Monday I spent the
entire morning doing laundry. Our washing machine had broken during the week
and so Elder Miller came and fixed it first thing in the morning so we could
have clean clothes to put in our suitcases! So we spent the entire morning
counting down the minutes on the washing machine. But alas, finally it finished
and we were able to go out. So we had lunch with a family from New Zealand,
which Sister Tanielu was really excited about since her family is from there as
well. They'd been wanting to have us over all transfer but they've always
gotten busy, but we did get to see them! Then we went to the chapel. The Louth
Sisters came up to Hull since Sister Mataupu's trainer came back to England to
visit. So the five of us hung out!
Then we had tea with our
Ward mission leader and his family. Which was a blast! We just love them!
And their dog...
He's a dauchshund. Which
is my favorite dog (totally unbiased though). Then we went to FHE and had a
final lesson. We watched the new First Vision video, "Ask of God" and
then had cake! So it was a good evening! Sad to say goodbye to everyone.
Especially the Millers!
So...afterwards, we went
and finished packing and then went to bed.
Tuesday we woke up and
got ready pretty quickly and then carried all our luggage to the station. I
caught a train to Doncaster, which arrived 10 minutes late (and I originally
only had 15 minutes to get to my next platform). So I was freaking out a bit. Luckily,
some elders were waiting for someone else and so they each grabbed a suitcase
and we ran. Made it with about 30 seconds to spare. But we made it! Then I sat
on that train for about another hour and a half and got to Newcastle. I met up
with Sister Kirk and the adventure began! So we caught a metro bus (subway) to
the car and then went to our flat for lunch and dropped my luggage off and then
went to visit some less actives that were working with. We basically just
introduced me to them and shared a quick spiritual thought with them. Then we
went to the chapel to sync our iPads and see some other members since there's a
less active "institute" class going on.
Wednesday we had
district meeting and it was so weird because the only person I knew was our
district leader from the beginning of my mission! But it was a great meeting
about teaching while finding. Then we had lunch and went to the library to meet
up with another less active and answer some of his questions about the temple.
Then we went to another town and did a little street contacting before the
strangest lesson of my life...so we were meeting this guy at the Blyth library
and we started the lesson. We were going to do addiction recovery with him, but
felt we should do the Restoration instead. So we pray and start the lesson and
then this lady comes over and asks what we're doing, so we tell her and she
asks which church we're from, so we tell her and she says
"Oh. Well I'm
sorry, but I've been taught that Mormonism is a man-made cult that's founded by
the devil...can I join your session?"
We were like
"um....sure????" So she drags a chair over and this guy starts
talking about how much he wants to quit smoking and so she asks if she could
pray for him and then she reaches out and puts her hand on his head and starts
chanting. It was so weird. And at the end he asked what the prayer meant and
she said "I don't know, it just comes from my spirit!" Well anyways,
she kept butting in and then tried to cast the devil of drug addiction out of
him...but we finished the lesson and said a closing prayer. As we left, we were
able to set a return appointment with him though. So that's good she didn't
scare him off from us! Just from her! But then we left for a tea appointment
and then went to another recent convert's house who's 11. She's such a golden
member! I hope we can get her parents to listen now!
Thursday we had a packed
day of teaching to do. So we had a lesson with a recent convert named Heather
about scripture study and then went to lunch. After lunch, we had a lesson with
some investigators named John and Jackie and then a less active, both about the
Plan of Salvation. Then we came in to call some formers and see if there was
anyone who was interested again. No luck this time. Then we had tea and Branch
Council which was about the self reliance program the church is doing and how
we should try and motivate the members to do it. It was actually a really
interesting presentation!
Friday we had weekly
planning and then went to have a lesson with another investigator. Then we went
to the chapel and had a lesson with two recent converts and then the library
for back to back lessons with two other recent converts. (If you can't tell, we
have a lot of recent converts and less actives we're working with). En we
decided we wanted Chinese food, so we went to get some and had a pretty good
conversation with a guy there and then ate it at home. Then we went out to see
a member family that talked a lot, but it was still really good! We had our
prayers answered (well Sister Kirk's and the previous sister's) because this
member bore her testimony and it's exactly what an investigator needs to hear!
Saturday we went to see
Heather again. (She's really ill, so we see her quite a bit) she wasn't feeling
very well at all, so we played cards with her and I totally won! Then we had
lunch and went to see another member. We were having a conversation with her,
when one of her friends showed up and started talking to us about what we do.
So we stayed and talked to him for a bit and then went to try by a few people.
Then we had a lesson with a returned less active who is preparing to go to the
temple trip coming up! So that was exciting! Then we tried by a few other
families, but they weren't in. So we went in for tea and comp Study since I
wasn't feeling too well. So we took that early so I could rest a bit and then
we did street contacting the rest of the night. The only person we ran into was
the relief society president...
Sunday we had church. It
feels so good to be back in a branch! I've really grown to love branches a lot
on my mission! In fact, the only two wards I've served in are Horbury (1 Week)
and Hull 1 (6Weeks). But I've been in branches the rest of it! So yeah, church
was good. There was a pretty good turnout today apparently! Then after church
and lunch, we went to see Heather. While we were knocking on her door, a
neighbor came and said she'd been taken to the hospital. So we went around back
and all her furniture had been moved, so we figure he must be right. Well, we
spent the next hour or so trying the different hospitals and then finally found
her! Well we got there 10 minutes after visiting hours, but saw they'd open
again in two hours. So we went to Branch Coordination and went back. It totally
made her day and was such a blessing for us to be able to see that!
My Spiritual Thought for
the week is from Dieter F. Uchtdorf
"Faith means that
we trust not only in God's Wisdom, but that we trust also in His love"
It's so important to
remember that everything happens for a reason. Sometimes we ask ourselves
"why me!?" When really our faith should be telling us it's because
Heavenly Father loves us and He knows exactly what challenges we need to become
like Him. His eternal goal is for us to be like Him and He will guide us every
step of the way...if we let Him, trust in Him, and have Faith in Him.
Love you all! God bless!
--
Sister Hope
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