It took us almost all night to plan DLC... ha the elders were done.

Went to the Clapham district meeting with the zone leaders. It's fun being a stl and getting to travel around and visit the sisters!

Show bob! The kids LOVE THEM!! We have given loads to Zasha and her family too! I sent him a postcard to Otha know him too.... hopefully it got to him!

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more pics

I AM SO THANKFUL FOR YOU!!!!!! Love you  all so much. Thank you for

the best surprise!

Pics

Freddie's baptism!:) I sang as well which was so fun!

Us and the zone leaders - from New Zealand and Australia.

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Exchange with sister morales - she is from Spain and is always SO
HAPPY!! I love her.

I love you all!

 

HELLO!!! 

OH i just love Wednesdays!

i just love you and miss you. I love being here and am really working on staying focused but the idea i get to see you so soon just creeps up sometimes and I get SO EXCITED! Not too excited that I loose focus but just im so excited. I feel like I never thought it would happen, it still doesn't seem real, but im excited. Just love you both.

So before all of the good stuff - I am so upset about ky's situation. Honestly Im gonna fly down there and knock some sense into his companion. I will send his email over but I didn't get anything about it. It was short. But hearing that his comp has been giving him the silent treatment and all that stupid stuff literally makes me so angry. I had something similar.  If i voiced my opinion on something or felt we shouldn't do something It would result in her not talking to me for ages. and it was the hardest thing. Mostly becuase the spirit was not there - she was angry and I was annoyed and it was just awful. And so my heart just sinks that he is having to go through it too. He didnt say anything about it but I will try and drop some advice or help him stay possitive. OH IT MAKES ME SO ANGRY! I just can't even focus - i just love him and want him to be happy. I always thought being a missionary was the hardest but Im getting a glimpse of how hard it is to have a family member away on a mission - I wish i could go through it for him. BUT yes. I KNOW it will all work out! Only 3 more weeks!! THREE MORE! And i am SO PROUD of ky for sticking to the rules. He will be blessed. Hopefully with a new companion that he will jsut love. OH he is so good. Love him. 

Anyways... this week has been great! A rollercoaster week but really good. It was really good because FREDDIE GOT BAPTISED!!! I don't know if you saw it on facebook or not! But how exciting is that? OH i just love him. I LOVE THESE PEOPLE! That is something I have recognised lately. Anytime we leave a lesson or leave a members home or even just after meeting them I find myself talking about how much I love these people. I really do just have the strongest feelings of love for them - I remember you talking about how much you love the people of chile and every other missionary who serves just talks about the love that they have for the people and the place. I know it will be that way for me and England. THese people and this place will always hold a very special place in my heart. But oh it was the best to see him get baptised!! He is so happy! ANd today is his birthday so we are having a lesson and then celebrating!! OH its just so great. And then another miracle is... rememeber charley? The Irish man i told you about last week. WELL HE IS ON DATE!! YAY!! THe 9th of Decemeber he is set to be baptised. We had the GREATEST lesson with him this last friday. The spirit was so strong and we just testified that baptisms is what he really needed and honestly I think he has just been waiting for us to ask him. OH i wish you could meet him. He is the funniest man but oh I love him. And am so excited for him! He came to freddies baptism and then to church on sunday and it sounds like he had a really powerful experience when freddy recieved the holy ghost. He described it as this really warm feeling just overcame him. :) LOVE IT! So so neat. SO charlie is doing great. Love him. And just incase you were wondering Zasha and her family are still the greatest blessings and the very best. I just LOVE THEM! We have to come back to see london and all the other friends but especially zasha and her family. RIcardo went and did baptisms for the dead and LOVED it and Zasha has met with the bishop and getting her patriarchal blessing. THey are just so great.So things are good. We are doing a lot of finding since we are getting to the point where a lot of our friends are now baptised! WHAT A GREAT PROBLEM TO HAVE!! So lots of finding but its the best. We jsut get to walk around and have sweet africans and jamiacans tell us how much they love jesus christ as well. Its so good. 

