Brace yourself this one is a doosie ( how the heck do you spell that? do
you know what i am referring too?? oh well) I don't even know where to start because soooo many things have
happened the past few weeks and i feel as though I haven't emailed in forever,
yet i just talked to you guys a week ago..... so how do I have so much dumb
stuff to say?
Idk if I told you this story yet or not, but if i did... oops. you get to
read it again. so sister pope and i decided to take full advantage of the
christmas season and we wanted to go caroling. (we were somewhat obsessed with
christmas music.) so we just flipped open the yellow pages and found a nursing
home and called and asked if we could come volunteer somehow, or carol or
something for them.... turns out that they were having a christmas party the
next day, and needed the entertainment.... guess who became the entertainment.
so we called elder davis and elder ottoni and they came with us. it was so
fun/funny/bad/good. let's just say we aren't the best singers in the world....
we got up there and had to sing for 45 mins. luckily christmas music is my
favourite thing!!!.... if it is december.... but highlights of it were this one
older lady would get mad at all the other old people because they were not
clapping loud enough for us. another older lady kept winking and waving at
elder ottoni, and when we went around to say hello after, she grabbed his hand
and would not let go. and during jingle bell rock, we messed up so bad that
sister pope and i just started laughing/ crying and couldn't stop so we could
not sing. elder ottoni did not know the song, and so elder davis had to finish
it up as a solo. you probably had to be there but it was hilarious.
another thing we wanted to do to take advantage of christmas was to deliver
little treats to investigators and less actives. well we got a recipe from
Sister Farnsworth, the bishops wife, who is from america. She gave us a recipe
but it needed shortening. turns out they don't have that here, they have
something called lard. we got some lard and went and made cookies to deliver.
the entire time sister pope just keeps saying these cookies taste like lard, all
i can taste is lard. i told her that it was all in her head. (they did taste a
bit funny but i didn't say that) well we find out after we make them that there
are different types of lard.... animal fat lard and vegetable lard. we were
supposed to use the vegetable lard. guess which one we used..... buttttt did we
still deliver them even though they tasted nasty? yes. yes we did. oops
:)
THEY DON'T HAVE EGG NOG HERE!!!!! so sad right? it did not feel fully like
christmas without egg nog. i went to every store and asked multiple people in
the store just in case that person was clueless. nope they just don't have it
here. which i find funny because many times most egg nog is alcoholic, not the
kind i get don't worry, and they LOVE their alcohol over here. so for me it
seems like a perfect fit! maybe i will introduce them to it.
last semi different thing we did was, with elder davis and elder ottoni,
we had all the members write their testimonies inside the Books of Mormon we
pass out. then we wrapped them up in christmas paper and went caroling and
delivered them. Something i learned, if I ever need money, i am going to come
to England and go caroling. apparently people do it for charity, because every
door we went to they tried to offer us money for the charity we were with. when
we told them we weren't with a charity and didn't want their money, just to give
them a free gift, they were shocked, semi confused, and very happy. it was a
cool experience though. of course it was pouring rain. and some people did NOT
want us to carol and quickly made that known, but others even requested more
songs ( we must not have been that bad). hopefully they read the testimonies
and the Book of Mormon and give us a call!
 | |
| Owl onesies |
christmas eve we went to this amazing family's home with all 6 of us
missionaries (on christmas we were allowed to go to the same place -- usually we cannot be in the same members home at the same time). we played games and
it was just such a good night! the coolest game ever mum i might buy it for you
for christmas. yes i have not done my christmas shopping yet.... there has been
no time! anddddd now there are sales so i did it on purpose obviously.... but i
forgot the name of the game, but it was fun. if i don't end up getting it i
will let you know and you should buy it.
 |
| Christmas morning with Phyllis :) |
christmas day we woke up at 5:40 hurried and opened our presents and got
ready. we left at about 6:15 to go to phyllis's. because the elders were
supposed to pick us up at 7:30 from her home. luckily the elders were late. it
was her first christmas without her parents being alive, so we went over and she
opened her presents and then BEST THING EVER!!!! we watched the little mermaid.
i forgot how much i love prince eric. dark hair green or blue eyes yes please.
i know i know, he is a cartoon. but he is still beautiful. then we went to the
sotos home. another amazing family. they are in their late 20's. he is from
chile, she is from england. he is in the bishopric and they have a little 3 year
old named elias. when we got there he was soooooo excited about his toys.
little kids at christmas are the best!!! anyways so it was the two of them and
elder davis and elder ottoni and sister pope and i and we watched toy story 3 in
3D and the emperors new groove. SUCH A FUNNY MOVIE! in between the two movies
we went and sang at an elderly home for a bit with a few other ward members.
one lady sister cox who is in her 70's and loves loves loves singing. she is
good but man can she hit those high notes. so we went caroling and did you know
there are about 6 or 7 verses to ALL the christmas carols..... i didn't know
that..... lucky for us we got to sing ALL the verses of ALL the songs... twice.
whoooooo. after that we went to the Whittakers, the senior couple ate a bit
sang some more and skyped you!!!! then we went to the farnsworths. the cutest
little three girls. they got sooooo many presents it was ridiculous! and they
had to show us every. single. one. and then for the rest of the night we talked
to bishop and his wife about life! and careers and marriage and philosophical
stuff and ya it was good! man oh man it is crazy it is already over!!!!
oh funny england tradition over here is that they have christmas crackers.
they are these cardboard candy looking things ( pic on dropbox) and sit in a
circle and cross your arms and grab a side in each hand and another person takes
the other side and you pull and one person ends up with the toy inside. and
every single one has a paper crown inside and a joke. they are quality jokes
like ice lollie status.... or in american, Popsicle status. walking down the
street looking in the windows you see almost every house the people are sitting
around the table with these paper crowns on. so funny.
