Is spring here already?

Hello!

The weather has been really nice here in Whitefield. There were honestly some days where I could have gone outside without a jacket, but as a missionary and knowing that you are not quite sure how the weather may change, I was never so brave to do so. I have been enjoying the refreshing air and the joy of being a missionary.

This week Reza got baptized. I forget how much I have told you about Reza. He is from Azerbaijan (near Turkey). He knows four different languages. He is a humble and kind man. Reza is 30 years old and has loved reading from The Book of Mormon. He actually reads in Farsi, and unfortunately, his translation of The Book of Mormon is not complete. It is great to make a new friend and it is fun because you learn these small mannerisms of certain people. Some of Reza's favorite phrases are "I know. I know" (said when he already understands what we are saying), "Example, example (followed by an example)" (to show he understands the concept or idea we are discussing), and "Hello sister. How are you?" (said every time he answers the phone). It is great to make new friends and get to know them for who they are.

Reza wrote down some of his testimony before and after, and it was beautiful. While his English is not perfect, he does try and has an incredibly strong testimony of The Book of Mormon. Therefore, I felt it would be appropriate to watch “A Man without Eloquence” from the Doctrine and Covenants DVDs for the interlude after the baptism while he got changed. It was a perfect fit! The video clip is about six minutes long and talks about Brigham Young's conversion to the church. Brigham Young tells how it was not a man who spoke eloquently, but rather a humble man's testimony that converted him. It shows the impact a simple, yet heartfelt testimony can have. There is power in saying, “I know Jesus Christ is our Savior. I know that His church has been restored to the earth today.” Simple words accompanied with the Spirit truly can change hearts.

As for other things, it is going well. You may wonder what a typical day is like for Sister Jack. Well let me tell you!

A typical day in the life of Sister Jack

6:15 am Arise, pray

6:30 am Go for a run, stretch, continue to exercise

7:00 am Breakfast, shower, get ready for the day

8:00 am Personal study (study the scriptures, other books from the missionary library to prepare for lessons to teach that day as well as expand my own understanding/knowledge)

9:00 am Companion study (sing a hymn, pray, read from the White handbook which discusses the missionary rules/policies, share what we learned in personal study, plan lessons for the day, practice role plays, watch dvds of other missionaries, read the scriptures or Preach My Gospel together, etc.)

11:00 am Teach a lesson to an investigator or recent convert/less active member (Normally I would start at 10:00 am, but during your first two transfers in the field you have an extra hour of companion study).

12:30 pm Lunch at the apartment. (Make food. Clean things up. Make phone calls to members, investigators, etc.)

1:30 pm Teach more people. Talk to people in the street or on the bus. Speak to everyone (ideally) we come in contact with.

5:30 pm Dinner (or tea as they call it) at the apartment or member's home.

6:30 pm Lesson (if we had tea at a member's home otherwise we carry on with the evening)

7:00 pm Teach more people. Find more people to teach. Usually at night we go tracting (meaning we knock on people's doors).

9:00 pm Return home to the flat and make plans for the next day. We schedule out every hour of the day including back-up plans.

9:40 pm Call the district leader (one missionary who oversees a few companionships and the missionary work in the area). We report on the day, discuss any questions we may have and rejoice in the work we have done!

9:45 pm Update records (teaching records, information about people we may have received, all by pen and paper. Good old fashioned way of keeping track of things). Write in journal if time. Get ready for bed.

10:30 pm Pray and go to sleep.

What a glorious schedule it is and somehow it doesn't ever seem to get old. Probably because the work changes so much from day to day.

Thank you for all your love and support. I appreciate the work you do and the people you are.

Love, Sister Jack

p.s. This is picture of our district. I promise I was wearing more colorful clothes. I just put on my jacket already and didn't have time to take it off for the photo.

This next picture is at Reza's baptism. For the record, Reza was happy. He is just shy and doesn't really like photographs. But I wanted to give you an idea of what he looks like.

A Fabulous February Week

Another great week has passed here in the mission field. The weather has been fairly reasonable and I am enjoying the time we spend with people, outdoors and traveling. There is always work to be done, and I am happy to help out.

This week we had zone conference (meaning we met together with about half the mission and got trained on some various ideas). The messages focused on the 2012 Mission Plan, Quality Gospel Conversations (QGCs) and a sense of urgency/desire to work (focusing on understanding the atonement and charity). While those each of those were fabulous presentations, it was not any of these messages that stood out to me most predominately. Sitting in the Chorley chapel for six hours caused me to recognize the importance of applying our heart to the work. Before I left for my mission, my father gave me a blessing. In the blessing, it said that I would "commit the scriptures to heart." I will admit this phrase always stood out to me, yet I was not quite sure what it meant. I still do not know its complete meaning, but I do know one thing--applying our heart is important. We need to have an open heart to truly love the people around us. Not only that, but it is as we apply our heart that we are able to build a trusting relationship with others. It is not always easy to open and apply our hearts freely because in the world today we have much skepticism and fear of our hearts being broken. Despite skepticism or fear, we need to be willing to use our hearts more than we might expect. Applying our hearts means that we will love, serve and welcome anyone and everyone. It is when we are able to effectively use our hearts in the work that we do that we can develop that charity and Christlike mindset for those around us.

