Week 67: Time is Flying

Hey my favourite family and friends!

Where do I even begin.. Well on Tuesday,  we had a meeting in Birmingham
about self reliance. My honest opinion of it?  It was long. I've never
had a meeting (as a missionary) that long that didn't really relate to
missionary work, other than the fact that tithing was mentioned. It
was great and I learned some cool things, but 5 hours is a little too
long for anyone to sit down. The great part about it was that I got to
see some wonderful missionary friends! My last two companions were
there, and I got to say goodbye to Sister Miller before she heads off
to Germany on Wednesday.

A cool miracle of the week was that we got to teach Kerry and Madison.
Kerry hasn't been to church in over 25 years (apart from last week)
and Madison came for the first time. We went to their home to teach
them and wow, ten year olds can be so energetic! It was still
wonderful though. We had planned to bring up the subject of baptism
towards the end of the lesson, but as soon as we sat down they
promptly told us that they wanted to prepare Madison for baptism! They
took the words out of our mouths. We then got to have a lovely
spiritual lesson about the restoration of the gospel.

On Friday evening we had the opportunity to host a "Meet the Mormons"
movie night! We've been planning it for a few weeks and of course,
everything goes wrong at the last minute. Two hours before it was
supposed to start, we got a phone call saying "I can't find the
projector." Oh great, so we freaked out for a few minutes and once we
calmed down we texted the bishop, he said he had one, but also
couldn't find it. After another moment of panic we randomly texted a
member to see if she had one, and she did! It was our lucky day. We
got to the church and had everything set up, she we realised there
were no speakers. After many more phone calls, someone came to the
rescue and the show went on! It was great! We had some members bring
their friends and it was great to watch the movie. Yay missionary
work!

Today we also got to go to Bawsworth battlefield with a lovely member,
and it was awesome to see how much history actually is in England. You
don't think about it much when all you can think about is missionary
work!

Things in Nuneaton are going well. It is amazing to know and see how
God puts us in people's paths for a reason. I know that I have been so
blessed with wonderful friends and family in my life, and I am also so
glad that God gives us fun personalities. Because who wants to be
boring. I love the gospel, I love being a missionary, I love life!
Time has gone so fast. I've already been in Nuneaton for 6 weeks!

Till next week,
Sister Slack

Waiting for people to answer their doors

The Nuneaton missionaries :)

And family home evening! Yay!

Week 66: Ginger senses

What a week of MIRACLES everyone! I hope you are prepared to read this wonderful email I am sending you today. 

For some reason Sister Grant and I have been mistaken a few times for people's carers. We knock on their door, and they invite us in, and then when we try to talk about the gospel it becomes real awkward real fast. Conversation typically goes like this: "Wait, you aren't my nurse?" "No." "oh, then nevermind. I'll show you around my house then." This happened to us twice this week. Once on Friday when we were looking for a less active, and yesterday when we were tracting. Yesterday we knocked on this lady's door, and she immediately invited us in and told us her name was Silvia. She was so nice! She sat us down, and then asked us when we expect to finish, but she just kept laughing at everything we said. We told her we were missionaries, and she bust up laughing saying "Well, we are getting on just fine anyway!" Seeing that she didn't have all of her marbles in the right place, we decided to just show her a quick nice video about Jesus Christ. She begins to read all the words that are on the screen, and then she started to dance! Wow. This was one energetic 80 year old woman. 

So it's always been a dream of mine to find someone who is ginger, and to teach them. Thursday we were out talking to people on the streets, when my ginger senses start tingling and I spotted him! A ginger! So we ran over and talked to him, and he wanted to learn more! His name is Darren. We got to meet with him on Saturday and teach him about the plan of salvation, and he said a lot of his questions were answered. 

Later that same day, we decided to stop by a less active. We walked to her house, and she wasn't there so we turned around to head back into town to talk to more people. We stopped this lady on the way, and it turns out she is actually a member of the church! She stopped going to church when she was 11 (she's 47 now). She told us she never wanted to stop going, but her father stopped taking them. We invited her to come with us on Sunday, and she did! She is amazing! Her name is Kerry, and some of the members remembered her and it was incredible to see people's reactions. She even brought her 10 year old daughter, Madison with her. We get to begin teaching them this week more about the gospel. 

