9/22/13

Dear amazing family and friends,

I can't believe I am coming home. I never thought this day would come and now that it's here I wish it weren't. This week has been very humbling. I have learned that our strength alone will get us nowhere. In my study I was reading about Zeniff and his army and what they were doing to prepare to fight the Laminites. Multiple times throughout Mosiah chapters 9 and 10 he mentions how they went forth in the strength of the Lord to fight. In the account this phrase was used and I loved it. It's with the Lord's strength that we are successful. Mentioned how they remembered the Lord and prayed to him and because of that their prayers were answered. The Lamanites were strong according to man but were lacking according to God and we can be strong like that too. But if we put all of our trust in the Lord he will take us to heights we didn't know were possible.

As this is my last week I related this study to preparing myself spiritually as I go home. I will not have that protection of being a missionary. I won't be able to preach the gospel full time. But if I go home and continue to read pray and make goals I will be protected by Heavenly Father. If I will go forward and remember the Lord everything will work out. If I continue to serve and do God's will there is nothing to worry about. So grateful for this amazing mission. I have laughed and cried all the way through but it has been the most amazing journey that i have taken this far in my life. If we put our lives in the Lord's hands we will be amazed at what He helps us achieve and who He helps us to become! we can substitute all of the I's for We's because this can apply to all. :)

I am so grateful for all of your support and love through this whole thing. Your testimonies and letters and emails were what got me through a lot of weeks. I love you and will be seeing you soon!!

Love Sister Pitcher!!

Favorite Scripture and Why

Doctrine and Covenants Section 6:34-36

34 Therefore, fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail.

35 Behold, I do not condemn you; go your ways and sin no more; perform with soberness the work which I have commanded you.

36 Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.

This is my favorite scripture because it has brought so much comfort to me. It helps me to understand that Heavenly Father loves me and tells me that if I build my life on Jesus Christ I will be ok. I feel that He is patient with me and my weaknesses and if I do my best, always trying to improve then I have no reason to fear. Serve with all my heart and turn to Him always. My favorite bit is the last verse. I don't need to doubt or fear but look to Him who knows what is best.

9/15/13

MUM and PA and family
Hi this week has been good. Time is flying by and it's sad. But we are seeing a lot of miracles as always. One of the things that I really gained a better understanding of this week is the Atonement!! It is so incredibly REAL! It is such an amazing thing. I cannot even put into words the way I feel about it or how indebted I am to my Savior. This gospel is glorious and the fact that we can rid ourselves of all of the horrible things is miraculous. That if we make a mistake or are hurt, we can be physically and spiritually healed. I can't even comprehend the atonement but am so glad for that little bit that I do understand. I love that the gospel, and life is all about progression, about becoming better. We have such divine potential. We always have something to learn. We always have something to overcome.

Something that I have really realized on my mission and especially over the last few months is the importance of goals. If we do not set goals we will never improve. Goals are a huge part of our lives. A goal with a plan will lead to success. Something that I heard the other day, is that "What we view success as, is not always what the Lord views it as." Goals will help us become our best selves. I am not the best at goals but I want to be haha.

Anyway life is great. Fall is here and it's starting to get a bit chilly but I am loving it.

love you

Syd

9/8/13

Dear Family,

First of mom i want to apologize because i keep forgetting the picture of the door. i am so sorry. we are sandwiched between some businesses and live on top of them. basically we live by loads of pubs but our flat is way nice. the nicest i have been in. it's so great. We are finding a lot of people and working hard to achieve our goals and the Lord is helping us to succeed. so incredibly blessed.

we went on exchanges this week so i was able to go to a place called weston-super-mare. It is beautiful. they are right on the sea front so that's fun also you can see wales from the coast so i have seen wales haha woo woo. it's so much fun to be able to work with other sisters and learn from them and to see how they do missionary work because everyone does it so differently. This week i am going to a place called bath.

We found a 92 year old lady the other week and she was the sweetest thing ever. We were knocking and she invited us in. we didn't have a lot of time so we talked to her about the book of mormon and gave her one. she wanted to pay us for the book but we abviously said no no it's a gift. She was so chuffed. It was such a good feeling to see how grateful she was when we gave it to her. we are hopefully going to see her tomorrow. she was so lovely and very mobile so that's good.

So that is so exciting that hannah made the vb team. I am so happy. and so excited to see what happens with homecoming! when is the date for that? When you told me he was asking a girl to HOmecoming i about fell over.. i knew he turned 16 but i completely forgot about the whole dating thing.. ahh. 

as for what to wear.. it's getting cold and i am starting to freeze again. and dad if you want to wear cowboy boots do it. :) who cares if they think it's too redneck haha. also sorry about the candy.. you will have your fair share here :) trust me! if you want me to send more i can do that just let me know.

love you and miss you

love syd

9/2/13

hey mum and pa! and family,

I love Bridgwater. It is a great area and i am glad that i get to serve here for my last transfer. My companion is way good. She is so focused and works so hard and i am so glad for that because she helps me to stay focused and i want to finish strong and not be a waster. ha so it's good!

Being a sister trainer leader is so much fun. It seriously is such a privilege and is also something that is helping to stay on track and focused as well. My main role is to support the sisters in my zone. so me and sister Cowley get to go on exchanges with them and help them and exchanges are such a good learning experience for me and i hope for them as well. so this week i will be traveling to weston-super-mare for and exchange so that will be fun. i also have a few meetings so that's fun!! it has been a wonderful experience so far.

the ward here is so good! i really am excited to be in their ward. they are all super funny. and there is a french family that is so funny and we went to their house the other night with and investigator and we ate ratatouille.. i can't spell it. and then we ate a lot of french cheeses and just had a lovely time.

all of our appointments fell through this week but i know it was for a reason. we found a lot of solid people and we will try and teach a lot of them this coming week.

