Friday, October 14, 2016

Travels, Miracles, and Organs :) -- September 12, 2016

Another crazy week here in the mission field! Totally different form of crazy. We were out of our area more than we were in it and I felt I was living out of a suitcase just to repack it the next night!

So we packed our suitcases Monday morning and spent the P-Day at the Grimsby chapel with most of our zone. We played a really fun game called chair football. But I guess in American that would translate to chair soccer? Anyways. It was fun. I didn't actually play because I wanted to sit out the first round to learn the rules since let's face it, elders don't know how to explain things well and sister Calles had a hard time explaining in English. So I watched and then they switched to basketball, but I'm definitely going to play next time! Then we caught a bus to go to Hull. We got the last bus, but we're still two hours early, so we walked around for an hour and then did language study outside the sisters flat until they got there. They got home and we did planning and went to sleep!

Tuesday we had exchange in Hull the entire day. It was exhausting. Sister Blair and I had no lessons, and we went to this way far out area that nobody was home. But we had a good chance to talk and I learned so much just by talking and having a meaningful conversation that it was totally worth it! Then we caught a bus back to Grimsby, but no busses to Louth by that time. So a loving member came and picked us up. While we were driving, we saw two buys on bikes so we were joking it was probably Ben since he's always with his friends on bikes. AND IT WAS! So we asked Brother Wilson to slow down, we rolled the windows down, and yelled "Hi Ben!" Scared the poor kids half to death, but it was funny anyways!

Wednesday was good. We woke up in our own beds, unpacked and repacked. And then began the day. Our first lesson cancelled, so we did some knocking. Then we went to see Sam, but apparently he decided to move from Sister Stevensons house, so we had a lesson with her instead. Then we had lunch and went to teach Josephine. She's going to the temple on Saturday and we are so excited! So we walked her through what's going to happen and answered her questions. It was funny because she wanted us to show her how to do some stuff on familysearch and their computer is in Ben's room, so we were in his room when he got back from school. So we were able to apologize for the night before and he was a good sport about it! Then we went to have a lesson with Jackie. It was really disappointing because she said even though she felt happy at church, she didn't want to go again since she's worried of offending people...but she's reading the Book of Mormon and loves it, so we decided not to drop her quite yet. We'll give her a little bit more time to get her answer and see where it goes from there. Then we had tea at the Wilson's house and she took us to get our suitcases and then to the bus station so we could go spend the night in Grimsby!

Thursday we woke up early and travelled back to Hull for ZONE CONFERENCE!!!! The theme was Bob The Builder because WE CAN FIX IT! I don't know what's broken...but WE CN FIX IT!! Anyways, qIt was so amazing and focused on how missionaries can better utilize members in their teaching. It was a great conference! Afterwards, we travelled back to Grimsby and did some bus contacting. Then Sister Harvey came to pick us up and we were finally home. The crazy week of travelling was over but the crazy week of work was just beginning.

Friday had so many miracles! Sister Blair came to our weekly planning session and helped us out. Some member had just been to America and brought back Macaroni and Cheese. So we got to eat that for lunch! Reminded me of college! ;) then Sister Harvey picked us up again and we went to visit Michael. It was so great because he wanted to go to the temple tomorrow with the rest of the branch. So we called the branch president. And he made the time to go give him an interview. So both Michael and Josephine are going to the temple for the first time! It's so exciting!!!! Then we did some street contacting and found this guy who seemed really interested and so we decided to just go for it. We invited him to be baptised and invited him to church. He said yes and maybe. It always concerns me when they accept baptism, but not church. So we'll see what happens with him. Then we went to a lesson with Alex and her kids. We read the first vision from the children's Book of Mormon and she said she'll read it with them each night! And she accepted to be baptised as well! So we're going to teach her one day and then her kids the next. So we'll be praying for miracles with that family!

Saturday was raining so we gave up and stayed inside. JUST KIDDING!! We just got soaked. So we went to see this couple who wasn't in. So we decided to stop by a former who lived near them. She was having a really hard day, so we asked if we could come in for like 15 minutes. We wound up staying for almost an hour testifying of the power of Christ's love and set a weekly return appointment for Thursday's and invited her to be baptised! It was a great tender mercy for sure! Then we did Mormon.org time and lunch and then we had a lesson with Jackie. Jackie is doing pretty good she's reading a lot from the Book of Mormon and actually remembers it. She has a lot of good questions, but is still concerned about coming to church again. So then we had tea with the Harvey's and invited them to try and make their scripture study more meaningful in whatever way they feel inspired to do so. So it was a pretty good lesson!

Sunday wasn't as good as last week, but it was still great! While we had no investigators at church, we were excited to be able to focus on Josephine and Michael because both of them went to do baptisms for the first time yesterday! So Michael was baptised for his dad, grandpa, and Josephine's grandpas. Josephine was baptised for her grandmas and Michaels grandmas. So it was really good to see the light in their eyes as they were discussing their experiences! Then we had a delicious lunch where I threw everything together and hoped for the best and then we went to teach Ben! It's so annoying that school has started now because this was the first time we were able to see him this week, other than in passing. But we read Alma 32 with him and discussed the importance of him keeping commitments and nurturing his seed. He said he does feel the swelling we were talking about! So that was really good! Then we had a quick lesson with Jackie on the Ten Commandments and Neil and Sister Stevenson came to pick us up for
choir. It was really good! We're singing "If I Listen With My Heart" I know mom knows that one!!! Then we came home for dinner and language study. It was really good!

Today has been so good! Sister Calles is worried she's going to be leaving soon, so we decided to actually go do something in Louth. So we went to an old church and climbed the spiral staircase to the very top. From there we could see the whole town! It was so beautiful! Then we went down and I asked if I could play the organ there because...anything worthwhile having is worthwhile asking for! And they said yes! So I got to play the organ! It was really cool and so different than other organs. I have no idea how I turned it on, but it worked! I just hope it got turned off correctly. But we'll see!

I'm loving my mission and can feel the prayers from you guys! We are working so hard and seeing so many miracles in the work. The Lords mindful of each and every one of us! My spiritual quote comes from Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk "The Love of God": " Oh, how we need to love God! For what we love determines what we seek. What we seek determines what we think and what we do determines who we are-and who we will become." I know that change is real. I know that by seeking God more fully in our life we can see those changes and we will be able to know for ourselves that He is there and that He loves us. I've seen people seek for Him, find Him, and change for the better. His love is real and it is eternal! So seek for it!

Sister Hope


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