So the day finally came and I left my home in Cadiz Zone.. It was really hard and different because I had been there for so long but it was time to leave. It was a great area and I am glad I was able to spend 6 months there.
This morning I finished up packing and left the house. It was weird to walk away but I was excited to see what today had to bring. We caught a bus and made it to the mission office just in time. Everyone who was transferring was in the chapel and there was a short devotional and then they served us pizza. They did it a little bit different this time and we just had to walk up to the AP's and they told us where we were going and who we were going to be with. I'm not gonna lie Cadiz Zone was one of the most successful zones in this mission so I was feeling really good about what we had done for that zone and the mission. So I was really expecting something great again. But they told me I am going to La Carlota Zone, it's one of the smallest zones and has bad reputations. That's really the only hard part about it. Everyone has a bad attitude about the zone. No one really expects anything from it... So it's a humbling experience but I am ready for the challenge. So don't worry about me!
We had a good week though. We did a lot of fast exchanges almost everyday because everyone was getting ready for their Christmas baptism so we had to do a lot of interviews. Our Zone did great and we had over 30 baptisms in our zone just on Christmas!
Christmas was great! I loved talking to the family and we had to great baptisms! It was great to have one of my last baptisms in that area be the father of the Matulac family! There is nothing better than having a whole family baptized!
I don't really know what to think right now.. I am scared and excited! I just really hope I can do something good for this Zone! I'm willing to take advice from anyone!
I hope everyone had a great Christmas! It was weird to think that was my last one here in the phillies! Time goes by fast! I'm sure this next week I will have a lot more to tell you about everything new! So right now I will just tell you everything I know! My new companion's name is Elder Ballesteros he is batch with Elder Derecho (who is now AP) haha and our area is super mountainous kono so I am excited for that because I haven't had that yet and it is actually really close to my first area just a different zone. We are actually right next to a big volcano so that's super cool!
Just waiting for these pictures to finish uploading.. it's always a lot slower here in Bacolod. We are going to stop back at the office in a little bit and then head to the mountains! ahhhhh I don't know what to expect!
I love all of you! Thank you for everything!
-Elder Warnick
Neve rmind! The picture failed to load...
Monday 28 December 2015
Monday 21 December 2015
Merry Christmas!
Even though there is no snow and stuff over here it still feels a lot like Christmas!
So I'll tell ya'll a little bit about what it's like over here Christmas time!
So Rodel.. our gay investigator he opened up even more to us this week about his boyfriend... Basically this means that he needs to be interviewed by President. But everything is still looking good for his baptism this Christmas. We just have to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid before that. (last night he was at a Gay pageant.. I guess he won it last year so he had to turn over the crown to the new winner... oh Philippines...)
The Baptism was great! It was the same day as Elder Nonato's Birthday and the Ward Christmas party, so there was a lot of support from the ward. April was her name and her brother who is about to go on a mission was the one who baptized her. For me that is so much better when other members like close friends or family are the ones that baptize them!
We had to do last minute exchanges yesterday so that we could get some interviews done for some District Leaders. So I got to go with Elder Benedict (from Layton) again and we went way up into the mountains and they had a awesome group there of about 30 people and it was just something new that was really cool.
I'm really excited for this Christmas because Tatay Matulac (the matulac father) is going to be baptized! Nothing feels better than completing families! And it's always nice to be able to baptize a Dad or someone who can receive the priesthood. Because that has been one of the hardest things in this area getting males to listen to us.
So because the year is winding down I just wanted to let all of you know how much I appreciate all the support and love. It's not easy but this has been the best experience of my life. I hope all of you have a great Christmas and I'll let you know next week where my new area is!
Love,
Elder Warnick
So I'll tell ya'll a little bit about what it's like over here Christmas time!
- So kids go door to door basically caroling and they have little tin cans because after they sing they expect you to pay them money. When we were at our apartment and they came by we turned off the lights and hid because they weren't going to leave unless you pay them!
- There of course is no pine trees here so what every neighborhood does is they make a Christmas tree for their neighborhood out of trash/bottles/basically whatever they can find! I am going to try and get a picture of it this week.
- Everyone asks you to give them presents.
- Christmas music is blasting everywhere! There is no rules about how loud peoples music can be so yeah.
So Rodel.. our gay investigator he opened up even more to us this week about his boyfriend... Basically this means that he needs to be interviewed by President. But everything is still looking good for his baptism this Christmas. We just have to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid before that. (last night he was at a Gay pageant.. I guess he won it last year so he had to turn over the crown to the new winner... oh Philippines...)
The Baptism was great! It was the same day as Elder Nonato's Birthday and the Ward Christmas party, so there was a lot of support from the ward. April was her name and her brother who is about to go on a mission was the one who baptized her. For me that is so much better when other members like close friends or family are the ones that baptize them!
We had to do last minute exchanges yesterday so that we could get some interviews done for some District Leaders. So I got to go with Elder Benedict (from Layton) again and we went way up into the mountains and they had a awesome group there of about 30 people and it was just something new that was really cool.
I'm really excited for this Christmas because Tatay Matulac (the matulac father) is going to be baptized! Nothing feels better than completing families! And it's always nice to be able to baptize a Dad or someone who can receive the priesthood. Because that has been one of the hardest things in this area getting males to listen to us.
So because the year is winding down I just wanted to let all of you know how much I appreciate all the support and love. It's not easy but this has been the best experience of my life. I hope all of you have a great Christmas and I'll let you know next week where my new area is!
Love,
Elder Warnick
 |
| Elder Nonato, April's brother, April (her baptism day), Elder Warnick |
Monday 14 December 2015
Patience Kuno...
First I'll teach ya'll a lesson about this language: the word KUNO is used as like "he said, or she said basically if you used kuno you're saying that someone else said it not you. So "Patience Kuno" Translates to- he said patience. I'll get back to that.
So let's see if I can remember what happened this week... For some reason I can't remember what we did. We just worked!
The Christmas Devotional was super good though. Yeah we were lame and had to wait a week for it to be here because of time change and stuff but I still loved it and couldn't help but miss Utah! haha but it's okay I got over it fast!
We had another baptism this week but it didn't go as planned. AT ALL. As most of you know my mission has a goal of "weekly baptism" so Sister Nikka who was planned for this saturday told us it wasn't going to happen because there was a birthday and stuff and there was a Fiesta outside her house it was like the whole Shrek deal where everyone is living on his land.. everyone was gambling and cock fighting-I saw too many bloody roosters. So she wasn't going to be able to leave her house easy. We told her we would just do it Sunday morning and then she would be confirmed right after in Sacrament Meeting. But she didn't come early enough to get baptized so long story short her baptism was after church and we have to wait until next week for her confirmation! And her son was screaming and crying the whole time! (You can see it in the picture) Elder Nonato didn't have his baptism clothes because he left them in his last area so he baptized in one of those jump suits the investigators use. BUT. She got baptized and she was happy and so were we! She was golden!
We blessed another house this week! It was one of the biggest houses I have seen in this area it's like solid concrete! That's how you know if they have a good house! haha we had a ton of food and we also blessed their store. So yeah!
Alright so here's the good story.. of how I needed to learn patience.
I'm a missionary and I'm on the other side of the world. So when I found out that I had a package I was super happy. BUT it was at my District Leaders house and they weren't home. But we were in the area sooooooooooooooooo we stopped by and broke in. We actually used to live in that house so one of our keys opened their back door! BUT I didn't know that the bad lock thing was in (you know that lock that slides back and forth) anyway I may have put my shoulder into the door and popped off the pad lock.. I Fixed it haha but yeah my district leader referred me to Preach My Gospel pg 120 "Patience" haha we had a good laugh and hey I got the package! haha Patience Kuno
Other Highlights of the week:
-Elder Warnick
So let's see if I can remember what happened this week... For some reason I can't remember what we did. We just worked!
The Christmas Devotional was super good though. Yeah we were lame and had to wait a week for it to be here because of time change and stuff but I still loved it and couldn't help but miss Utah! haha but it's okay I got over it fast!