We had a zone training last week and that was in Bristol and that went really well. they are always very inspirational and i always learn a lot and come away from them with an even stronger desire to work. i will be in bristol again tomorrow morning. I think there is going to be a lot of traveling this last transfer because of the calling. it's all so exciting. i try not to think of coming home because it's a really scary thought. home is not comprehend-able to me. it's so weird.

Also i am so close to Exeter. it's only 30 min on the train. crazy! i see it all the time and i miss it!! i don't think we have a place to stay in exeter but we can figure it out!! i will let you know it's really hard tho because i don't have time to plan for stuff.

anyway things are going great and still loving it.

love you all and miss you so much.

syd

8/25/13

HIYA!!!

Things are really good! I love the area and my new companion. Her name is Sister Cowley and she is from mesa, arizona! but yeah we get along great and i am so excited that i get to serve my last transfer here in brigewater and with her. she's a solid missionary. Last week was a lot of traveling but it was so fun. i got to go to mission leadership council and that was fun. It was with the zone leaders and the sister leader trainers. Elder herbertsen presided so that was cool to meet him. it was such a spiritual day and i learned so much. It was at presidents house and we had breakfast and lunch with them all. It was such a huge privilege to be able to be apart of that.

As for the new area I must say it is a rather great area. The ward was so welcoming and I am excited to work with them. sister cowley and i just seem to be on the same page and we are both ready to work. We have made some solid transfer goals and we are excited to get out to work. I know that with faith, diligence, and hard work we can achieve the goals that we have set.

We are already seeing miracles in Bridgewater. We were contacting a man and he wasn't interested so we carried on walking down the street when a lady came up to us and told us that she was from our church. Sister Cowley asked if she was sure and the lady assured us she was from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She then told us that she had moved here from Portugal a year ago and has been a member her whole life but just wasn't sure where the church was here. So that was a great miracle and we are excited to meet with her.

I met elder gunnel and sister wolmsley i think it is. It was fun to talk to them both. sister w nearly started crying when i told her that i knew the fletchers, she loves them so much. also i ditched the big suitcase already and as for the phone andrea jones said she has one we can use and it's super cheap,  

but sounds like you are doing well, i will get pics next week. we can't email pics today sadly!! have a good week. love and miss you all
 syd
 ps what day do we check out of the hotel!! i need that info asap

8/18/13

HIYA!!!

 

Things are really good! I love the area and my new companion. Her name is Sister Cowley and she is from Mesa, Arizona! but yeah we get along great and i am so excited that i get to serve my last transfer here in brigewater and with her. she's a solid missionary. Last week was a lot of traveling but it was so fun. i got to go to mission leadership council and that was fun. It was with the zone leaders and the sister leader trainers. Elder herbertsen presided so that was cool to meet him. it was such a spiritual day and I learned so much. It was at presidents house and we had breakfast and lunch with them all. It was such a huge privilege to be able to be apart of that.

 

As for the new area I must say it is a rather great area. The ward was so welcoming and I am excited to work with them. Sister Cowley and I just seem to be on the same page and we are both ready to work. We have made some solid transfer goals and we are excited to get out to work. I know that with faith, diligence, and hard work we can achieve the goals that we have set.

We are already seeing miracles in Bridgewater. We were contacting a man and he wasn't interested so we carried on walking down the street when a lady came up to us and told us that she was from our church. Sister Cowley asked if she was sure and the lady assured us she was from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She then told us that she had moved here from Portugal a year ago and has been a member her whole life but just wasn't sure where the church was here. So that was a great miracle and we are excited to meet with her.

 

I met Elder Gunnel and Sister Wolmsley I think it is. It was fun to talk to them both. sister w nearly started crying when i told her that i knew the fletchers, she loves them so much. also i ditched the big suitcase already and as for the phone andrea jones said she has one we can use and it's super cheap,  

 

But sounds like you are doing well, i will get pics next week. we can't email pics today sadly!! have a good week. love and miss you all
 syd
 ps what day do we check out of the hotel!! i need that info asap

8/11/13

MUMMY!!! and Family!!

Hi this week was good but had a couple rough days but you take them as they come and make the best of them. The days are getting shorter and it's starting to get a bit chilly! It was nice to have a proper summer here unlike last year where I wore my winter coat all summer hah. But as for the work things are still going swell!! ha. We are managing to get a teaching pool and some solid investigators. :) the mission taught over 2000 lessons last week and that is the highest number since I have been on the mission! It's exciting!! Things are really progressing.

Faith is still my favorite topic right now. because Sister Morgan and I are experiencing it first hand and the power that comes from it. I love it. You can tell a huge difference in the day when you just try and do everything yourself compared to when you have faith in all that you do. love it.

 We have started to teach a boy called Joe. He is really cool and really interested. It's amazing how things work out. He has been going to youth for a while and is going to ym camp this week. and is super excited. let you know more about him later. we have only officially taught him once but he is awesome. and the family he stays with is awesome as well.

A proper English breakfast!

Oh i got my package thank you so much. you haven't forgot about me because you still know what my favorite things are :) haha. (ps I


have been genuinley concerned that you might forget everything about me haha) and the necklaces are really really cute! thank you so much!! :)

love and miss you!

love syd

8/4/13

HIYA!!

 

Life is so great! This week had been good and it's been the best week Sister Morgan and I have had since we came here. Man having faith is so much easier than doing things on your own.. Being stubborn and scared is hard work. Just do what the Lord says and it's so much easier and you have so much more strength and energy because really you're letting Him in to help so you get divine help rather than just relying on your own strength!! I know that's true. the firsts step is the hardest but from there it is so much better. Faith is seriously a power and it's real!! Once you learn how to exercise it you will wonder how you went so long without exercising it.. at least that's how i feel! ha it's wonderful.

 

Odessa is still good! just waiting to see when she gets work off so she can come to church and as for Jane. we arent teaching her anymore. she flogged us 3 times is a row. shame. but we are hopefully getting some solid people and we will be seeing a lot of people this week.

 

As for transfers I have no idea. we think I will stay and Sister morgan will go but we don't find out for a few more weeks. I haven't gotten the package and i wont get it till the 20th now!! :( i will let you know when i get it.

