I love my family!

Hello family!!!

I hope you have had the BEST week with all of the birthday celebrations going on! I hope it was a great day for you dad - you deserve it. And for goodness sake you are not getting old. I dont think of you as old... so dont worry! :) Youre the very best. There was a quote from pinterest (Oh i miss that. Be ready for me to be cooking LOADS when I get home from recipes from there. Get on and start looking up some recipes!) But i hope it was a good day - AND YOU NEED TO GO CELEBRATE! Take mom out for dinner to your favorite place and have a fun day! Treat yourself dad. WILL YOU? Im going to tie you to a commitment. 

AND LINDS!!! Any fun birthday plans? I cant believe that she is 12! She probably was just so excited that she forgot to email me... NOT OKAY! Tell that girl i need to hear from her. But i hope it is a blast. I can't believe that she is so old. Its crazy to me. I left when she was 10. And out of everyone she is the one that just seems so much older. Weird weird. Need lots of time to catch up when im home.

I can't believe that Kenz and Jackson are married. It sounds like it was quite the weekend with all the festivities going on.  Send me lots and lots of pictures.

But things here have been going well! I am fully back to just loving Peckham. It honestly took me a while... originally it was just so busy that it was overwhelming for me. So many people and so many potentials and so much to do all the time but now im back to just LOVING it like i did when I was trained. Everything is just so fast and busy but it is so fun becuase of that. There is never a dull moment here. Especially with having exchanges too! OH my goodness. Our weeks are crazy - Sister Steed is a champ for putting up with all of it but typically we have church on sundays, then monday to tuesday we have an exchange, tuesday night we are together and then all of prepartion day, then this week we have an exchange from thursday to friday then friday to saturday with other sisters and then church on sunday. It just flies becuase things are mental. Its great but tiring too! I realise how blessed i have been to have Sister Steed as a companion becuase she is so easy going and chill about it all. SHe just takes things as they come and it keeps me like that too - we are having a blast together and her easy going attitude is the BIGGEST blessing when it would be easy to have things just be crazy right now. We will have exchanges like that all throughout the rest of the transfer as well so im grateful I have her to keep me sane! :) Its been fun working with the sisters - tiring in the fact Im always supposed to be a good example and strong enough to help them with the advice and strength they need but I have come to realize that I was called to do this becuase of who I am right now - I dont need to change and put on a show with anyone. So its made it a lot better in that aspect too which I am really grateful for! Grateful for the chance to be able to be trusted with this and a comp who loves to laugh with me when its just crazy! :)  

The other crazy thing of this week is FACEBOOK! DId you see my post?:) BOTH of you didn't even comment on it though... ;) BUT yes! So facebook is crazy. There is a lot that honestly Im still not exactly sure about but the craziest thing with it is the fact that it is so open for us. The only guideline we have been given is that we just need to be focused on our purpose - to help others come to christ - but thats it. So i can get on anytime i need to fulfill that, talk to anyone I need to to fulfill that (I can use messenger as well and chat with investigators and even friends back home is allowed if it is about missionary work - fulfilling my purpose again, even family). I obviously dont do that... I feel like converstation like that can wait a few more months but still. Isn't that crazy! But yes! It is so free and open. I thought there would be oodles of rules with it and percautions but pretty much it is just be focused on your purpose and everything I post or comment or send to someone has to be checked by Sister Steed. So its crazy. With having FB we also are allowed to use Imessage now as well as Skype to teach people. So we can skype people in their homes and skype in members. Its so crazy. We are so up to date with people. I actually have LOVED it. I was so nervous about it being a distraction - like you were saying dad - i was just afriad it would immediately draw me back home and get my head there but it has actually done the oppostite. When i first opened it we had to go through and clean it out so any picture or post or other things just clean it up and that was a little weird - just going back through my old life. Most of them were silly pictures of me and mace and kenz! :) But ive been really impressed with how it hasn't been hard for me at all seeing posts from others - honestly I dont pay attention to them and just scroll down to what I need but its actually been neat for me to realize that Im not so isolated here. I am still Megan Gwilliam - I still have friends back home doing different things - but I am just here as a missionary sharing what I love. I havent been affected or even tempted at all to look at things or posts from friends and family but have just enjoyed seeing that they are still happy and healthy and I am here. It just makes me seem more normal and not like everything is a secret if that makes sense at all... I dont know. I have just seen how wonderful of a tool it has been. We have a friend Suman preparing for baptism and we have been able to have daily contact with him becuase we can message him scriptures or videos. Also a lot of people aren't sure about meeting and giving out personal info but we can offer facebook which is a lot less intimidating. It has been working WONDERS! So i love it. I was so nervous and against it but im all on board now. I have seen how big of a tool it is and also seen how our phones and apps and devices are just there as TOOLS. Not to be controlling me but I have control over them. It has been neat to see how I have changed in that fact and a big relief to see that when I go home I wont fall back into that way but use these things as a tool and help and not let myself get distracted. (Maybe we should start using pinterest out here too... :) ) But yes! SO please comment on anything - you can even message me. I wont message back until wednesday via email but I can see it :) but it has been great! 

