Week 53: Letter to Mom

Hey Mom!

I’m doing well. Truly. It’s crazy that it’s been over a year since I’ve been here though. Just seriously so crazy. But I have loved it. I’ve learned so much. I’ve learned so much about how to rely on the Lord. I’ve learned to just love people. I’ve learned some Spanish! I’ve learned guitar. I’ve learned just how much my family means to me. I’ve learned what it means to me to marry a worth priesthood holder one day. I’ve learned what it means to me to one day get a good education. I’ve learned to appreciate having a car and that I hate public transport quite a bit. I’ve learned how to get along with people I may not like very much. I’ve learned how to share my feelings and work through them. (The bus I’m on right now has a flat tire and we are in a random village. Oh no! Hope we can keep going…) I’ve learned how much music means to me and can mean to other people. I’ve learned how to ignore creepers. I’ve learned how to talk to complete strangers. I’ve learned how to enjoy public speaking more. I’ve learned how to live with a diverse crowd of people of various backgrounds and cultures. I’ve learned how to really pray and receive answers to those prayers. I’ve learned to laugh in the rain. I’ve learned how to think quickly on my feet. I’ve learned how to eat on the go. I’ve learned how to recognize and follow promptings of the Spirit. I’ve learned how to not judge others. I’ve learned others can receive revelation for me and be revelation for me. I’ve learned to trust blindly (to an extent). I’ve learned that mom is always right. I’ve learned to be grateful for what I have. I’ve learned how to use my talents to bless others. I’ve learned a lot. And I’m so grateful that you have supported me all the way!

 Love, Lyv

Week 52: My Week

Monday: We had a chill pday and stayed in the Wakefield area. We then went to go see L with the Burnetts who gave her a blessing to help her have the strength to stop smoking. It was really lovely, M kept handing me her Frozen dolls which was cute. And we had a really good lesson about the Atonement which really helped her understanding. We then ended up going to go see Grandma Nolan for a bit and sang some hymns with her.

Tuesday: We went to go see E, but we discovered that she really isn't interested in the gospel. We did some door knocking, and then brought dinner to a couple in the ward who just had a baby. We then went to have tea with some members and the food was all pink! They gave us like a casserole that they had put beetroot in that made it all pink! It was nice though. We then went to have ward coordination, and that was our day!

Wednesday: So we went to district meeting per the usual.... And then afterwards we had a bit of a crazy day! We went to see E, a man we started teaching last week and taught most of the Restoration. We then had to run to go see A and L and had a good lesson with them. I managed to sort of bare my testimony in Spanish about eternal families, and it was really great. They had to really pay attention... lol... but it brought the spirit and it was great. We then had to go out to a random village to have tea with some members. We then went to go L and had a good lesson with her about the sacrament. But mostly we just sat and listened to her. M wasn't there, so we didn't have any distractions and she could tell us everything. It was really good.

Thursday: #throwbackthursday Went in exchange with Sister Wood! It was fun! Knocked some doors, realised that it was super weirdly familiar even though it has been months since we were together. We also scheduled someone at the door, that was pretty cool. And then we also visited this really old less active Jamaican lady, she was really sweet. And yeah. We had a good time being together again. 

Friday: After travelling back to Horbury and after having a flat inspection and then doing our weekly planning..... We went to go see L and really committed her to stop smoking. She was hesitant at first, but then she did agree after a bit. So that was awesome. We then went to have fish and chips with Grandma Nolan. And then we had practice baptismal interviews with A and L. We went with L and Sister Luna interpreted for the elder who was conducting the interview. It was really good. And quite helpful to see where they are both at in their progression. We then had English class and an FHE which was way fun. And I feel bad because I was like the only native English speaker playing a game that involved copying down a scripture, and because I knew the scripture, I didn't have to look at it too often to be able to write it down. Oh well.

Saturday: We did some things for L to help her stay committed to not smoking. Brought her dinner at one point, brought her by some other things. It was fun to do and she seemed to really appreciate it. We had lunch with a lovely member family, visited a lonely elderly lady, and yeah. Had a day. 

