Bournemouth: It is so diverse and there are so many people everywhere! Kind of a crazy place. We have had some cool experiences when we started talking to someone, and a couple people overheard and came to join us. One time it turned out to be a Christian from Angola, a Muslim family from Pakistan, and us speaking about the plan of salvation. Another time we stopped a man in the street from Portugal and went to a bench, and when we stopped talking to him two English guys from the military were intrigued and wanted to learn more. When we were talking to them, a man heard the word Jesus and wanted to join in. He told us he ran a Christian radio station and wanted us to come on it. And someone else we met wants us to come to an interfaith forum, so ya we are meeting loads of people and just building our teaching pool, weeding out who is really interested, but there are loads and loads of potentials.
World Cup: One of our neighbors are Brasilians and were going nuts when Brazil played, it was good fun listening to them and Sister Sargsyan stealthily took some pics or their dancing and celebrating, I'll send some next week. And when we were someing home there was a massive group of people all celebrating and getting ready for England to play. I don't know if they won or not, but ya world cup is a big deal over here. I completely forgot basketball existed until my Dad told me their was the NBA championship.
Sister Sargsyan: Just some fun facts about my comp. She was Miss Armenia like 5 times and has met Kim Kardashian. Her dad is the stake president in Armenia, there is one stake and they joined the church when she was 2. She is really funny and kind of a diva and we are writing down funny moments of learning enlgish every day. For instance, we were inviting someone to a musical fireside and she said ya come and we will sit by the fire and sing songs. soooo funny, but yes fireside is a weird word.
Love you all soooooo much! and hope you have a lovely week.
Zone Conference: Since our trains aren't working until April, they hired a mini bus to get us to zone conference to Poole. Zone conference is a time that is so nice to see other missionaries, but really to help me see what I need to work on and what I need to do to help the people I am teaching. The AP's spoke about talking to everyone and it has been something I have been alright at, but not always consistent in. Sister Andersen and I knew we had to get better about consistently talking to everyone and so we prayed for the courage and faith to do it. That morning we talked and taught amidst our travels to literally everyone and on our way back for lunch we met Paul. We taught him the restoration, committed him to read the Book of Mormon and to meet with us on Saturday. On Saturday he voiced that church has been on his mind and he was eager to learn. He accepted April 5th for baptism, a date we had prayed about and planned earlier in the week to extend. Tonight we are having FHE (family home evening) in a members home and he is planning to come to church this Sunday! It seriously is amazing that as we listen to our leaders and ultimately the Lord's counsel he will blesses us.
Members that help us = Angels: I love Teignmouth so much! And the members are doing amazing in their efforts to help us. For example we taught Kim on Friday and committed her to come to church. She has a newborn, 4 and 5 year old and no car or car seats and the member there, Susan, was so willing to help. We mass texted the ward for car seats, found 3 and Susan went and retrieved them and was able to take Kim and her family to church. The kids loved primary and Susan took the initiative to make sure they sat next to her in church, and other members even helped with the kids too. So amazing, and so blessed to be teaching so many people that the Lord is preparing. We have 6 baptismal dates and love them all so much. They are all so different and unique, but the gospel is blessing their lives. Kieron passed the sacrament on Sunday like a champ and we are going to do a family home evening with his family this week! Oh man so good. We are so busy!
Dartmoors: The prettiest place ever. Felt Like Lord of the Rings. We went with Maxie, our investigator who I love to death on p-day. We got drenched, but so beautiful and so worth it!
Maxie had a hat from Copenhagen - so obviously Sister Andersen rocked it!
Accent: Sorry to report, but no, I don't have an english accent folks. But my grammar is decreasing. It is scary. My district leader has a hickish type accent from Utah and one of our investigators is from London and they say things like "we was" and stuff and I am catching myself saying stuff like that. AHHHHH! And then I say my o's like an irish person at times. I think I already told you guys that, but I have no idea what my voice is doing!
