All for one and one for all!!

Well, in 3 days you can just start calling the Chorley sister missionaries the 3 musketeers because............

WE ARE GETTING A 3rd COMPANION!!

Yup! Sis. Cross and I both are staying AND Sis. Taggart will be joining our companionship! We both know Sis. T quite well (she is super nice)-- Sis. Cross and her were in the MTC together and I have been on exchange with her-- so we are nothing but absolutely excited for her to join us!

It will be interesting to see how life will change after spending 15 months of doing EVERYTHING in two's! Food for 2, chores for 2, conversation for 2, teaching in 2's! This will be an insane, but fun adjustment! The potential for us to double our work efforts though are marvelous!!  What a unique experience we will get to have! 

Triple Threat!! :)

Time for your weekly highlight reel!

Missionary's First........Kebab??

I can now say that I have had a kebab! We have something kind of similar back home-- donairs.....(I think that's how you spell it). I would say a kebab is quite similar to a donair (those meat pita things you can get a Greek shops back home!)

For my Canadian friends, I shall define a kebab.

Basically in any chippie (which I defined for you last week) you can get a kebab. They are as dodgy as the greasy chippie that makes them! So essentially how a kebab is made: there is a giant, spinning, vertical skewer type thing that has this giant long wad of unknown meat on it. The chippie worker then uses this shaver thing to shave off massively long strips of the mystery meat, which is then thrown into a pita with lettuce, other veg, and usually a sauce of your choice. A kebab is about 95% meat (just packed as full as possible with long mystery meat strips) and probably the unhealthiest thing you could find in the UK! Kebabs are famous for making people sick all the time, but they are so delicious that most people will take the risk of spending their whole day afterwards in the toilet! I am grateful to say I guess the Lord protects his missionaries because we were just fine (...this time). And I hate to admit that it tasted really good! I probably will not have another one though, as I value my life more than 10 kilos of mystery meat!

Best part of my week though was actually not eating the kebab, but discovering (after telling a member about our kebab experience) that there is a chain of kebab shops in Ireland called Abra Kebabra! Maybe I have a ridiculously childish sense of humour, but I found this to be both catchy and absolutely hilarious!

That Awkward Moment When....

A member accidentally calls you by your first name??

I didn't think that could happen, but it did.

A lot of members have me on facebook, so naturally they know and see my first name often. It was so hilarious last night as during tea we are chatting with the members and one of them goes

"How old are you again Erika??"

The second it left her mouth she looked so shocked and horrified at herself. I was stunned for a second (hearing your first name is super strange and foreign once you've been on the mission for awhile), but then it took me about 2 seconds before I burst out laughing! I thought it was cute and funny to see how embarrassed she was! Who thought first names could be such a funny thing!? :) 

DJ Brotab!

We are throwing a massive family history event in the community this weekend and the member we asked to organize music for the event made the most profound comment:

"We can't have any boring MOTAB at this event! Nothing but Brotab will be pumping in da house!"

Amen! 

I met a Canadian on a bus!!!:

I met a random lady from Richmond on the bus! I was more excited than a kid on Christmas morning when I realized she was Canadian! She was one the phone talking to someone and as I listened to her accent, my "Eh!-dar" was on full-gear! The second she said "bag", my suspicion that she was a fellow Canuck was confirmed and the second she hung up I was like: "What part of Canada are you from?!?"

It's always nice to meet someone from home! It definitely made my day :) 

The Perpetual RM Fund!:

I decided that I want to convince the church to start a new program! 

Sorry President Hinckley! Time to throw out the old and bring in the new! The perpetual education fund is old news! Time for The Perpetual RM Fund!! 

I just think about how poor and sad my life will be when I go home and then I realized how all RM's must go through this same thing! Obviously we need a Perpetual RM Fund!! I've been asking members if they would donate towards it on my behalf if it existed! It is so shocking every time they just reply with a laugh and tell me to keep eating my tea! ;) 

Marriage is like a deck of cards (member quote of the week):

A member was joking and ranting about how husbands never listen and all of the other weird habits that they have. She shared the funniest quote with us this week to summarize all her feelings!: 

"Marriage is like a deck of cards. You need a heart to love him, a diamond to marry him, a club to hit him, and a spade to bury him!"

Enough said :P Next time your husband is driving you nuts, just ask him if he wants to play a round of cards!

I have a great spiritual thought that I wanted to share, but I am really short on time so I'm going to save it for next week so I can do it justice! Instead I will just leave you with my favourite scripture of the week:

 37 Therefore, care not for the body, neither the life of the body; but care for the soul, and for the life of the soul.

 38 And seek the face of the Lord always, that in patience ye may possess your souls, and ye shall have eternal life.

Always keep the eternal in mind! Cherish those things that will last beyond this life on earth: family, God, Jesus Christ, changing and becoming the best you, you can be! 

I love you all!

Hope the time goes quickly for you and slowly for me!
Sister Martin xoxoxoxo 

Harry Potter Business...

Sister Hunter and Sister Martin

Sunset - Buckshaw Village where Erika lives

Sister Cross and Sister Martin

Size Difference! - Sister Cross and Sister Martin

A kite found in a tree after a wind storm

A member's garden complete with telephone box!

Fun at the Bishop's home...

This is an African boy band (literally) that sings gospel music in Africa.  They were on holiday for a month in England and took the missionary lessons.

Chippy on the wall - see her last post for the story to go with it

The Preston Temple