One Transfer Complete (Washington - Week 6)

​Hello Everyone!

Today is the very last day of my first transfer. 6 weeks down!

This is our 'Transfer one' picture. Except we are both staying.

This week has been wonderful as always! Being a missionary really is very fun and time flies by. It's great! :)

On Monday, we had a sisters p-day at the mission home where a few of the sisters from the mission all got together and ate yummy Cambodian food. (We have 3 Cambodian sisters, who teach Cambodian people) It was really fun.

That night wasn't super successful. All of our appointments fell through and while we were knocking we had a bit of a scare.  Because of the large amount of dogs in Washington, we have to be careful while knocking on doors that have gates around the yard. We always shake the gate before opening it to make sure the dogs are inside. (I think out of the hundreds of houses I have been to, I have only seen about 3 without any dogs.) Anyways, so we went to a house, shook the gate, there was no sign of any dogs, so we went in and knocked on the door. While waiting we heard barking, and assumed it was from a neighboring yard, but then it got louder and then there were two dogs running and barking coming around the corner of the house towards us! Gosh, I had about three heart attacks in a row. I even screamed. Which isn't something I do. I tend to have silent fear. I also ran into the door in my fear. The lady inside opened the door and looked at us with indifference and said "We're eating. Go away." and then shut the door. Not caring that her dogs were about to kill us.  Anyways, we quickly, and as calmly as we could, left the yard, trying to keep the dogs from biting us, and then wobbled on our jello legs to the next house. 

I am pretty good at finding charity towards humans but I hate dogs. I hate animals. I don't even like cats all that much anymore. I have decided that there is no way, absolutely NO WAY I will ever have a pet dog or cat. I won't have ferrets, or hamsters, or anything that stinks or bites, or sheds or anything. If I ever have any desire to pet a dog, I'll just go to a friends house, but honestly I doubt I ever will. Dogs are so invasive. They are gross and their noses are all wet and gross, and they rub their fur all over you, and sometimes they go under your skirt. It's obnoxious. Also, have you ever had your arm licked by a cat? Disgusting.

I apologize to all of you dog lovers that are reading this.....but not really because dogs are annoying and gross.  

Anyways, sorry for all of that negativity. It just had to come out.

One thing that added to my testimony of prayer happened this week: We decided to knock in the neighborhood right by the church. We have been avoiding it because people told us that they REALLY don't like the missionaries and will call the church. But we decided to knock it anyways, before we did, though, we prayed that the people would be nice to us. Even if they weren't interested.

Not one person was mean to us, in the two days that it took us to knock the neighborhood. One girl, drove up to the house while we were at her door and felt bad because we might think they were ignoring us (They had a lot of cars there already) She also let us help her clean her car when we offered. She normally would have said no, but she knows that it helps to pass the time and we wouldn't offer if we didn't want to help. So we helped her clean and vacuum mouse poop out of her car. While we helped she told us about her family.

Later we knocked on a door and this guy with a ton of face piercings opened the door and said he wasn't interested but then his wife asked for a book of Mormon. Then they let us come in. They never would have let missionaries in their house before, but she has one friend that is a member of the church who is super nice and always comes over. She had a lot of medical issues and at one point was unable to walk for 2 years and all of her friends stopped coming over, except for this one lady. Because of her kindness she let the missionaries in and said we could come back another time and teach her a little bit. Isn't that cool!? :)

We spent most of Friday in Tahuya, knocking on doors of less active members, but no one was home. it was disappointing. Tahuya is a beautiful place though and while we were there we really needed to go to the bathroom so we used a port a potty at a park, that had a merry go round. I played on it, while Sister Harris was in the bathroom.

This is the port a potty in Tahuya.

Here are some haikus that Sister Harris wrote that night about Tahuya:

 

Appointments fall through

We're getting low on miles

Missionary Work.

These are from park day. We were walking on a really pretty road so of course we had to take selfies.

Went to Tahuya

That place is so far away

But no one was home.

For dinner that night we were talking to a recent convert who is less active and we were talking a little bit about gifts of the spirit. At one point she asked me what mine is. So I thought about it and said, "Well, I think I'm pretty empathetic towards others. I feel pain when other people are in pain, and I cry when other people cry." Then she said "you aren't empathetic, you are an empath." Then she talked about some mystical things and talked about how she is a psychic and how she knows things are going to happen before they do. It was a little bit hokey pokey... She and I were talking about different kinds of gifts of the Spirit I think...

