7/22/13

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 the course of my mission so that you don't notice the changes as much - like how much weight i've put on (:  But I still keep hope that proper exercise can help restore me to full health again this fall (:

Well, my week definitely was different than your week in St.Johns. It is still extremely hot and humid. It's been getting past 85! Today is actually extremely foggy and thankfully a bit cooler.

We had two exchanges this week. On Tuesday I worked with Sis.Miller on the other end of Harborne. It was a lot of fun and we had some good finding. It was fun because it is still our ward area and we see the other set of sisters all of the time. There is a big hospital called the Queen Elizabeth that is right next door to their flat and we did finding around there and found some cool people. We even found a lady named Tracy who lives in Sis.Turnbow's and I's area. Her mum is in the hospital and she is Christian, but is struggling at the moment with everything going on. Sis.Turnbow and I went and taught her on Saturday at her home and it was such a sweet experience.  She is so stressed and just needed someone to talk to. Her mum's illness is really hard and she cried as we talked about the healing power of the Atonement. We left her Alma 7 to read and we'll see her again this week. (: I'm excited because of how prepared she is.  I've never met anyone in such a perfect and humble state to hear the gospel.

Then we spent Thursday up in Derby with Sis.Dixon and Sis.Thomson. I worked mostly with Sis.Thomson (Canada) and we had some nice experiences as well.  I always feel like such a good missionary when I'm in other people's areas and for some reason it's hard to have the same miracles in our own. But good things still happen.

Saturday we spent the entire day finding in our area and we taught Tracy and met a leader in the Celestial Church of Christ! His name is Henry and it's an African religion. We had a nice chat with him.

We told Henry about the BoM and he asked if he could buy a copy. Ha!  He then asked what makes our church different than other Christian churches, so we arranged to come back sunday (yesterday) and talk more.  We did see him briefly yesterday.  We barely got into talking about the pattern of dispensations when he objected to our definition of a prophet.  He doesn't view them as having authority, but rather just messengers who listen to candles! Apparently when you want to confess your sins, you go whisper them in to a candle and the prophets interpret the candles.  Sounds a bit odd, but quite interesting.  We're going to visit him again later this week so that we can get to the Joseph Smith story. And I am interested in where he gets his authority.

YuChen came to church again yesterday and he got to see the baptism of another Chinese student named Dennis.  The zone leaders have been teaching Dennis and he is the coolest guy! The Chinese students are amazing!  They are the same age as me and most of them are working on their dissertations for their master's degrees! Smart kids for sure.  They are so studious because China sends them here to gain a better education, so only the elite get to come and they have to work so hard.  So YuChen is really good at reading and comprehending the BofM. He still thinks all of this is a fantasy and seems impossible to believe everything we teach him.  But he's keeping commitments really well and he said he felt peaceful at the baptism yesterday.  I just pray that something will be able to touch his heart in a way that he can know for certain that it is all true. It has been cool to be able to teach so many people from all over the world.  I had no idea how many cultures I would get to experience here.  I feel like I know Africans, Asians (Middle East), and Chinese quite well. So many cool people and so many freaks (:

But this coming week will be fun. We'll work in Nottingham 1 tomorrow - yes, my old area over Christmas. I'm excited to go see it from a new perspective and make some good memories there.  And then we will go to Lincoln on Saturday. Oh boy, it'll go by quick. And I don't know anything about my flight plans. Sister Morris, in the office, deals with all of that stuff. I don't have her email, but if you email the mission office she'll get it and can give you details.  My goal for this week is to be more focused and think about our investigators and sisters more, rather than thinking how weird it will be to not be called Sister LeFevre anymore. Oh it's so sad! But I'm not going to worry about it! (: 

Hopefully we can build the sisters, build the area, build the kingdom, and do work that is pleasing to the Lord (:

 Love you ever so much!