Winchester Plague

Due to my bad habit of putting everything in my mouth from infanthood, my immune system still remains like unto steel. However, with Sister Sebald's slight figure and fussy stomach, she had no chance fighting off the virus. After our lunch appointment Tuesday, her legs started swelling and I took her home and tucked her in. Next day we stayed in. Brother Hamilton gave her an awesome blessing that promised that if she would just rest and take her medicine, the virus would be gone by morning. He also brought a lemon-ginger-honey brew for nausea, apple vinegar to gargle, a dead chicken, paracetemol (I think the equivalent is aspirin, but no one here knows), and a gallon of onion and garlic soup that he'd blessed to be the right medicine for her. He made us both eat a cup of it before each meal, which meant our house smelled vile and I couldn't participate in the Zone Fast :( But true to the blessing, the only thing that remained in the morning was a stuffy nose and a slightly sore throat. The swelling was gone, and she was able to attend Zone Conference.

Conference was rad. The Shamos talked about discouragement and rejection, we met Mary from the Bible Videos (she's from Bristol, and all the elders got stupider with her in the room), and we said farewell to Elders Rantsha (Botswana and Edinburgh) and Karjalainen (Finland). They will be well missed, since Karjay was assistant the last year of his mission. He exuded enthusiasm and the unseriousness of missionary work, which both motivated us and put us at ease. (The English tend to be very, very serious.) Elder Rantsha's companions all complained that he walked too fast for them. :) We've got some great missionaries in ELSM. We got to see the missionaries from the Islands, and rumor has it that Kernek and Christensen will die together to make way for elders to work on Jersey again. President also said anyone who can breathe, walk, and bear testimony will be training soon. So...don't feel special.

After Zone Conference, we attempted to work the next day, only to have Sister Sebald relapse. We stayed in Saturday after teaching Lynda ("Don't hug me, I know you're ill!") and yesterday after ward conference. We'll see how pday turns out. The trouble is, we've got a workover coming from Tunbridge Wells (Sisters Housley and Allred the Elder, gasp) and if she's unwell, there's really no point. But I have confidence, if she just SITS DOWN AND RESTS that the promises of the Lord given her in her blessings will come to pass and we'll be able to finally go back to work.

It's really weird to have all this time off. I swing from frantic spells of cleaning and letter-writing to adventures in baking (I made the most awesome stir-fry and Irish Soda Bread from scratch) to feeling apathetic. Happily there are a few conferences on DVD in the flat, so I've been able to hear October 2008 and not go completely crazy. There's not much you can do when you're not allowed away from your companion, as much as I would like to weed the garden...Housley and Allred come tonight at half-eight, so I hope Sister Sebald will feel well enough by then. Tomorrow is pancake day, and Sister Housley started telling me about it starting in May. I'm well excited ;)

So yes. Not much news. But the weather is warming up--everyone was saying how mild a winter it was, and they're all saying it's over. Global warming would really help out, I think. By the grace of God, only one really mild winter in England! Huzzzah! Onto the English spring ;)

Be thankful that you can go do missionary work anytime, anywhere, by yourself or in a group. Our opportunities for that kind of work in this life are perishable. But they reap eternal rewards for everyone involved :)

Love from,

Sister Willard

So many less-actives at church!

Elder Day told us Elder Ballard come to Yorkshire to speak, and he stood at the pulpit and said, "I'm sure you're all wondering why us old fossils get up here and say the same things every six months. Well--(hits the pulpit with his fist)--when you start DOING it, we'll talk about something else!" When I heard that, I felt a lot of empathy for him. We've had that experience of speaking in church about missionary work and how important it is and how easy it is and how you retain a remission of your sins by doing missionary work, and you KNOW that it's just falling on deaf ears. That's a tough pill to swallow. That's Nephi2, Elijah, Samuel, and Jesus' story.

I'm so pleased to be serving in the rad Winchester ward. Bruna came to church yesterday with Bea, and Laura was saying how all the YW entered into a secret combination or something to be her best friends ever. It's working; first youth, now she's in the Road Show, and then she came to church.

The same thing happened with Karolina. She was baptized in June, and her mum almost stopped her (age 17). But Karolina's stalwart example led Aleks to take the lessons and be baptized in September. I hope Carla recognizes Bruna's testimony and how the church changes us for the better. Miracles, miracles.

