Sister Elders

Hello Everyone!! :)

We had a super week this week! 

On Monday we had our zone activity at Westport Beach! (No more sports at the church!! Hooray!) It was a beautiful day the sun was shining, the sky was clear, the beach was practically empty! It was awesome. We also had the most generous member donate hot dogs, chips, hostess snacks, water, soda, condiments, and everything we'd need to have a barbeque on the beach. He let us borrow his grill, and some coals, and a lighter, and he was even kind enough to put trash bags, and paper towels in with all this stuff! So, we had a nice barbeque on the beach. We also buried our district leader, Elder Stansfield, and kicked water at each other. It was a blast! 

That night we got to help pull some weeds for a member. That was nice too. My mission has really taught me to enjoy weeding. (Call me crazy!)

On Tuesday we did service at the library putting labels on books and then organizing the bookshelves. Also, great service. We love organizing bookshelves! 

We also ate razor clams for the first time. 

Then we got to do MORE weeding at a members house! And the sun was out! 

Our investigator Kaytee came knocking with us that night too. She is so awesome! We're going to turn her into the best missionary ever! ;)

On Wednesday we turned into Sister Elders. We have a member in the ward that calls us the sister elders and we thought that since we were having our zone meeting today, that we would take it to heart, and try to be more united with our zone. :)

Aren't we cute?! :)

(We only wore this for zone meeting and then we changed back into normal sister missionary clothes. No worries! No apostates over here!)

That night while we were knocking I found the vertebrae of some animal. Sister Rosenvall is disgusted that I kept it, but it had been sun bleached so no worries! Also, I washed it with more bleach when I got home! ... We also met a born again Christian lady...And that is not our favorite religion to knock into. She was very nice, and very suspiciously invited us to come in and sit down. Then she HIT us with the longest, no-stopping-for-even-one-breath, sermon I've ever heard. 45 minutes STRAIGHT of telling us her testimony. It was weird, and really frustrating because she made us late to a meeting that we had to get to. 

Oh, also, on Wednesday night we slept on our porch. It felt like we were camping. :) 

On Thursday, we had interviews with President Blatter. That's always fun. 

On Friday we had exchanges with Sister Beck and Sister Kramer. We got to do even MORE service with them. We did service at the food bank in the morning, Then we pulled weeds again! (I love weeding!) We all ate dinner at the church and then went our separate ways. Sister Beck and I went up to Lost Lake to meet with Michelle. That lesson went well, Michelle really wants to get baptized, so we hope that we can figure out how to make that happen. 

Saturday was full of going, going, going, and working, working, working. It felt good.

Sunday was the same way. All of our investigators came to church. :) It is so nice to finally have people that are committed and determined to do what it takes to have the blessings of the gospel! 

And that was our week! 

A few other random tidbits:

I made Sister Rosenvall try a salmon-berry. She thought it was disgusting. They aren't very good, but they are edible, so it's kind of fun to eat them anyways. 

I also made Kaytee and Sister Rosenvall try ORANGE honeysuckle. Because it's better than the normal white or yellow kind. 

We also found a zonkey while knocking. 

The zonkey.

For my spiritual thought. 

(Sorry, maybe this email is scatterbrained... but I'm trying really hard to email fast. But really, The Savior is the way. Don't forget it! )

I love ya'll! Have a great week! Remember who you are and what you stand for! 

Love, Sister Warburton

Zone picture.  We're all making an "EL" with our hands, for Elma.

A sign I say while knocking.

Me doing a headstand in a skirt...modestly....I've mastered that art!

I lost my energy while trying to move the mattresses.

Sleeping on the porch.

The food bank!

A pretty "crick".

Our exchange.

Me next to normal honeysuckle.  Sister Rosenvall thinks I'm trying to poison her by making her try all these things.

Us with Kaytee.  The girl that's getting baptized on Saturday!

Orange honeysuckle.

Me with a salmon-berry, I think.

A not ripe salmon-berry that looked cool.

Sunsey.

