August 19, 2013
Mother!
It is always a pleasure to hear from you! Always. I like hearing about how things are going back at home. It sounds like things are going well, other than the fact that you are in pain. I will pray for you. We pray a lot, so you will be getting extra prayers. Have faith that the prayers will work and that the pain will go away!
Hey, this week was pretty good! I BUZZED my hair! Can you believe it? I am a baldy right now! But I like it. Maybe next week I will send you a photo of my hair. It is short. Some people have told me that they like it, and other people have said that they don’t really like it. But it is more convenient. Perhaps I will keep it this way for a while here on my mission.
Hey... The other thing that I need you to tell Megan Flinders is that she will not be getting a letter from me before she leaves. I wrote her a letter, but Correos de Chile is on strike! I have no idea how long they will not be working for, but they are still closed today. So…I think she will leave before the letter gets up there. Tell her that I will send it to her family and they can send it on to her.
With Correos de Chile on strike, you should hold off on sending the package. Yeah? Hey, I thought of something else you can put in there; threader floss, to floss my bottom teeth. That’s right, I still floss my teeth! You should be very proud!
Hey, the birthday (Elder Aburto) went really well. I bought him a cake and we ate it with the other missionaries. There were 14 of us, and we all sang and ate cake. It is crazy how quickly time passes. I will be 20 years old in like 3 months! Isn´t that nuts?
The water heater still isn´t fixed. Elder Aburto does the boiled water sponge bath, and I just use ice cold water to shower. It wakes me up in the morning that is for sure. We need to find a technician to come and fix it. We have the mamita... but she just gives us rice or beans every day. So… she isn´t my favorite person in the whole world. But hey, still losing weight.
LL Bean? LL Bean reminds me of you and all of your catalogs in the house. I do, in fact, have the alarm clock. One of the Elders in my district in the MTC hid it from me as a joke. But I have it. And it works.
Nick has a car? Are you serious! What a guy! That is so cool. We will never have a car here, or bikes. We are walkers, bus riders, and taxi takers. Haha. It’s all good though. I like walking. That gives me a chance to think.
I am glad the dog remembers who I am! That makes me happy! She is a good little dog. The dogs here are awful and diseased and they try and bite, but it is okay. There is a big dog that lives in front of our house. I think it is like a bull mastiff or something like that, a big boy. Haha.
I miss buying school supplies with you, too, mama. I always liked my school supplies. Here I get super excited every time I buy a new pen or a notebook.
This Saturday we will know the cambios. I will know if I am going or staying. I have a feeling that I will be staying here with the same companion. But we will see what happens. I like Villarica. But it would also be cool to go to another place, although, we probably live in the nicest house in the whole mission right now. Our house is really nice. Maybe I will send you a picture sometime.
I am good. I am healthy. I have short hair. I am happy. Time is flying by. Haha. Elder Aburto says the only way that I will be able to maintain my Spanish after the mission is if I marry a Latina girl. Haha. What do you think about that, Mama? They are very pretty. Haha... don´t worry though, I am not looking to get married. I am on a mission down here!
Elder Warren
Tatum! Hey, I wanted to say congrats on your mission call to Tennessee! You are going to become a real hick now. And you will love country music! Haha. I wrote you a letter, but like I said earlier... Chile mail system in on strike. So you won’t get it before you leave to Paris. Have fun studying over there! Ahh....you are doing such great things. You will do fantastic things as a misionera. Good luck. Keep in touch. I am proud of you. Thank you for always being a good friend.
Elder McKay Marble Warren~~ Chile Osorno Mission
Friday, August 23, 2013
I've Still Got It!
August 12, 2013
Mom!!
I want to start off by telling you not to put any kind of cream or vitamins in the package. It will get opened and inspected if you do that. Don´t worry, they sell that kind of stuff here. I am living in a pretty big city and there are like 10 farmacías. So I can get that kind of stuff. I would, though, like Twizzler Pull-n-Peel licorice! Licorice does not exist here.
