Monday, July 15

I AM COMING HOME ON THE 25th of JULY!

The week has been good.  It's been warm and I even got a tan.

I'm glad the itinerary came through.  They booked it weeks ago and when I called the office they said that since the group that is leaving around this time is so big, they were only getting about 3 itineraries a week, even though the flights were actually booked already.  They said they would send it out as soon as it came in.

Anyway, yes, I'll be home late on the 25th.  So, I don't know what Hailey and the kids want to do about that, but whenever I see them I'll be happy.

I don't know when I'll meet with President Axford, but when we can, that would be nice.  I'd kind of like to be released officially soon after getting home.

We had a good experience this week at church.  A family in the ward brought a family they have been telling about the church.  We met them and they agreed to start meeting with us.  Apparently they are already planning to get married (they aren't yet) because they hear that's a requirement for baptism.  So that looks really promising.  So we'll meet with them next Tuesday.

The pageant is coming up really quickly and the temple grounds are transforming into a performance space.  We have 20+ non-members from this area attending that we have gotten tickets for.  So, it will be a good missionary opportunity.

I can't wait to see the kids!  I look forward to it!

We don't email on transfer weeks, so this is the last time i'm on email.  So I'll see you on Thursday the 25th!

Love to all!

Kara

Monday, July 8, 2013

Kara realized she had not taken an official picture at the MTC.

Look!  No coat!!

 

    

Preston England Temple Grounds

She is enjoying being able to see the temple every day in this area!

 

The sun is shining! It's supposed to stay shining for 2 weeks! It's supposed to get up to a high of 33 degrees Celsius! I still have no idea what that is in Fahrenheit... but sounds nice!

We had a good week. The Chorley area is known for its member work because it's really hard to find people to teach here. So we've been seeing a lot of members. We have a tea appointment every night this week... It's crazy. We had tea with the temple president this last week. That was kind of weird, but really neat!

You asked about the 4th of July... it's the 3rd consecutive 4th of July that I've spent in the UK. I've heard several degrading comments about America this week, but that's okay! A family in the ward had us over for a BBQ with American food. So we had hot dogs, hamburgers, and cake! So that was fun!

We did some service for a member this week helping to make cakes for a big auction that they had in the ward to help raise funds for EFY. It was loads of fun helping!

Not a whole lot interesting to tell from this week! It's been a really good week! Still loving the opportunity I have to see the temple every day!

Monday, July 1, 2013

Sister Orr and her dear friend Sister Smith

 

Phew... Flood of emotions right now. I just read an email from Paige. She's engaged!! I'm so happy I'll be there for the wedding! But wow... my best friend is engaged!

It's been a good week. It's flown by. We had a temple zone conference on Tuesday. That was good. We also gave our departing testimonies there. So that was also a moment of "Wait... it's not that time yet."

The members here feed us a lot. We have a tea appointment every night. We've had everything from salad to pizza to sausage casseroles. At least they mix things up here so we aren't having a Sunday roast every night.

Sister Telefoni and I have found a lot of time to talk this week. It's been really good. I've been able to get to know her better and we laugh and joke about everything. We are finding time to enjoy our last transfer and spending it together.

We watched the missionary broadcast last night. It was really good. Sounds like my mission isn't ending with me going home. They put so much emphasis on members and having members help and do things and find people to teach. President Monson looks like he's losing weight. Probably stress and sadness lately. President Packer--I don't know how much longer he is going to be with us. But it was good to listen to the general authorities speak and see a ward from Hauula! I knew some of them! Sister Telefoni and I were pretty excited to see that as well!

Well, nothing too much more exciting to tell. We are spending time at a member's home today helping her make and decorate cakes for an auction that they're doing at the church to raise money for the youth to go to EFY.

I love you lots. I received an email from Aunt Judy that had a picture of Kade, he is a cutey. Kind of looks a bit growly in the picture, but cute!

With love,

Kara

 

Monday, June 24, 2013

..... so.... funny story..... I moved areas again..... I'm now in Chorley.

I have been moved so many times on my mission.... I am now on to companion #13! Yes, you heard me, companion #13. How many transfers do sisters have in the field? 13... People are going to start thinking I'm a major problem missionary.

Anyway, how this came to be... Wednesday morning I got a phone call at 7 AM. President said, "Sister Orr, I'm moving you to Chorley." I was like...okay. Sister Telefoni was training a new missionary and that new missionary decided she wanted to go home. So Sister Telefoni didn't have a companion. So they sent me up here. Sister Finke got put in a different area. President said that I'm supposed to bless some lives up here. So phone call was at 7 AM Wednesday, the assistants came to pick us up with all our luggage at 3. So I've been in Chorley since last Wednesday. I'm happy to be here though... just weird that it happened to me again. I just told President at a meeting the other day that I must be the transient missionary who just moves here, there and everywhere.

