Monday, December 17 !

Another week come and gone. Christmas is next week! We've had our Christmas tree up for quite some time. We've been putting things away for stockings... (which are actually plastic grocery bags)...we've started receiving small gifts from members so they are "under" our Christmas tree. It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.

We had Christmas in the mission home this last week as the Chester zone. We played games, watched Emma Smith, ate a big Christmas dinner, received our Christmas packages from home... mine are still en route... But I did get the birthday present from Aunt Diane and Hailey's birthday card with pictures of the munchkins (Thank You!)... Sister Smith commented that there still were no pictures of my sister... I was happy to get pictures though. they are now in my little picture book that Hailey gave me before I left. We did a gift exchange at the mission home so we were all asked to bring a gift less than 3 pounds (money, not weight). since we would be the only sisters there we figured food would be a good bet. We bought some plastic kids bowls for about a pound and then made a red velvet cake to give some slices of cake away in the bowls. Some Elders thought it was brilliant. Elders just don't appreciate food as much as they used to... :)

We had the ward Christmas party on Friday and I was asked to bring a cake. So I made a mint cake. It was really good. We had a few investigators attend and it was a really fun night that everyone got involved in. We left at 8:45 and people were still around playing games. It was really wonderful to see the ward interact with the people we have been working with.

It's getting colder and colder here. I had to call Sister Preston the other night to ask for suggestions on how to be warm because I wear like 5 layers of clothes and I'm still freezing. We've had to spend some nights with feet in hot water and Sister Smith has been kind enough to give me foot massages to help get circulation into my feet at the end of the day. Sister Preston suggested some vitamins and maybe a heated blanket. The blanket really wouldn't help me much when I'm outside, but we may have to look into it.

I haven't gotten my coat yet. I took money out at the ATM and went into the store and they had sold the one that was in my size. They said they would have some more in later in the week and they would call us.... We stopped by this morning and they still haven't gotten any in and they said it might not be until after Christmas. So we'll see about that... I don't know if I should just drop it or go in search of another coat or just live with the ones I've got... meh, I don't know.

Also, in regards to money. We have an activity this weekend for all the Chinese people we are teaching and we are in charge of the "gingerbread" activity, so we have to buy the supplies. We don't know how much it is going to cost and we will try to use our mission funds as much as possible but may need to use personal funds. We did a test run of making "gingerbread" temples. Our model looks so good! I forgot my camera today, so I'll have to send a picture next time!

Dad, I got your email about snow. Sister Smith's parents sent her a picture of their house covered in snow. Also, Aunt Judy sent a picture of their big snow by them. We haven't seen much snow here, thankfully. We've been told that if it snows two inches here everything shuts down. No one can seem to function. It's an ongoing joke for many of the people here. They say it's not a rare occurrence to get snow and yet every time they do everyone freaks out as if it something they have never seen or had to deal with before. I kind of want to see how that goes. The only time snow fell here and stuck was when I was in the MTC and we were sheltered from the outside world...

We are excited to see many of our investigators progressing right now. Ciaran and Gethin helped with the Sacrament yesterday which was very good to see.

I don't have a whole lot else to say, I don't know how emailing is going to work for the next 2 weeks because our P-days fall on holidays (Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve), so no idea what is going to happen. We get basically 5 days off this holiday season... Christmas Eve, Christmas, Boxing Day (Dad's Birthday), New Year's Eve, and New Year's. We're excited!

So Mom, let us plan on me calling home around 9 AM your time and if anything changes with that I can let you know later this week, but I will keep in mind if changes need to be made that you are feeding the missionaries probably around 1. Are the missionaries you work with good, friendly missionaries?

I love you lots,

 

Merry Christmas to Everyone!

Monday, December 10 !

So we've had a busy week here, don't ask me to recall all the details, because for the life of me I can't... a mission kills your memory.

So Tuesday, we hadn't had many lessons planned and so we were kind of struggling to find things to plan to keep us busy and productive. Well Tuesday morning came and we got a phone call. A member called to let us know that her mom (another member in the ward) had had a bit of a scare in the night. They own a bed and breakfast (quite a large home), they had no guests in for the night, but then someone decided to make themselves a guest, meaning they broke into the home and decided they wanted a bed to sleep in. The member and her husband woke up and went and found him (startled them!) and the young man who broke in started yelling at them to get out of his house. needless to say the cops were involved and this couple in the ward is a bit elderly so shook them up pretty good. So the daughter called to ask us if we could stop by and see if they were okay and try to calm them a bit. So we changed our plans, went by this member and helped her with a bit of housework and played some Christmas music and when we left she said that it had helped a lot. so that was good.

Monday night we were told that our District meeting, usually held on Tuesdays, was being moved to Thursday. Well I said that didn't work for us because I had a dentist appointment at 12. I was told that it all came down to priorities... I said I had to go to the dentist. So then it was determined that Thursday we would go to the district meeting for an hour and then leave to go to the dentist. So that's what we did. I got my tooth fixed. it was a private dentist and the member that set it up and everything wouldn't tell me an estimate on how much it would cost. Came out of the dentist and he had paid for it. He said it was a Christmas Present from their family. They bought Sister Smith a coat. They said that they would have done it anonymously if they could've so that was their only requirement of us, that we keep them anonymous. So that was very nice.

So my birthday. Sister Smith gave me a present of coupons. You know the coupons we would do in Primary with kind favors on them that we would give for like mother's day and whatnot? yup, homemade. That was sweet. Then we got locked out. That was less fun. Our recent convert, Tracey, found out how cold we've been the last few weeks and we had a lesson with her that day. She gave us hot water bottles to help warm our beds at night. That was nice. Then we had tea with members and they made brownies and put a candle in it and sang happy birthday to me. That was sweet.

Yesterday we had 3 investigators come to church. Laura who has been coming for quite a while. Then a young Chinese couple we've been teaching a while (and their daughter). It was really good to see them there! Sister Smith and I also had to do the musical number in sacrament yesterday. We sang "What Child is this?" the Sally Deford duet arrangement. It went well. lots of compliments. We then were able to watch the Christmas devotional last night. I really enjoyed that. I love President Monson so much. how good would it feel just to get a hug from that man?

I think that covers most of the main points.

