Ninez spoke in Conference!

Hey hey hey

Well it's another week in Villalba! I honestly can't believe I've already been here a month. Crazy. I love Villalba! The members here are incredible and I'm so excited for all the new friends we've been meeting. Thanks for everyone who's given advice and for all the prayers in our behalf. Prayers are being answered. People are being found. We are praying for miracles this week.

So update. Sadith, our friend that was going to be baptized this week, hasn't been coming to church so we will have to postpone it. Satan doesn't give anyone a break. She's been really stressed about school and has had to learn the hard way the promise in D&C 82:10 I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise. We've set some goals and made plans to help her organize her life a little bit more. 

I've been thinking a lot about obedience and sacrifice. We've taught our investigators and other friends time after time that really, when they are willing to put the lord first, he will provide for us. As we pay our tithing, the Lord will help us, as we keep the sabbath day holy, the Lord will give us strength to take on the challenges in the coming week, as we fast sincerely we can receive the revelation we need in our lives. With every Commandment there is a promised blessing. As we align our will to the Lords, and do as He asks, He will keep His promise.

This last weekend we had Stake Conference in Pavones (where the temple is in Madrid) We were allowed to go to the Saturday night session because our recent convert Ninez was asked to bear her testimony of her conversion! The spirit was so powerful as this woman with only a month as a member testified of the truthfulness of the Gospel. I absolutely love her! Her husbands name is Kike and they have two daughters Maura and Alba. They are the absolute sweetest most sincere people. We haven't been able to meet with them very much this transfer because of their crazy work schedules and because we've all been getting sick. But they come to church every sunday and the times we have met have been incredible. Maura and I like to play with Hermana Phillips hair together and Alba is an artist so we are great friends (:

At Stake conference we also heard from President Pack, Hermana Pack and a member of the 70, Elder Homer. Before Elder Homer went up to talk he was like, "There are two more people I feel we should hear from enforce I speak." Logically I thought he'd invite the members who invited Ninez and Kike to the Gospel and then he's like, "Sisters, will you come up and share your testimony?" We completely froze. We didn't expect it at all, I haven't been so nervous for a long long time. But we went up there said a few good words and sat down. I need to be better at expecting things like this. 

Anyway! It's been a really great week and I'm grateful everyday to be a missionary! I hope your weeks are fantastic and that you bake some delicious pie. We will be. 

Loves!

Hermana Warner

Photo from Halloween

Leaves are falling

Hello November. 

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7)

I got to go to the temple today! That's why I didn't get to write on Monday. I'm so grateful for the temple! It was so wonderful. I felt so much peace. I'm so grateful for the blessing it is to be in the house of the Lord. 

The other day as we were contacting in a building, we found a middle aged man. As we started to introduce ourselves saying that we are of the church of Jesus Christ, he cut us off and finished the sentence. He explained that his brother was a bishop living in Georgia USA. He continued saying that the majority of his family had been baptized and that he was the only one who wasn't a member. His brother had already made efforts in convincing him into joining the church and that we couldn't convince him either. We told him more about ourselves, our families and that we were here for a year and a half to preach the gospel. He replied that it is important that we remember our family back at home, wished us luck, and waved us on our way. 

We continued knocking the rest of the doors in the building and continued my day. It wasn't until later that I realized the miracle we had been a part of. I am sure the family of this man have offered countless prayers in his behalf. It wouldn't surprise me if they had prayed that some how he could get in contact with the missionaries and understand why the gospel is so important to them. 

I'm trying to better understand how the Lord is the artist and I am the tool. I can be the answer to the prayers of others, I just need to recognize and act on the spirit. I look forward to meeting with this man and other amazing people we have found. 

It's still slow but it's going! We are finding people who are ready. I hope you all had a fantastic Halloween and that this week is wonderful! 

--Hermana Warner 

Oh yeah, we also rode bikes today in Madrid. That was pretty fun.

I'll just have you all know it's been a good week

Legit I have no time at all! We went on a 15 mile hike today and oh was it beautiful! To train for it we followed the direction of our mission president and explored more of our area. We walk a TON! I love it!!! It's so fun to visit all the different areas. We haven't harvested from our efforts just yet but I know miracles are coming. Most of these people that we are meeting have never even heard of the "Mormons" at all. So it's our job to change that. We are going to make them start thinking the Jehovahs Witnesses are the missionaries. We'll get there! Well this week was great! I completely lost my voice the other day and legit couldn't talk at all..... yeah that was fun. My comp made me sleep all day. And it helped!!! Well here are some pics from our hike...

Love y'all

Hermana warner 

Villalba and Los Molinos

Well it's true. I officially have two hearts in Spain. I love Villalba! It took a while but I know I'm where I'm supposed to be and I'm grateful to be here. This week we had Zone training and guess who my sister training leader is! Hermana Schriever! She was my trainer and first companion in the field. It was so good to see her again, she's my favorite :) 

President and Hermana Pack have been emphasizing the importance of the Book of Mormon and sharing it with everyone. By using the Book of Mormon more in my studies, proselitismo and teaching I have truly felt the spirit more consistently. If you feel a lack of guidance in your life right now, I invite you to start reading the Book of Mormon again. It doesn't need to start in Nephi, just start. And I promise you will feel the guidance of the spirit more abundantly in your life.

