Miracles and madness!

My catch phrase to describe this week: Miracles and madness! But lets be honest! This catch phrase could apply to my whole mission!! :)

Vicky:

So we met with Vicky the day after the baptism! We had FHE with her two little girls (cute as buttons), plus the Perkins family (the family who invited her to the baptism) and their 3 little girls (cute as buttons times infinity!!). It was incredible!!! We ended up teaching for probably 3 hours after FHE! We taught Vicky the word of wisdom, watched a conference talk, shared testimonies, talked a lot about the BOM etc. She was so accepting of everything we taught! She is so prepared! We are so excited to teach her again!!!!!!! They live really far away from us (30 min car ride) so unfortunately progressing is much slower, simply because we can't see her very often!!! But I pray I can see her progress before I leave Telford (whenever that happens!).

Exchanges in China (a.k.a) Wrexham!

So I was in Wales and England on exchange this week!!! And had the most relaxing exchange of my life! Our current sister training leaders are both Chinese speaking, therefore most of their investigators are Chinese and speak little to no English! So all the appointments except one were in Chinese! So my whole exchange was spent playing with the Chinese children of these investigators, so they would not distract their moms during the lesson! Basically I was a glorified Chinese baby-sitter! But it was loads of fun! Fun fact: it's so much harder to work with kids when you don't speak their language! Mute babysitting is a very unique experience!! Cutest thing was a lesson where there was a little boy named Ian. Ian is very autistic and was causing havoc during the lesson (throwing chairs, screaming etc.). This was a very important and serious lesson and my companion was already extremely nervous about teaching it on her own. I suddenly remembered that I had a Canadian loonie in my wallet and pulled it out and gave it to him. He was quiet for the rest of the lesson. He loved it! He kept staring at it and just feeling the different texture of the coin! It ended up being a little miracle for the lesson, because it allowed my companion to be able to teach and be understood with no distracting! The small blessings are sometimes the most precious.

Whipped Cream Party Trick:

So anyone who knows my family well knows that we do the dumbest trick with spray whipped cream! We stick a giant dollop on our wrist, and then swing our arm in the air, and smack the arm with our other hand-- thus launching the whipped cream high in the sky catapult style-- and then catch it in our mouth!! It's stupidly simple, and simply stupid ;) Well I saw a can of whipped cream on the table at tea, with one of the funnest/silliest families in our ward (home with 4 very energetic boys and parents with a great sense of humour). I instantly became the most popular person of the night, and certainly started a fun trend in their home! They loved it and it made for good laughs and people tried it, and failed-- leaving their faces and shirts covered in whipped cream failures!

Another highlight of the tea appointment was our string of offensive/silly Irish and Welsh jokes!! Pretty much the whole tea appointment was a long string of the family members insulting each other and telling terrible jokes! One of my favourites of the night: 3 boys from another family in the ward were over for tea as well; their parents are both from Wales, but the kids grew up here. The 12 yr old boy threw a pretty clever/offensive Irishman quip to Bro Pointer (who was driving the car). Bro. Pointer (an Irishman) replied: sorry Joe, I can't understand a word you are saying, I don't speak sheep. All I hear is Baaaaaaa Baaaaa Baaaaaaaa when you talk. And when your cousins from New Zealand talk all I hear is Baaaaaa Baaaaa Baaaaaa (said in a hilarious accent). You probably have to live here to get this humour!! There is nothing in Wales but sheep (so the joke goes) so there are lots of offensive jokes that insult the Welsh accent using sheep impressions/references. Another favourite joke of the night was their woman in the kitchen jokes (they told about 50 during tea): What do you do if a woman is running at you with a knive? Get a loaf of bread and peanut butter. She'll start making you a sandwich! Funniest appointment ever!

Random Sister Riley Quote:

As we were walking one day, she was thoughtfully analyzing her mittens. She suddenly goes: "Maybe the reason they invented mittens was so people can't tell if your flipping them the middle finger, because otherwise they really aren't a very functional design at all". I love random moments on the mission.

Accent wars:

Sister Riley was animatedly telling me how I pronounce words wrong. Specifically: tomato and aluminum. I won the war. It's simple. To win an accent war with an English or Australian person, just have them say tomato, and then ask them how they say potato. Bazinga. Then ask them to spell aluminum and pronounce it exactly how it is spelled. Bazinga. Then take any word that ends with "er" and ask them to pronounce the letters properly (like they would when they are doing basic grade 1 phonics). Bazinga. I love accent wars, especially when I win!

Sweet, sweet revenge:

Last week Sister Riley made my life miserable after finding out (because of Guy Fawkes night) that I'm scared of fireworks! Well life handed me a beautiful opportunity for revenge. Sister Riley's fear? Chalk. She cannot touch chalk. It makes her gag. So we were at the Perkin's home (friends with investigator Vicky) and were playing charades with their little girls. Sister Riley had one of the girls be a firework--- so cheeky. Well later in the night as we were sitting at the table, the mom suddenly pulled the tablecloth off of the table and handed the girls a jar of chalk. Turns out the girls regularly draw with chalk on the kitchen table. So I told the girls that Sister Riley loves drawing pictures and that they should get her to draw a picture of pretty fireworks. Hilarious! The girls were begging her to draw for them. Revenge is sweet!