Progress In Talking: I am grateful to be a misisonary because I am getting more comfortable with giving talks way last minute and being completely fine with it. It is so weird when I look back on the first talk I ever gave. I think I was 12 and I wrote it out like a week before and practiced it over and over. I also think of my sophomore year when I had to give a presentation on Nelson Mandela and completely blanked and started it over like 3 times and after the class I just started crying and never having a desire to speak in front of people again. BUT you never stop trying. Practice makes perfect and you just say a prayer and rely on the Spirit to take over when you talk. And I am sure I'll have experiences in the future where I don't give the best talk, but I'll learn from it and keep trying. I got a text Saturday night about speaking Sunday morning. I've learned that a good talk consists of a personal story, scriptural example, application to life, and linking it to the Savior ALWAYS. So that is what I did and I think it was the best talk I've given and the least stressed out I've been. Thank you mission.
Investigators: Sorry, I don't talk about investigators as I should. It is weird because some things you experience as a missionary with someone are so special and personal that you feel weird writing it. I'm not being selfish, I promise, but just know Kieran and Maxine are progressing and doing awesome. Kieran is working on quitting smoking and Maxine is up to Helaman and wants to join the ward choir! We have other invetsigators that are in the beginning stages, and good things are going to come.
Weather: IS CRAZY. We are actually really blessed in this Southern most part of England compared to the rest of the country. It is cold though. One moment it will be sunny, and the next pouring down. That is England for you.
Lars: We had an awesome district meeting that got Sister Andersen and I pumped about making specific goals. We have heard those stories of people praying for a specific person and actually finding them and bringing them to the gospel, so we thought we have the faith we can do it too! So we prayed and the person that came to both our minds was a male, black puffy jacket, shoulder length hair, and Sister Andersen thinks his name is Lars. So we are looking for Lars everyday! We will find him!
Exchange: I love helping out sisters. I didn't fully expect how much joy it would bring, but I love being able to learn, listen, and love the different sisters I get to meet! Sometimes it is so crazy to think that the Lord trusts us 18-21 age people to do what missionaries do to a specific area of the world. That we are living on our own, figuring out transport, appointments, talking to everyone we meet about the gospel, etc. But He trusts us, and everything always works out. For exchanges, you pray about who, when, and where you will exchange. So I felt good about Sister Jacob coming to Teignmouth with me. We trained it to Torquay and back and had an awesome day. Our goal was to have fun street contacting. I asked one of the first ladies I met if we could help her (she was carrying garden stuff), and she said yes!! She was heading to her allotment (no one in England really has a garden/yard so there are these places you can buy and do your garden) and so we went and helped her for an hour and a half. She was a Jehovah's witness and really friendly and open, and we ended up teaching her the Restoration while we were helping her. SO AWESOME. I just love how you never know where you will end up in a day. You plan of course, but then you go where the Lord needs you to go. Anyways, it was a cool experience and I love Sister Jacob lots. I think we have a family connection or something because her family is from Scotts Valley.
Anyways! ALL is Well in ISRAEL, I love you lots and thank you family for the picture book and calendar, I look it all the time and just love you all so much! Have a great week!
Love,
Sister McLeod
This is a picture from Christmas. Us and the Newton Abbot elders (Elder Blackner, Smith, me and Sister Andersen). I just love all of my district so much.
Man I cannot even focus, I am so pumped right now!!!!!! So bear with me if this is letter is scattered in exictement everywhere. I was having a pretty hard evening last night and I was looking forward to reading e-mails and it has uplifted me so much! So thank you all for helping me.
Reasons I am Pumped:
1. Billie was baptised in Bath on Saturday!!! On President's letter each week it tells you who was baptised and where and so I was dying to see if Billie was and to see her name made me starting crying with joy! But it gets better! I opened my e-mails and saw an e-mail from Billie! She found my blog and haha will read this now too (so hopefully you are appreciating this shoutout), and wow that made me feel so happy. Billie is such an amazing person and has strengthened my testimony and I cannot wait to meet up with her after the mission in London! Love you Billie.
