Chapter 42: Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!

Note:  Due to problems with the public library internet access last week, we did not hear from Meagan until Wednesday instead of Monday.  And we were in Utah playing with family for Thanksgiving.  So the posting is late this week...

Hello dear friends and family,

This past week has been pretty great! A lot of things happened that were pretty awesome... Most of them were just meetings. (YAY). The best one was a sisters' meeting we had with all of the sister missionaries serving in the northern area of our mission. We went to this place called South Shields which is right on the coast of Northern England, so it was gorgeous even though it was cold. (See attached photo.) One thing we did that was fun is that we all picked up a little rock that we found in the sand. Then our sister training leader told us that it represents us being a little "bolder," or "boulder".... It took me forever to get that pun, but once I did I really loved it! :) All it takes for us to be a bit bolder is to say hi to someone and ask them how they're doing. A lot of people in our mission ask what the best finding approach is when street or bus contacting, and usually the first question I ask most people is "Hi! How are you?" Some of them keep walking, but a lot of them are a bit surprised and then start talking to me. All it takes is a bit of kindness and people open up quickly.

The other fun thing of the week was working with Zhang Yi and Izzie! Zhang Yi is ready to be baptised this Saturday and passed his interview and everything! He also had a great time attending the nation-wide Chinese YSA Convention in London this weekend. Izzie continues to do well, but we pushed her baptismal date back to the 20th of December, which is when her two essays will be done and turned in, that way she can focus completely on her baptism and preparing for it. Seeing their progression has been a privilege and a true miracle. 

Also, happy Thanksgiving everyone!! Our Thanksgiving came early, since our whole zone gathered together on p-day to partake of a delicious feast prepared by our senior couple serving in our area. It was super delicious, and we also got to watch my FAVOURITE Christmas film, Elf! But the best part was when we went around the table and all said something we're thankful for. I've learned a lot on my mission, and one of those things is that I have so many things to be thankful for. And even when I think I don't, I try to be grateful in my circumstances, like Pres. Uchtdorf has told us. In England, I've experienced more rain storms than I ever have in my whole life. But I've also seen more rainbows in these ten months than I have in my whole life as well. I've learned to be grateful for both the rain and the rainbow. :)

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving week! Sorry the e-mail is so late this week, the internet was down throughout all the libraries in the city. I love you all!!

Love,

Sister Larson

No captions this week, just "Pics from South Shields."  We suspect she was in a hurry at the library computer.

Chapter 41: Why aye man, it's cold outside!

Hello everyone!

In the subject line, I thought saying "baby, it's cold outside" was a bit awkward, so I put a Geordie twist on it. (Geordie is the name of the accent here in Newcastle.) "Why aye man" basically means "Yeah" or something of the affirmative nature. :)

And it has been really super cold and rainy lately. But hey, it's still been a good week! This week we got to take a field trip to Billingham for a Zone Conference. It was really great and we learned lots of new things. The most important thing we learned was about how despite our trials or difficulties, we need to keep our chin up and smile. We have many things to be thankful for, and we should always keep those in mind. 

Pretty sunrise on the train to Billingham

This week we also had a few wonderful miracles! We met with Jerry, a recent convert, and he told us an awesome story about how one day when he lost his keys, he looked for them everywhere but couldn't find them. So after doing all he could, he remembered that he could pray for help. So he prayed, and then had a thought come to him that he should open the front door. He thought that was a bit strange, but he did it anyway. When he opened the door, an older woman stood there, holding his keys! He was so excited he told everyone about it, and he told us that his roommates were saying that they should learn how to pray too, so that they can always have someone help them.

Sister Chee, Sister Lu, and me

We also scheduled Izzie and Zhang Yi, some of our long-term investigators, for baptism on the 29th of November! They were both very willing to pray about that date and prepare for it, so we are happy for them. I'm grateful for the influence of the Holy Ghost and how it has helped these friends of mine feel the love that God has for them.

All the Chinese speakers in the north - front row is Sister Xie, Sister Lu, Sister Chee, me.
Back row is Elder Sorenson (he's in Newcastle) and then Elder Lee and Elder Adams,
 who is also here (he's my district leader.)

Well I hope that you all have an absolutely wonderful week! Enjoy the snow if you live in Idaho, or the sun if you live somewhere warm - I'll just enjoy the lovely gray weather here in England. :) Love you all!!

Sister Lu, Sister Chee, Sister Monroy, me

Bonus Feature: Zone Conference Report

Meagan had a zone conference this week and was given instructions by her mission president to write a midweek email home to her family.  So it was quite a surprise when we received this from her:

Good morning my beautiful family,

 

I'm sure you're all wondering why I'm e-mailing you on a Wednesday morning. "Sister Larson," you say, "That's dodgy. Why are you being so disobedient?" Well, I'm actually not. We were asked by our mission president yesterday at Zone Conference to write our lovely families an e-mail and tell them what we learned from the meeting. I don't really know the reason why, but hey - I'll jump at any chance to communicate with my lovely jiaren. :)

 

So yesterday at Zone Conference we learned a LOT of things. We learned more about how we can progress our investigators better, how we can do better teaching models (those are like when you practise teaching an investigator or member with your companion - like acting something out. It's a bit weird sometimes, honestly, but they're fun.), and how we can respond to anger and always be peacemakers.

