Week 22! Goodbye Wrekin!

So transfers came in and I'm going to chorley!! It's right next to the Preston temple and it's basically British Utah. It's been pretty fast this week. We had transfers planning, interviews, and sister gaugau got sick. We ended up staying in the flat for the majority of it, so I got a bunch of reading and drawing done. My new companions will be sister Wilkerson, from Utah, and sister Colinares, from the Philippines. It's going to be weird being in a trio but everyone says it'll be a bunch of fun. Sorry if this is short, I don't have a lot of time to email. Until next week!!

The funny moments:

So during district meeting, elder nogueira had a role play on listening to your investigators. He called me up and told everyone that they had to listen to me talk about my dog. Then he said kidding, and everyone just lost it. I was so disappointed. I was armed with like 4 dog stories.
Sister gaugau got sick during the week (stomach something, my theory was food poisoning. Bless) so we had to stay in for about 2 days this week. I ended up reading most of the ensign magazines from my birth year up, listened to general conference again, and finished three coloring book pages.
I almost cried when I ran out of my white pencil, but then I realized that I brought backups and it turns out I have four.
Our interviews were in Shrewsbury so we had to get up at 5:30 to go on time. Neither of us were pleased with this.
I've seen deer two times on my mission now. (They're really small in england)
Shrewsbury church has a Lego model of the Preston temple in their foyer. It has a framed article about it and everything. It's awesome!
A 12 year old chav winked at me during street display. (I bet my face was all like ???)
We had interviews with president on Friday and everyone got to hear who their new companion was except sister gaugau. She was really salty about this.
Since the Manchester mission is downsizing, a lot of areas that had two sets of missionaries now only have one. The wrekin area only has a set of sisters now. You know what that means? We get ALL the tea appointments! (Except I won't be there to enjoy it, but that's beside the point).

Week 21! Saw my big mama again

So this week was soooooo busy. We were finding and street contacting a bunch but didn't find anyone unfortunately. We also had exchanges with the runcorn sisters and guess who I was with!?! (Drumroll please.....) Sister Poussard! It was a bunch of fun being with her for the day. During exchanges, we met with this lady who used to be a member and was taking the discussions again. It was amazing to see someone who really wanted the gospel! It really helped my testimony of the value of baptism and the affect the gospel has on our lives! It was a really short exchange tbh, because the runcorn sisters were expecting another set of sisters the next day. I'm glad we got to go though. The rest of the week was tracting, street display, and going to lessons where the people don't show up (#missionlife). Also it was summer weather according to the locals. (Like 70 fahrenheit haha)

This week's spiritual thought is on charity! So we all know charity is the pure love of Christ, but how and are we seeking charity? It is stated in the book of Moroni chapter 10, that if you have charity, it will be well with you in the last day. The book of Mormon and the bible describes charity as the pure love of Christ and they also list a bunch of Christlike attributes to go with, like kind, long suffering etc. In the general conference talk, charity never faileth by Silvia H Allred, she describes charity as not a single act or something we give away but a state of being, a state of the heart, kind feelings that engender loving actions. So how do we gain charity? First is to pray for charity, and to see your neighbors as God sees them. Next is to act. We all have good intentions and ideas to serve, but if me never do it, then they're both but ideas. A popular saying on the mission is: goals without action is daydreaming. I promise that as we act on good promptings to serve and love others, that charity will come! I hope everyone has a great week! 

The funny stuff: 

So for the first time since I stepped foot in England, I didn't wear tights or leggings. It felt amazing
I have a tights addiction. Every time we go to a shop on Monday, I always have to look at the tights. I don't know why, they're all the same, but I Have to look!
We have exchanges again this week, but it's the end of the month, so we have no money. Like half of what the mission teaches you is how to be broke, but still do stuff.
My district has been talking about a possible nerf gun war for Monday. If that happens, I'm hiding from sister gaugau. She's savage, you don't mess with her.
On the train ride to runcorn, I found a ladybug, and basically kept it in my hands until the next stop. I don't understand bug logic, because the whole time I had it on the bus, it was trying to fly away, but once I got it outside, I had to blow it off my hand.
I always look both sides of the street, even on one way roads. Wanna know why? BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW WHICH SIDES THE CARS ARE ON!!! I'm still a bit bitter about this part  of england.
I met a dog that snorted just like Jake and it totally made me homesick.
Sister Poussard kept messing with my hair, so by the end of the exchange, any effect my hair spray had was lost. It's ok though, because I kept calling her big mama.
I drew a reverse mermaid in sister pogisho testimony book (by request). If anyone doesn't know what a half mermaid is: basically a fish head and fins, but with human legs 

Week 20! I SAW THE PROPHET!!! (On the screen)

So this week was pretty great! We started off strong with a lot of finding, and at the end of the week, we found 6 new people! Two of them we already had a lesson with, and they are so great! They're both into deep questions, aliens, and their ancestors. My kind of people. Not too much else for the rest of the week though, just finding and ,calling by people. The missionary life is very glamorous. Spring is finally here, so flowers and trees are resurrecting, grass is 20% greener, and the april showers ard in full effect. England isn't that cold, it's just wet! 

