March 10, 2014
Mom!!!
Hey, I want you not to worry about me getting attacked by a dog!! I am fine. I thought it was hilarious. What we do here is, bend down to pretend to pick up a rock and they usually get scared and run away. Sometimes we do actually have to throw the rock, though. It is just fun.
This was a pretty good week, I guess. We haven’t seen much progress in the sector, actually. We teach a lot of people that don’t really have a lot of interest in what we do, but they like talking to us because we are funny gringos that are really friendly. Haha. Can you imagine me doing that mom? Sometimes it still boggles my mind that I go and knock somebodies door and just start talking with them and we become friends really quickly and they invite us over to watch soccer. (But we don’t go to do that, because it is against the rules.) But my personality has definitely changed from being a very shy person... to being quite social and good at talking to people. I guess it was like you always said, practice makes perfect... and I practice all day every single day. At first I really hated talking to other people, actually. I hated knocking doors. But now I think it is fun.
The weather here has been absolutely crazy the last few days. The wind is unreal!!!! Holy cow, it could easily blow a person over!! And mix that with rain! It is definitely an adventure here in Porvenir with the weather. It actually is a little challenging to do street contacts when there is such strong wind. But it is fun. Amazing the nature here.
I have been thinking a lot about "storms" lately. Not just the strong wind here, but also the storms of life that we have to face. There are a lot of difficulties in life. Here in Porvenir, too. But we have to learn to roll with it. Keep going. Keep walking, keep smiling, even though we are soaked and the wind is throwing the rain so hard in our face. We can’t give up, because we will lose blessings as missionaries. In life we can’t give up during the storms either, because we also will lose blessings. We just need to keep moving forward and look for the positive. Look for the beauty in the things that are happening. "Count your many blessings, name them one by one." I am reminded many times of the quote that you wanted engraved on the back of your iPod that said, "No Rain, No Rainbows". The hard times in life are all part of Gods plan. They are there for a number of reasons. Number one, so that we can learn to rely on Him. Two, so we can progress... there must be an opposition in all things in order to see strengthening and progression. And Three: so that we can learn to appreciate the good times and really be grateful for all that we have been blessed with.
Well, that is what I felt like writing today. I hope it makes sense. I will write more about investigators another day. But I hope you are okay. I hope you can find a new house to live in and that you will be happy. I wish I could be there to help you out with the hard things that are happening. Just know you are in my prayers.
Much love,
Elder Warren
Elder McKay Marble Warren~~ Chile Osorno Mission
Monday, March 31, 2014
Making History
March 3, 2014
Mom!!!!
I want you to know that I am doing just as well as ever. I am happy. I am healthy I think (or getting there at least), and we are working hard here. That is the good news.
I wanted to tell you a little story about how we made history this week. I think it is a Sunday that I will never forget in my entire lifetime. Ever. So we show up to church.... and there weren’t very many people there. The meeting started and there were just 10 people there, including my companion and me. It was the fast and testimony meeting. All 10 people bore their testimonies. All of them. I don’t know how frequently that happens, but 100 percent of the congregation bore their testimony yesterday. It was Porvenir History. Also, it may have been the shortest sacrament meeting I have ever been to. After everyone had shared their testimony, they ended the meeting. It only lasted 30 minutes!!! How nuts. I have kind of mixed feelings about this experience. On the one hand it is super depressing that none of the members come to church and that we didn’t have an investigator there. That was a downer. But I also think that it was one of the most spiritual meetings I have ever been in. I stood up there from the pulpit and I looked out at those other nine people and thought to myself, “Wow. I admire each and every one of you SO much. You are here. You are ALWAYS here. You are faithful. You come. You make the sacrifice. You are all diligent. You keep going forward, even when times are tough. And times seem to ALWAYS be tough here in Porvenir. But you all keep moving along. And why do you all do it? Why would you keep coming when you could so easily stay home? There is no support. There are no other primary kids. You are the Branch President that has been in the position for almost 20 years. You are the ONLY member of the Relief Society here in the building today. But you all still do it. Because you know this is true. You know this is where God wants you to be. You have experienced the conversion, and you are honoring your baptismal covenants. I admire each and every one of you." For me, it was a life-changing and an eye-opening experience.
Well, in other news... I almost got eaten by a Saint Bernard!!! I was petting it... and then it went crazy!! It started trying to bite me and I ran away from it and fell into a hole!!! It was super funny. I think that was the hardest that I have laughed in a long time. I wish it could have been filmed.
Aren’t you having surgery this week?? I thought that was supposed to be today. Good luck!!!
I really don’t need anything. I was thinking compression shorts, but I can just buy those here.
Elder Warren
Mom!!!!
I want you to know that I am doing just as well as ever. I am happy. I am healthy I think (or getting there at least), and we are working hard here. That is the good news.
I wanted to tell you a little story about how we made history this week. I think it is a Sunday that I will never forget in my entire lifetime. Ever. So we show up to church.... and there weren’t very many people there. The meeting started and there were just 10 people there, including my companion and me. It was the fast and testimony meeting. All 10 people bore their testimonies. All of them. I don’t know how frequently that happens, but 100 percent of the congregation bore their testimony yesterday. It was Porvenir History. Also, it may have been the shortest sacrament meeting I have ever been to. After everyone had shared their testimony, they ended the meeting. It only lasted 30 minutes!!! How nuts. I have kind of mixed feelings about this experience. On the one hand it is super depressing that none of the members come to church and that we didn’t have an investigator there. That was a downer. But I also think that it was one of the most spiritual meetings I have ever been in. I stood up there from the pulpit and I looked out at those other nine people and thought to myself, “Wow. I admire each and every one of you SO much. You are here. You are ALWAYS here. You are faithful. You come. You make the sacrifice. You are all diligent. You keep going forward, even when times are tough. And times seem to ALWAYS be tough here in Porvenir. But you all keep moving along. And why do you all do it? Why would you keep coming when you could so easily stay home? There is no support. There are no other primary kids. You are the Branch President that has been in the position for almost 20 years. You are the ONLY member of the Relief Society here in the building today. But you all still do it. Because you know this is true. You know this is where God wants you to be. You have experienced the conversion, and you are honoring your baptismal covenants. I admire each and every one of you." For me, it was a life-changing and an eye-opening experience.
Well, in other news... I almost got eaten by a Saint Bernard!!! I was petting it... and then it went crazy!! It started trying to bite me and I ran away from it and fell into a hole!!! It was super funny. I think that was the hardest that I have laughed in a long time. I wish it could have been filmed.
Aren’t you having surgery this week?? I thought that was supposed to be today. Good luck!!!
I really don’t need anything. I was thinking compression shorts, but I can just buy those here.
Elder Warren
Got the Package!!
 |
| Elder Powell and Elder Warren |
February 24, 2014
Mother!
We had another good week here! Nothing over significant happened. We worked in our sector. We invited many people to get baptized. Most of them said, "no" but hey... at least we are trying. We have some hippy friends that are really big into smoking marijuana and such. They are nice to us. They sing Reggae freestyle rap. They are really hard to teach though. They don’t like to commit to anything. We really don’t visit them often; like once every other week or so. We went there yesterday and they rapped for us. It was actually pretty sweet. Haha.
In other news there were only 13 members at church and... We didn't have any investigators at church... again. Ljubica didn't come. We even went to her house to get her before church but she was sleeping in. It is super hard, because she wants to get baptized but she has such bad influences in her life. Her family doesn't support her at all. She is trying to stop smoking, but all of her family member’s smoke 24/7. She tries to go to church, but her family throws parties late at night and stuff. But we will keep working with her.
I want you to know that I did get the package!!! I finally got it. I am going to get a thank you note written to the Gurr’s as soon as possible. Tell them that I've had a PB&J every day since I got the package!! They are really too kind. Wanna hear something else crazy about the mail system?? I just got a letter from Nick in Tahiti. It was POSTMARKED for the 13 of AUGUST. Can you believe that? It took over six months for his letter to get to me!!! That just blows my mind. I am thinking about writing him a letter, but if it is anything like last time... I won’t see a response before I finish my Mission!!!
