zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

If I could summarize this week in one sound: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Normally I walk and walk and walk and walk. This week I slept and slept and slept and slept........and then slept some more. This week has been strangely quiet! We have probably read about 20 billion ensigns, and watch our tiny selection of church dvds 12 times over, but this week has done me so much good. I'm still on the road to recovery (I managed to do some solid damage to my body, which is taking longer to recover than I'd prefer), but we will be SLOWLY merging back into missionary work over the next couple weeks. The biggest and best blessing of this week has been the spirit that I'm feeling. I decided to confess my stress to President when I stopped receiving spiritual promptings; the change was quite sudden and very dramatic, and it scared me to death (a missionary without the spirit cannot do anything!), and my grounding followed after the confession! Who knew being grounded could be such a blessing?! I have felt my Saviour so near to me and I have spent hours praying, reading scriptures and ensigns, praying some more, writing some new music (stay tuned! If I'm in a good enough mood and am brave enough I may share a line from it at some point) and praying some more! My testimony has been magnified and my trust in the Lord's timing (not my crazy, 100million miles/hr timing) has grown.

Obviously not many missionary miracles to share this week. Lots of personal revelation.....but that's personal...hence the name, so you'll never get to know it :)

We do have one miracle though!! I was so worried about being taken out of the game this week and the effect it would have on the work (seeing people all over the streets and not being able to talk to them absolutely made my skin crawl! It drove me insane!). I was praying that we could somehow share the gospel with at least 1 person somehow! PRAYER ANSWERED!!!! Sis. Riley finished emailing early last week and was just sitting on a chair nearby me. An old man occupied the computer next to me that she was just on. He looked at her sitting there and saw her name badge and started asking a bunch of questions. Long story short, we ended up having an entire lesson with him in the library. He was so excited about the BOM and super curious to read it! Such a miracle to be able to share a bit of the gospel, despite out circumstances! If our desire to do His work is there, He will ALWAYS provide a way (in ways you least expect). TAKE NOTE OF THAT MEMBER MISSIONARIES BACK HOME (hint hint hint hint!!!).

Random weird events that yielded from being locked in 4 walls together for a week straight with no tv, internet or any form of modern day entertainment:

1. I learned a new game. It's called: open any manual/book in your flat, pick the 1st random phrase you see when you open it and sing the phrase to the tune of a hymn. The other comp has to guess what hymn it is. It is hilarious, especially when there is only church books in the home. My favourite: Sister Riley sang about the law of chastity to the tune of "I belong to the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints". "If a man and a woman break the law of chastity and conceive a child, they may be tempted to commit another abominable sin." Good times. Good laughs! Who knew the Gospel Principles manual could be so much fun!

2. Hacky sack. We had to get creative to find entertainment, so the other night when we were bored Sister Riley balled up a whole bunch of socks together to make a hacky sack. My conclusion: we are terrible at this game and should be ashamed at our pathetic lack of coordination. Never in my life had I seen so many awkward movements of a human being's limbs. Awkward sandwich!

3. Sister Riley falling off of everything. During a movie night, she literally was laughing so hard she fell off the couch. Then that night she was rolling across our 2 beds that are squished side by side, and rolled with so much gusto that she rolled right off the bed. Because I love her so much.................I laughed my head off and reminded her that she is such a dork! I love this girl so much!!

4. Icecream and PB fudge!!!!! We have been eating super healthy this week. We went 5 days and then we cracked! We went to Greggs during the day and bought rocky road squares (MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM SO GOOD! I HEART GREGGS). And then later we bought PB sundae icecream, and then I made homemade PB fudge to mix into it. We then locked ourselves in the flat, flicked on cheesey church DVD's and indulged in fatty goodness!!!!!!!! Cheers to not getting married when we return home because we will be so fat and ugly (but we will at least be happy and filled with English pastries and custards!)

