Olympia!!

Hello Everyone! 

I'm in Olympia now! 

I feel like it's been a looonngg week. But, not a bad one. 

Monday was my last full day in Belfair. We had a Zone Activity where we went to this guys land (a recent convert). He made it so it would be good for family reunions. There is a see saw that spins around and around and around. That one is fun. He also has a "puking chair" Which also spins around. He has a zipline and volleyball nets. It was a cool place. I had fun. Then Monday night I started packing... I've noticed that I am a "night-before" kind of packer. It may be considered procrastination, but it always gets the job done. I packed the night before for college, for the MTC, for Washington, and for my newest area. And it's only slightly stressful. :)

Tuesday morning I said goodbye to Bishop Wing and his family. Then Sister Kramer and I headed to Tacoma to our transfer meeting. I think it was a really good transfer meeting. We got 5 new sisters, and a few new elders, and then about 15 ish missionaries left. Two of them were Assistants to the president, one was an office elder, one sister training leader, and a bunch of zone leaders. It was a really good group of missionaries and there were lots and lots of tears. It was a little ridiculous, but people tell me to just wait until I'm leaving. 

My new companion is Sister Caylah Evans. She's from New Zealand! :) She has a really cool accent, so I'm hoping to have my New Zealandish accent perfected by the end of this transfer. :) She is super nice, very similar to me. She majored in Graphic Design, she likes to paint, she gets excited when she see's squirrels (They don't have them in New Zealand, she says she had only seen them in cartoons before.) her favorite color is yellow, but she wears more pink, She has a twin sister back home who isn't serving a mission. She works really hard and I'm really excited to see what happens in this area with the two of us working together. :)

The area is really good. The part of Olympia that I am in is more city than Belfair, for sure, but it also still has quite a few "boonie" areas. It's less forest though and more country. It's really pretty though. There are still lots of flowers, horses, trees, blackberry plants, apple and cherry trees, etc. I live in an apartment, it's nice though. 

The ward is awesome! It reminds me a lot of the Old Settlers Ward. There are lots of families, and tons of youth. We had a lot of people come up to us to introduce themselves and told us that if we ever needed dinner to just call them, or if we ever need people to come to lessons with us to call them anytime. They were very friendly and I met a few people that know people that I know! 

One lady... I forgot her name.. moved here from the Round Rock Texas East stake a few weeks ago and her daughter was in my parents "trek family" just last week! Another lady is the aunt of Sister Carolyn Nielsen from the Old Settlers ward! Also, the Ward Mission Leader, Brother Erin McOwen is from a town right next to Oviedo, Florida! Rock something. 

The Mormon world is so small! 

The 5th branch is a YSA branch that has lots of returned missionaries who ALSO are always willing to come to lessons with us. 

This week consisted of a lot of visiting people the last missionaries were teaching, lots of finding/knocking doors, and lots of getting to know the area. We met a few people who might be interested in learning more but nothing too solid yet. Since we are both new to the area we are mainly just starting fresh. I would rather be doubled in to every area I serve in though. I think it's fun and it's a great way to get to know an area really fast. 

A few other things that happened this week:

- It was pretty hot this week. Not as hot as Texas, but I hardly ever went outside in Texas, here I'm outside all the time every day. I'm working on a nice tan. Haha. Tan for me, but nobody else thinks so. 

- There is a man in the ward known as "sticker man" he always has stickers so he gave us each a butterfly sticker to put on the back of our name tags. Him and his wife also made us a homemade strawberry rhubarb pie! And since Sister Evans doesn't love pie I get the whole thing to myself!!! :D 

- We saw a ton of deer yesterday. That was cool. 

- Yesterday I accidentally walked through a giant spiderweb and that really shocked me, but what shocked me more was when I was trying to talk to the people that lived in the house with the giant spider web, I felt a SPIDER MOVING AROUND INSIDE OF MY SHIRT.  It was horrible, I was trying to act normal while subtly crushing it inside of my shirt. I felt so violated afterwards. 

So that was my week, I'm really excited to get to know the wards and area better. :) I'm excited for the lessons we have planned for next week, I didn't get to teach very much in my last transfer, so I'm excited to get back into the swing of things and teaching people again. 

