September 28, 2009

the power .. [09.28.09]




THE POWER OF COVENANTS ! it is so uplifting. having a 2 way promise with God is a beautiful strength. when we do what we promise to do for him He is bound to bless us ! this scripture makes me so happy !

Mosiah 5:7,15

"And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters."

"Therefore, I would that ye should be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works, that Christ, the Lord God Omnipotent, may seal you his, that you may be brought to heaven, that ye may have everlasting salvation and eternal life, through the wisdom, and power, and justice, and mercy of him who created all things, in heaven and in earth, who is God above all. Amen."

NOW WHO DOESNT WANT ALL THAT ! eternal life and salvation ! we can become SPIRITUALLY REBORN through baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost ! it truly is amazing. Heavenly Father wants to bless us but we must first ACT of our FAITH and show him we are willing to receive these blessings he so desires to give us.

each day i know i can do better so i can live up to my Heavenly Fathers promised blessings. each day i can pray to Him and ask for help and strength and each day i do that while being obedient is another step of progression ! I LOVE THIS RESTORED GOSPEL. I LOVE BEING SO CLOSE TO THE SPIRIT. I LOVE TEACHING HIS WISCONSIN CHILDREN ABOUT THIS MARVELOUS PLAN !

this last week was really good ! we are seeing the Lords miracles upon His children. we have so many that are at the edge of acting upon their faith ! this week is a big one in getting H.F. children to Come Unto Christ.

SAMI .. KAYLA .. ZAK .. SARAH .. ANGELINA .. AMALIA .. SANDRA and the many others that the Lord has prepared !

we worked a lot with UWM this last week ! we had a booth and we have such solid YSA down here ! I LOVE IT ! i love working on campus !

ZONE CONFERENCE WAS AMAZING like always ! its such a faith promoting time ! gives me the extra energy to keep me going through the transfer !

and then we had the RELIEF SOCIETY GENERAL BROADCAST ! [i def missed you memmott ladies !] that was so good too ! i love being a women and sharing with others all of our divine nature given from God !

now we are preparing for GENERAL CONFERENCE ! this is golden for missionaries ! at least i feel so. all of us can receive answers to questions if we prayerfully consider them before ! i am so stoked !

i can already feel the miracles coming for this week ! THE LORD ALWAYS PROVIDES A WAY !

p.s. I LOVE MY LITTLE DAUGTHER SISTER PLUIM. she is just the cutest ! she has such a solid testimony and her analogies are the best. i love hearing and watching her teach !

p.s.s. its good being back with TALL JOHNSON ! she is so fun to just laugh with !

being in a trio is always interesting and the fun NEVER ends !

and about my MADAGASCARIAN GIRL .. she is leaving tomorrow afternoon for her island in madagascar ! president b said i could go say goodbye to her at the airport ! i will miss her. she is so stellar !

the FALL is here and it came FAST ! the wind is blowing and the chill is being felt.

i love seeing my baby girl black and my little johnson serving together .. they love it ! now i just need one of my girls to train !

I LOVE YOU SO VERY MUCH. THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING.
sister warner

labored much .. [09.21.09]




WOW. changes galore happened this past week !

one of the coolest parts besides getting to meet my new daughter SISTER PLUIM was getting to see my little sister johnson go be companions with my sister black ! HOW COOL IS THAT ? and we are all in the SAME ZONE ! crazy and so fun ! i love it !

the other crazy part is that the Lord decided to put us milwaukee sisters back in a TRIO .. but with me training .. its crazy but we are working it out. the other crazy part is that i am back with the tall sister johnson .. she is on her last transfer and soeur earl and her switched spots in madison ! i am not sure why all these changes but i know everything is in the Lords inspiration and His timing.

