We had a great lesson with a recent convert named Kristy on Monday and it seemed to go really well. We talked to her about the power of prayer and gave her a testimony challenge I found before leaving on my mission (I'm so glad I was inspired to basically print out pinterest before coming out...and Sister Sovala likes it too!) She is really having a hard time because she wants to come to church, but no one else in her family or friends is LDS and so we're hoping to just keep in contact with her and continue to encourage her to stay strong to what she believes in!
Tuesday was weird. We were supposed to go on exchanges, but our STL got emergency transferred like 3 hours away and so we didn't. But that was hard because we had absolutely no plans for the day. So we called a few people and were able to see Ephraim before he went on his vacation to London. We challenged him to continue to read from the Book of Mormon while he was gone and discussed faith and repentance with him. Then our friend Becky needed some help. So we walked with her down to the food bank and helped her get what she needed for the week. Then we went and visited Pam because she's not been feeling too well lately. We just love her so much! We stayed for awhile and had like three different lessons with her because she had so many questions and so did her husband, Richard. So it was a great time and we felt so blessed to have that time with her. Then we went and visited Graham. Oh Graham! He is absolutely hilarious. We were talking to him about Jesus Christ and how we need to draw closer to Christ in our lives because Christ was perfect and that's what we want to strive to be. Well, I can't remember if I told you some of Graham's beliefs before but he believes that ever being (so every ant, leaf, slug etc.) will be a human in heaven and there just wasn't enough space on Earth for us to all be human here....anyways it's interesting. So we were talking about how Jesus is perfect and he's like "no He's not." and we were like "Yes. He is" and then he said "Well He fed the multitude with bread and fish, right? well WHAT ABOUT THE FISH!? Do you think they liked being eaten? I'm pretty sure that was a sin" so then we asked him if he felt he sinned whenever he had fish and chips and he said "only if I don't put salt and vinegar on it" It was absolutely hilarious. And I think what the funniest part was that he was absolutely serious that he believes Christ's sin was eating fish...
Our first appointment on Wednesday cancelled on us, so we had mormon.org time instead and then street contacted back home for lunch. That was fun because it was raining and super windy. But we did run into someone who said he had been baptized a couple years back. So we gave him our number because it was raining and he wasn't too happy we were stopping him from getting home...he promised to call us but he never did :/ so we're hoping to run into him again soon! Then we went to stop by a lady named Louise. We knocked on the door and her three-year old daughter sticks her hand through the mail slot and says "who?" and so we tell her we're there to see her mommy. So she runs off screaming MOMMY! and then comes back, sticks her hand through the slot again and says "She doesn't want to talk to you anymore. Bye-bye" and closed the mail slot. So we went and visited some less-actives in the area. Then we had a dinner appointment that got real awkward real fast. So the wife needed to go take a plate to her mom, but that would leave us alone with her husband. So we offered to go with her or stand outside. and they were like "no, it's ok, we're over 55" but that rule just changed and it doesn't matter the age anymore and so we told them that and then reiterated that we would stand outside for the five minutes she was gone. He kept arguing with us and finally she just said "hun, you stand outside and let these girls start their tea." so he grumblingly waited outside until she came back. We were just thankful we were able to be so obedient! Even though he didn't like it at all and was mad at us, our mission president, and the First Presidency. Afterwards he was telling us that he remembers certain missionaries for certain things and so walking back to the bus we were like "he's gonna remember us as the sisters that made him stand outside his own house while we ate his food."
We had district meeting on Thursday and it was so good! We went over door knocking and it was really inspiring! Then we had an amazing lesson with a 19-year-old named Jane. She's looking for a way to come back to Christ and seemed so sincere and the Spirit was so strong in her lesson. We're pretty optimistic about her! Then we had branch correlation and then went to try and have a lesson with Darren. He was acting out a bit that day, so we didn't get too far with him, but we're gonna keep trying with him! Then we had a lesson with Keith. Keith is 20 and also seemed really sincere. The Spirit was so strong in his lesson too. So Thursday was a great day for us and we feel so good about these two!
Friday was long, but amazing! We left right after studies to catch a bus to go to Sheffield and MEET THE NEW MISSION PRESIDENT! It was such a great meeting! I honestly felt such a connection to both of them and know that they are the mission president and wife that I need on my mission. It sounds like his main theme is going to be teaching authentically (so not as a robot) and being an exemplary missionary every day. It was a great meeting and I am so excited to serve with him for the remainder of my mission. Then we travelled back to Rotherham and had a lesson with Jim. Jim is 76 and seems to really want to learn, but very adamant that he'd never go to church...we'll see ;)
So literally none of our appointments went through on Saturday, so we kinda flew by the seat of our skirts...we did door knocking for the first could of hours we were out and ran into a former investigator. It was such perfect timing too because we knocked on his neighbor's door because we had the address wrong, I got to speak to him in my broken spanish, so that was fun! and then we decided to continue down the street. We knocked on his door and there was no answer. So we were about to go on to the next door when he came riding up on his bike and said "missionaries! I haven't seen missionaries in like three years!" He seemed interested in continuing to learn more and so we'll be giving him a call soon. The problem is his work is on-call, so he never knows when he'll have time to have a lesson....Then we went back home and had weekly planning (we had to move it because of meet the president) and then had a lesson with Nathan. He wanted to hike up to an abandoned church for the lesson. Yes mom, we can hike it later and yes dad, it is all paved. It was actually really cool! It was locked, so we couldn't go in, but we could see inside and it was quite amazing! Then we had a lesson with a member named Jimmy. Jimmy is so awesome and loves the missionaries so much! We had a great time with him!
Sunday was good. We had church and then Becky wanted to join us for our next lesson, who cancelled. So we had "lesson" with Becky instead. She really needed to vent and get some advise on staying close to GOd. Our favorite subject! Then we went back and broke our fast, I made cookies again, and did 12 weeks. Then we tried by one of our friends in the area, but their whole family is sick, so we decided we'll try later. So we went back and grabbed some cookies to take to a lady who was really nice to us (even though she wasn't interested) and then had another lesson with Graham. We went over why we're missionaries and asked him how we could better help him go to church, read the scriptures, and pray. It was a great session and I think it really helped all of us get on the same page! Then we went back in for TRANSFER CALLS! This is a weird week because it was a 5-week transfer. Apparently last transfer was 7 weeks. Anyways, we're staying in Rotherham for at least another transfer and we're so excited about that! We love the people here and are doing so well together!
So yeah, that was my week! My spiritual thought for this week is from Neil. L. Andersen's talk "Thy Kingdom Come"
"Brothers and Sisters, seeing and believing the Lord's miracles in establishing His kingdom on earth can help us see and believe that the Lord's hand is at work in our own lives as well." I hope that these emails are helping you see the Lord loves each of us and He is hard at work helping us, His children. I love you so much and know that Heavenly Father does as well!
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Sister Hope
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