Week 34: The life in Coventry

Welcome to Sister Slack's weekly email! Thank you for joining us everyone.

Hmm well I guess at the beginning of the week we had the adventure of driving to Birmingham for a meeting with the mission president, the wonderful President Rasmussen! It was pretty awesome, we got to see how each part of the mission was doing, get training that we would share with our zones, and I got to see a lot of my missionary friends! On the way there, we typed in the address of the mission home into the SatNav (GPS in america) and got pretty close, trying our best to be on time, and we were going to make it! Until we hit about 20 minutes of traffic and it turns out we put the wrong address into the satnav... So after our 30 minute detour we finally got there! Fashionably late, of course. We didn't even miss anything, so I think it was alright. Plus, it was like my 4th day of driving in the UK, so I gave myself a pat on the back. 

On Thursday we had the opportunity to give some awesome training at zone meeting about how our attitudes can be awesome and how it can change everything about being on a mission. Which is 100% true. I really like what President Rasmussen said "Your mission can be the greatest time of your life, or it can just be another experience. You choose." I think this applies to all times of life. Whether we are in school, at home, doing whatever, the time we have now can be the greatest time of our lives if we make it that way. All we have to do is take advantage of what we do have, and focus on the positive. It's kind of crazy to think about how much power a positive attitude has. And it reminded me of President Utchdorf's talk called Grateful in Any Circumstances. You can all go and read it, it's awesome. 

Later Thursday night, we got to go on exchange with the Glenfield sisters! It was so awesome. Why? Because I was on exchange with Sister Powley! Who I went to school with from Kindergarten to 3rd grade, and even had a class with her at BYU. It was awesome to be with her. We saw so many miracles together, and were able to meet some incredible people. One in particular was named Dianne. She didn't seem too interested at first when we talked to her, but she eventually agreed to meet with us on sunday. So, Sunday comes along, and we couldn't get ahold of her to see if she could still meet with us. Eventually, after church she called us back (Miracle) and said she could still come but later in the day at the church. So 3 pm comes along (when we were to meet with her) and she tells us that it will take her an hour to get there, but she was still coming (miracle)! So we went back home and then came back and called her again, and she got a little lost. So we directed her and eventually she got to the church at 4.45pm, it took her nearly two hours to travel there but she wasn't even upset or bothered by it! MIRACLE. Then we proceeded to have a boss lesson with her and she totally wants to learn more. She's pretty awesome, and I'm sure I'll tell you all more about her later on. We should be able to see her a few times this week. 

Anyway, back to the exchange. Friday night we exchanged back and everything, and we're driving home--Sister Urbani and I are reunited-- and then she asks me "Where is the phone?" Oh no. Glenfield is a half hour drive away and we were nearly home. We get all the way back and... YUP. It was left in Glenfield. So the next morning we had to go and retrieve it, but they had no way to let us in the building or know if we were there due to the lack of phone, so I just scaled the gate that surrounded the compound like flat complex and knocked and threw rocks at their window. It was pretty exciting. I don't think any of their neighbors saw us, and hopefully they realized we weren't thieving, just retrieving our beloved lost phone. Long story short we eventually got in and got it back! 

Pretty much it was a great week. I hope you are all doing great, and I'd love to hear from everyone :) 

Much love,

Sister Slack

Mission Leadership council, all the people there from my last zone!

a bit of Coventry

Exchange with Sister Powley!

 Love shakes-- deliciousness in a plastic cup

Week 33: You are being transferred to...

Hello everybody! WOW what a week it has been. So every last Monday night of the transfer, we have something called "Dodge Night" where we get a call telling us where we are being transferred to and who our new companions will be. So we waited ALL Monday for our news to come in, and (Drumroll please...) I've been transferred to Coventry with Sister Urbani! My last companion, Sister Butler, is staying in Swansea to train a new missionary named Sister Marsden and look after everyone there. 

My last 2 days in Swansea were amazing. It just so happened to be my birthday last tuesday (thanks for the wishes everyone!) and so we had breakfast and dinner appointments to get to for those days, and we got to see so many wonderful people that we've gotten to know in Swansea. It was pretty much the best birthday gift ever to be able to see so many people that I love.

So, there was a little more to transfers but in summary I've now been called to be a Sister Training Leader in Coventry, which basically means 3 things: 1. We get a car 2. We get to go on exchanges with a lot of the sisters and 3. I had to learn how to drive on the left really quickly. I had assumed that since I was moving to Coventry that my new companion would be driving us home. I arrived in Coventry on the coach only to be told by a few Elders "No, Sister Urbani doesn't have her license." That's also when I found out that I'd be driven to our car, have to get inside, and then drive around and pick up people for transfers. WHAT. 

I hadn't driven for over 7 months! And the last time I had driven was in America, where we drive on the right side in nice big lanes with traffic lights and the American flag flying high with the star spangled banner playing.. Ok maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the picture. Anyway, after we got dropped off at our car, I proceeded to try and figure out how British roads work and how to properly enter a roundabout with 4 lanes inside to go and pick up some Elders waiting patiently in the cold for us. It was only supposed to be about a 5 minute drive.. but because I had been in the city for about 15 minutes total and I had never driven in England, it took us about 40 minutes to get there because I kept getting lost. Needless to say, I did not crash. Victory!

In this past week we have also seen some incredible miracles. We got to teach one of our Albanian investigators about temples and family history, and in the lesson she explained to us that her whole family back in Albania should know about this. She decided then and there to send the missionaries to their door and to call up her family the next day to let them know that missionaries should turn up, and that they need to listen to them. She is such an incredible lady! She really loves feeling the spirit and wants everyone to know about her feelings in the gospel. 

We also got to meet with an 18 year old kid about the plan of salvation. He lost his mom a few years ago, and when we started talking about how his prayers went he explained that he had been praying to see his mom again. That night after he had prayed, he saw his mom in a dream and he knew that was an answer to his prayers. It was incredible to hear how the gospel is blessing his life already. 

I know that this gospel is what brings me the most happiness, and I am so excited to share it with the people in Coventry. 

Much love,

Sister Slack

Ps: Since I moved, my address is now:

Sister Slack

67 Blondvil Street

Coventry, England

CV3 5EQ

letters are always welcome ;)

 The gate to Singleton park we always walked through in Swansea

 Goodbye to Sherlock

Dawn Morgan--She made us gluten free red velvet cake for my birthday! She's amazing :)

Me & Owen (from swansea)

Somehow me and Sister Thomson went on exchange again

Transfers (Sister Butler --my missionary daughter, and Sister Marsden- my missionary granddaughter) sorry my eyes are closed...

DRIVING

 Me and Karl (a less active we worked with a lot, and now he's back to church!) (he's looking like a champ)

My birthday egg that Sister Butler made me (yes, we were SO sick of cake)

 Me + the Roberts family--they are amazing!

Snowing! Me & Sister Urbani