I hope they call me on a mission

The Day We've Been Waiting For

2010-02-22T18:04:00.003-07:00

Here is our latest family picture. We will post more as time becomes available.

TODAY'S THE DAY!!

2010-02-19T01:14:00.003-07:00

After serving for 721 days in ELSM, Elder Warner will soon board the plane for the first leg of his return trip home. We will be following the flight and meet him in Salt Lake City around 8:30 p.m. Yea!!!! =) =D Watch for airport posts and home posts and talk in Sacrament Meeting posts to come!

THE LAST ONE!

2010-02-09T10:33:00.000-07:00

Tue, Feb 9, 2010 at 4:24 AM
Is it really the last one? It's unbelievable. We had a great week. Very busy and I don't think it's going to change. A busy missionary is a happy missionary :-). We spent all of our time teaching the great people we're working with and preparing for our presentation at Zone Training day. Not too much has changed on people being baptized. It's something E. Lee and I have discussed a lot lately. The quality of people we are teaching now is amazing. They all have potential to be future leaders and teachers in the Church here. I think that's why the adversary is working so hard on them. Our meeting went well and my second to last interview with President Shamo was really good. As far as we're aware our missionaries really enjoyed the day yesterday and felt the Spirit. I know I did. Our presentation was centered on a talk (or article) by Pres. Monson called Finishers Wanted. I really enjoyed preparing and presenting it.
Because last week wasn't too eventful I'll tell you a bit about my schedule for the rest of my mission. Today we're going to go see some sights. Hopefully I'll have a lot of pictures to show you next week. Tomorrow we're doing a special exchange with the Southampton ZL's and E. Martin and I get most of Wednesday and all of Thursday to do an exchange. It's going to be a lot of fun. A couple of old farts preaching the gospel :-). I'm looking forward to miracles. Sunday is my last one in England. I got to share my testimony last week in fast and testimony meeting so I'm all set. I don’t think many of the members know that I'm leaving soon. It's better that way so they don't make a big deal out of it and the work won't skip a bit with the new missionary coming in.
Tuesday we just might have a baptism :-). Wednesday is my London Trip and Thursday I'll be having my last interview, temple session, and an open reception with any converts/members that want to come say goodbye to the departing elders. I'm so grateful for my time here as a missionary. I'm grateful for the amazing people I've met and had amazing experiences with. I love this land. It's beautiful and the people are incredible. I know the Church is true and it changes lives. My last two years of service has proven that in myself and to those who I was able to work with. Thanks for all the support that I've been given from family, friends, acquaintances, etc. Be it through prayers, letters, packages, whatever, all have helped. Any who read this blog or have been reading it that isn't a member of this Church I promise you that if you investigate this Church and it's teachings with a sincere heart you will know for yourself that there is a God who loves you. He does answer prayers. You will know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and can be your personal saviour. I know it and invite you to test it for yourself. You'll never regret it.
Thanks again and I look forward to seeing some of you soon!
Love,
Elder Kyle A. Warner

Finally, an e-mail!

2010-02-03T17:07:00.001-07:00

Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 10:18 AM
Well I couldn’t think of a good title to describe my past week. It was definitely interesting. We were only actually shut down from Saturday afternoon to Monday night. E. Lee is doing loads better and we've had two normal days so far, but didn't have any time to e-mail yesterday so here I am!
There's a term I picked up whilst I was in London. "yard sale" Our week was pretty yard sale meaning all over the place ;-). Although things were a bit crazy we were really blessed. Heavenly Father more than compensated for our weekend struggles and blessed us with a great week leading up to it. All the people we're teaching are progressing well. They're understanding the scriptures and definitely feeling the Spirit. I don’t' know how many of their baptisms I'll see before England kicks me out;-), but as long as they make it all will be well. I know I'll be wanting to spend some time making international phone calls my first month back mum so if possible, could you leave the international calls on our phone plan? Cheers. :-)
I've got to apologize for not having any pictures this week. I did do better than you though Kami, ha-ha and E. Lee is going to help me take loads the next 3 weeks. I suppose for my health's sake Trav I'll run, but the 3 mile bit is good for me unless no one wants the bigger stretches. I just really struggle running for long periods of time when a football (euro) isn't involved :-).
This week is supposed to be a normal one because next week is going to be different. Side note: what's normal for a missionary anyways??? Well we've got a Zone Training day on Monday so our p-day is moved to Tuesday so that's when I'll be having my last e-mailing session that I'm aware of. unreal........
Anyways, now that we're back on our feet, we're ready to make up for being shut down for a few days. Over all the Zone is great. That's what happens when you have good missionaries. We're seeing success in areas that haven't seen it in a while. It's great. I love miracles!! Especially when our friends we're teaching see em. Well time is short. We've got a DA in a few and also need to do some paperwork before a meeting tonight. Pray that I'll be able to pray in Spanish soon! It's killing me. I want to teach in Spanish so bad. Well I hope all is well for ya'll and hopefully very white ;-).
Love ya and see you soon!
Elder K A Warner

"Dying" testimony!

2010-01-25T16:42:00.003-07:00

Mon, Jan 25, 2010 at 4:25 AM
Well this week just blew by. We were quite busy with a lot of things. We had two exchanges and we had our Zone Conference at the Temple. We did our first exchange with the Poole elders and it went well. We're blessed to have quality missionaries throughout the zone. I went to Yeovil on Thursday for the day to work with E. Ard. We had a great time. We met some really neat people and I learned a few significant things from E. Ard. We even got a Chinese buffet for Lunch :-). It was definitely too much, but that's how Americans do buffets. Side note: Most of the buffets in England say Eat as much as you'd like, not All you can eat.
Our Zone Conference was amazing. I love going to feel the peace in the Temple. Things were a little difficult having to give my so called "dying" testimony, but you'll be pleased to know that I didn't cry. ha-ha. Our theme was on Rededicating ourselves to the work and to the Lord. I think a lot of the missionaries felt a desire to improve and to give more of themselves. I know I did.
As far as our friends that we're teaching and preparing for baptism: Things are much better than last week. We can definitely see that Satan has really stepped it up on his end. I can feel it. It's difficult to describe it, but all of the people in the Zone who are preparing for baptism have been hit with opposition this past week and all in different ways. It's sad to see, but I know that "with God nothing shall be impossible."
That’s pretty much my week. Sorry that it's not too detailed. We've got a lot to do today. This coming week is going to be our most normal week, no meetings. It's a good thing too because there's a lot of attention that needs to be paid to our area.
I'm really grateful for the time I get now as a missionary. I've never been so busy and happy at the same time. I know that God lives and loves his children, despite what the world may claim from what it sees. Love ya'll! have a great week. Speak to you soon.
Elder Warner
At the temple with E. White!

Milagros!

2010-01-18T09:07:00.002-07:00

Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 8:18 AM
Well this week's been quite busy so naturally it flew by. We did a lot of teaching and had my last ZLC on Friday at the Shamo's home. It was a great one and I'm grateful for the experiences I've had there the past two moves.
Because I want to do some reading and possibly ;-) some writing back I'll be brief with a miracle tied into my subject:
Tuesday night we went to knock a road that I thought a lot of Spanish speaking people would live on so E. Lee could use his language gift. Well on the way there I got us lost so I turned into a drive to look at the map and turn us around. As I was reading the map E. Lee got a prompting to go check the doors at the building of flats in front of us. Only one was opened (both were supposed to be locked) and another prompting to knock the building came. So we headed up to the 6th floor and started. The first door had a pretty elderly woman behind, yelling that she had the flu and couldn't open up. We decided that the whole building would be the elderly and we probably shouldn't knock them. We hopped back in the lift pushed the ground floor and another prompting came to keep going so we hit the 3rd floor out of sheer hope. The first door we knocked a woman answered saying she couldn't speak English. We asked where she was from and she said, "Brazil." We found out she also spoke Spanish and after a couple minutes we were inside talking to her and her daughter. We went back a couple of times and had some really amazing spiritual experiences with the husband/father and two of them are preparing for baptism! Hopefully we'll be able to share more and help get the whole family involved this week.
They were a big answer to our prayers for E. Lee to teach in Spanish. Two of them came to church and despite the language barrier they enjoyed it. I'm grateful that miracles haven't stopped. The work of God continues to move forward as his Spirit prepares and leads his children together. Thanks for all your prayers. They really do help.
This week should be another busy one. We've got our delayed Temple Conference on Friday that I'm really looking forward to. Keep safe and I'll speak to you soon! Love ya!
Elder Warner
p.s. finally I got to play some footi after we had a DLC at our flat. I loved it, but realized how out of shape I am.

A couple of pics

2010-01-11T19:34:00.004-07:00

Mon, Jan 11, 2010 at 6:23 AM

Well it's been an interesting week or so. Fortunately there's not much snow at all here in Bournemouth. Church wasn't cancelled and our friend Levi's baptism went great. E.Lee, Levi, E. Warner
He seems pretty happy and excited to be in the YM. He's going to love it. Not too much has happened besides that since I e-mailed last. We're still working with a few good people and developing a vision of what we want to happen this moves. It's going to take a lot of hard work and perfection, but we'll be blessed for it. This is a great area.
This week would normally be our ZLC and ZC, but who knows what will happen with the weather. I'll go ahead and attach a couple pictures. Enjoy and talk to you soon!
Elder Warner
E. Hansen and E. Warner
An awesome tree E. Orme and E. Warner found.

Craziest week and half ever

2010-01-07T09:06:00.002-07:00

Thu, Jan 7, 2010 at 4:05 AM

Heya! Sorry if I don't write much today. I'm a bit slow with freezing hands. It's a cold one today. I'm not sure where to start. Things have been crazy. I'll start with last week.
Wednesday E. Orme was ill so we didn't work. I just cleaned the flat and studied a bit. We did a bit of work New Year's Eve, but he was ill again that night and we didn't do much New Year's Day either. Things are great in the work. We've got a baptism this weekend and will have at least two more on the 30th. We've had some cool miracles lately. Lots of people have been approaching us. A guy today even, from Montreal. He's in the Christchurch area though.
We were supposed to have a Temple Conference/Moves day yesterday, but it snowed quite a few inches near London and only a bit here in Bournemouth. We're sheltered by the Isle of Wight so we only get the cold, rain, and ice...fun stuff :-). Our temple conference was cancelled and moves has been hectic. We sent four missionaries to Reading and other places in our Zone's cars yesterday afternoon and they'll finish getting back today. I ended up staying in Christchurch last night with E. Hansen. They're putting sisters in there now. It was interesting haha. We were expecting our new comps to get in last night, but the weather was too bad so we stayed just the two of us in someone else’s flat. We didn't have anything, toothbrush, showering stuff, other clothes....So we just walked around in the evening and got some Dominoes. It was good fun and now I'm back in Bournemouth.
Oh ya... moves... A lot has changed in the Zone. E. Orme was moved to Taunton and I'm now with E. Lee from Arizona. I'm excited to work with him. Things are going to be great. Jersey stayed the same, but we've now opened up Guernsey so missionaries will be flying out this morning. Salisbury-E. Coon and E. Barker; Christchurch-S. Woodward and S. Pilz; Poole- E. Hansen and E. Robinson; Yeovil-E. Ard and E. Rodriguez; Weymouth stayed the same. There's much to be done and many people who want to be baptized.
Things are going to be really busy the next couple weeks. Sorry for my lack of correspondence (and spelling ;-). I know there are some birthdays past and birthdays coming up that I haven't really said anything about. HAPPY B-DAY EVERYONE!!! :-). (That includes Elyse on the 13th).
I would love to send pictures because I've taken quite a few, but I haven't been back to the flat yet so on Monday you'll get a few. I can't think of much else to share. I hope you're not getting too much snow. I kind of want the weather to stay milder here, but you never know!
Love ya'll. Have a great week!
Elder Warner

A great Christmas

2009-12-28T13:41:00.001-07:00

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?

2009-12-22T01:15:00.000-07:00

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....

2009-12-14T22:40:00.003-07:00

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

2009-12-07T09:22:00.003-07:00

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!!

2009-11-30T09:52:00.003-07:00

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?

2009-11-28T11:52:00.002-07:00

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

2009-11-16T17:07:00.002-07:00

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

2009-11-09T17:18:00.006-07:00

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!!

2009-11-02T18:48:00.003-07:00

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!!

2009-10-26T22:49:00.006-06:00

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

2009-10-19T16:01:00.007-06:00

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?

2009-10-15T21:33:00.001-06:00

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...

2009-10-05T23:46:00.000-06:00

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

2009-10-01T14:11:00.000-06:00

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?

2009-09-22T23:23:00.000-06:00

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.

2009-09-18T14:21:00.001-06:00

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

2009-09-08T23:34:00.004-06:00

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

2009-09-03T19:14:00.004-06:00

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.

2009-08-24T08:14:00.001-06:00

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?

2009-08-17T11:05:00.005-06:00

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

2009-08-10T16:27:00.003-06:00

Not a bad week!

2009-08-10T10:04:00.003-06:00

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

2009-08-03T08:43:00.007-06:00

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

2009-07-27T08:45:00.000-06:00

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

2009-07-23T11:00:00.001-06:00

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

2009-07-13T10:17:00.000-06:00

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!)

2009-07-13T00:58:00.002-06:00

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

2009-06-29T08:13:00.006-06:00

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

2009-06-23T20:53:00.003-06:00

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

2009-06-18T21:15:00.002-06:00

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...

2009-06-11T09:27:00.002-06:00

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!

2009-06-08T22:52:00.003-06:00

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....

2009-06-08T21:44:00.004-06:00

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....

2009-05-25T09:14:00.001-06:00

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.

2009-05-18T08:24:00.000-06:00

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

2009-05-11T08:45:00.002-06:00

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.

Touching base!

2009-05-04T16:33:00.001-06:00

Monday, May 4, 2009 4:52 AM
Ok, so this is a bit weird. I'm e-mailing from an Apple store in Exeter. It's a bank holiday so all the libraries are closed. We're having a district p-day today with bowling and Nando's-Yum! So this will be short, which is fine anyway because nothing much happened in 3 days. We're starting from scratch here in Newton Abbot. We've got a less active member who wants to come back so we're helping her overcome smoking. She just so happens to have an 11 yr old son who isn't a member who will hopefully be preparing for baptism soon.
This place is so beautiful. Lot's of hills and the view from a place called Teignmouth is amazing. I don't think I should spend much time on this computer since there are real customers waiting. Pictures will have to come next week. Love ya! TALK to you soon :-)
Elder Warner

Where do I begin?