"Have you ever been walking in a crowd and just felt angry for no reason?"

"Um... no, I don't think so... maybe?..."

"Hmm, well maybe you haven't fully developed your gift yet, but if that ever does happen, just remember that it isn't you, it is someone else's anger. As you realize that, you will be able to get your gift under control."

(This was part of our conversation... hahahaha)

Nothing else too exciting happened. We had some really good lessons this week and one of our investigators, Ashley, was able to come to Women's Conference with us. She loved the idea of Eternal Families and had a lot of questions about the temple and how it works to seal a family together forever.

Something that I was thinking about this week that I think is cool, is that as a missionary, I have come to realize that the Gospel of Jesus Christ really does have an answer to everything. I have a deeper understanding, the more I study the scriptures and what I have to teach others, of why I am here on my mission, why I am here on Earth, why Jesus came to earth, what His purpose was, etc.

God loves us, He is our literal Father in heaven. The only way to have a perfect body like His, was to combine our spirits with a body. In order to do that we had to come to earth. We also had to learn and grow and build our knowledge and testimonies so that we could fulfill our potential. To do THAT, Jesus Christ had to come here to earth to prepare the way for us, to Atone for our sins, to sacrifice himself for us, and to teach us what we need do to return to heaven. He taught that we need to have faith, repent, be baptized by the proper authority of God, receive the gift and companionship of the Holy Ghost, and then ENDURE to the end.

So, why do we have commandments? To bring us happiness. God knows that if we do these certain things we will be happier, we will have more peace, and we will be free to truly make our own choices.

Why do we pray? Because the only way we can be blessed is if we open ourselves to the blessings of God.

Why do hard things happen to us? Because they help us to learn and grow. When we survive hard things, we become more capable to survive other hard things. Trust God and know that He will never give you anything harder than you can handle. 

"Good timber does not grow with ease,

The stronger wind, the stronger trees.

The further sky, the greater length.

The more the storm, the more the strength.

By sun and cold, by rain and snow,

In trees and men good timbers grow."

When you study the scriptures, the Book of Mormon and the Bible, when you pray, when you trust God and have faith. You can find answers to ALL of your questions. You won't find answers from the world. The world doesn't have the answers. The Gospel does. Even if you don't trust church organizations, trust God, and leave it to him. Pray to know truth and you will receive it.

I love you all and miss you! Follow the commandments, and get your own answers for why you are doing that. Remember that you are loved and prayed for!

<3 Sister Warburton

 

The pretty road.

These are Sister Harris' glasses. They are real.

This is Sister Russell and her diesel truck from last week. Isn't she adorable?

This is from forever ago, but I sent you the wrong picture. The one I sent was unfocused.

Washington Zion's Recreation Camp

What a fun surprise!!  An email with pictures from the Zion's Camp missionaries:

Just some fun pictures of Sister Warburton and Sister Harris doing service here at Zion's Camp. They have done other needed jobs as well.   They have asked to come and give service here every Saturday, and who could turn that down!! We gladly feed them for their efforts!! We love, love, love your girls and so appreciate them-you have raised them well and you should be soooo proud!!

Zion's Camp Missionaries:

Elder & Sister Bishop

Elder & Sister Noel

Elder & Sister Newman
 

Hello from Belfair! (Washington Week 5)

Hello everyone!

I live in the most beautiful state!

Being a missionary is the best thing ever! If you are thinking about serving a mission, pray about it and give it a chance because I thought there was no way I would ever enjoy being a missionary, but look at me now!  I'm Sister Warburton! I knock on hundreds of doors. I wake up early every morning, and eat a giant meal from members every single night...I've even eaten a few potatoes (but I think word is spreading that I don't like potatoes very much, so that's good...)

Last Monday after emailing I went and played capture the flag with my zone. Then they all wanted to play dodge ball and forced me to play it. Can I just say, that I have avoided PE since fifth grade, because I was afraid of one day playing dodge ball? Anyways, who knew that I'd have to face that fear on my mission? I had even forgotten about it until last week. Elders go all out and the more they play the harder they throw. Scary. I played for a few minutes and then when they forgot about me I sat down and just watched...and got pelted in the face. 

Heavenly Father is just making sure I get over ALL of my fears. It's a blessing. Haha.

 

A suggestion for missionary exercise. "You might march to approved music."

