Eastbourne is lovely. I love being here so much. I've heard missions go by like a dream. It's true. Even as I'm living it, it feels like a dream. But the dream has gotten so much better since coming to Eastbourne. Everyday I discover something new to love. When I first found out that Sister Sebald was staying and that I was leaving Hastings, I felt terrified. I was getting comfortable with the people and places in Hastings and the idea of leaving felt so scary. Then I felt sad. I didn't want to leave these people. But I remembered that as I had been anticipating moves calls, my only prayer had been that I'd be able to accept the Lord's will no matter what that was. As I started packing I kept thinking, "I'll go where you want me to go" and soon I was feeling excited. It felt good to pack everything up and the idea of a fresh new start was appealing. And I knew that whatever was about to happen was God's will.
So now let me tell you a few reasons why Eastbourne is so wonderful.
We live with a lovely elderly member, Sister Joyce Walker. She is wonderful. She often makes us dinner when we don't have a dinner appointment and there are always fresh strawberries from her garden which are the BEST strawberries I have ever tasted. We live in an adorable little two story house with a wonderful spirit always there. And guess what else? She has a piano!!!!! Can life really get better than Eastbourne?! I have my doubts. We play the piano for companionship study and we've spent some time playing and singing with Sister Walker which I know she really enjoys. Last night I played some duets with her that she hasn't played for a long time. It was so fun and I loved seeing how happy it made her. I just can't believe how much Heavenly Father is blessing me this transfer.
For exercise in the mornings we play tennis or go to this outdoor gym near our home. The outdoor gym is really cool and it's next to a playground with swings. It's so nice to get out of the house shortly after waking up and do something fun and enjoy the beautiful morning instead of just doing something in the flat. It helps me wake up and get excited for the day.
The other night I had a dream that we were running around an airport in a hurry to get somewhere and I ran into Haley G! It was marvelous. I don't remember where she was going though. Somewhere cool, like Africa maybe. Then we couldn't find someone to give us a lift (that's British for ride) so President Monson was going to drive us to wherever we needed to go. It was exciting.
13 August 2012
Guess what I did last night!!! You'll all be so jealous :) I watched fireworks!!!!! We were getting ready for bed when we heard the booming so we turned off the lights and watched a wonderful fireworks show celebrating the end of Airbourne and the Olympics. It was marvelous. And I thought of you all watching the Alpine Day's fireworks this weekend....and then I remembered and thought of you NOT watching the Alpine Day's fireworks this weekend and added that to my list of reasons why God sent me to Eastbourne at this time. He knew this was the weekend I needed to watch fireworks. Tender mercies :)
If you want to imagine my life in England, you can picture lots and lots of knocking. The doors here aren't usually as interesting as the ones in Hastings. But the people behind the doors-and on the streets-aren't usually as crazy as the people in Hasting were. Which is really nice. We meet all sorts of people.
Funny story! I think this was last week. This lady answered the door and after a few snarky comments said, referring to the guy on the couch behind her, "He's an atheist....and I'm Mormon. So we're not interested." Then she shut the door before we could respond. haha! I laughed out loud and Sister Naseem told me not to. Then she said, "It sounded like she said, 'I'm Mormon.'" When I told her that's indeed what she said, she laughed out loud too. We probably should have knocked again and called her out on it. I wish she'd given us more time to respond.
10 September 2012
Sometimes we talk to lovely people who don't want to hear about our message, but we connect in our mutual faith in and love for Jesus Christ. I've had some great experiences with people who will never turn into investigators, but who have brightened our day and our hope as they share with us what Christ means to them. We met one lady from New Zealand on the street and talked for a long time. She told us about her missionary experiences in Zimbabwe or somewhere. She was so lovely and wanted to see us again the next day, but we were busy. It was amazing for me to see how much we all loved each other after talking for maybe half an hour. We may never see her again, but we'll always remember that experience and I'm sure she will too and we'll all remember that love we felt for each other. That is the love of Christ! It's amazing. She actually called us about a week later and we missed her call but she left us a wonderful message and hopefully she will call again.
This kind of experience is interesting compared to an experience we had yesterday with a lady when we were knocking who seemed nice enough but there was no light in her eyes. She expressed a deep belief in God and Jesus Christ, but it wasn't like that sincere faith of the lady from New Zealand. She wouldn't let us tell her the truth about Mormons because she was certain some BBC documentary she watched had told her all she needed to know (something about mass weddings and our leader being a billionaire and other crazy stuff). She new BBC wouldn't lie and that we were obviously brain-washed, but it's okay because we feel we're doing the right thing so at least it's making us happy. That was not the pure love of Christ coming out. I hope we never give people the impression that we think their beliefs are stupid or that they are ignorant for what they believe. I hope they can see and feel that love of Christ and recognize that we want to add to their faith and not take away from it in any way.
17 September 2012
I don't have very much time today because 1) it's transfers this week so we only have an hour for emailing today and 2) this funny old man next to me has been having some difficulty figuring out printing/emailing so I've been helping him a bit. He's publishing a book and said he'll have to put my name down at the bottom for helping him. But he forgot to get my name....
I'll try to write as fast as my little fingers can go!
You asked about the lady from New Zealand. We actually saw her again last Monday night
in town! It was so great to see her again. We don't have time to see her
because she talks a LOT and she isn't investigator material--she's
an extremely strong Seventh Day Adventist. But she is lovely. We asked if
there was anything we could do for her and she said just pray for
her--pray that she'll win the lottery :) Then she said if she wins the
lottery that she'll fly us both out to New Zealand for a visit! So pray
that she'll win the lottery :)
That other lady I was telling you about--the one without the light
in her eyes--we found out that she was just completely confused with her
facts. I asked some members if they had ever heard of the crazy stuff
she was telling us about, because it was things I'd never heard of and it's
easier to clear confusions when you at least understand where they are
coming from. Come to find out, she was confusing us for the Moonies which are completely
different, but I know this isn't the first time people have confused
Mormons and moonies. So if we ever see her again we'll be sure to clear
that up.
One funny story from this week is from last night. We went to a
fireside at the Visitors' Centre with some investigators, less actives,
and members. President and Sister Millar were the speakers and it was
fantastic. Before it started I was talking to some missionaries when I
turned around to find President walking past. He stopped and said "You
look a lot taller in your picture!" Haha! Then he told Sister Naseem
that she looks shorter in her picture. So he was picturing our
companionship with her short and me tall when in actuality we're both
short--and of course I'm shorter. It was really funny. The Millars are
wonderful. I'm grateful to be serving with them. And it was so nice to
visit the temple grounds! I feel so blessed to be so near the temple and
for each opportunity I have to visit.
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