Thursday, April 28, 2011

Week 1

We got another e-mail from Janna! Here are some highlights: (anything written in this color is me explaining something)

so i hope you got my email the day i got here, but it has been such an adventure since then! we have been studying our little buns off and we have seen ourselves and each other change in ways we never thought were possible, we find ourselves saying things we didn't even know we knew! that's just the way missionary work goes! we have been working so hard and it has been SO rewarding! but we have been playing too :) it is so great to be here in a small mtc because we all know eachother so well at this point, we are all best friends! and the mtc president and his counselor and their wives know us personally and it is just so great to have this family here! ps the mtc presidents wife is President Hinckley's daughter! so that has been so so neat to hear her stories and experiences growing up. so i'll just go through the days and tell you some things

* friday was such a chill day, we met with everyone, filled out paperwork, had some big group meetings and then they let us go to bed early :) oh and they gave us a 2 hour nap, it was fantastic ha ha
*saturday class class class!
*sunday i went to a meeting sunday morning and then we had sacrament meeting, the night before they asked everyone to prepare a talk and yes of course i was called to speak on sunday ha ha but it was such a powerful meeting, then we had district meeting, relief society, choir practice (we just sang for an hour- it was beautiful) and then we had an easter egg hunt! ha ha it was a big devotional that in each egg there was a scripture and then we got into little groups and sang duets etc. etc. it's amazing, i haven't felt nervous here once, not when i'm talking to everyone or singing in front of everyone- it's great! ha ha
*monday and tuesday we just had class class class- teach and testify teach and testify!!!
and today we went to the TEMPLE!!!!!!! it was so beautiful i can't even believe it! well OH my companions name is Sister Delgado, she is 32 and is from Uruguay but she is the best! she is so sweet and we work so well together! there are 4 other sisters from the states, one from germany, and one from scotland, so there are 8 of us and it is just pure love :) it's great! and there are 32 elders here from seriously all over the world: south africa (cape town!) singapore, germany, england, scotland, the states.. etc. etc. so it has been fun to get to know everyone and learn from so many different people!

oh sister walker (the mtc presidents wife/ pres hinckley's daughter) said to me on sunday 'i didn't realize you are kelly's cousin- that's why you are so delightful!!!' ha ha
Kelly is in charge of all of the international MTC's, and obviously our cousin.

I love you all!! I feel so lucky to be able to be here and I really do feel ready and so excited to go teach! It's amazing how much we learn everyday and I know that will just continue to grow everyday along with my testimony of Christ. It can grow EVERYDAY... it's great! I know he lives! Until next week :)
OHHH ps! we are about to go into town (Chorley) right now to go to Azda (walmart!) to do a little shopping for whatever we need and tomorrow we are taking a train to Manchester to go proselyte! AND friday on our schedule it says british cultural celebration... ya we get to watch the wedding. ha ha ha we are quite excited! I will definitely let you know how everything goes. yay yay yay!! I'm praying for all of you because guess what? we pray all the time :) ha ha

Friday, April 22, 2011

First e-mail

I received an e-mail from Janna early last Friday morning letting us know she arrived to London safely. She sat next to a guy on the plane who has family that are members of the church but he has never really looked into the church and he didn't know why. Janna said, "we definitely had a fantastic talk with him about the gospel and I gave him that pass along card they sent with my passport, it was so neat!"

Her MTC president was the Salt Lake temple President a few years ago!

She flew with 2 others sisters from Chicago, and there will be 7 more sisters meeting them there. She flew with 26 elders and 5 more will be going as well. It sounds like such a fun experience and she is excited to get to know everyone there. (Typical Jan, right?! Ready to get to know everyone!)


Thursday, April 21, 2011

The Airport

While Janna is on her mission I, Shannon, will be updating her blog with how she is doing. In a couple of days I will put up her address and information on how you can send letters to her.

Her flight left salt lake city to Chicago at 10:45am this morning (although when our plane took off hers was still at their gate, then again we left a little early). Evie and I were lucky enough to get to go to Utah for janna's farewell and then book our returning flight for about the same time as Janna's so we were able to check in, go through security and walk each other to our respective terminals. (Evie and I walked Janna to her gate, took this picture




, then she walked us to our terminal). I had to use the ladies room after Janna had gone back to her gate and change the babes diaper. As I was reaching for her desitin I noticed the packs of gum I bought Janna at the gas station on our way up to the airport. I checked the time, 9:45, I still had plenty of time to take the gum to her. We hurried over to her gate, she was sitting there talking with the large group of missionaries that had accumulated since I had been there last. She seemed excited to see me again! And when I showed her the gum that I had for her she seemed a bit more excited. I had to change Evie again, so we walked to the bathroom and around her terminal for a couple of minutes having our last little chat.
As Evie and I were about to head over to our terminal the group of missionaries were about to take their first official group picture! There was a kind woman who was taking it for them, then I whipped out my camera and took one with it.




The rest of the missionaries followed suit, they piled their cameras on the seat next to us and the woman would take a picture, then I would and we would grab the next camera and take turns taking the pictures with each camera. It was very neat and we got those pictures done in record time! By the time we were finished Evie and I said goodbye to Janna one last time and hurried of to our gate. We made it just in time for boarding. We are now sitting on the plane at 11:16 am. I am drinking cranapple juice and eating delicious peanuts while Evie is in her carseat next to me.

So that's it for now, I'll keep you updated!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad


Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Here I go!

I can't believe it's here! Tomorrow I'll go from here:
to here:
janna.mills@myldsmail.net

Sister Janna Lynn Mills
England London South Mission
The London Temple
West Park Road
Newchapel, Surrey
England RH7 6NB

I'll miss you all!