 On Wednesday, we had a temple trip.  We get to go to the temple once a year, so I'll get to go again next March. It was a fun experience. We rode on school buses and had some nice bonding time with all the missionaries in my zone.

 

My zone! And President and Sister Blatter. 

 

This is the two of us at the temple.

It's funny that I thought all the Elders were so wise and old (missionary wise) when I first got here, and now I realize that they came onto their missions straight out of high school and still have high school minds... I'm actually older than almost all of them. They know more about sharing the gospel, but I don't feel as inadequate as I did. One of them said "We were up until 1 am last night exercising because we had so many energy drinks!" 

These are the elders that literally said, a few weeks ago, "I have a testimony of exact obedience, I KNOW that it brings blessings." Haha!

Anyways, the missionaries in my zone are really awesome and dedicated and have strong testimonies. It's just funny to see the behind the scenes versions of missionaries. No one is perfect but as long as we are trying, that's all that matters. 

Friday was Sister Harris' birthday. She turned 20. One of her former investigators decided to be baptized so that was an awesome birthday present to her. We got to go to Sequim and see the baptism. A sweet old lady in our ward gave us a ride. She is so awesome. She's the one I think I talked about that is teeny tiny, exercises every day, and drives a ginormous diesel truck. She lives by herself deep in the forests of Tahuya. I love her.  I also have a picture that I'm going to send you next week of Sister Russell next to her diesel truck because it's hilarious.

We also had dinner at our Ward Mission Leaders house for her birthday. Our Ward Mission Leader is this quiet guy that isn't very outgoing and I think it's hilarious seeing his family because his wife, and two daughters are SUPER talkative and energetic and a little boy crazy. Their little boy is exactly like the dad. Quiet and serious. It's a good balance. Brother Waite (The WML) came home the other night and told his wife "Do you know how cute our missionaries are? I think they are my favorite." :) That just warmed my heart. We're his favorite missionaries so far...because we're awesome. :) 

On Saturday, our service at Zion's Camp was cleaning mouse poop off of bunk beds. It was a very glamorous job. Only the very best of the best are asked to do jobs like that. :) 

I think I'm going to take a little bit of time to tell you guys about our investigators because I'm a missionary and my favorite thing to talk about is the people I'm teaching.  I love them so much and I just know that they are going to be baptized. :)

 

Andi, is our most progressing. We taught her on Tuesday. We answered her questions about coming to church. We invited her to baptism, but she feels like she needs to read the entire Book of Mormon before she agrees to anything. She's the one that is RLDS. I think she is starting to realize that this church is the true church and that through the gospel of Jesus Christ she can be healed of all of her hurts. 

Becca is a stay at home mom that we found while knocking doors. She is so sweet and happy, but I feel like she feels lonely staying at home so often. We taught her the Restoration this week and she just soaked it all in. She's going to read the Book of Mormon and the pamphlets, and we gave her the General Conference Edition of the Ensign to read so she could learn from the prophets. She grew up Christian but not in a certain church so she's really open minded and wants to learn and to know for herself if this church is true. 

Susan is the 10 year old who wants us to teach her. She is so sweet. We brought her to church on Wednesday night and she loved it! She wanted to come back to church on Sunday but when we picked her up she said she couldn't come. I love her so much, and wish I could take her under my wing. Her family is crazy, their house is a disaster, I worry about her because it looked like she had a black eye when we came on Sunday, but later her mom said that it was just make up from the night before... so hopefully that's the case. We're going to try to get permission for her to come to the church every Wednesday even though Activity days is only twice a month, just so she can have some time away from home to learn about the gospel and to just have fun with good kind people. She wants to be "bathetized" Which is what she thinks we say, when we say baptized.

Mary Hough and her son, Charlie, and his girlfriend all live together. Mary and Charlie are members of the church but they don't come, and Katie, the girlfriend isn't a member. Mary is really sweet and wants to come back to church but her husband died a few years ago and I think that made it hard for her to get to church. Charlie was baptized as a child, but doesn't believe in the church anymore. He says that he always felt judged in high school, and believes in the Gospel but refuses to come to church because of how judgmental people are. Katie is a really nice girl who wants to learn more, and so we are going to start teaching her, but really we'll be teaching all of them...they just don't know it. :) 

Side note: It makes me sad that there are so many people who have had one or a few bad experiences with members of the church, and have a bad view of the church now. We can teach them the doctrine, but we can't fix those experiences. If everyone was kinder, and more loving to each other, so many more people would be more accepting of the church. So, make an effort to love everyone. Pray for charity, pray that you will be able to see the child of God in everyone. Don't judge people because they sin differently than you do. It's not worth it. We are all brothers and sisters in God's family and we should make more of an effort to love everyone. 

