Stockport Week 3

How is it that I've been out here for three weeks?! It feels like I've been out here for at least 3 months. Time is weird here in the mission field.

This week I had my first zone conference! We traveled over to the YSA building and met with the rest of my zone and the manchester zone. President McReynolds is SO funny. He cracked so many jokes about the world cup. England did win yesterday though so... Anyway, in zone conference we talked about being led by the spirit. They talked about how in all that we do as missionaries, since we are doing the Lord's work, we need to be guided by the spirit. They also talked about how we can have the companionship of the spirit. I know that if you keep the Lord's commandments and ask for the companionship of the Spirit, you can have the spirit to be with you always.

What else did I do this week? We had a decent amount of lessons with people. We are still working closely with both Kevia and Ian. Ian came to church yesterday so we are so happy about that! We taught him the second lesson this week and he feels really solid about everything. He is so prepared! Kevia is hard to meet with because she is going through a stressful time right now so she is not progressing as much. We are still working as much as we can with her, though, and she is slowly but surely getting there. 

The ward here in Stockport is so fun! The members are all so friendly and willing to help. We had tea (dinner) with Sister McLane and the Bishops family this week. We try to work with members as closely as we can and it's really working out. I love Stockport!

Also interesting story, on Thursday we were walking up and down the main street in Stockport, the A6, and we talked with these people in front of a gas station. One of the men was reeaallly drunk but the woman there seemed interested. We were sad because we didn't have a chance to talk to her for a long time before she had to go. But THEN the next day we were going to do a street display in the town centre and we ran into her again. We had more time to talk with her then and we invited her and her husband in church. What a coincidence!

I really do love doing missionary work, even if it is sometimes hard. Thank you for all your support! Until next week!

Stockport Week 2

I have now been in the mission field 2 weeks and let me tell you, the second week is actually better than the first week. The first week you're kinda just confused all the time but this week I'm actually getting adjusted to everything so it was much better.

Last Tuesday I had my 1st district meeting. My district leader's name is Elder Allen and he's from England so he's got a great accent. We talked about Christlike attributes and how we develop them. We also talked about some of the people we're working with. It really is incredible how prepared some people are to hear the gospel. 

I had exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders as well. I joined Sister Tubongbanua in Stretford and it was really good. We talked a lot about member missionary work and how to get members involved. When we get referrals from the members in the ward, they are more likely to have fellowshipper at the lesson and to progress as an investigator. So we're working on getting members more involved.

Also something really exciting happened: I had my 1st baptism. Sister Smith had already been working with her long before I came so I didn't really do that much. Her name is Janice and she is just incredible. Her son was baptized in Ireland about 2 years ago. She was already living a lot of the standards, which is really good. She was baptized Sunday morning before church and confirmed during sacrament meeting. It was so exciting and I hope I have many more before the end of this year and a half.

That's all for this week! I love this work and I can't wait to tell you more next week.

Stockport Week 1

This was my first week in the field and it has been pretty interesting. On Tuesday we headed out for the mission home bright and early and met President and Sister McReynolds. There ended up being 15 of us new missionaries because a few joined from Provo so our interviews with President took longer than expected. We finally met our trainers around 3. My trainer is Sister Smith and she is from North Salt Lake. She is the 2nd oldest in a family of nine and loves her family and playing soccer. She is so nice and I'm so relieved my trainer is good. I also found out that I am in the Stockport area. There are 2 other sets of missionaries in the same area so we do things with them often. We live in Davenport and thankfully our flat is right across the street from the chapel.

When I got here we already had an investigator with a baptismal date. Her name is Janice and she is getting baptized either Saturday or Sunday (we're still trying to figure out a time that works for everyone because a little girl in the ward is getting baptized this weekend too). She is so nice and she feels really good about being baptized.

We set up a street display in the town centre on Tuesday. Us and the two other companionships in the area spent about 2 hours talking to people and I met this man named Ian. His wife died a while ago so we taught him about the Plan of Salvation and he was so happy. He came to church with us this Sunday too and he said he had a good time.

Finally, there's Kevia and Kingston. Kevia has just had a hard time these past few years. Kingston is her son and he is literally the craziest little kid i have ever met. We met with Keviaa yesterday and she said she wanted to be baptized and start over again. Obviously Sister Smith and I were so excited and we set a date to work towards. I hope that the message we teach her can give her the peace and strength she is looking for. 

Also funny story. I was talking to these two girls on the bus (we walk/take the bus everywhere) and I asked for their phone numbers but their phones were dead. So I thought I'd give them our phone number but I didn't have it memorized yet. I had our companionship phone with us (each companionship gets a smartphone) and i saw an 11 digit number on the front (their phone numbers are also longer than ours?) so i though that was our number. Turns out it's not and I gave these two girls a phony number. I felt really bad after but hopefully they'll at least visit the website.

There have been loads of things that are different from the US here in England. Yes, I did ride a double decker bus. We actually ride them all the time. Also their schools are different? They have primary until their 11, then high school until their 16, then college until their 18, and then university. So I was really confused at first when some 16 year old said they were in college. Some people's accents are also kind of hard to understand. Ian, who I mentioned before, has a thickish accent and talks really fast so i honestly can't understand about half of what he says. I just nod and say yeah occasionally.

