Nate and Sister Spackman. Daughter of N. Eldon Tanner

Nate with Elder Hopoi

New area, new companion

Sorry that you never got an email for the blog last week.... I tried to send one but it didn't work... Stupid myldsmail..... so dumb. And snail mail will be even worse because I am serving in BC, we seldom get mail. The next time we will get mail is when we have zone conference in 2 weeks. And then I don't know how long it will be until the next time.

So now for my update:

So I'm a little bummed out this week.... We just got an announcement from President Miles that Elder Christofferson will be visiting our mission on April 16th... I should be happy, right? Well, the catch is that no one in the south zones actually gets to meet him.... We only get to have the event in Calgary live-streamed to us in Lethbridge.... I suppose I should just be grateful that I get to hear from an apostle, but it does kind of stink that no one down here gets to meet him.... Really sad...

Other than that, I wanted to relate to you something about what happened at our Mission Leadership Council that took place this last Wednesday. This will help you understand a little bit more about Elder Hopoi.

We were nearing the end of our meeting and President Miles asked a few people to bear their testimonies. Elder Hopoi was one of them. As he was about to stand and bear his testimony, he whispered to me "stand up!" and so I did. There we were standing next to one another. Elder Hopoi started talking about family, and then he told everyone that family is the reason why he had me stand next to him. He said that I was his brother, and that when I fell, he fell. When I was happy, he was happy. It was really emotional. Most of the people in the room were having a hard time keeping it together. And then Elder Hopoi asked if everyone would stand up with us. After everyone, including President and Sister Miles, had stood, Elder Hopoi said, choking back his own emotion, "There. That is how it should be. One big family. It's like my Dad used to tell me, 'Ofa Lahi Atu.'" Ofa Lahi Atu in Tongan means I love you. Everyone in the room was stunned at what we had been taught. Elder Hopoi has taught me even more than I already knew before that family is the most important thing in - or out - of the world. I'm so grateful that I have all of you back home, and I want you to know that I think of you every night and day. And every minute in between. You're my motivation and my happiness. The greatest fear that I have ever thought of has been not living with you all and Heavenly Father again. That is truly my greatest fear, and that is why I work so hard to be certain that that will never happen.

Thanks for all of the support from back home. I can feel your prayers and your support and it really does help. Please keep praying for Elder Hopoi and I, as well as our area. Pray that Hearts can be softened to accept the Gospel. To accept the Savior.

The only other thing that I want to mention this week is the new Easter Initiative that has been presented by the church. I can't tell you how important it is! Scream it in the streets!!!! So many people can be touched by the spirit as a result of seeing the video/visiting the website, etc. Please don't be shy to invite your friends to the website or the video. It encourages all mankind to accept the Savior and follow His teachings. And I encourage everyone who is reading this to visit FollowHim.mormon.org! Investigate what this is all about. Find the Savior. He will heal you and help you. I know this because He has done it for me so many times.

I love you all!

-Elder Warenski

Mom!
Thanks for sending my pictures to missionary mall! That will be great to have my grey pants back! They were my favorites. Easter goodies sound delightful ;) But try and send them as soon as you can because I am only going to get mail every once in awhile in BC.... I am about 4 hours from Calgary, so we only are going to get mail about twice or three times a month. That's awesome that Missionary Mall asked if I was alright! That's sweet. Customer care! I like it.

That's sweet that you have been working so hard on the set! I really do miss that.... Despite the fact that I was pretty chunky back home, I'm pretty sure working in the theater was one of the only things that was keeping me even remotely fit.
I'm looking forward to the summertime as well! It's going to be so gorgeous in Cranbrook! Very mountainous and woods-y. Look up "Cranbrook B.C." in google images and you'll know what I mean.

Well, for the update portion of my week, I don't really have a ton to report. I was told on Sunday night that I would be getting transferred and we picked up the new assistant - Elder Hernan Cervantes - yesterday. He's about the best darn guy there is. And he's hilarious. We are going to be picking up the new missionaries today at the airport. It will be my last time doing it, so that should be a blast. Tomorrow we'll be doing some training for them, and then on Thursday I will be on my way to Cranbrook :) I have honestly learned so much from having this assignment. It's changed my life. I have so much more confidence and trust in the Lord because of it. I can see the ways that I've grown, and it makes me so grateful that the Lord would orchestrate all of this so perfectly so that I would have such an amazing chance to grow. I've also gained a huge desire to see the Mission succeed, not just my own area. I care so much more about whether we succeed as a mission. But I think the greatest thing I've gained from all this is that I am even closer to Christ. I can honestly say that I know Him. He walks with me every day. He hears every word that I pray. He lights up my life and helps me along when I am struggling. He is here for me just as He is here for you, and I am so grateful for all of the care that He gives me. As I've depended on Him, I've never been disappointed or let down. Prayers are not always answered in the way we think they will, but they are always answered, and they are answered in the right way.

