June 24, 2013
Mother!!
Hey momma! I am always so pleased to read your emails. Haha. I will definitely have to print out all of these letters from Nick. What a good guy. I have good friends. I got an email from Carter Payne today and one from Dave last week. He finally made it to Peru. I sent off a letter to Nate and Dave today. And Makayla, too. :) She is great!
Today was a pretty legit Pday. We went to the Mall in Puerto Montt. Good Heavens, it is like being back in the states. I am pretty used to being in really ghetto parts of Chile with no big buildings or anything. We go to Puerto Montt and there are skyscrapers and stuff like that. Today we went to the mall in Puerto Montt. It is like an hour away. We went there mostly because Elder A. wanted to go to the food court. We ate at McDonalds... and it was divine. I usually don´t care for McDonalds... but it was great.
We went to the Apple store and looked around. It is probably a good thing that we can only go to Puerto Montt once a cambio... because I would definitely blow all of my money there on junk I don´t need (not much has changed...haha) Today I didn´t really buy anything... although I was tempted. I just spent 8 dollars on a basketball. That is all. I am glad to know I have money in my account... but I am really going to try hard not to spend any of that. I still have cash here. I gotta keep that money saved so I won’t be broke when I come home! Haha.
I am still waiting for my package. I have hopes that I will see it eventually. I will see it when I see the Zone Leaders, which is not very often. So… we will just keep waiting. Did I tell you that Elder B. is my Zone Leader now? How funny is that? Haha.
You were talking about that special conference at BYU? We definitely watched it here in Spanish. It would be legit if they started to let us use technology and stuff, but I doubt that I will see that change here while I am in the mission. Other missions already use iPad, iPhones, and text. Our cell phone... is a brick straight from the year 1999, I swear. Haha. But the conference was really good, actually. It talked about how the members should be setting up the appointments for the missionaries and they should be much more involved. It is the duty of every member of the church to share the gospel. That includes you. Share what you believe with everyone, by your example. Reach out to those in need. That is a good way of sharing the gospel. It doesn´t necessarily need to be to people who aren´t members. Everyone needs the gospel.
We are still working with Sixta. She knows the Book of Mormon is true. She wants to be baptized. She loves coming to relief society and the activities. She says she feels good at church. The only problem is that her family is opposed to her joining the church. She knows that it is what she needs to do. We are going to keep working with her.
Mom, I have a favor to ask of you. I was wondering if each week in your emails if you could send a scripture or a quote or something from an Ensign article or something like that. Something small every week that you think might help me. (I mostly want you to do it so I can verify that you are reading your scriptures).
Oh... I totally forgot! I got an email from the Allan Family. I didn’t read it yet, but I printed it off so I can read it later.
I hope these pictures work when I send them. I haven´t been able to attatch them like I usually do, so just let me know if they aren’t working. I think I sent three last week? Right? Something like that.
I gotta start making a list of all the important things I want to say before I get to the cyber to do internet... because I always forget what I want to say. Oh well.
Have a good week!
Elder Warren
Elder McKay Marble Warren~~ Chile Osorno Mission
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Monday, June 17, 2013
I Am Doing Well!!
June 17, 2013
Mom!
I am here. I am alive. I always feel like the time comes to email and I forget what to say! Haha. Oh well. You probably like reading my emails whether they are very interesting or not. Hopefully they aren´t boring!
The last week went by really quickly. It has been raining a ton here, and it is cold. But hey, we are tough! The fleas… are keeping to themselves for the most part. They are only biting my legs now, which is better than all over like it was before. But my sleeping bag should be here soon!
We have a Mamita, and her name is Ines. She hasn´t started cooking for us yet, but she is going to start tomorrow. That will be nice. She lives close by. She speaks Spanish faster than anyone that I have ever heard in my entire life. Holy Cow. But it’s all good. She is really nice and she makes sopapillas really well.
I finally ate Bistec a la Pobre here! It was just like what we had at Pantrucas. That place is pretty authentic, I have decided. So when you go there to eat, you really are eating what we eat down here.