I have noticed with all of the miracles though that I need to be careful as well... this week was a little bit of a rollercoaster because it has been a lot of finding. We went out and had a full day and talked to great people but didn't find anyone super solid or any new investigators. the same thing the next day - we were still seeing great blessings and finding great potentials but I wasn't seeing the results or things I felt that I should be seeing - a new friend that jsut wanted to be baptised! :) I was reading Elder Utchdorfs recent general conference the other morning that talks about how as members of the church sometimes we take things for granted becuase they have always been there for us. I was touched by the spirit on the fact that I had become a little like that - we have been SO blessed with finding people here but I was getting to the point where I was almost expecting it - or feeling like I was entitled to those miracles. SILLY SISTER GWILLIAM! There were some rough mornings and harder days before I realised it but Im grateful for studdies in the morning and words of living prophets that help us put things back into perspective. So things are better! I did open the need a really good laugh this week while i was trying to figure everything out... haha oh it is HILARIOUS! I love you all so much! I also opened lacking faith... thank you so much dad for writing all of that. It helped SO MUCH!! so so much. just what I had needed. so thank you. AND MOM! I got your sweetest package. IT IS SO FUN!!! oh thank you so much! I love love love it!!!!!! Brightened my day up so much! And helped me to rememeber to be thankful! We have so many things to be grateful for. So you both are just perfect. I'll keep reminding you over and over but really thank you for your help this week! you probably didn't even realise but you saved the day multiple times over here in england this week. 

Something funny about this week though is that one of the members daughter returned from her mission - Holy (Yes her name is Holy and her little sisters name is angel! :) Got to love the african names!) But Holy came home from serving in Canada on Thursday and then we met her and took her on some teaches with us which was a huge blessing but oh my goodness. If i am like that when I go home heaven help all of us. She was so lost. Poor thing had this deer in the headlights look all the time. It made me so nervous. What if I am like that? Ive thought about it though and something that president gubler has taught me, and one of the reasons I feel like I have enjoyed my mission so much and that our friends have progressed, is that he has taught me to share the gospel like Megan would. Just to be myself. So something I have loved is the longer I have been on my mission the more i feel like there is less of Sister Gwilliam and MEgan but we are just the same now! Being a missionary and loving the gospel is just me! So hoepfully i wont be like her when I go home and if i am knock me out of it quick!!! 

OH and exciting news is we found a crockpot in our flat! YAY!!! So would you send over some yummy crock pot recipes! Healthy please! :) Trying to be good before coming home! :) 

Another great thing about this week was the example of mary! Mary is a byu student here on study abroad. I dont know if I have told you about her... but she is INCREDIBLE! My RM role model. She has been home now for almost 2 years but she just lives the gospel. Sits with memebers, not the other byu students, in sacrament meeting. Offers to do service for the members here, comes to our baptisms to bring cookies for after, and has taken us out to eat a few times while she has been here. It has amazed me her example of service. Even with life being so busy while studying and being in london - instead of doing other things she is feeding the missionaries and supporting the ward here as well. I just want to be just like her when I go home. I will set good goals to make it happen. AND a huge blessing is she will be at BYU! Maybe you can meet her too! She is great though. So grateful for her good example espeically with coming home coming up. 

