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!

Sacrament Meeting Talk

29 January 2017

PROMPT: Things That My Mission Has Taught Me and How That Has Helped Strengthen My Faith in Jesus Christ.

(I actually did this talk off of a few bullet points... So this is me kind of recreating what I said yesterday. You will hopefully get the message though.)

I left home for my mission almost exactly a year ago. Which feels like forever ago. For those who have never served a mission, being on a mission somehow simultaneously feels like it goes by in a blink of an eye and yet a separate lifetime as well. It has gone by incredibly fast. And things are constantly changing as a missionary! If I look back to who I was a year ago, I have certainly changed in many good ways. I have gained so much and I have learned so much in the process of trying to help my brothers and sisters come closer to the Lord. I was asked to speak on this topic of what have I learned, and I had a hard time figuring out what it was that I wanted to speak on, because I could be here for hours talking about different experiences and things, and I don't think any of you want that. So I have limited myself. A lot. 

There are a lot of things that I had to learn since coming on my mission, like having to figure out public transport, never did that at home! 

I've had to learn how to get along with different people from all over the world, that's been a fun one! 

And because of that, I've learned the importance of telling someone how I feel when something happens instead of letting it just simmer to a boil. It is so much better when you just resolve the conflict early on!

Because as companions, we have to rely on each other, I've learned that for sure. I would no way be able to do this work on my own, I need my companions!

Not only have I had to learn to talk better with people I know, I've had to learn how to in general, speak to people I had met two seconds earlier, let alone then bringing up the gospel to this complete stranger. Still haven't perfected that one. But I've come to find that people are nicer than you think.

I've learned how to take on more responsibility in my life, there have been plenty of things I've had to do that I may not have wanted to do on my mission. There is a lot of trust that goes on in a mission nowadays I feel like. We really have to be accountable for our own actions.

I've learned just how much the Temple means to me, it's been almost a year since I've been able to go since it isn't in our area, I miss it so much!

I've come to realise just how truly my life has been blessed by the gospel and I would not be anywhere close to where I am today without it.

There are two main things that I wanted to speak on today. The first one of these things was that since coming on my mission, I have learned just how to and how important it is to rely on my Saviour. This took me some time to learn, I have been a member of this church all of my life and I didn't really get it till recently. I certainly didn't get it when I was 13. I have always believed that God is there, I just haven't always understood just what that actually means for me. When I was 13, my father passed. I didn't get it, I didn't understand why, and I didn't really see how God was helping us out at that time. Now, looking back, I can see how events and people fell into place that helped my family get through the difficult times and that was one of God's ways to show he cares. I sort of thought I was just toughing it and pulling through, but truly, it was only through His help I was able to manage. Since coming on my mission, I have been able to see that heavenly help much quicker in my life, and I have really learned how to call it down better. So after I had finished my time with my trainer, I was entrusted with someone new to train. I prayed so hard. I didn't really feel like I knew what I was doing. We would make plans and sometimes those plans failed, but somehow, we would be guided to where we needed to be. I remember one surprisingly warm summer day, my companion had worn a sweater and was dying of heat. So instead of making her just suffer through for making an odd wardrobe choice, we went back home so she could change. I then had the idea to, instead of going back to where we were in the morning to go to where we were on her first day. We went there and started knocking on one end. It wasn't sitting right with me, so we went to the other end. It didn't feel quite right knocking on that side either. At this point my companion started to look at me like I was crazy when I made us start over again on the other end. We knocked a few doors when all of a sudden a woman opens the door and exclaims that she hasn't seen missionaries in forever and that she was happy to see us! It was great. We then went on to have a lovely conversation with her and found out that she was an excommunicated member. We were able to talk with her and show to her that she wasn't forgotten by God. It was crazy. Another experience comes to my mind when I think of relying on the Saviour. We were teaching a woman and she was ready for baptism. Her baptism was scheduled for the same day as another baptism and Nancy's wedding, which I'm sure you all remember. So we had announced it on the Sunday before, and during sacrament meeting, I was sitting there wondering how on earth it was actually going to work out. We didn't have any set plans, we weren't sure how we were going to make it what she wanted... There were just a lot of moving pieces. I sat there during teh sacrament and I sat their in prayer telling Heavenly Father that I knew that He would help us work things out and that I was going to trust Him, that He has our best interest in mind. Throughout that week, as we took those steps forward in faith, things started to fall into place and her baptism happened and it was an amazing day! This experience reminds me of the experience Nephi had when he had the desire to get the plates but didn't know how. In 1 Nephi 4:6, he said, And I was led by the Spirit; not knowing beforehand the things which I should do. I get what he was talking about now! Well, a little bit more at least!

