Week 38 - Nos Mojamos

Hey my dudes,

We had a really wet week here in Mexico.  I'm pretty sure it rained every single day this week and I think it's gonna stay like that until the end of the year so that's gonna be fun!  Honestly it's better than walking in missionary clothes in the sun all day!

This week the World Cup started and everybody's going crazy.  Apparently it's just about the most important thing in the world down here.  And it was even crazier because Mexico beat Germany (one of the best teams).  One of our more difficult investigators actually said (jokingly) that if Mexico beat Germany he would get baptized, so let's see how that goes!  It was definitely a miracle haha.

Also this week we had the goal to talk to Ulisses, the boyfriend of one of our investigators.  We hadn't really ever talked to him because, to be honest, we're kind of afraid of him haha.  I'll tell you why in a second.  Anyways we were in a lesson with his girlfriend and he came in and I decided to talk to him (it was a scary decision though).  He started to talk to us and actually really opened up which was cool.  This is why he's scary, he just got out of prison a few months ago.  He told us all of the stuff he's done and how he gets into a lot of fights with groups of 10 to 15 guys and beats them by himself.  He also said he used to fight the biggest guys in prison just to get more respect.  He's done some wild stuff.  But the cool part was that at the end of his time in prison he prayed and asked God to help him get out.  Within the week he was a free man!  He says he wants to change but he's stuck in some problems right now.  He asked us to visit him so we're going back tomorrow to start teaching him!  Pretty cool experience.

That's about it!  We have some good investigators that are progressing really well right now.  Mexico is cool.  Have a great week!

Elder Warren

Pictures from the zone conference with some elders that are leaving this cycle

Week 37 - Descansa en Paz LeBron

Hola Amigos!

All good things this week.  First I gotta tell you a story to give you an idea of how awesome some people are in Mexico City haha.  Alright so the other day we were walking down the street to do some exercise in the morning and we saw an old dude sitting on the street using hie cell phone.  A teenager passed behind him, todo tranquilo, and then out of nowhere turned around, snuck up behind the old man, took his phone STRIGHT OUT OF HIS HANDS and ran away.  I thought it was a joke, but the dude never stopped running!  By the time we realized it wasn't a joke the guy was long gone.  Gotta love people like that.

But other than that the week was sweet!  On Wednesday we did divisions with the zone leaders.  I stayed in my area with Elder Santiago.  He's super cool.  He's from Utah and even though his name sounds Latino he's white.  We had some really good lessons.  We went with my man Alejandro first, some old dude that asked us to clean out his storage room last week.  When we got to the part about baptism he had some really good questions.  After we explained everything, he said, "That makes a lot of sense.  Who do I have to talk to to get baptized?"  Obviously, it was pretty dang easy to set a baptismal date with him.  He's excited to work towards baptism!  Then we went with Isabel.  Isabel and Humberto are super cool.  Humberto is her nephew.  We taught the Plan of Salvation and they both said that their goal is to reach the celestial kingdom with their families.  Right now both are working towards a baptismal date.  After that we went with Loyda.  She's the wife of a member.  He was inactive for a super long time but they just decided they wanted to start going to church with their young family.  We were able to teach her the Restauration and we answered all of her questions.  She said she wanted to pray to find out if this is the right church for her.  She has a ton of faith and spent 7 years in the Jehova's Witnesses church, so it's a little difficult for her, but she says that she didn't like some of the things in that church and that so far she's liked everything from ours.  Awesome day.

To end I just want to share a quote from Thomas S. Monson that talks about our potential.  He starts by saying that we should never let someone tell us that we can't do something.  Then he says,  “Believe in yourself and then live so as to reach your possibilities.”  I think this is really important for everyone, no matter what it is that we're doing.  We can accomplish anything we set our minds to (with some help from God, or course).  Set your goals high and work to reach them!  The key to thiis life is progress.

Well that's all I got for you guys this week.  Have a great week!  Love you all!

