A great Christmas

Mon, Dec 28, 2009 at 4:31 AM
Well not much has happened since I spoke to you on the phone. I hope it wasn't too rushed for everyone. Our Christmas party was great. We had seven of us there. The games were fun and food was great. We were well taken care of for Christmas dinner.
We did a lot travelling during the week with an exchange in Yeovil and delivering presents (packages) to missionaries for Christmas so not too much happened in Bournemouth. The New Year week should be great. We're looking forward to having a normalish week now and to have some great miracles happen.
Unfortunately this computer isn’t' recognizing my card reader so I don't think I'll be able to get you any pictures this week, sorry. Well I hope everyone had a great Christmas and will have a great New Year too.
Love ya,
Elder Warner

Christmas week already?

Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 8:18 AM
Wow, it's here, Christmas week already? Things have been pretty busy this week so time has really flown. E. Orme and I decided to do a Zone fast for the people in our areas. We had one companionship per day fasting this past week and it will finish tomorrow. Many miracles have happened. Because of time I'll only get to share a few.
Monday we had our first official teach with our friend from Iran. He was very receptive, one of the nicest people I've ever met. He accepted to be baptized on Jan. 30th. He's really busy with work as a taxi driver, but will be a bit more open in January.
Tuesday was something else. The Zone met up in Poole for their district meetings so we could be interviewed by Pres. Shamo after. Things went quite a bit late, but it was very spiritual. We had a great discussion while interviews were happening and all of us felt the fire of the Spirit and miracles shed forth. An area in the Zone that hadn't any success in teaching new people all moves picked up 7 new people just last week. Things are starting to move. Working with our Polish friends has been difficult because of busy schedules and language barriers so patience is needed.
We've seen some amazing miracles with some of the other people we're teaching. Heavenly Father is really preparing people with hearts soft enough to feel the Spirit. We met a man who works a petrol station who had a pass-along card taped on the wall a couple weeks ago. He came to church yesterday and loved it. He's a great guy from Sri Lanka. We had our special Christmas program and E. Orme and I sang in the choir. The primary put on a Nativity play after which went well and gave a good laugh.
We were also blessed with a good amount of service opportunities-mostly painting and moving, but its service and we were glad to help. That's pretty much my week. This week should be great. I'm going to Yeovil tomorrow for an exchange so I'm excited for that. I love this work, especially at this time. I love ya!
Speak to you soon,
Elder Warner

Brrr....

Mon, Dec 14, 2009 at 3:24 AM
It's definitely cold here. It seems like it's definitely winter at home as well. Thankfully, for missionaries, we don't have snow here. This week's e-mail will be short because my time is and I didn’t get to read all my e-mails last week. So I'll share a few highlights with you.
It's been difficult with our Polish family, but things are great now that we have the help of a Polish member. If Brady could send his testimony and anything he might feel helpful in Polish that would be great too! Tuesday night we went to Southampton airport (like driving to SLC from Ogden) to pick up E. White and E. Martins. They stayed the night with us and we had our Zone Conference on Wednesday. It was amazing. We got to watch some outtakes from the Joseph Smith film. They really boosted my testimony of the Prophet. We also had our Christmas presentation. It worked out well. Not to be prideful or anything, but the Poole Zone's music was the best. I'll record E. Marchione and E. Trevisan singing Oh Holy Night on my tape. They were the best.
Thursday morning we dropped E. White and E. Martins off at the airport to send em off to Jersey. We also had a cool experience before a DA. We only had about 20 minutes to knock on a road so we prayed fervently that we would teach someone new. The first door we knocked was a man who's been a Christian for about 11 years now. We got in and taught for a few minutes and are hopefully going to see him again tonight. We've seen a lot of other miracles this week, but I don't have time to share them so you'll have to wait for the tapes to come :-).
I worked with E. Hansen in Bournemouth on Sat. We had a good exchange and met some really nice people. Sunday was great. We had a Christmas Concert in the evening and had a few investigators go that enjoyed it. We also popped by a woman who was taught almost two years ago by E. Eng and an E. Boome. She's coming to our Christmas party and we're going to do some service/teaching on Wednesday.
It's been a great week and I think things will only get better with Christmas literally just around the corner. There are a good number of people in the Zone preparing for baptism now and we're looking to increase that. I love it. I hope everyone feels this great Spirit of Christmas. Enjoy it and do some random acts of kindness. It's fun. Love ya. Talk to you soon!
Elder Warner
The pics are obvious. E. White and myself by our Christmas tree in Bournemouth flat.
Also E. Martins, White, Orme, and me

Fast week

Mon, Dec 7, 2009 at 4:28 AM
Well this week has disappeared. It was fun and each day was a bit different. Monday we walked around the city centre and a bit on the coast. It was probably the best day, weather wise, this week. It's definitely winter, but it's rained basically every day. It's exactly what I thought England would be :-). It wasn't this wet this time last year, but it keeps things exciting. You never know what to expect. Well... where to begin?
Monday evening was great. Sandra (just baptized) came on a teach with us at the Chapel and really enjoyed it. We had to drive to Southampton that night to sleep over. Tuesday morning we drove with the ZL's there to Chichester to pick up a car and drive it to President's home. I've never been so worried that a wheel was going to fall off as I was driving that car. It was a big relief to finally make it to President's. ZLC was amazing. I was definitely humbled to see how great of missionaries I work with. It lasted pretty much all day and so did the Spirit. We discussed and were taught a lot.
Wednesday was a day of miracles. We usually pray at 9am each day as a mission and as we were doing it we got a phone call. E. Orme busied (rejected) it thinking that if it was important the person would call back. About 10 seconds later it rang again so he answered it. It was a woman who he and E. Elmer met about a week before I got here. She was calling to ask if we could go by in an hour and share what we teach. Of course we said yes and it went really well. She's a very busy woman, but a great Christian and we'll hopefully see her again this week. We also started working with a couple less-active members and helping them overcome their barriers so they can come back to church.
We had a great idea for this Christmas that we started planning that evening. There are a lot of people here in Bournemouth who don't have anyone or anything planned for Christmas day so we're having a Christmas party for a couple hours in the morning/afternoon. We'll play a couple games, have some food, and watch Mr. Krueger's Christmas or something. We're really excited and our turnout is looking pretty good so far. If there are any ideas for games we could play please e-mail em to me.
Thursday was a bit ridiculous. My lungs haven't been feeling quite right since my flu so I was getting a little worried. We decided to go to the doctor just to make sure. After spending an hour and a half (as you do) for a 3 minute visit I was told I was still getting over the flu and it would go away in another week or so. Basically a waste of time, but it's ok. Friday was much better. We went to Weymouth in the afternoon to start our exchange with the Elders there. I stayed in Weymouth with E. Trevisan. It was good fun. We were on exchange till Saturday evening. The town itself is quite amazing. I loved it there. We met a lot of great people. I'm excited for the people they'll be teaching this week. Whilst I was gone we picked up a Polish family and a German woman and all of them came to Church yesterday. The family has two little boys, I think 4 and 6, and they were a handful in Sacrament meeting. It was the busiest I've ever had, but they were pretty funny with their Polish accents. Teaching the family will be a bit tough because of languages, but prayers should help and I'm confident they'll make it.
This week should be pretty busy. We'll have E. White and E. Martins from Jersey with us Tuesday night through part of Thursday so I'll be working with E. White a little. Zone Conference is on Wed. We'll be working with the Poole Elders this weekend as well. I love being this busy though so I'm happy. I love this work. I know it's the work of Christ. It's going to be a great Christmas. Love ya, Talk to (some of) you soon!
Love,
Elder Warner
Sweet top hat from stand on the high street.

E. Orme and I in the park

Wet weekend!!

Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 4:16 AM
Well this weekend was great, mostly because it was wet. Not just the rain, but Sandra was baptized and confirmed. It all went really well. She fits in great with the ward and we're taking her out on a teach with us tonight to give a woman a tour of the chapel.
There's a lot of work to be done this moves. It's also the Christmas moves so we're really excited. We've got a special Christmas Conference coming up on the 9th with missionaries doing a lot of music. Hopefully I'll be able to record it on my tape so you can hear. We've got 5 different languages in our zone so we're going to try to do a multi language version of Silent Night.
My first Sunday was really good. The members here are very kind and welcoming. I even met a guy named Jo who goes to Ogden every so often to visit friends who I'll meet up with sometime back home at a Chuck a Rama :-). He's a funny guy. It's a fairly good size ward, maybe around 120 per week at Church. We've got a young lad named Levi preparing for baptism on the 19th so hopefully things will run smoothly.
This week should be really busy. We're going to stay the night in Southampton tonight and in the morning we'll be going to a Zone Leader Council at President Shamo's house. I'm really excited for the training that's going to happen. Saturday we're going to be working with the Elders in Weymouth so that'll be good fun as well.
We're trying really hard to do as much service as possible. It's kind of difficult to find opportunities, but we're praying and asking for them. Thanks for all your support. Love ya!
Elder Warner
The pics are self explanatory. I don't search for em. They are just brought up. :-)
This is a shout out to Bro. Woodbury (Kyle's Seminary teacher)

Happy Thanksgiving?

Thu, Nov 26, 2009 at 10:20 AM
Well this week has been one of a few surprises. I was certain I was staying in Hamble River Ward the rest of my mission, but I was wrong. That's why I'm e-mailing so late. I've been moved. I got an interesting call Tuesday night just after 10:30 from President Shamo calling me to be one of his Zone Leaders. Crazy I know. He also told E. Bynoe that he was being made a senior companion so I'm really excited from him. Bynoe and I talked in my tape for a while that night so you'll hear more later, ha-ha. I'm now in Bournemouth with E. Orme from Idaho. It's not too far from Southampton, still on the coast, but in the Poole Zone. It seems like a really great place and E. Orme has told me some great things about it so I'm really excited for this moves, especially since it's the CHRISTMAS moves :-). I'm already tired, however. I didn't sleep well Tuesday and last night because of nervousness. I'm sure I'll be relying on the Spirit's help for energy even more now. Your prayers would be appreciated.
So, here's my new address:
Flat 2
7 Suffolk Rd
Bournemouth
Dorset
BH2 5SU
England
Well where do I begin?? The Tuesday and Thursday of the 17th and 19th were interesting days in Winchester. I was supposed to interview a guy for baptism, but a lot has gone on in his life recently and the stress of it has made him cancel his baptism. We even drove up to Andover to meet up with him, but his interview never actually happened (Andover is out of the Portsmouth Zone). I had a busy week that week with an exchange that Wednesday with E. Forbes in Southampton. It went really well. We had some really spiritual teaches. We walked more than I've walked probably since Portsmouth. My feet were sore for a couple days :-). That’s what you get for being in a car area for most of your mission I guess...
Before I left Hamble River we had a lot of great miracles, many answers to prayers, and some great people to teach. There's a couple being taught still that want to get married and they'll be baptized soon after. They were really starting to understand the Restoration and I was excited to teach them the Plan of Salvation, but there ya go. It's never been about what I want. Apparently there's a baptism this weekend here so that's great. I replaced E. Elmer from Las Vegas and he's going home in the morning.
Tuesday was pretty cool. Sister Meredith put together an amazing Thanksgiving lunch for after District Meeting. A member of the Winchester Ward made two homemade pumpkin pies that were amazing. I forgot how good Pumpkin Pie is. The only big difference was that we had chicken instead of turkey, but it's ok. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures....sorry mum.
Overall I am a bit sad to have left Hamble River, but it's time to move on to different things. I was just getting to know the members there too, but all is well. I want to read some e-mails today. I'll try to write back if I have time. Thanks to everyone who wrote me this week. I love you all!! Have a happy thanksgiving! Talk to you on Monday.
Elder Warner

We all have our turn

Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 4:46 AM
Well this week was a quickie. Kind of a lot happened. The best part of the week was seeing the most recent convert to the ward, Kieran, team up with a member who's been in the church for a bit over a year, Bobby, to do missionary work. They've got so much fire to baptize the world. I love it. They've been quite successful so far. We've taught a couple family members and are going to be teaching friends. They'll be going around the streets and into city centre to try some things there. I'm excited. We're almost a 4 man area now :-).
Tuesday was great. The district got me a card for my B-day and made me lunch. We also had a Dinner with the Ilinanyou family. One of the daughters, Natalia, has her b-day the day before mine so we celebrated both on Tuesday. They got us sweets and made me a cake too. It was amazing and I loved it.
Wednesday I did an exchange with E. Juarez in Hamble. It went well. We prayed hard for us to meet a lot of Chinese people since he's called to speak it. We did too. Loads more Chinese people were on the street than usual that day. We're seeing a couple students this Wednesday because of it. Hopefully it'll go ok. We also picked up a new guy who showed promise, but flogged his 2nd appointment and going to a baptism. Not good.
The weather on the weekend was bad and so was my health (hence the subject). I caught a flu bug and was not so good at my leadership meeting on Friday. Saturday wasn't too great either. We only went to the high street for an hour, but the wind was chilling me badly so we figured it would be wise to try to contact former investigators by phone. Now before you worry mum, I'm fine and feel great now :-). Sister Shamo had me call the flu pandemic hotline for England to see if it was Swine Flu. Definitely not. Just a normal flu, but all is well. E. Bynoe nursed me and members prayed for me. Miracles happen daily.
Yesterday was good. We had a couple teaches and worked with Kieran and Bobby a bit. They're getting opposition, but that's no surprise. All is well. It's cooling down and winter is definitely on its way. Its moves week next week so you won't hear from me till Thursday. I really don't know what will happen. I think both of us will stay, but we'll just have to see. Thank you all who wrote letters for my b-day package. I really loved it. Some people who wrote, I figured I was forgotten so that was very special for me. Thanks again.
Love ya'll!! Prayer definitely works. I was reminded of something an investigator said to E. Dutson and I back in Portsmouth. "Why are we so surprised when the Lord answers our prayers?"
Have a good one. Keep Smilin'.
Love, Elder Warner

The Oxford Trinity back together! (Friday)

Bonfire Night

Monday,November 9, 2009 03:09 pm
Well, this is going to have to be a quick one. Sorry, I think I do this most weeks... We didn't mean to spend so much time cleaning the flat this morning, but there's a bunch of little things that need to be done, plus our boiler wasn't working properly so we didn't have hot showers for a while. How sad I know... It was taken care of this morning too. This week was....interesting. I wrote to Pres. Shamo about it being an emotional rollercoaster. We had a lot of miracles towards the end of the week. Our hopes were raised for great people to be baptized in the future, but because of Anti-Mormon literature and angry family members influenced by the adversary we've had those hopes dashed. It's a bit disappointing, but all we can do is move forward. I interviewed two people last week for baptism. Two Chinese people, but one didn't get baptized because of family probs. It's been great. I love this work. The whole week we had fireworks going off at night in celebration of Bonfire Night. Years and years ago a man named Guy Fox tried to burn down Parliament so now they celebrate it with loads of fireworks and bonfires. Good fun. It was crazy to see such big fireworks from people's back yards. It lasted about 5 nights. It was so much better here than it was in Oxford last year. We could stand out on our deck and watch loads of massive ones, like the ones at Weber State, just across the river. I got loads of cool pictures and a couple video clips.


It's getting chilly fast. I hate English winters ha-ha. We've got a few good things on the rise for this week. I've got a mission leader meeting on Friday at the temple so I'm hoping to do a session. I really miss the temple. On Monday I got a Halloween package from a special someone ;-), but didn't get to have it till I could swing by the post office Tuesday. Thanks Elyse. Well not much else to report on. The Church is still as true as ever and this work continues to amaze me.
Love ya'll!!
Elder Warner

Better week!!