Yesterday we went to church and Sixta came! She just needs one more church attendance and she can get baptized. Hopefully everything works out like we are planning. She is a really good lady. She likes coming to church. We took her to a Relief Society Activity. Haha. Imagine that. Two guys in the Relief Society activity with a bunch of Chilean ladies. We learned how to use soy beans. We made soy milk, soy hamburgers, and soy empanadas. Super sweet. Sixta had a good time at the activity.
We also had an activity with the branch where everyone got together to play ping pong. It is ridiculous how good these people are!! Like… 55 year old women kicking my butt. I played a lot of ping pong in my days with Nate, Nick, and Carter… and these ladies could destroy anyone of us at ping pong. How did they get so good???? It is super funny.
I still haven´t received a letter from Nick! I sent him one! Did he get it?? I hope so. Yeah, for sure you can email me their letters and such. I would love to read them. I can print them out and read them when I have time. I hope they are all doing well on their missions.
With each passing day I feel more and more like a capable missionary. I am really working hard to improve my teaching abilities. I am always memorizing scriptures and stuff so that I can use them to teach. The problem I run into is that I can memorize something one day… and completely forget it the next day. I am memorizing the scripture mastery scriptures from the Bible right now… because we talk to a lot of people who know the Bible really well and I don´t want to be ignorant.
Yesterday we taught a lesson to an Evangelico guitar player. He is super cool. Super Evangelico, but super cool. He sang and played the guitar for us. I decided one day I should learn to play the guitar or something. Wouldn´t that be sweet?
Maybe someday I will send you a picture of what my toenail looked like, but for today I sent some nicer pictures. Haha. The picture is of me with Lago Llanquihue and Volcan Osorno behind me. That is at the beach right by our house. The other picture is of me with Sebastian. He is a funny little guy that has Down Syndrome. He always steals my missionary plaque during church. The other one is of me and Elder A. What am I doing with my hands? Perhaps flashing a gang sign?? No… I don´t know what I am doing with my hands. Haha.
Hey… take care. Tell Brett hello. Have a good week. Rest up. Be happy. And read your scriptures… every single day. It is a commandment, you know.
Elder Warren
New Companion
June 10, 2013
Mom,
Things in Llanquihue are pretty much the same as they have always been. Slow without many people to teach. It is the same old story. I will talk about that a little bit later on in my email.
My new companion is super legit. His name is Elder A. He is from Florida. He is a big Tongan guy! He is super sweet. I am very pleased with the cambio. He sings and plays the ukulele every night, which is sweet. He plays football. He has a full ride scholarship to play middle linebacker at BYU after the mission. How sweet is that??? Before the mission he worked as a fire dancer at Sea World. He is just super cool. Haha. The longer I am out in the world, the more aware I am made that I live an ordinary life and I don´t have a lot of talents. But hey, it’s okay.
Llanquihue is a mess. Everything is a mess here. They brought in two Hermana’s that just finished their training, and they don´t speak hardly any Spanish. They don´t know how to start a fire, so we had to take our calentador over to their house. We don´t have a fireplace or a calentador right now, so it is freezing in the house. The Hermana’s didn´t have a cell phone for the first three days. We live like a 45 minute walk away from them. One of the Hermana’s was super sick, and couldn´t call to tell anybody. We just happened to pass by to take something to their house and we discovered that she was sick. I gave her a blessing and then she ended up having to go to the hospital. We still don´t have a Mamita. There was a problem with her bank account or something, so she doesn´t have the money in her account yet. She isn´t going to start feeding us until she has money. So we have been on our own to feed ourselves... which has been interesting. It looks like we are going to have to go the next week, too, without a Mamita. The whole cambio just wasn´t very well organized. At all. Everything that could go wrong with the cambio has. And to top it all off, we still only have one investigator.
Having been in Llanquihue has been tough. Elders get here and feel depressed. Elder A. says he feels down here. All the people in the streets are just angry looking and not friendly. He says it isn’t like that in other sectors. Also, it is pretty rare to have a sector where there hasn´t been a baptism for so long. It has been 8 months since Llanquihue has seen a baptism. In his last sector they baptized a ton of people. He says that in other sectors, missionaries’ don´t knock doors because they have so many teaching appointments. I couldn´t believe it. I have spent the last 4 months knocking doors all day every day. I don´t even know what to think. I just thought that is how the mission was. By the end of the cambio I will have been here for 6 months. 6 months. 1/4 of my mission spent knocking doors and not teaching many lessons. It is a miracle that I have made the progress I have made without having any people to teach.
