Holy Smokes

Hey! How is everyone? 

We are doing pretty good (: we are surviving the smoke from the fires here (at one point it was sprinkling ash!) and feeling pretty blessed cause it could be worse. We hear bits and pieces about the hurricanes going on and it's crazy all these things going on in the world! As I was reading the Book of Mormon the past week, I read about similar depressing things that were happening back in the time of Moroni and it's depressing! My heart aches for what Moroni had to go through and for those going through tragic life events today. Towards the end of a letter Mormon wrote to his son Moroni after describing these horrible things, he says "My son, be faithful in Christ; and may not the things which I have written grieve thee, to weigh thee down unto death; but may Christ lift thee up, and may his sufferings and death, and the showing his body unto our fathers, and his mercy and long-suffering, and the hope of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your mind forever." (Moroni 9:25). We don't need to be depressed about what's going on in the world but turn to the light of Christ! I know He lives and as long as He does there will always be hope!

This past week I got to meet Rachael! She's this incredible 17 yr old who, before I came, was taking the lessons and wanted to be baptized. She asked her mom and the very next day her mom bought her a ticket to another state because she was completely against the idea of it. It's just crazy everything that went down and for the past month we've only been able to stay in contact with her through email. Her faith is strong and it's cool to hear how she's been able to apply the teachings of Christ's atonement to her trials. Her mom finally let her come home last week and we're still trying to figure out what will happen. Rachael will turn 18 next month and technically won't need her mom's permission to be baptized.. We still hope her mom will soften her heart!

Remember a few weeks ago when we went to see a return missionary, James and we weren't sure exactly how we were going to be received in the house (we were told not to go there but we did) and when we went it ended up being pretty awesome! Well.. It's been so good since then! Kathy is the mom and Doug is the boyfriend. We love them so much! We are actually working on teaching Kathy and hoping Doug will continue to soften his heart! It's so funny - whenever we go over Kathy expresses how much she loves the missionaries, how much she loves us, and how much she wishes to help and spoils us with whatever she can! From what we've heard, Doug isn't a fan of organized religion but he likes us! Even Kathy told us he seems pretty receptive to us! Also, I have to add this cool story: James' dad, Tommy is a convert in our Dayton ward, he loves to share his conversion and he loves the gospel and the missionaries! They came and knocked on his door sometime almost two years ago after getting a message from his son, who during his mission kept getting promptings to send his dad's information to the missionaries here. It was perfect timing for Tommy and eventually he was baptized and what's cool is he got to go up to his son's mission in Seattle so James could baptize him!

I wish I could write out all the incredible stories and spiritual experiences we have in a week! But I can testify that everything is in the Lord's hand. Things happen for a reason and I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to learn and grow on a mission (: I'm so grateful for the love and support I receive. I love and miss you all! Stay safe!

~Sister Warburton (:

 

Matching bears!

 I'm serious when we say we're spoiled with food (most of it is from Kathy)

If you look at the windows it was raining!! We were so excited about the rain!