2009-05-01T21:58:00.015-06:00

Friday, May 1, 2009 7:18 AM
Well now I'm sure you've been worried that I didn't e-mail yesterday like I said I would, but all is well. The reason why I didn't is because of how long it took me to get to my new area from the temple. I'm now in Newton Abbot in Devon. It's down on the coast a bit east of Plymouth. So much has happened since I last e-mailed on April 20th. My time is short and I've got a lot of reading to do. Thanks for the e-mails everyone.
On the 21st we committed Gwinyai to be baptized on May 2nd and he accepted. He is amazing. He has been taught everything, interviewed, and is getting baptized tomorrow in Oxford. So we spent a lot of time preparing him for it. We even went to some baptisms in Reading and he really enjoyed it.
E. Keeble, Gwinyai, and me.

I did a good amount of interviews the past two weeks as well. I interviewed the two people who we saw get baptized in Reading and as well a small family this past Tuesday. It was great. I really like doing baptismal interviews. I won't be doing any this moves because I got released (thankfully). My new district has 8 missionaries: Sisters in Paignton, Elders in Exeter and in Bideford. I don't think I know anybody so it'll be nice to meet some new missionaries.
We had so many amazing miracles happen my last two weeks in Oxford, but I don't have time to share them. Sorry. Between my handwritten journal and my tapes you'll hear them soon enough :-). Funny story: When I interviewed one of the people in Reading I needed a Chinese speaker to translate because she wasn't very good at expressing herself in English so I asked him how to commit someone for baptism in Chinese. I took that and we tried to commit our Chinese friend, Rong Qin(wrong chin) and she laughed at me. I commanded her to be baptized, not asked. She told me the polite way then said yes. It was pretty cool. Unfortunately on Monday she got called to go to Holland for work during the week so right now we don't know what is going to happen with her just yet.

Me saying goodbye to Oxford.

Yesterday morning, E. Keeble and I drove to Bracknell and I picked up another Elder who is going home today and left E. Keeble there. We drove to the Temple and met up with my new companion and E. Keeble's new. I found out that E. Karges is training in Portsmouth!! I'm a grandpa now, weird.
Four generations: E. McConkie, E. Warner, E. Karges, E. Carlson

I took a lot of pictures so we'll see what I can attach. I'm with E. McGlachlan now from Bountiful. He's been out around 7.5 months. He's a good guy and the area is amazing so this should be a good moves. We drove back with the Paignton Sisters because one of them is training. It was a good trip out here, but it took a while and our car is a bit dodgy, but we're alive and well. We drove past Stonehenge and snapped a couple pictures. It was pretty darn cool.E. McGlachlan and me at Stonehenge.
Newton Abbot kind of reminds me of St George. We have a bit of beach in our area, but live about 15-20 min. drive away. Our flat is way nice. That should be good for now. I'll e-mail again on Monday. This Library will be closed so I'm not sure where from. The only internet cafe in the city is broken right now so we'll see. Love ya!
Elder Warner

Fast Week

2009-04-21T16:33:00.005-06:00

Monday, April 20, 2009 3:59 AM
Wow this week really blew by. It was very busy, which is good. I've got a lot to do on the computer for district meeting tomorrow so I'll try to be short and attach a picture or two. I'll just touch on the highlights.
Tuesday I was in Reading on exchange with E. Roberts (S. Africa) and it was really good. We taught a family that they're teaching and preparing for baptism. The mother is amazing. Since she was taught the Word of Wisdom just over a week ago she hasn't touched a single cigarette. She's getting her whole family there. It's amazing.
In the morning on Wednesday I got back into Oxford to teach a couple times. We taught a Kenyan woman who is now on the back burner because of her commitment. We taught an Indian woman who is Hindu (for now :-). We've taught her a few times this week and she was handling it well. We then headed to Newbury so I could interview one of the people the Elders there have been teaching. I stayed overnight and exchanged with E. Wojtkowski.
Thursday morning we headed to Zone Meeting in Reading which was really good. We learned a lot about how to be better organized and more consistent in our work. I was very ready to finally make it to my bed in Oxford that night.
The Chinese woman is doing well. She's doing a lot of studying/work so it's hard to see her during the week. She came to church on Sunday and enjoyed it. We didn't get to do much finding this past week, but we've got a busy 1st half of this week. It might be my last full week in Oxford (hope not), but we'll see. So moves is next Thursday I'll be writing again then. Maybe from a new area....:-(.
The pictures are from last P-day at a member's mum's house. We dug up the garden then planted potatoes in it. It was good fun. E. Keeble, Adrian, and Tory.
Tory and myself making a line of potatoes. A card in the ZL's flat that I thought was funny. Driving to a member's for lunch yesterday.
I love England in the spring. It's beautiful. I'll try to take pictures of the drive to Reading tomorrow. Love ya!
=Elder Kyle Warner

Spiritual Week

2009-04-13T08:42:00.003-06:00

Monday, April 13, 2009 4:40 AM
Alrighty! I've only got a little bit of time to write before reading the e-mails and (hopefully) responding too. Our P-day is going to be cut short a few hours for some yard work. Our week wasn't too bad. I had a lot of extra-spiritual experiences and answered prayers. To be honest we didn't teach very much, but I still feel all right about our week.
We started teaching an older English guy on Monday, taught him again on Wednesday to commit him for baptism, and he came to Church. He's a great guy, but unfortunately we dropped his baptismal date for now. He's still putting things together in his mind.
On Tuesday I was in Newbury for an exchange with E. Byrd. It was pretty good. I like Newbury. It's a nice little town and the high street is pretty cool. In the evening we were taken out to dinner by a couple members that were there from Utah on work. They were great guys and it was fun to see some fellow Utahans. Thursday evening we had a cool fireside-like presentation about the Atonement. There were four different speaking parts to it; The Garden, Golgotha, Paradise, and the Resurrection. It really strengthened my testimony of the Atonement and of the love that our Heavenly Father has for us.
Friday was cool. As we were knocking in the evening we were prompted to go to a street we hadn't planned. We weren't sure if it was a prompting because we thought we should stay with what we originally planned, but after prayer we decided to go to it. The last door we knocked on we got in and taught a great Chinese lady. She is really humble, but really intelligent too. We'll see what happens in the coming week with her.
Saturday I had an answered prayer of a renewed testimony of the Book of Mormon. We were teaching a woman and at the end of the teach she asked what the Book had done for me. I don't know why I was surprised at the question, but it really got me thinking. I shared with her how I've grown in my understanding of the love of God and Christ, the power of the Atonement, and so forth. The spirit hit me so hard. I could probably say I gained a real testimony of the Book of Mormon as I bore it. It was amazing!
Easter was great. The ward did a nice Easter program with music and speakers. Our ward is really musically inclined. We had lunch with the Mcluckie family and if I counted correctly there were about 15 of us in their home (English homes are a bit tighter than American ones). It was fun and the finding was amazing. The spirit has been with us a lot more lately. I think it might be because we've changed our prayers. We have prayed more for the people than for us two.
I love this work and everything about it. My testimony grows daily. I better get reading. Here's a picture or maybe two.....One is of me with E. Byrd on exchange E. Keeble, myself, and the now E. Davies who took off last week to the MTC.

Love ya!
Elder Warner

Conferenced out?

2009-04-06T18:07:00.001-06:00

Monday, April 6, 2009 4:35 AM
Alrighty well there's not much to report on this week unfortunately...But man, was General Conference amazing or what?!? I loved it. I could listen to the Apostles for ages. It took up our Saturday evening and all of our day yesterday, but I learned so much and had a few questions answered. Saturday evening we watched the Sat. am session live. I loved it. My favorite talk from that session was Elder D. Todd Christofferson's talk on covenants. We watched the recorded Priesthood session yesterday morning, the recorded Saturday pm session at 1, then the Sun. am at 5. I love Conference. I was looking forward to Elder Holland's talk and I was almost in tears from it. He's such a powerful speaker. I hear from missionaries who got to watch the last session late last night that it was a great finish so I'll be looking forward to seeing it another time. The best part about all of this is that Gwinyai came to all the sessions except for the last one. He really enjoyed it. Unfortunately he's going back to Zimbabwe for a couple weeks, but it gave him a lot to take in while he's gone. So this week we're going to be "pounding the pavement" to find new people.
We had our Zone Conference on Thursday, which was great too. We basically read through a few scriptures and did some of what we call, "unpacking". Some amazing insights were given and I grew a lot, spiritually. Well that's pretty much my week. This week might be similar, but without the Conferences so we should have a lot of new people this week. Pray for us. We need it.
I have learned so deeply out here that Jesus is the Christ and that he loves us all soooooo much, as well as our Heavenly Father. Elder Holland's talk really inspired me to serve better and harder. I don't ever want to abandon him in the fight against sin. I owe them so much to have you and dad as parents, to have this Gospel in my life, and to be able to share it with others. I really do love the hymn, "I Stand All Amazed."
I've been hit a lot lately with a realization of how blessed I am. I've done a lot of reflecting over the Conference weekend and mass feelings of gratitude have come over me. I'm so grateful to be a part in this Gospel. I absolutely love it when E. Holland teaches and testifies about the Atonement. That man has a love for our Savior and Heavenly Father that I am striving to acquire myself. Missionary service has helped me with that. We are so blessed to have this Gospel and great Church. I love everything about it.
Love ya! Talk to you soon and Happy (early) Easter! Tip: focus on the real purpose of Easter; it makes it much more special.
Elder Kyle Warner

Short one

2009-03-30T10:27:00.004-06:00

Monday, March 30, 2009 7:20 AM
Well it’s been a bit of a slow weekend... Not much has happened since Thursday. We've been trying hard to get new people to teach. We've picked up a few, but they haven't been too interested since. We had a good experience on Saturday. We met a young guy from Zimbabwe who's a student here. We shared with him a little bit about the Restoration and the 1st Vision. He felt the Spirit and accepted the invitation to come to church. He came, enjoyed it, and we taught him after church. We'll be seeing him again on Wednesday and he should be coming to Conference this weekend. Unfortunately he'll be going back to Zimbabwe next Tuesday for two weeks, but he should have an amazing experience to leave with and ponder over for two weeks. I'm really excited for General Conference this week. It's my second to last one in the field (a bit scary). We're quite blessed to be able to go to the Oxford chapel and watch it. Well I'll attach a couple more pictures and see how many e-mails I can respond to. Love Ya!!!
Elder Kyle Warner

-The Trio at the Visitor's Center at the Temple.
E. White, Wojtkowski, me, Lindsay, and Keeble on the top of Magdalen Tower.
Me with the key to get in and out of the door to the tower-it was a really heavy door.

Unfinished business?

2009-03-28T22:20:00.004-06:00

Thursday, March 26, 2009 5:37 AM
Allrighty. A lot has happened since the 16th.

I'll be quick because I've got a few e-mails to read. If I don't respond to all of you, thanks so much for your support.
First off, last P-day was really cool. Elders Lindsay and Wojtkowski came up from Newbury and we toured Christ Church College and went up a really big tower at another college. I'll attach a couple pictures.

The Lord wants me to be in Oxford for at least another 5 weeks (hence the subject)! It's pretty exciting. I love Oxford so I'm alright with that. Sadly, Elder White has been moved to Brighton and left this morning bright and early. It's going to be a weird adjustment at first since I spent half of my mission life living with him, but change is constant in missionary work. So it’s just Elder Keeble and myself now. We're excited to stay together. I've also been called to be the District Leader again so I'm going to be quite busy this moves. Side note-notice that I said 5 more weeks. This moves is a short one, we get one every year.
Clemencia and Chris' Baptism and Confirmation went really well.

I did the baptisms and Elder Keeble confirmed them. They gave the three of us Setswana names. Mine is Lefika (salvation), E. White's is Ceabelo (gift), and E. Keeble's is Kaleboga (thank you). They also had a great experience at the Visitor's Center and Temple. We got to go down with them. I loved it. We watched the Joseph Smith film and it gave me such a deeper realization of how true Joseph's calling to be a prophet is/was. Clemencia didn't want to leave. The feeling on Temple grounds is amazing. I've got lots of pictures to attach of our day on Saturday. I'm so grateful for these experiences I've been given.
Sadly, we've kind of lost contact with Brenda over this past weekend. We're not sure why, but now her baptism is cancelled. Our teaching pool is pretty much gone. We've worked hard and have found a few people so we should be picking up a few new ones in the next few days.
That's pretty much the highlight of our week or so. I love this work. I know it's the work of the Lord. I know that Joseph Smith is and was a prophet of God. I know that the Book of Mormon is truly another testament of Jesus Christ. I know that our Heavenly Father loves us and is very mindful of our needs. I love you guys. Thanks for your prayers and support. Talk to you Monday!
Elder Kyle Warner

Quick one

2009-03-16T16:37:00.003-06:00

Monday, March 16, 2009 7:02 AM
Well we've got a busy day planned today and I've got a few e-mails to read so I'll be brief. Unfortunately our week was quite slow as far as finding new people to teach. Clemencia and Chris are really excited for their baptism on Saturday. We'll be taking them to the Visitor's Center at the Temple before it so that should be really neat and spiritual for them. Chris is so cool. I'm not sure if I've told you already, but we gave him the Book of Mormon Stories book and he loves it. He remembers the stories almost perfectly and he is always asking if there are primary activities during the week.
Brenda and Yamu (South African couple) are doing quite well too. Their understanding of the Gospel is really good. We've been quite blessed with some great people to work with. Yamu hasn't accepted a baptismal date yet, but we'll see if he'll be baptized with his wife on the 28th. They too are going to the Visitor's Center on Saturday. We're really excited for them.
On Thursday we had our Zone Meeting in Reading (as usual) and it was really good. We discussed a talk by Ezra Taft Benson from decades ago that was about pride. I never realized how many different ways we can be prideful in our lives. It was a good way to evaluate myself and the progress I want to make.
That's really the highlights of my week. I was a bit ill most of the week, but am pretty much over it now. I'm going to attach some pictures then start writing back, if possible. Love you all. The weather here is really nice now. Hope it's getting close to spring for ya. Take care.
Elder Warner
The pictures are good this week! One is of us three after Zone Meeting in our comp. ties.