Elder Warren

Week 36 - Las Meto De Afuera

Hola Familia y Amigos,

Well, changes were today and we didn't have any!  Looks like I'll be sticking here in Pantitlan with Elder Ayala another cycle.  It should be pretty good.  We've got some good investigators that we're progressing with so I'm happy to be able to work with them some more.

This week we were on our way to another cita when a man stopped us and said, "Hey!  My grandkid is on a mission too!"  We started talking and offered to help him in anything that he needed.  I swear he's the first person in my whole mission that's accepted our service haha.  Anyways the next day we went to his house and cleaned out a SUPER messy room on top of his house.  Afterwards, we started talking some more and he invited us to come back to teach him!  We're going on Wednesday I think.  Always awesome when someone else contacts US!

Also this week we started teaching English classes with some other missionaries from our district.  I'll be honest, even though I've been speaking English for 19 years, I had no idea how to teach it haha.  But I was able to study some things and I think it went well!  We had several people show up and more have called us recently asking for information!  Good stuff.

A good talk that I've been listening to lately: "The First and Great Commandment" by Jeffrey R. Holland.  It's legendary.  It talks about the first commandment of all,  that we should love God with all our heart, might, mind and strength.  He talks about how when we truly love God, we are loyal to Him and His will, not our own.  We serve Him and other people.  And we NEVER turn back.  I think it's my favorite talk, look it up.  But watch the talk instead of reading it because when he talks it's even more powerful!

That's it for the week!  Love you guys!  I'll talk to you soon and don't forget to send me tons of packages!  Ask my parents for the mission address.

Elder Warren

I forgot to take pictures this week so here's some pictures of a turtle in a member's house and Nacho Libre.

Week 35 - Familia Magica

Hola Amigos,

So this week we were out dying in the sun.  This week it was so dang hot and it was super sunny 100% of the time which wasn't the greatest.  It's even worse being in missionary clothes!  But it's all good we were able to work even with the heat!  

One of the visits we had was really cool.  It was with an investigator named Isabel.  Before this visit we were actually thinking about dropping her as an investigator because she wasn't receiving us and she hadn't really been keeping her commitments.  But we went and she received us and we talked about Enos and the answers he received to his prayers.  I asked if she was still searching for an answer and she told us that she had already received it.  Turns out she had been praying for an answer and through an experience she had, she felt like God told her that our Church was the one she should join.  We were able to put a baptismal date with her and now we're working towards that goal!

Also this Sunday we left early to bring some investigators to church.  We passed for three houses and NOBODY came out.  We arrived to church with no one and a little bit depressed haha.  But then the bishop came up to us and said, "Elders, we have some new people here in church and I want you to introduce yourselves to them."  Turns out a WHOLE FAMILY showed up to church on their own because they wanted to learn more!  They stayed for all 3 hours and were really interested.  I don't think they're from our area but it was a blessing to have them in church and to help them a little bit more about what we believe.  I feel like they'll progress really quickly!

Those were the greatest parts of the week.  I hope all of you had a great week and I'll talk to you soon!  Love you all!

Elder Warren

Pics:

Quick selfie with Elder Ayala after church

Played some ball with my son Elder Chichia today

My boy Elder Diuguid from Kentucky.  Straight baller

Week 34 - Ya No Me Quedan

Que tranza amigos,

Awesome week this week!  We were able to get a lot of work done and had a lot of success!  First of all, you all should know that we played a ton of volleyball this morning and my team won the 7 game series.  It got intense.  We showed out big in game 7.  Just so you know that we made California proud today with our volleyball skills.

This week was sweet because we had the baptism of Abigail!  She's really cool.  She was the only member of her family that hadn't been baptized.  For the longest time she didn't want to get baptized but she finally said yes once we got here.  We taught her really quickly without any problems (she already knew pretty much everything).  Her grandpa was going to baptize her but he got sick last minute and since she didn't want to wait another week she asked me to baptize her!  It was a great day.