We had another baptism this week but it didn't go as planned. AT ALL. As most of you know my mission has a goal of "weekly baptism" so Sister Nikka who was planned for this saturday told us it wasn't going to happen because there was a birthday and stuff and there was a Fiesta outside her house it was like the whole Shrek deal where everyone is living on his land.. everyone was gambling and cock fighting-I saw too many bloody roosters. So she wasn't going to be able to leave her house easy. We told her we would just do it Sunday morning and then she would be confirmed right after in Sacrament Meeting. But she didn't come early enough to get baptized so long story short her baptism was after church and we have to wait until next week for her confirmation! And her son was screaming and crying the whole time! (You can see it in the picture) Elder Nonato didn't have his baptism clothes because he left them in his last area so he baptized in one of those jump suits the investigators use. BUT. She got baptized and she was happy and so were we! She was golden!
We blessed another house this week! It was one of the biggest houses I have seen in this area it's like solid concrete! That's how you know if they have a good house! haha we had a ton of food and we also blessed their store. So yeah!
Alright so here's the good story.. of how I needed to learn patience.
I'm a missionary and I'm on the other side of the world. So when I found out that I had a package I was super happy. BUT it was at my District Leaders house and they weren't home. But we were in the area sooooooooooooooooo we stopped by and broke in. We actually used to live in that house so one of our keys opened their back door! BUT I didn't know that the bad lock thing was in (you know that lock that slides back and forth) anyway I may have put my shoulder into the door and popped off the pad lock.. I Fixed it haha but yeah my district leader referred me to Preach My Gospel pg 120 "Patience" haha we had a good laugh and hey I got the package! haha Patience Kuno
Other Highlights of the week:
- Our Gay investigator told us he was gay. haha we already knew. BUT he wants to change and his baptism date is set for Christmas.
- Our neighbor's kids came over to our yard and pooped in our weeds...
- There is a Typhoon! But don't worry we aren't getting hit.
-Elder Warnick
 |
| Elder Nonato, Sister Nikka, Sister Nikka's son, and Elder Warnick |
 |
| Little kid doing his business in our yard |
 |
| Picture from Elder Derecho (Mission Secretary) from when we served together |
Monday 7 December 2015
Happy Hanukkah!
So this week was awesome! Like just probably because it was different than the norm. I really love my area but I have been here so long that it all just feels the same. So this week was a nice break from that!
On Monday we went to Bacolod and we had lunch with all the Leaders again and we did a lot of leadership games on how we can work better together! It was super fun and President is super competitive! haha he beat everyone in Ping-Pong and he could hold his own in Basketball even though he's only like 5' 6" haha
The MLC itself was one of the best ones I have had. Because it was at the Mission Home which just makes it that much more Homey. The only thing is we had to present a training on Leadership. It went well it was just kind of weird to train other Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders. But we had a huge breakfast and a roasted pig for lunch! It was legit!
Zone training was really good! We actually ordered food so that after the training all of us in the Zone could eat lunch together. And afterwards I went to Paraiso (Paradise) with the District Leader and we did exchanges because they are both new to the area so I wanted to help him find a bunch of new investigators and give him some tips to get their area going! Their area really is Paradise-they get fed like 4 times a day by their members! Anyway their area is on it's way to getting good!
We also started something awesome this week where we give a member the money we would have spent on groceries and she cooks us dinner every night! Just a good way for us to actually have a good cooked meal so that I don't get any skinnier!
We made Baye-baye this week which translates to "Girl-Girl" Its this dessert made from a type of rice and sugar and coconut. You add all the ingredients into a wood basin type deal and then with a big stick you grind up all the ingredients until it's like the consistency of cookie dough. It's hard work but I did it! haha Natives always underestimate me because I'm white.
The ward here is so awesome! They aren't super strong members because this area is pretty new but they help out a ton! For Sunday we had a lot of members go and pick up investigators for us! Which was so helpful because that is the biggest problem is getting the investigators to come to church! But we had a lot of new investigators come to church and I'm kind of sad about part of it because I know that I won't be here for some of their baptisms.. But I am excited for them!
Christmas is coming up! It definitely has a different feel here but it's still good! I am excited that I get to be in this area for Christmas and we have some good Baptisms set up for that day!
Palangga ko kamo! Biscan lapit lang ko nga magpuli. Magobra ko gihapon kay kabalo gid ko nga ini ang obra sang Dios.
Elder Warnick
On Monday we went to Bacolod and we had lunch with all the Leaders again and we did a lot of leadership games on how we can work better together! It was super fun and President is super competitive! haha he beat everyone in Ping-Pong and he could hold his own in Basketball even though he's only like 5' 6" haha
The MLC itself was one of the best ones I have had. Because it was at the Mission Home which just makes it that much more Homey. The only thing is we had to present a training on Leadership. It went well it was just kind of weird to train other Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders. But we had a huge breakfast and a roasted pig for lunch! It was legit!
Zone training was really good! We actually ordered food so that after the training all of us in the Zone could eat lunch together. And afterwards I went to Paraiso (Paradise) with the District Leader and we did exchanges because they are both new to the area so I wanted to help him find a bunch of new investigators and give him some tips to get their area going! Their area really is Paradise-they get fed like 4 times a day by their members! Anyway their area is on it's way to getting good!
We also started something awesome this week where we give a member the money we would have spent on groceries and she cooks us dinner every night! Just a good way for us to actually have a good cooked meal so that I don't get any skinnier!
We made Baye-baye this week which translates to "Girl-Girl" Its this dessert made from a type of rice and sugar and coconut. You add all the ingredients into a wood basin type deal and then with a big stick you grind up all the ingredients until it's like the consistency of cookie dough. It's hard work but I did it! haha Natives always underestimate me because I'm white.
The ward here is so awesome! They aren't super strong members because this area is pretty new but they help out a ton! For Sunday we had a lot of members go and pick up investigators for us! Which was so helpful because that is the biggest problem is getting the investigators to come to church! But we had a lot of new investigators come to church and I'm kind of sad about part of it because I know that I won't be here for some of their baptisms.. But I am excited for them!
Christmas is coming up! It definitely has a different feel here but it's still good! I am excited that I get to be in this area for Christmas and we have some good Baptisms set up for that day!
Palangga ko kamo! Biscan lapit lang ko nga magpuli. Magobra ko gihapon kay kabalo gid ko nga ini ang obra sang Dios.
Elder Warnick
 |
| Part of my Mission Batch (We arrived in the mission together) |
Monday 30 November 2015
The Countdown...
So it's already time for MLC again! So we are rushed again!
But I will do my best to get a good email out!
So this week was super busy! Like every week I guess! We spent almost everyday trying to get our training ready for our Zone Conference so it was pretty stressful but even though preparing for trainings is hard and stressful it's still a lot of fun!
We gave out a lot of baptismal dates this week because everyone who starts going to church can be baptized on Christmas and that's our goal! In fact at our Zone Conference we had interviews afterwards and President noted that I had been here a while like he always does when he sees me but he said that I will be here until the 28th of December. So I have one more month here, it's just kind of weird because this is the first time I have known before hand that I was going to be transferred. So the countdown begins.
Zone Conference was really good though! We were combined with another zone. So there was about 50 of us there. And they had us train last again! But I am pretty used to training now so I wasn't really too nervous. We gave our training about faith, the essence of faith and the unity of faith. I think it went really well and the catering worked out too! That wasn't too stressful! haha the worst part of it all is when we went home that night we got a text from the APs telling us "because of your diligence you have been selected to give a training at our MLC" so now we don't only have to give another training but we have to give one to all of the missions leaders... Yeah I'll let you know how that goes
We are just about getting ready to go to Bacolod because we are going to have lunch with all the leaders and have a "sportsfest" President wants to play basketball with us but I haven't played for about 6 months so we will see how well that goes!
The area is doing super good though! We have a lot set up for this month to be baptized and hopefully a whole family on Christmas! And the Matulac's dad on Christmas as well! This area has really just become like a part of home to me. It's going to be weird to leave but I feel like after Christmas I will have done all I was supposed to do for this area.