I am just trying to think of anything noteworthy to tell you.... I don’t know. I am working on getting my second visa? That is not exciting though. I don’t like that kind of paperwork. We are still jogging every day? I got an email from Cole Pendleton? Is any of that exciting for you to know? Haha. I don’t really know. We basically do the same things every single day.
Well, have a good week. Be good. Read your scriptures, the Book of Mormon (2 chapters every day is what we are reading here. Everyone reads individually and then we have activities to see our progress in the branch.)
Elder Warren
 |
| Elder Warren and Elder Powell |
P.S. I might need some stuff, but I can’t remember what.
Elder Ballard...kind of!
February 17, 2014
Mamá,
Well, I will start off by telling you that we have been doing a lot of traveling. So we left Porvenir on Tuesday to come to Punta Arenas and drop off Elder Keetch at the airport. Elder Powell got here on Wednesday. We left Thursday for Porvenir again. But we had to come back yesterday for a special Mission Conference! Wanna hear who came?? Walter F. Gonzalez of the Seventy, Ronald A. Rasband of the Presidency of the Seventy and Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Twelve! Legit! They were all in the chapel in Puerto Varas up North. All of the missionaries from Pucon to Puerto Montt were actually present in the conference. We had to be there through satellite, Zona Punta Arenas and Zona Cohyaique (too far to pay for all of the plane rides). It was sweet, actually. Let me tell you about the miracle.
We were in the capilla, and it was like a conference call kind of thing. We could see them in the capilla in Puerto Varas y in Cohyaique. But there was some kind of a problem that we couldn't hear the people speaking from the pulpit in Puerto Varas. They were scrambling trying to fix it for like a half hour. Cohyaique also couldn’t hear anything. So then we all just knelt down. All 30 of us in Punta Arenas and all 24 in Cohyaique, saying a personal prayer that the transmission would work so that we could hear the words of the apostles and authorities. I looked up from my prayer for a second on the big screen to see all of us on the web cam and all of Cohyaique kneeling in prayer. It was POWERFUL; 54 missionaries praying as fervently as they could to be able to hear the instrucciones of the apostles. The spirit came into that room almost like I have never before felt in my life. We all finished praying. We are sitting there for like a minute and then.... boom. There is sound and we get to hear the conference! It was a miracle. It was seriously the coolest thing ever; definitely a highlight.
So, the talks were great. We will just say my whole perspective of the mission has changed. I am just so pumped up to keep working; To better my efforts; To increase my knowledge; To work hard; To keep going strong. It was definitely great to be "present" at this special mission conference.
Okay, so I will tell you a little bit about my companion. He is the coolest guy. He is from Heber. He is a soccer player, and I think that he is going to play in the university after the misión. He is super nice. 19 years old. He has 6 months on the mission. I think that he is an absolute missionary machine. He speaks the language really well; really well for the time that he has. He knows what he is doing. He talks to people. He works hard, which is awesome. He has a good, positive attitude. He is just a really good missionary. We get along really well. Really well.
The food here in Chile just isn’t very healthy. It is just all carbs; potatoes, rice, bread, sometimes I gain a little weight, but I lose it quickly. With Elder Powell, we get up a half hour early to leave to go jogging. So I am already losing a little bit of weight. I was totally going to send you a picture today, but I left my cable in Porvenir. So next week will be when I send pictures. Deal?
Wait... Lindsey Bills and Ethan Clark are getting married.... to each other? That is crazy!! Super crazy! I didn’t know that.
Hey, I sometimes worry about you having a back surgery like that while I am not there. Who is going to take care of you during your rehab?
Speaking of Elder Borup, we are sleeping in his house again tonight and tomorrow night, I think. It is always super nice to talk to him and remember all of the good times in Ovejería. He was a super good companion for me.
Hey, send Jordan a B-day shout out for me. I don’t have his email address and I haven’t sent a letter yet. Deal?
Well, have a good week. Be safe. Be good. Read your scriptures. Okay?
Elder Warren
Mamá,
Well, I will start off by telling you that we have been doing a lot of traveling. So we left Porvenir on Tuesday to come to Punta Arenas and drop off Elder Keetch at the airport. Elder Powell got here on Wednesday. We left Thursday for Porvenir again. But we had to come back yesterday for a special Mission Conference! Wanna hear who came?? Walter F. Gonzalez of the Seventy, Ronald A. Rasband of the Presidency of the Seventy and Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Twelve! Legit! They were all in the chapel in Puerto Varas up North. All of the missionaries from Pucon to Puerto Montt were actually present in the conference. We had to be there through satellite, Zona Punta Arenas and Zona Cohyaique (too far to pay for all of the plane rides). It was sweet, actually. Let me tell you about the miracle.
We were in the capilla, and it was like a conference call kind of thing. We could see them in the capilla in Puerto Varas y in Cohyaique. But there was some kind of a problem that we couldn't hear the people speaking from the pulpit in Puerto Varas. They were scrambling trying to fix it for like a half hour. Cohyaique also couldn’t hear anything. So then we all just knelt down. All 30 of us in Punta Arenas and all 24 in Cohyaique, saying a personal prayer that the transmission would work so that we could hear the words of the apostles and authorities. I looked up from my prayer for a second on the big screen to see all of us on the web cam and all of Cohyaique kneeling in prayer. It was POWERFUL; 54 missionaries praying as fervently as they could to be able to hear the instrucciones of the apostles. The spirit came into that room almost like I have never before felt in my life. We all finished praying. We are sitting there for like a minute and then.... boom. There is sound and we get to hear the conference! It was a miracle. It was seriously the coolest thing ever; definitely a highlight.
So, the talks were great. We will just say my whole perspective of the mission has changed. I am just so pumped up to keep working; To better my efforts; To increase my knowledge; To work hard; To keep going strong. It was definitely great to be "present" at this special mission conference.
Okay, so I will tell you a little bit about my companion. He is the coolest guy. He is from Heber. He is a soccer player, and I think that he is going to play in the university after the misión. He is super nice. 19 years old. He has 6 months on the mission. I think that he is an absolute missionary machine. He speaks the language really well; really well for the time that he has. He knows what he is doing. He talks to people. He works hard, which is awesome. He has a good, positive attitude. He is just a really good missionary. We get along really well. Really well.
The food here in Chile just isn’t very healthy. It is just all carbs; potatoes, rice, bread, sometimes I gain a little weight, but I lose it quickly. With Elder Powell, we get up a half hour early to leave to go jogging. So I am already losing a little bit of weight. I was totally going to send you a picture today, but I left my cable in Porvenir. So next week will be when I send pictures. Deal?
Wait... Lindsey Bills and Ethan Clark are getting married.... to each other? That is crazy!! Super crazy! I didn’t know that.
Hey, I sometimes worry about you having a back surgery like that while I am not there. Who is going to take care of you during your rehab?
Speaking of Elder Borup, we are sleeping in his house again tonight and tomorrow night, I think. It is always super nice to talk to him and remember all of the good times in Ovejería. He was a super good companion for me.
Hey, send Jordan a B-day shout out for me. I don’t have his email address and I haven’t sent a letter yet. Deal?
Well, have a good week. Be safe. Be good. Read your scriptures. Okay?
Elder Warren
Door Slams!!
February 10, 2014
Mom!!!!
Hey, I want you to know first of all that it has been about six week since I have been here with Elder Keetch. He is leaving tomorrow. He is headed to Puerto Montt. My new companion will be Elder Powell, also from Utah. I think he has like 6 months on the mission or so. Something like that. It will be good. We are going to travel to Punta Arenas tomorrow on the barcaza (ferryboat). We will probably return back to Porvenir on Thursday or so. So... there is that news.
This week... was interesting. Haha. It is really funny sometimes how things happen. We seriously had EVERY single appointment fall this week. All of them. Every single one of them. Like... not kidding. But it is okay, because we took advantage of that to get to know people. We talked to as many people as possible in the streets (the streets are usually fairly deserted here). We knocked a bunch of doors. Oh my goodness. This week, I got a ton of doors slammed in my face. Usually people are polite enough to end the conversation nicely. But here?? Nope. I will be talking and people scream "go away!!" and then they slam the door in our faces. Haha. I usually don’t really get upset by that. I just kind of laugh about it and say. "Otro dia será" (maybe another day) and then we just keep going. That is what you gotta do. You just got to keep going. Laugh. Keep a good attitude. I feel like that is the secret to life; Attitude and Effort.
