Olympics!

So I may have gotten to see the Olympic women’s swimming for like twenty minutes--fantastic! And like four people gave us a blow-by-blow account of the opening ceremonies. I hear all of Team GB showed up in chav suits, rather than Armani (Italy) or Ralph Lauren (US). So fun!

We are excited to have the Hamilton’s back from Germany after 8 weeks of being gone (horrible) and now we can finally baptize Shalen. He is very excited to be a member of the Church, and he is surprising all of his family back in Fiji with the news. The Church there is massive :)

We are off to host some Olympics of our own in Southampton: three legged race, Chubby Bunnies, Spoon Me (inspired by the Survivor episode of the Office, although we don't have money for a coal walk) and chair football. For anyone who knows not what chair football is, introduce it to the youth--it's brilliant for uneven numbers, and all you have to do is defend your chair. You can't move it or touch it, except to sit on it--when the football hits it, you're out. Last one standing wins. Soooo fun :)

There is a pigeon trapped in the library. Poor guy. They're so agreeable, pigeons, always nodding.

We spent one evening in a Forever Aloe Vera sales pitch meeting thing, invited by our investigator, when we learned that the company was started by members in Scottsdale AZ. I determined that I couldn't get into that business because I'm not oozing with assertive communication.

Ewan taught youth Sunday school yesterday to thirty youth and did a fantastic job. We could not be more proud of him and his budding abilities. It's amazing to see the next generation be way better than what we were. I'm hopeful that whatever I try to accomplish as a parent in a steadily worsening world will be guided by the scriptures and the Spirit. I'm grateful for prophets like Lehi and Jacob that had family problems and that they have recorded counsel for parents today to learn from. The human family is not too much different than it's ever been, and the same practices of family prayer, spending time together, and talking face to face about struggles and solutions are tried and true throughout the centuries.

I'm grateful for the apostles and prophets of today, who are not only in charge of the church, but who prophesy to the whole world of nonmembers as well. Their counsel hasn't changed, but new circumstances are being addressed today, which is something I'm very grateful for. They are not a think tank waiting for the next election, and they will not reserve the hard words for fear of hurting our feelings (Pres Uchtdorf's two word sermon: "Stop it.") We are a very different religion in that way, amidst all the nice words and "forward thinking" and "new generation" we can still hold fast to the Ten Commandments and strive to love one another and build the kingdom of God in such meaningful ways without being Puritan.

I'm grateful to be a member of the raddest Church on earth. It's the only real one.

Thank you for everything you do to build it at home! Love you all!

Love from,
Sister Willard

Isle of Wight

We are going there today! I don't know if we officially have permission, but Elder Livingston is excited about it, so I guess so. The only island I won't have been to in the UK is Isle of Man (and Gibraltar, but I think I'll try to go there before I die). We get to go hang out with Elder Botta and Elder Mannucci ("Oh my day-zeh!") and go to a place called Osborne House. No idea what it's about, but we will figure it out :)

We finally got to do service this week! And the sun has finally arrived! I'm grateful for July weather, better late than never. Also Shalen is getting baptised on Saturday! Woo hoo! We've got a camping group of youth passing through for church on Sunday--20 kids, 10 adults. And who is teaching youth? Ewan! Woot! He's opened his art exhibit in the art cafe and is super talented.

We've been talking lately about judging others and how that is counter productive to learning, developing charity. understanding the many ways in which the Lord operates, and making friends and forwarding missionary work. I'm grateful that Heavenly Father's prerogative is final judgment, and ours is merely temporary judgment, to keep us safe. I know that understanding each other and not measuring according to arbitrary standards that, most of the time, WE don't even measure up against, is exactly what is tearing precious human relationships apart. If we could look into the secret chambers of another's life, we would find there enough suffering and sorrow to disarm all hostility. I'm not perfect by any stretch at this, but I know and feel on a regular basis peace that comes from leaving judgment to the Lord and loving someone for who they are--not feeling sorry for their circumstances and victimizing them, but respecting them as people and seeking to learn edifying truths from them.

I'm grateful for all you are doing to forward the work of the Lord and setting an example of quiet, consistent religion that is neither overwhelming or timid. I'm reminded of the time when Jesus is going through the cornfield with His apostles and they take a few ears of corn to eat. Hiding amongst the stalks are the Pharisees, who leap out and go, "Ha HA! We've got you!" and Jesus, in His ever-patient way, explains that it is neither theft, nor breaking the sabbath, and that they've finished fasting. I'm grateful for your humility in sharing the gospel and inviting them to partake in what matters most.

It's so good to be a missionary and to see how much I've grown from what I was. I hope I will always be as thankful for serving here throughout my life as I feel right now.

Love you all! Thank you for writing :)

Love from,

Sister Willard

Come to Church

Right, so highlights from this week:

-A dumping week. Jonathan ran into our RC Carla in Sainsburys and declared that we (the sisters) had sacked him, Carla was furious at his I'm-a-hard-one-to-crack self-righteous attitude--she ranted about the encounter for some time. I'm grateful PMG talks about No Effort is Wasted, and I am confident that our break-up with Jonathan was as plain as plain could be, not contentious or judging, just straight up. No guilt here :)

-Lots of service this week: we did my very first Helping Hands project in the rain (I'm convinced the rain would wash away the city if it weren't for the good people living here--it's been pouring since April) digging up a weed called Ragwort that is poisonous to the horses. I'm a pro now. We cleared out a field and felt pretty good about ourselves until Richard reminded us in his calm, happy way, "There is always ragworting to do."

