Sunday, June 17, 2012

June 11

Wandsworth ward. :D
Oh my days. I don't even know where to begin this week. I have never had a week on my mission quite like this one. The first part of the week was wonderful. More jubilee celebrating. :) We had a big zone jubilee barbeque and just played games all day and then we went and did another service project for FHE with the YSA and Alex, a boy we have been teaching just LOVED it. Oh it was so fun. Tuesday morning we went over to a members house to help them clean some windows that they couldn't reach (Sister Barker cleaned those windows- obviously :) ) ha ha but they were watching the queen's final jubilee celebration and it was so fun we just listened and cleaned and stopped and watched every once in a while and then THE best moment of the day- when we ALL sang God Save the Queen together. All of us in that house together, everyone there on the tv and everyone in the commonwealth viewing in and celebrating the queen. We love her! It was incredible. I love the Queen. I need to go have tea with her before I go home probably. :) Wednesday we went to district meeting and we were having a lovely lovely day and then we were about to leave a part members home and Sister Barker took the phone out and she was just like "Oh President is calling right now" My heart sank. President does not just call to chat. So we answered the phone "Sisters, I need your help with something. You're not going to like this. We need to have an emergency moves. Sister Mills you are staying in Wandsworth and Sister Paulsen is coming with you- Barker you are going to Winchester to work with Sister Willard." WHAT! Oh my days it came as a surprise to ALLL of us. BUT there is no doubt in my mind that it is divinely what needed to happen. Oh I'm just getting the chills saying that and thinking about it all. Sister Paulsen and I have seen miracle after miracle after miracle together. There is no doubt in my mind that God NEEDED Sister Paulsen and I to be working together right now in Wandsworth. I have already learned so much from her and we have learned so much together as well. I just don't even know where to begin in telling you all of the miracles we have seen. FIRST let me tell you about her. Sister Paulsen is from Copenhagen, Denmark. She is 21 and has been on her mission for about 3 months and she is powerhouse. Ohhhhhhh I wish we could just record us teaching and talking and just... being because it has just been powerful. Sister Paulsen reminds me so so much of Haley Felton and Kristen Allen mixed together in one... IMAGINE THAT!!!!! I know right? Oh man. We are just establishing peace and happiness and zion for ourselves and together and for the ward and for all the people here in London. Whoo it's magical. And I mean it. One of the many many miracles we have seen is that I have taught a few Swedish people on my mission and one of two since I have been in London but since she has been here- all 4 days of it... we have met SOOOOO many people with Swedish connections. MY GOODNESS! Sister Paulsen loves loves loves Sweden so she has been telling me about it and talking about and we will go outside and BAM a Swedish person is just right there ready for us. And then ok so we met this lady on the bus the other day and she invited us round to hers to teach her and we go in and ask if we can say a prayer and she was like ya of course, how do you say a prayer? So we taught her and then she was like oh! can I say it? ..... um YES you can Karlene! So she said this prayer and -ok so first let me tell you Sister Paulsen and I have been talking about being well. Being well physically, mentally, socially, emotionally, and of course spiritually- in this prayer Karlene said THREE different time "Heavenly Father please bless my sister that they will be well" .... :O man this woman is special. She is so so in tune. We started teaching her about The Book of Mormon and she opened to the index and she was like we are going to read in Words of Mormon and we were just like ok, so we read with her verses 8 and 9 and a few others and it just SO PERFECTLY was what we needed to all learn together, oh my goodness it was amazing. She lives in a home and she has had a stroke and we don't really know what else so we are not sure to the extent of what we will be able to teach her or what- but she is IN TUNE. Wow she is in tune. And miracles like that are just exactly what Sister Paulsen and I have been seeing non-stop. There is something special about this time in Wandsworth oh it gives me the chills. Something is coming and it is SO exciting. AH! THE OLYMPICS!!! Oh my goodness right as I was writing something is coming in my head popped the olympics mills! Get ready! :O Oh so so cool. Who knows if I will even BE HERE for the olympics but I will certainly do everything I can to prepare the people here for the gospel. Wimbledon Village is under some construction trying to make it ready for the world to see well we are getting ready for the world to see as well. The Brittania ward (the singles ward in England) had been meeting in our chapel until last week because the Hyde Park chapel was being changed into a visitors centre and it was SOOO fun to have SO MANY YSA together learning, it was powerful. And maybe the reason they needed to meet here was to just be together in a big big group of saints and prepare spiritually for the world to come to us so we can invite them to come unto Christ. THINGS ARE HAPPENING IN ENGLAND and I feel so so blessed to be a part of it. I love you. I love the gospel. I love the Savior. I love The Book of Mormon. I love Sister Paulsen. I love Wandsworth. Love forever, Your Sister Mills

