Merry Christmas!

Dear people,

Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Love,

Elder Warburton

P.S. This week was awesome!

P.S.S. I got about $160 from different people

December 21, 2015

Dear mom and dad,

I can skype you guys from my iPad. It's going to be great. Tell me when you guys are going to skype Kinsey. 

Joel will hopefully get baptized this Saturday. I hope. If not, then he'll get baptized the next week. 

I think I have between 5 and 8 sensors left. 

We had an awesome Christmas conference on Friday last week. We had a lot of fun games and stuff. We also had a white elephant gift exchange and I got an awesome card game. 

Every choir performance was awesome and super fun.

We only have one Christmas appointment. No one signed up, so this American family in the ward invited us over at the last minute. It's going to be great.

I got my Christmas eve present and I haven't opened it yet, but I might possibly know every single present I'm going to open. Oops. 

I'm so excited for my Christmas in England. It's probably not going to snow. It's not even cold yet. At least, I think so.

I've had so many mince tarts. I've probably had about 39 so far. But I've had no figgy pudding yet. I don't even know what that is. 

I love you both! 

Love,

Elder Warburton 

P.S. Can you send me the Christmas breakfast recipes, please? Thanks!

December 13, 2015

Dearly beloved friends,

This week has been wonderful. We had an awesome Christmas party on Saturday. There was so much food that I nearly died. It was so much fun.

We also had our first Christmas choir concert at Hyde park. For those who don't know what the Hyde park chapel is, it's the visitors center, a chapel, and the England London mission headquarters. It's a very posh building. The Christmas concert was awesome. There were about 400 people there. During one of the songs, this lady started to slowly stand up and raise her hands into the air and started praising God.

Okay, that's all.

Love,

Elder Warburton

Plus, in his letter to me:

It hasn't gotten cold enough for me to wear a jacket yet.  In fact, I've been sweating a lot recently because it's too hot.

I still love England and serving a mission.  That should go without saying.  We are working with an investigator named Joel.  He's so prepared.  He'll either be baptized on the 19th or 26th.

I love you!

Love,

Elder Warburton

December 7th Email

Dear wonderful people,

This week was awesome. We have a golden investigator named Joel that is going to be baptized on the 19th of this month. We taught him the word of wisdom and he told us that he has known for a long time that tea and coffee are bad. So, yeah... Golden.

We had a zone training on Saturday and we are learning how to best use the new Christmas videos in the work. It's so useful. I just whip out my trusty iPad and show it to everyone. Then they all get baptized instantly. I love it.

I guess I'll share a spiritual thought.

33 Say unto this people: Choose ye this day, to serve the Lord God who made you. (Moses 6)

Choose to follow Jesus.

Love,


Elder Warburton

P.S. Here's our awesome 2£ Christmas tree:

P.P.S  For all of my friends from Ammon district:

30 November 2015

Dear wonderful people,

This week was great. We had transfers and I got a new companion. His name is Elder Koehler. He's from Utah, which he calls the mothership. I spent a lot of time trying to get him familiar with the area. 

It's kinda scary to take over the whole area. At least we have an awesome new ward mission leader. His name is Samuel. He's from Brazil. We're having our first correlation meeting on Tuesday. I'm really excited.

That's about it, since I don't have much time to write. Here's a spiritual thought.

32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8)

The gospel gives us the truth and "the truth shall make you free." So study the gospel and you will learn to understand true freedom. 

Peace out!

Love,

Elder Warburton 

Other news he wrote to me:

Thanksgiving was awesome. We went to an American family and we had a massive dinner. It had everything about thanksgiving that I like. Including PUMPKIN PIE! That was the best. 

I love my new companion. He's just like me, except he doesn't play magic. 

Our investigators are doing well. One of them, Joel, is totally on track to get baptized. 

I still don't need a jacket yet. Everybody thinks that I'm crazy. 

We're singing every carol you can think of and more. It's really fun.

November 24, 2015

This week was really good. We met five new investigators this week. One of them was even Ghanaian. It's too bad that Elder Sowah is getting transferred. He's getting transferred to Wembley. That's the next ward over though, so he's still in my district. 

