I am singing a solo in training this week. "Where love is." in the Primary hymnbook. We were practicing yesterday after church. The Stake 1st counselor came in as we were packing up and said that I had a marvelous talent and to keep using it and sharing it... I said thank you and in my mind I was thinking: If I get asked to sing at stake conference.... tut tut tut. :)
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Monday, March 5
This week was busy. We had a really random but great experience. We headed out to go find an AUF (Address Unknown File, people that moved but never came to church after they moved) and as we were walking this lady was like, "Hello!" I looked at my companion wondering if I should know who this person was, but she looked just as confused as I did. We offered to help her with her groceries and we decided to learn more about her. She told us she had met with the sister missionaries before. We asked her when and what church she belonged to. She told us it was back in 2007 and that she was baptized. We were like, "baptized into what church?" and she said ours. We didn't know what to think. My thought was that she was crazy. We got to her flat and asked if we could step in for a quick message. We talked more about her baptism to see if it was legit and she even hauled out her program from the service. and sure enough! She was a member of our church. There's only one ward here in Liverpool so we knew that she hadn't been to church any time recently so we invited her and she came yesterday. We asked the relief society president about her and we were told that she had moved and hadn't been heard from in months since she moved. So that was a complete miracle we ran into her that day. She's from Gambia and has had some struggles in life.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
I honestly don't know what to write! All my days are blending together and subsequently all my weeks as well... Time is flying by yet dragging at the same time.
I had to give a 5 minute talk yesterday to introduce myself to the ward. It went alright, I talked about how basically everyday I check my call letter to make sure they didn't sneakily put in there that I was actually called to speak Chinese. Sister Chuo got a little talking to about teaching so many Chinese because when she leaves at the end of the transfer all of the Chinese speaking investigators will transfer to the Chinese speaking elders and if we are teaching no one else then I will be left with no one to teach. So we are trying to find more Non-Chinese people to teach. I am not exaggerating about how many Chinese people we teach. This last week we taught 25 lessons, 21 were to Chinese people. I don't make this up. Granted some of them were repeats of the same Chinese people, but still.
We had our first district meeting this last week. President and Sister Preston decided to come to ours. No pressure. There are only 6 of us in our district (3 companionships). After district meeting Sister Preston had arranged to come out teaching with us. Once again, no pressure. I don't know if Sister Chuo was worried I'd make her look bad or if I just looked like a deer in the headlights, but for the time Sister Preston was with us, I didn't get to talk much. It was good though.
We have 5 "Tea" (dinner) appointments this coming week. I guess people in the ward like me. That's good right? They eat so many potatoes (spuds) here it's slightly ridiculous... and they say Idahoans eat a lot of spuds...
Saturday night they had a big stake activity called roadshows. All the wards had written little plays to perform in this competition. We got permission to go if we had investigators to go, so naturally I was doing everything I could to get investigators to go. We got a few people to go and it was really fun. Was able to experience true British humour at its finest.
We are going to go to the Titanic museum they have here, apparently the Titanic sailed out of this harbour or something. We are going as a district outing. I'm pretty happy to go.
Tell anyone who is expecting letters that I haven't had time to write any yet. I feel bad about that.
I haven't gotten anything from you yet, but that would be because when it is sent to the mission home we don't get it until zone conferences or special trainings, so hopefully next week I will get what you have sent.
I have been asked to sing the special musical number in the specialized training next week. I wonder what they would do if I got up and sand in my chipmunk voice.... hmmm? I won't really, but it'd be pretty funny...
We have one investigator we are teaching named (Name omitted). She has a sort of social phobia. She came to church once and didn't like it because everyone kept talking to her. I explained that's just how the ward is to try to get to know her and better know if she needs anything. We didn't really know how to deal with it, but we decided to take a member with us to teach her to try to get her a friend that she would be more comfortable being with at church. We called one of the girls in our ward who is 20, also goes to Liverpool University where she attends. Turns out when we met up for the lesson, she knew the girl we brought. They are both studying law and have classes together. They got along great and (Name omitted) came to church yesterday. So that was good progress!
Well, I have to dash, time and all.... Miss you all!
I had to give a 5 minute talk yesterday to introduce myself to the ward. It went alright, I talked about how basically everyday I check my call letter to make sure they didn't sneakily put in there that I was actually called to speak Chinese. Sister Chuo got a little talking to about teaching so many Chinese because when she leaves at the end of the transfer all of the Chinese speaking investigators will transfer to the Chinese speaking elders and if we are teaching no one else then I will be left with no one to teach. So we are trying to find more Non-Chinese people to teach. I am not exaggerating about how many Chinese people we teach. This last week we taught 25 lessons, 21 were to Chinese people. I don't make this up. Granted some of them were repeats of the same Chinese people, but still.
We had our first district meeting this last week. President and Sister Preston decided to come to ours. No pressure. There are only 6 of us in our district (3 companionships). After district meeting Sister Preston had arranged to come out teaching with us. Once again, no pressure. I don't know if Sister Chuo was worried I'd make her look bad or if I just looked like a deer in the headlights, but for the time Sister Preston was with us, I didn't get to talk much. It was good though.
