I have Lovely Confederate Eyes - July 18, 2016

So last Monday, we went to teach a short lesson with Ephraim about donating tithes and offerings and then our next lesson cancelled, so we went and had a lesson with a member who lives near us named Jimmy. Well his actual name is James, but we call him Jimmy. It was a great lesson and he was really touched that we stopped by to talk to him, even though he had to sit in a chair in  his doorway while we talked to him. 

Tuesday was ok. We had a lesson with a less active named Lavinia about prophets and then our next lesson fell through, so we went to the library since we got a call that I had missed a part of my technology training on accident. Well, we got there and Andy was outside! We were so excited because we wanted to see him and set up another appointment with him. So that was a miracle! Then we went to another lesson, but she was asleep (we found that out later) so we talked for almost an hour with a guy named Chris on the street about the plan of salvation. He didn't want to set a return appointment, but Sister Sovala got really mad at him (it was quite hilarious) and we got a return appointment with him. So then we went to Melvin's house. Melvin is special. He is obsessed with the Confederates and has a Confederate flag in his house and framed pictures of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson on his wall. He kept saying I was a dang yankee when I told him I was from Arizona. So then I was like "Well I grew up in Texas" in an effort to calm him down and he goes off about how that's even worse because that's the most North we can go...then he asked where my parents were from so I said Utah and Idaho and he looks at me, smiles, and says "I knew there was a reason you have such lovely Confederate Eyes." I think he needs an updated map...and history lessons. But I didn't tell him that because this way I can just laugh to myself when we talk to him. 

We hardly did anything on Wednesday. We had district meeting in the morning and then travelled to Sheffield because Sister Sovala had a doctor's appointment. We had lunch and studies in the cafeteria. The cafeteria was actually really nice. I think it was the nicest meal I've had yet. I had duck for those of you who are wondering, which probably isn't very many. So we were there pretty much all day. I had to talk to people in the waiting room while she was gone. It wasn't very productive because everytime I got to the gospel, they got called back into the doctor's office. But we did have a dinner appointment with a less active family. The wife is too sick to make it to church but they're so excited the missionaries have found them again and are able to bring the Spirit back into their home!

Everything fell through on Thursday. Andy forgot his appointment, so we called the lady who was asleep the other day and she happened to be in town, so she came to meet up with us at the chapel. She is really struggling and asked us to ask the elders for a blessing, so they set up an appointment with her the next day. While we were walking around town, we ran into Andy and he was mad at us because we weren't ther for him, but we were. Then we found out he forgot the time and showed up at 2:30 instead of 12:00. So we rescheduled and then we went to Ephraim's and had a lesson with him in the park about the 10 commandments and obedience and then went over the INTERVIEW QUESTIONS!!!! Then we had a lesson with Darren and tea at their house. We then had an hour long bus ride back home and were thankful to be done with the day!

Friday was so short! We had a really long weekly planning session trying to decide what to do for the next week. Then we stopped by June and then went to the lesson with Livia where the elders gave her a blessing. It was a beautiful blessing and when they left she said "I finally feel at peace...this will be ok, won't it?" So we had a great lesson with her about the purpose of trials and she was really strengthened!! Then we travelled to a dinner appointment with a member. The bus going home was apparently stopped for like an hour because some guy decided his car was too fancy to turn onto the road he needed to and so he stopped in the middle of the road....so we got back pretty late to Ephraim's lesson, but it was ok. We taught him more about President Monson and then ran into the elders. They had a package for Sister Sovala which really brightened her day! Her family even wrote me a little postcard that was so cute! 

Andy forgot his lesson on Saturday too. So we saw that the Chapel on the Bridge (one of the oldest churches in England dating back to the 1400s) was actually open. It is only open on the third Saturday of every month for a few hours. So we took our lunch break and toured it. It is super small, only one room, but it was really cool! So then our next few lessons also cancelled. So we had to run home and grab the baptism papers for Ephraim because he had his interview! He is getting baptized on the 30th! It would be sooner, but he has to go to London for a week :/ and we didn't really want to pass him onto the London Missionaries...So then we went and had a lesson with Pam and her husband Richard about talents and supporting each other in those talents and pursuits. 

