11/25/12

Hiiiiii

 I sent a letter and not sure when you will get it, but as for Christmas send PJ's for Sister Adam!! I will probably see her so I can give them to her if we aren't still together. Over Thanksgiving I was depressed. haha my letter will tell you all about it. ha but I am good now and the past few days have been really good. Today we are having a zone pday and then tomorrow we have a conference. I'm way excited about it. I can't believe I am nearly half way done either. crazy! You guys sound like you are always having a good time!! Glad you enjoyed Thanksgiving and shopping!! also the letter I sent is probably depressing but don't worry.



Sister Adam, Kris Jennings, Sister Pitcher
Thanksgiving

We are teaching a girl named XI and she is so funny.  She has such a great personality and has such a desire to change.  Last Monday we took her to a family home evening at a members home, which she loved.  It was nice to be able to help her to get to know people and see what family home evening is.  The best part was on the train ride over.  The train was really crowded so we were just standing and they were having some issues with the cables on the train and we were going to be delayed for about 20 minutes or so.  While we were waiting we were just talking to her and she told us that since she has met us that she had been so much happier.  We were thrilled of course because we know it's not because of us and that she is feeling the spirit.  then she went on to say that she thinks it's the Holy Ghost that we told her about.  It was a miracle because she was able to recognize that it wasn't just us and that it was something even better.  It is the spirit and the change of heart that she is having inside.  She is so lovely and we have been so excited to be teaching her.  It's been cool because we met her through Brenda, who we have been teaching for awhile and she loves it and tells all her friends about it.  We are teaching three of Brenda's friends.

I love being able to see how the spirit works with people and how it teaches them of the truths and helps them all to remember the things that they once used to know.  I am so grateful to have the opportunity to be able to be a mouth piece.

Other than that not a lot is going on! 
Life is good and I love and miss you all so so so so so so so so so much!
love you
syd

 

11/18/12

HIIIIIIII!!!!

This week has been another really busy and really good week. The students seem to be really receptive here in Exeter so that is so good. This week we have seen quite a few miracles. We were able to teach a referral that we got from the office. His name is Alexander and he ordered a Book of Mormon. He is already through the first two books of Nephi and he is really liking it. He said that everything is making a lot of sense to him so that is really amazing. We also we able to watch The Prophet of the Restoration DVD with Theresa, a girl that we have been teaching for a while and something changed in her. She really enjoyed the movie and when we were talking with her afterwards we asked her to just focus on praying about the Book of Mormon rather than praying about a lot of things at once. She said that she would and in her prayer she said thank you for giving Joseph Smith the revelation. It was a cool experience and things are starting to progress with her. The last one was about a girl named Jasmine. She is a chinese student and she is studying business. She arranged a time to meet with us and then she flogged us. Then the next day we got a text from her saying she was sorry and explaining what had happened and then she asked if she could just come to church with us on Sunday, so of course we said yes and she showed up to church and she really enjoyed it. We were so so excited. We are being so blessed here and I am so grateful for that and for all of the people the Lord is trusting us to teach. They are all so eager and willing to learn which makes it that much sweeter.

Sister Adam and I are doing great. We still get on so well. We have a lot of fun being missionaries together and getting to know all of the members and the investigators. This week I have been studying in Alma and the past few days I haven't been able to focus in my study. I am in all the war chapters and they were just hard for me to take in. But today was such a good study! It was about Moroni and Ammoron and the city of Gid. And then I continued to read about the sons of Helaman. These chapters just captured me in today and I was so grateful for that and was able to learn and apply and feel the spirit so strongly. One of the things that I learned from them is that it is when we are strong and when we are spiritually in a good place that Satan is going to try his hardest to make us slip and fall and so we need to have a watchful eye and not let him deceive us. But as long as we remember to include the Lord in all that we do we will be able to overcome the adversary.