We have 5 "Tea" (dinner) appointments this coming week. I guess people in the ward like me. That's good right? They eat so many potatoes (spuds) here it's slightly ridiculous... and they say Idahoans eat a lot of spuds...
Saturday night they had a big stake activity called roadshows. All the wards had written little plays to perform in this competition. We got permission to go if we had investigators to go, so naturally I was doing everything I could to get investigators to go. We got a few people to go and it was really fun. Was able to experience true British humour at its finest.
We are going to go to the Titanic museum they have here, apparently the Titanic sailed out of this harbour or something. We are going as a district outing. I'm pretty happy to go.
Tell anyone who is expecting letters that I haven't had time to write any yet. I feel bad about that.
I haven't gotten anything from you yet, but that would be because when it is sent to the mission home we don't get it until zone conferences or special trainings, so hopefully next week I will get what you have sent.
I have been asked to sing the special musical number in the specialized training next week. I wonder what they would do if I got up and sand in my chipmunk voice.... hmmm? I won't really, but it'd be pretty funny...
We have one investigator we are teaching named (Name omitted). She has a sort of social phobia. She came to church once and didn't like it because everyone kept talking to her. I explained that's just how the ward is to try to get to know her and better know if she needs anything. We didn't really know how to deal with it, but we decided to take a member with us to teach her to try to get her a friend that she would be more comfortable being with at church. We called one of the girls in our ward who is 20, also goes to Liverpool University where she attends. Turns out when we met up for the lesson, she knew the girl we brought. They are both studying law and have classes together. They got along great and (Name omitted) came to church yesterday. So that was good progress!
Well, I have to dash, time and all.... Miss you all!
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Monday, February 20
Hello there! Can it be Monday again already? Time is flying by!
This last week has been busy. We've picked up a few new investigators and some of those we were teaching have decided they don't want to be taught anymore... so that's kind of sad.
We were asked to help out with the stake primary activity on Saturday. We were asked to do a workshop on how to be a good missionary. It was fun. I have never seen kids so well behaved! I actually told them to stand up and do a little dance to get some life into these kids (no one would get up and do a little dance). I was so surprised! It went well though.
(At church) there was a visitor from Colorado who had served his mission in Liverpool 30 years ago... He was asked to talk and he spoke of how Liverpool was his first area and he got really depressed while trying to understand what the people are saying here. Afterwords I went and talked to him and it was finally someone I could relate to. He told me that two weeks after arriving in Liverpool he went to the mission president, bags packed, and said, "If the whole darn ocean was froze over, I'd be out there on a pair of ice skates. I want to go home!" He said that he understands my struggles and said the first 6 months are the hardest.
I got a French Book of Mormon! I told my mom that maybe I could learn a bit of French that way!
This last week has been busy. We've picked up a few new investigators and some of those we were teaching have decided they don't want to be taught anymore... so that's kind of sad.
We were asked to help out with the stake primary activity on Saturday. We were asked to do a workshop on how to be a good missionary. It was fun. I have never seen kids so well behaved! I actually told them to stand up and do a little dance to get some life into these kids (no one would get up and do a little dance). I was so surprised! It went well though.
(At church) there was a visitor from Colorado who had served his mission in Liverpool 30 years ago... He was asked to talk and he spoke of how Liverpool was his first area and he got really depressed while trying to understand what the people are saying here. Afterwords I went and talked to him and it was finally someone I could relate to. He told me that two weeks after arriving in Liverpool he went to the mission president, bags packed, and said, "If the whole darn ocean was froze over, I'd be out there on a pair of ice skates. I want to go home!" He said that he understands my struggles and said the first 6 months are the hardest.
I got a French Book of Mormon! I told my mom that maybe I could learn a bit of French that way!
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Week 4 - Characters!
Please note--Mum had to modify the new address--you have to add "Great Britain" at the bottom of it...duh. This is an excerpt from Kara's latest e-mail:
(Sunday) church was really good. Our ward is about half the size of our ward at home. (It's) got a bit of crazies in it, but what ward doesn't? We have a guy that is known as Edward the Pirate, because he lives on a boat 8 months out of the year and travels via boat up and down England trying to visit all the wards he can find.... We took (another sister) on an appointment the other day and that was kind of a bad idea! She speaks "scouse" (the Liverpool dialect) and we went to teach a guy from Yemen who speaks VERY little English (although he has lived here 4 years). So first off they couldn't understand each other at all. Secondly, she's not very reverent. She asked (our investigator) how many siblings he had and he responded telling her he has 8 brothers and 2 sisters. She got a shocked look on her face and said, "Ooo! You're parents been busy han't they?!".... and we carried on with the lesson. I was beginning to bear my testimony of Joseph Smith and I said, "Everytime I hear that story I get a bit emotional..." She interrupted with, "Just puts a lump in your throat don't it?!... sorry love, I forget, bad English, a lump in your throat, ya know, makes ya all sobby....Oh sorry love, you can keep talkin." Thanks... so she's a character.