For my spiritual thought I'm just going to share what I got from my studies this morning:

I read Alma 45 which is when Alma hands down the plates to his son Helaman. And then Alma departs from Zarahemla and is never heard of or seen again, and they think he was taken up by the Lord like Moses was. And I love this part of verse 19, "Behold, this we know, that he was a righteous man." The last thing that is said of him is that he was a righteous man.

I started thinking about the first time we hear about Alma the Younger and that is Mosiah 27:8

"Now the sons of Mosiah were numbered among the unbelievers; and also one of the sons of Alma was numbered among them, he being called Alma, after his father; nevertheless, he became a very wicked and an idolatrous man. And he was a man of many words, and did speak much flattery to the people; therefore he led many of the people to do after the manner of his iniquities."

When I read that, if I was reading the Book of Mormon for the very first time, I would have thought "Oh man, another Anti-Christ. I wonder what will happen to this one." But that's not the case. Alma the Younger was given a chance to repent and he took that chance. He made a COMPLETE turn around. There was NO turning back for him. The next 120 pages or so talk about him and the changes he made in other peoples lives. They talk about the hundreds of people he was able to bring to Christ, we see him dedicate his entire life to the Lord. He teaches his sons and raises them to be amazing men as well, and their children and their children! Some of the best information we have about the Atonement is from Alma. By the time we get to Alma 45, the last time we hear about him, no one is saying "Oh, that guy that was so wicked at one point" They say "Behold, this we KNOW, that he was a righteous man." 

Alma is my hero. If he can make such a change in his life and SO many others, then I can too. And so can you. And if the person you are right now is someone you don't like very much, then make that change. In the end it doesn't matter who you were, it matters who you are. 

I hope you all have an amazing week! I love you! <3

Sister Warburton

Pictures:

Sister Evans and I!

Bishop Wings family! 

My desk! Look how cute it is! I ACTUALLY USE IT too! 

One family we ate dinner with is from Georgia and she gave me a can of BOILED PEANUTS! 

A random emu we saw while street contacting on a walking trail.

Me standing in front of the Belfair apartment that I loved. :) 

Us fixing the tire on the car (last week's story)

The End of Transfer THREE

Tons of stuff happened this week! But today is a crazy day so I probably won't put things in tons of detail.

On Tuesday we had Zion's Camp as a mission! That was a blast! We did some team building things like a trust fall, which is awfully scary, and getting our whole team over 10 foot wall. That was hard. All of the zones were their own teams and then all of the sisters were one team.

If you go to the mission blog you can look at some really awkward pictures of me.

On Thursday we had weekly planning, and started drawing pictures of our experiences. We have drawn about 3 million stick figure pictures since then. And they are hilarious. I'll put a few pictures of them on here.

On Friday we cleaned the "Priesthood Bathroom" at Zions camp. There were a ton of spiders in there and animal droppings. Then they fed us lunch, and we sat and watched chipmunks and bluebirds and squirrels and hummingbirds eat food around the picnic table. That was really fun.

Another story of a guy falling for Sister Kramer happened on Friday also. She said "Hey! Would you like a picture of Jesus?" And then he said "I'd rather have a picture of you!" haha. I think that's the only one this week though.

That night we had a church tour with a guy from Kenson. I talked about him a few weeks ago, he's from Haiti, lost his leg a few years ago, moved here after the earthquakes in Port-Au-Prince and is now going to school here. Anyways, it was a really cool church tour. Everything we taught him made sense to him. He said our church reminds him of his dad's church back home. He doesn't like that a lot of churches here aren't very spiritual. He thinks church is a sacred place, that sacrament should be prepared for. In his church in Haiti everyone wore white to church, their very best clothes. You didn't take the sacrament without thinking about Jesus Christ, the Atonement, and what it is that you are doing. He likes the peace and quiet that he finds in our church building.

On Saturday, President Blatter called us to give us our transfer calls. :( Sister Kramer is staying here in Belfair and training a brand new missionary! And I am being kicked out to serve in the Olympia 1st and 5th wards.  My new companion will be Sister Evans. She just finished her 2nd transfer. (I just finished my 3rd) and we are both being doubled in to the area. So, it's going to be kind of a crazy week. Neither of us know the area, and we are both pretty "young" in the mission, and we are covering TWO wards.

