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!

62: Back to Biking

It's Monday again!

Well, in the beginning of the week I was in Nottingham, and things were getting crazy. Sister Miller and I got to help a member move, but the people who were supposed to move all of her stuff bailed. Being the super hero missionaries we are, we drove to the rescue and moved everything out of her house! Wow. People have a lot of stuff when you go through all of it. I think the scariest part of it was when we moved the table cloth, and this nasty earwig beetle thing was crawling around, and the member just SMASHED it with her hand! We found some nice big spiders as well. 

Wednesday rolled along, and all my stuff was packed up and ready to go (lots of moving this week). I hopped in the car for the last time, and we drove to the mission home! Sister Miller dropped me off, and I went inside the church nearby and we all awaited for our new greenies to arrive (did I mention that I'm training?). Here is a little bit of how things went:

I arrive, go inside, surrounded by pizza I cannot eat. Talk to other missionaries, drink some water, talk some more, and eventually somehow we had a Britain's got talent thing going on, where everyone performed for us at our request. Then, someone brought me a salad (how nice), and then we waited some more... and FINALLY we get called outside to see all of the new missionaries. There are 26 of them! 98% of them are all from Utah. One of the sisters is from New Zealand. A thought popped into my head "hey, she should be my companion". 

Long story short, Sister Grant is my new companion! She is from Hamilton, New Zealand, and she is amazing. She has been a real champ biking around and figuring out Nuneaton with me. The people here are a little interesting, I've noticed. One evening we were biking home and I saw this nice old lady, and I decided to stop and talk to her. I jump off my bike, say hello, and the lady greets me. Suddenly, she jumps towards the street and starts screaming at us and swearing and tries to flag down a car... so we biked away. All we wanted was to share a happy message!

Our flat also happens to be right next to a pub, things got interesting Saturday evening as we were getting ready for bed around 10pm. Some people outside were fighting over who should drive home, and the music was blasting from the doors of the place. Thankfully we have a fan, so most of the noise was flushed out by that. What a wonderful place to live!

On a more spiritual note, we did see some cool miracles. We were out finding late Friday night, and there was literally NO ONE outside to talk to. We decided to head towards this park, and there was a group of girls sitting down in the grass. So, since no one else was around, we went up to them. They had a couple of bottles of alcohol around (great) and none of them looked happy. Two of the three ignored us, but one of them gave us her number and set up a return appointment! You never know who is willing to listen. After we met them, we also met another group of really nice girls who all want to see us again. 

I love Nuneaton. The ward members are amazing, and I can already tell that they care so much about the missionaries. Another reason I love them? They have gluten free sacrament bread! MIRACLE. And so many people in the ward are gluten free. I think I'll fit right in here. Also, earlier in my mission I gave my bike (which I got for free from a member) to another sister who needed it. Coming here was stressful because I had no idea what we'd do to get around. Turns out that the stake bought bikes for the sisters living in Nuneaton, and neither of us need to buy bikes. God takes care of His children. ALWAYS. 

Miracles are waiting for us in Nuneaton, and I know that there is a jackpot waiting around the corner. People are prepared, but we just need to find them. 

I love all of you, have an amazing week, and keep it real :) 

Love,

Sister Slack

We love Nuneaton!

And the bike got us dirty...

An investigator has an African land snail!

Me and Sister Grant with the African land snail

Week 60: Do it, because you can.

Hey everyone, it is a Monday!

We had some really cool things happen this week. We had 2 exchanges (where we swap with other sisters), zone conference, and mission leadership council. Lots of driving, but lots of spiritual stuff. And I even got to eat ice cream! Cheeky monkey flavour, it's a British thing.

Early in the week we were talking to some people on the street, when person after person just did everything they could to avoid us. Typical. Finally, Sister Miller cornered this guy who was waiting for someone, and they were talking for ages together. Not wanting to interrupt their lovely conversation, I stopped another person who looked pretty nice. His name is Phillip, and the first thing he says to me "Hey, I'm a member of the church, and I'd love to talk, but I really do need to leave. But I do want to talk to you later!" Turns out he is a less active member, and now we are going to teach him again and his family. The guy Sister Miller was talking to is named Mo. He is incredible. He is from a non-Christian background, and he asks all the right questions. Pretty much we showed up to teach him about the importance of The Book of Mormon, and he had been reading it and had all these awesome questions about it. How solid is he? Well he biked for 30 minutes to come to church yesterday. He's awesome.

