Mission Adventures in England Birmingham: Week 5: Some stuff you all should read

HELLO EVERYONE

I hope all of you have smiles on your faces because the sun is shining! Even if it's not shining.. Just picture a nice big sun. There you go.

Anyway. This week. Well it flew by! We were so busy this week it was fantastic. We had everything from going to Nottingham, exchanges, painting, service, and teaching lessons to keep us on our toes. Oh. And hot chocolate morning.

So in this ward they do a thing called hot chocolate morning with the relief society, and that day is the day I will always remember as "The day I learned to make the World's Best Hot Chocolate". I'd give all of you the recipe, but let's be honest there are more important things to talk about. But just imagine creamy goodness in your mouth. Mmm.

In this ward I have been so blessed, people feed me, and give me a bike, and stuff. So we rode bikes around a lot this week! On our first adventure out to Jacksdale (30 minute bike) I learned that Eastwood is the hilliest area in the entire mission. Nonstop up and down. Intense. To make the experience even better, I learned that the gear shift was broken. It was definitely one of the most tiring biking experiences ever, but I sang songs to myself to keep it exciting so don't worry.

So this week we were able to serve a family and help them paint a room in their house, it took pretty much half the day. However, now me and Sister Heikki have a reputation as good painters so now everyone is asking us to paint! So we get to do it again on Wednesday. I'm so excited to get to use my art skills inherited from my mom :)

I discovered this week that I love teaching. Teaching people about the gospel is really one of the coolest things. We now have 3 investigators, and they are all next door neighbors (2 sisters who live together, and then their neighbour). Jodie and her sister Tara are girls who love to party, but they like learning about Christ. We taught them how to pray, and it was one of the coolest things ever. They each said a personal prayer at the end of the lesson, and Jodie told us "I just feel so happy, and I don't know why!" THE SPIRIT PEOPLE. It works. It's real. Embrace it. Invite it. Use it.

One thing I've learned so far is that charity is so important. It's important in the ward, in our homes, in our families, in everything. I'd like to thank my home ward for being so loving and supportive. I am so lucky to have grown up with people that love each other! Yesterday we learned that a recent convert has slipped back into the clutches of addiction. At first I was so sad, and I couldn't understand. But then I came to realize how much our Heavenly Father and Brother Jesus Christ love each one of us. God loves this brother enough to still extend him the atonement, even after he promised to never do it again. He loves us enough to bring us up every time we fall, and then pull us up to his side. God doesn't think of us as lower than him, but he wants us to be able to live with Him again, even though we can make mistakes as big as the universe. Man. Isn't the gospel just so cool?!

Anyway, keep it real people.

Love,

Sister Slack