Mom... You didn´t tell me that Jordan was working at the Guy Fierri Restaurant!! Isn´t that dude like famous? I have seen that restaurant on TV! That is so sweet! Nick would be dying if he knew that! Tell his mother to tell him. And ask if he got my second letter? It sounds like Jordan is doing well! Good for him! That is awesome.
I love the sleeping bag. It is great. I sleep so much warmer now! That is awesome. I gave a jar of peanut butter to Elder Aburto and I took mine to Correlación. We made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with sopaipillas! They were good! The sister missionary from Orem was so excited that I had peanut butter! Haha.
I still got it, Mama. I spoke in Sacrament Meeting yesterday. I spoke for about 15 minutes, and I had them all laughing. Haha. It was my first time speaking in Spanish in church, but it turned out really well. To answer your question: I am in a branch, not a ward. There are 523 members on the records, but only 20 come to church. Crazy, right? We have a lot of work to do here; A lot of work.
Hey, I also have been doing some singing lately. The Hermana’s de Ancahaul had a baptism, and my companion and I sang in a special musical number. We also sang a special musical number in Sacrament Meeting yesterday. We sang "Fe en Cada Paso" con las Hermana’s. It is the mission "theme song". It was fun!
I went on an intercambio con Elder Leatham this week. He has one cambio less on the mission than me. It was a lot of fun. Haha. We didn´t even speak in English the entire time! The only time that I speak English anymore is if I am teaching English Class. I teach those every Saturday.
We are busy here. There is a lot of work to do. It seems like we are always running from one place to another trying to get everything done. We have had to sprint back to the house almost every night to get back on time. We are working overtime here pretty much to get everything done. We get back to the house exhausted every single day.
Last week you were wondering about what I do every single day... I will dedicate an email in the future to tell you what my daily routine is.
I think that is all for this week. I have to go get my hair cut again because they did a really bad job last week. I think I am just going to have them buzz it.
Tell Brett I say hello. Mike Maddix sent me an email that said "we ate beans for dinner”. I laughed.
Elder Warren
Mom!!
I want to start off by telling you not to put any kind of cream or vitamins in the package. It will get opened and inspected if you do that. Don´t worry, they sell that kind of stuff here. I am living in a pretty big city and there are like 10 farmacías. So I can get that kind of stuff. I would, though, like Twizzler Pull-n-Peel licorice! Licorice does not exist here.
Mom... You didn´t tell me that Jordan was working at the Guy Fierri Restaurant!! Isn´t that dude like famous? I have seen that restaurant on TV! That is so sweet! Nick would be dying if he knew that! Tell his mother to tell him. And ask if he got my second letter? It sounds like Jordan is doing well! Good for him! That is awesome.
I love the sleeping bag. It is great. I sleep so much warmer now! That is awesome. I gave a jar of peanut butter to Elder Aburto and I took mine to Correlación. We made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with sopaipillas! They were good! The sister missionary from Orem was so excited that I had peanut butter! Haha.
I still got it, Mama. I spoke in Sacrament Meeting yesterday. I spoke for about 15 minutes, and I had them all laughing. Haha. It was my first time speaking in Spanish in church, but it turned out really well. To answer your question: I am in a branch, not a ward. There are 523 members on the records, but only 20 come to church. Crazy, right? We have a lot of work to do here; A lot of work.
Hey, I also have been doing some singing lately. The Hermana’s de Ancahaul had a baptism, and my companion and I sang in a special musical number. We also sang a special musical number in Sacrament Meeting yesterday. We sang "Fe en Cada Paso" con las Hermana’s. It is the mission "theme song". It was fun!
I went on an intercambio con Elder Leatham this week. He has one cambio less on the mission than me. It was a lot of fun. Haha. We didn´t even speak in English the entire time! The only time that I speak English anymore is if I am teaching English Class. I teach those every Saturday.
We are busy here. There is a lot of work to do. It seems like we are always running from one place to another trying to get everything done. We have had to sprint back to the house almost every night to get back on time. We are working overtime here pretty much to get everything done. We get back to the house exhausted every single day.
Last week you were wondering about what I do every single day... I will dedicate an email in the future to tell you what my daily routine is.