Wanna hear one miracle that happened this week though? Okay, so we had a bunch of appointments set up for the day. Like four. ALL OF THEM fell. So we said, “pucha, what are we going to do now?" So then we decided to go out and to look for a reference that we had received. We didn’t really know how to get there. We were just told that the person lived a kilo metro outside of the city by some hotel thing and they had a white car. So we start walking. We didn’t know for sure how to get there. But we kept going and found a house by the little hotel and they had a white car. So we go and we knock the door. A lady holding a baby opened the door. We commented how cute her baby was. I said, “Hey, you are friends with Carolina!" She just looked at us and then told us to come in! That never happens! Usually the references here are a little chanta, but this one was good. We go in and we talk to her and her husband for a little while. We get to know them. And then we taught them the restoration. They paid attention and actually PARTICIPATED in the lesson. They made comments and asked questions and everything. That NEVER happens here in Chile; at least not in my mission. I have always had to work so hard just for the people to sit still in the lessons. Most people don’t pay much attention or participate at all. They just sit there while we talk and they usually don’t answer questions. But these people were different. They asked some awesome questions. They asked intelligent questions. I have a good feeling about them. We set up an appointment and we will visit them again this week. Okay, so what was the point of that story? This is the Lords work. Not ours. We had plans to do something, but that all fell through because God had something better for us to do. He had a family that we needed to go find and to teach. He is in charge. We are just working hard so we can be the instruments in His hands.
You asked what I meant when I said the members are disseminated. I think the big problem is that we are so far away from other church members. The branch is weak here because of it. We are a branch in the stake of Punta Arenas, and the stake leaders only travel out here when there is Branch Conference. So, the members feel abandoned out here. There is never any training from stake leaders for the members of the church here really. The Branch President here has been the Branch President for 17 years!! That is way too long! You usually are only in for like 5 years. But there simply isn’t anyone else here that can fill his spot. Also, materials never arrive. The new handbooks for Joseph Fielding Smith haven’t arrived still. So nobody prepares lessons or anything. It is just kind of sad. Church starts at 10:00 here. Yesterday, at 10:00 we were the only ones in the building with one old guy. The meeting started almost 20 minutes late. And that happens every single week. People just don’t come. And those that do don’t come on time. The people just seem worn down and not very happy. They actually don’t really like the missionaries either. They are just disseminated. But it is okay. It is teaching us a lot. We are working really hard to help the members. We are doing a program to read the Book of Mormon in 4 months! There are a couple of people that are sort of excited about that. I think it should help.
Well, that is all for me. I am happy. I am staying positive. This is good for me. I really have to put all of my effort into this place. I am doing what the Lord would have me do. I am gaining really good experience. This is good.
Be happy. Be safe. I love you and miss you.
Elder Warren
Mom!!!!
Hey, I want you to know first of all that it has been about six week since I have been here with Elder Keetch. He is leaving tomorrow. He is headed to Puerto Montt. My new companion will be Elder Powell, also from Utah. I think he has like 6 months on the mission or so. Something like that. It will be good. We are going to travel to Punta Arenas tomorrow on the barcaza (ferryboat). We will probably return back to Porvenir on Thursday or so. So... there is that news.
This week... was interesting. Haha. It is really funny sometimes how things happen. We seriously had EVERY single appointment fall this week. All of them. Every single one of them. Like... not kidding. But it is okay, because we took advantage of that to get to know people. We talked to as many people as possible in the streets (the streets are usually fairly deserted here). We knocked a bunch of doors. Oh my goodness. This week, I got a ton of doors slammed in my face. Usually people are polite enough to end the conversation nicely. But here?? Nope. I will be talking and people scream "go away!!" and then they slam the door in our faces. Haha. I usually don’t really get upset by that. I just kind of laugh about it and say. "Otro dia será" (maybe another day) and then we just keep going. That is what you gotta do. You just got to keep going. Laugh. Keep a good attitude. I feel like that is the secret to life; Attitude and Effort.
Wanna hear one miracle that happened this week though? Okay, so we had a bunch of appointments set up for the day. Like four. ALL OF THEM fell. So we said, “pucha, what are we going to do now?" So then we decided to go out and to look for a reference that we had received. We didn’t really know how to get there. We were just told that the person lived a kilo metro outside of the city by some hotel thing and they had a white car. So we start walking. We didn’t know for sure how to get there. But we kept going and found a house by the little hotel and they had a white car. So we go and we knock the door. A lady holding a baby opened the door. We commented how cute her baby was. I said, “Hey, you are friends with Carolina!" She just looked at us and then told us to come in! That never happens! Usually the references here are a little chanta, but this one was good. We go in and we talk to her and her husband for a little while. We get to know them. And then we taught them the restoration. They paid attention and actually PARTICIPATED in the lesson. They made comments and asked questions and everything. That NEVER happens here in Chile; at least not in my mission. I have always had to work so hard just for the people to sit still in the lessons. Most people don’t pay much attention or participate at all. They just sit there while we talk and they usually don’t answer questions. But these people were different. They asked some awesome questions. They asked intelligent questions. I have a good feeling about them. We set up an appointment and we will visit them again this week. Okay, so what was the point of that story? This is the Lords work. Not ours. We had plans to do something, but that all fell through because God had something better for us to do. He had a family that we needed to go find and to teach. He is in charge. We are just working hard so we can be the instruments in His hands.
You asked what I meant when I said the members are disseminated. I think the big problem is that we are so far away from other church members. The branch is weak here because of it. We are a branch in the stake of Punta Arenas, and the stake leaders only travel out here when there is Branch Conference. So, the members feel abandoned out here. There is never any training from stake leaders for the members of the church here really. The Branch President here has been the Branch President for 17 years!! That is way too long! You usually are only in for like 5 years. But there simply isn’t anyone else here that can fill his spot. Also, materials never arrive. The new handbooks for Joseph Fielding Smith haven’t arrived still. So nobody prepares lessons or anything. It is just kind of sad. Church starts at 10:00 here. Yesterday, at 10:00 we were the only ones in the building with one old guy. The meeting started almost 20 minutes late. And that happens every single week. People just don’t come. And those that do don’t come on time. The people just seem worn down and not very happy. They actually don’t really like the missionaries either. They are just disseminated. But it is okay. It is teaching us a lot. We are working really hard to help the members. We are doing a program to read the Book of Mormon in 4 months! There are a couple of people that are sort of excited about that. I think it should help.
Well, that is all for me. I am happy. I am staying positive. This is good for me. I really have to put all of my effort into this place. I am doing what the Lord would have me do. I am gaining really good experience. This is good.
Be happy. Be safe. I love you and miss you.
Elder Warren
No Nos Pescan
February 3, 2014
Hey Mama,
This week was a little bit tough. We are working really hard; harder than I have probably ever worked on my mission. We are working to find new investigators to teach. And...We haven’t found a single one since I arrived here, which is a bummer. We are talking to as many people as possible. We are doing contacts. We ask for references. But people here just don’t want anything to do with us at all. But hey, I am not letting that really get me down. I am working hard and I feel good about that. I know that if we keep working and looking for the revelation from God, things will turn around here. I know that we just need to be patient and faithful always.
Hey, there were 17 at church here yesterday. We still haven’t broken twenty in church yet. It is a super weird thing. The members just... stopped coming to church like two months ago. And we don’t really know why. They are all super disseminated. We are working really hard to try and strengthen the members. We have started a Book of Mormon reading program where everyone in the branch is going to read the Book of Mormon in 4 months. They all had to sign contracts and everything. We will see how that goes. I have faith that if all the members start reading the Book of Mormon here.... this place will change. There will be excitement once again. We will start seeing real growth in the church. And actually, President Rappleye told me that if they start reading the Book of Mormon as a branch, the number of baptisms will go up. There is truth to that. There is a power that begins to flow into the life of an individual once they start a serious study of the Book of Mormon. I testify of that. It has happened in my own personal life here on the mission.
