Lindsey Land (:

                                  Sister Krylborn, David and Me

Hey!  I'm glad you are all so excited for my return.  I'm trying not to stress out about it yet. Ha ha!  And who all is going to be at the airport?    Anyways, Harborne is amazing! This past week was one of my best weeks ever for key indicators.  It is crazy how much we now have going on!  I went on exchange with Sister Fernandez from Spain on Saturday and we had so many appointments that we didn't have time to do any finding! I'm not complaining at all, but that is just so out of the ordinary.  But David got baptised!!!! Hallelujah!  He was quite nervous all through out church, but I wish you could have seen him afterwards.  Sis. Krylborn and I sang a song just before the baptism, because he asked us to, but it went well and really brought the spirit in.  The baptism went perfect and when he came in afterwards, he was beaming.  I asked him how he felt and he said that he knew that it would be symbolic of bei...

Hey hey hey!  I don't know how the weeks go by so quickly, but it's probably because we've been so busy! We had an amazing week and probably the best week of my mission actually.  I went on two exchanges and both went amazing. I went to Stourbridge Tuesday and Nuneaton Saturday. The sisters I got to serve with are incredible and we just had a blast.  I am so grateful that I get to meet so many sisters and make so many friends. I'm going to have to keep up my weekly emails when I get home, but they'll be to my missionary friends (:  We got three new investigators this week and two of them are Chinese boys: Studio and Chi.  The Chinese kids pick out English names when they get here and some of them pick the most random things like Future or Chocolate. But it's all good.  Studio believes a bit more than Chi, but we taught the Restoration and it went amazingly well.  We found them last week just by knocking on doors.  I really ...

Well, this week flew by, but it feels like it was ages ago that I was with Sis.Turnbow.  It was really really weird to see her go and to have my departing interview. President pretty much thanked me for my service and gave me marriage advice ;) Ha ha!  But the weirdest part was being at the final banquet and testimony meeting and telling everyone goodbye. A couple of the elders who were leaving came me hugs and I ended up not being able to sleep all night because I couldn't stop thinking about how weird it all was. I don't even remember the last time I hugged a boy.  Man, I'm going to be so weird when I come home.   But it was even weirder on Wednesday because I felt like I should have been on a plane, but yet there I was at transfers again.  My new companion is Sis.Krylborn from Sweden. She came out in January and we're still in Harborne. She is an amazing missionary and I am so grateful to have her so that by Thursday I was back in missionary mode and I ...

Wow, the Heap reunion sounds like it was SO much fun! And I am excited that we'll have one next year! Those were always so much fun and camping in the forest sounds like so much fun!  The only camping we do these days is in other sister's flats on their couches or floors. It doesn't have the same thrill, but it's all for a good cause (:  And tell Aunt Susan it's ok that she locked herself out of the van. She's not the only one with car troubles. Last monday after emailing, we went to ASDA to shop and then to fill up the car with petrol. I was almost finished pumping the fuel when I looked up to notice that I had just filled our tank full of unleaded rather than deisel.  I wanted to cry I was so embarrassed. There was a huge line behind us and we got absolutely drenched by the rain while we had to explain to an employee what happened. We put the car in neutral and pushed it out of the way so that others could use the pump. Then the zone leaders came whil...

Hi ya! It is so interesting how things change. I still feel like everything at home should be the same as when I left. Ha ha! Especially because I love St.Johns so much, I'm trying to prepare myself mentally for the changes. But oh well, life is meant to go on. This week was quite good. We haven't seen Henry since last week. We're not too sure if he's worth our efforts.  Because we are gone so much, we really have to prioritize our time. We just don't have time to spend on every person we meet.  I do enjoy having this calling though because I get to go and learn so much from the other sisters and I can help them as well.  After I leave, all but 5 sisters will have come out in the year 2013. They are all so new and many of them are going through struggles that I went through as well.  It is kind of neat to be able to talk to them and give them advice and help them to be better missionaries.  I don't think I personally am the best missionary, but I hav...

