Feliz Dìa de Acciòn de Gracias

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! i hope you all had a great thanksgiving, and enjoyed spending time with family and friends! i had a good thanksgiving, and the cute mamaita for lunch made us chicken and mashed potatoes and a yummy blackberry juice, so i had a great thanksgiving lunch too! :)

Lunes we met with 2 new investigators that we have- luis y erika. they are both 20 yrs old, married and so fun! they have a lot of questions, questions that are great too.. like "how do i know which of all the churches is true?" .. questions that us as missionaries love to hear, because that is exactly what we are here to teach!! :)

Martes we were able to teach Jeffersson about the Plan of Salvation. it was so neat to teach him about the temple and baptism for the dead, because his dad and brother passed away a few years ago. it was so neat to help him know where they are now, and that he can see them again!

Miércoles we had an intercambio with the hermanas de Porvenir, and i went with hermana hernandez in her sector. she is an amazing missionary! i learned so much with her, i learned more about the importance of always speaking and teaching with sinceridad, and sharing testimony, and working with the members!

Jueves was thanksgiving! :) 

Viernes was a great but kinda crazy day! we had practice for the Navidad program in the morning, then stayed in Guayaquil, ate lunch, then went to Rio Centro again, because i got asked to perform again with a small group of missionaries, doing solos, duets and choir pieces. it was so fun! i got to sing "Ave Maria" and also "its beginning to look a lot like Christmas" (as a duet) and some pieces as a group like Carol of the Bells, Jingle Bell Rock, and some hymns. it was super fun! i love singing! it is one of my favorite ways to share the Chirstmas spirit! :)

Saturday we were guided to the Spirit to where we needed to be. we found 2 new investigatores, but then after lunch all of our appointments were not home. we didnt know where to go or what to do. we decided to call Mercedes our investiator, even though she lived a little far away from where we were at. she said we could come, so we went to her house. when we got there she told us that she had probably recieved an answer to her prayers abou the Church, and that we coming that day were part of that answer! i felt so happy that we listed to the Spirit, and just follwed the impressions that came into our mind. we didnt know it at the moment, but it was!

That night we had the baptism of Jeffersson, who is 20 yrs old. it was so neat!! he is the only member in his family, and has been coming to church for about 3 months. he has accepted the Gospel so fast, and loves it! he is so great! the baptism was so sweet, and the family of the Bishop are his best friends, and those who have been helping him the whole time, and it was so sweet to watch them and how happy they were! wow. it made all the work worth it. everyone was so happy, and just seeing the light in all of their faces was amazing. i am so grateful for the chance i have to serve here. the people here in ecuador are amazing. i love them all! i feel so grateful for the chance i have to serve with them, and watch them do great things in their lives!

At the baptism we watched the new Church video for Christmas!! "Illumina el Mundo" ("Light the World"). wow. its amazing! i love that video!! i also love that we can do 25 acts of service for 25 days in diciembre! wow. so that we can share our light with others here, as Christ did. He is the light of the world, and as we share our light, others will see the light of Christ in their lives. How i am so grateful for Jesus Christ and everything He did for me. i know this Church is true!

have a great week! love you all!

con amor,

Hermana Warburton

intercambio with hermana hernandez de colombia

baptism of Jeffersson

Milagros en Milagro

Hola Hola!! :)

Well another great week here in Ecuador! How i love being here!! :)

This week we had all sorts of things we did, and saw so many miracles... milagros en Milagro! :)

On tuesday we had an intercambio with las hermanas de Paraíso! .. i was with Hermana Vargas, mi hija!! :) haha it was like the good old days again when i was training my old comp hermana vargas! she is so great, and it was so fun to see how much she has grown. she is an awesome missionary, and we were able to find a cute new family to teach!

These past couple weeks we have been practicing a lot, so that this week we could sing in the shopping center of Rio Centro thursday! and it turned out great! Our zone and other zone of only elders, sang with us. i was the director, and we performed for little less than an hour! we sang a bunch of Christmas songs... hymns, and other traditional Christmas songs in english and in spanish! it was fun! i enjoyed performing and directing the choir! :) They all did a great job.. and i was also able to sing Ave Maria to start it all off!