Last investigators are the Leinnewebers. They are the ones we helped move and who have a lot of craziness going on all the time. When we come over, the boys think we are there to play...haha...but we told them we will baptize them, and they still let us come over.  Last night we had a family home evening and we got the whole family to sit down and listen to the Plan of Salvation. We taught them about where we came from, why we are here and where we are going. They all sat and listened and even asked questions. The spirit was there and it was amazing because I didn't think they would sit still for us. Even the husband, Chris, listened to us. It was beautiful. I can't wait to teach them more.

Anyways, this is a novel. Once again. Sorry.  I love you all, feel free to write me letters! 

Love, Sister Warburton

 

Sister Harris' glasses make my eyes look bigger. I have another picture on her camera where I look bigger, but she forgot it so I'll send it to you next week.

 

 

 

Stay Dry! (Washington, Week 4)

Hello Everyone!

Washington is going great this week! Lot's of things are going on!

On Monday, after emailing I played volleyball for the first time, with my zone. I stink at volleyball. But the good thing about missionaries, is that we really just want to have fun, if I don't do very well it's okay, because no one else is either! :) I think the rest of my zone just appreciates that Sister Harris and I came because we are the only sisters in the zone and I imagine that without us, there would not be a whole lot of good decision making going on. haha. 

On Tuesday I went on my first exchange with the Sister Training Leaders. We don't really know what the point of these exchanges are. Sister Heaton, the one I was with, said she doesn't really know what she's supposed to do, but I guess STL's are mostly just supposed to love the rest of the sister missionaries and make sure things are going alright. Sister Heaton is super nice and a lot of fun, and really spiritual. I learned a lot from her. One thing that was super helpful that I learned while knocking on doors from her was one phrase that she used. Are you ready for this? It's genius. 

We knocked on a door that said "No Solicitors" just like every house in all of Belfair says. Then the lady opened the door and just pointed to her sign. Sister Heaton looked at it and then said "We're proselytors, not solicitors. If you had put no proselytors or solicitors, then we wouldn't have knocked." 

GENIUS! 

People tell us all the time that solicitors aren't allowed in the neighborhood, and we know that we aren't solicitors, but we don't ever know what to say and it gets really awkward! But NOW WE KNOW! So great. I actually said it last night. But he just got mad at us and shut the door. Oh well. :) 

Also on my exchange we went to visit, Judy, an investigator of hers who is really down in the dumps right now. She recently lost her job, her home, and her husband. And I guess she had to move into this small apartment by herself and then her pet bird/best friend died.  She was crying and asking why God would take everything away from her and I felt so sad for her. But it was a little funny because she was more sad about the bird than everything else. She said "Have you ever seen such a beautiful bird? (While showing us pictures) It's amazing that God could make a bird so beautiful." Then later she said "I can't wait to go to Heaven. It'll be cool to see Ernie(her husband) but it will be even better to see my bird!" Poor lady. We were able to share a few talks with her about moving forward and knowing that God loves us and that we can learn and grow from our trials. 

On Wednesday we had dinner with this lady ALL the way in Tahuya. It took us 45 minutes to get there. She lives in the woods in this cute little house on some water. She's this little 75 year old lady who I can tell grew up full of spunk and fire. She drives a giant truck and when we were talking about how long it takes to get here she said "It's not that far, just a 20 minute drive." We looked at each other and were like "20 minutes!" haha Anyways she made us dumplings and banana cream pie and had some bread and butter. This is so sad, Sister Harris and I had some bread and butter, and then more bread and butter, and then more. Afterwards we were like, "This is the best thing I've ever tasted!" The reason is: The sisters before us left some of that "I can't believe it's not butter!" in the fridge and so we've been using that on toast, and I totally can believe that it isn't butter. It is disgusting! Also, if it isn't butter then what is it?! Because there is literally nothing else written on the tub besides "I can't believe it's not butter!" No nutrition facts, no ingredients, nothing. 

So, Sister Russell gave us a box of butter. Which was super awesome of her. I've had toast for every meal since. 

We then went to Young Women's and played Family feud with them. One non member girl was there and so it wasn't a waste of time... man! I missed Young Women's! Those girls are so fun! 