-Miracles! I've gotten my very first Provo MTC referral--a guy in Eastleigh wants a Book of Mormon. Stay tuned.

-We brought a guy who tracked us down in the library and asked us where the chapel was (who are you?) His name is Ryan, 19, and he'd been taught by the missionaries up north where he's from. He's got a few problems, not the least of which is no mobile, but he is eager to learn. We took him to his very first sacrament meeting, and watched Finding Faith in Christ, and extended a baptismal date for September 22. He's very aware of the stuff he needs to give up, but he wants to be baptised and the influence of the Spirit was just heroic. Amazing!

-Our ward missionary Sue Collis has published a book. I believe it's called Listening to Young People of Domestic Violence or something to that effect. It's part of her dissertation. She works for the County Council and removes children from unsafe homes, usually where mental illness is involved, and she held interviews with adolescents talking about growing up amidst domestic violence. The book is academically-instructive--"if the child says the following, it may mean such and such is happening in the home." We are so proud of her :) She is the sweetest, most joyful person (I expected her job to be more along the lines of being a preschool teacher or elementary school choir director.) I hope I can get a copy!

Alma 30 is one of my favorite stories in the Book of Mormon. It is interesting that Korihor is actually the only person in the Book of Mormon called "Anti-Christ". I studied about that, and how that is related to the Anti-Nephi-Lehis, and I learned that the word Anti does not mean opposite. Example: There are two celestial bodies in the night sky that both look like red stars. They're the same size, color, and appear in the same hemisphere of the sky. One is Mars, the nearest planet to us. The other is called Antiares (Ares is the Greek god of war, Mars is the Roman god of war), a star, and not a planet at all. But they look exactly the same. If sailors in Columbus' day got the two mixed up, they would not end up where they wanted to go. Anti means so similar, but not. Like the Anti-Nephi-Lehis, who were so like Nephi and Lehi in righteousness, but they weren't the same people.

Sister Barker said that when a boy comes on a mission and for 24 months studies the power of God, His permission and how He operates, that boy will become a man and learn so much more after his mission than he would have done if he never went. The Spirit of the Lord and a dependence upon that Spirit is so vital to learning anything of value. Without it, everything is suspicious and everything is questioned for the very virtue of questioning it, and they are like those people spoken of by Nephi "Ever learning, and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth." What a meaningless existence when everything you have ever learned is a sham and relative and changing. I am so grateful that I know Truth (with a capital T) so that I can navigate. Truths that I am a daughter of God, I have a mission here on earth, families can live together forever, there is only one road to heaven (it is strait and narrow) and that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, did come to earth and die for us so that we can progress eternally and return to live with Father again. How much meaning, how much peace comes from that knowledge! That is real happiness--knowing that the course one is pursuing is in accordance with the will of God, and feeling the sweet assurance that He is there to bless us with the deepest desires of our hearts.

Remember who you are, who God is, and try your utmost to bring your life into accordance with His will, and the rest is magic. I love you all, and I pray for you each day. Let's see if this rain will go away sometime before the Summer Olympics, eh? ;)

Love from,

Sister Willard

American Football

That's right, that's what we are going to play today! On the beach! In Portsmouth! Hopefully it won't rain. It's been so dreary for ages. I think the Lord doesn't like the Hat Fair due to all the drinking. Somebody should look up the Hat Fair and its historicity, because no one here seems to know. If they don't tell each other Winchester was once the capitol of England, I think they'd forget.

Highlights from this week!

-Our bowl washes continue. [Baths] After a YM electrician apprentice patched up the melted fuse inside the shower box, we felt confident enough to shower the next morning. Sister Barker had barely gotten in when I turned on the desk lamp and blew the power. Tripping the breakers was nothing new, but this time, the on/off switch (a little plastic thing with the constitution of a plastic spoon) totally broke. After an electrician came and got us a new heavy-duty steel switch, all is well. Unfortunately, we are too scared to use the shower. I've had one and a half showers since we moved in April...

-We got to speak to [the new] President Millar and his wife about the electricity--they were driving home from proselyting with the sisters in Orpington. I have never proselyted with President Shamo, and Millar is still all jet-lagged! Amazing! He sounds like the sweetest “grampa” you could ever imagine, and super organized and full of zest. His wife strikes me as the calm reassurance, but super excited to be back in England. I can't wait to meet them properly! While the torch is coming through Winchester, we will be in Staines for conference :( Bummer.

-Our dear friends Noreen, Carla, Bruna, and Lynda all came to the temple for the day. Delightful! We even saw Sister Paulsen there! She brought me photos on CDs, so I will be able to send them home:) It must be really fun to work at the visitor’s center--apparently we are the only temple outside the US to have a temple visitor’s center, so that's exciting. We got to watch The Testaments on the big-screen.

-Shalen came to church! And our two super dodgy investigators didn't turn up, which was a huge blessing. You can't tell people don't come to church, no matter how much they're flirting with your companion--you just pray. I assume they were all hung over from the Hat Fair.

