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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