Transfer day comes again!

Guess what? I have moved again! Can you believe it? I am once again training a Chinese-speaking missionary, the only difference is that this one is a native speaker (both Cantonese and Mandarin). Her name is Sister Loh, and she is from all over. To be honest, we have had about 10 minutes to speak to each other, but I will be sure to write more next week.

I am back in Manchester, in the same flat that I was living in just before Christmas. The only difference is this time we are serving the Manchester YSA ward. It should be good and exciting. We are whitewashed in (we are both new to the area); luckily, I do know the area a bit from being here before, but the YSA aspect is completely knew to me.

It is good to be training again. This time it feels a bit more real because in the trio you always had someone else to lean on if needed. It is a good opportunity for growth and change. Last night the assistants asked us what type of trainers do we want our trainees to remember us as? As I thought about Sister Davis (my trainer), obedience and diligence were the first attributes that came to mind. The answers of other trainers seemed to confirm my thoughts. I took the opportunity to review the Christlike missionary document this morning and see what qualities I wanted to be remembered as. As I went though, I recognized that obedience and diligence are the two qualities that missionaries need to learn from the beginning. Yes, charity is the greatest of the attributes (1 Cor. 13:13), but that is learned over time. When a missionary learns diligence and obedience from the beginning, missionary work goes that much smoother.

To report on Gaerwen, things are going well. Tracey, one of our investigators, is getting baptized this weekend. She is great! She loves family history and has really taken to the gospel. I love how she asks lots of good questions that show her sincerity and desire to find out the truth. The Chinese are continuing to flourish, and Sister Smith gets to practice her Chinese on a daily basis. I tried to prepare them as much as I could for my leaving, but Sister Smith's words were "I feel like I am getting orphaned. You are just leaving big sister and me." It is alright though, they have a good transfer ahead of them as do I here in Manchester. It seems that I can't leave Manchester for long before coming back. Maybe I am just a city girl after all :)

That is all for now. As you can tell, it is a bit late and we need to take care of a few other things before getting back to missionary work!

Love, Becca

p.s. Photo descriptions:

1. Sister Loh and me

2. A group of us that were in the MTC together

3. My last night in Gaerwen we had dinner with our Chinese RC, Ciara, and our investigator, Jack. It was a wonderful night, and we ate lots of good food.

4. My district this last transfer.

After the Rain Comes a Rainbow

It has been quite the week, and it appears the British summer may finally be here. I have decided that summer simply means there are more hours of sun than rain during the day, or it is warm when it rains. Anyway, the rain seemed to have gotten the worst of us this week since it was a cold and rainy day when we hiked Mount Snowden. Let me tell you about the experience.

 

When it started off, there were clouds but no rain. However, by the time we got about a half hour into a six hour hike it began to sprinkle. By the time we were about an hour to an hour and half into the hike, the rain came down and did not leave until we reached the bottom of the mountain. We literally were hiking in the clouds. [To give you an idea, the cafe wasn't open on the summit because the train couldn't get up the mountain because it was not safe with the winds...] It made for quite the experience, and I was grateful to have brought my North Face rain jacket on the mission. It kept me dry, well as dry as I could be considering my t-shirt was already wet from when it was sprinkling. I will have to admit, I felt a whole lot more like the pioneers than I ever did on trek. The fact the my hands were numb and we were all completely drenched seemed a bit more pioneer-like. Not to mention, we even stopped to sing along the way to cheer up our spirits and wait for the entire company (which was half of the missionaries in the mission). I have a new appreciation for the pioneers and was grateful for some hot water once hiking down the mountain. We all survived and are stronger for the experience. The weather appears to have united us and definitely shows our commitment to missionary work (since the whole idea of the hike was to recommit ourselves). I will admit it was probably one of the hardest physically challenging things I have done in the last year. You'll have to look at the pictures attached to get more of an idea.

