Week 52! Sick again

So I'm not gonna lie, this week was hard. On Thursday I was feeling weird and then Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I had to stay in sick, so there's not a lot I have to say about this week. I am getting better though.

So at the beginning of this week we had transfers and sister Sawatdee went home. My new companion is sister Tavares from Brazil! She's super funny and nice and she has perfect English. She also seems to get all the sick companions so she was good at playing nurse. Tomorrow will be zone conference too so that will be fun.

The funny stuff:

On last Tuesday when we were at the war museum, I almost died. I took too long reading all the info for the exhibits or something and ended up getting separated from the group. While I was looking for them, the lights in the building went dark and this war film started playing on all the walls, and there were a lot of walls... I was basically huddled next to this vintage car, trying not to freak out, while I heard gunshots and screaming ringing around me, black and white pictures of soldiers and half starved kids were on every wall, and it was dark enough to not see my own feet. (don't worry they found me)

Apparently I snore and when the district leader called I was snoring really loud. Nobody has ever told me that I snore before so hearing about this was a big shock.

So Sister Travares carries a curse wherever she goes. Every one of her companions gets sick and I'm the new victim of the curse. Luckily it's just a cold and sore throat.

We had a primary presentation during church, and they were all doing great, but there was this one kid (ill call him Danny boy), who was absolutely killing it! He sang the loudest and proudest, helped a little girl say her part, and when the songs involved marching, he bounced with each step. This kid is going to be a general authority some day.

There was also a munch and mingle after church because a missionary just returned from his mission in Germany (congrats dude, we'll be working with him soon), and we stayed to help clean up, and they gave us the leftovers. We went home with a tray of ham sandwiches, salad, fizzy lemonade, and half a Costco chocolate cake. Also some anonymous members in Swinton gave us some grocery bags full of fresh fruit, mince pies, and meat pies. (thank you Swinton Ward!!!) 

Pictures-

Haley drew a girl on water color paper and sister Tavares is the one who colored it.

Also all the food that Swinton ward gave us, and some last selfies with sister Sawatdee

Week 51! Goodbye Sister Sawatdee!

So we got the call for transfers and I am staying (duh), sister sawatdee is leaving to go home (also duh) and the new companion is sister Tavares from Brazil. All I know about her so far is that she's funny and likes spicy food, so she must be a pretty decent person.

As for this week, not much happened, just lots of finding. There has been a change in the European missions though. So we have what's called key indicators each week. They're basically our goals for the week, for ex: how many new investigators we'll find or how many people we'll have at church. Well now we have 2 more key indicators: how many returning members we meet with, and how many of them came to church. The missionaries in Europe are really getting involved in reactivation and strengthening the wards. Teaching and Baptizing means nothing if you don't stay in church. This is more than a one time experience, this determines your eternity! 

So the spiritual thought for today is based on a general conference talk from October 1983 called The Word is Commitment (please read it, it's so good). There was a quote in the talk that really stuck out to me: "true happiness is not getting something but becoming something". You can't find happiness through getting a free ride in life. We need trials and growth in order to understand happiness. In the book of mormon it says "Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy" and it also says "And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin." (2nd Nephi 2). Adam and eve would not have been able to understand true joy unless they felt pain, and it's the same with us. We will never understand true happiness and fulfillment unless we had to work for it.

The funny stuff:

I saw a drunk dude in McDonald's fall down the stairs twice. Going up. 

On the bus these two old men were chatting and when it was their stop and they both got up; one of them turned to me, winked, and said "night darlin". Unexpected yet entertaining. It made me laugh all the way home.

When we were tracting, we knocked on the door of a man, introduced ourselves and showed the book of Mormon. Then he was all like 'wait!' and he came back with his own copy of the book of Mormon and was all like "I'm reading that right now"! Anyways that was the most amazing thing that happened to me while tracting, and we have a new friend.

Man, English is frustrating sometimes. I had to spend like 15 minutes trying to explain the billions of uses of the word 'deal' to sister sawatdee. For example: I just don't want to deal with having to deal out a great deal of all these examples of how you can make deals with people. 

Sister sawatdee has a little book called missionary reminders, and some of the reminders are hilarious! Some of my favorites are: 32. Stargaze out the holes in your apartment ceiling 49. Cook bacon weekly just for the smell of it 90. When a big dog chases you, remember you only have to outrun your companion, not the dog  and 348. Sisters shouldn't laugh at elders when they say their girlfriends are waiting for them.

I forgot to mention this last week, but Helen was called as a ward missionary last Sunday and when they announced it in sacrament, she was sooo excited. As the English would say: she was buzzing. I love that lady ️️

I asked sister sawatdee to set a timer for 10 minutes while I was cooking seafood so I could make sure it was cooked through. After a while I was wondering why it took so long. She set the timer for 10 hours.

I got the privilege of seeing a drunk man have an argument with his own reflection in the bus window. It's small moments like these that remind me of why I went on a mission.

Lots of pictures this week! 

week 50! 6 months to sexy!

So 6 months till sexy is a phrase we use in the mission to describe the missionaries who are trying really hard to loose weight before they go home. I actually gained only 5 pounds since I left for the mission, I've tried pretty hard to stay stable, and all the walking helped. Now though, I decided that I won't but any sweets, fast food, or frozen meals and pizza. The only exceptions are when members feed us (it would be rude to refuse food) and major holidays like Christmas, Easter, and my birthday (Ben and Jerry's is way better than any birthday cake). I'm already mourning the loss of my weekly pizza but it's for the best....

