Goodbye Sister Wilson

Wow. Where to even begin. This week has been a crazyyyyy one, so imma dive right in.

So, taking you back to last Monday, the 18th. We planned a big party for Elder Packer, since he is going home tomorrow. Everything was nice and planned out for a barbecue at a member's home who lives on base. So the Elders and other Sisters in our district arrive, and we get ready to check into base, THEN we find out one of the Sisters didn't have a picture ID, which means she couldn't get on base. Since it was a barbecue, we didn't really have a way to transport it outside. SO, we decided to go out and do a blitz together before the barbecue since the other Sisters couldn't stay because it was literally impossible for them to get there. As we were driving everyone to a location, all of a sudden the power steering goes out. Poor Sister Wilson was mustering all of her strength to turn. THEN the ABS brakes went out. THEN the windows stopped being able to roll up. Then just about everything that could happen with the car, happened. Luckily we made it to the location to do our finding. We met a super great guy! He had the prettiest dog I've ever seen - German Shepherd/Husky mix. Look it up. Supa cute. After [our finding blitz] and saying goodbye to the other Sisters, we returned back to the base in our struggling car for the barbecue. It was a lot of fun to chillax and eat some burgers and watermelon. Super sad to not have the other Sisters there, though.

So take us to Tuesday. We had interviews with President and Sister Stevens in Norwich. It literally lasted all. day. long. Traveling there for 2 hours in the morning, being there for 6 hours, then traveling 2 hours home. Don't get me wrong, I loved every second of it, but man oh man was it a long day! President gave an amazing training about changing. And not just changing, but "changing aggressively." That was a phrase that Elder Kearon used in the conference we had with him. President focused on the fact that we need to be diligent and have a vision of what we want to become and what we want to accomplish. He shared a quote that I loved: "Why is it so critical to have a correct vision of this divine destiny of godliness of which the scriptures and other witnesses so clearly testify? Because with increased vision comes increased motivation." (Tad R. Callister) I have seen how true this statement is throughout my entire mission. When I really have a goal set in my mind, my motivation increases drastically, and I have the determination to work hard to achieve that goal. It was just a good day overall.

Wednesday was another crazy weird day. In the morning we were contacting the mission office about our car issues, and they told us to get it in the shop as soon as we possibly could. So quick rearranging of plans, and we were all settled to drive the rickety car to the shop... except the car would NOT start. Wouldn't hold a charge when it was jumped. It was dead. After hours of hustle and bustle, finally a nice old man that had moss growing on his teeth came to help us out. We ended up having to tow the car to Bury St. Edmonds and took a nice journey with our new friend Nigel. Then we were stuck in Bury for 3 hours before someone could come give us a lift. The really crazy happening of the day was that I woke up with a 4-year old song stuck in my head, and I told Sister Wilson about how random it was. THEN in Bury there was a street performer singing and playing his guitar, and BOOM he starts singing the song stuck in my head. What are the odds? Sister Wilson and I just looked at each other and were in awe hahaha.

Then we had to begin the adventure of not having a car in our area, which happens to just be massiveeeee. But, with the opportunity to walk a bit more, I have realised just how much I LOVE walking because then I'm actually able to talk to people, and take in the sun and enjoy the fresh (but very humid) air! So it's been a nice little break from sitting in a car from place to place. The only downside is that we just can't make it to certain places with public transport, and it's too far away to walk, soooooooo that puts us in a pickle. Luckily the members are great, and they're so willing to help.

The beginning of this past week was SO HOT. And SO HUMID. Fun fact for ya, since it doesn't get very hot very much in England, the concept of air conditioning of any sort in homes is just unheard of. So, being on the 3rd floor of our flat complex, and not being able to open windows because of the creepy crawlers (oh yeah, screens for windows are also a foreign concept) we have been DYING of heat. Falling asleep has been so rough. Thankfully, a member very kindly offered us a fan of theirs to cope. And let me tell you, that fan has just about saved our lives.

