La Laguna and Hermana Willden

Where do I even begin? This week has been incredible. A little bit hectic but incredible. First of all I bid farewell to my beloved trio and Carabanchel. It was a happy sad moment but we are just grateful for the time we got to spend together and I'm grateful for all I learned in Carabanchel B9.

     Crazy. So we had to stay in Madrid for a while before getting to the islands we got to spend time with Hermana Glover and Hermana Wilkinson oh yeah, duh and my awesome new comp ... Hermana WILLDEN!!! Whoot whoot! She is legit the best. The second I

saw her I knew she was going to be my comp, she is the cutest.

So we didn't get to Tenerife until Thursday morning but we are here and we are safe! :) I LOVE LA LAGUNA! We are praying for and expecting many miracles here. We got here and started calling the "investigators" their records indicate that they aren't progressing and that they are usually unavailable so the two of us are starting from zero and going up. We made as many calls as we could on Thursday and only a couple people answered. One of which is named Fidel.

     I found Fidel's number in the phone under future investigators and he miraculously answered. I still don't know the area super well and I didn't know the members either so I decided to invite him to a ward activity we had planned Saturday afternoon. We continued to make more calls and did a lot of planning on Friday.

     When Saturday came we continued to pray for a new investigator who would be prepared to be baptized. 5:00 hit and the activity started. Fidel still wasn't there but we still hoped he would come. Around 6:00 he called us back telling us he was lost and that he would be taking a TAXI to find the church. (If you don't already know, taxis are pretty pricey) but he was determined to come.

     Finally around 7 he arrived! He speaks really good English so my comp didn't feel left out at all. The members were so great and welcomed him in with open arms. We played a few games and the bishop said the activity was over and that we needed to wrap things up. We quickly changed into our skirts and asked a member to help us share a message with him. 

     As we began teaching in Spanish he asked that we would do it in English, we were able to teach him that God is our Heavenly Father and that he will help us change to be who we want to be, to be happy. He expressed his true desires to change and to meet with us. It was a miracle, luckily the member knew a little English too. It was such a powerful experience and we will be meeting with him again on Tuesday.

     When we ask for miracles, do our best and act in faith, the Lord will bless us with miracles. Even though I am training in an area I don't even know, the Lord knows this area and He knows these people, with His help I can do all things.

Have a fantastic week!

Hermana Warner

     Hikes and pictures of our beautiful coming soon! To start off, here's a view from our Piso.

I'm going through mountain withdrawals.

 It legit feels like the transfer left just as soon as it came. Wow. So a lot has happened! First off, trio. We've been in a trio with Hermana Estrada for the last week covering two areas. It's been crazy but super fun to be able to spend time with these two chicas! We were able to go to activities and a baptism of our cute member friend Eduardito. But over all I feel like we've been spending most of our time running around with backpacks and food and riding the bus to the four corners of the earth.

     But yeah, like I said, TRANSFERS! There have been some big changes. I will be going to the island Tenerife to serve in San Cristóbal de la Laguna. I'm pretty sure it's the island where Christopher Columbus made a pit stop just before going to the Americas. I'm so excited! I've been told it's the greenest part of the island and that there are some killer hikes. Or in other words, the Lord is sending me to die in paradise. As far as my new companion goes, I won't find out until tomorrow because.... I'M TRAINING! I'm too excited! Also a little nervous because I'm training her in an area that I don't even know but hey! You live and you learn. :) 

     As I've been reflecting on my time here in B9 Carabanchel all I can be is grateful. These have legit been the most fulfilling and difficult transfers of the mission. I've learned and grown in ways I didn't even think were possible before the mission. I am sad to say goodbye to my family here but I know it's my time to go. I'm grateful for the time I was able to spend with Sandra, Isa Mar, Antonia, Alexandra and all the other incredible friends I've made here. I'm grateful for all I've learned from Hermana Snyder and Hermana Ibáñez. It's truly been quite the adventure. 

