Week 71
England-
- last p day, we went to Whitley bay and got fish n chips and ice cream and wow, it was extravagant. I love the seaside! Afterwards, we went on a blitz with the sisters in North shields and cute sis alwiraikat and I went back to Whitley bay to preach and found a new friend florin, who speaks romanian! So cool
-don't you worry, we still celebrated the 4th of July up here in england. We taught another dance class for the yw all decked out in usa stuff, then we danced around in the kitchen to America the beautiful and made banana bread at 10.15pm. Merica
Funny-
-our friend Chris is so awesome and funny! And guess what he found my mission blog that my mum updates for me!!!! Lol, shoutout to you Chris. He told me to put the title of the email "Just a diglet on a mission" hahahaha. He's doing so well and super excited for his baptism in a few weeks!!! It was his first time coming to church, and he said that one thing was bothering him. We asked what it was and it was this wood structure thing at the front of the chapel. I assume it's just for decoration, doesn't mean anything, and that's what we told him. He told us that he used to doodle that same exact wood structure thing when he was little! Whoa!! meant to be
-so Idk if any of you remember our friend Thomas, he's a funny lad. He was super chuffed about learning more and loving the book of mormon so far, but the other day we went to teach him with a member and whoa it was wild! He was acting really different from how he usually is, and saying some interesting things. Like how instead of saying "amen" after a prayer, he wanted to say "awomen" or how he thinks the bible is backwards and Jesus didn't feed the 5000 but the 5000 fed him... with words. Hahaha Idk it was such a funny and interesting lesson
-we had mlc this week down in Leeds, so the zone leaders in Newcastle picked us up on the way down and drove us there. They were being all joking and saying we needed to go to the mission office afterwards, and sister swallow and i were convinced that we were getting a car! When we roll up there was a brand new car, and Elder Pearse (who's super cheeky) says whoa look at that brand new car! And sister swallow and i were chuffed! But long story short it wasn't for us, and the elders just needed to go there for something random and non related. :/ tears. But we got ice cream and each of us ate a whole thing of Ben and jerry's lil ice cream tubs on the drive home. Idk why I thought I could do that and not get sick, I've never ate that much all at once ever in my life. haha sister swallow and I were so wrecked bless us
Spiritual-
-president and sister green are incredible!!!!! I love them! They love the missionaries so much and are so excited to do this work! The spirit was so strong as we met him in Newcastle as well in Leeds for MLC. They were telling us their story giving out a book of mormon on their first day to the neighbour, it was so presh and awesome. When they spoke to us, I knew that the England Leeds Mission is in good hands :)
-MLC! Everything was focused about the power of the book of mormon.it was so good! Ever since then sister swallow and I have been using it so much more and seeing some proper miracles!
-okay this is probs one of the coolest miracles! So we have been praying specifically to find a prepared family for us to teach. While I was praying the other night for comp prayer, sister swallow had "dale crescent" pop into her head. We looked it up and there isn't a Dale crescent in Darlington or our area, so it was up in the air. On Saturday, we were planning and praying about where we needed to be, and felt like we needed to go to a street called langholm crescent (where the part member south African family lives) and the intersection with fife road and be there right at 2.30 pm. So we got there right at 2.30 and I couldn't believe it! Because the house that is right at that intersection on langholm CRESCENT is DALE and Marcelles house! :O chills!!!!! We knew they were out so we went by later that evening and brought them a family proclamation and children book of mormon (they got married last week so it was a little gift.) They absolutely loved it and were setting up times to meet again! Ahhh!
- we were trying by this girl we met, and she wasn't in but we were standing by her door and this man drove up and asked if he could park on the street. We got chatting and he was so happy to meet us, he was born and grew up in england but had been living in Canada for the past 30 or so years. He said he loved hearing "I'm trying to be like jesus" from the tab choir! We shared a book of mormon with him and he was so grateful and we have been emailing him! I feel like I'm not explaining this well but it was so cool, Yes ralph!
- our friend David is doing so well! We invited him to be baptised at the end of this month. He is so prepared and building his conversion on the book of mormon, so so cool!
Tears-
-all my pins in maps me that I have laboured over to make so perfect and organised are gone!!!! :( I was proper sad because I wanted to show my mum them, I was so proud of them. Oh well I'm glad it happened now and not a few months ago!
-we had a proper basher this week. So you know how we were going to be in that spot to find someone that one day, so we see this girl walking down the street, and she was really nice and chatted with her. Then this older bloke was walking into his house (we were right in front of his gate) decided to join in. I thought it would be good, but then he just went at us, saying we don't know anything, we know God isn't there, etc. It made me feel so sad inside, that this guy wouldn't even let sister swallow and I share our testimonies but he just assumed for us that we know nothing, that we are in the wrong and are blinded by our faith. I KNOW what I know, and no one could ever change my mind about the fact I know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are REAL. I loved what president green shared this week to us: truth is discovered, it cannot be created. God will always exist, whether or not we choose to believe in Him. Boom! But you know what, we took it all in and it's moments like that that make my faith even stronger. We stood there and instead of fighting back, we let our light shine and i know he will remember that!
Joys-
- district lunch at wetherspoon's, got a delish burger mmmm
-exchange with sister xu (pronounced like shoe)! She's presh. We saw the trio and walked Gills dogs. The night they stayed over her and sister yang made us some Chinese food!!!! So yum. And we got some balloons and wrote down our weaknesses and what weighs us down, then we set them free! It was really cool
LOVE YOU ALL!!!!! I hope you all read some of the book of mormon this week and never forget to pray!
Xxx sister Bascom xxx
