Mission tour and Intercambios

Did January and February just fly or what? I can't believe we are already in March this week. CRAZY!

This week was super loco.... we had a mission tour from Elder Soares of the 70. Wow. He and his wife are spiritual beacons. They are absolutely incredible and I learned so much from their words and their example. They focused the importance of planning, serious goal setting, Companionship study, and what it means to be a representative of Christ. I wrote all about it in my journal but if you want to know more about it just ask me (: 

With them coming down we had TWO intercambios (I guess they're called exchanges in english...) anyway its when other sister missionaries in our zone come and stay with us for 24 hours. We then split up the two companionships and learn, study, plan, practice and teach with the other sister. The first intercambio I had was with Hermana Hinton from Colorado! She is my favorite. We were in Galicia (north western Spain) together for 6 months and are now again serving pretty close to each other. She finishes her mission here in Spain in 3 weeks so I honestly learned so much more from her than I'm sure she learned from me. While on the intercambio we go to take some reactivated members to the temple to do baptisms. We didn't get to go in but we waited outside the temple with Camila and worked on Personal Progress together. (I love personal progress! I'm so excited to work on it with you and Lindsey when I get home Libby! You're getting so old! I love you!!!XOXOX)

It was kinda of crazy but Hermana Hinton already knows my area so we didn't get lost (: they left around 2ish on Thursday and around 4 our friends (sister missionary friends) form VIGO came and stayed with us! I got to spend the evening with Hermana Jimenez (from Ecuador) and Hermana Snyder (my actual comp) got to serve with Hermana Duffin!! (Hermana Duffin and I are pals from the MTC, she's my hero and has been a huge support to me on the mish) It was awesome. Hermana Jimenez also finishes the mission in 3 weeks and knows the area better than I do so it was also really successful I learned a lot from her as well (:

The Vigo hermanas stayed with us because we had a meeting with Elder Soares for the mission leaders in presidents home on Friday. It was so great to see all the missionaries I'd served with before working together to know how to lead the mission. We made lots of great goals and we are going to keep them. Hermana Snyder and I felt kind of out of place at first because we are both brand new sister training leaders. Hermana Snyder would just turn and look at me and say that she didn't know why she was there. But she is incredible and contributed a lot. A lot of her input was really helpful for the discussions we had. I have the best companion. She's such a great example to me and I am grateful to be working so closely with her so i can learn even more from her example. #blessed

The more I spend on the mission the more I am so grateful for the restored gospel. We are teaching a girl who has been meeting with the Jehovah's Witnesses. I have a lot of respect for them they work really hard to follow the Bible and live high eternal standards. There are a lot of other people here in Spain that live their lives to the best of their abilities to find eternal happiness. And many people have asked me, "Why does it matter what religion I live if I just follow Christ the best I can?" It's a good question. What really are they missing out on? 

I'm so grateful for the knowledge we have that God is our father. He loves us and cares for us. He wants us to learn and progress in this life. For this reason He has given us His Gospel through living prophets. To give us exact instruction in our lives to know how to follow Christ with exactness. Of course we are not perfect but I promise that as we follow the guidance the prophets give us we will be able to achieve the greatest level of happiness this life has to offer. God has given men His power and authority to lead us and guide us in this world of confusion that is only worsening. We don't have to walk in darkness. We don't need to play guessing games. Through His prophets God has shown us the path that leads to happiness. All we need to do is follow it.

I'm so grateful to be a missionary here in Spain Madrid. (I'm sure Malaga is incredible too Brook) I know it's exactly where I need to be to do what I need to do and learn how to become the person I need to become. 

I hope you all have a fantastic week and that you take advantage of every moment!

Much love and awkward besos,

Hermana Warner 

At the temple with Camila and Hermana Hinton <3

Carabanchel. It's a good place to find people who need the gospel.

We are going to a Forrest park today! 

We went bowling today!

I LOVE CARABANCHEL! So I'm serving in the ninth ward (Barrio 9) and I love it!! It's a bit different than Villalba but it's really great. (: Villalba was super tranquilo and my area consisted of mostly pueblos. This area I'm in now is all city. We use the metro almost everyday. (Metro=subway) because our area is pretty big and dense. 