Sunday: What a disappointment. Yup. No one came to church. So many broken promises. Church its self was good, but man, always so disappointing when people say they will come, but no. Nothing. Oh well. We tried. We went by to see A and L after church to see what was up, but they had the plumber there and their fridge had just broken... yeah. They are a bit stressed about all the house work they want to accomplish. Yeah, it's crazy. We then went to have dinner with some members in their super posh house. They were lovely. We then got caught in a lot of rain.... that was crazy. We then visited an elderly man who is kind of less active and read some of the Book of Mormon with him. It was an alright day, just disappointing.

So that was my week! I hope that you are doing well and seeing miracles happening in our life! Love you!

Sister Barret

Week 51: Zone Training

This week has been pretty great! It started out with us going to go visit A and L and having a family home evening with them. The next day we got up early to make sure we could get to Huddersfield on time for our interviews and zone training. It was really great. Had some instruction on listening and really helping people to come closer to Christ. We went home and then had a meal with some members and had ward Coordination. Wednesday was a bit crazy, had some potential lessons that didn't work out, and did some service and had pretty good day. Saw L and A. And then Thursday was also a bit crazy, more lessons didn't quite go right... but then Sister Wood and Sister Eschgfaller came to go on blitz and we went to see C while the other sisters went to go see a potential that worked out! And then we all went to go see L and A and had a good lesson with them. We then had tea and saw L after the sisters left. Friday, we did lots of knocking. And had English class. Saturday we saw a recent convert, an old investigator and some members. Good day. And then Sunday, no one came to church, but it was still a good day. Knocked doors, visited some members, and then visited a less active man. I have loved being in Horbury with Sister Luna!

Love you guys!

Sister Barret

Week 50: Snow??

Monday: We went to Huddersfield to have pday with the zone. We also got some much needed lightbulbs, we had been going around in the semi dark.... We went home then via the train to go see L! She was doing well. We then headed off to see L and A. We had a nice FHE with them about faith and how we can build our faith. We related it to Nephi building a boat. It was pretty cute. They gave us some Colombian food, that was nice. It was like this thick fried corn tortilla, pancake thing with cheese.

Tuesday: We tried by someone, but she was about to head out, so hopefully more luck next time. We were going to Middlestown, but to get there, we took a bus to a certain point, and then practically hiked up this hill the rest of it. It was really lovely and we went by some nice houses, but it was all uphill and got a bit tiresome after a point. Knocked some doors and went by some other people without a whole lot of luck. So we headed back to Horbury and knocked in another place we had picked. It was a nice little neighbourhood. It was funny, at one point, I realised I needed a toilet, but there wasn't anywhere nearby to go, so I basically started praying so,done would let us in so I could not only share the gospel, but also use someone's toilet. Yup. We get to this one door and before we actually knocked, this old lady opens the door wide and says, come in! We gave each other a questioning look because no one does that.... and then walked right in. They were a very sweet elderly couple, but it was evident that they were getting on a bit, not quite all there. We had a sort of chat with them, ended up singing the hymn Onward Christian Soldiers (it originated in Horbury!), used their toilet, and then headed back out. Had to go out again a ways away to get to our tea appointment, but they were lovely and got us back in time for song practice and ward coordination! There is something just so cool when you hit just the right harmonies. 😊

Wednesday: Had district meeting, as per the norm. I had a Snickers with hazelnut, which may be better than with peanuts. After our meeting we went to L's again to help her around the house and to have lunch. We spent the rest of our day knocking doors and such. Went to a members home for tea, and I have never seen people enjoy their ice cream so much, I had to try hard not to laugh! We then went to go see A and L again, where we had a good lesson about the full gospel of Jesus Christ. They are amazing.

Thursday: Lots of knocking and walking. We went out to Flockton, but we had to go by someone on this ward list who lives out in the middle of nowhere.... it was interesting. I think this is where some of the frozen precipitation started to fall from the sky. So lame. We later went by L and found her in and had a good chat with her. We then had tea at a members home which was a lot of fun, they were hilarious. We then spent our evening at ward council.... which was pretty boring, I admit. It's hard when I don't know who most of the names were. I'll get there in time.