Hey, I heard about the Super bowl Sunday today! I had completely forgotten that it was going to happen yesterday. I actually didn’t even know which teams were in there. But Cool! It just made me think of your homemade wings for some reason. You are going to have to make those for me again sometime when I get home... in less than 10 months now! Crazy (with the cambios the way they are I will probably be home the 27th of November). I have been in Chile for like a whole year now! Time is passing too quickly.
I love you and hope everything is well. You are in my prayers and your letter is in the mail.
Elder Warren
Hey Mama,
This week was a little bit tough. We are working really hard; harder than I have probably ever worked on my mission. We are working to find new investigators to teach. And...We haven’t found a single one since I arrived here, which is a bummer. We are talking to as many people as possible. We are doing contacts. We ask for references. But people here just don’t want anything to do with us at all. But hey, I am not letting that really get me down. I am working hard and I feel good about that. I know that if we keep working and looking for the revelation from God, things will turn around here. I know that we just need to be patient and faithful always.
Hey, there were 17 at church here yesterday. We still haven’t broken twenty in church yet. It is a super weird thing. The members just... stopped coming to church like two months ago. And we don’t really know why. They are all super disseminated. We are working really hard to try and strengthen the members. We have started a Book of Mormon reading program where everyone in the branch is going to read the Book of Mormon in 4 months. They all had to sign contracts and everything. We will see how that goes. I have faith that if all the members start reading the Book of Mormon here.... this place will change. There will be excitement once again. We will start seeing real growth in the church. And actually, President Rappleye told me that if they start reading the Book of Mormon as a branch, the number of baptisms will go up. There is truth to that. There is a power that begins to flow into the life of an individual once they start a serious study of the Book of Mormon. I testify of that. It has happened in my own personal life here on the mission.
Hey, I heard about the Super bowl Sunday today! I had completely forgotten that it was going to happen yesterday. I actually didn’t even know which teams were in there. But Cool! It just made me think of your homemade wings for some reason. You are going to have to make those for me again sometime when I get home... in less than 10 months now! Crazy (with the cambios the way they are I will probably be home the 27th of November). I have been in Chile for like a whole year now! Time is passing too quickly.
I love you and hope everything is well. You are in my prayers and your letter is in the mail.
Elder Warren
Se Bautizo!!!
January 27, 2014
Mom!!!
Hey! I have good news! And you already know because I sent you the pictures first! But Cristian got baptized!!!! And Confirmed!! It was legit. Elder Keetch baptized him on Saturday and I confirmed him on Sunday in sacrament meeting. It was a really cool experience. I was really happy to see all of it. Haha. The only thing that is a little sad for me is that none of the members really came to support Cristian in his baptism. Elder Keetch and I worked super hard to plan everything. We even had programs made and printed. And guess what...? Nobody showed up; just the Branch President and a few other people. Oh boy... the Branch President was TICKED!!! He stood up on Sunday in sacrament meeting and threw some serious palos at the members. Holy cow! I have never seen anything like that in my life. The dude stands up after the sacrament and just starts ripping all of the members a new one for their lack of enthusiasm and commitment. It was awesome!!!! I don’t know if Branch Presidents are really allowed to stand up for 45 minutes in sacrament meeting and do that, but it was sweet.
In other news this week...I got a haircut. I buzzed my head again. The wind here is out of control. (Usually like 80 mph) super fuerte. So I got sick of my hair always getting messed up due to the wind. So it is nice and short. Haha. Nice and short. But I like it; although, I have the fear that I might go bald in a few years. Haha.
Mom, I want you to know that I am doing well. I don’t need anything. I am doing fine. We are getting up to play basketball every single morning. We eat a lot of cookies. We sometimes beat box and write funny rap songs at night, just to keep ourselves entertained. We make funny videos on my camera. I will show them to you someday.
I am glad that you had fun with the Borup’s. Cool son must equal cool parents. That is a fact. Hey, I got Adrienne’s Christmas card. Tell her thank you. Her kids are cute. We make pasta a lot with hot dogs in it. Also, we eat beans almost every single day here. I don’t like them at all because they make me sick to my stomach. But, it does serve me to lower my weight a little bit.
Sorry it is a little short this week. I had a lot to read and a couple emails to write. I had to write a long one to the Mission President this week. But hey, be good. Read your scriptures. Pray. Don’t miss me too much. I love you.
Much Love,
Elder Warren
 |
| Elder Keetch, Cristian, Elder Warren |
Hey! I have good news! And you already know because I sent you the pictures first! But Cristian got baptized!!!! And Confirmed!! It was legit. Elder Keetch baptized him on Saturday and I confirmed him on Sunday in sacrament meeting. It was a really cool experience. I was really happy to see all of it. Haha. The only thing that is a little sad for me is that none of the members really came to support Cristian in his baptism. Elder Keetch and I worked super hard to plan everything. We even had programs made and printed. And guess what...? Nobody showed up; just the Branch President and a few other people. Oh boy... the Branch President was TICKED!!! He stood up on Sunday in sacrament meeting and threw some serious palos at the members. Holy cow! I have never seen anything like that in my life. The dude stands up after the sacrament and just starts ripping all of the members a new one for their lack of enthusiasm and commitment. It was awesome!!!! I don’t know if Branch Presidents are really allowed to stand up for 45 minutes in sacrament meeting and do that, but it was sweet.
In other news this week...I got a haircut. I buzzed my head again. The wind here is out of control. (Usually like 80 mph) super fuerte. So I got sick of my hair always getting messed up due to the wind. So it is nice and short. Haha. Nice and short. But I like it; although, I have the fear that I might go bald in a few years. Haha.
Mom, I want you to know that I am doing well. I don’t need anything. I am doing fine. We are getting up to play basketball every single morning. We eat a lot of cookies. We sometimes beat box and write funny rap songs at night, just to keep ourselves entertained. We make funny videos on my camera. I will show them to you someday.
I am glad that you had fun with the Borup’s. Cool son must equal cool parents. That is a fact. Hey, I got Adrienne’s Christmas card. Tell her thank you. Her kids are cute. We make pasta a lot with hot dogs in it. Also, we eat beans almost every single day here. I don’t like them at all because they make me sick to my stomach. But, it does serve me to lower my weight a little bit.
Sorry it is a little short this week. I had a lot to read and a couple emails to write. I had to write a long one to the Mission President this week. But hey, be good. Read your scriptures. Pray. Don’t miss me too much. I love you.
Much Love,
Elder Warren
 |
| Elder Keetch, Cristian, Isabel, Antonela, Elder Warren |
Wedding!!
January 20, 2014
Mamita,
Hey, this week was a pretty good week. We spent like half of the week in Punta Arenas. We stayed in the Zone Leader’s house along with the Elders from Puerto Natales. Six Elders in a house that is built for 2!!! Haha. We were there for three nights. The interviews were fine. President just gave me advice about how to work with the branch here to be able to strengthen it. There is definitely some strengthening to be done here. There were like 15 Members at church, us, and one investigator. The asistencia is super low here. But, it is alright. We are working on that. But anyway, I didn't actually get to leave to work with Elder Borup. I left with his companion one day, and with Elder Monson another day. He is from Pleasant Grove. Oh, and to answer your question...President travels the whole mission once every six weeks. So he comes to Punta Arenas once every six weeks, but he never comes to Porvenir. I think he came here only once when he first got to the mission, so almost three years ago. He goes home in June, I think. They already called the new Mission President. UN Mexicano. I can’t remember his name.
We made it back in time for the wedding!!! That was sweet. I sent you a picture so that you could see. They are cool people and I was super happy to see them make the decision to get married. She is a member, and he is going to get baptized on Saturday. They already have the date to go to the temple in like a year! Super exciting! But during the wedding I couldn't really help but think to myself that I want to go about getting married in a different way. In the temple the first time before I have kids. Haha. But it was sweet. After the wedding we had an activity in the capilla to help them celebrate! It was sweet. We made brownies from scratch, and they actually turned out really well. They were really good.
