Priesthood Power and Rainbows!

It's been a great week! So many good things happened(:

Monday we got priesthood blessings after having such a rough week and
so many good miracles came from it!(:
We had exchanges on Tuesday which was pretty crazy but had cool
experiences! I went to west Salem with sister west and saying a prayer
in my head I found a box of stuff that so many people had tried
looking for! Then we talked to a guy who gave us these walking sticks!
And towards the end of the day there was a grand beautiful full double
rainbow(:
this past week was ZTM and a group of us sister sang "nearer my God to
thee" with a three part harmony - it sounded so good! We also watched
women's conference!! With Kat which she received awesome answers! We
are so excited for general conference!! This will be my first since
coming out(: so excited!
We are planning to watch it with Oma Sigrid on Sunday and ah! Here's
the miracle: we've mostly been serving Sigrid and teaching her little
by little not sure of how we were really helping her progress towards
Christ but! She's had a recent experience with priesthood blessings
and it was brought up that she could have one for healing after just
having her surgery so sunday some awesome brothers from the ward came
and gave her a blessing and she also wanted "clarity" about the
church! It was amazing! She felt peace(: the priesthood power brings
peace and comfort into our lives! It's a true blessing(:
Everyone bore their testimonies yesterday (including my sister I found
out!! Yay Kari!) and we are just on some spiritual highs - it's been
so great! Yesterday we got to answer questions from the cute primary
kids about us and being missionaries! So many great and cute
questions! My favorites were "where did you go on your mission?" And
"can you go to New York City?" And "why are you called sisters" which
is a pretty awesome question and we actually answered that for another
person earlier this week (I'm just now remembering that!) Sunday was
also Heather's year mark since she's gotten baptized!! We are SO
excited for her as she's preparing to go to the temple!
I hope you all have an amazing week! And GENERAL CONFERENCE THIS WEEKEND!!
Love you!

~Sister Warburton(:

 

A picture she sent to Chad.  LOL!!!

 

~HOPE~

I seem to have these on and off weeks. One week will be super great
and I'm feeling good, I feel the work here is going good, the spirit
is super strong and that's when I know Satan is about to do some mean
pushing to knock me down. This was one of those weeks.
Monday night, we got sad news about someone we know taking multiple
bottles of pills putting her in a coma. It was tough, the last memory
I have of her is singing along to the 2016 efy songs and seeing her
calm, even happy (she had serious mental illnesses) but... What do we
do? Pray and put it in the Lords hands.
Tuesday, we had the mission tour with Elder and Sister Schwitzer of
the Seventy and President and Sister Tateoka! It was really super
good! and we got information about some changes happening in the
mission. There is always a reason behind everything!
That night the relief society had a service auction activity (our
investigator Charla went!) and they were gathering items to send to
missionaries from their ward. Well they surprised me and sister
Mickelson with bags of our favorites treats and a letter from home! We
are really blessed to be serving in an awesome ward!
We also did some service for a couple being taught by missionaries in
Salem but were working in our area. It was so great to see the
conversion of this sweet lady as she was sharing the gospel with
another lady and sharing how excited she is to be baptized! This
service was a huge stress mess leading up to but it was worth it
all!(:
This week we've had tons and tons of people cancelling on us. Things
pop up, life gets busy, so many challenges, and a crazy world that we
live in. I'm seeing challenges I've never known or experienced before.
It's frustrating the world we live in and having to deal with it! BUT!
We have the GOSPEL. We have CHRIST. We have FAITH and HOPE! "How is it
that ye can attain unto faith, save ye shall have hope?
And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye
shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his
resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your
faith in him according to the promise. Wherefore, if a man have faith
he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope."
(Moroni 7:40-42). One of my favorites - James E Faust said, “Everybody
in this life has challenges and difficulties. That is part of our
mortal test. The reason for some of these trials cannot be readily
understood except on the basis of faith and hope because there is
often a larger purpose which we do not always understand. Peace comes
through hope” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1999, 73; or Ensign, Nov.
1999, 59)." Hope is born of faith and we need faith to have hope! I
can't imagine not having hope, not having the knowledge and the Gospel
in my life! This hope brings peace and comfort. This is why I'm a
Mormon! This is why I'm a missionary!(:
I hope you all continue to grow your faith in Christ! And have an amazing week!
Love you!
~Sister Warburton(:

 

Mom's note: She didn't send any pictures this week, but I did get a picture of her from a member at the Relief Society activity.