I thought about getting this shirt...but then I decided I didn't want to spend the money.

Going to the beach!

Because I'm going to the beach today I'm going to keep this short! 

We had a great week with lots of wonderful things that happened! 

On Monday, we started the week off right by buying purple fanny packs! Pretty exciting stuff! We've been rocking them all week to save our backs. :) 

On Tuesday we had an exchange with Sister Taylor and Sister Stephens. They are a fun pair! We enjoyed having them around for the day! Nothing too terribly exciting happened though. Everything that we had planned fell through. Typical. So, we just did a whole bunch of FINDING. Whoo! So, we knocked and we tried to see less actives, and we street contacted, and we walked, and did all that fun stuff. 

On Wednesday, we had a district meeting in Shelton. That night we had dinner at a members home... unfortunately some people think that we eat like elders. And I have to admit that I just CAN'T. I tried SO hard to fit all the food that they scooped onto my plate. Then they gave us dessert and I was really close to throwing up as I tried to fit all of that into my stomach as well. That was rough. 

On Thursday we weekly planned and then we street contacted. We had dinner with a member for CINCO DE MAYO. Also, here is a fun story that I like to call the "Cafe Rio Miracle":

Last Saturday, Sister Rosenvall and I were talking about food and the topic of Cafe Rio came up. We both really miss that stuff. As we were talking about it we were like "Oh! Now we know what we can ask members for if they ask what we want!" But then we went on with our day and stopped thinking about it. The next day, we were knocking doors (this is last Sunday) and we knocked into the member that was signed up to feed us on May 5th. She was telling us that she had originally planned to make tacos, but then when she was at the store the night before (THE SAME TIME WE WERE TALKING ABOUT CAFE RIO) she had this thought that Cafe Rio would taste better than tacos. So, she decided to do that! We then told her that she was inspired/in tune with the Spirit. 

And so, on Thursday we had Cafe Rio, and it was great! :)

On Friday we drove to Tacoma for Missionary Leadership Council. That was fun. We learned a lot about the Doctrine of Christ and about using time wisely. Then we had lunch. We always all go to the office afterwards to pick up stuff and to socialize a little bit before we go our separate ways. We also had planned to go to Chick Fil A (the only one in the mission!) and found out that all the other sisters had the same plan, so we all had our dinner at chick fil a before heading back to our areas! It was fun. :)

That night we went knocking with the sisters that are in the Olympia 4th ward. They are right on our way home from Tacoma, and we haven't had a chance to get to know them very well yet, so we thought this would be a good opportunity. It was fun to knock in a different area and to spend some time with them. 

After that we rushed back to our area and had a lesson with Kaytee, who is getting baptized on May 21st! :) She's so awesome, she's practically already a member. She's going to knock doors with us tonight! :)

On Saturday we drove around with Sister Westcott and visited less actives and gave them flowers for Mother's Day. She bought us popsicles afterwards because it was actually really hot. 

On Sunday, I woke up at 4 am to get ready for the day. In order to talk to my brother (on a mission in London), another brother (at BYU) and my family(in Texas) I had to get on Skype at 5 am! The members that let us come over made us crepes for breakfast! That was pretty fun. Then we went home and got all of our stuff ready for church. Church was pretty long. We had a little bit of trouble staying awake for part of it, but we really enjoyed it. We got to teach the Restoration to the young women in the 1st ward. Then we talked about the need for the Restoration in the 2nd ward for gospel principles. We also got to go to Young Women's in the 2nd ward and learn about testimonies. And then right after church we taught the Restoration, to our investigator, Chris. He set a goal to be baptized on May 27th. It felt really good to get to teach/learn about the Restoration 3 times in a row! It's a good reminder to us of why we're here on a mission. 