Monday, November 2, 2009 5:25 AM
Well I've got to be quick. I've already spent a bit of time replying to people. Thanks everyone for the e-mails.
This week was a bit more eventful. Monday was great. We were knocking our back up plan for a flog and an older lady opened the door just enough to see who it was (it's dark now at 4:30ish so people are cautious...). E. Bynoe held up the Book of Mormon and she opened the door saying she was Sister Townsend. She invited us in and sat us down. After a few minutes of discussing and getting to know each other we realized how big of a miracle it was to meet her then. She was baptized a few decades ago, but stopped coming out because of family complications. They were resolved a few months ago and she was ready to come back. She shared her conversion story with us and it was amazing. She has such a solid testimony. Long story short, she's back! She loved church on Sunday and she's not leaving again.
Tuesday I was in the Southampton area with E. Martin. We gave a few Uni students tours of the Chapel and did quite a bit of teaching. My headache problem lasted till about Friday, but whilst we were doing tours it was gone. It was a miracle because we didn't have time to get some meds so I had to deal with it, but I received help from the best doctor of all, God!
We gave a guy, contacted by the Salisbury Elders, a Chapel tour and he enjoyed it. We taught him again on Friday, but because of some personal things he's discontinued investigating the Church.
Halloween was ok. We did some planning after 6pm because we were asked not to proselyte. Across the river a lot of fireworks went off all night so that was pretty cool. If that's what they did for Halloween I'm excited to see what Bonfire Night is going to be like.
Sunday was great! We had a list of people to stop by and in the process picked up 3 new people. One is a family, but they're a bit unsure so we'll see what happens. The other is so ready for the Atonement in her life, but she has a lot to overcome. We really felt led by the Spirit yesterday, not just in action, but in word as well.
This week should be good as well. Because we're not doing Zone Meetings anymore we've just got interviews on Thursday in Portsmouth. That's the scheduled highlight for now, but I'm hoping to have more miracles to share next week.
I haven't left my testimony with ya in a while, I think. Well I love this Church and Gospel. Think of the blessings it's brought you. Isn't it AMAZING? I know the Spirit works on the hearts of men and God is preparing people to be brought into his Gospel. I know the Book of Mormon is really another testament of the divinity of Christ. It's Amazing too! I love ya'll. Have a good week.
Elder Warner
p.s. The Winchester Cathedral last week was sweet. It's enormous.
The pic is of my district in front of it.

An extra hour of sleep!!

Monday, October 26, 2009 5:59 AM
Well, my brain hasn't really caught up with me that I'm in another area. It still doesn't seem real to me. It's kind of like I'm on a long exchange? It wasn't a terrible week. We struggled to get people's commitments to be solid. We met a lot of people and set up some appointments, but they didn't go through >:I. We taught another new person, but she didn't keep her return appointment. Maybe her family put her off? So we're back at square one....This isn't unfamiliar to me, however, because it happened a lot in Newton Abbot. The last I heard, two of the investigators I was teaching are preparing for baptism. I'm so excited for the work E. Byrd and E. Wheat are doing down there. I can't wait for things to start moving here. I know they will.
We had our Zone Conference on Thursday. It was pretty much all about the doctrine of baptism. I think it really hit all of us how important what we are doing is. I definitely woke up. Not that I wasn't taking my calling seriously before, but it's taken on a new meaning. It's created an even greater spirit of urgency to teach and baptize. We've become more bold with people. It's absolutely essential that they are baptized and if we don't do it, no one else will (or can for that matter).
My first Sunday in the ward was great. We aren't the strongest in numbers here, but the testimonies of the members are amazing. I felt such a power from them. The recent converts here are great so I'm looking forward for more coming in.
We set our clocks back Saturday night and man did I need that extra hour of sleep. The calling is wearing me down, but I feel sustained by the Spirit. Work was a bit slow yesterday, mostly my fault. I had a headache that got progressively worse throughout the day. It's mostly gone now. I think we're heading up to Winchester this afternoon to check out the Cathedral up there. Apparently Winchester used to be the capital of England before London. It's a small city though. Speaking of Winchester, the Sisters are doing well there. They've got someone preparing for baptism and the Elders in Southampton Ward are doing great too. It's now our turn to get em in the font! :-). This week should be a busy one. We're going to do a lot of Less-Active's work. Well, I'll wrap up and do a bit of writing back.
The view from our balcony.
The River Itchen is amazing in the morning.
A small eggnog carton I got at ASDA (Wal-Mart).
I never knew they had eggnog in this country. It was imported from Jamaica.
Love ya!
Elder Warner

Amazing weekend

Monday, October 19, 2009 6:29 AM
Where do I begin?? I was overwhelmed with feelings of gratitude to Heavenly Father yesterday. I found out Friday morning that this weekend was the Portsmouth Stake Conference. The stake centre is there so I knew I was going back to my old training grounds and first chapel. I was excited until I went to bed last night. I recognized a lot of the members and it took some of them a few to remember. I was excited to see Matt, Dean and Luke. When we drove into town so many memories flooded back. I don’t' know how to describe the feeling of having those memories come back. Unfortunately we didn't see any of them there. I think Dean and Luke were, but Matt wasn't. It was an amazing meeting and the Spirit was strong. They all talked about covenants, mostly the Baptismal Covenant. The feeling I got was that there was an effort to make it like General Conference and the feeling was nearly the same. The Shamos spoke and both talks were great. It's always fun to see them. I found out that Matt has been struggling with life's storms and hadn't been to Church for a couple weeks. I had a strong prompting to stop by him and have a visit. I asked Pres. Shamo and the ZL's and they Ok’d it. E. Church and I went to see him. He was sitting down by the beach with his son. It was a good surprise to see him. I never thought I would be back until long after my mission. We had a good chat and took a pic. Matt, his son Jordan, and me in Portsmouth

He'll be coming up to the Hamble River ward for a few weeks till he can get back on his feet. I also found out that E-man and Alison (we taught Alison when I was there) have moved into the Hamble River ward boundaries and after their wedding on the 31st they'll be coming there. Already I'm excited for this moves. It was a great reunion this weekend with some good friends.

Outside the Portsmouth flat

In the kitchen by a map I put together for the flat.

The work is good. We knocked in on Friday with a woman, but Saturday she decided to change her mind. She didn't want to change Churches so we're back at square one. All is well and we're pumped to get things rolling here.
I'm so grateful to be here in this area. So many personal miracles have happened already. I know that Heavenly Father knows all of us personally. That's been proven to me time and time again to me. He more than answered my prayers to get in touch with Matt again and that's only one of the many answers. This week should be good. I'm sure we'll have a Zone Conference in Reading, but they haven't told us for sure yet. The weather is cooling down kind of quick. Time is melting away. I don't like either of those facts :-). Anywho, life is great. I love this work.
Love ya!
Elder Warner
p.s. I don't think I told you about my district. In the other part of Southampton the ZL's, E. Martin and Barnwell, and E.'s Forbes and Juarez and in Winchester two Sisters have whitewashed in. It's Sister Midgley (this is going to be 7.5 months in the same District, if not more) and Sister Meredith.
E. Bynoe and me in our flat this morning

Back to the Future?

