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).

3/10/13

To my wonderful Family,

To answer some questions. yes i want you to come to england!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! do you want to come to england haha? also yes there are cig lighters in the cars. also i am sure we can find somewhere to stay in exeter!! 

 

The adversary is attatcking the family more and more. A family in our ward gave talks on a proclamation to the world and it was so amazing! stay strong and close to the Lord and Heavenly Father and we will always be able to fight off the adversary and stay strong as a family!! i pray for you all everyday. you are amazing and so glad that you are mine!!! :)

transfers are tomorrow and i am not sure if either one of us will move. i will be really sad if i move but i will go where the Lord wants me to go. If you would have asked me last transfer if i wanted to move i would have said yes but i have really tried hard to just do what the Lord wants me to do and have grown to truly love the area and love being here. Sometimes i feel that i am not magnifying my calling as a missionary but i know that the Lord is patient with us and knows our strength and weaknesses and he gives us those weaknesses so that we can come unto Him. just pray for me :) as i already know that you do.

This week has been another really good week. We got to meet with a lovely lady named Michelle who we found knocking last Sunday. We had a lesson with her on Tuesday and we had a member there which was really good because she could relate to her and bare testimony. She is quite a timid lady but she really opened up to us and asked lots of questions, showing that she is sincerally interested. When we knocked we had given her a Book of Mormon and a card with our number and the lds.org website on it. She had read from the Book of Mormon and had already been looking online when we went on Tuesday. She committed to read and pray and come to church. She wasn't able to make it to church cause her youngest had a chest infection. She has four young kids who we will meet this week at our next lesson. It was really nice after the lesson we were going to our next appointment and we got a text from her just saying thank you and asking us if we would also like to come to dinner as well as a lesson the next week. We are both so excited that the Lord led us to her and her family.

also sister harun wants one of the scripture name plates so could you get her one! she wants it to say Laura J. Harun.also she wants a colorful temple recommend holder with the salt lake temple on it. her birthday is coming in april so send that stuff to the temple cause i want to give it to her for her birthday! is that ok? if i remember i don't think it was very expensive. also a couple of others want scripture name plates. will it be possible to get them for them. Let me know so that i can get the spelling of their names!! hope it's not too much trouble. let me know and i will stop hah. love you. thanks for all that you do for me!! i am so incredibly blessed to have you all in my life!! Stay close to the Lord and Heavenly Father and we will always have what we need to make it thru!! love you so much.

also let me know if you got all the pictures i sent!!

 love Syd ,    ps look me up on mormon.org :)   ( just go to mormon.org and type in my name on the people.  You guys all need to do it also!!  Then I can see you!

She locked Sister Harun in the bathroom of the flat;)
 

It does snow in England once in a while. Her companion had never saw the snow!!

 

3/3/13

Hey!!

just to answer all of your questions. Bring a gps because i don't know if they have them in rental cars!! also yes we will rent a car! i think it will be cheaper than trains and busses. I want freedom too! i am not a fan of relying on the busses haha it stresses me out. i am grateful that they are here tho so that i don't have to walk even more. :) check into how much it would be to rent a car! but i think a car is a smarter choice. but i haven't got anything with the sd card yet. so i will keep looking. also transfers are next week so if you are going to send something send it before tomorrow! i don't think i will move but just in case. Also i pray for you all multiple times a day! :) i am glad things are fine. :) thanks for the camera and everything. Glad to hear about trina and yes i got the puzzle thing from joni! she sent me £20 she is so nice!!! tell her thank you sooo much! MC basketball is so great and that's good that you kept your word to help patty with the sale but i am glad dad took nathan to the game. That father son time is important. and even more important at nathans age. Also i am sooooooooooooooooooooooooo happy he made the team! i was so worried and so glad that he made it. Sister Haruns sister did get the necklace and everything. :)

So i don't have to buy new boots because i just got them rehealed for £8 so that was good and saved us about £50 ahah. and they look brand new so it's good. Also this week we had a Music and Dancing night at the chapel and it was so much fun! the choir sang and then they had a lot of little activities. it was so much fun. I loved it. I am loving it more and more everyday. And the days are going faster than ever now!! ahhhhh.

This week has been a fantastic week. Serving with all your heart, might, mind, and strenth is what really brings you joy. I have really been trying to put that into my work and just completely forget myself. As I have been praying for strength and guidance the Lord has really helped me start to improve. It is evident that as we fully rely on Him and His strength and not our own we are led and guided to those He has been preparing. Sister Harun and I have done a lot of finding and knocking this week and we have two return appointments as a result for this week that we are really exited about. We did a zone fast the middle of last week and I know that it is because of the faith of all of the missionaries in our zone that we are seeing more success. I love that faith is a power that each and everyone of us can use and once we learn how to use that power miracles will surround us. I love the scripture in Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.... In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." it is so true and He is the only one that can help us go the right way.

love you so much!

love syd

2/24/13

hi

 i sent the letter twice so i hope that you got it!! i am sad that i didn't get a letter this week! i hope everything is ok! :( i will try not to worry! i sent the camera and another package with letters i have received and also a letter for you guys and also my sd card that is full of pictures! so let me know if you got them ok! you have to sign for the camera! this week has been good and we have finally been able to go out and work because sis harun is feeling so much better! i am so happy about that! This week we had zone conference in a place called crawley and it was amazing as always. i always love getting together with other missionaries and getting spiritually fed by pres. millar and whoever has been asked to speak to us. i also got the pedometer so thank you very much! i have only used it once cause i keep forgetting but thanks for sending that. Also how much is the name plates that you put on your scriptures?

This week we had a few appointments fall thru and one of our back ups was to go and stop by a less active. We started to go head to their house and I kept having this feeling that we needed to be somewhere else. I wasn't sure where but my plan was to look at the map and figure things out on the bus but we boarded the bus and the thought kind of slipped thru my mind. Then we got off the bus and started walking to their house and I had that feeling again and so we stopped and fiddled around with the map and was trying to figure out where the Lord needed us at that time. The whole time I had a prayer in my heart to help us to know. So we found a lady we were going to stop by and felt good about it. As we were walking there we ran into a previous investigator named Marta that we had lost contact with becuase she moved and everytime we called she was unable to talk. The great thing about it was she saw us and stopped us and wanted to talk to us. So e talked to her and found out that she still wants to meet with us and was so sorry she could never talk. The problem was that her phone costs her a fortune to use and so she can't talk on it. So I know that if we would have ignored that feeling from the spirit and just went ahead and gone to the less actives house that we would have missed Marta and we might not have been able to ever see her. I am so grateful for the promptings that we receive from the holy ghost and the wonderful feeling you feel when you act on those promptings. The gospel is a wonderful thing.

Sorry this letter is short but we are going to Orpington for pday! love you all and i really hope everything is ok!!!

love syd