Even though the last week was tough, Elder A. and I get along very well. We still have a good time. I got some mail. I heard from Kinzie Payne! That was exciting. I really like getting mail. Carter already left on his mission? Did you go to his farewell? It was a really nice letter.
Hey, another thing I realized is how good it is to have music. Elder A. and I have been able to listen to music lately because he has an iPod. I haven´t been able to listen to music since my first cambio. It really helps to elevate my mood.
I am excited for the sleeping bag to get here. I don´t know why, but it is just exciting. It is just something to look forward to.
Our only investigator named Sixta is really cool. She taught me to make bread and she made me a hat. She knitted it or something like that. She came to church and had a really great experience. She said, Eso es lo que faltaba en mi vida = “That is what I was missing in my life”. There is hope for her. If we can just get her in the church one more time she will be golden.
Tell Adrienne that I wrote her a letter like two months ago! I don´t know what happened to it! I sent it! I will write another.
I gotta go. Time is always short. I will think about sending a picture next week. I don´t really want to, because I am getting chubby and I am embarrassed. We will just say... being with Elder V. for six weeks was tough.. I ate a lot of cookies. It made me feel happier… but now I am flabbier. Haha. It’s all good.
Elder Warren
Mom,
Things in Llanquihue are pretty much the same as they have always been. Slow without many people to teach. It is the same old story. I will talk about that a little bit later on in my email.
My new companion is super legit. His name is Elder A. He is from Florida. He is a big Tongan guy! He is super sweet. I am very pleased with the cambio. He sings and plays the ukulele every night, which is sweet. He plays football. He has a full ride scholarship to play middle linebacker at BYU after the mission. How sweet is that??? Before the mission he worked as a fire dancer at Sea World. He is just super cool. Haha. The longer I am out in the world, the more aware I am made that I live an ordinary life and I don´t have a lot of talents. But hey, it’s okay.
Llanquihue is a mess. Everything is a mess here. They brought in two Hermana’s that just finished their training, and they don´t speak hardly any Spanish. They don´t know how to start a fire, so we had to take our calentador over to their house. We don´t have a fireplace or a calentador right now, so it is freezing in the house. The Hermana’s didn´t have a cell phone for the first three days. We live like a 45 minute walk away from them. One of the Hermana’s was super sick, and couldn´t call to tell anybody. We just happened to pass by to take something to their house and we discovered that she was sick. I gave her a blessing and then she ended up having to go to the hospital. We still don´t have a Mamita. There was a problem with her bank account or something, so she doesn´t have the money in her account yet. She isn´t going to start feeding us until she has money. So we have been on our own to feed ourselves... which has been interesting. It looks like we are going to have to go the next week, too, without a Mamita. The whole cambio just wasn´t very well organized. At all. Everything that could go wrong with the cambio has. And to top it all off, we still only have one investigator.
Having been in Llanquihue has been tough. Elders get here and feel depressed. Elder A. says he feels down here. All the people in the streets are just angry looking and not friendly. He says it isn’t like that in other sectors. Also, it is pretty rare to have a sector where there hasn´t been a baptism for so long. It has been 8 months since Llanquihue has seen a baptism. In his last sector they baptized a ton of people. He says that in other sectors, missionaries’ don´t knock doors because they have so many teaching appointments. I couldn´t believe it. I have spent the last 4 months knocking doors all day every day. I don´t even know what to think. I just thought that is how the mission was. By the end of the cambio I will have been here for 6 months. 6 months. 1/4 of my mission spent knocking doors and not teaching many lessons. It is a miracle that I have made the progress I have made without having any people to teach.
Even though the last week was tough, Elder A. and I get along very well. We still have a good time. I got some mail. I heard from Kinzie Payne! That was exciting. I really like getting mail. Carter already left on his mission? Did you go to his farewell? It was a really nice letter.