The real event for this week though, was the brodcast to England by president Nelson, accompanied by his wife, elder Holland, and sister Holland. When they spoke, the spirit was so strong. Also, I alaaays saw president Nelson as a serious man, but he was cracking jokes right and left. It was so cute! President and sister Nelson spoke about a lot of things, but one of the main themes was ministering. I don't know too well what ministering will involve, but when our prophet spoke about it, he described it as Christlike service. The whole point to ministering is to serve out of love and not out of a need for numbers. We need to really put these new changes into force if we want it to work. Another thing he talked about was temple work. A lot of people on the other side of the veil have accepted the gospel, but need someone to make the covenant for them. Temple work isn't just a chore, but it is making it possible for our ancestors to receive exaltation! That's all I can remember right now, so I will write again next week

The funny moments:

Ladies and gentlemen, it is now spring and do you know what that means? FOG!!! (Yessssss)
Also, daffodils have overtaken the country, they're everywhere.
So we were going to a members house, and I got us lost Again! The worst part was that I've been to this family like 3 times already.
So we were talking to this kid and his mom, and he told us that God was an alien because aliens are not of this earth, and since God made the earth, but he doesn't live on it, that makes him an alien technically. (Mind blown!) Nothing I could have said would have beaten that reasoning.
We were in McDonald's and I was drawing in my notebook (don't judge me) and this kid was watching. Every now and then, you can sense a kindred spirit, and I was having one of those moments. I drew her a dog, and she got super excited and told me about how she just started learning to draw realistic art! Wherever you may be little artist kid, keep on drawing, you made my day!
If you ever need a quick power rush, just find one of the double decker busses and ride on the top floor. I felt like a bird, being able to see everything!
So I had to talk to the mission nurse, and one of the things she prescribed was vitamin d and fish oil. The fish oil is Foul! Opening the bottle was like opening a can of soda, and then there was the fish smell. Not the good kind either. It smells like a Monterey bay restaurant trash bin, after a heat wave.
We saw a three wheeled car that was driving??!! Idk how the driver even managed that? It must have taken a lot of stuff to balance it out. 

Pictures, a train station, our church sign, and the biggest coolest church I've seen yet! 

*the rest of the pictures Haley sent later.. Her district went out to pizza for lunch and obv had fun. I absolutely love to see her smiling like that. It makes me happy to know she's having fun along the way as she works hard! ​

Week 19! I died but I'm ok now

So this week was super busy! We had exchanges and zone conference and I got sick. A lot happened. On the way to the train station, our bus got in a crash (it just scraped the car) so we were late and had to catch the next train. I was with sister pogisho for our exchange and we had a really good time. We took a 20 minute train ride to this Really posh area and did a load of street contacting. (I took a picture of this beautiful church there. It was massive and had a big graveyard too.) Afterwards is the death part. Later in the evening, I got this nagging headache, which after tea, turned into a glaring migraine. Pain meds, water, and a yummy shrimp and basil pizza didn't help. (It was choose your own toppings, don't judge me). I was pretty much a zombie by the end of the day. The next day, I head over to zone conference with my comp, sister gaugau, sister pogisho, and sister Poussard (she's one of the stl now, it was great seeing her again!) I was still a zombie during zone conference but I did have a good time. Sister gaugau and I made all of the American missionaries jelly with our reese's peanut butter cup Easter packages (thanks mom and dad!) The next day I was still sick and had to stay in the flat, nothing to report there, just slept all day. The rest of the week street contacting and calling by friends. One of our new friends (from Rome) came to church. I might be giving her kids art lessons while sister gaugau teaches her. We'll see how it goes.

Today's spiritual thought is on finding the right information. In the world today, we are surrounded by information, especially on the church, and sometimes we might run into something that may give us questions. The first thing you need to know is where is this coming from. While the internet has a lot of good info, it is also filled with misinformation. It's always important to check your sources. Another thing is what sources are you using to answer your questions? God has given us the scriptures, not only as a set of guidelines, but also as a book of answers! When we read the scriptures, ponder, and pray; we are Promised answers from God. God will never break his promises. Another thing we need to remember is that God will answer in his own time. I know this very well, having a lot of weird questions over the years, and still haven't received answers to all of them. Looking for those answers though, has strengthened my faith so much. Finally, the most important thing is to remember what you already know. We all have questions, but those will never change the fact that this is the restored church, and that the only way back to God is through our Savior Jesus Christ. If anyone out there has any doubts or fears, please remember the spiritual experiences and testimony you already have, and trust God that he will answer your questions. I love all of y'all and hope you all have a great week! 