Sounds like a really good 24th celebration! I'm sad I missed it, but I am even more happy that it was a good time and that you had so much fun. It's funny because a year ago it made me so home sick and sad that I was missing so much. But now I am just happy because these things bring so much joy in to your lives. Wow, that's cool that so many missionaries are out!  Most of the boys on those signs were just freshmen when I was a senior and now they're all over the world preaching the gospel.  That is SO cool!  That's rather funny that Kate held Spencer's sign. Ha! He emails me his weekly letters, which are fun to read. Karston and TJ have grown up SO much. Holy Cow!  And where's Marc's hair going?! Wow, I'm slightly shocked at how much every one has changed! Not that it's a bad thing. I just don't think about it much. I'm sure you guys will think I have changed a lot as well. I've been trying to send many pictures through out t...

Hi ya! Wow, this week has been impeccably hot! I know that it definitely is warmer back home, but I've been dying.  I think I became too accustomed to the damp cold.  It's weird feeling hot and sweating! Ha ha! I suppose it is just preparing me for Arizona. I'm so glad Sis.Turnbow's parent's stopped by! It made us both so happy to see the pictures.   But this week has been a testing of faith, which is normal, ha ha!  President actually called another Sister Training Leader last week, so we have 3 less exchanges now.  Last week we stayed in our own area the whole week and only the Loughborough sisters came in and we had a work over.  It was a tough week though in that we had so much unsuccessful finding. It was great that we had finding time, but it was one of those times when it felt like no matter what we tried, nothing really worked. I always wonder why that happens. Especially when you put in so much faith, work, and effort, and pray...

This week was really good and busy. I swear each week flies by quicker than the one before. It's pretty scary sometimes.  But we only had two exchanges this week and they both went really well. We went to Evington over in Leicestershire and worked with Sis.Stapley and Sis.Cook. They just opened the area and I have never met so many hindus, muslims, and Seeks! It was a bit intimidating. But it was amazing because we helped them get 3 new investigators! So that was my 4th of July. I didn't even realise what day it was until Sis.Turnbow and I realised that we were both wearing Red,White, and Blue. Ironic! It must be 2nd nature in us to be patriotic on the 4th of July.  We also had exchange with Stourbridge, which is just down the road from us. So we did a full swap and I stayed with Sis.Grigoryan down there for the day. It was a lot of fun and incredibly hot!  I seriously thought I was going to die and it was 85 degrees. But the humidity makes it feel much hotter. ...

This week was really good and busy. I swear each week flies by quicker than the one before. It's pretty scary sometimes.  But we only had two exchanges this week and they both went really well. We went to Evington over in Leicestershire and worked with Sis.Stapley and Sis.Cook. They just opened the area and I have never met so many hindus, muslims, and Seeks! It was a bit intimidating. But it was amazing because we helped them get 3 new investigators! So that was my 4th of July. I didn't even realise what day it was until Sis.Turnbow and I realised that we were both wearing Red,White, and Blue. Ironic! It must be 2nd nature in us to be patriotic on the 4th of July.    We also had an exchange with Stourbridge, which is just down the road from us. So we did a full swap and I stayed with Sis.Grigoryan down there for the day. It was a lot of fun and incredibly hot!  I seriously thought I was going to die and it was 85 degrees. But the humidity makes it feel much h...

Hello!   Well, my predictions were right.  I am now serving in Harborne E with Sis.Turnbow!  Dream come true!!!  Wow, it sure is different from Wylde Green even though I am only about 10 miles away.  The Harborne ward is enormous and there are actually 6 sets of missionaries here.  Our area was just opened last transfer so we have a lot of finding to do to try and build it up. Church yesterday was a bit overwhelming because there were so many people there. I think about 200.  Harborne covers the centre of Birmingham so we have thousands and thousands of people in the area of all sorts of colours and cultures. It was like a box of crayons at church - so many different colours of people!  There are many chinese, african, asian, carribean, european, etc.  There are several big universities so we also have a lot of YSA.  4 of the 6 elders are chinese speaking and we almost have enough chinese to create a chinese branch.  The...

Annwyl Teulu, That's Welsh for Dear Family. Ha ha!  I still remember a bit of Welsh.  Everyone in the office keeps telling me that I'm going to go open Milford Haven in Wales.  I know that's not going to happen, but it's the joke going around right now. HA! But....President called me into his office today and he has asked me to be a Sister Trainer Leader.  Of course I accepted and I'm actually excited even though I kind of was hoping I would train another new sister for my last 2 transfers.  I don't know yet where or who I'll be serving with, but if I was a betting woman I'd put money on me going to Harborne with Sis.Turnbow.  There are only 4 Sister Training Leaders at the moment and Sis.Turnbow's companion is going to train, so if you do the math Harborne is the only available place for me.  I'm not exactly sure what all of my responsibilities will be but this is a new thing that the 1st Presidency came out with right before conferen...