I almost forgot on Thursday we actually had thanksgiving! One of the Districts in our zone was setting up a thanksgiving dinner and they invited us to come we had mashed potatoes, chicken cordon bleu, shrimp, vegetables, some kinds of pasta and home made cookies! It was almost like thanksgiving. But it was fun to celebrate it with some other missionaries. Sorry I don't have any pictures from it! I'll have to grab some from them.
That's about it! Sorry the pictures are taking forever to upload... maybe next time?
Thanks for all the support! Serious it's the best!
Love you all, save me some turkey!
-Elder Warnick
But I will do my best to get a good email out!
So this week was super busy! Like every week I guess! We spent almost everyday trying to get our training ready for our Zone Conference so it was pretty stressful but even though preparing for trainings is hard and stressful it's still a lot of fun!
We gave out a lot of baptismal dates this week because everyone who starts going to church can be baptized on Christmas and that's our goal! In fact at our Zone Conference we had interviews afterwards and President noted that I had been here a while like he always does when he sees me but he said that I will be here until the 28th of December. So I have one more month here, it's just kind of weird because this is the first time I have known before hand that I was going to be transferred. So the countdown begins.
Zone Conference was really good though! We were combined with another zone. So there was about 50 of us there. And they had us train last again! But I am pretty used to training now so I wasn't really too nervous. We gave our training about faith, the essence of faith and the unity of faith. I think it went really well and the catering worked out too! That wasn't too stressful! haha the worst part of it all is when we went home that night we got a text from the APs telling us "because of your diligence you have been selected to give a training at our MLC" so now we don't only have to give another training but we have to give one to all of the missions leaders... Yeah I'll let you know how that goes
We are just about getting ready to go to Bacolod because we are going to have lunch with all the leaders and have a "sportsfest" President wants to play basketball with us but I haven't played for about 6 months so we will see how well that goes!
The area is doing super good though! We have a lot set up for this month to be baptized and hopefully a whole family on Christmas! And the Matulac's dad on Christmas as well! This area has really just become like a part of home to me. It's going to be weird to leave but I feel like after Christmas I will have done all I was supposed to do for this area.
I almost forgot on Thursday we actually had thanksgiving! One of the Districts in our zone was setting up a thanksgiving dinner and they invited us to come we had mashed potatoes, chicken cordon bleu, shrimp, vegetables, some kinds of pasta and home made cookies! It was almost like thanksgiving. But it was fun to celebrate it with some other missionaries. Sorry I don't have any pictures from it! I'll have to grab some from them.
That's about it! Sorry the pictures are taking forever to upload... maybe next time?
Thanks for all the support! Serious it's the best!
Love you all, save me some turkey!
-Elder Warnick
Monday 23 November 2015
Oh Joy
Such a busy week! But it was really fun and fulfilling!
We had our Zone Activity which turned out being a lot better than I thought it was going to be. I was kind of stressing on it and feeling like I couldn't have any fun because I was in charge of it and stuff but I saw that everyone was smiling and laughing so I just stopped worrying and enjoyed it! We got hooked up with a free lunch from some members who have a crab/fish business so we had a crab, shrimp, fish and squid! It was super good and we ate it all on the beach! Then we all packed into the back of a truck and went to Northland Center which is like a big hotel and we had the whole bowling alley reserved! It was a lot of fun and I learned how to bowl with a spin! That was basically the zone
activity, hopefully we can have another one soon if our zone accomplishes our goal!
Most of the middle of the week was just a lot of work. We were finding and trying new things. Mostly trying to find what and who our focus was going to be for December/Christmas! Things are looking really good for this month and I am pretty sure I will hit 6 months in this area so I should be here for Christmas!
We had 2 exchanges this week and I stayed in the area both times! haha Everyone keeps asking me why I have been in this area for so long haha it's like they want me to leave! But the best part of the exchanges was that one of them was with the APs and guess who one of the APs is? Elder McCracken! From the MTC! So he came up to Caduha-an and we worked together and it was awesome! It was the first time that I ever got to teach any lessons with him since we were companions in Manila! We found 12 new investigators and it was a lot of fun to be with good old McCracken.
We have Zone Conference coming up this week and our topic is FAITH. This is my 2nd Zone Conference as a ZL because they are every quarter of the year which basically means that I have been here for a long time! But we are really excited for our Training and I was in charge of the catering again so it's gonna be good!
We got our water to work again this week! It took til about Friday to finally get it back! You never know how much you miss having water until you have to go pump for it out of a well!
Our Baptism was super good this week! Mary Joy wasn't as nervous as her twin so it was a lot easier! There could have been a little more support from the ward but that's okay they are still learning a lot! THE HARD PART was Sunday, it has been nearly impossible to get people confirmed in this area! Because if they are late to Sacrament they have to wait another whole week! But we stopped by and picked her up in the morning so that she would get confirmed! It's a lot of work!
I love this area and I am super excited for this next month!
Love you all!
-Elder Warnick
We had our Zone Activity which turned out being a lot better than I thought it was going to be. I was kind of stressing on it and feeling like I couldn't have any fun because I was in charge of it and stuff but I saw that everyone was smiling and laughing so I just stopped worrying and enjoyed it! We got hooked up with a free lunch from some members who have a crab/fish business so we had a crab, shrimp, fish and squid! It was super good and we ate it all on the beach! Then we all packed into the back of a truck and went to Northland Center which is like a big hotel and we had the whole bowling alley reserved! It was a lot of fun and I learned how to bowl with a spin! That was basically the zone
 |
| On the way to go bowling |
Most of the middle of the week was just a lot of work. We were finding and trying new things. Mostly trying to find what and who our focus was going to be for December/Christmas! Things are looking really good for this month and I am pretty sure I will hit 6 months in this area so I should be here for Christmas!
We had 2 exchanges this week and I stayed in the area both times! haha Everyone keeps asking me why I have been in this area for so long haha it's like they want me to leave! But the best part of the exchanges was that one of them was with the APs and guess who one of the APs is? Elder McCracken! From the MTC! So he came up to Caduha-an and we worked together and it was awesome! It was the first time that I ever got to teach any lessons with him since we were companions in Manila! We found 12 new investigators and it was a lot of fun to be with good old McCracken.
We have Zone Conference coming up this week and our topic is FAITH. This is my 2nd Zone Conference as a ZL because they are every quarter of the year which basically means that I have been here for a long time! But we are really excited for our Training and I was in charge of the catering again so it's gonna be good!
We got our water to work again this week! It took til about Friday to finally get it back! You never know how much you miss having water until you have to go pump for it out of a well!
Our Baptism was super good this week! Mary Joy wasn't as nervous as her twin so it was a lot easier! There could have been a little more support from the ward but that's okay they are still learning a lot! THE HARD PART was Sunday, it has been nearly impossible to get people confirmed in this area! Because if they are late to Sacrament they have to wait another whole week! But we stopped by and picked her up in the morning so that she would get confirmed! It's a lot of work!
I love this area and I am super excited for this next month!
Love you all!
-Elder Warnick
 |
| Mary Joy baptism |
Monday 16 November 2015
Sorry!
Sorry you haven't heard from me forever! So I guess I will just go off right now!
So where do I start? I have a new companion; Elder Nonato, he's
super chill and I was in the same zone with him when we were in Sagay. I
am now Zone Leader 1 which basically just means I am training Elder
Nonato on how to be a Zone Leader. Elder Derecho
is now in the office haha I think I already said that but yeah he fits
the job!
So about what happened... I don't really want to go into details
but there was an elder in my zone who basically snapped. He wasn't
himself. It was our job to get him to bacolod so the nurse could see
him. But he just got worse and worse and he is now
back home getting medical treatment. BECAUSE of that this last week at
out Missionary Leadership Council we discussed stress and really being
there for our companions. They said he is improving though it just was a
sad thing to see happen to such a good elder.
On a happier note we had a baptism this week! So the twins I had
been teaching since about September finally got the OK from their
parents and so we scheduled their baptism interview and had our district
leader go to their house and then we found out that
their grandma was sick so one of the twins was in the other city
watching her. SO we got half of the twins baptized... I really wanted a
cool twin baptism picture and stuff but it's okay the other one SHOULD
be getting baptized this week!