Can I get an amen?

Random silly moment in Sunday school yesterday. Our investigator class was cancelled so we were in regular Sunday school. The lesson topic was on missionary work (YAY!). Near the end of the lesson the teacher made a comment about how it is pointless to do missionary work if we aren't helping fellowship and strengthen those who do join the church. Because we have struggled to get any help from the ward in supporting our recent converts and investigators, I sarcastically muttered to Sister Riley "Amen Brotha!" then she quipped back "can I get an aaaamen?!". Just as she said that, the whole Sunday school class echos Amen. The lesson had ended right as she said that. We were in hysterical laughing fits from that!

Goodbye Remek:

Sad week. we officially passed Remek over to the elders this week. We will still go by to see him occasionally, but will not be his regular teachers anymore. He stopped progressing back in September (he still comes to church every week, but just won't take that step to baptism. He is becoming an eternal investigator) and we have absolutely nothing left to teach him. He has been getting way too comfortable with us, and views us as friends to socialize with, more than missionaries who teach the gospel. So we prayed and decided to pass him to the elders. Elders are often more bold than sisters, so maybe they can be more firm with him and give him the push he would need. The elders will have different stories and experiences to share as well, so we hope maybe they can give him something he needs. It was a little emotional for me, since Remek was the first person I ever found and taught on my mission. It felt like sending my baby out into the world for the first time. So strange! Changes are officially beginning for me!

Random Fact:

So I just noticed that the logo above the myldsmail.net website has a missionary badge that says: Elder Martin. This badge is also in preach my gospel. My last name is officially better than everybody else's!! :)

That is the extent of my week! We are still struggling, but trying to have faith that in the midst of the madness that has been going on that we can find people to teach! And through everything we always manage to laugh at EVERYTHING, and I am certainly so grateful for this!!! What a blessing it is to be involved in the Lord's work! What a beautiful work this is! I love being a missionary!!! There truly is nothing better!!!!

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

<3 Sister Martin 

Miracles are Back

MIRACLES ARE BACK!!!! I'm healthy again! I'm kicking trials out of my way right, left and center! I feel ggggggggggggggreat (cue the Nutri-grain commercial quotes!) I LOVE being a missionary (but when do I not love being a missionary?).

I'll get the random silly bits (as always, there's plenty of those to share) and then I'll get to the good stuff..... MIRACLES!:

.....in the bath:

Fun fact. If you're really bored and freezing to death on the bus at 9:10 at night and you feel like you are going to die from fatigue, here is a fun way to help the time pass. Randomly open your hymn book to ANY page, read the title, and then add "in the bath" at the end of the song title. You could do this with any song really, but because we missionaries are so nifty and are privileged to listen to spirit boosting music (MOTAB anyone?), we stick to the hymn book :) Try it at a really boring point in sacrament meeting one day and let the stifled giggles fly!

Kids Say the Darnest Things:

Cutest tea appointment moment the other day. The Terry's- an older couple in our ward- have the cutest granddaughters. They are not members of the church, but the Terry's have them over every time the missionaries come for tea, and they always bring the girls to church (grandparents of the year award anyone?!). Megan- the cutest 5 year old you'll ever meet- in the middle of a conversation at the dinner table suddenly starts going "Excuse me. Sister Martin. I like you a lot but you talk really funny. Why do you talk so strange?". Adorable!! I got to tell her all about the long plane ride to England, and how people speak a little different back home. CUTE!!

Companions Say the Darnest Things:

My mom is the best! And she sent me a nice card to cheer me up (seeing a mailbox with a letter in it was like early Christmas! Almost wet myself with excitement!). This card had some glitter glued on the front. The next day I had glitter on random parts of my face. It was bugging Sister Riley to see my shiny Vampire face (lame Twilight joke.....sorry for those who love those books but I just can't help but slightly mock) and she burst out "Ughhhhhhhhhh glitter!! It's the herpes of stationary. No matter what you do you cannot get rid of it". Totally inappropriate missionary comment, but me (having a sick sense of humour) died laughing!

It's raining it's pouring:

So it's been WET and even more COLD!!!!! Not fun, but that's what I signed up for I guess :) We had to do a few hours of knocking doors in the pouring rain (like the hardest rain I've ever seen in my life........all 5 of my layers were soaked through within the 1st ten minutes). We had a blast though! Lots of silly jokes. Lots of door slams. Loads of fun! One particular home was hilarious. So we ring doorbell....no answer.....knock one more time....no answer... we proceed to hike down the long driveway, when I look over my shoulder and I see an old lady (with the classic purse lipped English scowl that I've come to love) peeking at us through the curtains (fancy that?! She was hiding from the Mormons.....that NEVER happens (a sarcasm font would be so appropriate right here)). I grinned at her, and realizing she was busted she instantly shuts the curtains with a scowl. I take a few steps; look back again and again there she is peeking at me. I grin again and even more embarrassed she dashes from the window. As we looped around the street and were coming past again I looked and guess what?! There she was again! I waved at her and her face was priceless! So busted! I know that I'm so cheeky for doing that, but I could not help it! Too tempting!!

