Post Christmas and feeling as fat as Father Christmas!

Baby email this week. Our preparation day is shortened today, so we have make like a banana (pronounced the Aussie way....in honour of Sister Riley!) and split!!!

Fun facts from this week:

1. If you put gummy bears in a bottle of Shloer filled with water and leave them a couple of days, they blow up to ridiculous sizes! We found this hilarious. Evidence that when you take away a 21 year old's tv, Internet, and any other form of worldly entertainment, the dumbest things turn into good ol' fashioned fun!  

2. When you have an Australian companion read "Eh!" on the shirt of the Canadian teddy bear you receive for Christmas, she will pronounce it "Ugh" instead of "Eh!". Fact: This is hilarious for a born and bred Canadian girl to witness!

- Sub-fact: I love my companion anyways!

3. I ate enough food this week to feed half of Africa!

- 5+ Christmas dinners over the course of 3 days! I never want to eat again (the ultimate weight loss plan!!).

- The most intense dinner we had? In one meal: Turkey, duck, fried chicken, pork, and ALL the fixings! With cheesecake (yummmmmmmmm) for dessert! Confession: I am slightly disgusted wtih myself for admitting that this was my Christmas! But it was a once in a lifetime experience!! I love England!

4. Huge miracles are happening in Carlisle!!!!

We were heading off to go and search out a less actives home (a specific assignment from the church to confirm if they had the correct address for the person). As we were street contacting on the way to the house it was proven that there are still people out here who are prepared to hear the message of the gospel. The first person we talked to commented on how he had met a missionary from another denomination in the past. This missionary told him that you can find the answer to any question you have if you study the Bible carefully enough. This didn't make sense to him, as he has found that the Bible has been changed too much (doctrinally and chronologically) for it to make sense to him all of the time. When we taught him about the Book of Mormon it made complete sense to him. He was eager to have us come teach him and his family as soon as possible. Literally after we left him, a woman stopped us on the street and asked us for the time. She saw our Books of Mormon and badges and asked what we are doing here. We were all in tears on the street as we taught her a bit about the plan of salvation and the experiences we have had with it in our lives. She said that she has a lot of problems and asked if we can try and help her; we testified that the atonement of Jesus Christ can help us through anything. It was so humbling as we offered a prayer at the end and she kept asking us to pray for so many people she knows in her life who are struggling. We take prayer for granted way too often!

The miracle continues though!! We spent so long teaching these 2 that we didn't have time to get to the actual house. So the next night we went to find it. The address turned out to be wrong (the person did not live there) but an Indian lady did. With no hesitation she invited us straight in. She immediately told us how she has such a strong love for Christ. She suddenly was in tears as she exclaimed that we were a direct answer to her prayers. Her mother-in-law back in India has multiple organ failure and is being admitted into hospital today. The whole family has been praying that someone would be sent to come comfort them. Her husband had to work that day, so she had to stay home and watch her young daughter instead of going to church. She said she had wanted to go so badly as she needed comfort during this trial and had prayed that morning for God to send someone for her. I was in tears as I realized that meeting the other two the day before was divine intervention from Heavenly Father. We were not meant to meet her until the next day (after she had prayed for us to come)! We taught her the plan of salvation and invited her to baptism and she accepted. Her brother and his family also live across the street and they are all struggling through this trial right now, so we hope to be able to share some comfort with all of them. This is a total of 3 families (and 1 potential family) from only knocking on this one door!

I literally wrote last week how I know with all my heart that the call for missionary work is now!!!! This is proof!!!! My faith will not waiver in this regard!! I have been fasting and praying so hard this transfer and have done the hardest work I have my whole mission. The work is about to explode in Carlisle! The harvest is beginning and I'm the most blessed person ever to be a part of it! Hard work and loads of faith can truly move mountains!!

Thanks for all the love I received over the holidays!!! I am a blessed person!!!

Hope the time goes quickly for you and slowly for me!
LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU!

Sister Martin!! 

We had a wonderful Skype call on Boxing Day