Training again!

Hello my dear momma!

Well I'll just start with saying that my week was crazy.  I wrote you a long letter to explain everything.  This email might be a little scattered.  Well, here I am again in the same position of last transfer.  I'm just a lot better at it, haha.  I didn't say I was great, just better! I was thinking that I might get a little "break" this transfer.... I guess thinking that doesn't always work! My new companion is from Wisconsin, but born in Mexico!  So we have a car now!  Which actually makes it really nice to squeeze in more appointments.  But I never realized how terrible traffic is!  It takes so long to get places sometimes.  

Michelle and her MTC companion, Hermana Blair, who is currently in the same district with her.

You talked a little bit about change.  That has been something really amazing that I have seen lately.  I think I told you about some sisters who had told me that they felt like they hadn't really changed on their missions.  It made me so grateful that I have the ability to see the change and progress that I have made.  I still think about the circumstances that led me here, how everything worked out and I thought it wasn't supposed to be here.  I cannot imagine my life without my mission.  I have gained such a deep love for everything about it.  I love the people, the ward, missionaries, but mostly I have learned how to love the Gospel and my Heavenly Father.  I have learned how to put it above everything else.  And that when times are hard (because they are.....) I get to remember that I love Him.  And that I am doing His work.  This is not about me.  Okay, I think I am just talking to myself now.  I just hope that everyone is able to do this as well.  That once we truly become converted, we love our Heavenly Father more than anyone else.  I loved the article you sent me about some missionaries who come on their mission because it is their duty.  But they leave loving the Lord.  It is a process, and it is so worth it.  I love who I have become and every day am becoming.  My testimony has increased so much these last two transfers.  I get to see miracles everyday!  

Michelle and her new companion, Hermana Acosta

This email is short, I am feeling overwhelmed and a little melancholy with Bryan getting married this week.  But I love it here.  I love the ups and the downs that each day brings.  I love my Mission President.  I love the work.  And I love my Heavenly Father.  I love you as well and my sweet family.  I am so happy that you all get to be together this week!  I hope the wedding goes well.  You're in my thoughts and prayers.  I love you so much :) Hermana Michelle

Humility

Momma,
Good morning my dear :)  Your email really brought so much comfort to my heart.  I loved what you said you are grateful for.  You have so many blessings and I am so grateful that you have the ability to see those blessings. This week was awesome!  I had some really amazing things happen this week.  First, I am glad you got my letter :) I wanted you to have a little taste of what I do every day.  And that is really how everyday goes!  I want to do that more, just write a little summary of my day for you.  I am grateful that I feel comfortable with sharing the hard times, because there are plenty.  But that I get to share the most joyful of moments with you, as well.  This transfer has been anything but easy.  This has been one of my hardest transfers!  I thought I did a lot of growing last transfer... and then felt I took a step back on this one. But...there were lessons that I learned that I know I will take for the rest of my life.  One of the biggest is how to be selfless.  You know how I am... I can be a selfish person ;-)  But I couldn't be this transfer.  I literally could not be, even if I wanted to.  I had something in my path that was much more important than me.  I have learned a lot in this companionship.  I hope that I am always able to put others before me.  As a missionary, I am here to invite others to Christ.  That doesn't just mean my investigators, it means members, missionaries, and companions.  I talked to President the other day and he thanked me for what I have done this transfer.  He told me that it was a lot harder than I had imagined and even that he imagined. He thought it was hard!  But he told me he was proud of the things that I had done.  So onto another transfer... not sure how the time went so fast.  I am about to start my 6th transfer!  And with that I will be training again!  What!? I didn't expect it either!  I will be staying here in Hollywood, training.  Obviously, I need to be super humbled or something. 