One night this week we went and picked up food for dinner from a member and she's very... organic. She puts the food in Jars and it's totally organic. It was some kind of soup with beans and meat and stuff and then there were two jars of farm fresh milk and then some cookies. It smelled super good so we were excited, we took pictures of it and said "Wow, we're so healthy! This is awesome!" Then we said a prayer and took a bite... it was SO BAD. I feel bad saying that, but it was just a huge shock. Sister Harris, said "I think my mouth has just been violated." She pushed her bowl away and went for a cookie. She took a bite of that and was like "Are these supposed to be cookies? I don't think they are." They turned out to be little organic bread things disguised as cookies. But the farm fresh milk was really good! 

This is the organic food. Doesn't it look pretty?

That same day we had had like 4 appointments and we were feeling pretty good about the day but then all of them were cancelled. So we were feeling a little bummed. We went to visit a potential but she wasn't home either. Then we saw the house of a lady from our ward whose husband is in a nursing home, and she is having surgery in a few weeks. We decided to visit her, because, even though she is an active member of the church, our job as missionaries is also to love and serve all of God's children and to lift them up. So we stopped by and talked to her and she was just feeling so sad and downhearted and even though she's an old lady, she still has low self esteem, which is so sad, so we lifted her up and told we loved her and that she is beautiful and a daughter of God and reminded her of her divine nature. We told her that every thought that comes to her mind that is mean or harmful is not of God. Satan puts those thoughts into our minds. Not God. So, what she needs to do, when she thinks unkindly of herself is to say "Get thee hence, Satan" and remember that God loves her. 

Saturday was an interesting day. We went to another old ladies house for lunch. At dinner a few weeks ago we mentioned that we liked seafood and she was really excited to feed us oysters. We were a little worried about that because we've never tried oysters and honestly, they sounded disgusting.. but we went over and ate them, and they turned out to be delicious! Isn't that crazy? I guess the trick is to get them really fresh, like right out of the water, and then roll them in flour and fry them in coconut oil and butter for a few minutes. That's it. And they taste good. Just don't look at them while you eat them. 

Then we went and did service at Zion's camp again. I love that place. Washington is so lucky, they have SIX church camps! We got to go and look at the lake and go inside one of the cabins that has bunk beds from a submarine instead of normal bunk beds. It's pretty nifty.

After that we went to visit the family we helped move a few weeks ago. The boys answered the door and the younger one, who speaks very loudly and dramatically said "YOU DO NOT WANT TO COME IN HERE! THERE IS A SNAKE ON THE LOOSE!" But we came in anyways and there were 5 little boys running around, a ginormous albino/blind/deaf great dane/horse running around and one other dog that was barking and running around and another lady that we hadn't met before and Chris, the dad, using a walker because he just had back surgery. We tried to help them find the snake but things were crazy. A lesson obviously wasn't going to happen then. The mom came home and looked at us and just kind of apologetically smiled at us haha we looked for the snake for a little while more and then set up another appointment and left. 

The RLDS lady that we are teaching had a church tour on Wednesday and said that if it rains on Sunday she would come. So, we prayed for rain, obviously and our prayers worked. It rained a whole lot. BUT SHE CAME TO CHURCH!!!! Her grandson is not very good around new people or at sitting still so she was going to sit with him in primary, but then we sent her to Relief Society and we stayed in primary with him. It was a long hour, but Andi loved Relief Society! She was smiling when she left and we were so glad she stayed the whole three hours! 

Sadly, the rain continued, which just goes to show how much faith we have, haha. and knocking was interesting. We were drenched by the end and no one liked us on that street. More people than usual got mad at us, but it's okay. Afterwards we went to a members house and asked for hot chocolate. Luckily, they love us and gave us some. :) My dream is to be knocking one day and to knock  on the door of a lonely old lady who loves grandmothering and to have her say "Oh, you poor dears, come on inside and share a message with me, also, I just pulled these chocolate cookies out of the oven, would you like some?" 

Is that so much to ask? 

Haha, I love it here. I love being a missionary. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to spend two years loving people! 

I love you all! Send me emails/letters and keep me updated on your lives! 

Be safe and stay dry! :) 

Sister Warburton

Mushrooms! Aren't they cute?! We found them at Zion's Camp.

SNAIL!!!!

Washington - Week 3 or "I can write nice emails but I'm not creative with the title...sorry."