-New faces in the Zone; Elder Shaw (CA) from my MTC group has replaced Christensen's (VA) trainer (UT) in Portsmouth; Chichester's whitewash got Elder Weirman (TX) and Elder Van der Put (Holland) who is delightful in so many ways. Elders Botta and Manucci are still rocking Isle of Wight (we call it "Isle of Wight-eh"), and Elder Simplicio got a new greenie from the Philippines called Elder Chungas who bore a really powerful testimony and prays in Tagalog. Zone pday! My third ever!

-Church yesterday--we went to Christchurch, the building up the road, and experienced the Church of England. It was interesting how the vicar did not come out and say "You can't do this--these are the consequences." I'm so grateful to be part of a church where apostles and prophets are not scared to say "Thus saith the Lord" like they did in olden times. There is authority and power--when it comes to the salvation of our souls, it is not in accordance with the scriptures to ignore what laws must be obeyed, or who administers the ordinances. Isaiah says, "Ye have broken mine everlasting covenant and changed mine ordinances" with such sadness and regret in his voice--I would think the salvation of souls was more precise than chemical engineering or rocket science, It is so wrong to think that all roads lead to heaven, it doesn't matter. I'm so grateful for a church that is not scared to say what is commanded and promise the blessings.

-We had a party on Thursday morning with the ladies at the chapel, and Kristina brought her friend Clara from Kenya to see the church, and Sister Barker taught her and I arranged for us to come round for tea on Tuesday. She is a babe and I can't wait!

Thank you so much for writing and sending me that sweets parcel! I'm still not finished :) American sweets are so boss. I've determined that cake here is super boring and the reason is because they don't put any salt in. It's amazing what a little salt can do--"ye are the salt of the earth" has many meanings to me now. I'm grateful that the Lord hasn't destroyed many parts of the world yet, and I think it's because of the righteousness of a few. Maybe that's why the Brethren haven't gathered us to America, but ask us to hold down the forts in our home countries--to save the countries, like in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, when there were not even ten righteous people in the city. This is all my opinion and probably wresting the scriptures to my destruction, but I'm so grateful to be a part of the one true church. I feel so edified and uplifted and prepared for the week after church is over. What a blessing! I hope more people will understand this as the sides become ever more polarised.

Till next week--
Love from, Sister Willard

Independence Day

Remember that film? My favorite part is when what's-her-face and the small boy are shouting for their dog--"Boomer!" and this golden retriever leaps (in slow motion) into camera view, with New York all exploding behind him, to be saved at the last second.

Anyways, on our to-be zone pday, our leaders (who are really bad at planning, bless their cotton socks) determined that since it's raining all over the zone, we'll put it off til next week. Highlights from this week are:

-I got sick on Friday and slept most of Saturday. Bummer. Sister Barker is going to make me drink more water.

-We got to go on a walk with Ben, all of us fasting for his wife. I feel a lot of peace with what will happen, although I don't have any ideas yet.

-This week is going to be a breakup week. We're dropping most of our investigators (Jeffrey, John, Jonathan, Mark, etc.) but hopefully that will give us more time to see Shalen. Pray that his wife won't get in the way of his baptism.

-Me and Sister Barker keep running into neighbors--one of them was American and was super excited to see us. Hopefully if we focus on finding more this week, we’ll turn our investigator pool into an ocean.

-One less-active lady came to church and bore her testimony and is determined to carry on doing this, despite horrible family opposition. Kudos to her. It makes me wonder what I would do in that situation. We had one sister in the mission whose family is all less-active, and she constantly was like, "I hope I don't go less-active!" For me and Sister Barker, we have such strong support and we assume it's a no-brainer for everyone else, but I guess not. We are so proud of this member ;)

The week has been a really good one, not normal. President Shamo is back in the states and we cannot communicate with him while still in the mission field. I wonder when we'll meet President Millar--he's probably suffering in a state of shock somewhere out in Essex, so we are trying not to disturb him. :) Based on his resume, I'm assuming his mode of leadership is going to be very different from President Shamo's, considering the military and surgical background. Call it a stereotype, but those two things call for order and exactness and no-nonsense. President Shamo stuck a few last rules on us, not the least of which was discarding all board games from the flat. It's a bummer. We never even play them. I think we'll donate ours to the church.

It's interesting to hear the testimonies of those who are less-active. It's hard to maintain real conviction of all the elements of the gospel without living the important ones of come to church and keep the commandments. I compare them to those who carry on coming even though they don't know it's true.

Hence, I present to you the parable of the father with two sons:

Dad: "Sons, I want you to go clean the garage."

Son 1: "I don't WANNA go clean the garage!" (Stomps away.)

Son 2: "Of course, my father. I am so grateful for all you do for me and I LOVE cleaning and so I will clean the garage to the best of my ability because...(excessive praise)."

TWO DAYS LATER....

Dad: "Son! I thought you said you didn't want to clean the garage!"

Son 1: "I know. I'm sorry. It's not my favorite thing in the world, but I don't think you would ask me to do this if it wasn't necessary. I didn't realize how satisfying it was."

Dad: "Where's your brother?"

Son 1: "Asleep, I guess."

