HAPPY LEAP DAY!

HEY EVERYONE!

How is the real world treating ya'll? 

Life here in Elma is good. I really enjoy it here. I do miss the sunshine though. Apparently, it's rainier and cloudier here than most places in Washington.... so if you'd like to pray for an abnormally hot summer here in Elma, I won't mind. ;) (Everyone else will... but I won't tell them it's my fault. (: )

We had a great week with lots of fun. Sister Sasser had lots of money left over on her MSF card so we bought the stuff to make crepes last Monday and made crepes in the mornings this week. They were delicious. 

Wow, I'm trying to remember what else happened this week... I know more than just crepes happened... 

Tuesdayy.... is not in my mind anymore... sorry. 

Wednesday we had district meeting as always. And in the evening we met with both bishops. (One problem we run into covering 2 wards is that meetings take up a lot of good proselyting and teaching time. We are supposed to meet with our ward mission leader once a week and our bishops once a week and we go to ward council or PEC every Sunday. With 2 wards, that's about 6 hours of meetings throughout the week... and it often falls in the time that people are at home and available to be taught. We're still experimenting though. And everything will work out.) 

Thursday, we weekly planned. Sister Sasser goes home in a few days so I got to plan to do whatever I want! (Also, when I plan by myself I get it done MUCH faster than when I have another companion to plan with me. ) 

That evening we had 2 lessons with investigators. We had Timothy in a members home. It was pretty good. We were late though because our knocking spot was farther away than we thought :( so we didn't have as much time to talk with him as we would have liked... and he didn't end up coming to church this Sunday so we're kind of bummed about that.

 

Then we had Vern at 8 who is the most stubborn guy on the planet! Man. He's driving me nuts. I love him, because he's a child of God, but he can be so frustrating sometimes! We're trying to help him to live the word of wisdom because we feel like he is ready to be baptized... He keeps saying things like "Well, I don't want to live in the Terrestrial kingdom with Hitler. I want to be in the Celestial Kingdom." So we explain to him that in order to be in the Celestial kingdom you have to be baptized. And then we explain that he can't get baptized if he keeps drinking coffee. So we encourage him to TRY to give it up. Baby steps. But then he tells us "I'm 60 years old. I'm not going to change. It's who I am." And I personally think that's a lame title to give yourself. Vern, the coffee drinker. He could be "Vern, the GREAT." or Vern, the righteous or Vern, the unstoppable because he uses the Atonement of Christ. So, when we came over on Thursday we asked him how the coffee thing was going he said "My THREE cups of coffee this morning tasted GREAT." And that's MORE than he normally drinks. So, he did it to spite us! That guy! 

And he knows Sister Sasser is leaving on Tuesday, and she's been teaching her for 6 months, and he loves her, but for some reason he's decided to ignore us... which will probably make him sad when she's gone and he didn't get to say goodbye.... 

Whoa. Sorry. I'll move on now. 

So, Friday was good too! I don't remember what we did during the day but we had a fantastic lesson in the evening, WAY out in the middle of nowhere, with Michelle and Cale. Cale is a member who is returning less active. He has a son named Baylor. Michelle is Cale's girlfriend, and her daughter is Josie. We were able to go over and teach them all the Restoration. The kids LOVE church and both really want to get baptized, and Michelle does as welll, so we put all three of them on date to be baptized on March 26th. And then after the lesson she gave us cookies and let us ride her hoverboard. Which was kind of fun. Then we went home. 

Saturday we visited lots of people. and shared the gospel along the way. 

And Sunday we spent the day at church and then visited a whole bunch of members in the ward that Sister Sasser needed to say goodbye to. We had ice cream at Bishop Brulottes house, soup at the Schultz, food at the Wallaces, and then by the end of the night someone had to roll Sister Sasser and I home. 

Just kidding. 

Anyways. 

That was my week. 