2. It gets better. Chris e-mailed me too and bore his testimony and man, he is doing so solid in the gospel! He is teaching me now! Reading those two e-mails made me realise how special it is to meet these two amazing people that I would have had never met unless I was on a mission at this time. The mission is all about the people you meet and special experiences you get to have as you both are strenghtening your understanidng of Jesus Christ and loving one another.
3. We are headed to the temple today for a sleepover! WOOT! WOOT! So since we live so far away we get to take a coach with our zone and the Bristol zone to the temple accomadations. We are supposed to get to Plymouth at 4 and are heading from there. I am so exited to go to the temple to learn and feel of the special spirit there.
4. On Saturday, I went to my first English wedding. Steve and Terina are the elders' investigators and they are getting baptised at the end of December. How funny is this. Elder Blackner was the best man and Elder Smith was ring boy and then the witnesses to their wedding. It was so fun to go to a wedding, and Terina looked so beautiful and happy. They have two cutest girls too.
5. Kieran, who we have been teaching for awhile is progressing and we taught him 3 times this week and is working toward December 28th for baptism. He is this awesome, older English man who is so sincere and thoughtful.
6. Maxine and George. After church we went to our ward mission leaders' home for a meal and a lesson with Maxine and George. They came into church 2 weeks ago and George is a member. They were married in April and are so cute together and in love. I love when people hold hands all the time. They are in the elders' area, but requested sisters to teach them and Maxine asked us so many wonderful questions and is exicted to meet with us again on Thursday. I'm so grateful for the member support here. The Maddock's are the ones who invited them and us over for dinner and now we have the opportunity to get to know them and share this beautiful message of the gospel of Jesus Christ!
7. I am obsessed with the Mormon Message, the Christmas Spirit. You should attach it to this letter. It is so cute and humble reminds us what Christmas is all about. It is all about the Spirit of Christ and I am trying to remember everyday.
8. We went on exchanges this week. I went over to Redruth in Cornwall and got to serve with Sister Moulis who I absolutlely adore. She is from Nice, France. I don't know if that is spelled right but it is pronunced like Neece. She has been out 3 months and we got along so well and I would love to serve with her again. We laughed so much and her English is amazing from just learning it at the MTC.
It is so nice to have this time to write all of the wonderful things that happen throughout the week because it helped me see the joy and grander picture. I am not going to lie, there are so many tough moments on the mission especially this week. BUT, I am so grateful to be constantly learning that there is opposition in all things. I want my misison to be hard because I know I will grow and learn the most that way. Sounds crazy, but I know it is true. Regardless of eveything that goes on, I write 5 things I am grateful for each day in my journal and truly know that the Lord remembers us and blesses us in every season of life.
Love you all and hope you enjoy that mormon message.
Love,
Sister McLeod
P.S.: I don't know what I am turning into! I say my o's so funny now. It is not even an English accent. It is like Scottish or Irish or like someone from Minnesota.
P.S.S. Way more pics to come, couldn't today because I forgot my camera.
Zone Conference: Since we are so far away from everything in the mission, we had to spend the night in Yeovil with the sisters there before traveling to to Poole in the morning. The Torquay sisters also stayed with us so it was a party. I don't know what it is about girls but we can talk forever. Anyways we made it to zone conference and it was awesome. Elder Teixiera who is a general authority came and spoke to us and his insights were focused on helping our investigators progress. It was exactly what I needed to hear and I loved how he emphasized that it is one thing to feel truth, but the most important thing we need to do and help our investigators do is to test their faith and act on that principle of truth. Faith is all about action. For lunch, the members in Poole were so kind to give us a Thanksgiving meal. It was so good to see Sister Chamberlain and she is doing well in Bath, so that made me happy. It was also so good to see Sister Cowley from my MTC group. Seriously every time we see each other we are going through very similar things so it is nice to talk and laugh.
Zone Conference Thanksgiving meal
Trains: I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. It is my favorite thing to look out the window in England and see such beautiful green rolling hills or the sea side. Everytime we travel on the train, I feel like a giddy little child.
Sister Andersen and I traveling on the train
Sister Erasmus and Jacob. Sisters in my distritc in Torquay.
