Monday, March 4

 

I'm back in Oldham and now with a sister who is called Sister Ballantyne. (in purple)  She's from Utah and has been on her mission for almost 5 months. I was staying with her and Sister Telefoni this last week and a half and we got along really well so President moved her with me. So it's good. It's been a good week. Trying to still relax and clear my mind, but now we are getting back into the swing of things here in Oldham.

Last P-day we went to a castle with the Bolton elders and the zone leaders. It's basically in ruins. We just used it as a giant playground basically. It was lots of fun. I'll try and attach a picture.

I think I'll probably go back to BYU-Hawaii. I've heard back from Brother Ferre and I realize how much I absolutely love that place. So mom, could you look into what exactly I need to do for a letter of intent?

It's been a tough couple of weeks, but I know this is where I am meant to be. I would not choose to be anywhere else right now. I feel like a mouse in a maze sometimes... trying to find the cheese.... and I know remaining calm is the best option otherwise I might cause myself a heart attack before reaching my goal. not the best analogy, but it works. I will probably choose to extend my mission. I know how much you would like me home, but I feel like I need to stay. I do have things to contribute to this mission and I know that my time staying would not be wasted. I'd be home like the 19th of August and BYU-Hawaii doesn't start until the 9th of September. I know that it seems like a short amount of time to be home, but I feel like it would be the best. If I came home in July, you would soon start school and business and I wouldn't want to jump into getting a job right then and there, plus who would take me for a month? If I would not be working and you'd be off to work and other things, it would leave me sitting fairly idly at home and the idle mind is the devil's playground. I would rather be serving my Heavenly Father than subjecting myself to a situation where many good return missionaries fall. It's not that I don't want to spend time with you, but I am just trying to look at a bigger picture. I'll continue to pray about it though and I invite you to do the same. I am grateful for the opportunity that you have allowed me to have in serving a mission. I am grateful for the support and love that you give.

Well, I don't have a whole lot else to write about, but know that I love you and hope that you have a wonderful week.

Thursday, February 14

So... Transfers... I'm training a new missionary again. Completely stressed to be honest. Her name is Sister Dunn, she's English.  She's a lot older than I am; it will be a challenge. Sister Smith is also training this transfer, so I must have done something right before.

I had to go to the mission home Tuesday night for the "Train the Trainers" meeting. So we travelled over that way Tuesday afternoon and I said goodbye to Sister Fortuna and she was off to her new area (Newtown) that night with her companion. Then some of us that are training stayed in the flat near the Manchester chapel (there were 7 of us in the flat, crazy!) So that was fun! Then we went Wednesday morning to transfers to pick up the new sisters. We got stuck in traffic last night for over 2 hours. It snowed and everything just went into a stand still. So we got in the area and had a bit of tea and then hiked up to the Bishop's to let Sister Dunn meet him and his family.

I'm really stressed about everything. I'm already second guessing everything I do. It's a lot different than training in a car area. I fail at contacting people on the bus, I just find it so awkward to talk to people on the bus. I am supposed to be teaching her to just suck it up and do it, and I can't even do it. I can't very well be a hypocrite now can I? So I dread the moment we get on a bus later today. Also, there are so many Muslim people in our area... majority. They are lovely and nice, but just not interested most of the time. So we have no investigators and so we just find and find and visit less actives and find... Just trying to stay positive about it all.

Happy Valentine's Day though!

4 sisters left yesterday; they finished their missions. It's weird to think about because that leaves only 3 sisters out longer than me in the mission. The rest came out with me or later. Weird! I had one Elder who was going home yesterday ask me to write him.... that was a bit odd, but we'll see.

Well, I don't have a whole lot else for news. I don't know, I'm just a bit scatter brained today. Pray for me!

I wrote a letter to a Professor I had at BYUH who is now retired, I asked what he would suggest for my schooling. He said I should go back to BYUH because he says that is what I need. I'll keep praying about it though and see what the other BYUs have to say as well. I'll keep May in mind though.

Monday, February 4, 2013

I can't believe it's February! Hailey, Happy birthday tomorrow. I thought about it the other day and had a hard time believing you're going to be 26, but then again I haven't really accepted I'm 22.