I'm assuming that God realized that I was starting to feel really comfortable with Belfair, and my progression wasn't moving fast enough so He is sending me to something that will definitely challenge me, but it will be good. I'm excited, and sad. I love Belfair to death. It's kind of like my heaven on earth. It's beautiful and fits me. It has a lot of character, it's a small town, things move a little slower around here and the ward also has tons of character. But, God wants me to keep moving and keep growing, and there are people in Olympia that only Sister Evans and I can reach. I'll appreciate any prayers that are sent my way though. :)

I said goodbye to everyone at church on Sunday. But I'm not going to dwell on that.

A few other fun things that happened this week:

Sister Tidwell made clams for us to try and so I had my first clams! :)

Sister Tidwell!! She started crying when we said goodbye. :( I'm gonna miss her.

Clams!

My reaction to the clams.

Me and The Waite daughters, Brooke and Emily. I'm going to miss this family a ton.

I think that's about all. Today is my last day in Belfair so I'm going to finish up here.

For my Spiritual thought:

I read Alma 40 this morning and I thought it was funny because lately I've been trying to find answers to questions that are a bit beyond my understanding and in Alma 40 Corianton also has some things that he is trying to understand. And I love the way Alma addresses it.

He says: "I perceive that thy mind is worried concerning the resurrection of the dead." (I'm not focusing on the doctrine of resurrection for my thought, just so you know.) Then a few verses later (v. 3) he says "Now, I unfold unto you a mystery; nevertheless, there are many mysteries which are kept, that no one knoweth them save God himself. But I show unto you one thing which I haveinquired diligently of God that I might know..."

Skip a few more verses (v. 5) "Now, whether there shall be one time, or a second time, or a third time, that men shall come forth from the dead, it mattereth not; for God knoweth all these things."

So, Corianton is confused about the doctrine of resurrection. And Alma tells him first that there are many things that we don't know. That we won't know because we don't need to. However, another thing he says is that he has inquired DILIGENTLY of God to understand a few things about resurrection, and so he is able to share those with his son.

God will help us to understand and gain answers to our questions but we have to do our part to get those answers through prayer, study, faith, and action.

I love though that Alma also says though: it doesn't matter how it works just know that God knows how it works. And have faith and trust in God and the fact that HE KNOWS what He is doing.

I get caught up in the trap of wondering and doubting and worrying about how everything works. I have faith, but there are some deeper questions that I just don't understand. BUT God knows. He has a plan. He's got everything figured out, and He has given us the tools to stay on the right path to follow that plan. So, don't worry. "For God knoweth all these things."

I love you all! Have a great great week! :)

Love, Sister Warburton

Also, my new address is: 606 Lilly Rd NE #425 Olympia, WA 98506

More Pictures:

Elder Nelson! (Levi's friend)

My zone. I just like candid pictures haha.

Elder Bing! He's actually the same person as me. Everything he says is something I would say, and I told that to Sister Kramer. Then at Zion's camp he pulled a giraffe out of his pocket and said "You guys! I found a giraffe at the church! I had to take it!" And Sister Kramer knows that giraffes are my favorite animal so we both started laughing.

Sister Kramer being tired.

Knocking doors on a highway.

Me using my skirt to keep myself warm.

A chipmunk.

Some pretty flowers.

Baby birds.

A snake I caught!!!! :D

Another Week

Happy Monday!

A few things that happened this week:

On Tuesday, we were surprised to find an extremely long line of cars on the main road through town. The traffic was crazy, the seniors were standing on cars, and yelling and honking, and walking in the road, it was crazy. Turns out it was "Senior Slow Day" which happens every year on the last day of school. The seniors get out and drive 1 mph on the road all the way to Safeway, then back to the high school, then back to Safeway, and back and forth for a few hours. Making it almost impossible to get anywhere on that day. Which, we didn't know about. But we made it. I drew a picture in my journal, and I took a picture of it to put in here.

On Thursday we were knocking a street and ended up finding a member of the ward and her husband who is Catholic, but super nice to us missionaries. They gave us some really good fresh strawberries and water.

On Friday we did service at Zion's camp, we pulled "noxious weeds" from the garden. (Sister Noel calls them noxious weeds) The weather has been SO beautiful this week, so it was nice to be out there helping in the garden. They fed us lunch, as always and I got a picture with all the missionaries there before I left, just in case I don't see them next week, and get transferred after that.

The missionaries at Zion's Camp! The Newmans, Noels, and Bishops. They spoil us!