We don't have water. Again. haha I have been in this area for 5
months and this has become too regular of a thing. We have a big water
tank by our house and when it's empty we need to turn on the maching
that sucks the water up into the tank but every
so often it just stops working so we have to grab out buckets and walk
out to the pump and pump water! It's sick! :) not really haha
So MLC was great! President called us and told us to meet him
downtown in bacolod because all the Zone Leaders and Sister Training
Leaders were having a lunch. And then we bowled! President is so
freaking good! He beat all of us! After the bowling I was
sitting down talking to Elder McCracken and then President came up to me
and was like "Elder Warnick, let's have a game of billiards!" I was
kind of shocked-so we played billiards and.... president won again! haha
he's a card. The next day though was the trainings
and of course food! We had pancakes and french toast and I was almost
crying it was so good! The trainings were really inspiring and later in
the week I think we did a good job as well training our zone.
President told us he was really impressed that we accompilshed out
goals so he told our zone we could have a zone activity! So later today
we are going to be eating CRAB! And we get to go bowling (it's all we
really can do around here) but it's going to
be super fun! I am pretty proud of my zone!
The work is super good but I don't think I am going to be here for
Christmas. BUT if I am that's cool too! We have been finding so many new
investigators and they all accepted baptism dates. They have no problem
accepting the message they just have a hard
time coming to church.. But patience..
Thanks for everything! Really! I really missed talking to everyone because I wasn't able to email last time!
-Elder Warnick
 |
| Beach - Cadiz Viejo |
 |
| Bituon sa dagat - Starfish |
 |
| Elder Nonato and Elder Warnick |
 |
| Bacolod, Philippines |
 |
| Mission Leadership Council |
Monday 2 November 2015
32 Hours and Counting...
32 hours and counting of being awake...
So this email this week isn't going to be a long one! And the truth is I didn't sleep at all last night watching over an elder that was suffering from some Mental Trauma. So I'm kind of pressed on time and stuff. So it was transfer week this week and I was expecting that I would be transferring because I had been in this area for so long BUT the APs ended up calling and telling us that Elder Derecho would be transferring! We were both super surprised because he had only been there for 4 weeks! haha But it's okay Elder Derecho got assigned to the Office! I don't know how excited he was for that but he will do a good job because he's a super good missionary.
So my new companion is Elder Nonato, I have been in the same zone as him twice so now I am training him to be a Zone Leader, good thing is I already knew him pretty well and he's super cool so I am still happy! This is the first time that I have had 3 companions in one area. So I don't know how
long I will be in this area because President Barredo actually told me earlier to just let him know when I want to transfer! haha sooooooooooooooooooo that's weird! I can spend Christmas here if I
want! SO we will just see.
The work was super good this week we found a ton of new investigators and got to participate in blessing another house and a car? Yeah It was what they wanted! It was also Nov 1st which is all souls day or all saints day depending on the person but everyone was visiting the graveyards and making a lot of food!
The Matulok family got confirmed this week and our zone hit the goal for baptisms EXCEPT 6 didn't get confirmed... ahhh yeah that's how it goes sometimes.
So I also don't have pictures for this week. I took pictures but they are of course on my memory card and it's with the elders in the office! SUPER SORRY But next week there will be a lot of good pictures!
Sorry for the fast email I just kinda need to go back to the area and catch up on sleep.
I love you all!
-Elder Warnick
So this email this week isn't going to be a long one! And the truth is I didn't sleep at all last night watching over an elder that was suffering from some Mental Trauma. So I'm kind of pressed on time and stuff. So it was transfer week this week and I was expecting that I would be transferring because I had been in this area for so long BUT the APs ended up calling and telling us that Elder Derecho would be transferring! We were both super surprised because he had only been there for 4 weeks! haha But it's okay Elder Derecho got assigned to the Office! I don't know how excited he was for that but he will do a good job because he's a super good missionary.
So my new companion is Elder Nonato, I have been in the same zone as him twice so now I am training him to be a Zone Leader, good thing is I already knew him pretty well and he's super cool so I am still happy! This is the first time that I have had 3 companions in one area. So I don't know how
long I will be in this area because President Barredo actually told me earlier to just let him know when I want to transfer! haha sooooooooooooooooooo that's weird! I can spend Christmas here if I
want! SO we will just see.
The work was super good this week we found a ton of new investigators and got to participate in blessing another house and a car? Yeah It was what they wanted! It was also Nov 1st which is all souls day or all saints day depending on the person but everyone was visiting the graveyards and making a lot of food!
The Matulok family got confirmed this week and our zone hit the goal for baptisms EXCEPT 6 didn't get confirmed... ahhh yeah that's how it goes sometimes.
So I also don't have pictures for this week. I took pictures but they are of course on my memory card and it's with the elders in the office! SUPER SORRY But next week there will be a lot of good pictures!
Sorry for the fast email I just kinda need to go back to the area and catch up on sleep.
I love you all!
-Elder Warnick
Monday 26 October 2015
A Little Slice of America
Thanks for all the Birthday wishes! Still kind of feels like a birthday even though I am here!
I'm sitting here in this hot sweaty computer shop teenagers are gaming and this little kid is just running around making chaos and his mom is next to me on the computer not doing a thing about it haha gotta love it.
So I guess I am not getting skinny anymore! haha Some members said I was "slowly getting fatter" haha we will see how long that lasts because next week is transfers and they might send me to the mountains!
It was birthday week for everyone not just me! There was at least 3 other birthdays this past week! On Monday night we went to a members house who said they would be having a birthday party for their kid we showed up and everyone was gone except the parents! haha they just wanted us to eat! And there was a TON of food! :)
Tuesday we had district meeting of course! And we made a trip to 7-11 afterwards! Which was just what I needed! A little slice of America! Then I was able to grab my package before coming back to Caduha-an. The Relief Society was pretty sweet and they made me a lunch because that whole "surprise birthday" didn't go through! But later that night we made a birthday cake so it was all pretty good!
We had exchanges again this week but I had to go to their area for the interviews.. and it is such a long tricycle ride. Turns out their baptism candidate wasn't even there so we rescheduled for Sunday because it was Stake Conference.
The rain died down this week and it's just back to the heat... BUT it's okay because my umbrella is hanging on.. (they don't last too long)
We blessed a house this week. Since I have been here we have had about 5 families ask us to do that! So the plan was to have a FHE at their house and then bless the house at the same time. Saturday was the plan but we found out Saturday morning that Elder Bowen of the Seventy wanted all the missionaries to be at the Saturday session of Stake Conference. So we ended up doing the Family Home EVENING at noon haha but it all worked out and conference was super good!
The week was good, fast and the zone is doing awesome! I'll be sad to leave IF I leave haha but change is good and new areas are always exciting! BUT still I have no idea if I will be transferring!
Well that basically was everything! Hope that everyone has a awesome Halloween! We will be proselyting in the graveyards on the 1st! :)
I'm out!
Love,
Elder Warnick
I'm sitting here in this hot sweaty computer shop teenagers are gaming and this little kid is just running around making chaos and his mom is next to me on the computer not doing a thing about it haha gotta love it.
So I guess I am not getting skinny anymore! haha Some members said I was "slowly getting fatter" haha we will see how long that lasts because next week is transfers and they might send me to the mountains!
It was birthday week for everyone not just me! There was at least 3 other birthdays this past week! On Monday night we went to a members house who said they would be having a birthday party for their kid we showed up and everyone was gone except the parents! haha they just wanted us to eat! And there was a TON of food! :)
Tuesday we had district meeting of course! And we made a trip to 7-11 afterwards! Which was just what I needed! A little slice of America! Then I was able to grab my package before coming back to Caduha-an. The Relief Society was pretty sweet and they made me a lunch because that whole "surprise birthday" didn't go through! But later that night we made a birthday cake so it was all pretty good!
We had exchanges again this week but I had to go to their area for the interviews.. and it is such a long tricycle ride. Turns out their baptism candidate wasn't even there so we rescheduled for Sunday because it was Stake Conference.
