A Mixed Bag

This week was a bit sad--we learned on Wednesday that Jacob hadn't passed his interview due to lack of commitment, and has really fallen off the wagon into the puddle of STUPID dug for him by his oh-so-attractive recent nonmember girlfriend--more smoking and partying than ever. Ignoring that mess, on to the good news:

-Kumar has read and prayed about the book of Mormon. Huzzah!

-A guy named Adam in his twenties has begun to come back to church on his own. We were chatting about the Seattle Sounders, who apparently beat the oldest footballing nation in the world (Scotland) three years in a row? Did anyone else know this?

-We have got the raddest youth in the entire church ;)

-Ewan has been called as Young Men secretary--cheers.

-We have two ward missionaries in the pipeline, don't tell anyone!

-Ben is doing fantastic and is going to meet Bishop this week, in preparation for our trip to the temple on the 15th.

-Aleks and Karolina (recent converts) are going to the states in July, namely LA and Salt Lake City, and we promised them they wouldn't have to stay in any hotels. Help?

So I'm writing on a semi-broken keyboard and it's taken ages. This is all for now, but I can't wait to hear from you soon!

love from,

Sister Willard

Highlights

Right, so they've got a sorta-definitely-maybe unofficial mission conference on Friday, which is a headache and a half because Sister Paulsen's heroic planning skills are stuck in limbo. We would LOVE to schedule things on Friday (a whole day of finding is not what I call effective) if it's not happening, because there's little more bothersome than the mission calling to say "Conference Friday!", you cancel everything, then they call to say, "Actually, it's conference Thursday," you move stuff around with your very understanding investigators and regret that awesome DA you were looking forward to, and then they say, "Sorry! We will actually have the conference on Friday after all." Dad, should you fulfill all your dreams and become a mission president, please never do this. A house of God is a house of order, whether there's rain, snow, or tidal wave.

Anyways, highlights from this week:

-The Pedersens came to church! Sister Paulsen was beside herself. The three kids who were jumping all over the place when we first stopped by were SO reverent during sacrament meeting, and after Primary they all came up to us and announced that they learned how to pray. Miracles upon miracles.

-Baptism on Sunday, if Jacob lays off the fags. We had to tell him, "No smoking, or no baptism." He seems to respond to abruptness very well. Pray for him.

-We are singing in the stake Cantata, which is Lynn Lund's music about the Restoration. We're excited to invite our investigators to attend, and the fact that Sister Hamilton loaned us her keyboard makes mornings and nights very musical. I'm singing alto, but because I'm so loud, they've had me switch back and forth between alto and soprano to boost morale or something.

-Speaking of which, Sister Paulsen and I sang “Abide With Me” in sacrament meeting, and it was really fun. She has broken her voice box and had to have surgery, so it will be some years before her voice is back to normal. Apparently it's like when you come back from a football game and your voice is shot from shouting, except it's been like this for months. Her voice is a lot lower than the average girl's voice, and her singing range is more along the line of tenor, rather than alto (we're running out of low hymns to sing). I will be so sad when we get moved, because it's been good for me to sing parts with her and develop my range.

I've learned a lot this week about gratitude. We were speaking to a man this week, and my ears were practically falling off out of depression--you know when you have a friend who just lays on thick their many trials without any ray of sunshine or hope or acknowledgment that God is there? And it seems that they just splash and swim in the sludge of their despair until you're covered in it too and can't wait for a bath? Yeesh. It's been interesting to see the things that offend me as I serve out here--new things. Before, maybe I was affronted by poor moral choices or word of wisdom problems, but now I have complete faith in the Atonement to overcome and cleanse those things. Now the things that offend me more are gossip (particularly amongst members, who should know better), ingratitude, and wasting time. Now I'm not the greatest time-utiliser in the world, and I don't claim to be. But as I've immersed myself in the things that matter most for so long, I am offended when people say that they just don't have time for prayer or reading the scriptures or waking up on time to come to church. It makes me wonder whether these things most offend the Saviour, and I'm just barely learning it through being His representative. Perhaps he is teaching me to spend the time as He did, and lift those who really need His help, and not waste time with straining gnats.