Sister Wilson and I have been working very hard to find new people for our teaching pool, and we met a man that was very open to us coming to tell him more about the gospel. We went to meet with him, and he expressed to us that he has been very depressed and has had thoughts about ending his own life because there is just nothing making him happy anymore. He has cancer, and he's living in a motel until the council housing can find him a more stable place to live. His daughter who has four kids has many health issues and is constantly in and out of the hospital. His parents passed away last year and he's just really struggling to find any glimmer of hope. We hope that we can help him see that he CAN have happiness if he relies on the Lord, and that the spirit will be able to comfort him. It's very humbling to see people in such meager circumstances, and it just makes my heart ache. I hope the gospel will change his outlook, and change his life.

I realise you may be wondering about what my fate is with transfers and... I'll be staying in Thetford! Unfortunately Sister Wilson will be leaving me, she will go to Northampton, BUT I'll get another great companion named Sister Hudson! I'll update you more about it next week! Stay tuned ;)

Love,
Sister Syddall

IT'S A GREAT DAY TO BE ALIVE

FRIENDS!

I'm gonna try to make up for the sad sad email I sent last week. I can't promise that it will impress... but... I will try.

On Wednesday this week we had a whole lot of time to find find find! I've got to say, finding in these tiny little villages has made me greatly appreciate the amount of people in Stevenage. We were just street contacting and met some nice people, but nobody was wanting to hear more. Then the people started disappearing off the street (the whole 5 of them haha) and we decided to try out some tracting. So we go to one of the few streets in Brandon and start tracting and literally NO ONE was answering their doors. Then after attempting like 7 doors, an old lady comes out and is like "why are you knocking on all these doors?! This is for 65 and older, none of these people will answer the door." So we were like "ohhhhkayyyy" and we tried our luck with another street. We were just going along, preaching the word, doing our thang, when a woman answers the door and is like "oh, I'm busy right now, but I can talk for a minute." So we start sharing about the Book of Mormon... and it all just went downhill from there. She started ranting on for a good 45 minutes, and we were lucky to get a few words in. She was very set that the Bible is the only thing we need, and she was not at all open to hear any answers. When it all came down to it, the only thing we could do was to bear testimony. It's interesting, because it's in these moments when people question my faith that it grows even deeper. I can feel the spirit just burning in my heart and I want so badly for these people to know about this wonderful gospel! But, we've all still got our agency, so I'll just keep testifying away, and hope the spirit will touch someone's heart as my companion and I do.

After district meeting this week we took "family pictures." I believe I've explained this before, but it may have been an eternity ago. So... Sister Wilson is my "step daughter," and she is Elder Packer's "daughter." Elder Meier is Elder Packer's "son," and since I'm the sister in the district that has been out the longest, he is also my "son." So we thought we could take an awkward Christmas card photo. And yes, I know it's a bit weird, but we couldn't pass up the opportunity haha.

Friday we headed to Colchester for exchanges with the STL's. I had the opportunity to be with Sister Wright and it was just SO good. I always learn so much from different sisters! We stayed the night, and Saturday morning we had the soccer game of ALL soccer games. I'm talking me, my companion, the Sister Training Leaders, another set of sisters, the Assistants to the president, the zone leaders, and another set of elders. It was a madhouse. And the grass was supa wet and slippery and the two attempts I made to actually kick the ball, I a) missed the ball like a noob, and b) almost slipped and killed myself. It was pretty crazy hahaha. My skills are not needed on a soccer team, but it was good fun!

We headed home on Saturday morning and helped a sister in the ward decorate cookies for her son's baptism. Again, just like soccer, that is not my strong point. All I was asked to do was write a simple CTR, and yet I struggled so bad haha. Then we rushed off to teach an investigator named David. He's the nephew of some members in our ward, and he's been here a little over a month. We've been teaching him the discussions, but he will be going home to Las Vegas tomorrow :( Hopefully the transition from us to the missionaries there will go smoothly. Then we rushed off to the baptism we had decorated cookies for, and ate loads of banana bread. Since the baptism ran a bit long, our finding time was cut short, but we KNEW if we had the faith, we would find someone prepared. When we were just about to end our finding, we stopped a girl from Lithuania and she was SO happy and nice! She's so excited about the Book of Mormon, and we will be seeing her again this week! Heavenly Father always answers those prayers, it's amazing!