5. Talking to President on the phone. Can't go into details, but our ward has gone mental this week. Seriously! It has caused my head to explode and my stress to skyrocket!!!!!!! We have had to consult with President a lot in this last week to get advice on how to deal with a few extremely delicate situations. Summary of everything: We have the funniest mission President ever. He spent half the phone call just teasing us (his goal was to get our minds off of the crazy and just laugh.....mission accomplished). He said after all of this we can still pick out some miracles from this madness.

- Miracle 1: Sis. Riley has managed to survive 8 weeks with me (that's the longest I've kept a companion so far) and I haven't scared her off yet. He then reminded me that I'm so crazy that I scared my 1st companion back to Russia and applauded Sis Riley on her endurance.

- Miracle 2: We have both found someone who has just as weird a sense of humour as us. Sis. Riley and I are meant to be together ha ha

- Miracle 3: We survived a week in a flat together without killing each other (we even enjoyed it for the most part).....most other missionaries cannot say the same!

6. I had the trousers scared off of me this week: when Sis. Riley first got here, I took advantage of my experience in the flat.....I knew where all the best hiding places were to scare people!!! Well she finally got some revenge this week. This week has consisted of her scaring my trousers off (I luckily kept my pants on!)! Must admit, I deserved it!!! Makes for good laughs :)

7. Funsies in Onesies!!!!

WE HAVE ONESIES!!!! Sis. Clearly secretly bought us onesies (mine's a giraffe and Sis. Riley's is a cat!!) last week. We reverted back into 5 year old children when we got home and tried them on. We went into character, trying to act like the animals (what noise does a giraffe make??!!! I'm still not sure, but whatever weird noises I made will have to be good enough). I'm so excited for my next sleepover at another flat. I will definitely break out my onesie for that glorious night!!!!! The sisters in the area adjacent to ours also have onesies- a cow and a pig! I'm so excited to see them at next zone meeting and tell them the wonderful news!!!!! Summary of all of this: Simple and strange things please missionaries! (Pictures of the onesies can be seen below)

Anyways! There's my week!!! Things are going uphill! I'm starting to feel better!!! Laughter and rest are truly the best medicine! The Lord is so good to me! The personal growth I've experienced has been precious!! What a blessing it is to be a missionary at this time! The EMM is truly the best mission every!! I have the best companion and the best friends out here! I'm so lucky!!

Until next week

I hope the time goes quickly for you and slowly for me :)

Love Sister Martin xoxo 

A bonus post!

No, Erika hasn't written or emailed, but a wonderful lady, Dawn Cleary, did send a couple of photos.  Dawn is Erika's friend and adopted mother.  She makes it easier for me (Erika's Mom) because I know Erika is being well taken care of while she is away.  Erika has been "grounded" by her mission president this week so was required to take it easy and get some rest.

Erika trying on winter clothes on P-Day!  She had a melt down because she didn't want to spend the money on clothes.  Luckily Dawn messaged me and I told her to tell Erika to buy what was needed and the clothes were purchased.  Good thing too because the weather is getting colder, wetter and windier!!

You heard about the changes to the missionary dress code didn't you!  Don't they look cute in their onesies catching up on General Conference!  So appropriate for Erika to be the tall giraffe...

Dawn Cleary, Sister Martin, Sister Riley

Erika has been grounded by her Mission President!

We are winter clothes shopping this week (the weather out here is a lovely blend of wet, cold, wet, windy, wet, freezing, and more WET......you can imagine how much my lovely Aussie companion has appreciated this weather), therefore I will probably not have time to respond to emails today-- sorry y'all!

We have more rolls than Greggs: (Editor's note from Erika's Mom - Greggs is a large bakery chain in the UK!)

WE ARE GETTING FAT!!! We have more chins than a Chinese phone book! I think the members are trying to fatten us up and kill us (they won't even have to worry about making the effort to sharpen their butcher knives to go for the kill, our clogged arteries will do the work for them!). We are probably going to stop doing tea appointments (or seriously cut back) soon, because it is getting ridiculous! I didn't realize how many members actually pretty much force-feed you second helpings, and massive portions of dessert! NOT OK!!! Ahhhhhh this week we will be focusing on boosting our thin self-esteems haha!

