Taking on Tacoma: One Transfer Complete (Washington

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