*Emove! Sister Willard, MILLS, Barker, PAULSEN :)
*Sister Paulsen and her incredibly heavy suitcases we had to lug home from the train. I'm just so glad we didn't have to take the tube!




June 3

HAPPY JUBILEE EVERYONE!!!!! oh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY PEN! I don't think I even told you last week! I'm sorry about that- I was thinking about you ALL week and I can even prove it! (I'll send another email with the proof) But here I wanted to share some of our jubilee madness. It has seriously been mad around here because of the jubilee but I LOVE it!! Every street has union jack bunting going all the way down the street and nearly every house is decorated as well! The tubes were CRAZY yesterday- everyone travelling to watch the parade on the Thames. We didn't go to the parade, the parade started 1 bridge OUTSIDE of our area. It started at Battersea bridge and ended at the tower bridge, we were GUTTED. But it was so good because we went and taught a guy called Ade that we met last week and taught him about the gospel of Jesus Christ and.. it was just amazing. :) He is so so cool. Originally from Nigeria and he has always known the importance of baptism and has always just been looking for a church where it felt right. Well Ade here we are!! ha ha We came out of the teach and it was pouring BUCKETS! This whole last week has been miserable and cold and rainy. Welp our week long summer was brilliant- but it's over and done! ha ha We are going to have a big jubilee celebration today as a zone and have a barbeque and probably play football- did I tell you last week we had a huge waterfight and then went to play football at a park across from the chapel to dry off? ha ha it was SOO fun! I don't remember if I sent pictures from our pday before that either- we went to the Tower Bridge and then walked along the Thames to Big Ben and just watched street performers and things- it was so fun. This is seriously the funnest zone of the whole mission! ha ha 

Ok though back to our jubilee celebrations- 

*Saturday we went to a stake service project at a park right by the Thames- we even got the Mormon Helping Hands shirts! It was so fun!! We cut away a bunch of vegetation so they can grow specific plants to attract butterflies (because of the pollution a lot of the butterflies and bees have left London! ha!)

- we also got to make mosaics in the cement- we made flowers with rocks and I even had a little green CTR ring that I stuck in there :D

-Us and some of the elduhs

* I thought this was funny- every single advert is for the jubilee and it is a brilliant time to be a tourist in England, you can find ANYTHING with the union jack on it!


then.... we went to a proper street party. It doesn't get more English than this! A woman we are teaching called Helen invited us round to theirs. She is a nanny for Kristina Branch, the member that gave us ALL that food- ya they are both amazing! It was so so fun.

-there was lots and lots of food, even a candy floss machine! (cotton candy ;)), doughnuts on a string- hanging from the trees, and everyone was wearing read white and blue and union jack. there was even a little dog with a jumper on (of course :)
-we decorated sugar biscuit crowns
-these are helens girls tanya and helena with all of our red white and blue puddings :)

it was exactly what i would imagine a street party in England to be. :) 



*Oh my goodness I forgot to tell you. There is a town in our area called Tooting. That's right, Tooting. ha ha
*Tons of roads closed for street parties for the jubilee :)
* GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!!
*One more for Pen Pen :)