Fireworks......wahhh:

Anyone who knows me well knows 2 things:

1. I'm a huge baby

2. Therefore, I'm super scared of fireworks

Well Guy Faukes night is tomorrow. For my N. American beautiful people, I could define Guy Faukes as simply this: Once upon a time a bad man had plotted to blow up the parliament buildings and he got caught and the parliament buildings were saved (yay!). Now people use this event as an excuse to celebrate their freedom/safety by drinking themselves sillier than usual, have crazy bonfires and lighting fireworks off nonstop the weeks before and after this day.

Wellllll this means that we are out at night knocking doors and street contacting in the midst of firework explosions. Sister Riley finds it hilarious that I'm so scared of them. My jacket has a giant hood, and this hood gives me no peripheral vision, so her favourite thing to do now is to jump up beside me, grab me and scream "Bam! I'm a firework!". Not ok! Can't wait til this madness is over haha

Tim Tam Slams!!
Yes! You heard me! Sister Riley got a bday package full of Aussie goodness! They do this thing called Tim Tam slams, where you make hot chocolate, bite off both ends of a Tim Tam and drink the hot chocolate through it. The Tim Tam melts and tastes like HEAVEN!!!! New addiction has begun!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love Australia!!!!!! Plus I got to have a koala bear to hang from a dashboard of a future car, and Australia pencils and stickers! Bazinga!!!!!!!

SSSS:

We are starting something big! Our ward has struggled with unity and we have found a good starting place to work on it. SSSS (single/struggling sister scripture study). We have lots of part-member families, lots of single moms etc. In the middle of a lesson I was prompted to ask a single sister if she felt a weekly scripture study would help her. She freaked out. She said that had answered a huge prayer. She offered up her house for it. She suggested a whole whack of sisters she thought would benefit from it. People are getting so excited for it! I can't wait for the miracles to come forth from this!

Just call us the local English coffee/tea saleswomen.....awkward!!!!

So one of our recent converts had an Aunt from America come visit. This aunt is all into hippy-dippy, organic remedy drinks that are supposed to cure every disease on planet earth and also create world peace (can someone please create a sarcasm font for me?!). She sells these types of drinks for some company and brought boxes of samples and product for the recent convert to sell. Our recent convert was all excited (she's going to help sell the product) and was trying to shove our pockets full of coffee and tea samples to give to people we meet. The aunt told us "I know people at churches love coffee. I know you all don't drink it, but someone at your church still might want some" AHHHHHHHHH BEEP BEEP RED ALERT! So awkward. Luckily this recent convert is completely keeping the word of wisdom, except she didn't quite get the concept that helping other members break the word of wisdom is not a good thing. Ooops. Guess what lesson we'll be reviewing in the near future?! The joys of being a missionary.

Halloween in England is lame!!!!

Let's get one thing clear before I proceed. I still LOVE England to bits and pieces! They have won my heart here! BUT I was mucho disappointed by Halloween! They deserve a whole whack of tricks for the lack of treats they've got here! England has some of the best chocolate ever, so it brings tears to my eyes that they don't get to appreciate it Halloween style. I saw maybe 3 trick or treaters and only 3-4 houses were handing out candy- apparently that is normal everywhere in our area! We spent the evening in the flat.....in our onesies! We just bought 2 chocolate bars, because the end of the month means there's no grocery money left to spend. Love England, but I will look forward to Halloween back in Canada in 2 years!

Sister Martin Stuff-Ups:

So apparently I was incapable of speaking this week. Sister Riley compiled a list of her favourite Sister Martin word stuff-ups for the week:

1. I'm sorry I'm such a stress cake= I'm sorry I'm such a stress case

2. This body is NOT meant for garments = This body is NOT meant for leggings

3. We're going to be in a free-some! = We're going to be in a three-some!

Speaking of Free-Somes....

It is true! We were almost in a 3-some companionship. We got a phone call on Halloween from President. He said a sister was going home early and her companion Sister Leslie (who we have both been on exchange with and LOVE TO DEATH-- she was our sister training leader for the last 2 transfers) was going to join our companionship (mainly to help reduce the load on me so I could focus on dropping my stress levels). We were sooooo excited! We talked to her on the phone and she was going crazy from excitement. Then the next morning President called and said never mind. Turns out he had a suddenly "situation" come up and he needed to put her somewhere else to help deal with it. So close but yet so far!!

Remek got the 3rd degree last night:

So we brought Remek to the home of a member couple who he has become good friends with. The Twiddy's are one of my favourite couples in this ward! They are so nice to us and have been great friends to Remek! They are also both converts so they relate well to him! Sister Twiddy is determined to make Remek practice his England and she gave him the 3rd degree last night! So many questions....mostly about dating life hahahaha Remek's face was so red! She was asking him when he was going to find a nice lady to settle down with. She is now determined to set Remek up with someone in our ward (I must admit, this Sister is amazing and it wouldn't be a terrible match at all) and now has decided to play Cupid. Oh dear! We'll see how this goes haha.

