Week 78: A Marvelous Work

Hey world!

Wow. What a week it has been. It has definitely been one of the most incredible weeks of my mission. So many good things happened.  It was definitely one of those weeks where everything seems to go wrong at first, but it all works out in the end.

First of all, things were crazy. Ciaran, Ciara and Luke's baptisms were planned for Saturday, and we still had quite a bit to teach them before they actually got dunked. We phoned up the dad on Tuesday to make sure it was still OK to come teach them that day, but no dice. Turns out they had some event planned for that day for over six months so they had to cancel, but that we could come over every other day before the baptism. So we did!

Every time we went over the kids were so excited for their baptism. Luke was especially excited, and he would always tell us the countdown to when it was going to happen. "3DAYS LEFT TILL WE GET BAPTISED!!!" Yup. That a great thing to shout as an 8 year old :)

As we taught them about tithing and fasting, Ciara was a little worried about paying her tithing. She said she wasn't sure if she'd always be able to pay it through her whole life. We tried to address her concerns, but in the end invited her to pray about it. The next day was the day for their baptismal interviews (Friday). If you know about baptismal interviews, you know that you've gotta be willing to pay tithing in order to be baptised.


Friday comes along, and we had zone meeting. It was nice and inspiring (as always)and I gave my departing testimony. Just before the meeting, we got a stressful text from our ward mission leader about things not working out OK for the baptismal service to proceed, and we learned that there was no baptismal clothing to be found in the chapel we were expecting to find some. GREAT. Just what we wanted, more challenges! We made a few phone calls, but in the end just had to go into the meeting and wait it out. After the meeting, we checked our phone and we had a text message saying that the problem concerning the baptismal service was sorted. Phew! But we still needed baptismal clothes.

After zone meeting we travelled with out district leader to the Joseph household and each child had their interview one by one. Ciaran came back first and exclaimed "I passed!" Ciara was up next and she came back with a smile on her face and she told us she passed as well. Her prayers must have been answered about tithing :) and Luke came back last, and of course he passed!

Everyone was solid to get baptised! That meant that sister Nielsen and I had to go into full on baptism planning and preparing mode. Aka, beast mode. Luckily a member had sorted loads of things out for us already, so we didn't need to worry about food or who was going to speak or inviting people. We just needed to print baptismal programs, fill the font, and find clothes. Sounds simple, but little did we know what Saturday would bring.

So here is the rundown of Saturday:
9:30- we get a call from the member who was supposed to take the whole Joseph family to their own baptism, and their car has stopped working. We are instructed to now find a lift for 7 people.
10- call president Leppard to sort out confusion the bishopric had on when the kids were getting the Holy Ghost.
10.15 frantically call a member to ask them to type baptismal program (the computer at the church just so happened to stop working the day before.)
10.16- bike to members house, spend an hour figuring out how the format worked and finally we have it all together!
11:25- take memory stick to church and the printer also decides to freak out and won't print anything. Joy. Found one member to take 3 people from the family.
12:30- go eat Thai food with a member :) we love Thai food.
1:30- bike back to church and get one copy of the program to print, so we photocopied it 25 times to make programs
2- we realise no one cleaned the font-we cleaned it for a bit And began to fill it up. We also get a call from a member saying their car is fixed! Everyone can be there!
2:05- member arrives to set up food for the baptism, so we helped her out
2:20- we go through the baptismal clothing again and find that there are loads of adult sized ones, and one for a micro-sized child.
2:40 we practiced our musical item
2:50 people start arriving for the baptism, and two of the three kids get there.

I'm tired of writing like that, but you get the point. It was crazy. The font wasn't filling up fast enough, and the baptism was supposed to start at 3. Luke and Gareth (the dad) got stuck in traffic and didn't get there till 3:30, but everyone that came was patient and waited nicely. The baptismal clothes fit Ciaran and Ciara, but Luke's was too small, so he had to wear a massive jumpsuit. Basically it looked like he was wearing a robe. But he was smiling all the way through it!

Forty minutes late, the service finally started. It was lovely, and the Spirit was there. All 3 of the kids got baptised, and they loved it. They were so happy! So many members came and loved seeing everything. Miracles.

Another miracle is that all three of the kids were able to come the next day to church to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Honestly they were three of the best confirmations I've ever heard! The Spirit was wonderful, and the kids were beaming. We love them so much! In both Ciaran and Luke's it was talked about how they will serve missions, and in Ciara's it talked about how she will touch people's hearts through music and singing. It was amazing.

