Monday, June 29, 2009

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

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

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

Thursday, June 18, 2009

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

Thursday, June 11, 2009

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

Monday, June 8, 2009

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