Another funny story. The 2nd night here (Wednesday), Sister Smith accidentally left the keys in the flat and the senior Elder who had our keys was not answering his phone. So we ended up having the Zone leaders come over (they're one of the companionships in the area) and Elder Schoonover climber on Elder Jensen's shoulders until he could reach our window, which we thankfully left open. It was hilarious. 

I finally got to meet the ward yesterday as well. They were all very friendly and I'm trying to remember all their names but it's hard. The ward is very generous. We have tea appointments with them almost every night and they feed three companionships. We are getting a new ward mission leader too but right now it's Brother Fasa

But yeah that's pretty much it. I'm enjoying my time here and working hard to invite people to come unto Christ. Til next week!

We made it!

 

President is letting us write home to let you know we made it! We left the MTC around 6:30 this morning and made it to the mission home around 8. President and Sister McReynolds are super nice so I'm happy about that. I meet my trainer later today so I'll let you know more about her and my area next Monday. I'm pretty sure the rest of today is going to be an influx of info but I'm excited to finally be out here. There are 16 of us here in Manchester because a few other missionaries joined us from Provo and other places. One of Presidents children lives in Lehi over by Traverse mountains and another is building a home too. What a small world. President also lived in Scottsdale Arizona, but he and his wife are both English. I can't believe we finally made it! I'm so excited to start teaching! I'll let you know everything that happens. I love you so much and I'll talk to you soon!

MTC Week 3

Hello Everyone!

This was the 3rd and last week at the MTC and it has flown by. My time at the MTC has been so fun but I'm also really excited to get into the field. On Tuesday, we're leaving in the morning to head to the mission home in Manchester and meet President McReynolds and his wife. I'm so excited!

I emailed like 5 days ago but so much has happened. On Wednesday we had a normal morning but in the afternoon we got to go on a church history tour. In Preston, we saw where Heber C Kimball and the other early missionaries of the church stayed when they first arrived in England. We also saw the obelisk where they preached and the River Ribble, where the first baptism in England happened. The first converts in England were so excited to get baptized that they raced to the water to see who would get baptized first. And since it was such a big deal that American missionaries were baptizing English people, thousands of people came to watch the baptism. We also went to Downham, where we got to walk around a bit and see the church where the entire congregation got baptized. We took tons of pics but I'm attaching my fav ones. England really is such a beautiful place.

On Wednesday night we had a devotional with Elder Tunnicliffe, one of the area 70's for England. He talked about how the kind of missionary we want to be is a missionary that walks with his purpose in mind. It was very good.

Oh also on Tuesday we had our last lesson with Eron, one of our progressing investigators. Really it was because our teacher Brother Robertson was leaving on holiday so he couldn't play Eron anymore. The lesson went really well and he agreed to be baptized. Just as a side note, the Spirit really does put into your mouth what you need to say. We were teaching Soraya (pronounced Zariah) yesterday and she was asking a question about 1 Nephi 4, where the Lord commands Nephi to kill Laban. She said she understood that sometimes you need to kill a wicked ruler, but she didn't understand why the Lord would ask Nephi to kill Laban if he loves Nephi and Nephi felt uncomfortable will killing him. We ended up pulling an answer out of thin air about the importance of the record they needed to get and how we need to teachings of the prophets to strengthen us. It was really awesome. So teaching by the Spirit is definitely something missionaries have to do all the time.

Another thing we had this week that we didn't have any other week was Infield orientation. The purpose of Infield orientation is to let us know more about the field so that when we get out there we at least have a clue about what we're doing. On one of the days, we talked about how to do weekly and daily planning and on the other day we talked about how our success as a missionary is determined by our commitment. 

I am seriously freaking out that we only have one more day of classes. My time at the MTC has been difficult but I have learned so much already about teaching by the spirit and according to the needs of the investigator. And just so you guys now know, my Pday in the field will be on Monday so next Monday is when you will be hearing from me next!

Attached are pictures of my companion and I with Elder and Sister Tunnicliffe (the area 70), our district with one of our teachers Brother Scharff, the building where the first missionaries in England stayed, a plaque in a park about the church, me in a telephone box, and a picture of Downham.   I also forgot to mention that on our church history tour we got to see the flat where President Hinckley stayed while he was on his mission. The story he tells about the letter he got from his father that said "Forget yourself and go to work" happened in that flat. How cool!

From her letter to Mom:  I wanted to share something I read in 1 Nephi 14. As we've been learning how to teach investigators effectively, we've learned that it is good to promise blessings because it will give the investigator a motivation to obey until they have seen the blessings for themselves in their lives. I've noticed that many of the prophets and Christ himself work in the same way. They will give us something that we need to be doing but will then promise blessings that come with obedience to that commandment. In verse 1 of 1 Nephi 14, it says that if the Gentiles will hearken unto the lamb of God, he will manifest himself to them "unto the taking away of their stumbling blocks". I love this verse because it explicitly promises that if we will follow Christ, the stumbling blocks we have in our lives will be taken away. As a missionary and as a mom, we both have some stumbling blocks in our lives we would like taken away, so if we are obedient we can see that blessing fulfilled. I seriously love the scriptures.