 

As part of my re-commitment to missionary work, I decided to focus on reacquainting myself with Preach My Gospel. It definitely was inspired by the Lord. On Saturday, I started my study of Chapter 13: Ward and Stake Members. The ward has assigned us five sisters to go visit teach and reading this section reconfirmed to me why. Preach My Gospel teaches that we should assist with home and visiting teaching as needed, especially with part-member and less-active families. All five of the sisters we visit teach fit into those categories. Furthermore, Preach My Gospel includes additional responsibilities in these roles. We are there not only to strengthen the members, but also to increase our abilities to teach and receive referrals. Understanding these additional roles helped me to know why we were called as visiting teachers and exactly how we should be impacting these sisters’ lives. Preach My Gospel is inspired and blesses missionary work in so many different ways! It is great to be learning new things as well as relearning that which I already know.

 

We are continuing to teach Chinese. Most of the people we teach are from China and are studying here for University (usually their masters). They are wonderful people, and as one of the elders told me, "The Chinese will love you because you'll probably be their first American friend with blonde hair." We are still seeing if he is right, but I do have one funny lesson that shows the truth of that statement. We went to teach two university students that were friends. When we were there, the girl told me that I looked that one of the actresses on desperate housewives. Then the best part of the lesson is when her friend came, he was wearing a monkey onesie. It was complete with a hood and tail! It honestly made my night, and I couldn't stop smiling. There is always excitement in missionary work and good friendships to be formed.

 

That is all for now. Hope you all have a good week. Know that I am thinking about you often and praying for you.

 

Love, Becca

 

Photo descriptions:

1. This is how it looked when we started. The mountain we are hiking is the one in the middle, set farther back.

2. Gathered singing.

3. Me at the summit.

4. A view from the hike.

One week older and wiser too!

It has been another exciting week. Where do I even begin? Well let's start with Sister Smith. She is from Draper, Utah. She graduated in 2008 just like me and is familiar with the Jack family (her and Charlotte went to the same high school), so we already have some connections. Her mom is from Taiwan, but she didn't speak Chinese before her mission. She has been at the Provo MTC for the last 3 weeks learning Chinese, and does a great job speaking it! She is already teaching full lessons. Sister Orr and I usually just sit there, smile, and contribute as much as we can. It is definitely a new experience, but we are loving it all and learning many wonderful things together.

 

We have been very blessed to teach the Chinese this past week. Now that we are looking for Chinese-speakers they seem to be everywhere, which is great! A Chinese recent convert brought a friend to church two Sundays ago, and we had the pleasure of teaching him this week. He loves coming to church and recognizes the Spirit that he feels there. He is eager to learn, and it truly was a blessing from the Lord given to us at perfect timing! Our first time teaching him was the evening that Sister Smith arrived. I know that the Lord has many more miracles in store for us here in Gaerwen.

 

Recently I have been thinking a lot about virtue. I have been learning about the mindset of Christ. One thought I had was the importance of having good missionary thoughts at all times, including last thing at night when we go to bed. It was amazing because we had a similar discussion during zone trainings. We were talking about meaningful prayer, but then we spent a portion of time discussing what we think and talk about before bed. It didn’t seem related to the conversation, but it helped emphasize the importance to me of virtue. I am grateful for all the learning opportunities that the Lord provides.

 

The reason this email is so late is because today we went around and toured Caernarfon Castle with the district. I attached two photos, but you should also look it up online. It is a beautiful place, and I love being in Wales because of the rich history it has. I felt like I was walking around in a maze because we kept running into dead ends and were not able to always manage to go where we wanted to on the first try. There is always something fun and exciting! This week we are hiking up Mount Snowden with the mission, so that will be another exciting adventure as well.

 

Hope all is well on the home front. Know that I love and miss you!

 

Love, Becca

 

p.s. Here are the photo descriptions:

1 & 2) are from our climbing a mountain last week (it is always fun to explore)

3) me at Caernarfon castle today

4) the companionship (what a great trio!)