All good things

We are back to being the usual crazy missionaries that we normally
are(: whenever someone asks us what we've been up to or what we've
been doing its hard to say everything so our answer has been "all good
things, all good things" (taken from Olaf from Frozen). Tuesday night
we had dinner with Phil and guess what he got for me! Cookies n cream
ice cream! Here's the backstory: the week before we had dinner at some
awesome members home and they had invited Phil and another person over
too. We finished dinner and the chocolate chip cookies and ice cream
was being brought out for desert. Well.. The Tillamook cookies n cream
ice cream came out and I got pretty excited(: it was the first time a
member had cookies n cream and everyone noticed how happy I was so I
became really red. Hahah. So on Tuesday after dinner, Phil brought out
not just Tillamook cookies n cream but THREE different brands of
COOKIES N CREAM ice cream! And a package of OREOS!! How awesome is
he?! I was a very happy missionary(:
We found out that this man-George, we helped him move in about a month
ago and he made BBQ dinner last Friday for all us missionaries who
helped in the move, well after, we had given him a Book of Mormon with
all our testimonies in it. A few days ago we found out he had read all
our testimonies and it touched him so that he's already read fifty
pages of the Book of Mormon! And the sisters in Woodburn are now
teaching him!
It's been a good week(: we also did some arts and crafts with a few
ladies in Aurora who have tons and tons of artsy stuff! My little
child self came out and I got to do some drawing and coloring again!
We also had lessons with some awesome new investigators who are so fun
to be around and are receptive to everything we've taught so far! Oma
Sigrid is doing good! She goes into surgery this Thursday to get the
rest of her cancer taken out but we'll be by her house to help her
throughout the week! Hahah she loves teasing us and we tease her
back(; she's such an amazing lady!
We are just having so much fun and enjoying the work(: I will have
officially been here for 3 months this week! I hope you all have an
amazing week! And don't forget the most important truth we know is
that Heavenly Father loves you. You are loved and there is so much
hope and light to look forward to! I love you!
~Sister Warburton(:

 All the Cookies N Cream ice creams!

Look! It's a star! Its getting darker earlier and earlier(:



Back in a trio! And transfer calls!

