Week 34
England-
-Its amazing to me how many middle eastern restaurants there are here. You'd think I'm back in Jerusalem with all the kebabs and schwarma shops around here lol. The elders especially love to consume that kind of stuff, we went last p day with the district to get the hugest schwarmas I've ever gotten haha, pretty good considering we got it from a tiny shop in the pouring rain in england rather than the holy land
-this week we went on exchange in Stamford, which is in the way southern part of the mission. It is sooooooo incredibly cute there!!!! I would love to serve there someday. It is a big area with a car and has loads of these proper adorable English villages and towns, just how you imagine in the movies. Yes, so presh. I was in heaven, driving around the beautiful English countryside :)
Funny
-we were having comp inventory (tbh I never really know what to say during those cause all my companions have been so good so I haven't really had any issues) and i asked sister kim what I can improve and she just said so seriously, "nothing, you're just like this happy Christmas fairy" hahahaha nicest thing anyone has ever said to me!!! I love sister Kim
-btw, I have a lot of sneaky pictures of sister Kim snoozing... that girl can fall asleep anywhere! On the bus, train, Church, studies, etc. It's so cute and funny, all the sudden she goes quiet and I look and she is out!
-some members have started combining our names, now we are just collectively Sister Baskim lol
-same member who called us sister baskim was telling us about his insane mission. He actually served In Leeds, but back in those days went to London for the mtc. No one told him where to go at the end of the mtc, so he ended up in London in a trio with some missionaries just sight seeing everyday. Of course since he was new he had no idea what to do so he just followed along til he had no money left, he called his parents and someone coordinated him to get up to Leeds. It was all complicated to get him up there but once he got up there, the mission President was like "we were wondering where you were!" Haha So sent him to his area and a month or so later was Christmas, they were out at a members and came home and their 4 man flat was on fire! It burnt down On Christmas! So they had to go live with some other missionaries way far away and get rides to the area everyday. About a month later he got transferred, and then that first weekend in the area broke his leg. Rip! So sad but the way he tells about the disasterous first six months on his mission is sooooo funny
-so at zone conference this week, President Turvey was giving some instruction and then starts talking about cheerleading, and had all of us go and make up cheers for our zone, then we all competed. Hehe it was so fun, we did a fun little cheer off at the end, it was kinda weird to be so loud and the most rowdy I've ever been as a missionary lol but got me so hyped and excited, fun mems. and Nottingham won so boom!
-the other day I was organising the book shelf where we keep pamphlets and book of Mormons, which brought me so much joy. It's right by the door, and we have a Jesus picture taped outside of the floor in the hall. I over heard a little kid outside our door say, "does Jesus live there?!" And I hear the gma say, "oh yeah" and the little kid was like "what!?!?!?! I thought he lived in the sky!?!?!?!" Hahaha and then the grandma said, "oh yeah, but sometimes he lives there too" haha like Jesus is this mystery santa clause or something lol. I almost opened the door and was like, "hey Jesus is out right now" or something but didn't. It was funny tho. Jesus does live here with us :)
-we tried to burn every last mormon.org card that we have... didn't really work out but trying to dispose of them lol
Spiritual
-President Turvey and the assistants talked a lot about the gathering of the 12 tribes of Israel at zone conference, how this is the most important thing that we can be involved in right now, not just on our mission here in England but our mission in life should be to gather all of God's children to know about Christs restored gospel. It is so amazing that we get to be a part of this! Helping others learn more about the Saviour and Heavenly Father means everything to me right now.
-the law of averages, ever heard of It? The more people you talk to, the more likely you will find someone who is interested, it's bound to happen. That gives me so much comfort and I've seen it a lot on mission. Even if I have a bad or awkward "pitch," it doesn't matter because if people are prepared they will accept the gospel, and I won't have to convince or persuade them to believe, that's the Holy Ghosts job, everything always just falls into place with Gods help. I'm doing everything I can to be better and be the messenger that God expects me to be!
- sister Kim is killing it. She has no fear and stands right in front of people to stop them, it's awesome. Im so proud of her, she's my role model
-there were so many good messages from zone conference, i wish I could just send you all my pages of notes lol. So good
-i hope you all are doing the book of mormon challenge to finish by the end of the year! I get so much strength from that book it's awesome. I just love studying, sometimes I wish I had all day long to study and read the scriptures
Joys
-had a tea appointment on exchange with an adorable sister in the branch, she reminded me so much my great Grandma pat! With her styling fashion and cute paintings and doing so good considering her age. It was so lovely, she made us the most extravagant and extra English meal that I've had in a long time. So fun
-over half the nights this week was spent having slumber parties with sister training leaders/other sisters in our zone! So fun party
-we had a Nottingham #iam fireside on Monday night after p day, boom. I love how this zone has a little tradition of a fireside at the end and beginning of the transfer. It helps us stay pumped and get unified together as a zone
-exchanges with sister Keung and Atkinson in Stamford! Love em
-on exchnage, we went to the Burghley house, where they filmed pride and prejudice!!!!!! the house was closed but we still got some pics. We had a lil picnic on the grass and it was so lovely
Cheers mates! Xxx sister Bascom