Where's Alma?

Hey Everyone! :) 

My first week in Elma went well! It was exhausting! That's for sure! But I like being back in the boonies. :) This is my kind of place. 

On Tuesday, I dragged my hundreds of tons of stuff that I've collected on my mission BACK to the car. (I feel like I JUST dragged it all up to the 3rd floor apartments in Silverdale) and then we drove to the Stake center where I exchanged my stuff with Sister Taylor's new companion. Then I put my stuff into Sister Harward's car and the two of us drove down to Tacoma to exchange. I was pretty excited that I still got to go to Tacoma because I got to see Sister Harris (My trainer) before she left to go home. So, I made fun of her for a little bit and she made fun of me for a little bit and then I said goodbye and said some goodbyes to a few other people and then Sister Sasser and I took off for Elma where we picked up Sister Cox and got to work. 

Elma is a really rainy, floody, kind of place. It was raining cats and dogs for the first few days I was here. We were trying really hard to be positive and look for the tender mercies but we were all pretty cold, wet, and tired. I haven't slept much since getting here. Our fire alarm batter was dead so it beeped for about 4 days straight. The apartment here has vaulted ceilings so the ceiling is about 30 feet high. So, Sister Sasser and Sister Cox tried to fix it. Sister Sasser was holding a broom, while standing on Sister Cox's shoulders, while she was standing on a chair. This was the day before I got there. Maybe it would have worked if I'd been there to sand on one of their shoulders. ;) We dealt with it, but like I said, I got no sleep this week. 

On one day we were pretty cold and wet, but one tender mercy was that this sweet 89 year old lady, named Lila talked to us for a little bit. We sang Jesus Loves Me, with her and then she gave us some stale candy before we went on our way. 

On Friday we decided to sing a song about sunshine for our comp. study hymn. And what do you know? The SUN CAME OUT! :D So we did it again the next day and the sun came out again! And the sun came out Sunday and today as well! A few people told us we were supposed to have straight rain for 7 days, but they obviously don't have enough faith! 

"There are few things more powerful than the faithful prayers of a righteous missionary." 

-Boyd K. Packer 

I may have changed the words of that quote a little bit but that's okay. :) 

On Saturday, I felt pretty nauseous during knocking, but we had two important lessons planned for that night so I just drank some water and did my best to press forward and keep trekking along. Sadly, I didn't regain my energy until we got home that night.... in fact I almost threw up during one of the lessons. I didn't. But it was very clear that that was what my body was trying to do. It was really embarrassing. 

One other funny story that happened: 

We were going to go and visit one of our investigators on Saturday. She and her two sons are getting baptized this coming Saturday. The only thing is that she lives with the father of one of her sons, but they aren't married. They aren't really together either. They just live in the same home so her sons can have a father figure. We asked P. Blatter if that was okay, and he said we needed to find out the last time they were... "together"... so really awkward conversation right? 

Well, we went over there and she wasn't there... but this is one of those things that needs to be figured out right away. (More background. She was originally taught by the zone leaders in Aberdeen. That's where her parents live. But they turned her over to us because she technically lives in our area. So, the zone leaders know her pretty well, and visit her when she's in Aberdeen as well.) Normally when she isn't home, she's in Aberdeen with her parents... so we called the zone leaders and asked them if they could do a favor for us... then I slowly explained the situation... and then it started to click in their heads what we were asking them to do... and they said "OOOOOOHHHHHH! NOOOOOOOOO! That's so awkward!!! She's a GIRRRRRLLLLL!" But they are SUCH good elders... so they didn't argue too much... and they said "Okay... we'll do it. We will go and do."

So, they did and everything's fine, and she is good to go to getting baptized on Saturday. 

:) I'm grateful for good zone leaders haha. 

And that was my week! 

For a spiritual message I'll just remind you to read 1 Nephi 21:16 

"Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me."

God loves you and knows you and remembers you. :) Turn to Him and trust in Him. He's got your back. :) 

I love ya'll! Have a great week! 

Love, Sister Warburton

I don't know if I sent you any of my pictures from Christmas but this is probably one of the only good ones....so here you go.