Thanks for all of the support from all of my family and friends. Thanks to my friends back home who write me, thanks to people like Beth McIver who sends me the best seasonal packages, and Grandma Jackson for writing me letters faithfully almost every week. And thanks for all of the prayers. I feel them, and I am trying as hard as I can to honor them.

I love you all!

-Elder Warenski

I'm glad you liked the pictures! I'm sorry the darn email provider wouldn't work, but it's all good. I can't believe it's going to be 18 months on Saturday, either! It really is moving pretty fast now, but the transition from 17 months to 18 months has been a long one for me. It seems like it took up twice the amount of time. But no worries! Who's counting anyway? (;D)
To commemorate the 18 month mark, we usually burn a pair of pants. However, President banned any of that from happening in the mission as a request from Elder Martino. Apparently that is a tradition in the mission field that they are really trying to stop. My guess is that some missionaries went overboard with it and made it something blasphemous ;) It only takes one wiener to ruin it for everyone. But the point is that my clothing is safe! I won't be burning anything anymore. Although I am glad that I got to burn a shirt before the ban came out. That was sweet.
The weather is really amazing up here right now. It's supposed to be 17 degrees on Friday!!! That's like.... 60 Fahrenheit! I'm so excited. This is pretty unheard of weather for February in Calgary.
Also, everything is starting to spice up in Calgary. That Saudi Minister announced in Texas that they were going to just ride the low price oil until the high end producers got out of the market, and now everyone in Calgary is going nuts because that is legitimately Calgary's only economic strength. Our ward mission leader is a doctor (so he'll be largely unaffected for a few years until Canada switches his physician salary) and he said that Calgary is about to take a hit. The dollar is going to tank SO hard here. It's going to be great for Americans with all of our American money up here ;) But I guess sad for the Calgarians... But it really is illogical for Calgary. I'm wondering why they put all of their eggs into one basket. But hey! This is great news for missionaries because there are about to be a lot of extremely humble people. I don't know if you remember where I served before Woodbine, but it was in the south east part of Calgary, and Brother Larsen (Ward Mission Leader) says that that part of the city will probably get hit the hardest. Which is honestly really good for us because no one down there would listen to us before. Anyway, there's my Calgary Political news, haha.

As for mission news, there isn't a whole lot that is new. We have some exciting things coming up though. We're projecting that we might break the record for the amount of baptisms had in the mission in one week! Which will be awesome. It will be interesting to see if we as a mission can work hard enough to boost it. In January, we doubled the missions average baptisms. Hopefully we can keep that up. Other than that we are just trying to find even more people to teach! We did really well this last week. We have 4 people on date for baptism in our area, and we found 3 new investigators last week. It was awesome. We're working with two little native girls and they are really having a blast. We had the first lesson last night and it was like herding cats. But it was way fun at the same time. Little Tiffany and Leslie Crane. They are so awesome. Hopefully as we teach them we can help their Grandpa and Grandma come back to church as well. We've been really working hard out on the reservation. It's really come to the point where we just need to serve them out there. Elder Christensen and I are planning on getting the number for the Tsuu'Tina Council and we are going to ask them if there is any service that we could do for them. Our vision for the reservation is that we want everyone to know us. Not just the members, but everyone. We want them to be happy to see us and know that we're good. That way we're just acting like Ammon and feeding the kings horses :)

Anyway, I hope everything is going well back home! Good stuff is happening and I'm loving every minute! Elder Christensen is a stud and I'm glad to have him! Life is good!

-Elder Warenski

The McLachlan Family. Rob is baptizing his daughters.

Nate, top of Calgary Tower.

Glass floor view, Calgary Tower

Vulcan Visitor

I think this speaks for itself.

Welcome to Vulcan

Apparently there was an outage with the myldsmail.net provider this week! Here it is! Sorry that it's late. That was pretty lame. But better late than never!

