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!

Monday, September 10

Another Week! Another Baptism! Jack was baptised on Saturday! wow I have never had to put together a baptism that quickly! I was exhausted! But it was really good and President and Sister Preston came as well! We had a lot of people show up to it as well despite not having the baptism announced last Sunday! We made a lot of phone calls this week!

I also got your package, mom. thanks for all the little things that were inside.  I wore my new scarf to the baptism.

It's been a somewhat uneventful week other than the baptism.

We got a phone call earlier this week in regards to us going on exchanges. usually we only go on exchanges once a transfer, but the zone leaders told us that both Newcastle and Liverpool want to go on exchange with us and it was up to us whether we wanted to do two exchanges this transfer. I was slightly confused as to why we are being requested to do two. I guess they think we are good missionaries... Also I am the one in charge of arranging the exchanges with the sisters, so now it's on my shoulders. When did I become the responsible one? But anyway...

Sister Smith is doing very well. She is making great progress and I often find myself giving her the "mother smile." I don't mean to, it just creeps out.

Apparently many of the new missionaries that just came out a week and a half ago are having a hard time adjusting. They are facing discouragement and disappointment. President tells me to keep them in our prayers. I do. I want them to have fantastic experiences!

Sister Smith and I are going to go exploring today! We are going to try and find the oldest church in Britain and then go try and find a castle. We have to have fun sometimes! :)

I'm sorry I don't have more to write about this week! I need to really think about things to write about before I get to email! I think that would help!

Pictures:

1) Tracey's baptism

2) Jack's Baptism

3) one of the members (Ciara) and I at Jack's Baptism-ignore how white I am.

4) One of the members felt bad that I was always cold... they gave me a sweater!

Monday, September 3

It's been a great week here in Wales! We were able to teach so many lessons this past week! We got a phone call from the zone leaders this morning saying how impressed they were and they asked if we had any tips for them to be achieving similar numbers. We taught 23 lessons last week. the mission standard (goal) is 15-20 a week. We had 20 investigator lessons alone and then 3 with members. It's been crazy but Sister Smith gets really excited as we have more and more lessons.

Tracey was baptised! It was kind of funny. I tell everyone I have a bit of a fear of spiders... We went to the chapel to fill the font and I started to move the pipe that we use to plug the drain... this HUGE spider pops out the bottom of this pipe and is sitting there (I would say it looked angry). It was about the size of the bottom of a coffee mug. It was huge. Naturally I screamed. Both of stood there for a minute not knowing exactly how to respond. the water was coming into the font so we tried to wash it down the drain (we eventually succeeded), but the water also helped us realize it was a momma spider and there were a bunch of little baby spiders that started washing out from the bottom of the pipe...I hate spiders. But the baptism itself went really well. Tracey's husband who hasn't shown any interest in the church surprised her by walking in right before the service to be there for her. He sped straight from work to support her. It was really great to see him there. Then Tracey was confirmed yesterday. the blessing was really beautiful and the spirit was very strong. Tracey's daughter attended the baptism Saturday and decided that she wanted to start coming to church with her mom sometimes, so she was there yesterday too. She's 11. So, many wonderful things are happening. We had left all of Saturday night for the baptism and hadn't made other plans because we didn't know how long it would take. we were out of the chapel by 7:30PM. Sister Smith I could just tell was having kind of a frustrating day and I remember praying, as we drove away from the chapel, to have some miracle happen that would make things better. Sister Smith is a lot like me in you can ask if anything is wrong and she'll say no when somethings clearly is bothering her. Very much closed off like me at times. So I let her be and we started talking to people on the street where we talk to the Chinese most. There weren't many out, but then we saw this young man named David (Chinese). Sister Smith talked to him in Chinese and she kind of looked at me funny after a minute and said, "He has time right now that we can teach him." I guess she wasn't really expecting that response. So we went back to his accommodation and taught him the first lesson that we teach to the Chinese. He told us he just bought a Bible a few weeks ago to learn more about God and things pertaining to religion. I know that he was an answer to a prayer.

  

We have another baptism this weekend hopefully! Jack says he is ready and we believe him to be ready as well! So we will see!

Well that is mostly all I have to talk about this week!

Wednesday, August 29

(There are two letters here, so I put the 20th 1st, the 29th second.  Be sure to read through both!)