And to answer all your questions.. I want you to send the pumpkin stuff.. haha no don't send it that is too much money. I think about those cookies all the time tho. haha money is fine and I can just buy a cake. and ok I will try not to open it until my birthday! also if you want me to have christmas stuff for christmas make sure that it's there before the 19th of Dec. I will be there for a christmas conference :)

The next transfers are on the 12th of Dec. and I think that I will move. Kind of a bummer because of christmas and all but I want to go to a new area. Also can you please answer my questions haha. I need a list from karli desperately!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't have a lot of time so please get me a list. Also I sent you a letter about all the meds and stuff so you will get it this week I believe.  Thank you for all that you guys do. You are so amazing and I think about you everyday. You are the best family that I could ever have.

Also that is so good that USU is doing so great!! I am so excited!! and also it's exciting about MC. It's always Timpview that they go up against. haha but it sounds like football is going good :) It's what I like to hear. We are going to play football today with some people for pday! It's going to be fun! Thanksgiving is going to be weird and not feel right with out you guys but I am still excited :) We are going to a members home and they are going to make me Thanksgivin dinner!

anyway love you and miss you lots!!

love syd

11/11/12

Dear Family,

This week was a busy one which is really good! Things are starting to pick up and I love it because it means that we get to teach a lot of people! We are starting to teach a lot of foreign people! One of them is Brenda who is chinese who is amazing! So amazing that she went to Scotland this weekend and still went to church! She met Sister Adams boyfriend. She's not even a member yet and she still went to church!! Solid!! I am glad that you are having fun in Cali and Oregon. That is good to hear. We went to a bonfire and some fireworks the other night with a lot of the ysa for bonfire night so that was fun! It was also the senior couples last night here. They are from Idaho and their names are the Simons. I gave them your number Mom! She was going to stop at our house this week and meet you guys but you were going to be gone so she said she was going to call next time they were in Logan :)

This week we taught Robin my recent convert about temples and family history. He basically knows everything because he is such good friends with the members. anyway he loves doing family history and has so much work done. He is preparing to go to the temple like right before I go home so hopefully I will be able to go to. But he asked me to take some names home and do them in the temple for him. I was so honored because that's big and they are all family names. Anyway that's the cool story for the week! sorry I don't have a lot of time! I love you all and miss you much! have a good week!

love syd

Letter from Pres Millar to Families and Missionaries

2012 Dear Parents, We are so excited to be serving here with your sons and daughters. We love each and every one of them. They are so amazing and are outstanding examples for the Church here in England. Thank you for the wonderful job you have done in raising such wonderful young people. We had a reporter ask us recently how you get young people like them, and we told them it was because they have such wonderful families at home who taught them to revere the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are already anticipating the Christmas season. We are hoping to have a wonderful celebration with our missionaries. In addition, we know that you will want to send Christmas gifts to your children. Could you please send all packages to the Mission Office? Last year, some of our missionaries received their gifts at their flats. Unfortunately for some, once the postman left the package, someone came by and stole everything. More than one returned to their flat to find an empty box sitting in front of their door. By sending your parcels to the Mission Office, someone will always be there to receive it and place it in a secure location. We shall distribute the packages throughout the mission, and they will receive them in their assigned areas sometime before Christmas. The office address is: England London South MissionThe London TempleWest Park Road, Newchapel, Surrey RH7 6NBEngland When mailing a package from North America, please indicate the value of the package as less than $40.00. This is so the missionaries won’t have to pay 20% Value Added plus custom charges. Thank you so very much for all your sacrifices. We love you very much and enjoy our association with you as parents. May God bless you. Sincerely,England London South Mission Office Staff

Dear Sisters and Elders, 12 November 2012 The election is over. Some of you may be disappointed that Governor Romney did not win. The church received a lot of notoriety throughout the last year. This was good. We need to accept that God knows best what is needed for the church at this time. I trust fully that the Lord is still in charge. We need to support the governments of the countries that we represent. It is a worldwide church and we need to remember that. (this is what president millar wrote us so i thought you should read it haha)

11/4/12

Hi! :)

How are you all! I am feeling a lot better! Still have a runny nose but it's basically gone and I feel fine! also yes I got the pin and the CTR earrings haha thank you very much! and I got the sd card with all of the cds which I love and the Halloween card! thank you thank you!

