Elder Warner arrives in Mexico!

¡hola todos! How are you? Wow this is the gnarliest thing ever. Basically the complete opposite of Idaho. Some specs about the place.. The people are awesome! I love them; mainly because most of them are nice but the ones who cuss and reject us, I cant understand anyway so I can keep a smile on! I seriously love it here. I'm in the city serving with the zone leaders. I live with them and ironically live with my MTC comp also. We live on a super busy street. There is a lot of walking; all the roads look the same so I never know where we are. When we contact or teach, I wait to see when they nod or smile, and then I nod and smile. I realized the teachers who teach Spanish in the MTC speak very slowly. It sounds like they speak 10-minute sentences. I can pick out a word or 2 usually but by the time I figure it out, we are on the next door. I love it I'm so excited to learn it one day! Our ward is very small; there are 2 deacons that pass. We had a baptism service on Sunday for some elders in the zone. It was an awesome experience for me because I didn’t know a lot of what was said, so I was focused more on the feeling. It was really cool to experience the language of the spirit over Spanish. P day was awesome; we played soccer with the zone for a few hours. Its been different using payment of pesos, if they knew any better they would give me back a small amount and I wouldn’t know the difference. It’s a completely new life style, living, language, people, food and so on. I'm already in love with it. I'm on a temporary assignment so ill be leaving here in 2 weeks. For now I'm soakin it all in. I'm in a pretty safe area. That’s all you need to know. Hasta proximo semana, les amamos.

Elder Warner

01/28/11:

¡Hula mi Bonita Madre! Its here, I'm in Monterrey! I apologize for being unable to contact anyone yesterday, my SLC flight boarded before we landed and in Mexico city we had to do customs and security, in Spanish, you could imagine how long that took us all. Any way here is the update:

We started off early 3:30 so the others flying to AZ could catch their 6 o clock flight. There is one other elder who flew to Monterrey with me. We flew into SLC, ran off the plane to catch the one to Mexico City, and ran into others from my district in the MTC. It was so gnarly. We got on the plane, I thought my Spanish was solid enough to get by, heard all the instructions and realized I know nothing. Got to Mexico City and was re assured I know nothing, it was awesome. I think we were the only ones that spoke English haha. The only thing I was worried about is if I would ever see my luggage again. When I saw it I noticed the lock was cut off one of them, haven’t had time to see what was swooped out of my bags. Made our final destination to Monterrey, safe and sound. The city is amazing the mission pres is awesome and I'm ecstatic to be here! This is my summary for the time given, ill give more detail on p day they just wanted us to check in and let you know all is well, ¡les amamos! Elder Warner

Elder Warner gets his VISA!!

Hey Family! So you all know the good news about Mexico! Oh my gosh, I am so stoked! How is everyone? I want to share two events from this past week that I will summarize from my journal:

01/22/11:

We taught a recently baptized member a lesson on examples. He served many years in prison. A big white guy covered in tattoos. He turned his life around by listening to missionary discussions. He shared a story with us, how his relatives came down and visited him and noticed his change in life. He was now an example to them because they noticed how much happier he was because of the Gospel. People notice that we are happy simply because we follow the Light of Christ.

01/23/11:

We were given an assignment in church. I noticed a super helpful gift that comes with being a missionary - is the ability of speech. I was able to throw a few bullet points and talked on them for a good 10 minutes. The Lord blesses us with things even if we don't notice them at times. Especially as missionaries. We are very blessed. I'll be taken off for a few hours drive to Boise tomorrow and then on my way this week! Hope all is well. Les Amanos!