The other two are still frames from a video I did last p-day. We were walking down the high street and a guy was doing a magic act so we stopped since we had time. He asked for a volunteer so we encouraged E. Keelbe to do it and he did.

The guy had E. Keeble wrap him up in a chain, put the red cloth over him then the guy escaped. It was pretty cool and funny to hear this guy call E. Keeble Elder like it was his first name. He sounded like a member.

Fast week

2009-03-09T16:46:00.004-06:00

Monday, March 9, 2009 6:17 AM
Well this week past quick too. Becky's baptism was really good. I've attached a picture.
It was an interesting week on top of the baptism.
Monday we picked up a couple new people. One is from New Zealand and is really trying to figure out truth. He came to Church and enjoyed it. Tuesday was interesting. I went to Newbury on exchange with E. Wojtkowski. We taught their friend Betty who is going to be baptized on the 15th. She's got a solid testimony and is more than ready for baptism. The weather was awful, ha-ha. It was really windy and we got completely drenched, but it was ok. We didn't get discouraged at all. In fact, we were singing "There is Sunshine in My Soul Today."
While I was gone Brenda and Yamo were taught by E. White and a member and Brenda accepted a date for baptism on the 28th. That's pretty exciting. I got back into Oxford in the afternoon on Wednesday. We've taught Clemencia and Chris a few times this week. They've accepted everything well and have started to gain testimonies of their own. When we taught them the Word of Wisdom Chris was so happy he didn't have to drink tea (Clemencia used to have him each cold morning) that he stomped on the boxes of tea then binned them. It was pretty funny. He's really smart for a 10 year old.
We've taught a few other people here and there that are new, but I'll keep you posted on whether they progress quickly. Saturday morning we did what's called Ox-clean and cleaned up the car park across the street from our chapel then had a BBQ. It was good fun. We saw Clemencia and Chris before they came to the baptism and they've now bumped their date to the 21st of March. It's going to be a fast few weeks preparing them and Brenda (hopefully soon, Yamo) for baptism.
Becky was confirmed and given the Gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday. It was the first time I've confirmed some one so it was extra special for me. We had some interesting experiences in the afternoon that ultimately deepened my testimony of the reality our Heavenly Father and the fact that this is HIS work. I'm so grateful to be a small part in it. I know that it's the true work of Christ and this is His church. I love you guys. Take care.
Elder Warner
The three of us after our service project on Saturday

The Elders in the Zone last P-day after playing football. Top row: Coombs, Lindsay, Wojtkowski, Fowler, White, member from Farnbrough, Evans. Bottom row: yours truly, Barker, Roberts, Keeble, and Martins.

Three's company

2009-03-02T08:00:00.001-07:00

Monday, March 2, 2009 4:01 AM
Well this week went by really fast. I forgot my connector for my camera in the flat so you'll have to wait till next week for pictures. I'll just touch on the highlights.
Tuesday after District Meeting in Reading I headed back to Oxford with E. Lindsay for an exchange. It went quite well...About an hour after being back in Oxford I realized that I only got the phone from E. White, not the keys to the flat. They were with him in Newbury! We couldn't really do much because we had teaches in the evening. We saw Becky and she's doing great. During the teach I got a phone call from President Swinton and he informed me that we were getting a new companion. His name is E. Keeble from up north in Halifx, Yorkshire, my first British companion. It was an exciting night. We also saw our Hindu friend, but we've since lost contact with her. Afterwards we tried to break into the flat, but it just wasn't working so we ended up having to drive to Newbury to get the flat keys from E. White and got home just before 10:30 :-).
Wednesday morning, E. White came back. We did a bit of finding then we had to rearrange the flat a bit to make room for a third bed in the bedroom. E. Keeble arrived around 4 then we spent the rest of the evening teaching. We saw Clemencia and Chris who are doing great! We saw them again on Saturday and they're now going to be baptized on the 28th of March. They came to church and loved it. We also saw the South African couple in the evening and they're alright, but were away for the weekend.
Thursday we helped a member and her husband move house. We saw Becky again then did some finding. Becky is getting all set for her baptism on Saturday. She's just got to be interviewed and she's good to go. It's been interesting being in a Tri. I was quite nervous for it because I wasn't sure how it was going to work, but I like it. We've gotten a lot of work done since he's been here. E. Keeble is a good missionary so it makes it a lot easier.
We had a good turnout at church. Becky came, of course, Clemencia and Chris, and another investigator and her daughter. It was a pretty good day. We're working things out quite well as a Tri and we all get along easy. Today we're going to Reading for a Zone P-day so that's why my e-mail is all over the place. I'm in a hurry. I'll have pictures next week. Love ya! The Church is true!
Elder Kyle Warner

Fasting for 40!

2009-02-23T19:12:00.004-07:00

Monday, February 23, 2009 4:27 AM
Wel,l my week wasn't the most eventful yet, but not bad. We had some really good things happen. Unfortunately we've had to let a lot of people go, but we're now preparing Becky for baptism on the 7th of March. We're also teaching a South African family that is really prepared and should hopefully want to prepare for baptism soon.
On Thursday we had Zone Conference in Reading. It was amazing. It was unreal how powerful the spirit was. We're now doing something special, kind of what we've done before though. We're fasting for 40 days, not from food, but from things that may distract us from the Spirit's influence. Its crazy how many little things make you lose your focus. The intent is obviously not just for 40 days, but by the end of the 40 days we should be changed, more spiritually in tune, and not go back to those things. We've done one before, but it's time to do another. I really like it. It helps my focus on the reality and seriousness of my calling.
We've had a couple other visits with Becky this week and she's doing great. All is well in the work. Things are going to pick up quickly this week, I think. The weather has been really nice lately. It's been in the mid 40's-low 50's F. A bit better than home I presume? :-). Anywho, the pictures are:
E. Karges and myself at Zone Conference and
a house in Oxford that has a shark body diving in.
It's pretty funny. I heard that no insurance companies will take it.
Love ya!
Elder Warner
(ONLY 5 MORE DAYS UNTIL.......HUMP DAY!!!!)

Hello!

2009-02-16T08:50:00.000-07:00

Monday, February 16, 2009 4:41 AM
There's not too much to report since last Thursday. We finished the moves alright. Thursday evening we taught Clemencia and her son. It was a really good teach. Unfortunately they're gone till the 23rd, but when they get back things should pick up quickly.
We've done quite a bit of finding this past week. We've been working to find those who are prepared for us. Its tough work, but it's been working out alright. Church attendance was really low this week, but things should get better as we get further into moves and pick up some more people.
Becky is really close to a baptismal date. She's praying and reading every day. She's enjoying Church too so we're real excited for her. It's going to be a slow progression for our friend who thought we were police, but she's really good and trying to have faith in Jesus Christ.
That's pretty much all that's gone on here in Oxford since I last wrote. The weather is a bit better-staying around 7 degrees C, so not too bad. Thanks for your prayers and support. Love ya!
Elder Kyle Warner

A couple of firsts

2009-02-12T17:11:00.003-07:00

Thursday, February 12, 2009 5:04 AM
Well E. White and I are going to have a couple firsts this next moves. We'll both be having our first area for 6 months or more and first companion for 4.5 months or more because we're both staying in Oxford! It was kind of surprising news, but we're both excited because we know the area, we're getting to know the ward better, and we've got some good things started.
A lot has happened since last Monday. I want to send a couple pictures so I'll just touch on the highlights. It's snowed a lot here (for England); the most in 20 years. It was fun for us because we're used to it, but schools shut down, buses shut down, etc. They aren't prepared for it so the streets just had to be cleared by car and the sidewalks just turned to ice. Most of it’s melted now because it's warmed up and rained a lot too. But I attached a picture of the view from our flat the other day.
We've taught a couple people a few times. We've been working with mostly women lately. The one who let us in because she thought we were police is doing amazing. She is going to be coming to church this week and is loving the Book of Mormon. Every time we see her it's so spiritual. She must be really sensitive to the Spirit.
On Saturday we went to Newbury so I could interview a girl who's preparing for baptism then had an exchange with the Assistants in the afternoon. It was really good. We started teaching 5 new people with their help and I learned a lot. Sunday we had only 3 people at Church, which is better than last week, but I know we can do better. Tuesday was pretty good. We taught a new woman from Botswana who is amazing. We're seeing her and her son tonight. They're going away for a week, but when they get back things should progress quickly.
We've been meeting a lot of people who've been quite prepared by the Lord for us. We've been praying hard for it and our prayers are being answered as usual. I love being able to teach our brothers and sisters and help them feel the Spirit. I get excited each chance I get to bear my witness of our Heavenly Father's love. This is going to be a fun moves for E. White and myself. We've got big plans for our friends we're teaching. I hope all is well. Till next week.
P.S. the other picture is of the District after District meeting on Tuesday. Left to Right-Me, E. White, E. Barker, E. Gasparato, E. Lindsay, E. Wetherill, Sisters Eyre and Higbee.

P.P.S. E. Gasparato has been moved to Staines and E. Roberts is the new ZL. E. Wetherill has been moved to Worthing and E. Voycowsky (not how you spell it, but how it sounds-he's Polish).
-Elder Kyle Warner

I looked out the window...

2009-02-02T19:00:00.003-07:00

Monday, February 2, 2009 5:04 AM
And what did I see?
Snow?!??!
It snowed last night and has been snowing off and on all morning. Not much has stuck though. Not even an inch, really, but I hear it's going to continue over the next few days. It's been an interesting week. Tuesday I was on exchanges with E. Wetherill from Newbury and we had one of the most spiritual teaches about The Restoration I've had all mission. We had a member with us and almost all four of us were a bit teary eyed as I finished quoting the 1st Vision. It was amazing. The spirit was so strong within me as I quoted it. It gave me a deeper testimony of it's reality. It was the woman that let us in Sunday night. She loved the teach and we'll try to extend a baptismal date to her tomorrow.
Wednesday we taught a member referral who was pretty cool. She has been to a temple open house, seen the Joseph Smith film, and is burning through the Book of Mormon. We taught Michael the Word of Wisdom on Friday and he took it quite well. He's really interested in the D&C and wants one of his own. Saturday was interesting. We had a lot of teaches set up, but 3 of the cancelled. I saw E-man (from Portsmouth). He was in Oxford with his brother Tom, who's in our ward. He's doing well and if you remember Allison, E-man's girlfriend that I taught with McConkie and Dutson? She's no longer his girlfriend. They're engaged and she's going to be taught the lessons again. I was so excited to hear the news. E. Karges will be teaching her too so it's a cool tie. In the evening we taught Lydia and she accepted a baptismal date for 28 Feb. That's really good news too.
I think this week should be pretty good. It's week 5 of moves so that means that next week. We'll have P-day/Moves on Thursday. I'm not sure what will happen. Anything could, really. Elder White and I have both been here for the same amount of time so we'll just have to see.
That was pretty much my week. I should be sending home another DVD full of pictures and video clips for ya. The picture is the view outside my window just before I studied this morning. LOVE YA!!
Elder Kyle Warner

Interesting week.

2009-01-26T19:07:00.006-07:00

Monday, January 26, 2009 6:21 AM
This week was a little tough in some areas and really great in others. We had 5 people at Church yesterday, which is really high actually. I still feel we can do better though. We'll see what we can do this week. It was a bit of a long week. We didn't teach anyone until Thursday.
On Wednesday we had our Zone Meeting in Reading. I have been to the Reading chapel more this month than the Oxford chapel. But Zone Meeting was really good. The Zone Leader presentation was on praying with faith and forgetting ourselves. It can be a tough thing to do sometimes this time of year when it can be cold, but it is when I'm the happiest. We tried to commit the Zimbabwean family for baptism on Thursday, but the father said he had to think about it, which is fair enough. He was trying to understand where authority comes from so we'll see if anything more develops there. We're working hard on a few more people so we should have some people with baptismal dates by the end of the week. We knocked into a guy from Castelo Branco, Portugal (I think E. Chad Smith served there for a while) who was actually pretty good. We'll hopefully be seeing him tomorrow.
We taught that Kenyan couple on Friday and Saturday. We did a two-part lesson on the Plan of Salvation. The guy, Michael, really loved the doctrine of the Pre-Existence and the truth about Adam and Eve. I love seeing people's faces light up when the Spirit witnesses the truth and they just smile and say something like, "This makes sense and feels like its true." We usually say something like, "Well, truth does make sense." I love teaching the Plan of Salvation. My testimony deepens of it each time I teach it.
Last night we got in and taught a lady who originally let us in because she thought we were the police, haha, a lot of people think we are. She was excited when she realized we were from the church when we asked if we could pray with her. She vented about some problems in her life for a bit then we started to teach about the Atonement. She said she loved Jesus and pointed to a small statue on her dresser. There were a few small pictures of Jesus next to it. One was a pass-a-long card we use. I was shocked. It was great. Sometimes you feel like they go nowhere, but obviously they can and do. We'll try to see her this week again.
Sorry, not too much to report. We only picked up two new people this past week, but this week should be really good. We're going to be working harder than before. I know the gospel is true. It's such a blessing to be able to bring it to our brothers and sisters. Love ya! Talk to you next week.
-Elder Kyle Warner

p.s. the picture is of E. White and me at Donnington castle. It's actually not much of a castle any more. You can see the remains behind us and it's blocked up so we couldn't go inside...
Some more great pics!!...

The castle

Sister Eyre and me...Always striving for greater heights!

