So glad that everything is going smoothly again with the house. That's a relief! And I'm glad that Bishop Hall is helping out. I love Bishop Hall so much. He is a stud. He taught me so much about hard work and dedication while I worked with him on that house in Payson. I still value that experience a LOT. I'm disgusted with how people were seemingly taking advantage of you as well! What a bunch of knobs! Who do they think they are? Oh well. Good thing we have Bishop Hall around to sort people out;D I've also been wondering how sending letters to you guys is going to work? Is there a new address that I should be sending them to, or what? Just let me know how it works. Speaking of mail, I got a package from the McIver clan yesterday! It was full of all sorts of goodies and even some knee-high leprechaun socks! I wore them while I played basketball and the other missionaries were obviously jealous;D

Anyway, back to the reply!

Congrats to Kim and Chariley! Hope their new house turns out great. CONGRATS to Jacob Mortensen! I can't believe it! Kansas, Wichita. I love that kid so much. I'm glad that he's going out. He's going to be such an incredible missionary! I've been thinking about how many people I am going to miss from the ward as well... It's insane. But just because we're moving doesn't mean we can't see them anymore. I'm sure I'll go visit them loads after the mission. 17 years is a long time.
I'll email Josh. He and I have been talking recently, and I have emailed him my testimony. I hope it helped. Stirling - the guy who lives above us - went on his mission to Argentina, so I've been asking for tips that I could give to Josh. I'll email him again soon.

Elder Smith is AWESOME! This kid is seriously like... "The Chosen One"! I'm so proud of him and the way that he works and the way he cares about others. Elder Smith always talks about really getting to know people. He talks about understanding them. Where they come from, who they are, etc. It's awesome. He really has a good teaching spirit about him, and he is just downright hilarious. I got the letter from President Nicholas about becoming a trainer, too;D Pretty fancy, eh? Training is so fun.

MOTHER'S DAY IS GOING TO BE SO SICK! Holy crap I have been looking forward to it for so long. I can't wait to just chat with you guys! So awesome. I have many a story to share;)
And holy cow!Thanks for reminding me about the Humanities Field Trip. Kol Ami and Cathedral of the Madeline. I loved that field trip. It literally changed my life. Big surprise there;D It's Humanities!

Alright so here is MY update for the week! Pretty exciting news!

Kira is on date to be baptized May 9th! She is the 12 year old that we have been teaching from Barnwell. She has been reading the Book of Mormon and she has had her confirmation of its truthfulness! We only need her parents to sign the permission slip for her to be baptized... That's the catch. Pray SO HARD for her. Last time someone put her on date, her dad flipped a bird and told her that it wasn't going to happen. Please pray for her. She needs all the help she can get. Literally, if we can get that permission slip signed, we have full permission to baptize her.

The Next big news!

Aganita is also on date to be baptized! She is on date to be baptized May 23! We are so excited! We taught the second lesson last night and addressed some concerns. Last night was a miracle. I'll tell you the story:

So we had been planning to meet with her since last week. We had prepared to have a member present with us, but 2 hours before the lesson, we called and found out that he wasn't going to be able to come. So I called Stirling to see if he could come, but he couldn't either because he had to babysit while Julie was at Yoga (yes she does yoga, and she is DANG good at it). So I was scrambling around at P-day in Lethbridge trying to phone someone to come with us. I was cycling through the contacts on our phone, when I came to a guy named Nigel. He is a recently re-activated Less-Active. He was reactivated about a year ago, and once he was reactivated, he then baptized his wife and his children. So I had an impression that I should ask him. So I took the phone into the hallway of the church and called him. He picked up and I asked if he could come with us to the lesson and I explained the situation to him. He kinda grumbled about it - to my dismay - and said that he'd have to shuffle a bunch of things around, but that he'd do it. I thanked him profusely and then hung up after we agreed on a time to meet at Aganita's and stuff like that. After hanging up, I kinda felt weird... He had kinda grumbled about doing it, so I started to wonder if Nigel was the right guy to bring. But I'd been prompted to call him, so I just put my doubt aside.
So the hour came. We pulled up to Aganita's house and a minute or two later, Nigel showed up in his enormous black work truck. He popped out and gave us a box of girl-guide (Canadian girl scouts) cookies, and I thanked him again. The cookies were a good sign;) We went up to the door of the house and knocked... No answer. I was having a HEART ATTACK. Nigel like.... Re arranged his life to come with us! What if she didn't answer! I started praying that she would come to the door and let us in. A few minutes passed, and I rang the bell. Then FINALLY Aganita answered the door. This moment was CELESTIAL! We have been trying to contact her for 3 weeks!!! So we went into her home. We began to teach her the second lesson and we re-established our expectations for why we meet with her. We explained that the reason we come over so much and the reason why we are so eager to share with her is because we know how important our message is. We know how much it will touch her life. She really began to understand. Nigel was on FIRE. At the beginning of the lesson, he wasn't really "in it". But about a quarter of the way into it, he was giving everything he had! He was asking so many inspired questions, and he was rocking it! One of my favorite things he said was when we invited Aganita to church this Sunday. She was concerned and asked "Will there be anyone that I know?" Nigel immediately raised his hand and told her that he would be there and that she could sit with him. I was seriously on the verge of tears and I am again even as I'm typing this. The love that Nigel was showing was incredible.
One of the questions that we asked Aganita was what she felt when we came over and taught her. We asked if she had any specific feelings when we came over to teach her the gospel. She responded by telling us that she could see our dedication as missionaries, and that inspired her. I was so honored. It was then that Nigel popped in again. He said to Aganita "You do know that they don't get paid for this, right?" Aganita looked shocked. Nigel spoke again "These guys leave their family for 2 years and pay out of pocket to be able to do this." Elder Smith and I then explained our situation as missionaries. I then told her why I had come on a mission. I'll now tell you what I told Aganita:

I am serving a mission for Jesus Christ. I serve him full-time for 2 years because I love Him, and I would do ANYTHING for Him. He has been with me every minute of my life, and He has blessed my life and my family. I have the blessings of the gospel, the blessings of an Eternal Family, and I have a personal relationship with DEITY. And because of that, I am here to share that joy with others.

Aganita agreed to come to church, and that if she received a witness of the truthfulness of the gospel, she would be baptized on May 23.

This is another one of those sacred experiences of my mission. I am seeing the gospel message change the lives of those that I teach.

The moral to this story is that if you can make room for the gospel message in your heart, you will see God's hand in your life. He will confirm the truth of the gospel to you. If that were not true, I would not be on my Mission.

I love you all! I hope everything is going well. Please remember Aganita and Kira in your prayers. They need them!

-Elder Warenski