SISTER PLUIM. she is cute as a button. she is from ogden utah and comes from a family of 11 children ! she is the 2nd oldest and they range from 24years - 4years old ! they are so cute in all the pictures ! she is excited as can be for her time in WI. its so fun b.c. my mama hood trained me this time last year and now i am in her spot and she is in mine. its really fun !

this last week was full of sweet experiences with sister earl and then getting sister pluim and johnson. the new missionaries were all supposed to get to WI on thursday but the MTC didnt tell them they were leaving so they missed there flight and got here friday afternoon .. we had to do lots of changes quick in our schedules but it worked out well !

the sweetest experience was with ANGELINA :

she is toni cooks daugther, toni is from the muskego lakes ward. toni cook has been a member all her life but in and out of activity .. angelina wanted at one point to be baptized when she was about 10 and now she is 22 .. her mom went less active then and angelina was not open to the idea of baptism again when her mom started coming back .. BUT she[angelina] has had a change of heart and has been coming these past couple weeks to sacrament with toni and she just moved out of the cooks house asked to have her new apt blessed this past thursday 09.17 we went there with the elders vogan and stevens and they blessed her apt and then she asked for a blessing of direction from the elders and then she asked us, "so how do i start the baptism classes." WHAT FAITH AND PERSERVERENCE !

it was sweet and we sure are starting the baptism classes with her ! we are getting her involved with the YSA too ! it was such a sweet experience !

this week the highlight is .. ZONE CONFERENCE ! i love it so much.

this is our transfer scripture and i know it to be true ..

Alma 8:10
"Nevertheless Alma labored much in the spirit, wrestling with God in mighty prayer, that he would pour out his Spirit upon the people who were in the city; that he would also grant that he might baptize them unto repentance."

if we labor much and pray mightly the Spirit will be with us and then these wisconsinities will feel it and come unto the Savior, Jesus Christ ! I LOVE THIS WORK !

the Lord sure does find ways to make us stretch and grow and even though it hurts sometimes we come out taller in the end !

I LOVE YOU !
sister warner

my rock ! [09.14.09]


last night we were talking about this principle :

3 Nephi 14:24-27
"Therefore, whoso heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, who built his house upon a rock—"
"And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock."
"And every one that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand—"
"And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell, and great was the fall of it." [also found in Matthew 7:24-27]

i was pondering last night about WHO is that solid foundation and WHY do we need it .. my thoughts turned to my purpose here on earth. if i didnt believe in the Savior and Heavenly Father as my foundation then i wouldnt have a purpose. this morning i turned to my scriptures and where i was reading i found the exact thoughts of my heart ..

2 Nephi 11:7
"For if there be no Christ there be no God; and if there be no God we are not, for there could have been no creation. But there is a God, and he is Christ, and he cometh in the fulness of his own time."

if i did not have that foundation i would not be here. i would not have a purpose in life. I AM SO GRATEFUL TO KNOW THAT MY PURPOSE IS TO GO FORTH FOLLOWING THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS CHRIST SO I CAN RETURN TO MY HEAVENLY FATHER. that is why i exsist and why i go day to day .. the restored gospel gives me the faith, hope and tools to go to any battle i may come across with in this life. it gives me the strength to keep going. it makes my foundation ROCK SOLID !

this week was non then short of amazing ! and i've got some crazy news !

on friday 09.11 i called President Barrett about advice on Sami and the family situation .. he gave great advice and i told him we would go put it into action and then he said this, "Thats why we pay you the big bucks Sister Warner and because we pay you the big bucks we are gonna have you train another missionary !"

i was quite for a second and said OK ! ANOTHER DAUGTHER ! i am excited ! i get to meet her on friday ! another crazy part of this whole thing is when we got transfer calls on saturday night they said SISTER EARL IS LEAVING ! crazy. i thought i would just be in a trio with both my girls [sister earl is still one of my girls even though she is off to an island sometime !] and that when s. earls visa came she would just go ! it logically doesnt make sense but b.c. Papa Barr listens to the spirit so closley he does what the Lord wants .. so s. earl is going to a diff part of the WMM and i will stay here in MILWAUKEE WITH MY NEW DAUGHTER ! exciting !

other then that craziness the week has been good .. this is why :

we had a ORGANIZATION FAIR @ UWM [university of wisconsin - milwaukee] I LOVE WORKING WITH COLLEGE CAMPUS' ! ari [a lds student] is the LDSSA Pres and got it all set up ! we were at the booth talking to all the students and getting them to join LDSSA ! it was really fun and we got a good response from the students !