After their confirmation, I got to give a talk in sacrament meeting. It was nice, and about Christmas! Here is a quote I used for it:

"We all have complaints about Christmas- the hustle and bustle, theadded expense (a special burden for those who don't even have a job),the commercialisation. Besides, many Christian traditions have theirroots in pagan customs, and Jesus wasn't  in December anyway.
So who needs Christmas? We do! All of us! Because Christmas can bringus closer to the Savior, and He is the only source of lasting joy."

I'm pretty sure by now you might be bored or confused after reading this scattered email, but just know that I loved the week. I love being a missionary, I love seeing people change their lives, and I love the Lord. I have learned so much about my Heavenly Father  and my saviour Jesus Christ over the past 18 months. It is impossible to put my feelings about everything in one email, but do know that I have loved every moment. I know that this is the church of Jesus Christ, and I know that He lives. This work is definitely marvelous, and I am so blessed to be here.

This is my last email as a missionary, but as the scriptures say "there is a time and a season for everything." I'll see some of you soon. Thank you all for being amazing friends and family members, it wouldn't be the same without you :)

Much love,
Sister Slack

 teaching Ciaran, Ciara and Luke

zone meeting, sometimes you go crazy :)

baptism!

posterity in the mission (minus sister grant). Two of my daughters,
my granddaughter and great-granddaughter :)

I ❤️ sister Nielsen

Week 27: Happy Boxing Day!

Hey there everybody. No, it is not Monday, but yes, it is pday! In the UK today is Boxing Day, which is like a Thanksgiving mixed with a Black Friday. It's a national holiday, so it's a family day and we get to spend it emailing!

This morning we had the chance to go and play football with some other missionaries and ward members. Turns out it decided to rain on boxing day, so there was lots of nice mud for us to play on. It was awesome. We were running around and having a blast, and my legs are dead. Since we don't run anywhere, I think you could say it was a bit of a shock to the system. But it was so much fun!

Oh, and in case you weren't aware, yesterday was Christmas! Sister Butler and I had a nice adventure out on the beach, where we buried treasure, took some sick pics, and even found a shrimp! We even fed some pigeons, gotta say I was grossed out.. but sometimes you just have to do things anyway. 

We spent our Christmas evening at a members home, where we were able to skype our families. It was definitely amazing to see those people again! We also got to play some Yahtzee, where I totally was dominating the whole game. Just so you know. 

This week we also had a lovely district meeting, where we got to have a pinata. They decided to hang it up on the basketball hoop for us to hit, and they made me go first. It turns out that I was actually too short to hit it, so it was basically 5 minutes of blindfolded Sister Slack jumping in the air, trying to hit the pinata. Finally, when I took the blindfold off, I did get a few good hits in there. 

Christmas Eve there was a carol service at the chapel, and it was amazing. The Spirit that comes with listening and singing Christmas hymns is always incredible. It was amazing to be able to be surrounded by the true Spirit of Christmas. the birth of Jesus Christ was definitely amazing, and It was so awesome to be able to remember all that Jesus Christ did for us throughout his life. I know that He is our Savior, and I know that it is because of Him that we can come closest to God. I love being a missionary!

Love, 

Sister Slack

Week 24: Happy December!

Can you believe it's already December 1st?? I can't. Time is going by crazy fast. This last week was full of good things.

First of all, it's the month of CHRISTMAS!! It's the best time of the year :) everyone is so excited, you can almost feel the energy in the air. Lights are everywhere, and it is the perfect time to talk to people about the true meaning of Christmas. We were testing this out on Saturday, and we ended up finding a girl who actually wants to go to Utah and attend the U of U (almost as good as BYU..). It's cool to see who people are and what they love. 

We are currently teaching one of Sherlock's friends, named Kelvin. He's a chill dude, and we got to walk with him to church yesterday! It turns out he has grown up hearing about all the Chinese traditional ideas of God, but never really believed it. He totally wants to learn more about God, and see how God can actually help him in life. It's fun to teach him- and he even got work off to come to church! Whatta guy. 

This week we got to take Sherlock teaching with us to some of our investigators, and it is so fun to see him testify about what he has just learned. Some of the Elders in our district tried to take him teaching as well, but they got cancelled on. So they taught Sherlock instead, where he described it as "So awkward, they weren't sisters." He loves the missionaries, I promise. 

On Friday, we had the opportunity to travel to the mission home for follow up meeting. It's where all those who are being trained/training get a little inspiring meeting with the mission president. It was fun to see everyone there, plus we met a guy named John on the train who wants to go into the paralympics (idk how to spell that...) in rowing! We gave him a picture of the temple and he was excited about it. There are some sweet people everywhere! 

That's it for now, but the work is going on. Love you all!

Love,

Sister Slack

on the train there was a poster with a man with the last name slack! Represent!

 orange juice

Sherlock got a hold of a missionary name tag, and he was pumped to be wearing it
Well pretty much Wales is awesome, I love being a missionary!