I had a random allergic reaction this week to either cherries or fresh mango... haven't debunked exactly what it was because I'm too scared to try anything to find out. I was coughing and my throat was itchy and my whole body started to itch, so I took some Benadryl, and let me tell ya, that just about KILLED me. I was practically a zombie for the rest of the day, but I pushed through. I fought through the sleepiness, and am still here to tell the tale.

Oh, I can't believe I haven't mentioned Elder and Sister Park to you yet!!! They are the senior couple here over the military relations, and they are just SO great! We have FHE with them every Monday evening, and they help us out all. the. time. Ahhh, I just love them. They're so fun! Elder Park is just about the funniest guy ever. I don't have a picture of him right now, but I'll be sure to get one. Elder Park taught us how to play chess, so that's exciting haha!

Today we are having a barbecue for Elder Packer because he goes home next week! AND it's super sunny AND it's super warm AND we get to play frisbee, so what could be better?! I hope you all have a super duper fantastic week! Love you ALL!

Love,
Sister Syddall

1 year already gone?!

Hello everybody!

So... I can't believe this has come, but I literally have zero time to compose an email this week!! I can just say that this week was great! Right now we do not have a whole lot of people to teach, BUT that's ok! Gives us the opportunity to find find find! We've met a few really nice people, and we will continue to search. I love being a missionary. I love sharing the gospel. And I love my Heavenly Father and Saviour more than words can describe. I hope you all have an amazing week!

I promise I'll give you all something more to work with next week! Love you!

Love,
Sister Syddall

The sisters in the zone :)

 The member that got me a cake to celebrate my 1 year. So sweet!

Me and the comp.

AND I'M PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN...

...WHERE AT LEAST I KNOW I'M FREEEE... AND THERE AIN'T NO DOUBT I LOVE THIS LANDDDDDD! GOD BLESS THE USAAAAAA!

Happy 4th of July everyone! I hope you all have an amazing time celebrating with fireworks and hotdogs and hamburgers and SUN! This week has just been a blur (pretty sure I say that every week haha) and super super fast, so I'll try to recount the highlights!

A car selfie for good measure.

This week we had the opportunity to hear from Elder Kearon of the Seventy. It was so great to be able to hear from him again just a few short weeks after we heard from him and Elder Oaks. This conference was so great! We began by hearing from Sister Stevens and she focused on lighting the fire of faith within ourselves. Then we heard from President Stevens and he talked about the power to baptise. Then we heard from Elder Kearon and he talked about... well... practically every aspect of missionary work haha! I think he had a solid three hours of talking to us (with a subway and water break in between, of course). It was just so good. Something that I loved that he focused on was that being happy is a part of our nature. In essence he said "I don't care if you say you're not a morning person, or you're too shy to talk to people. Because we have the gospel of Jesus Christ and a testimony of the Plan of Salvation, happiness is automatically a part of us. So show it!" He challenged us to "attack the day" from the moment we wake up to the moment we lay back down at night. He challenged us to pray more earnestly for the people we are teaching. He challenged us to "become the message." He challenged us to show gratitude for the hardships we face while in the field because that is what will make us grow and learn. He challenged us to overcome the natural man tendency to judge those we see, and to talk to everyone and to invite everyone to learn of the gospel. He said, "We WANT to smell the aroma of cigarette smoke on those who walk into our chapels. We want to see tattoos and piercings. We want to have people of ALL TYPES learning about the gospel message." This is only a fraction of what he went over with us. It was truly an amazing meeting and the spirit was so strong.

Me and Sister Mekonnen!!!!

We also had a ward 4th of July campout with the two wards at a campground this weekend, but of course, since it's light until 10pm, we missed the fireworks and patriotic festivities :(  BUT it was still great to talk with members and so many of them had invited neighbours and friends, so we were able to meet some new great people! On Saturday evening we went with a couple of recent converts to the celebration on base, but once again, because of the light, missed the fireworks, so it was a bit of a letdown, BUT we were still with great people!

A lady just casually walking her pony. It's the norm.

