So I'm still in Telford......and I'm sitting next to my new
companion who is 1 day out of the MTC! HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?! We had no sisters
leave the mission this transfer, and had 10 new ones enter the mission field
yesterday, so President Preston had a massive group of sisters to pick to be
trainers......so I've concluded that either Heavenly Father has a really good
sense of humour, I have a lot of things to learn from this experience, or I
must be actually be doing a semi-ok job out here. From past experiences, I'd
say it's a healthy dose of all 3!
So I'm training Sister Riley. She's from Adelaide,
Australia. She IS AMAZING!!!! We get along so incredibly! We are like the same
person! She's 21 as well and ended up going on a mission in a similar way to me
(had planned to just fly through school, get married one day, etc. and suddenly
last summer had a crazy prompting to start preparing to serve a mission). She
has the most wonderful attitude, an incredible testimony and knowledge of the
scriptures, a great sense of humour, and seems to be ready to work really hard.
Bonus: she's a girly girl like me! My last 2 companions haven't been into any
of that kind of stuff at all and I've been CRAVING girl talk, and just doing
girly things!!!! I have an incredible feeling about these next 12 weeks! This
companionship is so right! We are going to see so many miracles together!! And
there is no doubt that we are going to be amazing friends after our time
together! We already are, and we have barely been together for a day!
So this means that there's a 99% chance that I'll be in
Telford for another 3 months (they try not to switch trainers mid-training if
they can help it). I love Telford, so that is perfectly fine for me. I was so
nervous about transfers, because I've made incredibly friends in my zone and
was sad at the thought of losing them. I kept some and I lost some. Sister
Hansen is also staying in her area, and also
training!!!!!!!!!! I'm thrilled to know that I'll still have her to
talk with and go to for support. Sister M is our new sister training
leader-- I wasn't terribly shocked by this (I had predicted that this was going
to happen). This means she will be in a different zone (sad...won't get to see
much of her), but the consolation is that I will probably get to go on exchange
with her this transfer so I'm excited for that!!! She is going to change
the lives of so many sisters out here! I'm glad that she has been given this
new calling- she will do amazing!!
Highlights from the last while:
MIRACLES EVERYWHERE (I'm officially making that the motto
for Telford area):
- Luke: we had an INCREDIBLE couple of lessons with Luke. He
is young (24 years old), wants to believe in something, and has been searching for
relief from the burdens of mental illness. We had a 2 hour lesson on the
restoration with him. He had so many incredible questions. He is sincerely
seeking for truth in his life, and relief from those burdens that he didn't
know where to get help from to deal with them. He literally said to us that he
could feel the power that we carried (the Holy Ghost) in his gut. He was nearly
in tears. He asked to have a Book of Mormon and pamphlets to give to his mom.
He asked to book a time to start his family history ASAP. He wanted another
lesson ASAP. Our 2nd lesson on the plan of salvation was similar! He was so
into it! He said his first prayer ever and it was the most humbling experience
I've ever had on my mission. He finished his prayer and was grinning ear to
ear. He said it felt so nice, and relieving, and was excited to continue to
pray on his own and to also keep reading his Book of Mormon. I pray he will be
baptized in the future!
Tanwaa:
- We got to teach her, her two kids, and her 3 nieces and
nephews. It was so much fun!!!!! She is going to be back in town this week and
plans to attend church! Highlight of our lesson with them: I pointed to our
cut-out drawings that represented the 3 kingdoms. I asked the kids which place
they wanted to go to. One of the girls answered: "this one (pointing to
the Telestial Kingdom), because I love stars (this drawing had stars on it);
they are pretty and are my favourite thing." I laughed so hard and
responded: "Ok, well if we know that God and Jesus live here (pointing to
the celestial kingdom) where would you want to live now?" Her response
"Oh, I really want to live there." Then all her cousins and siblings
started shouting "Me too, me too! I want to live with Jesus!" It was
adorable!!!
Tea at Sister Bensons: We had a pizza night at Sister
Benson's! It was so much fun!! She is very kind to us and has us over for tea
at least once a week. Her daughters (one is less active and one is a
non-member) both really like us (they are in their 20's) and are making progress
in their faith as we teach them. Gemma (the younger daughter) has not been to
church for ages and hasn't accepted missionary lessons, but we met with her on
Saturday and had an amazing appointment with her. She said she'd be fine with
us doing scripture studies and other lessons with her to help her build her
faith. She is a wondeful girl, and I'm excited to see what changes will come
with time!