At night, Sister Rosenvall Skyped her family, so I got to talk to my family for a little bit longer. That was fun. I sure have missed them! :) 

It was a good week, and I'm glad to be here! :)

We finally got our copies of the Conference Ensign, so I'm going to share a few quotes that I liked:

"Leadership is an expression of discipleship--it is simply a matter of helping others come unto Christ, which is what true disciples do. If you are striving to be a follower of Christ, then you can help others follow Him and you can be a leader.  Your ability to lead does not come from an outgoing personality, motivational skills, or even a talent for public speaking. It comes from your commitment to follow Jesus Christ." - Stephen W. Owen

"Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." - Abraham Lincoln

"Love in the fabric of the Plan of Salvation is selfless and seeks the well being of others. That is the love our Heavenly Father has for us." - Dieter F. Uchtdorf

I love you all!

Love, 

Sister Warburton

Matching Fanny Packs

The best Mothers Day Cards ever that we sent to our moms.

Matching with Elder Merideth.

Just posing for fun.

A butterfly we caught.

Chick Fil A with the sisters.

 Knocking with other sisters. 

We accidentally matched.  We always do that.

Mother's Day....talking to my family.

"Hello from the Pacific North WET!"

One lady told that to us the other day, so I thought it was a great title for my email! My other idea for today was to say something about having "Webbed feet and rusty bones." Because that applies pretty well also! 

Another idea that I had for the title was "Mayday! Mayday!" (Like "Danger! Danger!") But I don't actually know if I actually know how to spell that version of mayday. And nothing dangerous is happening besides the fact that the sun is coming out which makes me way too excited about life and missionary work. Which could be a dangerous thing.... :)

Anyways, We had a really good week this week! And once again, I don't remember anything that happened, but I'll think my way through. 

On Monday... nothing must have happened because my mind is drawing a blank. I think we must have just walked a bunch. 

On Tuesday we got to feed BABY COWS!!!! :D One dream crossed off my bucket list! Next time I'm going to make an effort to hug it, because that's my even bigger dream. Our bishop has 2 baby cows and he was kind enough to let us come feed them right before we ate dinner at his mother in law's house. Who is also in our ward. 

That night we went knocking and we started up a driveway. We knew some members lived there that we don't know very well, so we started walking up it, thinking it would be just around the corner. We found out it was around the corner. But it was like a mile away from that corner. On the way up we passed some foresty parts of the property and in the trees were THREE BABY PIGS. We found out later that their names are something like curly, and joe and something else. I think it's the three stooges? I can't remember for sure. But that was something you sure don't see every day. When we finally got to their property we found their beautiful house and they showed us around the property where they also have a giant house in a tree. Not a normal tree house, but a literal apartment. It has a working kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, bedroom, and living room UP IN THE TREES. So cool. 

After knocking we had a lesson with Kaytee, our investigator who is getting baptized on May 26th! She is so cute! We like her. She asked us yesterday "So, I think I'd like to get baptized on May 26th... is 7 o'clock okay? Or is that too late?" (7 is a perfect time for a baptism!) Anyways, that was good. 

On Wednesday, we had district lunch and meeting in Elma. It was Sister Lee's birthday so we decorated the relief society room, got her favorite ice cream, got some helium balloons, and waited for her to get there. We blew bubbles as she walked in the room. We weren't anticipating the THREE cakes that members gave her to bring to our district meeting, but it was fun. We all took turns sucking helium out of balloons. (Is that bad for you?) because it was just tooo funny not to. Also, because we had two extra cakes... we decided to cake our district leader in the face. It was his birthday present to Sister Lee. That was pretty funny also. Messy. But funny. 

On Thursday we walked a bunch, we didn't even touch our car! 

On Friday we had an exchange with Sister Lee and Sister Carlson. That was pretty fun. We actually had some pretty solid contacts during the day. We always worry because sometimes we have trouble filling our friday's because there is so much time to proselyte, and when we go on exchanges we have TWO sets of missionaries in the area, which means we have to plan TWO days worth of work to do. But it turned out great. We got in contact with one of our investigators, Chris, who hasn't been to church for a few weeks. (And because he realized that we cared enough to check on him, he came to church again and bore his testimony!) We also finally got in contact with Valerie, who got baptized in January. She's kind of a flaky type, so a lot of the ward hasn't really reached out to her, which breaks my heart and makes me worried to leave the area because I'm afraid no one will make any effort to bring her in if I leave. But the reason she's flaky is because she has a really hard life and a really tough living situation. She has a lot of kids that she worries about and only one of them is living with her right now. But we have really stressed her situation to the ward and I think they are starting to get it. She came to church on Sunday for the first time in a few months, and I think she felt really welcome. 

