Mexico, Monterrey West Mission

Mexico, Monterrey West Mission

Monday, February 28, 2011

BAPTISM!!

Hello! How are you?! We had an awesome week, first baptism! I'll revolve the majority of the email around that. Yesterday, woke up; we're supposed to meet our investigator (Geraldo) at 8:00 a.m. for church, he didn't show. In order for a baptism they have to go to church twice, and he only went once. In my area the majority of people don't have phones, so it makes it a little difficult to find people. We finally went to church, and he showed up half way through Sacrament. We had been fasting for him, which is legit here because for Sacrament they hardly break the bread cause there are so few people so it's like a whole sandwich. Anyway, he shows. We're all singing hallelujah in our heads. We had a planned zone baptism at 6:00 where a lot of the zone and the president goes to one church. We planned to meet Geraldo at the bus station at 4:00. Ended up waiting there till 6:00 p.m.. (see my pictures to make the story more dramatic, haha) At this point we're super bummed out. So we go to his house and he is there. Him and my comp speak their jibrish language, figure things out and we head out. We then had to find a new church because it was too late for the other. So we find two other elders with a church, but we needed a bishop or president of the roma for the baptism. We waited another hour till we found one, all met up at the bus station, took a taxi to the church, waited for the two elders at a 7-11. It's now 8:00 p.m. (we're supposed to be back at the house at 9:00). They come, we drive to the church and hurry and change, then start the ceremony. Took our photos and performed the baptism. It was such an amazing experience. I was a little nervous just because his name was impossible to pronounce, and the people have two last names in Mexico. This mission has been such a blessing and amazing experience, but after last night it's something completely different, there is something so special in the fact that you just helped someone change their life. I am so thankful for this opportunity. It is such a blessing to be where I am. i know that this is the work of the Lord. I'm out of time so until next week.

Love you - Elder Warner

Dear Mother, Hey sweetheart! Side note here. How are you! I miss you my sweet mother. I hope you are doing well. I wish i could respond to your emails but I only have time to print them off and read. I'll reply next week. I got your package! Thank you so much!!! For how much they cost, keep em only for bdays and Christmas, sheesh haha. Thank you sweetie. I hope your work is going good! I love you - Elder Warner


Waiting, waiting for their investigator....

Elder Zegarra, Elder Warner and another companionship at the church before the baptism


Elder Warner, Geraldo, and his new missionary companion, Elder Zegarra (from Lima, Peru) before the baptism


Beautiful Monterrey Sunset

Friday, February 25, 2011

First hand-written letter from Mexico!

February 14, 2011 (received 2/25/11)

Family! How are we? As you may know from my emails, I am doing awesome! I love it here! Emails are good, but I always prefer letters. I figure you might want a letter too. I haven't shared a journal entry in a while, I'll give you two days. When I don't know what to write on plain days, I just bear testimony.

~2.2.11~
It's hard to think about the days events, cause from the time you wake up, the next thing you know you're in bed again. I know that this is where I am supposed to be, not only in Monterrey, but on my mission. I know that we are instruments of Christ and we are called throughout the world to do His work. I know that we are watched over and protected. I know we are listened to by our Heavenly Father. I know of surety how much the Gospel has helped my family. I also know that is why I am here, to help every other family by sharing this message.

~2.9.11~
I've been looking at pictures of the Monterrey temple for over seven months waiting for today. The temple is gorgeous! We had an awesome session with about two zones of missionaries. Followed with the temple, my companion and I were at the mall for P-Day. I was lookin at the side shops and was offered a sample drink and drank a little without thinking. Forgetting I'm in Mexico, my companion stopped me and asked the guy what it was. A nice alcohol sample - wont make that mistake again.

Had to throw in some humor. I love you all ~
Elder Warner

Monday, February 21, 2011

Transfer to Cienega de Flores

¡¿Como Estan?! I'm in an awesome transfer I'll give some details and answer some of your questions, like for the food - yes, very different. I wait until im done eating to ask what it was. Last week I found out I just consumed a lovely chicken foot. And I swear one of the meals was some sort of cat hyde. But the people are so generous to feed us so what is to complain about. No, I haven't gotten sick, yet. We have lunch at members homes at 2 then work from 3 til 9. I'm about an hour out of my last area in a town called Cienega de Flores. It's about ten miles long so we have bikes. Really small bikes. My compa, he is legit. He is from Lima, Peru. Yes, only spanish. His accent is sooo much easier to understand than the Mexican accent so I got very lucky. The work, we are very, very, very busy. The majority of the nights last week I have fallen asleep while saying my prayers. It takes about an hour to bike to the areas, we have 3 different areas of work. Our home is cool, well it's hot, but you know what I mean. None of the houses have heat or a.c. they usually warm up inside around 2 pm and cool down around 10 pm. Yes, we do have a shower, well I don't know if thats what you would call it. The sink produces more water flow, and I think is warmer haha. My feelings - tired, and satisfied. For pics I'll start labeling, last week was a batch of onions on the road, so I was pretending to cry. Lame, I know. But it's my missionary humor. This week I have a photo of the entrance of C.d.F. and the Church. and the Font, you'll love it. The church is a very small, what used to be, house. We don't have a ward, because there is not enough people and priesthood to fill a ward, so, it's called a Roma. The font is out side in a what looks like, large hot tub, except for not hot, or warm for that matter. Ok, it's freezing, I'm just trying to stay away from any sign of complaint. I have a baptism scheduled for next Sunday, that I will explain further in next weeks email.

