HAPPY BUMP DAY!!!

We can't believe it's been six months already!!! Wow, what a great first fourth of a mission. Congrations on a great start!! We love you!

What a week!

Thursday, August 28, 2008 8:59 AM
Well hello all! I bet you're all dying to know what's going on now after moves. First off I'm still in London so my address hasn't changed. I'll start with the days built up to today.
Not much happened on Wednesday, but Thursday was really good. We picked up a new person to teach named Sharon, but haven't taught her since. We also saw Mavis and her nieces. It was a really spiritual teach. A-Mazing! We found all day until an appointment with some of our home teaching families. We saw Malcom and Josephine Smith. Both are converts for less than 20 years. We saw them again on Sunday for Malcom's Birthday.
Friday we tried finding in the area near our Chapel to see if people would come in and watch a 3 minute clip on Special Witnesses of Christ, but the people in the area that day were pretty prideful and hard-hearted ;-). We had a great teach with Gloria and Stella in the evening. We read 3 Nephi 11 with her and offered her a baptismal date for September 14, but she wouldn't fully commit because of family problems. She said she would pray on it and get back to us. If she does, she'll be baptized then :-). We’re seeing her tomorrow to see how it went.
Saturday was interesting. We did a bit of finding and taught a new investigator named Mark. He's the only male in his family of 3 girls. He's a bit hard to see because of a busy work schedule. We also saw Stacia and her partner Andrew to end the evening. It was really good. We watched the Finding Faith in Christ DVD. I haven't seen it for ages so I really enjoyed it. They did too, the spirit was quite strong. Sunday we had a DA, saw Malcom because of his birthday and that's pretty much it. Did a bit of finding, but no fun experiences to share from it. Monday was our last District meeting and it was quite spiritual. We talked about how to be more diligent, which was needed because all of our appointments flogged so we found the rest of the day. It was really fun though.
Tuesday was interesting. We picked up a new investigator named Larry, from Nigeria, who's a great guy. He's legally blind, but such a faithful Christian. We pretty much found the rest of the day, but had a great experience in the evening. I had to go to the bathroom in whilst we were knocking, but thankfully a lady let me use hers. Sadly she didn't want to hear our message.... We got let in a little while later by an Austin and Rose from Jamaica so that was amazing.
Now the Tuesday before moves those who are getting leadership calls get called by President Swinton that night. Elder Martin got called to train. Elder Church is white-washing. Elder Harding is white-washing as well....with Elder Church in Maidstone. I got released as a District Leader, but called as a Trainer! I couldn't believe it. Now we have two Goldens in our flat. It's sweet. We got combined with one of the companionships in Crystal Palace and one of the Elders there is the District Leader.
Wednesday we saw Mavis and once again it was a spiritual teach with her and her nieces. In the evening we saw Stacia as well. This morning we went to the temple to have the "sorting hat" ceremony. I am training Elder Karges from Mesa, Arizona. He's a great guy. I doubt I'll do much training this moves, we'll see.

I've attached pictures of the ceremony, the group of new missionaries and their trainers,
(Hopefully I will get the names of everyone!)





and also a picture of Elder McConkie, myself, and my boy Elder Karges.

Three generations!!




What a crazy day, but it's going to be an amazing moves. That was pretty much my week. I've got a lot of e-mails to read. Love you all, thanks for the support and prayers-they definitely are helping.

Elder Warner

Last Week???