During knocking the sky broke and poured on us for a solid 45 minutes. I definitely wasn't prepared. So, that was pleasant. 

At night we had a dance party. You probably would never have thought that sister missionaries had dance parties so often huh?

On Saturday we helped clean up after the Stake Relief Society Conference. We got to pop about 100 balloons. And got some soup in exchange. It was a win win for us! ;)

We also had a good lesson with Michelle. 

Sunday night during knocking we met a dog that followed us for over a mile while we were knocking doors. He was kind of annoying because he came into people's yards, but it was funny. I think he took it upon himself to be our protector. We were kind of out in the middle of nowhere. 

Church was overwhelming. Having two wards that overlap and worrying about all the things you need to accomplish while your there in each one is stressful! We had 2 investigators in the 1st ward and 1 in the 2nd, and we also were trying to get rides for Valerie and one of the investigators. Then we worried about making sure people were fellowshipping them, so we could go and help other people. And we had to talk to members about some other stuff. So the whole time we were running around from one class to a meeting to another class, to go find someone else and then to meet someone else by the door and back and forth and back and forth! PHEW! 3 hours of church is NOTHING! 

I did though enjoy fast and testimony meeting. There was a really awkward gap for a few minutes where no one got up, so I wasn't planning on bearing my testimony, but I decided to fill the awkward and go up and bear my testimony on what I've been studying. 

So, I'll just end with that. 

I started reading the Book of Mormon again and this time I am studying the word "joy" and "rejoice" and so far, I've come to the conclusion that true, pure joy is to feel the love of God or to know the love of God. We can experience happiness from other things, but the most joy we will ever get is from knowing and feeling how much God loves us. I'm amazed at how often the Book of Mormon mentions joy, and I've noticed that it always has something to do with God or Jesus Christ or the gospel or the Plan of Salvation. 

Anyways, I had this thought process as I was studying the other day and it doesn't really make sense when I explain it out loud, so I'll skip my thought process and I'll get to the conclusion. 

As members of the church, we feel joy because we know that God loves us and we have felt that love. We feel it when we come to church, we feel it when we take the sacrament, we feel it when we are baptized, we feel it when we serve, we feel it when we sing about and to our Heavenly Father, we feel it when we think of the Savior, when we read the scriptures. We can feel that love of God ALL THE TIME. And when we focus on that love, we feel joy. We can feel joy in ANY circumstance. Whether we are starving in Africa, or have just been heartbroken, or broken a bone. Wherever we are, whatever we're doing, we can feel joy if we focus on the love of God. 

So, we know that, our job NOW is to share that love of God with others. As a missionary I have the opportunity to go door to door and proclaim the gospel in place of my Savior. I am a representative of Jesus Christ. I chose to do this because I felt the love of God and I have joy because of it. Well, just because I have a name tag doesn't mean I'm the only person who can do that. We ALL are missionaries, we ALL agreed to stand as witnesses of Christ. Which means we are ALL representatives of Jesus Christ. Which means that we ALL need to step up and help others feel the love that God has for them by loving them. And by giving them the opportunity to have true joy too. 

I just want to bear my testimony that I know God lives and loves me and all of His children. And that we can have joy because of Him.  I'm grateful for that knowledge. 

I love you all! I hope you make an effort this week to help others feel loved. 

Love, Sister Warburton

Sister Lee's birthday party

A snail Sister Lee found during knocking

The balloons we popped

All the desserts that we got in one day. We pawned them off to the elders. ;)