The temple is in our area. That is super nice. Our ward here is huge. Average sacrament attendance is around 175. It has a lot of families in it. I laughed yesterday as I walked down the corridor and prams were lining the way.

We've been told to do a lot of member work here. The Pageant is going to be held on the temple grounds here, so we're supposed to help in any way we can. Little do they know that Sister Telefoni and I will both be gone for the pageant. Oh, I don't know if you know, Sister Telefoni and I came out together. You may have already known that.

So yes, that's what we're up to.

We had a zone training and interviews with President last Thursday. That was good. President says that when I get home I need to call them regularly. Skype would probably be best since it's free. He said he was trying very hard not to turn the interview into an exit interview. 4 weeks left and then I'll have my exit interview.

I can't believe it's almost July. We were talking to a new member the other day and she was telling me she got baptised a few months ago. In my mind I was thinking, "oh, probably December or sometime around Christmas." I asked her when she got baptised and she said March. It doesn't seem like March was a few months ago. It's been 6 months since Christmas..... weird...

Another weird thing about this ward. The Bishop is the MTC coordinator and several ward members are MTC teachers. I'm like, "I know all of you."

Also, I think it is funny that I was always saying I didn't want to serve on temple square... Now, I'm in the British equivalent. :)

 

Monday, June 17, 2013

Thank you for emailing me. It was nice to have something to read today. It also was good to see pictures of the kids.

 

I was thinking about what you said that Tucker says I've been gone forever. If you think about it, I've been gone for 1/4 of his life and I've been gone for a little less than 1/2 of Kimber's. That is forever to them.

It's been a good week since Wednesday. Well, to be honest, I can't really remember what we've done since then...

Yesterday was good. Church was good. It was a good father's day here in Southport. We had a really good miracle happen yesterday. A few weeks ago, we had tea with the Bishop and his family. Sister Turner mentioned her cousin had been coming to church for a while and was interested in learning more. At the time the cousin was on holiday so we didn't get to meet her. We talked to Sister Turner about a week and a half ago again and she mentioned that with the time of church changing to an earlier time, her cousin wasn't sure she could make it. She has some health problems that limit her sometimes. So it wasn't looking very hopeful anymore. But yesterday her cousin did come to church! And we taught her and it was great! I asked her what she would like to see happen and she said that she wants to learn more so that she can become more of a permanent part of our church. So she has said she'll come to church every week now and so hopefully we can help her along the way! So that was great!

A funny story for you about Elders...

We have Elders here in Southport as well. I can't remember if I told you that when I moved her. But recently we've been having joint tea appointments on Sundays. So members have all 4 of us over. Yesterday Sister Finke and I had planned to catch a bus from church back to the flat to drop off the extra books we had at church and then head over to this member's for tea at 2:30. We were talking to people after church and we realized the time was 1:45. We got out to the bus stop and realized the bus wasn't coming for 20 minutes because it was on Sunday service. So we decided obviously we wouldn't have time to stop by the flat and that we needed to walk quickly to the member's to be on time. We ended up being 5 minutes late to the member's and we felt really bad... But we were there and there were no Elders. So we were waiting in the living room while the family finished up their tea preparations (which they wouldn't let us help with). After about 15 minutes the Dad came in and said the Elders were going to be late because they were waiting for a bus. The Grandma, who is proper British, was like, "The Sisters got here. Why can't the Elders get here? They walked, can't the Elders walk?" There's one Elder who is a bit overweight and rather new in the mission... and the dad said, "Elder H. doesn't like walking." The grandma replied, "Are you serious? Well he needs to learn. It would do him some good to do some walking. I'm going to tell him that when they get here." OH and tell him she did. We ended up starting eating without them... they were over 45 minutes late. She told them off good. And Sister Finke and I just sat there and tried not to laugh.... But then it got better.... During dessert, the grandma offered Elder H. some more. He said, "No thanks, I'm okay, I'm full. I ate some KFC before we came." At first we all thought they went to KFC on a Sunday, but he clarified that it was leftovers... I then asked, "Elder, do you just carry food with you all the time? You brought leftover KFC to church?" He then explained that they had gone back to their flat to get leftover KFC after church before going to the tea appointment.... oh my goodness, the grandma was not happy... She said, "You went home to eat before coming to MY house for tea and that's why you were so very late?! Next time there won't be food for you. You can just be left at the door." My only thought was like, "Elders, you are idiots and you so deserve this..." Needless to say, that family said next time it will only be us that are invited. I had to call President to ask him another question but then threw in, "President, what would you do if you were us and you were watching a member tell off the Elders? How would you respond?" He said, "A member was telling off the Elders?"--- "Well, President, they deserved it." ----"Well, then, I guess you just sit there and laugh." I like President's ideas. I told him that's what we did!

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

So... It's been a good week and a half. Stressful and with some irritations, but good.

