Hello! How is everyone? Well, here we are on the final week. This last week went well. As always I learned A LOT. But unfortunately, not a lot of success. We found 2 people where I have no doubt they are prepared. We weren't able to find them on Sunday for church but we'll see how it goes with them this week. I talked a lot with the Stake President (the son of our Bishop) to see what we can do in this area to pick it up and we're going to start working almost purely with members this last week to see what we can do.

Well, I had a few very spiritual experiences, one of which being the journal entry I sent:

"We had ended a lesson with the Stake President and started walkiing to another area. Within a few minutes of walking, I felt the impression to immediately turn to a house we had almost passed. We asked if we could offer a prayer. He let us in. The very first thing I saw was a pass-along card taped to his dresser. I asked if other missionaries have passed by. But he told us, no. When I asked about the card, he said he found it a few weeks ago on the floor in his house. He told us when he found it, he prayed to God about his suicidal thoughts. He cried multiple times during the time we talked to him. He mentioned all the churches he has been to but just never felt right in any of them. Following that, he accepted our invitation to church tomorrow."

The other has to do with language study:

I have a family friend who sends me the Spanish Liahona monthly. Alot of the days that I have to study the language, I read passages aloud from the Liahona or scriptures with a pen in my mouth to work on the dang accent. I sat there at 10:00 a few mornings ago wondering what I need to work on with my language and felt like I should practice while reading from a certain Liahona of few months ago. I flipped it open and saw a passage about the suffering of Christ and began to read. I read and read and practiced the certain words that are hard to pronounce and began reading a passage by Elder Ballard, I believe. As I started reading, I focused more on the passage than on my reading practice. This whole transfer change, I have had so many questions - some of which being those of 'Why' questions. As I read, I felt so comforted with an answer to virtually everything that has been running through my mind.

"Trust in the Lord. Just when all seems to be going right, challenges often come in multiple doses applied simultaneously. When those trials are not consequences of your disobedience, they are evidence that the Lord feels you are prepared to grow more. Therefore, He gives you experiences that stimulate growth, understanding, and compassion, which polish you for your everlasting benefit. To get to where you are, to where he wants you to be, requires a lot of stretching, and that generally entails discomfort and pain."

This said it all to the example questions of "Why does this have to happen to me?" "Why do I suffer this now?" As it taught to turn these type of questions to "What am I to learn from this experience?" "Whom am I to help?" or "How can I remember my many blessings in times of trial?" I think we all have had our own form of these struggles. But how simple does it state an answer to what each of us are experiencing.

There are weeks where I feel let down that I'm not sharing with you all these awesome conversion stories of baptisms and such, but I feel more than blessed to share all the stories of my own conversion each week. I love you all. Please pray for the people in the area, Del Rio. They need the prayers.

Elder Warner