Sunday, November 27, 2016

5 General Authorities and 206 Missionaries -- October 24, 2016

Whoa. This week went entirely too quickly! We spent PDay in Louth which was good because we barely got all the emailing, cleaning, and shopping done. We decided to deep clean the flat a little bit each week because that's what we're supposed to do all Halloween night and we determined if we do a little every day and week, we will be able to party all evening. But let's face it, that just means we'll probably go to bed around seven...anyways, we had planned to meet with someone at a members house on Monday, but the member cancelled. Then he cancelled. So we walked around for two hours. It would've been three, but sister Manning had a cold and had taken some theraflu and was getting really drowsy and couldn't walk in a very straight line. So we went in and went through the area book and made plans to contact formers. So that was loads of fun!

Tuesday we tried by a few people in the morning and then went to try a few community service organisations to see if there was anything we could do. There wasn't. So we had lunch and then went to do street contacting to our lesson. About halfway there I realised I had forgotten the phone at home and so we turned around and got it and still made the lesson on time! Tender mercy! We went over the restoration with him and it went pretty well. He just doesn't want to go to church because he feels we don't need churches to be able to do good things. And I told him church isn't a service opportunity. I was going to finish with why we go to church, but sister Scott, the member who came with us cut me off because I think she was afraid it sounded offensive. Don't think he took it offensively...but we'll see next time I guess! So then we tried by a few more people and had a lesson with one of the formers we had contacted. She still wasn't interested, but we talked for quite a bit, so that was good! Then we went to Ben's and read 1 Nephi 3:5-8 with him and went over the importance of looking for Gods way to do things. He seemed to really enjoy it and was excited to read the rest of the chapter to see how it ended! So that was way cool! Then we had tea at the O'Grams and did 12 weeks! Then I made cocoa cookies because I was really wanting them. It was about 10 o'clock when I started them, but I was still in bed by 10:30!

Wednesday was pretty long. We woke up early to get to district meeting on time. Had district meeting. Then took lunch in town and got some very nice fleece lined tights that I'm sure will be well worn when winter hits hard! Then we had a lesson with Jackie and went over the Priesthood and Auxiliaries with her. Then we got back on the bus to go to the Scott's house for tea. Then they took us to the chapel for missionary coordination and branch council. We almost got in trouble because we are supposed to be in at 9, 9:30 at the latest, and we got in at 9:25. Another tender mercy!

Thursday was quite interesting. We went to the library to make Jackie's baptismal program and then had lunch and then went to Sister Stephenson's house to meet a guy named Dene. Dene had found our card and asked if we could meet up so we were beyond excited. Unfortunately he wanted to meet up because he's basically a debt councillor and wanted to know if we could get him in touch with any clients...it was good though because we talked about prophets and how the prophet councils us to stay out of debt and we showed him the self reliance manuals and the Book of  Mormon. He seemed interested and said he'd be in touch! So we shall see what comes of that. Then we popped by a few people and then had tea at the Fox's. They're such a funny family. Brother Fox dished me up and he had been telling me earlier that my coat makes me look smaller than I already am since it's so long. So he kept calling me a midget, which of course I'm used to anyways. But then he dished me up and gave me one leaf of cabbage, one carrot slice, two peas, and a sliver of meat. Then said "there that should tide a midget over!" It was really funny. After tea with them we went to have a lesson with Jane and Andy. We decided the best way to determine their commitment was to teach them something they'd really have to act on. So we taught word of wisdom. It actually went really well and they said they'd start cutting down and try to live it! So that's really good!

Friday seemed so short! We had a long weekly planning trying to get things ready for the baptism and inviting people to it. Then we had lunch and went out. Jackie forgot we were coming and was in town, so we went to see Josephine and talked with her for a little bit. Then we grabbed our suitcases and headed to the bus station. We travelled to Grimsby and then caught the bus to Hull. So that was a long trip. When we got to Hull, we visited a member. Thank goodness Sister Manning served there before because she knew them already! Then we helped ourselves to the Hull Sister's food and had tea. Then we went straight to bed because we had an early morning to get ready for!

Saturday! Oh Saturday! So we had an all-mission conference with President Nelson presiding. What a crazy day. We woke up around 3:30 this morning and got ready. A taxi came and picked us up at 5:15 and then we went to the chapel and got a coach to Huddersfield. It was great! We had about an hour to catch up with all the other missionaries. It was so good seeing everyone again! Then the spirituality came in. We sat in the chapel listening to prelude music for about half an hour and they all came in. We had five General Authorities and their wives and we all got to shake their hands. It was such a great meeting. Most of them talked about becoming true disciples of Christ and how we could and should apply that to our missionary work. It was really powerful and President Nelson blessed each of us and our families as we give our all to  this work. It was such a powerful blessing and most people were in tears. Anyways, they had packed lunches for each of us, so we each took a bag and ate on the coach back to Hull. We got to Hull and caught the bus back to Grimsby. Then we waited 45 minutes and caught the bus back to Louth. We dropped our stuff off and had thirty minutes left to proselyte until tea and 12 weeks. So it was a great day but felt like it spanned about two or three days.

Sunday was a special Stake Conference with President Hallstrom presiding. It was such a great meeting as well. Unfortunately I wasn't feeling too well and so I didn't get a ton out of it, but the Spirit was strong and that's what's important! So Jackie was supposed to have her interview on Sunday, but her foot had swollen to about twice its size and they have no idea why. So she couldn't walk very well and decided not to go to the conference. So we went and visited her after lunch and talked to her about callings and service in the church. She will have her interview on Tuesday now and didn't want to mover her baptism date, so we should be still having a baptism this weekend! It'll just be short notice for some of the members...but she said she's been looking forward to it too long and counting down the days, so she didn't want to move it a week. Then we were going to have a lesson with Ben, but he wound up having some things he needed to take care of, so we had a lesson with Josephine instead.

My spiritual thought comes from my notes on our Saturday Meeting. "The first spoken word in this dispensation was "Joseph" it was a name" I love that thought! The first thing Heavenly Father said, the first thing He showed, was that He knows us by name. We aren't just creation #626 or something, we are His children and He knows us individually and He knows us by name.

Love you all!
Sister Hope

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