So this Sunday was really special as it is remembrance Sunday! I think I've mentioned this before, but remembrance Sunday is to remember all the people who fought for England (especially the veterans from ww1 and ww2). In England they use the Poppy as a symbol of remembering those who died for us. People will buy paper Poppy pins (or nicer ones like tin) and wear them for the whole month of November. Also on the 11th of November there are several remembrance events where people gather around a memorial, have a moment of silence, read some scriptures from the Bible and poems, and sing the national anthem. It's super sacred and patriotic. Swinton Ward started by attending the local remembrance event and then we finished with sacrament meeting.

The funny stuff:

Me trying to explain talents: if the world was full of doctors, we would all starve to death because there was no farmers (they got the point)

Never wash lights with darks. When I was doing my laundry, I realized I missed a few whites so I put them with my last load of darks to save time. Now I have a black bra, a Grey slip, and a purple pair of garments. Are purple garments even allowed.??

Sister sawatdee got a leg cramp and didn't want to move her legs so of course I kicked them. I don't know how my companions haven't killed me yet, I'm stuck a jerk sometimes.

When we were in Eccles (40 minute bus ride from Swinton), I lost my bus pass. It had fallen out of my pocket some time before. We retraced our steps though and found it luckily. I felt weirdly apathetic about it though, even if it was gone forever, I had cash and I could get on other one and get it reimbursed.

Grandma wisdom that was kindly given to us: Use bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) to get burnt stuff on the bottom of the pan. I haven't had the chance to try this yet, but she promised us many blessings of sparkly kitchen ware if we did this next time.

I decided to make seafood rice for breakfast on Saturday (why not?) sister sawatdee got really emotional over the rice (she was sooooo happy) (she misses Tai food really bad). Also I now know how to cook squid. 

Week 49! The most passive aggressive holiday ever!

So as you can see from the title, today is the most passive aggressive holiday ever in British history (as far as I know, my history knowledge is pretty limited right now). So today is called guy fox day and the holiday celebrates the failure of a terrorist. So this man named guy fox attempted to blow up parliament a while back. He failed (obviously) and if what I've been told is right; he was executed for his crimes. His failure became a holiday where the British people celebrate his death. They celebrate with parties, food, and loads of fireworks. Loads. There are fireworks every day leading up to this holiday. This is honestly the funniest thing I've seen in British culture so far.

Also because guy fox day is on our pday, we basically get the whole day off (we're spending our non pday hours doing a deep clean of the flat, but hey, can't complain). This week was a bit rough finding wise, we've been doing loads of street contacting and a street display but no results. We are also trying by all the people in our records to see if anyone is still interested. Things seem a bit rough right now, but I know that as we stay diligent and don't give up, the Lord will bless us!

Diligence is actually what I wanted to is talk about today. So I'm sure everyone is familiar with Mosiah 4:27 "a man should not run faster then he has strength" but we need to remember the second part of the verse : "And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order." The Lord knows what we are capable of and we ARE very capable of being diligent. This is a lesson that I've had to learn dozens of times, and one that I am still learning. To be diligent isn't to make new goals every day, or to talk big about the doctrine you know. Being diligent means keeping your promises and Living what you preach. The strongest people in history and the scriptures where always the most diligent. One of the best examples is Nephi. Now one of Nephi's most famous sayings is "I will go and do the things the Lord commands". I'm pretty sure this is quoted in almost every single general conference, and is one of the most well known verses of the book of Mormon, but what if Nephi didn't actually go and do what the Lord commanded? If he hadn't backed up his words with his diligence in keeping his commandments, this quote would have never impacted so many people's lives. It would have been another empty promise. We can say all we want to people, but it is our diligence in keeping the commandments and holding our standards that stand out. I promise that as everyone makes that effort to diligently keep the promises they made to the Lord and to others, they will "win the prize" 

The funny stuff:

Language barrier moment 352: sister sawatdee couldn't remember the word for vetinarian and asked if I ever wanted to be a vegetarian. I was really confused bc I thought we were talking about dogs
The numb feeling strikes again. I used to be terrified of shots but now when I went to take my flu jab I didn't even consider the pain or fear, talking at a zone conference scares me more than some needle. It's the same for crossing the street. I'm always like "I've talked to jehovahs witnesses and born agains simultaneously, nothing you do can hurt me". (don't worry, I still cross the street safely)
I have had a couple of close calls crossing the street, and they're always in one way roads because I still look at the wrong side of the road occasionally. (sorry ya'll, I'm American!)
Easy to please people are the best, seriously. Sister sawatdee will make me feel like I blessed every ancestor and descendant that she'll have whenever I buy her an ice cream
A member gave sister sawatdee and I matching beanies with two pompoms on then. (if you ever read this, thank you Helen!! We love you!) the beanies kinda make it look like you have round ears though, so sister sawatdee is always calling me hamster now. During district night too, everyone was giving each other animals and they all said I was a hamster too. (short, grumpy, and really greedy about food) (sounds about right)
A member gave us some perfume samples. I, like the clumsy Valley girl I am, promptly proceed to spill a bunch of it on my hand. At least I smell posh now.
Sister sawatdee and I were looking for a scripture to send to our friend, and we both got the same scripture. We're were both all :"whelp, the spirit has decided"
This isn't funny but it is an English culture fact: every November, england dedicates to their veterans, especially the ones who served in ww1 and ww2. There's a specific remembrance Sunday and everyone wears a red Poppy pin on thier coats or hats. They use the Poppy because during ww1 after all the bombs, before the green plants started popping up, red poppies were the first thing to grow again.
Both the Chorley flat and the Swinton flat have two little tubs of play dough. I'm certain that they were left there by the same sister. Now I just have to figure out which one.
Apparently in Thailand, their curse word for women is rhino. If you call a lady a rhino in Thailand it's super offensive. I think it's the funniest thing ever