Sister Rosenvall is going to be my new companion starting tomorrow. It's gonna be fun for the members to try to remember our names. Warburton and Rosenvall. Can't get any better than that! ;) 

For my spiritual thought I'm just going to share one of my favorite poems that President Monson sometimes shares:

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.

I just love that as members of this Church we understand that adversity doesn't need to make our lives depressing or discouraging. Adversity helps us to grow. It makes us strong. It gives us the energy to go further when something else comes our way. Along with that, even though adversity is inevitable, we know that our Savior has felt our pain too. He understands and He's here to lift us, to strengthen us, to push us along. 

So, there you go. My spiritual thought is that life is hard. But hard things sure do make for darn tough children of God. 

I love ya'll! Have a great week! Pray for sunshine! :) 

Love, Sister Warburton

"Hello Sister Warburton's mom!! Our family has been so blessed to have your daughter in our lives. She's an Angel and we are so thankful she is here." :)

One Year in WASHINGTON!

Hey Everyone! Happy Monday again! 

The sun came out today so life is good. :) 

We had a really great week this week! We were able to see lots of success as we worked hard and did everything we could to be exactly obedient. We're pretty bad at doing everything exactly right, but I definitely noticed lots of blessings as we tried. 

We were able to find about 6 new investigators this week. I'm not sure how solid they all are... but the more new investigators we have and the more people we invite the more that will accept the gospel... right? :) There are at least two of those six who are really great. :) 

Michelle, is living with a member of the ward and she was investigating the church about a year ago, but then they made her feel like she was being pushed and the missionaries stopped coming. They came to church again a few weeks ago and we found out she wasn't a member so we hopped right onto that and visited them. We really feel like she is much more ready now. She came to 9 am church on her own yesterday even though her boyfriend didn't really feel like coming that early. Then he came to church at 11:30 for the other ward and she decided to stay for that one too. A bunch of people already know her at church. (That's the thing about Elma. Everyone here has lived here for generations, and everyone knows everyone. Also, almost everyone is related somehow.) She's super sweet, we love people that keep their commitments. Also, her daughter, and the son of her boyfriend both also want to be baptized. So. We will definitely encourage THAT desire. :) 

Another new investigator that we found is Timothy. He didn't come to church, but we did teach him the restoration on the doorstep when we knocked into him, and he was super nice and genuine. And he was really impressed by how excited we all were to tell him about the gospel. He especially liked Sister Cox's testimony and thought it was amazing that she got teary eyed talking about the 1st vision. So, he decided to try it out. He came on a church tour last night and we showed him the classrooms and the chapel and the font and answered his questions and invited him to be baptized on March 12th. (Which also, I just found out, happens to be my Dad's 39th anniversary of joining the church, and I wouldn't be here now if missionaries hadn't knocked on his door 39 years ago. So, that's pretty cool) 

He wants to be baptized if he knows that it's true, so please keep him in your prayers! :) 

Some random things: we drove by a guy that was walking what looked like a wolf. I told Sasser "I think that was a wolf!" And she wasn't sure. But then we had to get gas and the guy walked past and his dog TOTALLY looked like a wolf, so being the missionaries that we are, with the ability to talk to anyone, we asked him. And then he spend 30 minutes telling us about his wolf-dog that was born in the wild to a wolf, but has been raised as a pet! So cool! She was beautiful and huge, and when a cop drove by with it's siren, the wolf-dog HOWLED.

Also, on Saturday, James, a recent convert invited us over for waffles (Sister Sasser asked him for waffles) when we got there, he had a sign that said "Welcome to waffle shop!" and then we went inside and he had a table set up with menu's on the table and he was wearing a hat! He took our order and then made waffles for us! It was so fun! I love when people take the time to do fun things like that for us. It really made our week. 