 I'm glad things are working out with the Secret Garden! I'm so proud of Cierra and I'm glad that she is doing such a good job. I pray nightly for her and that through practice and giving it everything she's got that the Lord will make up the rest. That's the only way I got through Joseph! That was the hardest show I've ever done (maybe besides Sweeney). I remember when we were rehearsing for Joseph in Greg and Joni's room at the school. I remember getting extremely frustrated with how I couldn't reach the higher notes, and I felt like I was making a fool of myself in front of the cast. I spoke with Joni about it later in the Fusion Lab and she told me that I didn't need to be discouraged because every mistake I made in a rehearsal was one less mistake I would make in performance. I still owe Joni big time for that. That gave me a huge boost and helped me to accept my weakness in my vocals so that I could begin to get better. Thank heaven she told me those things, or I don't know if I would have been able to pick myself up!

I really do put in a lot of effort to keep positive. Some days it really doesn't take that much, other days it requires everything I've got! But I make it through no matter what :) Really there isn't that much to be sad about out here! I'm doing the Lord's work with some of the finest people I've come to know. I've got a great companion and we're both doing the work because we love the Savior. Couldn't be better :)

So, this week, I want to talk about some things that I have been learning from President Monson lately. I've been reading through a bunch of different materials that he's written, and I've been gaining more and more of a testimony of a living Prophet, and more importantly, a Living Christ.

In 1 Samuel 17 is the story of David and Goliath. When I really started to look into this story in more detail, especially with what President Monson had to say about it, it really struck me as more incredible than I ever realized. Everything when I really stopped to realize how David must have felt. He knew who he was about to challenge. He knew that if he didn't rely on the Lord he would be doomed. The scriptures tell us that he selected stones to put in his sling. He must have really made sure that he felt he had the right ones. Everything hinged on this. He knew that there was no turning around or going back once he decided to finally face the 10 foot tall giant. As President Monson explained the scene, he talked about how all of us have our Goliath's. It could be money problems, marital issues, family strife, schooling, discouragement, fear, doubt, etc. The list is truly endless. Goliaths follow us and challenge us no matter what stage of life we are in. But we all need to choose our stones. President Monson lists 7 Stones that will arm us against our own personal Goliaths:

1. The stone of Courage
2. The stone of Effort
3. The stone of Humility
4. The stone of Prayer
5. The stone of Duty

Then he said that these paired with the Sling of Faith and the Staff of Virtue will help us to defeat our Goliath.

I am growing in testimony of these principles, and even as I type this, the spirit is confirming to me the truth of the words of the Lord's Prophet. It seems that when we really work to combine all of these attributes into our arsenal against our trials and struggles, we can find strength that we've never known before. This is because we, like David, can say "...I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand... that all the earth may know that there is a God in Isreal."

I know that there is a God in Israel. I know that because He has sustained me throughout my entire mission and throughout my life. He has orchestrated every detail. He gave me a loving Mother and Father. He gave me a Grandmother and Grandfather that are my heroes. He gave me two sisters that I love more than they know. He's given me family that has supported me in every stage of my life, including the present one. There is a God in Israel.

I bear testimony of my greatest Friend, Jesus the Christ. I am so grateful for the relationship that I have with Him.

I love you all!

-Elder Warenski

It's good to hear everything went well this week! Flattered that you'd use my email in your lesson. It's so true.... the field is white and ready! We just have to have the guts to get out there and share what we know! I've been having a thirst for theater lately. I'm having withdrawals from not being able to be on stage and just let loose! I sang Sobbin' Women in the shower this morning and I even got Elder Christensen humming along. I still remember all the good times. All of the guys that are out right now have an email string all together so that we can keep in touch. Like Tyler, Jonah, Will, Kristian and the rest. It's been good to stay in contact. James Call shot us an email on that thread that told us that his mission papers got submitted and he'll be getting his Mission Call soon. I was so pumped! I'm so proud of that kid. He's a boss.

Superbowl Sunday. How I miss it. I'm with you, I am really just in it for the food. I think the only one I'll really care about when I get home is the Stanley Cup, but as for the Superbowl, it's still all about the Lil' Smokies ;) Elder Christensen and I had a long talk about that one as we were driving out on the Reservation. It was pretty sweet. We both talked about all the same foods and things. It's good to have a Utah companion!

