Hello!
First off, I hope you all watched the Work of Salvation broadcast yesterday. If you didn't, it's on LDS.org already and you NEED to watch it. Drew, that goes for you too, yes I know its two hours, but its amazing and it'll help you prepare for your own mission. We don't yet have everything they said they will phase in, but this mission is one of the first to get new technology (such as TIWI D: ) so we'll probably get them here pretty soon. We're all pretty excited.
I'm so glad that they told us tracting is ineffective, we've been trying to tell our Ward Council here that, but they are almost all converts who were found by tracting. So they didn't believe us, now they do.
Mom, can you send me Chris' letters? I've been re-reading the mission rules and I don't think I'm supposed to be checking the blog even though it is just his letters. I asked him a few weeks ago to send them to me, but he hasn't yet. Also I know you said JJ wants to hear from us, but I don't know his email, could you send it to me? Also, it sounded like something was up with him. Are things ok?
I'm sorry to hear about Uncle Marvin. I'm sure that Aunt Dee will understand and know you're there in spirit though. I'm so glad to know that Families are Forever though, it does help so much when we recognize that. That was fast though. I hope he did not suffer too much. Is Tina doing ok?
Dad, I'm sorry I can't say I remember much of the layout myself of that Scout Camp. Do you know why there's so many changes though? It seems a little strange to change it so suddenly.
I'm still riding a bike (and no, it never stops hurting) but not so much the bus. If I'm still here next Monday I don't think I'll buy a bus pass for next month, we don't use them enough. We might still buy bus tickets though. Biking is getting easier, but we have horrible bikes so that's probably why its still hard. Elder Dewey and I are getting good at fixing bikes though.
We're also finally seeing progress for Khosi. We got some of the YSA to invite his sister to sports night, and they went above and beyond. She wants to come to church as well now. Its awesome how we started to focus on working through members and then the broadcast came the next Sunday. Must be inspired ;)
We've also been trying to find ways to use family history. We haven't heard back yet, but someone is re-making an old card that missionaries used to give members so they could invite people to do family history and learn why we do it.
Love,
Elder B. Warner
Monday, July 1, 2013
June 21, 2013 - Notice from Mission Office
Hello AMAZING Canada Toronto Missionaries + AMAZING Parents of our Canada Toronto Missionaries – President Scott asked me to notify you of our upcoming holiday, Canada Day, falling on our normal P-Day – Monday, July 1st. This is also a transfer week (19 arriving and 10 departing) for us which requires moving P-Day/e-mailing from Monday, July 1st to Wednesday, July 3rd Our missionaries use public places – libraries, etc to email and they are closed on holidays! We love and appreciate your missionary and want to keep you informed about changes in our mission routine. Thank you for your continued support and love! Sister CaldwellMission Secretary
June 15, 2013
Hello!
I got the presents. It was outside our door when we came back for zone conference. Thanks for everything, especially the sketchbook and the pictures.
I don't think I've emailed JJ, I don't know what his email is, but if he sends me one, or you give me his email address I'll send some. Anyone else who wants emails should send me theirs as well. I don't hear from many other than you two and Drew. I would love to get letters or emails from others.
It was a fun week. We had zone conference on Tuesday and were in London on Monday so we couldn't work in our area until Wednesday. Then we blitzed our area with the Zone Leaders and went on exchanges the next day. We were able to teach a lot of really great lessons. The only problem is nobody is finding any new investigators. We've started applying the 'teach when you find' principle, but that weeds out the unprepared fast and nobody has accepted a return appointment yet.
Zone Conference was awesome though. We talked about how to work with the Ward Council more and also a lot about how the church is organized. President Scott said he's not sure why he felt we needed to learn about that, and I don't quite know either, but I'm sure I'll be able to use it later on. It was also fun to see so many other missionaries and to hear their stories.
Dad, what was the best way you found new investigators? Our members here always tell us they don't know anyone and the people we're finding won't accept any return appointments or come to church. I don't know what we're doing wrong.
Love,
Elder B. Warner
I got the presents. It was outside our door when we came back for zone conference. Thanks for everything, especially the sketchbook and the pictures.
I don't think I've emailed JJ, I don't know what his email is, but if he sends me one, or you give me his email address I'll send some. Anyone else who wants emails should send me theirs as well. I don't hear from many other than you two and Drew. I would love to get letters or emails from others.
It was a fun week. We had zone conference on Tuesday and were in London on Monday so we couldn't work in our area until Wednesday. Then we blitzed our area with the Zone Leaders and went on exchanges the next day. We were able to teach a lot of really great lessons. The only problem is nobody is finding any new investigators. We've started applying the 'teach when you find' principle, but that weeds out the unprepared fast and nobody has accepted a return appointment yet.
