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.

Week 54! Miracle Week!

So this week was insane.. It started with exchanges with the stls in stretford. I was with sister shepherd again and we had a really good time. We made some goals during the exchange and after we got back, sister Tavares and I tracted this street and found three new people! The next day we found one more on the same street! After that, we got a call telling us that interviews were that evening so we had all Thursday evening in the ysa building. The rest of the week went really well too, and on Saturday I got a call to give a talk in sacrament meeting! So all in all a very busy week.

The funny stuff:

Language barrier moment #244: sister Escalon bought a cute cup, but she didn't realize what it said on the cup. It said may contain prosecco. That's wine, but she didn't know it was another word for wine

Every time we get to the bus stop to go to Hyde, there's always some body/people who are yelling. Without fail.

At the stls flat, we watched the movie Mr krugers Christmas  (lds produced) and I was still in missionary mode, and when mr Kruger was all sad, I said that he just needed fellow shippers and it was the most cringy missionary thing to say.  (it's a cute movie, really old, but cute) (my guess is the 1980s when it was made bc of the size of the ladies hair)

When we were tracting, we knocked the door of this super spunky lady who was sooo nice! While we were talking to her, her kids kept asking me and sister Tavares to say random phrases because they liked our accents, they all freaked out when I said ya'll (yup I still say ya'll). It ended with her kid yelling "say bye (name)"!!! Needless to say we will be coming back, and I am prepared to use several cheesy, stereotypical American phrases the next time we see them.

While we were at a convenience store, this drunk dude saw my name badge, was all like "are you a Mormon!?" and then he showed me the 666 tattoo on his neck. Thus is why we shouldn't go to convenience stores after 6:30pm in Salford. (it's our only dodgy area)

Pictures: Jacobs baptism. Haley and Sister Paschen had been teaching him in Chorley before Haley was transferred. She wasn't able to go back for his baptism, but the other missionaries sent her some pictures. 

-The Kellogg building at Christmas time

-Haley and her comp and the Ashton missionaries all emailing. 

-Some watercolor cards Haley painted for the members in her ward...and a Temple picture she painted for her Mission President and his wife. (I pointed out to her that she misspelled Holiness. lol! Poor girl! Maybe she'll have time to re-do it.)

Week 53! I think someone died

So someone did die, sister Tavares dog died a few days ago which is really sad. The person I'm referring to will be in funny moments.

So this week was really slow going, lots of finding and not much results, but sister Tavares and I are making plans to better our finding skills and increase our diligence so hopefully things will start looking up. We have had some technology issues these past few days though, for some reason our what'sapp and Area Book apps (both very important for missionary work) have both disappeared. The Area Book is annoying but we can still use it on our tablets or plan the old way like loads of other missionaries do. It's the what'sapp that hurts, we need it to contact a lot of friends. I'm sure it'll all be fixed soon enough though. Our tech elders are pretty great!

For today's spiritual thought, I wanted to talk about perseverance. A quote I heard a lot on my mission is: you only fail once you stop trying. Another is: motivation follows action. Perseverance and is also like playing piano, you can read all the theory you like but unless you practice and make mistakes, you'll never master the piano. Perseverance can also be seen as another word for repentance. We aren't perfect and will not be in this life, but the purpose in life is to prepare to live with our heavenly father again, and no unclean thing can dwell with God, so how do we do it? When we repent and keep pressing forward, then Jesus christ promises that he will perfect us.

The funny stuff:

So sister Tavares found a scripture on the tag of one of my dresses. John 3:16. Apparently there's a scripture on every forever 21 bag too according to her. Hooray for Christian companies!

A sister from our ward accidentally called us thinking we were a missionary who had previously served in Swinton. It was cute to see that the missionary had left such a good impression.

During zone conference, sister McReynolds made everyone raise their hand if they got the flu jab, and only about a third of the zone raised theirs (including me) (but I got sick anyways). She made a new rule that everyone either has to get a flu jab within the next week or they have to message her personally that they won't be getting it. I feel for the missionaries who are scared of needles. My arm was sore for a good day after mine.

Also during zone conference, President told us how the prophet told everyone to take their vitamins in preparation for the coming year. I really don't like the sound of that.

Brazil is super religious too. We got some herbal tea at a Brazilian shop for sister Tavares and there was a scripture from Luke on it

I got to pet a reindeer!!! There was a display at Salford town center with two reindeer. They were a lot shorter than expected, but still very cute. I also commented on how good the reindeer would taste and now sister Tavares is mad at me. (but it would taste soo good!!) 

Things other missionaries have said #23: today was great! For our service project we got to sing in a choir. You know what was the best part of the choir was? Me singing on it! (real humble, good job elder)

So we were in our flat, and this dude started screaming for a really long time, and then another dude screamed he's freaking* dead, super angrily. We figured we probably shouldn't go outside for a while after that. (I hope the dude wasn't actually dead)

So one of the youth in Swinton got the calling as the bulletin board person, and he got it updated for Christmas and made everyone stop to acknowledge it before they went in the chapel. It was pretty funny.