I'm Grounded:

Fun fact: missionaries can get grounded! President Preston has put me on semi house-arrest for at least a week. He said he had to do it because he knew I wouldn't slow down on my own! I've been working so hard that my stress levels have been crazy high for over a month and it's making me sick. Booooooo! So the motto of this week is R&R! Lots of Ensigns......lots of lovely music......lots and lots of sleeping....and almost no appointments (except for tea appointments.........so they can keep making us fat....and appointments that are absolutely necessary). It's literally the complete opposite of missionary life right now and it's sooooo weird!! Pray that I will get back on my feet fast so I can get back in the game!!

We Saw a CORSE!

We went for a lovely walk in the countryside the other day (no joke.....this is my life now!) and we saw a CORSE!!! It seriously looked like a horse and a cow produced offspring!!!!!! It was a horse, but it was super fat, and was spotted exactly like a cow!!!!!! Truly, the small things in life can entertain a missionary!!!!

WAFFLE NIGHT!:

We found a waffle iron in our flat a few weeks back (that's like UNHEARD of! Missionaries do NOT get nice things like waffle irons, but we are seriously in the best flat ever!!) so we had a waffle night! We bought real Canadian Maple Syrup (apparently). Not as good as home, but they tried :) The waffles were amazing! All they needed were strawberries and whipped cream and they would have been ace!

Missionaries are attracted to only weird people:

That's how it seems most of the time! We meet the strangest human beings. We had an appointment and she told us all about how she was super sick the other day. She told us about how she "was being sick, and weeing and pooing all over the place....1st in my bedroom, then in my bathroom, then in my kitchen, even on these chairs (pointing to the living room furniture we are so lucky to be sitting on)...there was wee and sick and poo everywhere!!". As we were inwardly gagging and wanting to develop the sudden ability to apparate (BAZINGA! Bad Harry Potter joke!), she then told us how she ate a snap pea the other day, and there was a slug in it. She then offered us 2 BANANAS that were getting ripe and she couldn't eat in time! That was it! We were in tears laughing when we left! Yes, people are different, but they sure do make for a good laugh in the middle of all of this chaos!!!!!! Appreciating the small, crazy moments!!!!

Anyways...because I have been grounded, I don't have much to report! I'll try and spice up my email next week for you! Pray that I can start sleeping and be obedient and rest like I'm supposed to!

Hope the time goes fast for you, and slow for me <3

Your grounded missionary, Sister Martin

STILL IN TELFORD!!!

I'M STILL HERE!!!!!! They can't get rid of me that easy!!!!! Telford will officially be my 6 month area! I officially am feeling old in the mission. I am one of the most senior people in my zone (in terms of how long I've been in Newcastle Zone, and even in how long I've been in the mission). Almost all the missionaries I was originally in this zone with are transferred out now; only 2 of us left! All of my original Newcastle friends are gone: Sis. Hansen got transferred to Liverpool zone, Sis. M is in Manchester zone, bunch of other sisters and elders I've become friends with have been scattered across the mission. Time for me to lead the way and step up to the plate! Challenge accepted! It's crazy how fast I've had to grow up in this mission! The other day we were at a meeting in Manchester, and I suddenly realized that I was leading a group of 20ish missionaries through town and on and off buses. How did I go from being a greenie, to being a 'seniorish' missionary in 4ish months?! Scary!

Anwaysssssssssssssssssssssss...... it has been a hilarious 10ish days!!! Sister Riley and I are officially probably the silliest people in the EMM!

Squirrels in Man City:

Sis. Riley saw her 1st squirrel in Manchester last week and went nuts (har har). Bless her little heart! One minute all was well, and the next she was squeeling like a little girl and jumping up and down like a crazy person! Apparently they do not have squirrels in Australia! I definitely gave her a hard time for that one! In all fairness, she did point out to me that if it had been a kangaroo I would have done the same thing..........true story!