Porvenireños.... are interesting people. Most people here are extremely unfriendly. In other sectores it is easy to talk to 30 or more new people in a day. Here.... we are lucky if we talk to 5 new people. If we knock 20 doors, 19 of them won’t even be opened. So... it is difficult. Almost every single person here has already heard all about the missionaries and wants nothing to do with us. Haha. But we still try and talk to them anyway. There ARE people here that need the gospel. There ARE people here that are ready to hear it, but we just have to be patient and keep looking for them. So that is what we will do.
Hey, that is fantastic news that you are reading the Book of Mormon again. Read it. Every single day. I do it. That is what keeps me going. I love the Book of Mormon. I read it... a lot. Haha. Whenever I have time I try to read it. So keep on that, and I guarantee that you will see the blessings.
Hey, have a good week! Hope you are doing well. Enjoy dinner with the Borup’s. Tell them I say hi. And... I haven’t really received my package yet. We don’t see mail too often down here. It is probably in the office in Osorno, though. No worries.
Elder Warren
Mamita,
Hey, this week was a pretty good week. We spent like half of the week in Punta Arenas. We stayed in the Zone Leader’s house along with the Elders from Puerto Natales. Six Elders in a house that is built for 2!!! Haha. We were there for three nights. The interviews were fine. President just gave me advice about how to work with the branch here to be able to strengthen it. There is definitely some strengthening to be done here. There were like 15 Members at church, us, and one investigator. The asistencia is super low here. But, it is alright. We are working on that. But anyway, I didn't actually get to leave to work with Elder Borup. I left with his companion one day, and with Elder Monson another day. He is from Pleasant Grove. Oh, and to answer your question...President travels the whole mission once every six weeks. So he comes to Punta Arenas once every six weeks, but he never comes to Porvenir. I think he came here only once when he first got to the mission, so almost three years ago. He goes home in June, I think. They already called the new Mission President. UN Mexicano. I can’t remember his name.
We made it back in time for the wedding!!! That was sweet. I sent you a picture so that you could see. They are cool people and I was super happy to see them make the decision to get married. She is a member, and he is going to get baptized on Saturday. They already have the date to go to the temple in like a year! Super exciting! But during the wedding I couldn't really help but think to myself that I want to go about getting married in a different way. In the temple the first time before I have kids. Haha. But it was sweet. After the wedding we had an activity in the capilla to help them celebrate! It was sweet. We made brownies from scratch, and they actually turned out really well. They were really good.
Porvenireños.... are interesting people. Most people here are extremely unfriendly. In other sectores it is easy to talk to 30 or more new people in a day. Here.... we are lucky if we talk to 5 new people. If we knock 20 doors, 19 of them won’t even be opened. So... it is difficult. Almost every single person here has already heard all about the missionaries and wants nothing to do with us. Haha. But we still try and talk to them anyway. There ARE people here that need the gospel. There ARE people here that are ready to hear it, but we just have to be patient and keep looking for them. So that is what we will do.
Hey, that is fantastic news that you are reading the Book of Mormon again. Read it. Every single day. I do it. That is what keeps me going. I love the Book of Mormon. I read it... a lot. Haha. Whenever I have time I try to read it. So keep on that, and I guarantee that you will see the blessings.
Hey, have a good week! Hope you are doing well. Enjoy dinner with the Borup’s. Tell them I say hi. And... I haven’t really received my package yet. We don’t see mail too often down here. It is probably in the office in Osorno, though. No worries.
Elder Warren
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Porvenireno
January 13, 2013
Mama,
Hey, this week was a pretty good week here in Porvenir. This place is so small. Super small. Haha. I think I will take a second to answer the questions that you had asked me.
Do you need your sunglasses? No, haha. I am okay.
Is it sunny every day? It isn't sunny every single day. But the weather changes super-fast, from raining to sunny. But... you can get sunburn when it is cloudy.
Are the days long or short? Sunrise/sunset (Is it like Alaska?) Super long. There is sun until like 11:30 p.m. and the sun is up by like 4:00 a.m.
Is it snowy? There is no snow right now. It has been like 36-45 degrees. Something like that.
Do you live close to the water? We live like a few blocks from the water. There are tsunami warning signs everywhere.
What are the houses like? The houses are all old and colorful. All the roofs of the houses are different colors.
Do you live with some members or in an apartment? We live in our own house. It is super nice, actually. But we live on the Branch Presidents property.
What kinds of exercise do you do besides walking? We do a huge amount of push-ups and sit ups; Tons of them. We also use my exercise bands to do arms and such. I do like...30 minutes of Cardio (plyometrics) every day.
Is the food there any different? It is a little different. We still eat beans a lot. But here... we never eat fruits or vegetables because they basically don’t exist.
Was your companion new to Porvenir also? This is his second cambio here.
Do you have a car, phone, and computer? We do not have a car. Our phone??? Super dinosaur; Super old school. We don’t have a computer. We email on the computer in the church.
This place is really different compared to other sectors. We are on the island of Tierra del Fuego. We are legitimately an hour’s plane ride away from Antarctica. Isn't that crazy? The king penguins live here!!!!! The big ones!! I am already making the arrangements to go see them. We know a guy who just went to see them and there are THOUSANDS of penguins here. But they are like two hours away The way people speak Spanish here is a lot different here as well; a TON faster, which is incredible because Chileans already speak super-fast. SUPER fast. But it is all good.
The work here is going alright. It is a sector that has a lot of challenges. A lot. We had 15 members at church yesterday... which isn't very many. But we are working on that. Actually, I do have some good news. We are going to have a wedding on Friday and a baptism shortly after. One of our investigators is getting married and is going to get baptized! He is pretty cool his name is Cristian. He has a mullet. I am jealous. Ha.
This week we are going to Punta Arenas for interviews with President. We are leaving on the boat tomorrow at 7 p.m. We will be returning from Punta Arenas on the boat on Friday morning, and we should get back just in time for the wedding. But, we also got permission to take an avioneta (a 15 passenger plane) if all fails so we can make it back to the wedding. How legit? Right? We will be in Punta Arenas for a few days and I will be going on an intercambio with Elder BORUP!!!! How sweet is that! Also, we will get to go to district meeting. We aren't usually allowed to go... because it costs like 40 bucks to travel from the island to Punta Arenas and back!
Hey, I am glad everyone enjoyed the Christmas cards! That is why I made them. It took me FOREVER to draw on the back of all of those! A really long time! So I am glad that everyone likes them.
Hey... I gotta go. I am going to try and send a picture. Dropbox doesn't work on this computer... so patience. :)
Elder Warren
P.S. Sorry it was short today... I had a ton of emails to read today... and I can’t print them. So I just have to read them.
 |
| LDS Church Porvenir, Chile |
Mama,
Hey, this week was a pretty good week here in Porvenir. This place is so small. Super small. Haha. I think I will take a second to answer the questions that you had asked me.
Do you need your sunglasses? No, haha. I am okay.
Is it sunny every day? It isn't sunny every single day. But the weather changes super-fast, from raining to sunny. But... you can get sunburn when it is cloudy.
Are the days long or short? Sunrise/sunset (Is it like Alaska?) Super long. There is sun until like 11:30 p.m. and the sun is up by like 4:00 a.m.
Is it snowy? There is no snow right now. It has been like 36-45 degrees. Something like that.
Do you live close to the water? We live like a few blocks from the water. There are tsunami warning signs everywhere.
What are the houses like? The houses are all old and colorful. All the roofs of the houses are different colors.
Do you live with some members or in an apartment? We live in our own house. It is super nice, actually. But we live on the Branch Presidents property.
What kinds of exercise do you do besides walking? We do a huge amount of push-ups and sit ups; Tons of them. We also use my exercise bands to do arms and such. I do like...30 minutes of Cardio (plyometrics) every day.
Is the food there any different? It is a little different. We still eat beans a lot. But here... we never eat fruits or vegetables because they basically don’t exist.
Was your companion new to Porvenir also? This is his second cambio here.
Do you have a car, phone, and computer? We do not have a car. Our phone??? Super dinosaur; Super old school. We don’t have a computer. We email on the computer in the church.
 |
| P-day Donuts and Ping Pong |
This place is really different compared to other sectors. We are on the island of Tierra del Fuego. We are legitimately an hour’s plane ride away from Antarctica. Isn't that crazy? The king penguins live here!!!!! The big ones!! I am already making the arrangements to go see them. We know a guy who just went to see them and there are THOUSANDS of penguins here. But they are like two hours away The way people speak Spanish here is a lot different here as well; a TON faster, which is incredible because Chileans already speak super-fast. SUPER fast. But it is all good.
