Quickie

Monday, October 27, 2008 4:35 AM
Well I've got a few e-mails to read so I'll be short and sweet. Tuesday was amazing. After District Meeting in Newbury, E. Schunke and I had a miracle. Our prayers for someone who is searching for the gospel were answered. The second person we spoke to in the day was our answer. She had recently lost her father after a 4 year battle with some kind of sickness. We told her of the Plan of Salvation and bore our testimonies. It really got her thinking and we set an appointment for the following Monday (today). We said goodbye and continued finding. About twenty minutes later she called us and asked if we could teach her then. We said "Of Course!" and drove there A.S.A.P. She enjoyed the Plan and I believe it answered a lot of questions and brought comfort. Oddly enough we haven't been able to make contact with her since. We are still planning on seeing her this evening so I hope we'll get to continue to teach her. Either way I know that prayer works. My testimony of it continues to grow.
Wednesday was pretty good too. We had a full day of finding planned, but the first person we talked to made an appointment with us later in the day at 3. She was really good. She has a really strong testimony of Jesus Christ and was excited to read the Book of Mormon. Saturday we exchanged with the guys in the flat and I worked with E. White and found with him all day. Church was really good yesterday. Because of Daylight Savings we got an extra hour of sleep, which helped quite a bit actually. It was the primary program during Sacrament Meeting. It was really good. The little kids with English accents were pretty sweet. I've lived here for 8 months now and you think it'd lose its excitement, but they're still pretty funny to me. The rest of the day we just knocked and met some really good people. It's a bit weird to find in the evenings now because it gets dark around 5. Over the next month or so it will get darker sooner (around 4:30). That was pretty much my week. Not too eventful, but really fast. We're already starting our 3rd week here in Oxford, crazy. I attached two pictures. Both are of E. Schunke and myself.

One is in the car-
I have a really cheesy smile and


the other is hanging out on the couch.



We'll be seeing some sights today so I'll have pictures like crazy next week. Hope you all have a great week. Love Ya!

Elder Kyle Warner

Yet another week in Oxford

Monday, October 20, 2008 3:31 AM
It's a bit weird on what I'm writing on now seeing as it's Monday. I think it will take me a few weeks to get used to the change, but it's for the better I think.
Monday we taught Tiff in Christchurch Meadows (near Christchurch College, fun fact: it's where the dining hall was filmed in Harry Potter. We'll be touring it in the coming weeks). She's got a lot going on in her life and is playing with the idea of moving back to China so we'll see what happens. I don't have my planner with me so I'm struggling to remember what we did this week. We saw Tina a couple times. She's not too keen on coming to Church, but we'll see what we can do for her. We also had a DA just outside of town with an American couple, the Bowmans, which was quite nice. Bro. Bowman served in the Ogden mission, but the closest he was to our home was Syracuse (his favorite area). We also taught a couple students from the States, but they were more interested in asking questions about the Church instead of joining it. Again, we'll see if we can help them with that, if they'll just pray about it. We also had a nice DA with the Toothill family. They're a really nice family and Sister Toothill is now fixing a couple pairs of my trousers :-).
Thursday was amazing. We had Temple Conference, which only happens once a year. We got to have it in the newly re-furbished visitor's center. The Swintons have been working really hard to make it happen and now it finally has. There's a large Christus, a few small information stations and a theatre where people can watch church films. We went through the temple and I didn't realize how much I missed it until I was inside and felt the wonderful peace that's there. I loved it. Afterwards we travelled home, which took ages because of traffic. What normally is a 2 hour trip was almost 4. But we arrived safely so all is well.
Yesterday we taught a woman named Juliet and her son Santos from Nigeria. They enjoyed the Book of Mormon, but it's going to be hard to get their family of five to Church. The Lord will provide a way, I'm sure. That's pretty much my week. I'm going to get started on reading e-mails. Love you all! Have a good one.
Elder Kyle Warner

Well basically Oxford is amazing!

Monday, October 13, 2008 4:24 AM
We've been quite busy. Not so much with teaching, but with finding. It's a bit of a slow start when you open a new companionship in an area so we've pretty much just walked around Oxford and talked to people along the way. It's very beautiful and quite busy. There are a lot of people here, especially in the market and high street. It's a little overwhelming. We tend to stay away from the markets and high streets, however, because it's full of groups of students, tourists and businessmen so it's not the easiest to find there. I would love to take some pictures for you, but pretty much the whole town is worth taking pictures of. We have the River Thames and another river that run through here so there's a lot of trails along the river and small boats you can ride on it. I'll see what I can manage with pictures though.
We picked up a couple people to teach over the weekend. Both are women, one's name is Tiff, who we'll be seeing again today and the other is Tina. They're both interested in the Book of Mormon so it's not a bad start. The ward here is great. It's really large and welcoming. There was a variety show on Friday night at the Chapel and the four of us did a small skit that we put together quickly. It was about missionary work, obviously :-). Sunday we watched the last session of Conference and it was really good. The spirit was quite strong during some of the talks.
There's not too much else that's happened. A lot of finding.....Walking....But it's fun. Elder Schunke and I are having fun. We've got our Temple Conference on Thursday so that'll be amazing. I haven't been to the Temple for 7 months and I miss it so it'll be great to be able to do that. I've attached some pictures.

