Week 57! Trousers apparently!

So sisters are now allowed to wear trousers! And I have no shirts! So guess who has to get extra stuff! (me) (if you didn't guess already) I'm actually really excited about this! All the sisters are. I've had to ask help from the others about styles and how to wear them, but all is well. The mission gave a small allowance to all of us to get a few pairs each. I already got a navy blue and a maroon pair, but I plan to get Grey and black with what I have left. (the secret is charity shops) (they're the best) other than that, no life hanging news in the mission as far as I know. Transfers are this week, but I won't be getting my transfer call until Tuesday evening, so when ya'll hear from me next, I may or may not be moved.

For this week's spiritual thought, I wanted to talk about new years goals... (jk) (that's too stereotypical). What I actually wanted to talk about is commitment. There's a quote by Marvin J Ashton, and he says :'True happiness is not made in getting something. True happiness is becoming something. This can be done by being committed to lofty goals. We cannot become something without commitment.' Every successful person in history didn't become successful from talent or luck or even random miracles. They were committed to their cause and desired it with every fiber of their being. Take Martin Luther King junior for example: the thing he wanted the most was equality for all people of all colors and he was willing to SACRIFICE for it. He didn't start out as a super influential person, and everyone believed that his goal was impossible. He never let that stop him though. Another example is ammon and his brothers. Their goal was to bring the gospel to the lamanites. Everyone at the time thought it was impossible, but that didn't stop them! They knew what the lord wanted them to do, and they knew what would make them truly happy. We all know what can make us truly happy, but we have to be committed to it in order to gain that happiness. A daydream can't bring you joy, but action can. 

The funny stuff:

When we were shopping at Piccadilly, another set of sisters spotted us and one of them came and tackle hugged sister Tavares from behind. She did it so fast that I almost punched her in the face because I thought she was a creeper (not unusual in Manchester)

A squirrel popped out of a trashcan and scared me really bad (vermin)

Apparently kinder eggs are legal in Brazil but not in America? They're like the best thing ever, and the toys are huge. A law only becomes a law for two reasons: either someone did something dumb to make it a law, or some American companies don't like the kinder company (it's probably the second reason, money is almost always the answer in these cases)

Sister Tavares wants me to draw a squirrel warning sign for the trashcans (it was the ones at the back of the flat building (apartments)

Brazilian wisdom: wrap a pineapple in newspaper and it'll ripen faster. (it works on mangos too)

When I was on exchange with sister viteri (from Argentina) she kept on asking about politics and I would get so worked up. (don't talk to me about politics, I'll go on for hours) and we both had a lot of fun. I was super tired from getting angry multiple times during day afterwards though. (she would get me really worked up)

Sister Tavares and I found a really neat park in Worsley where there was a lot of people (good finding) and as we were walking down the park, we saw and got to feed some cows! Their tongues are really long.

We also took the long way around the park and the paths were really really muddy. Luckily we both were wearing our wellies. Unluckily (for sister Tavares) she was wearing her super posh looking coat (it was left behind by another sister). Sister Tavares also has no sense of balance. Plus her wellies are a lot shorter than mine too. It was really funny watching her freak out every time the mud reached farther than like 2 inches

While I was in Piccadilly today, a street performer was singing, and another street performer was dressed up as Deadpool and was dancing. Best thing Ive ever seen.

Pictures- Some pics from the Christmas party. Traffic. Sister Tavares took that while I was watching the Bible video.

We were running this morning and found a park with a zip line. 

Some really lit street art and a pretty church.

We were walking in this park with a canal and found cows and fed them! 

The park also had a fun rope thing.. Some members just got back from the Philippines and gave us candy from there. 

Week 56! Happy Boxing Day!

And merry Christmas ! For those of you who don't know, boxing day is the day after Christmas where everyone gets rid of their stuff and gives it to charity. (now it's basically Christmas black Friday, but lots of people still celebrate it the proper way).

This week went by so fast its crazy. Sister Tavares and I have no self control either so we basically opened all our presents early too (sorry not sorry) (thank you to my family and everyone else who thought of us this Christmas!) we also had a lot of time with members too so it was really fun. Before Christmas it was lots of finding and calling by people in our records. Not too many people were in or interested but we worked hard. We did have a few miracles including the ysa missionaries finding a previous investigator who is interested again! They sent his details to us and we'll be seeing him on Friday.

For the spiritual message this week, I just want to invite everyone to at some point read the nativity chapter in Matthew and Luke. I really promise that as you do this, you'll be able to feel closer to christ this Christmas season! 

The funny stuff:

Sister Tavares and I were worried that we would be late so we took a picture of the traffic. In Manchester, you can never trust travel time

As a missionary, most methods of entertainment are banned or highly not recommended, so we can be really creative when we want to do something for fun. For example: a member gave sister Tavares and I a bottle of fake champagne (sparkling tropical juice) each. Of course we decided to do the only logical thing you can do with fake champagne. We got home after the work, caked on a bunch of makeup, put on our most stereotypical posh(not very) clothes, and took a photo shoot of us drinking the juice in fancy champagne glasses. (the best part is that we bought the glasses for 50p each) (that's close to a 1.50 dollars for two champagne glasses)

When I was on the bus, this kid next to me was singing a couple of anime theme songs (I think I recognized one punch man) it took a lot of willpower to not laugh, or worse, sing with him. (you go fellow nerd kid!)