The rain died down this week and it's just back to the heat... BUT it's okay because my umbrella is hanging on.. (they don't last too long)
We blessed a house this week. Since I have been here we have had about 5 families ask us to do that! So the plan was to have a FHE at their house and then bless the house at the same time. Saturday was the plan but we found out Saturday morning that Elder Bowen of the Seventy wanted all the missionaries to be at the Saturday session of Stake Conference. So we ended up doing the Family Home EVENING at noon haha but it all worked out and conference was super good!
The week was good, fast and the zone is doing awesome! I'll be sad to leave IF I leave haha but change is good and new areas are always exciting! BUT still I have no idea if I will be transferring!
Well that basically was everything! Hope that everyone has a awesome Halloween! We will be proselyting in the graveyards on the 1st! :)
I'm out!
Love,
Elder Warnick
 |
| Birthday donut |
 |
| Birthday Cake |
 |
| Missionary Bus |
 |
| Birthday Lunch - They Killed a Chicken for Me |
Monday 19 October 2015
The Dog Days Are Over
Tomorrow is my 20th birthday and I think it has taken me this long in life to realize that nothing is really about me. If I remember in high school I tried to be a nice kid and I just wanted people to like me but through it all I may have just came off as cocky or stuck up. I have never had anything else in life been able to slap me in the face and put me in my place other than my mission. AND I LOVE IT.
I also want to say sorry/thank my parents for everything they have ever done for me. I was a handful as a kid and it's amazing that I ended up the way I am, I know I wouldn't be here without them! It's hard to see how fast time has gone by but I am excited for the future.
Well okay so here we are this week was windy! I guess we are currently in a typhoon according to most people here. But it's not really hitting here on Negros so we are just getting hit with strong wind and lot's of rain. The power went out like 10 times just yesterday.
We had exchanges this week and it was super fun! I got to stay here in Caduha-an and I was with Elder Benedict he is still kind of new in the mission but he did pretty good with teaching and the language! He's from Layton Utah actually! While we were on exchanges it seemed like all the problems in the zone happened all at once. Maybe it was because I was the only Zone Leader in the area or I don't know but we had some problems with sisters and their ward with rumors and stuff and even worse a companionship that was sick/wanted to go home. Both of them. So I made some calls and did my best, it's not really ever fun having to call the APs about problems in the zone but I got to talk to E. McCracken which is always a good time. Long story short one of the elders got transferred and everything SHOULD be going good.
Our baptism was super good! It was probably the best support I have seen from this ward! The whole room was full and there were multiple families there to support! The Matulok family is who was being baptized they were a referral that me and Elder Slater received about a month ago and they were just golden! The mom and her two daughters got baptized and we are getting super close for the Dad to go to church. There also were two child-of-records from the ward they were twins and so I baptized them too and there names were SO hard Willem Liam and Willen Lian haha doesn't seem too hard but they were twins and they almost had the same name! Let's just say I messed up like 3 times.
Now here is the bad news... the Matulok family never showed up to be confirmed.. I guess their youngest son collapsed Sunday morning and they rushed to the hospital and weren't able to be confirmed. They were pretty sad they weren't able to go to church and we were too! And now they have to wait 2 weeks because we have Stake Conference next week...
The ward is really coming around though! I think a huge part of it is because of Elder Derecho! He is super good with the members and now we have members working with us almost everyday and referrals + dinner appointments! Basically everything a missionary could ask for! We were at a members house eating last night and I was wondering why it suddenly started turning around and the member told me that it was because Elder Slater was too intimidating! hahahaha so yeah problem solved I guess!
So the "surprise" birthday party actually isn't going to happen! The members were too shy to tell me yesterday so they pulled aside E. Derecho and told him that it just wasn't going to work out! haha I thought it was funny they thought they would offend me or something! Anyway no birthday party! It's all good though we are gonna have fun today! We are going bowling and stuff! Whooo!
So the week was good! That's about it!
Love you all!
-Elder Warnick
-The fruit here is so much better than back home! I had like 3 pineapples this week and some investigators gave us like 50 bananas!
I also want to say sorry/thank my parents for everything they have ever done for me. I was a handful as a kid and it's amazing that I ended up the way I am, I know I wouldn't be here without them! It's hard to see how fast time has gone by but I am excited for the future.
Well okay so here we are this week was windy! I guess we are currently in a typhoon according to most people here. But it's not really hitting here on Negros so we are just getting hit with strong wind and lot's of rain. The power went out like 10 times just yesterday.
We had exchanges this week and it was super fun! I got to stay here in Caduha-an and I was with Elder Benedict he is still kind of new in the mission but he did pretty good with teaching and the language! He's from Layton Utah actually! While we were on exchanges it seemed like all the problems in the zone happened all at once. Maybe it was because I was the only Zone Leader in the area or I don't know but we had some problems with sisters and their ward with rumors and stuff and even worse a companionship that was sick/wanted to go home. Both of them. So I made some calls and did my best, it's not really ever fun having to call the APs about problems in the zone but I got to talk to E. McCracken which is always a good time. Long story short one of the elders got transferred and everything SHOULD be going good.
Our baptism was super good! It was probably the best support I have seen from this ward! The whole room was full and there were multiple families there to support! The Matulok family is who was being baptized they were a referral that me and Elder Slater received about a month ago and they were just golden! The mom and her two daughters got baptized and we are getting super close for the Dad to go to church. There also were two child-of-records from the ward they were twins and so I baptized them too and there names were SO hard Willem Liam and Willen Lian haha doesn't seem too hard but they were twins and they almost had the same name! Let's just say I messed up like 3 times.
Now here is the bad news... the Matulok family never showed up to be confirmed.. I guess their youngest son collapsed Sunday morning and they rushed to the hospital and weren't able to be confirmed. They were pretty sad they weren't able to go to church and we were too! And now they have to wait 2 weeks because we have Stake Conference next week...
The ward is really coming around though! I think a huge part of it is because of Elder Derecho! He is super good with the members and now we have members working with us almost everyday and referrals + dinner appointments! Basically everything a missionary could ask for! We were at a members house eating last night and I was wondering why it suddenly started turning around and the member told me that it was because Elder Slater was too intimidating! hahahaha so yeah problem solved I guess!
So the "surprise" birthday party actually isn't going to happen! The members were too shy to tell me yesterday so they pulled aside E. Derecho and told him that it just wasn't going to work out! haha I thought it was funny they thought they would offend me or something! Anyway no birthday party! It's all good though we are gonna have fun today! We are going bowling and stuff! Whooo!
So the week was good! That's about it!
Love you all!
-Elder Warnick
-The fruit here is so much better than back home! I had like 3 pineapples this week and some investigators gave us like 50 bananas!
 |
| Bananas |
 |
| Baptism with everyone |
 |
| Don't worry - it was dead when we found it |
 |
| District meeting - I am the only American and we were locked out of the Church again |
Monday 12 October 2015
STRAIGHT
New Transfer, New Companion nothing different for missionary life. And it's all good because the work goes on and get better too.
My new companion is Elder Derecho which translates to STRAIGHT (the members and investigators were having fun with that) AH Derecho lang ha? Elder Derecho waay liko? (Ah just straight, Elder Straight no curve), he's from Quezon Province and he's super cool. He is two transfers ahead of me so he goes home in May. But he is super good at teaching and connecting with people! I already have learned a ton! He's actually 25 but doesn't really seem like it but I think that's just how it works with filipinos! They all look really young.
It's always hard to teach the area to a new companion, especially when the area is super big like ours! But the members have been super awesome this week and helped everything run smoothly and we are getting things going here because everyone wants to feed us now! YES!
We finally got to watch conference this week! Yeah I know we are late! You'll never know what it's like to have to wait a week to hear the good word! But all the talks were awesome and we had a lot of investigators come and watch!
So we are all out of water again at the house... I don't know why but the electronic pump stopped pumping water again! So we are back to the water pump! AH It's all good it's just a hard adjustment!
I didn't take too many pictures this week just videos and stuff but I actually had a picture of Elder Derecho because he was with us when we went bowling a couple weeks ago. He's the one in the far right! haha
Things are super good in the area though, somehow someone found out that my birthday is coming up and so there is a "surprise" dinner appointment for me except everyone already told me haha
Hope all of you have a good week!
-Elder Warnick
What's your ponderizing scripture this week? Mine is 3 Nephi 12:20
BTW The pineapples here are so good! I ate a whole one by myself yesterday!
