Week 76: Just. Read this.

Hey wonderful people in the world! 

This week was an adventure. Let's be honest, it's always an adventure. We had the wonderful pleasure of biking a lot in the rain, so you know things were good. 

Let's start with Saturday. Saturday morning was great, we got up, did our morning routine, and headed out for the day and started biking to our first appointment. Things were going great, Sister Nielsen was leading us along and I assumed she knew where she was going. About 25 minutes into our bike ride, we are finally about to conquer this massive hill, when she just stops. I knew something was wrong, and so I rushed up behind her to see what was happening. She was having some sort of asthma attack and it was the scariest thing ever! After about a minute of me instructing her to do different things to calm down (hooray lifeguard skills!), some lady runs over to us from across the street and asks if we are ok. Well.. Obviously we were not really ok, but sweet Sister Nielsen didn't want to bother her so she said she was fine. Eventually I convinced my companion that she should probably sit down for a few minutes and the lady invited us into her house. In my brain I was like 'Missionary opportunity!' 

She was so nice! Her name is Sandra, and she talked with us a bit and gave us some water. Then we started talking about religion and stuff, turns out she is a baptist. I talked about christmas a little bit and she was shocked that we believed in celebrating christmas! Come on people, we are not that crazy. So we showed her a lovely Christmas Mormon message and then she sent us on our way. She definitely was not interested in learning more because when I offered she said "I am definitely sure that you can keep things to yourself." Hey, no problem. All we can do is try :) in the end Sister Nielsen was fine, she's just getting over a cold and the whole sickness-coldness-biking combo didn't do her body any good. So we are staying off the bikes for a bit. We are thankful for the wonderful members who we called and they came to pick us up after that happened :) everything just seemed to fall into place that day after that. 

We got to see the Joseph family a couple of times this week! That was a miracle in itself. Previously the sisters have only been able to meet with them maybe once every other week, but once we explained to the father how much we needed to see them before they get baptised, he was all for the idea!

Now picture yourself sitting in a room with 7 children who are all super hyper, and you are trying to teach them about Jesus. Yup. It probably is just what you are imagining. In the end we got them all to commit to keeping the commandments, and one of them even drew me a picture of the turtle I have on my bag. I even had to take away all cell phones and books so they would pay attention, I felt like a proper school teacher. They are set to get baptised on the 12!

We met some other really amazing people this week. One is a guy named Reese (whenever I read his name I think of the resses puffs cereal commercial). He is a uni student, and after the first time we met with him he said "I can meet with you again in an hour." We were like.. whoa this guy means business! But we had another appointment and we saw him the next day. He wasn't too familiar with who Jesus Christ was and what his role is, but we explained that it's kind of like if you go to court for something you do wrong, then you will have some consequence, and Christ will take the consequences for you. He then said "Oh, so Jesus is like the guy who will step in and go to jail for you instead." The lightbulb went on in his head. The gospel is the best.

We had a wonderful thanksgiving, in case you were wondering. No, they don't celebrate it here, but Sister Nielsen and I made thank you cards and brought them around to people. It's pretty cool how having a grateful heart can really change your perspective on everything. 

Overall, it was a great week. I can't really think of what else to say now, because my brain shuts down after a certain point of emailing. I do know that this church is God's church, and that Jesus Christ changes our lives for the better though. I am so glad that he accepts us for who we are, even when we have strange obsessions with things like llamas. 

I love you all!

Love,

Sister Slack 

 going on a hike last pday with Sam!



On top of Black Rock



Christmas lights in Derby

We made smores

Week 75: "I need to read that"

Hi world! Today we got to go to a cool place called black rock. Turns
out the Derby area is way bigger than I thought, and we have loads of
cute little villages, but most of the, are at least 40 minutes away by
bus, so we don't get to go often. But it was beautiful and I think it
was the closest thing to a hike you can get in our mission, it was
actually uphill!

Sister Nielsen and I have seen some amazing miracles this week. We
have been teaching a family called the Joseph's. The mom and dad
aren't married, and they have 5 kids together. The three oldest ones
are preparing to be baptised, but progress has been slow because they
are hard to meet with. The mom hasn't really been interested, but
the dad does want to be baptised. The only thing blocking his
progress is the fact that they aren't married. On Wednesday we just
decided to randomly call Mr. Joseph. He answered and he asked "will you
call bishop? We want to get married on February 13. And talk to Sister
Summerfield, she is sorting it and our baptisms."