 

Nathan is so grown up!! oh my goodness!! :( what a stud haha. but sounds like life is going good. hope you have a good week and remember i love you and miss you.

 

love syd

7/28/13

Hello my dear familia!!!

This week has been amazing!! we had zone conference and it was amazing and I felt so incredibly uplifted motivated and recharged. Nearly all of the areas are having so much success and have taught up to 41 lessons which is more than incredible. The success of the areas that we heard about and the progress that we as a mission are having is so inspiring. Pres Millar is really great. He has so much trust and confidence in us and has really helped us and continues to help us trust in the Lord and we as a mission are going upwards with numbers and everything. But behind the numbers are people. We have really been trying to exercise faith and be positive and believe that we can acheive our goals and we are being blessed. It's amazing how quickly you can see the blessings and the miracles as you desire and act and change. I am happier and because of that people can see it which then gives them even more reason to want to know why. Sister Morgan and I learned so much and are really trying to apply it to our missionary work. And the more we do that the more we realize that it is not us but the Lord.

Gemma went really really well. She loved the plan of salvation and we are seeing her again tomorrow and she is cooking for us so that's pretty great. she is such a nice humble girl and things are looking really promising with her. We also taught another guy today and he was way cool as well. It was probably one of the best teaches that sis m and i have had together. he looks promising as well. will let you know how things go. He has an awesome pond in his back yard with 12+ fish in it and the biggest one is 18 lbs. you guys would love it.

I havent got the package yet. i thought i would thursday but i guess it hasn't come yet so i might not get it now until the end of august.. :( we will see. also was it a paul mitchell brush that you sent? Yeah the royal baby is probably big but we don't watch the news or anything. but i think americans get more into it than the english to be honest. haha Sounds like you all are having so much fun and are happy and that makes me happy. Tell jake congrats for me! who is he marrying and also save all the wedding invites so i can see them! also i do not have the ipad one so get one. :) also are we going to go to the preston temple? i love you all so much. 

love syd

how does everyone know that Adam was a Mormon?

 

because only a Mormon would be stuck in a garden with a naked woman and be tempted by an apple!!! hahaha

 

i don't know if that is sacrilegious or what but i thought it was hilarious. haha

 

love you

7/21/13

Hiya!!

 

This week has been another good week full of miracles. We are starting to get a better teaching pool and we will be able to follow up on those miracles this week. The first one is about a girl called Gemma. We met her the first transfer that we were in Waterlooville and got her details. But when we called her we couldn't get an answer. So we saw her about a week later and talked to her again and told her we had been trying to call her but could never catch her in. She told us that she had lost her phone and was getting another one and when she got it she would be in touch with us. We have seen her so many times since then and said hello but she would never get back with us. Friday on the way to corolation we saw her again on the bus. She saw us first and talked to us and apologized for never getting back to us. So we talked the entire journey and got all of her details and a return appointment and we are seeing her tomorrow. We are very excited.

The next one is short but we were very grateful for this miracle as well. We went to stop by a less active on the ward list. When we do this we usually knock 5 a side. The less active lady was not home and the very first house we knocked we gave a Book of Mormon and got a phone number and a return appointment. So things are going well.

The last one i will share is about a less active family. We have called loads of times to set up a time to see them and never got anywhere. So we stopped by on Saturday. They let us in and we shared a message about prayer and got to know them. Their grandson happened to pop in who is also not attending church at the moment. We were talking with them about how they met the missionaries and how long it's been since they have been to church etc. It has been years and years since they have been. At the end of the lesson they all said that they would come to church. So I prayed that they would all come. The miracle was that they all came to church. It was wonderful and we were so pleased to see that they followed through on what they said they would do.

that's ok about the hairspray! it's really expensive over her so i will just leave it for now. i should get the package on thursday cause we have a conference. also no i don't have very many for you. i haven't been taking a lot lately. haha i will take lot's on thursday hopefully. i sent you a lot last week did you get those?

 

i will be home in december so i can help baby sit as well. :) also yesterday was the 6 year anniversary for when we were sealed. it seems like it has been so much longer than that.

 

love you!

love syd

7/15/13

hello hello!!

That is fine if you use my stuff. I still haven't got you a blender. I was just going to wait so that if I move or something I don't have to carry it with me. Also is it possible to send hairspray? also throw some swiss rolls in please!! :) haha.

I can't believe you're getting rained out! It's way hot here!! I love it. It's supposed to stay nice for the rest of the month. so you took the rain from us for a bit and you can keep it haha. As for the family we didn't get to see them because they cancelled but we are seeing them this week so it should be good. We have changed some things so we are seeing more success and finding more people and I am way glad because I was starting to get quite frustrated. So things are looking good.

Glad nathan is doing good! is he still playing a lot? also who is jace? also i have an ipod charger will that fit the ipad? also i have to buy new shoes again! i have worn holes in the bottoms of the ones i just got a few months ago. they were from clarkes so i don't know why they wore out so quick but i will try to find cheap ones that will last. sorry.

thanks for all the prayers! keep praying that i will be strong because i am worn out!! ha props to the elders who can do this for 2 years. it wipes you out but it's amazing. i am so excited to be able to share with you guys all that i have learned. can't wait!! love you and miss you like crazy!! have a wonderful week.

 

love syd

7/8/13

Hiya!

 

It has been another good week. We have been struggling to find new investigators to teach so we have made it a goal to fast more frequently for new investigators. We fasted on Wednesday this week and we didn't see results right away. We continued to find and work hard and pray. On Friday after planning we got a call from the Havant Elders who are teaching a less active member in their ward who has a less active brother in our ward. We had been to this guys house a few months previously but couldn't get a reply so we left a little note thru the letter box. The elders suggested that we try again because he had told his brohter of the card that we had left. So we went on Sunday and they he was home. We talked to him briefly and he told us that he hadn't been to church in over 20 years and he also had a few misconceptions of the church. We continued talking and asked if we could come around a share a message of the gospel with him and his family. We scheduled an appointment for next week. We feel really good about him and his family because his family is not members and he was more than happy to have us around next week.