Also this week I was able to see how God blesses us when we do our part, even if he doesn't bless us in the way we wanted him too.  All this week we were looking for new people to teach or other people that we hadn't seen in a while.  We used the area binder a lot.  Anyways all week we were outside searching for those houses and literally nobody was home.  Even the members that are always home weren't home to receive us.  We arrived home tired and sad everyday haha.  But this weekend we saw the blessings.  First, we had the baptism of Abigail.  Then, we found an old investigator that already has all of the lessons, taught a full lesson, and put a baptismal date with her.  Then, when we went to take one of our investigators to church (he's a young boy who's 11 years old), his grandma said, "Go ahead and throw him in the water already!"  THEN, the Visitors Center from the temple called and said they have a really good reference for us that wants to learn more.  She travels a lot for her job but right now she's sick and is in bed all day so she can receive us!  Just a few of the blessings we saw this weekend, even though they weren't the ones we were looking for.

Have a great week everyone!  Love you guys!  Talk to you soon!

Elder Warren

Pics:

My dog friend

My dog friend when he wanted to eat me

Baptism

Elder Kay and I with our crossfit hats

It started raining hard and the church flooded

Week 33 - La Papita

Hola Mis Amigos,

Super fast week this week!  This Tuesday we had the opportunity to go to the temple as half of the mission and it was really cool.  It's always awesome when we get to go to the temple.  Not only do we get to feel the Spirit super strongly but I also get to see a lot of my friends from the mission which is always awesome.

So funny story, today we had to ask for a new cell phone because ours broke.  Last night we were just hanging out in the house and my companion got a text message so I brought him the phone.  I told him he had a message and tossed him the phone but turns out he wasn't ready AND had a glass of milk in his hand and the phone hit his chest and then FELL INTO THE CUP OF MILK DANG IT hahaha.  Anyways it got full of milk and didn't work anymore so we had to get a new one. 

This week was pretty good for us in terms of work.  We've been working a lot with young single adults and youth, both members and non-members, to help get more work in the area and we're having success!  We've found a few really good young people that are now progressing.  We actually have a baptism planned for this Saturday!

Anyways that's just about it for this week, not much exciting happened.  I hope you all had a great week and that all you mothers had a great Mother's Day!  Love you guys!  Nos vemos!

Elder Warren

Week 32 - Boliche Gains

Hey Dudes!

Solid week in Pantitlan.  Things are going well with my companion Elder Ayala and we got a bunch of work in this week!

So this week on Sunday we had a giant fast, including the whole mission and each one of the seven stakes.  We all fasted with the purpose of achieving our goals as a mission and that the members can find ways to help us with the work as well and we've already started to see the blessings!  So on Sunday we were kinda bummed because we couldn't get a hold of one of our investigators that we were supposed to pass to go to stake conference.  After a lot of thinking we decided not to pass for him because he wasn't answering his phone.  It was a good thing we didn't because on the way we found a sister from the ward with her two grandchildren heading home because no one was in the church and nobody had told her that it was stake conference.  We took them with us to the conference and started talking and it turns out her granddaughter isn't a member and the sister wants us to baptize her!  We told her we could probably do that haha.  Also we were trying to catch a van to go to the stake center but none of them were the one we needed and it was raining hard so we weren't very happy.  Then out of nowhere a van pulled over to us and even though he wasn't going where we wanted to go he told us to get in and that he would take us there because he didn't want us to get wet.  Those were just a couple little blessings that we received Sunday morning!

Also I forgot to put this in last week but last Sunday we were outside of the church because some super drunk dude wanted to talk to us.  He started saying a bunch of weird stuff about California and girls and was trying to talk in English but it just wasn't working for him.  Then out of nowhere he said, "If I really wanted to, I could steal your souls, did you know that?"  We were like, "Let's see it!"  He started doing a bunch of weird motions with his hands and all of the sudden he threw his hands in the face of my companion and held them there for like 10 seconds.  Then he said, "There, I took your soul."  It was insane.  Then we stopped talking to him because he said he had to go throw up hahaha.  There are some crazy people out here man.

That's all I got for you guys!  Hope you all have a great week and I'll talk to you soon!  Love you all!