God bless each of you, and I know that He is never far away :)

Love from,

Sister Willard

The dead pidgeon

Yep, I totally ate (or in Londondery terms: et) a dead pigeon. Apparently you can buy them from the butchers. My stomach the next morning declared war on my intestines, and both I and Sister Paulsen made good friends with the toilet the next few days.

Happenings from the last week:

-Moves successfully sees us in Winchester where we belong. Apparently President wanted to move Sister Paulsen and keep me, but over the weekend (while the Stake President and his sassy wife rubbed shoulders with President Shamo) we've managed to stay through the moves. It's brilliant because we've got so much on at the moment, it would just be stupid to move us now.

-We went to St, Peters mass on Friday with our new friend Jonathan, and he sat the head-nun down and explained the history of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith to her ("You know, the ancestors of the Red Indians?") It was amazing. We could have done no better. It was interesting to see that his heart was prepared and he is elect. Jonathan has about a year left before he is properly a member of the Catholic church, unless (as he put it) "you steal me away." He is searching for the truth, and I know that if he continues to read and pray that he will receive his answers.

-Carla and Bruna were baptised! Huzzah! 67 turned out to see it, and 83 were at church the next day. I'm so glad we didn't have the baptism in the morning, else no one would be there. Jonathan came and had some fantastic talks with members who had been Catholic before they joined. It was such a good experience. We never have to speak to our investigators because all the members have mugged them.

-Chris brought his friend Don from Christchurch. We'd planned to teach about the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and then we ended up giving the Restoration and my favorite apostasy chart throughout a history of the world--Chris was so pleased. Apparently Don had told him that he wanted to hear a history of the church, and that's exactly what we taught, even when we didn’t' plan it. Miracles! I love it when the Spirit works backstage and we don't realize till later.

-FHE on Monday found us and Justine at Carla and Bruna's house--we had proper belly laughs and talked about families. It was so fun to teach family home evening, and infinitely better that the first time was such a success.

-Our shower has been fixed! Success! After nearly an entire moves, we no longer have to do the bowl-wash.

It's been such a good week, made even better by the fact that we don't have to move. We've got two new greenies coming to the Zone, and our district is getting Elder Gong (son of the seventy) from Washington D.C. He's got a thick Southeastern accent :) I feel like this moves will be nothing short of heroic, what with Jacob's baptism coming up and formers coming out of the woodwork. Lots of miracles to be had. And we get to be in WInchester for June. Nice, nice. We are pleased to announce that in the last three weeks, we've gotten 20 lessons, then 25, and this week we have planned 36 lessons. I hope we don't get flogged.

I don't have anything earth-shattering to say, but remember that the Lord loves you, exercise daily, tell jokes, and do what you don't want to do as if you really wanted to. That is my little advice to you all. The book is blue, the Church is true. Isn't that exciting?

Love from,

Sister Willard

Teaching in the Spring

Mum's Note: We Skyped with Katie on Sunday morning for an hour. She is quickly becoming the oldest sister in the mission. We got to meet her companion from Denmark, Sister Paulson, and the two of them work famously together. Katie said that her tentative date of return is Halloween. The Diamond Jubilee will be June 5 and the London Olympics begin on July 27. Great things are happening!

From Winchester:

Right, so I'm so tired, the puddles of drool on my pillow by morning are getting to be three inches in diameter. (I found out that improvement has to be measured quantitatively, though it rarely is, so I guess I'm making progress.)

News!

-We've been teaching Jacob's mum Tina who is now reading the Book of Mormon and is convinced she's known us for years and years. I suppose we all knew each other at one point...

-A guy named Jeffrey called us up in the middle of our DA and asked if he could come to church. We taught Plan of Salvation in Gospel Principles, and it was so powerful. He would have stayed for all three hours, except after a massive discussion with one of the members, he felt silly sneaking into priesthood late. It looks like he may solicit our interior know-how (I have none, so it's all on the greenie) to fix up his Badger Farm house. It's moments like this that make us semi-regret our choice to move OUT of Badger Farm, but never mind. He's a smart cookie.

