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

***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

Llaollao sounds really good right now

Buenos días! 

Que tal todo!? I hope all of you are doing so well and enjoying your little taste of summer! Can I just say time goes by ssooooooo quick. I feel like I just got here in Barrio 9 (Carabanchel) but I've already been here for three transfers (18 weeks). Today I had to say goodbye to one of my dearest companions and friends. Hermana Snyder is such an incredible missionary and I'm grateful everyday that I've had the opportunity to serve with her here in Carabanchel. I've learned so much with her these last three transfers and I wouldn't change it for anything. 

     Now I'm sitting here in Chamartin waiting for my new comp... drumroll please *insert my flailing my arms and legs around slapping and kicking everything in reach, including Hermana Tang, (sorry Hermana Tang)* HERMANA IBÁÑEZ!!! Whooooo whooooo whiooo whooo whooooooottttt!!! The crowd goes wild children are crying, chavales are screaming and everyone's so excited to welcome this Bolivian model with open arms and lots of food *shout out to all the good food here👌* I'm actually pretty excited, I haven't had a native companion yet so I'm really looking forward to learning from her. We have a super busy and exciting transfer ahead of us, I'm excited to see what the Lord has in store.

     Well this week was a roller coaster, well this whole transfer has been haha but it's been incredible. On Tuesday we had an awesome visit from our 70 friend Elder Gay. He served here in the Spain Madrid mission 40 years ago. It was rewarding to take a step back and look at the mission in his eyes. He explained that there was not even a church building when he served here, they held sacrament meeting in the kitchen of their small shared Piso and had to ask the Jehovah Witnesses to use their baptismal font. He spoke to us about how missionary work is a revelatory work and how we can receive that revelation. It was really refreshing and eye opening and I am already finding the mission so much more rewarding as I've been applying what I've learned.

     Right after the visit of Elder Gay I went on an intercambio with my cute friend Hermana Jarman! Ah I just love her. We taught an interesting and very funny guy from New Zealand and organized a mission week for the ward in Leganes. She's such a cutie and I love spending time with her!

     The rest of this week was legit a blur. We taught Sandra again and we are going to keep meeting with her, thank you for all the prayers in her behalf! Poco a poco. We also met with a new friend JAS(YSA) Armando, he even came to the ward JAS activity we had yesterday and is starting to get  involved. Then on Saturday we met with our new friend Isa Mar!! She is so great and I look forward to all the lessons to come with her :)

     All in all things are looking pretty up here in B9. I'm going to miss Hermana Snyder a lot #shesfamilynow but I know she and I are where we are suppose to be. I'm so grateful for this last transfer and can't wait to start running into this one. I hope you all are doing fantastic and that your week is full of stories and memories that you can tell me to, Oreos :) 

     Love you all!

Besitos!

Hermana Warner

Hermana Snyder

Sushi with Hermana Jarman

Dream district ft. Carpenter, Chandler, Taylor, Knaphus and Snyder

Helping our new friend catch his train with Hermana Tang

It's so hot.

Hello world!

Well I suppose it would be good to write an actual email about how things are going here. This week was FULL of miracles. Thank you thank you thank you for all of you have been praying in our behalf and in behalf of those looking for the truth. Sandra is doing well, she has a few things to sort out in her life before she can take the step of baptism but the ward still loves her and she always feels so welcome when she comes.

This week we had an activity for all the mothers in the barrio, it was a hit! We had a huge barbecue and had like a show of sorts. The missionaries also had to participate (of course) and we did a fun lip sync to Pop corn popping (original then Singles Ward edition) it was super cheesy and fun. It's a good thing these Latinos and Spaniards LOVE cheese. Haha super cheesy. I'll probably post a video on Facebook when I have it... 

https://www.facebook.com/kristi.knaphus/videos/10155392428577140/

Anyway it was a perfect opportunity for the members to invite their friends and THEY DID!!! It's such a small and simple thing to do but it makes the work so much easier. It was so natural and normal to talk to all the people who came and the majority of them really want to know more about what we believe and how to utilize the gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives. 

Last Monday we got to go to the mission home and had interviews with President Pack. Today we played futbol with a big group of missionaries near the temple. It's been so fun being around so many missionaries. It's incredible. We also had Zone Conference on Tuesday so even more missionaries! 

