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.