This week I have been studying faith a bit. I absolutely love the last talk that Elder Holland gave at conference this past spring. I studied his talk again and I was taught that it doesn't matter how big or small our faith is. The thing that is most important is that we hold to the faith that we have and exercise it as much as possible. If we are true to what we know no matter how much that may be that we will be guided and our faith will be strengthened. He talked about integrity and aobut how our integrity is lessened when we aren't true to what we know and just give up. I thought that was very profound and not something that I picked up the first few times that I have studied it. I know that we learn the things we need at exactly the right time that we need them. I know that my faith is sufficient and as I continue to listen to the spirit and act on promptings miracles will happen. So grateful for the words of the prophets that uplift and strengthen.

 

Not sure if I will move or not! I guess we will see! We still don't know at the moment! I would be happy to stay but I would be happy to move so I don't really care what happens :) the weather here is good! It has been hot and sunny so I love that. We stole all of your 4th of july weather. We had a bbq and everything. It's been good I am starting to get a bit of a tan! haha. :) My legs are blinding tho..

 

P.s why do you call me sister pitcher now haha? also don't put this pic on the blog.. i don't like it. it's just for you guys

 

love you 

syd

6/30/13

Hello,

This week went by so quick. Yeah I know that he emailed you stuff. Elder Adams in the office called me and gave me my "death call" haha. I call it a trunky call. It is so weird but I just won't think about it. haha but my letter will also be short. I will look forward to your letters. :) always love them. I can't believe that you bought 2 new cars in one week haha. You shoulda bought three so that I can have a car when I get home.. no worries tho I will look good in the silver one too haha. :) life is so good.

This weekend was Portsmouth Stake 40th anniversary and they had a huge celebration that we got to help out with so that's what we did all of Saturday nearly and we got to scan in everyones tickets cause it was a ticketed event. . We had a ball scanning people in. Sunday was really good as well we watched the Work of Salvation broadcast and it was amazing!! So inspiring and uplifting. I think it might have been the one that you talked about a couple of weeks ago. It was so amazing and ah I just love missionary work.

Natalie is amazing! I will try and get some pictures with her this week. She is so great tho. I love teaching her because she get's so excited about everything that we teach and just loves it all. We are going to the temple with her on Saturday so that will be a lot of fun. :)

I heard about the heat wave!! that's unreal. it's still just been regular here!! still wear my coat sometimes. haha

love you miss you

love syd

From the Mission Home!!!

From: England London South Mission
Sent: 27 June 2013 10:36
To: mdpitcher1986@yahoo.com
Subject: Sister Pitcher's return home

 

Dear Brother and Sister Pitcher

In preparation for your daughter’s return home, I am writing to confirm the details of your daughters return home. Sister Pitcher tells me that you are planning on coming to get her at the end of her Mission on October 2, 2013. Please confirm by return email that this is the case so that we can plan accordingly. Attached also is the Church policy for return travel for your review. Sister Pitcher will be available for pick up here at the London Temple on the morning of October 2^nd.  Thank you so much for your support and your daughter’s service. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

 

Regards,

 

Elder Adams

Finance

England London South Mission

Office   +44 1342 833 916

Mobile +44 7800 615 205

6/23/13

Hello hello,

 

This week has been rough!!! But what happened at the end of the week makes up for it. Yes he was baptized this weekend!! it was wonderful now he and his family can continue to progress even more in the gospel. It was such a good turnout and it was such a lovely service. you could see a huge change occur in him after he was baptized! i am so glad that he took that next step and i know that his family was as well.

 

A LA member brought her friend to church a few weeks ago and we taught her again yesterday. It was such an amazing lesson. Since we hadn't seen her for a while because she was busy she asked that we teach her 2 lessons. It is amazing how the spirit touches people hearts. She was telling us about how she felt after the first lesson and about how when we recited the first vision it touched her heart and then when she went home and then read the leaflet on the Restoration she felt compelled to just dive into the Book of Mormon and how at the moment things just seemed to click. We taught her lesson two and three yesterday and she really enjoyed them. She is really shy when it comes to reading in front of people and in lessons and wouldn't do it for the first few times that we asked. Yesterday she said that she wants to feel comfortable doing that because she want's to participate more in church and in the lessons so she trusted us enough to read in front of us. She is touched by the fact that we pray before meals and before everything that we do and she wants to incorporate that into her life. She asked us to go over prayer again with her because she wants to bbe able to pray out loud rather than just in her head. So we taught her how to pray again and then invited her to pray at the end of the lesson. She was really nervous. It took a few minutes for her to start. It was a lovely heartfelt prayer and afterwards when she was done praying she burst into tears. She expressed that she just felt so good and she loved what she was feeling. She had Sister Morgan and I and her friend Emma all in tears. It was such a neat experience and the spirit was just so strong. Those are the two highlights of the week. I love the gospel and I know that it's true.

 

love you

 

syd

6/16/13

Hey familia!!

 

Life is good! I am glad that you liked the fathers day card!! i laughed pretty hard!! :) but this week has been a good one! we are having a baptism on saturday!! he's been investigating for 2 years and he's finally getting baptized so that is really exciting. We also started to teach another girl who is a members friend who is super interested. We went to the members home and they cooked us mexican!! it was so good and then we had a wonderful lesson afterwards!! So i will keep you updated on that! :) We have been knocking and we found a couple of potential families so hopefully things will go somewhere with them.

 

I really love it here and i think it's going to be just as hard to leave here as it was to leave home! it's a weird thought but i just love it here. i love the people that we meet and talk to everyday and i just want to help them. The people that we are teaching are so amazing and I hope that they will be able to feel the spirit as we teach and recognize that we are servants of the Lord so that they can feel the joy and happiness that the gospel brings. The members are great and i just love life! love you and miss you so much!! have a great week and i will look for the letters!! :) love you!!

 

love syd

Tired feet!!!

