December 29, 2009

time to shout .. 2010 ! [12.29.09]

let us SHOUT ! its gonna be 01.01.2010 ! CRAZY !

i CAN NOT believe 2009 is over. wow. its gone by SO fast.

i think the year goes by faster when you have seasons. in beautiful LA you have 1 season .. that is SUN. in WI you have 4 and it is wonderful. i feel like is does make the year go by faster too !

right now the season is .. FROZEN TUNDRA yet. but that is ok. we do the work yet b.c. we LOVE it. in any season of weather of phase of missionary work.

i am so grateful i have had an ENTIRE YEAR dedicated to serve my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. the 2009 year has been full of miracles and blessings. to see the restored gospel work in the lives of Heavenly Fathers children is indescribable.

i love being His instrument in bringing others unto Christ. its an amazing feeling. i know there is plenty more to do, see and say. it doesnt stop at the end of 2009 .. it keeps going forever b.c. this is the truth ! i will keep going forward with faith and perseverance b.c. i know what i have is the most important to everyone and anyones soul !

i am excited for 2010 and all the miracles and opprotunities i have yet to share the restored gospel. my promise to my Savior Jesus Christ this year is to always be His disciple through thick and thin ! as we put of the "natural man" we can see the amazing blessings the Lord has in store for us and is wanting to give us. He loves us. He loves you.

i know we just talked this week and that was a BLESSING right there. it was SO good to hear your voices and feel your love through the phone. thank you for making it a wonderful day even though i was far away from you.

this last week we went and CAROLED a lot ! people loved it ! [papa i am going to come and carol to you and you will love it ! haha] it gave us an opprotunity to see people and show them our love for them !

we had a lot of snow this week and a lot of sickness as well. i was sick right before christmas and my lil s.pluim was sick right after christmas.

she woke up sunday morning DYING and we both had to speak in church. she did a wonderful job [she doesnt even remember what she said!] and then at the end of the 3 hour block she went home to sleep with mama k as her comp and i stayed for the YSA with natalya as mine. she slept for over 12 hours and is feeling great now !

we were def teken care of by our members for the holidays ! i love this area !

we had two really great experiences after i talked to you on christmas.

the first : saturday 12.26.09
we had an appt with the MILLERS ..cliff is their YSA son who joined the church 2 years ago and they have a daughter who lives at home yet. they live in GENOA CITY. its a long ways away from our central area. so we start driving in a white out snow storm and get to Genoa City almost 1.5hours later. we got there safe and the appt was AMAZING. the spirit was so strong and cliff .. who is preparing for a mission .. gave and amazing spirit felt invite for his family to take the lessons. it was beautiful. we can teach his sister but the elkhorn elders will teach the family. so the night was just beautiful. we go to leave and i start following my wonderful GPS to get back to Muskego .. all of a sudden i see a sign that said "WELCOME TO ILLINOIS" i just start screaming. we just left our mission. s.pluim just looked at me and said i was wondering why you were following the sign that said Chicago. I DID NOT SEE THAT SIGN AND DID NOT KNOW THAT GENOA CITY WAS ON THE BORDER OF WISCONSIN/ILLINOIS !

so we are just laughing and we turn around before we go to far into ILLINOIS and then we see the sign that says "WELCOME TO WISCONSIN" we felt so much better ! we decided it was a picture worthy adventure and took pictures of both signs ! what a good day !

the second : sunday/monday 12.27.09 & 12.28.09
on sunday s.pluim and i spoke in the Muskego Lakes Ward on : The Book of Mormon - The Word of God. it went really well despite s.pluims sickness but ZAK KEIR [a RM of just a couple months] brought 2 of his friends. super exciting. then came up to us after and said "this is Mike, he wants help to stop smoking and wants to learn more and be baptized." of course we are totally down with that !

later in the day at chruch our Heather B came to church in the YSA even though she didnt want to and the very first speaker said everything she needed to hear. the Lord blesses us.

then to monday 12.28 ..
we had interviews with President Barrett and they were amazing. i love that man. i am so grateful for his wise counsel and instruction. [this is also why we missed emails yesterday !]

we had a snow ball fight in his backyard while waiting for interviews. that was invigorating !

then we went to big bend and had an amazing appt with Mike and Zak you can tell was an excellent missionary on his mission in the AZ. mike is gonna stop smoking and prepare for baptism ! Zak lives in the middle of the woods and so after the appt. his dad [whos is not LDS] asked if zak could get some .. meaning A LOT .. of firewood stacked back up .. i called out and volunteered s.pluim and i to do it .. at first bro. keir was hesitent b.c. of our skirts but let us do it with the of course the help of zak, mike and spencer riches who came ! it was so much fun !

then that night we went to the boschis to have a lesson with our sweet heather. she is struggling b.c. her mom is very against the LDS Church and it is hurting her a lot. but she loves the Church b.c. it makes her happy and makes sense. it was an amazing lesson and i love heather so much.

all in all a beautiful week of miracles and getting to hear your voices.

i love having a new year. a new start on goals and new seasons of weather and life.

i love this restored gospel. it makes life so happy.

i am so grateful for you my family that keeps me going.

