Umm... hi! Oh wait, I'm removing that word from my vocabulary! There's no time to be hesitant or unconfident! Let's try that again!
This is Sister Allen coming at you live from the poppin town of Irvine, Scotland! I keep using the word 'City Centre' in front of members /Sister Wood and they always correct me and say 'TOWN Centre' But we have a dozen charity shops and a Subway on the high street, what more do we need?!
Clarification from last week's email: chavs are children of God too!
God has been so good to us this week. We have spent a lot of time busing, training, and hitchhiking (with members) out to the far reaches of our area to find the elect and minister to all! This week has taught me of the miraculous healing powers of a plate of cookies and a kind note, the increased beauty of a rainbow after a week of rain, and an exclusive secret handshake with a homeless man!
We met with our friend Carol this week and she is just a ray of sunshine! She and her best friend Noel are having a joint birthday parting on Boxing Day (the day after Christmas) and I just can't get over how cute she is and WILLING to learn and live the gospel!
We've also been teaching a mom named Laura and her children Kayla-Rose and Zac. Zac is a ninja. I know that because whenever I see him I time how long it takes him to run a certain distance. He's definitely broken the ninja record. They came to the ward Halloween party with us on Friday (featuring Princess Belle and her Book of Mormon). He is so incredibly good at including all the younger children in the ward and the ward loves them!! I'm so excited to see them progress. Please keep them and Carol in your prayers if you please!¥i
We also met a couple other families this week that we're excited to keep meeting with! In our mission we like to go door to door and take a survey about families to get to know people and transition into a message about Jesus Christ. It's cool to hear all the ways people strengthen their bond with they're families around the world. What are ways you do? I'd love to hear! We chapped on one older gentleman's door and he told us to go away but after a bit of persuasion we were able to strike up a lovely conversation with him. Little did we know, hes a world renowned pianist and has performed around the world! He played a piece for us as we stood on his porch and I just couldn't stop thinking about how inherently good the world is!
Speaking of this: I've had a lot of ups and down this week. I'll just randomly start laughing but I also just randomly started crying a couple times too! After one such time, Sister Wood told me she was going to take care of me and we were going to do something fun that was still missionary work so we went down to the beach to pick up some smooth stones to make prayer rocks for the children we're working with! I fought it, saying I was fine and we needed to go knock on a couple billion doors instead but she insisted and on our way there we met a former who said he'd recently had a change of perspective and wanted to meet up again and a couple other people we really needed to talk to. I blew kisses and waved to yous all across the ocean and felt so much better, and knew in my heart that God loves me and wants what is best for me. It increased my testimony that we really can love ourselves and meet our needs but still be on the Lord's errand. It also reinforced in my mind that all things denote that there is a God, as noted in Alma 30:44! I'd like to invite each of you to read that scripture and ponder what it means to you. In closing I'd just like to bear my witness that there is a God in heaven who loves you and is anxiously waiting to hear from you. Signs of this are in the world all around us. Find them! Tell me about them! And hold them close to your heart. As Nephi said in the Book of Mormon videos, wherefore didst thou doubt? These little signs are stars in the sky guiding you home. I love you all so much and hope you have the best week of your life! Sister Allen