Elder Warren

Week 31 - Pasame A Martin

Hey what's up my friends,

Well this week went by super fast and was super tiring.  We walked a TON.  So what happened is that both of us are new in this area and the other missionaries that were here left us with hardly anything.  So we spent all week looking for members and investigators and basically anyone else that would listen to us.  The Area Book was pretty much our personal study all week.  But we were able to find a lot of people using it and with the help of some members!  It was really cool because although it was super tiring, we were able to have a lot of success.  I'm excited to see how the rest of the cycle goes with Elder Ayala.

So a few nights ago we were sitting in our house and all of the sudden we got a call from a random number.  I answered and started talking to some woman but she wasn't making very much sense.  She told me to pass her to my companion.  Then she started yelling at us and telling us that she wanted to talk to Martin (we don't know anyone named Martin).  She was cussing and yelling and got pretty irritated.  I guess she really wanted to talk to Martin haha.  So we ended up hanging up on her and since then she's called us like 30 times but we don't answer now.  Good times.

To finish I'd like to share a quote by David A. Bednar.  "Knowing that the gospel is true is the essence of a testimony. Consistently being true to the gospel is the essence of conversion."  So many times we say that we know the Gospel is true, but are we always true to the gospel?  I think we can all work on that.  It's always great to say we know it's true, but let's act on it too.  When we stay true to the Gospel and keep the commandments and do the things we should be doing, our testimony will grow and we will become truly converted.

Well that's all I have for you guys this week!  Have a great week and I love you guys!

Elder Warren

Week 30 - Cambios Especiales

Hey everyone!

Crazy week this week.  So on Monday I got a call from Pres saying that another Elder had to go home for a surgery and that he needed me to help him out with those special changes.  So on Tuesday I switched areas from Paraiso to Pantitlan.  ALSO Pres told my that the Elder I was going with (his name is Alamea) was going to have changes today, so I had to learn the area in less than a week.  We walked a TON this week so that I could learn everything.  But I think I did a good job!

The good thing is that this Saturday I got to return to Paraiso to baptise one of our investigators named Hafid.  He was a reference from one of my converts actually.  It was really cool because in a matter of about five weeks he turned from an alcoholic to a member of the Church.  It's crazy how big of a change this Gospel can make in people's lives.

Today we had changes.  This week was a little bit sad because the reign of Elder Warren and Elder Kay in Paraiso was brought to an end.  Also I wasn't able to finish the training of Elder Chichia but that's okay, he's more than ready to finish his training.  But anyways right now I'm with another Elder named Elder Ayala.  He's cool!  I'm excited to work with him.

To finish I want to share something we've been sharing with members and investigators all week.  It's from Dallin H. Oaks' talk from conference, about doing the small and simple things.  He said that the three most important things we need to continually do are read the scriptures, pray, and go to church.  I don't think I realized the importance of these things before the mission, and I think that maybe some of you don't either, but now I can promise you that these simple things are what make the difference.  Do them!

Well that's it for the week!  Take care everyone!  Love you guys!

Elder Warren

Pictures:

A family of investigators

Elder Kay and Elder Hale, the coolest zone leaders on the planet

Elder Fuller, another one of my good homies

The coolest family on the planet and their cat, Mikus

Hafid , his son, other missionaries

My son, Elder Chichia

The Zone Paraiso the day of my funeral

Week 29 - Boliche Baby

Hola Amigos,

We had a good week this week!  We were able to have a lot of success finding new people and progressing with those that we're already teaching.  Always nice to see the fruits of your labors!

On a sad note, one of our investigators, Jose Manuel, passed away this week.  He was a little bit older and had a lot of problems with diabetes.  But the progress I saw in him before his death was amazing.  The first time we met with him he said, "I don't believe in God or Christ.  I can't see them and they don't answer my prayers.  I'm not a believer at all."  We kept working with him though and before he passed away he was assisting every week at Church and sharing his testimony on faith and prophets and God.  He even said the prayer for us in every lesson.  He was actually working towards a baptismal date before he passed away.  It's incredible how big of a change this Gospel can make on people.  You never know who will accept the Gospel!