I hope the whole family is doing well. I got a letter from Paige a week or two ago and she gave me lots of updates which was nice. REALLY happy to hear from her! I miss her lots! She was telling me how she will be graduating soon. That's weird to think about.

I love you lots!

love,

Kara

P.S. Thanks for all the birthday wishes.

Monday, December 3!

It's December!!! We got advent calendars and had been waiting a long time to finally put them up and start working on them!! I can't believe it is December already!

So, Kade is here!! Yay! He looks so cute and tiny!! I wish I could hold him!! Precious!! :) I'm grateful he's here all safe and sound now! I need good pictures from now on how the kids are growing. I want to be a part of their lives!! Hailey, are you and the family going to be down on Christmas when I am able to skype home? I would really like to see you and your family!!

This last week has been good. We had a bit more flooding. It was an interesting Monday though last Monday. We got a phone call around 2:30 that afternoon saying that we had to go pick up the Newtown sisters that night because they weren't sure if they would be able to get anywhere with the floods and we all had to be at the temple by 9:30 AM Tuesday. We were like okay... Well then they called back and said that because of the flooding, President wanted us to make sure we were driving while it was light. Well, it gets dark here now around 4. So I looked at my watch and said, "So we have to leave like now...." We still ended up driving in the dark part of the way since it is a 2 1/2 hour drive. When they called they asked if we had anymore questions. I said, "You're having us drive down because there is a concern that the Newtown sisters might get stranded in the flooding... what happens if we get stranded trying to get down there?" There was a long pause and then, "We'll face that if it happens..." We didn't have any major problems on the way though. The temple was very nice. It was Sister Smith's first time in the Preston temple since she didn't go to the MTC here. She liked it and it was beautiful weather at the temple. We then had lunch in the temple cafeteria! Yum! Then we had trainings at the chapel. It was a really good day! We then had to drive the Newtown sisters back into their area and because it takes 2 1/2 hours to get to Newtown from the temple, we got into Newtown around 8 that night and obviously we didn't have time to drive back into our area, so we stayed another night. And we were supposed to go on exchange with them so we ended up doing a blitz exchange (where all 4 of us worked in the Newtown area) the next day. So we finally got back into our area Thursday! So what a week! It's been good though.

Yesterday at church, Ciaran and Gethin got the priesthood. We had no idea that was happening. All of a sudden Bishop asked if ourselves and Laura would come into Priesthood. I was like Why? Surprise! Well, I mean we have been preparing them for it, but I had no idea it was happening yesterday! It was good though, they were well behaved which was very good. It just shows how good the ward is here that we don't have to be on their case all the time pushing them to get these things done!

We started singing Christmas songs at church! Yay! I've only been singing them since October. I like the Holidays!

Mom, at our meeting the other day, I got the make up package (Thanks A LOT!), but I haven't gotten the boots yet... Did you mark the package "For Christmas"? Because I kind of was confused and someone said that if the package is marked for Christmas then the office holds it until our Christmas conference. So I don't know if you did that or whether I need to be worried about what happened to them... I'm a bit confused because they should've been here by now. I don't know if you want to do anything about that or just wait and see if they come eventually. :)

Anyway, not a whole lot new happening. Sister Smith and I might go on an adventure today. New Mileage month! I'm going to try to put together a Christmas package for Kimber and Tucker (and Kade now too), but I don't know when I'll get it sent, so I don't know if it'll be there before Christmas, but I'll try and make sure it gets there before February... :)

Well, I love you all lots and only a few more weeks until I get to call home! Thanks for the Birthday wishes!! We hope to do something fun!

 

November 26 - PM

I'm sure Aunt Kara would post this picture if she could!  Kade Michael Clark was born in the evening on November 26, 2012.  Seven pounds, one ounce.  He's a cutie!  Papa and Nana Orr had to go spend some time with him!

Monday, November 26, 2012

Tell Kade to hurry up!!! I had a dream last night that he was born and so I was really excited to get on and see pictures of a new little one!! Oh well, in due time. He can be born on my birthday, that's okay with me.

So it's been an adventurous week this week. And I just wrote you on Wednesday! Already new stories to tell.

So I don't know if the American news has been talking about it at all or if you've heard much, but Wales has been badly flooded the last few days. Bridges collapsed. Highways become rivers. And all in our area. :)

Let's start at the beginning. So Thursday we had arranged to go over to the Quilters for Thanksgiving. We had decided to drive out there around 11:30 or 12 ish (it takes about an hour to drive out there) do a few hours of service and then have Thanksgiving dinner at 3 and then leave after dinner. Well, we woke up Thursday morning and it was really eerie. As we were studying we saw the sun rising and there was an eerie purple glow to things and the wind and rain picked up and looking out our window there were leaves and all sorts of things flying through the air. We didn't think much of it since it is Wales and it rains quite a bit here as does it have bad wind since we're on the sea. So we stopped by the petrol station on the way out of town and the wind was blowing so hard we had to hold our skirts down. Then we headed on the long drive out of town to the Quilters (who live out by Mt. Snowdon area- Just beyond Betws-Y-Coed if you look at a map). On the way out there we were driving down the curvy mountain lanes and were just getting pelted by sheet after sheet of rain. We got stopped at a construction traffic signal and we just saw this huge gust of wind coming at us as it knocked down sign after sign as it came towards us and I gripped the steering wheel tight as the wind shook the car heavily. Still thinking just a spot of bad weather, we pushed on driving through puddles on the old highway. We reached the Quilters safely and had a wonderful afternoon cooking, eating, all of that wonderful stuff. Had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal with turkey, stuffing, pies, the whole 9 yards. It was after dinner as we were sitting in the living room that bishop phoned (Bishop being Sister Quilters brother). He was informing their parents (Brother and Sister Gill, who also came for dinner) that the A5 (the old highway) through Bethesda was closed due to flooding. Making the main route home impassible by flooding. Sister Quilter did a bit of research and discovered that not only the A5 was closed, but the A55 (main highway into and around Bangor-where we live-was completely flooded waist high). As well, Llanberis was flooded waist high as well, another route that we could have taken home, but no. So we called Sister Preston and asked her what to do and she just said to stay at the members for a while longer and maybe the flooding would subside, but "don't do anything silly." So we got to stay at the Quilters for a while longer. We couldn't do much tracting their neighborhood or anything because no one lives near them, they're out in the woods. Then President called because he had heard the A55 was flooded and wanted to know what was happening with us. We told him and he said to not risk anything and "don't do anything silly." I was like what is with this don't do anything silly thing? Do I just seem the type that is just going to go do something stupid? So it came to be about 8 PM and we were still seeing image after image of flooding in our area. Cars being swept away on the main highway. Bad stuff. So then it came down to, do we stay the night? Sister Smith and I both thought we could get home as we had been told that there was one route clear to get home, we did have a meeting that we had to be at Friday in Manchester by 10 AM. Then everyone was telling us how dangerous it would be and that it's a really dark road and it's along a cliff and the winds were being reported to be 110 MPH... on and on... So then they all looked to me being senior companion to make the decision. Most stressful situation of my life. In the end I decided we better not risk anything. So we decided to stay. Good thing the Quilters own a hostel and they have lots of extra beds. So that's what the picture is of that is attached. Us, in our borrowed pajamas, in the hostel rooms at the Quilters, staying the night because we got flooded in. In the morning it was clear enough to get us home and then on to Manchester, but we did grab an overnight back just in case we got stranded somewhere else. A fair bit of damage from what I hear though. Now if only we had a bunch of Priesthood around we could have literally baptised everyone in our area! Haha just kidding. That'd be a bit blasphemous. But it's raining again and we're supposed to get another dosage of flooding tonight or tomorrow. Or snow. depending on how cold it gets. Everyone keeps telling us that they've predicted this to be the coldest winter in 100 years or something. I hope they're lying. But definitely an adventure this last Thursday with flooding! I am so grateful for the hospitality and love of the Quilters. I don't think we can ever repay them for what they were willing to do for us on Thanksgiving. We did clean the kitchen for Sister Quilter that night. She told us not to, but we did.