The work here is going alright. It is a sector that has a lot of challenges. A lot. We had 15 members at church yesterday... which isn't very many. But we are working on that. Actually, I do have some good news. We are going to have a wedding on Friday and a baptism shortly after. One of our investigators is getting married and is going to get baptized! He is pretty cool his name is Cristian. He has a mullet. I am jealous. Ha.
This week we are going to Punta Arenas for interviews with President. We are leaving on the boat tomorrow at 7 p.m. We will be returning from Punta Arenas on the boat on Friday morning, and we should get back just in time for the wedding. But, we also got permission to take an avioneta (a 15 passenger plane) if all fails so we can make it back to the wedding. How legit? Right? We will be in Punta Arenas for a few days and I will be going on an intercambio with Elder BORUP!!!! How sweet is that! Also, we will get to go to district meeting. We aren't usually allowed to go... because it costs like 40 bucks to travel from the island to Punta Arenas and back!
Hey, I am glad everyone enjoyed the Christmas cards! That is why I made them. It took me FOREVER to draw on the back of all of those! A really long time! So I am glad that everyone likes them.
Hey... I gotta go. I am going to try and send a picture. Dropbox doesn't work on this computer... so patience. :)
Elder Warren
P.S. Sorry it was short today... I had a ton of emails to read today... and I can’t print them. So I just have to read them.
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
I Am On A Different Planet!!
January 6, 2014
Mom!!!!
Hey... I have a ton to tell you! Holy cow!! I am definitely down very, very far away. I am with Elder Keetch from Lehi. He is super sweet; a really good missionary. We are getting along really well. Things are different down here. There have been a lot of changes. I guess I will start from the beginning.
So last Sunday I gave a talk in church in Ovejería. I cried like a baby when I announced to the ward that Elder Borup and I were going to be leaving. All the members were super sad, and the majority of the women were all crying in sacrament meeting. It really was one of the hardest goodbyes of my entire life. I felt SO at home in Ovejería with Elder Borup and the members. It was so nice being in a strong ward where the members work hard and are strong. I made some friends for life up there in Ovejería. I am actually still really sad that I am not there, but I am sure that will go away when I get adjusted to the life down here. The members threw a huge going away party for Elder Borup and I on Monday. That was really nice of them.
So now...the traveling... We got all of our suitcases weighed and down to the bus station. We sent one suit case each for Tour Bus, so that suitcase will get here in like a month. We traveled with seven in total down here. We went from Osorno to Puerto Montt. Then we went to the airport in Puerto Montt. We flew down from 90 degree weather to Punta Arenas where it is like 30 degrees right now. I was actually thinking about it... I will not have a summer for three years. I left in the dead of winter to the mission to get to Chile in the end of summer. Then I passed the whole winter here. Then we were starting to get into summer, and I get sent down to Punta Arenas where it is freezing. Then I will probably go back up north in like six months for winter again. And then when I will be approaching summer again here in Chile....then I will go home to Utah to the winter. Crazy.
So we took a shuttle from the airport to one of the church buildings to meet up with our companions. Elder Keetch and I went to the Zone Leaders house because we couldn’t leave to Porvenir because there is only one boat that comes here a day. So we went and dropped off the bags, and then went to the grocery store to buy food for the next month. We dropped like 70 bucks on cereal and stuff. There isn’t a real grocery store here in Porvenir. And everything is super expensive here, so that is why we stock up when we go to Punta Arenas. We only go there once every transfer cycle. So once every six weeks. Crazy. We never see other missionaries; go to trainings or meetings... nothing. It is different. But, I have to tell you a story now.
The story I will tell you now might freak you out just a little bit, but I feel like I should tell you. It was actually one of the coolest experiences on my entire mission. But don’t worry, promise? Okay, so Elder Keetch and I finished buying our groceries and we went back to the Zone Leaders house in Punta Arenas. We dropped the stuff off and it was 9:25. We thought "great, we have five minutes to go out and do two contacts." So we go out and we have no idea where we are going because it wasn’t our sector. So we start walking and we both feel like we should turn left. We started walking and we didn’t see anyone in the street. Elder Keetch said "dude, there isn’t anybody here." I said we should keep going because something would turn up. Then we did one contact and the guy was rude, but we kept going. Then the Zone Leaders come around the corner. We start walking with them back to the house when a group of men come up to us and start screaming at us. They went after Elder Vazquez. He is the new Zone Leader and it was his first day in the sector. The guy kept getting in his face and we all said, "We don’t want any problems, we are just trying to walk home." The dude then slammed Elder Vazquez up against the wall and pulls out a knife. So I jump in between them and shove the guy and say, "Look, we don’t want any trouble with you. Leave. Now." (I was much bigger than him). He started yelling at me, waving his knife around. Then his friend comes up and punches me in the face. I just stood there and said, "Calm down." He punched me again. I then repeated to him "Calm down." And so then I get punched a third time. So then I look him right in the eye and say, "You better leave. Right now." He yelled something else... and then they all left and we walked home. I kept my cool. I was really tempted to wreck the dude’s life when he punched me, but something held me back. I was calm the entire time. The thought came to me that if I had hit him; the missionaries would have even more problems in the future with the gang. But anyway, looking back on the experience.... It was awesome. Here is why. We got back to the house, and we decided to be obedient and leave for the last five minutes to work, even though we weren’t in our sector. We chose to be obedient, and because of it we were led by the spirit of where to go. We didn’t know why we needed to turn left, but we felt like we should and we followed the prompting. Heavenly Father led us to the Zone Leaders. If we wouldn’t have shown up, it would have been just two missionaries instead of four; and the way that the guy went after Elder Vazquez..... Elder Vazquez probably would have ended up getting stabbed. It is crazy. The Lord takes care of His missionaries. He sent us to prevent something really bad from happening to one of our fellow missionaries.
So... then the next day we go to take the boat to Porvenir. It is like a three hour boat ride. We saw some whales on the way, and some dolphin looking things. We get here.... and it is like a deserted little town. There are only like 4000 inhabitants; tiny. And the church here? It is super weak. There were 12 people at church yesterday. There is so much work to do here. The members are all inactive. The active members (all 12 of them) are super disseminated. We’ve got so much work to do here. Porvenir is notorious for being the hardest sector in the mission. Having only 4000 people in the town and a SUPER weak branch.... it makes missionary work tough. We walk around all day and see absolutely nobody in the street. In Osorno, we were talking to a ton of people in the streets all the time. This place is super calm and tranquillo, so don’t worry about me getting hurt or anything. Lots of the great leaders of our mission have spent time down here. It is a place of growth. It is a place to learn. It is a place where we can become better people. We are totally alone down here, so we HAVE to rely on God and His power and His comfort.
There is a hole in the ozone layer here. The sun is super strong. You get sunburned when it is cloudy. We put on buckets of sunscreen. We are having... fun. We do a lot of exercises. We are playing ping pong here. (And yes... packages take a long time to get to Punta Arenas, and even longer to get here because we never go to Punta Arenas.)
I am happy that you got my package and that you already delivered the stuff!!! You are awesome. That is why you are my momma. I always look forward to your emails and hearing from you. I might write you a handwritten letter today. I hope you are doing awesome. :)
Elder Warren
Mom!!!!
Hey... I have a ton to tell you! Holy cow!! I am definitely down very, very far away. I am with Elder Keetch from Lehi. He is super sweet; a really good missionary. We are getting along really well. Things are different down here. There have been a lot of changes. I guess I will start from the beginning.
So last Sunday I gave a talk in church in Ovejería. I cried like a baby when I announced to the ward that Elder Borup and I were going to be leaving. All the members were super sad, and the majority of the women were all crying in sacrament meeting. It really was one of the hardest goodbyes of my entire life. I felt SO at home in Ovejería with Elder Borup and the members. It was so nice being in a strong ward where the members work hard and are strong. I made some friends for life up there in Ovejería. I am actually still really sad that I am not there, but I am sure that will go away when I get adjusted to the life down here. The members threw a huge going away party for Elder Borup and I on Monday. That was really nice of them.
