200

200: Our mission ever since January has been working to have 200 people at church by the month of June. I think the highest we ever got was 180 a couple months ago. Our mission all fasted and prayed together last week to reach our goal since it would be the last week of June. And this week there was 203 people! I just love the combined and collective power of faith. The part member family we are teaching is the best. Phoebe is 11, Jack is 13, and Brad is 16. The three of them came to church yesterday and loved it. We had a ward picnic after and then a baptism of one of the members. We are really focusing on building and supporting the members in their missionary work and they are being so willing! 

DVD Contacting: We wanted to switch things up in our finding so we took the portable DVD player with some Mormon messages and went around asking people if they wanted to be uplifted by a short inspiring message. We had a really positive experience and met a man from Teignmouth who we referred to the sisters there!!!! I think we will be doing some more of that because I mean who doesn't want to see a Mormon message! Haha, I seriously love those videos so much. Who needs television when you've got those!? Even after the mish, I am going to always be watching those. mormonchannel.org is the best.

Shower: The rain drops in Bournemouth are GINORMOUS! I seriously don't remember them being this thick in Teignmouth and Bath. We were walking and randomly it just started pouring and we were soaked within 2 minutes. I don't even think a raincoat or an umbrella had a chance. I love rain though. You just learn to laugh when you get soaked, but honestly the weather is not as bad in England as everyone seem to make of it.

Funny things: There are too many too count. But there was this one man from Saudi Arabia who would not stop trying to ask Sister Sargsyan on a date. I mean relentless. He was not going to take no for an answer or an explanation we are missionaries or anything. So we ended up giving him Teignmouth's number so that will be a fun phone call for them :) 

God knows us: I was having a particularly hard moment one day and I got my first letter in this flat from my family and it is amazing what a couple words can do to give you comfort. My sister wrote something along the lines of try your best and do everything you can, but then leave the rest for Heavenly Father to figure it out. Those words helped me so much, and I also love how Heavenly Father gives us those reminders all the time in the scriptures. The gospel is all about remembering and so grateful to constantly being reminded that God knows us and wants to help us out all the time. 

I love you all so much, have an amazing week!

I'll forward the ones sisters sent me from our week :) 

On P-day we went to this waffle place. All I have to say is oreo. nutella. ice cream. bananas. and waffle= the greatest thing ever created!

This is a pic of a missionary who was in the mission who just came home and now visiting. So weird that Elders' have first names!

There is one room in our house that was left like this. It is pretty much a hoarder's room. 

Progress

Transfers: President called Saturday and told us he thought about moving Sister Andersen, but felt like we should be together in Teignmouth one more transfer. We were both happy because that means we would see Kieron get baptised this Saturday and our other 2 baptisms we have planned in this transfer. A lot of people are leaving our zone and district and it is always a bit sad because you get attached to people, but then great new people come and go and it is just the circle of the mission and life and the memories last forever-cheesy, but true! 

Maxie: We gave her scriptures (the quad) yesterday we had someone get at the temple and it was so endearing to see how excited she was. I love new scriptures, they are so fresh and ready to be learned from.

Kieron: Love this man to death. His baptism this Saturday will be so amazing. The ward is so involved and he is just the best.

Good week: We got 2 more baptismal dates, Judy and Alan, and had 10 lessons with members. This ward is so great in helping us out with teaching.

                                                                                         Haha, okay so funny. This is Sly. It is Kieron's iguana and                                                            

                                                                                in the middle of a teach I just started laughing because it 

                                                                                      turned his head dramatically and just gave us this face the rest of the time. Oh Sly, what a character.

Funny: We were knocking doors on Tuesday and found a girl named Daisy (by the way I am naming my first girl that-in love with that name) who was really interested. At the end when we were exchanging numbers, her brother who is about our age came to the door and just stared at us without speaking. The awkwardest thing ever. We said bye, and that night we got a text from an unknown number saying "my liahona pointed to you." (FYI if you're not Mormon it is this compass type thing that Lehi's family in the Book of Mormon use to show them where to go in the wilderness) We were like what in the world, who is this this person? Well turned out it was Daisy's creepy brother and he had researched a lot about Mormons and must have come across a Mormon pickup line website. Anyways, that was pretty funny and gave us a good laugh. We said if he was really interested he could talk to the elders.

Sponge: Being a missionary is like being a sponge. You are constantly absorbing a variety of emotions/issues from others and yourself and it can be quite overwhelming at times. One moment you feel so much joy for someone progressing, and then seriously your next appointment you feel so sad for another person's heartbreaking situation in life. I was people watching at church yesterday, and it is so interesting to know a lot of the back stories to certain individuals and families and what they are going through. Everyone is at a different level, and it can be very emotionally and spiritually exhausting as a missionary jumping up and down and here and there for each investigator, less active, member, or person you meet on the street. In likening myself to a sponge, I am understanding that through prayer at night and in the morning (and i guess at any moment) you just need to squeeze out(for lack of a better word) everything to the Lord. Jesus Christ has absorbed all the pain of sin, sorrow and physical trials in this life, and we need to give our and others peoples "stuff" (for lack of a better word) to Him. Why? Because he is the only one who knows what we are going through and He can help. I love the trials that we go through and asking the question what can I learn from this? I think we are all sponges and the same principle of prayer I talked about applies to all of us. I love you all so much. like really i do. i miss you all so much. Remember you are loved and remember to pray.

Love,

Sister McLeod

Great Things are Happening

Culture Update: I learned that it is really rude to point over here. I am finally embracing English culture and eating with my fork and knife all the time. It actually is really efficient.

Funny: We have this investigator named Peter who is a little bit crazy. He is extremely intelligent and knows his bible. He is fixated on the early church during Christ's time and he focuses all his studies on what it would have been like and what the christian church should be like today. He loves to go on tangents about anything and everything, so we were extremely bold, blunt, and persistent that Jesus Christ has restored His church on earth and the only way he could find out would be to come to church and see for himself. Well he came to church and informed everyone he met of his life story and he was at church because he had been "McLeoded". He is a character to say the least and because of creepy comments we are turning him to the elders.

Kieron: STOPPED SMOKING! We set Friday as the day he would stop, and he did it! Man, I just love this man so much, I cannot even express it. He is so ready for baptism. He has progressed so much. We went through all of the baptismal interview questions and the only thing he struggles with is getting to church. It seems like the adversary is trying to stop him because the last 2 weeks he has had the most valid reasons pop up. BUT, he is getting there and the day of his baptism will be seriously so powerful.

Maxine: FINISHED THE BOM! Woot! Woot! and is onto the doctrine of covenants. Her husband is leaving for 7 weeks to Spain and Australia for work because he is a geologist and because she wants him to baptise and confirm her we are waiting. They are such a great couple, really just compliment one another.

Spiritual: In Relief Society we talked about how Jesus becomes personal to you. I was just thinking about how all the time we are inviting people to read, pray, and come to church to get to know their Savior, but unless there is a deeper meaning and desire involved, those 3 actions become ineffective in spiritual growth. I thought about how you can be active in the church, but inactive in the gospel. I reflected on areas I need to improve on, and as I have done so I feel like I am refreshing myself. Sometimes we need to do that so we can wake ourselves up spiritually and remind us of the personal relationship we have to Christ and our Heavenly Father. I hope you all have a refreshing week and I hope it rains soon in California. I wish I could send you the buckets over here.

I love you all so much. You are all so awesome.

Love,

Sister McLeod

Picture of my awesome district. The other is Sister Andersen and I using the masks that a member gave us.