Later that night while we were knocking we met, Otto. He's a Jehovah's Witness. And, whoa! They believe some very similar things to us! And he was super nice too!

They believe that God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three separate beings. One in purpose/united, but different people. They believe in baptism by immersion, they believe in faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end. They believe that you aren't just saved by accepting Jesus Christ, you have to repent, and follow the commandments and do everything you can and let Grace take over the rest.

Pretty much, they believe in following Christ's church from the New Testament, just not the fact that it was restored through a modern living prophet, and they don't believe in the Book of Mormon. Which is a pretty big chunk, but STILL! I thought they were crazy! Otto was so nice, he's like 75, he's from Hungary. He moved to America when he was 16. He's always smiling. He has a bible that is 110 years old. and he has this cool light house thing in his front yard that he made.

​Otto and his lighthouse waterfall thing!

Saturday was AWESOME! We went to a baptism for Lincoln Molina. He's the cutest 8 year old ever. He is technically a Child of Record, so he didn't "count" as a convert baptism. But, I taught him and his family, and Sister Harris and I were the ones that invited him to be baptized, and if it hadn't been for Sister Kramer and I, it probably wouldn't have happened yet. It was such a special baptism. Lincoln's mom just recently started coming back to church and her kids aren't baptized. Lincoln loves church and loves reading the Book of Mormon. He reads it to his grandma who is Catholic and wants him to be Catholic. We had 8 sister missionaries come to the baptism, 6 of them were missionaries who had helped teach the family. His dad, who isn't a member was there, and his grandparents too. Also, his sister, who is 16 (we've also been teaching her, she isn't as ready as Lincoln was) was there and she started crying when she saw all the sister missionaries there. The spirit was so strong. Bishop Wing baptized Lincoln, and Brother Thomas confirmed him. I'm considering it my "first baptism."

Sister Kramer, Sister Diener, Sister Harris, Sister Bishop, LINCOLN!, me, Sister Smith, Sister Lee, and Sister Evans

​Me, Mariela, and Sister Harris at Lincolns baptism. Mariela is his older sister. She is so cute. I look high. And Sister Harris looks troubled. Also, look at how fun the gradation of skin colors is! We didn't plan that!

We went to another baptism in Shelton later that night.

Last night Sister Kramer and I knocked into an old couple that is in our ward that we hadn't met yet. They only come for Sacrament meeting. They are so cute! They're both like 4'10'' and in their mid 80's. She is from Liverpool, England and she has the same accent as my grandma! She grew up there and joined the church when she was 23. It took her 3 years to agree to be baptized! She moved to America to go to the temple and met her husband in Salt Lake. It was so fun to listen to their stories!

So, that was my week. This is the last week of this transfer. I'll find out on Saturday if I'm staying or going somewhere else. Hopefully staying, but I guess I should let someone else have a chance to love Belfair the way I do. I'm hoping that I can come back at the end of my mission for a transfer or two. And I'm going to move here after college. So, I'll be back in Belfair before I know it! :)

For my Spiritual thought:

I read Alma 34 this week, and I love reading these chapters, because Alma and Amulek are so in tune! But I especially love the way Amulek explains the Atonement in Alma 34.

He says:  "And now, behold, I will testify unto you of myself that these things are true. Behold, I say unto you, that I do know that Christ shall come among the children of men, to take upon him the transgressions of his people, and that he shall atone for the sins of the world; for the Lord God hath spoken it."

"For it is expedient that an atonement should be made; for according to the great plan of the Eternal God there must be an atonement made, or else all mankind must unavoidably perish; yea, all are hardened; yea, all are fallen and are lost, and must perish except it be through the atonement which it is expedient should be made." (v. 8-9)

"And thus he shall bring salvation to all those who shall believe on his name; this being the intent of this last sacrifice, to bring about the bowels of mercy, which overpowereth justice, and bringeth about means unto men that they may have faith unto repentance."

"And thus mercy can satisfy the demands of justice, and encircles them in the arms of safety, while he that exercises no faith unto repentance is exposed to the whole law of the demands of justice; therefore only unto him that has faith unto repentance is brought about the great and eternal plan of redemption." (v. 15-16)

My companion says that the Old Testament prophecies of Christ coming, The New Testament talks about what Christ did, and the Book of Mormon explains why he did it.

