Fall is here and so is the rain!

Can you believe that fall is here already? Well it may be winter as well from the cold weather we have been getting. I have pulled out my boots and my winter jacket is still out from last winter. We are staying dry and continuing to have fun, despite what the weather does.

I recently was talking to one of the RMs (returned missionaries) in the ward, and he was saying how your family just wants to hear about how you are doing and how life is. It made me realize that maybe I should include a bit more just about everyday life as a missionary rather than a complete focus on the spiritual things (i.e. what I am learning). Let me know what you like to hear about, but here is a bit of a different approach to my week than usual.

I am sure you are all curious about the Chinese buffet from last week. Well the food was good. I'll admit that I couldn't quite eat as much as the elders, but it was still enjoyable. I wasn't hungry for the rest of the day. There were about 30 of us there, so it was definitely a party. Dad asked how much it cost, well it was only £6.80, which is quite cheap in comparison to prices here in England. It is always good to be around other missionaries and just relax. After the meal, we were walking in Manchester because we needed to get an extra set of keys from the office elders. (Yes, we locked ourselves outside our flat...it is the first time it has happened to me so that is pretty good.) As we were walking, someone yelled out of their car, "Hey, sisters!" I looked over and who did I see, Simon or Elder Gallagher. My first thought was Simon, but then I realized that I have never used his first name so I wasn't 100% sure if that was it. Hence, I ended up yelling, "Elder Gallagher!" He finished his mission here about a year ago. Since he is from Scotland, he is in the area quite frequently. It was nice to see him because it reminded me simply how much individuals have impacted my mission. They have been able to help me reach my full potential and teach me how to do missionary work. He was the first assistant I ever had, so he definitely had a significant impact on my work. It's nice to see old mission friends. Speaking of mission friends, Sister Howes visited the Manchester South Ward yesterday so I was able to see her briefly before church began. You just grow to the love the people you serve around and with.

Before I tell you two stories, let me first share a bit about missionary work. When we speak to people, we always invite them to learn more. Usually as we invite them to learn more, we ask for their address and phone number. Ideally, you get both because then you have two ways to contact them. You don't always have the ideal situation, and especially with university students it doesn't seem you normally get them both. Now on to the stories.

Let me tell you about a miracle. Friday, we went out for our hour of finding (going out to speak to people) before weekly planning (sitting in the flat for four hours to plan lessons, our next week, have lunch, etc). We met two young men named Niall and Olly. We talked about the purpose of life and The Book of Mormon. It was a fairly good conversation, and they said we could come discuss more next Sunday. I’ll admit it didn’t appear like anything miraculous. They gave us their address, but we when asked for a number they weren't so willing... We learned of the miracle later that evening. After planning, we received a phone call from Sebastian, who is a member that recently moved in. Sebastian called to tell us that at his induction (introduce the students to the major) for the economics major at university he met Olly. They happened to sit at the same table, and Olly just happened to bring up how he had met two sister missionaries earlier that day. You are probably wondering why this is a miracle? Well, it built member trust. Sebastian was able to see how we are working hard and speaking to everyone. It is not that often that you meet someone your members happen to run into later that day and meet themselves. This member trust is especially important because Sebastian was called as the new ward mission leader (he oversees our missionary efforts and coordinates work with the ward) on Sunday. He is very enthusiastic, and it is great to see how we are starting off on a good foot!

My second story is more comical. We met someone and had a nice conversation. Once again, it came to the point where we invited them to learn more. They accepted, and we wrote down their address. We then asked for the number, and they gave it to us. At which point, we gave them a dropped call and their phone didn't ring :/ The only problem is someone else answered...we had to let them know we dialed the wrong number. As a result, we did get the correct number. In a lot of cases, you would think 'oh this person was not sincere,' however, he was. We all laughed about it. The funny thing is it happened again a few days later (almost the exact same scenario). Luckily, my companion was the one with the phone both times :) Didn't someone once say how laughter makes you live longer? We are definitely going to live a while.

Take care!

Love, Becca

p.s. Here are the photo descriptions:

1. From the Chinese buffet. Most of these elders are in my district, so I see them at least weekly.

2. I went on exchange with Sister Peters. She is from the Netherlands. It made me realize how much I miss the city being in a small town again. I think I am just a city-type missionary.

3. Sister Loh and me. Happy as ever :)

The Weekend

It has been a busy week. The weather has been variable, but alright. I want to tell you about my weekend because that is what is most memorable for me this week. It has been quite the experience.