President also instructed us to stretch our proselyting boundaries. We always tend to find ourselves contacting in the same area everyday but we are now trying to look beyond and contact in pueblos where there might not be a member. So Hermana Phillips and I did just that. We went to a beautiful pueblo called Los Molinos. It was incredible. I've never met nicer people and I know that God truly has people prepared in these other somewhat unknown areas.

We got to eat with the bishop and his wife as well this weekend. I'm so grateful for this Ward! The bishop and his wife just had the opportunity to help their friends Ninez and Kike enter into the waters of baptism with their family. Ninez has such a strong desire to follow Christ and she was so blessed to have a good friend to show her how. I hope to be more like Monica, the bishops wife, as I share simple truths of the gospel.

I'm so grateful to be serving here and for the opportunities I have everyday to invite others to come into Christ.

I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Hermana Warner 

Hi from Villalba!

Villalba

Villalba. Well it's definitely not Vigo but it's pretty good. Everything is different. The members the people the missionaries. Everything. 

So yeah! My cute companion is Hermana Phillips! I love her so much! She is from California and this is her first transfer out of training. She is kind to everyone and loves everyone we meet. She is always saying hi to random people in the street and just likes to be happy. We pals.

The WARD here is incredible. It's super strong and I think a lot has to do with the fact that most of the members here are actually from Spain and aren't just living her for work. I've had the opportunity to meet a lot of the leaders this last week, which I'm super grateful for but now I think I might have to actually start using the zeta and talking like a Spaniard. I guess I just sound like I'm speaking general Spanish. Eh, whatever.

Like I said this place is super different the area that we stay around is a lot smaller than Vigo and there are a ton more families. The first day I was here I was just in awe with how many teenagers I've seen... wait, there are teenagers in Spain? In Vigo there were just really old people, middle aged people and their babies. Anyway, the people here are generally really nice and open. Well just be walking down the street talk to the first people we see and they be like, "okay cool, you want my number and address" and I'm usually down to take it. CRAZY. So yeah, last week we mostly focused on contacting but this week we have a ton of first lessons set up so we will see how it goes!

We had a really cool experience this week. On Tuesday we went to teach our friend Julie. We talked about faith and read the introduction of the Book of Mormon. We met with her again on Friday ready to review the plan of salvation real quick then to finish teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. But she brought a friend! We started teaching the plan of salvation and her friend Camelia said, "I've always wondered why bad things happen in the world and why good people die young."

I'm so grateful that the gospel and it's perfect truths have been restored. By a prophet of God. We have the answers to the questions of the soul. I loved the talk by President Utchdorf about the plan of salvation. I know its true and I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to teach about it almost everyday. 

Well I love you guys. Y'all are chill.

From Villalba Spain

Hermana Warner 

We had a fun activity. It was like a welcome to Relief Society for the YSA girls. My ward is cute.

Hermana Phillips and I always find ourselves on beautiful adventures. 

Look there are mountains! And it's dry like Utah! I'll probably move to Oregon when I get back.

I'm not crying, you're crying. Goodbye Vigo.

Hello all!

Right now I am siting on a train to MADRID! Too pumped. I´ll be serving in Villalba with Hermana Phillips! I don´t have a picture of her yet but she´s in the same group as Hermana Davis I will be sure to tell you all about her and Villalba next week ;)

Well I'm super sorry I didn't even write a big email last week, we went to the islands again for our last P-day together, it was lovely and honestly so nice not having to stress about writing (sorry not sorry) So these past few weeks have literally been a blur, so I'll just tell you what I remember.

Last week we had our final lesson with our Recent Convert Pedro! Pedro is my favorite. I sure did not cry, nope, and he didn't either. Well actually we were all crying. The spirit was so powerful. We reviewed the baptismal covenant and he bore his testimony of Jesus Christ. This Gospel really has completely changed his life. He is a light to me and I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to see his conversion process. I reread over his teaching record. When the missionaries found him he was a grumpy middle aged man who didn't really believe anything, but now you'll never find him without a smile on his face and the light of Christ in his eyes. 

Sometimes when we contact in the street people will ask us, "Do people actually listen to you? Do people actually change?" I love when they ask and I can proudly state, "Yes!" There really are people out there who are ready and looking to receive the Gospel. It may be your neighbor, it may be a family member, it may be one of your closest friends. But sometimes they don't know what they are looking for, and that's why we all need to open our mouths and share what we know. I invite you all in some way shape of form, to do as President Monson instructed and share a part of the plan of Salvation with someone you know. Everyone has questions and we have the answers.

Well the train ride is over and we are going to go be productive. My new comp is Hermana Phillips and she is legit the cutest. 

I'm so grateful for the opportunity I had to serve in Vigo it really is like home to me and I look forward to the day I can visit them again :) I learned so much in. Vigo, I'm so grateful for Hermana Schriever and Hermana Davis they made each day a wonderful day, even when they weren't so wonderful. I'm so excited to meet my cute new family :) 

I hope you all enjoyed Conference, the weather looked lovely! 

Besos!

Hermana Warner 

Goodbye hills, hello plains.

 Last lesson with Pedro ft. Hilda y Estéban

 Hilda and her beautiful daughter Amanda (Young Women's President) <3 

Linda and cute Antonella!

They would help us with lessons and always welcomes our new friends to church :)

Chao