Zone Conference was awesome though. We talked about how to work with the Ward Council more and also a lot about how the church is organized. President Scott said he's not sure why he felt we needed to learn about that, and I don't quite know either, but I'm sure I'll be able to use it later on. It was also fun to see so many other missionaries and to hear their stories.
Dad, what was the best way you found new investigators? Our members here always tell us they don't know anyone and the people we're finding won't accept any return appointments or come to church. I don't know what we're doing wrong.
Love,
Elder B. Warner
June 9, 2013
Hello Everyone!
Dad, thanks for the advice! We'll see what we can do, we think we know the specific concern of this LA now. We just don't know how to adress it. We we're able to go over the Baptismal Interview Questions with her son Khosi though. So he could be part of the June Harvest! Windsor North reaps two!
I can't remember if I've mentioned the Harvest before. Every year in June President Scott sets a goal for how many baptisms we can get that month, this year its 60 as a mission. We're hoping to hit 14 as a zone, 1 for each area. We think he does it in June because that's his birthday. And the best Missionary Present is a Baptism (or a tie).
We love the ward here, and we think we've finally earned their trust. Bishop Konopaski asked us to participate in ward council more and to assign people to work with us if we needed to. We also have found two Part-Member Families that moved in and never changed their records. One of them wants us to come over for dinner on Wednesday! Things are looking up!
Sorry I'm sending this so late, but we've got Zone Conference in Kitchener tomorrow so we had to come to London today and the computers weren't working. London reminds me so much of home, there's about 5 wards and 1 Branch here and 6 companinonships. Our District has 2 Branches, 1 Ward and 4 companionships each in a different city, so its a little different here.
Because we ride the buses in our area and we're in London today, I haven't been able to pick up the package yet, I'm hoping to get home from Zone Conference early enough tomorrow to get it, but Kitchener is pretty far away. I'm sending a snail-mail letter later this week though, so I'll tell you if I've got it when I send that.
Love,
Elder B. Warner
Note: The snail mail was not really a letter so I did not post it. It was a drawing of Nephi that I will try to figure out how to scan and post later.
Dad, thanks for the advice! We'll see what we can do, we think we know the specific concern of this LA now. We just don't know how to adress it. We we're able to go over the Baptismal Interview Questions with her son Khosi though. So he could be part of the June Harvest! Windsor North reaps two!
I can't remember if I've mentioned the Harvest before. Every year in June President Scott sets a goal for how many baptisms we can get that month, this year its 60 as a mission. We're hoping to hit 14 as a zone, 1 for each area. We think he does it in June because that's his birthday. And the best Missionary Present is a Baptism (or a tie).
We love the ward here, and we think we've finally earned their trust. Bishop Konopaski asked us to participate in ward council more and to assign people to work with us if we needed to. We also have found two Part-Member Families that moved in and never changed their records. One of them wants us to come over for dinner on Wednesday! Things are looking up!
Sorry I'm sending this so late, but we've got Zone Conference in Kitchener tomorrow so we had to come to London today and the computers weren't working. London reminds me so much of home, there's about 5 wards and 1 Branch here and 6 companinonships. Our District has 2 Branches, 1 Ward and 4 companionships each in a different city, so its a little different here.
Because we ride the buses in our area and we're in London today, I haven't been able to pick up the package yet, I'm hoping to get home from Zone Conference early enough tomorrow to get it, but Kitchener is pretty far away. I'm sending a snail-mail letter later this week though, so I'll tell you if I've got it when I send that.
Love,
Elder B. Warner
Note: The snail mail was not really a letter so I did not post it. It was a drawing of Nephi that I will try to figure out how to scan and post later.
June 3, 2013
Hello Everyone!
Dad, Borg? You said getting your implant (ICD / Pacemaker) makes you the Borg? Why can't we just be normal cyborgs? Aren't the Borg evil, or am I lacking in Star Trek knowledge? We are teaching about 6 people, although only 2 very often. One of the people we were teaching doesn't want to meet with us because Elder Smith and I didn't tell him our first names when we met a few weeks ago... I'm really unsure how to solve his concern, but we'll be on exchanges tomorrow and Elders Dewey and Badillo are going to stop by, so maybe we'll start teaching him again. Do you how to motivate Less-Actives? We have one Sister whose son isn't baptized because she doesn't wake up in time for church. The son has been taught all the lessons about 4 times in two years, but they never quite make it to church.
I spoke too soon when I said it was warmer. Do you remember the saying "If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes." Its true here, it will pour for about five minutes, then be so bright you can't see, and then the humidity makes it so hot. But we've learned to keep an umbrella with us all the time so we don't get soaked. Our bikes are slowly getting better, we've heard that after a month you can't feel it anymore so we've got about a week and a half left until that point.
