The Day We've Been Waiting For

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

TODAY'S THE DAY!!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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

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

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

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

Christmas week already?

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

Brrr....

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

Fast week

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

E. Orme and I in the park

Wet weekend!!

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

Happy Thanksgiving?

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

We all have our turn

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

The Oxford Trinity back together! (Friday)

Bonfire Night

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


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

Better week!!

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

An extra hour of sleep!!

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

Amazing weekend

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

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

Outside the Portsmouth flat

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

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

Back to the Future?

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