Another Week

This has been a good week. I had an exchange to Liverpool. An exchange is when we switch companions for a few days and spend time serving with another sister in the mission. I served with Sister Chuo, who is from Taiwan in her area of Liverpool. It was crazy to see missionary work in a city. It was a bit harder to stop people from the hustle and bustle of the city to talk to them; however, it is clear there is some great work being done there. Sister Chuo and her companion, Sister Gong, are actually Chinese speaking missionaries. They are teaching people in Chinese, which is great! It was a totally different experience for me because there was part of the conversation I didn't understand. Everyone was nice though and tried to talk in English as much as possible. It was great to experience some new faces and help others learn more about our beliefs. Our focus during the exchange was to help the investigators recognize answers to their prayers. As missionaries, we always invite people to pray and receive a witness for themselves about what we are teaching. However, if they don't know what these answers are like, then how are they ever suppose to receive an answer? Therefore, I focused on identifying the change they are noticing and the feelings they have while learning more about the gospel. In other words, I tried to help them recognize the Holy Ghost in their life and how they can know for themselves that the message we share is true.

A couple people asked about cooking and what I eat. I basically have the same food habits as at home. The ward members are good at feeding us. On average I would say we have 2-4 dinner appointments per week. On the other nights, we come back to our flat (English term for apartment) and cook our own meals. I will admit the sweets here are delicious and I haven't had any food that I disliked. Things are pretty much the same as at home, except I don't have 5 roommates to share the cooking burden with. It is a little harder to cook for 2 than it is for 6. Therefore, we don't always have the best variety of food, but it's okay. We exercise every morning so I am staying fairly healthy! Plus I do a ton of walking. We take buses and walk everywhere we go. None of the sisters have bikes. I think there are a few elders who ride bikes in the mission, but I haven't talked with any of them extensively about it. The buses are pretty reliable and come frequently, so we do just fine. Our flat is a less than 5 minute walk from the large bus station, so everything is really quite convenient for us.

Let me know if you have any other questions; otherwise, I will just have to think about the amazing stories I have to tell from the week. Hope you are all doing fabulous! Thanks for the support.

Love, Becca