I'm glad they figured it out with UPS, I got a call earlier this week asking for someone who could authorize a package for customs, maybe that's why you got an e-mail. I'll tell you if I hear anything else though.
The most interesting thing happened this week. We found a part-member family that the ward didn't know about! We were also able to take a few more members teaching with us than normal, including a less active member. It's so exciting to see more and more of the LAs come back to the ward. Now we just hope President Sandor's talk was able to motivate more people.
Dad, did you work with ward missionaries much on your mission? How did you use them? We're trying to find ways to help them, but we don't have a whole lot right now.
Love,
Benjamin Warner
Dad, Borg? You said getting your implant (ICD / Pacemaker) makes you the Borg? Why can't we just be normal cyborgs? Aren't the Borg evil, or am I lacking in Star Trek knowledge? We are teaching about 6 people, although only 2 very often. One of the people we were teaching doesn't want to meet with us because Elder Smith and I didn't tell him our first names when we met a few weeks ago... I'm really unsure how to solve his concern, but we'll be on exchanges tomorrow and Elders Dewey and Badillo are going to stop by, so maybe we'll start teaching him again. Do you how to motivate Less-Actives? We have one Sister whose son isn't baptized because she doesn't wake up in time for church. The son has been taught all the lessons about 4 times in two years, but they never quite make it to church.
I spoke too soon when I said it was warmer. Do you remember the saying "If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes." Its true here, it will pour for about five minutes, then be so bright you can't see, and then the humidity makes it so hot. But we've learned to keep an umbrella with us all the time so we don't get soaked. Our bikes are slowly getting better, we've heard that after a month you can't feel it anymore so we've got about a week and a half left until that point.
I'm glad they figured it out with UPS, I got a call earlier this week asking for someone who could authorize a package for customs, maybe that's why you got an e-mail. I'll tell you if I hear anything else though.
The most interesting thing happened this week. We found a part-member family that the ward didn't know about! We were also able to take a few more members teaching with us than normal, including a less active member. It's so exciting to see more and more of the LAs come back to the ward. Now we just hope President Sandor's talk was able to motivate more people.
Dad, did you work with ward missionaries much on your mission? How did you use them? We're trying to find ways to help them, but we don't have a whole lot right now.
Love,
Benjamin Warner
Monday, May 27, 2013
May 27, 2013
Hello!
Me and Elder Dewey get along great! His Dad is actually an artist for the church so we talk about art a lot. He was training Elder Harr's for the first half of last transfer and then Elder Harr's went home, so he served with the Zone Leaders for the rest of the transfer. My second MTC companion, Elder Karl, is still in the mission though so that is good. Technically I'm still in training, but since both of my companions have been District Leaders I have to do a lot of planning on my own, So I feel like I'm not a trainee anymore.
That's so cool that Chris gets to go to the temple. Do you know how often he'll get that chance? We only get to twice a year, if we're within an hour of the Brampton temple at the time. I really wish we had the chance more often here, it would help having so much time to feel the spirit of the temple.
That is neat that Brother and Sister Tolman are home. We love the office missionaries, they're pretty much our parents while we're out here. Although not having a car area, we don't hear from them much. They did call us instead of Windsor South once and told us to get an oil change. It was funny when they realized they called us instead. Elder Ree's said that we didn't actually need to change the oil on our bus. And here I thought it was a great service opportunity.
I'm glad to know that Dad's doing better, is there really no one else who can work on the pump though? It sounds like Dad though thinking he can do everything himself. Tell Drew Happy Birthday for me, I can't remember if I did last week. I know you will laugh, but I actually really miss Drew. Engineering State sounds fun, tell him to buy the 2.5 gallons of Aggie Blue Mint Ice Cream for me! The Tradition must go on! Has he finished his Eagle yet? He just had the project to do right? Sounds like he might have to get a new project if that lady keeps putting it off. That would be frustrating.
Me and Elder Dewey get along great! His Dad is actually an artist for the church so we talk about art a lot. He was training Elder Harr's for the first half of last transfer and then Elder Harr's went home, so he served with the Zone Leaders for the rest of the transfer. My second MTC companion, Elder Karl, is still in the mission though so that is good. Technically I'm still in training, but since both of my companions have been District Leaders I have to do a lot of planning on my own, So I feel like I'm not a trainee anymore.
That's so cool that Chris gets to go to the temple. Do you know how often he'll get that chance? We only get to twice a year, if we're within an hour of the Brampton temple at the time. I really wish we had the chance more often here, it would help having so much time to feel the spirit of the temple.
That is neat that Brother and Sister Tolman are home. We love the office missionaries, they're pretty much our parents while we're out here. Although not having a car area, we don't hear from them much. They did call us instead of Windsor South once and told us to get an oil change. It was funny when they realized they called us instead. Elder Ree's said that we didn't actually need to change the oil on our bus. And here I thought it was a great service opportunity.
