdale 6th area is nice. There isn't very much poverty here so some of the people are kind of hoity toity... but they need the gospel too. Half of our area is a Navy Base, which makes missionary work there a bit difficult too. But it's kind of cool. We get to go on the base occasionally. 

(I just got 60  more minutes! Yay!) 

Ummm, what else do you need to know? 

We don't really have any investigators right now. and we're having trouble finding new investigators. I get the feeling that this area has been knocked to death by missionaries. Because NO ONE will talk to us when we go knocking at night. In most of my areas people at least will listen to our door approach and will sometimes have short conversations with us. But here no one wants to talk to us at all. We can go an entire 2 hours of knocking without anyone letting us share more than a "Hi! We're the local missionaries and....*door shut* okay... Merry Christmas to you too...." 

It's real fun. 

BUT I still have faith that we can find people to teach! Hopefully their hearts will be softened as Christmas gets closer! :) 

So, the area is a bit rough for missionary work, but the ward is really great. There are lots of families with lot's of kids. A lot of the moms are return missionaries which is pretty cool. Our ward mission leader considers himself the "Best WML Ever" He even has a t shirt that says that. He LOVES his missionaries and so, even if the area doesn't love us, our mission leader loves us enough for allllllll the people. Brother and Sister Barney consider themselves our parents while we're here, and they say that once we serve here we are always considered their children. Also, fun fact, Brother Barney's birthday is on the same day as mine. Pretty cool. 

Serving a mission is so much fun because I have made so many friends that I will hopefully stay in touch with. If not in this life, at least I plan on having a pretty big party in heaven with everyone I meet on my mission. I have loved all of my bishops, all of my ward mission leaders, all of the young women that have gone knocking with us, and everyone else that I've met. I get a taste of what the Savior feels for ALL of us, because my heart keeps expanding to make room for the new people I meet each day. 

So, that was my week. I'm just getting to know the area and we're working to get the work moving forward here. There's a lot of work to do but we've brainstormed some ideas. 

For my spiritual thought, I just want to talk about the Savior again. Because I'm still studying that topic. 

Luke 2:10-11 "Fear not: for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." 

I like this scripture because it reminds us that we don't need to fear! There's no reason to, because we have a Savior, Jesus Christ. He's come and all we need to do is have faith in Him and follow Him. Don't worry, don't be afraid. 

"Faith in the Savior taught me that no matter what happened in the past, my story could have a happy ending." (Dieter F. Uchtdorf, A Summer With Great Aunt Rose)

I read this talk this week and this quote just really stuck out to me. Having a Savior doesn't just mean that we will be saved from our sins, but it also means that everything is going to work out. We can become clean, we can find peace, we can be happy, goodbyes aren't goodbye, and ultimately we can return to our Father in heaven which is MY ultimate goal. We are all destined to have an ETERNAL Happy Ending. And that brings me peace. 

I love you all and I miss you and I hope that as you prepare for Christmas you can focus on the Savior and remember why we celebrate Christmas. It's a great time to think about where we are at and what we are doing and where we are headed. 

Have a great week! 

Lot's of Love,

Sister Warburton

This is Sister Taylor.

The Winlock District. Best District ever! (Our name was the Guerreros de Verdad!) 

Couch burning.

More couch burning.

The Giffords, our adopted grandparents.

The hole in our apartment.

I asked her about the hole...."I am not exactly sure why there was a hole in the house... but I guess once one of the past elders was really messy and put ALLL of his dirty clothes and stuff that was on the floor and hid it in the hole for an apartment inspection. I was hoping there would be some hidden treasure in it... but there wasn't. Maybe it's for like storage? instead of an attic?" 

Helloooo! (New Address)

Hey Everyone! How's it going? 

We had a really good week this week! Lot's of stuff happened. 

Tuesday consisted of service at a thrift store. We organized books. Someone donated a Book of Mormon! That was kind of cool. Hopefully someone will buy it and read it! :) 

We met a bunch of dogs while knocking. Lot's of big dogs. Big menacing dogs. 

This was kind of funny. We walked down a REALLY longgggg darrrrkkkkk road. We reached a fork, and we knew both of them went to the same house, but one had no trespassing signs and the other didn't. So we went down the other road of course. There were some weird alien wood carvings at the fork, but we ignored them.  So, we went on and got to the house and there was a big black dog just sniffing or eating out a garbage bag. Now, if you've seen the first Harry Potter movie, do you remember the part where Harry is in the Forbidden forest and he sees Voldemort eating the Unicorn blood? And then Voldemort turns around and looks at Harry? haha That's what this dog reminded me of. It wasn't on a leash or fenced in. So we were trying to be really quiet and figure out how to reach the door. But then the dog turned around and noticed us and was MAD that we were there. It almost killed us but then the owner came out. (just kidding it didn't almost kill us. I've gotten pretty good at keeping dogs from biting me. But it was still pretty scary.) So that was super fun. 

Wednesday we got to do MORE service. We helped for a bit at the Elementary school. I like helping there because the kids are super cute. Also, Bishop Calder is the principal so we saw him when we were there. 