Hey, another thing I realized is how good it is to have music. Elder A. and I have been able to listen to music lately because he has an iPod. I haven´t been able to listen to music since my first cambio. It really helps to elevate my mood.
I am excited for the sleeping bag to get here. I don´t know why, but it is just exciting. It is just something to look forward to.
Our only investigator named Sixta is really cool. She taught me to make bread and she made me a hat. She knitted it or something like that. She came to church and had a really great experience. She said, Eso es lo que faltaba en mi vida = “That is what I was missing in my life”. There is hope for her. If we can just get her in the church one more time she will be golden.
Tell Adrienne that I wrote her a letter like two months ago! I don´t know what happened to it! I sent it! I will write another.
I gotta go. Time is always short. I will think about sending a picture next week. I don´t really want to, because I am getting chubby and I am embarrassed. We will just say... being with Elder V. for six weeks was tough.. I ate a lot of cookies. It made me feel happier… but now I am flabbier. Haha. It’s all good.
Elder Warren
Friday, June 14, 2013
A Very Full Week
June 3, 2013
Mom!
Last week was probably the busiest week of my entire life. I don’t even know where to begin!
Basically... we moved. We don’t have a mamita anymore, and I am staying in Llanquihue for at least six more weeks. Crazy stuff. Okay… here is the explanation. President Rappleye was pleased with the progress that we made in the sector, so he split it. There will now be four missionaries in the sector. Two of which will be sister missionaries. So... because the sisters are coming, we had to look for another house. That is a process! We searched and searched and finally found one. The sisters are going to be living in our Cabin. We had to move all of our stuff out and help move in all new stuff. Elder .... and I have been building shelves and bunk beds all week. The Hermana’s get all new stuff! How lucky are they! They are going to be working in Llanquihue Alto, and I will be down in Llanquihue Bajo. They also get our mamita. We are looking for another Mamita, but where we live there are no members of the church. All the members live in Llanquihue Alto. So... we will see how that goes. It is going to be weird to be so far away from all of the members. But the good news is that our house is huge! I like it better. I will send a picture of it to you sometime.
So... I am staying in Llanquihue, and not with Elder .... (Thank Heavens). He is headed north close to Valdivia. My new companion is called Elder .... I think. I don´t really know. I have never met him or seen him. I have no idea where he is from. His name doesn’t sound very American to me… But it also doesn’t sound extremely Latino. I guess we will see on Wednesday.
It has been a very tough cambio with Elder .... Very tough. But somehow I made it through. The hard part is having nobody to talk to. He... is kind of a hard person, and he doesn´t like me. I don´t like him either so we don´t talk much. I tried in the beginning to be a really good companion with him. But when things are so one sided it is really hard. It is sad, really. I could tell you all about him; about his family and everything. He could not tell you one single thing about me, except that I am from Utah. He doesn´t care to know. The other day he pretty much threw a fit and started yelling at me and telling me that I was a terrible missionary, and that I was the only thing keeping him from success. He yelled for like 30 minutes, telling me everything that he didn´t like about me. I just sat there and listened. I took it for what it was worth, which is absolutely nothing. He always has problems with companions. I went to Osorno with one of his old companions, and he said that Elder .... acted the same way. He has been involved in sobre cambios, which is when companions have big problems and they get transferred early. So… I just brushed it off. He said a lot of rude things, but I got my revenge. Well... sort of. I didn´t say anything to him, but when we went outside and started walking somewhere... a bird pooped all over him; all over his face and hair and everything. Haha. Maybe I am not a perfect disciple of Christ, because I couldn’t help but laugh a little bit to myself. :)
I am doing well. My foot... is fine. It doesn’t hurt and I keep it clean, so it should be fine. The lady did cut part of my nail off, so the problem should be resolved after the cut on my toe heals. Don’t worry too much about that Mama.
I have hit the six month mark. Well… almost. That is so strange to me. From what I have heard... I just completed the absolute slowest part of the mission. Every missionary says that the next year and a half passes as quickly as the first six months. Weird. But, I am learning a lot and learning to love it.
I haven´t received a letter from Nick. I sent him one... I hope he got it. I still haven´t sent the one to Nathan Allan. I wrote it in April... but I keep forgetting to send it.