Last Tuesday we had a training for the new missionaries. It's called the first 5 weeks, but for Sister Finke, since she came in 2 weeks into the transfer, it was the first 3 weeks...

 

I'm at a point now that my energy levels, coming up on a year and half, are running really low. I feel like sometimes I barely have enough energy to motivate myself let alone my companion. So I'm trying to budget my energy. One thing I've learned on my mission, but that is always a continual process no matter who you are is patience. I was sitting in the bedroom the other day by myself trying to calm my mind and be more patient, and I grabbed the phone and called Sister Preston. I asked, "How do you become more patient?" I just heard laughter on the other end for a minute. Sister Preston still gets annoyed with people, but I figured she's been married and has dealt with President's little quirks. She gave me some suggestions. The next day I was super annoyed and irritated. I was frustrated with my companion and then an ATM ate my mission debit card. It was not a good day. I called Sister Preston again and said, "What do you DO when you are super super irritated?" She suggested lots of chocolate. Don't worry, I think I just gained 15 pounds from this past weekend...

But. I'm still here in Southport with Sister Finke.

Sister Smith got transferred over to the Newcastle zone. We had a zone meeting yesterday before transfers today and it may have been the last time I got to see Sister Smith before I go home. It was a particularly rough day because Sister Smith found out yesterday that her grandpa passed away Monday. She has a really close relationship with her grandpa. President let me go and sit with her alone and we talked for a while. I really love that girl. President always says we'll be friends forever and it's true. I'm just super sad I might not get to see her again until Christmas. (She lives in Utah.) We'll try to convince President to let us have a mini-party before I go... but we'll see.

We're still working on finding people to teach here. We had a few appointments set up for the last week and all of them fell through. It's rough sometimes. We just get to know members really well. We have had beautiful weather for the last 2 weeks. Not so much today, but for the last 2 weeks. I even got a tan line on my feet from my shoes! I was going to take a picture, but haven't yet. Need to.

I overcame a fear this last Sunday. We had a meeting last Wednesday with the Relief Society and we taught about missionary work. After we did our little thing, one of the sisters did an activity of asking having pieces of paper that had deeper questions on them and we were to bear testimony to others about something in relation to that. I got a piece of paper that said, "Where do you find refuge from the world?" I went and talked with this member and told her that my refuge is in music. If I'm stressed, music is my go-to. She asked me what I usually do. I said I sing, I play the piano, I listen to music. Well, there went 16 months of hiding the fact I play the piano. She is the Sunday school teacher. She texted me later last week and asked me if I would play the opening hymn for her Sunday school class. They usually don't have an opening hymn, but with the lesson she wanted one. Stress! I haven't played in church since young women's when everyone laughed at me and I vowed I'd never do it again. But I did! And it went well!  No major mess-ups.  So, conquered a little fear. Don't really want to continue playing in church though.

Well, I think that's all I really want to share for the week. I'll be back to emailing on Mondays next week. As far as I know anyway. I don't think there's a bank holiday next week.

Keep emailing me please! There's only 5 more emailing days left before I'm home! You can do it!!! I have faith!

 

Monday, June 3

It's been a good week. The weather's been really nice and seems to be staying that way for now. Our 2 weeks of summer may have finally arrived!

We are having a zone activity today so we aren't on the computers today as long as usual. We are having a BBQ today as a zone and then we will be playing some sports so I'm excited for a good day!

We got a referral this last week from the mission office. I didn't have any super high hopes because I haven't really seen a lot of miracles with those types of referrals on my mission, but we went and stopped by nonetheless. It's an 45 minute bus ride and then a 45 minute walk to the town where this referral is. We knocked and asked for her and she said, "Oh! I thought you were going to call first!" I explained we hadn't received a phone number so that's why we stopped by! She said she didn't have time at that moment to meet with us but gave us her number so we can set up an appointment for this week. So that was a really good miracle!

Sister Finke is doing well. I am realizing though that training a missionary who is learning English is a lot more tiring and exhausting that just training a missionary. I am learning patience a lot more than I have the rest of my mission. Yeah, I'm struggling at the moment with that. You know when you just have a day or two where just everything irritates you? That's been me the last 2 or 3 days and I am trying really hard to control it...

Hmm, what else. The ward has asked us to do a Relief Society night to help the sisters get to know us and help them get excited about missionary work. They asked us to do role-plays and some other things. It's a lot of pressure since I can't even get Sister Finke to do role-plays when we are in the flat studying. She kind of just watches me. So I have to figure out how to do that Wednesday with the relief society. I don't know whether I'll just teach and Sister Finke can observe or how I am going to get her involved.

The ward really likes having sisters. They always mention that they "trust us" more than the elders.

I don't think I have a whole lot else to write. Transfers are next week. I'll probably be staying, but who knows. So I would say that most likely you'll hear from me on Wednesday, but it might be later.

Hope this finds everyone all happy and well!