Each week of church I start to love going to two wards more and more. Fast Sunday was especially special because I got to hear two testimony meetings, and the spirit is just always so strong! I love having so much time to feel uplifted by the spirit with so many great people. Bring on 9 hours. Hahaha just kidding, that might be pushing it. Then we had a dinner appointment with a family and we got to have a legit Filipino dessert and it was sooooooo good. The ingredients were: plantains, sweet potatoes, tapioca, coconut gel, coconut sport (whatever the heck that is), ice, ice cream, and then the special Filipino touch: PURPLE YAM straight from the Phillipines. I have no idea what that is, but it's heavenly. So so so good. So good. The closest thing that can give you a small idea of the taste is something called "Ube" ice cream. If you find it, I suggest you try it right now!

Well, I'm sorry I don't have more exciting stuff to speak about, but we are on our way to go hiking (in this flat, flat, FLAT place hahaha) and have a picnic to celebrate FREEDOM. LOVE YA'LL!

Love,
Sister Syddall

LOCKED.

Man oh man. This week has just absolutely FLOWN. I cannot even recount what was happening half of the time... just give me moment to reflect on what has been happening since I last spoke to you all...

Well, first of all, people were not kidding when they called this place "Fat-ford" instead of Thetford. No joke, we get fed almost every single day. And this ain't no English roast, I'm talking AMERICAN FOOD. This week we have had a vegan meal, the best chicken I think I've ever tasted, breakfast for dinner (waffles, hashbrowns, sausage, bacon, MAPLE SYRUP since that's a novelty here, and eggs.), pizza, Cafe Rio-style burritos, curry, and ravioli. Yes. That is a meal every single day. Mama Mia. This place is the danger zone for my health hahaha. But don't you worry, Sister Wilson and I WORK IT in our exercise (because 30 minutes totally makes up for all that food, right?). Seriously, I feel like if I recount this week it mainly revolves around food... Here's the difference between American and English food: FLAVOR. Now that I'm with all these Americans, I realise how bland everything is in England haha.

We did have quite the experience though, and it revolves around the night we had curry... Sister Wilson and I were going to tract a neighbourhood that some members in the ward live in. They said that they had a lot of awesome neighbours, so we thought we would give it a shot. When we arrived we decided to quickly stop by and ask which of their neighbours they thought would be good for us to talk to. These members are AMAZING, so they were just like "well, let us take you over there and introduce you to them!" We make our way outside and it was beautiful and warm and sunny and we were all having a nice chat in the neighbour's front yard. Sister Wilson was wearing a bright yellow top and a ton of these bugs were all over her because of it. She's not a big fan of the little critters, so she was like "I'm gonna go get my jacket so these bugs stay off of me!" She runs to the car and we watch her open the door, grab her jacket, throw her bag in, then close the door. She puts her jacket on, then goes to open the door again andddddddd it was locked. Anddddddd the keys were also locked inside. Andddddd the phone was also locked inside. Anddddddd we were far from home.

The sweet member and their neighbour that we were talking to were like "IT'S OKAY! We can just google how to get into the car. It'll be fine" and so they retrieve this long wire and a door hedge and a screwdriver and went to work. They were prying and pulling and shoving this wire through the door, and surprisingly they got it through (after about 45 minutes....). Then they just had to work on getting it to the button in the middle of the console.... yeah, that wasn't quite so easy. After about an hour of trying, they threw in the towel and we looked for a person who could come unlock it for us... for only £170!!!! So we were like "hold up, NO WAY." Then the wife of the neighbour we were talking to came out and asked if we had any sort of coverage for the car. OH YEAH! (I know, we are so bright:)), but the problem was we had no phone, so we had no way to call the Elder in the office who helps with this kind of stuff. Soooooo we resorted to calling the only number I knew by heart.... which was Stevenage, of course! We called and Sister Searle was just cracking up at the whole scenario. She gave us the numbers we needed, and finally we were able to get it all sorted and got a guy that would come and do it {at no cost to us}.