Elder Anderson took this picture of me.  It's pretty awful but I guess it's semi-candid so I thought maybe you'd like it.

Sister Sasser going for the polygamist look.

Sister Cox making a face at me because I took her picture. :)

A weird fruit I bought and tried.  It's pretty much a cross between a grapefruit and a lime.

A princess.

A weird jar of Asian food I got from the food bank.

A planner cover I made for Sister Taylor.

Random pictures.

More random...

and more random...

The Barneys!!!

Me, Sister Barney and Sister Taylor.

Sister Barney again.

Three generations.

My cute companions.

Sister Cox, Sister Sasser and me.

Sister Sasser

My district from Silverdale.  Sister Gunnell, Sister Trost, Elder Anderson, Elder Werk, Elder Brandow, Elder Johnson, and then me and Sister Taylor up front.

A conversation we had about her outfit:

Me:  Was it "wear your tackiest outfit" day?

Her:  Rude! No, I bought that shirt on Monday.  I've wanted one my whole mission. So, I was really excited to wear it. EVERYONE has a shirt like that in Washington.... and by everyone I mean all the workers on the side of the road... so I had to get one.

She didn't give me an explanation for those pants. ;)

ONE and DONE

Happy MLK day! 

Due to the fact that the library is closed and I'm using the Family History Center, which is where the elders email, I only have like 5 minutes and I don't have much to say.... so sorry but this email is gonna be super short. 

I got my transfer call on Saturday and I'm going BACK to the south. I'm being sent to Elma 2nd ward to be a sister training leader with Sister Sasser and we'll also have Sister Cox there with us. So that's crazy. 

I'm a bit sad to leave Silverdale since I just barely got here and I don't feel like I got to know anyone or any of the area very well. But it's nice as well because I have less people to miss when I leave.... (is that bad?) I will miss the Barneys and Cindy (a recent convert that we are working with to get to the temple) and I'll miss Bonnie, a member who goes to a ton of lessons with us. But that's about it. I wish I had more time to get to know more of the people in this ward because they all seem really awesome... but maybe in the next life. :) 

My spiritual thought:

For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do. (2 Nephi 25:23)

That's what we're doing as a missionaries.  We labor diligently to persuade our brethren to believe in Christ and to know that it is by HIS grace that we are saved.  After all we can do.

So that's all I have time to write. 

Andddd my camera is in another room so I guess I'll send a picture later. 

Wow, super lame email. I'm sorry! 

I love you all! 

Love, Sister Warburton

Happy Monday!

I have to think that God loves me today because I have one whole hour left to write this! Phew! What a relief! 

We had a great week this week! I'll try to remember what actually happened. 

... Or maybe I'll just tell you the highlights because I'm drawing a blank. 

Nothing too exciting happened Monday or Tuesday. Just missionary work. 

On Wednesday, we went to district meeting and learned about the importance of the Book of Mormon. (It's SUPER important!) Then we had a lesson with Ronnie, who is a great investigator. He's from St. Louis, and we've gotten through most of the lessons so far without him having any issues EXCEPT (there always is one) his sister has been trying to get him to go to her church, and when he told her he was planning on trying our church she guilted him into agreeing to go to her church instead. :/ And she's his ride sooooooo, we need to get her interested in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ as well. 

During knocking that night we met some really nice people. We also met one dumb guy that spent a while telling us why the Book of Mormon is wrong and false. And we asked if he'd ever read it and prayed and he said he did. But I'm positive that the only reason he read it was to prove that it's wrong. And if you read it with that intention then obviously you won't get an answer that it's right. And I don't remember everything else he told us. But he thought he was Christian. But if I remember correctly, I don't think Christ went around telling people that everything they believed was wrong and trying to shatter their testimonies. We've got pretty solid testimonies so it didn't work, but it wasn't very Christ-like nonetheless. 

On Thursday we weekly planned and did some more missionary work. We met an AWESOME lady named Zi'yandra. She's great! She's from Detroit, Michigan. She used to go to our church with her aunt when she was really little, but she doesn't remember much and she never got baptized. She told us we could come back the next day. 

