Wow, the weeks seriously fly by here! I can't believe
that it has already been a week since I emailed and that next week is
Christmas! It is crazy!
This week has been a really weird one, it has just felt off
and not very successful for us, but we are going to change that this week so I
am super excited :)
I will start with P-day last week. After we emailed we
jumped in the Deans car and we went on a district P-day to a place called Seven
Sisters. They are these cliffs that look over the ocean. It was so
pretty, but so cold! It was our whole district and our zone leaders, so
it was a fun day getting to know everyone. Sister Hickman and me just
kind of did our own thing though; we are pretty identical in the fact that we
aren't too big into the socializing thing haha. I will be sure to send
pictures from that day though, because it was breathtakingly beautiful.
England is so pretty, because it always rains everything is so green
here. I love it!
That night we went to FHE with the YSA because we were asked
to teach the lesson. We taught about He is the Gift and showed the video,
I think they all liked it. Then every week someone in the ward cooks
dinner for FHE, but whoever was supposed to do it forgot, so we ordered a whole
bunch of Dominos Pizzas. It tasted so good, but it definitely was not American
pizza. Something weird is they put corn on everything here, there was
corn on the pizza, but it still tasted good. Bri couldn't live over here
though cause she hates corn haha.
Well Tuesday was the lovely day that I opened my wallet and
saw that all my cash was gone. I was so mad all morning because I
couldn't believe someone would actually steal a missionary’s money. The
only place that I left my bag alone was that Sunday at Stake Conference while I
was talking to people. I thought for sure it would be safe at Stake
Conference. It was
about 80 pounds, which is quite a lot, that is the equivalent to about 150 US
dollars. But luckily it was the personal money that i came with, so I
didn't have to get more money from the church, I will just have to live with
out it. The more I think about it the more grateful I am that they just
took the cash and not my wallet. The whole "it could be worse" thing helped
me forgive the person, and I hope they used the money for something really good
:)
Tuesday was a crazy day. We take the buses everywhere
we go, and the bus we take to the chapel usually is about a 15 minute bus ride,
but that day it took us an hour because traffic was so bad. The buses
were so full that some of them wouldn't even stop at the stops cause they
couldn't have any more people get on. It was nuts! Luckily most of
our appointments fell through, so we were able to make it to the few that
didn't and we were able to get everything done. The little things you
become grateful for on your mission :)
Wednesday was amazing. On Wednesdays we have district
meeting, which is always fun. The spirit was with us so strong this week.
One of the Elders talked to us about his story about how he got on his mission
and the struggles he has had and I was about in tears it was so good. He
talked about how some days on his mission the only thing he could do was put on
his nametag and go out on the street. He said if that is all you can do,
that is fine, that is all the Lord requires, but you can always put more effort
into it if you are willing. It was a really spiritual time and it was
exactly what I needed to hear.
That day we taught a
couple families as well. The family that was supposed to feed us the
kangaroo forgot, so sadly we didn't have it. I was kind of looking forward to
it! Oh well. We taught a lesson to one of our investigators who
just lost her Grandma, so we taught her the plan of salvation, and I think that
that has become my favorite lesson to teach. It is such a simple straight
forward, yet so spiritual lesson. It was amazing and she was just beaming
with joy after we were done.
Oh that night I attempted to make homemade mac n cheese
haha. We put a little too much cheese in it, but it still tasted really
good and reminded me of home :)
Thursday we got to go to the temple!!!!! It was so nice and I
loved every minute of it! That is Presidents Christmas present to all the
missionaries every year, he charters buses to get the people from like plymouth
up here to go. But he thinks that it is
really important, so he makes sure it happens. We saw the film I saw when
I went through for the first time, so it was fun kind of reflecting on my
experience of receiving my endowments. This week I have though a lot
about the temple and the importance of it, and I have come to love it so
much. It was sad during the session though because we were all sitting in
the Celestial Room with President and Sister Millar and I realized that it
could be a year before I am back. I have a new appreciation for the
temple and we are so blessed to be able to have one so close to us in
Logan. That was cool sitting in the Celestial room with all missionaries,
it was like Gods army haha. I love the temple, and the London temple is
so pretty on the inside! It isn't like any of the temples I have been in
before, I really hope I can go back soon!
We had a lunch with the
zones we were with after the session, which was really good. It was a ham
dinner, so it felt like Christmas! They had chimes so we played some Christmas
carols on them, it reminded me of us on Christmas Eve and how much we all love
playing them ;) hahaha I got roped into playing the piano while they all
sang Christmas carols, seriously I can't decide if its a blessing or a burden
that I play, sometimes I really just want to sit and sing with everyone and
relax. But I have to use the talents given to me ;) haha
President also talked to us about missionary work and how it
isn't about individual numbers, but numbers as a whole. He said "It
doesn't matter if your in Brighton where people are running to the font left
and right, or somewhere that is 'dead'", it is not us that takes the
credit, but the mission as a whole and the Lord. I loved that because it
seems like people get so caught up in your numbers out here and how many people
you can talk to, but that isn't what matters, it is doing the Lords work that
matters. And I laughed when he said people are running to the font here
haha.
We also got all of our Christmas
packages to take back with us, and I got a lot! I haven't opened some of
them yet, but I did opened the families when I got back, and I was overwhelmed
with how much was in there! I held myself together, but for some reason
when I saw the sand dollar I started to tear up. Thank you for putting
that in there, it is one of my favorite traditions of ours. And G&G Smith
sent a nativity set, which I love and am so grateful for. I put up the Christmas
tree you sent yesterday morning, but I forgot to take a pic, sorry. But
it is really cute and I love it so thanks for sending that!!!
