Mother Dear!


My week went pretty well and pretty weird at the same time. Tell you in a second, haha;)
I've been having memories of Halloween for weeks! Elder Williams asked me if I had ever seen Hocus Pocus. I told him how we used to watch it every single Halloween along with a bunch of other Halloween flicks! He said that was a really cool tradition. I think so too:)
That's awesome that Curious Savage is opening! I'm sure the show will be fantastic! Make CERTAIN that you film it so that I can see it! I want to see them all when I get home!
The Facebook stuff is going along!  We have been meeting with the Stake President and calling the Bishops in the stake at the request of President Miles. Just to let them know what is going on and how we want this to be a Member/Missionary effort this time around.

I miss the Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit so much! But I keep it close. We'll be tracting and I'll start singing "the road goes ever on and on" or a bunch of other songs! Heck, Elder Williams and I pretty much sang through Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat two days ago. Pretty much the entire thing. We did a lot of walking. It was brutal.
I miss the Food and Care Coalition! We actually do something similar to it up here, but it's pretty much just a regular soup kitchen. It's pretty grimy and dirty, but it's good. At least people are getting fed. It's about to get a lot more popular as the winter rolls around.

Alright! Now for my update!

This week, the weather was absolute crap! We got all of the smoke from the Washington fires, and it was brutal. Calgary - and pretty much all of southern Alberta and B.C. - were suffocating in smoke all week. They have a scale that measures health risk according to the filthiness of the air. 10 is absolutely abominable, and Calgary was at a 12! And unfortunately, that's probably the day when Elder Williams and I were tracting the most... But because of the Lord's blessings, neither one of us has even had a tickle in our throat! It's been a real blessing.
My shirt-burning was awesome! We burned it on the Bow River here in Calgary! You'll see the pictures and video and you'll laugh. We were trying so hard not to get caught by anyone in the Forest service because I'm pretty decently sure there was a fire ban. Shhhh, don't tell. But we burned the sucker and that's what counts! And honestly, we burned it over the water, so I really don't see what the problem was. But that marks a year! One year down, one more year of growth, struggle, spirituality, walking, and bittersweet happiness left! I have so many mixed emotions about the thought of going home, but I'm ready for anything:)

The only other thing to tell about is just some things that I've thought of about prayer.
This week we had some more issues with the missionaries in our Zone.... I remember you telling me about a returned missionary speaking about how getting called to leadership is hard in the mission because you see all of the scummy things some missionaries do. I can definitely testify of that. It's tough. Not to mention, people look to you to have a solution, and sometimes you just don't have one. This was really weighing on me this week, and it began effecting my overall mood, which was NOT okay with me. We got home one night this week - I can't remember which day - and I remember just going and sitting on my bed. I was BENT on getting rid of the dark cloud that was over me and I wasn't going to stop until I could find peace about the situations around me. I was determined to not let the circumstances, situations, and decisions of others control how I felt and how I was going to behave. Elder Williams and I were in our beds reading right before the end of the night when I decided to go to our study room and just pray my heart out. I got on my knees and just poured out my soul to Heavenly Father. I told Him about the struggles that I have been having, and I told Him how I was feeling. I explained how all I wanted to do was love these missionaries who were giving us all this disrespect and grief, but that I couldn't find a way to help. That night, I stayed on my knees until I felt better. The miraculous thing is that He was there to hear me, and that I know for a FACT that He loves me and wants to communicate with me. I miraculously received the peace that I was looking for, and Heavenly Father even gifted me with some inspiration on how to deal with these two struggling missionaries. I have never felt more in my entire life that I have a personal relationship with Deity. It really hit me hard in that prayer that an All Powerful, All Knowing, Ever Present Being was listening to my prayer. I cannot stress enough to anyone who is reading this: There is A God that Lives. There is a God that Loves. There is a God that Hears your words and is concerned with the condition of your heart. He Loves You, and I can tell you that because I know how much He loves me. ME.

If He can love me, He can love you.

I am so grateful that I can communicate with God whenever I need to.

I love you and thank you for everything!

-Elder Warenski