I think being a missionary doesn't necessarily endow you with power to perform miracles all of a sudden--I think it only equips you with the ability to recognize them. Miracles happen all around us. I've come to expect them on a daily basis because of my experiences. It doesn't mean life is easy or ideal or suddenly full of roses, but when you're absolutely exhausted and disappointed and you stop to get some food for dinner at eight and the best frozen pizza in town is Buy One Get One Free, I consider that to be a miracle. Those little mercies help us keep going. All those potential investigators, Noreen asking us to do service in the form of baking cupcakes for the soup kitchen, and sun when it was supposed to snow. This week my favorite miracle was that Bishop saw the state of my boots (I was trying to make it through the winter, but I was making the Church and America look bad) and took me to get some brand new ones. Who does that? I'm pretty sure you get celestialized for buying a missionary shoes.

I'm so grateful to be here with Sister Sebald. She's such a good missionary and a great teacher. I'm trying to learn all I can with her, in case I take over this area. I'm secretly hoping that President will have me whitewash train, because I loved getting trained that way. Sister Housley is now a traveling training sister, which is the equivalent of a Sister AP, and her purpose is to go on exchanges with sisters across the mission. Zone Conference this week--I can go! Huzzah! There are so many people dying (leaving for home) this next moves, including our longstanding Assistant Elder Karjaleinen (from Finland). There will be like 60% turnover by the time we get to May, which is really weird. We're almost the oldest group in the mission! Weird.

Hope all is well at home...Howard's almost leaving! That's so exciting!

Love from,

Sister Willard

Snow again!

So we were worried that church would get cancelled because it was coming down hard and fast. Everyone didn't want to chance the buses and started calling for taxis, which left us as the only shmoes waiting for AGES for a 5 to Badger Farm. The snow here is just like the stuff at home. Happily it didn't last, church went forward as usual, and Sister Sebald and I taught about personal revelation in Relief Society (get it by being obedient, praying, studying the scriptures, and following the prophet!) and I got to conduct my very first choir. It was so fun! I couldn't keep rhythm because More Holiness Give Me was rewritten to be 6/8, so I just did 2/2, made goofy faces to get them to look at me, and worked out the dynamics a little bit. Because they're English, their vowels are already really good :) I hope we get enough to sing at Ward Conference in two weeks.

-The 40 day fast is proving to strengthen the members' resolve to share the Gospel with their friends and coworkers, which is TOTALLY how this area will grow. They're bearing testimony about cool experiences over the pulpit and we're just smiling to encourage them ^_^

-The Book of Mormon DVD is proving very successful--people are more likely to take a DVD over a book these days. We just have to keep telling the office to post us more.

Things are going well. Rumors are rampant through the mission (or, at least with us) that we might get whitewashed next moves. The history of Winchester goes something like this: Elders, 7 moves, Sisters, 7 moves, Elders, 7 moves, and we are on the 7th move for sisters. But it would make sense because apparently we've got 6-7 new sisters at the end of this moves, Sister Housley's group has ten weeks left, and President refuses to do the 6 week train. That leaves Sisters Priestly, Johnson (Mills and Jonutz are already training girls from Hong Kong and Pakistan respectively, so they won't train next moves), Allred the Younger, myself, Sebald, and Binnie as the oldest in the mission. Gah, stress.

The ward is rad and we're hoping we'll find a real investigator soon.

Best of luck to you all! Keep helping those missionaries and tell everyone what you do on Sunday!

Love from,

Sister Willard

Snow!

So we woke up to big fluffy flakes outside this morning, and people keep leaving the library door open. They need to repent. It's delightful to have p-day with us once more, AND to have MONEY to buy a BUS PASS! Huzzah! No more walking all over creation and wearing out shoes that need to last another nine months.

Updates on Winchester:

-No new investigators this week, but we've had some really cool conversations and teaching experiences on the street, and we found a potential named Shawn who is willing to listen. The ward is still going strong with their fast for us, so we're trying to capitalize as much as we can.

-Our recent converts are solid. Chris got his patriarchal blessing yesterday (finally) at the stake center in Southampton. No word from him yet, but I've no doubt it blew his mind. He's got a few friends that have been intrigued about Mormonism ever since he joined, so we're encouraging him to arrange an appointment.

-We taught 8 RCLAs this week. Ewan is ill, so it's looking bad to see him next week, but he and Jack Marston got on famously. Ewan is 23, well talented (art, graffiti, models, canvas) and really funny, but he's just antisocial. (I can relate). I think next week for church we will go and pick him up so he'll feel more comfortable.