Then Friday and Saturday Sister Smith and I were both ill. Yesterday was church and it rained a lot again, some minor flooding. Now here we are writing as it rains outside again.

Yup, adventures you can only experience in the wilds of Wales.

I haven't gotten my boots yet, tomorrow we have our meeting where we get post. Probably too soon to get make-up though. we'll see.

Did Kimber get my card?

I hope, Hailey, you're doing well. Super pregnant and all. Is Kade still causing some pains with kicking and whatnot? Hope he settles down. You're going to have 3 active kids to keep you fit! Everyone talks about their kids and nieces and nephews loving to just sit and cuddle. I am always like, you should meet my Niece and nephew! They take power naps while running! :) Sure do miss and love your family!

Mom, thanks for the recipe for the apple bars. The Quilters want us over again for Christmas so I'll make apple bars for them then.

Well, I don't know much else to say! I hope you are all enjoying each others' company! Remember me and give cuddles to one another for me!!

I love you all very much and thank you for all that you do and have done for me!

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

So it's a Transfer Wednesday and I'm writing this morning ,which means I'm still here in Gaerwen with Sister Smith. We kind of knew it was going to stay this way when we talked to President a while back, but I wasn't going to say anything until it was announced because sometimes President says one thing and does another. Ya know, don't count your chickens before they hatch sort of thing. I wanted to stay in this area for the holidays so I'm happy I get to. Every other companionship in the zone got moved around though, including our District leader, Elder Roberts, who is now a zone leader for a different zone. We were talking last night when we did our call in and we've been in the same district for the last 6 months and we were the 2 that had been in the zone the longest, now it's down to me, so I'm now the person who has been in the zone the longest. President says I can probably count on being moved next transfer though.

Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow! We are spending Thanksgiving with the Quilter family. The dad is American and they lived in America for 8 years as a family. We are excited to go. So I think we will have a pretty good Thanksgiving.

I have scheduled a dentist appointment. The 6th of December. So that will be sorted in the not too distant future. A member was able to get me in at their dentist. I don't know if it is private or NHS yet, but I'll talk to the member more about the details.

Sister Smith and I are both ill with cold at present and to be honest I'm having a hard time thinking of things to write about. I discovered here on my mission that when I get ill I get a bit delusional. It can be rather funny at times, but it's rather obnoxious when you're trying to keep thoughts straight...

I was hoping I'd get an email of a new little baby, but still nothing eh? Unless Hailey's in labor as I write this. I keep telling everyone that I'm getting a new nephew soon. I loved the video of Kimber and the puppy. I had to watch it without sound since we write in a library. It was cute though. Did Kimber get my birthday card yet? I never know if my letters make it to the states or not. I never hear back on any of them. I wrote to Paige, McKae, and Emily and haven't heard back so I don't know if my letters even made it.

I really like the ward here. We had tea with Bishop and his family Monday night and we told bishop that we were both staying. He thought it was good. Then his wife came in and he told her that I was leaving. She said, "You can't leave, you're our missionary." That made me feel nice, then I had to tell her that her husband was a liar...

I don't have a lot more to say. We have a meeting up at the mission home Friday for the Chinese missionaries. We are going to the temple next week. So we've got some good things planned.

I can't believe you got a fake tree. Just not the same!

I hope everything is going well! I hope little Kade comes soon! I'm excited! :)

Monday, November 12

Well, the baptism did happen for all 3 boys...as you can probably assume from the picture. It was really good and there were quite a few people there! We were happy so many turned up to support! It was fun last week trying to locate enough baptismal suits in the right sizes though. The young men's president who baptized them had to wear like a triple XL suit and he is such a skinny man that we had to find a white belt to tie around so it would help keep it on. :) So that was fun! The talks were given by (the boys' choice) one of the young men who is 13 and a primary boy who is 7. It was really cute and touching. So we have 3 new members in our ward.

Yes Thanksgiving is next week. We don't necessarily know who may feed us. We have 2 American families in the ward (one parent being American) who said they would like to feed us, but when the list got passed around for the month, a Canadian couple signed up for that night and I don't even think they know that it is Thanksgiving that day for us. So we'll see. In answer to mom's questions, we do get fed quite a bit here. Depends on the week but most weeks we get fed about 4 times. This week we have tea appointments Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. So not fairing too bad this week. Bishop says we should be more persistent in getting members to have us over for tea, but in a small ward like this it's hard because we are only allowed to eat at the same member's home twice in a month and we also have to watch the mileage on the car so we don't go completely over our limit.