And now, the funny:

I was a participant of a bus crash! It's wasn't bad actually, a car scraped the side of the bus, so we had to wait for the driver to file a report. The good thing about this, is now I have something to brag about at zone conference. Also we have an excuse for being late to exchanges now, haha

I accidentally melted my name badge. It was clipped onto my coat and I left it next to the heater all night. Luckily for me, the clip and coat were unaffected. 
At zone conference, we had domino's pizza for lunch and I got too excited. I ended up having 5 pieces. If I get fat on my mission, it will be 100% my fault.
I just discovered that asda has Ben and jerry's ice cream. To my uttermost astonishment (book of Mormon reference, haha) they don't have empire mint. That's going to be the first ice cream I eat when I go back. They don't even have cookie dough :(
I got sick (Idk what I had) so we had to stay in for a day and I pretty much slept the WHOLE day. When I had to get up for ward counsel, I felt like I was walking out of a time machine. I was certain it was 3 in the afternoon, but it was actually 7pm. 
The elders dropped off medicine for us, but they got the dissolve one instead of the pills so I had to drink bitter chalk water for the week. Sister gaugau wouldn't let me put squash (condensed juice) in it either. 
McDonald's was doing a ticket thing where you get tickets to go with your meal. When I got mine, I ended up getting winning tickets for a coffee. (Couldn't trade it for a hot chocolate)
 Another day at McDonald's, I won an apple pie, chocolate muffin, and large coke all at the same time. I gave the tickets to the elders(except for the pie). I felt like I was making it rain.

Week 18!

*for some reason, Haleys weekly email wouldn't send to me, and when it did, there was no content in the email, so this is all Haley had time to write in the end..

Ok so I don't have enough time to remake it, long story short: general conference was great, sister gaugau got sick but she's ok now, and we cleaned out our phone contacts. 

We have a neighborhood cat, and when the wrekin elders were popping by to pick up some stuff, elder nogueira kept meowing at it and the cat kept answering back. It was adorable!
Elder Carlson, Artartes, and I can't pronounce sister gaugau name the right way. She's pretty fed up with it. It's fun trying though
I made the mistake of telling a members kids that I could draw Elsa. I ended up drawing one from memory, another Elsa, and black panther. (I'm not gonna lie, I had a lot of fun with it)(black panther is hard to draw)
Since its colder than frosty the snowmans heart here, all the horses will wear coats. Most of them just have blue, black or grey, but the really posh horses with have plaid or chevron. I haven't seen any yellow coats yet. It must not be in style.
I didn't know that rainbow nerds stained your teeth.
My super healthy breakfast: nutella honey banana sandwich. (Its so good)
So we have a thing called chavs. Chavs are the kids who come from decent homes, but just loiter around and get into trouble. Think future gang members but lazier. The elders taught me that one way to spot them is to look for track suits. They always wear track suits apparently. I don't blame them. Those are comfy.

Thank you peachwood ward and all my friends for sending me letters! I don't have a lot of time to send ones back, but I will answer some of the questions I got.
1. how many cats are in england: not enough in my opinion
2.would you rather have a dog sized dragon or a dragon sized dog? Dog sized dragon, they cost less
3.ocean or mountains? Both
4. Is the mtc like spirit prison? While we are in a state of confusion, it really fun most of the time. Everyone is so emotional to the point where we just feel the spirit all the time.
5.taste the rainbow? Rainbow nerds, yes. Actual rainbows, no. England didn't receive rainbows apparently
6. What's the most interesting thing you've done yet? Refer to my emails please. I do enjoy the train rides to exchanges and zone conference though. It's pretty interesting seeing the blend between farm and city.
7. How are the people? Really nice, a lot of them like Americans from California.
8. How is england? Cold, wet, and a fish and chips bar every square mile
9. To Dominic Dunmore: GOOD DAY
10. Do I have allergies? No
11. And finally to all the "how are you"s ? I'm doing great, thanks. 

*pictures..The church pic is a cool church I saw. And the pictures with the wrekin elders was when we had to walk back to Lawley from the Wellington chapel because the busses end at 6pm on Sunday, and conference ended at 7ish. It was a really pretty walk, but it was a little dark for the pictures.