This area is a mission paradise:

One day we were walking (as we do all day.....everyday) and the weather was rubbish, so there was nobody around to talk to. As we walked, and walked, and walked, and walked (I sometimes feel like the pioneer children in this mission) we decided to write a missionary rap. We set it to the tune of "Gansta Paradise"........it was inspirational.......it depicted the story of our little lives here in Telford (more fondly known as Chav city!). I'll have to write down the lyrics and send them sometime!

I love this mission more than an American loves his red-neck beard:

- We were on the phone with our district and our DL asked us how we can improve our finding skills. **Flashback to an experience from early in the transfer-- a few weeks back the elders and ourselves were on the train going home from Manchester. Sis. Riley and I were face palming all over the place as we heard the elders trying to talk to people on the train. So painful to listen to: One elder was telling a lady all about the crazy mission rules we have, and how we are not allowed to do anything....he then decided to focus a 20+ min conversation on how he couldn't have a beard, and then went into EXTREME detail, drawling on about the impressive beard he had back home, and the different techniques that he used to groom it........ I wish I was kidding!!!** (flashback over)........ Well, Sis. Riley thought our phone was on mute (meaning we can hear our DL talk, but he can't hear us) and blurts out in sarcastic response to the question (in a super red-neck accent): "Talk about my beard"...........talk about awkward moments!!! We had to do some fast-talking...making up some silly answer like "be unique and talk about things that will grab their attention".

How To Make An Aussie Happy 101:

Just buy them Vegemite (BARF). An Australian sister received a whole wack of Vegemite from her mom.....turns out she doesn't like Vegemite, so Sis. Riley inherited it! She's been craving it for weeks! At our Manchester meeting last week, she had our Assistants try it..........priceless!!! Gag city!!!! Well, at least I have a happy companion, and the good news for her is that she will never have to worry about sharing with me!

Crazy Disco Bell Night:

Every Monday night, the church bells at a massive, ancient, local Church of England go CRAZY. It's like someone is ringing all the bells at once, and at random, in no particular tune! And this goes on for usually 2ish hours!!! We have officially declared Monday nights "Crazy Disco Bell Night". It was cold, and dark, and we were walking home from an appointment on Mon night. No one was around, and we suddenly burst into a spontaneous Crazy Disco Bell Night dance party! Suddenly the bells reminded me of the Mr. Bean Christmas episode, where Mr. Bean has just woken up on Christmas morning, there is Christmas music in the background, and he is jumping around like a weirdo! I pointed this out to Sis. Riley--- turns out she was raised on Mr. Bean too and loves it. So we then decided to change our dancing style, and do the Mr. Bean dance to the beat of the Crazy Disco Bells! How English.....and how appropriate!

Lettuce or Letters?:

Accents are fun. That is what I have learned from being on this mission. Random silly moment last week.

S. Riley: "Do you think we will have any lettuce when we get home?"

Me (with baffled face): "I dunno! Go check the fridge when you get back!"

In Australian, "Lettuce" = "Letters"

We had an excellent laugh about this for awhile! We summarized this moment in one amazing catchphrase: "That awkward moment when your Canadian companion is a pirate..........RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR"......I get teased so much for my haRRRsh pronounciation of the letter R.......scaRRRy part is, some of my R's are starting to dissapear in certain words....I'm slowly beginning to go into accent limbo and I am getting teased plenty for it!

We made a deal with the devil:

- We were doing scripture/PMG chases at our Manchester meeting and we won a really fancy oil vial. Obviously- since we are not priesthood holders- we have absolutely no use for it! All the elders were asking if they could have it! So I suddenly got inspired! I happened to know that one of the elders (E. Pratt in the Wrekin area.....which is within our district) makes AMAZING chocolate cake. So I struck a deal with him! He makes us a cake, and he can have the vial!! Lo and behold, he showed up to sport night with a beautiful cake in hand. He had strapped it down to his bike, and biked 40ish mins to our area to deliver it! We were very happy sisters after that!!!!!! 