Sunday. Oh Sunday! I love Sundays so much! We had a little bit of a weird Sunday because our branch president got released and our mission leader got put in as the new president. So he has to pull double duty for a few weeks, poor man! But it should be really good! Then Nathan cancelled his lesson with us and Ephraim got called into Sheffield last minute. So the two people we can always count on let us down! Anyways, we then had a lesson with Graham. It was amazing! We talked about the power of prayer and he actually wanted to say the closing prayer! Such a miracle! And it was such a beautiful prayer. He's really making a lot of progress. Slow. But a lot. We are so thankful for him and how much he always makes us laugh!

So yeah, it has been a great week! My thought for the week comes from President Monson's "On Being Spiritually Prepared" talk :

"In the search for our best selves, several questions will guide our thinking: Am I what I want to be? Am I closer to the Savior today than I was yesterday? Will I be closer yet tomorrow? Do I have the courage to change for the better?" May we all find our best selves through our daily service to others and the Lord! I love you all and am so grateful for all your prayers.

Love,
-- 

Sister Hope

Splitting up is Hard to do! July 11, 2016

Another week has just flown by! I'm loving every minute of it. 

Monday was the Fourth of July, so even though English people don't really celebrate that, we had a zone BBQ. It was interesting and short because we had to travel like an hour to get to the chapel they were holding it at. And by the time we got there, all the buns were gone, so that was interesting. After the BBQ, we went and had a lesson with Jim and re-taught him the Restoration because we weren't sure how much he took in last time at the doorstep. We were right, he was more worried that we were standing out in the rain than what we were actually saying. So it was good we planned to re-teach him. Then the most amazing thing happened! We were waiting for our bus at the interchange and this drunk guy named Gordon who always talks to us started trying to give Sister Sovala a cardigan and his friend, Andy, came up and asked if he was bothering us. We laughed and said we know Gordon and he wasn't bothering us at all. Well then Gordon started talking to me (and I honestly can't remember much what he said) and Sister Sovala talked to Andy. He said he's been looking for a way to turn his life around and so Sister Sovala talked to him about Jesus Christ, taught him to pray, and committed him to work towards baptism. IN THE BUS STATION! I was so shocked. But then I looked at Andy. He just seemed to be radiating. I can't even describe it, but it was so obvious that Heavenly Father was mindful of him and loved him so much and he was definitely the person we were supposed to be talking to. It was quite awesome.

Tuesday we had a lesson with a less-active named Lavinia. She still reads the Book of Mormon and prays and talks to the missionary who baptized her, but doesn't go to church for personal reasons. We talked to her about the restoration and the importance of church and she said she'll come next week. She had already promised to babysit her sister's kids this week, so she couldn't. Then I was craving Chinese food, but all we had time for was McDonalds. By the way, McDonald's here is a lot nicer than McDonald's in the states. Anyways, they had a chinese dipping sauce, so surprisingly enough, McDonald's satisfied my Chinese craving for the most part. Then we went to the library and I did the technology assessment to prove I'll use my iPad responsibly. And then we tried by Andy's house, but he wasn't in. So we had a lesson with Becky instead and then went to teach Graham. He's doing so well!

Wednesday we had district meeting and set our district goals to "baptise" (English Spelling...): Book of Mormon in finding, Adjust the lesson to the investigator, Pray in Planning, Teach when you find and find when you teach, Involve the members, Speak to everyone, and Enjoy the work. It was really great. Then we were supposed to have a chapel tour with Graham, but he called us and said he was too drunk because his friend came over. So we had a lesson with Jim instead. Then on our way back to town, we were on the bus and saw Andy walking down the road. So we ran off the bus as fast as possible and talked to him. He had been in the hospital with blood clots in his legs. He said he really wanted to talk to us, but he had to get to the pharmacist before they closed. So we followed him. They were closed and he went crazy. He hit his head against the wall and it started bleeding. We had no idea what to do. So we said a prayer with him and he just kinda ran off after that. Yeah, it was crazy. So then we tried by another guy's house, but he didn't answer after he said he was home. Not fun. 

Thursday. We started off our day with a lesson in the park with Nathan. It turned more into a grass fight..but it was fun! Haha then we went to stop by some less actives. One wasn't in, one invited us back for Saturday, and one was just plain awkward! So we stopped by and this guy answered the door and he wasn't the person we were looking for. He was a guy we had talked to in the street a couple weeks ago and got really mad we asked him what the score of the football game was the night before instead of Jesus because he felt we were hiding our true intentions...Now we're at his door. And he thinks we've been following him. And he's not happy. We laughed and said we'd update our records. Anyways, then we had a lesson with Darren and it went pretty good actually. Then we had another lesson with Graham. He was having a really hard OCD day and at first wasn't sure he wanted us to come over, but decided he needed us to because we help him. He is so cool! He may turn into an eternal investigator, but he wants us there, so that's a plus!