One thing President Pack is focusing on is having us teach the youth. In Europe, the statistic is that 70% of recent converts were between the ages of 9 and 30 when they found the church and this group also has the highest retention rate. With this in mind we remembered one of our friends that we previously decided to "give a break" to. We've been trying for 2 weeks to get in contact with her but she hasn't been home when we would pass by and the calls haven't been going through. President told us not to give up so we aren't.

After Zone conference, the plans we had fell through and we were left in the street. We decided it would be good to pass by our Joven friend Evelyn again. We "accidentally took the wrong road that make us go around the block to her house, and guess who we found in the street walking toward us? Evelyn!! It was a miracle. We were able to set up an appointment with her and meet with her on Friday. 

I know that God has a plan for every single one of his children. Everyone has their own timing. In life we need to be patient with those around us. Just love and help. I know this gospel is true with all my heart and I'm so grateful to be taking part in this wonderful work of salvation.

I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Besos and handshakes.

Hermana Warner

Honduras food

Rainy good week

Well I don't have any time left to write but a ton has happened since last week...

First things first, Sandra's Baptism. It didn't happen. We met up on Wednesday and she told us that she was having doubts about her life and that she didn't feel ready to make all the changes necessary in her life to enter into a covenant with God. 

     Selfishly, I never felt so crushed. I was completely heartbroken. I love her so much and I know how much this Gospel truly will bless her. But we didn't give up. We fasted and met with her again on Thursday and she told us she would reconsider and tell us her decision on Friday, the night before the baptism. As we ended the lesson she told us of her decision to not be baptized. It was really hard to be strong but I kept on smiling. I wanted to make sure she knew how much I love her and of the joy of the gospel. We walked all the way to the Metro stop together and talked the whole time. The second she was out of view the tears wouldn't stop flowing. Hermana Snyder and I just walked in silence in the rain to the church until we decided it would probably be a good idea to inform all the members about the cancelation. 

     The next day was difficult but we stayed positive and creative, coming up with different ways to work with the members and find new investigators. We tried calling Sandra and sent her a text but didn't get a response.  We wanted to keep meeting with and help her learn more so that one day she will be able to take that step. I didn't know what to do. I'd never felt so heartbroken. All I could do was pray. I prayed a lot. We were worried a little about what would happen for church. One of the members told us that she had told her that she didn't plan on coming due to embarrassment. I tried calling her one last time as we started singing the opening hymn, she answered.

     As we saw her walk into the chapel to sit with us I thought of the words of Alma, "20 And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!" Everything will be okay. I feel at peace and full of love toward her and the work. This week has been really difficult, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. She stayed for each hour even though she was also a little sick.

      We met with her again on Tuesday and she wants to continue to work with us. I'm so grateful for her humility and faith. Although now wasn't her time I know she will be baptized one day.

     I hope you have a great week all!

Hermana Warner 

Intercambios with Hermana Moyle

Cochinhas with our Brazilian friend Maria

Nossa, nossa, asi você me mata

Hello Fam and friends!

So this song has been stuck in my head all week so that's why I put it as the subject line. Our cute friend Sandra sang it when we had a ward Karaoke activity on Tuesday. It was super fun and our friend Leisy came as well!

Sandra is doing super bien and will be baptized si o si on Saturday! She just had her baptismal interview and passed with flying colors. She is legit my favorite. She is so prepared and has so much faith. Today we went to Segovia with her (: she loves spending time with us. We also got to eat lunch with her and a member friend Katherine who is also from Brazil. I love that I get to learn so many beautiful cultures here in Spain! We are so looking forward to this next week with her (:

Well with the start of the new transfer we have a lot of goals to be more creative and productive. We've been visiting more members and making things for them and so far so good. Usually Saturdays are pretty rough. Everyone says they can meet but then they fail on us last minute. So we decided to make handouts for the moms in Relief Society because yesterday was Mother's Day here in Spain. They turned out really cute and the members loved them. It was rewarding to be able to serve them even if it was something so simple. 