Thursday, October 15, 2009 5:44 AM
I'm not sure if my subject makes sense, but I'll see if I can explain it. Unfortunately I've been moved on to another area. I left Newton Abbot this morning and am now in Southampton, however, I'm going to be in the Hamble River Ward in a town called Bitterne. It's a suburb of Southampton. I'm in the area next to Portsmouth. Here's my new address:
15 Swan Quay
Vespasian Road
Bitterne Mannor
Southampton, Hampshire
SO18 1DU
I'm pretty excited for it. I've been called to be a District Leader again so that'll keep me pretty busy and my stress levels high ;-). I'm serving with Elder Paul-Evans Bynoe from Barbados. I was going to take a picture of us and attach it, but unfortunately I forgot so you'll have to wait till next week. It should be a good moves. We're in need of some investigators at the moment so your prayers would be appreciated.
So things ended alright in Newton Abbot. I think I'm really going to miss that town. It really grew on me and a lot of the Ward members became good friends, but Heavenly Father wants me here so here I am. Things were looking good for the baptism this weekend, but when we went by last night to teach her and found she'd gone to the Hospital for Liver problems. I don't have any updates on her situation right now so your prayers for Rebecca would be great. We taught her about the Temple and baptisms for the dead the other morning and she was really excited for it. I love teaching people who just soak up the gospel. I haven't met many people who have been as prepared to receive the Gospel as she has.
Our other investigators were doing pretty well. Elder Byrd has taken over with Elder Wheat from Derby, England. They'll do well there. I want to be able to read all my e-mails and respond a bit too because I don't know what time I'll be into my area. I'll tell you more about it all on Monday. I love you all so much. I know the Spirit is real. I have felt him work through me and am very grateful for that opportunity. Take care and have a great weekend. Love ya!
Elder Warner

All Meetinged out...

Monday, October 5, 2009 5:00 AM
Well, yet another week has slipped by. Having meetings kinda does that to ya, I think. We had our Zone Meeting in Plymouth on Friday. It was really good. It was mostly about becoming the missionary who we're supposed and have the potential to be. I've heard rumor that we won't be doing Zone Meetings anymore starting next moves, but we'll see. Either way doesn't bother me. I'd only have 3 left anyways (weird...). Also, of course, we had General Conference, which I loved. I was looking forward to it for a couple weeks now. It was amazing. I don't know if it's just me or if anyone else noticed, but the main theme I picked up on was how much Heavenly Father loves us, his children. I definitely feel it and felt it as the Apostles and other Church leaders spoke. Unfortunately we didn't get to see the Sunday Afternoon session. I think it'll be shown in Church sometime in the next couple of weeks....???
So we've been doing a lot more teaching this week. Every night I'm more than ready to hit my pillow so I guess one physical upside is that I'm sleeping better :-). We're still working with 3 people on preparations for baptism. One person’s date has been moved a week later so he can take a bit more time to learn at his own pace. Plus he's been ill over the weekend so we can't see him till he's a bit better. We've seen a few great miracles with those whom we're teaching. They are all progressing well. We're now teaching some family members too and hopefully will be doing so with others in the near future.
We've been having some very spiritual teaches. I haven't felt this led by the Spirit in a while. It's great fun, but still quite tiring. Although I'm exhausted each day I feel plenty sustained by the Spirit so keep going.
We spent Saturday evening and all of Sunday in Exeter at General Conference. It was great. I'm not sure I have a favorite talk so far, but I really like both of Pres. Uchtdorf's that I heard also E. Tad Callister. My time is low, but all is well. Its moves week next week so you won't hear from me till Thursday. Love you all! Thanks for the box mum.
Elder Warner

Fast week

Monday, September 28, 2009 6:14 AM
Wow, this past week blew by. I'll be short and sweet because I've got a lot to read and some stuff I want to do with my iPod. Thanks for all your e-mails.
Tuesday I went to Exeter for an exchange with E. Bien. It was pretty fun. Their high street is enormous compared to ours so there are loads people to talk to there. We didn't teach anyone, but met some really good people.
Wednesday morning we swapped back and went to work in Newton Abbot. We committed two of our other investigators for baptism and they kind of accepted. They want to be baptized and are taking it seriously, but the date is a bit shaky. They've got a lot to overcome before they can be baptized. We had the Elders in Cornwall come stay with us Wednesday night. So we had 6 Elders, Me, Byrd, White, Lemmon, Asay, and Wetherill.
We got up at 5 AM to go pick up the sisters from Paignton then headed to Reading for Mission Conference. We had President Teixeira of the Area Presidency come speak to us for a few hours. It was amazing. He gave us a lot of suggestions on how to better help people prepare for baptism and to find more people to teach. I stayed the night in Exeter again and did an exchange with E. Gardner from Gloucester. We had a pretty good day on Friday. We spent a lot of time on the high street and had a lot of good conversations. In the evening we had a nice DA then taught a woman from South Africa. She was really interested and wanted to know more about the Restoration.
Saturday morning we swapped back and E. Byrd and I got to work. We taught twice on Sat and things are going well. This week was overall a bit better than the last. We had 6 people at church and hopefully we'll have at least the same this weekend at General Conference. I'm really excited for it. Unfortunately it's my last one in the field, but it's all good.
I really appreciate your prayers and support. Things are really moving again here and more people are learning about the Gospel. I love it. I know it’s true. I'll talk to you next week. Moves is half over?
Love ya!
Elder Kyle Warner

Does God answer fervent prayers?

Monday, September 21, 2009 4:05 AM
Yes, Yes, and......yes. We had a miracle filled week. We really appreciate the prayers. Things dramatically picked up this past week. We picked up the son of a current investigator Monday evening and he's now praying regularly for the first time in his life. We'll be seeing them again this evening. We picked up 4 more people on Friday, two of which are now preparing for baptism for the 17th of October. We really do owe it all to the Lord having a hand in all things.
The new places and things we are trying are working well. We had four people at Church this week too. That's the most we've had in my 5 months here and, if I'm not mistaken, the entire year so far. Things are looking well. We've got a lot of work to do this week and over the next few weeks. The people we've been meeting have been very prepared to receive the Gospel. We were able to see how us meeting them was the perfect timing. There is so much that has happened without us realizing it. I love it! Heavenly Father has been overseeing all his children and really does know when they'll be most receptive to his Gospel. I've learned a good lesson over the past few months how everything really is done in the Lord's time. There's good reason for that too. He's wiser than us so his timing is perfect. I would love to share how big of a miracle these two people preparing for baptism are, but it would take a while. We'll just say we've been amazed at the workings of our Father in Heaven.
This week will probably go by fast. We've got two exchanges with Exeter planned; one Tuesday where I'll be going to Exeter, and another after a Mission Conference on Thursday, probably until Saturday morning. We don't know where our Mission Conference is yet, but we think we'll be road tripping to Reading. It'll take all day and we'll be taught by at least Pres. Kopischke who's now the Europe Area President. It should be a great week. We've got a good teaching pool so your prayers for the people we're teaching to be strengthened and to progress in the Gospel would be great. Thanks for your prayers and support.
Love ya! Talk to you next week.
Elder Kyle Warner
p.s. Sorry, no pics. I've been lazy lately and haven't even used it in two weeks.

Monday, September 14, 2009 4:14
Howdy y'all! haha E. Byrd was giving the Vousdens a good laugh yesterday at lunch with his strong Texan accent. It's pretty funny when you've really only heard English people for the longest time. Well the first week of this moves is come and gone. It went by quick. Unfortunately things in the New Investigator category are dry, but we've got some small changes we'll try this week. We're still teaching a couple members' friends and they're doing well.
Wednesday was kide of a gutting day. Just before we were heading out for the day we got a call from E. Bien the DL. As E. Byrd was on the phone with him I got our exercise clothes ready by the door just to find out that the reason why E. Bien was calling was to give some announcements. One was that we aren't allowed to play football outside of P-day unless we want to play in our proselyting clothes. That was really disappointing. We were supposed to play again with the EQ and had a couple investigators coming. We still went, but in our pros. We noticed that they were short a couple people.....yes you're right. E. Byrd and I hopped in goal for the two teams and played in our pros for about 20 minutes before having to head home. It was pretty fun. No trousers were ripped in the process so it was a success.
We've been setting up a few appointments here and there, but yet have anything go through. We're really focusing in the areas that have a lot of families in it. It doesn't matter what the area looks like(financially) we're going for it and somewhere in there a family is ready. All is well here. We're heading to Paignton today to play mini golf if the weather will allow. I'll get reading and replying. Love ya! Stay safe. The weather here's been warmer the past few days than the whole of August. They call it an Indian Summer :-)
Elder Kyle Warner