I've now been on my mission for like 5 weeks. I feel like I'm an expert now. haha just kidding. But it's a blast! Being a missionary is fun.

I don't have to worry about school, or dating, or homework, or earning money or anything! All I have to worry about is the salvation of souls! (Which isn't stressful at all! haha)

I forgot to make a list of things I wanted to write about this week, so hopefully, this one will be just as interesting as the others. 

Let's see, the sun kept shining, but in the mornings we've had some super thick fog which makes driving interesting. I feel like most scary movies take place in Belfair. Can someone look up how many scary movies are filmed in Washington for me? (Don't tell me about them, I just want to know if that's a thing.) The fog looks really cool though when the sun comes up and shines through the trees and the fog. There are few things more beautiful than that I think. Actually, I find most nature beautiful as long as it isn't dead grass. 

I say "Oh my goodness, Washington is so beautiful." about 300 million times a day, ask Sister Harris. She's nice though and hasn't gotten annoyed at me yet. 

We got to do a lot of service projects this week which was really fun. One thing that was fun was going to Zion's camp and painting part of the ropes course. The missionaries that work there are awesome and take good care of us. They were worried about us getting paint on our clothes so they came up with a solution:

Try not to be too jealous of how stylish we look. 

I think she turned into Sister Cindy Lou Who

We also got to help in some apple orchards, clean a fridge (and sneakily teach the gospel while doing it).

We taught a lot of lessons this week and found a lot of people to teach. I started to get a little overwhelmed because we have a TON of people to teach and talk to and not enough time to do everything. 

​This is our white board. Those are the people we are supposed to meet with every week. There should be about 3 more people on there.

There are a lot of reasons why I decided to come on a mission. But one of them is because when I was in high school I would read scriptures that said something like "Wicked people will be stuck with fire and brimstone for all eternity if they don't repent." And in high school that scared me because I thought there was no hope for me. Now I read them and I worry for the billions of people who it seems have hopeless futures ahead of them. I don't want ANYONE to be stuck with fire and brimstone. That just makes me so sad. Every person who is on the earth made the choice before to follow Christ and His plan. Every one of those people were born with the light of Christ inside of them. Then they forgot and fell away and made bad choices and so many people don't know what they need. 

I get overwhelmed at this point because I don't want anyone to be lost forever, and I feel like it's up to me to make sure these Children of God know what to do. I want everyone I meet to be baptized, not to build up numbers for the church, not so I can be the best missionary ever, but so they can live with Heavenly Father again, because I love them. 

But I'm trying to remember to take baby steps and go one day at a time. Everything will be okay.

Other highlights from this week:

We had a mission conference on Saturday and Elder Richard G. Maynes from the presidency of the 70 spoke to us. Also, Elder Nielsen and Elder Bussy(?) were also there. It was pretty fun. One thing he said that stuck out to me was "We don't look backward, we always move forward." 

Also, "Missionary work is hard work, but in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we do hard things." 

(If you aren't serving a mission you can still be an awesome member missionary! Remember that everyone is a child of God, we love them and want to help them live with Heavenly Father again! So go out and be missionaries!)

Funny Tracting Story:

Last night Sister Harris and I were walking, at 6:30, down a long dirt road. We were looking for houses to knock on and talking to each other. We said something like, "Wow, Daylights Savings is awesome because if we had been here yesterday this road would be really dark and scary, knocking won't be scary anymore with all this light!" Then we walked past a house that had a reallly large dog chained up trying desperately to get off and eat us. So we said, "Thank goodness for strong chains." We were feeling pretty awesome and determined, when we heard barking and saw two HUGE dogs running toward us. We thought there was a fence but then all of a sudden, they were on the road heading toward us. It was absolutely terrifying. We hugged each other and got a lot closer than we've been so far and prayed that they wouldn't kill us, and then they stopped barking and let us pet them. Phew! Faith works! Anyways, we were really shaken by then and didn't feel safe anymore. Washington is still just as scary even with more light. haha. 

Feel free to pray for a leash law. 

If I didn't like dogs before, I like them even less now. 

We wear these really stylish reflector belts when we are out knocking. It's very professional and hip.

Anyways, Washington is great. Being a missionary is fun because I get to spend my days talking to people, hearing stories, teaching the gospel, sharing my testimony, serving others, and the members feed us delicious food every night. In fact, somehow there was a mix up and next Saturday I guess we are scheduled for 4 meals... Which is going to be really painful. One of those meals is oysters because I think I accidentally gave someone the impression that I like oysters... O.o Wish me luck. 

