July 25, 2022 - Serving other strikes again!

 Week 48 

We put someone on bap date!! Haha but more on that later. On Tuesday we had transfers and surprisingly they went very smoothly. I got to be companions with Hna. Gonzalez during her last few hours as a missionary as she waited for her mom to show up and I waited for my new companion Hna. Zarate from Guatemala.

Wednesday we put a new person on bap date! We've been looking for the kids of the primary who still haven't been baptized and random things always popped up so we couldn't visit this one family. The same thing happened Tuesday, but we went anyway, bringing Clorox to help. And so we got to do more service this week for members, have a lesson, and put a date! 

Thursday during hora de pescar (an hour we have in the mission to do member work) we were just messaging all the members to tell them there was a new missionary and one member we didn't know called us and invited us over. We went over and she introduced us to her sister who isn't a member! And so we shared the Restoration and will be going back soon to share more. 

Saturday was another fire day in el Alto del carmen. Everyone says yes to hearing a message and almost everyone says yes to a return visit. I have never seen that happen in any of my other areas haha. We also had a great lesson with another child from the primary. We weren't sure how to ask or bring up the big question but at the end we asked if she had had the chance to be baptized… and the discussion afterwards went great. The dad said no, but maybe it was about time she started her preparation. He then asked us if we would like to be involved in the preparation. Of course! 

And finally yesterday, Sunday, we had a less active family of 6 come to church! Their son is one of the kids we're teaching. It was their first time in years. They had been preparing for some time to come, and had a few problems this morning, but they were there early and looked great! And the ward was very welcoming! 

“Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”

“Deliverance from our trials is different for each of us, and therefore our focus should be less about the way in which we are delivered and more about the Deliverer Himself.”

This past Sunday in Relief Society we were studying this talk from General Conference. We had such a great discussion! Christ really is always the answer - the answer to our worries, our heartaches, our healings and our triumphs. 

Mucho amor,

Hermana Warburton

my new comp

 

el valor de Nefi lesson

 i think we figured out why it's so hard for people to stop drinking coffee

July 18, 2022 - Penguins and Pirates

 Week 47

Praying to have more opportunities to serve I think really helped us this past week. We felt like at almost every turn the Lord was leading and guiding us every step of the way.

On Wednesday we were helping a member dust her house after construction and literally for the rest of the day I felt like Weezy the penguin from Toy Story. But the member was very happy to have a clean house. 

We had a call later that night with someone who already heard about Joseph Smith just a little while ago because his father, who he's taking care of, randomly listened to the hymn about Joseph Smith's first vision and our friend liked it a lot. So we sang the song again and asked if he would like to read the Book of Mormon. The next day we were able to bring one to him!

On friday we went to visit members. On the way back a member took us with her in a pirate car to get back to the city (haha they're not actually pirates. They just aren't legally ubers..). I ended up talking to another guy that was in this pirate car with us because he started speaking in English. Well afterward he asked if I wanted his number if I ever had questions about Spanish, so I said of course and ended up getting Joseph's number. Yes, it's written like Joseph Smith (those were his words!). This week we will definitely be learning about how he already knows the name Joseph Smith.  

On Saturday we needed to return to the same area and contact people. Turns out we got 9 different numbers and ended up having 5 different lessons. 3 were member references, we love member references!!  

Sunday, bright and early we went and helped some of our friends come to church. We were basically their alarm clock, but it was great because we got to help with breakfast and clean the house a little, and they made it to church with us on time! 

Sunday afternoon we also met more less active members through another less active member family that we went to visit. All the members were so helpful this past week and I think it was because we really were enjoying serving them and getting to know them. 

Alma 22:16-18

16 But Aaron said unto him: If thou desirest this thing, if thou wilt bow down before God, yea, if thou wilt repent of all thy sins, and will bow down before God, and call on his name in faith, believing that ye shall receive, then shalt thou receive the hope which thou desirest.

17 And it came to pass that when Aaron had said these words, the king did bow down before the Lord, upon his knees; yea, even he did prostrate himself upon the earth, and cried mightily, saying:

18 O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day. And now when the king had said these words, he was struck aas if he were dead.

I loved reading the prayer of the father of Lamoni, the King. It is such a sincere prayer and there is no doubt that God will always answer the sincere prayers of His children. Our conversion will always start with a humble prayer and will only grow as we share our testimonies with others like the father of Lamoni. 

Mucho amor,

Hermana Warburton

 

Whistle while you work

 The patriarch and his cute wife that gave us some of their KFC

 Zone Pday at a lookout called Mirador de Orosi

The funeral of Hna. Beckstrom

 Ministering to members!