Poopers Close:

The street adjacent to our flat is called Poolers Close.....we were walking down the street the other day and saw the biggest pile of dog poop I've EVER seen! It looked like it could of come from a horse!!! Disgusting!!! After our moment of utter disgust, I suddenly realized that we were standing on Poolers Close, and tactfully pointed out that we should rename the street Poopers Close..........5 year old humour for the win!

Random side note:

Sister Riley and I spent an hr+ talking about desserts last night........we are pathetic.

Kylie and Shania:

We were at the home of one of the most sarcastic members ever! He thinks it's no fun to call us by our proper names, but has been struggling to decide what to call us. In a stroke of inspiration he decided that he was going to give us names of celebrities from our respective countries. So we are now Kylie and Shania. He was going to call me Celine, but was disgusted with my lack of French skills, so decided that I wasn't deserving of that title. 

Fireworks:

Tender mercies. Yesterday we were absolutely shattered (English- Canadian translation: exhausted!). Just as we finished our planning, suddenly fireworks started going off in the distance. We got to watch an hr+ fireworks show from our table. They were positioned so perfectly that we could see them from out the window! You appreciate life's small and simple moments more when you are out here! :)

Likening ourselves unto new-born giraffes:

We realized something pathetic this morning. Watching us wake up and try and exercise when we are dead to the world, is like watching new-born giraffe's try to walk! We were so tired this morning, and I realized how stupid we looked as we staggered up the street in the freezing wind to go for a jog. The only thing that keeps me sane out here is learning to laugh at life's silly moments :) 

Feeling sheepish:

Sister Riley and I were jogging the other morning and got scared by a post box. In the dark, it looked like a man, crouched over on the side of the street. We both literally screamed and jumped onto the road, going into kung-fu, ninja defense mode. Epic fail. 

Discovering why the ladies are sometimes referred to as knockers: STORY FOR LADIES ONLY

Awkward moment at tea appointment last week. I had gotten up to use the toilet. Upon my return to the table, as I sat down, my lovely ladies knocked all of my cutlery off the table, and almost took my plate with it. Luckily this home was a men-free zone.....I would have felt 20x more awkward than I already did if there had been brethren there! As expected, the sisters gave me the hardest time, and were almost in tears laughing....you can only imagine all the terrible jokes that were make about knockers afterwards.

Lack of miracles this week:

Unfortunately I don't have a ton of crazy miracles to share, so hopefully I was at least able to give you a good laugh :) We've been struggling out here lately. Our teaching pool is small, and we spend most of our time tracting and street contacting with little success. Just a part of the mission life; loads of ups and downs! Miracles are around the corner though...we have a goal to have 3 baptisms before I leave (1 baptism per month in Telford for me!). I'm determined that if we keep working hard that we will eventually find success!!!! Feel free to toss some prayers our way!!! :)

Anyways!!!! Love you all!!!

Hope the time goes fast for you and slow for me!
Sistaaaaaa Maaaaaaaaaatin <3

Another blessed week :)

I love this mission!! The only thing I hate about it is that the weeks just fly by because I am having such an incredible time!!!!!! To add to the list of terrible Harry Potter jokes we have made since being here, you can include this new one: every day when we go out street contacting, we make sure to also search for Hermione Granger on the streets! We want to ask her if she can lend us that time-turner thing from Harry Potter books........ (you think that one was bad? Then you can only imagine the arsenal of *falm palm* level Harry Potter jokes that are made while we walk the rainy/windy streets of England every day!)