(Sunday) church was really good. Our ward is about half the size of our ward at home. (It's) got a bit of crazies in it, but what ward doesn't? We have a guy that is known as Edward the Pirate, because he lives on a boat 8 months out of the year and travels via boat up and down England trying to visit all the wards he can find.... We took (another sister) on an appointment the other day and that was kind of a bad idea! She speaks "scouse" (the Liverpool dialect) and we went to teach a guy from Yemen who speaks VERY little English (although he has lived here 4 years). So first off they couldn't understand each other at all. Secondly, she's not very reverent. She asked (our investigator) how many siblings he had and he responded telling her he has 8 brothers and 2 sisters. She got a shocked look on her face and said, "Ooo! You're parents been busy han't they?!".... and we carried on with the lesson. I was beginning to bear my testimony of Joseph Smith and I said, "Everytime I hear that story I get a bit emotional..." She interrupted with, "Just puts a lump in your throat don't it?!... sorry love, I forget, bad English, a lump in your throat, ya know, makes ya all sobby....Oh sorry love, you can keep talkin." Thanks... so she's a character.
We are one of the busiest areas in England. Most areas are finding all the time with little teaching... we haven't been able to go finding yet. We run from appointment to appointment and rarely have time to stop and eat lunch.... My feet are swollen... they hurt, but I'm told I'll get used to it.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Week 3 - Into the Field!
This week Kara left the MTC and moved to her first assigned area--Liverpool, England. Here is an excerpt from her latest letter:
So... where am I? .... Liverpool. One of the largest cities in England. We don't have a car and run to catch the bus constantly, but I think it's growing on me. I think I'll survive.
My companion is Sister Chuo, She's from Taiwan. We left the stake center and got into Liverpool just in time to catch the bus to a dinner appointment. No rest for the weary. It was a lovely member family.
Yesterday was hectic. We are constantly running here or running there, and by running I don't mean just going constantly I mean quite literally running.
Because my companion speaks Chinese, she has taken it on herself to teach basically anyone who is Chinese. We've had at least 6 appointments and all of them were Chinese. I often just smile and nod
as they are all speaking in Chinese.
When we aren't speaking to the Chinese, we try to speak to the "English"... they don't speak English.
The Liverpool Dialect is so very thick that is extremely hard to understand them. Try saying out loud: AnenIdashtoastoangotmesomemil. Any idea what they're saying?... Translation: And then I dashed to the
store and got me some milk. Yup. That's what I am dealing with currently.
Monday is my P Day now. I am so fatigued, I just want to sleep all day Monday!
 |
| Headed Out |
So... where am I? .... Liverpool. One of the largest cities in England. We don't have a car and run to catch the bus constantly, but I think it's growing on me. I think I'll survive.
My companion is Sister Chuo, She's from Taiwan. We left the stake center and got into Liverpool just in time to catch the bus to a dinner appointment. No rest for the weary. It was a lovely member family.
Yesterday was hectic. We are constantly running here or running there, and by running I don't mean just going constantly I mean quite literally running.
Because my companion speaks Chinese, she has taken it on herself to teach basically anyone who is Chinese. We've had at least 6 appointments and all of them were Chinese. I often just smile and nod
as they are all speaking in Chinese.
When we aren't speaking to the Chinese, we try to speak to the "English"... they don't speak English.
The Liverpool Dialect is so very thick that is extremely hard to understand them. Try saying out loud: AnenIdashtoastoangotmesomemil. Any idea what they're saying?... Translation: And then I dashed to the
store and got me some milk. Yup. That's what I am dealing with currently.
Monday is my P Day now. I am so fatigued, I just want to sleep all day Monday!
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Week 2 - A Church History Tour +
It's been fairly uneventful since I last wrote. Sunday we went on a church history tour of the area. We saw where President Hinckley lived whilst he was on his mission here. We also saw the rivers that were the original baptismal sights of the first saints in the area. There were chunks of ice in the rivers and we all were very grateful for the fact that we have warm baptismal fonts today. We also got to see some snow on their one "mountain" in the area. I got to throw my first snowball in years.
We had to sing in the local ward as well on Sunday. It was interesting. when there's 11 sisters and 30 men, the melody can somewhat get lost....
This is hard work over here. We all are beginning to look like zombies. we head for breakfast at 7:30 AM and don't see our rooms again until 9:30 PM, from class to class, investigator to investigator. It's highly stressful at times. Sister Melander and I just had enough the other night, we were so easily distracted in class and the moment we were able to leave we went to the cafeteria for a late night snack of apple slices coated in Nutella. It is our new comfort food.
I get along well with my teachers though, I'm able to joke with them and our district is just basically the coolest. We quite literally are becoming more like family everyday.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
New Mailing Address!
We received an e-mail from the MTC saying that Kara would be leaving the MTC soon and her mail should now be addressed to:
Sister Kara Orr
England Manchester Mission
Spring Wood Suite G5
Booths Park, Knutsford
England WA16 8QZ
United Kingdom
I'm sure she would love to hear from you.
Sister Kara Orr
England Manchester Mission
Spring Wood Suite G5
Booths Park, Knutsford
England WA16 8QZ
United Kingdom
I'm sure she would love to hear from you.
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