Elder Warner

01/24/11: (I told you this already but its a really a cool story to share!) We had a good week, not to much success but a lot of good went on. I have stories, but for now I’ll share one in particular. When I got here I met someone from Monterrey. Later I looked at a calendar and the next page was the Monterrey temple. The following morning my companion read an article in Preach my Gospel talking about a taxi driver from Monterrey. After personal study we discuss what we learn and he told me about what he read, following with his inspiration that I would only be here about 2 weeks. We took all these things as a sign but I didn’t plan on anything so it wouldn’t let me down. Yesterday we received a call stating that I'll be flying to Monterrey on Wed! Literally 2 weeks from the day he told me that. Talk about inspiration. My email emotions wont be nearly enough to express how excited I am right now! I'll leave with a testimony that God knows all, he loves each of us enough to answer each prayer, and it just all depends when he feels the time is right. Revelation is not just for Prophets, it comes to each of us if we listen. Now, I need you to wish me luck on re activating my Spanish. I love you all have a good day! - Elder Warner

Week One in Chubbuck, Idaho

Mother! How are you doing? I'm going to be sending one large e-mail that you can forward to whoever (family) is interested. So ill give you the details so you’re not stressing. I'm in a little town called Chubbuck. That about says it all. It consists of a lot of trailer parks. I am loving it here we got spoiled with a little town home. We cover 4 wards and stay super busy. This is a complete turn around from the MTC everything is so real. It’s touching to knock doors and see the situations all these people are in. and how desperately these people could use the gospel. Some are more willing to listen than others, but I love them all. This past week we did a lot of tracting because the last missionaries didn’t keep up too well on the area book, so we have been working like mad. I fall asleep in a matter of minutes every night. It’s hard to even remember what happened this week cause it flew by so quickly. So for your questions, the area is nice, as you could guess with my luck I'm the only one who didn’t get put in a Spanish area, but it all happens for a reason. I only speak Spanish in my mind to try to keep it up so I don’t lose it. Mission president-really nice guy, very welcoming. First day was a lot we arrived after our 37-minute flight on this 20-passenger plane with 90% missionaries. Landed at the barn sized air port, we all had to laugh when we saw it, got our bags headed to the mission home, ate then sent off to do a few hours of tracting. Went back to the mission home, ate and had a testimony meeting, following went to the zone leaders home to spend the night, woke up and met our companions and went to work. Haven’t stopped since then everything is going very well I am loving the work. We're extremely busy. I hope all is well back at home I love you all. - Elder Warner

Family! How is everyone?! Wow, what a week! I can't believe the way time flies. I already said most everything in the email, but I'm going to share journal entry from 01/12/11: "I remember as a kid driving past the missionaries, and being so excited to see them. It hit me tonight that I am now one of them. I could not stop smiling while tracting tonight. It was one of my most cherishable experiences I have ever had. I feel like a true servant of the Lord. I am so excited for tomorrow! I love all these people here! I know it will be somewhat of a struggle trying to bring them unto Christ, but somehow and some way it will happen. I am already in love with this work. It will be an amazing experience. Changing these peoples lives forever! I love it! Everything is going well. The work is coming along and we made some pretty good damage this week. I'm extremely tired and am ready to start a new week! A real quick funny story: I met someone from Monterrey. The next day I noticed a calendar in our kitchen. It wasn't a temple calendar or anything but I flipped to see the picture of February and it was the picture of the Monterrey temple. It was crazy! Then the next morning during personal study, my companion was studying "Preach my Gospel" and was reading on page 157, about a man living in Monterrey, Mexico. We are taking it as some sort of a sign. I am so excited to go there eventually. But for now I'm excited for another day right where I am. I hope all is well at home. We did some shopping, lunch and bowling today. It was so fun but has caused me a lack of time. I have a family home evening we're teaching in 20 minutes so I gotta run.

Les Amamos! Elder Warner

Elder Warner inside an interesting fence made old skiis! - Chubbuck, Idaho.

Little bit of Mexico in Idaho!

Nice townhouse apt. for the missionaries!

Outskirts of town

Low-rider!

