Monday, April 15

It was a good week. It was busy.

Sister Leslie and I are getting along well and for the first time in the Oldham area we have so many appointments that we are struggling fitting all of them in. Many are less-active members and a few investigators as well! It's crazy!

Our mission had been compiling "A Mission Song," they are going to record it and then we will all learn it. So we got a phone call this morning saying we had been nominated to be 2 of the 8 singing on the recording. So that was a bit of a shock. So we'll be going into the recording studio on Friday!

We had some miracles happen yesterday. Last week Sister Leslie was talking to someone on the bus about general conference and this man interrupted asking if we really have a living prophet on the earth today. So Sister Leslie invited him to the broadcast of conference and he came last week. He said he really enjoyed it, but then was unable to give us his phone number or where he lived. We had set an appointment to meet at the library this last Tuesday, but we couldn't find him. We were a bit discouraged because we didn't know how to contact him. Well he showed up at church yesterday and stayed the whole time. So we set up another appointment for this week.

Also, a week ago we talked to a man on the bus... well he talked to us at first. We got on the bus and he said, "Oye, I'll talk to you." So we went down and talked to him about the gospel. He seemed completely uninterested so we thought all we were doing was planting a seed. Well he showed up at church yesterday completely surprising us! He still doesn't want to meet with us yet, but he said he might come back to church another time in a few weeks. So that was pretty great!

We heard Thursday that they are introducing new Sister leadership in missions. Training Sister Leaders or something like that. They're basically zone leaders without the Priesthood (as Sister Preston put it). So that will be interesting. We'll start having those in our mission starting next transfer. So many changes with all the new missionaries and everything! We have 15 sisters coming in at the next transfer.

Well, I don't have a whole lot else to say for the time being. I haven't figured anything out with fall housing yet, but working on it.

Monday, April 8

It's been a really good week! We were able to teach several lessons!

President Preston referred 2 of his friends, Ken and Jenny, and we were able to meet with them and teach them! I think they have so much wonderful potential, I wish they could just see it themselves! Sister Leslie and I feel very strongly that we can help them in some way or another. I don't know if it will be getting them to church or baptised or just helping them build a testimony. President Preston came out teaching with us on Wednesday and it was so good! Sister Leslie was so worried about teaching with President Preston, but she did really well. We are working on building her confidence.

We have started working with a part member family. A few of the kids haven't been baptised and the mum and dad don't really like coming to church because they've got an issue with a member, but they are so wonderful and we look forward to being able to work with them.

We were getting off the bus the other day and the bus driver stopped us and asked us where we are from. He apparently met with missionaries briefly 3 years ago and went to church with them. He then asked if we had time to meet with him! So we met with him the other day and are making slow progress, but progress nonetheless.

Anyway, as for housing in the fall. I got permission from President to start searching for it when I'm online. I know the Ferre's were renting to students, so I might check with them. I'll email some of my friends and try to get contact information for their landlords. So that's where I'm up to with that.

I'm a bit scatter-brained today trying to get loads of things sorted so sorry if this letter is short and somewhat less than informative. It'll be a good week this week. We have several lessons planned again plus 2 zone conferences plus interviews with President.

 

Anyway, hope the world is treating everyone well. I love you lots! Mother's day is coming up soon, we'll try to get times sorted as to when to call (skype) home. I know it's still a month away, but time flies like crazy.

Tuesday, April 2

Sorry I didn't give any warning about not emailing yesterday. I forget that whenever there's an opportunity to take a holiday they take it over here. So yes, everywhere was closed yesterday for the Easter holiday.

Happy Late Easter!

It's been a good week or so! Sister Leslie is very nice and a really good missionary! We've been able to see a lot of good things happening! We went to go stop by some less-actives last night and one of them let us in and we had a lovely conversation and we'll be going back there on Thursday to make dinner for her and see her again. She has some physical limitations so we offered to come and make dinner for her and do a bit of service for her. So I think it will be a really good experience. We also saw one of our investigators named Samantha last night. We haven't been able to see her in weeks and weren't even sure she even wanted to keep meeting with us. We ended up feeling prompted to extend the baptismal invitation to her and she is now praying about whether or not she should be baptized on the 27th of April. So that was a good experience as well.

I can't believe it's April already! It doesn't seem to be with the weather over here, but apparently in 2 weeks it's supposed to start being really nice.

