Can I please buy a gun!!!

sister bergstrom and i are being tortured.... every morning at about 5.  this horrible noise sounds right outside our window.  unceasingly.  it is a crow/magpie creature, but it sounds like a mix between a pigs squeal a goat and a crow. and it never stops.  and it sounds like it is literally inside of our room.  sleep is such a precious thing as a missionary, and this bird makes it impossible to really sleep past 5.  every morning at 5 I have to get up and shut the window, and one morning, in the in between sleep and awake stage, as i am shutting the window I just shout "CAN I PLEASE BUY A GUN!"   at the time i was serious, but sister bergstrom thought it was hilarious. looking back i think it was because we were so tired that we thought it was so funny.  but oh well. it is usually really bright and sunny at 5 in the morning now, even if it gets cloudy during the day, so it makes it all okay.

  

I don't even know how to put this past sunday into words. there are so many little details that make the day so crazy, but it takes so long to write all of them, but without them you can't really get the whole picture.... but ya sunday was crazy. 

So bright and early we wake up and the shower drain was broken again.  we didn't have a pool like last time though so that was good.  Next we go to church and we were supposed to have 4 solid investigators at church, and none of them were there.... including Carmen who was getting baptised right after church! and her phone is broken so we decided to go pick her up after sacrament meeting.  Before we left the church we said a prayer..... as we were walking down the hill to the bus we saw one of our investigators and her little boy walking up the hill to church!! That was a miracle.  

We get to the bus stop right as one is coming.  another miracle.  I sit down, and then decide to switch sides of the bus just in case i can see Carmen from the other side.  A chinese girl sits next to sister Bergstrom and we had a lesson with her and we are seeing her again next week!  As we are driving i kept looking out the window to see if i could see Carmen coming on another bus, and lo and behold guess who i see!!!! Carmen headed to church.  such a miracle. that we were both on the side that could see each other as the buses passed, and that i happened to look out at that moment! we hurry and get off and head back to church.  

Well it turns out that someone in Carmen's family had passed away saturday night, so she wasn't sure she wanted to be baptised.  but then we would ask and she would say yes, and then a few minutes later she would say no.... and then she kept making up different excuses like "I don't like to be damp".... " if i stay after church I won't be able to put my dinner on"  "I was late and forgot a towel and extra knickers" ..."If I get my weave wet I will catch a cold"..... then we showed her that we had brought everything and that we were there to help her if she wanted to do it and next thing we know she was getting dressed...... and lots of other little details, but you get the point.  I think Sister Bergstrom and I aged about 10 years, but it happened and she loved it and the ward was so welcoming.  I don't think I ever stopped praying the entire day.  

then the rest of our solid appointments canceled.  and we missed the bus we needed.... twice... and then Sister Bergstrom lost her phone. and then when we realised she had lost it as we were waiting for the bus, i said "on a day like this the only other thing that can go wrong is if we lose our oyster cards....."  (just realised you might not know what that means.... haha prepaid card we use for all the buses and trains because they don't take cash on the buses.)  Literally as i said that she reached into her bag only to find that she had lost her oyster card as well..... me and my big mouth haha 

idk how but we managed to talk to the bus drivers and make it to our next appointment without the oyster.  We brought a member with us and had the craziest lesson with this man.  I was in the middle of saying something and the member yells "this book is BULL ________"......  she had been looking through a book he had brought. Don't worry - it turns out they are friends, didn't know that until we showed up for the lesson! another miracle.  

but  then on our way home the bus driver didn't let Sister Bergstrom on, and she had to go to this machine to buy a ticket, and i was stuck on the bus trying to get off, finally did, but she didn't have any cash and it didn't take swipe cards, luckily we dug through my bag and found enough cash and made it home safe and sound. we say another prayer and start searching the house.... all of a sudden i hear shouts of joy.  turns out after the prayer she had just flopped on the ground after the prayer in desperation, and then found both her oyster and the phone under the bed...... days like today just remind me that God is real. He loves us so much. He cares about the little details of our lives, and He hears every single one of our prayers.   

(realised i kept switching between past and present tense..... can't be bothered though sorry)

we saw a fox in our back courtyard thing.  a proper fox. i don't think i had ever seen one just out in the open walking along doing his own thing. then we got so excited that we scared it and it trotted off. 

thank you so much for the world cup info.  you are the best :) man the usa is doing so well. who would have thought? 

last tuesday i got a crazy call. it was from the office, and she asked which airport i want to fly into because she was booking my flight right that very second.  now that really just caught me way off guard....i think she mailed you the details.  i can't believe it. ah. i don't really think about it, but when i do it just blows my mind! i also decided that the last month i probably won't email too much, because i need to save some stories to tell you or i won't have anything to talk to you about when i see you :) 

so the mission headquarters sent us these stands as a pilot program to try here in England.  it is a 4 sided stand about 8 feet tall and it has different pictures on it and important questions.  and we set it up in town centre with a table with different resources the church has (Books of Mormon in loads of languages, leaflets etc)    and used it to do some finding. at first we were a bit nervous because i felt a bit like a sales person, slash that i was back at student government working a booth.  but it was a good experience. and we talked with this amazing man. such a great dad and husband. he was an atheist, but took a Book of Mormon and said he wanted to read it, but not interested in meeting with us.  but about 15 mins later he came back with lemonade and said "here you go, missionary work is hard, you deserve this"  it was so sweet! hopefully he reads it and gives us a call.  

some quotes from the week that i liked....

"Life is a grindstone.  whether it grinds us down, or polishes us up depends on what we are made of"    ? 

"Sometimes we mistakenly may believe that happiness is the absence of a load. But bearing a load is a necessary and essential part of the plan of happiness."  Elder Bednar, 

 such a great talk! go read it if you have time.... https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/04/bear-up-their-burdens-with-ease?lang=eng

"Attitude determines altitude,” President Monson

This next week is going to be craziness. we have a missionary leadership conference.  a zone meeting a few exchanges. and sister coons is coming down and got permission to go to lunch with me.  busy but great :)  love you!! hope you have a great week! Love you! Rachel 

We'll have to ask what this is... looks like a mini vaccuum.
Rachel definitely looks photo-shopped in.