Going Where the Miracles Are

Hello Hello!! 

Another great week here in South Royalton! I'm continuing to grow and love Vermont and the people of Vermont!! 

Tuesday and Wednesday we drove up to Randolph to have some lessons and meet some new people and it was so good!! People here are so nice! It was kind of funny because when we walk down the street we try to wave to all the cars that pass by and at one point there were about 5 cars in a row that had boys our age and when we waved to them they revved their engines and it was really loud and obnoxious so we're trying to not wave to boys our age haha XD Wednesday night we had dinner with a reactivating member at a pizza shop and it was so fun!!

Thursday we had TONS of planning, we probably spent like 6 hours inside planning and studying. it was kind of discouraging because we just wanted to go outside and be missionaries, but in order to be effective missionaries we have to plan! So anyways then we went to dinner and then we had a lesson that was actually really good!! We were a bit nervous because he came up to us and was like, "hey I want to learn more about God can we meet?" and sometimes when people do that it's because they want to convert you haha, but they were actually just curious and it was way good! Then we were walking home and we met this guy named John and he also wants to learn more! So that was awesome!!

Friday we went on exchanges and I'm not so sure how I feel about them haha. I like my companion and I like my area and I don't like to change that XD However, I really enjoyed the lessons that I went to while I was on exchanges! I felt the spirit so strongly and it was awesome!

Saturday we were in a parade in Barre (pronounced berry) and that was fun!! I like passing out balloons to people! We dress up as pioneers and walk around handing out balloons next to our float! then we did the BoM experience which is cool, if people want to participate haha XD Then we went home to South Royalton and it was a happy day. It was a little bit sad tho because We had to lessons set up with members and both of our people that we're teaching cancelled on us :/ One was at a members house and we were there waiting for him when he texted us and told us that he forgot to cancel. the second lesson was supposed to be with a less active member (he reached out to us and asked if he could come to a lesson with us) and so he drove 45 mins to come to the lesson and our person wasn't there... it was really sad, but we have come up with a new motto! When I was in the MTC I went to see the missions are forever film by Elder Holland and in that film he tells this poem about a man talking to some others at the edge of a cliff that goes, (I did already share this poem, but I like it so here you go!)

"Come to the edge," 

he said. They said, 

"We can't, we're afraid."

"Come to the edge," 

he said. They said, 

"We can't, we will fall." 

"Come to the edge!" 

And they came. 

And he pushed them. 

And they flew. 

Then Elder Holland went on to say that we have to go where the miracles are. So that's what Sister Macbeth and I are doing. We are going to be pushed and moved, and it's going to be hard and sad and disappointing, but we are going where the miracles are. Like Nephi, "I know in whom I have trusted" and I will not get discouraged.

Sunday was awesome! We had someone come up to us at church and say that he wanted to be taught and we are so excited to teach him and help him come closer to CHRIST!!

Anyways, it's just been super great and i love serving the Lord!! I love this scripture (2 Nephi 4:17-21):

17 O wretched man that I am! Yea, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities. 

18 I am encompassed about, because of the temptations and the sins which do so easily beset me. 

19 And when I desire to rejoice, my heart groaneth because of my sins; nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted. 

20 My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness; and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep. 

21 He hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh.

I love y'all all so much!! Have a miracle filled week!!

Sister Warburton :D

Pictures:

1. Giant water bottle I got for only $1.99

2. Companion and a fun sign at a members house

3. more water bottle and comp

4. more sign haha XD

Entering the Mission Field Duh Duh DUH

Hello hello everyone!!

This has been a great week!!

Wednesday started early at 3am where we took a bus to the train to the trax to the airport. At the airport Sis Miller and I got Cafe Rio at 6 in the morning and it was delicious! haha a wonderful choice! Then we got to fly from 6 in the morning until 6 at night, it was wonderful! Especially since I got to call my family haha XD When we made it to New Hampshire We finally met out mission pres it was great!! We walked down these stairs to see a lady who looked a bit crazy standing there recording us with one hand and a huge handful of balloons in the other screaming and waving the handful of balloons at us! That was Sister Blair XD Then we met President and he was even crazier!! He was talking to every single person in the airport (which isn't hard to do since there were about two people in the airport haha XD) and asking them about themselves and whatnot haha. We grabbed our luggage because TSA was getting really mad at out group of ten missionaries XD and then we took a picture and headed to the park to do some street contacting! At the park president had us sing come come ye saints for everyone at the park, which is a bit odd because it's kind of a somber song haha, then we went out and talked to a few people. Next we headed to the mission home for dinner where we set up our Facebooks, ate dinner, met with president, then headed to bed! 