Allegory of the Olive Tree....President Preston style:

We have the funniest mission president ever! I love him so much! I had an interview with him this week and he was giving me a hard time about my stress levels. He didn't know what to do with me and was laughing at the circumstances. He was trying to remember a scripture and it was bothering him so bad that he couldn't remember where it was. Luckily I knew he was quoting Jacob 5 and he dove into translating the chapter into a Sister Martin version: What more could I have done for my vineyard? NOTHING. You have done everything and more and more and more and almost killed yourself trying to do some more on top of that. Sometimes you just need to stop, and sit down under the olive tree and relax and enjoy the view.   

And that I have done. I feel amazing! I'm back to 100%. We are seeing miracles again! I was able to get to the root of my issues and Telford better look out because an update version of me (who does destressing activities daily and takes an hour break everyday) is being set loose! It feels good to have energy again and to be excited for the work.

Miracles:

WE FINALLY HAD A MEMBER MISSIONARY MIRACLE!!!

Up to this point we haven't really had the members help us with missionary work. No referrals. No fellowshippers. Almost nothing. We've literally been doing it all on our own (door knocking and street contacting).

Last month a sister pulled us aside and said that as we bore our testimonies in sacrament meeting that she felt prompted that we were the right people to help her with her friend Vicky-- who she has been having some good gospel conversations with lately. We discussed ideas with her and she decided she would invite Vicky to attend the baptism of her 8 year old daughter Talitha. The family also decided together to invite a handful of nonmember friends to the baptism too (nonmembers recognize that a baptism is a big deal...even if they are not religious themselves.....lots of people are invited to attend Church of England Christenings for babies out here, so it wasn't terribly weird to invite people to the baptism). They purposely catered the baptism so it was very missionary friendly: the 1st talk addressed faith, repentance and baptism. The 2nd talk was about the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end (so they covered the whole Preach my Gospel lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ!!!). Talitha picked her favourite mormon messages and Bible videos for the people to watch while she was changing. They had ANYONE who was a mother or a daughter in the room come up and sing When I am Baptized (the primary song)......they mentioned it to the non-members ahead of time so even the non-members happily joined in and sang! 

Vicky came and felt the spirit so strongly!!!! She said it almost made her cry. She said she felt the spirit when Talitha was baptized and when we were talking with her. She had so many questions after the baptism and we taught her on the spot for 35ish minutes. She wanted to meet again to be taught right away! We are seeing her tonight-- we will have a FHE with her, her 2 daughters, and this member family! Another non-member woman who they invited to the baptism is also interested! She felt the spirit as well- the husband bore his testimony to her and he said she was in tears. She now wants to start getting involved in church activities and I feel confident we will be teaching her soon as well! Heavenly Father has blessed us with such a miracle in the midst of so many trials! It shows how one simple invitation leads to such great miracles. And it was 20 billion times easier than when we knock doors! Vicky was so receptive! It was very natural!

Miracle #2: Richard came to church and loved it! We had a breakthrough lesson with him on Tuesday. We shared some personal experiences that really helped him feel the spirit and realize that he is capable of receiving answers to prayers and having faith! He really felt the spirit in testimony meeting yesterday and is excited for our next lesson and to attend church again. Finally some progress!!

I feel like we'll start seeing more baptisms again soon in the next 2 months!!!!!! The miracles are starting to roll in!!!!! We have a goal of 18 Baptisms in the Newcastle zone for the month of November! The highest number ever baptized in a month in this zone is 5! We are being pushed to call down the powers of heaven and start to steamroll this work forward. The Lord's armies are now in place in this mission (the last big group that entered the mission is in their last 3 weeks of training...the groups for the next while are really small so we will finally start having experienced missionaries getting established out here), and it's time to charge! We pray the members will join us. It looks like some just might!

I love this work!!!!!! Looks like there's a 99% chance I leave Telford at the end of the month (President basically told me he plans to transfer me unless he gets some crazy prompting to keep me). I'm going to make the most of these last weeks here! Pray for the work! It truly is marvelous!!!

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

Sister Martin 

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

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 

A bonus post!

No, Erika hasn't written or emailed, but a wonderful lady, Dawn Cleary, did send a couple of photos.  Dawn is Erika's friend and adopted mother.  She makes it easier for me (Erika's Mom) because I know Erika is being well taken care of while she is away.  Erika has been "grounded" by her mission president this week so was required to take it easy and get some rest.

Erika trying on winter clothes on P-Day!  She had a melt down because she didn't want to spend the money on clothes.  Luckily Dawn messaged me and I told her to tell Erika to buy what was needed and the clothes were purchased.  Good thing too because the weather is getting colder, wetter and windier!!

You heard about the changes to the missionary dress code didn't you!  Don't they look cute in their onesies catching up on General Conference!  So appropriate for Erika to be the tall giraffe...

Dawn Cleary, Sister Martin, Sister Riley

Erika has been grounded by her Mission President!

We are winter clothes shopping this week (the weather out here is a lovely blend of wet, cold, wet, windy, wet, freezing, and more WET......you can imagine how much my lovely Aussie companion has appreciated this weather), therefore I will probably not have time to respond to emails today-- sorry y'all!