-There were 4 less-actives to church yesterday! It's awesome! After so much time spent in Weymouth with no reaction from anyone, I'm pleased to see that people do come back in the end, if they're prepared. It's like joining the church again, I guess.

-We taught formers Carla and Bruna this week:

Since they were Winchester's only investigators for about two months, the sisters taught them as best they could, brought in members, and made it all the way to tithing (the last lesson before baptism) when they didn't want to live the word of wisdom. Apparently Portuguese food calls for a lot of alcohol traditionally (look out, Howard) and they weren't willing to give it up. So their baptism for Christmas Eve was postponed. They stopped coming to church and stopped progressing altogether. After fasting and prayer, Sisters Kernek and Sebald dropped them. Bruna is continuing to come to youth, but she doesn't speak to the missionaries really.

Sister Sebald decided to drop by. After many attempts, Carla opened the door and did not look pleased to see us. Whatever spirit had been in their home during the transforming teaching weeks had fled, and the place felt cold and dark. Sister Sebald told me to stay on the couch and speak to Bruna while she went into the kitchen and asked Carla what her problem was. Then it all came out: all the financial problems, the fact that she'd lost her job (the job she got while meeting with the sisters) after she stopped coming to church; they were having to sell the car and move and she wasn't buying enough food for herself; all the anger as to why God would let this happen. Carla really softened under Sister Sebald's influence, and she was much calmer and Bruna was really happy by the end of our visit.

We set another appointment for the weekend, but there was no answer. It's tough. She hasn't got a job, but her 13 year old daughter has two Blackberries and a Macbook, Hollister clothes, and their car they need to sell is brand-new. It's just a mismanagement of money, that's all. What I really know is that they are not ready to hear the law of tithing. We left them providentliving.org in their letterbox, but I think there's nothing more that we can do--maybe future missionaries, maybe Bruna's Young Women, maybe a new member friend, but now is not the time (at least, not for us) to bring them into the church. Poor Sister Sebald. They were her miracle.

I'm so grateful for the Church and how it truly prepares us for life. If we abide by its principles, we can avoid massive consumer debt because the things of this world don't matter much; we spend more time with our families and spouses because we want to be with them forever (and therefore spend less time at work); we avoid getting cancer due to alcohol or smoking; our relationships are enriched and we're much less likely to end up in prison because we understand that everyone is a child of God...the list goes on. Sometimes tragedy strikes. Oscar Wilde says that in life there are only two tragedies--when we don't get what we want, and when we do. He's right. I'm grateful for prophets and apostles who aren't afraid to tell us NO because they can see much farther than we can the consequences. The needless consequences of decisions that would bind us hand and foot. None of us needs to live in debt or be morbidly obese or even be obsessed with World of Warcraft. These are silly diversions that enslave us, literally. I'd rather test my strength on tragedies given me by God Himself to help me learn and grow, rather than waste my time and energy on trials that came because of my own wrong decisions. I know that God will never give us anything we can't handle, but I have full faith in my own stupidity that I can.

It's interesting to be a missionary and try to explain that this Church will help anyone overcome anything. They don't believe a platitude like that because they've not experienced it. That's where commitments like, "Will you come to church with us on Sunday?" come in. They have their agency, but we do our best to testify and teach correct doctrine so they will make those changes. That's about all we do in the grand scheme of missionary work. It's tough when they don't choose to accept a commitment, but we can't force them. We merely invite. The only baptism ever recorded during Jesus' ministry was His own. I think that has grand implications for us. Even if no one in Winchester looks on mormon.org like they said they would, at least I am. That helps me.

Thank you so much for all your support and love and prayers. They're needed here--there is someone searching for us, and we're trying to find them. Pray that we'll find them.

Love from,

Sister Willard

Happy Birthday

Well, my birthday involved Sister Sebald making me a cake (a battered Mars bar) and buying me a secret stash of mittens and German cookies that taste like graham crackers with chocolate frosting :) And then we went to see Noreen, a less-active lady, who threw together a birthday party for me, and THEN we had a third party at the Hamiltons where I pulled a birthday cracker and got an emergency sewing kit that he ended up using to fix Sis. Sebald's boot. Happy days for all! Here's who we've been teaching:

No new investigators yet, but we've been working with Noreen and her 22 year old friend Justine, also less-active. She and I were friends in a previous life, and I guess she just didn't mesh with the previous sisters. It's so cool to see that the Lord puts you where you need to be exactly when you need to be there. I'm grateful for the opportunity to teach these sisters--we've also got Aleks and Karolina, mum and daughter baptized in June and September. They're so solid. And Chris! That was delightful in every way. He's schooling us on the priesthood and he's well excited to become an elder, probably at Ward Conference.