KIRSTEN HELLE is a YW in the Muskego Lakes ward and she is SO GREAT ! we started teaching her friend SANDRA this week and it was so good. sandra is orthodox and serbian .. she is amazing ! we are seeing her again tomorrow !

we were working hard with SAMI this week but the Lord is having us wait right now .. her baptism was pulling the family apart .. we are about bringing families into the gospel, not about tearing them up over the gospel. samis dad decided to hear out bro. ducharme [our WML] and it went really well. now that we are waiting i can feel that the effects of the gospel will help the WHOLE family instead of just one. we are still working witht the menters and it is good.

another long stretch of being at church yesterday ! we were there from 12p-8p ! it is amazing. working with 2 wards is really good ! i love both so much ! this area truly is amazing. i am still always amazed by the wisconsin saints.

life is good. sister earl and i bonded this week and now she is leaving ! it always seems like that happens. but i do KNOW that president is an inspired man and she will do amazing whereve she may go ! [she started praying for her visa b.c. she just wants to leave to madagascar from this area but she just might have 2 areas in the WMM !]

thank you for your love, support and care. my prayers are with you.

I LOVE YOU.

sister warner

THE RESTORATION ! [09.08.09]


THE RESTORATION ! all thoughts .. conversations .. teaching opprotunities this week turned to the restoration.

on sunday morning i was questioning why a restoration was so important. i said a prayer before reading The Book of Mormon and that question was on my heart .. we had some time before our meetings at church and i decided to just read from my personal reading .. this was where i started reading ..

2 Nephi 9:1-3
"And now, my beloved brethren, I have read these things that ye might know concerning the covenants of the Lord that he has covenanted with all the house of Israel— "
"That he has spoken unto the Jews, by the mouth of his holy prophets, even from the beginning down, from generation to generation, until the time comes that they shall be restored to the true church and fold of God; when they shall be gathered home to the lands of their inheritance, and shall be established in all their lands of promise."
"Behold, my beloved brethren, I speak unto you these things that ye may rejoice, and lift up your heads forever, because of the blessings which the Lord God shall bestow upon your children."

my simple but important question was answered in these 3 verses. the true church of God and His Son Jesus Christ would be RESTORED to the earth AND IT IS ! we have a living prophet on the earth today, Thomas S. Monson, the FULNESS of the gospel of Jesus Christ was restored through the prophet Joseph Smith, Heavenly Fathers children are being gathered back to His fold. I KNOW THIS TO BE TRUE BECAUSE I HAVE FELT THE BLESSING OF THE RESTORED OF THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST IN MY LIFE.

i love sharing this message. i am so grateful the elders came to our home and shared this message with you Laura and Heather and of course me ! b.c. of that message you Marmie came back to church with us nad b.c. you came back to church we had the opprotunity to be SEALED as a family for ETERNITY. all these blessings go back to the blessing of the RESTORATION. it has changed my life and i have the beautiful opprotunity to see it here in WISCONSIN in action changing lives ! i love it.

this week was good ! it all def pointed to the restoration ! we are truly getting into the milwaukee area and working our hardest ! yesterday was Labor day so that is why today is email day ! i love hearing from you. it brightens my week and helps me continue going ! thank you.

both pdays [08.31 and 09.07] were fun ! we had a good volleyball game LAST pday and some good thrift shopping happened ! this pday we had a north vs. south zone football game but us sisters didnt get to play too much .. thanks elders ! its ok we got a volleyball and started playing with that ! i realized again why the Lord didnt send me somewhere HOT .. i felt so sick after being out in the heat all afternoon but i am now ok.