My great comp!!!...Elder White
A couple of bubbley missionaries!
The ward in Oxford

Good news and bad news

2009-01-19T09:57:00.001-07:00

Monday, January 19, 2009 6:42 AM
Well this will be a quick session. Like I said last week I'm in Newbury for the day. I finished my driving test about 2 hours ago which brings me to my good news. I PASSED!!!! I almost had a perfect drive. I'll be getting my UK license in the post next week sometime.
Unfortunately I've left my planner and camera in the car, so no pictures and I'm going to struggle to remember what happened this week. Isn't that sad? I've got a bad memory. It wasn't a bad week. We ended quite well. We taught a few new people. We had to let a few people go for a while because they weren't quite ready to accept the gospel (Ecuadorian family included). That got me down for a couple days, but everything is alright now.
On Saturday I was in Reading all day with Elder Gasparato from Italy. We had a pretty good day. It felt weird to do an exchange over to Sunday morning, but it was Stake Conference yesterday so it was fine. This is where my bad news comes in. I killed-ish my camera while on exchange. I'm not exactly sure how it happened, but when I pulled it out Saturday night in the Zl's flat the screen looked really bad. The glass isn't broken, but the inside had a bunch of weird black lines. It still takes pictures, but it's about as good as a point and shoot camera because I can't review my pictures. But hey! I passed my test!
We had a couple investigators come down to Conference with some members which was really good. The Swintons were there and it was good, as always, to see them. We had an alright day yesterday after Conference. We had a couple appointments. Today the Sisters are here as well. We'll be heading off to see, I think, Donnington Castle in a bit so that'll be cool. I'll probably buy a new camera first....:-) we'll see. Anywho, I've got a few e-mails to read and time is short. I love ya! Hope the weather isn't too snowy. It's not too bad here, just wet. Talk to you next week.

-Elder Kyle Warner

Interesting week

2009-01-12T16:55:00.004-07:00

Monday, January 12, 2009 6:08 AM
Well, it was definitely an interesting week. We had a lot of ups and downs. On Tuesday there was a Mission Leadership Meeting in Staines that lasted all day. It was cool to see all the district and zone leaders in the mission. It humbled me a bit. It was a very spiritual meeting. We talked mostly about what we can do better to lead in the Savior's way. I saw all of my previous companions too, so that was fun. Elder White went to Farnborough all day then we drove from there to Oxford.
Wednesday things got a little complicated. Washington's mum doesn't speak any English so they wanted to go to their old Spanish speaking church in London. Fortunately we have a Spanish branch 5 minutes from that church. Unfortunately they didn't go (we don't know why). Thursday we visited with Eveline and had a great spiritual boost for all of us, really. We just read out of the Book of Mormon then bore our testimonies. She's doing well.
Friday was our Zone Conference. I attached a picture of a small reunion.
Elders Warner, Schunke and Martin
Elders Martin and Schunke are living together in Staines now so it was cool to see them again. Saturday we picked up a Brazilian guy who speaks little English. We're going to try to bring by one of our Brazilian members on Sat. to help him out. We had a nice dinner with David and Plastida in the evening for Elder White's b-day.
Elder White, Elder Warner, David, Plastida
After Church yesterday we had a nice lunch with the Walker family, but had to jet off to a teach right after. We picked up a Zimbabwean family (I love those people). They're a bit apprehensive about it, but I'm confident that if they pray sincerely they'll get their answer. This week will be nice. We don't have any big meetings, Uni is back in session, and the holidays are over so we should get a lot done this week. Next P-day is my driving test at 11:11(lucky?? we'll see) So I should be able to, hopefully, report some good news on that when I'm done. I'll probably e-mail from Newbury again in the afternoon. We might go check out a castle whilst there too. I'll be sending off another tape. I'm definitely sending a lot more than I'm receiving.....Anywho, Love ya. I hope you're not too cold. The temp here has warmed back up to about 8 C, but it’s rainy. I'm not sure if I prefer it or dryer cold...
-Elder Warner

Happy New Year!

2009-01-05T09:20:00.003-07:00

Monday, January 5, 2009 6:30 AM
My e-mail is going to be short this week. I've got quite a bit to read. Sorry if I don’t' have time to write everyone back, but thank you for the e-mails.
We've been teaching a small family from Ecuador this past week. They've got two kids, 8 and 5. They came to church yesterday and they're preparing to be baptized on the 31st of January. We've been blessed this past week to find a lot of people to teach.
On New Year's Eve we had our District Meeting in Reading at 7. We didn't start working on New Year's Day until about 2. Things went quite well. No one really complained about us knocking on that day.
I think this week is going to go by quick. Tomorrow I've got a leadership meeting in Staines in the morning and Friday is our Zone Conference for this moves. This will be my 8th moves and I'll fall just short of my year mark at the end of it. Pretty scary.... Anywho, I've got to get reading, but I love you all. I hope you all have a great week as we're starting the New Year. Take care!
--Elder Kyle Warner
----just a small picture of the river and Magdalen bridge
---and a picture for Mum White of her Elder!!!!

Hello From Newbury....

2008-12-30T09:48:00.003-07:00

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 6:32 AM
Good news... Elder White and I are staying together another moves in Oxford. He's my second companion (besides McConkie) that I've stayed with for more than one moves so that's cool. A lot of things have changed in the mission. In Reading, one of the companionships got moved out so the Reading sisters are now in my district. It'll be fun being DL for them. It's Sister Eyre and Higbee. In Newbury, E. Wiklof moved out and we now have E. Lindsay, which is why we are here today-so E. Wetherill would have some priesthood holders to be with.
So not too much happened on the buildup for Christmas. We picked up 3 people on Christmas Eve, but two have dropped off the charts because they're from an island called Estimor or something and only speak Portuguese. Christmas was nice and it was really good to talk to you all. Friday we had a great day too. We had some lunch with the McLuckie family and knocked the rest of the day. We knocked into a couple Kenyans. They've been really hard to see since, but it was a very spiritual knock in. We've been very blessed this month to get in and teach so much.
Sunday wasn't too bad. Slow, cold finding... We picked up a woman from Ecuador yesterday and as well, we have a couple from Rwanda who wants to get married and baptized. In the evening we had an amazing experience. We were knocking and weren't getting received very well. No one likes to keep the door open long in this cold (-1-3 degrees C). However, we met a woman who knew the name Mormons from the Osmonds (very popular with the older generation in England) so she let us in for a moment. She told us why she doesn’t' like some other religious groups because of their views. One was of what happens to our spirit after death and before the resurrection. She said that no one really knows. The spirit prompted me to have her read Alma 40:11-12. She read it a few times and was immediately captivated by the Book of Mormon. We shared Joseph Smith's experience, Moroni's promise, and bore our witnesses. She loved it and offered to buy the book from me. I kindly told her I wouldn't let her buy it, but that it was all hers for free. She was ecstatic and is going to read and pray before we see her tonight to share more. It was unbelievable. It just came out of nowhere too. We'll see how it goes.
Today we've been in Newbury all day. After we're done e-mailing we'll head back to Oxford. We've got dinner with some members and we're seeing the Ecuadorian woman and the English woman tonight afterwards. It should be pretty good. Anywho, I'm going to run. I've got little time. I love you all and talk to you later.
-Elder Kyle Warner
p.s. Attached are pictures of me Christmas Eve and morning

Interesting week...

2008-12-22T12:13:00.000-07:00

Monday, December 22, 2008 5:38 AM
Well the weeks just keep shaving by especially in anticipation for Christmas. I think that the excitement building up to it is more fun than the actual day...maybe :-). Monday went by quick and not too much got done because traffic out of Reading was bad.
Tuesday, after District Meeting I went to Newbury on exchange to do a baptismal interview for one of their investigators, but didn't end up doing it until Wednesday morning. She should be getting baptized this Saturday.
Thursday was interesting. Besides finding, which is a bit slow now, we taught Pete (the man we met last Saturday). He had a lot of questions about missionary work in general, nothing weird. I suppose we missionaries are a bit odd compared to most people :-). Friday felt like London. The only appointment that went through was for dinner, ha-ha. We did, however, sing at a doorstep in knocking. They were two young women and they asked if we were going to sing. We yelled through the door that we weren't planning on it, but if they wanted us to we would. They said, "Go on then." So Elder White and I started singing Hark the Herald Angels Sing. It wasn't too bad and we had a good laugh, despite the fact that they were both visiting their parents and didn't live there.
Saturday wasn't too different. We taught a former investigator of early this year. We'll see if his desires to learn more have changed. We had a nice meeting with three Muslim guys. They used some of the Bible, but to be frank it wasn't the best use of our time since they didn't give us time to teach...
Sunday was a great Christmas program. The ward choir was really good. We had a pretty good teach with Nimi (knocked into her a couple Fridays ago), but she'll be going to India for a month and a half. Sorry, we didn't have the most eventful week. I think things are going to slow down over the next couple weeks. We'll do our best to not let that happen, but we'll see. Thursday is coming fast. I'm excited to talk to you then. I love you all and I'll talk to you then!
Elder Kyle Warner

What pigeon?

2008-12-15T16:55:00.001-07:00

Monday, December 15, 2008 4:36 AM
Well it's getting a lot closer to Christmas!! It's been an alright week. Really busy too. I was on exchange in Newbury on Tuesday and part of Wednesday with Elder Wetherill. It was pretty good. We knocked the whole time, but didn't get in, sadly. Wednesday I had a fun experience...On the way home from the train station in Oxford, Elder White and I were walking along and I felt something hit my head-like a raindrop. I looked up to see where it came from, but there wasn't any edge of a building that could have dripped on me. I looked at the grocery bag I was carrying in my hand and there was bird poop on it. Guess what was on my head too! Even on my left shoulder. Later I found more on my backpack and shirt collar. That was at least 3 different splats on me all at once! I had to change my shirt, wash my hair and such before we went out to work. I suppose there's a first for everything, even getting bombed by pigeons.... Our luck changed however. In the evening Elder White and I got in knocking and taught a man. He's not a new investigator, but he was really open. We'll try to contact him again in the future.
Thursday night we taught a guy named Nathan. He knew his Bible really well. So instead of a "teach" it was more a discussion of verses (not bashy though). We left him a Book of Mormon and told him to read and pray.
Friday we were blessed to get in knocking again. We taught an Indian woman. She was really nice and we'll be seeing her again on Thursday. We taught a Zimbabwean family in the evening who was such a great family-very Christ-centered. They're extremely busy so they can't really come to church, sadly.
Saturday was amazing as well. We taught a man named Karl. He's doing alright. He's a great guy who is really interested in the Book of Mormon. In the evening we knocked in again to a man named Pete. He's quite wealthy, but admitted that his wealth wasn't bringing him the satisfaction and happiness that he wanted in life. We explained to him that wealth isn't a bad thing, but true and lasting happiness comes from the Gospel. We taught him how to pray then went to our Ward Christmas Party. They had a Jerusalem theme that was pretty neat. Lots of good food and a really good presentation of the nativity with the primary children. My time is short because we have to go to Reading (Redding) for a small meeting at the Zone Leaders flat, but I love you and I'll talk to you a week from Thursday!!
Take Care,
Elder Kyle Warner

Amazing Weekend

2008-12-08T09:35:00.002-07:00

Monday, December 8, 2008 5:36 AM
Well this e-mail is going to be short because of time. We're going to a gym every Monday with an investigator and we have an orientation in an hour.
We spent the week preparing Eveline for her baptism and all went well. She's now one of the newest members of the Church! Attached is a picture before her baptism.
(Finally got to wet those baptism clothes!!)
You've got me, Eveline, E. White, One of her twins and the other twin's left arm on the far right side :-). It was a wonderful evening and the Confirmation was great too. She was the 3rd one to bear her testimony at testimony meeting too! I'm so grateful to have been a part in her journey of getting closer to Heavenly Father and joining the Church.
On Tuesday I was on Exchange with the ZL's. I worked with E. Di Iulio (it's his last moves) in Oxford and we had a few miracles. I'll share one. We were finishing the night and had only 45 minutes to knock. We prayed for new people to teach and started knocking. We got a lot of rude rejections until about 10 doors in. We shared with a woman the 1st vision and the Restoration on the step then went in to share more. It turned out that she recently lost a nephew and was still struggling with it. We shared with her what she needed and set up a new appointment. Sadly, we haven't been able to see her again since because of other family problems, but the point is we got our prayers answered.
Our Zone Meeting was in Reading on Thursday which went really well. A lot of things were covered. After lunch and a little bit of instruction we got to watch last year's Motab Christmas. It was really good. I'm getting really excited for Christmas time. P.S. Thanks for the package mom and everyone else who helped. It's been fun adding to the tree each day.
Many other miracles are happening this month. I'd love to share, but I'm pressed on time. Just know that I know that our Heavenly Father lives. He hears and answers all righteous prayers. The work I'm involved in is one of the most important works on Earth. I am so grateful to be a small role in it. I love ya and I'll TALK to you soon (17 days).

Elder Kyle Warner

Quick one

2008-12-01T17:28:00.010-07:00

Monday, December 1, 2008 5:35 AM
Well this will be a bit quick. I'll just touch on some of the highlights. I've got a lot to do today. Eveline is doing alright. She knows and is living the commandments. Her interview is tomorrow and then the baptism at 5 on Saturday. It's really exciting. We set up some good appointments through the week, but many fell through, sadly. I guess that's just how it goes sometimes. Wednesday, we taught a guy from White's companionship. He was really nice, even made us lunch too. Thursday didn't feel like Thanksgiving. I didn't play any American Football in the morning and I definitely didn't have a turkey feast, but a spiritual feast instead :-). It was our Zone Conference in Reading. We covered so many things and the spirit was strong the whole time. I loved it. We barely made it back in time for dinner with an American couple at 8. However, on Friday we did get Thanksgiving dinner. After teaching Eveline the last of the commandments we did some finding then got flogged so we decided to go to an American Thanksgiving dinner at the chapel. There were about 20 or so people there and they all made really great food. We brought a cherry pie....We made contact with and taught Anas on Saturday. He's doing alright. He's read through a lot of the Arabic Book of Mormon that we've given him. He should be coming to church next week. Sunday was fun. After a lunch with some members we went and picked up a couple brothers from a hotel. They're from SLC and were just in Oxford for the weekend. Merl and John Keller are their names. They came to church and told us that they wanted to spend their last night in Oxford on splits with us. So we took them out knocking with us for a few hours. They were fun to work with and Elder White and John got in too. It was good fun.
Today we'll be seeing Eveline to teach her a couple small things and get things rolling on the Baptism Program. That's pretty much my week. Here are a couple pictures of last P-day. We just walked around a few shops and places while it was still light.