In Washington you find random art statements and decorations the the unlikeliest places. It says: 'Witch Parking Only. Violators will be toad." hehe.

I love you all and miss you! Keep emailing me and sending me letters! Thank you to those of you who already have! 

(Thank you youth for the minion twinkies and hearts!) 

Lots of love!

Sister Warburton

Pictures

Here is our beautiful district! 

Love and miss you!!! 

Alyssa Stastny

Washington...Week 2

Once again, I have a lot to say but hopefully less than last week. I made another list of things to say so bear with me. :)

Belfair is such an interesting place. We continue to knock on doors every night from 5-7. And most people really don't care about us. Actually that's not true, they worry about us walking around in the dark but they don't care enough to invite us inside. There is ONE neighborhood in the area it's a golf course neighborhood so a lot of people live in it, but the people there have a petition to get rid of missionaries. It's funny though because almost every single house has a welcome sign or a welcome mat or both. They all are really cute inviting houses, but then we get to the door and they say to go away. Some houses might even call the cops on us. Wouldn't that be fun? I'm hoping it happens once so I can tell you guys that I got arrested. :) The cops wouldn't actually do anything to us, they'd probably just take us back home to satisfy the grumpy old people. 

The other night we were knocking on doors and I had to to to the bathroom quite bad. And we got to a house and my companion was like "Do you have another woman in the house? Because my companion needs to use the restroom." and then he was like, "my wife is here, but uhhh, no you can't use our restroom." ......awkward. WHO DOES THAT? 

Sometimes though, we get to a door and an old person answers and will tell us their life story. I love when that happens. One lady was 85 and she told us everything that her mother taught her and told us about her multiple husbands and how one almost killed her but because she listened to her mom's advice she is still alive and her kids are still alive and that the most important thing in life is to remember the things your mom teaches you, no matter what religion you are. She talked for about 30 minutes. She was really sweet. 

Another man talked to us for an hour about how he doesn't believe in God and religion because people like the Muslims and the ISIS are so corrupt. He also brutally described the things going on over there and told us that girls our age were getting guns and shooting people. He doesn't think there is a single good Muslim and wants to kill all of them.... It was very uplifting. Just kidding. But he might let us come back and chop firewood for him, and he took the Book of Mormon and said he would read it because we told him it was a history book.... That's not totally dishonest right? :) 

Last night another man talked to us about how religion is corrupt and that they all have bits of truth and that he things God is in the trees and inside of us and in the air and nature. We gave him a Book of Mormon also because he was saying that Mormons are one of those corrupt churches but he's never actually read the Book of Mormon. He does research, but how can you be fully informed if you haven't gone straight to the source? He also gave us 20 dollars to buy lunch, which was really nice. He wouldn't let us chop his firewood though. Sister Harris asks everyone if she can chop their firewood, she loves chopping wood. 

One of our new investigators, Andi, grew up a Reorganized Latter Day Saint. Her story was kind of sad. Her family was RLDS they went to church and if you quit the church you are disowned. Lately she's had doubts because they are changing their doctrine, changing their name, and they want to get rid of the Book of Mormon. She doesn't think a church should be able to change their name. Also, her dad was abusive, and before church he would put make up on her and pretend like nothing had happened. She hates that members of the church are hypocrites. We tried to explain to her that people aren't perfect, but the gospel of Jesus Christ is. That's so important to know. We love her though and hope she will be able to feel the truth and goodness of the gospel. It really can bring so much happiness and peace. 

We went WAY over our miles this week. I don't think our mission president can take away our car though because then nothing would get done. We taught Andi in Grapeview and had an appointment afterwards in this nothing of a town called Tahuya that turned out to be an HOUR away. ... Then we had dinner at Camp Zion that was another HOUR in the other direction. We aren't purposefully trying to go over miles but the area is so spread out and you have to drive ALLL the way around the Hood Canal or the Sound to get anywhere. 

Sister Harris made this joke : 

Mission president: We are taking away your car for going over your miles?

Us: Tahuya talking to?  

It makes us laugh. If you don't think it's funny, try being a missionary with a limit on miles in this area. Then you will laugh..haha.

We taught seminary this week. Just two days. That was actually pretty fun. We taught the Word of Wisdom. I feel like I probably should exercise more now. 