I LOVE YOU.
sister warner

December 21, 2009

truly a WHITE christmas !


Luke 1:37
"For with God nothing shall be impossible."


Heavenly Father is a God of Miracles ! lots of craziness went down this week.

monday 12.14 .. SARA EMILY HASKELL gave us the green light for her to be baptized on DECEMBER 20, 2009 ! WE, sister pluim and i knew from confirmation from the Holy Ghost, that she would be baptized that day when we extended her the date a month prior but she was scared and nervous about what her mom would say. she knew what her Heavenly Father wanted her to do but she was still scared. she got to have a good heart to heart with her mom and she got work off to come down from 3 hours up north to make it to saras baptism ! it was beautiful. her FAITH is amazing ! [jose romo jr. your conversion letter came at the perfect time for sara haskell .. what you wrote was what she needed and i just happened to have it in my bag ! thank you.]

the craziness of getting everything set for saras baptism continued ! we had her baptismal interview on UWM campus and that was so cool itself. sara was testifying to students at our booth on 12.16 about a living prophet and inviting all to her baptism ! her interview went great and we started making the program for who she wanted involved !

the craziest part about all of it was her best friend danielle brading was going to be flying in the day before from BYUprovo and had no idea sara was going to be baptized. sara was going to tell her when she got off the plane. the brading family and saras mom and friends from uwm were all going to come to church and then the baptism would happen. all was set !

fast forward to saturday 12.19 @ 10:45p [we were already supposed to be asleep haha!] SARA CALLS .. danielle missed her connecting flight b.c. something happened with a medical emergency ! OH MAN. the main person who was wanted & needed at the baptism is stuck. i told sara i had faith in HF and His Son Jesus Christ and this is the best thing she could be doing and EVERYTHING would work out.

again, Heavenly Father is a God of Miracles. dani's flight would now be getting in at 4p on 12.20 .. saras baptism 6:30p on 12.20 ! [good thing everything was happening in milwaukee !] as i was sitting in sacrament with saras mom kinda stressing about the time and planes and if this was all going to work according to Gods will the speaker said to turn to LUKE 1 .. as we read what she told us to i read on and came to vs. 37 "For with God nothing shall be impossible." Heavenly Father answered me quietly and with surety.

EVERYONE arrived right on time and the tears of joy flowed from danis and saras eyes as sara entered the waters of baptism. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. i love those girls. they have been BEST FRIENDS since age 7. dani has always wanted sara to have what she treasured. the restored gospel and all the blessings. yesterday sara made that first step. i am so grateful Heavenly Father used sister pluim and i as His instruments to teach sara and prepare her for this beautiful convenant.

yesterday was beautiful. as i sat there watching dani and sara it remined me of jose romo jr and i. his baptism almost 2 years ago on the 12.23 is a day i will NEVER forget. i never understood how the life i lived affected someone so close to me until jose romo jr started meeting with the missionaries. people watch us and want to know what is different. i am so grateful i was able to be friends with you jose romo jr and be by your side as you made your steps toward receiving the fulness of the gospel of jesus christ.

the rest of the week was filled with Christmas cheer !

we had CHRISTMAS ZONE CONFERENCE. it was so uplifting and inspiring !

i love this time of year so much. we have so much to rejoice in.

i want to wish everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS and to truly focus on what this season and our lives are about .. JESUS CHRIST.

there are 2 videos that are on LDS.ORG that are amazing. president monson is an inspired man of the Lord. watch and feel of the Christmas spirit and what our true focus should be. it has helped me think ALOT about the true season we are in.

"The Christmas Spirit" and "What Shall We Give?"

i find great joy in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. not only do we have the bible as a record of our Savior but we have the Book of Mormon as well. it nails down that the Savior did live and and that He gave us the wonderful gift of the Atonement and Eternal Life. He still lives today ! He gave us SO many gifts. let us remember Him and what we will give for Christ.

MERRY CHRISTMAS. [family i will be talking to you in 4days !]

I LOVE YOU.
sister warner

December 14, 2009

ENDURE TO THE END ! [12.14.09]


this transfers theme is always fitting .. ETTE !

its cold now .. wisconsinities shut themselves up in their warm homes .. traveling takes longer .. more coats and scarfs ..

BUT

we are on a MISSION TO BRING OTHERS UNTO CHRIST !

we will ENDURE TO THE END with JOYFULL HEARTS OF PRAISE !

