Monday, July 28, 2014

"Wherever you are, be there"

Anca got baptised yesterday! :)  sister Bergstrom told me saturday night.  On saturday she decided that she knew it was right, and was going to be baptised regardless of her mum, and asked if she could get baptised tomorrow...... I am so happy.  I love that family so much.  

idk if i told you this or not, but did you know that London North was President Hinckley's first area on his mission?  

also i have a queen sized bed for the first time in my life.  there is one queen and one twin.... turns out i don't like having big beds, because i toss and turn and roll around, and with a bigger bed I do it wayyyy more.  so now i just sleep right next to the wall and don't even use half of the bed.  and we don't ever hang around the flat, so i don't ever just get to lounge around on it, so it is a wasted queen bed, but that is okay.  

I wonder if getting tattoos on your head hurts. there are quite a few people who have that here, and it looks so painful.  I am going to ask the next person i see that has one and see if it did hurt.... ( guy just walked into the internet cafe and had some, so my thought was not completely random....) 

This week the bishop asked us to go to an interfaith convention.  sounds like it would be really interesting right?.... wrong. i fell asleep. i tried really hard not to but i could not help it.  We thought it would be a discussion about all the different religions that were represented there. Instead it was just a 3 hour presentation by a few different people about how faith needs to be more present in the medical scene.  and then we split up into a few different groups for 15 mins, and considering sister jacobmeyers and i know very little about the healthcare system, let alone faith in the healthcare system we choose to go to a group on meditation.  It was lead by a proper old englishman who was hindu! you would never have guessed it by looking at him or speaking with him.  but he taught us how to meditate.  It was interestingish.... all it did was give me a headache though.  he told me i was doing it wrong. i was focusing too much on not focusing on anything at all..... oops.  

on thursday i went on an exchange to gorleston!  it was so crazy to be back there. i was there my second transfer and then back there on my second to last.... talk about coming full circle.  it seemed like i was just there a few weeks ago though. i remembered the people and the places and the buses..... seems like i never left! except for the fact that they let the back garden get ruined! so sad. so many weeds..... 

We met a young man from florida last week named timmy and had a really great step in with him and he seemed really interested.... but then he did not show up for our next appointment and we only had his address and it was a bit of a ways away, so we didn't put much priority into trying to go and see him soon.  on friday some of our plans fell through, mission life, and so we had a back-up plan of trying to go and see him.  we walked pretty far away to the address he gave us.  when we got to his home, it looked like an old person home.  no offense, but it had ramps and handrails up to the door, and some weird statue things on the front porch..... did not look like a young adults' home.  we knocked and no response.  we figured that he had given us the wrong address. as we turned to leave, he opened the door! he was so excited to see us.  he apologised for not coming to the appointment last week but something came up and he had lost our card with our number on it.  We had a great lesson and explained about the restoration and Book of Mormon.  He has had a rough past and has such great faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  He is really looking for truth and a new direction in his life.  We had a great lesson and he committed to baptism.  He says that it was not a coincidence that we met and that we saw each other on friday.  He had a few different things come up that day that he was supposed to go and do, but he felt like he should stay home..... and guess who comes knocking on his door. if he had not been home we would have assumed he had given us the wrong address and not gone back! good thing Heavenly Father is such a brilliant planner! 

on saturday we had a dinner appointment with this great portuguese/ brazilian family, and there was a massive amount of left over food. so we asked if we could have some to take to our homeless friend.  when we asked him if he wanted a home cooked meal, he was so grateful.  it made me want to just make a whole bunch of food and take it to all the people on the streets.  I am so thankful for the perspective my mission has given me.  before i would have just turned the other way and felt bad but not done anything about it.  now i either try and give them a little snack or at least talk to them like normal people. they are still children of God.  We have no idea what they have been through, it is not our place to judge.  That is why I am so thankful that Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father are the ones that judge, because they know exactly our situation.  exactly what we have gone through and exactly what we are capable of in our given circumstances.  makes them the perfect judge.  
 
We had a pretty jam-packed week of teaching, otherwise. Our investigators working towards baptismal dates are doing pretty well, but it was a shame because none of them were able to come to church for various reasons. We worked so hard to have investigators at church, we invited EVERYONE we spoke to, and lots of people said yes. But no one came.  during sacrament meeting we were feeling a bit down, but Half way through sacrament, this Romanian guy named Lawrence that the sisters had had a lesson with like 3 weeks ago just walks in, finds us, and sits by us.  such a shock because apparently the lesson with him ended in them having to physically leave because he was too bashy. Like he didnt listen to a single thing they said and was basically just trying to preach at them and tell them we are wrong the whole time. But at church yesterday he was so calm and participated really well in the lessons. I think Heavenly Father saw how hard we worked at getting people to church this week and was cutting us a break. Hopefully Lawrence felt the Spirit there and his heart was softened.

I can't believe that rebecca is leaving on Wednesday. literally flew by.  i am so excited for you!!! you are going to love it.  dont get me wrong it is not going to be easy, but it will be soooooooooooo worth it :)  I was looking on a globe at a members house and dad you are so right for 2 months, the sun will never set on the formica family.   

sorry about your back mum! i am just permantely hunched from carrying my heavy bag all day every day, so we can be twins! yes send me a copy of dad's letter! 
(I hurt my back a bit...feeling a bit better now.   And Ed's cousin sent him a copy of a letter Ed wrote to him at the beginning of his mission.  Pretty illuminating.  haha)

sister jacobsmeyer is 5'1 good job mum.  and dad she says "thanks mate" ha but that you are pretty much right. it is a hole in the ground. 

ipswich is pretty small, but there are loads of little villages all around. the hard part is that the buses don't go there, so we dont get out to those villages very often.  it takes us about 1.5 on the train to get to london..... so it is like a whole other world. 



this week has been a week full of miracles.  It is so amazing how everything can go wrong and everything can go right all in one day.  we ride the buses so much that all the bus drivers know us and they laugh because we literally are all over the place all in one day.  well i have to run sorry i didn't get to attach any pics! but i will next week. i love you!!! 

Love, 
Sister Formica 

ps adam i will respond to your part of the email next week! but i think obviously i was the cutest little kid..... jk i think hmmmm idk you were all cute in different ways! but i remember you being little the most so i would say you.... shhhh don't tell them :)   (We've been looking at old pictures and a battle ensued as to who was the cutest baby....  they were all adorable).  

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