On Thursday Hermana Snyder had a last transfer training meeting of sorts so we went to Pavones, where the temple is. I spent the day with Hermana Barlow and Hermana Tyler in Barrio 6. It was super fun to get to know other missionaries more. When the meeting was ending we waited for Hermana Snyder on the temple grounds and I decided to make calls. As we were doing so Hermana Packer (the MTC President's Wife) came down from the MTC so we got to talk to each other a little bit. She told me how tired Brooklyn was from the jet lag at lunch Brooklyn told her she was almost too tired to eat haha poor girl. I didn't want to overwhelm her with all the change she's going through and just planned on seeing her later. Other missionaries started coming out  and my two companions got distracted. I wanted to go back and finish making calls when other sister missionaries started exiting the MTC building to go to the temple. At first I was nervous because I thought Brooklyn might be there but when they told us they were going to France or Portugal I figured they probably went in groups to the temple. 

I thought in vain. I looked up toward the glass stairwell only to see a cute sister missionary wearing a familiar shirt I'd seen in pictures and a blonde bun on top of her head. Then I started freaking out. I ran to my companions and explained that we needed to go but they wouldn't budge they were talking to all the other missionaries. 

I couldn't believe she was so close. Legit, the definition of my Utah-American childhood was no lie 2 seconds away from me. Shocked and excited I turned around to be reunited with my best friend in the biggest bear hug. We probably looked hysterical but I don't care. I never wanted to let go, but knew she had a Temple session to go to. I felt bad because the only words I could say were, "How are you? Are you real? You're not real!" I'm going to make a sticky note of things I should say so I'm not so awkward when we see each other again. Haha, And mom I promise I'll get pictures. 

All in all it's been a good, long, crazy, interesting and fun first week of the transfer. I hope you all are having a great day and that this week is full of sunshine and fresh air!

Loves to all! And Happy Mother's Day to all the moms that read this.

Hermana Warner

3rd time's a charm

Happy May!

WOW. All I can say is that time is FLYING! Can you believe it's already May 2017!? I can't. But hey all is well! Like I mentioned in my last email transfers are today, Hermana Snyder and I are staying together another 6 weeks then I get to toss her on the plane to the US of A. I'm so grateful that we get to be together, she is such a blessing.

This week was a lot more tranquilo than last week. We met with our cute friend Sandra a few times and she is well on track to being baptized in the next few weeks. We are all very excited :) the other day after teaching her some of the commandments she even commented, "So does our church have dress standards?" She has so much faith and truly wants to repent. She is grateful to learn the commandments and strives to obey them. She is incredible.

We also got to meet with our friend Cecilia. She goes home next month so we won't be baptizing her here, but she is doing well and has desires to take that step. We will do all that we can to help her progress and to help her family back at home have the Gospel. We teach her in the home of an adorable older Spanish lady named Pepita. Pepita grew up not knowing the truth of the gospel and is too old to grasp it right now. Every time we go we start and end the lesson with a hymn. It's beautiful how the hymns truly invite the spirit. It's interesting how the spirit changes everything in their home. With it, Pepita turns into a completely different person, so much happier and with so much more energy. I'm so grateful for the blessings of the gospel, it really does make a difference.

This week we were also blessed to meet and get to know a lot of the members here. We were invited to eat with a family from Utah and let me just say, BBQ pulled pork sandwiches never tasted so good. We got to share a message with them in english. It was really different but really good! They are doing all they can to help Zion grow here as well. The other day they made cookies for their neighbors and were invited to their home. Although it's simple and is often over looked it's so important that we friendship those around us. As we do so we can give them an opportunity to see how the gospel truly can bless us. 

I don't really have much more to say, but I love being a missionary! The church is true! I'm so grateful to be a part of it. I hope you are all having a great week! Good luck to all of you who are in finals! Also, another huge shout out to Brooklyn who comes to Madrid TODAY! She is going to be a fantastic missionary. Grateful to be her sister. 

Prayers and love!

Hermana Warner

Today we went to Casa de Campo with Sandra and Florinda <3

This week was CRAZY!!

Hello all! 

This week was CRAZY!! Monday was good, we were in a trio for the day and taught our friend Cecilia after Pday. It was really cool to teach her, she has told us before that she didn't know why she came here to Spain (she moved here from Columbia) but when we taught her the restoration she came to the conclusion that the Lord had sent her to Spain (of all places) to meet the missionaries and accept the restored gospel. Sometimes I get discouraged because we haven't found a lot of people who take the lessons seriously, but in this moment I remembered that God truly is preparing people, we just need to find them.

