Hello Again!

Hi Everyone!

 

I'm kind of tired of emailing today, so I'll try to keep this short. (We'll see how that actually goes!)

We had a great week this week! 

We didn't end up inviting 500 people to be baptized. Turns out, it's harder to find 500 people than you'd think! We got 168. So, I beat my record at least. And one of them is on date to be baptized for August 14th! :) 

I've decided that I don't make a very good elder missionary. I'll stick with being a sister. I still love my fanny pack though, and I get better and better at speaking ibish every day. :) 

Fun things that happened this week:

Debra got baptized! :) It was kind of funny, she was very concerned that whoever baptized her would drop her and embarrass her, so we told her we'd get someone big and strong so she wouldn't be embarrassed. Unfortunately, her foot popped up the first time and her elbow the second, so she had to be dunked 3 times. But she ended up laughing it off. I was praying REAL hard that the 3rd time would work. She also told us that she would NOT like to be asked to speak in front of a group of people, and we told her that they never ask the person being baptized to speak at the baptism. And that she wouldn't have to speak if she didn't have to. Well, God has a sense of humor I guess, because a member of she stake presidency was there and he asked our ward mission leader to ask her to bear her testimony. The one time I assure her she won't have to talk, turns out to be the only baptism I've ever been to where our investigator had to talk! Typical! 

It was really good though, and I'm really excited for her. The ward really stepped up and came out to welcome her, which was pretty cool to see. :) 

Also, Isaac, the one that is on date for August 14th was pretty cool. What was keeping him from getting baptized was that he isn't married to his girlfriend, who is a member. And there was a lot getting in the way of that happening. A few weeks ago they hit a rocky patch, and so we decided to give them a break because they weren't really making any effort to progress. Well, in that time they decided to go visit her grandma who is a devout member of the church, and they went to church with her, and visited the temple grounds in that area, and it brought the whole family closer together. He decided he wanted to do whatever it took to be able to go to the temple, and they decided to get married on August 12th! Woo hoo! And he wants to get baptized two days later, which just so happens to be my last Sunday. Double Woo hoo! :) Pretty exciting stuff. I've seen a big difference in them from a few weeks ago to now. It's amazing what the gospel can do for you! :) 

Some not fun things: We met a LOT of anti people this week, who feel like it is their calling to convert Mormon missionaries to "real Christianity". And all those anti people had super obnoxious animals. One lady had a cat that rubbed it's dumb fur all over me for the whole 30 minutes we were trapped in her house. And I haven't stopped sneezing since then. Another guy had this dumb gigantic dog that kept biting our hands and shoving it's gross face in ours. 

Besides that, it was a pretty uneventful week. But a good one! 

This is definitely true. On a mission, my faith has been tried many times, but I know that what I'm sharing is true. I know that the Jesus Christ I believe in, is the real Jesus Christ and Savior of the world. I know that God loves me, and is my Father in Heaven. I believe in these things with everything in me. 

I love ya'll! 

Love, Sister Warburton

We burned a skirt for Sister Pike's 9 month mark. This time we asked for permission to use the Stake Presidents fire pit, so it wasn't as sketchy. ;) 

This is me running the bridge this morning haha.  Very flattering.

Hibellibo!

Hey Everyone!

Things are going great here in Soundview! I'm loving it here! 

We had transfers on Tuesday and I got my new companion, Sister Skousen. She's from New Hampshire. (TWO NON UTAHNS, yeah!) I'm really excited to spend this transfer with her. We already have some fun goals that will really push us. For instance, our goal this week is to think and be like elders. haha So, to do that we are going to:

- wear fanny packs.

- talk in ibish.

- and invite literally everyone that we talk to, to be baptized. So, hopefully we'll invite like 300 or more people this week. And I'm really hoping that we'll have some miracles from that because of our faith. 

Wish us luck. :) 

This past week though, we had some great things happen. Debra Blair is on date to be baptized on July 24th. That's this coming Sunday. She is SO prepared, it's amazing. So, thank you for praying for her. Keep the prayers coming! :) 

On Tuesday at transfers we got to be the "transfer meeting bouncers." Which means that I got to walk around and tell everyone to leave. It was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. (It also meant that I had to stay there until everyone was gone, which allowed me to socialize and talk to everyone I wanted to. (; ) People didn't really listen to me very well, but eventually they all left like they were supposed to. 

