Stockport Week 8

Wow this week has been busy but it has been so good! To start off, our friend Iyabo was baptized yesterday. The baptism was amazing! The spirit was so strong as we all watched her make that covenant with God for herself. She is such an example of faith to me. She said she felt so happy and calm after she was baptised too. It really was an incredible experience.

Our friend Kevia was moving this week so we helped her pack her old place up and move it to her new place. Service is an incredible tool in missionary work and I've seen that many times this week. We've been working with Kevia with a while but she hasn't been to church or been very willing to meet. As we just tried to follow the example of the Savior and just serve her this week I have seen a difference. She has expressed a desire to attend church and to have us come over and teach a lesson. I know that by serving her as the Saviour would that we were able to help her feel the spirit and have a desire to learn more.

Something that I've just seen as I've gone throughout my mission is that things work out the way they are supposed to. I've seen again and again small "coincidences" that help everything work out. I know that Heavenly Father is very aware of us and that he is in the small details of our lives. I invite each one of you to look for God's hand in your life this week. I promise that as you do so you will recognize that he is there and that he is helping you more than you can know.

This week we get to go on a Church History Tour. Did you know that within the Manchester mission was the first baptism in the UK? I didn't either until I came here. I'm excited to see those sites where early missionaries taught and where spiritual experiences occurs. I'll tell you all about it next week!

Well that is all for this week! Missionary work is really incredible!

Stockport Week 7

This week has been so great! There have been so many amazing little things that have happened that there is no way they're all a coincidence. It's mainly been with finding people. Just yesterday we were leaving the flat and right as we were leaving we ran into a woman who we had met in the street the other day. We asked if we could meet and she said we could find somewhere to sit and talk right then. We were able to give her a Book of Mormon and get her number! If we had come out at any other time we wouldn't have seen her and had the amazing opportunity to talk to her. It is incredible how involved God is in the details of our lives. 

Our friend Iyabo has had her baptismal interview and is good to go. We met her only 4 weeks ago but she was so prepared to hear the Gospel. She is getting baptized this Saturday. I am so excited for her! 

Incredibly enough we had 5 people at church this Sunday. Two of them we didn't even know were coming... They just showed up in the middle of the last hour! They are from Turkey and Saudi Arabia so they know some English. One of them said I couldn't understand much but I liked how I felt so I'll keep on coming. It was so incredible! The whole time they were there I was just praying that they felt the spirit, even if they had no idea what was going on. We hadn't even had a chance to describe our church service or anything. It really shows the power of the Spirit in the conversion process.

I can't really think of anything else at the moment but I do know that God is helping us so much in this work! He is our heavenly father and he loves each one of us so much!

Fifth Sunday Questions

Mom (Patrice) gave a 5th Sunday Report on Allyson. Here are the questions Allyson answered:

1. Share a testimony building experience
An experience I've had that has definitely strengthened my testimony was meeting Iyabo. We were having trouble finding people who would keep our appointments and had been praying to be led to those that were prepared. We were traveling to a members home for tea (dinner) and we missed the bus because it actually came early. Sister Smith and I were pretty frustrated because normally the buses are late but the one bus we needed to be late actually came early. We were speed walking to the main road to catch a bus that comes quite frequently. We were saying hi to people as we passed but not stopping to talk to anyone. One woman we said hi to stopped suddenly and just asked for one of our books. We were so surprised! We asked her if we could meet and she said we could come over the next day. We came to her house and taught her the Restoration and she accepted the message so easily. I know that God answers our prayers because he has answered mine again and again as I've asked sincerely for help. It may not be exactly how or when you wanted the answer, but if you trust in him and have Faith that he will answer your prayers eventually, he always will. He is our heavenly Father, he loves each of us so much, and because of this love he wants to bless you. The only condition is that we knock, seek, and ask (3 Nephi 14:7)