Also a little bit ago we started a 40 day fast as a mission.  A few companionships fast every day for 40 days in order to find more success in the work, especially baptisms.  As you know, we baptized a young man named Eiberham recently, who has parents that are alcoholics.  We actually had to stop visiting his parents because they weren't progressing at all.  BUT soon after we started the fast, his parents stopped drinking COMPLETELY.  All on their own!  We were able to start visiting them again and they actually have baptismal dates right now!  I can definitely testify of the blessings of fasting.  Do it!

Well that's it for the week!  Also I beat Elder Kay and everyone else in bowling today just so you all know that I'm still the greatest.  Haha have a great week and I love you guys!

Elder Warren

Week 28 - Me Sobra Chupe Pachanga

Hello my friends!

Well we didn't have the greatest week this week.  We should've had a lot of success but things happened and we ended up having almost zero success.  But things happen like that!  This week will be better for sure.  And if there's one thing I can testify of from this week it's that prayer truly does work.  We had a lot of moments this week where we had to dedicate ourselves to a LOT of prayer.  Long story short, whatever we needed-comfort, an answer, help with a problem we had-we got it.  Don't forget to pray!

So the other day we went to an appointment that we had with a man named Juan Carlos and there were two SUPER drunk dudes outside of his house.  We asked them if Juan Carlos was home and they said, "Juan Carlos doesn't live here, all of this is my house and we don't know anyone with that name."  We started to talk to them and after a few minutes Juan came out of the house!  Elder Chichia asked, "So what's his name then?"  And they told us, "Oh I don't know, I don't live here."  We said, "I thought this was your house?"  And they got pretty quiet after that haha.  It was a good time.

I' just want to share something from Conference two weeks ago that helped me a lot this week.  It's the talk that Lynn G. Robbins gave about making mistakes.  He said, "Success isn’t the absence of failure, but going from failure to failure without any loss of enthusiasm.”  He talked a lot about how we need to experience failure in order to progress.  We need to "taste the bitter, that we may know to prize the good."  This helped me a lot this week, because there was a lot of bitter haha.  But that just means that the good is right around the corner!  I just wanted to share that with each of you and to make sure that you know that failure and trials aren't a bad thing!  We need them to grow!

That's it for the week!  I hope you all are doing well and I wish you the best in this upcoming week!  Love you all!

Elder Warren

Pictures:
Some homies and the sunset
Sweet gym picture
My child dancing on our way home from church

Week 27 - Picotasos

Hello everyone!

Pretty solid week this week!  First of all my companion is hecka funny.  We were walking to a little store with our convert and this lady asked us if we wanted any beauty products.  I told her that my companion needed some because he was kind of ugly.  So she whips out her catalogues and starts trying to sell him EVERYTHING.  But my companion didn't want anything so he started asking her if she sold yoyos because all he wanted was a yoyo.  She said no, and kept showing us products.  He was like "Well really all I want is a yoyo like this one, look."  And he pulled his yoyo and started showing her some tricks.  She wasn't interested in the yoyo.  We asked her at the end if we could visit her but I think she just wanted our money haha.

Also something cool happened this week.  We have this one dude in our street that's always drunk or smoking with his friends, but one day we were walking and he was sitting on the corner, looking kind of sad.  He asked us where we were going and I said we were on our way to a visit with someone.  He said, "Visit me.  I want to stop drinking and smoking.  I need to change my life."  We met with him twice this week and taught two complete lessons and he started reading the Book of Mormon!  It just proves that you need to talk to EVERYONE.  Even the people who don't seem like it might be ready to hear this Gospel.