 

When I was budgeting our mileage for this month, oh boy are we not going to be under. We are going up to the temple the week after transfers for a session and then a holiday meal together as a mission (well half the mission, the other half will go the next day). It's 115 miles to the temple from our area, but President tells us it is always cheaper for the mission to use the cars than it is to take the train. So if we know we are going to go over our miles we have to call President for an extension (I called Halloween night to get an extension of 350 miles for November). It's a bit crazy with our area. Our limit is 1600 miles a month, it's hard to believe that it's only been under that amount once in the last year (we keep track of the records). Our area is not small.

We taught Sharing time yesterday and they wanted us to talk about missions. We let them have a kind of Q & A session with us. We got questions like, "Do you have to wear certain things as a missionary?" Why yes, we, as sisters, have to wear skirts for instance. "What?! Are you serious?! You HAVE to wear a skirt?" Yes. "How many doors do you have to knock on?" It depends. "On average?" Well, yesterday we knocked on probably about 40. "What?! 40?!" Yes.

It was great. I love little kids. Sister Smith asked the question, "Where do you think I'm from?" "America!" "Yes, which state?" "China?" oh so close.

The other night we got marshmallows and have been roasting over the hob (stove). That's been a nice thing in this bit of cold damp weather we are getting.

We are doing pretty good at staying warm when we are out and about lately, everybody keeps telling us it is going to be a horrible winter though... I'm like, thank you... Some members tell me I won't survive.... Once again, Thank you.

I'll try to get my tooth fixed. It's so hard with their health care over here... All the NHS dentists are full and the private dentists are supposedly really expensive. So we'll see.

I'm assuming Kade is still waiting a little bit. I'm getting excited for him to come. I have it marked on every calendar in our flat when he is supposed to be coming.

Well, I don't have much else to say since I just wrote on Friday, but I hope you are all still doing well and that Baby Kade isn't causing too much grief in his momma's belly.

I love you all very very much!

Friday, November 9

Oh what a week it's been. We were supposed to email Monday... Well we had to go take our car to be repaired in Colwyn Bay. The car had some paint damage from when President trusted elders with it for 2 weeks. So we dropped the car off Monday morning at 9 and then we spent all day wandering around Colwyn Bay and finally were able to pick up the car at 4:30. Well since it was Guy Fawkes night, we had to be in our flat by 5. So we got home from Colwyn Bay at 5:15 and made a quick jaunt into the grocery store for some popcorn and had the night in. So no email from Monday. We called and told President the situation and he gave us permission to email later in the week so here we are now on Friday. Guy Fawkes night is also known as bonfire night and is celebrating Guy Fawkes' failed attempt at blowing up Parliament. So there's lots of drinking, fireworks, and bonfires so missionaries stay in then.

So we have a baptism tomorrow if all goes well. Ciaran, Gethin, and Matthew are all being baptized. Last night we had a bit of a worry as we took the elders to do the baptismal interviews and Ciaran and Gethin told us they didn't want to be baptized. So we resolved Gethin's concern fairly quickly, but Ciaran was a bit deeper so we had the elders start the interviews for the younger 2 while we talked to Ciaran. In the end they all had their interviews and wanted to still be baptized. but we will see them again tonight to see if all is well yet. So hopefully. I've never been more stressed over a baptism in my life. I hope they follow through with the baptism, they are such great kids. Once their mom gets baptized as well, they will be such a great asset to the ward.

When we were resolving Ciaran's concern, in their household the Word of Wisdom has been taken to include fizzy drinks (Soda). I jokingly asked him if part of the reason he was questioning baptism was because he couldn't seem to give up fizzy drinks. He did a half smile and said, "something like that." it was the first time he smiled since we had been in the house last night. So we explained that the Word of Wisdom really doesn't say no fizzy drinks so he wasn't going to be condemned for drinking a soda. A while later we were talking about how we would love to see him smile and Sister Smith said that she had a twirl chocolate bar in the car if he wanted it. He said no. Then I said, "Well we don't have one on us at the moment, but if we bring you a fizzy drink would that make you happy?" He got a little grin on his face. So we have to bring him a Pepsi. At the end of our conversation we asked him if he still wanted to go through with the interview and he said he did. So it still was his choice.

Last week we went on exchange with the Newtown sisters (mid-Wales). 94 miles away from Gaerwen. 2 1/2 hour drive. It's the first time I've been the one to leave the area on exchange since Early July. So I was down there with Sister Shchur. she's from Russia and has been out about 4 months. Oh, and she's also a professional boxer. Exercising with her in the morning was intimidating. I just laid there and did my sit ups, while she was doing some crazy work-outs. Meh, it's okay. They don't have a whole lot of investigators down in their area so we did a lot of finding. It was fun. We talked to some wonderfully interesting people. I was amazed by how many people we talked to had already met with the "Mormons" before or had some tie to our church. They were friendly and many of them said they'd be willing to meet with us. It was really good. At the end of exchanges we always do "Inventory." We tell each other strengths and also what improvements could be made. I'm trying to remember the strength that Sister Shchur gave me... she is still learning English and was struggling for words... she said, "You're really good at correcting with love... you corrected me in a way that I wasn't offended...hmmm how do I say it... You are good at making people focus on their weaknesses, but you do it with Charity and kindness." Haha I was kind of confused to know if that was really a strength or a weakness. She told me a lot of other things too, but that one was just great in my mind.

Oh, and it snowed here. and hailed. Majorly. None of the other areas around us saw any change in weather, just us. It melted though by the next day. Our mountains over here have snow on them. It's very pretty and reminds me of home. We set up our Christmas tree as well. We're really preparing for the Holidays over here. I don't know if you can see it, but if you notice in the picture the base is made from a hot chocolate can and a pringles can. Ingenuity. The tree has been with the area and naturally the base has gone missing somewhere in the in and out of missionaries. So we had to be creative. It's a fibre optic tree so inside the hot chocolate tin is a light that we stole from one our desk lamps that the tree is gently hanging over. We're so clever. Breaking into flats, setting up a Christmas tree, what's next?

So I don't know much else to share. It's been a funny week. Feels like I've been in a fog. I'm very tired. Sister Smith is very tired. We're exhausted, but we know we have been working hard.

You asked about packages, it probably takes a package about 10 days to get to England, but since it goes to the mission office we don't get it until the next meeting we have where people from the office will be there. So we have our next meeting a week after transfers. transfers is the 21st.