Satisfied, happy Elder tracting the streets of Chubbock, ID

Last week of the MTC and off to the Idaho, Pocatello Mission

(Editor's note from the mom! We were able to speak to Bryan briefly on the phone at the airport before he left for Pocatello. He got there and was waiting for his flight but the phones were all busy and being used by other missionaries calling home. It was a big day for missionaries leaving that day. A kind man had mercy on Bryan and noticing he hadn't made his call yet and his time was short, came up to him and offered him his cell phone to call us. His flight was boarding just as we were able to speak to him. I knew I didn't have time to ask him my long barage of questions so we simply asked him to bear his testimony in Spanish. Wow! His dad and I were amazed and humbled at his in-depth testimony where we didn't understand the words but felt the Spirit so very strongly. After our conversation and we told him good-bye, I was so overwhelmed with gratitude for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and for those who had taught him by the Spirit at the MTC. I knelt down and offered fervent prayer for the many blessings of having a missionary out and for our boy who was embarking on one the of most incredible experiences of his life! What a blessing this Gospel is in our lives!)

Family, how is everyone? I'm doing super well! So we're making progress! I'm actually going somewhere! I haven't heard about the place, the only time I have seen part of Idaho is when dad and I drove through it at Idaho Falls and it was pretty. So far I have heard Pocatello is cold and of course lots of potatoes. A lady who lives there said plain and simple I won't miss it when I leave. I thought that was kinda funny. I really am stoked to go there though. Mainly because I'm going for some reason because I'm the only one who got called there. My other friend in my district is heading to St. George tomorrow. Everyone else left Saturday morning. It was hard to see them go, I love them all.

For my journal entry-

01/08/11: The quick judgement of things highly lack thought. I had the attitude of being here [MTC] and into the field for so long. But didn't really think of how much I love it here. One of my favorite quotes, "You don't know what you have until it's gone." So very true. I love it here! I just packed out of my room to move in my new room with my new companion. It was hard to shut the door and leave those incredible memories behind. But it's all about looking forward. Because the memories and experiences I am about to make will forever and without a doubt be unforgettable.

Wish me luck! I love you all!

New Years Eve and the last few days at the MTC

Warner Family- Hey! How are you doing? No travel plans. I should be on a plane right now. Oh, well. We'll find out this week! There is one holiday after the next here. How was New Years? Mine was legit (as you will see!) They say if you aren't having fun, you are doing something wrong. I have had so much fun in the MTC! This last week cruised, I learned a ton. I can understand mostly everything people say. I will take advantage of that here because I know when I get to Mexico, I won't understand a thing. Anyway, I thought of a writing technique where I'm going to pick a day out of my journal (I haven't missed a day) and write to you about it. First off, I finished the Book of Mormon for the second time. Good way to start off the New Year! It took about six weeks. I'm going to write about 12/20/10: Every Wed. we have a T.R.C. where we teach full lessons in Spanish to an "investigator" (LDS volunteers). This last one had such a real feeling to it. We taught lesson 2 about the Law of Tithing. His situation was that his wife was in the hospital. Something had happened to her the day before Christmas. He was really struggling for money. The situation felt very realistic and the spirit was definitely present. (He stopped going to church and then was re-activated). I was led by the spirit as I told him and promised him blessings from Heavenly Father if he obeyed the commandment of Tithing. The faith he had that the Lord would help him touched my heart and I developed a love for "Brady" because of his faith. We got him to commit to tithing. This had never happened but after the lesson he asked how we felt. I told him of the spirit I had with me and felt such a great love for him. He said he felt the spirit strongly as well, which is awesome! I know this is how it will be in the field. I know I will be finding myself with the same love for the real investigators in Mexico. I hope everyone is doing well and hope I will be calling again sometime this week of next. Love you all. Elder Warner

New Years Eve celebration at the MTC!

Great friendships made -

Phone call home telling us he is being transferred to Pocatello, Idaho to await his Visa! His other district missionaries stayed in the SL and Provo, South missions while awaiting theirs.