Thursday brought transfers, which meant we met our trainers and went to our area! My trainer is Sis Macbeth and she is so sweet and kind! I was sent to South Royalton Vermont where the towns are few and far between! I love living in a small town it's so fun!! (PS if you want my address I gave it to my mom and she will give it out to people :D) Here in South Royalton we are right next to the Joseph Smith Birthplace Monument and it is really cool!! Everyone knows who we are cause it's such a small town! On Thursday we went street contacting, which was so fun! We talked to people and wandered, and it was great because we met Trevor!! He is awesome!! He had a lot of fears about death and things like that so we gave him a pamphlet and made a return appt. for Saturday!

Friday was also fun we had my very first district council where I met my district and they are all super nice and fun! It was a nice hour long drive up to where we were going and turns out I got  bit car sick!! That was fun, new experiences all around!! besides that we did some finding and some lessons and whatnot it was just a good day! We met with a guy named Jacob and he is very nice and really wants to learn!

Saturday I got to be in a parade!! How cool is that!! We got to dress up as pioneers and hand out balloons!! It was so fun!! I've never been in a parade before!! After the parade we had a booth at The Old Home Days thing and we did the "Book of Mormon Experience" (if you don't know what that is look it up it's pretty cool!) It was a ton of fun and then we got to take a nap cause we were exhausted! Turns out President Blair encourages us to take naps when we can! How cool is that!! Then we had our second lesson with Trevor and it was awesome!!

Sunday we made it to church taught a less active member and had a nice day! We went and sang to an old home bound member of the ward and she is so sweet!! It was just awesome!!

I love sharing the gospel so so much and I love Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father! Remember your heart is big enough to love everyone you come in contact with! Make it happen!!

Sister Warburton

Sister Warburton's Safe Arrival

Brother & Sister Warburton,

As you know, Sister Emily Warburton arrived safely on 18 July.  We are so pleased and happy to have your daughter with us here in the New Hampshire Manchester Mission, the greatest mission in the world!  She seems to be a wonderful young woman.  Attached are a few of the pictures that were taken the day of her arrival that we thought you would enjoy. 

Your weekly letters of encouragement and love are essential to their development.  You may write directly to their personal address (though that changes often) or you may send letters to our Mission Office:

New Hampshire Manchester Mission                                                                                                                                

105 Wind Song Avenue                                                                                                      Manchester, NH   03104-4123

You may also communicate with your Missionary through email.  They are allowed to send and receive emails to and from family and friends only on their Monday preparation day.  If you send letters, envelopes or packages to the Mission Office, it is recommended that you use the US Postal Service.  We are not able to forward UPS or Fed Ex, and it may be weeks before we see them or can take the package to them.  Just be aware that transfers happen every six weeks.

Thank you for the opportunity to share this marvelous time with your missionary!

Sister Smith

Secretary

New Hampshire Manchester Mission

MTC Week 3: The End is Nigh

Welp, this is it! I leave the MTC tomorrow at 3:45 am to go to New Hampshire!! It's crazy how fast the time goes here! I feel like I just barely met everyone in my district, but I love them all so much and I am sad to see them all go :(

Tuesday we were the Ushers at the devotional which was fun, we got to sit really close to the front and Craig C. Christensen spoke. It was pretty cool!

Wednesday was 7/11 so I hope y'all all got free slurpee/slushie/icee's!! We taught our TRC and I really connected with her over Down's kids and I thought the lesson went really well! Wednesday evening we were able to show the new missionaries how to begin teaching by asking questions. It was really cool to see how far I've come and how much I've grown since I've been here. 

Thursday was really long. We got up at 6:30 and immediately went to exercise time, so we were finished with our whole morning routine by like 10am and we didn't have anything else scheduled until 1:30 so it was just long haha. Later we went to a workshop called working with members. They put on a "play" for us and it was really funny. After dinner though I was just exhausted, so my brain and my mouth were not working but neither was anyone else's haha! We were role playing teaching with the people in our district and we were supposed to be teaching the Word of Wisdom to a blind lady whose job was wine tasting. So anyways, while we were teaching the sister I was teaching with was like "so can you read this for me?" and I looked at her and we just burst out laughing because she asked a blind lady to read the pamphlet... then the elder we were teaching with accidentally said "Heavenly Farmer" instead of Heavenly Father and that made us all burst out laughing again haha, and then I was teaching and I couldn't form a sentence so I said "um" about 25 times in the span of 30 seconds and once again we couldn't stop laughing! So anyways we all had the giggles that evening, but it was fun XD

Friday was full of drama haha! The morning was good, we played volleyball and did service, but by dinner everyone was tired and not having that great of a day and so anyways there was some drama that ended in one sister leaving and crying and an elder feeling really bad. Then later that night we had a spiritual bomb type of lesson that left everyone mind blown and afterwards we were all chatting about it and one of the sisters and I got into a semi-argument. It ended up fine but by the end of the day I was just tired of all the drama. 