Found something American!

6/9/13

Hey hey!!

 

Text telling them to get to London so see M Russel Ballard

Things were so good this last week. It just flew right on by!! so many things are happening in waterlooville. But the reason that i didn't email is because on saturday night we got a call from our district leader saying that we might have a conference on monday in london at the hyde park chapel. but we won't know until monday for sure if we do. also we weren't supposed to tell anyone. we would get our travel plans on sunday night and then a call on monday at 10!! sister morgan and i were dying we were like what in the heck could this be!! it was really weird and then we thought that it was all a joke. but sure enough on monday we got a text that said it was all a go!! so basically we all traveled to london and guess who spoke to us there? m. russel ballard!! it was so amazing!! our whole mission wasn't able to go because some were too far away! but i am so grateful that i got to go. Oh man it was so good!! He truly is an apostle of the Lord. Oh my goodness!! it was way cool also because the london mission had a conference right before we did and sister harun got to see her twin!! oh my heavens it was so emotional!! the look on their faces was so great! they were so excited to see eachother. they got to say hello but only a couple minutes! it was such an amazing experience to be a part of. He talked about the restoration and the events that lead up to Joseph Smith. It was so simple but so powerful.. It confirmed my testimony of Joseph Smith and the Restored Gospel and motivated me even more to go out and share it with others. I have had this fire burning in me since i came to waterlooville and everything that is happening is just flaming the fire. I love this gospel. I have never been happier in my life. It's hard and i miss home but the joy that i feel when i just do the Lord's work brings feelings that you have never felt before. Anyone can experience this in their own way and in their own mission that Heavenly Father has for them but for me it was to come on a mission and find myself and find my testimony. seriously i have never felt this strongly about the Gospel and it's truthfulness and it has all come because of having the opportunity to serve and to study the scriptures every single day. i never want to miss a day again because i just want to keep building on what i am building here. Life is so great!! God is great! and i love everything about life.. even the bad because i can finally see how it has helped me learn and grow so much! cherish every second of every day!! i am trying to do that because we will never get today again!! i love you so much!! i hope you know how much i look up to you and how much i appreciate you!!! you are amazing!!

 

love syd 

 

ps i will send pictures tomorrow! love you

Chapel on Hyde Park

6/2/13

Hey!!

I am doing good! it was a long week this week. we did a lot of knocking.. a lot. so it was rough. we did find one solid kid who we are going to teach this week!! so we are excited about that. I love being a missionary though!! some nights i feel so overwhelmed with the love that i feel for the missionaries that i serve and have served with and for the people that i teach and for the members i have met. sometimes i wonder if i will survive when i get home. The spirit of being a missionary is so amazing and nothing in my life has really compared to what i have felt here. It has been a long hard road but i think that is why i feel so great all the time. i truly have changed and i love the person that i am becoming. and it's because of all the trials that i have gone through since i have been here. they have shaped me and helped me become a greater servant of the Lord and a better person. if not for those experiences i would not have had the opportunity to turn to the Lord and fully rely on Him to help me. Life is so great and i would not trade mine for anything. I don't know how i got to be so blessed but i will forever be grateful. This gospel and the Lord makes everything possible and everything can be made right through Him. I don't know what i would do without the Saviour and without the knowledge of the Gospel that i have. I invite you guys to think about all that the saviour has done for you and remember that it's Him that has given us the lives that we have and remember that It's the Gospel and family that is the most important thing that we have in this life. everything else comes second place!!

Yes karli told me and I will pray for nate for sure. I love the pictures and everything! so pretty and so cute! It's a shame they aren't doing the family reunion because all of the busyness isn't what's important it the people and our families. Even if not all can go in the end it's our family that matters. it's the people and the relationships that we have!!

Glad your lesson went good!! i am sure that you did amazing!! can't wait to hear one when i get home. 

If you can't think of practical things i would love to hear about your spiritual experiences that you have. Love you so much.

love syd

5/26/13

Hiya,

 

So this week was good!! jane is alright she flogged us but we will go back. We are teaching a really cool lady called odessa and she is way nice. we have taught herr the first 2 discussions and she seems to be understanding well. we soft committed her to baptism today and she said if she read the book of mormon and felt good about everything then she would be baptized! so i know she will be because there is no way not to feel good when you read the book of mormon. So that is awesome. We are working with a couple part member families so that is fun as well.

 

We found out about transfers and we are both staying. i figured that's how it would be tho. Actually no one in my district moved because we are all training a greenie. so that's good. and no i don't want to leave here. i really love it. so i am really pleased that i am staying. We are getting really close to the bishops family!! i just love them so much. it's so nice because they live right across the street from us. There are a lot of members that live by us so that is way good.

 

Your road trip sounds like a lot of fun. so glad that you guys got to do that. i loved the pics. i will look forward to your letters and things. i haven't gotten one from you for a while. i will be sending one to you all tomorrow so look out for that.

 

I am reading the Old testament at the moment and it is so interesting. I am finally reading all of the bible stories about noah and moses and all of them. all of the things that we are taught but haven't actaully ever read it. I love it. A lot of people don't seem to be to keen on reading the OT but i am quite enjoying it and learning a lot from it. I am so grateful for the scriptures. they teach us so much and there is soooooo much to learn from them. i love questions that people have or that i have because searching for them and finding the answer for yourself is so exciting and such a testimony builder. It's great!

 

anyway i hope you have a good day. i love you and miss you lots!