My new companion is Elder Derecho which translates to STRAIGHT (the members and investigators were having fun with that) AH Derecho lang ha? Elder Derecho waay liko? (Ah just straight, Elder Straight no curve), he's from Quezon Province and he's super cool. He is two transfers ahead of me so he goes home in May. But he is super good at teaching and connecting with people! I already have learned a ton! He's actually 25 but doesn't really seem like it but I think that's just how it works with filipinos! They all look really young.
It's always hard to teach the area to a new companion, especially when the area is super big like ours! But the members have been super awesome this week and helped everything run smoothly and we are getting things going here because everyone wants to feed us now! YES!
We finally got to watch conference this week! Yeah I know we are late! You'll never know what it's like to have to wait a week to hear the good word! But all the talks were awesome and we had a lot of investigators come and watch!
So we are all out of water again at the house... I don't know why but the electronic pump stopped pumping water again! So we are back to the water pump! AH It's all good it's just a hard adjustment!
I didn't take too many pictures this week just videos and stuff but I actually had a picture of Elder Derecho because he was with us when we went bowling a couple weeks ago. He's the one in the far right! haha
Things are super good in the area though, somehow someone found out that my birthday is coming up and so there is a "surprise" dinner appointment for me except everyone already told me haha
Hope all of you have a good week!
-Elder Warnick
What's your ponderizing scripture this week? Mine is 3 Nephi 12:20
BTW The pineapples here are so good! I ate a whole one by myself yesterday!
 |
| My new companion Elder Derecho (far right) |
Monday 28 September 2015
Pamilya!
It was family week! It was a crazy week! And super fun, I don't think I have had a decent sleep for a week or more!
We headed over to some other elder's area Tuesday for some interviews. They had their baptism candidates way up in the mountain so we did splits.. it was way early in the morning so I went back to the house with Elder Ehninger and I did interviews/house check with the Elders at the house. So that took a chunk out of our Tuesday.
Wednesday was a whole different situation.. We traveled to a different elder's area to do a surprise house check but really we were there to do exchanges with the elders that were having some problems with obedience. Things seem to be turning around even though it all went a lot deeper than we thought. We also were able to conduct another interview over there.
Thursday was the first day we were actually able to work! That's how crazy everything was. But we prepped Roselinda and Rosemary for their baptisms! And got them interviewed so that Roselinda got baptized this week and Rosemary for next week. This was a super cool baptism because they couldn't have been more prepared! Roselinda lost all her Word of Wisdom problems so fast and her mom was just ready to be baptized after the first visit! We did her baptism Sunday morning because then she would have been free of problems for a straight week. Not too many people showed up for the baptism because it was early before church but I gave a talk and it was a good little baptism.
Saturday we were invited to speak at National Family Week which is a Philippines thing that they do every year just basically focused on the family! haha the whole stake was there and we got up and got everyone involed talking about the importance/responsibility of family! AND THEY FED US SUPER GOOD FOOD AFTERWARDS! I was actually full and satisfied for once! haha
Sunday we were invited to come back to the Stake for their Council meeting. We focused on retaining new members and basically we just worked the rest of the day!
Now we are here again in Bacolod for our MLC! We have been all over the place so we're kinda low on funds haha it's all good though we are gonna get spiritually and physically fed at MLC!
We are kind of nervous for next week because transfer calls will be in... and well we really love our area and the ward is starting to help and progress and we have set up baptisms for all of October! And hey it's super fun being with an American! BUT whatever happens happens, so if I am no longer a zone leader next week or I have a new companion it's all part of the change.
I love all of you so much! Thanks for everything!
And hey it was family week! Let your family know you love em!
-Elder Warnick
We headed over to some other elder's area Tuesday for some interviews. They had their baptism candidates way up in the mountain so we did splits.. it was way early in the morning so I went back to the house with Elder Ehninger and I did interviews/house check with the Elders at the house. So that took a chunk out of our Tuesday.
Wednesday was a whole different situation.. We traveled to a different elder's area to do a surprise house check but really we were there to do exchanges with the elders that were having some problems with obedience. Things seem to be turning around even though it all went a lot deeper than we thought. We also were able to conduct another interview over there.
Thursday was the first day we were actually able to work! That's how crazy everything was. But we prepped Roselinda and Rosemary for their baptisms! And got them interviewed so that Roselinda got baptized this week and Rosemary for next week. This was a super cool baptism because they couldn't have been more prepared! Roselinda lost all her Word of Wisdom problems so fast and her mom was just ready to be baptized after the first visit! We did her baptism Sunday morning because then she would have been free of problems for a straight week. Not too many people showed up for the baptism because it was early before church but I gave a talk and it was a good little baptism.
Saturday we were invited to speak at National Family Week which is a Philippines thing that they do every year just basically focused on the family! haha the whole stake was there and we got up and got everyone involed talking about the importance/responsibility of family! AND THEY FED US SUPER GOOD FOOD AFTERWARDS! I was actually full and satisfied for once! haha
Sunday we were invited to come back to the Stake for their Council meeting. We focused on retaining new members and basically we just worked the rest of the day!
Now we are here again in Bacolod for our MLC! We have been all over the place so we're kinda low on funds haha it's all good though we are gonna get spiritually and physically fed at MLC!
We are kind of nervous for next week because transfer calls will be in... and well we really love our area and the ward is starting to help and progress and we have set up baptisms for all of October! And hey it's super fun being with an American! BUT whatever happens happens, so if I am no longer a zone leader next week or I have a new companion it's all part of the change.
I love all of you so much! Thanks for everything!
And hey it was family week! Let your family know you love em!
-Elder Warnick
 |
| Elder Slater, Roselinda, Elder Warnick |
Monday 21 September 2015
Life is Good
I am not sure how to describe this week.. But it was good, really good!
Tuesday put a dent in our work but I think it was for the greater good. The church was locked so we ended up having District meeting at some park which was really interesting haha We had had some companionships in our zone that were really really struggling! The ward members were getting involved and rumors and stuff were spreading, it was all pretty bad. Our mission president wanted us to take care of the problem and report back to him. So we met with the bishops and Stake President and everything went well the same night we made a surprise stop by the Elder's apartment and gave them some interviews. It was a full day ordeal so we didn't get to teach any lessons and we were so late in the other area we just had to walk home because it was too late for buses. We were fortunate enough to have a truck driver stop and give us a ride home. He was only speaking Tagalog though so that was fun.
The rest of the week we were just all over our area.. we had really narrowed down who our progressing investigators were and we needed to start finding! And the ward is finally helping! They gave us some pretty quality referrals this week! We really hope some good can come from it!
I don't have too much to write today sorry about that, our week was just packed with a lot of walking and working and I have never really been good at the whole email thing! Just pray for me to get better at that! ;)
So I think I talked about RoseMary? She is this referral we got a while ago who already had a testimony about missionary work and the church because she always sees missionaries walking. Anyway she was going to be baptized this week but she wanted to change her date so she could be baptized on the 3rd of October which is the same dated as one of her kids birthdays that died.. But that's a whole different story! We really wanted her to be baptized this week but of course if the 3rd is special to her we were happy to move it! But the hope isn't lost for this weekend! RoseMary's daughter Roselinda is hopefully going to be baptized she had a problem with all of the vices.. and she is only 15.. BUT we taught her about fasting and we fasted with her and yesterday at church she said that she's all good! BOOM!
I guess to close this all off I just wanted to talk about Priesthood and even though I didn't have any crazy experiences with that recently we were able to give a few blessings yesterday, actually it seems like we always are. I am just very grateful for the priesthood and all the blessings that we can receive from it.
The food situation is weird. I have gotten really sick of everything haha rice is good and all but we just really aren't that good of cooks! haha hopefully we will get better but there is only so much you can do with chicken and rice!
It's been a year since I left the states, this time last year I was in Manila! That was an adventure! Life is good!
Palanggo ko kamo!
-Elder Warnick
 |
| District Meeting in the Park |
I don't have any pictures this week! haha but I got some pictures from back in the day so here's a little flashback!