Wednesday, August 20, 2008 7:43 AM
Wow I realized today that this is the last full week of this transfer cycle. Next Thursday is moves so I'll be e-mailing then. I am pretty sure that I'm staying in London, but we'll see. I can't believe how fast this moves has gone.
It's been a pretty interesting week so I'll just get started. Wednesday E. Harding and I picked up a new investigator named Matthew. He was so prepared to hear our message, but because of some things going on in his life right now he can't see us for a while.
Thursday was our Zone Meeting in Peckham. It was amazing. The spirit was so strong. We talked a lot about how to help the people we teach better understand their need for baptism with the right authority. In the evening we had dinner with the Mafikenny family from Zimbabwe and it was really good. I love African food :-). We taught Gloria afterwards with a member named Stella and it was quite spiritual. We committed her to be baptized, but not for a sure date. That will hopefully be extended this Friday.
Friday was all over the place. We taught one of our newer investigators and she invited her nieces to come and be taught as well. It was yet another amazing teach, but sadly the two nieces live back towards the coast near a place called Salisbury. The rest of the day was spent pretty much finding. Saturday was amazing. In the evening we taught Stacia with Catlynn (if you remember her) about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I started to bring up baptism a bit to her and she just laughed, but I'm sure she will be eventually. She locked herself out of her room so E. Harding climbed up their flat to get to her window and unlock it. It was quite interesting (sorry, no pictures). Stacia was our only investigator at Church on Sunday. Sadly, E. Church was sick so he and E. Martin stayed home. After Church the ward helped us out and two elders did splits with E. Martin and E. Harding while I stayed with E. Church for the evening.
E. Church was still sick on Monday so we held District Meeting at the flat which was still pretty spiritual. I ended up only doing a bit of finding then staying with E. Church in the evening again so E. Martin could do some work with a new investigator they have. The same thing happened yesterday, but I was out working for most of the day. E. Harding and I taught a recent convert and found a bit. It felt so good to be out talking to people again. We taught Stacia with Catlynn again and got Stacia's partner to sit in. We watched the Restoration DVD and invited them to have family prayer last night. We told them we would call and ask how it went at 10 pm. They called us 5 minutes early and told us that they felt closer by doing so and it really made our night.
Now that you're still wondering about E. Church.... He's doing better; we think it was a bit of a stomach flu, nothing too serious. This morning E. Harding and I took our Theory (written) test for our Driver's Licenses. It wasn't too hard. I passed thankfully. Now I just have to do the driving test, which I hear is pretty tough.
We toured a bit afterwards because it was up by the Tower Bridge.



We also toured the Southwark Cathedral, which was nice.





E. Harding and I celebrating his 3 month mark with some Ben & Jerry's.

That's pretty much my week. Still working hard to find new people and to bring them to the waters of baptism. I guess I'll talk to ya next week, maybe from a new area, maybe not, we'll see :-).

Elder Kyle Warner

Hello, Hello!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008 5:56 AM
How's everyone? I'm great, but don't have much to write about this week. It wasn't that eventful, but I did attach a couple pictures.


One of them is in front of Warner House






the other is just outside my doorstep during a flash flood.






Thursday I was on exchange with E. Martin. We did about 4 hours of finding, which was pretty successful, and taught a couple of his investigators. One of them fed us some really hot curry, but the flavor was nice.
Friday was kind of a long day full of finding, but we did have a DA with a member of about a year named Catlynn. She made an amazing meal. It was so much food I honestly thought my stomach would pop. She was a cook back in Jamaica so she made some beans, rice, chicken, beef, and vegetables. It was her birthday too! It was really nice of her to do for us.
Saturday felt like a P-day at first. We had what's called Grounds Day at the chapel. We basically just cleaned up around the church real well. After that we had a ward picnic which ended up inside because of rain (go figure), but was still fun. Afterwards E. Harding and I taught an Englishman named Tino. We showed him the Finding Happiness DVD and it went really well. We've lost contact with James, which is pretty sad, but maybe in the future he'll get another chance. We had quite the miracle teach with Stacia that night. Her partner and his friend sat in on the teach so we taught about the Restoration for the third time. You'd think Stacia would be sick of it now, but she actually helped teach it. It was really spiritual. I've found that after spiritual teaches my face gets really warm. It's kinda funny.
Sunday we had a couple investigators at church and the BYU students spoke. They all did really well. Monday E. Harding and I did about 7.5 hours of finding people. It was pretty fun. Since my watch has the clicking dial we kept track of each person we made smile and got to about 120. We also saw Keisha in the evening and read Moroni 6 with her.
Yesterday I worked with E. Church until 5 or so. We ended up teaching someone I found with him on our last exchange so that was pretty cool. We also taught someone I found with E. Martin on our exchange. She's from China so we watched the Finding Happiness DVD in Chinese which was sweet to see. We didn't have a clue what was going on, but she really enjoyed it.
That was pretty much my week. E. Harding and I had a fun experience on Monday. We were showing a lady a picture of our chapel and E. Harding had his mini quad out. Whilst we were talking some lady who I am convinced was possessed, no joke, tried to steal his quad. She started tugging on it saying that she wanted his Bible. It almost went ugly, but she walked away when we offered her a Book of Mormon :-). It gave E. Harding a fun experience in his younger months of his mission. But that's pretty much it, nothing too big happened. Next week I'll be writing back in the afternoon (around 6-7 a.m. your time ;-) because E. Harding and I are going to take our Theory Test for our Driver's License. Wish me luck. Looking forward to next week. Love you all!