The ward is fantastic. It's very friendly and family oriented, and it's really nice to be in a streamlined chapel again, It was weird not to teach Gospel Principles, but I think I would like to get that up and running again so our less-actives have a place to go (Gospel Doctrine often degenerates into weird topics that are fun for longtime members but not conducive to building testimonies of new members). Our recent converts even have callings! It's awesome!

Since I'd been singing really loud in Jersey (trying to be a human metronome so we don't take ten minutes to sing a sacrament hymn) everyone asked me to sing in the choir afterwards, and then I got asked to see Prelude music next week AND asked to speak on reverence as well as introduce myself...crazy! But I'm excited to serve here and help the members feel like they are contributing to missionary work.

Speaking of which, the 40 day fast is going just swimmingly. Since Sister Sebald and I have gotten together (starting Thursday) we've taught seven lessons already. (The average a week here is three.) It's always really cool to find people who are friends with the Hamiltons or the youth or someone else already a long time member...that helps them stay in the church for real, because they have a point of reference. I'm grateful for people brave enough to say they are members to their friends.

It's so fun to hear from home! Snow at last! Everyone here is saying the snow is belated and the weather has been fantastic since I arrived, so I'm hoping it'll stay that way...shame about Howard's call, but I'm so pleased he won't have to be in the MTC for 3 months. I was struggling after two weeks (you get trunky to leave, especially after our knocking and tracting experiences). Brazilian Portuguese is the stuff on all the Church DVDs, like the Restoration. If you'd like, stick the sound and the subtitles on to get a feel for how things are pronounced. That was really fun for me and Sister Christensen to do. I know a few words and phrases now, and that helps with speaking to natives on the street.

Anyways, I have so much more to do! Hopefully we will find some new investigators this week and I'll be able to report back.

Love from,

Sister Willard

Moving to Winchester!

This week was moves week, and as Sister Christensen had been in Jersey for 6 months, we both knew it was time for her to go. We got the phone call, however, NOT on Sunday night as anticipated, but on Tuesday NIGHT, 6pm. (Flight plans for the following morning.) Elder Farnsworth told her she was headed to Winchester to be replaced by Sister Kernek. Initially it was really exciting, but I was legitimately miffed that I would be back-up-trained AGAIN, by the third of five sisters in Housley's group. But I tried to swallow my pride. I know that Sister Kernek is exactly what this ward needs.

Twenty minutes later, Elder Turner called from the office and said, "Okay, Sister Willard, your flight leaves at 2:50 tomorrow afternoon--" when both of us were like, "Pardon?" Pretty soon moves calls had degenerated into us shouting into the phone, "Which one of us is moving?!" They grabbed a nearby assistant, and as it turned out, I was the one headed to Winchester.

So after a crazy night packing, no one to pick me up at the airport and half the mission panicking that I was lost and all of them thinking I'd fainted in the airport or something and bad reception on the train home resulting in Bishop calling President and telling him that me and Sister Sebald were lost (again), we got home quarter past ten, hungry and exhausted and very, very broke (£42 to get home from East Grinstead). Sheesh. So much for grocery shopping tomorrow.

Happily I'm now with Sister Sebald from Frankfurt, Germany (unless you're talking to anyone English, in which case she's from Switzerland. Too many people have made Hitler comments to her.) She is the cutest little redhead and has been here in Winchester for three months. Her English is fantastic and perfect for the very posh town of Winchester--this place is legitimately posh, there are dozens of churches (although Jehovah's Witnesses are a non-entity, which is such a relief), and we teach investigators one by one. So far my only news comes from a teach this morning. Chris is a recent convert from September, and he is going to get his patriarchal blessing on Sunday. It's so exciting to teach him. It feels like I'm teaching Steve again :) The ward here is fantastic at fellowshipping, the youth are well cool, and apparently we get fed every night. I'm really excited to be here. Although the work is difficult in the way of getting new investigators, it means we take good care of the ones we've got and it gives us ample opportunity to build relationships with the members and less-actives.

After Sisters Fekete, Jonutz, and now Christensen have been on Jersey for 9, 7.5 and 7.5 months, once again it came as a huge surprise to find out I was the one going. But the longer I'm here in Winchester, the more I'm convinced that this is where my talents and abilities are needed most. And it's so fun to be with someone from my MTC group NOT from America, so I'm excited for the things I'll learn.