The Atonement is the most amazing, most undeserved, beautiful gift we have and will ever receive. There must have been one, because of the Fall. We are all fallen, we are all lost, we are all imperfect. There is no way we can return to live with God in His kingdom without being perfectly clean, and that is impossible.

But, through the Atonement, our Savior was able to feel our pain and our sins, and he was so filled with love and mercy that it CAN overpower justice.

Justice says that we cannot return to God.

Mercy says that we can, IF we turn to Christ, accept His Atonement, and try to be our very best.

I love in the last verse how it says "and thus mercy can satisfy the demands of justice, and encircles them in the arms of safety." As long as we have faith, repent and use that Atonement.

I also love this quote from Boyd K. Packer last conference that says "The Atonement, which can reclaim each one of us, bears no scars. That means that no matter what we have done or where we have been or how something happened, if we truly repent, He has promised that He would atone. And when He atoned, that settled that."

So, as a missionary, I have to always leave you with a commitment and a promise.

Go home today and read Alma 34, and think about what the Atonement means to you. My testimony of the Atonement is what convinced me to come here on a mission. So that I could help people use that Atonement and have the happiness and peace in this life that I do.  I promise that as you study and ponder the doctrine of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, you will come to love Him more than you did before. You will understand how it can apply to your life, and you will be happy.

I hope you all have an amazing week! I love you!

Sister Warburton

More Pictures:

I put this quilt together! It's not finished, but isn't it pretty? I made like a 3rd of the squares and then the rest were already made. 

Our district leader and his companion gave us some eggs. They decorated them for us. 

My pretty companion.

Hello!

Happy Monday!

We had a bit of a rough week.

All this door knocking is exhausting! 

I think we met all of the preachers and ministers around here. I had more people preach to me this week then I have in my whole mission. It was crazy. We also met more people that want to date Sister Kramer then we have the whole transfer. It was crazy. I'll get into that later.

People we met (We didn't have too much happen this week, but these people will sum it up so I'm going to talk about them.)

Nice people we are going to teach:

Chris: We met him knocking. He was super nice. He invited us to sit on the porch and at first we were worried he was just talking to us because we are two pretty girls (You will understand that worry in a minute) but then he opened up and talked about his relationship with Jesus Christ and we were able to share a lot about the Gospel with him. It was awesome! He agreed to start reading the Book of Mormon and we are going back later this week to teach him.

Victoria: We knocked into Victoria a few weeks ago and she expressed some interest in learning more. She is a shy 13 year old, but she was nice. So we decided to stop by and see if she was still interested. Her mom invited us in and we ended up teaching the first lesson! We haven't taught any actual lessons in forever! It was awesome! We also were able to talk to her mom and her mom has tried out a few different religions but hasn't found what she was looking for. I told her that maybe this is what she is looking for (bold huh?) and I was worried about her reaction, but then she said "Maybe this is." !!!! So, pretty exciting. Our first actual new investigator in a while.

Kenson: We met Kenson the other day. He is from Haiti and has a prosthetic leg. He told us that he had leg cancer when he was in Haiti and his leg was really swollen. When the earthquake hit a few years ago, a bunch of doctors flew in and took a few kids back to America to help them. He was one of them. He said that he prayed and prayed that he would be able to keep his leg, but when he came out of surgery he found out that he had lost his leg. He said that he KNEW that there was a God, but also questioned God's love for His children. Kenson wondered "Were You sad when You took my leg from me? Why would You do that to me?" We were able to explain that sometimes God does things that we don't understand. But it's ALWAYS for the best. God knows what we need and wants to bless us! He wants us to be happy! And believe it or not, He WAS sad when you lost your leg. He did cry when you cried.

It was a really cool conversation and because he did lose his leg, he was able to stay in America, he was adopted by a nice lady, and now he is going to college. He's a really cool guy. We didn't set up a specific time to come back, but hopefully after his finals we can stop by and teach him more.

Now, to the not as exciting people we met...