-Taught a staunch, though recently converted, Catholic yesterday. He is convinced that he will convert us, saying that all the other churches have pieces missing and that the Catholic faith is the WHOLE truth (sound familiar?) We had a great experience though, tea at the Hamiltons' and joy all around. We're coming with him to mass on Friday and he's coming to the baptism on Saturday. We figured it's a fair trade, and helpful that Brother Hamilton was Catholic once. :)

-Baptism this week. Pray lots that things will go successfully--we're picking up Jacob from Bournemouth to come and committing everyone to bring a friend. We're sitting on a lot of "potential referrals"--these mean that when we come round for tea, people invariably talk about how they have mentioned the church to a friend at work/school/soccer, etc. Our goal is to find out this friend's name (for some reason, no one ever mentions a name), pray for them, and continually discuss their progress with the member until the member officially invites us to teach them. Those make for really natural teaching opportunities, and it builds the members' confidence exponentially in sharing the gospel themselves.

-The ward is spectacular. We've got a lot of activities coming up, and we had lots of less-actives come to church on Sunday. It's so cool to see so much happening, and the members can feel the excitement. We are proud to report that as of last week, we were able to reach twenty lessons in a week, which is the mission goal for every area. I don't know if Winchester has ever seen 20 lessons before, but I can feel the Lord's guiding hand in assisting us.  It's so cool to feel His love and His go-ahead to do incredible things.

I'm so grateful to be out here. I feel more tired than I ever have on the mission, probably because I'm so old. But there's this real satisfaction in the progress I've made as a person and as a servant of the Lord. I suppose there's a point before or during the mission when you decide whether it's all a massive sacrifice of your time and friends, or whether it's the Lord's time to do as He directs because He has led you here. I've really grown in my knowledge that if someone needs something, Heavenly Father will send someone halfway around the world just to reach that one person. That's the way Jesus Christ did it--one by one. I don't know if I've made a huge impact on the areas I've served in or if I'm remembered by the people I've taught, but I do feel satisfied that the work of building His kingdom has happened, inch by inch, under my stewardship. And I do know that because He is so interested in my growth as His daughter, He sent me 5,000 miles to England to receive the best possible tutelage.

Oops, it looks like we're getting a referral. I have to go! Love you all, and the Lord loves you even more!

Love from,

Sister Willard

Baptisms

Right, so Carla and Bruna are getting baptised and confirmed on the 12 and 13th of May. They've been investigating the church for six months, went to Portugal, talked it over, and then came and announced it to everyone at church. Man, I am so excited for them! And for Sister Paulsen--she and her mum were the exact same when they joined the church twelve years ago. People are just asking us if they can be baptised--first Lina, then Jacob (whose only question for us yesterday was "what does the tree of life represent"?) and now Carla and Bruna. The Young Women are beside themselves, and I know that Carla would make waves in Primary with all the children who love her.

The problem with Mother’s Day is that there's going to be a massive party on the 13th, and I don't think we'll be able to call that Sunday. So we've gotten permission to call the previous week, if we can--it looks like the only time I'll be able to call will be before church...at 7am your time. It'll be 8:30 here if you get home from church, and that really won't fly with the member policy. I'll be able to check this email once more before the week is over to find out what you think.

Other good news:

-There are spectacular kebabs in this town. Do we have kebab shops at home?

-Our dinner calendar went around yesterday and of the first 14 days, 12 are booked for tea at different members' homes. And bishop is not satisfied with that. Elder Kerr at conference demanded that we be treated like princesses (we were blushing profusely) and it looks like Winchester Ward are "doers of the word, and not hearers only".

-Chocolate no bake cookies and Book of Mormons wrapped in gold paper (fantastic choice, Sister Paulsen) made us some brilliant friends in our old and new neighborhoods. We are trying to think outside the box and, as Sister Paulsen always says, build bridges. There's not much you can't buy with cookies, and goodwill is worth having cocoa all over your skirt by far.

-Chocolate mousse: one banana, two tablespoons cocoa, 1-2 tbs peanut butter (crunchy or smooth), dash vanilla. Blend in a food processor until fluffy. No sugar, gluten, or lactose apparently.

Things are really good, despite it being the rainiest, coldest April in years. What I can't understand is the English usage of the word DROUGHT. It's all over the papers right now--"Hosepipe Ban" "Drought in the Southwest, Experts Say" and I'm just like, then why are the buses hydroplaning in the roads? Why am I soaking wet trying to go to church? Why is everything still green? When the grass turns brown and water doesn't come out of the taps or the sky anymore, then we can talk about a drought. Calm yourselves.

