Last Move

Moves: I got my last moves call from president and I get to stay in Bournemouth with Sister Barnes!!! In mission terminology my granddaughter gets to kill her grandma. pretty funny. She is just excited because as she says she gets to inherit the birthright (haha known as a loads of stuff I'm going to leave behind). But honestly I could not be happier :) I am so grateful to have stayed in Bath, Teignmouth, and Bournemouth for a good amount of time. I guess I was meant to stay in the south west my whole mission. I really cannot complain. I think I have served in the prettiest parts of the mission with amazing members in solid wards. 

Questions and Answers: I wrote 5 questions for conference that I prayed would be answered. 4/5 of them have been answered and I just assume the other answer is in the one session I didn't watch because of the time difference in England. It is truly amazing how the Spirit presses on your heart and mind the things you need to act upon and think about. I think a talk that really stood out to me was Elder Jeffrey R. Holland about the poor and poor in spirit. Shocker, right? I just am realizing how much more aware I need to be of those in need. I love that Elder Holland said it was something he did not know the answer to, but that he knew that God knows the answers and as we seek His counsel in prayer we can know how we can help the poor and needy on an individual basis. Isn't that great about life? We can seek heaven's help and receive answers. 

Conference: It was such a cool miracle this week as we were teaching this sincere, humble guy named Manny and he said he wished someone he knew was learning about the gospel too. We said you would really get on with this other guy we are teaching named Rodney. Well, turns out they are really good friends. Both of them came to conference and were impressed by the words spoken. They are both seeking the truth, coming from Christian backgrounds, one from Zimbabwe and the other from Nigeria. We are excited to see how they will progress now they are in it together. 

I love you all so much. Have a lovely week!

Love,

Sister McLeod

Americanisms

We were able to go to the temple this week with our hilarious investigator Harry! Mike, our recent convert drove us with Candy (an awesome American who is here for film masters). Harry is obsessed with going to Utah after his baptism to see the Salt Lake temple, and he makes me smile. He is from London and can talk your ear off, but he is sincere and is loving learning. This is the last week of the transfer and I sure hope that Sister Barnes and I get to stay together in Bournemouth. I correct Sister Barnes when she says Americanisms, (ie: car park instead of parking lot, mobile instead of cell phone, rubbish bin, in stead of garbage bag) but I am not sure if she is just preparing me for going back to America. Anyways I do not have an accent, so everyone lower your expectations, but I do love the British terminology and will have to adjust to not adding an "u" to every word like saviour. Anyways I love you all so much! The gospel is true and am so grateful to be able to listen to the words of the prophet and his apostles. It is my favourite time of the year, and I have started writing questions down to prepare myself for the answers that the Spirit can give during conference.I invite you all to do likewise. I am so grateful for the Spirit nudging to be change and be better each day. I love all of you loads!

 

Love,

Sister McLeod  

Gratitude

Mothering Sunday: I forget to say about last week March 30th, was Mother's Day here....or rather it is called Mothering Sunday so that was really lovely and odd to celebrate it so early. It still didn't feel like it. It will feel like it when I get to see the cutest mom of all times on May 11th!

Paul's Baptism: It was so lovely. The speakers, Dot Martin and Cynthia Wildin, were both converts, and they shared their journal entries from their baptism and confirmation day. Kieron got to be a witness of it as well. The choir sang, and members came to support so it was wonderful. I just love the members so much here. It really does feel like home, and they are my family. I have been blessed in the two areas I have been so far. It worked out that there was a birthday party at the chapel earlier that day so we had a feast of food for after. Straight after the baptism we watched the Saturday morning conference session at 5 pm. Seriously the best day. Baptism + General conference, what could be better for a missionary?