Kieron and Alan: They are our two solid investigators.We taught Alan in the chapel with a recent convert and he prayed for the first time after being really nervous and it was absolutely amazing. He was buzzing with happiness afterwards and telling everyone at the ward activity so that was a good sign. The Newton Abbot ward is really involved with ward activities which is so awesome. We had a Spanish night on Friday and a musical christmas program on Sunday that both Kieron and Alana came to. Unfortunately, they didn't come to church but we are working on that! Kieron and Alan are being able to be fellowshipped and taught in memebrs homes. I seriously feel like a friend maker on a mission. It is because we missionaries come and go, but the ward stays and so we have to build those connections. It has been a good week in seeing both of them progress little bit by little bit.
December: I am SO PUMPED for December. Sister Andersen's mom sent us Danish candy advent calendars and the ward gave us one as well so we were so exicted for it to finally be December to start it. We get to go to the temple on the 10th, we are teaching and finding some great people, the ward is doing so many activities, and then it is Christmas!!! Good things are happening. I've been reading Jesus the Christ and learning so much more about our Savior and think this first Christmas in my England home will be very unique and different.
Church: Church was packed. When I say packed, I mean Sister Chamberlain and I ended up sitting on the ground in the back and I am not complaining! The Bath ward is so special because they are unified in such love for one another that you can just feel it so strongly as you walk in. Church being packed had a lot to do with many families coming back from holiday, but still with the elders and us combined we had 7 investigators at church! Church as a missionary is a bit stressful. Enjoyable and awesome, but still a little bit stressful. This is a typical thought process of my Sunday. Wake up and pray that all the people that said they would come will come, that all the lifts will go according to plan, and just text and call. When we get to church we are talking to all the members to see how they are doing, while waiting for our investigators to come and then get members to help them feel welcome. We are constantly moving and talking and thinking and praying. As soon as you are in a meeting whether it be Relief Society, Gospel Principles, or Sacrament you are hoping that the investigators are having a positive experience. And in our case this Sunday, we had unexpected investigators turn up which was awesome, and this one creepy guy. And then in the middle of Sacrament meeting we got another call from someone else coming that needed directions. They got there with 10 minutes left and we gave them our chairs. Then after church ends, you are trying to get to talk to all the less actives, investigators, and members you need to ask to come on teaches. Everyone is asking you about your schedule when you can come for dinner or do service or teach or any random thing. It's a lot of multi-tasking and I am not complaining, but definitely gives you a whole new outlook on church. The time I really try to focus on is the Sacrament, which is why we go to church. At that time I focus on my Savior and His sacrifice for me. How I am imperfect and make mistakes constantly, but how willing He is to forgive me if I put my faith in Him and repent. And then how we are able to have the constant companion of the Holy Ghost promised to us. That is the best gift Heavenly Father gives us and man it is amazing to be a missionary because I am starting to understand more how the Spirit speaks to me.
We are working so hard. Every night this week I am completely dead. It's the best feeling ever because you can honestly feel that you gave that day to the Lord. We set really challenging goals this past week, and that is what helped us stretch and grow so much. I wish I could keep writing about all the experiences we are having. We are really over knocking hahaha, so we have been praying that people will be put in our paths that we can teach. The Lord answers prayers because we met 5 people whether that be on a bench, park, or street that we were able to teach right then and make a solid next appointment. Summer is ending soon so we need to find all these people before they start hibernating again haha.
Sister Chamberlain is such a blessing to me. I love her and we get along so well. The Lord has been so good to us, and I am just amazed that if are obedient to His commandments, He blesses us. It is that simple, He is promised to bless us, we just have to be willing. Doctrine & Convenants 82:10 (I think that is right) I love you all so much!
Love and Cheers,
Sister McLeod
Doctrine & Covenants 82:10 -I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.
Sister Grobler and Sister Lloyd ~ Sisters I was with for a couple days in Bristol waiting to get Sister Chamberlain
This is the cutest family ever we are teaching, Sujata, Smruti, and Sparsh :)
The p-day before Sister Barker left our district we got together for some mini-golf in Victoria park. So fun!
