Week 4: Fun Finding

Fun finding is a true phrase in our mission. As I shared with you, finding can be kind of hard here in the North East of England. So we have to just try to make the most of it. We always try to first start conversations off on a casual, friendly level, and then transition to the gospel. It is a struggle, but if we don't, no one will ever talk with us. We also always say, "my friend and I are volunteers for our church" instead of "my companion and I are missionaries." People always assume the worst when we say that. Also, we get a lot of people thinking we are Jehovah's Witnesses.

York Minster, largest cathedral in Northern Europe

Day 26: P-Day! And guess what I did!! We went into town and did some fun stuff. We went to see the York Minster, which is absolutely gorgeous. We didn't go in though, that will be another day. We also went to a bunch of fun shops, including a Cath Kidston store.... I just wanted to buy everything there. But I didn't. Instead, we just tried things on and took a photo. We met up with some other sisters in the Zone, as you can tell. Sister Wood and I also got these really great vegetarian sandwiches that had like lentils and mango chutney.... It was super good. We didn't do a whole lot else....Oh we brought Elder Narine chocolate like we said we would!

Always spelled wrong :)

Day 27: Shortly after leaving our place, we saw the coolest funeral procession. That sounds terrible, but it is true. The coffin was covered in flowers in a white carriage pulled by four white horses. That person wanted to go out in style I suppose. We asked someone, and no, not everyone in England does that. We did a lot of knocking, which was kind of boring since not many people would talk with us. One door we knocked, we thought the cat nearby the door was stuffed.... Until it turned to look at us surprising us both! We are so smart... We had another lesson with C, and he is still doing well! We are doing our best to answer all of his questions!

River Ouse

Day 28: We had district meeting, which is always fun stuff. Had to give a spiritual thought. Not much else about that... Oh! I got my first letter from home! Love you mom! It took 9 days with the detour to the mission home. We went out finding again, once again not finding a whole lot of people who were willing to talk with us. We also got flogged (stood up) a lot, which is never fun. But one of them, A, we ended up running into on our way home and taught him a bit right there on the street. Taught some doctrine, ended with a prayer, it counts! It was a good ending to a kind of hard day.

Day 29: Sister Wood started out this day with some excitement. She had eaten cereal, and it wasn't till the end of the bowl that she realized that it had gone bad. Yeah. So she dumped it out and came into the room I was in, in a panic asking what can go wrong if you drink spoiled milk. Thankfully, she was fine in the end, but we were both a bit worried throughout the day. Also, I had a Yorkshire pudding for the first time being here in Yorkshire! They are pretty good. I enjoy them quite a bit, though I really don't understand what constitutes as a pudding anymore... If anyone has a good explanation, do let me know.

Day 30: It has been a month since I reported to the MTC! What is this!!??? Time has been flying by!!! Today was a bit of a run around day. We went to visit Elder Narine again (who can now walk a bit!), later than we had planned because President was there... And then we got caught on a bus so we were late for a lesson with C. And then we had to run for a tea appointment with the Bishop's family. I'm sure that was a great sight... The two of us in our skirts with bags, running down the road....

York City Wall

Day 31: So after a few kind of rubbish days, today was heaven sent. We had such a great day. We had started out with some knocking and we talked to some great people. Talked to this one Evangelical Christian guy wearing a Dr. Who shirt, gave our card to a lady who said she used to investigate, talked with some other random atheist and such. We left that neighbourhood feeling good. We then went past some people Sister Wood had met before I came. We knocked on their door, they said it wasn't a great time because they were having a struggle with family related issues, we offered to help them clean up a bit, they said maybe and we exchanged numbers. We were heading back to our flat to use the toilet and grab a list of people we were going to stop by when they called us back and asked for our help to clean. And so we did. We helped them for a while, taught them a bit, prayed with them, and then I actually asked them about baptism. They weren't super keen on the idea, but I figured it was worth a shot. We went home, had tea, and then went back out again. Oh, and just to let you know how small my area is.... There are Elders here too right? Elder Vickers and Elder Cornish. We ran into them at four different times today! Four times!!!! It was crazy. Usually we don't see them at all, maybe once or twice on accident. Four times. So weird. We went to go visit an older woman in the ward that night, P. She wasn't in, but her daughter R was who is less active. We decided to chat with her for just a minute, until we got a phone call. This person called twice, and usually we don't take them, but for some reason, I picked up. It was the lady who took our number at the door. We thought she was just trying to shrug us off then, but she actually wanted us to come by. It was like 8pm. So we once again went running down the road to go meet with her. Her name is S. She let us in and she proceeded to kind of just tell us her story. She doesn't know why she and her family weren't baptised, they investigated for a long time over ten years ago. She has had some struggles recently with her health and her family. Her daughter actually said to her recently, "Hey, remember how happy you were when you were learning about the Mormons? Maybe you should talk to them." Yeah, I know. We knocked on her door like a week later. Apparently the Elders had knocked there like three weeks ago, but she hadn't opened the door. So she wants to have us keep coming around! We are pretty excited about her!! We left her house so happy. We ran down the road because we were so excited. And it was like 9pm.... But it was just so brilliant after a slightly rubbish week.

Day 32: Yay church! Sadly, neither A or C could make it. They both had pretty valid excuses though. We were walking past this one lady's house who has said that she isn't interested, but then she came running out of her house calling after us.... So we think we may try to teach her....

All in all, I would say that it has been a pretty good week! Certainly had it's ups and downs, but it has turned out alright in the end. Hope all of you are also continuing to take life's ups and downs with a good attitude, you will be blessed if you do!! Hard work and determination pays off. :)

Love you all!!