Here is part of an excerpt from my letter to president that I thought you may enjoy:

I enjoyed having Sister Davis and Sister Doherty around for two nights. (They came to the mainland for zone conference and stayed at our flat because they are currently serving on the Isle of Man.) It was great to have Sister Davis here and spend time with her. I am honestly sad to think that all my companions, except Sister Howell, will no longer be in the mission by the end of this transfer. Although I am also grateful for the wonderful impact each of those sisters has had on my mission. On the other hand, training often causes me to reflect on my own training, and as I do so, I always look back with gladness and gratitude. I recognize that I learned much of my diligence, hard work and enthusiasm because of Sister Davis’ example. I know that our trainers are chosen and identified of the Lord.

As for Whitefield, the work is going well. We are looking forward to Reza’s baptism on Friday and are continuing to find people to teach. In particular, we received a referral from the office named Leanne. Leanne ordered a Book of Mormon online because she just ended up on mormon.org and wanted to learn more. She grew up Christian, but she has yet to find a church that is right. Thus far Leanne is very receptive to the message. My favorite instance with Leanne up to now is when we taught about the three degrees of glory. Her only comment was this sounds like what it says in the Bible in Corinthians. We said, “Yes it is. Let’s go ahead and turn to 1 Corinthians 15.” Leanne is bright and I am excited for her to learn more. (Leanne is in her mid-twenties and has a five year old son, Ben. She is fun, kind and grew up nearby. I admire her curiosity and desire to learn more.)

Well that is all I have for now. I am sure there are more things to report, but that is all I have for the time being. Hope all is well.

Love, Becca

This picture is from Valentine's day and is of Sister Davis, Sister Doherty, Sister Howell and me. It just shows how much fun and love we all shared that evening together! Hope you enjoy it.

Time continues to pass

The time continues to pass by quickly and I am sure enjoying Whitefield. It is a great area and the people are generally friendly. We are staying busy teaching, studying and talking to people. I am doing well and every day is a great day to be a missionary :) I am grateful for my opportunity to share experiences, help others to learn and bring cheer to people’s hearts. The gospel does change people’s lives, and it is amazing to see that change happen.

The snow is almost cleared up and the weather is warming up a bit. I think it is even getting brighter during our morning runs, which is great! For whatever reason, I seem to be at a loss for words today. As a result, pictures last longer than words. I am going to send some pictures and give some commentary about them as well. Hope you enjoy them!


The first is from when Sister Low and I went to get some fish and chips to have a typical English meal and to celebrate her mission. We decided to eat the chips at a bus stop, since that is where we could find a seat outside. While we were there a bus came and the driver came out. I thought he was going to be mad about us eating at the bus stop, but rather he stole a few chips and said, "Ta, love" and proceeded to drive off with a mouth full. It was such a funny experience and it left us laughing.

This picture is our district from last transfer. We had such a variety of people from everywhere--it was great. We had some from Utah, Boston (myself), Slovakia, Germany, England/Brazil and one other country that I can’t recall at the moment. They are a great group of missionaries!

This picture is me with some chocolate cake. We have a fantastic cake shop that is close to our apartment called the Slattery. In order to celebrate groundhog day, we went and got some cake. It was delicious.

The next picture is from two Saturdays ago when it snowed a ton. The buses were not really going or just not quickly at all. As a result, we spent a little over an hour walking home. But this is me enjoying the snow. Isn’t it beautiful?

Finally, this is a picture of Sister Howell and me. It is not the best, but it will give you an idea of what she looks like and I am sure I will have some better ones in the future.

Enjoy all the pictures and know that I am thinking of you.

Love, Becca

Still here in Whitefield...

Sorry it took so long to write this week. Things have been a bit hectic with transfers. I am still here in Whitefield and loving missionary work. I have a new companion (as new as they come). Her name is Sister Howell and she is from Pleasant Grove, UT. She was also studying at BYU before her mission, although she was studying dance education. She is a natural teacher and great to be around. Sister Howell has been running with me each morning as well. We seem compatible and I am excited to get to know her better. I will be sure to send a picture next week and continue to give you some more updates.

I honestly do not have a lot of time, but I am doing well and continuing to enjoy the work. Here is an exciting story that I experienced this week and would like to share:

Reza (I think I mentioned him previously) received an answer to his prayers. He has been struggling with the fact that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet on the earth today. Reza was diligently praying, yet he had not received an answer. Lo and behold, this week he received an answer! We taught a lesson from Moroni 10 about the different gifts of the Spirit. At the end, we were following up about how President Monson is the leader of the church. Reza in his usual phrasing said, “I know. I know.” For whatever reason, I believed him. I asked, “Wait what do you believe?” Reza responded, “I believe in Thomas.” While we proceeded to discuss, he told us how he received an answer to his prayer. Reza told us this analogy about a bus going to Manchester (typical for an English person and all the buses we ride). He said, “Without a driver the bus will never get to Manchester. We too need a ‘driver’ (or a prophet) for the church. That leader is Thomas.” His English was slightly more broken than that, but it was clear that the Spirit had taught him that analogy and answered his prayers. Reza desires to be baptized on the 3^rd of March. I am excited and it is such a wonderful thing to know that Heavenly Father answers prayers.

That is all for today. I am sorry I didn't have more time this week, but I look forward to writing on Monday.

Love, Becca

p.s. In case you didn't realize from my first comment, I am training (helping a new missionary to learn the ropes). I still feel that I learning myself, but that's okay I will teach her what I know. I know that the Lord will support and strengthen me in whatever calling He gives me, so I am excited for what lies ahead.