I like this story. I've been able to work with a lot of "Son 1"s on my mission, and I've determined who I'm more like. It gives me hope for being a better person. This is the difference between the truly converted, and those who "draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." I like the term "heart" in this context: heart denotes center, core; it illustrates real feeling or enthusiasm, inspiration (his heart wasn't in it) and can make all the difference between good work and mediocre work. It also makes me think of truth, deep thoughts, and character. Something that cannot be faked. We are all trying to sort our hearts out to be more like the Savior, who was honest and true and never deviated from that which He knew to be right. That's the only real difference between Him and us (besides Him being the Son of God and stuff) is that we all know what's right and wrong--He just did the right thing and never drifted. I hope I can be like that someday.

Anyways, thank you so much for all you've done to support me. I know the Church, espoused by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is His divine institution. It is meant for our happiness and betterment, and I know that through first-hand experience, not abstract concepts. I'm so grateful to be part of a church that little children can understand. I hope your week is successful, and I hope all is well at home!

Love from,

Sister Willard

Moves

Right, I have like two minutes to say everything I want to: We are not moving! Sister Barker and I spend most of our evenings and planning sessions laughing hysterically at ourselves and stuff that happened that day. Our big highlight from this week was Shalen declaring that when the Hamilton’s got back from Bavaria that he was going to be baptised. That's the fifth person to tell us or ask us how to go about doing that. Sixth is Ben, who we're fasting for this Sunday. I know I'm not supposed to ask for special fasts, but seeing as it's Fast Sunday, would you be so kind as to include Ben and his family in your prayers? We get the feeling that all doors are not closed to his wife learning about the gospel, and Ben being baptised before she passes away. Please pray that we as missionaries will know how to proceed and that he will find the opportunity to speak about the gospel with her and that she will have her heart softened to hear it. Whew! What a crazy work! I apologize for my train of thought, but I hope everyone is well at home and you are all in my prayers ;)

Love from,

Sister Willard

Temple Trip Tomorrow

Hey everybody. Things are good. The work is good here in Winchester. Glad to hear that school is up for everyone, and you can have a nice long summer--school carries on for another six weeks here. We are going to the temple tomorrow for president's last conference, so that will be exciting. We got to go to the temple with our investigator Ben on Friday and that was really cool. Sister Barker is fantastic and helping me out a lot.

Not much to report. Hope everyone is well :)

Love from,
Sister Willard

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

Bank Holidays and other silly ideas

Huzzah, moves week is over and I can finally email! (Sorry, Howard!) Right, so if I can gather my thoughts, this is what's happened in the last week:

-Lora brought a friend named Jacob to watch conference. He loved it.

-We taught Lina all week.

-We met a less-active named Dracula (we went with the district leader and his companion, as well as a member). Her referred himself for a Book of Mormon and hasn't been to church for a couple of decades. With a name like Dracula, Noreen's daughter was appalled that we cute sisters were going to speak to him at all. So we gathered the army, the elders ascertained that it was okay, and they left to go back to Hamble River. We surveyed Drac's elbow-length black hair, nails filed to points, his 2.5 thousand DVDs, and his relatively gentle manner. Drugs are bad. He's been clean for a few years, but the results of poor mental condition remains. It was very uncomfortable. When we left, the elders came from their hiding place to escort us safely out of there. I love our district. The elders had a feeling to stick around and make sure we were okay and they listened in at the door to make sure he wasn't attacking us or anything. :) All is well, and we shan't visit again.

-Lina passed her interview!

-The Hamiltons fed us chicken foot soup. Chicken feet. With nails and everything. (Howard, this could be a staple in Brazil, I don't know.) You have to suck off the skin and spit out the bones like cherry pips. The soup was nice, but it was very difficult to not imagine all the hens at home.

-Jacob asked us during our chapel tour how he could go about getting baptized. That's the second person this moves who've asked us to be baptised. Amazing. His background is rough--drugs and such, family together barely--but he wants to give it all up. Teaching him is a joy. The problem is that he isn't eighteen until next month, and his family is definitely against Mormonism, so when he goes back to study in Bournemouth, the elders will teach him and he will come back to be baptised here. Amazing.

-Ewan is a superstar. I am amazed by everything he says: Things like, "I don't believe yet, but I'm working on it" and "Why does everyone say the standards are hard to live? You just do the right thing or you don't." Man, I feel THIS big next to him (holds finger and thumb a millimeter apart) because the Spirit is so strong and the truth is all there.

-Lina totally got baptized on Friday and like 40 people came! The font (which was empty at thirty till) filled at a miraculous pace. She brought bags of food for the party afterwards, programs were made, the talks were amazing, everything was done right the first time, the zone leaders came with Chinese Liahonas (Ensigns) for her, Jacob came and loved it, Lynda came (which is the first time she's been in a chapel for years and years) and everything was so wonderful. I wish I could post pictures home. I'll be able to as soon as I get a CD.

-Brother Hamilton took my ukulele off me, bought new strings and restrung it. For free. It sounds spectacular! The best part is that in the children's songbook, there are tabs for guitar. I'm totally going to learn Popcorn Popping and Once there was a Snowman.

-At church on Sunday, Sister Hutber brought two of her friends. We were planning to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ with Finding Faith in Christ, but I had given away the last DVD to Drac and the VCR refused to work. So we all got to sit in Gospel Principles and watch the Restoration instead. The Spirit was so powerful--lots of tears and testimonies and I've never been so pleased that we brought the wrong DVD in my life. Both her friends want to learn more.