Other crazy things: on Friday, we did service at the food bank. And then afterwards the sister missionaries in Shelton were going to be here so we could go on exchanges. Well, while we were heading to our apartment to meet them, we got a voicemail from President Blatter saying that he needed us to call him back as soon as possible. So we did and he told us that he needed Sister Cox to pack up her stuff and be in Olympia by 3 pm. (This was around noon) And that she would be transferred to the Olympia 1/5 area. Soooo that threw quite the curve ball into our plans. The Shelton sisters were almost there, so we just decided to let them come and we decided that I would drive one of them and Sister Cox to Olympia, while Sister Sasser stayed with the other sister. So, we packed up Sister Cox's stuff (it amazingly only took about half an hour. Give her a few more months in the mission and it won't be even close to that easy to pack all of her belongings!) 

So, we drove to Olympia and dropped Sister Cox off and I was very tempted to visit a few members there, but I decided to be obedient. (I served in Olympia 4ish transfers ago.) 

Then Sister Lee (the sister I was on exchanges with) and I drove back and got back to work. We had a great time knocking doors. She's SUPER bold, and doesn't care at all about what people think. It was so fun to invite people to be baptized and to hear them say "Oh, I've already been baptized" and then watch her as she said "Would you be baptized again?" 

In my mind, I would think people would get mad or offended at that but they never did! They would stop and then say.... well, yeah, I guess... if it was true. 

And then we'd bear our testimonies that we know that it is true. It was pretty cool. 

We got some of our new investigators that way...we'll see what those people bring when we meet with them next week. :) 

I expect lots of miracles this coming week. Sister Sasser goes home a week from Wednesday, so this is her last week as a missionary. And it's important that we make it a good one! 

So, be prepared for some amazing miracles! :) 

I read Alma 7 this week and I really like how it helps us to understand what the Atonement of the Savior Jesus Christ can do for us. I especially liked verse 15 which says, 

"I say unto you, come and fear not, and lay aside every sin, which easily doth beset you, which doth bind you down to destruction, yea, come and go forth, and show unto your God that ye are willing to repent of your sins and enter into a covenant with him to keep his commandments, and witness it unto him this day by going into the waters of baptism." 

This applies to all of us. Especially the part that says, "LAY ASIDE EVERY SIN, WHICH DOTH EASILY BESET YOU." GIVE IT UP. Is it worth it to hold onto those things that are holding you back? We have a loving Heavenly Father and all He wants is for ALL of His children to return to Him. We have so much potential, it's incredible! And when we hold onto those little things that bring us down, we are giving up so much! It's not worth it! 

So, those are my two cents. 

I love ya'll! 

Have a wonderful, sunshine-y week! I hope we all get to see lots of miracles and tender mercies along the way! 

Love, Sister Warburton

Sister Cox drew me as a Disney princess. Don't I look cute? :) 

Some artwork I made for Sister Sasser.

Also, I love this: "The Struggle is real, but the Atonement is realer." 

James' Waffle Shop :)

I copied Carson's photo and got a picture of the sun that came out on Saturday! :D 

More sunshine pictures. 

More sunshine pictures. 

Someone's front door.  I see these signs ALL the time. 

A cool abandoned house that's really pretty. 

It looks like it belongs in a fairy tale. 

Happy Valentine's and Presidents Day!!

This week was great I'm sure. The details are a little fuzzy though. I guess that's what a mission does to you? 

Let's see, we had another exchange on Tuesday with Sister Bird and Sister Stirling from Winlock. It was way fun! I was able to ask them about everyone that was in Winlock. I LOVE Winlock. 

I spent the day with Sister Cox and Sister Bird, while Sister Sasser and Sister Stirling went their own way. 

The only problem with having the exchanges in our area is that we have 5 sister missionaries in one apartment at night... and let's just say that 10:30 is not exactly the time we got to bed... 

We spent a long time just taking the ugliest selfies we could and we were laughing way too hard. 

Then in the morning for exercise we played music and did "aerobics" Sister Sasser led the way. I got a really funny video of it... but I can't send videos so you'll just have to ask me about it after my mission. :) 

On Wednesday, we had zone meeting which was pretty fun. Sister Sasser and I gave another training. I've gotten to the point where I feel like I can take on anything. 