Well, this week was tough, but at the moment I am feeling good and happy. I don't know what happened, but my sore throat of last week turned into a kind of chest infection this week. I've had a real bad cough and messed up throat.  Talking has only made it worse and I just felt rotten. We ended up taking it really easy this week and spent a lot of time in the area book and organizing our map on the wall.  Being ill on the mission is the worst because you feel so guilty for staying in and sleeping. But Sis.Rasmussen ordered me to go to bed at 9 pm last night and to sleep in most mornings this past week. I must be a weirdo because I'm not a fan of sleeping in.  But I do feel better today even though I still have a cough. I got a blessing from the elders and I trust that I'll be ok this week and that we can work (:    We got flogged a lot this week as well, which also wasn't cool.  We planned to have a drop lesson with Angela twice, but both times she...

It's been another sunny week in Birmingham and I've been so grateful.  It is definitely warmer here than it was in Wales last year. This week has been good as we've tried to work hard, but not much seems to be changing.  Yesterday, I woke up with a really sore throat and felt quite poorly.  We attended sacrament, but I felt so rotten that I was practically forced to go home and sleep.  Angela had come to church and we had to leave her there for Sis.Paice to look after.  I slept nearly all of yesterday and I feel much better today.  But during the night we got many texts from Angela saying how mad she was that we would leave her at church by herself, blah blah blah.  This is the 2nd time she's sent us mean texts and I really think we'll have to drop her.  It's frustrating because I read a conference talk this morning that talks about how to minster and be true disciples of Christ. I want to help Angela so bad, but she makes it so difficult...

Hey hey hey!    I don't really know what to write about today if I'm honest.  It was quite a dramatic week with Angela though.  She called me up and wanted to confess her sins to me at 10:30 one night.  I rang President in the morning and he said to bring her down to the office that evening and she was able to talk to him.  She has some serious baggage and it's going to take us a ton of work to help her get through it all to baptism. But then the next night she sent us all of these rude text messages and said some mean things.  We figured that was her way of saying she didn't want to change. So we messaged her back and told her that we were sorry she felt that way and that if she wanted to ever change she knew where the church was.  It was quite a relief actually to be through with her.  But as we were in district meeting our phone received around 13 messages from her telling us that she was drunk the night before and that she was ev...

Hello hello!  The weeks sure are flying by! And I'm pretty sure yesterday was the hottest day I've ever felt on my mission! It probably wasn't more than 20 degrees, but I was boiling as we walked around trying by different less-actives and going to a fake address that a solid lady gave us - at least she seemed pretty solid.  It was nice though to actually feel hot for once.  This week we had zone conference on Friday and it was incredible!  I actually felt quite rebuked and realized that I need to do a lot of repenting, but it's good to be a bit humbled and then given the tools to change.  On Friday evening we had a classical evening at the chapel. Sister Vance has an amazing voice and she sang 2 songs.  I accompanied her on one of them and it was fun.  We also had one of our investigators perform. His name is Jobe and he was very impressive and a very talented musician. He also brought in 6 other non-members to the event and it was ...

Hey hey hey!  Another transfer come and gone. Whew! It has been an extremely busy week. We seriously only worked in our area for about 1 day. Wednesday was hectic with the 30 new missionaries and their trainers.  Sister Hanks is training so I am now a grandmother! Oh dear, I am getting old!  I have a generation picture on the blog, so if you want to see transfer pictures go to ebmission.blogspot.com . Thursday and Friday we helped Sis.Rasmussen loads.  We emailed all of the new missionairy's parents and updated the blog and then this coming week is zone conference so we helped her put together birthday bags and all that jazz.  They used to do only 2 zone conferences, every other transfer, but now the zones are so big that they have to do 4.  We are all so busy these days!  Even though Sister Vance and I are just regular missionaries I feel like we are actually part office, part assistants to Sister Rasmussen.  It's fun stuff!  ...