 

But one of my favourite things that I learned was a song that came from the era of World War I. Sister Pilkington introduced it to us, and later an Elder sang it for us. Then we stood up and sang it together several times. The words go like this (maybe mom or dad will know it):

 

Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag

And smile, smile, smile

Just think of all the happy times we'll have

Smile boys, that's the style!

What's the use of worrying?

It never was worthwhile

So pack up your troubles in your old kit bag

And smile, smile, smile!

 

I was really impressed with this song. The words are simple, and the advice the song gives us doesn't seem that earth-shattering or difficult. It just says to smile and not worry. But if you think about when this song came out- during a time of world war, fear, and death - it seems really hard indeed to "smile, smile, smile." Sometimes missionary work can be a bit hard. There are days where I feel like nothing is going right and then on top of everything, it starts to rain and our tea appointment cancels on us. But at least I don't have to worry about if I will live through the night. These soldiers throughout every conflict in the history of the world made a huge sacrifice to protect their families and their countries. So I think yesterday at Zone Conference, I learned a lot about how no matter how hard I may think my trials are, I have so many more blessings that have been given to me. I have quite a lot to smile about, the most important being you all: my lovely family. :)

 

So I hope that you all can remember to "smile, smile, smile" and quit worrying - it's never worthwhile anyway and won't change anything. "No one likes a frowny face, change it for a smile - make the world a better place by smiling all the while." We all have so many things to smile about. We live in free countries, we have a knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we have been sealed together as a forver family upon the condition of our faithfulness and effort.

 

Well. Currently in England it is gray and drizzly. I'm used to it now, I think my poor Californian companion is trying to get over the fact that she won't see the sun as much anymore, bless her. I hope we get some snow soon!

 

Love,

Meagan

Chapter 40: New "baby" arrives and Chee is awesome!

Dajia hao!

So this week something really awesome happened.... my trainee finally arrived! After two weeks of waiting and preparing, Sister Chee came to Newcastle, jet lagged but ready to work! She is from California, near San Francisco. She likes to play sports. She's hilarious. And she is of Asian descent, although she recently started learning Chinese. So all of our Chinese members walk up to her and start chattering in Mandarin and she's like "... Uh, I'm American." And they say, "Are you sure?" And she says "Yeah, pretty sure." But her Chinese is pretty great for only learning it for 9 weeks!

Me and my baby, Sister Chee!

Another pic of me and my cute daughter

So the highlight was probably getting to be with my new companion and go out teaching and finding with her. I kind of threw her in the deep end: we had a lesson with our investigator an hour after she got to our flat. But she did wonderful and she is always willing to do what I ask her to do. So she will be just fine. :) 

Well this week I learned again that it is only through everyday prayer and scripture study that we can grow closer to Jesus Christ. I wish that I had been more diligent about that before my mission, but I'm grateful for the wake-up call now. I love being able to feel the Spirit everyday. I've found that I bounce back from trials a lot faster and that my thoughts are on a higher plane, because I'm trying to focus on the Saviour and on others. 

Me and Sister Lu with Rui Feng

Christmas is coming and the English people are preparing for it! They don't do Thanksgiving, they skip that, so I've been listening to Christmas music in the flat and it's always playing in the shops! I love it. More time to celebrate Christmas? I'm totally down for that. 

Well thank you all again for your support and prayers! I love you all and hope that you had a wonderful week. Keep doing awesome things!

Love,

Sister Larson

Chapter 39: A great day to hit halfway

Happy November, everyone!

Is it really November? Is this Wednesday really my halfway point? Have I really been on my mission for nine months now? Is this real life?

The answer to all of the above is: yes. As much as I don't want to admit it sometimes, it's totally true. But it's been a great start to the month of November. On the first day, this past Saturday, RUI FENG GOT BAPTISED!! :) It was a beautiful sunny (windy, cold) day and her parents and brother came, a rare occurrence for the Chinese members here. But since they live here with her, they managed to come and support her. And it was certainly a memorable experience. She had to be baptised three times. Her hair floated, her foot popped, and then it was perfect. But although she had confided to us her fear of water, she told us later that as she was being lowered into the water the first time, she wasn't scared at all. And we told her, of course, that it was because Heavenly Father loved her and would help her with all of her fears and sorrows and disappointments. I know that's true, especially because He has been there for me. 

Rui Feng's baptism! There's her parents, her brother, her,
Damon (the guy who baptised her) and then me and my companions!!

Other than that, this week has been interesting because I've been working in a trio while I anxiously await the arrival of my new companion - two more days!! But it's been fun and definitely a learning experience as we've worked as three people over two areas. We've been busy, we've had some interesting experiences - one of them being teaching an Iranian family who spoke very little English after meeting them on the street. They were very kind, maybe a bit TOO kind - the father kept touching my hair and smiling at me. But we've had fun together as a trio and we've learned to balance the work and teaching. Also, for Halloween, we painted each other's faces. (Pictures to come.) So it was a great week.

Here are the pictures of us on Halloween!
Sister Monroy is the creepy skeleton thing, Sister Lu is the tiger,
and I am a zombie. We did the best we could with
cheap grocery-store face paint. They turned out pretty well I think. :)

I hope you all had an awesome Halloween and a wonderful week! Remember, remember the 5th of November!! Happy Guy Fawkes Night! And if you don't know what that is - look it up! It's awesome! Love you all!

Love,

Sister Larson