On Friday we went back and taught her and her husband, Charles, and they had a lot of questions and agreed with everything that we taught. Their attitude (which is awesome!) is "Why not check it out? What does it hurt?" EVERYONE SHOULD BE THIS WAY! So, we're pretty excited about them. 

We also got to go help at a food bank on Friday which was fun. 

On Saturday we had another lesson with Ronnie. Then we followed up on some members. Thennn we got to go fill the font for one investigator who has been ready to be baptized for a looong time now. The only problem has been her parents. They finally gave her permission and she got baptized Saturday night! :D It was a great baptism! Her parents didn't come, which is sad, they don't know what they're missing out on, but we had a great turnout from the ward. Her boyfriend, who leaves on his mission in April, got to baptize her, and his dad confirmed her. She has a lot of people that love and care about her, and then she'll go to BYU Idaho next year. Which will keep her feeling loved and taken care of. 

Sunday was the HIGHLIGHT of the week. Be prepared for an exciting paragraph! We had a special conference as a stake. It was special because ELDER DALE G. RENLUND of the Quorum of the TWELVE was there to speak to us! :D I FINALLY got to meet an Apostle! So exciting! I also got to meet Elder Blunck, one of the area authorities or something like that. It was a really great meeting, focused on the Savior and His Atonement. Brother Barney gave us a gift bag with some of our mission t-shirts in it to give to him. So we went up to him afterwards to give him and his wife some t-shirts to remember our mission by. :D And I got to shake his hand. AND we got a picture with him and all the missionaries. They said that if we could get all the missionaries assembled quickly and ready to go when he walked by that he would hop in and we could get a picture. SO WE DID. Exciting. :) It was great. 

So, that was my week. I didn't climb any trees, or stand on any frozen lakes, but we did get to teach and we got to meet Mormon celebrities. So, I'd say the week went well. 

For my spiritual thought I'll just share a scripture that I read this week, that brought peace to me.

But behold, I, Jacob, would speak unto you that re pure in heart. Look unto God with firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will console you in your afflictions, and he will plead your cause, and send down justice upon those who seek your destruction. 

O all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his love; for ye may, if your minds are firm forever. 

That's Jacob 3:1-2. I love the promise that we have if we are pure in heart, if we look to God, and if we pray in faith. If we do those things He will watch over us, He will bring us peace, and He will "plead our cause." 

If our minds are "firm forever" then we can feast upon His love. Which is pretty nice. 

So, be pure in heart. And also share the gospel. :) 

I love you all! <3

 

Have a wonderful week!

 

Love, Sister Warburton

Elder Dale G. Renlund

I'm never washing my hand again!!!  (Just kidding.  I already did.)

This is Melanie.  The girl that got baptized. :)

Happy 2016!!!

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a great week and especially a wonderful New Year's Eve and Day! :) 

Don't forget to make some goals! 

I had a really great week! There were a few low points, but it was mostly highs. :) 

Monday we had a zone activity, which was kind of lame. For some reason the elders are always in charge, which means most likely sports and board games at the church. If the sisters were in charge it'd be way more fun. But I guess the people you're around make it fun no matter what you're doing so we did end up having fun by the end. 

On Tuesday we had exchanges. Sister Scheer came to Silverdale 6th with me, while Sister Taylor went to Bainbridge island with Sister Wilson. We did some service and then we just went around trying to find people to teach. I am a firm believer that exchanges bring miracles though, so we did have some! We found some potentials that were willing to let us teach them something, and we met Richard, our first new investigator since I got here! He was really open to the idea of learning more and was excited to read the Book of Mormon. He was having "Spaghetti Night" though so he didn't want to let us in because he drinks when he makes spaghetti. He really wanted to learn though so he said to come back anytime "just NOT on spaghetti night." haha we're going back tonight with fellowship. Feel free to pray that he's still open. :) 

Wednesday we had zone conference. And this is where the low comes in. It was a great Zone conference, but at one part our mission president started to share a video with us. It was a training that all the mission presidents were supposed to watch in December... While we watched it we weren't really sure WHY we were watching it... but then the more they talked the more you kind of got this sad sinking feeling in your stomach. They were talking about transfers and how missionaries are supposed to be transferred and then they said that missions were NOT allowed to have transfer meetings. And then Elder Dallin H. Oaks got up and added another witness that Transfer meetings were not acceptable. So, in a period of about 3 minutes our favorite part of each transfer was terminated. We were all really sad about that. Even President and Sister Blatter were really sad. Especially because they were the ones that had to break the news to us. 