Since we had crashed this family in our ward's whole Saturday, we decided that we would go tracting around their neighbourhood while we were waiting for the key guy to show up. By this point it had started to sprinkle. The members gave us a huge umbrella and we set off. Then the worst rainstorm I've seen since I've been on my mission (and this is England, land of the rain, I'm talkin' about right here) started. I'm talking major lightening and thunder and just buckets pouring down. As people answered their doors, we were yelling "HELLO! WE ARE THE MISSIONAR..."

"No thank you!" *door slam*

They couldn't even hear us over the thunder and rain. After a few of those we were like "okay, maybe the key guy is here" so we start to head back. Then the members zoom up in their huge American Ford Excursion, told us to hop in, and took our little soaking selves back to their home and made us hot chocolate. And then made us dinner. Isn't that the sweetest thing in the world?! The day literally turned from sunny and bright to flash flooding. So bizarre. The key guy finally came and unlocked our car. In all, this was about a 5 hour ordeal. BUT there were a few positives to this experience: 1) we got to really get to the know the neighbours of the members, and we hope we will be able to see them again and teach them, 2) our car got nice and clean in the downpour... okay, I'm struggling to think of more positives, but it was a random funny incident. We are going to make some cookies and brownies to thank the members and their friends for helping us!

The rain got to me. And my glasses.

I'm now just realising that this story is mega long, so if you made it all the way through, congrats! The rest of the week was really great. We met some new amazing people that we will be teaching. One cool experience that I'll try to briefly share (but I can't promise ya it will be that brief) was when we were talking to people in the street. We were walking around Brandon, and right off the bat we spoke to this woman who just talked and talked and talked. Literally we couldn't get a word in. We were trying to politely exit the conversation but it was impossible! Once we were finally able to move on, I was a bit annoyed that she had taken so much of our finding time. We had to make our way to Tesco to buy some tp (gotta have that essential, am I right??) and on our way back we stopped and talked to this guy. Even though it was raining, we had a super good conversation with him, and he said he just wanted to find peace in his life, and we were like "HEY! We can help you with that!" So we set up another appointment with him. He told us that he didn't know why he decided to walk to Tesco that day instead of drive. He said he NEVER walks there. To make things even wilder, it was raining! So he had no idea what inspired him to walk. That's pretty cool, right?! We taught him about the plan of salvation and he really loved it. He wasn't able to come to church due to work, but he is so so excited to learn more. It was a cool little miracle :)

I hope you all have an amazing week! Sorry for talking (or I guess I should say "writing") your ear off!

Love,
Sister Syddall

 The districttttt. I look like a giant hahaha SO TALL. Luckily Sister Wilson is pretty tall too!

 Yeah, you read that right. SIX POUNDS. That's like NINE DOLLARS. Count your blessings,  folks in the USA.

Howdy Pardner

HOWDY YA'LL! I'm just getting into my new character over here in Thetford because DANG am I surrounded by lots of Americans from the South. I feel like I'm in this weird middle ground between the states and England. I didn't even realise how adjusted I was to the English culture, and now it's hitting me that I've grown accustomed to the English life! I can't even explain how weird this feeling is... but it's been such a crazy crazy week, I'm gonna jump right into that!

So obviously transfers are always a rough day. Saying bye to Stevenage and all the wonderful people I met there was so hard. And I think my luggage has put on like 10 pounds in each suitcase, so that was a struggle through London during rush hour. Then I met my new comp Sister Wilson, and said goodbye to Sister Searle. It was so sad leaving her behind! But I know she'll keep on rockin it in Stevenage. Oh, and when we arrived to my area (we actually live in a place called Brandon) we went out to get some groceries. As we were walking back my companion was like "do you have the keys" and I was like "uhhhhh, no... wait. Do we have the phone?!" "Uhhhhhh.... no." Then we just started cracking up at our misfortune! We then trekked over to the library and called someone on Facebook (who even knew you could do that?!) and we were SAVED. This was the first person I met from one of the wards and she has some TEXAS PRIDE. Her accent cracks me up every time. I love it!