The boys being baptized are 14, 12, and 10. Ciaran, Gethin, and Matthew respectfully.

(Kara had a filling come out of her tooth.)  About my tooth. I've been asking members and they say it is going to be hard to find a dentist as not very often are they willing to take on a new patient. But they have mentioned that at the store you can by your own filling kit, apparently many of the members do that over here and they said it would do to tide me over until I got home. I don't know what to do...

I hope all is well at home!  Love to all!

Monday, October 29

Kara & Sister Smith Another sideways picture!

What a week! President has recently started referring to us as the zone leader sisters. Everyone is in awe of what we are accomplishing in our area. The zone leaders called last night to get some pointers. They said if they could get everyone in the zone/mission up to par with us it would be better than Christmas. President said he wishes he could get every companionship to have the unity we have. We had a general authority come speak in the mission and he told all the zone leaders we were the experts and to take a leaflet out of our book. So things are going well.

So Elder Kearon of the area presidency was the general authority that came to speak in our mission. He wanted to have a special zone leaders' council with him after the general meeting and we got a phone call last week from the assistants asking us to attend. We thought, okay, they want to have the sisters represented. and maybe that was the original intent. Somehow during the meeting though we were brought up as having so many for baptism and always finding so many new investigators. That was when Elder Kearon said that the zone leaders needed to take some pointers from us and figure out what we're doing, "You can't be them, but you can learn from them." I'm pretty sure I was bright red with embarrassment. This week we had 6 investigators at church. We have 6 dated for baptism. And we had 5 new investigators for the week. That's what we are averaging currently. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father is blessing us in our area and I hope he will continue to bless us. When the zone leaders asked basically what are secret is, I said, "We work in unity, we love each other, and we have fun. When we are happy while talking to people, it makes them want to know why we are happy." When tension arises in this companionship (which happens with every companionship) we make time at the end of the day to sit down in our pajamas, get a bowl of ice cream, and talk. It helps that much more. So we are doing well. Now we just fear that they will separate us next transfer to try to help other areas. We don't know if our techniques will work for others. We'll wait and see!

Elder Kearon spoke on many wonderful things. He talked about choosing to be happy. He talked about being genuine and not just a robot, which I greatly appreciated because I never wanted to be a robot and used my personality anyway! I just didn't know if it was encouraged or not! :)

I was also put in charge of the musical number for the meeting with Elder Kearon. No pressure. Morning of, we met a half an hour before we were to be seated to practice. 4 elders, 4 sisters. We sang hymn 11 to the tune of Come thou Fount. We sang A Capella and it was very beautiful. Many compliments came from that.

  

I feel like I sound prideful, but goodness knows that, just as with Ammon, everything is done by the power of God, "Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land for which we will praise his name forever."

All is going well, I don't have a whole lot else to say! Oh, the pictures I sent are from Beaumaris castle. That's what we did last P day. It was fun exploring the ruins with our district!

Monday, October 22

Ben and Kara...If I knew how to straighten it up, I would!

It has been another good week! A very long week, but those do happen.

Ben got baptized! I am so glad I was able to go! We drove up to Liverpool on Saturday for the baptism and stayed the night in Liverpool before driving down Sunday morning for stake conference (saves on miles). It was so good to see Ben again and his mom, Wendy! They are probably some of the most wonderful people you could imagine. I also am sending a picture of little Ben and myself. He is a pretty cute kid. Such a big heart as well. His mom, Wendy, at the baptism, said they had something to give me. So little Ben came up after the service and gave me a little grocery bag. In the grocery bag was: Nutella, an apple, and blue raspberry bon bons. When he handed it to me and I looked in it, my first thought was, He's been reading my blog! Wendy told me later that they gave me those things because in my last letter to Ben I think I mentioned my blog and he had found it and got all excited and had been reading it. I just love that kid! I don't know if I've ever told you about the blue raspberry bon bons. Wendy had them out for us one time when we went to teach Ben. There were several sweets and she said I had to try one because I would like them. I did. They are bright blue. So I remember going from teaching Ben to ward coordination with a very blue tongue because they were too good I couldn't just have one!! So it was very sweet of them to remember that! I just cannot express the gratitude for wonderful people like Ben and Wendy allowing me to be a part of their lives! I feel so blessed to have met these wonderfully caring people!

At stake conference (keep in mind, I've been in the same stake here since I left Liverpool. Birkenhead and Gaerwen are in the same stake.), I saw Bill, our friend who got baptized while I was in Birkenhead. I was so happy to see him as well! I'm rather horrible at keeping in touch with people! Bill told me he enjoys reading my blog as well... who knew so many people knew about my blog? Everyone tells me it's not too complicated to find.  I'm glad to know people care!

After stake conference we went on an exchange... with the zone leaders... They called us the other day and asked if we could stay after conference to do a finding exchange with them. We don't usually go on exchanges with elders... like ever. They said that they have been asked to go on as many exchanges with as many companionships as they can and that this was the only way they could really do so with sisters. So we split up in Wrexham (where stake conference was) I was with Elder Francis and Sister Smith was with Elder Corbin. We were always with in sight and sound of our companions as to make sure we were still obedient. It is very different going finding with elders than with sisters. They are bold... and slightly terrifying. Elder Francis, though, is a very great missionary. He's new as zone leader in this zone this transfer so I haven't ever served around him before. He knows his purpose in being here and he is determined in all that he does. I learned a lot from our little exchange and I am not an elder so in many ways I can't be like him, but many good principles can be applied. Sister Smith had a good experience as well, they were able to teach a lesson on the spot with some people. So it was very good.

So it's been a great weekend of fond memories and wonderful feelings! I honestly almost started crying at Ben's baptism, I was just so happy and the Spirit was just so strong! The musical number was two families singing, "I am a child of God" and it was just so precious! It was just very touching.

I don't have a whole lot else to say. We're off to see another castle today with the district (once again, in our area). Then, President and Sister Preston are coming down to see us this evening... That's why we were late getting to email, we were making sure our flat was very nice and clean.

So a rather short letter this week. Hailey emailed. She said Dusty was making fun of her novel of an email. I think it was shorter than this. If her emails are novels, my emails are a set of encyclopedias.