We had district meeting on Wednesday. Our district has TOTALLY changed. Instead of only 6 Soundview missionaries at district meeting, this week we had 4 Soundview missionaries, two being new ones. We also had 4 Highland Hills ward missionaries. And 3 Millers (a super missionary minded family has 3 kids that come knocking with us all the time. They come to district meeting occasionally.) And also President and Sister Blatter. It was the biggest district meeting I've ever been too! So, we had 2 of the same people and 11 new ones. 

We did service at the homeless shelter on Friday. 

Last night we went to the mission office at 8:30 and heart attacked the office. We spent our lunch time for a few days cutting out hearts and then last night we went and taped them EVERYWHERE. Elder and Sister Brandi leave on Wednesday and they've done a lot for us missionaries. They've been here since last Spring. The other office missionaries also do so much for us missionaries, so we wanted to make sure they felt loved. :) I love heart attacking people. 

This morning we got 6 sisters together and we ran half of the Tacoma Narrows bridge. I don't have pictures yet from that, but I do have pictures from last week when we ran with our zone. 

So, that's my week! :) I love ya'll. I hope everything good possible happens for you this week. 

Oh! And a spiritual thought! 

Alma 4:19 "And this he (Alma) did (gave up the judgement seat) that he himself might go forth among his people, or among the people of Nephi, that he might preach the word of God unto them, to stir them up in remembrance of their duty, and that he might pull down, by the word of God, all the pride and craftiness and all the contentions which were among his people, seeing no way that he might reclaim them save it were in bearing down in pure testimony against them."

I love this. I love being a missionary because I have really learned how to bear my testimony to everyone. And I LOVE bearing my testimony. When people are confused or angry or contentious, bearing my testimony is the only way I can answer that to stop it. I can't argue back, I can't reason with them, all I can do is bear my testimony. And if it doesn't help them, then at least it's helping me! 

So, go out there and bear your testimony at least once this week! More if you can! :)

I love you all!

Love, 

Sister Warburton

Just wearing ties.  Because we can.

Studying PMG.  Perfectly normal.

Our cute zone on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

The Final Stretch

Well, Friends and Family, this is it. 

I am down to my last transfer of my mission. Crazy stuff! 

I'm not sure how I feel about it. I think on my mission I've lost my ability to be emotional or something because I'm not really sad, and I'm not really excited. I think I'm happy to be here right now, and I think when August 16th rolls around I'll be happy to be flying home to see my family. And then a few weeks later we'll see how I'm feeling about going to school, because I imagine that that's just going to be stressful and weird, but also fun. I don't know. 

I've gotten pretty good at being a missionary. Scriptures pop into my mind when I'm talking to people, about the gospel, and just in regular everyday conversations (so please don't make fun of me when I come home and reference scriptures when I'm telling you about going to the grocery store or something.) I've gotten way good at knocking on doors. It's a talent I'll probably have for the rest of my life. You'll always know if it's Sister Warburton knocking on your door! I'm also really good at randomly going up to people and saying things like "Hey! Wanna come to church with us this Sunday?" or "Hey! We're holding a baptismal service on July 17th, would you like to prepare to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized on that day?" or "Do you believe in Jesus Christ? Would you like to strengthen that faith in Him?" and other things like that. (Talking to normal people about normal topics is not something that has improved.) 

So, you can probably imagine that I'm a bit worried about being a normal person again because I don't know if I remember, or ever knew, how to be normal. 

But, I don't have to worry about that yet! Phew!

This week we continued to do lots and lots of finding of people to teach. We knocked on doors. We walked through parking lots and bugged people. We took advantage of people that were waiting for buses (so they couldn't leave until the bus came!) We taught a few lessons to Debra and Maddy. We were dropped by Maddy. But Debra is still holding out strong! (Please pray for her. (: ) We taught a scripture study class and focused on 2 Nephi 31. I started My Plan which is the program the church has put out for missionaries that are in their last transfer. It helps us to set goals for life after the mission so that we can continue to grow and progress. We went to a ward barbeque and ate lots of unhealthy food. Then we watched the primary kids have a "bike parade" (they all decorated their bikes for the 4th of July and then took off riding around and around the parking lot.) it resulted in a few kind of comical crashes, and a few tears. 