Blessed Exchange:

It's rare that you get to exchange with the same person twice! Even more rare when you get to exchange with your best friend twice! I'm one lucky sister! Sis. M and I got to have a 24 hr exchange here in Telford early in the week. I'm not going to say much about the details of the exchange--most of the exchange was extremely spiritual and therefore quite private to me. I'll tell you this much: this exchange was a strange answer to a prayer. I have been fighting through some personal trials the past weeks (nothing to be alarmed about!...I'm doing GREAT!!!!! Just learning tons of things about myself right now and working through them day by day :) ) and have really needed time to recover and take care of myself. Between training and the exploding missionary work out here, I have really struggled to find an ounce of time to take care of myself. I have been praying really hard for Heavenly Father to help me find some way to get this time that I desperately need to recover and ponder about my life a little bit. Heavenly Father ALWAYS answers prayers....sometimes in really weird ways!! Sis. M ended up getting SUPER SUPER sick a couple of hours into our exchange....so pretty much the entire exchange was spent in our flat. This ended up being the biggest blessing (not her being sick...I felt so bad for her....but the results of the forced time in the flat). We had a ton of time to talk about the things I'm going through…the things she's going through. I received some very personal, life-changing revelation during that exchange. The spirit was extremely strong in the flat; there are few times in my life that I have felt the Saviour that close to me, as I did during that time in the flat. I received the spiritual and physical rejuvenation that I so desperately needed. My trials are still there, but I got the reboost that I needed to keep pushing the work along in Telford. I am so blessed to have such a dear friend in the mission, who understands me so well and always gives me perfect advice; I thank Heavenly Father every day for this! I'm even more blessed that Heavenly Father (as always) answers my prayers with perfect timing! I'm now re-energized and ready for anything that can be thrown at me! I'm craving to dive out of my comfort zone again and see more personal growth! This time in my mission (trials and all) is so precious and blessed!

Miracle from Exchange: Before Sis. M got sick, we managed to squeeze in an appointment! I felt prompted last week to try calling by at a potential investigator's home (that had not been terribly interested last time we worked with them in June). We went over...turns out they have been reading the BOM we gave them and now we have an appointment to teach the whole family-  a boyfriend, girlfriend (teaching the law of chastity should be GRRRREAT!) and 2 kids! MIRACLESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!! Nothing better than finding a family to teach!!! :) :)

Random Miracle:

I taught a man on the bus a few weeks back and left him with a BOM. Anyone who knows missionary work well knows that it is EXTREMELY rare that someone you contact on a bus will call/text you back. Well HE DID! He said I haven't converted him YET but he had started to read and is liking what he is reading so far! MIRACLES EVERYWHERE (insert voice of lady in nutrigrain commercial here*)

Teaching Richard is a Piece of CHEESEcake!:

Richard is one of my FAVOURITE investigators right now!!! HE is so open-minded. He just fires one question after another to us! We have great discussions, and everything we've taught him so far makes sense to him! He came to conference and loved it! He plans to watch the other sessions later in the week when he isn't working! He is always calling us to schedule appointments (that NEVER happens). He wants to settle with one religion, and is desperately searching for truth! I pray every day he'll recognize the truth he has come across! But the real reason he is now my favourite?! We randomly got into a conversation about favourite desserts-- Sis. Riley and I are cheesecake monsters! Turns out he's never tried it (SO SAD!!).....he said it sounds too weird for him (cheese+ cake just disgusts him!!!). But he went and bought us a cheesecake because he saw how bonkers we were for it!! OFFICIAL FAVOURITE! Guaranteed way to please me is with cheesecake! This man knows that way to a sister's heart :)

Nanaimo Bar Frenzy:

I think I've started something too big for me to handle. Everyone here is addicted to Nanaimo Bars!!! It's like they are all kittens with cat-nip!! They keep asking me to make them! They keep asking how to make them! They keep asking when I'll have more. Unfortunately they are time-consuming to make and super expensive, so I'm thinking it'll have to wait until Christmas!!!

Conference IS THE BEST:

So (HINT HINT) did anyone catch the MASSIVE missionary theme in conference!!?? SO GOOD! Do the Lord a favour and apply what was taught!!! Miracles are happening!! I'm seeing them here!!!!!!! You will see them there! Invite someone over for dinner with the missionaries....have a FHE with a non-member or less-active.....mention bits of the gospel whenever you can...go fellowship with the missionaries DO WHATEVER YOU CAN....whatever you do (whether big or small), the Lord will see that it results in miracles!! :)

Random tidbit (shout-out to my dad, who uses this phrase alll the time----- I miss you dad!) of fun-fact-ed-ness:

Conference times are so different.