We have more rolls than Greggs: (Editor's note from Erika's Mom - Greggs is a large bakery chain in the UK!)

WE ARE GETTING FAT!!! We have more chins than a Chinese phone book! I think the members are trying to fatten us up and kill us (they won't even have to worry about making the effort to sharpen their butcher knives to go for the kill, our clogged arteries will do the work for them!). We are probably going to stop doing tea appointments (or seriously cut back) soon, because it is getting ridiculous! I didn't realize how many members actually pretty much force-feed you second helpings, and massive portions of dessert! NOT OK!!! Ahhhhhh this week we will be focusing on boosting our thin self-esteems haha!

I'm Grounded:

Fun fact: missionaries can get grounded! President Preston has put me on semi house-arrest for at least a week. He said he had to do it because he knew I wouldn't slow down on my own! I've been working so hard that my stress levels have been crazy high for over a month and it's making me sick. Booooooo! So the motto of this week is R&R! Lots of Ensigns......lots of lovely music......lots and lots of sleeping....and almost no appointments (except for tea appointments.........so they can keep making us fat....and appointments that are absolutely necessary). It's literally the complete opposite of missionary life right now and it's sooooo weird!! Pray that I will get back on my feet fast so I can get back in the game!!

We Saw a CORSE!

We went for a lovely walk in the countryside the other day (no joke.....this is my life now!) and we saw a CORSE!!! It seriously looked like a horse and a cow produced offspring!!!!!! It was a horse, but it was super fat, and was spotted exactly like a cow!!!!!! Truly, the small things in life can entertain a missionary!!!!

WAFFLE NIGHT!:

We found a waffle iron in our flat a few weeks back (that's like UNHEARD of! Missionaries do NOT get nice things like waffle irons, but we are seriously in the best flat ever!!) so we had a waffle night! We bought real Canadian Maple Syrup (apparently). Not as good as home, but they tried :) The waffles were amazing! All they needed were strawberries and whipped cream and they would have been ace!

Missionaries are attracted to only weird people:

That's how it seems most of the time! We meet the strangest human beings. We had an appointment and she told us all about how she was super sick the other day. She told us about how she "was being sick, and weeing and pooing all over the place....1st in my bedroom, then in my bathroom, then in my kitchen, even on these chairs (pointing to the living room furniture we are so lucky to be sitting on)...there was wee and sick and poo everywhere!!". As we were inwardly gagging and wanting to develop the sudden ability to apparate (BAZINGA! Bad Harry Potter joke!), she then told us how she ate a snap pea the other day, and there was a slug in it. She then offered us 2 BANANAS that were getting ripe and she couldn't eat in time! That was it! We were in tears laughing when we left! Yes, people are different, but they sure do make for a good laugh in the middle of all of this chaos!!!!!! Appreciating the small, crazy moments!!!!

Anyways...because I have been grounded, I don't have much to report! I'll try and spice up my email next week for you! Pray that I can start sleeping and be obedient and rest like I'm supposed to!

Hope the time goes fast for you, and slow for me <3

Your grounded missionary, Sister Martin

STILL IN TELFORD!!!

I'M STILL HERE!!!!!! They can't get rid of me that easy!!!!! Telford will officially be my 6 month area! I officially am feeling old in the mission. I am one of the most senior people in my zone (in terms of how long I've been in Newcastle Zone, and even in how long I've been in the mission). Almost all the missionaries I was originally in this zone with are transferred out now; only 2 of us left! All of my original Newcastle friends are gone: Sis. Hansen got transferred to Liverpool zone, Sis. M is in Manchester zone, bunch of other sisters and elders I've become friends with have been scattered across the mission. Time for me to lead the way and step up to the plate! Challenge accepted! It's crazy how fast I've had to grow up in this mission! The other day we were at a meeting in Manchester, and I suddenly realized that I was leading a group of 20ish missionaries through town and on and off buses. How did I go from being a greenie, to being a 'seniorish' missionary in 4ish months?! Scary!

Anwaysssssssssssssssssssssss...... it has been a hilarious 10ish days!!! Sister Riley and I are officially probably the silliest people in the EMM!

Squirrels in Man City:

Sis. Riley saw her 1st squirrel in Manchester last week and went nuts (har har). Bless her little heart! One minute all was well, and the next she was squeeling like a little girl and jumping up and down like a crazy person! Apparently they do not have squirrels in Australia! I definitely gave her a hard time for that one! In all fairness, she did point out to me that if it had been a kangaroo I would have done the same thing..........true story!

This area is a mission paradise:

One day we were walking (as we do all day.....everyday) and the weather was rubbish, so there was nobody around to talk to. As we walked, and walked, and walked, and walked (I sometimes feel like the pioneer children in this mission) we decided to write a missionary rap. We set it to the tune of "Gansta Paradise"........it was inspirational.......it depicted the story of our little lives here in Telford (more fondly known as Chav city!). I'll have to write down the lyrics and send them sometime!