I have to tell you, I use Tucker a lot when I am finding people. People often tell us, I'm already happy. I tell them something to the effect:

"I have a nephew. He likes chocolate; as do I. If I bring him a chocolate bar and don't show him the whole chocolate bar, but give him a piece of chocolate, he is pretty happy, and he is happy because that they may be all there is, but it is still chocolate. But how much happier do you think he is when I give him the rest of the chocolate bar? Well, that is what we are sharing. You do know happiness because you don't know all that we can share with you, yet. We share things such as the Book of Mormon..."

That's my thing lately. I think it is a good illustration to use when faced with "I'm already happy."

Well, I am happy. Happier than ever! Hope this email finds you happy as well!

I love you all very very much!

Monday, October 15, 2012

Best story ever! Thursday night we had quite a busy day and it was around 7 PM when we got back near home from our tea appointment. We had an hour before language study, but we both had to use the bathroom so we dashed upstairs to our flat. We then decided to head out finding on the streets near our flat. Well, we got back to our flat at 8 PM for study and I looked to Sister Smith for the flat keys as she usually has them as I usually have the car keys. Hmmm, well, when we had dashed in earlier she had put them down and had forgotten to grab them again and our flat automatically latches and locks when you leave it. So getting into our flat complex itself wasn't too difficult; we just followed someone in. Getting into our flat though... haha! So I called President and told him the situation and he said we could drive up to the mission office and get the spare key... one problem....the car keys were also in the flat. Then he said that the office Elders (Up in Knutsford) could drive down the spare key, but we'd have to ring the office couple to coordinate that. So we called the office couple and let them know our situation. I kind of figured they wouldn't be able to drive down that night because it's a 2 hour drive... So I started trying to think of a way to get into our flat.  I looked at my umbrella, at the door, umbrella, door... I started to bust my umbrella away from the main pole of it. Sister Smith looked at me funny but I explained that we could get into our flat. So we both started working on this make shift pole and string to push through the letter box and latch onto the little handle thing. Our neighbors across the hall came out and we contemplated a bit. Our neighbor then returned with some wire that we could attach on to the end of our pole to make our latching mechanism a bit more solid to grasp onto things. (In the meanwhile, the office couple had phoned back and told us the elders could drive down the key in the morning, but we should try to find a member to lodge with for the night.) I had faith we could break in. Sister Smith and I took turns putting our hands through our letter box trying to latch the handle. We felt the wires around the handle many times, but it just kept sliding off. We had our neighbors' door as reference to look at to know angles and everything, they were nice and offered help as they could. After an hour and a quarter, I finally remembered that you might be able to open the door by (some details omitted!). We checked our neighbors' door and sure enough! I shoved the pole into the letter box, stuck my arm in, felt the wire latch the handle, and (details omitted again!). Wah-lah! The door opened. I was kind of in shock that it actually worked. But we got in!!! We didn't have to sleep at a member's home! I have a massive bruise on my arm from the ordeal, but it was good! Sister Smith called President to let him know we got in. He answered the phone and Sister Smith asked how he was and he chuckled and said that he was good because he had a bed to sleep in. Sister Smith said, "We do too! OUR own!" He laughed and asked how. He told her that "these sort of things aren't what we're supposed to be learning how to do on our missions." and laughed again. He also said we'd have to give trainings at the next conference A) how to not forget your keys and B) how to break into your flat. Haha! So that was an eventful night. Sister Smith felt really bad. I just reminded her that we were smiling while we were in the situation when we could have been mad and angry, so it was perfectly fine. Things happen.

The other exciting thing happened this morning! On a more spiritual note... Do you remember little Ben from Liverpool? The one that started crying when we had to leave? I got a phone call from the Liverpool zone leaders this morning to tell me he is being baptized this Saturday! He requested that they call me and tell me I needed to be there! I was so happy! I called President's phone twice to get permission to go, but he wasn't able to answer. He called me back and said, "I missed TWO calls?" I said, "President! I just called becasue I am just so excited!... Little Ben is being baptized this Saturday!.... Can I go?!" He said of course I could go. I just have to reimburse the cost of thr petrol from my personal funds. I am so happy he is getting baptized!

More miracles, our investigator Laura brought her three boys to church with her this Sunday. We had had FHE with them last Monday with them along with the Young Men's president. They were invited to mutual and they went last Wednesday. Now they're coming to church and we have a lesson with them on Tuesday! Hopefully we will see them baptized!

We also had a Chinese investigator named Kevin come to church yesterday as well, meaning that we had 5 investigators at church! It was a great day! It was stressful trying to find lifts and whatnot, but they all got there! We almost walked with Kevin the 7 miles to church because the lift for him had fallen through, but we were able to find a lift last second before we started walking!

Another Miracle, we had received information about a recent convert who had moved into the area from Ireland. The information we were given was her phone number and her dorm address. We tried to ring her and it was an Irish number so it didn't work for us to call. The dorms are keycode security locked so we didn't know how we were going to find her. A few days later we were on the street talking to someone and out of nowhere this girl comes up and says, "Oh my goodness, where's the nearest ward?!" Here she was, the recent convert from Ireland. She had been trying to find the nearest church, but to no avail. She was so happy to see us! Her name is Aiofe. Pronounced Ee-fuh. We met with her, and apparently the friends she was with when she saw us on the street were very curoius as to why she was so excited to see us and they've been asking her questions about the church and want to come on a Sunday with her. So wonderful!

So it's been a good few days since I last wrote!

Next transfer is the day before Thanksgiving. I hope they don't transfer me out, there's a few Americans in this ward and they're already talking about having us over... it would be the pits to get moved to a ward that had like no Americans or didn't know me well enough to make it an enjoyable Thanksgiving! oh well, we'll see. We have interviews with President on Wednesday for our zone conference, I'll mention it...

The picture is of my broken umbrella!

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Still in Wales (Gaerwen); still with Sister Smith! We've decided President was probably just afraid of what I might do if he tried to separate us. We had plotted to run away to Scotland.

Today marks the end of my 6th transfer! Meaning I have like 6 transfers left! It was kind of a weird realization the other night when I discovered that. Sister Smith and I talked about it for a bit because we couldn't quite comprehend that. She's having a hard time comprehending she's already been in the UK now for 2 months! I've been here 9 Months (plus a little if going by weeks, minus a little if going by months-February 18, March 18, April 18, etc.-).