One is of me eating a, yes, battered Mars bar, Yum..... :-)

and the other is of Elder Schunke and me walking along the river.


Talk to you next week. Love ya!
Elder Warner

Reunion

Thursday, October 9, 2008 11:43 AM
So I'm e-mailing a bit late today, if you noticed. That's because it’s taken me all day to get her. I'm in Oxford now!!! I got the call from President Swinton Tuesday night and he told me he wanted me to white wash (start a new companionship) in my new area. I was excited to start fresh with a new missionary, a new area, new ward, etc. However, I was a bit sad that I didn't get to work with E. Karges anymore and now I'm not in London either. But there is an upside. The reason for my subject being "reunion" is because I'm white washing with Elder Schunke!!! If you remember, I came out with him and he was in my district back in Portsmouth for my first 3 moves. It's been a hectic day getting from Catford to the Temple and now to Oxford, but I'm here and I'm safe. This last week has been such a blur. So much has happened.
General Conference was great. We had to go to Wandsworth to watch it. I loved the primary choir. We picked up a couple new investigators that were pretty good and have still spent a lot of time with Keisha. Last night we stopped by her house to say goodbye and take a picture she re-committed to be baptized, but on the 19th. It's firm. I'm so excited for her, but sad that I won't be there. That's been the highlight of the week. I'm kind of a scatter brain right now because of moving. We're now in a 4 man flat with Elder Jones from California (San Diego or near it) and Elder White from southern Idaho. The 4 of us will share a car. The area, for the couple hours I've been in it seems amazing. We're right in the heart of Oxford and there's LOADS of colleges surrounding us so hopefully Elder Schunke and I will be teaching a lot of students. I'm going to attach some pictures next week. I haven't even unpacked anything yet so I'm not sure where my connecter is for my camera. Time is short and I want to make sure I'll read all the e-mails I got. FYI-when Elder Kopischke of the seventy came he changed things up. P-day will now be on Mondays so I'll be e-mailing again in a couple days :-). Which I think that means you'll be e-mailing me on Sundays now so you shouldn't have any excuse as to why you didn't write ;-). Anywho, I'm going to wrap up. I love you all. Please pray for Elder Schunke and myself so that we can have success in our new area. Talk to you on Monday!!

Elder Warner

Here's my new address:
18 Tennyson Lodge
Paradise Square
Oxford
OX1 1UD
England

What a week...

Wednesday, October 1, 2008 5:34 AM
So it's been 7 months now... crazy how time flies, this week especially. Wednesday we saw Keisha and had a short, spiritual visit. Afterwards we went on splits with our Elder's Quorum Pres. and his friend. I went with his friend to see Pedro and we talked a lot about Joseph Smith and having prophets today to guide us. He's coming along, but hard to teach because of his work schedule. Elder Karges taught Gloria with our E. Quorum Pres. She's on hold right now because of work on her house so hopefully we'll start teaching her again soon. Thursday we had Zone Meeting in Peckham. It was pretty good. We talked a lot about our commitment to the work and how to strengthen it-really spiritual. Friday we did some finding before doing exchanges with the Assistants. I was with Elder Gaughran from Birmingham. I learned a lot from him and we had a really great teach with Keisha. We're very close to getting a baptismal date with her. Saturday we taught a new guy named Zach. He's really searching for the truth. His family is very traditional with how they do religion so it'll be a hard change for him, but I think he will make it. We had a neat DA with a member named Elizabeth, from Nigeria. She made some really good food, including jolof rice. She even brought a friend to be taught. Her friend didn't stay long so we didn't get to teach much, hopefully in the future. Sunday we taught a lady who just moved here from Nigeria so her English isn't the best, but she was still interested. We also taught a really nice couple from Ecuador/Mexico. Unfortunately I don’t' know if we'll see them again because of their current church. Not too many people are that open-minded to even receive an answer about the Book of Mormon, sadly. Monday, after District Meeting, we saw Keisha shortly and taught her about the importance of prayer. We'll be seeing her every day for the next while. Hopefully that will strengthen her commitment for baptism. Yesterday we visited Stacia and Andrew. They're doing alright. They might be moving out of our area though so I'm not sure what will happen, but they are coming to Conference on Saturday. I'm so excited for it. After this weekend I'll only have two more to watch in the field :-).
Sorry no pictures this week. I haven't been too good with pulling out the camera lately. I'll try to do better this week. Next week is moves week so I'll be e-mailing on Thursday, hopefully still in London, but we'll see. The four of us in Catford think we're all staying, but you never know.... I love you all. Take care and I'll talk to you soon!!

-Elder Warner