But, we know that it came from the First Presidency and the 12 apostles so there must be a good reason behind it, and we won't argue or complain about it. We will be sad... but there's not much we can do except move forward and be grateful that they aren't terminating zone conferences and musical firesides also... 

The rest of Zone Conference was good too. 

Thursday was New Year's Eve. Which was good. The SUN came out!!!! :D Which was awesome. however the sun coming out means the weather drops to negative bajillion degrees. (not really... more like 25.BUT STILL. It's freezing. With the humidity here you CAN'T get warm. No matter how many hand warmers and toe warmers and pairs of socks you wear, there is no warming up.) We didn't do anything special for New Year's Eve besides eat dinner later, not knock doors, and go home by 8. The rest of the day was just normal missionary work stuff. 

That night though, the Zone leaders called... and they were talking about how they could help, or what they could do to help us with the missionary work here in this area (It's a hard area) and then we talked about a scripture that I found that helped with the no more transfer meeting news, and then one of them said "fetch!" or something like that... which reminded me that I was going to talk to them about their language.... I think Elder Nelson maybe gave me too much inspiration to speak up and speak out.... but I've gotten way better at sharing the things that come to my mind. And in this instance I felt like maybe I should inform them that they could work on not saying replacement/Mormon swear words. I told them to read President Monson's talk on being an example of the believers in WORD and in CONVERSATION. And I explained to them WHY they shouldn't say things like that and then they gave me a bunch of excuses as to why the COULDN'T not say them... and then I told them that if they thought it was impossible to change their language than they didn't understand the Atonement... it was a really funny conversation. And now they are afraid to ask my opinion on things. They said "Sister Warburton, you're vicious!" And I said "What?! I'm not!" and then they said "... you're right... you just.. make me feel bad... but in a nice way." haha They'll thank me later. 

On Friday we street contacted a lot and talked to a lot of people. And I also stood on a frozen creek. It was cold enough for that. I also accidentally stuck my foot through some ice and filled my boot up with freezing cold water. 

On Saturday I stood on water again more successfully. 

We also got to go down to WINLOCK to a baptism for Cassidy! Which was the highlight of my week! And on the way back we drove through the only Chick-fil-a in our mission and so I had that for the first time in a long time. and that was another highlight. 

Sunday we switched to 9 am church and numbers were lower for sacrament meeting but people trickled in by the end. After church we went street contacting some more and I found the perfect branch to hang upside down from. So.... I did. 

Soooo that was my week. I've turned into a five year old/monkey with all the ice and the trees. I just can't help myself... but I am working and doing missionary work. And I'm also having fun! :) 

Phew!  A lot happens in a week when you are busy from 6:30 am to 10:30 at night. Sorry for this incredibly long email! 

I love you all and I am too lazy to share a very spiritual thought. Just know that I know that this Gospel is truly the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that God lives and that He really is our Father in Heaven and He LOVES us perfectly. I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and that we have a living prophet on the earth today. I know that families are forever and that we have the potential to be GREAT. IF we follow Jesus Christ's example. God is Good. Life is great. and I am glad to be alive. :) 

Have a great week! 

Love, Sister Warburton

Cassidy's baptism! 

Cassidy's baptism! 

Frozen lake. :D

Frost! 

And a crack that I made while standing on the ice... I was really freaking Sister Taylor out haha

Anddd you probably don't need to share this one with anyone because it looks more risque than I thought it did... haha but I thought it was funny and that you'd like it.  Don't worry no one was around. The sun went away and there were less people on the trail.  (I'm obviously a very obedient mom and do exactly what I'm told....)

Frozen lake. I didn't stand on this one. 

Mount Rainier.

My zone at the Christmas party.