Hope everything is well at home and that you all are enjoying family history and learning the missionary lessons so you can share them with your friends in the natural, normal way talked about in Conference. It makes so much sense! Read Preach My Gospel and try to explain in five minutes the Restoration. Explain it to a kid in primary. Then move up to a less-active visiting teachee or home teachee. Then upgrade to a nonmember friend or family member. It's so easy the more you practice it. This manual is meant for the members as much as it was written for the missionaries. I know that as you work with it and learn the sequence of principles taught, the gospel will become so clear to you, the pieces will fit together beautifully, and you will feel a confidence in sharing that simplicity with those you care about. Catch the vision, and the Lord will dump fruit into your lap.

Thank you for all you do, in your callings and day to day lives to support the teachings of Jesus Christ. That is the great symbol of our membership--everyone will better understand who Jesus Christ is because they know who you are. What greater sealing testament can there be on a person's life?

Love from,

Sister Willard

Sick of Moving

Hear ye, hear ye! I have served in the England London South Mission for exactly ONE YEAR yesterday! Gasp! The week was celebrated without too much missionary work, let's be honest--

Monday: Pday! Sleeping for three hours. Amazing!

Tuesday: Teaching, teaching, went to eat at a member's and felt super sick. Felt like strep, actually. Went home early. Sister Paulsen, who secretly is a shaman in Denmark, made me drink all sorts of things.

Wednesday: Sick--gargling vinegar. Found out we had specialized training on Saturday, which threw our plans to move out the window and moved them to Thursday.

Thursday: Moved flats. Out of Badger Farm and west of Winchester into a little place called Hycliffe. Sister Paulsen is a beast and has the gift of structuring. So as long as I didn't cough on anything and was obedient to my assignments, everything went well. 13 hours of moving and we were both dead. Kudos to the Hamilton’s and the rest of the elders quorum who showed up to move the heavy bits.

Friday: Recovery. Feeling lots better.

Saturday: Specialized training, weekly planning, and the adult session of Stake Conference (we had some returning less-actives attending, so we could totally go!)

Sunday: Conference. Suveer, our investigator from India, totally came! Amazing. We had TWO seventies there, Elders Herbertson and Kerr, both from Scotland. They were brilliant and funny and so in tune--so much energy!

The theme was about how we as members of the church focus on how much we SUCK and how we need to stop guilting ourselves into feeling that way. Elder Herbertson told a story of how, as a bishop, he asked everyone to close their eyes, and then to raise their hands if they thought they were going to heaven and live with God again. He started to cry, so hurt, at how few hands went up--particularly among the women who were closer to the angels than he was. It was powerful. He emphasized to us that if we "keep the commandments and endure to the end, we shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God." It's that simple.

I want you all to know that this plan that Heavenly Father has authored for us is a plan of SUCCESS. There is no need to constantly stab yourselves spiritually: "I didn't give enough to charity this Christmas" "I lost my temper with my children" "My home is a mess, the Spirit can't be here" "I didn't do that well enough" "I forgot so and so's birthday" "I don't pray for four hours at a time, I'm a terrible person" and on and on. It's shocking how well You-Know-Who gets into the hearts of those who desperately want to do good and be good. But we need not listen to him. We have the Father of our spirits on our side, the one who controls all the elements and inspires us to be better out of love and not duty--He wants us to get through this life with flying colors, and with His help, we WILL. I know that the life I'm pursuing right now is not perfect. But that is not what the Lord asked me to be here. He asks me to keep His commandments and endure (or enjoy) to the end. It's so simple because God wrote this plan. Only when we complicate it with our extra commandments and standards and comparisons to others does it become unachievable. So help me, I've been out here long enough and taught the Plan of Salvation enough times to know that I am going to do everything I can to get to heaven and live with God again. I'm doing it right now. He knows it. I feel His Spirit guiding me to do it, and with that influence, I am changing to become more like Him.