Oh, one thing that I think is funny, we went to district meeting and were teaching about the Holy Ghost, and the elders all of a sudden started talking about exact obedience and how they know it brings blessings. and I was sitting there thinking "Wow, we are obedient but because of the size of the area and the lack of houses to knock on, we are having trouble being exactly obedient." and I was feeling guilty, but then I was in the car afterwards and it dawned on me: "These are elders. They probably are not often exactly obedient. But they can talk about it because males often don't have that whole self confidence issue. We are female, working as hard as we can trying and stressing about doing everything we should and thinking we need to try even harder to be better. I bet that we are being a lot more obedient than the elders are but they don't think they need to work on it and we think we do. I don't think that made any sense at all. So, just keep on scrolling, I'm not going to retype it. 

On Friday we got to do some service for an old couple that has a small apple orchard. They pruned it but they are too old to pick up the sticks very easily so we did it for them. They said we could come when they burned the burn pile. So that's exciting. 

 

Then on Saturday we went to camp Zion to chop firewood. Sister Harris's dreams are coming true. She's great at chopping wood. I fail miserably. Eventually one of the Elders there took pity on my and said "Wanna see how a real man chops wood?" Then he uncovered an electric chopper where all you have to do is pull a lever. I am great at that kind of wood chopping! 

Then they gave us cookies and we went to find another former investigator. He wasn't home but his neighbor was moving so we asked her if she needed help. At first she said no, because that's weird but then when we said "okay, just call us if you need help with anything we love to do service. It's what we do 24/7. Then she was like, "so you just wander around until you find stuff to do?" and we said "um, kind of" then she said, "Okay, come on, you can help." and we realized that we had just guilt tripped her into letting us help her move. hahaha That's how we do it! 

Anyways we helped her move and while we were helping she said "I've been thinking about going back to church recently, I'm a christian, but my boys don't know anything about church, I'd be alright if you wanted to teach them." (!!!!!!!!!!!!) SHE OFFERED TO LET US TEACH HER KIDS! SERVICE BRINGS BLESSINGS! 

So, we're going back next week to teach her two boys. We're now teaching 4 children. So we joke that we have the magic flute. It's kind of like the pied piper of missionary work... we have more children investigators than adults.

On Thursday we had companionship inventory and Sister Harris told me that before she knew that I'd be her next companion she prayed that she'd have a companion who worked hard, was obedient, and was able to laugh. Then she said, and God sent me you, the girl who laughs at everything. She said "God is probably up there laughing and thinking ha ha ha! 

This girl Literally laughs at everything!" 

When we woke up at 5:45 the other day to teach Seminary she got up to turn off the alarm and the phone fell on the floor and I laughed. Her reaction was nothing because she was too tired to even smile but I sat up in bed and just laughed. Haha! So I'm the girl who laughs at literally everything. 

Life as a missionary is fun.  I really enjoy it. The sun is still shining. I'm meeting a ton of people. The older people in the ward take care of us and feed us (probably more than I should eat but oh well) and my testimony grows every day. 

My spiritual thought for you is a quote from Dieter F. Uchtdorf that I read yesterday. 

"You are loved. You are dear to your Heavenly Parents. The infinite and eternal Creator of light and life knows you! He is mindful of you! He is not waiting to love you until you have overcome your weaknesses and bad habits. He loves you today with a full understanding of your struggles. He is aware that you reach up to Him in heartfelt and hopeful prayer. He knows of the times you have held onto the fading light and believed--even in the midst of growing darkness. He knows of your sufferings. He knows of your remorse for times you have fallen short or failed. And still He loves you.  And God knows of your successes; though they may seem small to you, He acknowledges and cherishes each of them. He loves you for extending yourself to others. He loves you for reaching out and helping others bear their heavy burdens--even when you are struggling with your own. 

He knows everything about you. He sees you clearly--He knows you as you really are. And He loves you--today and always!  He loves you not only for who you are this very day but also for the person of glory and light you have the potential and desire to become."

-Dieter F. Uchtdorf (Living the Gospel Joyful)

DON'T FORGET IT! YOU ARE LOVED! :) 

-Sister Kinsey Warburton

 

My camera has an awesome macro lens. The flowers here in Washington are SO pretty. Spring is coming. Hopefully warmth comes with it!

​This is the backyard of the Relief Society President, Sister Keely, who really takes care of us. One day I might have to come back and move into her house which is right on the water and beautiful. We live right across this water. It's the Hood Canal.