Elder Bryan J. Warner: Baptism!!!

Hey! How are you? I had one of the coolest experiences this past week that I'll try to briefly describe. We found a mother named Martha who was a Testigo de Jeova 2 weeks ago from a referral. She has a mother, sister and daughter who are all converts to our church. She just never cracked. We set up appointments with her daughter present, and basically the first few visits were answering her questions. We then began to teach parts of the restoration. By this point she had a firmer belief in what we had told her than what she had known. She began to open up to us. On Saturday night, we went to teach the Plan of Salvation. In the lessons, my companion and her did a lot of back and forth bible answering and I did a lot of pretending like I knew what's going on. This is the part of the story that touched me most. Her daughter asked me why I don’t talk much in the lessons. I told her I don't understand a lot of her questions. She replied with, "Let the Spirit talk through you." When we went back Saturday night, I didn't talk much in the lesson. She looked at me and pointed up. I didn’t feel like it was the time to say anything so I continued to sit quietly. Later, there was a moment where I had a very strong impression to bear testimony. So I jumped on it. I ended up mentioning eternal families in my testimony. There is no holding my emotion in when it comes to that subject. But the Spirit was very strong. After, my companion felt the impression to invite her to baptism for Sunday, the next day. She replied with, she wasn't ready. We ended with a prayer and asked her to offer it. In her prayer we asked her to ask if she is supposed to be baptized tomorrow. She got through the prayer and broke down at the end. There was a silence as she wept and we continued to invite her again. She accepted with tears in her eyes. Afterwards, the most powerful part was watching her daughter break down while hugging her. A statement came in my mind saying, "This is missionary work." The baptism was awesome; she had her family there. We went back to visit that night while all her family was still there. As they left, they expressed gratitude to us and Martha. Her sister hugged her and Martha just wept. It was such an amazing experience for me watching that family completely transform in a matter of days. I know it's all because of this Gospel. I know as missionaries we only have words to share, but it's the Spirit that does the converting. I'm so grateful for this opportunity to be where I am. This experience has changed both her and my life. This is only a summary of my emotion. I wish i could express the power of this experience but this is the best I can do. I hope all is well with you, I love you all. - Elder Warner

Dear Mother, hey love for the side note for money, how much have i spent and how much is left, can you make a note and divide up of how much to spend each month. also the stamps you send only work for sending to Mexico. i sent them back in a letter you should get in about 15 days. i am plenty sufficient on liahonas. if your doing a package can you get some black licorice and circus peanuts in there. that will be sufficient on food i left my face wash in Idaho. the red and white bottle i don't know what its called its larger mitch only uses it for her back ask her. photos of family!!! and ask mitch to burn all michael ethington music and other church music. i love you i hope you are having an awesome week! i have time for one Mexico fact, they take holidays very serious. yes, its the first day of spring, so the city shuts down and buys out the nearest tacate (mexican beer) warehouse. the library and cyber were closed today, so we had to travel a distance to find a member with a computer. i have an awesome story that will have to wait, best week of my mission. i hope all is well i love you - elder warner

Elder Warner, Martha, & Elder Zegarra