Friday was an adventure. We had weekly planning and then had a role-play lesson with Becky because we were going on splits for an hour afterwards with Pam and Becky. So that was good, but then the lady we were going to visit, wasn't in. So we went to a less-active instead. It was pretty good! We met back up a couple hours later and then had a lesson with Pam about feeling the Holy Ghost. So it was a good day, but a very quick day. It was especially great for me because I got to feel more comfortable in my own teaching and finding abilities because I didn't have Sister Sovala to lean on.

Saturday went well-ish. We did a full-day split after visiting another less-active named Michael. And it was really hard because Becky had a sore leg and didn't want to walk. That kinda contridicted with missionary work...we had a lesson with Jim and wound up having to drop him as an investigator because he said he wants to learn, but he'll never get baptized and he knows he won't and so he asked us to stop asking him...so we had to drop him. Then we had a lesson with Ephraim! He's back from London! We confirmed him for an interview on Saturday! So make sure to keep him in your prayers! Then we went and visited Pam's husband and had a great lesson with him. We wanted to have a one-on-one lesson with him from the beginning, so it worked out! I was very grateful though at the end of the day to be back with Sister Sovala.

We had church on Sunday, obviously. We taught Young Women's, so that was interesting! We only have one YW in the branch and she didn't want to go into Relief Society. It was especially interesting because we didn't have the book to teach from at our flat, so we couldn't prepare a proper lesson. But it still went good and she came out of her shell quite a bit! Then we had a lesson with Ephraim on the blessings of tithing and then had our first lesson with a man named Carlos. It went ok and he agreed to work towards August 8th as a baptismal goal!

So yeah! My thought today comes fromRobert D. Hales "Preparations for the Restoration and the Second Coming: My Hand Shall Be Over Thee"

"In the Lord's service, the path is not always easy. It often requires sacrifices, and we will likely experience adversity. But in serving Him, we discover that His hand is truly over us."

-- 

Sister Hope

But what about the Fish!?!?! July 4, 2016

Hello All! This week has been so great! Miracles are truly happening here in England and I feel so privileged to be laboring in the Lord's work. It is definitely not easy, but it has been so worth it! It is so amazing to me to think how despite all the discouraging words, door slams, and cancelled appointments, one smile from someone, one person accepting a Book of Mormon, or one person showing up to an appointment makes up for all the hard times!

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!

-- 

Sister Hope

I got Whacked with a Book of Mormon! June 27, 2016

This week was sure interesting. 

After our P-day last week, we went to stop by a few potentials and none of them were in. So that was kinda discouraging. But we had a lesson with Pam in the park and so that was good! And then we street contacted back to the bus interchange and went home. So it was kinda a short day, but still good nonetheless. I made cocoa cookies to take to district meeting, but Sister Sovala liked them so much, they were pretty much gone by the end of the day...

Tuesday was another day of cancellations. Sister Sovala found this guy who seemed interested and then kept texting her weird messages like "Do you like bad boys?" So we had a good laugh over those and then told him he could meet with the elders if he was really interested...he didn't reply to that. So we went and visited a lady named Belina instead. She is so passionate about the church it is awesome! She loves missionaries and felt so bad she didn't have any food for us because she was on her way to the store and if we had just stopped by an hour later she would be able to be more like our momma. She is so sweet! Then we went home for a quick lunch and tried to stop by those same people from the day before, but they weren't in again. So we'll try one more time, probably tonight, and then leave them to the area book. Which I'm not too sad about, one of them scares me a lot. We nicknamed him Scary John. He seems really nice, but has tattoos on literally every part of his body. We had another lesson with Pam in the park and then went to teach Graham. One of the members met up with us and we had a great lesson. We taught him about the Plan of Salvation, but he said his mental illness won't allow him to read or pray...so we're not sure what his plan is. But Sister Slater was just like "that's ok, you can just listen to the Sisters" and so we didn't want to enforce the importance of it while she was there because we knew she'd correct us and then we'd correct her and it just wouldn't have been the best spirit in the house after that. So we went back to our flat (apartment) and I made more cookies so we could actually take them to district meeting