Short 'n' sweet

Monday, September 7, 2009 5:34 AM
Well it’s a good thing I've only gotten a half hour on the internet today. I've only got a couple e-mails to read and not much news since Thursday. It's been a good weekend, however.
Saturday we took one of our investigators to a baptism in Paignton and it went really well. She wants to be baptized as well. Unfortunately (kinda) for us, she actually lives in the Sisters' area so we're going to have to pass her into their care this week. She'll be fine though. The sisters will be a good help to her so we're not worried :-). Over the past few weeks one of the YW in our ward has been bringing her boyfriend to Church and he's now wanting to be taught so we're going to teach him tonight.
This moves will be an interesting one. Our mission is getting toured by someone in the Area Presidency (maybe Kopischke again?) so we're having two big conferences in place of our Zone Conference. I'm pretty excited for that. I think it's going to be on the 24th of Sept. That's pretty much it on my end. Not too exciting, I know, but I'll attach a couple photos. Take care everybody! Love ya!
Elder Warner
One photo is of me advertising evian water:-)
Haytor was supposed to be seen better, but oh well.

The other is of E. Byrd, E. Bien and myself taking cover between some rocks.
It was really windy and the rain was on and off. Good fun though.

Moves conclusion

Thursday, September 3, 2009 4:36 AM
Hello, hello. I'll jump on into it. So I'm still in Newton Abbot with E. Byrd for the next 6 weeks at least. We're excited about that. We've got some new ways of finding and some great people we're teaching so that'll be nice to be able to follow through with them.
It's been a fast week and a half since I last wrote. Not too much has changed, however. We got our car back last Friday so that's a relief. We got a bit of exercise from all that walking. Monday evening we did an hour's walk to see Olly. After being in Torquay all day then doing that trek I was pretty beat that night. She did give us a lift home, however. Things have slowed down with her because she's got a lot going on so we're just waiting for her to be ready again.
I did an exchange on Tuesday with E. Roth in Newton Abbot and that went well. We did a lot of gardening for a Bro. Snell then hurried home to clean up just in time for a teach at the chapel. Thankfully it's across the street from us. We taught a member's friend and it went well. She's very interested and wants to learn all that we share. She's given us a few sheets of questions to answer so she ponders a lot. It's fun. We haven't had someone ask questions like this since I've been here.
We've taught her the Plan of Salvation since then and she has taken it in. She's also thinking of baptism, but no specific date is scheduled yet. We had a cool activity on Sat. Our ward put on an Emergency prep......thing :-). They had a few stations set up in the gym and a major presentation from a guy promoting what's called Life Straws. They help purify drinking water. It was a pretty good activity. A lot of members came and a few non-members too. We've been working with a less-active and her friend the past week or so. They're both 20 so we get on well and they really enjoy it. Her investigator-friend asks a lot of questions and is quite prepared for the gospel.
Monday was a weird day. It was a bank holiday and a lot of the main shops on the high street were closed so there wasn't much reason to go there, but there wasn't really anything else that was effective so we just stuck it out. It was pretty empty and quiet. We've also had a bit of rain the past few days (that's England for ya ;-). It's made finding on the street difficult, but we're meeting good people whilst knocking doors. Today we've got E. Bien from Exeter with us while he waits for his new comp. The sisters in Paignton are staying and we're getting a new Elder in Bideford. E. White is training, so Zone Conference will be cool. I'm excited for him.
Well that’s pretty much all I can think to type. I'll attach a couple photos from Haytor. We're going out there again to do some more exploring. It'll be good fun. Love you all! Talk to you Monday
Elder Warner

The Ten Commandments etched by someone in some stones near Haytor

part of the view from Haytor

It's hard to show the beauty of Devon with a little digital camera, but it'll do since you're not here.

Super short.

Monday, August 24, 2009 5:43 AM
My apologies to everyone for this week. I've got only 20 minutes from now to e-mail. From the looks of the subjects I've got a lot to read about. If I don't write back thank you for writing me. I really appreciate it and love ya much (still love those who don't write:-).
Great things happened this week. We'll hopefully be teaching two members' friends this week and picking things up. It will be interesting to make things work. We got our car taken off us by the ZL's on Wednesday because the clutch went in theirs. They travel more than we do so they've got ours till this Thursday. On foot means miracles will happen more? Maybe, we're hoping so because our plans to work out of Newton have been postponed. I'll attach a pic then read away.
It's of me on Haytor.

Look it up. It's a pretty cool place (last p-day). I'm e-mailing from Torquay (tor key). Next week is moves so you won't hear from me till Thursday. Can't believe another moves is gone. Love ya'll.
Elder Warner

No Sunscreen?

Monday, August 17, 2009 5:27 AM
Well hello! How's everyone? I'm great. Unfortunately I don't have loads to report on last week. We're still trying to find people and especially families. We picked up a new woman on Friday who's pretty good. We can't see her again until this coming Friday so we'll see how things go. It's a bit hard to find people this time of year in our area. It's the holiday season so no school, which means families are going on trips and what not, but I'm not worried.
Tuesday was good. We got to do some service for the Dermer-Taylors. E. Byrd taught me how to change the oil and replace the oil filter in a car and we also cleaned out the radiator. I've never done that before, which I now realize is really easy. It was fun being grease monkeys for a bit.

We got a lot of sun on our necks. Some pretty bad lines developed ha-ha.

We had a day exchange with the Exeter Elders on Thursday. I worked with E. Bien and we had a good time. We did some good finding and were led to some people who were quite prepared for the message.
Two of the YW are working with a friend to be taught. Within the next two weeks we should be teaching at least one of them so that's pretty exciting. I've got nothing else to report on so I'll attach some pics.
Love ya tons,
Elder Warner

Elder Byrd and Elder Warner

Not a bad week!

Monday, August 10, 2009 7:40 AM
Well....I've got a plethora of e-mails to read and I want to see if I can load a 19 sec video for ya so this will be short(as usual :-). Don't ya love me mum? Our week wasn't bad at all. Monday we did a lot of bowling in Exeter for p-day which was alright. I won 1 out of 3 games. I'm not so good anymore. I guess the class I took at Weber didn't do me much good ha-ha. Tuesday was great. We got new beds! I haven't slept so well in my entire mission. Love it. We've been seeing Gerald and Olly this week as well. They're both doing great. Olly really wants to go to the Visitor's Center at the temple which is perfect because the Spirit there is amazing. She would love the Joseph Smith film. She'll probably go at the end of the month. We picked up a couple new people this week, but unfortunately we've lost contact with one and the other has gone to Turkey for holiday for 2 weeks. We'll see what happens. We had a cool miracle Wednesday morning. We parked in a neighborhood a couple minute's walk from the high street like usual and I was going to say a prayer, grab our finding tools then I saw a woman across the street and up a bit facing away from us just standing there(looking at her phone?). I had a thought to go talk to her. I grabbed a BOM off the back seat and went for it with a prayer in my heart. I found that she had been having the hardest week in her life this past weekend. Her daughter tried to commit suicide on Sat. and she was just passing through the area to see her (originally from a village on the coast we would never have knocked). We taught her briefly of the Plan of Salvation and testified of it. She really felt something. She admitted that she thought God had a hand in us meeting her. She was right. Unfortunately we didn't get an appointment with her, but she's got a pamphlet with our info. It was a miracle either way. Well my times now gone, I've got to get reading. Our Zone Meeting was on Friday in Exeter. It was great. President Shamo has a lot of things in mind for the mission and is slowly letting them into the work. E. Byrd and I are really focusing on a family now. We've been praying hard for them. We really want to find, teach, and baptize a husband, wife and if possible, children. Either way at least a married couple where the husband can eventually hold the Priesthood. Please pray for them. I know they're somewhere. Pray for us to do all that Heavenly Father requires of us to be worthy of the blessing. Thanks so much for your love and support. Love you all!
Till next week,
Elder Warner
Here's the short video. Don't forget to pause the music on the blog first!