I think that is all for this week. I have to go get my hair cut again because they did a really bad job last week. I think I am just going to have them buzz it.
Tell Brett I say hello. Mike Maddix sent me an email that said "we ate beans for dinner”. I laughed.
Elder Warren
Friday, August 9, 2013
One Third
August 5, 2013
Mother!!!
I got your package on Saturday! How great is that?? Wow, it was like Christmas. I got your package and a bunch of letters all at the same time. I really like getting letters here. It is really exciting!! I got two from Tatum. I got another one from Megan, another one from Kinzie, and another one from Marissa. Ahhh... I just love feeling all of the support from my friends. They are all great!! Getting a letter is like getting a little boost of energy here in the mission. It is great. :)
In Megan´s letter she sent two pictures of her with her MISSION CALL!! Mom, she is going to Canada! How exciting is that? It makes me happy when girls who have the desire to serve make the decision to do so. It is so awesome! I bet you are thrilled to hear about that, because she was always your favorite. Haha. She leaves in September I think. I gotta write her a letter of congratulations today so she gets it before she leaves. Tatum also has been working on her mission papers! How neat! A mission is not for everyone, and not every girl should go, but I am pleased that some of my friends have made the decision to serve. :)
Today marks exactly 8 months as a missionary. 8 months ago you dropped me off at the MTC. 8 Months and 1 day ago I said goodbye to Makayla. It feels like that was only like a month ago. Time passes so freaking fast here in the mission. It is unreal! 1/3 of my mission is in the books. I have been living in Chile for 6 months. Each week passes faster than the last. Yesterday I was thinking about what I have done with my mission thus far. I was thinking about my progress, my Spanish, my teaching and all of that. Let’s just say that I speak Spanish fluently. I could survive here on my own. I understand what people are saying, and I can respond. Obviously there will always be more words and stuff that I can learn, but I speak with ease. My teaching has improved greatly. An investigator yesterday paid me a great compliment and said that he can tell that what I say comes from the heart and that I am telling the truth. It made me feel really good. That is the overall goal that people feel the spirit and believe what I am talking about.
I still have 2/3 of my mission left. I am going to do everything that I can to make the time count. I am going to keep working hard. I am not fully aware of the progress I have made because I live with myself every day. But I read back through my journals and have noticed that I have made some changes. It is kind of exciting to see that in myself.
I enjoyed your story about family history. That is really cool that you are taking more of an interest in it. It is important. Get a head start on that genealogy work because that is what your job will be in the millennium. Family History and Temple work. When I return, you will have to teach me how to do family history work so that I can help out.
Things here are going pretty well. The people I told you about last week are doing great. The man has changed so much from the first time we met him. We visited them yesterday and the lesson went really well. They are progressing. We are going back later in this week to celebrate Elder Aburto’s birthday with them. How neat is that? Also, we had THREE investigators in church yesterday. That was definitely great news. A man and his wife and their two kids (I know that is four, but the youngest isn`t technically an investigator because she is only two). He is like the Chilean version of Uncle Butch, but younger. Maybe I think that because he is a manly man and he works as a lumberjack. They had a good experience at church.
Tomorrow we are going to Valdivia for a capacitation with the President. That will be good... 6 hours of bus travel tomorrow. And we have to wake up at four in the morning. Great... Haha. It will be good.
In other news: I caught my shirt on fire the other day. Haha. It was actually really funny. I have no idea how it happened, but I wish I had it on video. I was making eggs and I lit the match to light the stove, and my shirt just ignited! Haha. That was definitely a journal entry I will enjoy reading in about 10 years. Haha.
The North Face? Mom… Expensive, don’t spend a lot of money on me. Haha. And it was a nice touch to put things in zip lock bags in the packages because things tend to get wet here. But the sleeping bag and everything arrived just fine. I liked the religious stickers you put on the box. Haha. In the package... my only other request would be little photos of Christ that they sell at Deseret Book? I don’t know. Haha.