We had district meeting on Wednesday. The Zone Leaders came and picked up up because they moved the time to 8:00 and we would've had to wake up at 4:00 to be ready in time to make that in time. So they picked us up at 7:00 instead and we didn't have to wait for a bus! SO blessed! Then we knocked doors in the area and had our branch correlation meeting. Then I wasn't feeling well, so we went home for about an hour and then continued knocking doors. We had a great lesson with Ephraim afterwards about church and what we do there. We had kinda forgot to tell him all about it before he came last week, and so he left after an hour. But he was excited to stay all three hours after we explained what they were for! It was a total miracle though because Sister Slater lost her phone, so we couldn't get in touch with her but another member lives next door to him and she agreed last minute to go teach with us. Then we went home and I think I met the rudest person in England! Haha it was actually really funny. So we were at the bus station and I told a lady I liked her dress and she ignored me, so I said it again. She looked at me and said "Thanks. I don't like yours. Now go away, I'm not interested." Haha I've never met someone so bold and insulting at the same time! We laughed about it a little bit, and then realized she was probably a little drunk. She kept almost falling out of her chair on the bus.

We were supposed to have a lesson with a less-active named Jessica today, but we got there and she said she had forgotten and was helping her friend with some painting and they didn't need any more help. So we rescheduled and then knocked some more doors. It was voting day-they're voting if they should leave the EU or not...so not many people were in. Then we had a lesson that was supposed to be in the chapel, but the guy, Peter, said "I like to do things privately, let's stay outside" and we were like what? You want to stay in public to do something private and not go inside? It was funny. It was a good lesson though and he seemed really interested and loved what we had to say about everything and agreed to a baptism date of July 16! Then we went to have a lesson with a guy in our ward named Darren. He has some special needs and the Branch President has asked that we teach him the lessons. We only got about half way through and then he was done. So we talked to his grandma for a little bit and then went and knocked on some doors of less-actives in the area. The one wasn't happy at all and then the other was on holiday, and the last one was Sister Slater's daughter, but not interested anymore. So that was an interesting exchange!

We had a lesson Friday morning with this really nice lady named Kerrie. She didn't realize we wanted a lesson though, so we had planned on being there an hour, and she had planned on 20 minutes...so it ended a little awkwardly. But we just went and knocked some more doors. It started pouring though and so a really nice lady let us in her house. We started talking to her and she wasn't interested, but we kept talking until the rain stopped. It was really funny because she kept opening the door to see if it had stopped. Then we had a ton of time left, so we took an hour off for what they call "mormon.org time" which basically means we're allowed to get on the computer and look up talks and Mormon messages and such. It was really relaxing! Then we had a lesson with Nathan. We were supposed to role play handing out a Book of Mormon and so I was the investigator and he was the missionary and he just handed it to me and said "here" and I was acting how a normal person would and kept saying I didn't want it if I didn't know what it was. Well, I guess he wasn't really in the missionary mood, because instead of explaining it, he hit me with it. In the face. And it hurt. But then it started raining. So payback! He got soaked and I had an umbrella :)

Saturday we got into town to have a lesson with Peter and he texted us that he decided to stay with his own faith. So that was a bummer. It was Armed Forces Day though so there was a parade in town! Then we went knocking doors at some less-actives and two of them let us in! It was such a miracle! The one said her mom has really missed it and that missionaries had just forgotten about her and she's disabled so she hasn't been able to go back to church due to that. But they want us to keep coming back! Unfortunately, the mom is in Wales for a month...We had another lesson with Ephraim about the Plan of Salvation and he just took it all in! He is so amazing! He takes notes as he reads the Book of Mormon and reads them to us what he's learned. He's already in 2 Nephi! Such a stud! We asked him again about baptism and he said he wants to but he wants to keep studying. So we'll see!