It's been a good week and a half. We were both pretty stressed about transfers, but sigh of relief now.

I loved conference. We don't get to watch Sunday Evening session because it's on too late and they don't rebroadcast it the next day like Saturday evening's. Sister Smith was hoping Elder Bednar would talk earlier than Sunday evening and I was hoping Elder Holland would speak earlier than Sunday evening. I got my wish! So I really enjoyed his talk! Wrote page after page of his talk! I really enjoyed it. I also Loved Elder Oak's talk. He was choosing to be very bold!

This weekend was just a weekend full of meetings! Saturday we headed out early to go to a District Leader's Council meeting in Chester, we go as the only sister's in the zone! After that meeting (10AM-12:30), the stake rebroadcast of the general relief society meeting was in Chester and they did a luncheon and workshop (12:30-3). Drove back home in time to have a half-hour tea and then drove to our Chapel here in Gaerwen for Sunday morning session at 5. So that was a busy day. Sunday morning we had our study until 11 (because Sister Smith is still being trained for 3 more weeks), had two appointments (11 and 12), were 15 minutes late to the rebroadcast of the Saturday evening session (1-3), had a lesson at 3:30 near home, dropped by home to grab a QUICK bite to eat, drove back to church for the Sunday Morning session (5-7), locked up the chapel, and went and did a bit of finding. That was our weekend! Busy! But Sunday morning we did have a lesson with someone new and she is so excited to learn more about the gospel. We invited her to be baptized in early November and she accepted. We just have to keep meeting with her and help her progress!

At the stake rebroadcast of the general relief society meeting, a lot of sisters from Birkenhead were present. I have never felt more loved in my life. They all came up to me, hugged me, asked how I was doing, etc! That was nice. One of the sisters came and talked to me and I told her I was training a new missionary. She said, "I know. I read your blog." I was completely taken aback! I wondered how she found my blog and learned that she googled it. I guess I'm pretty easy to find!

It's been good though. Last P-Day we wanted to have an adventure just in case we weren't together or in this area again. So we texted Tracey, our recent convert, and asked where some neat lighthouses were. So we went and explored near one of those and we went for a bit of a hike and nature walk in the process. It was a super windy day, but oh so much fun! I'm so glad that Sister Smith is so easy to get along with!

I hope you are all doing well, having fun in your various capacities, and reread President Uchtdorf's talk on how to live your life so you have no regrets! I am so grateful for the experiences I am having! I love it here and am so grateful for the wonderful blessings that come into my life! I am continuing to learn Chinese and it is coming along well. I am not proficient, but getting there slowly.

Wo ai Nimen! Wo ganxie nimen rong wo zhege jihui. Wo zhidao zhege Jiaohui shi zhen shi de. Wo ai Tianfu he Ta ai wo. Wo zhidao Tianfu ai women. Tianfu cigei women xuanzhi yin wei Ta ai women. Wo zhidao Yuese Simi shi yi ge xianzhi. Yuese Simi tonguo Shen de li liang fan yi Mo'ermonjing. Wo zhidao Mo'ermonjing shi Shen de hua. Mo'ermonjing jiaodao Yesu Jidu de fu yin. Yesu Jidu de fu yin ke yi bangzhu women xianxi Shen shi shei. Wo ai zhege fu yin.

Translated:
I love you. Thank you for allowing me this opportunity. I know this church is true. I love Heavenly Father and He loves me. I know that Heavenly Father loves us. Heavenly Father gave us prophets because he loves us. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet. Joseph Smith through the power of God translated the Book of Mormon. I know the Book of Mormon is God's word. The Book of Mormon teaches Christ's gospel. The Gospel of Jesus Christ can help us learn who God is. I love this gospel.

It's a little rough, but hey....     

Monday, October 1, 2012

Sorry I'm late getting this out today. The P-Day before transfers we have to spend an hour deep cleaning the flat rather than the usual half hour. It's hard to believe transfers are next week. President's hinting that we might not be in this area anymore, but I don't really know how to read him sometimes. So you may hear from me next Wednesday if we stay or later if something changes.

It's hard to believe it's October already. I told Sister Smith that I feel like it was just yesterday I was sending Tucker a birthday card. Now it's October.

We had a good week. stressful, but good. Wales (and parts of England) has been flooding a lot lately with all the rain. We were supposed to go on Exchange with sisters down in Newtown (a 2 1/2 hour drive for us) on Tuesday, but they called as we were an hour into the drive to say that the trains had been rerouted and delayed because of the flooding and they wouldn't get in until late evening. So I called the zone leaders and asked if they could arrange another exchange for us. They called back Wednesday to tell us we were doing an exchange with Liverpool on Thursday. so Thursday we met the Liverpool sisters in Chester and exchanged so Sister Hull came with me and Sister Smith went with Sister Embley (another Chinese speaking missionary who came out with Sister Smith). The zone leaders thought it would be good to have the Chinese speaking work together over exchange and I think it helped Sister Smith quite a bit to have someone who spoke a bit more Chinese than I do. :) So we worked hard on our exchanges and exchanged back on Saturday. Sister Smith said that she was very grateful to have me as a companion after seeing and hearing about other missionaries. So that was nice.

Last week in my weekly letter to President I wrote about how stubborn Sister Smith is, but I love her. Apparently in her letter she wrote how stubborn I am, but she loves me. Basically in many things that we wrote, we wrote basically the same letter. President called me Saturday and said he had read our letters and said it seems he's got another Sister Orr in the mission. I laughed. He said it's not good. I'm still confused as to what he meant by that. Oh well! I told Sister Smith and she was like, "I am my own person!" So she called President that night just to clarify that. :)

We've been teaching a lot of new people lately, it's just a mattter of finding who is prepared. Some we are able to teach once or twice and then they just disappear. It's slightly obnoxious.

We didn't have any investigators at church yesterday so we went and sat in on the YSA class. It was a lesson on the Beattitudes and it was really great. So many wonderful things in the scriptures!

I don't have a lot of new news to tell you this week. I did get some new boots. Nothing as good as my hushpuppies though... We spent last P-day cooking chicken noodle soup and cookies. It was great! Thanks mom for the recipes! They turned out great and really hit the spot! The soup lasted us quite a few days!