So yeah, I love it here! I mentioned it last time I'm sure but my new comp is Hermana Snyder, she is from Syracuse Utah and I love her more than cafe rio burritos! (Which is a lot) She is and incredible missionary and I'm so grateful to be serving with her. I've already learned so much. She is really good at making everything count and at following the spirit. She never ever just "teaches a lesson" she always teaches the people, in contacting, teaching and every situation. She is the most sincere missionary I've ever met and I strive to be more like her. 

We have some really great people we are teaching and this week we've found even more. I'm sure I've said it before, but we have a standard in the mission to contact 25 people everyday. It's been difficult at times but it's really paying off. We've been able to find many people who are really ready. Seriously though, the other day we were taking the bus to a members house and decided to contact the lady in front of us, we got talking to her about how we teach English class and gave her a card. Apparently Anthony man was listening to our conversation and asked us for the information as well. Just under an hour ago, he called and asked if we could teach him english and also that he had interest in learning more about the gospel. Solid. Miracle.

We are meeting with a woman named Mari Luz. I love her so much! It's actually a really cool story how Hermana Snyder found her on the Metro but seriously just talk to everyone, people are ready. She has a baptismal date set up for next month (: she is progressing really well but has to work on sundays. We are praying for her and hope she will be able to find a new job so she can come to church more often.

This week we also taught an incredible lady named Elvira. She was interested in English class but got lost. By the time we found her the clasess were over but we told her we'd teach her anyway. She just started talking and asking questions and we hardly even had any time to teach her english. We will be meeting her and her two sons later this week! We are too excited!

This is truly the Lords work, he knows who's ready and he knows what they need. I know that this church is true with all my heart. I'm so grateful for this opportunity that i have to share this truth with others. 

This week Elder Soares from the Seventy is coming! We will have zone conference tomorrow and then we as leaders will be meeting with him again on Friday. I'm excited to see how the Lord wants us to hasten his work here in Madrid Spain. I love it here! I love the work!! 

I hope you all have a FANTASTIC week! Count our blessings, I promise you, you have more than you think. 

Hugs and besos!!! 💋 

Hermana Warner 

Here's a pic of us bowling with my favorite Recent Convert Alexandra!

 (The Elders Baptized her a few weeks ago)

 Elder Knapus, Hermana Snyder, Elder Miller, Alexandra, me

Reply...

I love the new ward, I'm so so happy to be here. So grateful. We had Stake conference last week so I didn't really get to know very many members but the ones I know are fantastic and I'm so excited to be here serving with them (:

Ps. I really don't feel like writing a group email today and I didn't get any new pics this week so I'll just write everyone on Monday.

I LOVE THE TEMPLE!!!

Carabanchel

February 6, 2017

Hola mis queridos! Well what a week. This week was kinda different because we had temple day on Wednesday. I LOVE THE TEMPLE!!! Then on Friday we had our district meeting. We met with our cute friend Martina and our other friend Emma.

I love Emma with all my heart! I'm going to miss her. ... Oh yeah!

I got TRANSFERED! I am now in the beloved Barrio 9 (Carabanchel) in the south west part of Madrid. I've been praying a lot this past week because I've been having feelings that I'd be leaving. I feel very at peace. I know that this is where the Lord needs me to be and I am excited to help his work progress. I am companions with my new friend Hermana Snyder! She is too cute and I know we are just going to kill it this transfer. We are praying for lots of conversions. She is also a blonde from Utah and we will be serving together as Sister Training Leaders, so we are in charge of the sister missionary exchanges in our zone. It's both of our first time being STLs so we'll see how it goes. I'm not too worried, she knows what she's doing ;)

So yeah, hasta luego my beloved Villalba. Sunday was incredible. It was fast Sunday so everyone in the congregation bore their testimonies. The spirit was so strong. One young man that went up had also been inviting his girlfriend to the church. This was the second time she had come but he went up and bore powerful testimony. Later, other young adults went up and bore their testimonies as well. At the end of the meeting this young mans friend, Marta, came up to us with him and asked us to start teaching her. It was such an incredible experience and although I won't be there to teach her I am so grateful for the example of this young man, for his faith and testimony. 