That's another thing I have learned immensly this transfer, humility.  I had never in my whole life relied on my Heavenly Father as much as I did this transfer!  I have see the blessings of turning it over to the Lord.  I wanted to share something that I saw yesterday in Relief Society. There was a Hermana who was going through a trial (I'm not exactly sure what happened).  So on Sunday, they presented her in RS and gave her a simple card and a bag of chocolates.  When she went up to get it, she just began to cry.  Over this gift that was sooo incredibly simple.  A gift that if someone had received it, they would have usually just said 'thank you' with a hug.  But this Hermana was so thankful.  She was so humble.  And it made me see that the small things are so incredibly important.  That we must see and recognize what others do for us, and how we can help others.  People are always in need, and always in much more need than us.  I love doing that as a missionary.  Seeing these people who are holding on so tight to what they have, and we get to give them this blessing that fills their lives with complete light.  I love my job.  The things that I have learned this transfer are countless.  I will never be able to explain them through a simple letter.  But I hope that you can see them and feel them.  I know that I am not the same Sister Warner that left the MTC!  It is amazing.

I thought about you a lot on Saturday, as it was Michael's birthday.  Time really doesn't seem to heal that.  But I had an amazing experience.  It was in the morning, and I had a minute to be alone.  I reminded myself that it was his birthday.  I felt something that I have never felt in my whole life.  My heart literally felt full.  I felt like he was hugging me and he was right by my side.  I wish I could explain this better, but it was amazing.  I knew that he was there with me.  And that he is with me preparing the hearts of these people.  He is so proud of each and every one of us!  I know that.

I got Bryan's beautiful wedding invite on Friday.  I will be honest and tell you I went in the bathroom and gave myself some time to just cry.  And I did for a while.  I'm so sad to miss this but know I am where I need to be...

Well my dear, I love this email.  I hope all is well in happyville :)  Thank you for your sweet prayers, I feel them so much!  I love the work.  More than ever.  I love seeing the sweet miracles every day.  I hope you get to see them as well in your life.  I love you so much momma! Love, Michelle

Trials of Faith

Hello momma dear!
Wow, crazy week!  I feel like this week has been and up and down emotional roller coaster.  I am tired...We didn't see much happen this week, but we contacted a LOT.  This next week is going to be really awesome because we have set a lot of return appointments. This week was hard.  You told me to tell you the hard things, too.  And let me tell ya, it's was hard.  I am just really tired.  Being on a mission, I feel like we don't take a break. But it is something that I am learning, is to take breaks.  I feel like this week was filled with little miracles.  We saw some really cool things.  I also feel like this week really tested my faith...I had a lot of encounters that were hard for me. But I also saw that if it weren't for my mission, my testimony wouldn't be where it is right now. That is something that I have noticed alot and that I am so incredibly thankful for.  Before I left, I questioned going on a mission alot.  I didn't know why I needed to go and wasn't really sure that I wanted to.  But I have grown in ways unimaginable.  I know that I wouldn't have been able to develop the beautiful testimony of the Gospel I have, if it weren't for my mission.

Hna Hart and Hna Warner

She's got a little skirt problem here!

This week I have been thinking a lot about how it is Michael's birthday.  I'm not sure why but I feel like a mission magnifies these kind of occasions.  Usually for things with Michael, we do it as a family.  It is another part of my mission that I have learned, you have to rely on Heavenly Father.  I don't have any other source.  I miss him a lot.  I think as well, of where he would be in his life right now.  That he would have a little family of his own and that I would have one more person to email on Mondays!  Just the little silly things.  But one thing that I have no doubt about, is that he is here with me.  That he is guiding and protecting me.  Sister Wright told me during Joseph's baptism that Michael must be having a huge party in heaven right then.  I laughed but then realized how true it is.  I have been thinking about the Cox family a lot today.  Today is 4 years since Neil passed away.  This morning I read the scripture D&C 84:88 - my mission scripture.  I thought about how blessed we are to have the knowledge of angels that our lifting us up.  I need that this week!  I will be thinking about you a lot, mom, on Saturday. 

Loving doing the Lord's work!