How was the Easter holidays back home? We spent it finding... and finding... and finding.... but it was good. We spent all day Saturday finding, but we met some really nice people that could become investigators in the near future! We taught a lesson Saturday night and we really are spreading the gospel to all the world. One of the members is from Ghana and she had family from Ghana visiting for the weekend and invited us over to teach her family about the church. We met and talked about the restoration. Before we even asked them to read The Book of Mormon, they asked if they could each have a copy to start studying. They were pretty happy and excited to hear that there is a living prophet on the earth today. They'll be staying down in London for the next month of so before going back to Ghana, but we gave them the information to know how to contact the missionaries wherever they are. They even ended up decided to come to church on Sunday as well! So even though they weren't able to become our investigators, I hope and pray they will get in touch with the missionaries in Ghana! Sunday was really good, we had testimony meeting. I think having so many people bear testimony of the Atonement really brought the Spirit very powerfully. The chapel was absolutely full of people and I hope they were all able to have their hearts touched in some way on a beautiful Easter Sunday morning.

So I wrote a while back about how I've had to deal with some creepy men as of late. I've actually had to deal with creepy men a fair bit on my mission. I wrote to President in one of recent weekly letters that sometimes it's just so hard being a sister and having to deal with things like that. He called me and told me I'm basically the only sister that has had to deal with it to the extent that I have. He has now committed me to staying away from creepy men. I'm trying. A man at the bus station the other day wanted to hold me hand. I called President that night for some reason and just mentioned it, he was less than pleased to hear about it. Meh, it's alright, I'm smart and am not going to allow myself to get into any truly tough situations. I just thought it was funny that I've been committed to avoid creepy men. The thing is, they all seem relatively normal at first...

Oh! I had an experience today, we were on the bus and Sister Leslie started to talk to someone. I kind of was listening a bit from where I was sitting and the girl was from China. She didn't speak a whole lot of English and so Sister Leslie asked me to come over. I was able to talk to her in some Chinese and understood a little bit of what she said to me in Chinese. We got her number and she said she'd be willing to meet with us to help her improve her English and I asked if she could help me with Chinese. So hopefully we can make something happen there! I was just really proud that I spoke Chinese to someone and they understood what I was saying!

Hmmm... I don't think I have a whole lot else to say today. The sun has been shining a bit more, so there's hope, it's still cold, but at least the sun is shining.

I hope you all will have a wonderful week!

 

I love you all so much!

Thursday, March 28

It's a Thursday and the sun is finally shining after days of blizzards and cold winds. But it's supposed to get cold again and stay dead freezing until end of April. I've been told I need to go see a doctor about being so cold and tired all the time. Some of the members think I might have an under active thyroid. I agreed to talk to a doctor. The members say it's just not normal to be wearing leggings, nylons, fleece and polyester tights, 3 pairs of socks, and boots and still come home at night with purple and red feet. So we'll see if I need to be tested for something.

I'm still in Oldham. New companion. Her name is Sister Leslie. I'm follow-up training her. She's been out 6 weeks so we'll complete the rest of her 12 weeks training (even though this transfer is only 5 weeks). President told me she is a really good missionary and I am her companion right now to prepare her to be a trainer in Oldham next transfer and then I will white-wash train next transfer. That's what he says... things often change. So we'll see. Sister Leslie is a really good missionary though! We've only been together less than 24 hours and I am just so utterly impressed. We talked last night of anything we feel individually we would like to see improve in ourselves this transfer and then during study this morning we set goals and expectations for this transfer as a companionship. We are going to see wonderful miracles! She is from St. George Utah, just turned 21 this month, and is studying nursing back home.

Sister Ballantyne went down to Wales (not Gaerwen area) and she is training there.

President Preston and I had a good long conversation yesterday. I just talked about some of my fears and struggles. It was good to talk to him. I told him I know perfectly well that I over analyze things. He agreed. He is proud of who I am becoming and just always tells me that I have so much that I am contributing to this mission.

I've apparently become the "mafia boss" of the sisters. Don't worry, it's supposed to be a good thing. I know most of everything that goes on with the sisters. The good, the bad, everything. Many of the sisters have permission to call me if they need to talk or if they're struggling or anything. I've had so many sisters call me in tears and saying, "I want to go home." I have come to realize that all the things I have gone through have made me that much stronger and I can honestly help these sisters get through many of the things they face because I've been there! Sister Ballantyne dubbed me the Mafia Boss.