Friday: After our planning and things, we headed out to Middlestown again to try by someone who said yes... but they weren't in. Also, it started kind of snowing again. Odd weather lately. Because of how absolutely freezing it was, we ended up going to go see an elderly lady in the ward to see how she was doing and to invite her to come teaching with us the next day. We had language class, which I agreed to teach for some reason. It's funny, I had prepared to teach Spanish speakers English.... but then none of the Spanish speakers showed up! Basically all my preparation out the window. At least there were people to teach, so it was still good. We then had a bit of an FHE activity afterwards where we played a game that very closely resembled Mafia, but it was wolves instead. We had a good time with it.

Saturday: Tried by someone, and they weren't in, always such a disappointment. Why say yes when you don't mean it!? We visited J, tried to see E, knocked on some doors, went by A and L and ended up having dinner with them (Spanish/Colombian food is way nice), and then we tried to see L.... keyword being tried. She wasn't in again. The struggle.

Sunday: So we went to church, it was ward conference. It was really nice. I really enjoyed Relief Society, talking about unity in diversity, it was lovely. Heard the phrase pish-posh for the first time in forever. We did our musical number, me, Sister Boome, Sister Adamson, and Sister Carlton. It went well, got convinced to solo part of it.... 😐I've decided I live that hymn, We Are All Enlisted, go listen to it if you can't think of which hymn it is. After church though, we went to A and L's and had lunch, and then went with with to church for a second time for us! They are technically in the Wakefield ward, but we apparently have permission to teach them, so yeah. It was interesting. I love church, and there were a lot of good things, but the second sacrament meeting at the end of it all started to get a bit rough, had a harder time paying attention and things. Plus I was trying to keep M quiet, so that creates another distraction. It was nice though. After church, we went to the Adamsons for tea, and I already really like Sister Adamson. Not only was the food great, but afterwards, we took dinners to two lonely older ladies in the ward, and she came with us to visit a less active man we are trying to help! And then she took us home. She is the best, nicest lady. I think I've mentioned before, this ward has some absolutely amazing people in it!

Just a little thought from my reading this morning, Moroni 8:16, for perfect love casteth out all fear. A nice little reminder 😊Hope you are all doing well! Love you!
Oh! And happy Valentines Day! ❤️

Sister Barret

Week 49: Welcome to Horbury!

Monday: So last pday in Pontefract... so we went to the little museum which was pretty cute. Looked around there and took a couple of photos. After pday, we went to go say goodbye to O and then we had a little FHE with the Gs who are amazing. We played Dobble, which I forgot how much I like that game. And I'm not that bad at it either! 

Tuesday: Transfer day! Had to finish packing.... I have a bad habit on my mission to do fast last minute packing, all stressed out. It's great.... And because of various reasons, we had to kind of wait this awkward amount of time before we could head to the train station. But we eventually got to the train station after stressing for awhile to wait for Sister Majcs new companion before I left twenty minutes after her arrival. She arrived, we waited for my train, my train came, I got on the train, Sister Majc helped me with my luggage and then the train left for me to go to Huddersfield. With Sister Majc still on the train. And her new companion just sitting in Pontefract, not knowing anything about the area, all alone. Panic quickly set in. But we then spoke to a lady on the train and she gave us information for the fastest way for Sister Majc to get back to Pontefract. We let our leaders know what had happened and the ZLs headed off to be with Sister Marston since Sister Majc would take a bit of time getting back. So we got off in Wakefield and waited for her train back. While we were waiting I realised I was in the wrong place! I was supposed to stay on the train to go all the way to Huddersfield! Wakefield and  Horbury border each other so in my mind it all made sense, but I was supposed to go to Huddersfield to meet my new companion! So since Sister Majc was with me, I was able to call my ZLs and tell them what happened and they said it was alright, someone would come soon enough. So I saw off Sister Majc back to Pontefract and I went and sat down for awhile. Time passed... after a half an hour I started getting pretty worried. And so what did I do? I prayed. Yup, my first reaction when I'm lost as to what to do.... I had lots of ideas of what I could do, but I felt like I should continue to wait. I prayed that someone would come to help me, hoping some missionaries would just show up already. Help did come, but not in the way I anticipated! So it had been about forty minutes at this point and I was just like, well, people know I'm missing, hypothetically they know where I am, I don't know where I am.... I was kind of lost in a depressed train of thought when a man comes onto the station and was like, hey, you don't look so happy! You okay? Got talking to him, he identified me and himself as Christians, he was pretty cool, from Jamaica,  listening to his reggae.... and he let me use his phone! Thankfully, a long time ago, I had written down some potentially useful phone numbers in case I was ever needing to speak to someone and I didn't have a phone, so I was able to call my ZL in York and get someone to come get me! So after being alone for about an hour, I was picked up by the senior couple who works in Wakefield, the Burnett's, given a snack, and then I finally got to meet my new companion! Sister Luna! She is from Mexico and comes up to about the height of my elbow.... Okay, maybe not quite that small, but you get what I mean. She and I then went home to put my stuff down, did a bit of running around, and then headed to a members house for tea. We were at the home of an elderly couple who were lovely and quite chatty. We went by some people and then headed to ward coordination. We turned up rather wet because of the rain... Sister Boome, our ward mission leaders wife, went all mom on us and told us we should wear our hoods and carry brollies. She is really sweet. 