I got to go on exchange with Sister Wiesner, she is from Switzerland! She is so fun, and we went to another area together in Nottingham. She was nice enough to even share her swiss chocolate with me. The next day Sister Miller and I took Sister Wiesner and her companion to Zone Conference! It was in Leicester, and Elder Dyches (a member of the 70, a leader in the church) came to speak to us. It was amazing. I learned so much in those few hours we had together. He talked a lot about making decisions, about using our agency the right way. He gave us some awesome things to work on, and one of my favourite things he said was "Do it, just because you can." He also promised all of us that if we each read 30 minutes out of The Book of Mormon every day on our mission, and at least 10 minutes after our missions, that we would never fall away from the church. It is incredible to know that that book has so much power and influence to better our lives. I am SO grateful that I know about it, and I know it has definitely changed who I am for the better.

Elder Dyches also had some missionaries do a push-up contest, so that was interesting and kinda intense. He had two sets of elders go up, and two elders would do pushups, and their companions would encourage them. One Elder said "Keep going! You are winning!" And then Elder Dyches whips around and says, "No, no one is winning." Great stuff.

The next day we had MLC (Mission leadership council) and Elder Dyches was there again. He is a funny guy, and he served his mission in Germany, and has tried to keep up his German. Too bad my German companion, Sister Miller, can't actually speak German anymore, so when he asked her to help him out it didn't work so well haha. He and his wife talked a lot about doing your best. I've come to realize that our best is always better than what we think it is, and that God doesn't expect anything less than our best. Sister Dyches talked about how "God sends us where we will blossom." It's so true. He doesn't want to just send us where we will grow, but where we will bloom into something even better.

Eventually, I got to go on exchange with Sister Butler again! This time we stayed together in Nottingham, and it was the coolest. We had a dinner appointment with some members, and the fed us OSTRICH! Yup, that giant flightless bird is actually pretty tasty. Then we got to go together to teach a super prepared lady named Deborah (who we will see again today!). She was taught by missionaries years ago, and contacted missionaries in Lincoln and feels that now in her life she is ready to accept God completely in her life. It is amazing to be a part of the process to help people realize how much God cares about them and their families. This gospel is what everyone needs, and it can heal any situation, and always leads us back to Jesus Christ. He provides the peace for us.

Isn't knowing that God loves us the best? I know it is.

Have the best week ever people.

Oh, and Happy Birthday to my little brother, Slade! (on the 14th of course)

Love,

Sister Slack

Sister Miller and me

Tasty Ostrich!

Week 59: Pink Highlighter

WOW so this week was crazy amazing. You're probably thinking "she says that every week." Well, you're probably right. I'm pretty optimistic :) 

But really, this week was incredible. We started the week off by going to Wollaton Hall- yes the place where part of Batman was filmed! It was beautiful, Sister Miller and I bopped around and took lots of pictures of dead animals, and even made some videos of us being batman. They provided the capes. It was a little awkward though when I was running down these fancy stairs with a batman cape and a whole family of foreigners walked in. I got over it though, no worries. 

So here is the big time miracle story of the week. Prepare yourself mentally, because it's amazing. We have been working with this guy named Jermaine. He has made some incredible changes in his life, and this week he started taking things much more seriously. He started praying about what he should do, and if the Book of Mormon is true. On Monday we stopped by, and he was in a terrible state. He had had one of the hardest weekends, and he felt sick spiritually (those were his words). We were able to lift his spirits, and that night he said he had been praying for God to send someone to help him, and then we showed up. We told him we wanted to do everything we could to help him, and so we set things up to see him every evening this week. We go over again on Tuesday, and had another super spiritual lesson with him, and he was just absorbing everything. Wednesday we go there, and we were all feeling the spirit and having a wonderful lesson. At the end, I asked "Can we still see you tomorrow?" And he told us "About that.. I prayed about it and I feel like I shouldn't see you again until next week." Ouch. 

Well you can never argue with someone who says they pray about something and got an answer. So we set up a time to go by the next week. We told him that if he needed us to come earlier, that he should put up a sign on his window and then when we passed his house we would stop by (he has no phone). We left feeling good, but kinda weird about it all. 

So we continued on with our week, we had some fun times with awesome members, I had some good gluten free food, we had a district meeting where we ran through the field, and I was craving mac and cheese all week. Prayers get answered people, the next day some members fed us gluten free mac and cheese! 

Friday, we got to go on exchange with the sisters from Wylde Green, where the mission home is. It was so fun! I got to have Sister Lee come back to Nottingham with me. It was a blast. We met this lady who met missionaries 14 years ago, and now she wants to learn more. She is going to london for a few weeks, but we are excited to see her when she gets back. We were doing great, taught a lesson, and then we were STARVING. We were sooo hungry. So we decided to go home to have dinner. On the way home we pass Jermaine's house, and I feel this sort of electric shock go through me. I looked over, and there were 2 notes on his windows. I immediately whipped the car around, we jumped out and looked at the notes. In pink highlighter it was written: Sisters, come back before Wednesday. -Jermaine. 