Sister Tavares family sent her some money for Christmas (packages to England are really expensive) and so far shes gotten some jewelry, belt, scarf, and a pair of Clark's shoes that were on sale. But her most prized possession is this pug onesie that she found in a charity shop for 4 pounds. Every time I mention it, she goes on a rant about how amazing it is. She's wearing it right now as I'm writing this.

Sister Tavares wouldn't let me take a Pic of her in her pug onesie until she put some makeup on. (c'mon you're in pajamas, embrace your morning face)

So in every mission (I hope), love songs are banned. I found a loophole in this. I like to sing, and sometimes I wanna sing 'Falling In Love With You' by Elvis. In order to stay within the mission rules, I always replace the word 'you' with 'food' and now it's a food appreciation song instead of a love song. Problem solved! (when I told sister Tavares this, she just facepalmed) (she doesn't appreciate my genius.)

 Normally Satan attacks you mentally and physically, but sometimes he just does petty little things to inconvenience you instead. For example: our drying machine just broke and we didn't have any thing proper to hang the wet clothes on, so we had to improvise (pictures will be included)

When we were at a members home, she had a call from a telemarketer asking her if she was in a car accident then they asked her if she thought she would be in a car accident later on (???) and she was all 'I don't understand? Am I supposed to schedule my next car accident??' 

*Gwen here.. I was literally crying I was laughing so hard at their "posh" photo shoot they did. I can't believe how many pictures they took and sent!  So dumb and yet so darn funny! 

Week 55! White elephant and funny moments.

So today for pday, we had a white elephant exchange and I got a jehovahs witness pamphlet. I was so salty, it took a lot of power to keep that whiny tone out of my voice

The worst present though was the fish. A whole raw fish. In a pretty box.

When we were emailing with the Ashton district, the topic with the sisters turned to boys and the elders were giving us looks, so I (without thinking of course) say "don't give us that look, we all know you talk about girls". Cue the elders being super embarrassed as the other sisters start laughing and grilling the elders

Sometimes I forget sister Tavares first language isn't English. I'll use all kinds of slang and I get confused when she doesn't understand me

I had put two croissants in the oven to warm them up and melt the butter, but I forgot about them and they were a burnt crisp. At least i didn't burn the flat down

Helen gave us this body butter for Christmas, and mine was peppermint scented and it smelled just like thriftys mint and chip ice cream. Exactly like it. It made me kinda homesick, but hey, now I smell delicious.

Sister Tavares and I are so pathetic sometimes. So we were sitting in town for lunch (we had an appointment right after and didn't have time to go home), and naturally a small gang of pigeons came over to watch. We dicided to put a small pile of bread pieces on the ground, and everytime a pigeon came near, we would move our feet a little, and I swear, it was like someone pulled out a machine gun. Why are pigeons so jumpy?

New hobby 54: making sister Tavares laugh really herd when she's sore, so it makes her even more sore.

I've had over 4 old ladies tell me to find a rich husband. I don't know why it always seems to turn to that conversation, but old ladies love to talk to us about our future "eternal companion"

So a lovely member gave us some Christmas notebooks (thank you! We love you!) and sister Tavares had a cute quote about rain on hers, and mine was... 'all you need is love and presecco' I've never even had a pressecco before, but it was still funny.

Sister Tavares and I regularly quote the things my parents said in the videos of Jess they sent me. Our two favorite things to say are 'Oh Snap!' (curtousy of my mom) and 'struggle you twit dog, Struggle!' (from dad) (that was the video of Jess making a nest from the blankets on the couch)

So there is this road that's super hard to cross because there's no lights and it's really curvy. Anyways we were on our way back from visiting some people and the road looked clear so we decided to cross. When we did though, out of nowhere this car came and almost hit us as we were running across the road. We both made this really wierd screams as we ran across and laughed about it the whole way back.

I was really dumb and told a member that I loved her with all my butt because my butt is bigger than my heart. Now she won't let us live it down. When we were at church, she asked sister Tavares if she loved her with all her butt too. 

Pictures: So sister Tavares and I were in charge of a snack and members gave us a bunch of fruit so we brought a pineapple and melon. I was eating the extra parts with sister Viteri.

I was trying to get something out of my teeth and sister Tavares took a picture 

We are having a white elephant exchange and my present I'm giving is a wine glass full of stickers. It's useful for t Book entries and every sister wants a fancy glass. I was planning to wrap up a big Mac but I was worries it would get gross.

The fish.

The new and improved Temple painting for Pres and Sis McReynolds. (I'm glad she had time to re-do it and fix the spelling!) 

The burnt croissants. 

The Zone Christmas party.