-Jacob was being closely monitored by Lora and Karolina--he'd cut back from 40+ fags a day to two, but he was struggling with the last two. When he finally did escape outside, they all gathered around for support and he tossed the last of his baccy into the drain. Since then (today is Wednesday) he hasn't smoked. Incredible, incredible kid. I hope he goes on a mission.

-Most amazing dinner party yesterday--the Hamiltons invited their neighbor, a recent convert, Jacob, and us. It was amazing! Maria asked if we could come round again, and we are so excited to do so ;) Jacob is bearing testimony to his family and his mates about the Book of Mormon, talking about how it's like a seed and you have to plant it...he's amazing. I hope his parents will see that he's changing for good.

-Moves calls: we're staying. No surprises there. Elder Farnsworth is leaving Guernsey after seven and a half months, and leaving nine families--they've quadrupled the primary, and if everyone comes to church like they said they would, it will be more investigators than members. Jacob 5 and the allegory of the olive tree comes to mind. Apparently the entire mission is on fire, crazy success happening everywhere. I'm so glad. It's true that the Lord of the harvest gives the increase...He will hasten the work in His time, and He will make sure we learn and grow exactly as we should in the meantime. I'm glad that President Shamo will go out on a high note (Christmas was bleak). Sisters Housley, Kernek, Christensen, Gregson and Jonutz have all flown home today. I'm an orphan. It's very strange. Rumor has it that 7 sisters are coming in over the next two moves, so there will be ample opportunity to train. I hope everything goes well.

Whew! I think I've got everything said that I need to. It's been the craziest week and a half ever. Miracles coming out of our ears. I hope the Lord will pour out more blessings on you all at home because of the work done here. I don't know about you, but I feel more tired when I wake up and for the entire morning than I do going to bed at night. I guess your body just starts to shut down after a while. Mad.

Elder Willard, we are praying for you to get outta there! (If it makes you feel better, a lot of my roommates and classmates didn't like the MTC in Sao Paolo much. Not sure why.) At least you get to see General Authorities all the time, that's well cool ;)

Hope the summer is amazing and that you are all enjoying life to the fullest ;) Remember to say thank you in your prayers, even for the things that aren't fun, and you'll get loads more blessings (or just recognize loads more). Love you all!

Love from,

Sister Willard

Conference Edition

Happy birthday, Dad! I totally saw Howard at conference! We had to email the progress record and I sneakily read his email and knew he'd be there. The trouble was trying not to freak out in a chapel full of investigators. Hard work.

Right, so other highlights from this week:

-The district leaders called us up Sunday morning and announced e-moves (emergency visa moves) which happen every so often. They said that we would have to pack and be ready to leave by Tuesday morning--Sister Paulsen whitewashing into Paignton and myself headed to Bracknell with Sis. Mills' greenie. We freaked out--neither of us wanted to leave, it was early, Sister Paulsen is NOT TRAINED, and I was super mad because we have a baptism on Friday. For crying out loud. After calling Sister Housley, she said, "Okay, okay--wait. Sister Johnson got the same call." And I realized it was April Fool’s. Sister Paulsen was so furious. Elder Livingston hid from her presence for ages.

-Lina came to conference. She is progressing so much--we had Bishop over to teach the law of tithing, and she accepted it. She's Chinese and therefore impossible to read. I didn't realize how defined Western body language and facial expressions are. We came to the conclusion that because her family is letting her get baptized reluctantly that it's best to introduce the gospel gradually into her home. It's like China taking over Africa and no one knows about it--you can tell her moments of defiance and the silent war she wages to keep her faith in God strong.

-Carla came to conference at a members' home.

-There has been so much sunshine here, I can't even stand it!

-We're moving flats in the last fortnight of April. I'm really excited because the flat we have now is enormous and has missionary stuff from ten years ago. Mad. It'll be brilliant to have a totally new start.

-New investigator: sister Paulsen stopped him and he said, "What are you selling?" we said we were speaking about God, and he said, "Nope, no, I'm not interested" and totally fell on the stairs up to his flat. Since he was an older man, we panicked and ran over to him. He said, "I guess that's God punishing me for not listening to you." His name is John, and we had the opportunity to speak to him about faith and prayer and where we were before this life. Amazing! He is such a sweet man and is really searching for something constant in his life.

I don't have too much time, but wasn't Conference amazing? It was so geared toward those not of our faith on what we actually believe and who we actually are--I can't wait to see the last session. They'll air it in a couple of weeks in lieu of Sunday School and Relief Society. It was crazy to see all the turnover, and to hear Larry Echohawk get called to the Seventy! Amazing. My favorite talk besides Elder Holland's was the talk on being converted to the Church and being converted to the Gospel. It's so true. The Church is just a mass of programs and activities and time-wasting if you are not living the precepts taught. I'm excited to implement more of the Gospel into my own life, and actively exercise and build faith, repent of things that are halting my progression, remember the promises I made at baptism, and pray and listen for the promptings of the Holy Ghost. President Hinckley, as a missionary here, said that he intended to make religion an everyday personal experience by asking God what He would have him do, and then by doing it. That's where the magic happens.