BUT another funny story for you all this week - there is a recent convert in the ward - her name is marly - and she is hilarious. just a funny lady but she just got baptised earlier this year and was called as a ward mission leader so she comes out and loves to help us teach and will even knock with us. knocking is the funniest. she will yell through the doors when she knows someone is home or just funny things like that. I love taking her out. Just makes it fun! :) But sweet marly being a new convert is still learning the doctrine a bit. SO we went to teach this man this last week and when we got in he started telling us he had heard about mormons before and specifically asked about polygamy. So we cover it and just direct the question to the restoration and start teaching. After the lesson we are about to leave and marly cuts in and says how the restoration ties back to what he was saying about polygamy. (in my head i am thinking WHY!? Dont bring this up again!!) But she goes on telling the man that the church used to practice polygamy but then the gospel was restored through the prophet joseph smith and so that false teaching and evil ways was done with becuase the true gospel was restored.... AND THEN she goes on saying how she knows that joseph smith was a prophet becuase she met her own joseph smith. Apparently a year ago a "prophet" came up to her on the streets in peckham (got to love peckham - lots of prophets and prophetesses go around and preach to you! Its exciting. ) and prophesied things that would happen in her life. She then said how those things actually happened so she knew that man HAD to be a prophet so joseph smith had to be a prophet as well. I just sat there and wanted to laugh! Sweet marly knows the restoration is true becuase a false prophet (APOSTATE PROPHET) prophesied about her life. But at least the gospel was restored so the church stopped being evil by practicing polygamy, right? Ha i just didn't even know what to do to help the situation. Got to love it. 

So yes! Being a missionary here is the best thing. Its so funny the situations and stories that come. At least the man was wearing clothes though, right? 

But that is SO FUN that sister Barnes came to our house! When i saw the pictures I was SO EXCITED! Haha she is so funny huh? she was such a good missionary and companion. We just got on and had fun and would just laugh and laugh. She laughs a lot too... if you noticed that. But some of the funniest memories are with her. She taught me to work hard but that it was fun too! Hoping to train my sweet companion that same thing. So glad you got to meet her. AND I ALMOST SCREAMED when I saw the email from the englands. OH I AM SO EXCITED!!! ARE YOU? I just can't wait for you to experience real english people. you will just understand so many more of my stories. They are the funniest people. OH it will be so fun! So yes! Definitely will plan on staying home when they are here! We will have to have so much time to laugh and talk about all of the mission stories. Fun fact about english people - THEY LOVE to hear themselves talk. Its great. We will have fun! :) But oh im so excited. And I would love to take her to class with me too! I was thinking it iwill be over finals wekk... lame. But hoepfully my schedule will be easy enough that it wont be bad! And with that I have been checking on preparation days about byu. Looks like it is going down but i will check today and try to find some backups just incase!

And i loved seeing hte pictures of linds playing volleyball! OH i will be ALL OVER here about it when I gt home. I can't believe they had a game at 6 am though? PAINFUL! but dont worry. I'll talk to her about it and DEFINITELY be there to help with all of the satruday chores soon! :) A mission has taught me to work as well so get ready. We will be doing lots together. 

Speaking of that thank you for both always reminding me how proud you are of me. I know it is a little thing but it honestly means the world to me. I was fighting back tears when I read it. One of the biggest motivations for me to serve and to work hard is 1st off for my saviour and heavenly father of course - just for all that they have done for me but 2nd was to make you proud. I feel SO BLESSED to have had you as my parents. I owe the world to how you raised me and what you taught me and I know i havent always made choices that made you proud of me but I wanted to come to try and redeem those To change and make choices that you would be proud of. So thank you!! I am working hard- and will continue to until the end to thank my heavenly parents and brother and to make my earthly parents proud. I LOVE YOU BOTH SO MUCH! 

I have also decided that I would love to teach the discussions to you all when I get home. can i have the teaching assignment for family home evening for the first couple of weeks I am home. And also the dessert assignment. I cant wait to cook again. 

But yes. Im just trying to work hard and stay ontop of things. Im not going to lie i feel like I am getting more tired. My body and just mentally it can be harder somedays but I AM FIGHTING IT SO HARD! I have a little less than 2 months and I am making the most of it. 

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!! Thanks for all of the updates! 