 

London was pretty sweet! We had a lot of time to go to a couple places before our train and so we went to Kings Cross train staition where Platform 9 and 3/4 from Harry Potter. That was a lot of fun. Then we went to Covent Gardens and that story is in nathan's email. :)    (got to go to london and we got to go to this place called Covent Garden and there are lots of street performers. There was this guy who blew up some balloons. the kind of balloons that you make balloon animals out of and he ate it! he slid it all the way down into his stomach and didnt take it back out! it was soooo gross!)

  Also last night we got to go to our Chinese investigator Brendas house and she cooked us proper Chinese. It was different but I liked most of it :) She also invited loads of friends so we were able to find new people thru that. I tried dumplings and I did not like them at all!! Also the other week we went to an african ladies house for dinner and we had these boiled banana things and this spinach fish sause stuff with rice. As we were eating I kept getting these really crunchy things. I was chewing and I just thought that it was rice that wasn't cooked or something. We finished eating and I looked at the african ladies plate and there were fish bones on her plate.... yup i ate a couple of fish bones and one got stuck in my throat. It was not pleasant and the food really didnt sit well with Sister Adam or me! haha

Yesterday I had a really good study in Alma 43! One of the war chapters between the Lamanites and Nephites and a couple others. anyway I loved it because Alma prays to the Lord to know where the Lamanites will be and God tells him. Moroni is the leader and prepares all the Nephites because they are just trying to protect their families and their religion and he prepared them with proper clothing and sheilds to gaurd the vital parts of their bodies. The Lamanites however are barely clothed. Tons of the Lamanites are killed because of their lack of preparation. The Nephites were protected because of their armor and God. Although some still died they were better protected. I just related that to our lives. If we prepare ourselves spiritually thru the scriptures, prayer, church, and obedience, we will be able to protect our hearts, minds, and spirits from the temptations of the devil, but as soon as we let our gaurd down or if we don't prepare properly we will be defeated. Keep preparing and rely on the Lord and whatever happens we will be able to overcome the adversary!

 

I love you all so much and miss you even more! you are in my prayers everyday!

10/28/12

Hello!!

Yhis week was a pretty boring week, ha not too much happened!! It was moves and I am staying in Exeter for sure. I don't know if I want to move right before christmas but I am ready to go to a new area! I will just have to wait and see! I don't really know what I hope happens. but yes it is this week that I go to London! We are going tomorrow!!

 Also I haven't gotten the package yet! Did you send it to Exeter or to the mission home? also send my christmas package to the mission home.. the one with the london temple address so that it doens't get lost. :) I am worried about the other one. Hopefully it will be there now. Anyway I am getting a cold so that's no fun! It's a head cold so I feel like my head is going to explode. hopefully it doesn't last very long.

It was a lot of fun on pday, we went bowling with our district! I bowled a 134!! It was the best that I have ever bowled in my life! I was way excited! The next round wasn't that great but it was so much fun! I got some cute pictures that I will have to send you! but they are on sister adam's camera! Then after that the senior couple took us all to pizza hut and bought us pizza! I am glad because I have no money cause I lost my bus pass :( but we get more travel money this week so that 's good! also could you send me your cream cheese frosting recipe? :)

 I don't really have a spiritual thought at the moment cause I can't really think clearly cause of my cold haha. but when i come home I want to start doing family history! Since i have been out I have really taken interest in it and it makes me excited to be able to learn how to do it. I love being on a mission, and I feel like I am running out of time! I can't believe I am nearly half way done! It blows my mind! ha.. and as for the accent I don't think that I have one yet! ha sorry! I guess you will just have to see for yourself at christmas. :) Also i need a money limit for christmas and tell Karli to send me a list! :)

love you all and miss you so so so much!

 love syd