I'm glad to know that Dad's doing better, is there really no one else who can work on the pump though? It sounds like Dad though thinking he can do everything himself. Tell Drew Happy Birthday for me, I can't remember if I did last week. I know you will laugh, but I actually really miss Drew. Engineering State sounds fun, tell him to buy the 2.5 gallons of Aggie Blue Mint Ice Cream for me! The Tradition must go on! Has he finished his Eagle yet? He just had the project to do right? Sounds like he might have to get a new project if that lady keeps putting it off. That would be frustrating.
Tell everyone hello for me today at the BBQ. I wish we could have BBQ's here, but it probably wouldn't be safe in an apartment. We always have perogies though...Speaking of food, what do you do with corned beef? I know you cooked it, but I honestly can't say I remember how or what you did with it. We found some in our freezer, but we have no idea what to do with it.
Send me pictures!
Love,
Elder Benjamin Warner
Elder Benjamin Warner
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
May 22, 2013
Hello :D
First off, I'm still in the same area! But my companion, Elder Smith, was transferred to the Don Mills South Area. So my follow-up trainer is Elder Cameron Dewey. He was actually training my MTC companion that went home last transfer. He's originally from London, England and his family moved to Alberta, Canada a few years ago. He's pretty awesome and his Dad has done alot of artwork for the church so we have alot to talk about. It's amazing how working with someone fresh to the area is though. We already have 2 new investigators this week, 2 member presents, and a Referral Present Lesson, and its only been two days! Our new investigators are both pretty cool. Khosi is 9 years old, his mother Sibo moved to Canada from Zimbabwe and was baptized in 2006. We don't know why she's not coming to church yet, but she says she wants to come. We tried to set Khosi with a baptismal date, or at least a goal to shoot for, yesterday but she wouldn't let us yet. We don't know too much about our other new investigator other than she's friends with one of the Less-Actives were working with.
About 90% of the mission was transferred this time, which doesn't happen often. We only have 3 members of my original district here and only 2 of us stayed in the same area. District Meeting is going to be so weird this week. One of our Zone Leaders just finished his last transfer as well, so he's going back to Brazil this week.
First off, I'm still in the same area! But my companion, Elder Smith, was transferred to the Don Mills South Area. So my follow-up trainer is Elder Cameron Dewey. He was actually training my MTC companion that went home last transfer. He's originally from London, England and his family moved to Alberta, Canada a few years ago. He's pretty awesome and his Dad has done alot of artwork for the church so we have alot to talk about. It's amazing how working with someone fresh to the area is though. We already have 2 new investigators this week, 2 member presents, and a Referral Present Lesson, and its only been two days! Our new investigators are both pretty cool. Khosi is 9 years old, his mother Sibo moved to Canada from Zimbabwe and was baptized in 2006. We don't know why she's not coming to church yet, but she says she wants to come. We tried to set Khosi with a baptismal date, or at least a goal to shoot for, yesterday but she wouldn't let us yet. We don't know too much about our other new investigator other than she's friends with one of the Less-Actives were working with.
About 90% of the mission was transferred this time, which doesn't happen often. We only have 3 members of my original district here and only 2 of us stayed in the same area. District Meeting is going to be so weird this week. One of our Zone Leaders just finished his last transfer as well, so he's going back to Brazil this week.
Speaking of hard talks to find, do you know any by the 'Swearing Apostle' J. Golden Kimball? One of the Elders managed to get a recording of one somehow and its apparently pretty awesome. Other than that any talks you find on the lessons in Preach My Gospel would be appreciated, I'm trying to learn as much about every one of them as I can, but lesson 4 has such short sections. Actually do you know any talks that talk about the importance of setting goals?
I'll be praying for you Dad, I love you and I know that the Lord loves you as well. Happy Birthday Drew, how does it feel to be 17 finally? Don't worry, you'll be here in Toronto soon enough ;) Chris got some knives? That's awesome! Elder Smith said he's going to send me his when he 'dies' so I can use it as my letter opener.
I'll be praying for you Dad, I love you and I know that the Lord loves you as well. Happy Birthday Drew, how does it feel to be 17 finally? Don't worry, you'll be here in Toronto soon enough ;) Chris got some knives? That's awesome! Elder Smith said he's going to send me his when he 'dies' so I can use it as my letter opener.
Thanks Mom :) I'm sure its a great present. Skittle Tithing sounds fun, maybe I'll use it when we teach Khosi about tithing. Tell Kenzie and Jordan congratulations!
Love,
Elder Benjamin Warner
Love,
Elder Benjamin Warner
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)