2. Greatest challenge you've faced as a missionary
Oddly enough, the thing I've had the hardest time with is talking to people on the bus. One of the main principles of finding is that you should talk to everyone. It is only when you do this that you eventually find those that are prepared. For maybe the first 2 or 3 weeks of my mission I was awful at talking to people on the bus. I was too scared to just open my mouth and begin talking. As missionaries, we are promised that if we will just trust in the Lord and open our mouths that they will be filled. I went on exchanges with the STL's at about the same time I was struggling with this. Sister Smith must have told her that I was struggling with It because we ended up spending a few hours just travelling back and forth on the buses talking to people. I was so nervous but I knew that if we were going to be led to those that were prepared that we had to talk to everyone that we had the opportunity to talk to. As I began to trust in the Lord more to help me speak, I was able to find the courage to talk to someone every time we took the bus (which is several times a day). I know that what it says in Ether 12:27 is true: the Lord can help our weaknesses become strengths.

3. What do you wish you were better prepared for? Or what do you wish you had know beforehand?
The one thing I really wish I had done more before my mission was become more familiar with the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon. One of the greatest conversion tools is the Book of Mormon because once they have a testimony of the Book of Mormon they know that Joseph Smith is a prophet and that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was restored through him. We are encouraged to use the Book of Mormon often in our lessons. It is easy to do that when you know exactly what you are going to talk about but often you don't end up talking about what you think you will talk about. An investigator will ask a question and I'll think "I know there's a scripture that answers that question but I have no idea where it is". So all of you future missionaries out there, I invite you to study the scriptures and become familiar with them. I promise that as you do this that the Lord will call these scriptures to your remembrance at the very moment you need them.

4. What is a story about you and your companion?
The first full day I was in the field (so back in the beginning of June), we were trying to get back into the flat at the end of the day and it turns out Sister Smith had locked the keys in. Elder Forsythe in the mission office had a set of spare keys but we called him about 20 times and he didn't answer. We ended up calling the zone leaders because We were going to be out past 9:30 and so we had to let them know. We had left a window open because it was so hot and we don't have air conditioning. The zone leaders decided to drive over and try to climb in through our window (it's on the 2nd floor). They put a chair down first, then Elder Jensen got on the chair, then Elder Schoonover climbed on his shoulders. There's a little ledge just to the right of our window so he ended up perching on that, pulling our window open, and climbing in. It was so funny to watch! We got into our flat by about 10, after which Elder Forsythe decided to call us back. The whole situation was pretty funny.

5. What is the food like?
The food is not too different. There are many different cultures here but I've mainly just tried the things that the members feed us. The weirdest thing I've tried is somethin Iyabo fed us. It's called "Melon" and it's made with the ground up seeds of Melons. She made a sauce with it and then served it with chicken and shrimp over rice. It was actually not that bad. British pastries are actually so good as well. There's a place called Pilkingtons just down the road from our flat and it has the best pastries. I tried something called a Rocky Road which is fudge with nuts and mallows in it. It was so good.

Stockport Week 6

It is the end of my first transfer and I am staying in Stockport. Stockport is a great area so I am excited to spend another 6 weeks here!

This week started with First 5 Weeks. First 5 Weeks is when all of the missionaries and their trainers get together and discuss what they've learned and learn more about how they can improve. It was so fun to see everyone from the MTC. We talked about how to improve on the 4 key indicators: finding new investigators,  sacrament attendance, teaching, and inviting. It was so good! 

We attended a baptism on Saturday for a woman named Adele. Her daughter was baptised about 2 months ago and the Elders here in Stockport have been working with her for quite a while. It was amazing to see her make that commitment and see her become clean. I love attending baptisms because it brings to the front of my mind the covenants we make when we are baptized. This is an incredible work!

Our friend Iyabo got back from holiday in Nigeria this week. Iyabo was so prepared to meet the missionaries! Before we even met her, she had such a strong faith in Christ. She has accepted the message so easily and is just incredible. She is getting baptised on July 28th and we are so excited for her. I know that there are people being prepared all over for the missionaries to find and teach. 

Our other friend Ian is not doing as well. I mentioned last week that he is out of our area. The two bishops talked and he will have to move over to Hyde eventually. The real sad news though is that he called us just yesterday and said he wanted to postpone his baptism until September because he wanted to be sure. Obviously we want him to be sure as well so we will work with him however we can to help him feel that way. It just shows how important it is to pray to know for yourself that the Book of Mormon is true and the Joseph Smith is a prophet.