Saturday was another good day. I had a lot of good personal study time and it was just a day full of great learning and fun!! Something that I've been working on is just speaking my mind when I feel like I'm being prompted and so that sometimes ends in me saying really stupid things haha. In our lesson our teacher asked us what "worship" means to us and the first thought that popped into my head was in the Spongebob movie when everyone in bikini bottom has the buckets on their heads and they're like "All hail Plankton, All hail Plankton!" so I said it and then we all had a good laugh. 

Sunday we had church and my oh my was that rough! haha! So I'm one of the branch music coordinators, and we have to pick the songs for sacrament meeting, lead the music and find someone to play the piano. Apparently all our parents failed us and we a just a sad bunch of Mormons because nobody in my ENTIRE branch knows how to play the piano. Not even the branch presidency and their wives! How on earth did we manage to get a room of 30 Mormons and not one of them play the piano? Anyways, so I figured that we could just play the music off of lds.org and through the TV. So we're sitting in sacrament meeting and the opening hymn is supposed to be playing, but alas it does not work, so I have to try to figure out how to make it work and then I find out that the piano can play the hymns itself, but you have to press play for every verse. So there I am everyone waiting and staring at me as I try to make it all work, but we figured it out eventually and finished the sacrament meeting unscathed haha XD

Yesterday was very long. From breakfast to bedtime felt like 4 days in one haha! It was awesome tho!! We had to take pictures with our district an say goodbye to everyone because two of the sisters in my district left early this morning and one Elder left around 8. It was a good day full of the spirit and fun and laughter!

Anyways, it was another great week! 

One day, as I was studying in my personal study, I came across an article from the New Era, and this one line really stuck out to me that said, "I was painfully shy. Terribly, awfully shy. I didn’t feel comfortable talking to new people, because I didn’t feel confident in who I was." As I read this, I realized that at some point along the timeline of my life I had forgotten who I was. I had lost that essential piece of me that allowed me to be confident in myself. I had let Satan convince me (subtly and by degrees) that I was not a daughter of God, an heir to His kingdom, someone to be treasured, respected, and loved. Being here in the MTC I have come closer to Jesus Christ then ever before and I have begun to regain that piece of me that was lost. I know who I am, and I know who you are. We are all literal children of God. How incredible is that?! God has given us all specific characteristics and talents to bless us and to help us serve others. I don't want anyone to wonder why someone would want to be their friend. I want everyone too KNOW that they are loved and unique and special! Anyways, rant over.  Know that you're loved, by me and especially by God! :D

I love you all so much!!

Love, 

Sister Warburton :)

MTC Week 2

Hello Hello Everybody!!

Twas another good week in the MTC! Last P-day feels like forever ago!!

Wednesday was the fourth of July! Woohoo!! So many missionaries dressed very patriotically! It was kind of cool to see everyone dressed up! I don't really have any red, so I just wore white and blue. :) Besides that it was pretty much any normal day, except in the evening after class we had a devotional with our zone. We got to stay out past nine to watch a cool Independence day devotional and then we went to a room to watch the fireworks. It was a bit anticlimactic, being inside watching through a window but it was nice to see! 

Thursday came early and I was exhausted! Staying up late as a missionary is never a good idea. Haha XD We woke up at 6:30 perusal, but then we had exercise time at 6:40 so we ended up doing a ton of stuff early early in the day! Then we had like 5 hours of free time.  Haha XD because I was so tired, later that night when we were practicing teaching I just kept opening my mouth without filtering it and saying whatever came into my head, which is not always the best thing to do.  Haha. At least we were only teaching another Elder so nobody's salvation was really in my hands. XD Anyways, bedtime could not have come fast enough!

