Week 73: Mud and Service

Hey people I love!

This week has been full of adventure. It was one of those weeks where everything out of the ordinary happened. To start, it was a week full of rain. You're probably thinking "that's normal for England". That's probably true, but it finally hit the part of autumn where now it rains every day. This means there is a lot more mud on the roads, and that bike paths turn into little streams. Sister Grant and I didn't have mud guards on our bikes up to this point, and we figured we'd be fine and save ourselves £3.50. This attitude worked out until Thursday, when the heavens opened and water would not stop. We went to an area to stop by a recent convert and a few members. I looked at the map and noticed that there was a lovely bike path that seemed to take us directly to our next destination!

Great idea, right? Wrong. That bike path was literally all mud. We could only bike a few feet, and I turned around and asked "Sister Grant, should we just take the long way?" And she said, "nah." So we trudged on in the mud, and it turns out the path got smaller and smaller until it was literally just a line of mud surrounded by spiky plants, and it eventually led to a farm. It was good fun. The next day we went out and bought mud guards. 

We had the opportunity to do lots of service this week. We stopped by a less active we'd never met before, and she accepted our offer to come back and help her out! Her name is Jannette. We helped her clean her front room and fold all of her family's laundry. After we left from cleaning her house, we felt a bit awkward and weren't sure why. Later that same day we helped out a lovely less active clean all the mold off of her walls! Her name is Cherise. We destroyed the mold with lots of bleach, but it looked and felt soo much better after we had finished the job. After this service project, we felt happy and like we had done some good in the Nuneaton world!

After we left Cherise's flat, I pondered the difference between helping Jannette and Cherise. Why did we feel weird after Jannette, but not Cherise? I realized then it was because of gratitude. Cherise was so grateful for our help, and she made it known. She was so happy that we had helped her and she definitely felt relieved that we had gotten rid of the mold. Jannette's attitude was a bit different. She seemed slightly annoyed that we were helping, and then when we had to leave she expressed she felt we hadn't done very much. Now I'm not one to look for praise or to expect anything from someone when we help them out, but the difference in feelings was clear. I learned that an attitude of gratitude not only affects our own perspective on life, but also affects the feelings of those around us. I definitely felt like I understood a little bit more about the 10 lepers. We are always happy to help, and both Cherise and Jannette needed it. We were glad that we were able to make a small difference, even if we couldn't see all of the impact.

We got to see Sabrina again this week! She is incredible. We spoke about a little bit of everything, but the spirit was strong in the lesson. She had been reading from the Book of Mormon in random places, and it had just flipped open to Alma 36. This is the chapter where Alma the Younger tells his conversion story, and it really hit home with Sabrina. She was so excited to share with us what she learned and that she really felt it was meant for her. It is so cool to see the hand of God in other people's lives!

It was Bonfire Night on Thursday, and on Friday we got to go to a little bonfire party! Nothing like celebrating the death of Guy Fawkes. There were so many fireworks lit off over the weekend. We would bike home every night in the dark and it would scare us sometimes when these giant explosions would happen right behind us, but we also felt like we were in a movie. 

Darren came back from holiday this week! He is our ginger friend who is learning about the gospel, and he came to church this week. We taught him about the ten commandments. We teach them using hand signs so they are easy to remember, and the 8th commandment is "thou shalt not steal". The hand sign shows that they used to chop off your thumbs if you stole stuff in the old days. He said to us "well they can still do that today. I can just send a dog after people!" Watch out world. Darren might get a thumb eating dog.

That's it for now, but I love being a missionary!

Love,

Sister Slack 

Ginger power!

Last Pday we hung out at the Brown's

Walking through fields.. this was the easier bit with not as much mud

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!)