July 11, 2022 - Bodas y bautismos

 Week 46

We started the week off great by going to the house of the bishop and his wife! They really helped us with finding a few people to teach. We had a great lesson with a member family! Haha after getting lost in the mountains we made it to their house… even if we were an hour late. Whoops. A good thought someone shared in our English class as well was who climbs a tree better, a cat or a fish? Who swims in the ocean better, a cat or a fish? We each have our own special talents just like cats and fish. Haha it was a very sweet thought.

We got caught in a rain storm and it was so nice to show up at the house of the Patriarch and his wife who gave us treats, shared stories, and great comments about the scripture we shared. Haha. We also had some great interviews with president. Remember that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. The prophet of the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ! And we got invited to a member´s birthday party! It was us missionaries and her other 6 friends who are a little older haha. 

Friday after the asistentes encouraged us to minister  more to members, I felt that we needed to go look for a member who has a child that can be baptized. So even though it was a little far by bus and a little later in the day, we went to their house and literally met the mom who in minutes already had planned that her son would finish receiving lessons and be able to be baptized before the end of the transfer. They were going to come to church this Sunday, but then they didn't come yesterday 😔 but they were definitely prepared by the Lord. Literally, it was amazing to see that the Lord helped us find another family ready, but we can't control how people choose to use their agency.

Saturday we had a wedding and baptism in our ward! It was so much fun and there were 40 non members that came to both the wedding and baptism!! They learned lots I'm sure in a really short time. 

Sunday we also had another crazy finding situation when we knocked on a random door and the man said his neighbor was a member of our church. So of course we went and knocked on the door. Turns out that he is NOT a member. In our 15ish minute conversation with him, we learned that he sees us and waves to us everyday. Haha what?! It took us a sec, but we realized he works by our house which is literally like half an hour from where he lives, and he does wave at us every day. It was very interesting to see how the Lord led us to find him. Also a cool update from EDS we have gone from 4% to 8% being baptized in our mission!  And finding through members is the best at 11%, we are soo close. We are doing so well that the area 70 wants weekly updates.  

“We do our best but must leave to Him the management of blessings, both temporal and spiritual.

Our Father is willing to guide each of us along His covenant path with steps designed to our individual need and tailored to His plan for our ultimate happiness with Him.”

These are a few thoughts from Elder Christofferson's talk he shared in the last general conference. I love how our Father has a plan that is just for us, tailored to our needs so that each of us, individually, can live happily with Him. It all comes down to trusting Him and His servants. 

Mucho amor, 

Hermana Warburton

 the cute married couple

don´t worry its just ginger ale

member visits

 it's pouring!!!

July 4, 2022 - La oración de un niño

 Week 45

This tuesday I had exchanges and it went so well. With the help of Hermana Beckstrom, who has been in this area before, we were looking for people who were being prepared by the Lord. She also helped me understand the area and ward so much better. What was so cool is that we called two people who were puntos gris (not interested) and had had baptism dates in our area book, and they both said they were still interested in learning more! Miracles there! 

Then the following day we got to have such a powerful lesson with one of the sisters we found on exchanges. I was blessed to be able to share my talents and sing a child's prayer in our lesson. As I sang and afterwards, the Spirit was so strong. And the sister even said that she wanted to come to church on Sunday to keep feeling that same peace she felt in the lesson. Later we also had a lesson and she said that she wanted to be baptized! 

We had fun ward activities this week, a talent show and a relief society activity. We study the relief society theme, I encourage everyone to go read it. It's sooo powerful. We also had fun celebrating Hna. Jenkin´s birthday on Saturday too! 

In equipo de sueños this past week something sooo cool happened. Well it didn't happen in our area, in our area we got to talk to an atheist, but it happened in another area. My last week in Montelimar we were praying for opportunities to do more service and we got to help a random sister on the street carry her groceries. Well this other companionship was calling someone for the last time, the 7th time, and their mom answered. Turns out the mom was this sister! The Lord is always looking out for His sheep. 

On Sunday we also had a fun activity in the ward learning about indexing. The spirit of Elijah was so strong. I am so thankful to be working on this side of the veil and that we have the opportunity to help our Heavenly Father on both sides of the veil. “Anytime you do anything that helps anyone—on either side of the veil—take a step toward making covenants with God and receiving their essential baptismal and temple ordinances, you are helping to gather Israel.” And what a blessing it is to be able to help Him gather His people!  

Mucho amor, 

Hermana Warburton

diay!

visiting members

Denny's pancakes are still really good

Happy Birthday Hna. Jenkins!

 ice cream to celebrate the 4th

la basílica 

 gardens in the church ruins