     Tuesday was interesting, we started off by dropping off our third comp in the metro to her new comp and continued with the day until we had another appointment with Sandra la Brasileña :) our member friend Thaina was able to teach with us (she speaks Spanish, English and is from BrAzil. Solid) Well, we started teaching so I pulled out my iPad. A guy came up to us when we started and asked for directions in French (we had the lesson in Burger King) He then left and we continued with the lesson. A few minutes later he came back, sat down at the table behind us, picked up his things and left. We didn't think much of it until I turned to get my scriptures out. "Uh, where's my back pack?" We all started frantically looking and remembered the guy who asked for directions. The workers said that they did see a man walking out with a blue back pack and we knew it was mine. The first thing we did was go to a locutorio to call Mom (hi mom) my mom answered. Miracle. Luckily Thaina spoke english, miracle, so she was able to get my mom to cancel my debit card from home. My mind raced to remember what else might have been of worth in my bag. The only things he was able to take was the card, some keys and my personal BOM. Earlier that day I was carrying another bag because we were in the trio, I accidentally forgot to put my normal wallet (with my transportation card, Mission card, Residency card and temple recommend) back in my backpack and I left that other bag at home. Miracle. 

After we got the card figured out we were able to go back to Burger King and have a fantastic lesson. We met with Sandra again later last week and she chose a day to be baptized.

Although we have trials and inconveniences pass in our lives, if we trust in God we will be happy. We were locked out of our Piso for a day and a half but after sending over a handyman from Barrio 4 we were able to get in and grab our spare key. Many other miracles happened last week, miracles we would only have been able to see with our trial. I know that God has a plan for each and every one of us. No matter how often we forget Him, he will never forget us.  I know the Church of Jesus Christ of LDS is the true church on the Lord today. As I read the Book of Mormon and share my testimony I feel the same spirit of peace and joy that I feel when I receive answers to my prayers. 

Thank you all for your prayers! I hope you all have a great week full of miracles!
Hermana Warner

Today we went to the Zoo!

Also intercambios with Hermana Kletzli! (On Thursday/Friday, yeah it's been a CRAZY week) I love her! She is wonderful!

P.S. Heads up! Transfers are next week! Shout out to my cute sis Brooklyn who will be leaving to the Spain Madrid MTC and the Malaga mission! Whoot whoot!! ✌️

Paella and Torrijas

Hello my dearest queridos!

     This has actually been a very interesting week, a very long but good interesting week. We started off with a full day of intercambios with Hermanas Christensen and Rivera, I got to go with Hermana Rivera :)

     This was her first intercambio so I wanted it to be super special. We got to share the #PrinceofPeace video with a lot of our friends here in B9. I love going out with the new missionaries, they always fill the day with energy and faith. I'm so grateful for the time I got to spend with Hermana Rivera, she is a true example of faith, hope and enduring to the end. She is incredible.

     On Wednesday we met with Mari Luz for the last time. She will now be working with the Hermanas of Barrio 8. She is amazing and I look forward to seeing her baptism photos in the next few weeks.

     On Thursday we had a super awesome ward activity! No one really had work or school so a lot of people came. We prayed that the members would invite their friends and.... THEY DID! Well, Annalise did and three of our investigators came. So HUGE success! We will be meeting with Annelises friend again on Friday. The activity was super fun, we just played a ton of group games outside and ate the most authentic Paella, made by our Stake President from Valencia. It was solid. And so good. Sandra came which made me so happy. I love her so much and we will finally be teaching her with someone from Brasil this week so that she can understand better. Yay!

    Then on Friday we had interviews with President Pack. He is incredible and I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve under his direction.

Well this week has been fantastic, I really don't have anytime but just know I am happy and well! I hope you all are as well. I'm so grateful for the opportunity we had to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is our Savior and redeemer. Because of him we can truly have divine happiness and Joy.

Let us celebrate always these incredible three words.

He is Risen!

Love you all! Have a great week!

Hermana Warner

Paella with Sandra