 

love syd

5/19/13

Hiya,

 

Sounds like you have had a good week. Make it so it's not boring and enjoy the business :) Don't let yourself pass life by enjoy it. Sometimes we let ourselves get so overwhelmed and busy with life that we don't take time to enjoy what we are doing! But anyway this week started out slow but was amazing by the end of the week :) Here is the highlight.
We have found an amazing lady named Jane. We knocked her door and got a return appointment. While we were talking on her doorstep we found out that she has family who are in our ward. It was so great to find that out. While talking she told us that she had no beliefs and didn't believe we were here for any particular reason and she was saying that when we die that's it. She said that she would like to believe but didn't really know. Of course we wanted to tell her all about the Plan of Salvation and of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ so we asked if we could come back and share something with her. She agreed so we taught her for the first time on Friday. It was such an awesome teach. The spirit was so strong and touched her heart. She had so many questions about everything. So many questions that the Plan of Salvation can answer. We shared our testimonies and followed the spirit. At the beginning she did not believe in God and at the end of the lesson we invited her to pray to God and ask if He is there and promised her that if she was sincere she would receive an answer. As soon as we invited her to do that she put her hand on her heart and said, "Now that I have been talking to you guys and when you just asked me to pray I feel differently. My heart started to beat really fast and I think that I might believe and just not have realized it." It was amazing. We explained to her that it was the spirit that was making her feel that way and then we closed with a prayer and left. It was such a great teach and Sister Morgan and I were so excited. We said a gratitude prayer as soon as we got out of the teach to thank Him for the spirit that was present and other things.

 

We had stake conference and got to here from pres.eyring and some other general authorities so that was good. It was a satelite broadcast. Also about the pageant yes i have heard about it but i don't know if i will get to go to it. it's at the preston temple. It would be way cool if i got to go tho. also next week is transfers and a holiday so i don't know if you will get an email so if you don't get one then you know why!

 

life is good and i love and miss you all so much!

love syd

5/12/13 Mothers Day

Yes, it was a lovely time talking to all of you!! I miss you guys so much! I couldn't really talk as much as I would have liked cause the members were around ha. It was nothing bad but some stories I didn't want to say in front of them yet, haha. So sorry that I didn't have any investigator stories for you. I always feel guillty after skype cause I never have great stories haha. But you will get them all when I get home. I was so glad I got to talk to you guys all for such a long time!! I didn't think that I would get to but I am so glad that I did and it was nice to just have the fam at the end and I miss all you guys and weird things that you do haha. It was so great! I just felt so overwhelmed with how blessed I am to have such a wonderful relationship with all of my family and we all are so close. I just love it and am so glad that I am stuck with ya'll forever :) The gospel is so amazing and it always makes me so happy to see all of you guys! You are so amazing!! All of you!!

 

Also it was way cool cause I got to skype Patty as well!! As soon as i logged off with you she got on so I got to see her and Cordell which was awesome. Got to talk to them for 5 min. but I love you all so much!! can't wait till october.   LUV SYD

 

love syd

5/5/13

Hiya!!

 

Things are really good this week! Still loving it. Also the weather here has been amazing as well. Well I have a couple short things to tell you but then I have to go. So we met this African lady a week or so ago and got her details and what not and then we could never get a ahold of her and we were way sad. So one day we were stopping by a less active lady and then we had some time before our next appointment to knock the area, so we had a look at the map and we chose a street to knock. For the first little bit we were knocking we had no success and hardly anyone was home. But we just kept knocking and we get to this house and knock the door. (we knew they were home cause we saw them a little way off) Guess who answers the door? The African lady. We were so excited so we were able to see her and schedule an appointment for this week so we are pretty excited about that.

 

Then this morning we met with a lovely lady. She is a Christian and has a lot of the same beliefs that we do. We tried to meet her a couple of times but things came up and she had to cancel and so we finally saw her today. She is so nice and so open. She loves her family and we shared with her the story of the Restoration and gave her a Book of Mormon and we invited her to read and pray. She really has a close relationship with God and said that she goes with what she feels is right and so she was going to read and pray and she how she feels about the Book of Mormon. I know she will feel good about it because it is amazing. :) So it's been a really good start to our Pday and our week.

 

Me and my comp are doing good. We haven't taken a lot of pictures but we will take more this week so that I can send some. Dont know what time I will call but I will call you on the phone on saturday night and arrange it there. I love you all and miss you much.

 

love syd

4/28/13

Hiya,

I am doing so great! i love being a missionary. It is so amazing and the people we get to talk to everyday and share our testimonies with is such a rush and it's so exciting. Training is the best. New missionaries have so much enthusiasm for the work and they are so excited about it and it helps me to rekindle that desire!! Sister Morgan is great and it's been a lot of fun to serve with her so far. We have been lost multiple times trying to figure our way around the city and Waterlooville. Portsmouth ward is so great! we have 5 DA's this week and that is so amazing! I love getting to know the members and their families.

We have had really good weather as well so I hope that it stays for a while. Our flat is fully furnished now so that is good and it is starting to feel like a home! We have been doing sooooo much finding and it's great. we knock all the time and go finding on the high street! we have been given referrals and we have found some really great people. We found a lovely girl named Zoe and she was more than willing to hear what we had to say right on the spot. I love finding people and being able to teach them immediately! this are is so great and i just feel that as long as we work our hardest and be exactly obedient that we are going to see so many miracles here. I can't wait for this week.

This week my study has been so good as well. I can't tell you all cause there is too much but i just love the Book of Mormon so much. It's so amazing and ah i just love everything in it. there is so much in that book and i get so much out every single time i read it. I think you have shared this scripture with my once before but it's Alma 37:37 that say's councel with the Lord in all thy doings.. and as we do that he will help us accopmlish so much more than if we didn't ask Him and tried to do it ourselves. The scriptures are fantastic. Don't go a day without reading them! They can help us so much and we need spiritual nourishment as much as food if not more. :)

I pray for you all all of the time :) and i will continue too. Mom it's about time you got put into RS you are 50 after all :) hahahaha jk but you will be great and there is someone there that needs just you and the Lord will guide you to them or them to you! :) I am excited to talk to all of you in 2 weeks!! can you tell me my name and password again... sorry! i think i know but just in case. :)

well i love you all and hope you have a good week.

love syd

 

4/21/13

HEY!