So now...the traveling... We got all of our suitcases weighed and down to the bus station. We sent one suit case each for Tour Bus, so that suitcase will get here in like a month. We traveled with seven in total down here. We went from Osorno to Puerto Montt. Then we went to the airport in Puerto Montt. We flew down from 90 degree weather to Punta Arenas where it is like 30 degrees right now. I was actually thinking about it... I will not have a summer for three years. I left in the dead of winter to the mission to get to Chile in the end of summer. Then I passed the whole winter here. Then we were starting to get into summer, and I get sent down to Punta Arenas where it is freezing. Then I will probably go back up north in like six months for winter again. And then when I will be approaching summer again here in Chile....then I will go home to Utah to the winter. Crazy.
So we took a shuttle from the airport to one of the church buildings to meet up with our companions. Elder Keetch and I went to the Zone Leaders house because we couldn’t leave to Porvenir because there is only one boat that comes here a day. So we went and dropped off the bags, and then went to the grocery store to buy food for the next month. We dropped like 70 bucks on cereal and stuff. There isn’t a real grocery store here in Porvenir. And everything is super expensive here, so that is why we stock up when we go to Punta Arenas. We only go there once every transfer cycle. So once every six weeks. Crazy. We never see other missionaries; go to trainings or meetings... nothing. It is different. But, I have to tell you a story now.
The story I will tell you now might freak you out just a little bit, but I feel like I should tell you. It was actually one of the coolest experiences on my entire mission. But don’t worry, promise? Okay, so Elder Keetch and I finished buying our groceries and we went back to the Zone Leaders house in Punta Arenas. We dropped the stuff off and it was 9:25. We thought "great, we have five minutes to go out and do two contacts." So we go out and we have no idea where we are going because it wasn’t our sector. So we start walking and we both feel like we should turn left. We started walking and we didn’t see anyone in the street. Elder Keetch said "dude, there isn’t anybody here." I said we should keep going because something would turn up. Then we did one contact and the guy was rude, but we kept going. Then the Zone Leaders come around the corner. We start walking with them back to the house when a group of men come up to us and start screaming at us. They went after Elder Vazquez. He is the new Zone Leader and it was his first day in the sector. The guy kept getting in his face and we all said, "We don’t want any problems, we are just trying to walk home." The dude then slammed Elder Vazquez up against the wall and pulls out a knife. So I jump in between them and shove the guy and say, "Look, we don’t want any trouble with you. Leave. Now." (I was much bigger than him). He started yelling at me, waving his knife around. Then his friend comes up and punches me in the face. I just stood there and said, "Calm down." He punched me again. I then repeated to him "Calm down." And so then I get punched a third time. So then I look him right in the eye and say, "You better leave. Right now." He yelled something else... and then they all left and we walked home. I kept my cool. I was really tempted to wreck the dude’s life when he punched me, but something held me back. I was calm the entire time. The thought came to me that if I had hit him; the missionaries would have even more problems in the future with the gang. But anyway, looking back on the experience.... It was awesome. Here is why. We got back to the house, and we decided to be obedient and leave for the last five minutes to work, even though we weren’t in our sector. We chose to be obedient, and because of it we were led by the spirit of where to go. We didn’t know why we needed to turn left, but we felt like we should and we followed the prompting. Heavenly Father led us to the Zone Leaders. If we wouldn’t have shown up, it would have been just two missionaries instead of four; and the way that the guy went after Elder Vazquez..... Elder Vazquez probably would have ended up getting stabbed. It is crazy. The Lord takes care of His missionaries. He sent us to prevent something really bad from happening to one of our fellow missionaries.
So... then the next day we go to take the boat to Porvenir. It is like a three hour boat ride. We saw some whales on the way, and some dolphin looking things. We get here.... and it is like a deserted little town. There are only like 4000 inhabitants; tiny. And the church here? It is super weak. There were 12 people at church yesterday. There is so much work to do here. The members are all inactive. The active members (all 12 of them) are super disseminated. We’ve got so much work to do here. Porvenir is notorious for being the hardest sector in the mission. Having only 4000 people in the town and a SUPER weak branch.... it makes missionary work tough. We walk around all day and see absolutely nobody in the street. In Osorno, we were talking to a ton of people in the streets all the time. This place is super calm and tranquillo, so don’t worry about me getting hurt or anything. Lots of the great leaders of our mission have spent time down here. It is a place of growth. It is a place to learn. It is a place where we can become better people. We are totally alone down here, so we HAVE to rely on God and His power and His comfort.
There is a hole in the ozone layer here. The sun is super strong. You get sunburned when it is cloudy. We put on buckets of sunscreen. We are having... fun. We do a lot of exercises. We are playing ping pong here. (And yes... packages take a long time to get to Punta Arenas, and even longer to get here because we never go to Punta Arenas.)
I am happy that you got my package and that you already delivered the stuff!!! You are awesome. That is why you are my momma. I always look forward to your emails and hearing from you. I might write you a handwritten letter today. I hope you are doing awesome. :)
Elder Warren
Lejos...Nos Vamos
December 28, 2013
Mom,
Well... We found out our cambios today! Let me just say.... really unexpected. Really unexpected. So President Rappleye called and said Elder Borup was going to Fitzroy in Punta Arenas. And me...Also to Punta Arenas, Porvenir. Let me tell you a little bit about Porvenir. It is the furthest south city in the entire mission, and probably the furthest south city of any mission in the entire world. That will be as close as I could possibly get to the Antarctica. To get there...I have to take a bus, a plane, another bus, and a boat to get to where I am going. Crazy, right? It is completely isolated from everything. We will be the only two missionaries down there. I will be with Elder Keetch. There isn´t a grocery store or anything in the city, so we buy all of our groceries once like every six weeks! We don´t attend district meetings or anything, because we are too far away from everyone and everything. We only leave the sector once every six weeks! Crazy! Haha. Kind of funny, but I am going to the only zone in the whole mission where we can use sunglasses. The hole in the ozone layer is right above Punta Arenas, supposedly.
Christmas was good. It was a little weird talking to you people, though. It seemed almost a little bit like talking to strangers. Maybe that is because I have been gone for such a long time. It was good though. Crazy to think I only have one more phone call left in my entire mission, right? Weird stuff. You seemed... okay. You actually seemed a little sad to me; which makes me kind of sad. I don´t want you to be sad or anything! Don´t be sad!!! Keep your head up and keep moving forward. I love you.
I don´t have a lot more to say. I am doing just fine. I was sick... super sick yesterday. I slept all day. But I am a little better now. Hey.... you won´t hear from me until next Monday, just so you know. I will have P-day on Mondays again.
Elder Warren
P.S. By the way.... they are taking both of us out of Ovejería and putting in Hermana’s. Crazy stuff.
Mom,
Well... We found out our cambios today! Let me just say.... really unexpected. Really unexpected. So President Rappleye called and said Elder Borup was going to Fitzroy in Punta Arenas. And me...Also to Punta Arenas, Porvenir. Let me tell you a little bit about Porvenir. It is the furthest south city in the entire mission, and probably the furthest south city of any mission in the entire world. That will be as close as I could possibly get to the Antarctica. To get there...I have to take a bus, a plane, another bus, and a boat to get to where I am going. Crazy, right? It is completely isolated from everything. We will be the only two missionaries down there. I will be with Elder Keetch. There isn´t a grocery store or anything in the city, so we buy all of our groceries once like every six weeks! We don´t attend district meetings or anything, because we are too far away from everyone and everything. We only leave the sector once every six weeks! Crazy! Haha. Kind of funny, but I am going to the only zone in the whole mission where we can use sunglasses. The hole in the ozone layer is right above Punta Arenas, supposedly.
Christmas was good. It was a little weird talking to you people, though. It seemed almost a little bit like talking to strangers. Maybe that is because I have been gone for such a long time. It was good though. Crazy to think I only have one more phone call left in my entire mission, right? Weird stuff. You seemed... okay. You actually seemed a little sad to me; which makes me kind of sad. I don´t want you to be sad or anything! Don´t be sad!!! Keep your head up and keep moving forward. I love you.