Sunday was amazing! Ephraim came to all three meetings and in Gospel Principles, there were only like 7 of us, so we all introduced ourselves and said if we could have one wish, what would we wish for. Ephraim's answer was that he'd wish to be part of the Mormon community some more. So amazing! Such a great example! We had a lesson with him after lunch and talked about the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity. He was ok until we mentioned tea and coffee and was so funny! We could tell he didn't want to give up tea, but he said "If you say its bad, then I won't have any starting tomorrow" then he went inside and grabbed his tea and asked if those were ok, because he didn't know what herbal tea was. We were praying that's what he drinks, but he drinks black tea. But he is so willing to give it up, we were in shock! Then we went and visited Pam to make sure she is still ok. Then we had a little bit of time left on the bus, and so we decided to stay on afterwards because we thought it looped around and went back to town, but it didn't. We wound up at the Sheffield Airport and it was actually really funny. We were so lost. But luckily another bus came around about half an hour later we could get back on to go to our house. Biggest "whoops" moment of my mission so far!

So for my spiritual thought:

"There will be days...when your hears are heavy and your heads hang down. Then, please remember, Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, is the Head of this Churc. It is His gospel. He wants you to succeed. He gave His life for just this purpose" -President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "Have We Not Reason to Rejoice?"

I love you all!

-- 

Sister Hope

God works in mysterious ways! And sometimes we don't like it June 20, 2016

This week was honestly pretty tough at the beginning. It did get better, but I'm sorry if the first half of this letter sounds sad, because well...it was a little!

We got a call on Monday from Pam that she was really upset because none of our investigators came to church. She comes out with us everywhere and gives so much to the people that we teach that she is basically our third companion! When she's not with us, she's helping our investigators; cooking them meals, picking them up, buying them nicotine lozenges to cut down their smoking, etc. And she was just upset that this was the second week in a row that they didn't come to church. So we went straight to her house after we got back from Sheffield, and had a message with her about the Atonement and how missionary work can't be easy because then it wouldn't be God's work (Thanks Sister Horne for the "Missionary Work and the Atonement" Video!). It was a great lesson and she cheered up a little, but it was really difficult for her still. So we left with a prayer because the night was over. She promised to come out with us the next day because she knew if she didn't then Satan would've won over her and she didn't want that. She is such an inspiration to us!

So Tuesday, Pam's friend called her and was upset we had called to confirm her appointment and told her that she didn't actually want to learn from the missionaries. So we had a lesson with Janine instead. Janine had also called Pam and told her she was in trouble, so Pam walked all the way over because she didn't have time to wait for the bus, and we rushed over as well. They wound up spending the whole day together and we went to see John. Since Pam was with Janine, we had a lesson in the park with John on Enduring to the End. Then we stopped by another potential we had found in the area who said he was looking for any help he could get. But his mom answered the door and said they weren't interested. We're still planning on stopping by later though.

Wednesday was pretty good! We had district meeting in Sheffield and President and Sister Pilkington came to say goodbye. We had an awesome district meeting and they gave us temple recommend holders with a personal interview on the other side with some of their favorite mantras. There were so many though, they just made us two holders...Then we got a ride with the Zone Leaders to Branch Correlation. Then we met up with Pam and went to John's. Pam was still struggling and so after John's lesson, we went to the park with her and had another lesson with her on the power of missionary work and she asked for a blessing, so we sent the elders over to her house and did street contacting. We had another lesson with Graham and it had to be outside again and it started raining again. We didn't get through the lesson because he has some very deep, interesting thoughts already about the afterlife. 

Thursday, we travelled to Treeton to visit a less-active and invite her back to church. She's not sure she wants to, but she said she'll think about it. So progress!?! Then our other lesson cancelled, so we met up with Pam and did a service activity for a lady in the branch. The hard part about service here, is we're only allowed to do it, if we give up our lunch break, so we were starving. We pulled her weeds for her and then had a meal, so we left a lot happier than we came ;) Service really is such a blessing! I honestly wasn't sure how I felt about her before and now she's one of my favorite lady's in the branch! I finally understand her sense of humor and it was actually funny and not as offensive as I originally thought! So that was a great blessing!

Friday was by far our roughest day. Our morning lessons all cancelled, so we read from the Book of Mormon with Pam instead. Then we went to John's. John has completely stopped smoking, but has become increasingly angry with God and as a by-product, women. He was really upset and kept calling us witches with a B and saying we were all alike-ganging up on men. ANYWAYS. We wound up having to pass him on to the elders. Which was so painfully hard! He's made such great progress! But we're thankful we have elders in our area that we can pass him on to. He's at the point now where I think he needs that male influence to help him and they'll be able to help him more than we can now (which is really painful to admit...). But then the miracle of our next lesson happened! Our lesson was with a man named Ephraim who is from Ethiopia and he was so receptive to what we had to say and his only concern was his English wasn't perfect and the Book of Mormon is kinda in "old language", even in his native language, he thought it would be too hard to understand. We came home and had another lesson with Graham and actually got through the Restoration!

