Taking on Tacoma: HOWDY!

Hey Everyone! :)

This week was wonderful! The sun came out and stayed for 5 days straight! It was probably the most beautiful thing I've ever seen! Also, with daylights savings it didn't get dark until 7:45 some nights! Wow, we were living it up!

Being a missionary is easy peasy when the sun comes out! We knocked really boony-ish roads and were loving it! We practically hiked mountains to get to houses and we LOVED IT! We also exercised every day for the full 30 minutes and ate healthy! (for the most part... just so you know mom, I had THREE bananas this week. AND I bought FIVE today.)

But I'm getting way ahead of myself. Sorry. It was just a really good week! :)

Monday was the last of the rainy days. It was hailing, and then sunny, and then pouring so hard I couldn't see the road ahead of me while I drove, and then it cleared up again, and then hailed again. It was crazy. We had a day of rest and came home to just sit and relax and at one point I looked out the window and it was literally raining on one side of our apartment but not on the other. So I went outside to look at the bizarre weather and there was an incredibly bright rainbow! It was beautiful!

It looked even cooler in person. :)

On Tuesday we had an exchange with Sister Taylor and Sister Skousen. It's kind of funny because Sister Skousen trained Sister Rosenvall, and Sister Taylor was my companion before I came to Elma. So, we just went with our past companions. It was really fun! You don't have that awkward getting-used-to-the-person-you're-about-to-spend-24-hours-with feeling. You just start off where you left off and talk about how things are going.

On Wednesday we had district meeting in Shelton. It's a pretty long drive, but that was good because we had to memorize a bunch of scriptures before we got there, so it gave us time to do that.

Thursday was St. Patrick's day. We purposely wore green clothes, but on accident I had a green smoothie for breakfast, and an avocado for lunch, and Sister Rosenvall had a green apple for lunch. And during companion study we are going in order from beginning to end in the hymn book and the song we were on? There is a GREEN Hill far away. haha! I love holidays! :) It was also park day. But we got rides to everywhere we needed to be.

On Friday we did a whole bunch of stuff but I can't fully remember all of it. OH! We had a really great church tour with Karalee! I knocked on her door almost 2 months ago when I first got here and she was really interested in learning more, but then she had to work and then she got sick and then she had surgery and then she had to recover and then she had to work more and I kind of gave up on her. (I'm the worst!) BUT she texted us the other day and said "I'd like to go on a church tour at 1 on Friday. Will that work?" And it did! And so we gave her a church tour. And it was a bit awkward at first because normally we go around and give a tour while teaching the restoration with the pictures. But we had a member there and it felt more like just an informational tour so we weren't sure how to tie the restoration in. BUT when we passed the picture of the First Vision it caught her eye and she stopped and stood in front of it and then asked us about it! It was so cool, it gave us exactly what we needed to teach her the first vision and about the restoration of the gospel. It was really cool. I love those little things that make being a missionary so worth it!

On Saturday we just did regular missionary work, nothing toooo terribly exciting happened. (I don't have my planner with me so I don't exactly remember what happened... sorry) But it was a great day!

Sunday was fantastic! I noticed that I tend to lose faith in my investigators on Sundays because I've had SO many Sundays where none of my investigators come to church.... so I was starting to doubt but almost ALL of my investigators came this week! It was amazing! Lorraine, who is on date to be baptized this coming Saturday just walked right in, totally comfortable with church, and the people. She knew where to go and all the members were really friendly to her. It was awesome!

Also, some other investigators that I thought we had lost just walked right in like they belonged there (which they totally do) and so I had to repent during the sacrament for not having more faith. So, now I'm determined to just believe and have faith that my investigators will progress and that they will make it!

We decided this week to keep baptism on our mind. So we wrote little notes all over the apartment that say "Focus on Baptism" and "Do everything for baptism!"

When we work out in the morning we tell ourselves, "We're working out, so we can have energy to find people, teach them, and get them baptized!" When we eat we say "We're eating right now, for baptism!" And when we walk and we're tired we say "We're working and walking and tired for baptism!"

We sound like completely brainwashed missionaries. Maybe we are. But if it helps people make those covenants and receive those blessings than it works right? :)

So, life is good. :) It's raining again today, but I'm sure it won't last. I'll just keep my spirits high, and my smile big and it will scare those clouds RIGHT back to where they came from.

And here's a good quote from last conference:

"True obedience...is giving ourselves entirely to Him and allowing Him to chart our course both in calm waters and in troubled ones, understanding that He can make more of us than we could ever make of ourselves." -Von G. Keetch

I love you all! Have a wonderful week! Remember that God loves you!

Love, Sister Warburton

I'm working on singing the Restoration to "Part of Your World" It's pretty good. :)

Trying to take a selfie but not being able to open your eyes because the sun is so bright is probably one of the best problems's I've ever encountered.