That's how missionary work should be. It's not a rote thing we missionaries go out and share with random strangers. It should be an invitation of love to help those around us find the path that leads to true happiness. Let us be bold and loving when we share our beliefs with others. I pray that each of you will be able to find opportunities to share your testimony with those around you and that I may have sincere love for each person I meet so that I may be a more effective support for those I teach.

I hope you all have a fantastic week! All my love!

Hermana Warner

(Emma)

SHES BACK FROM THE DEAD!

SHES BACK FROM THE DEAD! Sorry again for how awful my last few emails have been. Yes I'm alive, and yes I'm okay, thank you all for the concern (; so I guess I could update you on what's going on here in Villalba.

Every Monday we meet with our cute friend Dayana, she's the only member in her family but she is super strong. I have a ton of respect for her. All you out there who complain to go to church activities or to church because of travel, I don't want to hear it, she lives like a 20 min bus ride away from the church and the bus passes every hour. The motivation she has inspires me, I want to be more like her. She wants to serve a mission too so we've been helping her know how to start being a member missionary now and giving her tips for the future. 

Tuesdays are usually pretty slow. but in the mornings we usually meet with our cute friend Martina. She is from Peru but is visiting her daughter here in Villalba for as long as the government will let her. Here testimony is incredible, she's older but she doesn't let that stop her from looking to God and looking for the truth. Her first language is Quechua so its hard for her to read Spanish but she is doing really well and when she feels ready she will enter into the waters of baptism. That's her greatest desire.

Tuesday nights we used to meet with our friend Hernando but he is out traveling right now and wont get back for a few months. I pray that when he comes back he will take the lessons again with the missionaries here. We now have a new friend that we found from Honduras. She is a MIA member but we found her and we are going to bring her back! We taught her for the first time yesterday and we can see a to of potential in her.

Wednesdays we have District meetings in the morning, English Class at night and lessons in between. Last week we had the Missionary Broadcast, announcing all the changes happening in the mission field, so last week not a ton happened on Wednesday. 

On Thursdays we have weekly planning. Last week we met with our new friend Maria. It takes about 2 hours to get to her house when we leave with the bus so that is a little difficult. But she and her children came to church on Sunday! We have only met with her but we'd like to teach them as a family as a whole, we don't know the next time well be able to meet with them because of their schedules but the family is so cute and I'm excited to witness their progression. (:

Fridays are my favorite days (: In the mornings we've started meeting with our new friend Ramón and his wife Maria. The story of how we found them is actually pretty good. I don't know if I've already said it so I'll say it again!

So on a Tuesday I believe we were waiting at the bus stop to go visit Martina. Her son-in-law just happens to be standing nearby waiting for the same bus. We go over and start talking to him and he told us of how he had lost his phone on the way home from work. I decided to tell him about an experience about when my dad lost his phone. (This is how I remember it dad, I was pretty little so excuse me if its a little hazy) It was when flip phones were generally new and my dad "lost" it. I remember that around the same time, my aunt lost her wedding ring, so as a family we decided to have a special prayer that we could find these two very important things. I don't remember how long it took but I remember we looked and we looked for the lost phone. Until I remembered the small tables leaning against the computer closet. There was a small gap in there that I could reach my little arm in. I remembered seeing my dad's phone left at the computer desk and thought it would be funny to tease him by hiding it in the little gap between the tables and the closet. So when I reached my little arm in the slot to my excitement, I FOUND THE PHONE! And it was an answer to our prayer.

There was a cute elderly couple standing nearby the bus stop that heard my story and gave a little chuckle as well. We included them in the conversation and they agreed to let us meet with them. The first lesson we had with them was incredible. It's amazing to see how God has prepared them to receive his Gospel.

I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve here in Villalba, I know it's where the Lord wants me to be for now. I'm so grateful for my Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Chris. I can do nothing without him, this is truly the Lords work. I'm so grateful for the Temple and for the blessing that it is to have so many all over the world.

I hope you all have a great week! 

Loves and awkward Besos!

Hermana Warner