Well, it's been a good week. We got a phone call last week from one of the young women saying that she had a friend who wanted to meet with us. So we met with her this week so we have a new investigator. She's a really sweet young lady who says she's atheist. but seems genuinely curious and interested in the concept of God. It was a really good lesson and she listened intently. The young woman from the ward was so happy to see her friend being taught and she would bear testimony on the importance of prayer and what the Spirit feels like. So it was really good to have her there as well.

I had a very interesting conversation with the zone leaders at the beginning of the week. We keep getting put down because our numbers are so low. I was irritated because we can't always control the number of lessons we have in a week. People have their agency to choose and if they don't want to meet with us they don't want to meet with us. So I just called the zone leaders up and said, "What in your eyes are we doing wrong?" They both kind of froze and said that they didn't see us doing anything wrong and then I told them that I just felt like we were facing belittlement from different people and we were flat out told we weren't fulfilling our potential. They apologized if they had done anything to cause that and they said they would speak with others about not criticizing, They thanked me for my blunt honesty. I was calm the entire time having this conversation by the way, no shouting or yelling. So we had a nice conversation about what needed to be done. Then they asked what my favorite foods were and I said chocolate and Yorkshire puddings, so they showed up the next day with 8 chocolate bars and a box of Yorkshire puddings. So that was nice. Then they invited us to attend district leader council meeting this past Saturday, and we went and put some input in to let the district leaders know some of our thoughts and feelings. So I guess it was a good week. I was just really open and honest with everyone and I think I gained a lot of respect from doing so, Honesty is the best policy after all!

Transfers are next week. We have no idea what is going to happen. There are currently 24 sisters in the mission. We are losing 4 next week as they've completed their missions, and we get 10 new sisters in. Half of the sisters are going to be training starting next week and then the next transfer has another 10 coming in so we will all be training at the same time probably. crazy! A bit nerve racking to think about!

Well, I'm sorry to hear the kidlets are ill. I'm facing a bit of head cold now too. It's been going around the ward here. miserable how we share everything with the wards as missionaries.

I don't have a whole lot else to share this week. It's been rather uneventful. My back is feeling loads better. We had a sports day this week with the mission and I couldn't play which was sad, but things happen.

I hope Hailey has a happy birthday and the kids get better soon, thanks, Hailey, for sharing the little Kimber story with me, it did make me smile! Haha! She sounds like she's quite the character!

Dad, Hope you travel safely this week and get a lot of work done.

I love you all loads!

Monday, January 28

"Last Monday morning" - before the fall!

"pose for a dramatic photo"  - which, of course I can't post straight!

 

Good morning! This letter will probably be relatively short because not a lot has happened this week!

We've been taking it a bit easy this week to allow my back adequate time and energy to heal proper.

We've gone out teaching a bit, but not a whole lot. We tried to avoid walking on ice as much as we could, because slipping on ice wouldn't help.

We've spent a lot of time studying in the flat. I've come to realize just how much I love the story of Joseph Smith. We already knew I liked it because I had that documentary of sorts at home that I would watch, but I just really love Joseph Smith and all that he did. I look forward to the day that I get to meet him in heaven. I think that would be one of the best things ever. Just an absolutely extraordinary man. I really enjoy learning more about everything. I don't know if I've told you already yet, but I've read Jesus the Christ, The Book of Mormon, Our Search for Happiness, Our Heritage, and The Miracle of Forgiveness within the last like 6 months. I just learn so much through study! So although we may have had to spend some time in the flat this week, we were able to have a bit more study time.

Mom, as for the schooling prospects in regard to me extending my mission... the fall semester for each school shouldn't start until beginning or mid September and I would only be able to extend my mission until mid to late August. So I've thought about it. We'll see. I don't know if President will want to keep me around after yet another injury. I'm probably a bit of a handful.

Love you all very much!

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

So you were probably wondering why I didn't write yesterday... no it wasn't a holiday and yes it was still our P-day. Sister Fortuna and I had a bit of an adventure...