The men who fell in love with Sister Kramer:

Jay: Jay is a guy who has an eidetic memory. He talked NON STOP for at least 45 minutes. He talked about all the languages knows, all the places he has visited, all the books he has read about religion, the Jewish religion, his job, his house, everything. I'm pretty sure he didn't breathe. Because there were NO pauses so we could break in and say something like "Well it was nice to meet you, thanks for talking to us! Have a good night!" No. None of that. And that's not all. I noticed about 5 minutes in that he wasn't looking at me. Not at all. His gaze was focused on Sister Kramer the WHOLE time. I was completely invisible. I could have dropped dead and he wouldn't have noticed. I was tempted to try it out and just run away. But I resisted. I'm pretty good, in general, at being invisible, but this was more invisible than I have ever felt EVER. It was such an odd experience. At one point he looked at Sister Kramer and said "Wow, your eyes are so pretty. I had an uncle that had gold flecks in his eyes like yours." (I got a picture of her eye so you could see) So, he was captivated by her eyes I guess. He also at one point was talking about DNA and how if her DNA were a little bit different she would be a dolphin. But she "would be a beautiful dolphin." hahahahaha. Some people are SO odd. But we figured he just needed someone to talk to.

Sister Kramer's eye.

Dave: This guy we met a few weeks ago and had a great conversation and he wanted a church tour. but then we had to reschedule it and then he bailed on that one too. Then we got this text from him: "Sorry I didn't get back to you last night about coming to church. I spent the night in Olympia. That's where I'll be soon. My life is moving fast, and I'm always working. I don't even have time for a personal life right now. You're very pretty, and very sweet, and it was nice being able to speak with you and the other sister (me)... it was the only contact I've had with a girl in months. I just don't seem to be making it to church any time soon. Sorry for seemingly wasting your time."

JR: This guy told us he would try to come to church. Then after church yesterday we got this text (after confirming that Sister Kramer was the one reading the text): "I just wanted to let you know you are very beautiful and it may have been god's will that you knocked on my door. I just felt a good vibe from you maybe we should meet up sometime to talk more." ARE YOU KIDDING ME? This is out of hand.

I think I must be more invisible than I thought. Even though I talk just as much as Sister Kramer.

We told Dave to look for the missionaries in Olympia, and then we texted JR and told him that we are Missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and that we have dedicated this time to share a message about Jesus Christ. We told him that if he was looking to build his relationship with Jesus Christ that WE, TWO OF US, could meet with him, but that we are not dating right now.

ANTI-Mormon preacher people:

Shay: He spent a long time telling us why the Book of Mormon is evil because it is "adding on" to the Bible which Revelations warns about. (If this is something you struggle with go read "My Words Never Cease" by Jeffrey R. Holland) while we were knocking on other doors, I guess he found our car and put the last page of the bible on our windshield.

Marcos: He talked forever about how unless we begin speaking in tongues we haven't received the Holy Spirit.

Sherry: She listed off a bunch of things that she thinks we believe. She said "You believe this and that is wrong because of this. And you believe this and it's wrong because of this." So we told her that she wasn't correct on most of the things and then said, but we respect your beliefs, we hope you have a nice day. We finished by asking if she knows of anyone who IS looking to build that relationship with Christ and she said "No, but even if I did I wouldn't tell YOU." The way she said things was politely rude. She goes to the church right next to ours that preaches anti-Mormon sermons.

Jim: He started out by asking a few questions, and as we explained he acted more confused. I caught on pretty fast that he knew what he was doing and figured he was either already Mormon, or anti. Then he started going off about our perspective on Heaven and Hell, and that we filter the gospel of Christ, and that OUR Jesus is different from HIS Jesus. Which is dumb. I don't know why so many people think that. He told us that we are sinners and that we think we can earn our way to heaven. I told him that Faith without works is dead. Then he told us at the end that unless we give up this "Mormon stuff" we will be going to Hell and he said "I will pray that you will get a witness that what you are doing is wrong"

We met like 6 people just this week who thought it was their job to convert us to their religions. And we also met about a bajillion other rude people.

I started to get a little discouraged and on one day after walking up the 20th ridiculously long and bumpy driveway in the heat, with blisters on my feet, being rejected over and over and over, I started to doubt my testimony a little bit. I wondered "How DO I know that this church is true? How do I know the Book of Mormon is true? Do I just believe it because I've been raised to believe it? I've never really looked into any other churches, so how do I KNOW?" I hate admitting that, but those are the thoughts that were going through my mind. It is SO true that discouragement weakens your faith. Because I was discouraged.