     I don't know if I mentioned how we met Antonia but I think it's a good story and it's strengthened my testimony of diligence and the promise that "No effort is wasted." Hermana Snyder and I found her long ago, my first transfer here. To this day I still don't remember the actual initial conversation or really anything about our first encounter. My guess is that Hermana Snyder commented on her jewelry or clothing. Anyway I saw her name and number, next to it I wrote "CALL HER" so I figured she was pretty important. I called her a few times and every time she would tell me that it would be better to call the next week or later. We found her in the beginning of March and I didn't get to meet with her until the middle of June. She canceled once or twice before we were finally able to meet. Since we've started meeting p, she's been coming to church, praying, reading the BOM and truly learning how to follow the Savior. I didn't think I could do much in just one transfer and there were times I thought I wasn't making a difference.  It when I saw her yesterday with her lower lip trembling and tears in her eyes I knew that I had been doing exactly what the Lord needed me to do. I'm grateful for her and for what she's taught me. Im also grateful for Hermana Snyder and all the other missionaries that served here before me.

     Anyway I feel like I'm just rambling my life in an email so I should probably stop and enjoy these last moments with my pineapple friends.

     Have a great week my friends!

Hermana Warner 

Antonia Hermana Ibáñez and Hermana Estrada

My Dominican family

unnecessary bathroom selfie with my girls

¡Canta y no llores!

WHAT A WEEK! Oh my goodness this week was INSANE! But good... mostly.... yeah I'd say it's still been a pretty good week.

     Okay first things first...... INTERCAMBIOS! Well, intercambio, the best longest intercambio of my life. I got to spend some lovely days with my cute sister Hermana Jarman. She is legit my FAV. She hasn't been feeling good all week so I spent the weekend with her. And in spite of all the pain and hardship she had to pass through, I legit have never seen anyone come out so strong. She is an example to me of humility, love, sincerity, confidence and accepting the Lords will no matter how difficult. She is an inspiration. When she becomes a public speaker I invite all of you to listen to her and share her YouTube videos with all your friends. She is fantastic!

     After the intercambios we were put into a trio with the lovely Hermana Estrada. She and Hermana Ibáñez were MTC comps. It's actually kind of funny, last transfer I was sad thinking I'd never get a native comp and now, I have TWO! They are so funny together and we have not been getting any sleep at all because we can't stop talking haha. I love them dearly and we have been working pretty well together. 

     As far as the work goes, all is well! We had a few investigators come to church! Whoot whoot! Antonia came for the third time yesterday! She goes out of town soon so we are still figuring out a baptismal date :) Also, I wrote about how our friends Sandra and Pedro gave us a reference, well they just went all out and brought two friends to church with them. It was awesome. They both went to gospel principles with us and were able to keep the class on topic and share their testimony when we learned about latter-day prophets.

     I'm so grateful to be a part of this work! And all of you at home are part of it too. As my time here in the mission shortens, I realize more and more that it doesn't stop when my mission is over. Gods work is eternal. I invite you all to take part in the work and to receive the blessings that come of it! Whether it be through Family History or simply inviting a friend to know more, no effort is ever wasted.

     I hope you all have a great week full of all sorts of goodness!

Awkward besos and side hugs,

-Hermana Warner

We found grass... I'd say that's picture worthy #citylife

This growing wall is also pretty legit. #naturegraffiti

Obnoxious glamour shots, smiling in spite of pain #myhero

I love to see the Temple

Hello family and friends,

   So, actually a lot has happened since my last email. I mentioned that we had intercambios with the Hermanas from Aranjuez. I was with Hermana Penner and it was awesome. She's great. All of the plans we had fell through (how odd) and again we were left to fend for ourselves in the streets of Madrid. Luckily we were able to pass by a less active friend who is never home and that day she was! Afterward the lord blessed us with a miracle lesson and we were able to teach a new friend Emilia a lesson in the park. It was such a blessing. There are people looking for the truth wherever you go, it doesn't necessarily matter if you think they are ready or not. :)

   The rest of the week it rained, no, POURED! There were no lie rivers in the streets and the garbage act as the artificial fish. We were blessed with appointments so we didn't have to be out in it very much but it was CRAZY! 