And KY! I did get a pretty good eamil from him. I will forward it over to you. Do you think he just has less time out on his mission? I dont know. I didnt get one last week from him but he did give me a better one this week. Silly ky. So help me if he is spending time emailing friends there will be PROBLEMS! Just kidding - from what he has said sounds like he has hit the "I realise how much i love my family" So i would hope we are first priority. Its fun to see how well he is taking everything though! He seems to be doing great - so much better than i was. can you say A MESS. So its been such a relief. So grateful he is getting along with his trainer - except his trainer isn't getting up - the bum. Grateful ky is still being obedient. But he seems happy so im just so grateful! AND did you hold babies on your mission dad! Definitely sure thats not allowed... at least here in england. So funny how missions can be so different! 

BUT are you ready for something fun?? Another good challenge for our lovely family since I am all about working together and the scriptures! BUT as of the 23rd of this month.... so next tuesday we would start! BUT as of that day if we read a section of the DandC together - 1 everyday - we will finish the DandC the day i get home. Isn't that crazy? But i thought it would be kind of fun! Its just a section a day! And then by the end of my mission we will have read the BOM and the DandC together. What do you think? Im going to do it and think it would be awesome to do it together! :) 

ALSO - i want you both to go to gospel library - download teaching of the presidents with President Hinkley and read chapter 3. It is about being happy. I read it the other morning and it has changed EVERYTHING! So great. My outlook is just so different on it all and I just thought of you both reading it. So will you please? and let me know what you think about it! 

But I honestly want to cry after reading about katies brother. OH my heart just hurts so much for her and her family right now. I love katie SO MUCH and just can't even imagine what is oging on forher right now. Oh thank you for letting me know. I am going to send her an email just letting her know how much I love her. She has always been such an incredible example and true friend to me. All of their fmaily is incredible. Oh its just so sad and so hard. I hope and pray she is doing okay. Let me know if you get any other updates. oh im just so so sad. 

But I just love you both SO MUCH! Mom please send over an email. Just definitely need to hear from you! Give linds the BIGGEST hug for me! As well as tyse. We taught a lady here with a disabled son and i just LOVE the bond I have with them. Tyse is the cutest. Love that boy. AND LOVE YOU BOTH! I know ky thinks im weird for all of this... but I do just love you so much. and miss you like crazy. Thank you for all the advice on staying focused and being here. I always need that. And need to work on it a lot. 

going against that as well... but just for the sake of school i need to figure out what I am doing with my life come january pretty quick with the deadline coming up. Do you have any thoughts. I will go and look at some classes. My thoughts are just taking really simple and easy schedule... to still have classes and a schedule but easy enough thtat I can spend a lot of time with you and work. Mostly just spend a lot of time with you. Woudl you still say be a full time student? Ive thought of even just taking a couple classes and mostly working? I dont know. I need your help! I wont let it distract me... but id love both of your insights. I just really would love being with all of you and getting my feet back home instead of having to rush all around and be worried about classes and exams the minute i am back. LIterally. THe whole driving from the airport to provo... I DONT THINK SO! So yeah. Tell me your thoughts! 

I just wanted to update you all on
the fact that we have our friend Suman who is getting baptised next
Saturday! Oh he is a miracle! The first week we were here he came up
to us and asked if we taught about the bible - he said he had a lot of
mistakes and he wanted to feel peace. This is something I have been
PRAYING for! My whole mission I have wanted to teach someone who just
so desperately wants the atonement because I was able to feel the
reality of it so strongly - I've prayed to get to help someone who
wants it as well. And oh we're my prayers answered. He is so
incredible. It hasn't been easy but we had a breakthrough where in our
lesson last night he said he finally understood that God loved him -
even with his past mistakes that God loved him and cared about him and
because of that he just wanted to follow him. My jaw almost hit the
floor. I was just SO HAPPY! Oh it is just the greatest blessing to be
apart of someone changing. Just that knowledge alone - that God loves
us and cares about us even when we make mistakes - will change
everything for Suman. He wants to be baptised and we are able to teach
him daily and with our nifty new FB we are in contact all throughout
the day. He is just a miracle. And I just can't wait! Mom and dad you
can go look him up on Facebook - he is my friend! And watch for the
picture of it too!:) he is just so neat - from india which just makes
him even better. The accent is the best! :)

But yes! Just wanted to update you on the Miracle of Suman! He is our
little ray of sunshine everyday. I'm just so grateful for the
atonement and that I KNOW That it is real. There is nothing that it
doesn't cover and we will never go far enough to be out of the
saviours love. So grateful for a loving HF that has allowed me to
experience it and then get to share it with Suman. Please pray for
him!

And getting the news about Katie's brother has just made me realise
even more just how grateful I am for all of you. I know I say it a
lot, Ky thought I was a weirdo ;), but I just can't express how
grateful I am for our family. I love you all SO MUCH! You truly are my
best friends and I have so much comfort in that no matter what happens
or crazy things that will happen in life as long as I have all of you
with me and my HF and saviour it will all be okay. I love you so much
and am so grateful to be sealed to you eternally. Oh I just love you!
So grateful that families are forever and that we get to have a blast
together here but also forever after as well. Couldn't think of a
better plan. So yes. I've just been thinking about it since I read it.
I love you dad, mom, ky, tyse, and Linds. It's the hardest being away
from you. But I love you and love that my Heavenly Father was so
merciful to send me to the best family!

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!! So so much! Talk to you next week!
And mom. I need an email. LOVE YOU!

Sister Gwilliam

Sent from my iPad