Today we plan to go explore a lighthouse and some caves. It will be great!

Dad, Congratulations on your new calling. Are you ever just going to be able to sit in the congregation like everyone else? Seems like ages since you were able to. Still haven't been able to write a letter to the ward yet.

  

General Conference is next week and we are very excited! Here, no one really has a whole lot of access so they broadcast it at every chapel. So we'll be watching it in the chapel at Gaerwen! 5-7 PM is Saturday morning session! oh time differences!

Well I love you all very much, find someone to hug and imagine that I'm hugging you! I miss you all and I love to hear from you! I hope you have a great week and I will write again later next week!

With LOTS of love,

Kara

Monday, September 24, 2012

 It's raining again. We have time today since we don't have much planned so we are going boot shopping. Still wearing my hush puppies that fill with water and Sister Smith doesn't even have boots yet. That's our goal today. Go find some Wellies.

I came down with a bit of a head cold this week and then subsequently Sister Smith got it. So we both sit here sniffling writing our letters. :)

It's been a good week. We had Multi-zone training last week and so that was nice. They divided us at one point so that all the senior companions were together and all the junior companions were together. I still haven't really grasped that whole concept. It's good though that it's not so evident. I am glad that Sister Smith and I see each other as equal and we are just really good friends. Sister Smith really is great. We are so much alike. She wasn't feeling very well the other day and I asked her if we needed to rest. She was being really stubborn. I said,"You need to take care of yourself!" As I said it I cringed. She said, "You're one to talk! President tells you that all the time!" I cringed because I knew she was being just like me so it gave me no room to talk. So we both decided that we would be good and take a rest to "Take care of ourselves." I called President last night and apologized because I came to realize just how stubborn and a pain I can be at times. He laughed and said it was true. Honest, Sister Smith and I are so much alike. President says we're a good combination though because we are accomplishing great things! And we are.

Everyone in the ward here has become like family. They saw me last Tuesday night just as my head cold was settling in. Bishop asked if I was ill. I said yes. He then asked me if I was eating properly and taking care of myself. I said, "Define eating properly." He asked what I had for breakfast. I said a pop tart; which I was pretty proud that I had eaten that! He said, "Hold out your hand." Sister Smith and I both thought he wanted to see if I was shaking. So I confidently held my hand out palm down... he slapped it and said, "Pop tarts are rubbish and aren't a proper breakfast." Then Bishop's mom came over and got the update and said, "Love, Don't you know that in the 2009th section of the Doctrine and Covenants it says that pop tarts are against the Word of Wisdom? I'll print it for you." We had a laugh and they sent me home with cold medicine. So I am being well looked after.

We are meeting a lot of Chinese people. The University starts up again this week so a lot of new people just came in. Once things settle a bit more, I am sure we will see much more success.

  

Well, I hope you are all doing well. I am doing great! I am enjoying life so much! I'm experiencing a bit of homesickness as the holidays approach, but it's okay. I've got good memories to think back over of Holidays in the past. I think as the weather gets colder with the holidays it makes me more homesick than when I lived in Hawaii because I didn't see a proper winter. The last proper winter I had was at home with family and when I was still in High school. I know it's still only September, but it's getting mighty chilly over here already. You're probably still baking in the heat!

September 17, 2012

Another Monday, another week, another grand adventurous time in the UK. I will be attaching some pictures from last week's adventure. We found the old church, took walk through a field of sheep, found out that it may not be the oldest, but it is pretty old and still has services in it. So that was pretty neat!

So it's been a busy week. It just flew by to be honest. As a whole mission we dedicated 5 hours on Saturday just to finding. We saw amazing miracles that day! We set up 6 appointments for this coming week because of it. Really one of the incredible miracles was that we had a lesson on the spot. We had planned to tract a road called Glynne Road at 10 AM Saturday morning. Well I knew the general direction of the road from our flat and figured we would just see the street sign. Well I forget that here in the UK street signs are few and far between. Well after talking to a few people along the way and not seeing "Glynne Road" we decided to head down this unnamed street to tract. The first house we go to, this little old man answers the door. I got so excited! I said, "Your name is Richard!" He looked at me and said, "Yes." Then I said, "You're 91 years old. Is that right?" He said, "Yes." And invited us in for a lesson. Now, before you think I'm just super creepy, I met him before. I met him about a month and a half ago when I was out street contacting.  He had told us all about him and that he would love to have us over some time. Then We weren't able to find his street on the map! And lo and behold! We found him! It was great! He said I must have had all the information just written down in front of me, but honestly I don't even know where I wrote his information. It just was right there when I needed. Gives a whole new meaning to being given what to say in the very hour you need to say it.

Another miracle that happened. A few weeks ago, we asked the Bishop for an area he felt we needed to go work in. He came back to us with the village of Rhosneigr. So Friday night we decided to head out that way. We have been working on praying more specifically for miracles so Thursday as we made plans we prayed that we would find new investigators or perhaps a less-active that we were meant to run into. We were walking along the beach talking to so many wonderful people (mostly tourists) and we were running out of people that we hadn't talked to. Then we see this woman walking onto the beach. She heads to the edge of the water and has her back towards us. Sister Smith and I started to approach her. Sister Smith said, "Excuse me..." and she turned. That's when I threw my hands out and said, "She's a member!" And she was, from Liverpool. So we hugged and she was really excited to see us. She invited us back to their rental where her and her mom were staying. So we went. As we were talking and having a lesson, she mentioned having us over for tea. She said it would be perfect for us to come Wednesday as her inactive son will be coming to join them. He's not from our area, but I thought, he might be the one we are meant to meet here. Then we started talking about Sister Smith and how she's been called to speak Chinese. Then the member said that her inactive son is actually trying to work on learning Chinese. At that moment I was just blown away. What are the chances? Needless to say, miracles do happen!

So those were are big experiences this week! A Super week!!! :)

Umbrella Pic--You'd think the UK would be pro at making high quality umbrellas..... It's a lie... absolutely rubbish. I bought a new one. It's already broken. Umbrella number 6? :)

I'm sorry to hear about Dusty's head/face. I guess accident-prone-ness doesn't just run in the blood, but you can marry into it as well. I hope everything will be okay! I send my love... and whatever support I can. :) You all need to be taking care of yourselves!