Answered prayers

Monday, August 3, 2009 5:07 AM
Well, I've got to be honest, not the most eventful week, but it's ok because I'll attach some pictures. How’s that?
Although not a lot has happened on the new investigator front we've seen some great miracles. Some especially meaningful to myself. I've seen a lot of prayers answered this week too so there's always loads to thank Heavenly Father for.
We had our Zone Conference in Poole which went nice. I don't usually bear my testimony at the end, but like most people my heart raced so I got up and it was great. Me, E. Schunke, and E. White having a reunion at ZC

In the evening I got to play a bit of footi. Yay! We dropped the sisters at their flat in Paignton then headed to ours to change. We got to play some cage footi with the EQ for about a half hour before being home by nine. It felt good until the next day ha-ha. I'm not in the best shape, but E. Byrd and I are doing workouts and dieting so that's good. I found out on moves day a couple weeks ago that I've gained roughly 18 pounds on my mission. That’s more than a pound a month. I'll get back down to size soon though. I'll have to keep up with the marathoners in the fam now won't I?
We're teaching a new couple (not married) who just moved into Newton Abbot and they're really good. Quite humble and have a desire to do the right thing.
On Sunday we found out how Heavenly Father uses his children to answer each other's prayers. In fast and testimony meeting a woman got up and shared how she prayed Thursday night to be of use to Heavenly Father(she's elderly and she's a bit limited on what she can do). Friday we called her to use her home to teach Gerald in and she accepted. Her prayer was answered to be of use (she was) and our prayer that we would be able to teach him with a member's testimony to help. Also, this morning I got a letter from Dad (thanks, you're a good roll) telling me of his great opportunities this week to be a member-missionary. That's wonderful. I've been praying for a while now that the family would have missionary experiences to help them feel the joy I feel as a missionary here. Heavenly Father really does answer ALL sincere prayers. Thanks Kayti for the sweet balloons and chocolate, even though one had coffee in it. :-)
Well, that should do. I'll attach some photos. a village (only some of it) called Kingskerswell in our area
Thanks for the box, Kayti!!

Love ya!
Elder Warner

Once Again, a quick one

Monday, July 27, 2009 4:44 AM
Well there's only one computer working right now in the cafe so I've got to be quick so E. Byrd can write. Not much happened over the weekend anyhow. Unfortunately we aren't holding a baptismal service this weekend. She decided the time wasn't right for her to join the Church. She's been receiving a lot of opposition so it hasn't been easy for her.
Everyone else is doing alright, progressing well and enjoying what we've shared with them. It's been very wet the past couple weeks, but today it's a bit clear so that's a relief. I haven't got much else to update you on. This week we've got Zone Conference on Wednesday in Poole so that'll be great. Its President Shamo's first official (normal) zone conference. I'm looking forward to it. I'll take a few minutes to try to read through my e-mails from last week and this week. Sorry my correspondence has been poor. I'll try to do better this moves. I've got a surprise on the way though mum so that should make ya happy. Take care for now. Love ya!
-E. Warner

Familiar face

Thursday, July 23, 2009 9:57 AM
Well, Moves news: E. McLachlan has left me to go to Eastbourne to be with E. Meats. I'm now with E. Byrd from Dallas, Texas. I served around him when I was in Oxford and he was in Newbury so things should go pretty well this moves. We shouldn't take much time getting to know each other either. My time is short so I'll just give you some quick updates.
We've dropped the baptismal date with one woman because she wants to take it a bit slow. The younger woman that we're teaching is doing alright in progressing towards baptism on the first of August. We're going to hopefully set a couple more dates this next week and have a successful next moves. It's nice finally having things moving a bit in the area after working it for 3 months. Heavenly Father has really blessed us and his children.
We've been working with a woman who (I think I've already mentioned) was less-active for many years and is now coming back to the Church. It's been the most rewarding experience of my time here in Newton Abbot. We taught her the Plan of Salvation yesterday and it was very spiritual. When we finished she asked something like, "What about children who die young?" That's when the Book of Mormon comes in to answer a question of the soul. As I read to her from Moroni 8 the Spirit filled the room and tears came from her eyes as she gained a sure witness that her baby boy whom she lost years and years ago is with Heavenly Father, waiting for her.
I was deeply humbled by this experience bringing her back. She's a wonderful lady with loads of faith. I love it. I'm so grateful to be an instrument in the Lord's hands. Sorry to make it short. I've got a lot to read so I'll hear from you again on Monday! Love ya!
Elder Warner

Miracles

Monday, July 13, 2009 5:21 AM
Well I'll be brief because it's our last p-day before moves. That means that next week I'll be e-mailing on Thursday. I honestly don't know who will be leaving, if anyone. I could see us both staying so we'll see. I'd be willing to stay another moves. Its great here, nothing to complain about.
Well where do I begin? Tuesday we had an exchange. I had a nice little reunion with E. Dutson. It was good fun to work together again a year later. He taught me a lot then and taught me a lot on our exchange. We had some miracles. We knocked into a couple and gave them a Book of Mormon. If anything develops it will take another week or so. We popped by since then and they were doing well, but still no appointment to share more. We taught a new woman who lives in a village we wouldn't normally go to, but we were directed by a member to knock to find someone they knew. E. McLachlan and I knocked some of the village and met this woman. We found out yesterday at Church that it was who we were sent to find. (We didn't have an address, just the name of the village. The spirit did the directing.) We taught her again on Sat. at the Church and she's now preparing for baptism on the 1st of Aug. A-mazing blessings!
Wednesday we met some really good people and set up some appointments for Thursday and this week. We picked up 4 new people on Thursday. One is the daughter of a member who's now coming back to Church and she is preparing for the 1st as well. So many of our prayers, your prayers, and a couple of our fasts were answered this week. The rest of this moves should be pretty busy.
Our Zone Meeting was on Friday. It was great. We introduced ourselves and our area to President Shamo and he instructed us for an hour or so. It was great. My first interview with him was really good. He too encouraged me to take more pictures (Kami and mom should be happy :-).
I'm excited for this week. We've got a lot of work to do still. We've had a lot of good experiences this week, many testimony builders too.
I know this work is led by Christ. The Spirit really does do all the hard work. I'm very grateful to be tagging along in the work and love it. Take care and we'll talk to you THURSDAY.
Love ya!
Elder Warner

Short one (Sorry, I forgot to post this one last week!)

Monday, July 6, 2009 4:34 AM
Heya! Not too much to report on this week, unfortunately. It must have been one of those weeks of the trial of our faith...Of course we did see miracles though. We met a bunch of YM age guys on Wednesday and had a good chat. We told them about Youth and invited them to come. One of them came riding after us on his bike about 10 min. later and we spoke to him by our car a bit longer. We gave him a Book of Mormon and invited him to Church. He came too. It was really amazing. He's really interested. We're just waiting on his mom's permission to teach him because he's only 14. We'll see how that develops. We're hopeful.
Thursday we travelled to Poole to meet the Shamo's. They're great. They bring a great Spirit with them. The Zone Conference was very powerful and I'm excited to serve under them for the remainder of my mission. He actually served in our part of the mission 40 yrs ago. Trained in Paignton. I stayed the night in Exeter with E. Roth and we worked together in Exeter all day Friday. It was a good day. We had some quality street contacting and set a baptismal date with one of their investigators. We had a nice 4th of July dinner with the Wood family on Saturday which was fun. They had a load of American food.
That's pretty much my week. Sorry it's so short. I'm on a 15 min. computer so I'll try to hop to another and read and respond to your e-mails. Love you all loads!
Elder Warner