I got a letter from Hermana/Señora Collier! She is totally legit. I like her. I was pleased to hear about my friends that have mission calls, and also pleased to hear about the girls who have chosen not to go. The mission really isn´t for everyone. That is evident here. There are Hermana’s here that are only here because they lowered the age limit, not because they want to be. Perhaps I will talk more about that later.
I didn´t even tell you about our investigadora that is making all kinds of progress! And I don´t have time now! Shoot. Well, next week.
Elder Warren
Mom!
Last week was probably the busiest week of my entire life. I don’t even know where to begin!
Basically... we moved. We don’t have a mamita anymore, and I am staying in Llanquihue for at least six more weeks. Crazy stuff. Okay… here is the explanation. President Rappleye was pleased with the progress that we made in the sector, so he split it. There will now be four missionaries in the sector. Two of which will be sister missionaries. So... because the sisters are coming, we had to look for another house. That is a process! We searched and searched and finally found one. The sisters are going to be living in our Cabin. We had to move all of our stuff out and help move in all new stuff. Elder .... and I have been building shelves and bunk beds all week. The Hermana’s get all new stuff! How lucky are they! They are going to be working in Llanquihue Alto, and I will be down in Llanquihue Bajo. They also get our mamita. We are looking for another Mamita, but where we live there are no members of the church. All the members live in Llanquihue Alto. So... we will see how that goes. It is going to be weird to be so far away from all of the members. But the good news is that our house is huge! I like it better. I will send a picture of it to you sometime.
So... I am staying in Llanquihue, and not with Elder .... (Thank Heavens). He is headed north close to Valdivia. My new companion is called Elder .... I think. I don´t really know. I have never met him or seen him. I have no idea where he is from. His name doesn’t sound very American to me… But it also doesn’t sound extremely Latino. I guess we will see on Wednesday.
It has been a very tough cambio with Elder .... Very tough. But somehow I made it through. The hard part is having nobody to talk to. He... is kind of a hard person, and he doesn´t like me. I don´t like him either so we don´t talk much. I tried in the beginning to be a really good companion with him. But when things are so one sided it is really hard. It is sad, really. I could tell you all about him; about his family and everything. He could not tell you one single thing about me, except that I am from Utah. He doesn´t care to know. The other day he pretty much threw a fit and started yelling at me and telling me that I was a terrible missionary, and that I was the only thing keeping him from success. He yelled for like 30 minutes, telling me everything that he didn´t like about me. I just sat there and listened. I took it for what it was worth, which is absolutely nothing. He always has problems with companions. I went to Osorno with one of his old companions, and he said that Elder .... acted the same way. He has been involved in sobre cambios, which is when companions have big problems and they get transferred early. So… I just brushed it off. He said a lot of rude things, but I got my revenge. Well... sort of. I didn´t say anything to him, but when we went outside and started walking somewhere... a bird pooped all over him; all over his face and hair and everything. Haha. Maybe I am not a perfect disciple of Christ, because I couldn’t help but laugh a little bit to myself. :)
I am doing well. My foot... is fine. It doesn’t hurt and I keep it clean, so it should be fine. The lady did cut part of my nail off, so the problem should be resolved after the cut on my toe heals. Don’t worry too much about that Mama.
I have hit the six month mark. Well… almost. That is so strange to me. From what I have heard... I just completed the absolute slowest part of the mission. Every missionary says that the next year and a half passes as quickly as the first six months. Weird. But, I am learning a lot and learning to love it.
I haven´t received a letter from Nick. I sent him one... I hope he got it. I still haven´t sent the one to Nathan Allan. I wrote it in April... but I keep forgetting to send it.
I got a letter from Hermana/Señora Collier! She is totally legit. I like her. I was pleased to hear about my friends that have mission calls, and also pleased to hear about the girls who have chosen not to go. The mission really isn´t for everyone. That is evident here. There are Hermana’s here that are only here because they lowered the age limit, not because they want to be. Perhaps I will talk more about that later.
I didn´t even tell you about our investigadora that is making all kinds of progress! And I don´t have time now! Shoot. Well, next week.
Elder Warren
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)