Sorry for the delay of the email, Monday was a bank holiday and as a result the library was not opened.
The sunshine has hid itself this week and winter appears to be back in the scene with rain and all. I guess you can never escape the rain here in England? Nevertheless the work rolls forward and we have bright smiles on our faces.
Yesterday, I had the sweetest experience. I attended the temple, which is an amazing experience within itself and I learned so many things as a result of my eight months of gospel study. However, the highlight was the person I saw when I entered the waiting room—Sister Higham. She is a member in the Wigan ward (my first area), and it was a precious reunion. Seeing Sister Higham and her wonderful smile reminded me of the true joy of missionary work. I instantly felt her love as we hugged and could tell that the friendship we formed during those short three months in Wigan is one that would last through the eternities. It is these small joys of missionary work that make it all worth it. Sister Higham is doing great and I told her I would see her next bank holiday Monday at the temple.
This past week I was starting to question if I had faith in the right people, well investigators to be exact. The lessons we worked really hard to get members to seemed to fall through, and the lessons where we did not have members ended up being doorstep lessons. It was definitely a trial of my faith; it is hard to know who is sincere about wanting to learn or not from a two to five minute conversation on the street, bus or doorstep. As a result, Saturday evening in my nightly prayer, I expressed my concern to Heavenly Father. I then asked, “What does all this mean?” I almost instantaneously recalled Mosiah 28:3. Then the impression came to study the entire chapter. I followed that prompting I received. During personal study, two concepts stood out: I need to be desirous for everyone to receive the gospel (Mosiah 28:3) and all people should know about [The Book of Mormon] (Mosiah 28:19). I realized through a variety of experiences my faith in people’s receptiveness has dwindled. There is a constant battle in missionary work between being realistic and having faith. I am not sure there is a perfect balance of the two, but I did learn it is significant to have that faith and willingness to see potential in people they may not even recognize themselves.
Leadership training (This is where all the leaders in the mission gather together: leaders include assistants to the president, zone and district leaders, trainers and follow-up trainers) was a great time of learning. I learned a lot about the process of refinement and correction. Conference prepared me to receive this instruction because Elder Quentin L. Cook discussed the difference between sin and youthful mistakes or the need to chastise or teach. It helped me to be a lot more aware of the correction I give. First of all, it needs to be done when prompted by the Spirit; it is not something that should be done on a regular basis. Second, when correction is given, it needs to be noted and then complimented when changed. Third, only give correction in areas that you are on higher ground and, therefore, can lift the other person (Example: If you do not talk to people on the bus, then do not tell someone else they need to bus contact). As you follow these guidelines, it becomes an uplifting and learning process, rather than a degrading and burdensome one. I am grateful for this insight as well as many other insights I was able to learn.
I will go ahead and include some fun stories along with some photos, so you can go ahead for more of your latest Sister Jack update.
The first two photos are from the food we got one day from a man named Seth. He owns a pizza and kebab shop locally, so we go visit them. It is great because he is so friendly and nice. We have also been able to share and discuss about The Book of Mormon with him. One benefit is we also get free food. He told me that I could bring the whole family, so if you are ever in England stop by Bits ‘n’ Pizza in Whitefield.
The third picture is from Easter Sunday. We got some nice Easter candy from some members and bought a little bit ourselves as well. Easter was a wonderful opportunity to be able to discuss about the significance of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice and how he plays such a crucial part to our live here on earth. You will have to ask dad for more detail because, from what I hear, he gave a wonderful talk on Easter Sunday.
My next story does not have a photo, but is from the leadership training on Tuesday. We broke apart into smaller groups of about 10 (there was probably about 50-70 of us there total). In my group, there was a bunch of elders and one senior sister. We were doing an activity where we discussed Why? What? And How? Of being pure in heart. I offered to be the group’s scribe. It was a wonderful discussion, and we were all learning from each other. There were definitely a few times we seemed to be getting side-tracked from our actual topic of discussion, so I would just ask what we wanted to write, what our decision about our thoughts were, etc. It was funny though because one of the elders commented, “And that is why Relief Society and Priesthood work together.” It goes to show just how inspired the organization of the church was, and I could see Grandma Jack playing a similar role in things. (I hope that story makes sense.)
Thanks for all your love and support. Keep up the good work.
Love, Becca
p.s. In response to Annie's questions, I do not usually do anything too exciting on P-days. We have 7.5 hours total and some of that time is taken traveling. I usually spend about 2 hours on emails. Then an hour grocery shopping. Along with some traveling and meals, it doesn't end up being much time. I usually spend some time writing letters as well. Maybe once the weather gets a bit nicer, we will be more inspired to explore parks and some other recreational activities.
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