Missions are a challenge.  And probably the hardest thing a person can do.  But we can do it, and somehow I have found an immense love for it.  I know that this is where I am supposed to be. I see miracles every single day and that is what makes me grow. I have never felt a spirit as I have here on my mission.  Heavenly Father is preparing people. He is preparing people in your life, specifically. Take advantage of that. Sometimes when I get scared to knock a door, I picture the worst possible situation. Then when I picture someone screaming at us, I feel fine. Because it's a message that everyone deserves.  And no one has ever screamed at me on their door step! There's my two cents for today!  Please send me letters!  I need some very badly.  They mean a lot.  You are the best, my dear! I love you so much!

Love, Hermana Michelle

P.S. I really am so happy!  I love you both so much!  I am thinking about you a lot this week, Michael is with us. Love you so much :)

Hola papa!

Espero que tu semana estuviera muy bien.  Como esta todo?  Esta semana paso muy rapido.  I am super tired.  It was an interesting week.  I wrote mom a really long letter telling her about my days so you will have to read that too.  This week was a week that really tried my faith.  I feel like I am constantly needed to do better and try harder in everything.  I just want to be the best that I can.  All in all everything is so good.  I hope that in 30 years I am able to see one of my converts strong in the church.  I hope that Jose and Joseph serve missions.  Jose has been thinking about it a lot.  I am working on exact obedience and it has been really good.  I love you more than words can tell!  Have a great week :)

A day in the life.....

Life is Good

Good morning!!! This week was so good!  Literally full of miracles out the ying yang.  But let me start with two points of business.  (1) I live in California and I am so cold all the time.  I am going to fall off my bike because I am always tucking my hands in my armpits.  (2) It is official, I fell off my bike.  On Saturday.  We were going to turn right and the curb just ran away from me... and so when my foot went down it went down to nothing.  So I literally fell straight on my side on the cement.  And my bike fell on top of me.  And the four men standing there just stared at me. It was probably one of the funniest and most humiliating things of my mission.  I get a gold star for that.
This week was awesome!  I feel like I learned a lot about myself as a missionary.  My area has been frustrating lately.  We literally had no investigators.  We got dropped - or in one case, he found out we couldn't date and go out, so we never saw him after that.  Even though it has been pretty hard lately, I have still been able to find the tender mercies and little joys.  We have contacted - a lot!  But I really believe that that is what has made me more bold lately!  Just to be so direct with people about our message and how it will help them.  We saw a lot of miracles from the English class.  We have been working really hard with advertising it and five people from our area came to class this week!!!  And they all said 'yes' to missionaries! We gave a Book of Mormon to a woman named Paula who had marked 'no' to meeting with the missionaries.  She has been going to the class for a couple weeks.  She asked us how to pray and so we wrote in the back how to do so, and gave it to her.  She thanked us so much!  She told us she had never gotten a gift before and that she was so happy.  It was so cool! 
We had one of the coolest miracles ever this week.  Our Bishop had asked us to visit a few people in the ward that he didn't know.  So we went to visit one and couldn't get in, but we tried a few days later.  We sat outside the apartment building until someone opened the door and then went up.  We said we were looking for Wendy and he told us that she had moved.  His name is Alejandro.  So we invited him to English class and he told us he already knew where the church building was.  I asked how, and he said that he was baptized about six years ago, but works on Sundays and hasn't been able to go.  He saw us riding our bikes the other day and waved, but we didn't see him.  He told us he thought to himself, "I think those missionaries are going to come visit me", but he said he wasn't sure why he thought that.  And there we were!  He said that he wants to go back to church and that he is going to do everything he can to get off work on Sunday.  We are going over this week to see him :) 
Jackie and Joseph are doing great, of course!  I love them so much.  Things are really starting to pick up here.  I have really focused lately on putting all of my effort into the work, and the blessings from it has been amazing.  It has made my desire to serve so much greater as well!  This work truly is hastening.  Something I liked from this week, is to choose a friend that you are kind of close with but not super close, and start calling them.  Build up your friendship and invite them to something at the church.  And most importantly share your testimony.  I promise, you all have friends to share this with.  Be bold!  It's hard I know, but you will see blessings.  Pray about it and a name with come to your mind.  Well, that's my shpeel for the week!  I love it here!  I LOVE my Mission President!  He is like my best friend.  He has helped me in so many ways.  I have had some amazing experiences with him that I will write you about.  His wife is so cute.  I'm so blessed. He told me we have one of the hardest assignments for a sister in the mission right now.  I have whitewashed and trained once!  I love it, though.  It could not get any better here!  I am so grateful for this time, and I am definitely taking advantage of it.  I love you so much momma! :)  Hermana Michelle  
P.S. I love you so much, my dear!  Sorry about no pics,  but the computer is too old to send them.  I love you!