AMALIA is wonderful. she was my investigator in appleton and now goes to Marquette University in Milwaukee .. we went to MU on 09.01 and it is a Jesuit school but we got to talk to some cool people. our lesson with amalia was good .. she needs to pray specifically about Joseph Smith and then everything else will come !

SAMI MENTOR is such a fun 13 year old. we set a baptismal date with her for 09.12 [this coming saturday] as of right now its going through but her dad is not so happy with this decision of hers and now that its coming closer its getting harder for her and we need his consent .. we are working on that today .. BUT PLEASE KEEP SAMI AND THE MENTOR FAMILY IN YOUR PRAYERS .. she needs this and i know the whole mentor family will be blessed b.c. she will bring the Spirit with her full time into their home .. that will mean her and her mom will both have it [her mom has been a member for some time, kim was less active but has been so strong in the last months] and it will bless their family .. her dad and her older brother !

09.02.09 = SEPTEMBER 2nd .. the day i left the MTC and flew out to WISCONSIN 1 year ago ! it was so fun remembering that day and all the emotions that i felt and being here now. I LOVE THIS PLACE. we had a sweet experience that night .. we went out with Natalya, a YSA preparing for a mission, to go see some YSA and we couldnt find the house # to the persons house we were trying to see when a nice man told us it was the next house .. we tried the person we planned but he was not home SO we went to go talk to the other man and he let us right in ! FRANK was so cool .. his wife was not home but we talked of eternal families and the restored gospel .. we sang him, "i am a child of God" and said a prayer with him .. the spirit was beautiful ! he didnt give us a return appt but he did say we could stop by again so i feel like that was ! it was a miracle !

another miracle was on 09.03 when we were planning in the park .. we were sitting on a blanket and planning for the upcoming week when this lady walked by and she asked us if we were doing homework .. we told her no we were missionaries and she came to talk to us .. she invited us to dinner and we went the next day ! it was really good .. eye opening to sister earl b.c. she doesnt know anything really about other religions .. REBECCA is non denominatinal .. she invited us to her church this past sunday and we went .. she should be coming to the LDS Church this next week .. right now she is trying to convert us to her church which is interesting but when she feels the true spirit of the restoration she will understand the blessings that await her !

on saturday we were invited to SISTER HECKS BBQ ! it was so much fun ! we got to talk to ALL of her family. they loved us and we loved them. i love being around families .. we talked TONS about the restoration .. sister heck is the only mormon in her family and she is amazing ! she doesnt hesitate one bit when its about the gospel ! such a fun day !

sunday = 7 hours of church ! gotta love back to back meetings and wards BUT the coolest part was when i walked out of the Muskego Lakes Ward to go to a meeting IN WALKED MICHELLE MOORE[now ARREOLA] it was such a blessing ! we hugged and we in such shock ! she just moved to WI and just happened to go to the ward where i serve ! i remember going to YW stuff with Michelle there and then YSA Dances with her there too ! crazy how your worlds collide ! i loved it !

as for this week lots of goodness planned like always ! SAMIS BAPTISM !

i love this gospel. i love serving.

I LOVE YOU.
sister warner

my soul delighteth ! [08.31.09]




2 Nephi 4:16

"Behold, my soul delighteth in the things of the Lord; and my heart pondereth continually upon the things which I have seen and heard."

my heart is full of emotions ! it has been a CRAZY week of changes and happenings ! so here it goes ..

* MONDAY we found out the TRIO NATION was being dissolved. it was sad news and a pretty rough day .. especially for sister black and i .. we felt gypped for not having a whole transfer together but we know this is best for the work to go forth and plus we will be friends for a really long time !