   On Saturday we then had an emergency intercambio because one of my best friends here is sick. She and I have been together since Saturday Morning. She is legit one of the strongest people I know. She's in a lot of pain but she's been eating and has been able to sleep more since I've come. We haven't been able to do a lot of work but I know I'm exactly where I need to be. 

   There is a good chance I will have P-DAY on Saturday so heads up! But if I don't email on Saturday just know I'll be there on Monday or I didn't have time :) 

The Lord knows what he's doing!

Loves to all!

Hermana Warner

I LOVE THE TEMPLE!

Making pancakes

I love my sisters! #lockedinpisoglamourshots

***Land of the Free, Home of the Brave***

Hi and happy 4th of July!!!

Man I love America. Hands down my favorite holiday with Christmas. I hope you all spent it well, and if you didn't I would admonish you to repent and re-celebrate it. I'll be celebrating it again for real in October when I get back and you are all invited! #bleedingredwhiteandblue.

This week was well hmmm we worked with and visited the members a lot this week. I think I mentioned this before, but we have the goal as a mission to all be able to teach clearly and powerfully the message of the restoration in under 4 minutes, then to share that message with every single member in our mission. It's been really awesome so far. As I have learned to teach this important message quickly but thoroughly I've been able to teach it more effectively in normal lessons as well. The coolest thing about it is that we are getting to know all the members! We have about 180 members coming every week and not going to lie, kinda hard to keep track of all of them. Respect to the missionaries serving in the states who are over stakes. But when we went to visit a dear friend Sandra (member) this week she welcomed us in as if she had called us and invited us over and had been waiting like a week for us to come. She started laying out a plan with her husband about how we are going to teach her sister the gospel and also how we were going to keep her recent convert friend active. Wow. I'm grateful for the revelation that President Pack has received for the mission. 

We have a cute friend Isa Mar that I think I wrote about before, well, she's doing really good! She has the best questions! She came to church last week but wasn't able to get much out of it because her son didn't let her leave. This week we just let him run around the Gospel Principles class and she had so many great questions for the class, like, "How can I know what the spirit feels like?" And others similar. It was awesome! She's progressing really well and although her mom isn't too into the Mormons, she has a baptismal date for the end of this month! Please send your prayers her way!

Guess who else came to church..... SANDRA!! It's been like 5 weeks I think without her in church. I thought for a second that we may have lost her, but our dear members have continued to reach out to her. She told us that she knows she needs to go to church and that she is so much happier and less scatterbrained when she comes. We are moving more slowly with her but I know that when it's her time she'll make the covenants she needs to to have the fullness of happiness she's looking for.

This week we also had an awesome intercambio with Hermana Tang and Leong. They are both my favorite. It's super cool, they are the first Chinese speaking missionaries here! They teach in English, Spanish and Chinese. It's crazy and it's really difficult, but they are rock stars. I was with Hermana Leong. I wrote about the time I was with her and she prayed that we could meet with another investigator, and this week another tender mercy occurred. We needed to get into our piso but didn't have a key to the portal so we were kinda just left in the street waiting for someone to let us in. We waited for a good few minutes and I remembered the experience we had with prayer last time so I suggested we pray in front of the martial arts gym across from our Piso that we would be able to get in. I prayed this time and to what shouldn't have been my surprise, we walked across the street and made it to our door at the same exact time as our neighbor who had a portal key. It was so simple but it was important to us in that moment. Still just so grateful for prayer.

We also had intercambios with the awesome Hermanas of Aranjuez but I'll save that for Monday so I have something to write about. (: Happy Temple day to everyone! I hope that you friends in Utah are taking advantage of the blessing to have so many temples so close. If you aren't going every month I would invite you to do so.

Have a great week!!!

Hugs and besos!

Hermana Warner

Hermana Tang and Leong

"You're a brat." --Hermana Tang