• "Oh, you want me to get up and bear my testimony last minute since the speaker didn't show up? Okay, bring it!" 
• "You want me to teach a seminary class two times this week on the Old Testament? Sure, no problem!" 
• "Need me to teach the Restoration on the spot to a complete stranger? Sure thing!" 
• "Clean a house that hasn't been cleaned in 6560123 years? Got it!" 
• "Go into a home that has 17 dogs and 53 cats for dinner? Okay."
• "Ask a random stranger if we can use their bathroom? Alright!" 
• Etc.

Missions are great. They really help you overcome all of your problems. 

We actually did teach seminary twice this week. It was pretty fun. The kids in this seminary class are way more on top of things than I was. I just slept through seminary. 

On Thursday we weekly planned, did some missionary work, and then drove to Lacey. Sister Sasser got to go on a temple trip with all the missionaries that leave this transfer, so Sister Cox and I spent the day in Lacey with Sister Krebs, while her companion and Sasser drove to the temple. 

So, that's what we did on Friday. 

Um.... the rest of the weekend was good too. On Valentines day we had a regional broadcast instead of church. So we were only at church for 2 hours instead of 6! Yeah!

After church we heart attacked some members of the ward. We stink at being sneaky, but it was pretty fun. :) 

At one door they opened the door right as we were putting hearts on their door.  So, we grabbed the door handle and just closed the door and finished putting the hearts on it.  Then we knocked again haha and they invited us in and fed us lunch.

Another guy, a recent convert of about a year, he lives in the room above his brother's garage, so we have to go through the garage to get to his door.  So, we tried to go in sneakily and put hearts on the door but then we heard footsteps coming down the stairs so we scattered and hid in different parts of his garage.  We're pretty sure he knew it was us, so he looked around a bit, but not very hard, and then asked if he had strangers in his garage, and then went back upstairs.  Then we finished putting the hearts up and ran out, very stealthily.  

At another house, we had to crouch along the porch because their blinds were open and they were right in the room...but they didn't catch us.

Then at another, we couldn't figure out where their house was so we ended up pretty much asking them for directions to their house and then put hearts on the door and asked them to pretend like they never saw us.

I'll have to get better.  Maybe next year I can try again.

So, that was my week.  It was good.  The rain is still coming down strong.  I'm starting to pray for sunshine again.  Feel free to join in if you'd like. :)

I read this scripture this week and it always makes me think when I read it, so I thought I'd share:

"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we maybe also glorified together.

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." 

Romans 8:16-18

I love this scripture because it reminds me that:

1) We are children of God. We mean something to Him. 

2) We are destined to receive all that our Father in Heaven has. We are His heirs. 

3) Which makes us JOINT-HEIRS with Christ... IF we suffer with Him. If we join His team and carry our cross with Him. If we follow Him, we get to receive the blessings that come from being God's heir. 

4) Life might seem hard right now, but compared to the blessings we have to look forward to, it's nothing. It's literally the least we could do. 

I'm just really grateful for the knowledge that I am the daughter of a Heavenly Father and you should be too. 

I love ya'll! Have a great week! 

Love, Sister Warburton

This is me at the missionary leadership council. These pictures are on the mission blog. 

Me doing something weird with my leg. 

The city Hall. 

You can't bring more light to this state than with an outfit like mine!

One Year!!

I don't have any time today! I'm sorry! 

But this week went really well and suddenly I can't remember any good stories from it. But I did plan my spiritual thought because it's something that I've been thinking about so I'll share that. :) 

(Sorry today I'll just be a boring Molly Mormon with a spiritual thought. But it's a good one!) 

I was reading in the Ensign this week and there was an article by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf in it.  

This article really hit me. It's all about how when pilots fly it could be easy to get distracted by the turbulence and storms around you, but if you focus on those you won't be able to land safely. The best pilots and the best landings are the ones where the pilot stays focused on where he's going and what he's doing. He recognizes that there is turbulence but he doesn't dwell on it. He stays calm and trusts that his airplane will help him to make it where he needs to go. 

