Hey Family!!
I hope you have had the GREATEST WEEK!! I just love you all so much and it is the greatest to get to hear from you!!!
This week was a lot better!! Sorry for the little panic attack/mental breakdown I had last week. I was just being a little dramatic. Which totally happens on this rollercoaster ride some people call a mission but this week was a lot better! :) Thanks for all of your prayers and helpful advice!! It helped SO MUCH! So thank you! I just LOVE YOU!
I feel like I am finally starting to get used to things here which is so nice. There still is a lot that im trying to work on but its getting better! Dad you asked about people we are teaching and OH MY GOODNESS we are teaching MIRACLES! These people are so prepared! Some of the top progressing are Holly (16) Jack (14) and Fern (8). They are just the greatest kids and should be baptized this weekend! Something that I have learned while being here is that as a missionary I really am just here to find those people that are prepared. I am not here to try and talk people into the gospel or any of that - Heavenly Father is preparing people!! He is doing that part! It is just my job to find them and then teach them. But these kids are just so great! Holly stopped smoking cold turkey. Jack doesn't question anything. It just makes sense to him and he has already started asking about what he has to do to serve a mission - he wants to join the army too but has decided he'll just serve a mission first and then join. WHAT? freak out moment. And then Fern is just the sweetest little 8 year old who tells us everyday the number of days until the 31st! (the date they should be baptized!) It is just so great and so fun to teach them! Their mom is GREAT too! She hasn't sat in on the lessons yet mostly because she is a single mom and constantly working or out doing things but she supports them 100% and i know it is just a matter of time before she joins her family as well! So that is the biggest blessing! I'm just so excited and so grateful to realize that heavenly father really is at the head of this work! ITs so great!
I saw sister Hiatt at Zone Training this week! It was so crazy. We just laughed at how both of our moms and grandmas have been emailing us info about the other person! She seems so fun though and it the next couple of weeks we will be going on exchange so that will be the greatest! We will send pictures home! Maybe of us reinacting us in the bathtub with shaving cream... ;)
So I got a little slap in the Face from Heavenly Father this week which was great to get me focused again! :) After zone training (which went really well! All the elders and sisters seemed to love it and hopefully they were able to take something out of it!) But leading up to the training i had been thinking a lot about how I feel like i had been slacking. I was in a new area and trying to figure everything out but with that it seemed like I had slowed down a little bit - just not talking to as many people and more observing. Which is great to an extent but it is no excuse to not be talking to people - I just kept coming up with excuses. So on the train ride home I was fighting myself to try and talk to people. Talking to people on the bus and trains is not something that Sister Stephenson ever did before. I guess they just sat there? I don't understand. BUT anyways... we got on the train and we sat next to this lady and her 2 boys. they seemed great! and i instantly thought! YES! Its a family! So i sat down and then all the sudden I got all of those excuses again. Just saying Maybe this isn't effective in this area? or Sister Stephenson is sitting right next to her. It would be weird for me to reach over her. NONSENSE thoughts. Finally our stop was up next and at the last minute I just reached over and asked if I could share a pass along card with her with a website on it. The sweet mom looked at me and said...
"Oh! Ive actually been wondering! My family is Christian as well but we aren't mormons. Ive heard of your though. What is it you believe?"
Slap. In. The. Face.
OH! I was SO angry with myself! Here I was sitting on this train with this lady who was TOTALLY prepared to listen to me and I sat there questioning everything. I just felt so silly. That time I was doubting I could have been testifying and helping this lady and her family come to know about TRUTH and how they could be together FOREVER!!! So yeah. It was the worst. I was just grateful we had given her a card. We had to run off the train but we left her with a breif testimony and told her to look at the website and then call us with any questions. But yeah. I felt like the worst but was so grateful for the chance to have a good little reminder to talk to everyone and not let satan put any kind of doubt in my head! So ive been better about that this week! :)
OH and dad - remember when I sent you that fufu was of the devil. WELL ive found something else here that is even worse. SO many families here have these awful SATANIC little stickers on their doors that say we can't cold cold. (just knock on their door to talk to them) and they are EVERYWHERE around here. Obviously you]re initial thought would be that we should still just knock them right? well we can't. The sisters called President Gubler and I guess with the situation people are really serious about it and so we have to respect them. Oh they are the worse. So instead of knocking a lot this week we just put a lot of cards through their doors. If we can't knock we will still leave something for them to look at! :)
But yes! this week was a lot better! Things here in England are great! The members in this ward are amazing too! i sent pictures of Joy and Martin. They truly are ANGELS and tender mercies everyday. They feed us multiple times a week and just those people that are always there if you need anything. Including warm hot chocolate and bathroom breaks! She is taking us to lunch and shopping today too - they SPOIL the missionaries. So I am just so grateful for them and for their love. Including all of those in the ward!
DId you have the time chance there yet? We did here and its getting dark around 5. THE WORST since we are out until 9. haha! It should be a fun winter! :)
Well i just LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!! and miss you! But am keeping you in ALL of my prayers and am so grateful that we will get to be able to spend eternity together! Thank you for all of your support and love and prayers! I miss you but will keep working hard so you can be blessed at home! :) Keep me updated on EVERYTHING!!!!
I LOVE YOU!!
Sister Gwilliam
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| I thought Linds would like this! :) |
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