We were freaking out to say the least, turns out they all want to get
baptised now and they want the kids to get baptised in December. So
everyone pray for that! December 12 is the first magical day.

Saturday was also a lovely day. We did some street contacting in the
morning, planning in the middle of the day, and service in the
evening. We got to feed the homeless in the centre of Derby, and ya
know what? The Lord works in mysterious ways. We were put on hot drink
duty. The options were hot chocolate, tea, coffee, and juice. We
brought a recent convert with us named Aleksandra, and I leaned to her
and I said "hey, how do you make coffee? I've never made it before."
She looked confused, showed me how to do it, and then said "I thought
you were joking when you said you've never made coffee before, but now
I realise you were serious!" So there we were serving everyone, and
the man helping us with the drinks was named Andy. He took one look at
my badge and told us that his brother just got sealed to his wife in
the Preston temple, and that he is a member too! He just hasn't been
to church in a few years. We had a great conversation and we'll see
him this week :)

On the streets as sister Nielsen and I walk along like the cool people
we are, we sometimes ask people what makes them happy. We stopped this
one guy named Robin, and he said "everything." He is just one happy
guy! We invited him to church, and he said he would love to come. He
is half Christian and half Hindu, and so we weren't sure what to
expect when Sunday came around.

Sunday morning, there he was! He showed up about 10 minutes late, but
he made it to church! He stayed all 3 hours and he loved it. I showed
him the Book of Mormon for the first time and he said "yes I need to
have a read of that!" It was so amazing to see how open he was, and
how well he fit in.

The Lord has many prepared people out there for us to reach out to. I
know that we are God's children, and that we are here because He loves
us. I said last week I'd include more about the Elder Ballard
conference, so here is a quote I loved from it. "When we have a tough
day, go to Gethsemane in your mind. Ponder and think of the life and
ministry of the Jesus Christ, our best friend. Our problems will
shrink, and strength will come, and our faith increases. Let your mind
go with him." He then pulled out a picture of the Savior and said "on
mornings I know are going to be hard, I look at him and think 'yep, I
can do it.' "  let us always remember to "look to God, and live."
(Alma 37:47)

Much love,
Sister Slack

Sleepover for Elder Ballard

Sisters at zone meeting. I love sisters :)

Week 74: Find a penny and pick it up

Hey world!

It has been a wonderful week. Transfers happened this week, and Sister
Grant and I were separated, and I have been sent off to Derby! I am
now with Sister Nielsen, she has been on he mission only for 6 weeks
and she is a fireball! We already get along great and are having fun.
We are so unified that we already say the same things at the same time
haha. She is from Orem, Utah and she even went to BYU! My
expectations? We are going to dominate Derby.

Before I left Nuneaton, Sister Grant and I got to teach a guy named
Victor for the first time. He is from Pakistan, and he is Christian!
That is a miracle itself, and we got to teach him the restoration. At
the end of the lesson he told us "if I study this and I know it is
true, I will do all I can to follow it." He has so much faith, and it
was a nice reminder that we do need to be fully committed, not just
partially. 

Sister Grant and I also tried to make gluten free cookies that we
could give to people, and I learned that baking was not my strong
point.. They smelled nice, and they looked like cookies, but that's
about it. They tasted weird and fell apart. In the end it turned out
that we had made about 30+ cookies, and that was only half the
batter... When I got transferred I just left them for Sister Grant to
enjoy :)

In Derby we got to do some finding, and one day we met a ginger guy
pushing a bike. I stopped him and he said "whoa, you scared me, I was
watching to see if that lad was going to pick up that penny, because
find a penny pick it up, and all day you'll have good luck! And if he
didn't get it, I wanted to pick it up." We eventually moved up so he
could pick up the penny, and he was happy...a little too happy. Turns
out he had been smoking some weed and been wandering around. He was a
nice guy though, and I'm pretty sure he told us he belonged to his own
religion he made up on the spot.

Saturday, we had the incredible opportunity to meet Elder Ballard.
Yup, the apostle. It was amazing, I even got to ask him a question.
I'd tell you all about it, but alas the time has run short again. Next
time I'll share! Know that the spirit in the room was incredible, and
that Jesus Christ's church definitely is on the earth.

Love,
Sister Slack

(Comment from Sister Slack's mom: Sister Slack (Lara) didn't tell me who was in this picture. Sister Slack is wearing glasses and Sister Grant is on the far right- I will update when I know their names)