1 Nephi 13:37
"And blessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my Zion at that day, for they shall have the gift and the power of the Holy Ghost; and if they endure unto the end they shall be lifted up at the last day, and shall be saved in the everlasting kingdom of the Lamb; and whoso shall publish peace, yea, tidings of great joy, how beautiful upon the mountains shall they be."

i love this season SO MUCH. i find myself loving and appreciating so much more. my thoughts are so much more focused on the Savior and his life .. it needs to be like that ALL THE TIME ! i find great joy in this gospel and knowing MY SAVIOR.

we are here to publish peace and tidings of great joy in all sorts of weather and conditions. we hold something so precious for all mankind to hear about ! we are joyfully enduring to the end .. not only of the winter BUT of our missions and our life !

this week was full of CRAZINESS ! because we are the MILWAUKEE SISTERS we get all the funness of transfers ! being right next to the mission home and office is a blessing and crazy all at the same time !

12.07 .. FUN FUN FUN YSA FHE .. we did a white elephant gift exchange and HEATHER & SARA came ! they love the YSA and the YSA love them. they are so good at fellowshipping and bringing others unto christ.

12.08 .. district meeting was SO good. we each taught on a christlike attribute and it helped me understand how being like Christ is the way for life. we taught GWEN VANG [rc] with the hmong elders. she is so funny. she tried to trick us and she got ME so good. she told us that france didnt approve her green card so she would have to go back to paris and i believed her .. i was so relieved when she said she was just joking !

we also we STREET CONTACTING @ MARQUETTE with the brand new missionaries ! when the new ones come in they take them street contacting somewhere in milwaukee but i didnt get to do it when i was a greenie b.c. our flight was later .. SO we got to go this time with President and the new sister johnson ! it was a lot of fun and good for us b.c. that is our area !

we had an AMAZING lesson with our SARA @ uwm. i just love her. she gets it all. her world has opened up and it is amazing. we are hoping for her baptism this weekend. she has such FAITH.

that night was a HUGE SNOW STORM ! it was so bad it took us almost an hour to get back home when it usually only takes 20 mins. a lot of snow fell so WI is now WHITE !

12.09 .. we had to go and get the new sister johnson .. her comp didnt fly out with her so we were gonna keep the other sisters trainer for a couple weeks until sister skinner came out .. the beginning of the transfer is crazy down here in MILWAUKEE !

we made gingerbread houses that night with LEESA and her med school friends .. it was a ton of fun and i feel like mine looked pretty good !

12.10 .. TRANSFER DAY ! it was also -10 that day ! oh man were we cold ! we took s.hamblin and s.behrends around to see people they use to teach .. it was good for us and fun ! 5 sisters together at once !

that night Muskego Lakes had their RS christmas dinner. we played fun games and got to be with the women ! it was good.

12.11 .. TRANSFER PLANNING .. oh shoot me. we had lots to plan for this transfer and we still do ! i love planning though .. goals are what keep us going !

we went and watched the K's play volleyball that night .. it was fun and we got to talk to their friends !

12.12 .. what a good day ! we went to the MILWAUKEE HMONG NEW YEAR ! we got to dress up with pang kou ! s. hogge was our trio for what was supposed to be a couple weeks but was only a couple days ! [the mtc called and let her comp fly out !] s.hogge and s.pluim never went to any hmong function so we had A LOT of fun !

that night we went to the airport with the barretts to pick up s.hogge's comp SISTER SKINNER ! it was fun ! then we all went to dinner and got to know each other !

then we went to the YSA CHRISTMAS PARTY ! we had 6 nonmembers there ! just friends of our sweet YSA. it was so good and so fun. HEATHER won the ugly sweater contest ! she was thrilled !

12.13 .. MY 16 MONTH MARK AS SISTER WARNER. never did i think i would hit that mark. WOW. its been so amazing to wake up every morning and put on a tag with the saviors name right by mine. i love it. i wouldnt trade this opprotunity for the world.

church was SO good. the YSA ward is tearing it up and i have a new found LOVE, HOPE and FAITH for the ML ward !

this week is ZONE CONFERENCE !

CHRISTMAS IS COMING SO FAST ! that means i get to talk to you family ! i am SO excited !

thank you all for your continued support. time is flying and will continue too !

I LOVE YOU.
sister warner

December 07, 2009

IT IS ON ! [12.07.09]


IT IS ON .. like donkey kong [in the words of my lil' pluim !]

so we will start with the #1 news .. TRANSFER CALLS CAME ..

SISTER PLUIM & I ARE STAYING TOGETHER FOR A 3rd TRANSFER ..

and

HERE IN THE MUSKEGO LAKES & MILWAUKEE 3rd YSA !