Friday we had service, which is so fun!! We went to one of the buildings and cleaned windows :) Since we finished early we had the awesome opportunity to dust the pictures throughout the building. Since I've been here I've started saying "It's a GREAT day to be a missionary!" and my companion kept saying that I needed to make a song about it and so I did!! Anyways I made up this song. Now picture this, we're walking through the building dusting picture frames, I'm loudly singing this made up song and waving my duster around. Do you have that picture in your mind? Okay now we're walking down the hall and I'm getting to my grand finale! Arms waving in the air, terrible music coming out of my mouth, and a few feet down PRESIDENT MARTINO (the MTC president) walks out of a door towards us..... At this point I am mortified and so I quietly say hello and then once he's out of sight my companion and I just start busting out laughing. It was awful, but oh well I haven't been sent home yet!! XD Oh! We also got our flight plans!! I'm leaving at 3:45 AM on the 18th! It's SO early!! Haha...hopefully I won't be a train wreck when I get to the mission field! XD

Saturday brought more sunny skies and hot weather :) It was a good day, we taught our TRC Beka for the last time and she was committed to baptism which is great! She is so nice! After class and stuff we all went back to our residence halls to get ready for bed, and as we were getting ready for bed the fire alarm went off! So we all ran outside and it was so sad! There was this one sister who was outside in only her two towels! How awful is that! we were out there for like 45 minutes just waiting to be let back inside! I felt so bad for her! 

Sunday morning brought the fire alarm going off again so that was fun haha, no girls in only towels tho so thank goodness XD We were able to get ready, eat, and still be on time to class tho which was great! This Sunday was much much better than last Sunday! Sis Taylor and I taught the Relief Society lesson and it ended up going really well! So on normal Sunday's the Branch President will call anyone up without telling them, so everyone has to prepare a talk to give. we were lucky so we didn't have to do one our first week but then this past Sunday we were supposed to have one prepared, and since I am such a slacker I didn't exactly have one prepared so I know Heavenly Father is there and loves me because I wasn't called up to speak! haha XD  Sunday night we were the Usher's for the devotional which was fun!! After the devotional we went to see the film by Elder Holland called A Mission is Forever and that was SO good!

Monday brought another good day, partially because it was CARSON'S HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! Woohoo!! My baby brother's 16!! Monday morning we were able to host the Senior Missionaries which was SO fun!! the old people are so cute! Oh and the very first couple to show up was going to New Hampshire to be the mission nurse!! How cool is that!! They were so sweet and I am so excited to serve with them! I feel like I've been in the MTC forever but I've only been here for two weeks. 

My district has been given every single responsibility that a district can have haha. On Sunday we were the Usher's for the devotional, Monday we hosted the Senior Missionaries, tonight we are the Usher's again and a sister and an elder in my district are giving the prayers, tomorrow night we are going to demonstrate how to begin teaching people to all the incoming missionaries, and we are the only district in our zone right now so we have all the callings in our branch. :) It's a good time.  Haha. 

In the film we watched on Sunday Elder Holland shared a poem about a man talking to some others at the edge of a cliff that goes, 

"Come to the edge,"

he said. They said, 

"We can't, we're afraid."

"Come to the edge,"

he said. They said,

"We can't, we will fall."

"Come to the edge!"

And they came.

And he pushed them.

And they flew.

I really love this poem, because it shows how Heavenly Father will push us and it will be hard, and uncomfortable, and scary, but this is the only place where we can see miracles. So don't give up! You may feel like you're falling, but if you just open your eyes, you'll see that your actually flying!!

I love you all!! I hope y'all all have a fantastic week and know that God loves you!!

Love,

Sister Warburton :D

MTC Week 1

Hello everybody!! 

This has been a crazy week! Let's see, on Wednesday Kinsey and Ryan (my sister and brother in-law) dropped me off at the MTC. It was different than I had expected because I thought they would have me dropped off at the little drive way at the front of the MTC, but they had me be dropped off in the parking garage. So that was kind of weird. But then my "host" showed me where my room was and I got my name tag and a bunch of other things, then I met my companion!! Woohoo!! 

My companion Sis Taylor (the one with the long blond hair) is so nice and so cute! She is from Boise Idaho and runs on the track team for Boise State. It was kind of funny, because when we got here she found out about a mile record for the sisters and elders here at the MTC and she was so stressed about beating it, so for our exercise time one morning we went out to the field so she could try and beat it. She was so nervous, but then she totally beat it so easily!! The record was 5m40s and she did it in 5m31s. Anyways, I have an awesome companion and we get along super well :)

After meeting our companions and our district we went to the orientation thing for all the incoming missionaries. I was so tired that I could barely even pay attention, but that's okay haha. When we went on a tour of the MTC campus our zone leaders and our STL's told us we must always tap the fountain when we pass it because each time we tap it represents a baptism in the field. Oh! They also showed us this tree that smells like cream soda (it actually does haha, it's pretty cool) and made us all smell it. When we were starting to leave someone came up and asked us what we were doing, our STL was like "oh just smelling that tree" and the lady was like "okay, I just wanted to make ure you weren't trying to see into those offices" haha it was hilarious XD Oh also, sad day!! the Temple is going to be closed for the entire time I'm in the MTC!! :'( 