We have a fast, find, and feast this Saturday. We will fast on Friday, Devote ourselves to finding on Saturday, and then have a feast sometime to complete the circle. If you could pray that we find new investigators it would be greatly appreciated! We want these wonderful miracles to happen, but we definitely need Heavenly Father's help!

So, that's mostly what's been happening in my life. It's still cold and damp, but everyone keeps saying spring is coming soon...

Mom and Dad, Hope you're having a blast in Belize, enjoying warm weather. Hailey, Liam is a fat little chunk ain't he? Aunt Judy sent some pictures. He looks like he is almost as big as Kimber! Maybe it's just the angles.

Anyway, I hope this letter finds you happy and well!

I love you lots!

Monday, March 18

Goodness, I can't even really remember what happened this last week. It's all a bit of a blur really. We currently have/had one investigator who is progressing, his name is David, and we are handing him over to the Elders in the area to start teaching him. He's 45 and kind of just gave us creepy vibes since day one, but I thought maybe I was just passing judgements, but no. He texts us all the time and he got mad the other day when we didn't text back within 10 minutes of him texting us. He refused to come to church yesterday because we had ignored his phone calls on Saturday... He also told us that we shouldn't obey the rules that are put on us and that we should be able to spend more time with him and let him buy us things. He then texted me the other night and said that he'd really like to keep in contact in the future if that's okay with me. He also bought me a monthly bus pass that he wants to give me the next time we see him.  Little does he know that the next appointment we set, the Elders will show up. Can't wait for the text messages and phone calls that will come after that since the last time when I left the area for a bit and had the Elders go teach I got a text message from him saying that I need to understand that I'm the only person that can teach him about "the Mormon book.".... President is happy to hear he has no idea where we live.

I also got asked by a 50 year old man the other day if he could be my "British boyfriend." There are weird people in the world. Our zone leader told us the other day that he had heard that Sisters become very attractive when they have the Spirit... so I should maybe take all this as a compliment?

All our other investigators are just very flaky. Brian told us he can't meet with us for 3 weeks because he's baking a cake.... Samantha needs to spend quality time with her cat because she's been ill lately... Robert can't read and doesn't want to listen to the Book of Mormon on CD... So we are working on contacting referrals and gaining new investigators. It can be rather frustrating.

Mom, It's really interesting that you mention catching a bit of a 24 hour bug/flu. I had a bit of that yesterday and wasn't able to sleep Saturday night and missed church yesterday because of it. 14 months of perfect attendance and then miss a Sunday. I called Sister Preston and was really distraught about it. I'm a missionary! I can't miss church! She told me I'd be okay.

I was able to see some pictures of Kade and Kimber in an email from Aunt Judy. Kade is a little chunk isn't it?! He looks nothing like Kimber or Tucker did. Although I am basing that judgement on 2 pictures.

I'm happy to hear Dusty got a job. I'm sure Rexburg will be fine. Hailey, if it gets too cliqueish at least you know you have family in all directions. Who needs friends when you have family!? Psh, Family is so much better. O'hana means family, family means no one gets left behind or forgotten... just throw in a little Lilo and Stitch quote.

Well, the sun is shining. I hope it stays that way. Mom, I forgot to print off the letter of intent last week before my time ran out. Maybe it would be better if you just took care of it if you have some time.

Mom and Dad, I hope you have fun in Belize, give my love Aunt Linda and Uncle Bill. I won't be emailing on Monday next week because it's transfers again next week! Yes, already that time again! I only have 3 more transfers left (plus a bit if I am able to extend) It's really not that far away. I'm finishing up my 10th transfer.

Sister Ballantyne and I are still getting along well. We more likely than not won't stay together next transfer, but it's been fun. Once again the prospect of making another attempt at being a trainer next transfer lingers in the air...but we'll see. President wanted to keep me in this area for a while still, but with our investigator being the way he is, I might get moved. Who knows!

Anyway, I think that's about all I have to say! I hope you are all doing well... I can't remember if daylight savings time will happen for us this coming weekend or next, but sometime soon it'll happen.

I love you all very much!