On Thursday it was really dark during knocking again andddd rainy. Aurora, the 11 year old we've been teaching had her baptismal interview and passed! :) Then we went to the Hartzell's house. They had an early Christmas present for us, and when we unwrapped them I had to laugh pretty hard. We use Sister Philippi's flashlight when we are knocking, but they didn't think that was enough so they gave us each a giant flashlight that is 1300 lumens! Which I've never heard of but they are SUPER bright flashlights. They light up everything! Now we'll never knock in the dark again! haha

Friday was great! We did even MORE service, nobody ever takes us up on our offer to serve, so it was nice to get to do so much this week. We helped at the elementary school again. They have a Santa's Workshop, where the kids come in and pick out presents and buy them and then volunteers wrap them for their family. So I got to help wrap presents. It was pretty fun, but I am not very good at wrapping presents. 

After that we got to go to the church to fill up the font again! :D 

Aurora got baptized at 4 pm and there was a pretty good turnout. :) Her older brother and sister got baptized about a year ago, but she didn't really want to get baptized then. Bishop sent us over there about a month ago, and we asked her if she wanted to learn the lessons, and she wasn't super sure about it but she agreed, and then we taught her the first lesson and asked if she wanted to get baptized and she said yes! :) 

So, she got baptized and it was her own decision, which is pretty cool for an 11 yr old. She's awesome. I thought it was kind of funny, she wanted me to baptize her and I had to explain that I couldn't, haha. But it was a nice thought, haha. 

Oh, I'm too lazy to retype this, but we did the Santa's workshop on Thursday and helped a member on Friday morning. 

We also did service Friday night washing dishes at the Senior Center. 

On Saturday we did service again helping with a city wide "Walk 'n Knock" which was a food drive. We didn't go knock on doors, but we sorted food. 

We also had a lesson with the Bradshaw family. They are the family that came to church last week. They came to church again! and they came to the Ward Christmas party! The 7 year old, Brooklyn, got to be the angel in the Nativity. I thought that was pretty cool that they involved the Bradshaw kids. :) 

The Christmas party was pretty fun. We had a good turnout and we ate some really good food! :) 

Sadly, we got our transfer call while we were there and I found out that I am being shipped off again... far far away from Winlock. 

I'm being sent to the Silverdale 6th ward. Tomorrow. I've spent the weekend trying to say all my goodbyes. I love love love love this ward. But I'm sure I'll love Silverdale too. It'll definitely be different. 

There are a bunch of elders in here talking and yelling and making noise so I'm struggling to get words from my mind onto this email. But I'll try to power through. 

Sunday was good. (Oh Phew! The elders left!) 

We went around and said goodbye to all of our investigators. Then we went to the stake center to watch the Christmas Devotional. 

After the Devotional we went to Bishop Calders house for the Bishop's Sundae Sunday. (Youth fireside) We had a white elephant gift exchange. That was pretty fun. I like our bishop and the youth leaders and the youth. The power went out at the end, so we got our super powerful flashlight and lit up the room. I won a round chicken stuffed animal. I'm going to name it Wendel the Winlock Chicken. (It's the perfect souvenir because Winlock is the egg capitol of the world!) 

Phew. So, that was my week. Tonight we are going to finally burn the couch. I'll just get everyone there, so I can say goodbye all at once. Because goodbyes stink. 

For my spiritual thought, I just wanted to share what I learned in my studies this week. 

I've been trying to focus on the Savior and so I've been paying attention in my BoM reading when it mentions the Savior. I thought it was cool that Elder Bednar talked about the Book of Mormon version of the Christmas story because that's where I'm reading this week.

 

In 3 Nephi 8: 20-21 when Christ dies in Jerusalem, America is enveloped in darkness. "And it came to pass that there was thick darknes upon all the face of the land... and there could be no light, because of the darkness." 

It was super dark, and I think that would be miserable. I've knocked doors in pretty dark areas, but even then I can still see, we still have the phone, or a flashlight, or the moon or the stars. But pure, thick darkness for 3 days would probably feel worse than death. But then when Christ rose again, the light came back. And I like that Elder Bednar brought up what Christ said: "I am the light and the life of the world." And it just brings everything back to the Christmas video "A Savior is Born" and Why we have a Savior. And it reminds me of what the world would be like if there wasn't a Savior. Without a Savior, we would be in darkness. We would be miserable. There would be no hope for spiritual death. But we DO have a Savior. We do have hope. We DO have light and life. And that life is wonderful! 

I am so grateful for the Savior. I am so so grateful that I know Him and that I have felt His love. 

"...because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so." - Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

I'm grateful for our Savior. 

Oh!  And my new address is:  (please ask my mom....she is too worried about putting my address on the internet for all the world to see)  I thought I'd make it noticeable so you wouldn't miss it.  I like mail.  Especially with Christmas coming up! :)

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week! 

Love, Sister Warburton

​(We thought it would be fitting to sit on our bee infested couch. :) It is bee free! )

The Bradshaw family! I love them!!! 

Renee our investigator. 

The Naillons. A part member family. 

The Smith family! :) We had a snowball fight with them! 

Sister Philippi and Isabelle Laingham. One of the young women. :) 

The White Elephant Gift exchange. 

Aurora on her baptism day! :) 

Sister Philippi's mom sent her hand warmers and you sent me toe warmers. we thought it was pretty funny. :)