Sister gwilliam 

November

Oh this week! So much! First off though, KEG IS HOME? What the heck? I
had no idea. That's so crazy. I'm glad he seems to be doing okay. Poor
guy has had a hard start to his mission. The bug and then his knee and
after trying so hard to stay out there had to come home. It kills me
how many people seem to come home now. I think it would be hard - just
being back with family and remembering life like that. Part of why I
think it is so great now is I forgot what it was like before!:) my
sweet companion has struggled a bit with the schedule (probably
because she is companions with me and we rarely take a full lunch of
dinner becuase there is just too much to do) but she really wants to
take a full time for things. Which being new I definitely understand.
I don't want to burn her out but I am trying to teach her that she
will have to start getting used to the idea that for 18 months there
really is no rest. There is always something to be doing. But yah. So
crazy! I hope he is able to get back out soon! It is hard that the 2
years are stopped now so the sooner the better for sure! Oh so crazy.
And Tommy! Hopefully he can go out soon as well. 

And second. I am just a LOT UPSET at kys companion. Honestly.
I just want to fly down there and smack him around a bit. It's just so
hard. And if his zone leaders are the same way? Over
here you learn you HAVE TO be obedient. None of this sleeping in
craziness and everything else. Oh it just makes me angry. I feel so
bad he is struggling so much. I will try and think of things to say
that will help. I was actually looking through my journal last night
and read through some of the experiences, and
oh it is just so hard when a companionship struggles. It really was
during that time I have never been so low. So so just DISCOURAGED and
a little confused and needing help but not knowing what to do - but
honestly it taught me SO MUCH! I learned that I
had to rely on prayer becuase I could only email you once A WEEK. I
had to turn to my Heavenly Father and just do my best. I came to know
him during that time. So it was worth it but oh am I so grateful I
never have to go back to that. So yeah, it's just hard though.  Honestly though it
just makes me upset. I'm aboutready to call from here.

But things are getting better with the companion - mostly becuase I'm
just trying to be like my saviour and be good!:) haha oh it is hard.
Something that is saving me though is that we are so close to so many
missionaries- we have 6 in our ward and then 4 in the Spanish ward
that meets in the same building. So there are 10 of us running around
and we see each other all the time. And then with exchanges it has
helped so much! Last transfer I didn't love exchanges - just preferred
being with my comp:)- but this transfer it is a nice little breather.
AH IM THE WORST! But it's true. We are just really different and I'm
just learning a lot of patience. But that is all good right? So good!
Oh man. Yeah. It's good! I'll  just keep saying it and then stay
happy! The best is that I have come to love the work. I really do love
it. So going out and talking to people makes all the difference - so
if anything I am grateful that I love the work and most of the day I
can just find joy in that. And then when it is a really hard day I
just think that in 2 months I will be home with you... haha don't
worry! Not getting trunkie but still. A little ray of sunshine - for
KY too! SO GRATEFUL he only has to stay with that silly companion for
a couple more weeks and then he is gone. I will send over the email he
sent to me - his comment on being a weird missionary cracked me up. Oh
I love him. He will be the best weirdo missionary ever!:) am I one of
those? I feel like KY thought I was.... :) but yeah things with my
sweet comp are about the same but this week I changed. I changed my
perspective on things and decided to stop stressing and just to enjoy
it. I only have 2 months left and I am GOING TO LOVE IT! Oh I am going
to miss this and don't want to look back letting silly things stress
me out or bother me or cause problems. I'm just choosing to be patient
and love being here. And praying for charity as well! That always
helps. So my head is on a lot better this week. Grateful for a saviour
we can always lean on and to be learning that happiness really is a
choice!