I love this mission more than an American loves his red-neck beard:

- We were on the phone with our district and our DL asked us how we can improve our finding skills. **Flashback to an experience from early in the transfer-- a few weeks back the elders and ourselves were on the train going home from Manchester. Sis. Riley and I were face palming all over the place as we heard the elders trying to talk to people on the train. So painful to listen to: One elder was telling a lady all about the crazy mission rules we have, and how we are not allowed to do anything....he then decided to focus a 20+ min conversation on how he couldn't have a beard, and then went into EXTREME detail, drawling on about the impressive beard he had back home, and the different techniques that he used to groom it........ I wish I was kidding!!!** (flashback over)........ Well, Sis. Riley thought our phone was on mute (meaning we can hear our DL talk, but he can't hear us) and blurts out in sarcastic response to the question (in a super red-neck accent): "Talk about my beard"...........talk about awkward moments!!! We had to do some fast-talking...making up some silly answer like "be unique and talk about things that will grab their attention".

How To Make An Aussie Happy 101:

Just buy them Vegemite (BARF). An Australian sister received a whole wack of Vegemite from her mom.....turns out she doesn't like Vegemite, so Sis. Riley inherited it! She's been craving it for weeks! At our Manchester meeting last week, she had our Assistants try it..........priceless!!! Gag city!!!! Well, at least I have a happy companion, and the good news for her is that she will never have to worry about sharing with me!

Crazy Disco Bell Night:

Every Monday night, the church bells at a massive, ancient, local Church of England go CRAZY. It's like someone is ringing all the bells at once, and at random, in no particular tune! And this goes on for usually 2ish hours!!! We have officially declared Monday nights "Crazy Disco Bell Night". It was cold, and dark, and we were walking home from an appointment on Mon night. No one was around, and we suddenly burst into a spontaneous Crazy Disco Bell Night dance party! Suddenly the bells reminded me of the Mr. Bean Christmas episode, where Mr. Bean has just woken up on Christmas morning, there is Christmas music in the background, and he is jumping around like a weirdo! I pointed this out to Sis. Riley--- turns out she was raised on Mr. Bean too and loves it. So we then decided to change our dancing style, and do the Mr. Bean dance to the beat of the Crazy Disco Bells! How English.....and how appropriate!

Lettuce or Letters?:

Accents are fun. That is what I have learned from being on this mission. Random silly moment last week.

S. Riley: "Do you think we will have any lettuce when we get home?"

Me (with baffled face): "I dunno! Go check the fridge when you get back!"

In Australian, "Lettuce" = "Letters"

We had an excellent laugh about this for awhile! We summarized this moment in one amazing catchphrase: "That awkward moment when your Canadian companion is a pirate..........RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR"......I get teased so much for my haRRRsh pronounciation of the letter R.......scaRRRy part is, some of my R's are starting to dissapear in certain words....I'm slowly beginning to go into accent limbo and I am getting teased plenty for it!

We made a deal with the devil:

- We were doing scripture/PMG chases at our Manchester meeting and we won a really fancy oil vial. Obviously- since we are not priesthood holders- we have absolutely no use for it! All the elders were asking if they could have it! So I suddenly got inspired! I happened to know that one of the elders (E. Pratt in the Wrekin area.....which is within our district) makes AMAZING chocolate cake. So I struck a deal with him! He makes us a cake, and he can have the vial!! Lo and behold, he showed up to sport night with a beautiful cake in hand. He had strapped it down to his bike, and biked 40ish mins to our area to deliver it! We were very happy sisters after that!!!!!! 

Poopers Close:

The street adjacent to our flat is called Poolers Close.....we were walking down the street the other day and saw the biggest pile of dog poop I've EVER seen! It looked like it could of come from a horse!!! Disgusting!!! After our moment of utter disgust, I suddenly realized that we were standing on Poolers Close, and tactfully pointed out that we should rename the street Poopers Close..........5 year old humour for the win!

Random side note:

Sister Riley and I spent an hr+ talking about desserts last night........we are pathetic.

Kylie and Shania:

We were at the home of one of the most sarcastic members ever! He thinks it's no fun to call us by our proper names, but has been struggling to decide what to call us. In a stroke of inspiration he decided that he was going to give us names of celebrities from our respective countries. So we are now Kylie and Shania. He was going to call me Celine, but was disgusted with my lack of French skills, so decided that I wasn't deserving of that title. 

Fireworks:

Tender mercies. Yesterday we were absolutely shattered (English- Canadian translation: exhausted!). Just as we finished our planning, suddenly fireworks started going off in the distance. We got to watch an hr+ fireworks show from our table. They were positioned so perfectly that we could see them from out the window! You appreciate life's small and simple moments more when you are out here! :)

Likening ourselves unto new-born giraffes:

We realized something pathetic this morning. Watching us wake up and try and exercise when we are dead to the world, is like watching new-born giraffe's try to walk! We were so tired this morning, and I realized how stupid we looked as we staggered up the street in the freezing wind to go for a jog. The only thing that keeps me sane out here is learning to laugh at life's silly moments :) 

Feeling sheepish:

Sister Riley and I were jogging the other morning and got scared by a post box. In the dark, it looked like a man, crouched over on the side of the street. We both literally screamed and jumped onto the road, going into kung-fu, ninja defense mode. Epic fail. 