Saturday was my last transfer call day. And we didn't get a call because we stopped at the office where the AP's were calling everyone so we could stock up on Book of Mormons (we were determined to pass out TONS this weekend) so they told us there. 

I will be staying here in Soundview and getting Sister Skousen as my last companion! :) And Sister Glauser will be heading off to Parkland in Lakewood.

 

While at the office I pretended to be an AP and called some sisters to give them their transfer call. That was fun. I've been telling President my whole mission that he should make me AP, so I guess this is the closest I'll get to it! 

I'll just share one last experience from this week that was kind of humbling. Sister Glauser and I stopped at Walgreens for a quick trip to grab some transfer photos so we could hand them out to members on Sunday. While we were waiting for them to print, some lady came up to us and told us that we were her random act of kindness for the night. She told us to grab a card and fill it up with anything that we need and she'd pay for it. It made us both feel very uncomfortable because we aren't used to being served, our job is to serve everyone else! So, we grabbed like 3 things, and then she saw us and asked us where our cart was. Then she made us grab a cart, and she went aisle by aisle with us telling us what to grab. It was SO nice and SO Christlike of her. We were blown away by how much she was giving to help two random girls that she'd never met before. She said that God told her that she needed to do this for us. And we definitely didn't deserve it, but she said she has a 21 year old daughter, and if she was away on a mission somewhere, she'd want someone to do this for her too. We didn't know what to do, but we left feeling very humbled and loved. One day I'll do that for someone else. :) 

Oh, also, a very less active member of the ward that we visited when I first got here who doesn't believe that God loves her, and, in fact, thinks He has abandoned her, came to church yesterday. And that was so exciting to see. It was probably more exciting than having investigators at church. It reminds me of the song:

Dear to the heart of the shepherd, dear are the sheep of his fold;

Dear is the love that he gives them, dearer than silver or gold.

Dear to the heart of the shepherd, dear are his other lost sheep;

Over the mountains he follows, over the waters so deep.

Out in the desert they wander, hungry and helpless and cold, 

Off to the rescue he hastens, bringing them back to the fold. 

Dear to the heart of the shepherd, dear are the lambs of his fold;

Some from the pastures are straying, hungry and helpless and cold. 

See, the Good Shepherd is seeking, seeking the lambs that are lost,

Bringing them in with rejoicing, saved at such infinite cost.

Dear to the heart of the shepherd, dear are the ninety and nine; 

Dear are the sheep that have wandered out in the desert to pine.

Hark! he is earnestly calling, tenderly pleading today:

"Will you not seek for my lost ones, off from my shelter astray?"

Green are the pastures inviting; sweet are the waters and still. 

Lord, we will answer thee gladly, "Yes, blessed Master, we will!

Make us thy true under shepherds; Give us a love that is deep.

Send us out into the desert, seeking thy wandering sheep."

Out in the desert they wander, hungry and helpless and cold, off to the rescue WE'LL hasten, bringing them back to the fold.

So, that's our job. We're here to help Jesus Christ get all His sheep safely home. :) It's the best job in the world! You should try it out! :) 

I love ya'll! I hope ya'll have the best week! 

Love, 

Sister Warburton

Having fun in the mission office. :)  

Sister Glauser's mom sent us these fun glow in the dark balls for the 4th of July! :)

Happy Independence Day!

Hello everyone! 

I have a lot to say, as always, so just bear with me I suppose. :) 

Maybe I'll just tell you the highlights of the week. 

We knocked a lot of doors. That's pretty much all we're doing these days. But we do have some promising investigators! :) 

Debra B. came to church this week. She was a media referral and we met with her last week for the first time. She's really looking for something, and she feels ready for a new start. She's really great and really excited to learn and read the Book of Mormon. 