BUT ANYWAYS! With our teaching pool and the work sight of things. I
haven't been good updating it becuase of all the craziness with
transfers and companion stuff BUT things are going so well. Really
though so so well. I just don't feel worthy of it honestly. I feel
lately I could have been a lot more diligent or just better but we are
seeing a lot of blessings. Our friend joe- the one we met right before
general conference - has his baptismal interview TONIGHT! He is set to
be baptised on Saturday at 6:30. He is a MIRACLE! We met him just on
the street. He had been wanting to get back into believing in God but
he had so many questions and the more he learned the more confused he
got. And then he said he finally decided to just give up and we
stopped him that night! Ever since then he has just been great - he
says these things are finally answering his questions and he knows it
is true. It's so so neat. And then we have been working with a LA
member who has come back and we started teaching her daughter who is
also getting baptised with joe on Saturday! 2 baptisms in one night!
And then Freddie - I think I have told you about him - is set for next
week and is doing SO WELL! So so well. He is reading and praying and
finally understands that he doesn't need to be perfect to be baptised
but that this is the purpose of this life - to just be better. Freddie
is the one who was addicted to drugs, spend a couple years in prison,
just had a crazy life and now has completely changed. It has been the
biggest blessing getting to teach someone who has desperately wanted
the atonement so badly. He just wants to feel worthy and struggles
with the decisions he has made. And it is the neatest blessing to be
able to promise him that he will be able to find that peace and
forgiveness. Next Saturday will be the best. And we are working with a
few others as well! I am really trying to make sure to keep up with
finding. We have 3 solid but after next week they will be baptised and
so we are working to keep our teaching pool full and have people
progressing! Be abuse as fun as it is to do days of finding it is even
better to do days of finding in nvemeber and December when it is dark
and freezing... so we are working on it to avoid that!:)

Halloween was great though! That night we did a Halloween
party for Zasha and Kelly (the la whose daughter is getting baptised
Saturday) the families are the BEST of friends. So it was fun. We
played pin the hat on the witch and then trick or treating and talked
about faith! It was fun to be able to celebrate. So grateful for
mom teaching me how fun it is to decorate and have parties!
I think it is so fun!  I have totally turned into Dad with pet peeves. I know I have said this
before but oh man. My comp BITES HER NAILS DURING STUDIES. oh
pray for me. I keep telling myself Jesus Christ would be patient and
not snap but oh I'm getting close. And for the sake of the work I
probably will have to say something becuase I can't even focus. I just
stare at her across the table and keep clearing my throat every time
she does it hoping she will get the hint. She hasn't yet. But
Halloween was fun! Nothing too crazy sadly. But I LOVED the cute
decorations sent! They were up all over the flat!  But I didn't eat too much candy...
like any really! I was laughing as I was writing in my journal about
Halloween that I was eating carrots as I did it. Carrots instead of
candy... got to love only 2 months to going home... Trying to eat
well.

This week we had zone training too! It was so great to be with other
missionaries. It was probably the best zone training ever (and not
just becuase me and the zone leaders were in charge of it) but we did
the push up and the atonement activity - have you heard of that. It
was so powerful. I learned a lot about the atonement and make me want
to be ever better. We focused the whole meeting about war though -
like the spiritual war - onward Christian soliders type thing- and
then we went over to the imperial war museum. It was crazy! Fun little
field trip with a purpose of course!:) but we went through the
holocaust exhibit and it was so humbling. Mom you would have loved the
history with all of it. So so crazy but amazing to see. We tie it all
back I got that idea that we need to be out and helping those who are
struggling and suffering and dying spiritually. Super neat. I hope
they liked it. I thought it was A lot better than the traditional just
sitting and listening to presentations all day. So I'll send picture
of that too!

I was thinking that I should have been more on top of things and
it would have been fun to room with emily Gwilliam! I would love to be
closer to her. And going to the same school will be a party! You
should ask Jeff and Sarah if she wants me to get anything here in
England that she has wanted. Apparently she has a love for London. I'd
love to bring anything back with me!:)

I love that the saviour does carry us. He helps us. I have seen that even on my mission. The
hardest points didn't seem as hard in he moment. Looking back they
were awful. But in the moment I was okay. I really know that it is
through prayers and the saviours atoenment that he can always help us!
Wish KY didn't have to learn it this way either but his life will be
forever blessed becuase of it!

Love you all SO MUCH!!!! So so much. Miss you so much too. So
grateful for all of the support and help.
You will never realise the difference it makes.

I love you!!

Love,
Sister Gwilliam

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Exchanges...got to love it!

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