Saturday we street contacted all day. We met some super nice, super scary, and everything in between people. Then we had another lesson with Ephraim on the power of the Book of Mormon. He read four chapters last night! What a stud! So we read chapter 5 with him and it was a great lesson!

Sunday was amazing! First of all, Ephraim showed up! So third week's the charm apparently! ;) Also, President Pilkington came and shared some thoughts on the power of missionary work and the miracles he's seen of God protecting His missionaries. It was so great! After church, we made a sandwhich and promptly fell asleep. Then we woke up and went to visit a less active who is having a hard time wanting to go to church because there's no other kids there and her kids can be pretty noisy and don't like to sit still. That's kinda a hard challenge to help overcome! SO pray we meet some families!!! ;) Then Nathan called and wanted to go follow-up with some of the Elder's investigators because he was bored. So, since our lesson fell through, we did! And it was great! They said they were impressed we had the same answers as the elders did for their questions. So that's good the elders aren't teaching false doctrine ;)

So in our District Meeting, Sister Pilkington gave us 30 quotes from conferences that can help give us a boost, so I figured I'd choose one a week and send them out :)

"Hard as things seem today, they will be better in the next day if you choose to serve the Lord this day with your whole heart."-President Eyring "This Day"

Love you all!

Sister Hope

Give and Never Give Up! June 13, 2016

This week has been insane! We felt like we were hardly in our area which sucked because we didn't get nearly as much done as we wanted to! But we got as much done as Heavenly Father needed us to!!

So Monday was P-day and we did our normal P-day activities and then we taught a lesson to a recent convert at the chapel and had to hurry to the train station because...

Tuesday we had exchanges! So they've changed exchanges where instead of one missionary switching areas with another one, both companionships work the area of the STL. So I worked with Sister Blair, who is our STL and then Sister Sovala went with Sister Huang and we both taught and tracted in Sheffield. We street contacted so much! Sister Blair loves talking to people and basically following them when they walk away, it was really funny and I wish I was that bold with my finding! I guess I'll get there eventually though... Then we taught a lesson with a recent convert and he mainly just talked the whole time and we got about five minutes in with him but it was a great five minutes! Then we caught the train back and did finding in our area until 9.

Wednesday we tried to teach that family, but the mom said her kid wasn't interested which we now know is a lie because we saw them yesterday and he was mad we never stopped by. Oh well...the Zone Leaders want to try now so we'll see how that goes! So we taught John outside his house and then went to the Czech house to teach her. We are going to let the Slovak elders teach her which is so sad because  she is so awesome! but we had a hard time communicating Gospel topics with her due to the language barrier...Then we went back to the Chapel and met up with Pam so we could teach a man named Ali and then a lady named Galina. They're both so super nice and we had a great time talking to them. We went home after that and then caught the train back to Sheffield to spend the night. All the sisters in the zone were there, so there were 8 of us in one flat (apartment) and that was so crowded! but it was good. 

Thursday we woke up at like 4:30 and got on a charter bus to go to Leeds where we spent all day at Zone Conference. Zone Conference was great, but long! To save time, I'll just leave it at that since I already sent an email about Zone Conference. Anyways, we got back to our flat around 10:20 that night so it was LONG!

Friday we had a lot of meetings but a lot of miracles! So we got a new phone on Thursday and unfortunately didn't write all the numbers we needed, but we thought we did! So we lost Ali's number. We'll who would be on the same bus we were catching!? Ali! So we got his number again and set up a return appointment with him! Then we had Branch Correlation and then a lesson with John about baptism and the Holy Ghost. Then we had tea (dinner) with a member and got caught in the rain and were drenched! It was OK though because we were obedient and left exactly an hour after we got there and barely caught the bus so we didn't get too drenched on the way home! We then knocked a few doors and a former investigator decided to let us in and wants us to come back! She was on her way out so we barely caught her!