IT IS ON ! we are SO happy we didnt feel as if we were done together yet and neither does the Lord ! we have so much to do here .. PUMP IT LOUDER !

the next 6 weeks are gonna be good ! and also another bonus is my sister black and sister johnson are still in RACINE ! we are only .5 hour away .. what a blessing ! this christmas season is gonna be good !

so with that in mind all i am not done yet ! i still love letters and anything that comes in the mail ! im coming home soon but not so soon at the same time .. you'll probably see my face in person in the 3rd month of the year so keep the encouragment and love comin ! send it here ..

5651 broad st. #1
greendale, wi. 53129

and now on to the week of sister warner and sister pluim !

last monday pday was an exciting one ! we had a PUDDING EATING CONTEST .. sponsored by the pluim family ! they sent her 20 boxes of jello pudding ! it was fun ! sister heck took us out to eat and our waitress' name was ALMA ! i proceeded to teach her about the BOM [book of mormon] the almas that wrote their history .. it was cool ! she enjoyed it and her name ! did you know ALMA = SOUL .. i thought that was cool.

tuesday was the 1st of December .. where has time gone ? we got to meet KAREN GONZALES .. who just moved here from new hampshire .. she joined the church there but she is origianlly from SANTA CRUZ, BOLIVIA ! crazy. she was nice and we are helping her get life in wisconsin under control.

that 12.01 eve we had dinner at the mission home with the ever famous and lovely AMY BROWN from GB .. she came to milwaukee and wanted to take us out but we took her to the barretts for supper b.c. after that we went CAROLING ! oh how i love to carol .. it bring the spirit of Christ around you like a big warm coat ! we went to carol with the barretts to their neighbors and a couple other people that were our investigators. IT WAS A FUN AND BEAUTIFUL NIGHT WITH A FULL MOON !

UWM was hoppin this week ! a LDS student brought a friend to institute and he is coming back next week ! our BOOTH was rockin ! we had a lot of success in talking and reaching out to people. i found DYLAN [our athiest] and got to talk to him about the BOM. it was a good conversation and i am so grateful for the power of PERSONAL TESTIMONY. the truth of all things is shown through the power of the Holy Ghost and we need to do all we can to LISTEN. i am so grateful i listened.

CLIFF MILLER .. one of our awesome YSA made us a Japanese dinner that night .. it had tofu in it and i loved it !

12.03 = SISTER BARRETTS SUPRISE BIRTHDAY BASH @ the mission office ! we had a fun time suprising her and singing and dancing for her !

that night we stopped at a YSA womens house who is going through some tough times. it was a very inspired visit, we just stopped by. the spirit was strong and Heavenly Father told us exactly what she needed to hear. she thanked us as we prayed with her and we all felt Heavenly Fathers love around us.

SARA ! oh how i love that girl. she keeps me going. we saw her at UWM on friday. we talked with her a little about the POS but also shared with her how she is like ALMA who listened to ABINADI .. she is just ONE but b.c. of her faith and goal of baptism she will bring many into the gospel. PRAY FOR SARA ! she knows she is getting baptized, we know she is getting baptized, she is waiting to hear her moms point of view. SHE IS AMAZING ! i love her.

that night NATALYA [who got her mission call to the fortworth, texas mission] came out and was our companion ! we went and caroled to a bunch of people to invite them to the CHRISTMAS DEVOTIONAL ! it was fun. she is going to be an amazing missionary !

on saturday 12.05 WE GOT TO GO TO THE CHICAGO TEMPLE ! oh how i love the temple. we went for natalyas endowments and we also saw former E. HORROCKS and E.THOMAS there for a RC endowments from madison ! it was fun. peace and reassurance that you are on Heavenly Fathers path is found in the temple. it was a good day.

that night we got to party it up with the YSA ! cliff had a get together to bring in the winter and had a lot of friends and his family there that we could talk to ! it was really fun. i met ELLIE who was so cool ! her major is PHOTOGRAPHY. so not only did we bond over cameras but also with the gospel of jesus christ. the assistants came too ! they like to pary it up !

YESTERDAY WAS AMAZING ! i love the sabbath day. what i love even more is fast sunday. and added bonus was the CHRISTMAS DEVOTIONAL ! if you didnt get to see it yet .. WATCH IT ON LDS.ORG ! it brought the true meaning of christmas to everyones mind and started out the holiday season right !

cliffs family came to church and the broadcast ! they are amazing ! pat miller is the dad and HE LOOKS ALMOST EXACTLY LIKE UNCLE STEVE ! it was fun ! we got to teach them a lot about the restored gospel. i think yesterday opened a whole new road for cliffs family !

THIS WEEK IT IS ON ! its the start of a new transfer and MANY MIRACLES ! the Lord truly blesses us when we give all we can ! that is what we are going to do .. WORK EVEN HARDER ! this area needs a lot and we are willing to give ! we are not done !

I LOVE YOU and MISS YOU TONS. thank you for the support and continued love.

I LOVE YOU.
sister warner