Discovering why the ladies are sometimes referred to as knockers: STORY FOR LADIES ONLY

Awkward moment at tea appointment last week. I had gotten up to use the toilet. Upon my return to the table, as I sat down, my lovely ladies knocked all of my cutlery off the table, and almost took my plate with it. Luckily this home was a men-free zone.....I would have felt 20x more awkward than I already did if there had been brethren there! As expected, the sisters gave me the hardest time, and were almost in tears laughing....you can only imagine all the terrible jokes that were make about knockers afterwards.

Lack of miracles this week:

Unfortunately I don't have a ton of crazy miracles to share, so hopefully I was at least able to give you a good laugh :) We've been struggling out here lately. Our teaching pool is small, and we spend most of our time tracting and street contacting with little success. Just a part of the mission life; loads of ups and downs! Miracles are around the corner though...we have a goal to have 3 baptisms before I leave (1 baptism per month in Telford for me!). I'm determined that if we keep working hard that we will eventually find success!!!! Feel free to toss some prayers our way!!! :)

Anyways!!!! Love you all!!!

Hope the time goes fast for you and slow for me!
Sistaaaaaa Maaaaaaaaaatin <3

Another blessed week :)

I love this mission!! The only thing I hate about it is that the weeks just fly by because I am having such an incredible time!!!!!! To add to the list of terrible Harry Potter jokes we have made since being here, you can include this new one: every day when we go out street contacting, we make sure to also search for Hermione Granger on the streets! We want to ask her if she can lend us that time-turner thing from Harry Potter books........ (you think that one was bad? Then you can only imagine the arsenal of *falm palm* level Harry Potter jokes that are made while we walk the rainy/windy streets of England every day!)

Blessed Exchange:

It's rare that you get to exchange with the same person twice! Even more rare when you get to exchange with your best friend twice! I'm one lucky sister! Sis. M and I got to have a 24 hr exchange here in Telford early in the week. I'm not going to say much about the details of the exchange--most of the exchange was extremely spiritual and therefore quite private to me. I'll tell you this much: this exchange was a strange answer to a prayer. I have been fighting through some personal trials the past weeks (nothing to be alarmed about!...I'm doing GREAT!!!!! Just learning tons of things about myself right now and working through them day by day :) ) and have really needed time to recover and take care of myself. Between training and the exploding missionary work out here, I have really struggled to find an ounce of time to take care of myself. I have been praying really hard for Heavenly Father to help me find some way to get this time that I desperately need to recover and ponder about my life a little bit. Heavenly Father ALWAYS answers prayers....sometimes in really weird ways!! Sis. M ended up getting SUPER SUPER sick a couple of hours into our exchange....so pretty much the entire exchange was spent in our flat. This ended up being the biggest blessing (not her being sick...I felt so bad for her....but the results of the forced time in the flat). We had a ton of time to talk about the things I'm going through…the things she's going through. I received some very personal, life-changing revelation during that exchange. The spirit was extremely strong in the flat; there are few times in my life that I have felt the Saviour that close to me, as I did during that time in the flat. I received the spiritual and physical rejuvenation that I so desperately needed. My trials are still there, but I got the reboost that I needed to keep pushing the work along in Telford. I am so blessed to have such a dear friend in the mission, who understands me so well and always gives me perfect advice; I thank Heavenly Father every day for this! I'm even more blessed that Heavenly Father (as always) answers my prayers with perfect timing! I'm now re-energized and ready for anything that can be thrown at me! I'm craving to dive out of my comfort zone again and see more personal growth! This time in my mission (trials and all) is so precious and blessed!

Miracle from Exchange: Before Sis. M got sick, we managed to squeeze in an appointment! I felt prompted last week to try calling by at a potential investigator's home (that had not been terribly interested last time we worked with them in June). We went over...turns out they have been reading the BOM we gave them and now we have an appointment to teach the whole family-  a boyfriend, girlfriend (teaching the law of chastity should be GRRRREAT!) and 2 kids! MIRACLESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!! Nothing better than finding a family to teach!!! :) :)

Random Miracle:

I taught a man on the bus a few weeks back and left him with a BOM. Anyone who knows missionary work well knows that it is EXTREMELY rare that someone you contact on a bus will call/text you back. Well HE DID! He said I haven't converted him YET but he had started to read and is liking what he is reading so far! MIRACLES EVERYWHERE (insert voice of lady in nutrigrain commercial here*)

Teaching Richard is a Piece of CHEESEcake!:

Richard is one of my FAVOURITE investigators right now!!! HE is so open-minded. He just fires one question after another to us! We have great discussions, and everything we've taught him so far makes sense to him! He came to conference and loved it! He plans to watch the other sessions later in the week when he isn't working! He is always calling us to schedule appointments (that NEVER happens). He wants to settle with one religion, and is desperately searching for truth! I pray every day he'll recognize the truth he has come across! But the real reason he is now my favourite?! We randomly got into a conversation about favourite desserts-- Sis. Riley and I are cheesecake monsters! Turns out he's never tried it (SO SAD!!).....he said it sounds too weird for him (cheese+ cake just disgusts him!!!). But he went and bought us a cheesecake because he saw how bonkers we were for it!! OFFICIAL FAVOURITE! Guaranteed way to please me is with cheesecake! This man knows that way to a sister's heart :)

Nanaimo Bar Frenzy:

I think I've started something too big for me to handle. Everyone here is addicted to Nanaimo Bars!!! It's like they are all kittens with cat-nip!! They keep asking me to make them! They keep asking how to make them! They keep asking when I'll have more. Unfortunately they are time-consuming to make and super expensive, so I'm thinking it'll have to wait until Christmas!!!

