The Sister J pose with Sister Ovcharenko. Mandatory for every companion.

8 October 2013

Friday was my 6 month mark!!! AAAAHHHHH I don't like thinking about how fast time flies on the mission. I want to stay here doing this forever! It is honestly the best thing ever. I'm glad I still have a whole year left, but the fact that the last 6 months went as fast as they did scares me. Sister Diaz and I celebrated our 6 month with gelato! 

So this week was crazy busy but not fruitful at all. We had moves day on Wednesday, which was pretty easy because I'm so central, I didnt have to go too far to switch companions. On Friday we had a fireside in Ilford. We sounded awesome, but we didnt have very good attendance. We sang a lot of new songs we have worked out and it was awesome. Saturday morning we had zone meeting in the morning at Hyde Park, then conference started at 5, so by the time we got back to our area we would only have 2 hours to work then go back, so we just stayed in South Kensington all day. Conference was great! But I was so tired, it was hard to concentrate at times. Sunday we were also in South Kensington all day for 2 more conference sessions. Between sessions, Sister Diaz and I went to Presidents flat and made dinner for President and Sister Jordan, and Elder Hein and Nolan, who are in our district. It was way fun! I loved the opportunity to serve them, because they do so much for our mission. It was great. 

Yesterday we had a special sisters training day. All 64 sisters in the mission (as opposed to the 18 that were in the mission just 15 months ago) gathered and we had trainings from Sister Jordan and the sister training leaders. It was a fun time! I got to see all my old companions (except Sister Webster, peace be upon her) and all my mission friends, it was a blast! But once that was over we didnt have time to email, which is why we are emailing today. 

It was a pretty lazy weekend, so I am ready to get back to work in my area. Our zone set a goal of 22 baptisms in October and we have a companionship goal of 2 in October, and we are ready to work our butts off to get it. I'm excited to see what miracles this week brings! Hope you all have an equally miracle-filled week!

This is the kind of random stuff you see on the buildings in London. 

Sister Rainsley, a sweet old lady in the ward that always comes teaching with us. We love her!

Our last district meeting. Sister Ovcharenko, Elder David, Mourra Netto, Larsen,  Hutchins, Gregson (with the blurry face. He is my third son), Hein, and me in the front. 

Me with Abigail, Lucy, and Ethiopia. This was the first time in my mission that I curled my hair and the wind ruined it. And also I was cold if you couldnt tell. 

1 October 2013

Band practice ran until 3 today, so I have like no time to email, so this will be short. I am staying in London North! My favorite Russian, sadly, is not. She is moving to Kings Lynn, which is like 4 hours north. I will be serving this transfer with Sister Diaz. She is from the Dominican Republic, she was in my MTC group, and she is flippin gorgeous. I'm excited to have her. She is so so sweet, and I hear she cooks really good. 

It has been a busy week, full of lessons! This week I hit my mission high on lessons taught (so far). Now I have a new personal best to beat! And our investigators are all making slow but steady progress. I'm happy with how things are going, and I'm excited to start a new transfer with renewed dedication, because honestly I tend to die at the end of transfers. We finished this one strong though. 

Oh hey, and guess what? I'VE BEEN OUT FOR SIX MONTHS!!! How crazy is that? I still feel like a baby, and I'm still not 100% I'm doing things right, but hey I'm happy to always have new things to learn and ways to grow. Keeps me on my toes. 

Talk to you all next week!

Quick reminder

Next week is moves week, so I won't be emailing until Tuesday. Don't be alarmed. 

Also, I've never been more sure in my life that I am just staying in this area. The only mystery is who my companion will be. Sister Ovcharenko could stay, or I could be getting someone else, but it is about 99% certain I'm staying.

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23 September 2013

Seven months until my birthday! Just about time to start thinking of what you will send me! 

JK everybody. Postage to England is pricey. Anyway, can I say before I start saying anything worthwhile that our upstairs neighbors have been watching The Office on Netflix or something nonstop for the past 3 weeks straight? Reminds me of me pre-mission. Every 30 minutes we hear the theme song. It's hilarious.

So things that happened this week: I went on another exchange, this time with the lovely Sister Bergstrom. She is from my group. She serves in the visitors centre/ Hyde Park ward. We had a lot of fun and met some crazy awesome people! In particular, we met one guy carrying a guitar and we asked him if he played and we had like a 40 minutes bus ride conversation with him and he showed us his music (he is REALLY good) and said he went a music school and guess who was in his class? Ed Sheeran. What?! He was a really cool guy and said he would come to our next fireside, so that is exciting. Another guy was a record producer that has worked with Donny Osmond before and apparently good old Donny shared a lot about the church with him.

We also had interviews this week, which was fun. Our whole zone got together for some trainings and then individual interviews with President Jordan. It was really good, he gave me some great advice because I was not having a super great week. Our leaders are inspired! I love the leadership of this mission, President and Sister Jordan, all the zone leaders I've had, and especially the sister training leaders. They are the best examples of Christlike love I have ever met. I want to be just like them when I grow up. 

Anyway, love you all. Go out and help someone today!

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Sister Bergstrom and I on our exchange. I look gross because it rained all day and I did not have an umbrella.

The lovely London North zone at our interviews.

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Fwd:

M&M world in Leicester Square!

Me at the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square

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16 September 2013

Hello all!

Not much new to report on this week except for our amazing new investigators, Lena and Marie.

Lena referred herself on mormon.org.uk after watching a video on the youtube channel shaytards about them being Mormons. She said she wanted more structure in her life and to turn a new leaf and stuff. She invited her friend Marie to the lesson as well.

So basically they are both awesome and funny and completely prepared to hear the gospel. They both accepted baptismal dates of October 13th! Love it! They came to church yesterday and loved it as well.

I think this is just a great example of how we can use social media to set a good example and share our faith with others. Whoever shaytards is, I love them! Way to be a great missionary using the internet. Everybody go follow their example!

Anyway, have a great week everyone!

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