8-20-2012

It's been another crazy week here in the UK! I went to the temple again on Tuesday! It was a beautiful sunshine filled day and the temple grounds are all in bloom! It was pretty!

Then Wednesday came.... not so pretty... Half the mission hiked Mount Snowdon on Tuesday, the beautiful day.... Wednesday was not so pretty. It was a bit overcast when we started hiking so it didn't seem like it would be bad... then about 1 hour into the hike it started down pouring. I was wearing a sweatshirt and a coat and I was soaked through completely. The wind was really bad and we were hiking in clouds most of the time and it felt like someone had turned on a fire hose and was just spraying us down. We all couldn't wait to get to the top because there's a cafe on the top where people who go up on the train can sit and take some time to look around before going back down. So we all kept that as our focus thinking Hot Chocolate and Warm Scones.... Hahaha... haha.... hum... we got to the top and the cafe was closed. It was closed because the train couldn't make it up the mountain in the state of weather that was occurring. So we all huddled against the outside walls of the cafe trying to find a little bit of shelter. President had hiked the day before and thought that going on the train the second day would be good so he wasn't with us. All of us missionaries there to fend for ourselves. We then started making the trek back down the other side. It was an experience for sure. It was fun though. Not necessarily in the moment, but looking back... if I can survive that I can survive anything! We started hiking at 10 ish in the morning and got down at around 4:45 ish. President and Sister Preston were waiting for us at the end with Subway sandwiches. I was shivering something fierce and President offered to give me his fleece jacket. I said no. He said "Oh, you are stubborn!" One of the elders decided to translate and said, "That means you need to repent of your pride." haha it was funny! We rushed home to take warm showers before rushing off to our evening lessons!

Friday we had the Chinese activity in Liverpool. We were in charge of a charades activity (Since "Oh! Sister Orr's Theatrical!"....) but it was fun. We did a bunch of small competitions and had tea as a group and so it really helped some of the Chinese to see that there are quite a few Chinese investigating the church (granted, none of our investigators could make it... they didn't really want to make the 2 hour journey there...) but it was fun.

  

I am really grateful for President and Sister Preston. They are so loving. Sister Preston seems to be mothering me lately. It's just funny. Sister Preston is usually so quiet and reserved and doesn't talk to people much. I made a point of hugging her and complimenting her because she really is amazing, but she's opened up more a lot to me at least. I had to call President the other day and we were in the middle of having a very serious discussion when he said, "Hold on, my wife's yelling at me.... (to Sister Preston) Yes?... Hold on, I'm talking to Sister Orr.... Okay.... alright, you'll have your turn when I'm done....(to me) Sister Preston wants to talk to you." When he was done talking to me he said, "Okay I'll give the phone to my wife now, I just came upstairs and she's sitting here with her hand out waiting for the phone." It was just really cute. She just wanted to see how I was doing and told me to keep working hard. I just love them.

So the new little one's name is going to be Kade eh? Why am I always the last to know? I'm glad Hailey's pregnancy is going well again. Mom, I'm also glad you had a fun time with the kids and Tucker was able to get over his fear of "wolves" to sleep in the tent. Sounds like they are still as adorable as I remember them.

Well, I think that sums up my week. We have been able to get many new investigators this week (mostly Chinese!)! It's been a very good week and we look forward to more wonderful things to come!

8-29-2012 

Well, odd to be getting an email from me on a Wednesday isn't it? Transfers are today. I found out Sunday that I am staying in Gaerwen. It was quite a surprise because I thought Sister Jack and Sister Smith would be staying as Sister Jack was training Sister Smith. Nope. I got bumped up to trainer! Sister Jack is no longer with us here and she is up in Manchester again serving there. So surprise! I'm Training a new missionary! No pressure! President when he told me that I was becoming trainer he told me I have changed so much and I have learned so much; he said he trusts me and knows that I will be a good trainer. Sister Preston a couple of weeks ago told me that she sees me being a great leader in the mission and that she was trying to get President to recognize that as well. I was like... oh ok. :) A joke just popped into my head. I was reading the new era last night and they have little missionary comic strips in them. There were two sister missionaries walking down the street and the one says, "The hardest thing about being humble is not being able to talk about it!" ;) Not saying that I'm humble. In many ways I am still quite prideful, but I'm working on it! :)

I don't know if you've realized, but I've been out now for 7 1/2 months! I have less than a year left! It is crazy how time flies and I am always wondering and checking to make sure I am making the most of my time here!

