Mum,

Ties sound awesome! I'm thrilled you bought some more. Missionaries LOVE ties. Don't worry about me burning them, either. The only tie I will ever burn is at 6 months. The next thing I will burn is a shirt at the 1 year mark;D

I CAN'T BELIEVE SAM IS GOING TO RUSSIA!!!! HOLY COW!!! That is seriously the most exciting thing ever! I'm so proud of him and Jacob for getting their calls. So awesome!
I was actually thinking about how crazy it was that the school year is almost over. That is insane! Only one more year of school and then I will be a few months shy of hopping on the plane and coming home. Still quite some time, but you know. Time moves no matter what;) Yeah, having things to look forward to is amazing. I think that is why the mission goes so fast for the missionaries. There is always something to look forward to. We have transfers, district meetings, zone conferences, zone trainings, new companions, new areas, new people.... The list goes on and on. All of those things kinda keep us going so fast that we can barely keep the time straight.

Kira is, sadly, pretty much stalled... Her parents didn't sign the baptismal form for her to be baptized, so we are going to teach her the rest of the lessons and pray for a miracle. If that miracle doesn't come, then we have to drop her as an investigator, but continue to fellowship her. That will be the Lord's way of telling us that the time is not right. And that is fine. This is one of the "seed-planting" experiences of my mission.

I'm looking forward to FaceTime with you on Mother's day. I don't think we'll have any problem chatting away. I'm excited to talk to you guys. I miss you so much! I'm glad you found the Mother's Day letters of the past while you have been going through all our stuff, as well. I never had a problem coming up with things to say in those letters. You were so good to us and you helped us learn the gospel, never telling us WHAT to believe, but showing us what there was to believe, and letting us make our own decisions. Which leads me to my update!

So this week in our ever-so-cynnical Taber 2nd ward Elder's Quorum, we had something of a showdown. Everyone was talking about parenting and how they felt it should go. Some suggested that we shouldn't helicopter our children but just let them do their own thing. Some said that utter authority was the only way to go. I thought back to how I was raised and what really made me want to follow God more. I remember a few things that I learned when I was younger. In the discussion, parenting was discussed in the scenario that the child had made an error. The question was what the parent's involvement should be with that error. Like before, some said you have to evaluate an effective punishment and then move on from there. Others said that their kids would work it out themselves. But from my experience, it's a mixture of both. First off, whenever I would approach my mom with a problem, she wasn't in it to punish me. Holy cow! Like she wants to add more of a punishment upon what I'm already experiencing as a result of whatever it is I did! No! She was ALWAYS more interested in resolving the issue than punishing me and making sure I knew how wrong I was. I also remember, though, that we weren't just free reign. We were disciplined. We still viewed Mom as a leader, but I gained SO much more respect for my Mother when I received her HELP not her judgement. Both of us knew when I was wrong. It was moving on from that that was so important to me.

Teaching by example was also another thing that really helped me see things clearly when I was a kid. I remember one time when I was like.... 9, probably... Mikaila, Cierra, and I were with Dad. We were just coming out of a gas station that we had fueled the car at. Dad saw a cheque on the ground that was written out for a pretty large amount of money. Anyone else would have just left it there or maybe even taken advantage of it. But Dad picked it up and we followed the address to the house. No one was home but he tucked it away in the screen door of the home. I was so little, and that act may seem unimportant to a lot of people, but in my little 9 year old eyes, my Dad was a hero. He taught me honesty and kindness and that really helped me understand things better.

I am really grateful for the upbringing that I had and for the examples I had. Both from my parents and from all the other examples around me. Like Grandma and Grandpa Jackson, people in the 5th ward, and tons of others. They changed my life. I'm really grateful.

The only other news this week is that I have become a die-hard hockey fan. I'll explain over the Mother's Day call how it happened, but for now I can say that I am a die-hard Vancouver Canucks fan. I'm loving Canada, loving life, and loving my mission!
Thanks for all the love and support that come my way!

I love you!

-Elder Warenski