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