Have an excellent week. I am doing well. The mamita doesn´t feed us well. I have lost 5 kilos... blessing in disguise. I love you and hope all is well. That baby is easily the cutest thing I have ever seen!!!! Ahhh…
Elder Warren
 |
| saludos desade Chile, Villarrica su hijo esta en nuestro sector y es muy bueno, aca lo queremos mucho, tenemos fotos de el. email and picture from member July 28, 2013 |
Mother!!!
I got your package on Saturday! How great is that?? Wow, it was like Christmas. I got your package and a bunch of letters all at the same time. I really like getting letters here. It is really exciting!! I got two from Tatum. I got another one from Megan, another one from Kinzie, and another one from Marissa. Ahhh... I just love feeling all of the support from my friends. They are all great!! Getting a letter is like getting a little boost of energy here in the mission. It is great. :)
In Megan´s letter she sent two pictures of her with her MISSION CALL!! Mom, she is going to Canada! How exciting is that? It makes me happy when girls who have the desire to serve make the decision to do so. It is so awesome! I bet you are thrilled to hear about that, because she was always your favorite. Haha. She leaves in September I think. I gotta write her a letter of congratulations today so she gets it before she leaves. Tatum also has been working on her mission papers! How neat! A mission is not for everyone, and not every girl should go, but I am pleased that some of my friends have made the decision to serve. :)
Today marks exactly 8 months as a missionary. 8 months ago you dropped me off at the MTC. 8 Months and 1 day ago I said goodbye to Makayla. It feels like that was only like a month ago. Time passes so freaking fast here in the mission. It is unreal! 1/3 of my mission is in the books. I have been living in Chile for 6 months. Each week passes faster than the last. Yesterday I was thinking about what I have done with my mission thus far. I was thinking about my progress, my Spanish, my teaching and all of that. Let’s just say that I speak Spanish fluently. I could survive here on my own. I understand what people are saying, and I can respond. Obviously there will always be more words and stuff that I can learn, but I speak with ease. My teaching has improved greatly. An investigator yesterday paid me a great compliment and said that he can tell that what I say comes from the heart and that I am telling the truth. It made me feel really good. That is the overall goal that people feel the spirit and believe what I am talking about.
I still have 2/3 of my mission left. I am going to do everything that I can to make the time count. I am going to keep working hard. I am not fully aware of the progress I have made because I live with myself every day. But I read back through my journals and have noticed that I have made some changes. It is kind of exciting to see that in myself.
I enjoyed your story about family history. That is really cool that you are taking more of an interest in it. It is important. Get a head start on that genealogy work because that is what your job will be in the millennium. Family History and Temple work. When I return, you will have to teach me how to do family history work so that I can help out.
Things here are going pretty well. The people I told you about last week are doing great. The man has changed so much from the first time we met him. We visited them yesterday and the lesson went really well. They are progressing. We are going back later in this week to celebrate Elder Aburto’s birthday with them. How neat is that? Also, we had THREE investigators in church yesterday. That was definitely great news. A man and his wife and their two kids (I know that is four, but the youngest isn`t technically an investigator because she is only two). He is like the Chilean version of Uncle Butch, but younger. Maybe I think that because he is a manly man and he works as a lumberjack. They had a good experience at church.
Tomorrow we are going to Valdivia for a capacitation with the President. That will be good... 6 hours of bus travel tomorrow. And we have to wake up at four in the morning. Great... Haha. It will be good.
In other news: I caught my shirt on fire the other day. Haha. It was actually really funny. I have no idea how it happened, but I wish I had it on video. I was making eggs and I lit the match to light the stove, and my shirt just ignited! Haha. That was definitely a journal entry I will enjoy reading in about 10 years. Haha.
The North Face? Mom… Expensive, don’t spend a lot of money on me. Haha. And it was a nice touch to put things in zip lock bags in the packages because things tend to get wet here. But the sleeping bag and everything arrived just fine. I liked the religious stickers you put on the box. Haha. In the package... my only other request would be little photos of Christ that they sell at Deseret Book? I don’t know. Haha.
Have an excellent week. I am doing well. The mamita doesn´t feed us well. I have lost 5 kilos... blessing in disguise. I love you and hope all is well. That baby is easily the cutest thing I have ever seen!!!! Ahhh…
Elder Warren
Kashayla Jane July 2013 (Elder Warren's Niece)
The Package Exists!