Temple trip

Monday, June 29, 2009 6:01 AM
Alrighty. well, as usual, I'll be quick. We had some good miracles this week. We were knocking with absolute no success Monday evening. I was thinking of stopping knocking at certain houses early to head back and make sure we planned for Tuesday on time, but I decided to finish to see if we would have a "last door" experience. We didn't...however, on the way back to our car was a man (just a few feet from the car, actually) sitting on the sidewalk and let’s just say he looked sad. Something was bothering him so we introduced ourselves and started to talk. We spoke to him for a while and taught of the healing power of the Atonement. He said it helped him feel better and agreed to see us later in the week. Unfortunately he decided he couldn't make the changes in his life, but wow what a good seed planted. Tuesday was crazy. We had District Meeting as usual then did a bit of street contacting before going to pack up for the temple trip. We did so, picked up the Sisters from Paignton and took off. We dropped them off with the Sisters in Kingston and we stayed with the 4 Elders in Staines. E. Martin was there so it was good fun to see him again, even though it was after 10 when we got there. In the morning we took off to the temple. The sat-nav that we were using led us on some random roads, probably the longest way possible to the temple and we were 45 minutes late. Fortunately we didn't miss too much. The mission is doing well. As of last night 298 people this year have been converted, baptized, and confirmed. We were 2 off of the half way point for our goal for 600 this year. What a way for the Swintons to leave. They're gone on the 1st and from the sounds of it President Shamo isn't going to change much. This will be an interesting change. The temple session was great. I love the peace of the temple. Take off the watch, relax, and feel the Spirit. We got home around 11 on Wednesday and hurried to bed. Oh yah, we swapped cars with the Bideford Elders so now we've got a manual. I'm happy with that, but I've got to teach E. McLachlan how to drive it. Thursday wasn't bad. we did some service in the morning then finding the rest of the day. We picked up a new guy on Friday, but haven't heard from him since. I'm not sure what we're doing wrong, but not many people are wanting past the 2nd visit. Perhaps life is just bogging them down and the Adversary is working real hard. Yesterday I was asked to give a woman a blessing. It was very spur of the moment so to be honest, I felt unprepared. We offered a prayer to invite the Spirit then I gave the blessing. It was amazing. The words just flowed and I gained a clear witness of the Atonement as I blessed her to understand its healing power. I was quite speechless after. I haven't felt the Spirit like that in a while. I'm so grateful to Heavenly Father for restoring his priesthood authority to the earth which allows me to be an instrument in his hands. I know the Spirit is real. I felt it speak through me yesterday. To have this woman who told me nothing of what her situation in life was tell me afterwards that I read her mind was so special-a witness that God knows his children. I don't really remember much of what I said. It changed how I felt during Sacrament meeting. I offered a prayer of thanks for this Gospel and the blessings of partaking of it.
Love ya! talk to you later.
Elder Warner

2 week lesson

Monday, June 22, 2009 6:57 AM
These past two weeks have been great. We've done more work than I have in a long time. I learned that (this is going to sound late) if we just do our best Heavenly Father will do the rest. My faith and trust in that is so strong after these past two weeks. No doubt anymore. In the first three days of this past week we were blessed to pick up 7 new people. Unfortunately 2 have dropped off since, but miracles nonetheless.
Monday we picked up a mother and her daughter. They were excited for a tour of the Chapel, but the husband/father called us up the day of and said they weren't interested anymore. We were knocking in the rain when he called so it was a double whammy. Right after we got off the phone we prayed and somewhat lamented, asking Heavenly Father for us to find more people who would be receptive. 3 doors after the prayer we got in and taught a mother and her 3 sons. They're great people, religious, but not affiliated with any particular organization. Things are going to take a while with them. They have busy lives, but the two older boys should be going to youth tomorrow.
We also taught a really neat lady from Honduras who had already heard of the Church because one of her friends (and her friend’s family) left the Catholic Church to become "Mormons" and were happier. She was excited to hear the Joseph Smith story and to read the Book of Mormon. She too has a hectic work schedule and won't be coming to Church in Newton Abbot for a few weeks.
Those are pretty much the highlights of the week. We just did some finding the rest of the week. Oh, we were in a Tri on Tuesday with E. Bien while E. Roth went to Staines for a leadership meeting. That was good fun. Today we went out to Buckfast Abbey. It was a really cool place. You're not allowed to take pictures inside, but it was unreal. We’ve got a couple hopeful appointments tonight and Wednesday we've got Temple Conference! It should be a really good week.
E. McLachlan, E. Bien, and myself (1st Presidency style :-))
Me this morning at Buckfast Abbey.
Love ya!
Elder Kyle Warner

Quick weekend

Monday, June 15, 2009 3:48 AM
Well hello! Not too much has happened since last Thursday,so I will be quick, attach a photo or two and maybe read the e-mails from last week :-). If I'm lucky you might get a reply...
Well our biggest miracle took place on Saturday. We headed out in the morning and tried our best to talk to as many people as we could. As we were going along the street before the High Street and we stopped a woman who was carrying what looked like heavy bags. We first talked to her about the Book of Mormon and she was interested, but looked like she was in a hurry. We offered to carry her bags back to her flat for her, she accepted, and we headed to her flat. She invited us in; we sat down, prayed, and taught her about the Restoration. It was great! She's from Nigeria and knows of the Church, but never went because she figured that all churches are the same. She is now developing a testimony of the truth. She was excited to come to church, but didn't come because she worked a crazy night shift the night before, hopefully this weekend. It was just the right time to find her. She moved into her current flat last week and because they don't have a washer yet she had to go out and do her laundry. That's when we met her so that's a miracle!
That was pretty much the highlight of our weekend. We've been pushing hard to find people to teach and to follow every prompting of the Spirit. It's difficult, but I really feel we're getting better at it. Well my time is short. We've got a teach at 11:30 and we'll still try to head up to Exeter for a few hours for the rest of p-day if possible.
Love ya!
Elder Warner

Ness Beach in Shaldon
Mclachlan, me, Roth

Second go...

Thursday, June 11, 2009 4:44 AM
Alright. My entire e-mail got deleted when I went to attach a photo. I'm not too happy about that. I'll take a second stab at it. But Hey! Good news: E. McLachlan and I are staying another moves together in Newton Abbot. So that'll be fun.
So much has happened in the past week and a half and because my last writing was so long and now lost :-( I'm going to have to give the ultra condensed version, sorry.
We've had our teaching pool flushed twice. Dominic doesn't want to be baptized anymore, not sure why. Things looked good, but oh well. We press on. We also picked up 5 new people last Tuesday, but they too have since dropped us.... Your prayers for the people in the Newton Abbot area would be greatly appreciated.
The 6th was amazing. We went to Hyde Park on a coach with our zone and the Bristol Zone. It was weird being back in London. The Hyde Park chapel is amazing. It looks more like a Visitor's Center. We got a mission picture and I got to chat to some of the Elders from my MTC group in the London Mission (Morgan, Duschleta, Walton). They're doing well. I also had a fun reunion with my past companions too. President Uchtdorf and Elder Anderson are amazing speakers. They had us all shake their hands too. We got to see a side of them you don't get to see watching General Conference. They were more humorous and moved their hands more when they spoke (especially Pres. Uchtdorf). One thing, amongst the many, that they shared that really hit me was how we have no clue what kind of an impact we're making in people's lives. It's not about ME-at all. Only about them and the Savior. I love that. I don't like me anyway ;-). It's so fun to be a small part of the work of God-just tagging along for the ride.
Some changes have happened that you might be interested in. E. Lee is our new ZL with E. Dutson, E. White is coming into the Zone in Helston(lands end), E. Roth is the DL with an E. Bien, E. Ellsworth is training, and the sisters are staying in Paignton. I know that this mission is run by the inspiration of the Spirit. This work and the entire Church is too. I love that too. I know this IS the Church of Jesus Christ and that the Book of Mormon (more good) is true. I love you and appreciate your support. Talk to you Monday.
Elder Kyle Warner
From left to right:McLachlan, Ellsworth, Roth, Eng(home), Wright(Oxford), Me, Sister Piaza, Sister Midgley

email from Elder Warner to his mom!