Friday evening, Sister Smith came out finding with us for an hour. Sister Smith is the Relief Society president in the YSA ward. She also conveniently served her mission here a few years ago. She is a fantastic missionary and shares her wealth of knowledge with others by teaching at the MTC. Unfortunately, she was not my teacher, but now I can learn from her as we work side by side :) The only word I can use to describe it is BRILLIANT! I think I loved it so much because Sister Smith and I are rather similar, just a bit of an age-gap. We both have that proactive attitude. We just stopped person after person and were able to boldly testify of the truth of the things we shared. More importantly, we had fun. For example, we met this one man who had a folding bicycle. We had a lovely conversation with him. I can’t accurately describe how the conversation went, but we were able to share about the gospel as well as laugh together. It was just a fantastic hour where some good missionary work got done.

This weekend, we have had a fast, find, and feast. Friday, we fasted to find new investigators in the mission. Saturday, we had set time during the day to find. And today, we are going to feast—going to an all you can eat buffet. I enjoyed the fasting and finding. We fasted and I had a lot of faith. Kamila, a convert from Poland, even came out with us for the day. Kamila is great! She is putting in her mission papers and has that sincerity in her desire to serve. All I have to say is if I went out finding with the missionaries for a whole day before coming on a mission, I am not sure if I would have stepped foot on that plane. I never knew missionary work would be so hard some days... Back to the story though... I completely expected to find those two new investigators we fasted for. However, that blessing was not bestowed upon us. I am not going to lie, I was a bit disappointed. While we taught some wonderful lessons, not one became a new investigator (at least yet). I truly felt I had put in my full heart, might, mind, and strength, yet the desired result did not come.

This result only added to those feelings of being a “headless chicken” for lack of a better phrase. My best analogy is back to my days when I played football (soccer). I always played midfield. It didn’t seem to matter how hard you worked, some games you just did a lot of running. The ball seemed to constantly be going back and forth between defense and forward. As a result, you feel like a headless chicken because your work isn’t getting you anywhere. That is how I have kind of been feeling recently. The recent emphasis on baptism and helping people progress has probably helped me to recognize that lack in our work. While we do have a focus and direction, it seems no matter how hard we are working toward it, I feel like a headless chicken. Here is where the talk, “The Power of Self-Mastery” by James E. Faust comes in. I felt inspired to read it, and this is what I learned. First, these sentences stood out to me, “As full-time missionaries we learn great lessons in self-mastery. We learn to get up when we should get up, to work when we should work, and to go to bed when we should go to bed. Full-time missionaries are generally admired and even respected, though their message may not be as well received as we would like.” No matter how much I want someone to listen to me, I can’t take away their agency. While I would like for people to receive me, it is simply not something that is up to me. Second, I was once again impressed by the motto Ralph Waldo Emerson lived by: “That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do; not that the nature of the thing itself is changed, but that our power to do is increased.” Missionary work does get easier over time. Not that the work has changed, but our perspective has. That ultimate trust in the Lord is what matters most—recognizing that He has a plan and will for each of us. We are accomplishing something far greater; we are just not always aware of what that is.

Life is good though. I loved last Monday with all the exercise we did. We played chair football as well as four on four. Then we played frisbee for FHE. I was even sore the next morning. I can't even remember the last time I was sore... There are some things you will just always love, like sports for me :) It is sometimes small things like sports that bring that true joy to help you continue onward.

That is all for now. Have a fantastic week!

Love, Becca

p.s. These photos are from the specialized training on August 22

Summer Is Here!

Life is absolutely brilliant as usual, but even more so because the sun has been shining this whole week! I think we finally got our glimpse of summer. Let me tell you about all the excitement that has been happening.

As we attended district leader council on Saturday, we discussed a lot about vision. When asked "where do you want to be ten years from now?" I have a very clear vision of what I want from life and who I want to become. Ten years from now I want to be a wife, a mother, a teacher, a friend, a disciple of Christ, a college graduate, a worthy temple recommend holder, etc. But when asked about my vision of my mission it is not quite as clear. I want to be an eloquent speaker and an effective teacher, yet who else do I truly want to become? While discussing, I was reminded by Elder Robbins' talk from general conference where he talked about to be lists. He mentioned how often people make to do lists, but rarely do people make to be lists. It is when we change the desire and who we want to be that our actions and the dos change. Becoming is getting at the root of things and making a real change to our actions. Therefore, I took this opportunity to ponder and reflect on my vision as a missionary. I was able to see more about who I want to become, what Christlike attributes I want to develop, and how I can grow as a person. It is when we take a step back and seek for the vision that we are able to get a clearer grasp on where we are at and where we are going.

