We had a really good week this week! Lot's of stuff happened.
Tuesday consisted of service at a thrift store. We organized books. Someone donated a Book of Mormon! That was kind of cool. Hopefully someone will buy it and read it! :)
We met a bunch of dogs while knocking. Lot's of big dogs. Big menacing dogs.
This was kind of funny. We walked down a REALLY longgggg darrrrkkkkk road. We reached a fork, and we knew both of them went to the same house, but one had no trespassing signs and the other didn't. So we went down the other road of course. There were some weird alien wood carvings at the fork, but we ignored them. So, we went on and got to the house and there was a big black dog just sniffing or eating out a garbage bag. Now, if you've seen the first Harry Potter movie, do you remember the part where Harry is in the Forbidden forest and he sees Voldemort eating the Unicorn blood? And then Voldemort turns around and looks at Harry? haha That's what this dog reminded me of. It wasn't on a leash or fenced in. So we were trying to be really quiet and figure out how to reach the door. But then the dog turned around and noticed us and was MAD that we were there. It almost killed us but then the owner came out. (just kidding it didn't almost kill us. I've gotten pretty good at keeping dogs from biting me. But it was still pretty scary.) So that was super fun.
Wednesday we got to do MORE service. We helped for a bit at the Elementary school. I like helping there because the kids are super cute. Also, Bishop Calder is the principal so we saw him when we were there.
On Thursday it was really dark during knocking again andddd rainy. Aurora, the 11 year old we've been teaching had her baptismal interview and passed! :) Then we went to the Hartzell's house. They had an early Christmas present for us, and when we unwrapped them I had to laugh pretty hard. We use Sister Philippi's flashlight when we are knocking, but they didn't think that was enough so they gave us each a giant flashlight that is 1300 lumens! Which I've never heard of but they are SUPER bright flashlights. They light up everything! Now we'll never knock in the dark again! haha
Friday was great! We did even MORE service, nobody ever takes us up on our offer to serve, so it was nice to get to do so much this week. We helped at the elementary school again. They have a Santa's Workshop, where the kids come in and pick out presents and buy them and then volunteers wrap them for their family. So I got to help wrap presents. It was pretty fun, but I am not very good at wrapping presents.
After that we got to go to the church to fill up the font again! :D
Aurora got baptized at 4 pm and there was a pretty good turnout. :) Her older brother and sister got baptized about a year ago, but she didn't really want to get baptized then. Bishop sent us over there about a month ago, and we asked her if she wanted to learn the lessons, and she wasn't super sure about it but she agreed, and then we taught her the first lesson and asked if she wanted to get baptized and she said yes! :)
So, she got baptized and it was her own decision, which is pretty cool for an 11 yr old. She's awesome. I thought it was kind of funny, she wanted me to baptize her and I had to explain that I couldn't, haha. But it was a nice thought, haha.
Oh, I'm too lazy to retype this, but we did the Santa's workshop on Thursday and helped a member on Friday morning.
We also did service Friday night washing dishes at the Senior Center.
On Saturday we did service again helping with a city wide "Walk 'n Knock" which was a food drive. We didn't go knock on doors, but we sorted food.
We also had a lesson with the Bradshaw family. They are the family that came to church last week. They came to church again! and they came to the Ward Christmas party! The 7 year old, Brooklyn, got to be the angel in the Nativity. I thought that was pretty cool that they involved the Bradshaw kids. :)
The Christmas party was pretty fun. We had a good turnout and we ate some really good food! :)
Sadly, we got our transfer call while we were there and I found out that I am being shipped off again... far far away from Winlock.
I'm being sent to the Silverdale 6th ward. Tomorrow. I've spent the weekend trying to say all my goodbyes. I love love love love this ward. But I'm sure I'll love Silverdale too. It'll definitely be different.
There are a bunch of elders in here talking and yelling and making noise so I'm struggling to get words from my mind onto this email. But I'll try to power through.
Sunday was good. (Oh Phew! The elders left!)
We went around and said goodbye to all of our investigators. Then we went to the stake center to watch the Christmas Devotional.
After the Devotional we went to Bishop Calders house for the Bishop's Sundae Sunday. (Youth fireside) We had a white elephant gift exchange. That was pretty fun. I like our bishop and the youth leaders and the youth. The power went out at the end, so we got our super powerful flashlight and lit up the room. I won a round chicken stuffed animal. I'm going to name it Wendel the Winlock Chicken. (It's the perfect souvenir because Winlock is the egg capitol of the world!)
Phew. So, that was my week. Tonight we are going to finally burn the couch. I'll just get everyone there, so I can say goodbye all at once. Because goodbyes stink.
For my spiritual thought, I just wanted to share what I learned in my studies this week.
I've been trying to focus on the Savior and so I've been paying attention in my BoM reading when it mentions the Savior. I thought it was cool that Elder Bednar talked about the Book of Mormon version of the Christmas story because that's where I'm reading this week.
In 3 Nephi 8: 20-21 when Christ dies in Jerusalem, America is enveloped in darkness. "And it came to pass that there was thick darknes upon all the face of the land... and there could be no light, because of the darkness."
It was super dark, and I think that would be miserable. I've knocked doors in pretty dark areas, but even then I can still see, we still have the phone, or a flashlight, or the moon or the stars. But pure, thick darkness for 3 days would probably feel worse than death. But then when Christ rose again, the light came back. And I like that Elder Bednar brought up what Christ said: "I am the light and the life of the world." And it just brings everything back to the Christmas video "A Savior is Born" and Why we have a Savior. And it reminds me of what the world would be like if there wasn't a Savior. Without a Savior, we would be in darkness. We would be miserable. There would be no hope for spiritual death. But we DO have a Savior. We do have hope. We DO have light and life. And that life is wonderful!
I am so grateful for the Savior. I am so so grateful that I know Him and that I have felt His love.
"...because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so." - Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
I'm grateful for our Savior.
Oh! And my new address is: (please ask my mom....she is too worried about putting my address on the internet for all the world to see) I thought I'd make it noticeable so you wouldn't miss it. I like mail. Especially with Christmas coming up! :)
I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!
Love, Sister Warburton
(We thought it would be fitting to sit on our bee infested couch. :) It is bee free! ) |
The Bradshaw family! I love them!!! |
Renee our investigator. |
The Naillons. A part member family. |
The Smith family! :) We had a snowball fight with them! |
Sister Philippi and Isabelle Laingham. One of the young women. :) |
The White Elephant Gift exchange. |
Aurora on her baptism day! :) |
Sister Philippi's mom sent her hand warmers and you sent me toe warmers. we thought it was pretty funny. :) |
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