Not too much happened this week. We had a munch and mingle on Sunday where we met two of our new investigators. We invited them to church, but they were late because they didn't know which bus to take to get to the church. We had a lesson with them after the munch and mingle and we committed them to baptism. They are going to be baptized on the 19th of December.

On Saturday, we had a world wide dance festival with the stake. Every ward had someone present a dance and then they would teach everyone else how to do it. It was really fun. There was also a lot of food. That was the best part.

So. for my spiritual thought. I just finished the Book of Mormon this past week. My message is from the seventh chapter of the book of Moroni.

 45 And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and enviethnot, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easilyprovoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

 46 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—

47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endurethforever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.

 48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are truefollowers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.

If we are found with charity at the last day, then we won't have to worry about final judgement. We'll be as Christ.

I love you all and I'm glad that I have the chance to serve a mission.

Love,

Elder Warburton

Other news he wrote in his letter to me:

We have lots of new investigators!  This last week was full of finding miracles.  We are having Thanksgiving with one of the American families in the ward.  Not many people celebrate Thanksgiving here and there is not really any holiday going on this week in England.  Two weeks ago was Dewali (De-vall-ee).  That's the Festival of Lights. They were shooting off fireworks every night for like three weeks leading up to it.  I didn't get any sleep.

This is one of the zone leaders at the dance festival.  His name is Elder Kalabanko.  He's from Ukraine. 

Hi Shanon!  My daughter Angela (Sister Rodriguez) and your son are serving in the same mission and I wanted  to share this picture she sent today. We are in the Rockdale Branch.  This is what her caption for the picture says.  -Merry Christmas to the Round Rock Texas East Stake!! From me and Elder Warburton (Old Settlers Ward)

I wonder if she meant Happy Thanksgiving. She was so excited to find out that Elder Warburton was from Texas, but even more excited when she learned that they are from the same Stake. What a small world.  I am so happy that she has a fellow Texan serving with her.  I hope you enjoy the picture. May you and your family have a blessed Thanksgiving.  Sincerely, Norma

16 November 2015 Email

Hello my wonderful friends!

This week was great! Elder Sowah's birthday was on Wednesday. We had dinner with one of the families in the ward on Tuesday to celebrate his birthday. We had red velvet cake. It was super good.

On Thursday we gave a sister in the ward a blessing. Her name is Sister Warburton. She has this disease that kills her immune system, so we had to wash our hands before we could give her the blessing. She gave me a packet of pictures from the town where my name comes from. All Warburtons are from the Manchester area in England.

On Friday we had zone conference. We had a bunch of trainings from the sister training leaders, the zone leaders, the assistants to the president, and President Stevens. It lasted almost the whole day. It was great.

Well, that's it. I guess I'll

end with a spiritual thought.

 4 Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments.

5 And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold, I will bless thee forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works; yea, even that all things shall be done unto thee according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will. (Helaman 10)

As long as you continue to share the word with unwearyingness, you'll be blessed forever, so keep on sharing the gospel!

Love,

Elder Warburton 

I asked Jared to send me a picture of his flat.  He lives in a pretty nice place!

November 9, 2015

Greetings, my fellow Americans. (And non Americans.)

This week was lovely. Elder Sowah baptized Dan Brown and I confirmed him.

Look how happy he is!

I can't remember much else that happened this week, but I'll tell you about a miracle that happened. Elder Sowah and I needed to find one more person to put on date, so Elder Sowah told me to say the first name that came to my head on the count of three. When we counted down we both said James. So now we need to find someone named James.

I guess I'll write a spiritual thought.

34 Teach them to never be weary of good works, but to be meek and lowly in heart; for such shall find rest to their souls. (Alma 37)

Never get tired of doing good. 

Love,

 

Elder Warburton 

November 3, 2015

Dear wonderful people,

This week has been amazing. We had dinner appointments nearly everyday during the week!  I feel like I didn't even need to buy groceries this week.

On Monday, we had dinner with Brother Eze and his family. We brought Dan Brown with us. Brother Eze only has missionaries over on Mondays because when he was a missionary, one of the things he missed was family home evening. So he invites us over so we can have a family home evening with his family. We started off with a spiritual thought, then we played some games, told some, jokes and asked some priddles, and ended with dinner. We had this really good spicy pasta with an omelette.