My district is awesome, but for the first few days we wouldn't talk to each other, so before class started we would just sit in silence and while we were all getting ready for bed we wouldn't talk to each other and it was so awkward, but we've all gotten a bit more comfortable and now actually speak to each other haha. One of the Elders in my district reminds me so much of my friend Justus King (if you know Justus you can probably guess which one haha), but they just have very similar mannerisms :)

Thursday was the busiest and longest day. We had a bunch of workshops and classes, and it was way good, just kind of exhausting. We taught our first "investigator" but it was actually our teacher role playing as an investigator, and it was SO HARD!! But I guess that's how we get better! We also met our Branch Presidency Thursday night. My branch president is almost exactly like my Uncle Bob! It's kinda crazy how similar they are. They seem like an awesome branch presidency! Sis Taylor and I were assigned to be the ward music specialists :) It seems like I do that everywhere I go! haha

Friday and Saturday were more or less the same as Thursday, busy busy busy. So nothing super exciting. Oh! On Saturday we invited our teacher/"investigator" to be baptized! He said no which is what we were expecting, but hey it never hurts to ask right? haha

Sunday was the worst day here for me. Turns out I get very sad, exhausted, and hopeless when I don't eat or drink anything for 20 hours. I had the worst headache all day long and I was also crying for the entire day (for no reason might I add). We woke up and went to church where we had relief society, then a district meeting, then sacrament/fast and testimony meeting. After that there was a mission conference, which was super good. Everyone talked about how to receive revelation which is kind of cool, because that's what I had been fasting about that day! Heavenly Father knows us!! After that we had a few more classes and then... choir practice. If you know me you know that I love to sing, but when you haven't eaten for 19 hours and going to choir practice means you won't get to eat for another hour or so, does not make for a happy Emily. But, being the saint that I am, I sacrificed myself for the choir (not that it made any difference haha, like 60% of the missionaries in the MTC were at choir practice). Turns out when your actually doing something instead of just listening to people talk it makes it easier to distract yourself. So anyways I survived! We made it to dinner, the food was sub par, but also amazing considering I was starving! haha 

Later that night we had a devotional and then we watched the MTC film "Character of Christ" by Elder Bednar. That was super good. 

Yesterday was a good day, we met our TRC Investigators who  may or may not be members, so that's pretty cool! That lesson went way better than the one with our teacher, and I am so excited to go out into the field!! I found out that I eave for New Hampshire on the 18th of July which I feel like is coming up pretty fast! I am so excited!!

To kind of end with a spiritual thought, in the Character of Christ film, Elder Bednar talked about what moral qualities defined Christ and the biggest thing he talked about was how Christ, when everyone else would turn inward towards themselves, would turn outward. For example, when he was in Gethsemane and his apostles would fall asleep, he was disappointed but told them to sleep a little longer. When Judas betrayed him and Peter cut off the guards ear Christ healed the guard. When Christ was on the cross he asked God to "forgive them, for they know not what they do." He made sure that his mother, Mary, would be taken care of. He taught the thieves who were on the cross' next to him! All in just those few hours when he was literally being tortured, mocked, and killed. Elder Bednar then told a story of a relief society president in his stake when he was a Stake President. This relief society pres called him early in the morning telling him of an accident of three young women in the stake. One of them had been pronounced dead, while the other two were severely injured. She asked Elder Bednar to go to the Hospital so he could identify the two that were still living in order to tell their mothers what had happened. While she was on the phone with him he overheard a nurse tell the relief society pres that the girl who had died was her daughter and the first thing she said was "We need to find out who the other two girls are as soon as possible so we can tell the other mothers." This relief society pres was a single mom and the girl who died was her only child. So she had just lost her only child and on the day before the funeral she called Elder Bednar and told him that she was sorry that he had to see her daughter so disfigured, and that the people who had prepared her daughter for burial had done a really good job and so she offered to have him and his wife come see her before the funeral because it was going to be closed casket. Then on the morning of her daughter's funeral, the relief society pres got a phone call from a woman in her ward who hadn't yet heard about the death of her daughter. The woman chewed the relief society pres out because the woman had a cold and no one had brought her a meal yet. So on the way to her daughter's funeral, the relief society pres dropped off a meal to this sister who had a cold. This is what having the character of Christ is like. Christ is the ultimate example of who we need to be and I hope that we can all strive to be a little bit more like Him by serving those around us even in just the smallest of ways.

I love y'all so much and I hope y'all all have a wonderful week!!

Much love,

Sister Warburton :D