Week 35: Bible Bashed

Well well here we are again! This week has definitely been a great one. We've been working hard and I can tell that only good things are headed our way! 

We had the opportunity to go to lunch with one of our investigators this week, and we were talking about his life and he told us that he has gotten into martial arts. We asked if he was training at this place nearby in town, and he said "That place? No way, they couldn't handle me." Sister Urbani and I definitely busted up laughing. Too much to handle haha. 

This week I also got to be on exchange with Sister Rasmusson (From Sweden), who is serving in Peterborough. We came back to Coventry (a 2 hour drive in between)  and got to do some finding. As we were passing this one guy on the street, he stopped us and exclaimed "Sisters! Oh my come here!" He grabbed our arms and saw our name tags, and we saw that he was holding a bible. Then he took his bible and patted us each on the head with it and said "Oh may the Lord bless you and everything.." And a couple of other things we couldn't really understand. Gotta say we were more than a little bit confused. After he went on about how we all must believe in the bible for about 5 minutes and being told to avoid the Book of Mormon, we escaped only to realize that he literally had just Bible bashed us. He had hit us on the heads with a Bible! It was a first for the both of us haha.

I also got to go on Exchange with Sister Orro (from Australia), who is serving in Nuneaton-a town nearby Leicester. We got to go to a lovely dinner appointment with a sister who has traveled to Africa, and she had a didgeridoo in her front room. I had to play it. So, I grabbed it (with permission of course) and I got to play the didgeridoo! It was pretty dang exciting.

For the past two weeks we have been struggling to get people to church for some reason. We decided to really make things happen this week and do everything we could to get people to church. We asked all the members that we saw to pray for certain people to come to church. Specifically Grace and Dianne. Sunday morning comes along, and crossing our fingers and having prayers in our hearts, we made our way to church and both Grace and Dianne were able to come! It was amazing. They both loved it, and I know that especially Dianne felt the spirit. A member asked her if she was going to come again and she responded with "Definitely." It was incredible to see how our prayers were answered 100%. 

I know that the people in Coventry are definitely prepared to accept the gospel. It's amazing to be in a place where there are so many people and so many members and so many missionaries. It's an equation for miracles, and all we have to do is start it off by opening our mouths. 

I love being a missionary!

Keep it real, keep it classy everyone.

Much love,

Sister Slack

 Sunglasses swag

 Family home evening with everyone! Grace is the third one from the left.

Playing the Didgeridoo! 

 Love Shake time with Grace, Dianne, and Sister Orro

We had to ride the bus while the Elders took our car to the mission home.. it was an adventure!

 Exchange with Sister Rasmusson

 Valentines dinner. We put a candle on the table and everything!

Coventry life

Week 19: Castles and Chinese people

What a week. Here we are. Once again, in the library emailing all of your lovely faces! 

Last P-Day we had the chance to go see Oystermouth Castle out in Mumbeles, and it was at that moment that I realized it would be a pretty hard task to over take a castle. No wonder people had to use massive hooks and ladders to get over those walls!

This week we got to work a lot with our Chinese investigators, one in particular was Sherlock. In the beginning of the week, we kind of evaluated where he stood with everything. He told us that he still didn't really believe in God, but knows that the church will definitely benefit his life. We encouraged him to read the story of the Brother of Jared (ya know, the one in Ether) about when he sees the body of Christ, and to pray about it. Two days later we marched on over to his house, and asked him about it. The first thing he told us was "I read the story!" Yay! Definitely what us missionaries like to hear. We asked him some more about it to make sure he understood, and then asked him what he prayed about. He told us that he prayed to know if the Brother of Jared actually saw Christ, and that he thinks it's true. Wait. Step back. He thinks it's true! As we talked to him more, he expressed that he is starting to believe in God. Reading the scriptures and praying is powerful, people. 