Maddy is also searching for truth. She's always been very Christian, but she went away from religion for a while, and had a hard time coming back until her 2 yr old son was born. The reason she let us in was because a few weeks ago she was looking into our faith on Wikipedia. She did that because she met lots of return missionaries in the military and one of her close friends (who was an RM) just recently died in a car accident, so she wanted to learn more about his faith. We are somehow the only missionaries that have ever knocked on her door so she let us in and she also is excited to learn more. 

Maddy felt like a miracle because for the whole 2 hours of knocking we met only disinterested people. It was door after door shut quickly. It was a very long night and it was a bit discouraging. But then we met Maddy and she invited us in! People never invite us in! Then she said that we could come back! And then when we came back we set up another time to meet with her! So, we'll see her again today. Exciting stuff. 

Those are our two most promising investigators right now. 

Now, for out of the ordinary things that happened this week:

We had Missionary Leadership Council on Friday and that was really good! We spent the time talking about what we feel the missionaries need and what can help them to improve. We had a training on how important baptism is. And that was very uplifting. It was a good reminder that I am here to invite people to come unto Christ by helping them make and keep sacred covenants with God. And that commitment is baptism. We do that by strengthening their faith, and inviting them to repent, to change to align their lives with the Savior's life. 

We also focused on what makes a missionary successful. And how it's not about how many baptisms you get or how many people you talk to. It's all about your commitment to serve the Lord with all your heart, might, mind, and strength. If I love God, and if I love the people I'm serving, if I work hard, and if I am obedient, and if I am learning and growing too, then I am a successful missionary. 

We also had a fun time learning from the Stake President in Tacoma how to exercise and stretch so that we can stay healthy and have the energy we need to work hard. If you look at the blog there are some funny pictures of us doing those stretches. 

After MLC, we had an exchange with Sister Redenbaugh and Sister Philippi! :) It was way fun to be with Sister Philippi again! I've missed her! 

On Sunday we went to a baptism that the Elders had for a girl named Alicia. That was fun. I'm always so impressed when teenagers join the church. It's a big commitment, and I'm amazed at the faith and strength they show as they do that. 

Monday was the Fourth of July and it was probably the best one I've ever had! We were studying in the morning when we heard President Garlock (the Stake President that we live with) say outside our door (the basketball court is outside our door) "Hello Elders!" Then the Elders started playing basketball. Then President Garlock turned on some very loud music (not missionary approved, but it was still good quality music) It was about 8:30 am and I was trying to write about a scripture that has changed my life, but then the music got louder and we decided that studying just wasn't going to happen that morning. So we went outside and watched a 3 vs 3 tournament that P. Garlock hosts every 4th of July. It was a lot of fun. Some of the Elders had their own teams, and there was food, and it was a fun time. There were a lot of other people from the area that were basketball players. So, we enjoyed that for a bit. Then we had a picnic with a 3rd of the mission. And that was a blast! We ate food, played sports, and then had a giant water fight! Because Sister Glauser and I finished a Book of Mormon Challenge that Sister Blatter encouraged us to do, we got to use a water cannon. There were hundreds of water balloons, about 10 trashcans filled with water for the water cannons, and then lots of missionaries. It was so fun. Then we played signs, and then we made pyramids, and then we took a picture as a group. It was so fun. Then since it was the 4th of July, we had the first and probably only FULL p-day I've ever had! Normally we get back to work at night, but this week we had to be in. No proselyting allowed, so we hung out in our apartment and listened to the fireworks. When it got dark we went onto our porch and watched the fireworks. 

It is SO cool to watch the fireworks here in Soundview because we live on the Sound. So we could see them across the water, and then also ALL around us. There were hundreds of fireworks, everywhere! And it was so cool especially because it echoed, so it sounded like Tacoma was having a war or something. And it made me feel as though I was a witness to the Revolutionary war however long ago that was. And it made me very grateful for the freedom that we have here in America. I'm so grateful for the freedom I have to believe in God and Jesus Christ, and not only that, but also for the freedom I have to SHARE that belief with others. It's something that wouldn't be possible without the freedom that we have. And that makes me grateful for the love that God has for us, and the protection that He's given us. 

It's just great to be an American and it's even greater to be a child of God. :) 

I love you all! Have the best week ever! 

Love, 

Sister Warburton

The Soundview ward missionaries. :) 

MLC

Exchanges! :)