The biggest trouble I think I'll have is being humble enough not to bash--I'm not used to bashing anyway, but according to Sister Sebald, these people tend to provoke you. I will do my best to hold back and not eviscerate them with doctrine. Nephi says in 2 Nephi 33 that he delights in proving unto his brethren the reality of Jesus Christ. That makes me feel much better. Sometimes you really do pray for patience until the other side when everyone will find out the truth for themselves.

Please pray that we will find new investigators. The members here are doing a forty-day fast, where each member fasts for one day (you sign up for your day) for missionary work to progress. Sister Sebald says it's working. I love it! Miracles already! Even if there isn't a baptism to be had when I arrive, it's so good to see the members involved in our work. It'll be a tall order to replace Sister Kernek--no doubt she will be legendary here, just like Elder Farnsworth.

Thank you so much for all your support and prayers! Winchester is the promised land, land of solid members. I suppose that's why you do all this finding anyway--to find the good ones who will build the kingdom. Sometimes the kingdom is built with tiny, tiny bricks and it doesn't look like you've done any good at all--but the Lord doesn't care. He cares that you do what you are capable of. If you sit on a pile of mortar and complain about having to work at all, Heavenly Father will be very displeased. You can only do what you can do, and the Lord makes it count. I'm grateful to be His missionary. I've only got nine months left--there's so much work to do!

Love from

Sister Willard

New Year's Resolutions

It's hard to make New Years Resolutions as a missionary because you'd better be doing all you're doing already. I've got ten minutes to tell you what's been happening:

-We stopped a guy on the street who understood little English. His name is Carlos. We told him that we had friends who spoke Portuguese, and we would call Carlos when we were with them. Fifteen minutes later, we're getting ready to teach Catia in Bro. Tiago's flat when the phone rings. I can't understand anything Carlos says on the phone, so I hand it over to Tiago. He disappears outside. Catia and us chat. Tiago comes back inside and announces that Carlos is coming to church. We rejoiced. The next day, Tiago brought him--he was all smiles and thrilled to see us again, sat with Tiago and Americo in a little Madeira gang. Tiago taught the Restoration for Gospel Principles, and we committed him to read and pray. He told us that he was going to ask his boss to change his day off from Monday to Sunday so he could come to church every week. It was a MIRACLE like the ones you read in the Ensign. Amazing.

-Tricia came to church, and Sister Christensen was assigned to speak (last time she came, I spoke). She can only stay the hour, but that's her new resolution, to come to church with us every week.

-Our ward missionary and 4th companion Debbie has been called as the Sunbeam instructor. Celeste is the only Sunbeam, and she's a spitfire. Debbie feels slightly overwhelmed, but we're grateful for the technology the church has.

-Really amazing week, five new investigators and hardly any flogs! It's the grace of God. We can finally teach more and find less. We found Carlos in ten minutes worth of finding--that's all we could squeeze in!

-Cindy is doing well, sort of. Her life is slightly out of control, but she has discovered a kindred spirit in Debbie, who has volunteered to come and clean up her house. Cindy was sobbing about her angelic volunteering, which was good, because one of her naked rats crawled across my lap and my knee-jerk reaction looked a lot like Mum's and the rat went flying and Christensen sank into silent giggles. They crawl across my feet as I'm trying to teach, and only by the grace of God can I maintain composure and my train of thought. We were walking home from that teach along the lighted cobbled street, excited about dinner and enthused about the fresh air (Cindy's flat is pungent). My tights were soaked from kneeling on Cindy's carpet--either she'd spilled tea and didn't tell us, or it was rat urine. I'm pretty sure it was the latter. The glamorous life of a missionary, even in a first-world country. Go figure.

-I got Christmas parcels today! It was awesome! I'm excited about the ramen because the stuff here is lame and really expensive. The only regret I have is that the taco sauce might have to wait because the beef in the UK is gross. It's all minced and who knows what else is in it? Maybe I could make lamb tacos? Turns out the best lamb in the world is found in the following places:

Number 1: USA (the mutton is from New Zealand, or Kiwiland as they call it here)

Second best: New Zealand

Third best: United Kingdom

So go out and get some lamb chops because it's the best in the world. So is the rest of the meat. The dairy products aren't as good as they are here, though. That's a shame. Maybe it's best :)

Anyways, I have to go! I love you all, and thank you for the loot!

Love from,

Sister Willard