I thought about this a lot, I kind of sunk deep into my thoughts and had so many things filtering through my mind. By the end of the night though, when I had cooled down, taken off my shoes, and started writing in my journal I remembered and I wrote down:

"Now I can think clearly and I remember that I love the Book of Mormon. I know it's true because it helps me to feel loved, to feel hope, and to learn. I know there are modern prophets because I have heard them and following their teachings makes life better and easier. I know the priesthood is real because I've received blessings. I've been healed and comforted from them. Everything in this gospel makes sense and I KNOW it is true."

This morning I read Alma 30 about Korihor the Anti-Christ, and I applied it to myself. Korihor told the people all sorts of lies. Just like people do about this church now. He tricked them into thinking they were in bondage and that there was no God. When Alma asked if he believed in God he said there was no proof that there is a God. "How do ye know of their surety? Behold, ye cannot know of things which ye do not see; therefore ye cannot know that there shall be a Christ." (v 15) Later, Alma said "I say unto you, I know there is a God, and also that Christ shall come. And now, what evidence have ye that there is no God, or that Christ cometh not? I say unto you that ye have none, save it be your word only. But, behold, I have all things as a testimony that these things are true" (39-41)

"Will ye say, Show unto me a sign, when ye have the testimony of all these thy brethren, and also all the holy prophets? The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of I, yea, and also al the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator." (44)

There are certain things that we need to be SURE we have a testimony of:

1. You need to KNOW that there is a God. That can't be a doubt. Follow the example of Alma and look around you at all the evidence that there is a God. And that that God is your Heavenly Father and that He loves you.

2. You need to KNOW that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. That through Him and ONLY HIM, you can be saved and return to that God that loves you so much. You need to have a testimony that He lived and died for you, and that His Atonement covers every sin and weakness that you have.

3. You need to KNOW that the gospel of Jesus Christ has literally been restored to the earth through Joseph Smith. That the Priesthood is on the earth again and that through that Priesthood power we can follow the example of Jesus Christ and make those covenants with God that will help us to return to Him.

4. You need to KNOW that the Book of Mormon is true. "Just as the arch crumbles if the keystone is removed, so does all the Church stand or fall with the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. The enemies of the Church understand this clearly. This is why they go to such great lengths to try to disprove the Book of Mormon, for if it can be discredited, the Prophet Joseph Smith goes with it. So does our claim to priesthood keys, and revelation, and the restored Church. But in like manner, if the Book of Mormon be true -- and millions have now testified that they have the witness of the Spirit that it is indeed true-- then one must accept the claims of the Restoration and all that accompanies it." (PMG page 104)

These are not beliefs that can be borrowed from our parents, leaders, or friends. These are truths that you MUST know for yourself. There are people who are tricky and will try to make you doubt. But if you have a rock solid testimony in these four things then nothing and no one can shake you.

(I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.)

I love you all!

Please send me conversion stories (and by conversion stories I mean: How did you get your testimony to where it is now?)

Love,

Sister Warburton

More Pictures!!

You would not believe how tan I've gotten, considering I'm in Washington "The sunless state" 

Happy June!

Hello!

I hope everyone is doing well! For those in Texas, I'm glad you all survived the flood. In Utah, I hope everyone is doing great. In Florida, I hope the humidity hasn't hurt you too much. And anywhere else, I hope life is treating you well!

On Tuesday, I got the chance to go on an exchange with Sister Lomu, a sister who is Tongan. I went to Tacoma with her. We had a blast. She is so fun, I hope I get to be companions with her sometime. She was surprised to find out that I actually can talk a lot. Most people are. I'm pretty quiet in a crowd, but if you get me started it's pretty hard to get me to stop. Most of my Young Women's leaders told me that in high school. But we had a lot of fun. We knocked the "sketchy" part of her area. (Which was the nicer part of Tacoma.) And it was her first time knocking there, so we were both pretty surprised to find out it wasn't sketchy at all. I think Belfair is probably a whole lot sketchier. Tahuya, especially is. One thing that was awesome about her is that she actually shares the gospel with EVERYONE. At every door instead of saying "Hi, we're missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Would you be interested in learning more?" Which pretty much invites people to say "no." She says something like "Hi, We're the local missionaries in the area and we are sharing a message about Jesus Christ that will change your life. " Or she'd start a conversation with a person and then tell them how the Gospel will help them in whatever situation they are in.

Sister Kramer and I have been trying to figure out how to do that. We came up with the idea but didn't know how to execute it, and then on the exchange we both watched our Sister Training Leaders do it so flawlessly. It was awesome. Our door approaches have been 10 times better this week because of it.