I don´t have a lot more to say. I am doing just fine. I was sick... super sick yesterday. I slept all day. But I am a little better now. Hey.... you won´t hear from me until next Monday, just so you know. I will have P-day on Mondays again.
Elder Warren
P.S. By the way.... they are taking both of us out of Ovejería and putting in Hermana’s. Crazy stuff.
Christmastime in Osorno, Chile
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| Elder Warren and Elder Borup |
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| Christmas Activity at the Church |
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| Singing in the Plaza |
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| Silvinia has a baptismal date of January 18, 2014 |
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| Looks like a pedicure for these two!! |
Merry Christmas!!!
December 21, 2013
Mama
Hey... I hope that you are doing very well and that you are having a good week. Staying strong and being positive. I want you to know that all is well here. Todo Bien.
Here is what I read to keep me going along.
Doctrine and Covenants 31
1 Thomas, my son, blessed are you because of your faith in my work.
2 Behold, you have had many afflictions because of your family; nevertheless, I will bless you and your family, yea, your little ones; and the day cometh that they will believe and know the truth and be one with you in my church.
3 Lift up your heart and rejoice, for the hour of your mission is come; and your tongue shall be loosed, and you shall declare glad tidings of great joy unto this generation.
4 You shall declare the things which have been revealed to my servant, Joseph Smith, Jun. You shall begin to preach from this time forth, yea, to reap in the field which is white already to be burned.
5 Therefore, thrust in your sickle with all your soul, and your sins are forgiven you, and you shall be laden with sheaves upon your back, for the laborer is worthy of his hire. Wherefore, your family shall live.
6 Behold, verily I say unto you, go from them only for a little time, and declare my word, and I will prepare a place for them.
7 Yea, I will open the hearts of the people, and they will receive you. And I will establish a church by your hand;
So... there you go. That is the scripture that has been helping me. I am fine. I am good. I am not going to let something like this distract me from what is important. The hardest thing for me is probably not being there to help you out. I worry about you and how you are going to go about doing all of your things without any help. But hey, I have faith that the Lord is going to provide for my family while I am here.
I want you to know that I haven´t gotten the package sent home... but I did finish all of the Christmas cards. It took me forever. There are like 50 of them, so you are going to have to be on top of delivering them. Haha. The people will probably get them by Valentine’s Day.
To answer your question about the weather; it is really hot here right now and it isn´t raining. It is about 90 degrees and it is humid. I wear a short sleeve shirt every single day, and I have probably the sweetest tan line ever from where my watch is. Hey... I want you to know also that I wear that red watch all the time, just like back in the good old days. But yeah... in our bedroom in the house it is usually in the 90s. And no, there is no such thing as air conditioning in the majority of the houses. If you send chocolate... it might melt, but I don’t know. It can be refrozen in our house. (We have a freezer).
That is very nice of Uncle Butch to send me Christmas money. Hey, I made him a Christmas card, so he will get that eventually. I will also whip out a thank you note at some point.
I like to sing... but we have been doing WAY too much of it. Haha. We have been singing more than we have been actually working. Last night we went and sang in the plaza. I sent pictures of that. It was cool. Then we had a Christmas activity in the church and our baptismal goal came!
The baptismal goal is named Silvina. She is legit. Her dad is a member, named Orlando. He is blind (visually); but she is progressing a ton. We basically teach her every single day and we leave homework for her to do, like answer questions about chapters in the Book of Mormon. And she actually does everything we ask her to do! That is the cool part. She will get baptized. We got the fecha for the 18th of January. So we will see how that goes. I am pretty confident that it will happen. We have had some really powerful lessons with some serious guidance from the spirit.
I hope that you enjoy the photos today! I only sent about 30 of them. Haha. There is one of us at the infamous foot doctor. She looked at my feet again, and they look pretty good she said. Nothing is ingrown. Nothing is wrong. So... that is good.
In other news...I think I could probably shave twice a day... because I basically have a beard by the end of each day. You can actually see the shadow in a lot of the photos.
Hey... make sure that you keep the blog nice and updated. Elder Borup’s family lives vicariously through my photos because Elder Borup doesn´t send any pictures home. I think his camera got a virus or something. Deal?
Well, I think that is all for me for now. I will be looking forward to seeing you on Christmas! Have your questions ready for me... because we both know how fast that time passes on the phone.
Elder Warren
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| Singing in the Plaza |
Mama
Hey... I hope that you are doing very well and that you are having a good week. Staying strong and being positive. I want you to know that all is well here. Todo Bien.
Here is what I read to keep me going along.
Doctrine and Covenants 31
1 Thomas, my son, blessed are you because of your faith in my work.
2 Behold, you have had many afflictions because of your family; nevertheless, I will bless you and your family, yea, your little ones; and the day cometh that they will believe and know the truth and be one with you in my church.
3 Lift up your heart and rejoice, for the hour of your mission is come; and your tongue shall be loosed, and you shall declare glad tidings of great joy unto this generation.
4 You shall declare the things which have been revealed to my servant, Joseph Smith, Jun. You shall begin to preach from this time forth, yea, to reap in the field which is white already to be burned.
5 Therefore, thrust in your sickle with all your soul, and your sins are forgiven you, and you shall be laden with sheaves upon your back, for the laborer is worthy of his hire. Wherefore, your family shall live.
6 Behold, verily I say unto you, go from them only for a little time, and declare my word, and I will prepare a place for them.
7 Yea, I will open the hearts of the people, and they will receive you. And I will establish a church by your hand;
So... there you go. That is the scripture that has been helping me. I am fine. I am good. I am not going to let something like this distract me from what is important. The hardest thing for me is probably not being there to help you out. I worry about you and how you are going to go about doing all of your things without any help. But hey, I have faith that the Lord is going to provide for my family while I am here.
I want you to know that I haven´t gotten the package sent home... but I did finish all of the Christmas cards. It took me forever. There are like 50 of them, so you are going to have to be on top of delivering them. Haha. The people will probably get them by Valentine’s Day.
To answer your question about the weather; it is really hot here right now and it isn´t raining. It is about 90 degrees and it is humid. I wear a short sleeve shirt every single day, and I have probably the sweetest tan line ever from where my watch is. Hey... I want you to know also that I wear that red watch all the time, just like back in the good old days. But yeah... in our bedroom in the house it is usually in the 90s. And no, there is no such thing as air conditioning in the majority of the houses. If you send chocolate... it might melt, but I don’t know. It can be refrozen in our house. (We have a freezer).
That is very nice of Uncle Butch to send me Christmas money. Hey, I made him a Christmas card, so he will get that eventually. I will also whip out a thank you note at some point.
I like to sing... but we have been doing WAY too much of it. Haha. We have been singing more than we have been actually working. Last night we went and sang in the plaza. I sent pictures of that. It was cool. Then we had a Christmas activity in the church and our baptismal goal came!
The baptismal goal is named Silvina. She is legit. Her dad is a member, named Orlando. He is blind (visually); but she is progressing a ton. We basically teach her every single day and we leave homework for her to do, like answer questions about chapters in the Book of Mormon. And she actually does everything we ask her to do! That is the cool part. She will get baptized. We got the fecha for the 18th of January. So we will see how that goes. I am pretty confident that it will happen. We have had some really powerful lessons with some serious guidance from the spirit.
I hope that you enjoy the photos today! I only sent about 30 of them. Haha. There is one of us at the infamous foot doctor. She looked at my feet again, and they look pretty good she said. Nothing is ingrown. Nothing is wrong. So... that is good.
In other news...I think I could probably shave twice a day... because I basically have a beard by the end of each day. You can actually see the shadow in a lot of the photos.
Hey... make sure that you keep the blog nice and updated. Elder Borup’s family lives vicariously through my photos because Elder Borup doesn´t send any pictures home. I think his camera got a virus or something. Deal?
Well, I think that is all for me for now. I will be looking forward to seeing you on Christmas! Have your questions ready for me... because we both know how fast that time passes on the phone.
Elder Warren
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