Naturally the thing to do is to knock on the window, so that's what I did! He came and opened the door, and here is what he said:

"Ah, I was hoping Sister Miller would be here for the news. But you're ok too. Well, I've been thinking and praying a lot, and I want to get baptised."

Pretty sure my mouth dropped to the floor.. 

He went on:

"And since this is what I want to do, I thought there is no reason in waiting, so I want to come to church on Sunday, I'm glad you saw my notes!"

He should be getting baptised at the beginning of September.

People. God answers our prayers. He answered Sister Miller's and my prayers, He answered Jermaine's prayers. God listens to us all the time, and will answer in His own time. 

Jermaine came to church on Sunday and loved every minute of it. Another one of our investigators named Kev also came with his 3 year old daughter. Sister Miller and I had to go on splits with members to get them there, but eventually we all made it to church and I was beaming from ear to ear about everything that had happened during the week. Plus church was amazing. I love church. And I love Nottingham. I love everything!  

God loves us so much, He provides everything at the right time. I love this gospel so much! I am so happy that I get to be a part of this work.
I love you all!

-Sister Slack 

Here we are!

Wallaton Hall

The note on the window!

Me & Sister Lee after Jermaine told us he wants to get baptised.

Week 58: Miracle Bread

Hello everyone! It's me again.

This week is full of miracles. So I'll just start off by telling you about the miracle day because I don't have too much time (surprise).

It was a Thursday, and we had district meeting and so this lady in the ward usually makes a lunch. So we went and picked it up, and it seemed gluten free so we took it with us. After the meeting, we were having lunch and I looked at the package, and there was lots of gluten inside of the meal :( sad day. So, the plan was to pretty much just go hungry until we had a moment where we could stop and get something, or until dinner. Let's be honest, no one likes to go hungry. So it was kinda sad, but I was ready to stick it out. Then, I looked around the kitchen at the church, and there was a bag with a gluten free roll inside! It was seriously a miracle haha. I was so excited that I could eat something, I knew it would be a great day.

Later that day we had a few minutes to go outside and talk to people on the street. We stopped this one Polish lady, and she invited us to her home right then and she took us back and introduced us to her brother and her husband. They sat us down, and we started to talk about the gospel, and the first thing they wanted to talk about was baptism! Wow. Yeah so that was really great, and we set up a time to come back with polish material so we could teach them better. Then we got to meet with a recent convert we had lost contact with, and it was amazing. Then we went and had a few super spiritual lessons with two of our investigators, and then we went by our friend Jermaine. He is a cool kid. He has been meeting with the sisters for a few months, and on that day he prayed for the first time with us. It was incredible. He just really wants to follow what God has planned for him.

We had two exchanges this week, I got to go to Lincoln with Sister Owusu, and it was amazing! We had about 15 minutes to talk to people on the street, and the first guy we stop was super interested so we taught him a lesson and he wants to introduce his family to the church. The sisters reported that he came to church on sunday so it was pretty amazing :) and then we had exchange with Derby. Remember Sister Butler? She was my companion in Swansea. I trained her as a missionary! She is in Derby so we got to go together and have a blast. I love her so much! It was great.

We also met this really cool Slovakian family. That lady from last week who I really felt prompted to stop is amazing. Her name is Helena, and she told us on Monday that she has wanted people like us to come over for a while, but was never able to find them. Miracles people. People are prepared for the gospel of Christ :)

That's about all I have time for this week. Things are going great.  I love being a missionary. I love this work, I love my companion Sister Miller, and it's the best here.

Enjoy the last week of July!!

Love,

Sister Slack

 Riding the tiniest bike ever #exchange

Week 57: Hey there!

Hey everyone!! 

What a week here in Nottingham. We actually spent a lot of the week out of Nottingham, so it was a miracle in itself that we got some work done here! We got to travel to Birmingham to give some training to the zone there, and for some reason the motorway was on fire.. So it took us 3 hours to make the 1 hour trip there, but it made it all ok! Sister Miller and I had some bonding time in the car and sang too many efy songs. 

On Friday we had the incredible opportunity to go back to Coventry and witness the baptism of Annie! It was amazing. Definitely one of the best baptisms I've ever been to. Joyce (remember her?) gave a talk, and she poured out her heart and soul. She explained about how she first learned about baptism, when she read the New Testament and John the Baptist talked about it. She talked of how she couldn't relate, but now as a member of the church she feels connected to Jesus Christ. She feels like her baptismal certificate is like a declaration saying that she is a child of God. I know that everyone there felt the spirit. Incredible. 