Additionally, I have been enjoying my study of Preach My Gospel. I am learning so much from my re-commitment to these words of prophets and apostles. In my personal study, I read in Chapter 11: Keeping Commitments, which states the following: “Every finding opportunity...should lead to an invitation to act...” (Preach My Gospel, 196). It was clear as I read this sentence why we invite people to meet with us when we meet them for the first time. I was reminded of Elder Caner’s (another missionary in my mission) quote from the Harvester (the mission's weekly newsletter) this last week, “There is not agency until there is a choice.” Without inviting, the people simply do not have that choice to say yes or no. Our invitation allows each individual to exercise his or her agency and decide whether or not to seek further understanding. Inviting is essential in all aspects of missionary work, and this quote highlighted the importance of invitations in finding settings.

Things continue to go well, and we are meeting wonderful people. I have been able to use my Spanish a few times this week as well. I'll admit it is a bit rusty, but I am able to have simple conversations and understand what they are saying. One great thing about being in Manchester is the diversity of the people. It is wonderful to be surrounded by people who have a variety of backgrounds and speak all different languages. I can't think of what other updates I have at the moment. We are going to go play football with the elders today and then frisbee tonight with the YSA (Young Single Adults) for FHE (Family Home Evening) so that should be fun. I am continuing to enjoy life each and every day, as well as making the most of my time here in Manchester. It seems like I never stay anywhere very long, so I am enjoying the area while I am here.

Hope you all have a wonderful week. Know that I am thinking about you.

Love, Becca

p.s. Sorry no pictures this week, but I should have some next week :)

Great to be Back

It is great to be back in Manchester. My entire mission has been in and around here, so it is nice to be back in the area that seems to have become a second home. I am remembering quite a lot from when I lived in Didsbury last time around, but I am learning new things as well. As I told you last week, I am working with the Young Single Adult (YSA) ward, which is composed of mostly students age 18-30. I love the energy and excitement each of them have about life and the gospel. It makes missionary work that much more exciting. Plus, it is good for me to be able to recognize more how the work I am doing now will play out in my life as a "real" person as well. It is great to be here, and I am loving it all.

We are starting off from nothing basically. They simply added another companionship to the ward, so we didn't have a lot to build off of. However, it has made for some great finding. Plus, it seems the fruit of the labors that we reap is just that much more delicious. Let me tell you a few of the miracles we have seen already. This is what I wrote in my letter to President:

"At first, we started with nothing. It was refreshing in a way to have a clean slate and do some pure finding. That is what we did for the first few days, but I loved it! Then the lessons came and our finding paid off. Saturday morning we went to teach Rob, a Christian we met street contacting. Rob recently graduated from university with a computer science and mathematics (just up my alley) degree. It was our first lesson and we even had a member come out teaching with us. We did some great How to Begin Teaching (our introduction to teaching) and started into the Restoration lesson. Just after we got through the gospel blesses families, Rob nicely spoke up and summarized the rest of the lesson. Him and his friend, Tim, who later joined us, studied the night before in preparation for our coming. Luckily, they had studied accurate material, so they were quite knowledgeable. We reviewed the apostasy in some more detail, which they do not understand in its fullness, but overall it was a wonderful discussion. I love how the turning point in the lesson was when we bore a simple, yet powerful, testimony of The Book of Mormon. They had concerns, but the testimonies born were undeniable. It was clear that they were touched by the Spirit and are very willing to read to find out the truth for themselves. I’ll admit that partway through the lesson I was wishing the assistants (they also serve in the YSA ward) were the ones teaching them because they are much more knowledgeable about the scriptures (in particular the Bible); however, I realized simplicity and the Spirit are key. After all, it was a man without eloquence that converted Brigham Young.

"We also taught a wonderful young lady named Cecilia from China. We met her street contacting on Saturday and were able to teach her the next evening (Sunday). Her grandmother is Christian, so she has some awareness of our beliefs. She even has prayed in her life before, but she does not have a lot of understanding about who she is praying to. We shared about the godhead, and she was very accepting. Cecilia even told us that she thinks it is better for people to have a religion than not to have one. She has already become a great friend, and I would say she is equally enthusiastic about life as I am. There are miracles taking store here, especially in relation to finding new investigators!"

I am sure you are all wondering about my companion as well. Sister Loh is from Singapore. Her mother is from Hong Kong and her dad is from Singapore. She was born in Hawaii, while her parents were attending BYU there, but she grew up in Singapore. She is a year younger than me, and also went to BYU. She was studying geography, but thinks she may want to switch majors now so she can do translation in the future. Sister Loh is willing to try new things and speaks to everyone.

That is about all I have to report for now. I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Love, Becca

p.s. I realized I didn't take any photos since Wednesday, so I took one real quick last night. Here is a picture so you know that I am still alive.