* TUESDAY we said lots of goodbyes and sister black and sister behrends packed ! sister behrends had been in the milwaukee area for almost 1 year so she had LOTS of stuff ! it was quite a packed day of visits and see you laters !

* WEDNESDAY we drove with President and Sister Barrett to interviews in Kenosha and then promptly drove back to up to the MILWAUKEE AIRPORT to get my NEW COMPANION ! we walked into the airport to find SISTER EARL teaching a way ! 9 weeks locked up in the Provo MTC gets you excited to talk and see REAL PEOPLE !

* SISTER EARL = SOEUR EARL ! she is from provo, utah and is 21 ! she is going to a FRENCH SPEAKING ISLAND off of MADAGASCAR ! she will be visa waiting here in the WMM for about 2-3 weeks ! she is fun and VERY excited about the work ! she is REALLY TALL ! she is 5'10" and TOWERS over me ! [kinda like you elle when you wear heals and without too ! ] it is great to have that fresh MTC feeling again ! especially since i was just there 1 year ago exact ! i am so grateful to be here in Wisconsin and for the WMM .. it really is #1 ! s. earl will think that about here and madagascar .. i really hope she sees DANCING LEMURS !

* THURSDAY we had lots and lots of planning ! i still dont know everyone as well as i wished i did so we made lots of plans to meet so we can teach ! we also attened the YSA Institute and the Open Mic Night after .. they were good ! Bishop Becker rocks the guitar like no other ! he is the perfect bishop for the YSA ! also the APs were there as well [we work with them in that ward !] e. young sang us a good song ! i encouraged s. earl to sing in french but she denied ! it is def fun to train again !

* FRIDAY we used all our resources to TALK WITH EVERYONE ! nothing in missionary work happens until you talk to someone ! it is SO TRUE ! it feels good to talk to everyone b.c. then you know that you are giving everyone the opprotunity to learn about the beautiful restored gospel !

* SATURDAY was some good volleyball BUT its gotten SO COLD ! fall is coming early and winter is coming fast ! you can see your breath in the morning ! wow. it was still a little warm when i came to WI in september ! the other good part was SAMI came .. she is our 13 yr old investigator and she even brought a friend ! she is cute and fun .. her mom KIM is coming back into activity and it is similar to my growing up experience .. marmie thank you for always coming to church with us and finding for yourself again the true everlasting happiness that comes from the restored gospel .. thank you.

on saturday as well we got to see PANG KOU YANG ! she lives in west allis now and she is amazing .. she still feels like she should go on a mission which is amazing ! i LOVE her so very much ! she is stellar !

* SUNDAY was amazing ! 8 hours of church ! we were there from 12p-8p ! crazy ! meetings and back to back/overlapping chruch but it was filled with the spirit to the max ! i love the sabbath day !

2 Nephi 4:24, 34-35

"And by day have I waxed bold in mighty prayer before him; yea, my voice have I sent up on high; and angels came down and ministered unto me."

"O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh. Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm."

"Yea, I know that God will give liberally to him that asketh. Yea, my God will give me, if I ask not amiss; therefore I will lift up my voice unto thee; yea, I will cry unto thee, my God, the rock of my righteousness. Behold, my voice shall forever ascend up unto thee, my rock and mine everlasting God. Amen."

this is how i feel. i love Nephis Psalm in 2 Nephi 4 .. i could put it all here but i encourage you all the read it ! its amazing and BEAUTIFUL !

the Lord is our rock and our salvation and i KNOW that i can turn to Him for anything and that He and His Son is ALWAYS there for us. i will put my trust in Him forever !

thank you for all your prayers for all the missionaries around the world and for Wisconsin ! thank you for all your support to me.

my many more congratulations to my sister and new brother in law .. heather and braden ! i saw some pictures and it was BEAUTIFUL and H you are looking GOOD ! and I LOVED THE CARDBOARD OF ME ! so fun ! i love that the black family went TOO ! i love you all.

I LOVE YOU.


sister warner