It's been the craziest week of my mission so far! So many things happened!
On Monday we had sisters pday where we took pictures at a beautiful
park in Keizer/Salem (pictures included). Tuesday was my last NMT (new
missionary training) I'm officially a trained missionary!(; and it
feels good! Some awesome spiritual words and advice was given to me
and I truly got to know what it feels like to be an investigator in
the "hot seat". Hahah. Really it was a pretty stressful week with
transfers coming up and the thought of me or sister Mickelson leaving.
The pattern of this area is to train right after finishing training
and that was something I was super anxious about all week - I didn't
want anyone to leave and did not feel like I could train someone! Ah!
Maybe sometime later in my mission when I'm a little more seasoned?
I'll get to transfer calls eventually:) but first Wednesday was a good
day! We went over to Sigrid's - she is officially our Oma (grandma in
German - cause she's from Germany and is seriously amazing) she's not
a member but she might as well be! Her saying is "optimism! Sigrid
said so!" We were also able to meet her at the family history center
and get her started on doing that! Next step is going to church
right?(;
Here's where the super craziness begins: we found out one of the
sisters from the Woodburn 1st ward was going home early so we spent
some time with them and found out that we would get sister Erickson
with us for the weekend! It was so sad to see a sister go home but she
felt at peace about it and we had a few good laughs and spiritual
moments all together before she left Saturday morning:) we were
officially in a trio with two areas and teaching different people.
Hahah it's been a fun weekend!(;
Also! District meeting on Friday, we had the zone leaders with us and
president and sister Tateoka show up! Ah! It was a good meeting and
seriously the Tateoka's are the funniest, the sweetest, and the cutest
ever! Oh my goodness I love them! Friday was just a strange day - I
wish I could describe it better with everything that was going on and
everything that happened! As a missionary so many things happen and so
many thoughts and emotions - it's crazy being a missionary and I'm
getting the taste of it! But I still love being a missionary!(;
Saturday night was the night we got transfer calls! WE ARE STAYING!!
Me and sis Mickelson were finally able to breathe again and prayers
were answered! Sister Erickson is getting an awesome new companion on
Tuesday and most of the missionaries in our areas are staying(: there
is one Elder finishing his mission and going home (Elder Watson from
Bountiful - He's actually in the Dixons-Aunt Julie's stake!) and we
are losing Elder Gee:( but the new district leader will be Elder Allen
who came here to Oregon with me, sister Hart, and Elder Gregoriev!
Sunday was great(: it's really been fun being in a trio again! Lots of
laughs(: Testimony meeting was so good and Phil went up again! He's
golden! He's also feeding us on Tuesday! Yay! But yeah! I hope you all
have an amazing week! Don't forget to look for the good things in
life! "But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do
good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth
to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God"
(Moroni 7:13). This is why I love being on a mission so much! I know
I'm doing good and I see good everyday!

Love you all!!

~Sister Warburton(:

 We've been a fun trio;)

 All the Sisters/Hermanas in the Zone!

At the Last District Meeting! 

(Elders Gregoriev, Gee, Bills, Palmer, Combs, Watson, President and Sister Tateoka

Sisters Wilkes, Erickson, Me, Mickelson)



Watch out Oregon! I've started driving!

Yes! I've started driving in my area this week and it makes me so happy!(: I've missed it so much and it feels a little more normal to be driving again - I just need to work on getting my driving skills back(;

It's been a super busy week! We had zone conference in Salem on Thursday And it was really awesome! I love president and sister Tateoka - after lunch and between meetings (which were super good!) they had us play badminton to wake us up and then used it to connect to working with our companions and the spirit in missionary work. It was silly and fun! and spiritual!

We also had exchanges this week and I took over the area! It went pretty good and we watched "on the Lords Errand" with Phil that day! I love Thomas S Monson so much! And know he is a Prophet of God! So excited for conference - 1 more month!!

Also guess what! I had to give a talk in church yesterday. Hahah (still not my favorite;) We were asked on Thursday and that night I had a little mini freak out for Sister Mickelson but I wrote it out the next morning - about developing a testimony in the Book of Mormon and on Sunday it went pretty good!

Hope you all have a good week! Keep praying! I love you!

Ps. We have transfer calls this Saturday!

 

Don't worry mom we were parked when we took the pictures(: 

 The day I started driving!

Exchanges with the cutest STL's



"So what do I need to do for baptism?" The best question you could ask a missionary!