That night we went to the temple to start our zone conference with President Riggins. it was so nice to go to the temple again! :) On friday we had our zone conference with President and it was awesome!!! wow. there were so many new things i learned and new things i want to apply to how i can be a better missionary and better person. he has such a great way of teaching to help us all understand and remember the things he teaches. for lunch President gave us a thanksgiving dinner!! it was so fun...even with apple pie for dessert!! :)

that night we were able to teach our investiagor Jeffersson.. and help him prepare for his baptism that will be this coming saturday! we are so excited!! he has been coming to church for a while now, and he is about 20 years old, and doing great! Mercedes, another investigator is also doing well, she is so sweet, and has so many good questions for us!

on saturday.. guess what... we were in guayaquil, again!! haha! we seemed to be in guayaquil a lot this past week..(thursday, friday, saturday...) haha. but we had another practice for the big Christmas program we are doing in diciembre, and we were there almost all day. but i love singing! i am so  grateful for the opportunity i have to sing for this program. how i love music! this week i was thinking about why i do love singing, and as i thought i was again reminded of how important music is and how it can invite the Spirit. thats one of the reasons why i love it so much, is that it invites the Spirit, and its one way to share testimony of the things i know to be true. 

This week although we seemed to be everywhere, always traveling and doing something, it was amazing how Heavenly Father blessed us with so many miracles. Miracles even in the smallest of things. Finding new families to teach, walking down the street praying the family we were hoping to see would walk out of their house when we passed by, and when we walked by they did! seeing how the Restored Gospel changes lives... there are so many small and big miracles i get to see each week, and im so grateful for each of them. i know that Heavenly Father truly does love us. Each of us. I am so grateful for the opportunity i have to feel of that love, and see that love in the lives of other people as well here in ecuador. 

have a great week!! happy thanksgiving!!! :)

con amor,

Hermana Warburton

singing in rio centro for Christmas!

Trabajemos Hoy en la Obra del Señor

Hola!! :) Buenas tardes!! 

Wow! these week seem to fly by! i know i say this every week.. but its true!! :) wow!!

This week....

On monday we had a noche de hogar with 4 families, 1 of them being investigator family-Mercedes. it was great! we had a good time, and hermana dominguez and i made no bake cookies which were a hit! haha! 

on tuesday we taught the training we received from president riggins last week to our zone (us and the zone leaders). it went well!! then we had our first choir practice as a zone... for Navidad we are singing in the Rio Centros (malls) here and this thursday is when we perform. so we have practiced a couple times this past week.. and it has gone pretty well! im directing it, and for the most part they all pay attention and sing!! we have a great zone!

that day i also had an intercambio with the hermana asistentes! i got to go to babahoyo.. another pueblito about 1.5 hours from here with the asistente hermana shivley. it went well! i enjoyed learning from her. she is a great missionary, and it was fun to meet and teach new people there. one family we visited had me sing for them, and as we were walking, another family invited us to dinner with them. it was a good day! i especially had a neat moment, when i got to share the First Vision, when we were teaching lesson 1. its my favorite part of the lesson, because the Spirit is always there. i especially felt the Spirit testify to me that i know that the First Vision really did happen, and that Jose Smith is a profeta. it was so neat.

on wednesday we were able to have our service project, which many people were able to enjoy and participate in. it was so sweet, and all the people were so happy. i loved seeing the joy on the faces of the people and families that came, and watching their faces just light up! i am so grateful for the people that helped and were a part of this!