To end I'd just like to share something from General Conference this past weekend.  It was awesome hearing from Russell M. Nelson as prophet for the first time in Conference and a lot of great messages were shared.  I loved the story of the man who was stuck on the boat that got caught in a typhoon.  I don't have my notebook so I don't know who gave the talk.  But the boat was having problems and they were scared it was going to sink.  A Mormon man on the boat decided to pray, but when he prayed he didn't ask God to solve his problems, he specifically asked how he could help be a part of the solution.  And through the revelation he received they were able to make it safely to port.  I loved that.  I think our prayers need to be more specific, and we need to do our part.  What can we do to be part of the desired solution?  Also he said something interesting.  This man had to have had experience receiving and following revelation to have the confidence to do what he did.  We can't pull out a dusty Holy Ghost and expect to be able to use it for the first time when the typhoon comes.  We need experience in times of peace to be able to utilize that gift in times of chaos.  What a great message!

I hope you all have a great week!  I miss and love you all!

Elder Warren

Week 26 - Si Nos Quejamos, Nos Va Mal

Hola Mis Animalitos,

Well we had a pretty good week this week!  The sun was super strong and it was killing us but we're still out here walking around!  Also we hiked the mountain again today in the heat and it was awesome.  I'll send pictures.

We had a zone conference this Thursday and it was really good!  They talked about working with the youth and young single adults to find more people to teach.  They said that those groups of people are the ones who know a bunch of people, I guess that means that old people don't have friends?  Haha but the only thing was that it was SUPER LONG.  The Conference started at 8:30 and we were there until 5:30.  Crazy stuff.

Also something pretty cool happened this week!  So this family that has been inactive for YEARS just now decided to sign up to feed us.  So we went to eat with them and we started talking and were able to become their friends!  The mom said she wanted to invite us to eat again so I said, "The Sister that's in charge of the food will be at church tomorrow if you want to attend!"  Guess what?  They came!  It's crazy how easy it is to just make an invitation, and how much it works!  I invite all of you to make invitations to your friends.  You have the easy part, we're the ones that take charge in teaching them!  I can promise that references from members are usually way better than the people we find in the streets.  This week we received a reference from a member and ended up finding and teaching a full family of five that was super interested in our message!

To end I'd like to share a scripture from Mark 16: "15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."  It's our job to make invitations to those we know.  We've received this light in our lives, we should be more than willing to share it with others.  I invite all of you to invite your friends to watch General Conference this weekend!  It's a great experience to feel the Spirit and hear the words of Christ through our prophet and the apostles.

That's it for the week!  Have an awesome week everyone!  I love and miss you guys!

Elder Warren

Week 25 - Vente Guero

Hello my people!

This week was a little bit slower, not too much happened.  But we just got done with some legendary basketball games which was sweet.  Solid day.

First I need to tell you guys about one of our investigators that we have.  This dude is ridiculous I'm always dying in our lessons.  His name is Heriberto and he's 12 years old and I SWEAR this kid has ADHD.  He can not focus on ANYTHING.  We have to explain things like 7 or 8 times sometimes before he actually gets it.  The last lesson we had with him I actually almost started dying of laughter because it's hilarious.  But he accepted a baptismal date which is awesome!  Maybe he didn't understand what the invitation actually was... haha.

Also something cool happened this week.  So there are some recent converts in our ward and they're cool but they're a little difficult.  They're very specific on which elders they want to visit them and they said they didn't want us to come to their house.  The only one that said it was okay was the father.  So we made an appointment with them and when we were on our way it started pouring HARD.  But we were already on our way so we kept going.  We showed up drenched and freezing and because we went to their house even though it was raining hard, the whole family realized how dedicated we were and all of them accepted us.  They all came back to church this Sunday which was awesome.  I'll send a picture of how wet we got.

That's about all I have for the week haha, I hope next week is more exciting!  Before I go I just want to encourage all of you to watch and invite your friends to watch General Conference in two weeks!  It's incredible to be able to listen to living prophets and apostles that literally speak the words of Christ.  If we have true apostles and prophets of God testifying to us, what's the point if we don't watch and invite our loved ones to watch too?  That's my invitation for you all this week and I hope you're all able to do it!

Have a great week!  I love you guys and miss you all!

Elder Warren