I've gotten a lot of shtick over the years being a member of a church with so many "rules". And it's true; like the Marines, there is a lot of discipline required to be a disciple of Christ. But when you see it as a journey to become more like the Savior (because if we achieve that we will have so much power in the next life) and remember that the Person giving the commandments loves you more that you will ever understand and has only the best future in mind for you AND has all power and all knowledge, then everything else pales in comparison. Nothing else really matters because it's just a distraction. Life is like university--if we study up, work hard, develop great relationships, follow the rules, strive to be better and learn all we can, then at graduation (death) we have all the tools we need to become professional. We are naturally designed to achieve and create and everything else God does--it's no wonder, considering we are His children. I'm so grateful to have acquired this knowledge through asking Heavenly Father. We all need this knowledge, especially in moments of confusion and hopelessness. He loves me. He loves everyone on earth. If all the good parents in the world could live forever and have billions of children, they would love each of them perfectly too, and want the children to grow up to be better than them. We're not a far cry off from being like Him--everything is stacked in our favor to do just that. I know this through the Book of Mormon and through speaking to God Himself. He is there at all times, waiting for us to approach Him in humility and faith. What a beautiful message I have the opportunity to share!

This gospel is true, and the Church is pretty good too :) Remember that President Monson is the prophet for the whole world, and not just the members. The blessings of God in the days of Moses are poured out upon us still. I've only got a few months left, but I will do everything I can to extend the blessings to everyone in my path. I hope you will too!

Love from,

Sister Willard

You Ate What?

So! Highlights from THIS week:

-We got to attend a baptism! Huzzah! It was from our district, which is a first time attending a baptism that wasn't ours (because this district is exploding). Her name is Sue, and she was JUST outside our area, so the elders in Soho got her. Shame. She's super golden, baptised in five weeks like Steve was. Her children are looking to be baptised as well, and her less-active brother is totally coming back to church. When we walked into the chapel there, we turned a lot of heads (apparently it's been a while since sisters have served there). Elder Peschier goes home at the end of this moves, and he got to baptise her. Him and Elder Chu just kept hugging each other. Sad we couldn't join in.

-We got fed by Brother Hamilton two weeks in a row now:

-The first week was oxtail stew (if you've ever seen oxtail, it looks like the spinal columns of a crocodile and you have to eat the meat like a sparerib) and venison (which he discovered on the side of the road. A little advice for cooking roadkill--rigor mortis sets in and lasts only a few hours after the animal has died. He always checks to see if the deer is stiff. If so, it's fresh. If it wobbles a lot, leave it alone, you don't know where it's been. Unfortunately the spleen usually bursts on impact and is super poisonous, so I don't know how we deal with that.)

-The second week was Chinese, but Lina couldn't come. Shame. However, Brother Hamilton cooked proper food and was this close to making chicken feet for us. But he stuck to chicken meat, razor clams, massive mushrooms, and the Holy Trinity of Chinese cooking--spring onions, garlic, and ginger. Beautiful food. The best part was him bringing out a grey hog's ear on a cutting board and asking for volunteers. Yes...it's true. With a fork in one hand and the butcher knife in another, I sliced two pieces of pig ear, vein and all, and ate them. The most disturbing part was how nice it was. Tasted like ham and bacon rinds. I feel more and more cultured each week I'm here.

-Lina's baptismal service is all organized and she agreed to live the Word of Wisdom this morning. Fantastic.

-Our other less-actives are making huge leaps and bounds! One came into sacrament meeting for the first time in five years. Amazing!

-We got to work out in Alek’s yard. Apparently the bin laws are more stringent than I supposed, or dumping stuff at the tip must be really expensive because we discovered floor boards, rebar, a windshield, children’s' toys, ceramic pots, and entire panels of asbestos. After digging all of it out of there, we discovered the most beautiful soil I've ever seen. We dug it out and put it in the planter boxes :)

-It's cheaper to get fresh vegetables in the town market, but we have to buy them Friday or Saturday. They get cheaper as the day goes on--4 avocados for a pound or less. Nice.

Things are carrying on with increasing speed here. I'm so grateful for Sister Paulsen's eager spirit and ability to recognize things as less important--I can only imagine I gave my trainer loads of grief for stressing about things that would work themselves out and not stressing enough the things that are incredibly important. There are many decisions that we as missionaries have to make in regards to our investigators--while we want them desperately to come to church, that does not mean we break down their door in the morning and drag them there. Sometimes we have to let them sit for a while. It's a tricky balance and many days I feel like the frustrated parent of rebellious teenagers, who learned so well and were so easy to be entreated at the beginning and then have a phase of ignoring us or the things they've learned. We will do our best to focus on the future, which is a hard thing to do when you live week to week out here.

Keep working hard and get excited for Conference! It'll be my first April Conference in the UK, and I hope they spend all of it talking about England, Scotland and Wales. And Brazil. ^_^

Love from,

Sister Willard

"Fringe" makes way more sense than "Bangs"

 Highlights from this week:

-We all got daffodils yesterday for Mothering Sunday (March 18th. So St. Patrick's Day wasn't the ONLY reason everyone was out yesterday. I'd never seen a Dr. Suess hat with "Carlsberg" written on it...)

-Lora (my soul buddy in the YW) has a friend who is coming to church in the next few weeks. Apparently he's not much of a spiritual person, but he ran into the elders and now it's tooooo late...