So that's rubbish that the temple will be closed! :( i was so excited to go with you guys. my new area is a really posh area! it's the nicest area that i have ever served in. my companion is from utah and her name is sister morgan. we get along great and are having a fun time figuring out our new area. we live right on the high street.. and that means we live where all of the shops are so everything is so close which is really nice. our flat is nice but the windows don't open so that is really weird and it's probably going to get really hot and i need my fresh air. but other than that i like it. The ward is really good. i am pretty sure that we will be spoiled here because they haven't had sisters for a really long time and so they are all so excited. Also i am in a ward with other missionaries. there are four of us in the portsmouth ward right now and by the end of the week there will be 6 missionaries all together in my ward. so i am way excited for that. :) we have already had dinner a couple of times at some of the members homes and they are so great. i love it. also the buses aren't the best here so we have to walk basically everywhere but i actually really like it because it's refreshing and also we get to see the area! there are a lot of historical things in portsmouth that we want to go see but the thing i want to see the most is £20 so i don't know if i will be able to do that! we will see. but we have a lot of work to do in waterlooville. cause missionaries haven't ever really spent a lot of time in that area so it should be good. i am so excited to be able to open a new area. it's really exciting! they are opening a lot of new areas and there are a lot of missionaries coming in!

 i loved the pictures of baxton he is so cute! also that is so sad about the horse :( the weather here has actually been really nice for the past week! the sun has shone since i got to the new area it has been great.

oh yeah at the beginning of the week i got to go to the temple grounds and we got to take a lady named tracey! it was so nice! just being on the grounds is amazing! we got to learn a lot of fun little facts about the temple and everything. i love the spirit of the temple grounds!

love you all so much!!

I think this is her new companion????

love syd

4/14/13

Hello my Favorite people ever!!

It's been a fast week and no I still don't know about transfers. I will try and let you know when I find out. Also yes i got to see his talk on friday (holland) and it was amazing. It was exactly what i needed but i would love to have a hard copy as well so that i can refer back to it. :) I saw your pictures and you guys all looked freezing haha. but the past two days have been nice so hopefully spring is finally here. I'm not sure if sister harun got her stuff yet. where did you send it? and i will send the sd card hopefully next week. we have to wait for sis k to get all the pictures off. That is crazy that he is a priest already!! crazy!! ahhh that is good that everyone was able to go :) it makes me really happy! also no i haven't had a chance to write. i haven't forgotten though. Sounds like everyone is doing good.

This week has gone fast!! i only have 4 transfers left which is crazy! but we didn't see michelle and her family all week because they went on holiday. And now we are teaching a guy from persia so that's cool. He is a nice guy. He came to church and really liked it. Tomorrow we get to go to the temple again so that will be fun we are taking a lady named tracey so i am so excited to be able to go there. Also i told her i would get her a name tag for her scriptures as well and her granddaughter.. her name is Tracey Thompsett and put it on a silver plate and i will get you the name for the other little girl next week. sorry these are the last ones that i will get haha i just get excited and want people to have things haha. sorry.

I have been really studying the bible a lot more because i want to be able to use it more and i have never actually read it all the way so i would like to do that. but i love it. at first it was hard cause i hardly understood anything but then once i continued to read i started to get used to the language. still don't understand it all but i am finding so many amazing scriptures. I never knew i would like the bible so much. So i am almost done with the new testament and then i will start the old testament. that one will be more difficult to read but i am excited. The scriptures are amazing and i never knew that i would come to love them so much.

i don't need anythign at the moment except i would love letters in the post :) haha but also i need to get a new suitcase.. just the carry on size.. my handle has gotten all rusty and won't work anymore. is that ok? let me know. love you and miss you a lot.

love syd

4/7/13

Ok thank you for sending sister haruns stuff! i was going to ask you about it today!! thank you! you should also send me some swiss rolls!! thank you :) haha. we went to a castle last week which was really fun!! i really loved it. it was freezing tho. my face got a little wind burnt but it was sunny so that was ok. I have filled up another sd card so i will be sending it home soon once sister karyan gets all of her pics off of it so it probably won't be until next week. can't believe you bought the tickets!! it's crazy yeah that is a lot of driving to be honest i don't care if we just go to exeter for a couple of days and then just do our own thing. :) are we still going to go to preston? i was thinking it would be cool for me to go back to where i first began! plus the temple is beautiful :)

Hello, this week was a really fast week. To start the week off we had a really good FHE with some members and one of their friends that was visiting. He came to church and the members wanted us to teach him. He is agnostic and is really open. We talked about the Plan of Salvation and also the members shared some of the Restoration. It was such a powerful teach and the spirit was there. The members were teaching and testifying as well which made it that much more powerful. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he was so honored that we gave him something so precious. After that teach I felt so good and so happy that I was able to share my happiness with him and I know that he could feel it too. Sadly he lives in Sweden but he wants to be taught by the missionaries so that is wonderful.

This week was pretty good! we had a zone training so we got to go and see a lot of the missionaries and see pres and sister millar!! I always learn a lot there. We had mexican is well which is a plus. The senior couples always cook for us and it was delicious.

General conference was really good! i loved all of the speakers. We got to watch all of the sessions except the last one! i was hoping that i would get to hear elder holland but he didnt talk in the first 3!! But all of them touched on what i needed to hear and how i can improve so that i can help people. We are so blessed to be able to listen to living prophets. It is so amazing to me that we out of so many people have been so blessed to be able to be born into the gospel. In conference i noticed with a lot of the speakers the topic was family and obedience. And i have seen first hand how important it is to be EXACTLY obedient. Obedience brings blessings and i loved how Elder Perry said that we shouldn't pick and choose commandments.. we have to obey ALL of them and that will make us free.

Anyway i love you all!! miss you so much!! have a fantasic week

luv syd

Thought for the week Imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with. That must be terribly frustrating to him, but he deals with it! Jeffery R Holland This isn't missionary work!!!! This is missionary fun!!!!! Elder Neil L Anderson

3/31/13

Hey!

last week we saw michelle and her family a lot and we still just love them. we are going to a castle with them today for pday so i am way excited about that. i will take lots of pictures and yes my camera is working great!! We didn't end up going to the old town last week so hopefully soon. All of michelles kids and her are reading the book of mormon so that is way good! I gave them that book of mormon that you sent me from the primary and they loved it. I am glad that i waited to give it away.. i wanted it to be the perfect family and it was them.