Speaking of the Reservation, I've got a story this week! About Wednesday of this last week, we got a call from a Native lady who said that her mother would like her home blessed because she had a spirit that was bothering her. So we decided that we would go out and see what was happening. This lady lives pretty far out on the Reservation, so we drove for awhile to find it. When we got there, things were pretty normal. She's a sweet old lady who believes in Jesus. We asked her about some of the things that were going on in her house, and she told us that she was having trouble with a spirit that kept on bothering her dog and walking up and down the stairs at night. This is a legitimate problem on the reservation. The people don't live a very righteous lifestyle, and all of the traditions that they have are a huge opportunity for things to get out of hand. Her house felt different as well. The whole reservation does, but it was a different feeling. So we explained to her some things about the priesthood and that it was through the authority of Christ that we were going to act. We told her that it was according to her faith that things would clear up, but also that she would need to commit to live more righteously in order to make things get better. We told her how the Lord requires effort from us as well. She agreed with what we said and told us about some of her struggles. It was pretty tender, actually. She had made some major changes in her life and had been addiction free for over 5 years. So then we started to bless the house. She asked me to give the blessing, so in the prayer I commanded whatever was in the home to depart in the name of Christ. The spirit was incredibly strong. We felt the previous feelings wash away and the right Spirit was back in the home. It was really cool to see this lady's face light up. After the prayer we told her that one of the best ways that she could keep the good feelings and to have the spirit of the Lord in her home was to have us over to take the missionary discussions. She agreed to have them, so we'll see where it takes us. Her daughter - the one that called in the first place - is a member, and I think it would do her good as well to see her mom investigating the church. Pretty awesome stuff! If she's faithful the Lord will look out for her. I really do love the natives. There is good in them, they just need the gospel to bring it out.

That story about Jake is so awesome. What a guy! Just taking the Poly's down. Did everyone go beat each other up in the parking lot after the game like in Hawaii? ;) Jake is my hero. I tell all of my companions all of our crazy adventures at the Ranch and in Cali and all that. My companions are always pretty entertained. The glow-stick war at Auntie Carri's house (you'll have to ask Jake if you don't know what that is all about), the time Grandpa caught Ben and I in the kitchen at 1 in the morning fishing around for some food.... The stories are endless and all my companions get a giggle out of them. I will for sure be praying for Jackson. The Lord will look after him. I know it. I was reading a talk by President Faust called "Hope, an Anchor for the Soul" and he talked all about how we can find happiness and peace in the gospel through having Hope. We have to look forward through our present situation and find what we're meant to learn. Which reminds me of ANOTHER thing that happened this week!

We had a really terrible night a few nights ago. We were doing what we call "Lost Sheep-ing". This activity basically involves getting shouted at for a few hours by a list of Sheep who quite frankly would just really love to stay lost. We were doing this for awhile, and I started to get really down because of all of the people who were just outright refusing the Savior. The only one who can perfectly heal them consistently gets rejected and slandered at almost every door. This was weighing pretty heavy on my mind. God bless Elder Christensen.... He did everything in his power to help cheer me up. He was whistling tunes in the truck and just being outright stoic, but it couldn't break my stubborn hold on my own hopelessness. But! I thought back to the words of the Wise Elder Hernan Cervantes currently serving in Cranbrook B.C. I was on an exchange with him, and we were having a slow night then as well, but he told me that we were earning what he called "Affliction Points". Affliction Points are gained when one goes through a hopeless period but still keeps the faith. So I did everything that I could to try and stay calm and I fought to be cheerful again. The night didn't get any easier, but it was alright. Then, just last night, we went to that lady's house out on the reservation and picked her up as a new investigator. Our mission goal is to get 1 new investigator per companionship per week. We weren't going to make that goal and it was really starting to peeve us. But we did it, and Christ provided us with a miracle. I seriously believe that it was because we had gained some Affliction Points by being hopeful during a trial and remembering the Savior.

My point here is this: It seems impossible to keep going when things are that dark. But there is a point to the darkness. The Light looks so much better when we've experienced a bit of darkness, and if we can hold on, it will get better. I heard a quote once that got me thinking. I'm paraphrasing, but essentially it said that we have memory so that we can have roses in the winter. I think that that is also another key reason as to why we have hope. Hope is what brings us light in the darkness. Hope is that longing and that yearning for something better, but it isn't conditional in our minds. We always say "Gee, I hope it stops raining" or things like that, but in the gospel, hope isn't just a shot in the dark. When you have hope in Jesus Christ, you KNOW that things will be good. You KNOW that things are going to get better. You KNOW that "Even the darkest night will end, and the Sun will Rise."

I'm grateful that I have a Savior that leads and guides me. I've never seen Him, but I most definitely am seeing more and more of the effects of His actions on my behalf, and on behalf of those that I teach. He's everything to me.

Thanks so much for everything you do for me! I love you so much!

-Elder Warenski

P.S. Rob blessed the sacrament in church for the first time yesterday. It was beautiful. Testimony meeting in the ward was basically centered on the McLachlan's, haha. Love that family!