Every Thursday during weekly planning we give our companions strengths and improvements. It's what we call companionship inventory. Last Thursday Sister Smith gave me the improvement of "Give President less grief." haha. I told him that last night when we dropped Sister Jack off at the mission home. He laughed and said, "Sister Orr, you know I love your personality. I wouldn't want a robot. I'm glad we are able to have a laugh together!" So I'm glad he appreciates my sense of humour. He says I'm stubborn and that it is impossible to just have a 5 minute conversation with me because I always need convincing of whatever it is we talk about. Last night we talked for maybe 7 minutes and before we left I said, "Was that close enough to 5 minutes?" He laughed and gave me a hug.

So I have the opportunity still to work here with Sister Smith and with the Chinese. I am learning more and more Chinese and I can usually pick up on what is being said. It's weird though that I am now Senior companion and also training. Sister Smith is great though and I just told her this is a learning experience for me as well. We will both be learning and growing because I am far from a perfect missionary, but I will train her to what I believe she needs to know and do to be the best missionary she can be.

We have a baptism on Saturday! Our investigator, Tracey, is finally entering the waters of baptism after being taught for just over 12 weeks! We have two others we are teaching that want to be baptised. Aruna we met last week and her goal is to be baptised on the 22nd of September, she may have problems with the word of wisdom, but we will face that as it comes. Jack is Chinese and his goal is for next weekend. We will find out tonight if he has been following the Word of Wisdom so he can meet that goal or if we have to move it back. So we are seeing wonderful things happening here in Wales! We are teaching many Chinese and we have hit 20 lessons a week for the past 2 weeks! It's great!

We gave talks on Sunday in sacrament meeting. It was all about testimonies. So, mom, I really appreciate you sharing your testimony with me. The power of testimony is so important. For Tracey's baptism we are having people write down their testimonies to give to Tracey to help strengthen hers and be there for her to read if she ever has doubts. On Sunday I shared about the importance of having a testimony of the restoration. The Relief Society President told us a while ago that she feels that not that many members have a testimony of the restoration, either that or they don't share it. So I got up and said that one question we often get as missionaries is "What makes your church different from other churches?" Then I said that if we answer we have a living prophet, that is true, if we say we have the Book of Mormon, that is true, if we say we have the proper authority to baptise, that is also true, but notice how all of them wouldn't be here without the restoration. If I didn't have a testimony of the restoration, what purpose would I have as a missionary? What could I bring to this work? I would merely be teaching and testifying of truths that can be found in other churches! I love the story of Joseph Smith and I love that when God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith, they called him by name. He knows each one of us and he sees what we are capable of accomplishing. That brings me comfort now as I know that I am asked to be a trainer at this time for a reason. I may not feel ready, but just as Joseph Smith was prepared over time, Heavenly Father will qualify me for this work. Honestly though, how great is it to know that God knows us and that he talked to Joseph Smith? And we are able to talk to God through prayer as well and get the answers we need. Prayer is one of the most powerful things when it comes to understanding the gospel. We can confirm thoughts, feelings, and impressions with God to know what we need to do!

I am so grateful for all I am learning right now! I feel like I have come so far! Last night a recent convert asked me what I have learned on my mission so far and if I feel like I will be a different person when I go home. I said I will still be me, but I will be better. I said that looking back now on where I was when I first came on my mission, I feel like I was a child then, I feel like my knowledge has increased, that I'm more mature (that doesn't mean I still don't make jokes and have fun and list Sarcasm as my first language....). I am so happy right now. I smile and I don't know why I am smiling, but it just feels right!

Thank you for all the support that you give me! I am grateful to be raised in a home where wonderful gospel truths were taught!

I don't know much else to say other than thank you and I love you all so very much!

I hope you all are taking care of yourselves and that you enjoyed the summer holidays! Still haven't put away my winter coats! :) The ward here says they may be in shock if I ever show up to church without my coat! :)

With love,

Kara

August 13, 2012

It's been a long and eventful week. Mom, sorry I didn't email earlier. My district wanted to go visit Caernarfon Castle and decided to do that this morning. So that is how we started the day.