Dear Santa, Just a hint for Christmas 2010!

Another soccer jersey to add to the collection.

Christmas is coming soon. I love this time of year. It's going to be a good month. Love you all. Take care.

Elder Kyle Warner

Short weekend

2008-11-25T02:04:00.000-07:00

Monday, November 24, 2008 3:35 AM
Well it's only been a few days since I’ve last written. Thursday we had a dinner with the Bishop which was quite nice and knocked into a girl from Missouri-she wasn't that interested, just liked having guests. Friday we showed Eveline some of the Special witnesses DVD and she loved it. The spirit was very strong. I love listening to the Apostles. We then went and saw one of the investigators from the other area. Her name is Becky. She's been to church a couple times and is enjoying the Church. The rest of the evening we spent knocking. It's been really cold lately. That coat Telitha gave me for Christmas last year has done a great job. I love it, its fun (and warm). Saturday we had a bit of a mix-up with one of our Dinner Appointments and drove to a place 25 min out of town for an appointment that we didn't have. We went to the wrong house then had to drive back up afterwards to the right one. It was a bit embarrassing, but hey, it happens :-).
Church went well. Eveline came and even shared a personal experience with the Relief Society. Obviously I wasn't there, but they told me that a lot of the women were in tears so it was a big step for her. Becky was sick so she couldn't come :-(. We knocked in the afternoon and got in to teach a couple young people from South Africa. They speak Afrikaans (spelling??). Luckily we have the Book of Mormon in that language so we'll be giving it to them on Thursday. That's pretty much all our weekend consisted of. It was good, but not too eventful.
We've got Zone Conference this week on Thursday in Reading so that'll be good. Also, Thursday is Thanksgiving!! Well.... where you are :-). The Americans are having a Thanksgiving dinner on Friday at the Chapel. If we have time we'll probably stop by. I hope you all enjoy it. Hope you're having a great autumn (feels like winter here). I look forward to talking to you next week. Love Ya!
Elder Kyle Warner

Loads of blessings

2008-11-20T22:36:00.000-07:00

Thursday, November 20, 2008 4:57 AM
Sorry about not telling you it was moves week this past week. Oh well. A lot has happened since I wrote last. My birthday went well. I got mom and dad's package in the morning, which had cake mix and frosting in it. I made the cake for District meeting and it was really good. Maybe I'll be a chef when I get home ;-).
We struggled the first part of last week, but many miracles followed. Wednesday we ran into a member who just so happened to work with Eveline's husband. It made me think to call Eveline to invite her to a ward activity on Thursday so I gave her a ring and finally got a hold of her. Sue (the member) gave Eveline a lift to the activity and they really enjoyed it. We then invited her to go to Reading with us on Saturday to see a baptism. That worked out as well and she loved the baptism. She felt the spirit very strongly so E. Schunke and I asked her if she was ready to prepare herself for the 6th of December to be baptized. She excitedly accepted the commitment. We've seen her almost daily since then. She loved church and is looking forward to it. She was well prepared by the Lord for us. We didn't really do anything, but open our mouths.
Friday we knocked into two families on the same street! One was a woman who hadn't been to church in years and the other we'd met on the street before. It's been tough to see them since, but my faith and testimony of asking for righteous desires (like families to teach) and receiving has grown immensely this past week.
This past Tuesday was our last District Meeting of the moves and we held it at the Oxford Chapel. Afterwards we saw Eveline and she was still getting more and more excited for her date. I also got a phone call that night from President Swinton telling me that he was releasing and moving E. Jones and I was being called to be the new District Leader in the Oxford District. Yesterday morning we got even more surprising news. Because only one Elder and one Sister came in yesterday they had to condense some areas. E. Schunke has now moved to Staines (living with E. McConkie I think) and E. Jones' companion, E. White, is now my companion. So we just picked up each others' investigators and we're back to a two man area. It was really surprising, but E. White and I are excited. I've got loads of pictures, but the computer isn't working. I'll do my best. Anywho, I'm excited to be in Oxford again, especially for Christmas. I think it'll be really good. Well I better get reading e-mails. I love you all and I'll talk to you on MONDAY (this Monday)!
-Elder Kyle Warner

Happy Birthday, Elder Warner ** November 11th

2008-11-20T18:57:00.010-07:00

Mom sent the birthday package and it arrived the day before his birthday. He waited until the next day to open his birthday party in a box!!

Sorry you had to bake your own cake but you did a great job. Where are the rest of the candles?

How many baptisms did you wish for?!!

That's some big box! What do you think is in it?

Way to go Stangers! The balloons and chocolates and picture were a great surprise!

Short e-mail

2008-11-12T17:30:00.008-07:00

Monday, November 10, 2008 3:30 AM
Sorry this week is going to be short. I've got a lot of e-mails I want to read and respond to. We taught a few new people this week. While on Exchange in Reading with Elder Di Iulio (my 1st DL, now ZL) Elder Schunke and Elder King (other ZL) knocked in and taught a family of 3 and their friend. Not too much has happened with them since, but we'll see if we can strengthen their desire tonight when we see them.
We've been doing a lot of knocking early in the day because it gets dark around 4:30 now. It's raining almost every day now too, but it's not too bad. We've kind of lost contact with Eveline so we haven't been able to challenge her to baptism. Obviously someone is working hard against us. We'll have to work a bit harder and faster I guess.... Anywho, I attached some pictures. Two are from last night. I made us some Fish and Chips (battered em myself) and

had a battered mars bar for dessert
:-).

It wasn't too bad.

I'm sure they look tasty in the pictures, yeah?

Ha-ha.

Love you all!!! Have a GREAT week.
-Elder Kyle Warner
P.S. I'm going to be two decades old tomorrow.....WIERD..:-)
A typical English bloke?!?!
Happy Birthday, Elder Warner!! We love you!

Pictures!

2008-11-03T09:29:00.007-07:00

Monday, November 3, 2008 3:37 AM
OK so not really an eventful week so thankfully we've got pictures! Monday we toured a couple colleges. We got to go up the tower in University Church, which is the oldest building in Oxford.

One picture is of me on the edge with another college behind me.
One is of me in a chair in the oldest library in Oxford (no public access-a member got us in :-)

one is of a library called the Radcliffe Camera and
another is of one of the main roads in Oxford called High Street(taken from the tower of the Church.

It was a pretty fun P-day- one of my favorites.
Tuesday we had Zone Meeting in Reading (redding) which was pretty spiritual. We talked a lot about the converting power of the Book of Mormon and how we can focus more on people, not numbers. Elder Schunke and I had to train there so the other Oxford Elders could pick up the Elders in Newbury. When E. Schunke and I got back we hurried to a Dinner Appointment with the Gordon family. It was snowing! I pretty much laughed the whole way. E. Schunke's umbrella broke so he wasn't too happy.
Halloween was alright...Finding was pretty impossible. We had an appointment in the middle of the day and Dinner with Sister Evans in the ward. She's a very sweet old lady. She made us a very nice meal and we ate, are you ready for this?........Cherry pie with custard and I liked it :-). (Don’t be shocked, mom, I'm changing ha-ha). We had to go home after that. We weren't allowed to stay out past 6 for a few reasons. The rest of the week we just found. It was a pretty rough week as far as finding new people to teach, but the two people we do have are going well. Eveline is very close to being challenged for baptism. We're seeing her tomorrow so we'll pray about it and see how we feel. She hasn't been to church yet, but she really loves what we teach.
That was pretty much our week. Not too many big miracles to share, sorry, but hey, I got you some pictures ya? Well I love you all and I hope you're doing great. I'll talk to you next week.

Elder Kyle Warner

Quickie

2008-10-28T15:40:00.006-06:00

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

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

the other is hanging out on the couch.

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

Elder Kyle Warner

Yet another week in Oxford

2008-10-27T00:37:00.001-06:00

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

Well basically Oxford is amazing!

2008-10-13T09:52:00.007-06:00

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

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

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

Talk to you next week. Love ya!
Elder Warner

Reunion

2008-10-09T18:00:00.002-06:00

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

Elder Warner

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

What a week...

2008-10-01T08:54:00.000-06:00

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

-Elder Warner

Pretty good......

2008-09-24T20:39:00.001-06:00

Wednesday, September 24, 2008 8:12 AM
Not a bad week at all. I'm going to jump right into it. Wednesday evening we saw Gloria who is getting really close to getting a date (hopefully tonight). We also saw Austin & Rose. They're doing alright, but a bit tough to get to church because of their work schedule. They’ve said that they know the Book of Mormon is true, but they aren't being too dedicated. Thursday we did loads of finding and taught a guy named Collin from Nigeria. He's pretty good, but a bit floggy.
Friday was amazing! Presidents Kopischke and Caussé from the Area General Authority came and gave our Zone Conference in Crawley. They were so spiritual and fun. It was a massive boost of motivation for the rest of moves. The spirit was so strong. We were pretty blessed to have them. It's just as special as having an apostle. In the evening we saw Hyacinth and Nelicia ready to give them dates for baptism, but found out that Hyacinth is going to Jamaica on Holiday for a month...:-I.
Saturday we had a short visit with Stacia and Andrew who are doing pretty good. They should be moved out within the next month or so and be married-hopefully baptized by Christmas. Church went alright on Sunday. Gloria was the only one who came. Everyone else that was committed was sick, sadly. We taught that man named Pedro from Mozambique and his daughter as well. It went pretty well. We taught another guy named Issa, but unfortunately he is moved to Peckham's area now.
Monday Elder Karges went to Peckham for an exchange with the ZL's. I worked with Elder Barker. It wasn't a bad day. Mostly finding, but I learned a lot from him. Tuesday morning we switched back and Elder Karges and I did some finding before seeing Terry. He's struggling a little. He believes everything we've taught and knows it's true, but is a bit afraid because he's been in another faith for 24 years so the change scares him a little. By next e-mail he should have a baptismal date. The rest of the evening was spent finding. Today we just finished playing some footi and this evening Elder Karges and I are going to go on splits with our Bishop and Elders Quorum President. He'll be teaching Gloria and committing her for baptism one last try and I'll be seeing Pedro and his family. Hopefully all will go well. I can't believe we're already on week 4 of this moves. Time is just slipping away, which is good and sometimes sad. I love the work. I feel like I might be getting the hang of it, which means that I might be hit with some "fast balls" soon ;-). Well hey, I love you all. I should probably let you know that I KNOW this church is true. I'm reminded daily. So is the Book of Mormon. Be safe, and I look forward to next week.
Elder Kyle Warner

More Great Pics!

2008-09-22T16:18:00.012-06:00

Two great companionships in one flat!!!

Elder Warner

Elder Karges

Somebody please feed this missionary!!

Allrighty!

2008-09-18T02:10:00.006-06:00

Wednesday, September 17, 2008 4:53 AM
Well I better get started. We've had some pretty good things happen over the past week. We've seen Stacia off and on. She's really starting to learn how to learn and apply the teachings of the Book of Mormon. I don't think she realizes it, but she's doing it. We taught a pretty neat couple from Nigeria on Thursday. They aren't really investigating the church, but the husband did say that he would have the Book of Mormon read, cover to cover, by tomorrow evening when we will see them next. We got a referral from the Manchester mission as well. They were teaching a man from Haitian, Bhutan and he even had a baptismal date for September, but moved down to our area. We've gotten a hold of him and he said he's excited to see us, but we still don't have an appointment yet.
Sunday we had a neat evening. We planned to knock a certain road as a backup plan if an appointment fell through. Well it did fall through and we were on our way there, but got caught up on a bus because we were practically teaching a 17 yr old guy. Nothing really came of it, but a big seed was planted.
Me and E. Karges on the bus! Love those colorful seats!
When we got to the road we only had about 15 minutes to knock. We prayed for guidance and both thought of a number. One of us thought of 32 and the other 23. We figured it was close enough and we would knock both. We got to the end of the street (it was small) worried that there wasn't a 32, but it was the last one. We knew it was for a reason. We kind of rushed to the door with excitement and rang the bell. A couple minutes went by and no one answered. We felt like we should ring again. We did and finally someone came to the door. He was sleeping. Long story short we got an appointment and by the time we finished talking to him we had to head back to the flat. A small miracle, but still a miracle nonetheless.
Monday we had District Meeting in Crystal Palace and I brought E. McPhie to our area.

We had an amazingly spiritual teach with a man named Terry. He really wanted to know about the Book of Mormon and said if he knew it was true he would be baptized. We'll be calling him later today to ask him how it went.
Yesterday wasn't too bad. E. Karges came back in the morning and we did a bit of finding. We taught Hyacinth and Nelicia last night. We showed them the Restoration DVD and they really liked it. They even said they wanted to buy it. Today is pretty exciting. After our landlord comes and inspects our flat we're going to go play some Footi down in Catford and in the evening we should be seeing Gloria, Larry, and Austin and Rose. Hopefully all will go well. Sorry my e-mails are getting all over the place. I'm trying to make more time to respond to every e-mail I get. I love you all. Keep safe and I'll talk to you soon. (Christmas isn't too far off....)
Elder Warner

Well, well, well, the weeks just blow by.