We taught a lesson to a recent convert that night and I felt
like I was high on the spirit. I really do think the temple like rejuvenated
my spirit, it was amazing! I felt like we were really following the
spirit with what to teach and I participated a lot, so I was really
happy. Thursday was a good day :)
Friday we had a baptism! No it wasn't T (she’s asked
us not to include names), he has been sick all week and we haven't been able to
see him, so he hasn't been baptized yet, we are hoping he will be the 27
though! But it was for T, one of our other investigators that is
awesome! We had to get everything ready at the chapel so we spent most
the time there. We had to clean the font, which was fun haha, I never
thought I would do that in my life, but I did! His baptism service was
really good, he is quite shy so there weren't many people. And because of
that, the missionaries had to do the musical number. Myself, Sister
Hickman, Elder Reed and Elder Green had to sing the song Come Unto
Christ. I was so scared we were going to butcher it, but don't worry we
actually did pretty good. Yes I sang in front of people, it was totally
out of my comfort zone, but I can say I did it. I recorded it so I will
have to show it to you guys when I get home.
We had time to do some street contacting after the baptism
and we were kind of successful, some people would talk to us, but not a
ton. Everyone was saying "I'm good", or "I'm not
interested" and sometimes I just want to be like look, you're really not
good, this is eternal life we are talking about, or you should be interested
because this is how you gain eternal life. But people sadly have their
agency, so we can't choose for them.
That night was the ward Christmas party, which was fun. We played games and sat in a circle and sang some
Christmas songs, all the ones that talk about snow and having a white
Christmas, which made me miss being home for Christmas, but I wouldn't trade
being here for anything.
Saturday was a weird day. Sister Hickman and I just
woke up in a funk. We didn't tell each other, but we talked about it that
night and we both woke up just feeling weird about something. We still
can't figure out what it was, but the whole day was just weird. We had a
lesson with an investigator. He isn't a "progressing
investigator", or one that is moving towards baptism. I was frustrated because we hardly get to teach him the gospel during lessons.
That afternoon we made homemade oreos for a munch n mingle we had yesterday, so
that was fun.
Then as a zone we are giving each other different finding
ideas for how to talk to people about He is the Gift, so we did ours Saturday
night. Ours was to wrap up pass a long cards and hold a sign that said
"FREE GIFT" on the street and hand them out. We were really
successful with that and lots of people took them, but we decided that having
two sisters standing on the street at night holding a sign that says free gift
is probably not the smartest idea. We had a couple people say some
inappropriate stuff, but you just have to ignore them and move on. We had
one guy take one and then offer us a free gift, AKA some drugs, and we had to
tell him like 10 times we didn't want any haha. It was an adventure and I
have some stories for my journal not :) After that we were supposed to be
teaching someone at the chapel, but as we were waiting for him Sis Hickman and
me both had this terrible feeling, so we told him we were going to have to
reschedule and we went home. It was the weirdest thing and we don't know
what would have happened if we stayed, but we are both so glad we made it home
safe. I don't know what it was about that day, but something just didn't
feel right.
Then yesterday was Sunday! Woohoo, another week
down! T, our investigator that got baptized Friday, was supposed to be
confirmed during sacrament meeting, but he didn't show up, which is concerning,
so we have to meet with him and figure out what is going on. But that's
like the only bad thing that happened. We had a munch n mingle with is
always good, we always love free food! Then a family in the ward is doing
a Christmas Carol Concert on Friday and I'm accompaning them on some songs
so I spent some time trying to learn them with them because they are kind of
difficult. That afternoon we had an appointment fall through and our
whole district was still at the chapel and we just got into really personal
stories and we had like bonding time. I have really come to love my whole
district, we all get a long so good and the time we spend together is a lot of
fun, so I enjoyed yesterday afternoon.
That night we went over to the bishops house for dinner with
the Ward Mission Leader. Dinner was good, as usual. The Ward Mission Leader is going through the
temple next week so Bishop asked us to sit in on the temple prep class, which I
loved. It was interesting hearing the lessons now that I've gone
through. It made me really think about everything and how everything
applies. I love the temple. It was a great night because of that,
it is always fun to reflect on when I first went through.
This week was another good one and I am grateful for the
lessons that I learned and the memories that I made. I can't believe it
is Christmas next week! It is so crazy! People are saying we could
get snow here before then, so I am crossing my fingers!
Oh and we are trying to get permission to go to London for
P-day next week, so I don't email at the same time, don't freak out, I am still
alive, I am just in London. I told the Ward Mission Leader that that is
the only thing I want for Christmas and the District Leader has been planning
it for a while, so I am crossing my fingers that President will let us
go. Everyone in my district is so jealous of me because I have gotten to
do so much already haha. Perks of being in a district where everyone is
going home in the next 5 months :) It is fun!
Well I love you guys and hope you have a great week!
Remember Christ and everything he has done for us and remember that we were
sent on earth at this time for specific purpose. I know Christ lives and
loves each of us, he is watching over us every day and wants us to succeed in
life and return to his presence. The gospel is amazing and can bring so
much peace and joy in our life if we let it. So let it :)
Love,
Sister Robison
No comments:
Post a Comment