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 48: "Oh, it was just heavy."

Hey hey hey everyone! What a wonderful week we have had. Miracles galore!

This week one of our favourite people, Grace, took of for holiday. Before she left, she took us out for lunch. It was amazing to talk about her journey with us and getting to know each other! She told me that when we first met and learned that I had come from Swansea, she was willing to go with me everywhere! God definitely is inspired to put us where we need to be in the right time. We also got to show her how to do family history. It was brilliant to see how excited she got and when she found out she could look through Chinese records, she was so excited! She got her temple recommend and plans to go there in the near future. She flies off to China today. 

Recently we have come back in contact with some investigators who have been scarce, and some of them came to church this week! It was amazing to see how the spirit can work on some people. Tony (remember him? We took his watch last week) met up with us again and it turns out life just got crazy last weekend. We gave him his watch back and in the closing prayer of his lesson he said "Father, please help me to wake up on time for church on Sunday, this is really important to me right now, and I need your help." It was so incredible to see his faith in the Lord in helping him wake up. Another one of our investigators, named Costa, turned down a job offer that would require him to work on Saturdays and Sundays so that he could be able to come to church. Who does that? People who have their priorities straight!

We also got to see our wonderful friend Kristina a few times this week. One evening we told her we would have to come later due to a dinner appointment. It was delicious and we were sooo full (as we usually are after eating at members homes) that we just wanted to lie down. We walk into Kristina's house and she says "oh I'll be with you in a minute, I'm cooking." We thought she meant just for herself, but then she asked if I could eat some of it. Oh no. 2 dinners right in a row is never good, so she was kind enough to pack it up for us (phew!). We didn't have to explode. We also got to watch some parts of General conference with her, and while we watched Elder Holland's talk from last conference she told us "He uses posh words, but the meaning is so simple." We talked about how she felt the spirit, overall it was amazing. 

We got to see our friend Joyce before she headed to Australia for a week and a half, and she showed us a picture of her holding a foal! Oh man it was the most adorable thing ever. When we asked her how it was, she said "Oh, it was just heavy." There ya go everyone. 

This week we had exchanges with the lovely sisters in Nuneaton! I got to go with Sister Mousley in Nuneaton, and it was pretty awesome. When we were walking to an appointment I saw this really tall guy, and I said to her "This guy needs the gospel." So here is how it went... we followed the guy for two minutes walking behind him just out of reach (his legs are long, ok) and then finally we run a little bit and catch up and say "Oh hey! We just feel like we should stop you." He was way nice and wasn't freaked out! So that's good. He was glad we stopped him, turns out he has been praying for God to guide him to a church. BOOM. We got his number and stuff, it was pretty chill. Miracle.

Everything is awesome over here in England!!

Love you all, have  an amazing week and keep on keeping on.

Love,

Sister Slack

 Last meal with Grace

 Teaching Kelly

teaching Joyce with Sister Randhawa

Exchange with Sister Mousley and Sister Scherf

Week 22: (no subject)

Well basically here we are. Another week has FLOWN by and I am still in love with Swansea. In summary: we taught some welsh people, some Chinese people, had a zone meeting with all the missionaries in our area, ate some really questionable food, ate some really good food, had some ice cream, Sherlock wants to be baptized, taught some more Chinese people and the week pretty much went on like that. 

Oh wait, Sherlock wants to be baptized!?! How did that happen? Ah, good question. There we were, Sister Butler and I had prepared to teach him the Law of Chastity, and see how smoking was going. He sits down in the chair, tells us he is completely done with smoking. Miracle! Then the conversation went like this.. Me: So have you been thinking about being baptized? Him: yes. Me: So did you pray about it? Him: Yes, I need it. I need to be baptized. ....... yeah we didn't really know how to react other than to be super excited and pumped and have our hearts overflow with joy! 

Did that really just happen? Yes. Yes it did. In about 1 month he has gone from not believing in God to putting all of his faith in God and Jesus Christ. This gospel is truly incredible!

So basically we have been super busy trying to get everything ready for it, and to finish teaching him all of the lessons. Turns out, since Sister Butler and I have been together, the area has exploded! People have been bringing their friends to lessons, and those friends lead to more friends. Ah the life of a missionary is pretty awesome. Don't get too jealous.

This week we also had a dinner appointment with a woman in the ward who is not there all the way mentally, but she has the sweetest heart. We showed up to our appointment with her, and she totally forgot we were coming! She invited us in anyway, and started cooking some food. We were in the room next to the kitchen, and it suddenly started to fill with smoke. The member was yelling through the door "Don't worry, it's just the oil burning off!" while Sister Butler and I were suffocating.. So we rushed to open a door and then the smoke alarm went off! 

Then we ate the food, and we are pretty sure the plates haven't been properly washed in about a week. But we put our minds to it and cleaned our forks in the sink before eating and did our best not to pay attention to it. And here we are, still alive today! 

But anyways, I love the gospel and being a missionary! It has been so awesome to see people progress in the gospel. 

Love you all!

Love,
Sister Slack

Nu-era! Ahaha just like a church magazine.

Ready to teach in the library cafe!

Cold enough to wear hats.