A small miracle. We were talking to people in the main square at the heart of Nottingham City, and Sister Miller and I were talking to separate people. We had both had some awesome conversations with people, and now I was trying to stop someone else. I tried four or five more people, and all of them turned me down. This one woman stopped, and she then said looking at my badge "Jesus Christ finitely doesn't make me happy." Ok moving on. So standing there I said a little prayer to myself, we only had 4 minutes left to go finding, and I asked that I could talk to someone who wants to learn more. Immediately after I said my prayer, I saw this woman and her son walking towards me and she was lovely. We set up an appointment, and she wants us to teach her and her family. It was definitely a miracle.

This week we had interviews with President Leppard, and he is an inspired man. He has already taught us so much, and I know he is leading us he right way. 

Big miracle. We stopped by a less active named Yousef. His daughter and wife have never been taught before. He explained that he has told them a bit about the Book of Mormon and the Bible. We asked him if we could teach his family, and he told us "I'm not sure, they are Muslim, maybe not. But I will ask!" So he to need to his wife, and asked her in farci. After a few seconds he turned to us and said "yes she is very interested and wants to be taught, you can teach them both." We were pretty much leaping for joy. Miracles are everywhere! 

Everything here is awesome, so far we have stayed safe, even though people tell us crazy stories of what happens. We are loving the work, and we are excited for everyone to learn! Also, remember Sister Butler? She and I get to go on exchange on Thursday! We are excited. 

Anyway, I love you all. Stay safe and keep it real! 

Love, 

Sister Slack

We went to Nottingham castle!

Week 56: Shottingham

Hello everybody! 

It's been a crazy week, to say the least. SO much has happened, I'll start with transfers. I moved to Nottingham! I've been transferred to the Nottingham 2nd ward, in the Nottingham zone. If any of you can remember about a year ago, I was in Eastwood, which also happens to be in the same stake. In my first transfer I went on exchange to the flat that I now live in. Pretty sweet. 

It was bitter sweet to get transferred. I'd been in Coventry for about 6 months, and Sister Thomson and I became best friends, it was sad to leave the people there. It's always exciting to go somewhere new and to a new ward, and my companion is now Sister Miller. She is from Germany and is so sweet! I'm excited I think we'll do great things together. We have already had some strange bonding moments haha. 

YUP and if you have packages to send, then send them to the mission home. Ask my mom for it she has it (thanks mom!) 

So pretty much it was the best week to transfer into Nottingham. I got here and guess what? They had planned a ward activity to go to the beach! So I got to go to the beach and enjoy the sun and fun because we had loads of people we're working with come. It was so awesome. We all took a coach and it took 2.5 hours to get there, and so on the way down one lady decided to start singing nursery rhymes with everyone. So there is this one kid who is obsessed with star wars, and he announced "I know the whole anthem! Can I sing it??" Go for it kid. So then he starts singing "Dum dum dum da dum da da dum" And that goes on for about two minutes and the lady at the front says "Oh thank you for that." And he shouts immediately "I'M NOT DONE YET!!" And continues faithfully singing his star wars song :) haha it was hilarious. 

We had some cool miracles happen from that beach trip. I was able to teach someone more about the Book of Mormon, and he has never been interested in reading it, and now suddenly he asked me "What chapter is this, can I read it?" And so mini miracle he wants to read the Book of Mormon and start learning more about Jesus Christ. YAY. 

Fun Fact about my area, it's one of the most dangerous places in the mission. Apparently people get stabbed here like once every fortnight, and so we aren't really allowed to work many places after dark. They sometimes call it Shottimgham here :) I always knew my karate skills from when I was like 8 would come in handy one day. But it's great. I love Nottingham. I am excited for everything that will happen! 

Before I moved to Nottingham on Wednesday, I got to say goodbye to a lot of people. It was sad but also really great to see everyone in one day. Our friend Tony even made us African food for lunch, it was delicious! Chicken and rice with loads of random spices. I'm now learning that people often smell like the food they cook, and it all makes sense now. 

Oh, we had a dinner appointment with a lady this week and she wont eat with us unless we eat with our hands. SO I decided to give it a try. We had curry for dinner, and somehow it worked out that I ate the whole meal with my bare right hand. I feel like I deserve a wilderness explorer badge or something. 

We also had a meeting with the mission president on Friday, and it was amazing. He is so inspired. It is incredible to recognize the help Heavenly Father gives him. He taught us all things that are changing the way we do missionary work for the better, and I know that God chooses those He knows are prepared. 

That's about it for now. 

Sorry I don't have many pictures..It's hard to attach them here.

Much love,

Sister Slack

(These pictures from email sent to me- meaning Lara's mom. Sorry there was not any info on what or who is in the pictures. Also, if you would like her address, please message me or FB me and I will be happy to share it).