Thursday, June 4, 2009 10:13 AM


I'm not able to take many pictures so Sister Wood has helped me out a bit. ;-). Lots and lots and lots of love from Newton Abbot! The pic is of us wrapping a tagalog Book of Mormon for an investigator from the Philipines. We've gotta run and do a chapel tour, but I'll talk to you on Thursday. Love ya!

Fourth time's a charm....

Monday, June 1, 2009 5:07 AM
(I've had to write this e-mail 4 times now. myldsmail is being weird) Well I've hopefully got a bit of time this week :-). We're still going to Exeter for a District P-day so we'll see. Next week is moves week (already??) so I'll be e-mailing on Thursday instead of Monday. I highly doubt either of us is leaving, but we'll see what the Lord wants of us.
So there's not much to share from this week sadly. It was very hectic and stressful getting everything going for Ed's baptism. It did go through, however. That's one of the pictures.
It was a pretty exciting evening last night, but it went really well.
We spent a few days working with Dominic who we've been informed isn't interested in being baptized anymore, which is really surprising and sad. We're now back at square one-the teaching pool is empty. We've been setting up a good amount of appointments, but the people keep flogging even with a few hours notice. We really need the members here. I'm afraid that we're not going to get many solid people here unless the members refer them. That would be great anyways because member referrals is what we want and is supposed to happen anyway. The ward here is great though. They're trying so eventually it'll all go through.
Tuesday was a good day. I went to Plymouth with E. Elmer on exchange. We did a good balance of finding and teaching. We never made it to the high street (biggest in the mission), but the finding was still good. We met some really good people. I learned a lot from E. Elmer.
There's not much else to say about our week. We're setting a lot of appointments, but they never go through. It's a bit frustrating. The members seem to be our only hope. The Ward is great though. Something should happen soon, I think. This week should be eventful with an exchange scheduled with E. Ellsworth and our sweet Mission Meeting in Hyde Park. We're well excited for that.
I'll end with my testimony: I know this is the work of our Heavenly Father. All success comes when the Spirit takes over. I love that. We work as hard as we can for these people and nothing happens until we put it all in His hands and he does it. I love it. I'm grateful I get to tag along for the ride. I really appreciate all your support. Love ya!
Elder Kyle Warner

Mclachlan and myself playin an the mini golf course in Paignton last p-day

Another shorty....

Monday, May 25, 2009 5:42 AM
Boy I bet you guys are going to love me now. I've only got 30 minutes again. We ended up coming down to Paignton today and are in some small internet cafe. Everyone's already started e-mailing so I've got to be quick. I know I promised pictures this week too, but it'll have to wait until next week, sorry.
A lot happened this week. We saw Dominic Mon, Thu, and Fri. He's doing well. He is taking in as much has his 11 yr old brain can. He even bore us his testimony of prayer. On Thursday we asked him how he's felt since he started praying and he told us of how he's been worried about his exams. The other night he prayed about them and in the morning he felt relaxed and not at all worried about them. He said something to the effect, "I know it was because I prayed. He's a great lad.
Ed is doing alright. Still a bit stressed and kind of questioning getting baptized, but still wants to go through with everything. The baptism is scheduled for this Sunday at 6 pm. He's been taught everything he needs to so it's just up to him holding up to opposition.
Tuesday was pretty good. The Assistants came over in the evening to do exchanges with us. I spent the evening knocking with E. Dunaway and we saw loads of miracles. It was like when Nephi went back to get the plates and was led to King Laban(being led every step of the way). We prayed loads during our knocking session and just met some really good people. Our timing was perfect. We shared so many scriptures from the Book of Mormon and the Spirit was powerful.
Unfortunately the appointments didn't go through...:-(. But at least our testimonies were deepened.
Sunday we were shown the last session of General Conference after the Sacrament. I loved it. I heard about the talks beforehand so it was nice to hear and see them. I really loved E. Bednar's talk and of course E. Perry's, but what missionary didn't :-).
This week looks pretty promising and we should be quite busy. I can't believe we're already going into week 4 of moves. Time is flying. I forgot to mention, I think, that on the 6th of June we'll be getting a coach from Exeter with the other Plymouth Zone missionaries to go to Hyde Park to hear Pres. Uchtdorf, E. Andersen, and Pres. Oaks of the Europe Area Presidency speak. They're doing a special Mission meeting for us and the London Mission. Everyone in the mission is well excited for it. Anywho, I better get reading some e-mails. My apologies if I don't respond to everyone who wrote me. Love ya!
Elder Warner

Lot's of e-mails to read and no time.

Monday, May 18, 2009 7:24 AM
Alrighty....We've been moving someone all morning and it's late in the day so I'm going to be short. I'll get right to it so I can at least read and if possible, respond to some e-mails. Thanks for writing everyone.
We're still working with Pam and Patrick. They're good, but things are going to be a little slow going for a few weeks. We've been relying on members a lot this week for lifts and they've been a great help. On Wednesday we finally picked up someone new to teach and it went quite well. She is hard to get a hold of because she works in Exeter, but we'll see what happens this week.
The sisters in Paignton have been teaching a man for a couple weeks, but he's in our area so we picked him up on Thursday and taught the Plan of Salvation. It was a miracle teach. He was telling us how we, and what we taught, seemed so familiar to him (pre-earth life ;-). It was great. We helped him move for a few hours on Sat. He came and enjoyed Church yesterday as well.
Friday was our Zone Meeting in Exeter, which went really well. It was our last Zone Meeting with Pres. Swinton and maybe our last for good if Pres. Shamo changes things. We got our car back too! It’s running loads better. I don't know what was specifically wrong with it, but it's ok now. We had a nice dinner with some members then taught one of their neighbors' sons. His name is Dominic and He's now preparing to be baptized on the 13th of June. We're so excited for him. We've been so blessed this past week. We are receiving so many answers to our prayers, it's amazing.
That's pretty much a quick summary of this past week's highlights. Sorry it's a bit short and bland. Hopefully next week I'll have pictures. We'll probably be in Exeter because it's a bank holiday so the libraries will be closed. Any who, I know that God does hear and answer prayers in HIS time if it's what's best for us. I know he loves us and all of you. I'm grateful for that knowledge and for your support. Love ya! Talk to you next week.
Elder Kyle Warner

Short and sweet

Monday, May 11, 2009 5:02 AM
Well I haven't got much to report on, to be honest. It wasn't a bad week, just a bit slow as far as teaching people. We're setting a lot of appointments up, but unfortunately none are going through....yet.
We're still working with Pam and Patrick and they're fine. We're holding off for probably this week as far as setting a date for baptism because the next few weekends are a bit hectic at the Chapel.
Thursday we went to Poole for Zone Conference. It was a great Conference-all about Revelation. I think it was put together for me :-). Unfortunately we lost our car. It pretty much gave up the ghost right as we pulled in so we had to leave it there and the mission mechanic is picking it up today. Hopefully we'll get it, or another car, on Friday at our Zone Meeting, but they haven't told us a sure time so who knows? We'll be ok though. Newton Abbot has only had a car for about a year now so it's been successful as a walking area.
That's pretty much it. We've been getting to know the members a bit better. It's going to take a while because the ward is pretty big, which is a good thing so I won't complain. This week should improve from last week and we'll see what I have to write next week. It was fun to talk to most of you last night. I'm a bit tired from staying up so late, but it's ok. I'm in Exeter for a District P-day again. I think it'll be like this all moves. It's good fun. Anywho, I'll attach a couple pictures for you. Love you all! take care.
Elder Kyle Warner
What a few of the roads in Devon are like.
Me near Teignmouth.