And then he ties this analogy into our lives. LIFE IS HARD. There is no doubt about it. Life is hard for EVERYONE. No one makes it out of here without trials and tribulations. And it can be really easy to get distracted by everything that is going wrong. Like for me, I'm a Sister Training Leader which gives me a lot more responsibility, and more to do, and we took over another ward this week. So we have two giant wards to cover and 2 sets of investigators to teach, and two different numbers to calculate, and so much to do that we just do NOT have enough time to handle. Also, I know that in 3 weeks both of my companions who know the area will be leaving and I'll probably get someone else. Also, BYU keeps emailing me asking me to fill things out and to prepare for things and I just don't want to deal with that right now, and on top of that there are a few things at home that are slightly overwhelming as well. 

Now, don't feel sorry for me. Because honestly I'm not that stressed because I've been thinking about what President Uchtdorf wrote about. My "natural man" wants me to be stressed and to think about my doubts, but my spirit keeps saying "It's okay Sister Warburton. Life is good. You're on a mission, the best place you could possibly be. Don't worry about a thing. Your Father in Heaven is in control."

I could very easily be extremely overwhelmed right now. If me from 5 years ago were in my situation now I'd probably have a breakdown. But I KNOW that Heavenly Father loves me and that He is REAL and that He is there and that He has this under control. I KNOW that Jesus Christ is my Savior and that He too loves me, and is real and that He is there, and that He is walking right beside me. I KNOW that if I look to them and keep my eye on them that everything will turn out okay. If I spend all my time focusing on my problems and the things that are going wrong then that's all that I'll see in my life. But I have a grander perspective. I KNOW that Heaven is real and I know that this life is just a blink of an eye. I KNOW that my family is forever. I KNOW that I can look to my Savior. 

"Whether the skies around us are clear or filled with threatening clouds, as disciples of Jesus Christ, we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, knowing that if we do so, everything else we need will eventually be provided. 

What an important life lesson!

The more we obsess about our difficulties, our struggles, our doubts, and our fears, the more difficult things can become, But the more we focus on our final heavenly destination and on the joys of following the disciple's path--loving God, serving our neighbor-- the more likely we are to successfully navigate through times of trouble and turbulence. 

Dear friends, no matter how violently the winds of our mortal existence howl around us, the gospel of Jesus Christ will always offer the best path to a safe landing in our Heavenly Father's kingdom."

-Dieter F. Uchtdorf

And I have to tell you.  I still kind of stink at this but I'm better than I was.  While I tool the Sacrament yesterday, I had this picture pop into my head.  Jesus Christ was sitting next to me while I pondered about my week and how I'm doing.  And He had His hand held out to me.  He could tell that I had some burdens that I was holding on to. Some things that were bothering me.  So, He held out His hand and waited patiently for me to hand them over to Him.  He wouldn't take them away from me, He wouldn't force me to give them to Him, but He was there, willing to take away my trials if I'd give them to Him.  So, I pulled some rocks out of my pocket and I kind of looked at them, trying to decide if I wanted to hold onto them or not and He continued to wait.  Sometimes, I think we want to hold on to our trials and we want to focus on our hardships, and we want to feel sorry for ourselves.  But He's there when we decide to give them over to Him.  So, that's what I'm trying to do.  I'm trying to give my burdens to Him.  And I know that I'll be happier when I do.  And I know that He'll help me.

So, there you go.  That spiritual thought turned out a litttleeeee bit longer than I thought it would.  Sorry.

I love you all though, and life is good.  And God is good.  And He's got everything under control. :)

Love, 

Sister Warburton

Oh, PS.  I reached my year mark.  That's crazy.

Look how cute we are at the beach. :) 

It was reallyyyy cold. 

We got a new car at MLC on Friday because are car was almost at 50000 miles. :) So now we're driving the newest car we'll ever drive! it's a 2016 Toyota Corolla and it's pretty nice. Not super fancy... but it smells new. So we got a picture in it.