This week was a little bit slow. We pretty much dropped everyone we've been teaching. We have one actual investigator. And we haven't even been able to meet with him because his family has been out of town. But his name is Lincoln, and he's a cute 9 year old with a strong testimony. He's being baptized on June 13, if everything works out. So if you could all pray for him and his family, that would be awesome!

We've been doing a whole lot of door knocking and finding. We started going through our household report and calling everyone in the ward that we don't know. There are 600 members in our ward, and only about 170 come to church every week, so we are inviting people to come back to church. It's a hefty project, and we are hoping that with diligence we will find more people to teach and also help a lot of less active people come back to church.

I hit my first animal with the car this week. A bird flew into the window while I was driving. I don't know what the outcome was though. I'm hoping it didn't die.

On Friday, we fixed arrows at Zion's camp. Then they made lunch for us and it was fun to sit with all the missionaries. They spoil us. :) They put the box of cream puffs in front of me and told me to eat as many as I wanted. They actually forced me to eat like 30. haha. Good thing we run a mile every day.

Saturday was kind of fun. We had interviews with President Blatter. And then Sister Blatter talked to us for a while. She's funny. President Blatter is pretty serious and straight forward, but Sister Blatter likes to try to bend the rules a bit haha. Missionaries always go to her for information on wedding engagements of former missionaries.

Then for dinner that night Sister Tidwell (Our meal calendar coordinator who worries about our welfare brought us dinner and the stuff to make a fire on the beach so we could make S'mores. She is the cutest old lady in the world. She cracks me up and is just full of fire. Apparently in her youth she swam across the Hood Canal. Which is a pretty big distance to swim.

I think that's everything from my week. Another thing you could pray for if you want is that we'll find new investigators so we don't have to knock doors for 4 hours every day. I'm trying to not be too tired, because pioneers walked thousands of miles without shoes through the snow. I've got a car. And shoes. And nice members who make us a huge dinner every night.

This morning in my studies I read about the Lamanites who buried their weapons of war. (Alma 24) I love finding conversion stories in the Book of Mormon. They gained testimonies of the gospel and gave up all their sins to know God and when the enemy was preparing to come against them to war they said

"Oh, how merciful is our God! And now behold, since it has been as much as we could do to get our stains taken away from us, and our swords are made bright, let us hide them away that they may be kept at the last day, or at the day that we shall be brought to stand before him to be judged, that we have not stained our swords in the blood of our brethren since he imparted his word unto us and has made us clean thereby.

And now, my brethren, if our brethren seek to destroy us, behold we will hide away our swords, yea, even we will bury them deep in the earth, that they may be kept bright, as a testimony that we have never used them, at the last day; and if our brethren destroy us, behold, we shall go to our God and shall be saved."

They had such a good attitude! They had done everything they could to get those stains washed away from them, and they knew the happiness it had brought them. They also knew that they might be tempted to break their promise with God if they didn't dispose of everything that could bring them back to their previous stage. So they BURIED their weapons of war. Because no matter what happened, they knew that they would rather give up their lives than break that promise with God and suffer for eternity because of it.

The next part of the story also amazes me. When the enemy did come to battle, they just knelt there and prayed to God. The evil Lamanites killed them without having anyone fight back. All those who were killed went straight to God, sinless, and clean. But the people who were killing were "stung" (verse 25) as they realized the horrible thing they were doing, and THOUSANDS were converted.

"And it came to pass that the people of God were joined that day by more than the number who had been slain; and those who had been slain were righteous people, therefore we have no reason to doubt what they were saved."

"but there were more than a thousand brought to the knowledge of the truth; thus we see that the Lord worketh in many ways to the salvation of his people."

Sometimes it seems like God isn't paying attention to us, or the things He allows to happen don't make sense. But God works in mysterious ways. There is always a plan. He's watching over us. He's doing everything He can to get ALL of His beloved children back to Him. Don't doubt God. Don't be mad at Him. Look for the good. Look for the happiness. Trust in Him, and know that He has a plan for you, for me, and for all of us.

I hope you all have a wonderful week! Please send me conversion stories. I only got 2! I want them from EVERYONE.

Lots of love!

Sister Warburton

Pictures!!

Who could it be?

Our exchange!

My backyard!