Hello Family!

HELLO!

Oh my. it looks like it has been the greatest week! With tyses birthday! Oh I loved the picture you sent over dad! He is just the cutest thing! I hope he had the best day. I love that boy so much. And Ky in Hawaii! Those pictures are INCREDIBLE! OH! It looks like it was a BLAST! And so sunny. Oh my. Lets go again after we get back. Deal?

But this week in Lovely England was just marvelous! It was SO BUSY! THe weeks with meetings FLY by. On Monday it was typical Pday, Tuesday we had MLC which we didn't get back from until 6:30. IT WAS FROM 8 am TO 5.30 pm. Longest ever. Talk about patience! :) THen wednesday we had Zone Training and presdent interviews which were SO good!  i'll talk about that later! :) and then Thursday DLC which was super long as well. So i feel like i only had the weekend to actually do missionary things but it was great! Flew by! This week is back to normal though so we will have more time to go out and find people! :) Whoohoo!!

OH AND NEW ADDRESS -

95 Bell Chase

Aldershot, Hampshire

GU11 3GZ

England, United Kingdom

YAY! :) Im SO EXCITED!! And with that the flat is still so nice. I LOVED getting your pictures this week dad! Oh my goodness. It was so fun! And so crazy what you lived in and what your areas were like. Wow. its humbling just to look at them. I definitley shouldn't complain about not having a table or chairs in our fancy heated super nice flat. I wonder what it will be like for ky! Oh crazy crazy.

AND ALSO with skyping so soon!! WHen do you leave for the DM again? We will get to skype on Sunday the 8th! YOU BETTER BE THERE!!!!!!!! And we can choose anytime. Becuase of church I wouldn't be able to do it between 1-4 our time here - hopefully a member will have us over so we can do it at their home. But besides that we can do it whenever works best for you! So let me know! Becuase we DEFINIELY will make it work before you have to leave for your plane!! Or i would be so sad!

So with the crazy week of sitting in meetings there isn't too much to update on.. BUT things are going really well here! We had our miracle man Kevin who ended up not being able to come to church! :( AH! It was the saddest day! He got caught up with work again over the weekend and then we just didn't hear from him and he didn't come. It was the saddest. And SUCH a good meeting. It was fast sunday over here and the spirit was so strong. so that was sad. BUT something that I am continuing to work on is just understanding that I can do by best but in the end the people still have agency. And whether they come or not it isn't on me - if I have done my best it is okay.

I feel like a lot of my emails are about this... which is so funny because i feel like before my mission I heard about these crazy, high strung, sister missionaries who just stressed over things and worried and because of that didn't enjoy the work and I thought they were CRAZY! I feel like i have always been really laid back and just trusted that things would work out! And then not gotten upset when things have gone wrong. ( like with driving and almost hitting the pole in the church parking lot. The important thing is I didn't, right dad!? :) ) BUT with that too often I BECOME ONE OF THOSE CRAZY MISSIONARIES! A lot of our zone training was on just doing your best and the idea of trying! I LOVED Elder Hollands talk about the idea that we are blessed when we try - even if we don't actually succeed. I need that reminder so much. I feel like it is just the idea that I really want to do my best. I want to help people, and be a good missionary not for myself but for president, all of you back home, and most importantly for my Heavenly Father and Saviour. To thank them for all that they have done. And with that I can sometimes get too focused. I constantly need to remember that there is so much that is out of our control and when we are too focused on the little things or put our blinders on and don't see the big picture its easy to get overwhelmed and really loose focus by being too focused. In my interview with president he talked to me about it. He said that it was one of my best qualities - I expect a lot of myself and because of that I work hard and that is a really good thing! But he also said how it can be my biggest vulnerablility. I constantly feel like I could be doing better and want to be more and then that is when it gets too much.

Last night in accounting my DL told us to remember to enjoy being a missionary. He said there were points on his mission where he has been too focused - and with that forgot the joy that comes from being a missionary. And i think that put things into perspective for me! And even with being back home. FAR too often all of us get consumed in things and put all of our focus on it. BUT i really know that when we keep our eyes on the eternal perspective of things and remember that all we have to do is follow the commandments and do our best that it will ALL BE OKAY! THat is the peace of the gospel. And I LOVE IT! And with this second half of my mission i am working really hard to remember that! I want to conintue to work hard but I want to HAVE FUN DOING IT! And that just goes with my mission but after as well. This life is meant to be enjoyed. I really do know too when we keep our focus on the saviour there is nothing but happiness that comes!:)

Saturday was super fun too! Still can't believe it has been half way! But it was so fun to get to celebrate with Sister England as well! WE were together in the very begining, hit our half way, and will get to go to the temple together right at the end of our missions so we will be there together as well! How fun is that? She is so great! WE have some pictures Ill send over! :)

But besides that things are going well! Alfie - The Gelders little brother who isn't baptized yet :) - has started coming out to a LOT of things and actually participating in the lessons! YAYYY!! We are super excited about it! So stay tuned for that as well! :)

I love you all so so much! CAn't wait to talk to you in LESS THAN A MONTH!!!!!!! YAYYY!!!!

I LOVE YOU!!

Sister Gwilliam