Sat: Sat morning session is at 5pm.

Sun: -Priesthood session at 10am.

-Sat night is at 1pm

- Sun morning is at 5pm.

- Sun afternoon doesn't get broadcasted at chapel because it would go from 9pm-11pm (SO I HAVEN'T SEEN IT YET!!!!!! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Giant cliffhanger in my life!!!)

We had missionaries sleeping over at our flat, because only 2 chapels in our whole zone broadcast conference.....so we are SO blessed that Telford was one of them!!!!!!!!! Most people here watch conference from home! 

ANOTHER RANDOM MIRACLE THAT IS HOT OFF THE PRESS:

I didn't get kicked off the computers today! This entire email was written consecutively, and was written on only 1 computer!!! MIRACLES HAPPEN!!!!!

I Heart Polish Food:

So Remek has been wanting us to come for tea for a while. Sis. Riley and I were having a special companionship fast together yesterday and were lucky to break our fast at Remek’s!!! You have not seen big portion sizes until you have been fed by a Polish person! I have mentioned many times about Remek and how he tries to gorge us with chocolate and other sweets every time we teach him....well that was just a small taste (no pun intended HAR HAR) of what he is capable of. Enormous portion sizes of the most delicious food ever!! Polish sausages, salads, snacks, etc, and most importantly Pecos (I have no remote idea how it's spelled, and I barely understood how he pronounced it, so I now officially declare that this food is called Pecos!). Sis. Shchur has mentioned it before and told me how good it was......UNDERSTATEMENT! So good! I don't know how to describe it (google it.....if you can't find it, I'll try to describe next week haha), but all I know is that it was delicious! The best news of all? He bought it pre-made (typical bachelor....he doesn't cook much haha) at a Polish shop that's super close to our flat!! Guess what our new favourite meal is?!?!?! :)

REFERRALS EVERYWHERE (once again, insert voice of lady in nutrigrain commercial here*):

- Our members are slowly starting to catch the spirit of the work :) We have 3 possible new investigators from members!! It's seriously like Christmas came early!!!! Do your missionaries a favor and be their Santa Claus! Deliver the best presents of their lives...aka referrals! (have I hinted enough yet that I am desperate for the work in good ol' Vancouver to explode?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?)

Sister Riley:

She is simply the best. That is all I have to say! I love this sister to bits and pieces and we just laugh our heads off 90% of the time! I'll be pleased as punch if I get to spend another transfer with her :)

Lame Housekeeping: transfers are coming (nerve-racking!!!!.....I have had some people predict that I'm outta here! Who knows! I love Telford, but must admit I'm super comfortable here and am feeling ready for some new challenges!) . THEREFORE...Pday next WED or THURS, which means you have to wait a bit longer than usual for next email :) Next time you hear from me, you'll know if I got to stay or go :)

Anyways, that's all I have this week!! Love you all! If you love me, you will help your local missionaries! THE TIME IS NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE LORD IS HASTENING HIS WORK (if I had a pence for everytime they said that during conference........I would have enough to buy a cheapo hardcandy from the local sweetshop!.......but SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!!! Take a hint! Be excited! We are part of the most exciting era in HISTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!).

Hope the time passes quickly for you and slowly for me!

Love Sister Martin :)

Here is a YouTube video made by 2 elders in Erika's mission.  It is in Chinese but English translation is available by clicking on CC and selecting english. Her mission president wants it to viral!!  Why won't you be baptised?

Some August and September Pics from Erika...

These are from the Church History Tour at the end of August

Not sure who this is but assume it is the dear older sister that Erika loves to visit

 Sister Riley and Sister Martin

 Sister Martin and Sister Dargyte

                         Dawn Cleary and Sister Martin

Sister Martin and Sister Hansen