2008-09-16T18:42:00.004-06:00

Wednesday, September 10, 2008 6:42 AM
I've had some interesting experiences this past week. Many of them were testimony builders. A small miracle that happened on Friday: We went to a couple's house named Austin & Rose (if you remember them). Austin was caught up in west London so we just started to teach Rose. We figured he wouldn't be back until about 11 pm because of the bus schedules, but not even half way through the teach he showed up. He said he took a train because he wanted to make it back in time. We taught the two of them about the Book of Mormon and the Spirit was quite strong.
Saturday We did a bit of finding. Finding has been a little off lately because of the weather and school starting back up again. Not too many people are out shopping and few are at home, but we decided to knock some newer flats near ours. We got in to teach a few people. We only picked up two of them as new Investigators. We also taught a woman from Kampala, Uganda (I think that's where E. Smith is or was?). She's got 4 children and was quite open to learn about the church. She really liked the Book of Mormon, but sadly we haven't been able to get hold of her since Sunday Morning.
Sunday was our Fast and Testimony Meeting and it was really good. The ward members bore some great testimonies and the spirit was very strong. E. Karges and I taught the Sunday School class, which as far as we know, went pretty well ;-). In the evening we taught a man from Mozambique. It was really neat because when we got there he was watching Ben Hur on TV. We taught him a little about the Plan of Salvation and answered some of his questions. When it was time to go to our next appointment we mentioned that we would talk to them about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon next visit his son who was on his laptop the whole time said that he read about it on the internet. He found it just browsing so the next visit should be pretty good.
Monday wasn't too bad. We met a guy at the Lewisham Library to help him order a quad. He told us that he had been taught years ago and was just interested in the scriptures, not us teaching him. Well after about 15 minutes of discussing doctrine we got him to reconsider and we should be seeing him this weekend :-). We also saw the two ladies we knocked into in the new flats. We taught them about the Restoration and they really liked it.
Yesterday wasn't too bad. We didn't get too much finding done because of bus travel. We did talk to a lot of good people, but it was just one of those days where you only plant seeds. We saw Larry for a little bit and just reviewed what we taught him last time. We then read from the Book of Mormon with him because he can't with his sight impairment. It was a special visit.
Today we're going to head up to the London Eye for a little bit and play some Footi. We've played a couple times at a court nearby our flat. We're trying to play as much as we can while the weather is still good. Sorry if this e-mail has been a bit choppy. I'm in a hurry.

The pictures are from last night making cookies (thanks mom)

and a view from the top of some flats over Catford and you can see Lewisham in the distance. Love you all!
Till next week,
Elder Warner

Picture from the past!

2008-09-03T16:55:00.002-06:00

Here is a picture from our last District meeting.
E. Warner, E. Martin, E. Harding, E. Church

Wow, what a quick week.

2008-09-03T16:37:00.000-06:00

Wednesday, September 3, 2008 6:35 AM
Thursday went well. We had two appointments in the evening. Our first guy flogged us so we decided to knock around his flat. About six doors later Elder Karges got us in to a lady's house to show her the Finding Happiness DVD. She ended up thinking we had a portable DVD player on us because she has never used her DVD player before. It was all right though. We had a good gospel chat with her and her brother for about a half hour. After that we went to another lady's house and taught her about the Book of Mormon. She enjoyed it and we are now teaching her more.
Friday was a little bit of a long day. We had some good people to teach and did a little finding. Saturday was pretty full of appointments. Most of them flogged, except for Stacia and Andrew. It's so neat to see the change in people's lives as the gospel becomes a part of it. Sunday was really foggy and rainy so it put a few people off of church. Andrew got called into work so only Stacia could come. We had lunch with Malcom and Josephine Smith, which was really nice. Afterwards we went to knock a street before dinner with Stacia and Andrew. While we were walking I called a few people to set up appointments. One of them had time then so we hurried to the other side of town and taught him about the Restoration. He enjoyed it, I think and we'll be seeing him on Friday again. Dinner with Stacia and Andrew was really good. They made us some Jerk Chicken, rice and peas and some mashed potatoes with veggies in them. They also made us some dessert that was pretty tasty. It was really nice of them to feed us. Jamaicans love to cook, which is nice because missionaries love to eat! :-)
Monday wasn't bad. We taught a girl on a park bench and it went really well. The rest of the day we did some fun finding before meeting up with Larry and going to dinner with him. We went to a member named, Samalie's house and it was really good. We've been blessed this past week with DA's. Yesterday morning we taught a guy named Tim who lives in a really English house. He is only renting one room, but it was a really big place with wide hallways, tall ceilings, and such. It's really hard to describe, but it's what I pictured as a proper English house. :-) The rest of the day was spent finding until Correlation and dinner with the Ward Mission Leader's family. After that we visited Keisha for a bit.
That was pretty much our week. Not too bad. We got some new people to teach just in time for Elder Karges. He's definitely bringing in Greenie Blessings ;-) (sorry lots of smileys this e-mail). I hope you’re all doing well. It's cooling down her now and there's a really autumn feeling now. It's starting to get dark a bit sooner. I think by the end of October it'll be dark by 4:30-5:00 so that'll be fun! Well I've got a lot to do this P-Day so I'll wrap up, but I hope all is well and God Bless!
Elder Kyle Warner

HAPPY BUMP DAY!!!

2008-08-28T22:22:00.003-06:00

We can't believe it's been six months already!!! Wow, what a great first fourth of a mission. Congrations on a great start!! We love you!

What a week!

2008-08-28T22:08:00.011-06:00

Thursday, August 28, 2008 8:59 AM
Well hello all! I bet you're all dying to know what's going on now after moves. First off I'm still in London so my address hasn't changed. I'll start with the days built up to today.
Not much happened on Wednesday, but Thursday was really good. We picked up a new person to teach named Sharon, but haven't taught her since. We also saw Mavis and her nieces. It was a really spiritual teach. A-Mazing! We found all day until an appointment with some of our home teaching families. We saw Malcom and Josephine Smith. Both are converts for less than 20 years. We saw them again on Sunday for Malcom's Birthday.
Friday we tried finding in the area near our Chapel to see if people would come in and watch a 3 minute clip on Special Witnesses of Christ, but the people in the area that day were pretty prideful and hard-hearted ;-). We had a great teach with Gloria and Stella in the evening. We read 3 Nephi 11 with her and offered her a baptismal date for September 14, but she wouldn't fully commit because of family problems. She said she would pray on it and get back to us. If she does, she'll be baptized then :-). We’re seeing her tomorrow to see how it went.
Saturday was interesting. We did a bit of finding and taught a new investigator named Mark. He's the only male in his family of 3 girls. He's a bit hard to see because of a busy work schedule. We also saw Stacia and her partner Andrew to end the evening. It was really good. We watched the Finding Faith in Christ DVD. I haven't seen it for ages so I really enjoyed it. They did too, the spirit was quite strong. Sunday we had a DA, saw Malcom because of his birthday and that's pretty much it. Did a bit of finding, but no fun experiences to share from it. Monday was our last District meeting and it was quite spiritual. We talked about how to be more diligent, which was needed because all of our appointments flogged so we found the rest of the day. It was really fun though.
Tuesday was interesting. We picked up a new investigator named Larry, from Nigeria, who's a great guy. He's legally blind, but such a faithful Christian. We pretty much found the rest of the day, but had a great experience in the evening. I had to go to the bathroom in whilst we were knocking, but thankfully a lady let me use hers. Sadly she didn't want to hear our message.... We got let in a little while later by an Austin and Rose from Jamaica so that was amazing.
Now the Tuesday before moves those who are getting leadership calls get called by President Swinton that night. Elder Martin got called to train. Elder Church is white-washing. Elder Harding is white-washing as well....with Elder Church in Maidstone. I got released as a District Leader, but called as a Trainer! I couldn't believe it. Now we have two Goldens in our flat. It's sweet. We got combined with one of the companionships in Crystal Palace and one of the Elders there is the District Leader.
Wednesday we saw Mavis and once again it was a spiritual teach with her and her nieces. In the evening we saw Stacia as well. This morning we went to the temple to have the "sorting hat" ceremony. I am training Elder Karges from Mesa, Arizona. He's a great guy. I doubt I'll do much training this moves, we'll see.

I've attached pictures of the ceremony, the group of new missionaries and their trainers,
(Hopefully I will get the names of everyone!)

and also a picture of Elder McConkie, myself, and my boy Elder Karges.

Three generations!!

What a crazy day, but it's going to be an amazing moves. That was pretty much my week. I've got a lot of e-mails to read. Love you all, thanks for the support and prayers-they definitely are helping.

Elder Warner

Last Week???

2008-08-20T09:51:00.014-06:00

Wednesday, August 20, 2008 7:43 AM
Wow I realized today that this is the last full week of this transfer cycle. Next Thursday is moves so I'll be e-mailing then. I am pretty sure that I'm staying in London, but we'll see. I can't believe how fast this moves has gone.
It's been a pretty interesting week so I'll just get started. Wednesday E. Harding and I picked up a new investigator named Matthew. He was so prepared to hear our message, but because of some things going on in his life right now he can't see us for a while.
Thursday was our Zone Meeting in Peckham. It was amazing. The spirit was so strong. We talked a lot about how to help the people we teach better understand their need for baptism with the right authority. In the evening we had dinner with the Mafikenny family from Zimbabwe and it was really good. I love African food :-). We taught Gloria afterwards with a member named Stella and it was quite spiritual. We committed her to be baptized, but not for a sure date. That will hopefully be extended this Friday.
Friday was all over the place. We taught one of our newer investigators and she invited her nieces to come and be taught as well. It was yet another amazing teach, but sadly the two nieces live back towards the coast near a place called Salisbury. The rest of the day was spent pretty much finding. Saturday was amazing. In the evening we taught Stacia with Catlynn (if you remember her) about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I started to bring up baptism a bit to her and she just laughed, but I'm sure she will be eventually. She locked herself out of her room so E. Harding climbed up their flat to get to her window and unlock it. It was quite interesting (sorry, no pictures). Stacia was our only investigator at Church on Sunday. Sadly, E. Church was sick so he and E. Martin stayed home. After Church the ward helped us out and two elders did splits with E. Martin and E. Harding while I stayed with E. Church for the evening.
E. Church was still sick on Monday so we held District Meeting at the flat which was still pretty spiritual. I ended up only doing a bit of finding then staying with E. Church in the evening again so E. Martin could do some work with a new investigator they have. The same thing happened yesterday, but I was out working for most of the day. E. Harding and I taught a recent convert and found a bit. It felt so good to be out talking to people again. We taught Stacia with Catlynn again and got Stacia's partner to sit in. We watched the Restoration DVD and invited them to have family prayer last night. We told them we would call and ask how it went at 10 pm. They called us 5 minutes early and told us that they felt closer by doing so and it really made our night.
Now that you're still wondering about E. Church.... He's doing better; we think it was a bit of a stomach flu, nothing too serious. This morning E. Harding and I took our Theory (written) test for our Driver's Licenses. It wasn't too hard. I passed thankfully. Now I just have to do the driving test, which I hear is pretty tough.
We toured a bit afterwards because it was up by the Tower Bridge.

We also toured the Southwark Cathedral, which was nice.

E. Harding and I celebrating his 3 month mark with some Ben & Jerry's.

That's pretty much my week. Still working hard to find new people and to bring them to the waters of baptism. I guess I'll talk to ya next week, maybe from a new area, maybe not, we'll see :-).

Elder Kyle Warner

Hello, Hello!

2008-08-13T08:36:00.006-06:00

Wednesday, August 13, 2008 5:56 AM
How's everyone? I'm great, but don't have much to write about this week. It wasn't that eventful, but I did attach a couple pictures.

One of them is in front of Warner House

the other is just outside my doorstep during a flash flood.

Thursday I was on exchange with E. Martin. We did about 4 hours of finding, which was pretty successful, and taught a couple of his investigators. One of them fed us some really hot curry, but the flavor was nice.
Friday was kind of a long day full of finding, but we did have a DA with a member of about a year named Catlynn. She made an amazing meal. It was so much food I honestly thought my stomach would pop. She was a cook back in Jamaica so she made some beans, rice, chicken, beef, and vegetables. It was her birthday too! It was really nice of her to do for us.
Saturday felt like a P-day at first. We had what's called Grounds Day at the chapel. We basically just cleaned up around the church real well. After that we had a ward picnic which ended up inside because of rain (go figure), but was still fun. Afterwards E. Harding and I taught an Englishman named Tino. We showed him the Finding Happiness DVD and it went really well. We've lost contact with James, which is pretty sad, but maybe in the future he'll get another chance. We had quite the miracle teach with Stacia that night. Her partner and his friend sat in on the teach so we taught about the Restoration for the third time. You'd think Stacia would be sick of it now, but she actually helped teach it. It was really spiritual. I've found that after spiritual teaches my face gets really warm. It's kinda funny.
Sunday we had a couple investigators at church and the BYU students spoke. They all did really well. Monday E. Harding and I did about 7.5 hours of finding people. It was pretty fun. Since my watch has the clicking dial we kept track of each person we made smile and got to about 120. We also saw Keisha in the evening and read Moroni 6 with her.
Yesterday I worked with E. Church until 5 or so. We ended up teaching someone I found with him on our last exchange so that was pretty cool. We also taught someone I found with E. Martin on our exchange. She's from China so we watched the Finding Happiness DVD in Chinese which was sweet to see. We didn't have a clue what was going on, but she really enjoyed it.
That was pretty much my week. E. Harding and I had a fun experience on Monday. We were showing a lady a picture of our chapel and E. Harding had his mini quad out. Whilst we were talking some lady who I am convinced was possessed, no joke, tried to steal his quad. She started tugging on it saying that she wanted his Bible. It almost went ugly, but she walked away when we offered her a Book of Mormon :-). It gave E. Harding a fun experience in his younger months of his mission. But that's pretty much it, nothing too big happened. Next week I'll be writing back in the afternoon (around 6-7 a.m. your time ;-) because E. Harding and I are going to take our Theory Test for our Driver's License. Wish me luck. Looking forward to next week. Love you all!

-Elder Warner

Surprise photos!!

2008-08-10T18:30:00.004-06:00

I looked in my email box and what did see????...surprise photos there waiting for me!!! (You can sing the song!!) Anyway, I checked my email today and found some wonderful pictures of Elder Warner doing what he loves the most....well next to serving the Lord!!

Hello mom! Just playing some football at the ward picnic. Love ya!

