Catching up with Post from December 2, 2014
No worries about Thanksgiving. We actually had it with the Harker's (Our 6th ward mission leader) and his wife is American, so we got all the good stuff like turkey and stuffing and the works! It was yummy and we had a really fantastic time with them. It felt ALMOST like a thanksgiving with Family:) But not quite;D Also! As far as Christmas goes, I will for sure be able to figure something out with Facetime. I think I will go over to the Evan's house for Christmas. They have two sons out on missions also, but we should be able to work something out with them to be able to facetime.
The Missionary work is going good! We are still trying to work with Justin. He's not quite making enough room in his life for the Savior right now, so we are trying to help him remember that Jesus Christ is the most important thing he could possibly be focusing on. He is extremely logical and very black and white when it comes to time investment, so we are trying to help him understand how vital the Savior and his help are to his life. Other than Justin, we have one other potential investigator. His name is Jeremy Loose. He is EXTREMELY difficult to contact. I've only ever talked to him once. He works insane shifts at work and so it makes it difficult for us to meet with him. I also think he's ignored us a few times because he sees our car pull up. So this week I'm going to go over to his house but park next door at the Evans;D He'll never know what hit him haha.
I'm so excited for the radio show! Regardless of whether or not you can send it to me, make sure that you film it so that I can come home and watch it! Do that with all the shows while I'm gone. I want to see them all! Especially any shows that you do with the Springville Playhouse. I hope someone filmed and saved Steel Magnolias for me... But knowing Greg, he totally filmed it.
So the only other news I really have it that we did a huge youth activity with the Stake and it was AMAZING. The youth were supposed to be missionaries for a day! They woke up at 6:30 and they studied and then came to the Church, which was turned into an MTC for the day. They got companions and mission calls and they even got name tags. It was absolutely awesome! As full time missionaries, we were able to help them learn about missionary work and we got to role-play as investigators so that they could learn how to teach some of the lessons. At the end of the day they had a testimony meeting and the things that the youth had to say were beautiful. I really wouldn't mind working with youth when I get home. I would find that really fun. That is all neat, but here is the thing that I want to share with you;
There is a girl in the ward that I was able to help pretty specifically. She is in Grade 10 and we immediately hit it off as the best of friends. One day I was talking to her and she just seemed so sad and depressed. When I asked her about it, she told me that she felt like Heavenly Father had abandoned her. She said that she felt completely and utterly alone and that she couldn't feel Heavenly Father with her. This made me really sad... I felt so sympathetic for her because I've felt that way as well sometimes. I prayed in my head that I could know what I could do to help and that I could possibly help her to be happy. I felt a serious genuine love for her. I now know that what I felt was Christ's concern for her. I'm getting choked up even typing this! This single event made my entire mission worth it. So here is what I did. During Fiddler on the Roof, Amber gave me a card that had a picture of Christ on it, and on the back it had the "Footprints in the Sand" poem on the back. I had it tucked away in my wallet. As I prayed to know what to do for her, Heavenly Father prompted me to give the card to Emalee. I was kind of torn because the card had helped me so many times that I didn't necessarily want to give it up, but I knew it was right. I went up to Emalee one day after sacrament meeting. She still looked really downcast. I told her that I had something that would help her but that if I gave it to her, she needed to keep it safe and use it often because it had become so sacred to me. She agreed. I didn't have the card with me at that moment, so later that day I wrote her a letter and told her that whenever she was sad or felt that God was absent, she needed to pull out the card, look at the Savior, and read the poem. Elder Gibbs and I signed the bottom of the page and then went over to her house to give it to her. She wasn't home because she was at volleyball practice, but we left it with her mother.
Later, on the next Sunday of that week, she came up to me in tears and said thank you. She said that having that card really helped her feel Jesus Christ's love for her. She now keeps it in the back of her iphone case. Because of that tiny thing that Jesus Christ gave her, she was able to feel His love and know he was there. This is one of the dearest points of my entire mission thus far. I have felt the love of Christ on behalf of one of his children, and I was able to help Jesus Christ reach out to one of His daughters. It was an amazing moment in my life. I love Jesus Christ and I'm so grateful that he reached out to Emalee. Now, she is happy and she is even reaching out to others who feel hopeless. She gave me a little note after the missionary activity telling me how grateful she was for the card and how much it meant to her. That note is one of the most important possessions I have out here. It reminded me why I was out here and how much Jesus Christ cares about us all individually. I'll never forget that.
I hope all of you are doing well and I love you all! Make sure you take care of yourselves! Enjoy the cold! Be happy it isn't -31 Celsius where you are at! haha Love you!
-Elder Warenski
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