General Conference: We watched general conference at a member's home with our investigators as well as the senior couple, the McMurteys. So many things stuck out to me, but the one that keeps coming to mind is Elder Uchtdorf's. It was so cute to see how pumped Sister Schmidt was for him. She was saying how much of a hero he is in Germany. I loved his words about gratitude as a way of being, a disposition and who it doesn't mean only saying or counting the good things you have. I love how he spoke of gratitude not of the lips, but of the soul. It made me see gratiude in such a deeper way, and it is something I want to embody more. I am grateful we can see the beauty and joy of life amist the hard times. I think that is the key to figure out in this life of being tested---That even in our hardest times, we can remain grateful. I love being able to hear the words of a living prophet and his apostles. Anyone who hears their words must feel that they are truly inspired. I am grateful for this mission and the continual process of learning how to be happy amidst difficult times. I love you all so much. I love England. It is funny that the things I criticized at the beginning I am beginging to defend as if I'm from here. I'm beginning to say eEnglish phrases and words like it is nomal. Still don't have an accent, but I am grateful that I am truly loving England. Honestly in the beginning, I didn't think I could or would love it this much, but I do.

I love you all.

I went on exchanges with the Torquay sisters this week and I was with Sister Stuart in Teignmouth. She is the one on the left on the pic. I don't think I have laughed so much in one day on my mission. She is hilarious and we had such a good time together. She is from SLC and graduated from East High School with Courtney Curtis! such a small world.

Pic of Paul's baptism. Jon Martin baptized him. Jon Martin is the most jolly English man you can find. He is from Manchester and I love his accent.

Like Christmas Morning

Time: I'm in Bath still with Sister Chamberlain :) I cannot believe in 6 weeks, I'll be out on my mission for 6 months. It is amazing how time flies. Last year I was in Jerusalem listening to conference and as soon as I heard the age change, I knew I would be somewhere in a year's time on a mission. It is so crazy that I am here in Bath, England serving a mission. Pretty surreal. Life is so crazy and unexpected and beautiful.

Baeza Family: Thank you so much for that awesome halloween/birthday package! It really made my whole week. I kept pulling things out and it seriously was something I needed or wanted, definitely an inspired package :) I'm still tripping out how cool that e.o.s lip balm is.

Cult: We were talking to this uni student outside her flat, and her 2 roommates and one of their dads came up to come inside so he seemed really nice and they invited us in. We sat down for a good 15 minute sermon how we were going to hell and were apart of a cult. You can tell the 3 girls were so embarrassed/felt awkward, and he just kept wanting us to get offended or contend back. But we just smiled, bore testimony that our whole goal is to love others and follow Jesus Christ. He was not having it all, and by the end we asked if we could pray with them, and he told us our prayers are to the devil so then we just smiled and said okay will you pray for all of us then. There are experiences everyday where we get to stand up for the truth and explain what mormons are and I'm grateful to be so many peoples first contact with a mormon. It definitely is a responsibility, but such a privilege. I love spreading the gospel here in England where so many people still haven't heard of mormons or have untrue thoughts about us.

General Conference: General Conference in the mission is like Christmas morning. We were looking forward to it all week. On Saturday morning, we went to the Bristol Stake center to watch the Relief Society broadcast and they had loads of food. I'm so thankful we mormon sisters value our food. Our investigator Lauren came too, so that was sweet. Later that day we went to the Broads' house (the best ward mission leader ever) to watch Saturday morning which we saw from 5pm to 7pm. The next day we went to Bishops' house for lunch and then watched the Saturday afternoon, and then headed to Bristol again to watch Sunday morning from 5pm to 7pm. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait for the Ensign to read Sunday afternoon. But seriously how could you watch conference and not know the church is true. I am so grateful for inspired leaders who direct us closer to our Savior Jesus Christ. I'm grateful for their emphasis on missionary work because seriously I can speak for the whole 80,000 missionaries, we need your help. Pray for missionaries and their investigators by name in your ward. Invite them and their investigators over to your home for dinner. I didn't understand the importance of missionary work when I was in high school. There are so many missionary opportunities whether that be inviting friends to church activities or so many things I missed because I dismissed missionary work as something missionaries only do. I want to slap my old self because that is not how the Lord wants it to be. It is not simply a good idea for missionaries and members to work together, it is what the Lord has commanded us to do by his prophet, apostles, and leaders. A lot of times, we like to pick and choose things from conference, but this message cannot be overlooked. It is so important! I loved the exclamation talk too! :)  But I love conference because it reminds us of the blessings of the gospel and once again it is all about the love God has for us and how we in order to be more like Him have got to love and serve more too. I think I could go on forever about conference and my thoughts. I was really touched by President Monson's love for his wife. They really became one, and so your heart goes out to him because he really is dealing with the loss of part of who he has been for 65 years. But how grateful that we know it is only a temporary separation, and all those who we love so dearly we will be able to see again because of the plan of salvation. I know President Monson is a prophet of God and I'm thankful for the confirmation of the Spirit that I can feel as he and his leaders speak. They speak truth because they are speaking in behalf of God.

