HALF WAY!

HI EVERYONE! 

How are things? Is there snow anywhere? We got frost this morning. My hands haven't been warm for a few days. Only 5 months of rain and cold left to go. At least. 

The first half of the week I was a little bit grumpy, and wet, and cold... so I won't dwell too much on that. But I will share a few funny things.

This is when I gave up and laid down in the road on a really cold night. (In the negative part of my week)

On Tuesday we were hanging up flyers for the local food bank, and while we were at the Senior Center, we reminded this one old lady of an experience she'd had last week. She started talking to the other old ladies, and probably thought we couldn't hear her. 

She said to them:

"The other night these two girls knocked on my door. It was REALLY late and dark outside and they were all bundled up. I didn't know why they were knocking on my door, and then they said they were MISSIONARIES! They were only about 14 and 15 and I was just really hoping that their parents were close by." 

I was trying hard not to laugh because she was talking about US. WE are the missionaries around here. And we knock on doors until 7, which maybe if you wake up at 3 in the morning is too late at night... but only if you're CRAZY. Sigh. And I am TWENTY. -_-

We met this guy on Wednesday night that really made me grumpy. He was telling us that our church makes women 2nd class citizens. It kind of irks me when people tell me that I've been brainwashed and that I'm a second class citizen. I argued a little bit. I'm normally really good at not arguing with people, but I failed with this guy... 

This was us cheering ourselves up after that guy told us that our church thinks we are subordinate. Sometimes you just need to take silly pictures.

So, on Thursday we repented and decided to be more positive and to look for tender mercies.

One tender mercy: My mom sent me a new pair of rainboots. On Thursday I had really wet feet because my shoes weren't waterproof. And the next day the rain wasn't letting up at all either. When we went home for lunch the UPS guy showed up and said "Somebody order rubber boots?" and we just looked at him, confused. Then he said "Oh, do you live here?" and we said "we do?" and then he said "Does Kinsey live here?" and then he handed me the package and I got a pair of rainboots that are exactly like my other ones! They are perfect and they keep my feet nice and dry! I walked through TONS of puddles because I could! :)

Another tender mercy: One lady felt bad for us, so she invited us inside and gave us some herbal tea to warm us up. 

Another tender mercy: This one is cool! So, I have one hair tie. And I normally just have one that stays on my arm at all times unless it's in my hair. Anyways, so you could see that it would be sad if I lost my one hair tie, right? So, I had my hair in a braid, and it was raining and cold and I put a headband thing on to keep my ears warm, and I realized that my hair tie had fallen out. Sad day. But we were trying to be positive, so I kept being positive and decided it wasn't a big deal. Then we got to the first house and the thought came to me "Hey, maybe it's in my hood!" So, I said that thought outloud and asked Sister Philippi to look in my hood for me. And lo and behold, it was just hanging out in one of the creases on the outside of my hood. If I hadn't listened to that prompting right then, then it probably WOULD have fallen out, and then my hair would be bothering me until I acquired another hair tie.  (1st world problems. Don't judge me.)

On Friday the 13th we went to seminary and were in charge of the game. I remembered doing chariot races in high school with Brother Larsen, so I suggested that. It was pretty funny. 

Another tender mercy happened on Friday: While we were knocking we met Karla. She used to be a Jehovah's Witness, but when she was 20 she married a non-JW and was disfellowshipped. That was pretty hard for her so she left the church. She's 60 now and has learned a lot about that faith and doesn't know if there even is a God anymore. She really wants to believe in God, and she sincerely wants the hope that people of faith have. We told her that as missionaries we go around and share what we believe and invite her to act on it. We know that God is there and that He loves us and that we do have a reason for hope, but the only way she'll know that is if she acts on the message for herself. She's really sincere and wants to learn more so we are going to come back sometime this week. :) So that was a cool experience. We've met so many people that don't want anything to do with us this week and won't even give us a chance, that meeting someone who truly wants to know God, was a huge tender mercy. 

We had a ward social that night and it was Breakfast for dinner. We showed up late, and you know that you have really adopted a ward, or that a ward has adopted you, when everyone looks up to see that the missionaries have come in and are all excited to see us. This ward really is like our family, I love them. After everyone ate they had people share their conversion stories and then they finished by saying "Okay missionaries, you get the closing remarks." We were unprepared, so I told them to wait a minute while I found a scripture. I shared Alma 29:9-10. And told them that they should share the gospel with their friends because they are blessed to have it. It was fun. Carlos, the investigator that we got on date last week was there. We taught him almost every day to get him prepared. Then on Friday night after the social he had his interview and passed! 

Saturday was the best day ever! We did some service at the community center. Then we went to the church and filled the font. (I finally got to fill the font for someone! :D ) We practiced playing the piano and took pictures and just hung out at the church and got things all ready. At this point, the person that was supposed to baptize Carlos let us know that he was out of town, so we texted our Ward Mission leader and told him to come prepared to baptize someone. 

While we were filling the font I was taking a selfie and making the most ridiculous happy face I could, the ward executive secretary walked in.... We thought we were the only people in the building. And when I looked up from my selfie I realized he was in the room looking at me like I was crazy....  that was embarrassing.

The font and I. 

People started showing up and a bunch of the men from the ward came to support him. I was so glad that so many of them came to welcome him into the ward. The Young Men's president gave him some candy, the bishop gave him his own set of scriptures. 

The baptism was kind of funny. So, the same brother who made fun of me for taking a selfie told us that the font was too full where it was at and that we should probably turn off the water. So we did, even though it didn't look very high.... however our Ward Mission leader is a pretty big guy... and the water only went up to his knees.... haha it did the job though. Carlos was baptized, no one got hurt, and the water didn't take too long to drain. Our WML told us to fill it up more next time. 

Carlos' Mom made dinner for everyone that was there, so after the baptism we all ate some good food and talked and had fun. It was a great night. 

On Sunday I was a bit stressed out because they weren't there when church started, so I started to pray and then right when I did that they walked in! Phew! Someone had given us a bag of ties to give to Carlos, so I tied one for him when he got there and gave it to him. He was SO happy after he got confirmed. Bishop got a bit teary eyed while talking about him and it was just a special Sacrament meeting. I could tell that Carlos was on cloud nine. His tie was a little crooked and he looked like a typical 13 year old boy, but the smile on his face was priceless. :) The ward has just taken him in, and all the Young Men leaders are getting him involved in everything. They love him and so does the rest of the ward. 

So, that was our week. It was great. :) 

"The tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance." 

Tender mercies are everywhere, so look around and keep track of them. God loves you more than you know and is blessing you more than you can even see! :) Life is good and be grateful! 

I love you all! Have a great week! 

Love, Sister Warburton

"Hello Warburton's!!! We were blessed to be able to feed your sweet missionary tonight. We adore her!!! (heart emoji) Thank you for sharing her with us! - The Smith's"