This week kind of just went by in a blur, so I don't really remember all that well WHAT even happened! I will try my best to recall all of the highlights.
Highlight number one was definitely Thanksgiving! We had a district meeting that morning and met the whole new crew. That night we got to go to one of the American couples in our ward for an AMAZING Thanksgiving dinner. They invited both us and the Elders over, and then they had one other American couple and one Mexican/English couple (hey, any reason to celebrate and have food, right?). But oh. my. goodness. they had the entire spread. Turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole. The funny English addition was Yorkshire pudding (and for all my American pals... so I guess that means ALL my pals... "pudding" is not what you're imagining) in place of rolls. They're still way good anyway so I was cool with it! And then you can't end Thanksgiving without 5,263,748 pies haha! I was seriously bursting by the end of the night. I'm not even kidding. I was seriously in pain because I ate so much. It was SO dang worth it, though. Sister Mekonnen thoroughly enjoyed her first Thanksgiving experience.
Friday was an awesome day as well! We were doing some finding and just talking to anyone and everyone that we saw. Unfortunately the weather has been the pits lately and people are just not nearly as open to talk when the wind is blowin' ya over and the rain is slapping your face at 100mph. So we decided that we would try out a little tracting. Generally tracting isn't the most effective way to find people, but we were BLESSED on this little street. Seriously four houses in a row were so open and want to learn more about the gospel! And just the fact that people were in at the time is a miracle in itself because most people here work away their entire life. Since my new district leader knows I'm in the choir, he assumes I have a really good voice and has been trying and trying to get me and Sister Mekonnen to sing for the district while he plays the ukulele. We made a deal that if Sister Mekonnen and I didn't find a new investigator Friday afternoon, we would sing, but Heavenly Father had my back because He knew the whole singing thing would NOT go well hahaha.
Saturday night we had Thanksgiving dinner round two with another couple in the ward, and once again the food was uh-maze-ing. And once again I ate way way wayyyyy too much haha! But what is Thanksgiving if you don't feel like toppling over after you eat? And the whole "turkey makes you tired" thing really took a toll on me. I was BEAT by the time we got back to our flat. But it was awesome.
If you thought my Thanksgiving extravaganza ends there, you thought wrong! The senior Sisters wanted to have us over for Thanksgiving, but we had the other dinner, so we went to their flat on Sunday night, and they once again made the whole spread. And they are the only ones who gave us stuffing, so I was quite happy. Once again I ate way. too. much. Thank goodness Thanksgiving only comes one time a year because I think I would be about 500 pounds heavier after my mission if I ate like this every night. Oh, and they had loads of Christmas decorations at their flat, so that was pretty dang awesome as well!
I woke up today feeling soooooo sick. Sore throat, aching body, fever/chills, ear ache, headache. Ya know, the works. AND I got to sing for three hours:') howwwwwww wonderful. But I am happy to let you all know I survived, even though I could literally feel the life draining out of me the whole time. Actually my health is STILL deteriorating. Just crossing my fingers I'll feel better after a good night's sleep and be able to work 110% tomorrow!
Something pretty cool is that for the first time at the Hyde Park Visitor Centre they are having a live nativity! It's right on Exhibition Road, so LOTS of people see it. President Stevens got to dedicate that with a beautiful prayer and then we got to sing a few of our songs, which may not have been the best for my health in the cold, wet weather, but it was still so fun! For any of you that will just be moseying around London (I'm sure you'll all be here, right?) on December 13th, we will be performing at Hyde Park and the one, the only, President Stevens will be singing a solo woooohooooo! We will also be performing at Wembley and Ilford, so that should be loads of fun! I am actually way pumped about it. If someone manages to get a video, I'll be sure to send it to you all!
Alrightttttt now here's a little spiritual upliftment for you all:
"The past is to be learned from but not lived in. We look back to claim the embers from glowing experiences but not the ashes. And when we have learned what we need to learn and have brought with us the best that we have experienced, then we look ahead and remember that faith is always pointed toward the future." ~ Jeffrey R. Holland
Oh, and I hope you have all had a chance to watch the new Christmas video! If not, check it out on christmas.mormon.org
LOVE YA'LL (England brings out my inner redneck)! I hope you're all gearing up for the most wonderful time of the year!
Love,
Sister Syddall
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