Sujata: I love her and her husband and little baby. So we have been teaching her since June and she finally accepted a baptismal date for December 21st. She is going to India for a month, but to see her progress a little bit more each week and finally accept a date is amazing.

Cheers, 

Sister McLeod

Sister Chamberlain and I at the royal crescent :)

Hope

Transfers: Crossing my fingers I stay in Bath. I will find out tonight, and my p-day or moving is on Wednesday, but we are allowed to e-mail a little bit today.

Hope: Even if things don't work out with some investigators, it is necessary to hope and get excited that the next person you meet will accept and apply the gospel in their lives and be baptised. You have to envision that with every investigator regardless of past experience. I don't want to be jaded from past experiences and I know the only way to do that is to look forward in faith to my Savior Jesus Christ. Not going to lie, I want to lead others to baptism SO BADLY. That is my purpose as a missionary here in England. We are going to find someone this transfer to baptise, we have set that goal and are so committed to doing all we can to show the Lord we are for realzzz. We are going to forget ourselves and go to work. It is the only intelligent way to approach missionary work.

University Students: Uni is back in session and we are pumped! Bath Spa University is here and so there are students flocking everywhere and we have some really good potentials. I love talking to people my own age because I can relate to them and they are usually much more open to talk. Plus 3 mormon uni students came into our ward so that is awesome. One of them, Rachael, is from Palo Alto (so excited to talk with someone from the Bay Area, man i just love my homeland so much) and getting her masters here. She is awesome to say the least. She served in a mission in Argentina and already has come on 2 teaches with us.

Making People Think: That is what I love most about being a missionary. Talking to people and asking them questions and seeing their mind search for the answer. I absolutely LOVE talking to atheists, which is like most everyone here. It is so interesting, I used to be so scared of them and I didn't know what to say to them, but it is amazing how the spirit works through you to know what to say. For example, yesterday we met a uni student named Guy. He was an atheist (but the type that you could tell was still searching for answers about God) and even played a part in the Book of Mormon musical, and a total Jack the lad (term for a popular, confident type of guy) so you just know it was a fun convo already. We started talking to him for a bit and completely blew away all of the stereotypes of an American and a mormon. I could see it took him back that every question he had we could answer with confidence and assurance. We then parted and we continued knocking, and then he came back! I love how I could tell he was thinking about what we had talked about because he was like okay I have 2 questions. We continued talking for about 30 minutes and it ended with him wanting to read the Book of Mormon. Still skeptical of course, but he was so intrigued. I just know one day, he is going to join because this church is God's church and is so true. It just makes sense. It gets truer and truer every day as people challenge what I believe in. I am continually asking God questions and asking for the help I need to overcome weaknesses. But He never lets me down and is always there to strengthen me. 

General Conference: So I never realised how being in similar time zones to Utah was a blessing for General Conference. Because of the time difference in England, and that we would have to travel to Bristol to see it, we are trying to go to members homes to see some sessions at funky times. We are not sure how it all works out so we will let you know next p-day. But to say the least, I AM PUMPED TO HEAR THE PROPHET AND HIS APOSTLES. Like really, it is the best think ever to have modern revelation.

Love and cheers, 

Sister McLeod