5 Months???

2008-08-06T12:02:00.000-06:00

Wednesday, August 6, 2008 3:55 AM
The weeks just keep on slipping by don't they? It's crazy. I guess I better get started. Wednesday and part of Thursday I was with E. Church on exchanges and we had some good times finding and teaching. We switched back with E. Martin and E. Harding around 4:30 before going to see Angela and Torek. We taught them with the Bishop and it went really well. Bishop and Angela grew up together so it was a nice reunion with them. We got to James a little late, but we still had a good teach with him. We gave him the church's edition of the Bible and unfortunately we haven't been able to make contact with him since. We're worried about him because he hasn't answered his phone or door so I think we've lost our baptismal date as well. Friday we taught a couple older ladies from Jamaica about the Restoration and they both really liked it. We saw Keisha in the evening and re-taught the Plan of Salvation, but in depth and I think it really helped her understand it. She is getting really close to setting a date to be baptized. Saturday was interesting. We went to teach a lady from the Ivory Coast and at the end we gave her a Book of Mormon in French (or so we thought) and she just gave us a funny look. It was actually in Portuguese, but she wasn't mad about it. It was just a little embarrassing on my part. We went to teach Stacia in the evening and she ended up inviting a friend whose name is Donette to learn from us as well. It went really well and they even invited us to Donette's daughter's birthday party on Sunday. So after Church we went to Stacia's and met some of her and Donette's friends. They were excited to have us try Jerk Chicken, which is one thing Jamaicans are famous for. It wasn't ready, however, so we left to find for a bit then came back in the evening. It was some spicy stuff, but really good at the same time. It was interesting too because E. Harding and I were dressed up (pros clothes) in a house full of Jamaicans. We got a few weird looks at first, but after they asked who we were things were just fine. Monday we taught a lady from Trinidad after District Meeting which was probably one of the most spiritual 1st teaches I've had on my mission so far. It was pretty much a discussion back and forth the whole time, but she didn't realize we were teaching about the Restoration the whole time. In the evening we had a DA with Cody and Rita Middlebrook. Cody is the Elder's Quorum pres and had been putting a system together using Google that has all the members of the Church highlighted on the map which is really helpful for us. Yesterday we pretty much just found and taught members all day. In the Evening we had a DA with an RM from the Manchester Mission. Her name is Stella and it was amazing. She pretty much sat us down and started firing questions about the work. It was like a President's interview. I loved it. She gave us so many good ideas to try in the work. Today we'll be going on a tour of the fire station in Lewisham. E. Harding is dying to go seeing as he was a fire fighter back home. Sorry, no pictures this week. I just didn't take any last week sorry. I'll try better this week. I hope all is well. I can't believe summer is starting to end. It's rained a bit more here, which is fun to work in. Anyways, I love you all and I look forward to next week!

-E. Warner

Wow, what a week!

2008-07-30T10:53:00.013-06:00

Wednesday, July 30, 2008 4:45 AM
Wednesday was pretty fun. We played some American and European football on a grassy area near the London Eye. We also saw Parliament. Obviously we couldn't go up next to it because it's across the river which is out of our mission, but it was still cool.
E. Martin and I across the river from Parliament
E. Harding and myself

My mission family - E. Gardner who trained E. McConkie who trained me and is now training my mission brother E. Herbertson
My district (E. Harding, E. Church, E. Martin, E. Warner)

I stayed the night in Peckham and worked with E. Talbot. It was a pretty sweet night and day there. We were fed a couple times. Wednesday night we were fed by some of his investigators a dish called coos coos (I have no idea how to spell it). I'm not sure where it came from but it was really good. Thursday we had lunch with some members from Jamaica. They made some amazing food too. It was a pasta with sauce, a couple veggies and...are you ready for this?? Shrimp! It wasn't too bad.
When I got back into Catford we taught James and had an amazing teach with him about the Plan of Salvation. He loved it. Friday was Zone Conference in Crawley. I was able to have a nice little reunion with E. McConkie and met my mission brother and my mission grandpa. Because of trains getting back we didn't get back in the area till about 8:30 so that was pretty much our day. Saturday we saw James again and we talked about the Book of Mormon. He loves it. It's interesting because he was brought up in another church and even studied to be a priest in it, but never was able to find answers about the bible and other things (i.e. Adam & eve). Then he met us, we introduced him to the Book of Mormon, and it has been answering questions that he's had for years that even some of the most learned men in other churches can't answer. It's really rewarding to see the Book of Mormon light up people's lives. Sunday was a special day. E. Martin and E. Church had a baptism before church. E. Martin volunteered us four to sing a musical number as part of the program. We sang Come thou fount of every blessing. I recorded it on my tape. I'll let you think of it what you will :-). President and Sister Swinton showed up at our ward and stayed for all three meetings. It was fun to see them again, even though we just saw them on Friday. We started teaching a man from Uganda named Isaac that night as well.
Monday was interesting because E. Church wasn't feeling too well so I held District Meeting in our flat with just the three of us while E. Church slept. We gave him a blessing and he's fine now, just a small stomach issue. E. Harding and I visited James and committed him to be baptized, but not for a date because we didn't get a chance to pray about it and he accepted. Afterwards we went to a member's house for dinner with Isaac and it turns out that they're both from the same part of Uganda so that connection is pretty cool.
Yesterday was amazing! We taught a lady named Angela and her son Torek which went well. It was a little different teaching a 9 yr old but I liked it. We saw Stacia as well and taught her about the Plan of Salvation and she liked it. We hurried and visited James after our Correlation with the Ward Mission Leader and committed him to be baptized on the 17th of August. That morning E. Harding and I prayed to know a date and as soon as we finished praying we both knew. James was excited for it and is now preparing for that day. Today is going to be a lax day. We’ll be staying in our area and hopefully I’ll be able to write some letters.....we'll see :-). I did attach some pictures, however. Sorry I don't have more. I haven't really been taking much. I'll try to do better. Anywho, I better wrap up. Hope all is well. I look forward to reading some good e-mails next week. Love you all!

Elder Kyle Warner

Hiya!

2008-07-23T08:28:00.001-06:00

Wednesday, July 23, 2008 3:39 AM
Well, not the most eventful week to report about, to be honest, but it was pretty good. Thursday night we picked up a couple new people to teach and had a really spiritual teach with them. Friday, we pretty much just travelled all day from appointment to appointment and got flogged quite a bit, but that's alright. We did pick up a new person to teach named James from Nigeria. He's a really nice guy who is searching for truth. We taught him in a park just sitting on the grass. Even though there were kids playing footi nearby we were still able to feel the spirit. We ride double decker buses all day and they're kind of interesting, especially on the top. Saturday we had a really spiritual teach with a lady named Stacia from Jamaica. Most people here are from Jamaica, Nigeria, England(obviously, but not too many), Ivory Coast, or other African countries. It's really cool. Some missionaries go to Spain to teach the Spanish. Some missionaries go to Brazil to teach Brazilians, but we missionaries come to England to teach the world :-).
Sunday was an interesting day. E. Harding and I got to church and were asked to help pass the sacrament. It was fine though because we only have about 90-100 people each week. Then in Sacrament Meeting E. Church (the new missionary) spoke and I followed him. It went alright, not too bad. We only spoke for about 10 minutes. After that E. Harding and I taught the Gospel Principles class on the Book of Mormon. It went pretty well even though I pretty much had to wing it.
Monday was my first District Meeting. E. Harding and I had to run some things to an investigator beforehand so we ended up being late. I think it went alright, even if I was a little nervous. I'm sure they'll get better in the coming weeks. Monday we taught James again, but this time at the church and watched the Restoration DVD. Again, it went well and we had a really good discussion about faith afterwards. We've been able to have a lot of spiritual teaches with some people since then. We've taught Stacia and James again as well. London is almost like a new mission. There are so many people here to teach, it's crazy. The city itself isn't too much like what I expected, but I'm not in the heart of London. We'll be going to the London Eye to play American football in a bit with the zone and the neighbor zone so that'll be fun. Sorry no pictures yet, next week. I promise. I hope you all are enjoying your summer. You're in my Prayers.

Elder Kyle Warner

Hello from London!!

2008-07-17T16:30:00.001-06:00

Thursday, July 17, 2008 8:07 AM
So I've been moved to London, serving in Catford. It's been a crazy last week in Portsmouth. Our P-day on the Isle of Wight to see Carisbrooke Castle was really fun last Wednesday. I'll have to do pictures next week. I was supposed to work with E. Zundel in Portsmouth, but E. Dutson forgot his proselyting clothes so I ended up staying on the Isle wearing E. Zundel's shoes and trousers, E. Dutson's belt, and E. Lovell's shirt and tie because E. Dutson couldn't fit into their clothes. It was fun though. It kept me on my toes.
Friday we taught Matt our baptismal date for this Saturday and committed him to stop smoking on Monday. Saturday he showed up to take us to our ward picnic at Portchester Castle and ripped his last pack of cigarettes! It was so cool to see him want to give up sooner. We taught him again on Sunday and taught Martin as well. Both are still committed for their dates. Tuesday we picked up 4 new investigators, 2 from Zimbabwe and 2 from Nigeria. They were all pretty spiritual teaches. E. Dutson and I got a call from Pres. Swinton Thursday night. E. Dutson got called to train and Pres. called me to be a District Leader here in Catford. It was crazy. I wasn't expecting a calling, but I guess I'm doing it :-) (extra prayers would be appreciated).
So Wednesday was my last day in Portsmouth. We found most of the day and Margaret took us to the Carvery for lunch. It was amazing. We ended up teaching Martin one last time. It went really well. We just read from the Book of Mormon with him. We went and saw that family from Zimbabwe, Betty, Sandra, and Samuel. It was a nice visit with them. I pretty much bore my testimony for about 20 minutes. Last night Matt came by to be taught in Margaret's lounge. It was the last thing to teach him before he's baptized on Saturday. Because I was to be leaving this morning we knelt in prayer one last time. It was really cool. I'm sad I won't be there for it, but as long as it still happens, that's what's important. I stayed up till about 12:30 packing and fell asleep around 1:00. We woke up at 5:00 to get ready then I caught a train for London while E. Dutson went to pick up his Greenie.
It's not too bad here so far. My companion is E. Harding from Cache Valley, UT. I'm in the flat with E. Martin (we came out together) and he's training E. Church from Las Vegas. While we were waiting for Martin and Church to get back to Catford we cleaned the flat and now here I am e-mailing. It's a busy, busy city. I'm not in the heart of London, but it's still London nonetheless. I don't have much time. Perhaps I'll send some pictures home next week. Take care and I love you all.

E. Kyle Warner

P.S. New Address:
# 9 Highland Terrace
Algernon Rd.
Lewisham, London
SE13 7AB
England

Hard Working Missionary

2008-07-09T12:33:00.005-06:00

Now if this isn't a sign of a hard working missionary, then I don't know what is. All this and just after only 4 months!!

OK...so maybe something is wrong with the shoe. Needless to say, new shoes are on the way!

Definitely in England

2008-07-09T12:14:00.004-06:00

Wednesday, July 9, 2008 3:40 AM
Well it's finally feeling like I'm in England now. That's because it's done pretty much nothing but rain the past few days. I love it though. It makes things interesting. E. Dutson and I are going to the Isle of Wight today for a few hours and we have had kind of a busy week so I'll get started.
We got a chance to see one of the families from Zimbabwe on Wednesday night. We watched the Restoration DVD and talked about baptism. The spirit was so strong, it was amazing. We taught a lady from the Philippines on Thursday and watched the Restoration DVD in Tagalog, which was really neat. We've picked up a few baptismal dates this past week as well. Matt is still going strong for the 19th, Zechie is now committed for the 26th and Shaun (pretty new investigator) is preparing for the 2nd of August. All of which I might not be here for. Next week is moves week. I can't believe how fast this cycle has gone. I'll be e-mailing next week regardless whether I move or not on Thursday, it just might not be from Portsmouth. We had our Zone Meeting on the 4th(Friday) and during my interview with President Swinton I told him that I would do whatever he wanted me to, however, I definitely wouldn't mind staying in Portsmouth. We'll see what happens.
We taught Zechie the Plan of Salvation after church and he really enjoyed it. He had a friend that was from Nigeria as well that was there, but he was just listening. Zechie told his friend that he was confused and that the missionaries are there to help get you on the right path so it was cool to see him practically testify to his friend that we are servants of God. We checked on our bikes afterward and we might get them today, possibly tomorrow so that's good news. We had some good teaches in the evening on Sunday as well. We taught a man named Martin Fisher the Plan of Salvation as well and it was kind of a lot to take in for him because of past events in his life, but it was quite spiritual. We taught Matt at the Taylor's home afterward. It went really well too. We taught him the Word of Wisdom and he's doing quite well with it.
Monday, after District Meeting, I went with E. Schunke to Chichester on exchanges. We talked to people on their High Street there for a while before knocking. It was really fun. I got to speak a bit of Spanish to a guy from Madrid. I bore simple testimony in Spanish to him and I could tell he was feeling the spirit. As soon as we went knocking the rain really started to come down. By the time we got back to the flat we were both drenched. I loved it. I took some cool pictures of what I could in Chichester, but I'll send some later because of time.
That was pretty much my week. I hope yours is dryer than mine :-). Next week will be interesting. The next time I e-mail I might be in a different city, hopefully not, but we'll see. I love you all and God bless.

Elder Warner

4 months??/

2008-07-02T18:23:00.004-06:00

Wednesday, July 2, 2008 7:59 AM
Wow, just over 4 months now. It's crazy. I could be leaving Pompey in a couple weeks too... I'm thinking I want to stay another moves. It'll be 6 months in my Greenie area, but I am really starting to like it here.

