Week 17

Happy birthday Uncle Richard!!!!!!!!

 

ok whoa whoa whoa wait, i didn't read all the email but i looked down and saw where it talked about justin's wife... she is from ukraine!? where did they meet? that is so cool ha ha but then that she is the one that got her friend to live at the shaw's house?! i remember that girl from ukraine that lived at their house- that is so funny! what a small small world.....

 

well I don't even know where to begin (is that how i start off all of my emails? ... it sure feels like it ha ha)

 

this past week was interesting. with the riots going on we had a few new rules such as an earlier curfew and we couldn't work on the high street (bummer) so it was a bit of a weird week. (ps wandsworth zone was on lockdown during all of it which is where elder cross is- how cool for him! ... and scary of course) oh we also had to do some training on tuesday that sucked up like 3 hours of our day but it was really good- it was about using family history work in finding and it was so cool and it got us really excited about using the family history centre more! we have a family history centre here at our Exeter chapel so it's so nice that we have it so close. man family history work is so cool! that is one of the things that got karina wanting to come back to church.

 

oh that same day we had to do that extra training the mission doctor came down- sister fekete tore her ACL :S it happened before her mission but when she was in jersey she hurt it again. the doctor said she will be fine to wait until she gets home for reconstructive surgery but said we should go to the hospital to get her a brace... we just need to find time to do that ha ha but she doesn't let that slow her down- she is such a hard worker, i love it! this morning i was cleaning the bathroom and i came out and she was sweeping our carpeted stairs so i started laughing a little and asked what she was doing and she said "i was so determined to hoover the stairs this morning because they are dirty but the hoover isn't working but i'm not going to let that stop me from getting it done!" Sister Fekete in a nutshell. :)

 

I love Sister Fekete and I love having a european companion. Her accent is fabulous and she loves learning new words and phrases. Sometimes I'll say something and she'll pull out this little notebook she has from her bag and write it down. It makes me feel pretty important, like I have important things to say. Don't worry... I don't. ha ha it's usually funny slang words that I say that she has never heard before or something. Oh and she LOVES camp songs and other little American songs like do your ears hang low, she makes me sing them all the time. ha ha I'm learning so much about teaching from her because when I'm explaining things to her I have to simplify the words I'm using so she understands... well that's what I should be doing anyways! The gospel really is so simple. It's simple enough that a child can understand it and I LOVE teaching children here because they are the ones that say the most beautiful things, because they say everything so simply. It's understanding the simple things that makes the difference.

 

WELL have I ever told you about Phil and Tezza? I remember I told you about Tezza naming sheep and pigs after us on farmville but have I told you their story? ... I'll try to sum it up quickly:

 

About a month and a half ago or two months ago Sister Christensen and I were planning for our day and in our backup plans we felt prompted to go knock on a street called Herchelle road. Our plans went through she we didn't go knock there but for the next couple days we put it down as our backup. A few days later we ran into a chap from the ward called Mark Peoples and he told us that he invited his sons friend to church and his sons friend said he would go to church if Bro. Peoples went to his wife's farmville party..... well that week at church Bro. Peoples introduced us to Phil, his sons friend. Late 20s tattoos and piercings ALL over long hair etc. pretty rememberable (sp.?) well a few days later we ran right into him on the high street and started talking and he agreed to let us come over and teach him and his wife. So he gave us his address: 1A Herchelle road. Sister Christensen and I just looked at eachother and smiled and wrote it down. ANYWAYS fastforward to now.. Phil loves coming to church and comes with his friend (bro. peoples son) who was inactive and now loves coming to church as well! It has been amazing to see the SLOWWWWWW but sure changes in their lives. They love the things that we teach them and are determined to live the gospel. Last week we told them about the word of wisdom and we went over to their house again a couple days later and Tezza said that after we left she threw away all her fags, Phil went out and got nicotene patches. Phil has been smoking since he was 9 and drinking about the same so... it is going to be a long hard process for them but it's amazing how much they WANT to quit and want to change their lives so they can feel the blessings the Lord has in store for them. It's beautiful!! But it will be hard hard work. Please pray for them. Man this last week the theme was people having problems with the word of wisdom.. especially COFFEE. UGH. I have a testimony of keeping the word of wisdom. I KNOW that the Lord knows us and knows our bodies perfectly, He created them! He knows exactly what we need to do to best care for our body and guess what? He said no coffee, no tea, no alcohol, no tobacco, etc. well.. that's good enough reason for me. But... pray for those that we are teaching who don't have a testimony of these things yet. :) I love you all!!!