Week 64! Does this make me Moana?

So I'm officially on the Isle of Man with sister Ryser from Switzerland! The travel here was surprisingly easy. All I had to do was to the Manchester south building and hang out there with all the other missionaries until my lift came. All the trainers were there and then president and sister mcreynolds came with the greenies. All of us extra missionaries had to stay quietly and respectfully in the sitting rooms while the greenies and trainers had their devotional. (so of course we're all pressed up against the doors looking through the windows.) I was dropped off at the sea terminal in heysham. It was a long time alone, waiting for the boat and being on the boat, but I enjoyed it.

So the island is BEAUTIFUL. 100% 10/10 A++! It had this kind of beachy feeling and the buildings are pretty different from England. It's pretty diverse here too. Lots of people move to the island for work. The ward here is super nice too! There was a wedding this week too so lots of French people were there.

Anyways this week's spiritual thought is on one of Satan's best lies: my choices don't affect other people. That is so wrong because society is built on people's behavior. James E Faust said: "All immoral behavior directly impacts society. Even innocent people are affected. Drug and alcohol abuse have public consequences, as do illegitimacy, pornography, and obscenity. The public cost in human life and tax dollars for these so-called private choices is enormous: poverty, crime, a less-educated work force, and mounting demands for government spending to fix problems that cannot be fixed by money. It simply is not true that our private conduct is our own business. Our society is the sum total of what millions of individuals do in their private lives. That sum total of private behavior has worldwide public consequences of enormous magnitude. There are no completely private choices." it's also in the scriptures that we will only prosper in the land if we keep the commandments. If you notice, almost all the 10 commandments are about how we treat others. They're not just for our own happiness but for the happiness of our brothers and sisters. Luckily that's why we have repentance. When we repent and turn to God, we can not only be relieved from that burden of guilt, but we can also have our desires changed. When that happens, our thoughts and desires change to become more like Jesus Christ's and we'll be able to choose how our actions affect our family, positively.

The funny stuff:

The first hour of transfers was STRESS. So I was supposed to get my ferry ticket through email, but it didn't come (luckily mission office sent it just in time) then I lost my luggage bc I didn't know where the elders put it. It didn't help that someone told me if I missed the ferry, I would have to stay the night in Liverpool. Obviously my stupid brain assumed that meant a night on the streets.

We were so rushed transfer morning that I didn't eat breakfast but I did have 1/3 of a bag of beef jerky. I'm so healthy.

While I was on the boat ride to Douglas (in isle of man) I was on the top deck and I was chewing gum, and it was SUPER windy. Me being my stupid self decided to blow a bubble in like 365 miles per hour wind. Luckily what didn't happen was the gum going all up in my hair, but what did happen was that my gum took flight and sailed into the ocean. It looked like a tiny little hot air balloon. It was my last piece too.

My first day on the island, we had planned like 30 minutes in the chapel to sync the area book, and there was a few members there setting up for a wedding. Well the bride is an absolute genius, and was using branches, leaves, vines etc...  to decorate the chapel for her wedding (from her family and friends yards). She discovered ivy all up the stone wall around the church so sister ryser and I got to help the bride take ivy off the stone wall to decorate. Best service project ever.

The bride (annaelle) also showed us the ring box which was a simple glass box filled with moss. This wedding is going to look like the forest. It'll be so neat. (and cheap)

We were in a town called Ramsey, and it was WINDY. Like it was bad. My hair looked like it was floating and when we were walking to a members home, this small cloud of everything you could possible have on a seaside sidewalk (mostly sand) decided to attack us. Our eyes hurt for a long while after that. 

Pictures:

-Me on my long lonely boat ride to the island.

-There's a mini castle called the tower of refuge (you have to swim to it so I won't be going) and here's what a typical street in Douglas looks like.