-We got to see Lina every single day and she always tells us she's been waiting so long to see us (24 hours) and that she feels so happy when she reads and prays. On Sunday we taught chapter 2 of Gospel Principles and listed the attributes of God, and already her Buddhist background is diminishing--she said God is happy and caring. It was so sweet to hear.

-Carla and Bruna are doing so well. A family in the ward had us all for tea and after we talked about Mosiah 18:8-10 and everyone crying, they promised to consider baptism. Then we taught them tithing off the cuff, and she wasn't totally against it. Miracles! I was concerned that her financial problems would make it difficult to live, so we focused on the blessings and how tithing makes miracles happen.

-Sister Paulsen is amazing! We've had some really funny moments--we had to walk home in the dark one evening (before Brother Hamilton miraculously found us and gave us a lift) and she declared that she knew karate and demonstrated how she would protect me. I died laughing. She's rearranged the flat all feng shui and put vases (bottles of Schloer) of flowers everywhere and just decluttered a decade's worth of missionary wotsit in preparation to move.

-Breakfast smoothies: milk, mango, lemon juice, linseeds, coconut oil, raspberries, banana, protein powder, ginger and mint. It tastes like heaven and yet my stomach says I just ate like three bran muffins. Lasts all day :) Also I've learned how to make guacamole. I shall purchase a blender for my own evil purposes come winter semester.

-Our district went from 2 baptismal dates to 8 in a week. It's so cool to see the timing just work out. Sometimes you teach and they vanish or get anti'd or whatever (visit www.fairlds.org) and it breaks your heart. But the timing has got to be perfect for all the elements to come together. In many cases here I've seen the result of many missionaries and members and prayers come to fruition--some are still cooking. No worries. No effort is wasted. It's tough because the stories in the church revolve around the fruits of your labors, and most of the time you won't see those fruits, even in this life. I think that's why we often feel like failures when our friends don't accept to come to church or our parents don't reactivate or whatever. But if we pray with trust in the Lord and His timing and do everything we can to invite His spirit to act, then magic happens and we will find peace.

It's been a really rewarding week. I feel so tired all the time. I guess your body just breaks down after a while, you hear ominous cracks in joints you didn't even know you had, and you try to stay safe and not play rugby with the elders so you never have to enter an NHS hospital...I wonder what the hospitals are like in Brazil?

Anyways, things sound really fantastic at home :) Keep on keeping on, give those elders referrals, and tell me when graduation is!

Love from,

Sister Willard

Mirakler!

That's Danish for miracles, which have been flooding in ever since Sister Paulsen got here. Here are some of the following:

 

-I can't speak Danish, I'm proud to be American, and the ward loves us (constant state of miracles)

 

-Sister Paulsen schools us all in speaking English, which is winning over a very educated ward

 

-We crashed an elders quorum activity (oops) and saw several less-actives, including Ewan, who killed me at table tennis. It's always sad when there's a tournament and you can't play anymore. But Richard (the best missionary in the ward) brought a friend who really wants to come to church (even after finding out it was three hours. Amazing.)

 

-A woman carrying shopping on the street stopped US and said she had come to church for Christmas and that something was missing in her life and she's miffed at the CofE and she wants to come to church. We never got any contact details besides a street name, so we're on a quest to find her this evening. Pray we do!

 

-Carla and Bruna came to church! They loved it!

 

-Ewan came to church and came into class and participated!

 

-We got two new investigators, Sue and Suveer. Suveer is from India, here in uni, and although he's Hindi, he believes in worshipping only one God. That's as rare as finding a church-goer in Copenhagen. He's golden as well, but I think we have to turn him over to the elders in his area :(

 

-Southhampton won the Road Show. Boo. But we totally got to go with Carla and Jennifer and it was AMAZING. First live show in a long time, unless you count Bristol zone doing ballet to "White Christmas" in December...

 

-BEST OF ALL: Lina from Taiwan randomly came to church last week, so we went to see her on Thursday. The sisters before (Trover, Pressgrove,etc.) dropped her because she'd apparently gone back to Taiwan and she showed little signs of progress AND her family is less than supportive. So I don't know what I expected when we stopped by. But five minutes into the conversation, she said, "You know, the sisters were always talking about baptism, and I really want to be baptised. Can I be baptised?" I think my brain never really recovered. Her understanding stems from a Buddhist upbringing, so it was small and we were slightly hesitant. But when asked why, she said, "I want to be close to God." It was so sweet. We set a date for March 23, pending she grasps all the concepts and so forth we have to teach her. One lesson will probably focus on God, and that will be all. It'll be a while before Joseph Smith comes along :) Hooray for DVDs!

 

I'm so pleased to hear the MTC is so great. I heard someone say it's like a temple session that lasts six weeks, thrown in a blender with band camp. My MTC experience was very similar, just on a more intimate scale. Alex Boye is from LONDON, booyah! He is quoted to have said, "99.9% of all rap music is the most vile, disgusting garbage on earth. And you can't argue with me cus I'm black." I totally agree. The Tabernacle is so full of soul now that he's joined them :)

 

Winchester is fantastic! Sister Paulsen is such a good missionary--she's very organized, which helps everyone stay on top of things. I've grown a lot since I've trained. We're moving house in about a month, and it will be really nice to get into a more permanent state of things.