"The District" May 2013
July 29, 2013
Mom,
To answer your question about my companion, yes; Elder Aburto de Concepción, Chile. Haha. He is as close to his house as he can be and still be in another mission. It would be the equivalent of me serving in Saint George. Haha.
I am always very pleased to read your emails. They make me smile. I am so very happy that you made the choice to speak in Sacrament Meeting. That is so awesome. I knew you would do it. :)
I have excellent news!! The package that you sent me EXISTS!!!! It exists. I was starting to think that you were pulling my leg!! Haha. I still don´t have it yet, but I know that it exists. What happened was that they made a mistake in the office and sent my package to Rio Bueno. Who knows how long it has been there, but the Senior couple said they would bring it to me on Wednesday or Thursday. That is good news, right?? I am excited. But it makes me wonder how often my mail gets sent to the wrong sector. And there will be another package coming soon! How exciting. But I am telling you right now that this should be the last package, because I am becoming kind of spoiled. The reality is that I have everything that I need (except for a good rain jacket). Haha. How about every time you feel tempted to send me something, you can just deposit money in my account? ;) I will save it for a rainy day or something.
Ahhh… today is a good day. :) The sun is shining today. We went to the capilla and played basketball and ping pong with the other missionaries here. It reminded me of the old days with my friends. Haha. I also enjoyed reading the email that Carter sent home to his family. His dad forwards them to me. It sounds like he is doing well over there in Madagascar. I wonder if Nate or Dave have received the letters that I sent them yet. That is one thing that I don’t really like about the whole handwritten mail thing…. I never know if people get them because it takes so long to get there and then I have to wait for a handwritten response. Oh well. Hopefully everyone gets the letters that I send them.
I have a cool story about something that happened yesterday. We went and we knocked on this door. This really big and angry looking guy answered it and said, “What do you want?” He was very short with us and very rude to us actually. He started to shut the door in our face and then he paused… and then he said, “Come in.” I was thinking to myself, “Oh great, here we go again. This is probably some man of another religión that is going to try and bash on everything that we believe.” We went in and sat down on his couch and we started talking to him. He was still not very nice and pretty rude. Then his wife came in from the other room and she was so excited to see us. Like… super excited. She said, “I am shocked that he let you in! He usually is very unpleasant with the missionaries and tells them to go away.” Then he said, “I don´t really know why I let you in.” We started teaching them and telling them about how the Gospel of Jesus Christ blesses the familias and that familias can be eternal. They were listening to us. Then they both opened up and started talking to us. They said just before we had knocked on their door, they had been talking about getting divorced. The woman started to cry and she said, “And I know that you can help us.” We then watched a Mormon Message about the importance of the familias. By the end of the lesson, this man had completely changed from rude and unwelcoming, to interested and actively participating. At the end of the lesson he asked us if we would come back. It was incredible. That was definitely the Miracle of the week this past week.
In other news this past week: Our water heater doesn’t work. So... we have two options. We can either shower with freezing cold water, or we can boil water and do a sponge bath kind of thing. I switch off between the two. Flea bites leave scars… so I will always have souvenirs from my time here in Chile. I saw a drug deal happen right in front of me. I saw a dog get destroyed by a car and die. We are looking into getting a washing machine here in the house because there aren’t enough members here to do our laundry. There were only 17 people at church yesterday. I make my bed every day, even though I sleep on the top bunk. I sort of cut my own hair today, just so that I could say that I cut my own hair on the mission. Haha. It turned out quite nicely (I really only just cut a hair that the barber missed... Haha.)
About the Sister missionary that went home? I don´t know her. You said she was in my mission? I may have shaken her hand in a conference or something. Hmm... The food here is good. But if someone has a gluten problem, they wouldn´t survive here. All we eat is bread, pasta, rice, and potatoes.
I hope you have an excellent week. I love you to death, mom. The lady who sent you the photo wants to meet you. I talk to her about you. She used to be the mamita here, and she always takes good care of us.
Love,
Elder Warren
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