(Last Christmas our dear friend Laurie gave us a box of poppers! We all had paper crowns on. We didn't realize they were an English tradition!)
but boxing was the best slash worst day ever. best day ever because owl
onsies, films all day, and friends. what more could you want. also it was funny
because Elder Choi made us curry but he accidentally set off the fire alarm. we
were panicked because we thought the firemen were going to come and bishop would
have to come and stuff. luckily they didn't, but the elders could not get it
figured out how to turn it off for about 20 minutes. i quick looked at the
instructions and saw what it said to do. i figured they had already tried that,
and i did not want to be the annoying person who says well have you tried this,
and it has obviously already been tried..... so i just waited...about 5 mins
later i asked if i could try it, and it worked. thats why there are sisters out
on missions ha
but it was the worst day ever because it was transfer calls, and we for
sure knew elder ottoni was leaving, but then we found out that elder davis is
also moving. hardest goodbye i have had in 9 months. they have become my
brothers these past 5 months together. we have been through so much, it was
really hard to say goodbye, because it isn't like saying goodbye to you, i will
see you again. but lets be real i will probably maybe see them one more time in
my life, and it will never be the same. so that was a hard night not gonna lie.
and the new zone leaders are great! a bit intense and intimidating, (because
one was just the AP for 7 months and this is his last transfer on the mission)
but that is okay we are learning a lot.
so today we just did the coolest thing! the cox's an older couple in the
ward took us to the Abby cathedral and the Roman Baths. This city has so much
history it is incredible!! i feel so sophisticated and cultured right this
second.
at the Abby we learned that Alban was the first ever martyr in England, he
was killed for converting to the Christian faith and hiding a priest. also June
22 is St. Albans day. I am now celebrating it for the rest of my life. not in
worship just in the fact that i think i served here, and i think the story is
cool, and it sounds like a good excuse for a party/holiday! also the nave is the
longest one in england! it was originally built in the 1st century, and then was
torn down and restored and halfway restored and reformed and pretty much every
other thing you can do to a building. but some of the stuff still dates back to
the original!
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| this is the coolest seat, it is for the bishop, we laughed thinking of that chair in a bishops office. |
the roman baths were also built in the 1st century! and they were just discovered in the 1900's. it had activities on the side and a audio tour. so interesting! but the problem i have discovered is that I love learning about these things, but my brain cannot remember hardly anything. those are the 3 facts i got from the Abby, and pretty much the only thing i can remember from the baths are obviously the physical structure of the building, a really fun game you should look up called 9 men morris, and the word frigidarium. which is the cold room. like a fridge!! cool huh?
whew. i am tired just from writing that email. so sorry for you having to
read it, except lets be real idk if anyone but mum actually reads the whole
thing. don't worry i don't blame you ha
oh ya so on new years eve we went to bed around 10.... but at 11:58 i set
the alarm and woke up and went whoooooo.... drank about two sips of orange juice
( in replacement of sparkling cider and went back to sleep) sister pope never
even woke up ha people were still partying this morning at 6 when we woke up!!
exciting and thrilling life of a missionary.
but one thing i loved this year that even though presents weren't big and
necessarily that exciting, although some of the socks were pretty cool, it was
one of my favourite Christmas's. Sister Pope and I talked about it and decided
it was because we were so focused on other people and serving them and trying to
make them happy. just proves that material things really don't bring lasting
happiness. we may think they bring happiness, but they really don't. Serving
others brings happiness and memories that are incomparable. and the great thing
is that we don't have to just serve others at christmas! we can have the spirit
of Christ all year round.
another thought I have been thinking about lately is the process of making
and achieving goals. As a missionary we make transfer, monthly, weekly, daily,
and even hourly goals. (a lot i know) but i have realised that almost even more
important than our goals is our plans to accomplish the goal. with every goal we
should have 2-3 (or more) plans on how we are going to accomplish the goal. if
you just say "i want to become a good piano player".... that goal will probably
not be reached. but if you create plans as to when you will practice, how you
will practice, different things to practice, etc it is much more likely that the
goal will be reached.
and the whole point of this life is to grow and progress. i am guilty of
many times just kinda chilling at the level i am at without striving to better
myself. Christ commanded us to be ye therefore perfect, even as your father in
heaven is perfect in Matthew 5:48..... we aren't going to achieve perfection,
but if we don't make goals and plans we certainly aren't even going to get
close. this life is all about learning, growing, and continuing to improve and
work at becoming more Christlike.
so my challenge for you this week is, if you have already made new year
resolutions, go and make plans to achieve your goals, and if you have already
done that, then dang good work! but my last thought regarding this is that in
trying to achieve these goals we are not going to be perfect. we are going to
mess up and fail and fall short sometimes. does not mean we should throw the
whole goal out the window. if we are trying to eat healthy and eat a little
sweet, we should not just go and devour a huge tub of ice cream. evaluate reset
and start again! mum you sent me this quote and i love it! " We become what we
want to be by consistently being what we want to become each day" - Richard G Scott "The Transforming Power of Faith and Character"
so on that note i hope you guys have a fantastic week. a great start to a
new year! i love you so much! thank you for everything that every single one of
you do for me. you truly are such great examples to me!
love, rachel
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