Phil is pretty much planning his own baptism! Ah! October 26th! We're
so excited for him! Life as a missionary would be so easy if everyone
we taught were to ask the simple little question "so what do I need to
do for baptism?" (;
Well this week has been so hot! It's gotten past the 100's and it just
sucks the energy right out of us. Thank thank goodness we have an
apartment with a good working fan and a car with awesome AC (update -
I spoke way too soon! But our car is alright:) I am incredibly blessed
with both! Again, this week has been filled with service and staying
busy! Last Monday we had dinner with a less active family which one of
the daughters is not baptized yet but we're teaching her and hoping
that also working with her dad on getting the priesthood, he could
baptize her! After eating dinner with them we some how got on the topic of cookies and ended up baking some delicious snicker doodles
for them because they rarely get cookies and Thomas (the dad) was so
excited - just like a little boy. It was great! I love the things we
do as missionaries(;
So with school starting again (good luck to all starting school this
week!!) someone in church talked about how our lives is compared to
taking a test - part of our purpose here is to be tested and the
scriptures are the instructions. It's like a open book test, but not
only that it's a group test! We are given families and our church
families and friends to help us in life! How great is this plan that
Heavenly Father created for us! We have Jesus Christ, who is the great
example of how we should live but also through him even after we've
done everything we can to pass this "test", through the atonement we
can make up for the mistakes we've made. We can get that A+ also
called eternal life! All the struggles will be worth it. This past
week I read a talk titled "The Atonement: Our Greatest Hope" by James
E Faust and absolutely loved it! It's from the October 2001 general
conference and if you are selfish (like me;) and want to learn more
about the Atonement I would like to invite you to read it(: "The free
gift of His great atoning sacrifice for each of us is the only way we
can be exalted enough to stand before Him and see Him face-to-face.
The overwhelming message of the Atonement is the perfect love the
Savior has for each and all of us."
Cool story: last night for dinner we went to the Hammonds - who has
family that used to live in Saratoga Springs 3 yrs ago just down the
street from where we live! (Ps I heard that they went by last Monday
and talked to you mom?;) [She did stop by and I loved it!!!] and there were other families from the ward  at dinner and even a past missionary who had served in this area 2 yrs
ago came! Funny missionary thing is we have missionary "moms/dads"
which are just our trainers - so sister Mickelson is my "mom" and her
trainer is my "grandma" in mission terms. This missionary who came to
visit is my great great great grandma - so she trained someone who
trained this person who trained this person, down the line to sister
Mickelson then me. Cool stuff(:
Today we had zone pday - beach volleyball!! It was so fun! I've missed
playing volleyball since playing at the MTC. Our district went and
bought Hawaiian shirts from goodwill to all match - pictures will be
included!
I hope you all have a good week! Good luck with school and enjoying
the last little bit of summer!! Email or write me and let me know how
you're doing(: love you all!

~Sister Warburton(:

 

 me and sister Mickelson in 109 degrees!

our matching Hawaiian shirt district! "the marionberries" (;



Living on the Lord's Strength

"And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before
your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my
Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to
bear you up" (D&C 84:88)
We blow the minds of people by the strength the Lord has given us!
This week, we helped the sweetest lady and her husband (both who have
recently had surgery and shouldn't lift much) move their
newly-still-packaged couch from their van into the front room. Just me
and sister Mickelson! Prayers were answered and God gaveus the strength to do it! This couch was around 130lbs and they were
speechless after we brought it in(: They are not members but she loves

it when we come over and she is interested in the family history/search 

that the church does and we may be slowly making our way to teaching her

 - one small step at a time!(:

Guess what! Phil surprised us again!! We were at the family history
center on Tuesday with Kat, helping her get started on her family
history and he just shows up-his first time coming and checking it out
and it just happened to be while we were there too! Goodness, Phil, he
is the best! We also watched meet the Mormons with him on Saturday
(it's so strange watching it as a missionary) and Sunday at church he is
participating more and more in class. Seriously, his next step is
baptism and he's officially Mormon! But we've promised not to push and
we just need to be patient and hopefully he will let us know when HE
knows that's he's ready (he's so ready;)
This week I've also learned why I am not a Spanish missionary.. I've
tried but I can't even do the basics - Muchas Grandis does not mean
thank you(;
We are still doing tons of service. Plenty of teaching. and trying our best to 

be missionaries representing Christ(: I enjoy it!(:

I love and miss you all and Thank you so much for your prayers!

~Sister Warburton(:

 

 It was a super hot and sweaty day! But we were smiling(;

 The Sweet Lady - Sigrid - Took our pictures while we were setting up the couch

ZTM