Our week was pretty good. I'll just go over some highlights. On Thursday we had a DA with the Wilkeys in Waterlooville. It was really nice. They even had A&W Root beer! Man, I missed that drink:-). Friday we were asked by Margaret to give her a blessing because her granddaughter got married on Saturday and she wasn't feeling well. As soon as she asked I knew I was going to do it. It was really interesting. E. Dutson did the anointing and I did the blessing. I was a little nervous, but all was well. I blessed her that she'd get better and she had a wonderful evening with her family on Saturday. The power of the Priesthood is amazing. Sunday was really special. E. Kieron of the Area Presidency came and spoke in our Sacrament Meeting, which doesn't happen pretty much ever. He spoke about overcoming trials and even a little bit about the missionaries. It was very spiritual. After church we taught a young guy from Nigeria named Zechie. It went really well. We might give him a date to be baptized tomorrow. We'll see. Monday we exchanged with the ZL's in Southampton for the day. I worked with E. Dunaway there. We spent most of the day in a massive park. It was probably around 3-4 miles long. I got back in Pompey around 5. We taught a guy named Martin who used to be a pro-footballer up north. He was really cool and I think he'll enjoy the Plan of Salvation(who doesn't???) Monday was an amazing start for the day. We were blessed with 4 new people to teach!! Our week is full of appointments. I can't believe it. Tuesday we picked up another person. Her name is Jenny. She's half English and half Venezuelan. We made sure she knew that the Book of Mormon is about her ancestors ;-). We taught Matt the Plan of Salvation and committed him to be baptized on the 19th. He was happy to accept.
That's pretty much my week. Today we loaded up our attic with exercise equipment so I should be getting in shape soon. I hope all of you have a great week. Till next time.
Elder Warner

Mhoro

2008-06-25T15:23:00.007-06:00

Wednesday, June 25, 2008 4:09 AM
Makadii(how are you)? (subject-hello, both in Shona). I had an amazing week. It went by really quick, as they usually do now. We didn't really have many teaches since last week, but the ones we did have were amazing. We had a couple DA's as well. One with the Penningtons and one with the Herridges. There's quite a bit to say this week so I'll just give you the highlights.
On Sunday Jamie and Deon came to Sacrament meeting and they enjoyed it. They're a really cool couple and we'll be seeing them on Friday. After Church we went with Wayne Herridge to see a man from Zimbabwe named Dennis. We met him a couple weeks ago, but finally got to see him. We also taught his two children, Takura, he's 13 and Thindi-she's 7. Both were very bright. We taught them about the Restoration and they enjoyed it. Dennis said he'd felt peace when he talked to us before and felt it again when we walked into the home. It was a very spiritual visit. We also had some really good laughs. They had a very close relationship together as a family. Unfortunately, the kids are very much involved in tennis tournaments and training that we can't see them again until the 13th of July. We made dinner that night with E-man and Alison. We made some Jalaf rice which was pretty tasty.
You can try to look up some recipes (there are hundreds) online, however, it requires palm oil and I think you can only get it in certain countries.

Me getting the onions and garlic ready for the Jalaf Rice at E-man's.

E. Lovell and I worked together Monday and part of Tuesday. We had a good time and got some quality finding in.

I picked up E. Dutson from the harbor and we took his stuff back to the flat before going knocking.

(This is where we started to see miracles). We went and knocked one road and had quite a bit of success as far as call-backs go. We then went to a street we've been trying to finish knocking over the past couple days. We knocked about 5 or 6 doors and a younger African girl opened the door. I started to talk to her and E. Dutson interrupted and asked where she was from. She said Zimbabwe. He asked what language she spoke and she said Shona. He told her (and me. I didn't know about this at the time) that as he was leaving our flat he felt impressed to grab a B.O.M. off of our desk and bring it with us tonight, not knowing who we'd meet. That B.O.M. was in Shona. She couldn't believe it (neither could I). She asked what the book was and we gladly told her. We asked if we could teach her and her parents about the book. Her mom was out for about another half hour so we told her we'd be back. We went back and taught them about the Restoration and why we were carrying the B.O.M. in Shona. They read part of it and were quite pleased with the visit. I've never felt the spirit in so strong in my life. They were astonished that we gave them the book for free too. After the teach I realized how this event had started two weeks ago, possibly before I got to Portsmouth. Let's go back a ways so I can explain.
When I first got to P-mouth I looked through all the Books of Mormon in our flat to see all the different languages. Shona was among them, but I didnt' think anything of it at the time. A couple weeks ago I spoke with a man from Zimbabwe on the High Street. I showed him the B.O.M. and he liked it. I also found out that he spoke Shona. I remembered seeing that book in our flat and told him we could get him one soon. So I got his number and the next morning I pulled the B.O.M. in Shona out and called him. The number turned out to be a fake number. I was a little upset, but left the book on the desk being a little disappointed. I forgot about that experience until last night. For time's sake I won't go into the many other details and reasons why I know that God was working "behind the scenes" to guide us to that family even to the very hour last night, but I know without any doubt that we were meant to get the Book of Mormon in Shona to that family (Betty, Sandra, and Samuel) at the time we did. I can't really describe the Spiritual feeling before, during, and after the teach (especially not in e-mail), but I do know now more than ever that this work is God's work and he is directing it, sometimes in ways we don't even realize until we see the greatest Miracle. I hope that experience and explanation wasn't too confusing, but I wanted to share it. I feel so blessed to be able to witness these kinds of miracles.
I suppose that's it for this week. It was an amazing one at that. I hope you all have a great week and I'll talk to you soon.

Elder Kyle Warner

Time just keeps on passing by

2008-06-18T13:11:00.002-06:00

Wednesday, June 18, 2008 3:55 AM
I think the time is starting to pick up. I think the longest part of my mission is starting to come to an end. I can't believe we're at week two in my next moves already. Time flies when you're working hard. We've had quite a busy week of appointments. On Thursday we had Zone Conference in Poole. It took pretty much all day. It was about 8:15 when we arrived back in Portsmouth. E. Dutson and I rode with the Wheelers from Southampton station to Poole and we took the scenic route through what's called New Forrest. We went through a couple villages called Burley and Lyndhurst. They were amazing. Small streets, flower baskets hanging on the outside walls of the pubs, we even went into an authentic sweets shop. It was like travelling back in time 50 years. They had jars full of so many different kinds of sweets. Every wall was lined with them. The roads we went on were so small too. They were about the size of a biking path back in Utah. They were lined with pastures for wild horses and cattle. It was amazing. I didn't take any pictures. It was too much to take in; you'd just have to be there. Look it up online. It's worth it.
On Friday we picked up an Albanian investigator named Arben. He's really nice and quite interested in the Book of Mormon. Saturday we had an amazing testimony builder of prayer. We'd prayed a couple nights previous to know which street to knock. E. Dutson and I looked at different maps and were impressed to knock the same street. When we got there we prayed that the people we were about to meet would be prepared and that we'd be able to get in and teach. Well we were about 3/4 done with the street until finally we met a family from Ghana who gladly let us in and we taught them. They have 7 kids total, but we taught the mother and 5 of the children. It was a really spiritual teach. Unfortunately the next day the mother said she didn't want anything to do with us anymore for some reason (probably spoke to her pastor, it happens a lot) and refused to even read the Book of Mormon. It's sad when people do that, but they have their agency. Sunday after church we taught a young couple named Jamie and Deon. Jamie is in the Royal Navy and is from St. Helena Island off the coast of South Africa. Deon is a Portsmouth native and a stay-at-home mom. They'll be coming to church on Sunday. Yesterday we were blessed even more. We taught a lady named Sandra (different one than before) and she'll be coming to church as well. We also taught a woman named Julie at the church with Margret. It went really well and she is now preparing to be baptized on the 14th of July. She'd met the church in Hong Kong whilst travelling so she knew loads about the Church. We had an appointment with a guy from Ethiopia afterwards who turned out to be a preacher at a small, local church. It was a great meeting, however, without any contention. We just taught him about the Book of Mormon, gave him a copy, and now he's committed to read and pray about it.
We've been so blessed with so many people to teach. There were a few other new people that we were able to teach as well, but for time's sake I'll wait to see if anything develops. My testimony of the power of prayer has grown so much. Obviously we don't get ALL the answers we want, but we do get some, if they're righteous ones :-). Well that's my week. I should be sending a DVD and tape home this weekend or maybe early next week. I hope you all have a good week. Thanks for all the support. I've got a Plethora of e-mails to read so I'll talk to you all next week.

Elder Kyle Warner

Summer....

2008-06-11T09:16:00.007-06:00

Wednesday, June 11, 2008 7:00 AM
Wow it's been really nice in Portsmouth the past few days. We've had quite a bit of sun and humidity(which I'm not used to yet). I've got nice tan lines from my shirt, watch, and CTR ring :-)
I hope everyone had a good week. Mine went by pretty fast and odly enough I didn't do that much. E. Dutson and I have been working really hard. He's a few inches shorter than I am and walks about 3x as fast.

My comp's name is Brad Dutson from Hyde Park, UT(in logan somewhere?) and he's been out for 6 months.
It's great. We've only had a couple of teaches since thursday and the rest of the time was spent finding and at church. We've done almost 23 hours of finding since thursday, it's crazy. The blessings of new investigators should be coming by the end of the week. Some bad news- Anya's baptism is on hold for a while because of some complications so we don't really have a date anymore, but she is still very committed and is doing really well. We actually just finished teaching here a couple hours ago. She made us lunch and gave me a small massager that looks like a frog. It'll come quite in handy. On Sunday we taught her about Tithing, Fasting, and how to donate tithes and offerings. Sis's Browne and Herridge were there and both shared very powerful and emotional testimonies. It was great! That's pretty much all we've done since I e-mailed last week. I've attached a couple photos of E. Dutson and me about an hour ago so I hope you enjoy.

I hope you all have a great week and I'll talk to you soon.

Elder Kyle Warner

Staying in Portsmouth

2008-06-07T21:17:00.009-06:00

Thursday, June 5, 2008 7:31 AM

Hello everyone!
You guessed it. I'm still in Portsmouth, but E. McConkie is gone to Brighton to be a District Leader. He left this morning and E. Dutson, from Logan came in. E. Di Iulio left the Isle of Wight so Dutson is the new DL. E. Lovell from my group got sent to the Isle so now in my district there are three of the original four that came to my mission, it's crazy.
This past week went by quick. We saw our Anya a couple times and all is well for her baptism date on the 14th of June, as long as we have permission from her husband. She's amazing. To be able to see the change that has occurred in her since E. Mortenson and I taught her how to pray is such a blessing. She reads and prays often now and feels bad when she misses church. I love it. We didn't get to build the wall for Ethel on Wednesday; however, we did finish it as you can see from the pictures.
Before.....

...and After.

We're pretty proud of our handy work. Ethel made us an authentic African meal when we were finishing up the wall. It was really good. We had beef sausage, plantain (BIG, wild bananas), potatoes, and African doughnuts (doughnut holes).

She's one of the nicest people I've met out here so far-very grateful and hospitable. McConkie and I had a good final day together. We taught Anya in the morning and had a sad goodbye then went to the Toby Carvery with Margret. We then taught an investigator named Kevin and saw a member, Vic, and his dad (recent convert) Roy. We visited them for a while then headed to see Ethel. We chatted for a bit then headed to meet Sister Parkes to go to dinner. She fed us nicely and we went to see E-man and Alison. They offered to feed us, but between the Carvery and the Parkes, there wasn't any more room in my stomach. We discussed the two-week challenge with them and McConkie and I got to play a little Wii (shhhhh...). We stayed up quite late packing and I even fell asleep in the middle of it. This next moves should be great. E. Dutson is a great guy and I think we'll have a lot of fun together. I hope you're all great and I'll talk to you next week!

Elder Kyle Warner

3 months already????

2008-05-28T16:45:00.009-06:00

Date: Wed, 28 May 2008 09:37

We had quite the week. It was full of miracles, that’s for sure. Last Wednesday our district got together and bowled a couple games then went to an amazing restaurant called Nando's. It's a Portuguese bbq place that's really popular in England. It was kind of expensive, but well worth it.

This one's for you, Dad!

Elder Di Iulio was in Portsmouth with me on exchange that night and we knocked into an amazing family. They're from Zambia. Ethel(the mom) is a single parent of two, Koshita(co-shta) he's 10, and Muzhinga(moo-shinga) she's 8. All three of them are really nice. We saw them a few times last week. E. Di Iulio and I taught Ethel about the Restoration Wednesday night and she enjoyed it. She even prayed in Bemba for us. It was amazing. We saw her the next day and gave her a Book of Mormon and agreed to put up some blinds for her and also build a new wall in her home because she wants to foster a child. That's what we'll be doing today. Elder McConkie and I, with the help of the Isle of Wight Elders (Di Iulio & Zundel) are putting up the wall today. I'll take some before and after pictures of our handiwork.
Friday was an amazing day. We got a call in the morning from the office giving us two referrals of University students in the same building. We thought they were pranks because the first one I called said he changed his mind and the second one didn't answer. Later in the day we stopped by the chapel to use the bathroom and I decided to call the guy who didn't answer. I talked to him for a bit. His name is Martin and it turns out he has friends in the Church and was very interested. We had planned to find that evening so I offered to bring him a B.O.M. and teach him that evening. We went down there and taught him in the library. It was a very good teach, despite the surroundings. He was very excited to read the B.O.M.
Saturday E. McConkie and I went with Bro. Taylor to look at Ethel's home to see exactly how we were going to construct the wall. He's a builder so his help was great. We showed Ethel and Muzhinga the DVD on the Restoration afterwards and they both really liked it. We haven't been able to teach Koshita, but hopefully later this week. We picked up a new investigator named Steve. He was really nice, is married, has two kids, and we'll be seeing him again on Saturday. After Steve we saw Martin again. We went to the library, but it was packed so we went to his student housing and watched the Rest. DVD. He enjoyed it and agreed to come to church.
Sunday was a busy, busy day. We met and walked with Martin to church. Anya also came to church and enjoyed it. Our Sunday School lesson went really well, even though we didn't have much time to prepare. After church Steve Taylor invited E. McConkie, Martin, and me over for lunch and to teach Martin some more. After eating we taught Martin the Plan of Salvation and he enjoyed it. We committed him to be baptized on the 7th of June and he accepted it. In the evening E. McConkie and I went to see E-man and Alison. We had dinner with them, talked a bit about testimonies, and offered a two week challenge to Alison. The challenge is to live all the commandments and to study them for 2 weeks and we promised her that if she did so diligently and sincerely she would receive a testimony. It was a lot of fun to put together. We made a two week calendar of what she was to do and gave her pictures of temples and such to put up in her flat. We even gave her some MoTab CD's.
Tuesday we taught Anya the Plan of Salvation at the church. She really enjoyed it. Afterwards she gave us both some small gifts, little hand-made bracelets and some postcards of where she lived in China. They're things we'll keep forever. She too is committed to be baptized.
That's pretty much my week, to me, one of the best of my mission so far. Daily I am feeling a lot of joy from what we as missionaries do. I love you all and I look forward to hearing from you next week.
fyi-it's moves week next week. My P-day will be Thursday regardless. There's a good chance E. McConkie and I will be split up so we'll see how things go.
(A hint to everyone!!)

Elder Kyle Warner