Last P Day we went and hiked a mountain. Not too big of a mountain, but this week we are hiking Mount Snowdon as a mission and we decided we better prepare. So that's how we spent last Monday. Then Tuesday we went to the temple as a zone and had a zone training. Then we went to the mission home to stay the night and prepare for the new sisters. Wednesday early afternoon we got Sister Smith from Utah. Then we drove home. We had some time to actually work in our area then until we left to go back to the mission home on Friday for the Chinese missionaries meeting. Needless to say, our mileage is through the roof. I'm going back to the temple tomorrow with Sister Hoffman who is now working in Swinton and her companion is a member currently and not yet endowed so she needs another missionary sister to go. Then we will bring her and her companion back to Wales and they'll stay the night so we can hike Snowdon on Wednesday. Then we have a Chinese activity in Liverpool on Friday. Busy weeks.

I'm enjoying working with the Chinese again though. We have found 3 new investigators since we started focusing on Chinese.

So that's been my life recently. I'm glad to hear Tucker is so excited for his birthday. He's getting so big! Hailey, you keep saying you'll send me pictures and then you don't... just saying.

Well, to be honest I don't have much else to say other than I am super exhausted.

Hope all is well with you all and I hope Tucker and Ryndon are able to have great birthdays this week!

I'll attach a picture of our new companionship. Don't worry, Sister Smith doesn't always look so angry. :) She's actually really funny and we get along really well!  :)

Why in the world it turns it on it's side is beyond me! (Alene Orr)

August 6, 2012

Oh dear have I got a story for you! Apparently I'm going to be in a trio again! We got a phone call yesterday saying that one of the Chinese speaking missionaries that was supposed to come in at transfers is coming in early from Provo... and she's with us. So I think I should've been working a bit harder on learning Chinese! I know a bit, but I guess all of us will be learning and growing together! So adventure 1 for the transfer! We have to go to the mission home tomorrow night and stay overnight and get trained on what to do or whatnot and then the Sister will come in Wednesday morning! Crazy! We got the phone call and Sister Jack got the phone call and accepted the assignment and then we hung up the phone and just sat in confusion for a bit and then called President back to say"Wait... What?" We knew that 2 Chinese speaking missionaries were coming in and being trained in Liverpool, we had known that for a while. Then we had heard like a week ago that a 3rd one was coming in but everyone kept telling us she was going to be put somewhere else... then low and behold she comes to us! We were highly confused about the whole situation... still am.... President just laughed and said everything would be explained Tuesday night.... Needless to say, I'm a bit stressed, but it will all work out okay!

So we had an eventful week. Found out Friday night they wanted us to be at District Leaders' council on Saturday. So we had to go to that. We were on Exchanges for part of the week. I stayed here in Gaerwen and Sister Jack went to Liverpool. While on exchanges we had a miracle happen. We have an investigator who has been being taught for a while. We often ask her how she feels about baptism and she had always said that she wanted to know everything first. We have been focusing a lot lately on Faith is not to have that perfect knowledge. We challenged her to read Alma 32. We had a lesson on Friday night and we had decided that she didn't even know how much she already knew and the best way to emphasize that to her was to go over the baptsimal questions with her after our lesson on Chastity. I was kneeling on the floor most of the lesson trying to keep her daughter occupied while teaching the lesson so our investigator could be more attentive. (I was teaching and playing with a child, I will be a good mother one day, already multi-tasking! :)) We got to the end of the lesson and reviewed the baptismal questions and discussed with her how much she really knew. Then I just invited her to be baptized! And she accepted. She is now dated for the 25th of August! I am so happy! Sister Hull (the sister on exchange with me) said she just wanted to hug me when I invited her to be baptised because she "felt the spirit so strong!" All I remember was how ridiculous I must have looked kneeling on the floor in front of our investigator, covered in dog hair from the pet, sitting next to her 4 year old daughter playing dolls while extending the baptismal committment. But hey, I guess the Spirit must have been there to have all those extraneous details overlooked! So that was good!

I don't have too much more to talk about. We are going to the temple tomorrow as a zone and then we have a zone training afterwards. Sister Jack and I are presenting a short training on setting meaningful goals. We haven't prepared that yet... haven't had time.

Anyway, I hope this letter finds you all happy and well. It started raining again here in Wales. only a few days of sunshine!

If you find a bit of time, pray for me because I will probably be really stressed with the new sister coming in!