A few weeks ago we met this enthusiastic lady named Lucia. We had our return appointment on Friday with her at her home, and we showed up and she had made us a cake! She is amazing. We spoke to her about the restoration, and as we explained about the Book of Mormon, she told us "Wow, this is incredible, I've never heard of this before. I need to read the Book of Mormon!" YEAH YOU DO! It was so wonderful to see her so excited about the gospel. She is from Czechoslovakia, and has a beautiful family.  

Here in Nuneaton we have been having wonderful success with people who have been less active. Brother Edwards came to church again (for the 3rd time in a row!). It is amazing to see that such a simple invitation can change someone's life. I know that the gospel is what each of us needs, not because it's the only right thing, but because it is what will make us most happy. God knows us best! I am soo happy that I get to be a missionary for the Lord.

That is about all for now, because sometimes you can't type anymore!

Much love,

Sister Slack

Gluten Free Cake!

 Going to follow up meeting in birmingham! (Which was awesome by the way. So many missionaries, so much learning!)

Week 65: It's a Monday again!

Where to even begin... It's monday! In case you didn't know. It's been one crazy week, that is for sure. 

We started off by going to the zoo! Wow. I don't know why, but I've always wanted to go to the zoo on my mission, and finally the dream came true! It was amazing! They had some adorable baby monkeys, and some sweet birds, merecats eating something, and a baby elephant! Oh my. It was awesome. Plus, we got to spend the day with a recent convert named Wendy. She is so lovely! She joined the church back in February. 

We had some intense days of finding people to teach, which pretty much includes lots of talking to people on the streets. Most of the people that live in Nuneaton are English. However, we stumbled upon a guy named Claudiu, who is from Romania, this week! He is pretty cool. He invited us to his home and we set up an appointment. We met with him yesterday, and he is super interested in reading the Book of Mormon! He claims he doesn't have a belief in God, but we know that will change soon enough.

On Saturday we spent the day in the far edge of our area called Hinkley. It was intense, the people there are much nicer and love to talk to you on the street! It was fun, but as our time to leave came near, no one had actually wanted to see us again. We had to catch a train home, so we headed for the station so we wouldn't miss it. We sat on a bench to wait, and suddenly a girl sat next to us. We began chatting, and it turns out she is here for an internship for a year! She was so nice, and just before we all got on the train she gave us her number to call her another day. God puts miracles in our paths!

I am so sorry, but time is so short on PDays. On the bright side of things, I was able to buy a new backpack this morning! I love you all! I know this church is true, and that God puts us exactly where we are supposed to be. All we need to do is remember to keep the commandments, and everything will work out how He plans (which is always better than we can dream of).

Much love,
Sister Slack

At the zoo with Wendy!

Almost touching a monkey!

On our way to zone meeting

Week 64: Let it Rain!

Hola people in the outside world. This week was pretty amazing, and full of glorious miracles. This week I don't have much time remaining because we are going to the zoo, and we are leaving soon so I apologize in advance for a shorter email!

We started off nice and rainy. Every night around 8:30 pm for the first 3 days of the week God decided to let the heavens open and pour buckets on top of us. Of course, it takes us 30 minutes to bike home, and so each night we would get on our bikes, bike home, and arrive with our shoes full of water and ringing out our skirts. At least we could change our clothes!

Let's get to the point, the miracles. Two weeks ago we stopped by a less active family we found on our map, the father opened the door and said we could come back, but that that his wife especially wasn't too happy with the church, and wouldn't be able to come anytime in the near future. That's alright, we can work with them. In talking to the ward we realized that this family was being constantly prayed for and missed dearly. 

We returned back on Friday for our return appointment, to a great surprise! The father and his daughter were there at the door, and he started off with "Well, I told my daughter that you were coming, and she let the cat out of the bag to her mum." In my head I was thinking, "Oh no... they won't ever want us to come back!" and then he continued with "She was pretty angry with me, and not too happy about things. Just a few hours earlier today though, my wife called me and told me that she had been thinking about it and came to the conclusion that we should all go back to church!"