Monday 14 September 2015
2 is better than.. none
First off shout out to pops, Happy Birthday!
This week has been crazy! But nothing new for a missionary!
Our zone dive bombed... It's still awesome and everyone is doing crazy good work but our zone had 2 baptisms this week. That's better than none I guess! And we always have to remember it's souls! Not numbers! But they were our baptisms. :/ kind of hard as one of their leaders! BUT we have made some new goals and are going to help out some struggling companionships this week!
It rained a lot. We walked a lot. And we had a super good week! THE TWINS came to church this week and a lot of other people that we didn't expect to show up but sometimes you are just blessed with miracles! I think that's something we noticed recently that even though we would be working super hard nothing would really be showing for it. But then God would bless us by putting random people in our life. And now currently all our progressing investigators aren't even any of the people we found on our own! Gods ways are higher than our ways!
We had a one day mission baptism and ward home evening wrapped all into one this weekend! It was a super busy day but we really got the ward involved sometimes it feels like me and E. Slater are training the ward on HOW to be a ward! haha but they are learning and STARTING to be friends to our investigators.
The baptism went awesome! I baptized sister Marissa and her daughter Nicole they were super happy and we were so lucky to baptize them. Turns out back before we got here the other missionaries were just teaching Nicole. But she was 7 years old!!! They had her baptism date set for her birthday back in August. But they never had talked to her mom! She actually was relatives with a really active member! They live right next to each other! Anyway we didn't have to do much other than teach because Marissa's friend/relative was such a big help! And now we most likely will be teaching her husband! Member missionary work!
Weird or Cool things that happened this week:
-A dog peed in my shoe because you have to take your shoes off before you go into a house...
-We ate at a weird hamburger shack place that didn't settle in our stomachs..
-I climbed a coconut tree
-We killed this huge spider that was as big as my face. (it WAS poisoness)
-We braved the market this week and got a ton of veggies.
All in all the days are flying by and I am just hoping to make every moment count.
I love you all and I am sorry if the pictures don't work. Filipino computers you know!
-Elder Warnick
This week has been crazy! But nothing new for a missionary!
Our zone dive bombed... It's still awesome and everyone is doing crazy good work but our zone had 2 baptisms this week. That's better than none I guess! And we always have to remember it's souls! Not numbers! But they were our baptisms. :/ kind of hard as one of their leaders! BUT we have made some new goals and are going to help out some struggling companionships this week!
It rained a lot. We walked a lot. And we had a super good week! THE TWINS came to church this week and a lot of other people that we didn't expect to show up but sometimes you are just blessed with miracles! I think that's something we noticed recently that even though we would be working super hard nothing would really be showing for it. But then God would bless us by putting random people in our life. And now currently all our progressing investigators aren't even any of the people we found on our own! Gods ways are higher than our ways!
We had a one day mission baptism and ward home evening wrapped all into one this weekend! It was a super busy day but we really got the ward involved sometimes it feels like me and E. Slater are training the ward on HOW to be a ward! haha but they are learning and STARTING to be friends to our investigators.
The baptism went awesome! I baptized sister Marissa and her daughter Nicole they were super happy and we were so lucky to baptize them. Turns out back before we got here the other missionaries were just teaching Nicole. But she was 7 years old!!! They had her baptism date set for her birthday back in August. But they never had talked to her mom! She actually was relatives with a really active member! They live right next to each other! Anyway we didn't have to do much other than teach because Marissa's friend/relative was such a big help! And now we most likely will be teaching her husband! Member missionary work!
Weird or Cool things that happened this week:
-A dog peed in my shoe because you have to take your shoes off before you go into a house...
-We ate at a weird hamburger shack place that didn't settle in our stomachs..
-I climbed a coconut tree
-We killed this huge spider that was as big as my face. (it WAS poisoness)
-We braved the market this week and got a ton of veggies.
All in all the days are flying by and I am just hoping to make every moment count.
I love you all and I am sorry if the pictures don't work. Filipino computers you know!
-Elder Warnick
 |
| Elder Warnick, Nicole, Marissa, Elder Slater |
Monday 7 September 2015
55
The trip to Bacolod was AWESOME! I had heard all these legendary stories of how MLC works or how the night before works and I was excited! Last time kind of shot my expectations but round two was a good one! After emailing last week we met up with Elder Paskett and Clarke and hit up a pizza place at the mall! We kind of just hung around and talked to other missionaries at the office until the supply elders told us they needed our help with loading some boxes and this is where it gets good! Elder Slater has a Philippines license because when he was in another area he had to use a truck because the area was so huge, SO he was able to grab a mission truck and we had it for the night to help the supply elders and those trucks have good sound systems! We were blasting BYU Vocal Point...then they took us out to eat at this fancy place caled "21" and I had such a good steak! It was a good time.
In the morning we had our MLC and it was at the MISSION HOME! Just makes it more cozy! We had breakfast and training and President showed us a lot of clips from movies because they were applicable! It was kind of nice to see parts of movies but still weird. One of the big things about the MLC was focusing on being accountable. Which I liked a ton because blaming or assuming never works out and President taught us how we can be more Christlike Leaders.
We had a baptism! It felt good after all the work we had put in! I don't think I have said too much about Sister DelaCruz, she had been taught by the missionaries forever and was never baptized she would never commit to a date and shy away from any invitation to do anything but we were committed to help her make the next step and all it really took was sitting down and talking to her and helping her resolve her concerns of coures it wasn't easy because she still had doubts but when we helped her realize this is what would help her she changed and her testimony at her baptism was super strong!
We got twins! We started teaching a pair of twins this week and it's super hard because their names are Mary Grace and Mary Joy! They look exactly alike! Mary Grace was brought to church last last week by her cousin so we followed up with that and found out she has a twin! They are super funny and awkward but we see good things happening.
The ward is coming around too! They all started helping out a little more and actually caring about the investigators! We have been finding like crazy and have a ton of hope for this month! Every month we have to collect the goal for baptisms for the zone and our vision is to baptize weekly. Our Zone has 11 companionships meaning 44 baptisms a month BUT after calling everyone we figured out we had 55 planned! Due to some weak planning though it might be closer to 47 but still if we can achieve our goal we would be happy ZLs.
Well this week should be a good one! Hope all of you can do sometime crazy this week like ride a carabou.
-Elder Warnick
In the morning we had our MLC and it was at the MISSION HOME! Just makes it more cozy! We had breakfast and training and President showed us a lot of clips from movies because they were applicable! It was kind of nice to see parts of movies but still weird. One of the big things about the MLC was focusing on being accountable. Which I liked a ton because blaming or assuming never works out and President taught us how we can be more Christlike Leaders.
We had a baptism! It felt good after all the work we had put in! I don't think I have said too much about Sister DelaCruz, she had been taught by the missionaries forever and was never baptized she would never commit to a date and shy away from any invitation to do anything but we were committed to help her make the next step and all it really took was sitting down and talking to her and helping her resolve her concerns of coures it wasn't easy because she still had doubts but when we helped her realize this is what would help her she changed and her testimony at her baptism was super strong!
We got twins! We started teaching a pair of twins this week and it's super hard because their names are Mary Grace and Mary Joy! They look exactly alike! Mary Grace was brought to church last last week by her cousin so we followed up with that and found out she has a twin! They are super funny and awkward but we see good things happening.
The ward is coming around too! They all started helping out a little more and actually caring about the investigators! We have been finding like crazy and have a ton of hope for this month! Every month we have to collect the goal for baptisms for the zone and our vision is to baptize weekly. Our Zone has 11 companionships meaning 44 baptisms a month BUT after calling everyone we figured out we had 55 planned! Due to some weak planning though it might be closer to 47 but still if we can achieve our goal we would be happy ZLs.
Well this week should be a good one! Hope all of you can do sometime crazy this week like ride a carabou.
-Elder Warnick
 |
| Zone Training |
 |
| Storms |
 |
| Sister DelaCruz and Elder Warncik |
 |
| Elder Warnick, Sister DelaCruz, Elder Slater and Others |
 |
| Campo Field |
 |
| Elder Warnick - Riding a Carabou |
Monday 31 August 2015
Back to the Basics
After a week of scorching sun or pounding rain, I'm here again!
