September 28, 2015

Dear wonderful people,

This week was awesome! We got 2 investigators to church. (Fabio and Dan Brown.) They both loved it and agreed to come back next week. Which reminds me, this upcoming week is general conference. We're getting three new apostles! That's really weird to think about. You all have better bring a friend to conference. That means you mom and dad. ;) 

We met a few new people this week. We met Latif, Lois, and Carl. Latif is a really awesome Muslim guy who loves Jesus, believes in the bible and believes in all prophets. He is super nice and has a really even temper. I say this because of an experience we had with him this week. Before I start, I have to mention that he knows everyone personally where he works. He is the care taker of this apartment complex. When Elder Sowah and I were teaching him a lesson, this man walked up with his dog. The dog ran into the office and started to play with Latif. While it was playing, it knocked over a mug of warm tea and it spilled on the dog. The dog freaked out and ran away whining. The man ran in and started swearing at and threatening Latif for "pouring boiling tea on his dog". Latif very calmly tried to explain what happened, but the man wouldn't have it. The man kept on threatening him and Latif just took it. I admire his Christlike attitude.

Lois is a girl who we met through the area book. The area book has information on people who missionaries have met in the past. She has a great desire to learn and be taught. We are meeting up with her again later.

The last guy we met was Carl. We were on our way to an appointment and we got lost, so we asked this guy for directions. He told us where to go and we asked him if he was religious. He said that he was, but he didn't like how churches were being turned into businesses. We told him about how we were not getting money for our missionary service and he got interested. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he said he would read it.

We had interviews with president Stevens and it was awesome. He's so humble, yet he knows that he is the mission president and he doesn't shy away from that. 

I can't think of any funny stories, so I'll just end with a spiritual thought:

12 O be wise; what can I say more? (Jacob 6)

What more can I say? ;)

I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful experience with general conference!

Sincerely,

Elder Warburton 

Other news that I got from him:  (I asked if he was still freaking out his companion with his diabetes) "Elder Sowah was getting super emotional about me having diabetes and said when he gets back from his mission, he's going to become a world famous doctor and get all the corruption out of the system for medicine.  So....I don't think he's used to it yet."  This made his really emotional mom even more emotional because he has such a great companion!!  

The Zone Leaders:

(this video is funny but it might be upside down and it might not work...

I'm sorry that he left me in charge of his personal record....there are so many so much more qualified)

The only picture he sent this week:

I've been telling him this for years!!

September 21

Hello everyone!

This week has been awesome. We met this wonderful lady named Eleni. She's from Cyprus and she's Greek Orthodox. She's one of the nicest people people ever. She will always help others even if they aren't nice to her. She's a saint.

We finally got our first investigator to church. It was Fabio, the hilarious one I spoke of last week. He reads the Book of Mormon all the time. He told us that he's been having good luck since gave it to him. Someone gave him a bike the day after we gave him the Book of Mormon. He also said that he's seen Angels. I love Fabio. 

Another investigator, Dan Brown, said he would come with us to church, but he overslept. I'm sure he'll come to church with us next week. We gave him a chapel tour this week on Thursday. Elder Sowah made me sing I am a child of God while he played piano. Luckily Dan Brown joined in with us so I didn't sound like an idiot. It was really great and he said that he felt the spirit.

We met this really nice lady at the train station. She has a really weird Pakistani name that I can't remember. But she told us that she works at a restaurant and Elder Sowah suggested we go there and eat the next day. She said it be like two or three pounds (3 to 5 U.S. Dollars) each so we decided we would go. We went the next day and we got curry and rice for each of us. When we went to the register to ask how much it was, the man at the register said it was 22 pounds!!! That's 33 U.S. Dollars!!! Luckily the nice woman came and gave us a discount. It was discounted by a whopping 2 pounds. We payed up and proceeded to fast the next day. 

Here's pictures of my 11£ (16$) meal:

Well, here's my spiritual thought:

16 And thou must open thy mouth at all times, declaring my gospel with the sound of rejoicing. Amen. (D&C 28:16)

Every one of us are missionaries. We all need to declare the gospel with joy. It's a commandment. 

I love all of you and I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Sincerely,

Elder Warburton 

September 14

Hello everyone!

This week has been wonderful. One of the highlights was when we gave a woman named Farzaneh a blessing. She is very sick. She has had cancer for a few years and she asked us to give her a blessing. It was a wonderful experience. I'm sure she will join the church one day. 

We met many awesome people this week. We met a man named Fabio. He's the funniest guy ever. He reminds me of dad's primary class. We'll be teaching and he'll randomly interject. We were talking about the restoration when he just out of the blue says, "hey man, I really like your shoes. Where did you buy them?" Or he'll say, "hey, I like your watch. It's a replica of a World War II watch." He's crazy. I hope he gets baptized.