Saturday was a little disappointing at first because all of our lessons fell through. We found out it was the Queen's Birthday, so Happy Birthday to the Queen of England! and it was also my official one month as a missionary!!! We celebrated by doing a lot of street contacting and found some people who seem really prepared, so we're really excited to see them next week! We had another tea appointment with a member and then went to teach a lesson with Pam and her family about the Priesthood. Oh and then Sister Sovala bought me a chocolate bar since I'm a month old now ;)

Sunday was pretty good. I played the piano for the branch in Sacrament Meeting and that was interesting to say the least. And then we went to see John because he didn't show up to church again and then we met up with Pam and had a lesson with her about missionary work because she's feeling really discouraged that she's coming out with us everyday and nobody is showing up to church after they promise. She's so great, isn't she!? We just love her to pieces and hope she can remember why she's coming out with us in the first place! Because she loves Jesus Christ and wants to help others feel that love as well! Then we had a lesson outside with a man named Graham. It started raining just as we were finishing up, but I had my umbrella this time, so we were mostly OK! then we ran home and dried off.

I love you all and know that if you continue to look for God's many miracles, you'll find them! I've started writing down at least one instance where I saw the Hand of the Lord in my life that day as part of my journaling and it has been so wonderful! He really is all around and I know this is His work we are doing. Continue doing great things and I know the Lord will bless you! Thanks again for all your love, and support. I truly can feel all the prayers!

Sister Hope

This isn't the language they taught me in the MTC :)

So first of all, I'M IN ENGLAND!!!!!!!!!!!

My last few days at the MTC were greatish. We had an ALL day conference about paperwork type stuff and well, our elders decided to ditch, so it was just us four sisters that stayed. There has to be some blessing for obedience, right? Maybe its just that I can hold it against them for the rest of their lives....

We left the MTC around noon on Monday, but the rest of the Hawaii elders and sisters left at 7 am and so it was just me and the three other Leeds Elders. We joined with another district for about an hour or two and then finished our packing and left. Not much else to report as far as the MTC goes.

Our flight was long, but we made it safely. I was surprised that I wasn't so tired when we finally landed. We were told we still had to wait up until 9:30 before we could go to bed. Anyways, we had interviews with President Pilkington and then we went over specific mission rules and guidelines with the other senior missionaries and Sister Pilkington, then President pulled all of us into another room and we went over some finding techniques and the importance of talking to everyone and how to get to those that are rude and don't want to listen. It was really funny. He even had the two biggest elders stand up, gra b another elder by both arms, and gently throw him back (while still holding onto him) to show that our purpose isn't to baptise. If it were, we'd just be assaulting people on the streets and throwing them in the water...but our purpose is to invite others and to find those who are ready, even if they don't think they are ready. Then we met our trainers. Mine wasn't too hard to figure out, since I was the only girl in the group...her name is Sister Sovala and she is from Australia. She is absolutely amazing and I've already learned so much from her! We left Leeds and took the train back to our area which is called Rotherham. Not to scare anyone, but I heard this is one of the roughest areas of the mission and all the people who live here keep telling me how unlucky I am to have this be my first area. But I think it is absolutely beautiful here and while the people definitely aren't American or what I'm used to, they're so nice! We travel contacted our way home which just means we talked to everybody we could on the train, got to know them, and handed them a mormon.org card with our number on it. Not too hard! But Sister Sovala said I'm pretty much the most outgoing greenie she's ever met and she's amazed at how willing I am to just talk to everybody! So that's good! We wound up still staying up until 10:30 which I was a little sad about because it was the only day I was given permission to get extra sleep...but that's ok. It helped me get better adjusted to the schedule!

Wednesday we had to wake up early and go to district meeting. That was pretty great! Our district has 6 elders, and 4 sisters. So it reminded me a lot of the MTC...just with English accents. We discussed 1 Nephi 18 when everyone got on the boat and compared that to us saying we all willingly came out on our missions, but if we ever begin to be disobedient, in even the smallest ways such as sleeping until 6:35, then soon we won't have the spirit with us and we won't want to be on our missions anymore. It was a great lesson and application! Then we went to Branch Coordination. We share the branch area with the Zone Leaders and so it was us four missionaries and the Branch Mission Leader. He fed us. It was a miracle! The zone leaders just replaced the other elders, so out of the four missionaries, three of us were new. So we talked about the investigators and how they can be strengthened and all that jazz. It was a great meeting and I left so excited to meet these people! A recent convert named Pam came over because we were supposed to have a lesson with a potential Sisters Sovala and Kirk had found. He showed up just to tell us he already had a church and wasn't interested. So we were pretty confused. But we taught a lesson to Pam and then did some street and travel contacting to another investigator's house with Pam. His name is John. John is hilarious. He has a baptismal date for the 25th so we're hoping he can keep that! Then we returned home and knocked doors in our area for a bit before coming home for tea (in England, Lunch is dinner and dinner is tea...its weird).