We got to go to a wedding on saturday. the weddings her are a bit different than home but not too much. it was so pretty and elegant. i loved it. it kind of made me want to get married in a church so that i could walk down the isle and also in the temple. i was way glad that we got invited to go to it.

We sang in church on sunday for easter so that was really nice. I love the choir that i am in. and then we spent some time teaching some members and having dinner with them. The weather was really nice yesterday so that was really good. :) oh yeah and yesterday we knocked a few doors before dinner and the last door that we knocked on was so funny. we knocked and waited a few seconds and then all of a sudden someone growled at us thru the letter box and said go away and we just looked at eachother because we were so shocked.. that was the first time that has happened haha. that was pretty funny. and i am barely surviving haha.. my fingers are freezing right now hahaha ah i just want it to be warm.. the time changed yesterday so i am glad that we have more daylight!!

the plans you have sound good to me for october. i would like to do all of that so i approve. also i am so glad that you have had such a spiritual week. they are the best and you just feel like you can make it thru anything. your experience in the temple sounds so wonderful! that is one thing i miss soooooo much!! still enjoying the work!!

love and miss you so much!!

love syd

3/24/13

hello!! sounds like you are all doing good this week!! and for the third time the cigerette lighters are the same!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! haha.. as for laura she has a lot of severe allergies and so i bet it is that! send my love to her please!! this week has been good it has gone really really fast!! but it has been freezing! this week is going to be the coldest week in march for 50 years so i am not excited at all!! this time last year it was really warm and nice! grandma looks really good! she looks like she has lost a lot of weight!! i am glad you all had a good time at her birthday!!

on saturday we got to go to the temple to go to a choir concert because we took some non members and some less actives!! it was really good to be there and just see it and feel the spirit of the temple grounds. An armenian guy came so we got to teach him and he absolutely loved it so that is good. Michelle and her family were all ready to come but then on of her daughters got sick so they couldn't make it. they were sad but she said they still want to go so hopefully i will get to go again sometime with them. Also i did get my camera but it was at the end of the temple trip so i didnt get any pictures which was sad but the armenian guy took some so hopefully i will be able to get those ones!!

we have been really busy this week so that is good! this transfer is only 5 weeks long so it will go really quick!! A lot of the less actives that we have been working with are starting to progress so that is good. DONT PUT THIS ON THE BLOG!! haha but hastings is a hard area and i am ready to go! i have been here long enough!! it's taking a tole on me! hopefully next week i will know what's going on with moves because we have interviews with president and usually he tells us what's going on.. i would say that these past three months have been the hardest on my mission.. even worse than my face trial ha..i have learned a lot and for that i am grateful!! but the only reason i would want to stay is because of michelle and her family!! i love them so much!! they really are so amazing and ah i just love them. they found a video clip on lds.org or something about prom dresses and how a girl asked for donated dresses so that she could alter them to be modest and then rent them out for cheap and michelle and her daughter are totally doing that now! they have made fliers and everything. they are a great family.

today we are going to the old town of hastings with a lot of proper english stuff so i will be able to send you lots of cool pictures!! :) also i just read presidents email and we now have 2 hours of email time on pday!! so good!! haha also i keep forgetting to write to see where we can stay!! but i will! we are going to an armenian resturant today so i hope i like it!!

Sorry i don't have much to write i will prepare better for next week!

love you

love syd

3/17/13

Hiya!!

No we didn't celebrate it! they don't celebrate it here haha weird!! but yes i got your card!! thank you so much!! :) haven't got the camera yet but we are going to the temple on saturday for a music concert with some people from choir who offered to take us so hopefully it will be there. I can't wait to go to the temple grounds! even if i can't do a session it is still nice to be there. Also my comp has a camera so we are using my sd card to get pictures. the pics of nathan are so good. i am so glad that he got to play!! he looks like such a little stud!!! Karli looks so good as well! her and her blonde hair haha. hope she had a good birthday!!

My companions name is sister Karyan and she is from armenia!! she has only been out for 4 months and her english is really really good!! she is teaching me some armenian and it is hard haha. she is a great missionary and i am excited to serve with her. I am supposed to be backup training her but she is backup training me. I am grateful because i never had a backup trainer haha so she is really helping me. this transfer is a short transfer so it's only 5 weeks. we are already having a good time together. i really have been so blessed with such wonderful companions!! but the thing is i can make them all good no matter what because it's all about what you look for. so if i look for fault i would find it but if i look for the good then that is what i will get!! no one is perfect and so we should focus on the good and not the bad!!

I got a letter from my recent convert robin and he went to the temple to do baptisms for the dead for the first time. He was baptized for some of his family so that is amazing. it's such a wonderful thing. it's such a great feeling when you know they made it to the temple because ultimately that is the goal.

We are teaching this wonderful family! it is a single mom with 4 kids and they are amazing!! I look up to them all for how much respect they have for one another and for the love that you can feel in their home!! the do something together as a family every saturday and it is just so great. I am so glad that we found them and already i feel that we have become such great friends!! she cooked us a delicious meal and then sister karyan cooked some armenian food for them on sat. hahah oh yeah sis karyan loves to cook so i once again have someone to cook for me haha. i am so lazy!! lol. but i am loving it and so grateful for these amazing opportunities and experience that you would not be able to have anyhwere else!! serving a mission is such a privilege and i am so glad that i made the decision to come. the love that i feel for these people and especially this family are unexplainable(don't know if that's a word haha).. but i love it!

 you are so great and please stay close to the Lord in all that you do! you are all amazing!! love you so much!

love syd

Thoughts for the week!

We can't direct the wind......but we CAN ADJUST the sails! Pres Monson

And I know that I have gave this to you before but it is one of my favorites.

"Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day" (Alma 37: 37).