Well, that is all for this week! I am loving doing this work more and more every week. It is amazing!

Stockport Week 5

This week has been great! I feel like I've finally adjusted to missionary life and gotten familiar with Stockport. Being a missionary really is a privilege. I've loved getting to see the difference the gospel has made in the lives of the people here.

On Friday we got to go to the baptism of a woman here in Stockport named Cathryn. She was taught by Elder Obeide and Elder Dombrovskis, one of the two other companionships in Stockport. The baptism was so sweet. We had Ian, one of our friends that we're teaching, come with us. He is dated to be baptized on the 28th. We asked him to see how he felt during the baptism and he said that he felt good. He's been having so many incredible spiritual experiences. Though we also had something really sad happen with him that I'm gonna chalk up to me being new. It turns out he is not in our area. He is approximately 3 streets away from the border so technically he is in Hyde and not Stockport. We are so sad because we've been working with him since my first week here and we've seen him progress so much. So we're going to have to transfer him over to the missionaries in Hyde and hope they still work with him as much as we did.

On Sunday we had a member missionary fireside in Chorley. At the member missionary firesides they have people who are recently converted come and share their testimonies. Our friend Janice who was baptized earlier this transfer was asked to speak. She was so cute because she was so nervous but she did incredible. We also got to hear from 7 other recent converts. It was an amazing night. Since we were at the chapel near the MTC, the missionaries that were there got to come as well. That was exciting because I actually had a friend from high school that was there so I got to see him. It was weird seeing someone from Lehi here in England.

In other news, England has had the longest consecutive days of sunshine since 1976. It has literally been so hot here. And by hot, I mean like 80 degrees. But it feels hotter because it is so humid. England is also doing incredible in the world cup. They are in the top 4 teams, which is the farthest they've gotten in 28 years. So England is really happy right now.

Well, that is all for this week! I really do love it here in Stockport. The members and the missionaries I work with are all so incredible.

Stockport Week 4

This has been a week full of amazing things! To provide some context, Sister Smith and I had made a goal that we would find people this week that were truly prepared by God. We prayed daily to find these people and made special efforts to be guided by the spirit in all that we did. On Tuesday, we were at a recent converts house and we needed to leave to head to a dinner appointment at a member's home. We were planning on taking the bus but as we walked out to the bus stop saw the bus pass right by. We were especially frustrated because the bus actually came early! So our next thought was to just speed walk to the main road and catch the 192 because that would take us up to where the member lived. As we walked, we were saying hello to people but we weren't really talking to people because we were in a rush. We were walking along this road that led to the main road when we said hello to this woman. She stopped suddenly and then out of the blue just asked us for one of our books. We were so surprised. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she agreed to meet with us the next day in her home. At the appointment the next day, we taught the Restoration and she accepted it so easily! The Spirit was so strong in that lesson. We also found out that she was going on vacation to Nigeria the following Monday and wouldn't be available to meet with us again. We were sad because we wanted to meet with her more but we understood that she couldn't. 

The next day (Thursday) we were thinking about Iyabo again and we texted her asking if she could meet one more time before her vacation. She said we could come on Friday and talk to her once more. We met with her Friday with a woman from the ward and again the lesson went so well. The woman from the ward testified of what we taught and the spirit was present. At the end, we extended the invitation to be baptized and she accepted! We were so excited! It all happened so fast but she expressed that she feels that we were sent by God. Well we feel like she was sent by God! I know that things transpired the way they did to help us meet Iyabo that day. 

Another crazy thing that has been happening here in England is that is has been sooo hot. It's been so sunny all week and I've been loving it. It's just like the weather in UT except a little more humid. And the world cup has been happening. England lost against Belgium this week so the Englanders were especially sad about that

I think that's all for this week! I want to invite everyone to pray for yourselves to have a missionary experience this week. Whether it is strengthening someone in the ward, sharing a message with a nonmember friend, or doing service, no effort is wasted. Every member is a missionary!