Conference IS THE BEST:

So (HINT HINT) did anyone catch the MASSIVE missionary theme in conference!!?? SO GOOD! Do the Lord a favour and apply what was taught!!! Miracles are happening!! I'm seeing them here!!!!!!! You will see them there! Invite someone over for dinner with the missionaries....have a FHE with a non-member or less-active.....mention bits of the gospel whenever you can...go fellowship with the missionaries DO WHATEVER YOU CAN....whatever you do (whether big or small), the Lord will see that it results in miracles!! :)

Random tidbit (shout-out to my dad, who uses this phrase alll the time----- I miss you dad!) of fun-fact-ed-ness:

Conference times are so different.

Sat: Sat morning session is at 5pm.

Sun: -Priesthood session at 10am.

-Sat night is at 1pm

- Sun morning is at 5pm.

- Sun afternoon doesn't get broadcasted at chapel because it would go from 9pm-11pm (SO I HAVEN'T SEEN IT YET!!!!!! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Giant cliffhanger in my life!!!)

We had missionaries sleeping over at our flat, because only 2 chapels in our whole zone broadcast conference.....so we are SO blessed that Telford was one of them!!!!!!!!! Most people here watch conference from home! 

ANOTHER RANDOM MIRACLE THAT IS HOT OFF THE PRESS:

I didn't get kicked off the computers today! This entire email was written consecutively, and was written on only 1 computer!!! MIRACLES HAPPEN!!!!!

I Heart Polish Food:

So Remek has been wanting us to come for tea for a while. Sis. Riley and I were having a special companionship fast together yesterday and were lucky to break our fast at Remek’s!!! You have not seen big portion sizes until you have been fed by a Polish person! I have mentioned many times about Remek and how he tries to gorge us with chocolate and other sweets every time we teach him....well that was just a small taste (no pun intended HAR HAR) of what he is capable of. Enormous portion sizes of the most delicious food ever!! Polish sausages, salads, snacks, etc, and most importantly Pecos (I have no remote idea how it's spelled, and I barely understood how he pronounced it, so I now officially declare that this food is called Pecos!). Sis. Shchur has mentioned it before and told me how good it was......UNDERSTATEMENT! So good! I don't know how to describe it (google it.....if you can't find it, I'll try to describe next week haha), but all I know is that it was delicious! The best news of all? He bought it pre-made (typical bachelor....he doesn't cook much haha) at a Polish shop that's super close to our flat!! Guess what our new favourite meal is?!?!?! :)

REFERRALS EVERYWHERE (once again, insert voice of lady in nutrigrain commercial here*):

- Our members are slowly starting to catch the spirit of the work :) We have 3 possible new investigators from members!! It's seriously like Christmas came early!!!! Do your missionaries a favor and be their Santa Claus! Deliver the best presents of their lives...aka referrals! (have I hinted enough yet that I am desperate for the work in good ol' Vancouver to explode?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?)

Sister Riley:

She is simply the best. That is all I have to say! I love this sister to bits and pieces and we just laugh our heads off 90% of the time! I'll be pleased as punch if I get to spend another transfer with her :)

Lame Housekeeping: transfers are coming (nerve-racking!!!!.....I have had some people predict that I'm outta here! Who knows! I love Telford, but must admit I'm super comfortable here and am feeling ready for some new challenges!) . THEREFORE...Pday next WED or THURS, which means you have to wait a bit longer than usual for next email :) Next time you hear from me, you'll know if I got to stay or go :)

Anyways, that's all I have this week!! Love you all! If you love me, you will help your local missionaries! THE TIME IS NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE LORD IS HASTENING HIS WORK (if I had a pence for everytime they said that during conference........I would have enough to buy a cheapo hardcandy from the local sweetshop!.......but SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!!! Take a hint! Be excited! We are part of the most exciting era in HISTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!).

Hope the time passes quickly for you and slowly for me!

Love Sister Martin :)

Here is a YouTube video made by 2 elders in Erika's mission.  It is in Chinese but English translation is available by clicking on CC and selecting english. Her mission president wants it to viral!!  Why won't you be baptised?

Some August and September Pics from Erika...

These are from the Church History Tour at the end of August

Not sure who this is but assume it is the dear older sister that Erika loves to visit

 Sister Riley and Sister Martin

 Sister Martin and Sister Dargyte

                         Dawn Cleary and Sister Martin

Sister Martin and Sister Hansen