(These photos were forwarded from one of the senior missionaries along with the comment: "What a great looking group of Chinese speakers!" This was Becca's commentary...)

Yes, I am now part of the Chinese speakers in the EMM :) The only problem is that I don't speak Chinese.

One Year Later

Oh how the time flies by. Can you believe I have been gone for a year already? Well it’s true! Want to hear the exciting news? I am training a new missionary again starting on Wednesday, only this time she is called to speak in Chinese. Yes, Chinese. I guess dad should have taught me a bit more before I came on my mission. It will be an exciting next three weeks. We will be in a trio, and we haven’t gotten too many more details so I am not sure what will happen at the end of the three weeks. It was a bit of a surprise, usually you are safe until transfers before anything gets sprung on you, but the Lord works in mysterious ways.

I went on exchange to Liverpool. Before we go on exchange, we set some goals and decide on a miracle we want to see. Some examples may be finding a new investigator, teaching a lesson on the spot, etc. For my miracle, I wanted to give away The Book of Mormon that I wrote my testimony in. The first night on our bus ride home I sat next to a lady named Linda. She had a neighbor that was Mormon, believed in God on and off during her life, and needed the fullness of the gospel. It just seemed right to offer her the book, and she happily accepted it. It was a faith-building experience, and I am grateful for how the Lord provided a way for me to see that miracle.

During the exchange, I was able to learn a lot from my Heavenly Father through the Spirit. Let me tell you about the amazing revelation I received! Because of circumstances, I was praying quite fervently. First, I was taught about the Atonement. I realized that Christ truly did suffer for everything, even the consequences of choices others make. Christ knows what it is like to be affected by others’ poor decisions and feel that sorrow. There is absolutely nothing I can feel that the Savior has not already felt. Second, I was taught about who the Lord calls. We are called to different roles because of what we need to learn. If you know what you need to know, then the Lord will not call you to that place again but rather give someone else the opportunity. He does not need us in this work, but rather calls us for us to be able to grow. I know for a fact that the meek and the simple are called to the work. Finally, I learned about humility. I have been thinking a lot about Alma 32 and the difference between being humble (having that Christlike quality) or being humbled (put in a situation to make us humble). Often times, we will be affected by the choices of another person. However, it is the way we respond to the choice that defines our humility. We can either choose to react to the situation humbly (hence we are being humble), otherwise the situation will cause us to be humbled. No matter what we do, the situation will cause us to be humble one way or another, so we might as well choose to be humble from the beginning. Prayer works. I received very direct answers to my prayers that evening.

Furthermore, I finished my reading of the Doctrine and Covenants this week. The two things that stood out to me as common themes are missionary work and church organization. There is a strengthening power (specifically in relation to missionary work) that comes as we read the Doctrine and Covenants. Additionally, it is a testimony of how The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ’s church restored to the earth today. This book identifies how much has been lost over time and is kind of the church’s “white handbook” of instruction. If they follow the revelation received, then they will not go astray and we will enjoy the blessings of the fullness of the gospel.

On a side note, I have a funny story that I wanted to report about last week. We went and taught primary last week about obedience. We played Simon Says and then were able to discuss more about obedience. We asked for some examples of times when the children had been able to be obedient. This little boy probably about 6-8 years old raised his hand. We called on him and he started to tell his story, which is as follows:

This one time we were going on holiday and I was hungry, so I went ahead and put a bag of chips (I am assuming it is what we think of as french fries) in the microwave. I didn’t know how to use the microwave and after a bit there was a fire inside. Then my [older] brother came out of the bath naked to see what was going on. [At which point his younger brother commented, “No you're lying.” He responded, “No. Ask mum.” Then he continued the story.] Well the neighbors came over and threw a bucket of water on it. That is what you get when you don’t listen to the Spirit.