So we woke up yesterday morning to lots of snow. (well, by our standards it was nothing really.) It was about 6-7 inches of snow. maybe less. Then we found out they had closed all of the schools for the day. We got a call from the young women's president and a few of the young women to see if we wanted to go play in the snow with them. So we finished our flat cleaning and went out with them (intending only to be out 1/2 an hour) before heading to email. Well the girls wanted to go "sledging" (sledding for us). We went to the field not too far from our flat. Well they went out and offered us a turn. We went down and it was well fun. Then I went to go down a second time. I ended up going off a part that was a 5 foot straight drop to the ground. So I flew off that and dropped and landed straight on my rear, sending all the pressure through my spine. I just collapsed. I thought I was paralyzed the pain was so bad. Couldn't breathe, couldn't move. Just rolled over on my side. Sister Fortuna was there in an instant and she is trained as a masseuse. So she was asking me what was wrong and I was able to push out through my pained gasps, "If I roll onto my stomach, can you put pressure on my back?" I rolled over and she started putting pressure on my back, relieving some of the pain. I couldn't move still, I couldn't lift myself up, I could feel my legs which was a comfort to me. I told the young women I'd be fine and that they should keep playing. I laid there in the snow probably for a good 1/2 hour just unable to move without causing even more excruciating pain. I finally tried to stand up and I was shaking, my legs weren't wanting to hold my weight and whenever I put weight on my lower back at all, the pain was unbearable. The young women ended up pulling me up to the YW president's home via foam sled, where they helped me into the house and laid me on the floor. Laid there for a while, trying to get the pain to go away (Sister Fortuna did an assessment of my back and said nothing was out of place). After a few hours I gained the strength enough to be able to walk home with the support of my companion, and the YW president's mom got in touch with another member who is a physiotherapist to come by and see me after she was off work. I laid on our flat floor for a while and then Sister Teal (the physiotherapist) came by around 8. She felt up my spine, found two spots of interest and worked with them a bit. She gave me some exercises to do to help relieve the pain. Told me what meds to take. But she said I needed a blessing. So she called her husband and her brother-in-law and they came by to give me a blessing. It was a lovely blessing. I woke up this morning very sore and achy, but able to move much better than I could yesterday. So I'm taking it a bit easy and trying not to over exert myself and let the muscles and joints and all that feel better. Don't worry, I'm not dying and I will make a full recovery. We did discover last night however that sledging is against mission rules. They probably should have made that a bit more well-known. Oh well.

Other than that... We had a good week. All of our investigator lessons fell through (not good), but we were able to see a lot of members and I think we are learning to get along well with them.

We had interviews with President on Tuesday, and that's where we got the ecclesiastical endorsement sorted. It was really funny, I called Sister Preston the other night about something and she asked about our day... I said, "We had a LOVELY day of finding." Rather sarcastically. She asked if that was sarcasm and I said never. She then said, "I just finished submitting your ecclesiastical endorsement and I was sure to include in the comments that you are very sarcastic... No I'm only joking, I said some really wonderful things about you... I had to lie a bit here and there, you know, had to make you sound reasonably good.... no I'm only joking..." She's funny. We get along well.

At interviews on Tuesday, I talked to President about maybe extending my mission. It's always been on my mind since day one and I figure it must be there for some reason. He said they would love me to extend, but it's not something that necessarily needs to be determined at this point. (extending for a sister is only 30 extra days after the 18 month mark). So I'm thinking about it and praying about it, but I thought I'd let you know.

I couldn't find my camera cord this evening so I will have to email you pictures of the snow and all next week.

Well, I hope your kitchen is looking a bit better, mom and dad. I hope Hailey was able to make it back up home safely. Mom, I can't open the videos you send because they come through as quicktime files and these computers at the library aren't compatible with that, but thank you for trying.

I love you lots, and hope all is well, hope the weather is improving over by you!

Monday, January 14, 2013

So it snowed. We looked out the window to see a light dusting this morning when we woke up, but now there's quite a bit more. I was just thinking to myself last night that I've made it through a large part of the winter and have not frozen completely yet, but then look what turns up!