On Tuesday, we went to the Velasquez's house for dinner. We had curry meatballs with this really good rice with peas cooked in them.  It was cooked so that you couldn't even taste them....or Heavenly Father is following through with the promise He gave in D&C section 84:71: "And if any man shall administer poison unto them it shall not hurt them" either one. Then for dessert, we had "brown velvet" cake with yogurt and pears. It was really tasty. Afterwards, we talked about preservatives, cats, honey, jam, and snakes. Elder Sowah is terrified of snakes. He says that snakes are of the devil.

On Wednesday, we were accepted into the mission choir. I'm singing tenor. I was the only one there singing tenor, and there was this really hard part and I had to sight read it. It was fun. We were supposed to have dinner with a member, but they forgot. So we instead fasted and went to the church for Dan Brown's baptismal interview. He will be getting baptized next week Saturday.

Not much happened on Thursday, but we did have sports night and a lesson with an investigator named Aladdin. Aladdin won't get baptized yet because his family is Muslim, and they will socially cast him out if he joins another church. He wants to get baptized and still practice Islam. I hope he can gain the courage and a testimony to join
the church.

On Friday, we had a lunch appointment with a wonderful lady named Sister Wilcox. She brought us to a place called The Harvesters. The Harvesters is kind of like Chilis, but it has a salad/bread bar. I had some proper fish and chips. It was alright. We also gave one of the sister missionaries a blessing.

On Saturday, we had stake conference. We had the entire quorum of the twelve there. Not really. We had a recording of the pre-general conference training and they used bits and pieces to teach us. It was all about keeping the Sabbath day holy.

On Sunday, we went to a pre-conference meeting for less active members, recent converts, and investigators. It was really spiritual hearing about all of these different conversion stories. After that meeting, we had the main session of stake conference. There was a part where all of the missionaries from the Watford stake boar their
testimonies about member missionary work. I'm just going to forward that idea to you all. Help the missionaries out with missionary work.  It really helps.

On Monday, we spent the whole day doing a service project for a sister in the ward. Her house was a total disaster and the bishop and some other members in the ward threw out most of the house and ripped up and replaced the floors in the entire house. We cleaned the back garden and painted the main living room. It was a lot of work. Afterwards, the bishop took us out to eat at this Turkish restaurant. We got a giant plate covered in meat and rice and shared it between the four of us. It was really good.

Well, that was my week. I guess now I'll end with a spiritual thought:

17 And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God. (Mosiah 2)

After the service project yesterday, I can definitely say that Heavenly Father was happy that we were doing this project. Even though I was doing hard work all day, I didn't get tired at all until I jumped into bed. I know that God will bless you if you do service for others, even if that service is simply just saying hello to someone.

Well, that's all that I have to say.

I love you all and I hope that this email didn't bore you too much.

Love,

Elder Warburton

Pictures:

Halloween here isn't anything like it is back home. I saw maybe three kids wearing costumes and I didn't see a single kid trick or treating. It was kind of lame. But we did see these cool people on the train.  They were really nice. Elder Sowah asked if he could get a picture with them and they said, "Of course!" That was the best part of the Halloween aspect of Saturday....and yes, Elder Sowah and I dressed up as missionaries for Halloween.

October 26, 2015

Dear wonderful people!

I have about 15 minutes to write this email, so sorry if it is really short.

This week has been amazing! I lost my badge on Tuesday and prayed about it. The following Thursday Elder Sowah and I went to the library to print off directions to the church for an investigator and the librarian walked up and asked if the badge belonged to anybody in our congregation. Then he looked at my second badge and said, "oh! This must belong to you." Heavenly Father does answer prayers. 

That's about all the time I have, so I'll end with a spiritual thought.

14 And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions. (Mosiah 24)

Whenever you have problems, ask the Lord for help and He promises you that He will help you.

I love you all!

Love, 

Elder Warburton 

October 19 Email

Dear wonderful people,

This week has been Wonderful!