Til then, love you all.
- Elder Warner



Elder Warner outside his new area, Cienega de Flores. Note the size of his bike!


LDS Rama (Branch)


Baptismal font behind church building in Cienega de Flores


These shoes tell a story after a long day of tracting!

Monday, February 14, 2011

Week three in Mexico

Hey how are you!? It keeps getting better each week, I guess it just gets better the more I get accustomed here. Still can't believe I'm here. This week was slower, my comp leaves home tomorrow and I'm out to a new area tomorrow so there wasn’t a lot of effective work to do, but still stayed plenty busy. Still shy on the Spanish but its gettin there, I realized it's not so much not knowing what the words are, it's just how everyone has a different accent and the words sound completely different. Other than that it’s starting to feel like home. We live in an area that is distant from a lot of the areas we work in so there is a lot of long bus rides and taxis. It's exactly like Cancun when one minute we're on the beach and all these hotels then 20 minutes out you're driving on long roads with occasional homes the size of an average single room on the side of the road. I have seen it all. I'm just outside the city so we catch a glimpse of city life, then we travel out to another area and it’s the complete opposite - dirt roads, dogs... everywhere, niño's playin in the streets, homes made out of that wavy fiberglass. If this place doesn’t make you humble I don’t know what would. We were in that area last night and while on that subject I'll tell a story that you may not think is so funny, but I did, so it’s all good. haha. We were contacting in that wide open area and during a contact he paused us and his buddy came up and handed him a nice large bag of what looked like green cooking spices (use your imagination, it wasn’t cooking spices). He paid him then just kept on with our conversation. It's a lot different here, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else if I could. Not because of that story, of course. But I just love the people and the culture. I’m excited to see where they send me tomorrow!

I'll be giving you all the details next week, until then love you all.

- Elder Warner

Note to his dad - "How are you doing? Man, this is incredible, dad. I can't even describe it to you. It's extremely difficult but like the quote you sent in in the Libro de Mormon, trust in the Lord in all thine works and lean not on thine own understanding. I couldn't last a day here alone. I know I am watched over and helped especially as a missionary. Thanks for your example. It helps me at the end of the day when my heels are bruised. I just wanted to throw this short message to you. The mass email will come later. Thanks again, love you..."
Elder Warner
Elder Warner crying over a bag or spilt onions!

Monterrey, Mexico Temple

Not quite sure about this picture?! Byran never explained!





Monterrey Landscape

COLD in Mexico! One of the coldest winter seasons in years! No heat in the apts. either...

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Semana (Week) two in Mexico

Buenos Tardes, we had an awesome week! It is my last one here in this area because of temporary transfers. I had my first convert on Saturday! Her name is Iby, 13 years old; she was a referral so my comp and I went to visit early last week. She accepted baptism the second time meeting; we were on the first lesson. It was such an awesome experience watching her grow in the gospel day by day. She lived about an hour out of where we lived so our nights basically revolved around teaching her every day last week. Her family isn't too receptive to the message but were always inviting. Her aunt is a member; she is the one who provided the referral. We had the baptismal service on Saturday; not too many family members showed unfortunately but it was still really good. On to next, its p-day today cause it was temple day. WOW, the temple is gorgeous! We traded Monday p-day for today. Early start, 4 a.m. about an hour and a half travel. I've been looking at photos of that temple constantly for a long time now, and we got there and it was like seeing your favorite celebrity. Awesome temple session, packed with 2 zones of missionaries. It has been a very busy week. It all payed off for these blessings. I'm so grateful to be here in Monterrey, I'm getting used to paying with pesos, but that's about it. Language, people and environment still leave me with a question mark stamped on my head. I'll get used to it soon enough, for now I just love where I am and am so thankful for this opportunity to serve in Mexico.
Love you all - Elder Warner.

Aerial view of Monterrey, Mexico, where Bryan will be serving his mission for the next two years!



Beautiful Monterrey, Mexico temple. Bryan's Mission President, President Romney, allows his missionaries to attend the temple once a month. Such a blessing to these missionaries...



Elder Warner with Elder Vaughn, his MTC companion! He and Elder Vaughn traveled to Mexico together and were paired with each of the Zone Leaders for two weeks before being reassigned to different areas.

Bryan, back left-hand corner of the picture with his companion, Elder Flores in front of him.
Taken at the baptism for Iby, 13 yrs old.


STILL cold! Not sure whose clothes he borrowed to keep warm, but thank you!
(His winter clothing was sent home when he left Idaho, not realizing that Mexican winters could be so brutally cold).