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!