Thursday we were able to visit our investigator Mercedes. she is a single mom, and has gone through a lot in her life. She is such a great woman! This week we taught her about the Plan of Salvation, and wow. we had such an amazing lesson. as we talked to her, and shared our testimonies about the Atonement, the Spirit was so strong! there was no doubt that we all felt the Spirit. in that moment i felt such a love for her, the love that i know Heavenly Father has for her, and it the Spirit was so strong. we came out of that lesson so happy, and so uplifted, and i was just reassured of the love that Heavenly Father has for each of His children, and the great importance of the Atonement. Wow. that was a great day! :)

Sunday we went to church and were just waiting and waiting for Mercedes to arrive.... and she didnt... we started Sacrament meeting.. and she still hadnt gotten there. i was so sad!! i had prayed so hard and was hoping so much that she would come! .. but then she came!! she came about half hour late, but she came!!!!!! i dont know if ive ever been happier in Sacrament Meeting!!! we were both sooooo happy!!!! she came to church for the first time with her 2 kids! she is so great! :)

This past week has been good. i am so grateful for the spiritual experiences i get to have each day and each week. its amazing how much God loves us, and always wants us to have these experiences. sometimes we dont even realize all the great things we get to experience! but i know that He loves us, and that love is so great that He sent His Son for us, so that we can return to Him. He wants us to feel that love everyday, and we can, when we strive to know Him better. Juan 17:3. I know that God and Jesus Christ live and loves us!

have a great week!!

con amor,

Hermana Warburton

La Obra Misional

Buenas tardes!! :)

This week we had a good, but super busy week!! this week seemed to fly by!

On Tuesday we got to go to the temple as part of the Leadership Council meeting we had tuesday and wednesday. the temple was great! :) after we got to stay at President´s house, and it was decorated for Navidad! ah! Christmas is just around the corner! and guess what! President made us scrambled egg sandwiches that night for the hermanas that stayed at the house! how nice! :)

On Wednesday we had our Leadership Council and training with President Riggins and the other sister leaders and zone leaders. it was soooo great! i learned so much! as a recently called leader, with the other newly called leaders, i got to share my testimony. then President talked to us about different things and how we can help the mission and how we can teach better and be better missionaries. we did a few praticas ( i had to do one with my companion), and we also talked about Navidad and all the great things we will be doing this Navidad!! ah im sooo excited. we watched the new Church video for Navidad, which is INCREDIBLE and also talked about all the performances we will do. we have be sooo blessed this year and we have so many opportunites to perform around Guayaquil. apart from the big activity and performance we will do in Parque Samanes, we also get to perform in shopping centers as zones singing in a choir! i even had to sing a little bit of Ave Maria to show the other zone leaders and sister leaders a little bit of what will happen in the performance! i am so excited for this Christmas season! :)

Thursday we were in our sector, and i felt like we were guided where we needed to be that day. we always pray every day that we can be guided to the people we need to talk to and meet. well this happend that day! we were able to talk to a lady on the street, because her dog escaped from her house and we were all laughing! well it turns out she has been having some hard things going on in her life, and as we talked we were able to share about the blessings of the Gospel and Jesus Christ. she need to hear this, and as we shared, we all felt edified from the Spirit. i know that we will be blessed as we do what we need to as missionaries and follow thie Spirit, and just talk with everyone!

Friday i had my first intercambio as lideresa with another sister in our zone... the Hermana Warburton! yes!! there is another hermana warburton in this mission, and she just happens to be in my zone, and we were companions for a day in this intercambio! she has about 9 weeks in the mission, and is so great!! i had a good time with her in her sector!! :)

I am so grateful to be a missionary and get to share the happiness of the Gospel with the people here! as i watched the new Christmas video for this year, the Spirit was so strong in the room. everyone there felt the Spirit. i know that Jesus Christ was born, lived, died and lives now! i know He loves us. I know that when He is part of our lives, our lives are filled with light. when we follow Him, we are blessed with soooo many things! we are blessed with peace, love, comfort, and guidance. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we are different. and this difference is good!! The Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ allows us to do the things we need to so that we can return to the presence of God and Jesus Christ and live with these blessings of happiness now and in the future.

con amor,

Hermana Warburton

me and the other hermana warburton in our intercambio!