Daddy!  I am happy here.  I like how you said you can't imagine me not being here.  I think of that everyday!  I can't imagine what my life would have been like if I hadn't followed the soft promptings of the spirit.  I remember I doubted my answer so much, but I know that it was so true.  My heart is here in missionary work.  It is so hard dad, but somehow I wouldn't have it any other way.  I have seen so many tender mercies through the hard times, and it helps you appreciate when things are good. My heart is full of gratitude.  I have been getting better at contacting everyone!  I love talking to people and being bold with them. I am happy :) I hope you thought about me as your rode your bike this week!  I have thought a lot lately about how we are going to be biking buddies when I come home; I have found my new love! I get to beam with pride when members and others ask about my family, I'd say I get to brag a lot.  I love how close we have been through my life.  I really couldn't have asked for a better family! I miss the temple soooo much!  I miss going every week.  Thanks for setting that example of going so that I could be able to do it, too.  My companion is doing well!  I really do love her. Always remember to be happy!!!  Life is so good and my mission is amazing.  Thank you for all you do, my sweet daddio. XOXO 

Happy day for Michelle's high school friend, Elder Chriss, who has been serving in Los Angeles while awaiting his visa to Argentina. It finally arrived 8 months after his mission began! This was taken shortly before he left.

Baptism!

Hello my dear family!

I feel like I have so much to tell you!  I tried writing things down so I could remember what I needed to tell you.  

I suppose I will start off with Joseph!  Joseph got baptized on Saturday!!  It was amazing.  I have been to a lot of baptismal services in my life, but this one was so special. There was such a special spirit about everything, I was so happy.  Baptisms are amazing, but they are stressful to plan.  I was so stressed trying to get everything together and even more so, right before the program.  But it was amazing to watch how everything just fell into place. Everything just worked.  He was so ready and he was just happy. We were able to sing a musical number for his baptism, which was really cool. I have some of it recorded so I am going to put it on a flash drive and send it to you. His family was there and everyone was super happy!  I sent you my journal page of it :)

He was confirmed yesterday as well. We sat by them during church and afterward, he came and sat down. I asked how he felt and he said, so happy.  Then a few minutes later he turned to me and said, "I almost cried when I was up there".  I asked him if it was because he felt the spirit and he said, yes.  He told me that he felt differently when they gave him the gift of the Holy Ghost.  It was awesome!

When Michelle left on her mission, her brother, Bryan, gave her his missionary tag.  Looks pretty good on this young man!

I feel like our area has been pretty hard lately, actually.  A lot of our investigators have gone MIA so we have been working really hard with street contacting and stuff like that.  Street contacting has been one of my weakest areas on my mission.  I had such a hard time stopping people that have somewhere that they are going and talking to them about something that I didn't think they would want to hear.  But I have felt so, so blessed lately as I have been able to talk with everyone!  I was reading this morning and there is a scripture in Mosiah 18:35.  If you look it up it talks about souls.  These are souls that we are working with, not just people.  I have been able to look at these people differently as I see their potential and the love that Heavenly Father has for them.

I have a lot of things to share, but no time!  Things are going so well, I am so happy. I am just enjoying what I do get to do here.  I am going to try really hard to write a letter to you.  But just know I am doing well with everything :)  I am happy!  I am stressed but hey, I am happy!  I love my calling as a missionary.  It is so sacred and I receive so many blessings from it.  I hope you are able to enjoy the happiness that comes from it, as well!  I love you so much!