The second thing that I wanted to talk about is love. Love for others, especially random strangers on the streets. My favorite verse that talks about this love and charity you need to have while on a mission is from Moroni 7, Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail--But charity is the pure love Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day it shall be well with him. I mentioned earlier, I don't really like people all the time. I love them, but, you could probably at times count me as the anti-social type back home. I have had to work at this from time to time. Because it was hard for me to talk to people all the time in the first place, and then to love them and care about them after meeting them 30 seconds earlier... I had to develop some charity. There is a quote that I love that has helped me to see people better. It is by C. S. Lewis, It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses. To remember that the dullest, most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature, which, if you saw now you would be strongly tempted to worship... You have never talked to a mere mortal. There is a thing we sort of say as missionaries, that as we go about, we need to see people dressed in white. Not only the white of baptism clothes, but the white of temple clothes, because that is where we all want to end up one day! Remembering that we all have that same potential as children of God has helped me to have that greater love for my brothers and sisters on the streets of Pontefract. I have certainly learned that this work that we have all been called to is a labour of love. A very rewarding one at that as well! But it really is all about love .We need to have a love for God and his will. We need to have love for those we are serving as well. And as we do so, our love grows and grows. I don't think I have felt so much love in my life for the most random people until I came on my mission. My friend who was baptised who I spoke of earlier, she became less active after awhile. I of course left and I wrote her a couple of times with hopes that she would come back. It wasn't till last week, so a few months later, did I receive a letter in the mail. I was so excited when I realized who it was from! As I read the letter and she expressed her gratitude and that she was attending church and seeing the sisters... Words can't fully express the joy and gratitude and just love that I felt for her. It was amazing. My heart just burst a bit! It is interesting to see the difference from when I first met her to now. I am just so grateful that I do know her and have been blessed to be able to see her grow and help her progress back to heaven.

God is there. This is his gospel. He loves each of us inside and outside of this building. He has called us each to this wonderful work of His, helping our brothers and sisters to come home to Him. None of us can do it alone, I know I for sure I can't! I know how this gospel has blessed my life and also the life of others around me. I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen

Week 48: Transfer 9

Monday: Yay p-day! We met up with the F's at a restaurant since their family is all male... So we can't exactly go to their home, but it was really nice of them. Pretty good Italian place in Xscape. We were then going to go visit S, but because she was feeling ill, she cancelled. Which turned out to be a good thing because then we were able to meet up with the STLs to go for a bit of a split with them! Sister Connolly and I got into this really long conversation with this one guy... That was interesting.

Tuesday: Did some good old knocking as per the usual. Went to go visit J and had a good chat with her. She is really starting to put forth more effort in her progression back to church! We later went to the W's again and shared a meal with them. We headed then to the chapel for a quick ward coordination meeting and then we had our first bible study class! It went pretty well we think. O came! Brother Barton taught it this time and it was so fun. We only got through the first ten verses of Genesis, but it was very educational! We talked about a lot of science that goes into the creation of the world, it was pretty amazing to think about.

Wednesday: Had to go to York! We were having interviews with President! And instead of us just sitting around doing nothing, we had the opportunity to receive training from the AP's, which was really great. It was on teaching and how we can better teach people not only about the doctrine, but about what it is that the doctrine can do for us. It was awesome. And then in my interview with President Turvey, we talked a bit about how much longer I have in my mission and then he basically told me that I am getting transferred. And then when I was in with Sister Turvery she told me that Pontefract was probably getting elders... So that was fun. The whole thing took a few hours and then we headed over to Selby with the rest of our district. That took a bit of time... But we then went with the sisters on a short split before we had to go to the chapel for the worldwide missionary broadcast! I went with Sister Calles to see one of their potentials. It was good to have chat with her since she is about to go home this week. So we then got to watch the broadcast as a district. It was pretty cool. the first part, they were talking about how to teach better, but then they went on to make the announcements about the new missionary schedule and key indicators. We are only counting four indicators, baptised & confirmed, new investigators, church attendance, and investigators with a date. So that is quite interesting. And then as far as the big points of the schedule change, planning is in the mornings, we have time for journalling, companion study should be between 30-60 minutes, p-days can start at 8, lunch should be only 30 minutes... That is about it. That actually starts on February 1 for us, so we are starting it with the new transfer basically. Pretty crazy! After the broadcast, we went to the Selby sisters flat because there wasn't a good way to get home at that time of night and we slept over!