And we found middle earth
Sister Chamberlain and I. We are pretty lucky to be here in Bath.
This is Tracy. She is amazing and is like my English mum.
Sunday: S is for having a supernal Sunday with Sonia, Sujata, Smruti, and Sparsh full of smiles and the Spirit! How is that for alliteration! S is my favorite letter lately, we keep meeting so many great people starting with S. So, if your name begins with S feel special :) Yes, so our lovely Indian family said they were only coming to sacrament (it is the last meeting here), but then surprised us by coming to gospel principles before! I cannot tell you how much joy I felt as I turned around seeing the members welcoming them into church. Their 6 month old Sparsh is the most precious baby ever and he was so smiley. I will get a picture of them soon to show you how cute this family is soon. And Sonia is the most lovely older lady who has the mannerisms of my grandma Zoe Suzuki. She came to church and absolutely loved it, one of the members came up to her and said "Are you new?" and she replied "Yes, but you will probably see more of me." Oh my goodness, Sonia is being so receptive to the gospel and she is reading a chapter of the Book of Mormon everyday. We hardly can wait until we meet with her during the week.
Zone Conference: I got to see some of my favorite sisters from the MTC. We are the May 16er's, it is a special bond. Sister Gunnel (Idaho), Barrow (Texas), Cowley (Arizona), me, and Finch (England). Man I would love to serve with anyone of these sisters. Crossing my fingers, one day I will get to.
Zone Conference: We roadtripped it 4 hours to Poole and 4 hours back on Tuesday with our zone leaders and one other sister form Finland. We are usually on the bus or train when we travel to these things and we are constantly looking for people to talk to, and so it was quite odd to be in a car with 4 other Mormons. We had to travel to Weston Super Mare to pick up a sister and I got a glimpse of the ocean and oh man that felt good. At the beginning of zone conference, they do a slide show of all the baptisms of the mission recently, and it was funny/cool to see Sister Barker's reactions to some of the pictures because she had either known them or had taught them in her other areas and she was stoked out of her mind that they had made it to baptism. Anyway, zone conference was amazing. I don't think any place with tons of missionaries and the President could ever be bad. He talked about how missionary work is progressing via the internet, and we need to be encouraging others to spread the gospel whether that be through blogs or Facebook. Last month there were 5 baptisms from people being taught through Skype or the internet from our mission from Lebanon to West Virginia. There are Elders and Sisters assigned to internet areas. Carly, a member from Bath has been sharing statuses ever since she was baptised a year ago, and she has had about 6-10 people message her about the church and how it has made her so happy. Currently her friend who messaged her a couple weeks ago is being taught by the missionaries. The work is hastening, and the Lord expects us to use all the tools we have in this modern age. He had us 3 tips for Facebook,
1. Keep it short
2. Keep it personal
3. Don't use too churchy of words that people won't understand
Scripture: 1 Nephi 16:28-29. Speaking of tools, I love how the Liahona guided Nephi and his family based on their faith and diligence. We can apply this to our lives. The tools of the scriptures, prayer, General Conferences, and church are only going to benefit us if we have faith to trust their guidance and diligently apply it to our lives. I read chapter 17 this morning and it is so interesting to examine the contrast between Nephi and Laman/Lemuel. They describe the same experience so differently due to their levels of understanding of God's plans for them. Knowing that this life is a time of testing and probation, helps us be positive even if hard times come in life. It is a choice to gain this knowledge, and Laman and Lemuel do not choose not to gain this knowledge,thereofre fall victim to their difficult times. I hope we choose to be like Nephi by using the tools the Lord gives us. I know it will help us gain an eternal perspective that will bring joy in this life and in the life to come.
It was like the first day I have ever blowdried or do anything to my hair, so we thought we should document this event. How I love Sister Barker.
My Wall of Love. This wall brings me so much joy, and anyone and everyone is welcome to join to this wall of love by sending me some artwork:) Jeff McLeod - I am expecting an artsy shrek inspried creation.
