Stoke Week 2

It has been such a good week! I got to go on exchanges with the sisters from Gaerwen (one of my previous areas), we had an amazing zone conference, and we had really good lessons with several of our friends. 

We had zone conference with Elder Sabin, one of the area 70's, and he is such a wise man. One of the things he spoke about was having an eternal perspective. He put a small dot in the middle of a white page and compared all of the white page to the eternities. He then explained that the dot was this life and that in the eternities it is such a small time. He then asked to think about what percent of that dot is one bad day, or even one bad month. Our life on earth is such a short time in comparison to the time we had before and the time we will have after. If we have an eternal perspective, it will help us to be able to endure and to see our trials in a different perspective. What a blessing to be able to see beyond just the immediate.

We also had a few good lessons where the spirit was really present. One was with this girl named Olivia that I actually met while I was on exchanges here a few months ago. She said that she'd read the book of Mormon and prayed about it but that she felt she hasn't received an answer. We were able to go through Moronic 10:4 with her and discuss what we must do to receive an answer. One of the things discussed in that verse is real intent, which is having the intent to act on the answer you receive. We receive answers to our questions when we humble ourselves enough to say "thy will, not mine". It was such a good reminder to me, and hopefully Olivia, of the principle.

5th Sunday Missionary Report

What culture change/culture shock experience has been the most interesting for you?

England is more different from America than I expected. They use a lot of funny words here that took me some time to get used to. One thing I always thought was funny was that they use the phrase "are you alright" as a greeting instead of an actual question. At the beginning of my mission people would say that expression to me and I just thought everyone was really interested in how I was doing. People here in Stoke also use the term duck. They say things like "it's alright duck" or "hiya duck". It's so fun.

Can you think of an experience where you felt that you were being led by the Lord?

There have been so many times on my mission where I felt like the Lord was guiding me and my companion so much. I had an experience in my last area that I felt especially that the Lord was guiding us. We were visiting a member in the Gaerwen Ward and at the end of the appointment we asked if there were any returning members that they thought we could visit. We didn't usually ask that question but it just came to mind. They gave us a few names to stop by (they had been in the ward for a while so they knew everyone) and one of the names was this woman named Laura. We looked through our records and we had stopped by a few times with no answer. Somehow we found out we were trying by the wrong house but we weren't sure how to find out the right house. We went to her neighbourhood and decided to ask one of the members there if she knew which house was Laura's. This member didn't know exactly which house was hers but she gave us a range of houses to try by. We knocked on the first house and it was Laura's. We got to know her better and it turns out her sons had been baptised a few years ago but because of circumstances in her life she had not been able to. The crazy part was that her circumstances had changed again just a few months ago and she was able to be baptised now if she wanted to. We felt like we should ask her if she wanted to be baptised now and she said yes! I am always amazed at how the Lord is aware of his children and knows exactly how best to help them. We were definitely guided to Laura's house that day and now her and her sons can enjoy the blessings of the gospel.

How have you felt about the change to be able to speak with your family?  With your missionary?

I love it so much! I feel like I'm more involved in my family's lives now. I also get to see my cute nieces and nephews, which is always a bonus. I feel it was a very inspired change. My companion at the time had just started her mission and was having a hard time and it helped her especially. I feel like a lot of missionaries are benefiting from it.

Share an experience that your missionary has had that could help inspire others to serve?

The thing that inspired me most to serve is the joy that the gospel brings to families. There was a family that we taught in Stockport that I especially saw this with. I didn't know it at the time, but when we started teaching the family, the son had been struggling quite a bit and had some behavioural issues. As the family learned more about the gospel and felt the spirit in their home, the son began to do better. One of the members of the ward was friends with this family and she said that she had noticed such a drastic change in him. I have been able to see the gospel bless my life and my family's life so much. When you experience the blessings of the gospel, it is hard not to want to share it with those around you. I also heard a quote once that said something along the lines of "Our all is small compensation for the Savior's all". I always loved that because 18 months or 2 years is such a small repayment for the many things that God does for us!

Stoke Week 1

Happy Father's Day everyone! It has been a good week. I've been transferred and I'm now in the Stoke/Newcastle areas (we're over two areas here). My new companion, Sister Palavi, is from Australia and is pretty amazing. I'm excited to be working with her this transfer.

So what happened this week? We had a baptism! Her name is Maripaz and she is amazing. She is from Spain and her faith in Christ is so strong. I got to meet her just days before she was baptized but it was such a special experience to see her follow the example of Jesus Christ. I know she made the right decision by being baptized. What a wonderful gospel this is!

I studied this great general conference this week by Elder Sabin called "Stand Up Inside and Be All In". We as a mission were invited to read it because Elder Sabin is visiting our mission this week! I loved what he said about the covenants we make at baptism. He said, "The Lord requires the heart and a willing mind. Our whole heart! When we are baptized, we are fully immersed as a symbol of our promise to fully follow the Savior, not half-heartedly." When we are fully committed to the Savior, we will offer our WHOLE souls.  What a great privilege it is to follow him.

Stretford Week 11

It's officially my last week in Stretford! I found out that I am transferring to Stoke/Newcastle. I'll be covering both wards, but they meet in the same building. I'm excited! My new companion is Sister Palavi and she is from Australia. I've heard she is a great missionary so I'm excited to work with her.

This week in Stretford has been good. One interesting experience we got to have was a late night street display outside a theatre showing The Book of Mormon musical. It just started this week and all of us missionaries in the area did it just to see if it was effective. It was interesting to see people's reactions. Some people thought we were part of the show. Thankfully we didn't so it every night (we were up pretty late) but it was definitely a good experience!

We also had a really amazing miracle this week with a woman named Rebecca. Sister Price had met her while on exchanges so we were calling by to see if she was home. We thought she was #30 on her street so we knocked and there was no answer. We were a bit sad but as we were walking down the street we started talking to this woman in her yard and she said she met us the other day on the street. Sister Price quickly realized that this was Rebecca and we had knocked on the wrong door on accident! It was such a miracle that she happened to be outside when we walked past. Sister Price and her new companion are visiting her again later this week.

Stretford Week 10

It has been a great week! We got to go on a few exchanges, Jay came to church again, and we went and saw a musical. The musical wasn't dodgy, I promise. It was called "Our Story Goes On" and it was the story of life told with songs from musicals. It was so good and a few of our friends were able to see it as well. It really helped me to have a grander perspective on life. We really are here for a purpose! It was nice to have that as a reminder.

We also got to go on a few exchanges this week. I worked with Sister Eldridge from Utah and Sister Robertson from Idaho. It was so nice to be able to work with them for a few days. It really is true that you can lose yourself in the service of others... this week has flown by!

This week is transfers, which means pday is next Tuesday and I'll know by them whether or not Im staying in Stretford. I'm thinking I'm going to stay but who knows?

I also had my interview with President McReynolds this week and he shared something really good with me that I wanted to share. He talked about how when we rely on ourselves there isn't much growth because we are doing things with our own power. But he said that if we rely on the Savior, that is when growth happens. It is only through our reliance on the Savior that we can become the people he would have us become. We really do need him every hour.