So it's been rough, I'm not gonna lie. We have a TON of expectations set for us as ZLs and some of the companionships in our zone would rather be buddy buddy with us instead of take things serious...and our ward is struggling so this week we went back to the basics.
WE VISITED EVERY MEMBER! We grabbed that ward directory and visited every single member this week! Okay not everyone because a lot weren't home, but we asked their neighbors about them and we got information on all the members! It worked out pretty nicely because there was a ton of LAs and Part Members so we are hoping it starts turning out.
We also had this random girl give us one referral and it turned out we found a whole new village with 20 new investigators! One of them already had a testimony about missionary work and her son (even though he is gay) wants to go on a mission now! haha weird
Me and Slater are doing good, we walk a lot, talk a lot and argue a little but it all helps us get better! And our cooking is actually getting pretty decent! Just a lot of rice and veggies to get us through the day.
We are here in Bacolod again, It's already time for MLC so I am pretty excited for that which means I will be giving my 3rd training this week! I am excited though!
We started this weird tradition where we find the weirdest, nastiest looking drink on p-day and then Monday night we climb to the top of our water tower and drink whilst stargazing.. this past week we had this weird milk soda called a "milky" The Philippines makes ya weird.
Speaking of weird, one of my best buddies Elder McCracken was just made our AP! YEAH! That's cool we started from the bottom and now he's there! When he called yesterday to grab our zones numbers we told him that we were voting for him the whole time! #McCracken2015
So the baptism didn't happen this past week, but that's okay because the girl we were going to baptize is now going to be baptized with her mom in two weeks! And we have a baptism this Saturday, I am pretty excited! It's been a while.
The area is really nice, it's super big, it goes from the beach to the rice fields to the sugarcane fields all the way to the mountain we basically have a little chunk of everything.
We have been doing a lot for everyone else lately and President said to just take care of the Zone.. but it's been hurting our area so hopefully we can turn that around.
I think I say this all the time now but I am just loving it! It's super hard but nothing has ever been so fulfilling! I am super glad that I am serving and I don't think I would trade any of this experience for anything!
Thanks for all the help and support!
Love,
Elder Warnick
I finally got a picture of what it's like to do laundry Filipino style!
So it's been rough, I'm not gonna lie. We have a TON of expectations set for us as ZLs and some of the companionships in our zone would rather be buddy buddy with us instead of take things serious...and our ward is struggling so this week we went back to the basics.
WE VISITED EVERY MEMBER! We grabbed that ward directory and visited every single member this week! Okay not everyone because a lot weren't home, but we asked their neighbors about them and we got information on all the members! It worked out pretty nicely because there was a ton of LAs and Part Members so we are hoping it starts turning out.
We also had this random girl give us one referral and it turned out we found a whole new village with 20 new investigators! One of them already had a testimony about missionary work and her son (even though he is gay) wants to go on a mission now! haha weird
Me and Slater are doing good, we walk a lot, talk a lot and argue a little but it all helps us get better! And our cooking is actually getting pretty decent! Just a lot of rice and veggies to get us through the day.
We are here in Bacolod again, It's already time for MLC so I am pretty excited for that which means I will be giving my 3rd training this week! I am excited though!
We started this weird tradition where we find the weirdest, nastiest looking drink on p-day and then Monday night we climb to the top of our water tower and drink whilst stargazing.. this past week we had this weird milk soda called a "milky" The Philippines makes ya weird.
Speaking of weird, one of my best buddies Elder McCracken was just made our AP! YEAH! That's cool we started from the bottom and now he's there! When he called yesterday to grab our zones numbers we told him that we were voting for him the whole time! #McCracken2015
So the baptism didn't happen this past week, but that's okay because the girl we were going to baptize is now going to be baptized with her mom in two weeks! And we have a baptism this Saturday, I am pretty excited! It's been a while.
The area is really nice, it's super big, it goes from the beach to the rice fields to the sugarcane fields all the way to the mountain we basically have a little chunk of everything.
We have been doing a lot for everyone else lately and President said to just take care of the Zone.. but it's been hurting our area so hopefully we can turn that around.
I think I say this all the time now but I am just loving it! It's super hard but nothing has ever been so fulfilling! I am super glad that I am serving and I don't think I would trade any of this experience for anything!
Thanks for all the help and support!
Love,
Elder Warnick
 |
| Laundry Filipino Style |
I finally got a picture of what it's like to do laundry Filipino style!
Monday 24 August 2015
The Passover
I felt like I was soaked everyday this week! It felt like we were in a typhoon this week!
Okay not that bad but it was raining like crazy and the wind was super strong!
It was the busy week of the mission though, MISSION TOUR. When everyone in the mission meets up and we have a big conference with General Authorities! I got super lucky this year because Mission tour came around and we are the Zone Leaders! Which means we got to have a special meeting with Elder Bowen and of course they fed us SUPER good!
The hardest part about the Mission tour was we came down to Bacolod on Tuesday for our meeting and went back the same day. Then we worked Wednesday until night where we had to travel back to Bacolod and Thursday was our Mission tour and we came back home after it was over.. So a lot of traveling! But I got to sleep in the Silay apartment (my 3rd house) and it was different but super fun!
The Mission Tour was super good! Elder Bowen had so much advice on how to improve our areas and he also gave some advice for "after the mission" ;) haha The biggest thing was that he challenged all of us to do 30 oyms a day... that's 210 a week! It is a lot of work but we tried it out and I think we can get there!
We found so many new investigators this week! And hopefully we will have a baptism this Saturday! But it's not for sure! This area has been up and down! The hardest thing right now is getting the ward to work with us! They really miss old missionaries that were assigned here!
Speaking of Old missionaries we were out talking to our Tagiya (owner) the other night and she told us that Elder Anderson came back, I guess he was assigned here and was companions with my MTC teacher! SMALL WORLD! It was cool to talk to him though and he was still super good in Ilanggo!
It was a good week though! Progress gid! We gave out a lot of baptism dates and had a lot of people make it to church! AND the best part of all neither of us got transferred! WHEEEW! THE TRANSFER PASSOVER!
If I could ask something.. please don't remind me how long I have been out or how much time I have left! I just really want to make the most of it! And the mission is too fast to get caught up in counting it down!
Thanks for everything!
-Elder Warnick
Okay not that bad but it was raining like crazy and the wind was super strong!
It was the busy week of the mission though, MISSION TOUR. When everyone in the mission meets up and we have a big conference with General Authorities! I got super lucky this year because Mission tour came around and we are the Zone Leaders! Which means we got to have a special meeting with Elder Bowen and of course they fed us SUPER good!
The hardest part about the Mission tour was we came down to Bacolod on Tuesday for our meeting and went back the same day. Then we worked Wednesday until night where we had to travel back to Bacolod and Thursday was our Mission tour and we came back home after it was over.. So a lot of traveling! But I got to sleep in the Silay apartment (my 3rd house) and it was different but super fun!
The Mission Tour was super good! Elder Bowen had so much advice on how to improve our areas and he also gave some advice for "after the mission" ;) haha The biggest thing was that he challenged all of us to do 30 oyms a day... that's 210 a week! It is a lot of work but we tried it out and I think we can get there!
We found so many new investigators this week! And hopefully we will have a baptism this Saturday! But it's not for sure! This area has been up and down! The hardest thing right now is getting the ward to work with us! They really miss old missionaries that were assigned here!
Speaking of Old missionaries we were out talking to our Tagiya (owner) the other night and she told us that Elder Anderson came back, I guess he was assigned here and was companions with my MTC teacher! SMALL WORLD! It was cool to talk to him though and he was still super good in Ilanggo!
It was a good week though! Progress gid! We gave out a lot of baptism dates and had a lot of people make it to church! AND the best part of all neither of us got transferred! WHEEEW! THE TRANSFER PASSOVER!
If I could ask something.. please don't remind me how long I have been out or how much time I have left! I just really want to make the most of it! And the mission is too fast to get caught up in counting it down!
Thanks for everything!
-Elder Warnick
 |
| Kids eating some rambutan |
 |
| Crossing the river |
 |
| Me and Bon |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)