Love,  Hna Michelle

JOY and happiness!
Hna Wright, Joseph, and Hna Warner

Walking...walking...

Hello my dear mom!

Welcome back to the USA!  It looks like your trip was amazing!!!  I want to feel bad for you for being tired... but I don't, haha.  So cool!  I love the picture you sent of the sister missionaries right in the middle of Florence, Italy!  There was a mom here the other week that took a picture with me, because her daughter is in France right now, it totally reminded me of you.  I don't have a ton of time to email, but I will try and give you a good update of this week.  So I am a trainer!  Sister Hart is so sweet.  Bottom line to training ... it is super hard.  It is way harder than I thought it would be, that's for sure.  I want others to be able to look at their missions the way I do.  I can't even express how much love I have for my mission, but I remember how it was at the beginning.  Everything is so new for her, especially here in Hollywood!  She isn't too fond of her bike yet, but I just keep telling her to go.  I think one of the stresses of training is that it's true, you will never ever forget your trainer.  I still remember things that my trainer did with me.  I want to give her that love and joy that is found in a mission.  

Hna Warner and her new companion, Hna Hart

This week was one of the longest weeks I have had in a while!!  I was just exhausted in every way, shape and form.  Emotionally, mentally, and physically.  I have felt a bit overwhelmed, feeling like I have the area on my shoulders.  Friday was especially hard.  I just felt done for the day!  But at the end of the day, I asked my district leader for a blessing.  I have been with my district leader (Elder Roberts) my whole mission, every single transfer!  So he knows me really well.  I received one of the most beautiful blessings I have ever gotten from him.  He said every single thing I needed to hear.  That Heavenly Father knows I am doing what I can, but I need to continually pray!  (which is all I ever do on my bike, pray!)  I literally felt His love for me and His arms just wrapped around me. I knew He was there and that he wanted me to be happy. Later that night we got a call from President Weidman. He told us that he had been thinking about us a lot that day and that he felt like he needed to call us.  He told us how what we are doing is a task that is particularly hard! Wow, all I needed to hear! But that we were doing well.  I cannot tell you how full my heart was this night.  One of the hardest days I had had in a long time, turned to me one of the most spiritual experiences ever. I felt so much love from my Father and knew that He had answered my prayers.  I have the greatest testimony of prayer because of my mission, it is so powerful. (if you read my Patriarchal blessing, it talks about prayer).

We did a lot of walking this week!  Like hours on hours of walking.  We don't have a lot of people to teach right now, so we are working really hard to find more.  I received a lot of answers through General Conference of what I need to do to find more people.  I have been praying so hard about it.  But we had a really cool experience last night.  I am not a huge fan on street contacting... it's just awkward, but hey, you gotta do it in missionary work!  We contacted this couple last night and then this man came up to us and told us about how he used to go to our church for a period of time.  It really was a tender blessing and we saw the Lord work through us.

  

We literally walked soooo much!  But I am so happy!  I love being here more than anything.  It is so interesting to see people's perspectives on their missions.  Brooke was telling me about some missionaries from her ward. But all in all, this is just a hoot and a holler here!  I am going to print off your email because I didn't read it all.  So happy everything is going well at home!  I love you more than anything in the world!!

Love,

Michelle

Daddy, 

Thank you for your sweet email :)  I like what you said about the spirit.  It is something that I have been working really hard on the past few weeks, to really be able to rely on those sweet promptings of them.  To be able to stop for a second and let the spirit work through these people.  We have been focusing on teaching simply.  That through teaching the very simple doctrines of the gospel, the spirit will always be present.  I am so happy!  Honestly it has been a hard week.  Training is taking everything out of me that I have.  I am so exhausted, but I am trying my hardest. I am working so hard to give her opportunities to work.  She isn't my trainee, she is my companion :) 

I love you more than words can express...