July 9

Hello my lovelies. :) SO oh my days where to beging. This last week was crazy. Oh so to report on Wimbledon- on both pdays we had plans to go and we were SOOO excited to go and get our strawberries and cream and what do you know the matches got rained out BOTH times. :O So all we saw from Wimbledon were the millions and millions of fans going to and from Wimbledon. Boo. Oh well! There's always next year. :) I loved all the 4th of July pictures so so much! I had kind of forgotten it was the 4th of July and Sister Paulsen came in the room "Happy Birthday America!" So I told her all about our watching the fireworks by the belltower and our BBQs and the parade etc. etc. and then I kind of just forgot- UNTIL we went to district meeting and the Petersons, the senior couple here made us a pancake party! So we ate pancakes and then we all sang the star spangled banner. :D There are only 4 American missionaries in our zone out of 20 ha! But we made them all do it anyways. And we stood too. :D We followed with God Save the Queen (naturally) ha ha and then again kind of forgot it was the 4th UNTIL! we got to the Young's home for dinner. Sister Paulsen had reminded them it was the 4th of July and asked if they might do something and my goodness they really went the extra mile. I'll send pictures. They drew me pictures and all dressed up red white and blue and they even wrote me a poem. Yes I'm going to send it to you right now ha ha

The Mission of Sister Mills

There was a sister called Mills,

who had so many various skills,

she preached to the non-converted,

the gospel she asserted,

in England she often got chills.

From America she came,

not seeking fortune and fame,

she knocked on many doors,

and P-day she did her chores,

but, she will be remembered all the same.

Today we give her this gift,

her mood we hope to lift,

missing home, she may be,

come to teach those like me,

so to Heavenly Father our spirits can drift

by the Young's

:D Loved it. so so much. They started calling it Sister Mills appreciation day. ha ha ha anyways. Oh! We got to go to the temple again this week! We have been SOOOOOO blessed. This week we took a girl called Nisa. She is a foreign exchange student staying with some members here- she is from Turkey! So we were over this week and started talking to her and she said she would love to learn about Jesus Christ. So we taught her and then went back and taught her more and then we had a ward temple trip and she came with us and we showed her around and told her all about prophets. That is what got her. She loved it! AND the Winchester ward was at the temple that day as well- that's where Sister Paulsen just came from and it was delightful. They all hugged me and loved me as if I had served there myself! And the sisters came with them as well so I got to see Sister Barker- my 3 week companion :) ha ha it was just a GOOD day. Being at the temple. There is nowhere nowhere on earth that is better. It was so peaceful. It just really sets the tone for the whole week! We also took Braulio to a YSAs home for dinner this week- her name is Fern and she got home from her mission6 months ago and she is still on fire and it was fabulous. Braulio. He is such a good guy. Keep praying for him- I cannot wait to see what he will do in and for the church! He just has to get baptised first :) ha ha Oh Aigars was in London (the Latvian man we were teaching in Bracknell) so him and his brother came to church with us- it was so fun! Things are going very very well for us in our little Wandsworth area. :) We are excited to share more and the Olympics come closer. Love you all!!!! Love, Sister Mills

*The pictures

*Alistair, Annabelle, and Emma Young

*reading the poems :)

*So- funny story. We were in Barnes the other day and we had to make some phone calls, so we sat down on these picnic tables and we could see the water starting to rise but all the sudden... we were sitting in the middle of the Thames. ha ha ha we had to climb over all the tables and then jump over... man it was hilarious.