We also met this women named Carmen. She was super nice, but I'm not sure if she's interested in the church. We gave her a Book of Mormon and I hope that she will read it. 

We met a less active woman named Sister Gallego. We met her on the way home from tracting her area. She had so much energy. She stopped us by the road and talked with us for about 30 minutes. I got maybe three sentences in and Elder Sowah got to talk for about three minutes worth of time. And she said that she was TIRED!!! I wonder what she would be like if she wasn't tired? She did come to church though. I was really happy for that.

Patrick, one of the priests here in the Hayes ward, had his missionary farewell party on Saturday. He is wonderful and I know he'll be a wonderful missionary. Also, there was a lot of really good food. I almost died from the sheer amount of food I ate. It was great.

Not much else happened this week, so I'll just end with a spiritual thought.

5 And now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just--yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them--therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God. (Alma 31:5)

President Holland said that the power of God is through words, or virtue. (See Mark 5:27-34)

20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. (Matthew 17:20)

With a perfect faith, you can speak the power of God. You can do anything if you have just two things: faith and the courage to open your mouth.

I love you all and I hope that you have a wonderful day!

Sincerely,

Elder Warburton 

Also...just because it made me laugh and shows more of his personality, I'll share his response to my letter:

I'm really lazy so I'll answer the first question by referring you to my general email. ;)

This week was great. At first, being here was a bit discouraging, but this week was much better.

I love my companion. But he likes to hug and I'm not used to that. XD

For my Elder Warburton Facebook page, I can only friend missionaries and investigators in my area. We have the face book page for online proselyting and communicating with the other missionaries. We are allowed one hour a day to use face book, but we usually only use it two or three times a week.

My blood sugar has been fine almost the whole time I've been here. I'm mostly good at managing my diabetes because I get a kick out of Elder Sowah's reactions to me taking my insulin and replacing my sensors. :) I don't know how I'm going to get my Dexcom supplies, so I guess I should talk to sister Stevens about that, huh?

Yes, I do know that I have to email you plus everyone else. ;)

And I love getting emails from you and dad. In fact, I think that you guys should email me every day. Or at least a couple of times a week. 

I love you and dad and miss you, but I know that I'm supposed to be here and I love it here.

Love, 

Elder Warburton 

P.S. I've been keeping a journal. I've written every day so far and I don't plan on missing any days.

P.P.S I don't know if my personal debit card works here. I know it doesn't work at shops and I don't think I can withdraw from ATMs. Oh well, I'll survive. ;)

P.P.P.S. I figured out how to put pictures on iPad emails. And I love the photo booth app.

First Week in the Field

This week was really great. I've met many interesting people and a few of the ward families. My companion is Elder Sowah. He's from Ghana. I feel like I'm on a mission with President Apia(?) (for those of you you don't know, President Apia(?) is one of the counselors of the stake president in my old stake).  Elder Sowah is super funny and weird. He also really likes hugs.

There isn't much to say about investigators, but I can say that there's a lot of potential in this area. The people here are very... Introversive. At least it seems that way. Though, once you break their shell, they will never stop talking. 

I'm in the Hayes ward and the people there are crazy. I love all of them! One family, the Deite-spiffs, are awesome. The youngest kids are twins. They're fraternal twins. One is a boy and the other is a girl. They are both 18 and they were born one day before me. Patrick, the boy, is leaving on a mission this month to Honduras. I'm super happy for him.

The food here is great. It's not as sweet, just the way I like it. Another thing about the members is that they really like to have us over for dinner. I rarely have to spend money on food.

A day in the life of a missionary consists of waking up at 6:30 am and exercising for 30 minutes. We then have showers and prepare for personal study for an hour. After that we have companionship study for an hour. We then either have lunch and do a 12 week program, or we go out for an appointment. We then either proselyte or go to appointments for the rest of the day. At either 9:00 or 9:30 we go back to the flat and plan for the next day. We then have dinner if we didn't already have it and go to bed. It may seem boring, but it's really fun.

Well, I can't think of anything else to say, so I guess I'll end with a spiritual thought.

This an account of the sons of Mosiah.

"36 And thus they were instruments in the hands of God in bringing many to the knowledge of the truth, yea, to the knowledge of their Redeemer.

37 And how blessed are they! For they did publish peace; they did publish good tidings of good; and they did declare unto the people that the Lord reigneth."

If you keep on being a missionary, How blessed will you be! I say these things in the name Jesus Christ, Amen.

P.S. Mindy Gledhill is fine for a mission.

...

As long as it's not the love songs

P.P.S. My ward pianist is named Patrick Warburton.

P.P.P.S. I'm sorry I can't add pictures to email on iPad. 

Pictures!!

My companion, Elder Sowah.

Carson liked the other picture but he wanted to see Elder Warburton's name badge so he sent this one.  Carson liked seeing the badge.

He Made It