Wednesday: Had to head off kind of early for District Meeting in Dewsbury.... The ZLs wanted to come to our meeting, that's why. My district is kind of big, and it is all elders outside of us and Sister Burnett which is new to me. All of my past districts have been "sistricts", and the only elders were the district leader and his companion. Now it is us, three sets of elders and the Burnetts. For sure a different dynamic. After the meeting, we went home, tried to go by our investigator L, and then we went to go do some service for a lady in our ward, L. Helped her move this huge set of drawers up her tiny staircase into her room. That was fun. We then did some knocking and finding and things and then met up with a sister for tea. She has us call her grandma, which I still feel a bit funny about, but she really is so sweet. We went to this really nice place called 42. I had fajitas. Apparently the first time Sister Luna had fajitas was here in England! She is from the state of Puebla, from the middleish of Mexico, and they are apparently not really a thing there, but more northern Mexico. Fun fact. After being with her, we went to go see our investigators... who actually live in Wakefield... and don't speak very good English... I ended up sitting there kind of lost because at one point one of them got kind of upset and so Sister Luna stopped translating... yeah. It was a bit awkward. I feel like lately, God has been trying to tell me to learn Spanish. I'm going to start putting forth a bit more effort on that. 

Thursday: We knocked some doors and tried to go by some people without a whole lot of luck... We went to go see our investigator, E, and had a lesson with her. Got to meet her children which was nice. We went to another members home for tea, they have really cute twin boys. And their food was really good. Kind of got into a lengthy conversation about politics... I think especially since Sister Luna and I are Mexican and American, people really like talking to us about Trump. Which has been interesting. After tea, we went to go visit an elderly lady, C, from the ward. She was lovely. 

Friday: After we did all of our planning and studies and things, we went to this random little village, Nethertone, for awhile. I should say, I am apparently in the smallest area in the smallest zone in our mission. I cover Horbury, Ossett, and then some random villages like Flockton, Overthorpe, Grange Moor.... some random little places like that. It isn't very big and it's pretty posh a lot of it. But the members are really great, as I mentioned before.  After being in Nethertone for a bit, we headed to have tea at the Hs. One of their sons kept calling me Mrs. Barret because he had a teacher at one point called that. It was cute. After a lovely meal with them, we headed over to the chapel for the language study class! That was fun! There were only really Spanish speakers learning English, apparently we were a small class that day, in the past there have been Portuguese and some others. After the class we went to visit grandma.

Saturday: Went by more people and things didn't exactly go as we wanted, but oh well. We visited J, had tea at the Ks, and then tried by various people. Not our most exciting day.

Sunday: Church! I of course had to bear my testimony and introduce myself. We also ended up teaching a primary class. And then I sang Scripture Power with another sister in Relief Society. After church that same sister and Sister Boome roped me into doing a musical number next week at ward conference. After church we visited L and A briefly. After church we did some things and then went to pick L to bring her to the Bs for tea. And it was like the whole B clan, it was great. Most importantly, L enjoyed it too! We then went to go visit W with J. And then we visited the Cs, who are a lovely older couple in the ward. Fun stuff!

Hope you all have a good week!