-Elder Warner

Surprise photos!!

I looked in my email box and what did see????...surprise photos there waiting for me!!! (You can sing the song!!) Anyway, I checked my email today and found some wonderful pictures of Elder Warner doing what he loves the most....well next to serving the Lord!!

Hello mom! Just playing some football at the ward picnic. Love ya!

5 Months???

Wednesday, August 6, 2008 3:55 AM
The weeks just keep on slipping by don't they? It's crazy. I guess I better get started. Wednesday and part of Thursday I was with E. Church on exchanges and we had some good times finding and teaching. We switched back with E. Martin and E. Harding around 4:30 before going to see Angela and Torek. We taught them with the Bishop and it went really well. Bishop and Angela grew up together so it was a nice reunion with them. We got to James a little late, but we still had a good teach with him. We gave him the church's edition of the Bible and unfortunately we haven't been able to make contact with him since. We're worried about him because he hasn't answered his phone or door so I think we've lost our baptismal date as well. Friday we taught a couple older ladies from Jamaica about the Restoration and they both really liked it. We saw Keisha in the evening and re-taught the Plan of Salvation, but in depth and I think it really helped her understand it. She is getting really close to setting a date to be baptized. Saturday was interesting. We went to teach a lady from the Ivory Coast and at the end we gave her a Book of Mormon in French (or so we thought) and she just gave us a funny look. It was actually in Portuguese, but she wasn't mad about it. It was just a little embarrassing on my part. We went to teach Stacia in the evening and she ended up inviting a friend whose name is Donette to learn from us as well. It went really well and they even invited us to Donette's daughter's birthday party on Sunday. So after Church we went to Stacia's and met some of her and Donette's friends. They were excited to have us try Jerk Chicken, which is one thing Jamaicans are famous for. It wasn't ready, however, so we left to find for a bit then came back in the evening. It was some spicy stuff, but really good at the same time. It was interesting too because E. Harding and I were dressed up (pros clothes) in a house full of Jamaicans. We got a few weird looks at first, but after they asked who we were things were just fine. Monday we taught a lady from Trinidad after District Meeting which was probably one of the most spiritual 1st teaches I've had on my mission so far. It was pretty much a discussion back and forth the whole time, but she didn't realize we were teaching about the Restoration the whole time. In the evening we had a DA with Cody and Rita Middlebrook. Cody is the Elder's Quorum pres and had been putting a system together using Google that has all the members of the Church highlighted on the map which is really helpful for us. Yesterday we pretty much just found and taught members all day. In the Evening we had a DA with an RM from the Manchester Mission. Her name is Stella and it was amazing. She pretty much sat us down and started firing questions about the work. It was like a President's interview. I loved it. She gave us so many good ideas to try in the work. Today we'll be going on a tour of the fire station in Lewisham. E. Harding is dying to go seeing as he was a fire fighter back home. Sorry, no pictures this week. I just didn't take any last week sorry. I'll try better this week. I hope all is well. I can't believe summer is starting to end. It's rained a bit more here, which is fun to work in. Anyways, I love you all and I look forward to next week!

-E. Warner