Hiya!
Sorry this is so late, we just had an amazing PDay at Alnwick Castle and are
just getting in to email....
Anyways, we had a great,
uplifting PDay on Monday! We took a nap in the morning and then cleaned the
house and car and did a little grocery shopping and then practically moved into
the chapel :) we took our blankets and a few church moves we had borrowed from
a member and watched them! So we watched one called "The Letter
Writer", one called "The Errand of Angels", and one called
"One Man's Treasure"! They were so good and so uplifting for
missionaries! Definitely my favorite movie PDay day as a missionary thus far!
Then we got tea really quickly and went to see Heather and then saw Sister
Griffith. She had a lot of missionary stories to tell us! Then we rushed off
and went to Newcastle to spend the night with the rest of the Sisters in our
zone.
On Tuesday we woke up around
5:30 and got ready for the day. For ten sisters to all get ready in less than
an hour, I'd say we did a pretty miraculous feat there! Anyways, we got the
coach to Billingham and had Zone Conference. It was so great! We had a lot to
talk about and a lot to practice! Although it was pretty cool because I got to
see three of my mission babies! Just missing Sister Manning...oh well, we'll
get a full family photo at some point I hope :)
It was
so great to be reunited! Then the other cool thing is I got a "Standards
of Excellence" award because I've done my Standards of Excellence for four
straight transfers! (So our mission President does Standards of Excellence a
little differently. Each week, we set a personal goal and a companionship goal and
if you meet each of those, then you sign it off and at the end of the transfer,
you send it in to the mission office and after four transfers we get a trophy)
So
anyways, that was pretty cool and I look forward to getting another one
hopefully! Anyways, it was a great day, but we were exhausted and ready to go
home. We did have one more visit with a member afterwards though to go over the
Area Plan with her because Tuesday was the only day she was free. So we did
that and were able to set some good goals with her.
On
Wednesday we did service in Saltwell Park this morning as a Zone. It was pretty
fun. We were in charge of the Japanese Gardens this time, which meant we
basically just organised rocks for them and threw the white rocks back into the
rock bed. Then when that was over, they asked us to do some painting by the
tennis courts. So we put on some garbage bag dresses and went to work!
Unfortunately the picture is on the other sisters iPad and I didn't get it, but
I will soon! Then we drove the Chinese Sisters back to their flat and we went
to start our busy day of lessons. Unfortunately, all of them cancelled. So
instead of having four back to back lessons...we had four hours of knocking to
do. With no luck, might I add. Although one cool thing was we stopped this lady
with a baby and she turned out to be a less active we'd been asked to try by
but felt we should wait until someone went with us...and it was actually a
better conversation and situation since we didn't know who she was at first! So
that was a cool miracle that proves the Lord works in mysterious ways! Then we
had tea with the Broadfoots and went to the Book of Mormon study class and read
and watched the story of the Tree of Life. I had forgotten how great that
animated video was! Especially now that I'm older, I realise the symbolism so
much more from it! Like...wow...
Thursday
we saw Sharon Harrington and then our next lessons cancelled on us, so we did
some street contacting and I found a great street sign! Well, actually I
already knew it was there...I just finally got a picture with it!
We then went to see Sharon Wylie
and had a lesson with her about faith. After that, we saw a lady named Linda
who was blatantly honest she wanted nothing to do with our church, so for some
strange reason I invited us over to read the Bible with her. Which she
accepted, so we went to read the Bible with her...it went ok. She has the New
English Version that rewrites it to be in modern English. Man, it lost a lot of
the authentic feel! But oh well, it was cool to hear someone else's views! Then
we went to see Heather and then did some beach contacting. We tried by Becca
again, but she wasn't in. So we had tea and then went to see Kayleigh and
talked to her about the Faith in God program and how she can do that with us!
So that'll be fun to do!
Friday was a little strange. We had a very unfocused weekly planning today. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but neither of us were feeling up to it..but we went to the Relief Society Lunch afterwards and Lorna got called in to work. She came just as we were cleaning up, but the sisters made her feel really welcomed and she had some pie and we gave her a chapel tour! Then we went to see a potential, and this time she was in! And she wants us to come back on Monday! We're so excited! We then had our studies and went to have tea with a few of the single members. It was so good because they all had friends they were working with or someone they'd thought of to start working with! So then we tried by a less active family and they weren't in, so we tried by a few more and then headed off to see Jennifer Thompson. We shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ Footprint lesson with her and it was really good! She opened up a lot and I hope she'll come back soon! It was weird bough because as we were leaving, we got a call from our District Leader asking if we were in safe (8:53...) and then to call him when we got in safely...so we did and he said "ok, I'll call you back in a few minutes, I just have to report this to the Zone Leaders" so we're hoping nothing crazy went down...
On
Saturday we saw Kurt in the morning at the library and the greatest thing ever
happened! He cut his hair! It was so great! Anyways, he taught us about tithing
and it was ok...then we saw Winifred and did the Gospel of Jesus Christ
Footprints lesson with her as well. Then we got lunch and went to Heathers
again. We were going to go to the beach to air out, but decided to try by some
people instead. They weren't in. So we went to see Eileen and talked with her
about the Plan of Salvation and then went to have tea with a part member
family, the Knights. We had a good conversation with them about religion in
general. We're still not sure what his point of interest would be, but we'll
find it, I'm sure! Then we came in for our studies.
Sunday
was a very short day today. So we had church and it was good. 2 less active
families showed up! And we got to teach the Primary Sharing Time about
repentance! It was so good! I just love Primary! Then we went to see Becca. She
let us in and she and her friend just basically vented to us for about two
hours. I honestly really felt like a missionary, just there to listen and
support how Christ would. We were there way too long, but she really needed it.
Then we went to her mom's house with her and got to talk to her mom as well.
Her mom was pretty down, so we cheered her up a bit and we're able to really
testify to her. And guess what?!? She wants to come to the Book of Mormon Study
class and hopefully even church next week! Then we came in for lunch and tea to
break our fast and headed out to missionary coordination before coming in for
studies!
My Spiritual Thought for the week is from Zone Conference, from President Turvey. He was talking about faith and he kinda rebuked us (but don't worry, he showed forth an increase of love afterwards!) and said
"You
can't claim to have faith if you're disobedient. You can't claim to have faith
if you don't open your mouth. And you can't claim to have faith if you have low
expectations of your area"
This
really struck me this week as I've reflected over the past year and how last
year at this time, I was going to get on a plane in three days. A plane to
build my faith. To build my obedience, to share my testimony, and to work hard.
I've seen that. I know I'm not a perfect missionary, but as my Mission Mommy
always said, "just be perfect at trying" Christ takes our seeds of
faith, whatever we have to offer, and he builds us. But our fears block our
faith sometimes. True faith is putting complete trust in Him and doing what He
asks. Without questioning Him. There's so much in this world that requires
faith. And we can't claim to have faith if we're not willing to do the small,
simple things He asks of us.
Anyways, that's my tangent. Hope you enjoyed my week and I'll talk to you next week!
Love you
guys!
Sister
Hope
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