My mouth fell open, and we couldn't stop smiling! This Brother was beaming, and his daughter was so excited as well. They then told us they would be coming back this Sunday, and that his wife would return in a few weeks to church. It was incredible! He then said to us "Prayers do get answered."

It's so true, Heavenly Father loves us so much and answers our prayers. Sometimes it takes longer, but it is ALWAYS worth it in the end to wait for His perfect timing.

That same day we went to another less active family, who also decided to come to church after 4 years to have their 6 month old baby blessed! MIRACLE. And all of their children have not been baptised yet, and so we are going to hopefully being teaching them the lessons. They are all such bright kids and they have brains like sponges!

Church on Sunday was amazing, the ward really embraced all of the returning members and made them feel so welcome and happy. Sundays are always amazing, but it's always special when people you've been working with decide to come as well. I love this gospel. I've found out for myself that it is more than just a group of good ideas put together, but it is a perfect package of eternal truths leading us to happiness.

Till next time!

Much Love,

Sister Slack

PS we had a ward activity where we walked through the park, and that's where the first picture is from :) 

 Photo from the park! 

 District meeting - we had to bring things that were patriotic and all I had was a dollar bill

Post rain

On our way to zone meeting

Week 63: What?

It's raining, It's pouring, it's bank holiday! There are a few holidays that happen in England where everyone gets work off, and each time there is one, the earth decides it's time to rain there. So of course, it's raining today! It's not stopping us from having fun though. 

We've had one of those weeks where a lot happened but nothing really happened at the same time. Things went by in a blur, and we had lots of moments where we just looked at each other and said "What?"

For example: Sister Grant and I were just walking down the road talking to people. We stop this mom who has a few kids walking behind her, and suddenly her 4 year old son runs up to Sister Grant and jumps on her and just starts hugging her. What? All we said was "Hello" and this boy decided that he needed a hug from Sister Grant. I couldn't stop laughing, but we somehow managed to get the mother's details anyway.

Another "what?" moment: we met this guy last week who told us to come by his house and teach him. His name is Matthew. We go to Matthew's home at the appointed time, and no one answers. Later that same day, we just happened to be in front of his house checking out our map of where to go next. He walked out his door, looked at us, and then ran back inside his house. Well, I don't know what it is but sometimes people just feel the need to run away from us. It must be because the glow of the gospel is too strong!

Most of our week consisted of talking to people on the streets and getting rejected a lot. Especially on Saturday. I decided to count how many people said no, and in the space of a few hours we had talked to 82 people and only 4 of them had decided to stop and talk to us for a little bit. There are elect people out there, but the Lord just wants us to be persistent. Eventually, the last person we talked to we got to have a 30 minute lesson with and invite him to see us again. He responded with "I'll definitely be there." 

We had one day where we had run out of pass along cards, and it was time for us to head to an appointment. We were about to leave the town centre, when we looked up and I saw this tall person walking towards us. I decided to stop him, and he was actually pretty nice! (Bear in mind that we had just been told to go away by everyone) He told us that it was actually his day off, and that he normally didn't go that way through town. We set up a time to meet him, and went our separate ways, and he was a lovely genuine guy. People are ready for the gospel, we just need to find them!

Another time we were talking to people out by our flat, and we saw this Asian looking man. It's not common for them to be in this part of town, so we stopped him and he told us "I lost my friend, and she doesn't speak English. I've only been here for a week." Wow. We tried to help him find his friend, but eventually he got a phone call and he was able to get things sorted out. He was so grateful that we stopped and talked to him and tried to help. Everyone needs a friend when theirs are lost!

That's about all I have time for today, we are about to head off to the zoo! Have a lovely week and remember that Jesus Christ is the best. I am so happy to know that He is my best friend, and that all He wants to do is help us out. 

Much love,

Sister Slack 

First day with Sister Grant!

Chillin waiting for a man to come to an appointment

We found a horse.