Week 72: Happy November!

Hey outside world! Time to tell you all about our awesome week last
week. On Monday we got to feed all the lovely ducks in the river that
we bike by! It was great fun, and the elders brought loads of bread
for them. It's crazy how throwing bread like a frisby at some ducks
can be so entertaining. They would pretty much swarm and chase the
bread around. Yay ducks!

Two weeks ago we did a family history day, and we met loads of people
from it. We finally had our first appointment with someone from it
that didn't cancel or not show up! We met with this guy named Aaron in
his flat, and It turns out he is the nicest person. He is into strong
man competitions (like heavy weight lifting) and is massive, but a big
softie. As we taught and testified of the restoration, we felt the
spirit enter the room. When we introduced him to the Book of Mormon,
he told us "yeah, I'm definitely in need of guidance." He seemed to
just absorb everything we said, and agreed to prepare for baptism.
He's awesome.

One day we were just walking down the street and we stopped a Scottish
guy. He looked at our badges and told us he knew about the church and
that he holds the Aaronic Priesthood. Both Sister Grant and I were
like... Wait, is this guy being serious? Or is he one of those crazy
people that don't know what they are talking about? Turns out he is
legitimate! His parents raised him in the church but when he joined
the military he drifted away. He explained that he goes to church
every time he goes home to Scotland, so there is definitely some nice
potential here! The only awkward thing is that he told us his name,
but we aren't exactly sure what he said. So we are calling him Tim.

Sadly this week was filled with more bike troubles. It seems like we
can't get away from them! Sister Grant and I both got punctures in our
back tires, so that left us stranded to take the bus for one night
before we could fix them. As we were waiting for the bus, an older
lady came and stood next to where we were sitting. Sister Grant kindly
offered to give up her seat to her. The lady rejected it, but then
this lady seemed to be hooked on talking to us! Prime missionary
opportunity. We eventually got to set up a time to see her the next
day at her home. She is from Germany and her name is Bahereh. It was
crazy though, we all got on the same bus and a former investigator
named Vierra also got on the bus. She is also from Germany, and so we
introduced them and they were like instant friends! It's a fun world
to live in.

The next day when we got to see Bahereh we showed up to her home and
got to introduce her and her husband to the gospel, and then they
decided to introduce us to their beliefs. That is how you get trapped
in someone's home. They are of the Baha'i faith. They tried to explain
a lot of it, and even after being there for 2 hours Sister Grant and I
still aren't exactly sure what they believe.. But hey they are really
nice and lovely people! She even made a cake for us :) too bad I don't
eat cake. I got fruit instead.

Kerry is doing amazing. We taught her about fasting because Sunday was
fast Sunday. As we explained it to her, she got so excited to try it
out! She decided to fast to overcome smoking, and we decided to fast
with her. We told her about fast offerings, and showed her the tithing
slip you fill out with it. She looked at it and told us she remembered
seeing those in her childhood! It's amazing what people can remember.
She came to church yesterday and was able to remember to fast :) she
is amazing, and we love her.

Saturday we got to do some awesome service for the Browns and chop
some firewood! It is the day I will always remember as the day I
learned how to use an ax. Yes, I may have missed the first 5 times I
swung, but eventually I learned how to aim and things worked out
alright. I still have all of my limbs, and so does my companion! That
night the Browns brought us a pumpkin to carve, and Sister Grant had
her first pumpkin carving experience. We carved into an 'avatar, the
last air bender' pumpkin. It's sweet and is living in our window now.

Missionary life is incredible! Heavenly Father teaches me things every
day, and I try to enjoy each moment the best I can. Miracles happen
all the time, big and small. As it says in Mormon 9: 19 "And behold, I say
unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he
ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles."

Love,
Sister Slack

Add caption

Week 71: Family History, we are doing it!

Hello people of the world!

This week has been one crazy adventure. So I'll start of with the awkward moment of the week. Thursday evening we had a dinner appointment at the Bishop's home. We got to their house about 5 minutes early, and their car wasn't in front of their house. "That's weird" I thought, so we decided to make some phone calls for those remaining minutes before we went inside. As we were sitting on a wall, the Bishop pulled up in the drive and then invited us inside. Phew! They didn't forget! I was relieved. So we walked in and sat down, and after about 5 minutes of awkward small talk they come in asking "So, what brings you here today?" Turns out they actually thought they were having us over the next week for dinner, not that night... and they didn't have any food for us! Awkward.. SO we biked out of there quickly to our flat to get some nice food :) 

This week we had a Nuneaton change in history! Sister Grant and I got a stand set up in the market on Wednesday for family history. The only bad side of it was that we had to get there by 8am, so we had to leave the flat by 7:30 to get there. We were good sports and biked in the rain, and got there and talked to people for the next 6 hours. It was awesome! I don't think I've ever gotten so many people to stop and talk to us in Nuneaton. It was so fun to connect to families, and to share with others about mine, and to have them connect it back to our Heavenly Father. As the stake president said, "Discover yourself, discover your family, and then discover the Father and the Son." We met some pretty interesting people, even some people who claim they "don't believe in families" but we still were nice to them and gave them some cards haha. 

Later that same day, we met with Sabrina. Yes, the miracle from two weeks ago. She is so wonderful. She has had such a rough life, but she realized that God is the only one who can help her, and that He truly does make everything better. She has the cutest 1year old son! She really is looking for ways to improve her life and to have the best life for her family.

We are still working with Kerry. She is so humble, and so teachable. We taught her about keeping the sabbath day holy, and she explained how she is trying so hard to live her life the right way. She is such a good example to us of diligence, and also of overcoming trials. Plus, she just got the cutest puppy named Rio. 7 weeks old, and tiny! He's adorable.

Sunday we got to teach Singing time to all the primary kids :) It was amazing to see the enthusiasm, and also how teachable they are. All of them want to do the right thing, and Sister Grant and I had a blast going through all of the primary songs. Of course we had to bring them candy, so I think we are on the good side of all the children now. 

Side note: Today I found a sweater for £1. And it is amazing. 

I love being here in England. The people are incredible, especially the members. Those that we get to work with really have been prepared by the Lord for great things. I thank my Heavenly Father every day that I get to be here. I am so glad we can have that two way communication with Him.

I love you all, thank you for being the best family and friends I could ask for :) 

Take care,

Sister Slack

Puppy!

missionaries

waiting for a lesson

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!)