"...And out of small things proceedeth that which is great.": HAPPY ST. PATS!

Today has been one of the funnest days of my mission! We just got back from a district activity! We went to Lowther Castle! It is gorgeous! The story behind it is actually funny and also sad! In the 1800's the man who bought the castle lived wayyyy beyond his means: he liked to party it up! He owned lots of huge estates around the world where he entertained royalty etc. Turns out he couldn't actually really afford them and therefore left his family with HUGE debt! The uncle who inherited the castle (and the debt....lucky him!) had to sell almost everything in the castle (including the roof!!) and it was left in ruins! They have been working on restoring it for years now! It is looking gorgeous, but still has a long way to go apparently before it's anywhere near its original state! We had so much fun running around for hours on the grounds! The elders were the biggest nerds ever and were roleplaying medieval fighting scenes all day (running around with sticks, climbing up towers etc.). My favourite part was them pretending that elves had invaded and come to attack us. They assigned us all character roles (I was some kind of wizard, one of them was a knight, one was a bard etc.) and we had to battle the elves. Oh dear. Gotta love boys! Afterwards we had a lovely little picnic at the sacrificial altar (a random pile of stones in the middle of a field, that surprisingly really does look like a sacrificial altar). Pictures will be sent home asap!

Summary! Castles are pretty and make for a fab day!

EMM - England Manchester Mission!

Tracting Haunted Houses!

So we were trying to find a less active member and went to go knock on the door of her supposed address. The house was in the creepiest, dodgiest alleyway ever! Nevertheless-- us being the super missionaries we are-- we marched up the alley and knocked on the door anyways. Suddenly the door flew open a crack. No one was there. Safe to say, we were about to wet ourselves!. There was the most awkward, nervous silence ever and I finally yelled out "hello??". Suddenly a young man in his 20's came to the door with the most sheepish/surprised expression on his face as he explained with a laugh "Ohh. Wow. Sorry. I though you were my mate!". Guess he had been expecting his friend to show up any minute to come watch the football match. He was super embarrassed! I thought it was hilarious! We didn't find our less active, but at least we got a solid laugh from it!

My English Challenge:

It is official! Sister McD has officially challenged me to speak in an English accent for an entire day (we were supposed to do it today, but we got so distracted by the castle that we forgot completely). She finds my hybrid accent hilarious (I say a lot of things with a really strong twang in my accent. Sometimes people here think I'm from a different part of the UK)...when she first met me, she thought I was from an Eastern European country. It will be hard, but I love a challenge! I'll tell you all how this goes!!

Sister McD got scared by a jaffa cake wrapper:

Enough said! The funny part about having a deaf companion is that she often doesn't hear when things are coming up on her. We were walking home at the end of the night and a jaffa cake wrapper was being blown across the street by the wind. It hit her leg (she hadn't heard it coming) and she SCREAMED.....and then I laughed (because I am mature and very sympathetic...CLEARLY!). Good laughs!

We went on a sort-of, unofficial, weird, double date:

It is not what it sounds like! So us and the elders got invited to join in on a dinner that the young women were throwing for the elderly people in our branch (i.e. we got invited to the old people dinner). We get there and it's us, the elders, and 3 old ladies and 1 old man (us and the widowers..WOOHOO!). The atmosphere was incredibly awkward. There was old school romance music being played in the background (Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole anyone?!). Bits of candlelight and posh food. Wonderful conversation (hot topic of the night was knitting--no joke-- and how crazy kids are these days). Just when we couldn't feel more awkward, suddenly a Lion King song comes on "CAN YOU FEEL THE LOVE TONIGHT?!!!". The elders and ourselves had to muster all self-control to not burst into laughter about the whole situation. We all agreed after that it was incredibly awkward and that we will never speak of it again!

Speaking of Lion King...:

So I have rebellious hair! It likes to curl/wave like crazy! Sister Riley (love her guts!) used to tease me when my hair would go crazy (almost daily) and I'd get my signature, wind-induced Sister Martin ringlets popping out all over the place (they like to spring out and stick out super awkwardly). Whenever this would happen. she would echo out "mufasaaaaaa!". Well, Sister McD got a hold of this story, and now she does it too. We were walking home from the old people dinner and she screamed out "Mufasa!!!". Then in a random burst of insanity, we starting singing the circle of life during the walk home from the chapel. Beautiful clear sky. Quiet night. My mufasa mane flying everywhere. Who wouldn't want to sing the circle of life?!

Reminiscing With The Elderly:

The old people got invited at the dinner to reminisce about "the good ol' days". My favourite story: One sister remembered embarrassing her mother badly once. She had overheard that her doctor (who was from India) loved to eat chocolate every day. So in the middle of the packed waiting room she screamed out to him, "I know why your skin is so brown! It's because you eat so much chocolate!!". Kids say the darnedest things! :)

My deep insight of the week:

If you could hie to kolob is the marmite of hymns. You either love it, or you hate it! The end!

My funny accent discovery of the week!:

We were getting McDonalds and a 90's song came on the radio. It sparked a conversation about music we listened to as kids. Then Sister McD started talking about how much she loved N'sync.

English pronunciation of N'Sync: "en (like the letter N) sync"

Our pronunciation: "In Sync".

She never knew that's how it is pronounced. I asked a bunch of people how they say it, just to confirm that this is how English people say it, and that it wasn't just a Sister McD thing. When I told her how it's pronounced, she was mind blown! Her reaction: "Ohhhh! That makes so much more sense now!!". I love English people so much!

I ate a kiwi skin this week:

Yes! I am in England, living out the opportunity of a lifetime, and this is the BIG cultural experience I have for you this week! :P Our branch president was talking about fruit and somehow (I don't know how) kiwi's became a topic. He told us you can eat the skins (they are apparently packed with vitamins--*pronounced the English way of course*-- and are really good for you). It sounded disgusting to me (they look all pokey and like they'd be uncomfortable/gross to eat), so of course I had to try it! They actually tasted good, and they are not pokey! I am now converted! Bring on the kiwi skins! :)

Anyways! Email time is short because of all our adventures today! Keep loving life!! I love you all dearly!!

Hope the time goes quickly for you and slowly for me! :)

Sister Martin!