Thursday was great! We met up with another sister in the branch and taught a man named Mohammed. His roommate, Leo, decided to come out and listen as well. So we had a great lesson with them and then went to Pam's house because John was supposed to meet us there, but he was an hour and a half late, so we read from the Book of Mormon with her and then went to another lesson with a lady named Amanda. Amanda has such a strong testimony of God, and we're hoping that we can really reach her and help her. Then we travel contacted home and had tea and did more studies since we had to cut our morning studies short in order to make our first lesson.

Friday Sister Sovala and I had a personal challenge to see who could find "the most romantic love story in England" so we kept asking people how they met and almost nobody wanted to tell us! It was so sad! I think the one that won, out of the three we actually got, was that his girlfriend came over to pet his cat, Elvis, and they started talking and they've been together for 16 months now! So they met through Elvis. Anyways, I got a return appointment with him this week (my first one to get without Sister Sovala!). We tried to contact a referral from the Elders, but she wasn't home. So we went to John's house with Pam. When we left, this little boy came running up to us and asked if we were from the church because his dad wants him to join a church! And his friend was there with his mom and asked her if they could join a church too! So we promised to go back the next day! Then we went to visit this other lady named Janine. She had been taught by elders before and said she already knows the Book of Mormon is true and this is the path she's supposed to be following. So we really enjoyed our lesson with her! Then we went to visit a lady named Jazzmine at her house. Jazzmine lives on the street behind us and has already told missionaries she's not interested in converting, but she'd love to hear all we have to say. She started crying during the lesson and she blamed it on pregnancy hormones, but we know it was the Spirit. Anyways, we were there way too long but had a great conversation with her and her husband!

Our challenge for Saturday was to find the craziest thing someone had done. Only one person answered me. She said she went out drinking once and only once and she wound up falling down and cutting her head open, but didn't realize it until she woke up in the morning, so she swore to never drink again. We went to the chapel and had a lesson with the branch mission leader and his wife on family history and the temple and then went to John's and those two families! They were so nice. The one was from the Czech Republic and even though she spoke English, it was still a little hard to understand her. We want to keep teaching her, but our district leader thinks we should let the Slovak Elders teach her. Then we went to the other family and their little boy forgot to tell them we were coming so we rescheduled for next week and went to a recent convert, Nathan's, home. He is so great! He is 16 and loves the gospel so much!

Sunday was amazing! We went and helped a less active named June walk to church. Obviously it was fast and testimony meeting and the testimonies were so pure! Definitely a good branch to bring investigators too! Our branch is extremely small and mostly elderly men. Sister Sovala and I taught Gospel Principles and excluding us and the elders there were 8 people and then there were only 5 in Relief Society excluding us sisters. But it was a great Sunday and I'm so excited to work with these members and hopefully strengthen the branch! I told Sister Sovala that I really want to work on strengthening the less actives and recent converts because while finding new people is great, everyone needs support and that's something I'm really passionate about. We then went back to teach Nathan after church about temple work because he wants to get his recommend and go sometime soon! I know that will help him a lot in the trials he's going through right now. Then we went to John's again because he didn't show up to church. So we took Pam and knocked some sense into him in the most loving way possible ;) We were there for awhile and when we were getting back on the bus, we ran into the two new families and they seemed pretty excited to see us. In fact the one little boy was upset we weren't coming to see them then and that we had to go!

Overall, I think everything is going well. We're doing a great job of talking to everyone and Pam is so great to come out with us everyday! I think one thing I'm kinda confused about is the District Leader wants us to have more dedicated finding time, but we're always running from appointment to appointment and so I don't really see how we can do that without cancelling appointments...but I guess we'll figure it out. The work is going as well as it can be. We're definitely not slacking and I'm loving my mission. It's weird to think I've already almost been out for a month and yet it feels like it just began this week...I love you all and hope all continues to go well for everyone at home and in their missions!!

Love,

Sister Hope