 

What sad news from home :( We're praying that everything will be okay. I know that the Atonement not only makes life hereafter possible, but He can also heal us from all the injustice and scars we encounter in this life because He knows how we feel. One story from the scriptures that I really love is Mary and Martha. Martha we look at as being cumbered about with much serving (feeding Jesus plus all his twelve disciples is no mean feat without electricity, I totally know how she felt) and Mary as the ponderous, faithful listener at His feet. Yet when their brother dies, it's Martha (the proactive one) who runs to Jesus and exercises such faith in Him that He would make it all better. He gets to the sepulchre and Mary is crying out of grief. Her faith may have fled in those moments and her contemplative spirit brought much sorrow. He promised deliverance to Martha (who desperately needed to hear it) and wept with Mary (who needed a kind, understanding friend to mourn with Her). This is an amazing example of Him tailoring rescue to each of us individually. I know He does.

 

Thank you so much for all of your post and prayers and miracle stories. Keep sharing them and you'll keep seeing more each day :)

 

Love from,

Sister Willard

Training

My companion is so awesome! She is teaching me so much about commitments (I love the MTC that way) and extending very specific ones to the members. We've had to spend most of the week cleaning and organizing and trying to figure out what to DO (weekly planning) but in the few moments we have been able to go out, there have been miracles already.

-Thursday we left the flat, and then turned around to get money and a bag we'd forgotten. When we got to the bus stop, we'd missed the bus, but we had a lovely conversation with a passing girl named Leanne, who told us she would like to believe. Miracles. We got her number and gave her a pass-along card. Sister Paulsen was well excited.

-Lynda texted to say she was coming to church, a first for us. On Saturday, however, she became unwell, so she couldn't come. But I'm still flabbergasted. It's like when the Seahawks went to the Super Bowl and didn't win--I'm still amazed we made it.

-EWAN CAME TO CHURCH OF HIS OWN FREE WILL! We went outside and he was surrounded by Jack and Josh and Simon and Jed and he stayed the rest of the block. He didn't come into class or anything, but he was there. I asked him if he'd ever had a spiritual experience. He said no, but he was at church longer than he'd been in years. Please pray that he gets the answer he needs to choose one road or the other.

-Other less-actives were at church as well, and it was so good to see them.

-A lady from Taiwan approached me after sacrament meeting and said she'd been before, clearly not a member. So we got a new investigator on the spot. :)

-Every tiny moment we've been able to contact walk, we've met the nicest people and we've gotten a lot of phone numbers ^_^

-We stopped by to teach Carla and Bruna. I know that they are the kingdom-builders Heavenly Father needs for the church to prosper, but it will take some time. She's nearly finished reading the Book of Mormon, and she wants to come to church. Bruna is in the road show, so we'll be able to attend!

I'm learning a lot about parenting from this experience. This last moves was really difficult because I wasn't fully involved in all the planning and organizing and teaching as much as I've been in the past, so I'm learning a lot as well. It's also really anti-climactic because we're moving in like a month, so we don't want to change things too much. I'm so pleased we're moving--it's amazing how quickly a big space gets dirty. We'll downsize and move to a little flat in the middle of Winchester with a pink door. Apparently Brother Hamilton has many talents and is decorating the place. I'm not sure what it'll look like, considering the other night he was showing us how to build an insulated wilderness shelter out of sticks and leaves, but if something bad happens, it's nice to know we're closer to them as well :)

I feel like I'm doing a lot more smiley faces than usual. Ah, well. Sister Paulsen is so rad--she's proactive, eager to learn, able to cut to the chase faster than I am, and is really low-impact. I think we're very similar, except she's Danish (which is like the equivalent of coming from Portland or Boston. No one is very conservative in Denmark, I've learned. She is by virtue of being a member of the church, but I think it's best not to talk politics. Something I've noticed is that when I don't have an American companion, America gets bashed by the members and people on the street. Weird.)

Something we're doing with Tunbridge Wells this moves is the 40 day fast, inspired from the scripture from Helaman 3:35, which talks about purifying our hearts. Here are some of the goals:

-Take down all family/world/band photos (we tore down all of Sister. Kernek's “Tangled” wrapping paper)

-Listen only to Tabernacle Choir (no more Lord of the Rings)

-Share spiritual experiences each day

-Pray before every appointment, coming in or going out of the flat, and at 10am and 10pm, in addition to all the other prayers

-Develop Christlike attributes by taking the test in PMG chapter 6 consistently during the 6 weeks and set personal goals to improve

-No talking about home, films, Mitt Romney (sad), music, etc.

-Pray for missionary dreams!

The last goal might sound silly, but all of these goals are meant to help us be better missionaries. Focus. We've already seen miracles because we're no longer fogging up the view with distractions. This is something I would like to continue when I come home, not necessarily with the same rules, but cut out the needless distractions in my life so that I can listen to the spirit more readily. I'll have to go through all my films and music and the things I do each day and "retrench" from the pointless things I do (Angry Birds is Danish!) and try harder to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord. Every day I see people, and every day I have the chance to share the Gospel with them, love them, serve them, and show them that life is worth living because God has very special purposes in mind for us. I hope this 40 day fast doesn't end this moves. I don't think Sister Paulsen will go back to the way things were anyway :)

I hope all is well with everyone and that Elder Willard (!) is loving the MTC ^_^

Love from,

Sister Willard