July 30, 2012

Hello from Wales again! We are having a bit nicer weather lately. but still very cold. I emailed President last week and mentioned our heaters not working in our flat and said that I was freezing and if he had any extra blankets they would be appreciated in Wales. I was only joking, but when we showed up for Sisters' conference on Friday at the mission home, he and Sister Preston had a couple of fuzzy warm blankets prepared to send home with me. That was nice! So I'm keeping a bit warmer with my snuggie, my comforter, and the two fuzzy blankets on my bed. Yes I need that many blankets.

It's been a bit of a crazy week. We had zone conference on Tuesday up in Runcorn (about an hour drive). The meeting got done around 5 and we started off again only to be stuck in stand still traffic. An semi carrying oil had flipped the barricade on the motorway and had caused everything to come to a screeching halt. We were able to move 4 miles in 4 hours. It took us a total of 5 1/2 hours to get home. It was crazy, needless to say we didn't get much accomplished that day. We tried talking to the cars that were stuck next to us... but... not too much enthusiasm.

Then we had sisters' conference on Friday at the mission home (2 hour drive). It was a good meeting and I was happy to see some of the sisters that I haven't seen for a while. This last transfer we had 2 sisters decide to go home early. So one of the speakers talked about how much regret you will have if you choose to go home because you'll always wonder how life would be different. It was sad to see those 2 sisters leave. They just couldn't handle the stress and pressure. It's not easy being a missionary. Dad knows that.

We had an interesting experience after getting home from sisters' conference. We had an appointment with a recent convert. Lately she's been asking sort of "what if" questions and giving very vague scenarios in which these questions could occur. Like "What if you want to be better at something and succeed, but God expects you to do something else?" Then give the scenario of a business man who wants to be a CEO but maybe God wants him just to be "normal." Well we had planned to talk about charity with her, but one of these questions came up and something just clicked in my head. Although the law of chastity had never been mentioned in her questions or her scenarios, something just said that all these questions lately had to do with her struggling with the law of chastity. So I just bluntly said, "Are your concerns regarding the law of chastity?" and she paused and then said, "Well everyone lately has been telling me I need to gain experience before I get married so that my husband will like me more." I paused and then said, "One day when you get married, if you knew your husband had been sleeping around with many other women, would you like to know that? How would you feel to know he's gained that 'experience'?" She said she wouldn't feel very good about that. We then spent time discussing that our bodies are temples. With our beautiful temple buildings if someone were to graffiti on the outside, it would take effort, but it could be repainted over or repaired with very little influence on the functioning to the building. I said that is something like a tattoo on our bodies, steps can be made to cover them, it's not detrimental to our functioning but it needs repair. Then I asked what would happen if someone who didn't understand the sacredness of the temple went inside the temple and did a lot of damage? Then, I explained, with that damage done, the temple would need to go through heavier phases of repair, causing the temple to be closed for repair and rededicated as necessary. I said that is like us not keeping the law of chastity. Once we give into that heavy of a temptation, it will impact our lives, our functioning, on a greater scale. It takes more repentance, it takes more time, and sometimes we can never make the repairs be the same as the original. Then I just bluntly told her that once you lose your virginity, you can never get that back. It is a sacred virtue which we have been trusted with and that we should save that for the special union of marriage. From her reactions and the feelings that we could feel as we had this discussion, I believe her concern has been resolved. I hope so. Charity to Chastity. Close enough. Only a few letters off.

Other than that, nothing too spiritually profound has happened that I can remember. President gave me a talk at Sisters' conference. I mentioned to you how I was wondering if I was changing and making a difference here. He gave me a talk titled, "Grace is sufficient." It was all about becoming and relying on the Lord. It was good and very helpful.

We taught primary yesterday (sharing time). It was on Choose the Right. We played Simon says and talked more about obedience. Towards the end of our time we asked if anyone had stories that related to when we had to obey. This was one little boy's story:

"One time, I didn't listen to the Holy Ghost. I wanted some chips and I wanted them to be warm and I put them in the microwave without opening the wrapping. Well, I didn't really know what I was doing and I pushed just a bunch of buttons and then the chips started on fire and the alarm started going off and my older brother, who is (pointing) over there, was in the bathtub and it scared him so he jumped out of the bathtub and ran out without any clothes on."

Then his brother interrupted and said, "You're making that up!"

Which he replied, "It was before you were born, ask mom."

There was like a year difference in their ages. The one telling the story was maybe 7. It was great. Haha!

Anyway, that pretty much is all I have this week!