We also got to have stake conference this weekend! It was wonderful. People shared some really cool experiences, and  our mission president was there! It's always good to see him and his wife. They both introduced themselves to Sherlock Saturday night, and he felt pretty awesome meeting our "boss" haha. The Sunday morning session was held an hour away from Swansea, in Merthyr Tydfil. Not really expecting any investigators to want to make the long and windy journey, we made plans for ourselves to get there. Late the night before, we learned Sherlock actually wanted to come to both sessions! So we got him a lift there and back, making sure he'd have a wonderful experience. 

Nothing makes missionaries more happy than seeing their investigators progress. We were able to be spiritually uplifted, and hang out with Sherlock for  a bit. And then teach a few more of our Chinese investigators later that day. I guess you could say Sister Lambert and I are getting the hang of how to best teach those Chinese, and it's weird when we talk to someone who has a Christian background. Anyways, time is short and precious! But God is real and loves each and every one of us. Nothing gets better than that.

Love,

Sister Slack

 Lllama crackers! Sweet Chili flavor!

The companion and I near the beach

 Part of the district at the castle in Mumbles

Sherlock!

Week 17: Swansea is the promised land

Well well well... another week has come and gone! Man. So much has happened. 

First things first.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!

Now I guess we'll start from the beginning. So it turns out, it actually does rain in the UK. For the past week it has actually rained EVERY day! Who knew? So naturally, we put on our coats and go to work! I am so glad that I brought a coat with me.. otherwise I might have put on every article of clothing I had and looked like a proper rainbow marshmallow. 

This week we got to have a zone meeting. I think it was one of the most inspired meetings I've ever been to! Everyone that went definitely got something new out of it, and knew how to change their own ways to become better missionaries and people. After we walked home through the rain, the zone leaders dropped off some supplies we needed and they included a Polish Book of Mormon. You never know when you'll need one of those! That same day we went out to talk to more people, and the third guy is... you guessed it. Polish! He walked us all the way to his house, and introduced us to his house mates. Turns out one of his house mates is studying chemical engineering (woot woot) and so then we were able to invite them all to learn more. Definitely a cool day. 

That same day we actually got to teach our first Chinese investigator!! Liu Yizhang! He is such a cool guy, and listening to him pray was an experience I'll always remember. Even though it was all in Chinese, it was awesome to hear him speak to his Father in Heaven for the first time. Prayer is definitely a powerful tool. 

On friday we got to teach an investigator that came to general conference. Everything in the lesson seemed to be going great, until I looked at the clock at the end and realized that we had been talking with him for two and a half HOURS. So much time. But it was ok, he just had lots of questions. As we introduced the Book of Mormon to him and we asked him if he would read it and pray about it, he responded with "Ummm.... DUUUH!" Ok man. I think he is headed in the right direction. 

So because Sister Lambert and I were whitewashed into Swansea, we also inherited the responsibility of throwing a ward party that the previous sisters had been planning. Turns out those things take up A LOT of time! Man. But we made it happen! It took place on Saturday night, and we had to entertain the ward for about an hour and a half while we waited for the bishop to bring back the food... But he brought back chips (Fries) so it was worth it! I don't know why, but I've developed a love for fried potatoes over my lifetime. They were delicious of course!

Yesterday we got to teach our 2nd Chinese investigator, and we also taught him to pray. We asked him if he would like to end with a prayer. He folded his hands, closed his eyes, and we waited. And waited. And waited... Sister Lambert and I looked at each other and realized that he was praying, but in his mind! Which was grand and dandy, except he prayed for 5 minutes straight!! We wondered if he had accidentally fallen asleep or something...So we sat in dead silence in the cafe and waited. After he awoke from his prayer, it turns out he just talked to God about his life. He told God what he needed, and was looking for feelings of an answer. How neat is that?

One thing that a member said in church yesterday really stood out to me. She said "The most important thing people can know about me is that I know the church is true." Deep stuff. I think we should remember that the gospel is truly the most important thing in our lives. When things get tough, when life gets stressful, the gospel is always there as a comfort. Maybe not all of the people that are members, but the head of our church, Jesus Christ, is always here to help us out. 

Keep dry and warm!

Love,

Sister Slack

flooding outside our flat

sometimes you wear weird things inside your flat when you practice singing

eating famous Joe's Ice cream