It's been a good week. We've been fairly busy with seeing members, less-actives, and a few investigators. We had a really good experience with a less-active the other day. Last Sunday we had asked the relief society president if she knew any less active sisters we could go visit. She suggested Jean. We called by her house the other say and were let in. We started with basic questions about her day and she gave us one word answers and wouldn't seem to look at us. The feeling was a bit hostile and we were wondering if she was going to kick us out. She then started telling us how she doesn't believe in the plan of salvation and how she doesn't believe in the Book of Mormon. She argued many points and we just let her ramble for a bit. (she's a bit elderly). Finally I just asked, "Why did you even get baptised?" (Sometimes I ask very blunt questions). She looked a bit taken aback. She sat there for a minute and then said, "Because I knew it was the right thing to do." She then proceeded to tell us how she wanted to be baptised, but then as she got older she experienced more things, and grew in intelligence, but she knows she did the right thing in being baptised, but because she's become more intellectual and doesn't know what to think. I just said, "Intelligence is an an amazing thing. The knowledge we gain in life is included in the few things we can take with us when we leave this earth. But, it's also a delicate thing. We can either choose to let us draw us away from our Heavenly Father or we can let it lead us closer to Him. Which way do you feel you've gone?" She paused. Thought. Then quietly said, "I haven't thought of Heavenly Father in a long time. I don't think I thought of Him once when I was in the darkest part of my life." I then said, "Jean, our Heavenly Father loves us so much. In our darkest times, Satan doesn't want us to find comfort through our Heavenly Father. He will try everything he can to keep our thoughts from God. I know that in dark times, you can feel so very alone, but I also know that as we look to our Father in heaven, He can help lighten the darkness and help us with the burdens we carry." As I spoke she turned down the television. She looked at me and said, "It's often said, the loudest voice will be heard"... I thought she was going to tell me off for speaking too quietly.... "You don't have to speak loud, you speak powerfully. You're right. I know you're right. Thank you for saying that. You speak with such power. You're not the loudest, but I definitely heard you and I know what you just said is true. I do need to think of Heavenly Father more." We left a house where the Spirit was very strong. We entered to hostility and left completely awed at what happened. Sister Fortuna looked at me and said, "I'm glad you knew what to say, because I had no idea." To be honest, at the time, I couldn't really remember what I said. I know the Spirit does work through us to touch others.

I'm glad that I am making some difference here. It really brightens my day when people tell me I'm different from other missionaries. we had a lovely talk with a sister in the ward the other day. We chatted for quite a while and she said that she's glad that I've come and brought a balance into this companionship. She said she was worried about Sister Fortuna for a while because she kept being with companions that seemed to have such strong personalities that Sister Fortuna was kind of getting shoved to the back. This Sister said that we seem to have found a good balance and get along. She said she likes me, which apparently can sometimes be an uncommon thing from some of the things she said. We were getting dropped off and Sister Fortuna got out of the car and the sister turned to me and said, "Thank you for bringing normalcy back into the Oldham ward." I don't know, it made me feel good that she feels like I'll get along with the members.

We have interviews with President tomorrow. I'll try to get the ecclesiastical endorsement printed off and bring it to that. I'll get started on the other things that need to be done. I'm still trying to make sense of the emails.

I hope things are going well, and, mom, your kitchen turns out to be everything you want it to be.

Hailey, I got the pictures you sent. Thank you! Oh, and Happy late Anniversary!

Monday, January 7, 2013

Well, it was a good weekend. Nothing too terribly exciting. Went to church yesterday and met a lot more of the members which was really good. We don't have many people to teach. The last sister who was here had some health problems and so they didn't go out like at all last transfer and that sister actually just went home because of her health issues, which will be for the best for her, but at the same time it puts me in an area with maybe 1 investigator who could be promising. So I wish we were teaching more, but it will come in time.

The flat here is much warmer. nice and comfortable. doesn't change how freezing cold it is outside though. Oddly enough though, it is warmer here than it was in Wales. Away from the sea and away from the nice fresh country air... makes it warmer. This is the first time on my mission I have served away from the ocean. I've always been in cities right on the ocean. That was weird to think about.

Also, before I forget, the address for the mission office has changed a little bit, nothing major, but apparently they've added a new road in that area and it's thrown off the postcode and street or something. So the address now is written:

Springwood Suite G5

Chelford Road
Knutsford, Cheshire
WA16 8GS
United Kingdom

So there's that. It's kind of annoying isn't it?

I don't honestly know much else to say. It's only been 3 or 4 days since I last emailed. The members feed us really well here. It is the area that is notorious for sisters putting on the most weight. I'm not very happy about that. Honestly, some sisters leave this area 40 pounds heavier. Meh. I will beat that stereotype. I'm going to carefully watch my weight.

Well, I'm glad Kade's baby blessing went well.

Glad the kids are active and busy.