I can't really remember too many specifics, but I know that we have had many miracles. We've been focusing more on working with members this week. We tried getting members to all of our appointments. Usually they come with us and the appointment cancels. We had a member to one of our appointments this week and it was great. I would definitely recommend bringing members to appointments. For those of you at home, all I can say is that you should go talk to the missionaries and offer to go with them to appointments. You will be the answer to their prayers.

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

 6 I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell. (2 Nephi 33)

The truth is simple. When you teach, teach simply. That is why the lord taught in parables. We are pricked by simple truths.

Go do missionary work! 

Love,

Elder Warburton

October 13 Email

Dear beautiful people,

This week has been a wonderful one. My birthday was this week, so that was pretty exciting. I'm 19 now. (I feel so old) The bishop invited all of the missionaries in our ward over for dinner. They baked me an awesome cake. I'll put a picture of it at the bottom of this email. The sisters also baked me some brownies. I haven't eaten them yet, but I'm sure that they will taste great.

We had a consecrated hour of finding on Thursday as a zone. We had some awesome miracles. The first person we met is named Carmen. She has had some bad luck in the past few years. She also has a daughter with severe mental disabilities. She came to the door and started shaking our hands a bunch. She was one of the nicest people I've met. We talked with Carmen a little while about the restoration and the plan of salvation. We got a return appointment! The next person we met was named Samia. She said that she was interested and we gave her a Book of Mormon. We got a return appointment with her as well! This happened with a few other people as well, but they had difficult names that I couldn't remember. 

This is the first week of the transfer, so we found out where everyone is going. Our ward is staying the same except sister Bader is being replaced. So, we're getting a few new missionaries. That's exciting. 

Not much else happened, so I'll end with a spiritual thought. The mission is going to read the entire Book of Mormon by Christmas, so as I was read through it again, I came upon this scripture:

16 For the time soon cometh that the fulness of the wrath of God shall be poured out upon all the children of men; for he will not suffer that the wicked shall destroy the righteous.

17 Wherefore, he will preserve the righteous by his power, even if it so be that the fulness of his wrath must come, and the righteous be preserved, even unto the destruction of their enemies by fire. Wherefore, the righteous need not fear; for thus saith the prophet, they shall be saved, even if it so be as by fire. (1 Nephi 22)

Isn't that something?

Heavenly Father won't allow you to be destroyed so, in the words of Elder Sowah, don't worry about it. The Lord will protect you, "even unto the destruction of [your] enemies by fire." 

So don't worry, the Lord will provide.

Love,

Elder Warburton

P.S. Here's that cake.

P.P.S. Here's a picture of a cool car I saw.

(I'm also including what he wrote to me because I thought the stories were fun).

Dear Mom,

My birthday was fantastic! You were the third person to wish me a happy birthday. ;) I received dad's email first, then elder Sowah sang to me when I woke up, then I received your email, then president and sister Stevens sang to me through a voice mail. That was awesome. Also, the sisters gave me brownies at church. 

The cake tasted really good. They cut me a huge piece to take home, but I gave it to a homeless man that was sitting in front of the train station. I told him that it was a birthday cake, and he told me that it wasn't his birthday, but that he would enjoy it. Is was pretty funny. He was very thankful for it. 

We haven't had any baptisms yet, but we have a few who are getting there. The one girl, Lois, is really excited to come to church and so is this other man, Dan Brown. They are the two people we have scheduled to get baptized first. I'm really excited for them! 

This week has been wonderful, but, as I am to lazy to write a bunch, I'll refer you to my general email for details. But one thing I forgot to write was that this one man parked his car in the middle of the street and told us that we needed to stop preaching about Morgans. That was pretty hilarious. 

So, that was my week! It was pretty great.

Love,

Elder Warburton 

Happy Birthday, Elder Warburton!!

Today, Gary prayed that there would be someone in England that would help Jared to feel special on his birthday.  After church, I had a friend request on Facebook from someone in England so I accepted it and she sent me these pictures.  A cute Brazilian lady who now lives in England was the answer to Gary's prayer.  Look at that cake!!!  Oh....and bonus....I have a new friend. :)

Elder Warburton's birthday party:  "Hi...I hope you like the pictures.  We tried to make him happy yesterday!  I know this is his first area and I know that the first area is not always easy because they start to learn to be out of our homes and to be missionaries."