I went ahead and thanked him for the story. Then I commented, “See we are able to learn the importance of being obedient to our parents.” At which point the young boy corrected me and said, “To the Spirit.” I am not sure about you, but I have never had the Spirit tell me to not put something in the microwave. This boy must have been very in tune with the Spirit. I think there is a lesson we can all learn from him about obedience.

I think that is all for now. Hope you are all doing well! Keep up the good work.

Love, Becca

p.s. Here are a description of the photos:

 

1. We got stuck in traffic again, so what do you do? Take a photo and enjoy life!

 

2. This is a picture from my exchange with Sister Horne and Sister Adam :)

 

Loving the Sights

It has been a great, yet busy week. I keep telling myself that one of these weeks missionary work will settle a bit more here in Gaerwen, but I am not convinced it will. That’s just the thing—missionary work is always fun and exciting, so I think I will take it how it is, hope things don’t settle, and that we continue to have wonderful experiences.

I just want to tell you that it is absolutely beautiful here. I am reminded so much of home with the sea so close. Also, whenever we drive somewhere there are beautifully green hills. I attached some pictures so you will understand some of what I am talking about. I think you will all have to just come visit sometime to understand in its entirety the beauty here. I will admit there are also a lot of places of seemingly nothingness. I also attached some pictures of our drive to have tea with some members; there was very little around (hence the sheep and so forth).

We had trainings this week. It was wonderful as usual. We discussed working with members, becoming and having a change of heart. They were all insightful messages and have caused me to further evaluate my life and where I am at. We also talked a lot about our upcoming hike to Mount Snowden. We each had the opportunity to make a declaration of who we want to become. As we hike, the plan is to keep that thing in mind, and once we reach the summit to rededicate our service. What an opportunity! I love the symbolism that goes behind the hike we are doing. Also, I know there will continue to be fantastic sights to see, not to mention I like hiking and the outdoors. We will be hiking on the 14th of August, so you can look forward to seeing some pictures in a few weeks.

On the way back from trainings, we had quite the excitement. We got stuck in traffic. A truck had an accident on the highway, and what should have been a two hour drive ended up being a five and a half hour drive. Let's just say that Sister Orr and I got to know each other even better. It is nice to just have time set apart to chat and get to know one another better. We have only been together ten days, and she is probably one of my companions that I know the best. Sister Orr is from Idaho and has two older sisters. She studied at BYU-Hawaii before her mission. She was an education major, just like me; however, she was studying English and theatre. (On a side note, there is a sister that just entered the mission who studied math education at BYU. We had a very exciting conversation about it all at BYU; some of your loves and interests just never die no matter where you go). Sister Orr is very hard working, sensible and easy to talk with. She has a bit of a sweet tooth as well, so we get chocolate and ice cream from time to time. She's great!

We also had sisters' conference this week. I had the opportunity to give a training on urgency. It was wonderful to be able to study and learn about urgency myself. Usually, I would think of urgency as it applies to finding (speaking to everyone). As I studied, I realized that urgency applies to a lot more. It applies to about every aspect of our day--finding, teaching, meals, studying, etc. Urgency is a "What's next" attitude. Who's next to speak to? Who's next to call? What's next to study? What's next... I always love being given assignments because it seems that you learn more in preparation that people probably get out of what we say or teach. The scripture that I felt particularly went along with it is Helaman 10:4-5. In these verses, Nephi is commended for his unwearyingness in declaring the word. He does not fear the people around him (fear and love cannot coexist). He is blessed by the Lord. I know that as we are urgent, the Lord blesses us very much and we suddenly have more to give than we seem to have started off with.

That is all for now. Hope you all have a lovely week!

Love, Becca

p.s. Here is a description of the photos:

1. Picture from our extended car ride :)

2. Picture from the car ride. At least there was a pretty view for some of the drive.

3. Driving to the members' house.

Here are the pictures from the sisters conference. Hope you like them.

The first is with President and Sister Preston. 

The second is with the assistants (they are the only elders that get to attend sisters' conference).