Ok....brace yourselves for these next miracles:
WE HAVE 2 INVESTIGATORS WITH BAPTISMAL DATES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After a veryyyyyy long appointment with Remek, which
consisted of me firing 2 billion inspired questions at him for over 2
hours, we got to the root of all his concerns and resolved them all
easily. He on his own requested to be baptized in 2 WEEKS!! So he will be
getting baptized on Sept 14. We had a similar couple of appointments with
Estella (our 19 year old investigator who is leaving for fashion design
program at Cambridge in 3 weeks). Her mom was baptized in 2012. She
took discussions but never got baptized. Her and I have really connected (we
will definitely stay good friends, even after my mission is done). She is so
genuine and caring and really desires to follow the Lord. She just had some
concerns that were never discovered by previous missionaries (e.g. she had
thought that the 116 pages that Martin Harris had lost were rewritten by Joseph
Smith from memory and were in our BOM now). They were concerns that were the
result of some learning gaps from the lessons she took back in 2012 (some things
were not explained as clearly as they could of been). Once I realized her
concerns, they were so easily resolved and she expressed the desire to be
baptized before she leaves for school....so she is set to be baptized on Sept
21!!!!!!!
For both of these appointments, I felt the spirit so
strongly!! I was asking so many questions.....many of them seemed so random to
me, but they lead to me discovering concerns that I would have never guessed
these people would have had. I am realizing that Heavenly Father has blessed me
to be able to feel the spirit extremely strongly.....I often pick up things
that neither of my previous companions would, and get extremely strong
promptings very frequently (from my observations, more frequently than
others do). I am striving to expand on this gift...to be even more obedient to
all the mission rules so that I can feel the spirit as strong as possible. It
is the spirit that is converting these people. I LOVE the feeling when the
spirit is so strong in my heart (to the point where I feel I'm going to burst)
and I know that they are feeling it too!!!!! I aim to be able to be a vessel
that can carry the spirit to all the people here! I want so badly to be so
obedient! I desire to keep expanding my workload! To push harder and harder!
I'm addicted to my mission! I love being a missionary!!! I never want this
mission to end!! The thought of going home literally makes me cry sometimes (I
promise I love you all.......it's just something about being a missionary...the
love you feel is so much greater than anything else in this life- Christ-like
love!)
Philippa Davies: she is the superrrrr old widow that we
visit weekly. She is hilarious. There's another widow in our ward who visits
Philippa sometimes. This sister is extremely negative, always griping and
moaning about being a widow, about aches and pains, about how unfair the world
is etc. So funny! Sister Grumpy Pants (don't worry mom, this sister doesn't use
computers so no chance of her going on the internet to see this hahaha) called
on Philippa in the middle of our appointment with her, and joined us. Every
time Sister Grumpy pants made a negative, complaining comment (which is every 3
seconds), Philippa would literally roll her eyes at us, and literally tell this
sister to "stuff it and stop ruining her day". I wish I could be old
so I could be so blunt. It was HILARIOUS!!! I was dying laughing!!!!
Sleepover in Manchester:
I had the most amazing last 2 days!!! I had to be at the
mission home for Train the Trainers meeting, so I got to go on exchange with
Sister Hansen for the evening (Sisters Dargyte and M were paired up
while we were gone). Sister Hansen and I had hours as we travelled to just
talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. She is one of my best friends here, and it was the
biggest blessing to have that time to share miracles, vent, and just talk. She
is the most amazing sister, and will be an incredible trainer (she is SOOOOO
patient and kind!!!!). I love her to bits and pieces. After our training, we
went back to a sisters flat in Swinton, where 10 sisters were sleeping over!!
Crowded!!!! BUT SO FUN!!!!! We played a really silly game where we had to write
a time, name of person, an event, something they said etc. so that it made a
story. Trick was that you would write a word, and then pass the paper on so we
don't know what the others are writing. I was the target of many of them and
some of the stories were hilarious!!!!! I forgot the papers at home, but I'll
share one or two of them next week!!
I got to spend the whole night with Sister Hansen and Sister
M! I made another INCREDIBLE friend that night- Sister Lyman. I had
talked with her here and there before, but hadn't had much chance to spend time
with her. She is SO FUN! We bonded over that sleepover!!! Sisters M,
Hansen, Lyman, Eickhorst (from my MTC group...another good friend) and I all
slept in one room and just talked and laughed for a solid couple hours! The
rest of them fell asleep and then Sis M and I stayed up for another 1+ hr and
talked away. I needed that after these last 3 weeks. Heavenly Father has
blessed me with the BEST friends out here! These sisters are all incredible!
Their testimonies inspire me, and their desire to be obedient and serve the
Lord is amazing!
Random things I found weird or interesting this week:
- we saw a lady this morning walking her CAT......I've never
seen such an unhappy looking cat in my life. Sister Riley asked me if that was
normal in England......NOPE! haha
- we then later in the day saw 2 girls (probably in their
20's) walking through the cemetery by our flat, in footy pj's and bathrobes
with pacifiers in their mouths. Sister Riley asked me (sarcastically this time)
if that was normal in England....NOPE!
-Me accidentally dropping my hair elastic on Sis.
M's bottom (she was lying on the floor as I was walking past) and her
screaming and jumping because she thought "it was a butterfly or
something" (she is scared of butterflies)...............
- the fact that I'm training! Where did the time
go!!!!
- playing minute to win it oreo game....faceoff between me
and sis. m! The flat was so hot (body heat from 10 girls) that the
chocolate got stuck to our foreheads....epic fail!!!!!!!!!!
ran out of time to write the rest of the silly
things that happened this week....more on Monday :)
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