Thursday: So we headed home... Where we discovered our heating no longer working! Yeah... that was cool... pun intended. We had to head off though and we saw H and started teaching him! So that is pretty exciting. We then went out to Normanton to go by some members and less actives. When we came back to Pontefract, we actually met up briefly with the man that Sister Connolly and I had met on Monday evening who we spoke to for forever. He didn't like that we are two young women going about who knows where late at night... So he was giving us something to help defend ourselves with. It was very nice of him! Don't worry, I'm not in that scary of a place! ;) We then went to the chapel to prep and teach the church history class that we are also starting out! People came to this as well, so that was pretty fun. We brought snacks.:)

Friday: Thankfully, we had a flat inspection, so we could talk to them about the fact that our heating was broken. That was useful. So we were able to get into contact with the heating engineer people. We headed off to see K for a bit but then had to come back home to let in the engineer to fix our heating! After that, we went out, we headed of to Featherstone, went by a less active couple, and then headed off to see M. Sadly, she and her kids were sick, so we just tried to do our best to help her out a little bit. Hopefully we don't catch anything!!! Afterwards, we went to get fish and chips where our investigator works so we were able to have a chat with her!

Saturday: Wen to go see Y, who was also feeling sick, so we took her dog, Jake, for a bit of a walk. We went and knocked and went by more less actives again. In the evening, we went to the chapel for a bit to make a digital copy of the ward list since the other one was lost.

Sunday: We went to church! Yay! And not only did we do the music again this week, I gave a talk! Whoo! At least I was given basically the best topic ever, I was just told to speak on what I have learned since coming on my mission, so that was awesome. After church, we went to Knottingly to visit some less actives and members. Started to rain at one point, that's always fun... We haven't had a ton of rain, so that has been nice. But yeah, we then went home and later found out about transfers! And I am headed off to Horbury! I don't really know anything about it! My companion will be Sister Luna! Who I have never met! But I am excited nonetheless!!!

So here is to another transfer and many more miracles to come!! Hope you all have a good week! Miss you all! Love you! xx

Week 47: Fireside

So.... This week. It's been pretty good. We have been able to do a lot of good finding, which is great. We have some pretty good things set up for this next week that we are excited about. So yeah, lots of knocking on doors. Friday my lower back started hurting really bad, so that has been fun to have to deal with. It isn't that bad, it just sometimes makes me have to walk a little bit slower and lay down more when at home, but other than that, it's been fine.

Sunday was probably the highlight of my week. On Monday, President had invited me to come to this investigator fireside that was happening on Sunday to sing. Sadly, we couldn't find anyone to come with us, so we ended up going on a bit of a split with the Doncaster STL's, so I got to go with Sister Pro! Companion reunion! We went with her investigator and a member to the mission home, which is a great place, let me tell you. Such a beautiful home. I do love President and Sister Turvey. It was also fun to see some other missionaries I haven't seen in awhile. The theme of the night was "A Change Of Heart", based off of the verse in Alma 5, which is a great chapter. It was such a lovely evening. Missionaries gave little instructions and experiences of theirs, there was a time where missionaries and investigators and members could bare their testimonies, the spirit was so strong. It was amazing. There were a number of other musical numbers along side what I sang. President accompanied everyone who needed accompanying. I sang a song entitled "Stay With Me", not the one by Sam Smith which was my first though, but by Michael McLean. It's nice. Sadly, I don't have a video, but I may have the opportunity to sing it again, so that'd be cool. President gave some remarks and he showed some really funny videos about resolutions and making a change in our lives, along with the theme about having a change of heart of course. It was all really great. I loved the theme that they went with, it's one we can all hear! Just made me think a bit more of whether or not I am truly allowing for my mission to change me and help me become more of who God wants me to be as I strive to help others come closer to Christ as well.

I hope that you are all doing well and that you have a good week!!! Love you!!!!

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Sister Barret