For all of you who feel like you can never measure up to Bishop or Sister so and so, stop it. The only person we are asked to be like is the Saviour Jesus Christ. And NONE OF US is going to be exactly like Him in this life. But when I see someone stand up to let an elderly woman take his seat on the bus, or when I see little sisters sharing, or when a mum stays up late to comfort a sick baby, or when I see young men working hard to make their parents proud, I want to tell them that they're doing it! They are making steps to become like Jesus Christ. It does not really matter how many steps we make in this life--just that we are making them, moving forward, and trusting with optimism and confidence that one day we will recognize Jesus because we will be like Him. With the ordinances of the Gospel and with the Spirit's guiding influence, we will make it someday. I promise you that.

I'm so grateful to be out here and to show the people of England that there is an alternative to a life of material wealth and stress and depression. When we live with the knowledge that we can change, that we will see our loved ones again, that there are People who love us more than we can comprehend because we have the potential to be like Them, life is like black-and-white turned 3D Technicolor. Keep pressing on and being better. I will stop beating myself up and speak to the Lord about my weaknesses instead. After all, He gave them to me so that I would come to Him in the first place :)

Love to you all! The field is white, already to harvest.

Cheers,

Sister Willard

All our Investigators are Leaving!

Right, so usually the drill is that we missionaries move around, to the chagrin of our investigators. But Jacob has gone back to Bournemouth, Lina is all baptized and headed to Taiwan to visit her mum, Carla and Bruna are in Portugal...depression. It's actually really sad. But even with all these investigators gone, we've got plenty to get on with--moving flats is no mean feat, especially when the missionaries have been there for over ten years (we'll be leaving fun treats for the neighbors...and a few Book of Mormons...)

Fun things from this week:

-The few seconds we have to go finding are brilliant. Late to an appointment, we asked directions from what turned out to be a move-in from Croydon. He talked to us about being missionaries, and we gave him a Book of Mormon and found out where he lives. Such a cute man. And we basically taught the Plan of Salvation to a lapsed Catholic who came to check the insulation (I feel like that's not allowed, but too late!)

-Jacob is amazing! He's read all of the Pearl of Great Price, and we met his mum this week. She was studying with the Jehovah's Witnesses but determined that their stance on blood transfusions is a bad idea, so gave up on it. We did our utmost to praise her son and help her realize the incredible changes he's been making to be a member of the Church. We've got a veritable army waiting for him--YSAs, bishopric, missionaries--when he gets back to school. Praying desperately that everything stays on the up and up.

-Lina is still solid, but we are going to need help from the Chinese elders. We've gotten to the point where she looks at us like we're aliens too much for comfort, so we'll see if Elders Chu and Huang can give us a hand :)

-We finally got to see the last session of conference, and I loved Elder Ballard's talk. The man gives such good stats every time he speaks. I'm bummed they can't speak about what they REALLY want to talk about because we're not there yet.

-1 baptism for Southampton and 3 baptisms for Hamble River (they totally got mugged by Chavs on Easter) so that means 5 baptisms for our little district in less than a fortnight. Whew! If their other family goes through on the 28th, it'll be like 9 or 10 total. Amazing! The Lord of the Harvest is hastening the work out here. Really fantastic kingdom-builders as well.

We've been discussing why the droves aren't joining like they did in the days of the Apostolic Mission, and I have a few factors: 1) There have been missionaries going over these areas for over 100 years, so caches of super-prepared hearts are difficult to come by, 2) the General Authorities say life is much more difficult now than it ever was for pioneers--what with all the distractions and family breakdowns and busy pace of the world, it's hard to sit and think, 3) the standards for missionaries as well as for those considering baptism have gone up several notches, and 4) We missionaries need to build our faith and learn how eternal life and salvation is NOT cheap and very hard to gain. I'm grateful to be the missionary who plants and the missionary who prunes and occasionally get to be the one holding the bucket while fruit falls from the sky. It's incredible work and the most rewarding thing I've ever done. I don't feel special out here or like my talents matter, but I do love feeling part of this well-oiled crew working for the Lord. It's such a blessing to see the fruits of so many hands.

I hope everything is well at home, and know that I'm thinking about you all! Keeping sharing the gospel in a natural, normal way and you will see miracles happen ;)

Love from,

Sister Willard