Sister Wilson {my new companion} is so great! She's from California and has been out in the field for 6 weeks, so she was in the same group as Sister Searle. She's my chauffeur in our SICK car which looks like a mini minivan. You know all the people that see us cruzing, rocking out to EFY songs, are soooooo jealous ;) But I have to say, it's a step up from the bikes haha! I may not ever be driving while I'm here, though (it's complicated - tests and such - and expensive to get a UK driver's license, which is REQUIRED after you have been here for a year, and I am at my 1-year mark in about a week), but I'm okay with that because it would just stress me out. Not to mention the amount of people here that have their huge American cars who just whiz around with no care in the world. But it's all good.

The first few days here were just CRAZY. Sister Wilson told me about Don, who was going to be baptised in two weeks. Then he calls the day I got here and is like, "wait! I'll be out of town in two weeks so I want to be baptised THIS SATURDAY." And we were just like "sayyyyy wahaaa?!" So we went to District Meeting Thursday, and spur of the moment, our District Leader {+ his comp} came back with us to Thetford (a two hour train journey) to interview Don. After we dropped them off for the interview, we went and taught an investigator, then zoomed back to pick them up so they could make the hourly train... then we proceeded to get lost for 45 minutes driving around a legit forest. Elder Packer and I were both literally dying with the most insane allergies I've ever had in my life. So... they missed their train. We decided to give them some delicious spaghetti (leftovers from the member we ate with the evening before), and we got them back on the train to Kings Lynn. It was such an adventurous day.

So we arrived to Friday, and we literally had to throw together the entire baptism this day. We needed talks and people to say prayers and clothes for Don and Priesthood holders and EVERYTHING. The Mildenhall Ward just got a brand new ward mission leader, but he saved our life! He was sooooo willing to help us organise and plan and call people. The ward members here are just absolutely amazing. We couldn't have gotten everything together in time without them!

Saturday was the big day, and Don was baptised! It was so wonderful and there was a good turnout for support and it was really just so so great. I had just barely met Don the day before, but he's like a giant teddy bear and the sweetest person and was SO ready to be baptised. Again, I just have to reiterate, both of the wards here are AMAZING.

Saturday night was hilarious because Sister Wilson and I proceeded to have a full on conversation in our sleep, and we both woke up talking about a lesson and were just like "what is happening?..." And then I looked at the clock and it was 2:30 in the morning and we just laughed and laughed. Then we fell asleep again in like .3 seconds because we were exhausted. It was so odd though hahaha.

Sunday was my first time attempting six hours of church. Lemme tell ya, that's a longggggg time. BUT I still loved it and loved getting to meet the members from each ward. I've got a lottttt of names to memorise here. We will see how it goes!

I hope you all have a wonderful week! Love you all!
Love,
Sister Syddall


Post post:
Found this picture on the UK and Ireland missionary momma's facebook page. Can you spot Shilo? I can ;-) She's next to Sister Searle, about four rows back, left from center.

and another I spy:

Photos taken June 7, 2016

From pedalling to hitting the pedal

Hello everybody! Wow, this week has just been loaded with all sorts of jazziness, so let's get right on with that!

I'm officially no longer a teenager. And wow, lemme tell ya, it feels pretty riveting! (Nah, I'm just kidding, nothing actually feels different.) We got a beautiful forecast of rain. And more rain. And more for the rest of this week!

The day of my birthday. Right after this it POURED, so I was not looking nice for too long haha!

On the actual day of my birth, we had a nice breakfast at McDonalds (classy, I know), got a milkshake to celebrate, and then we got a sad phone call where I was informed I'll be leaving Stevenage and Sister Searle :'(  I am moving on to Thetford, BUT get this... I'll have a car! AND I'll be on an Air Force Base, which means KRAFT MAC AND CHEESE AND TACO BELL. AND AN AMERICAN WARD!  Then it dawned on me... I WILL BE THERE FOR THE 4TH OF JULY! So there are a few positives, I guess. We had dinner with Bishop and his fam, and they even got me a cake and a birthday button and everything. It was so so sooooooooo sad saying goodbye to them, but altogether it was a great day!

My birthday cake at Bishop's! And his two adorable sons.

Today we went to London to celebrate with some missionaries from the zone. In the past we have attempted to go to St. Paul's Cathedral for free because sometimes missionaries get in, but not too commonly. BUT TODAY WAS THE DAY! They let us in, and wowza, that was an ornate building. We even walked like 1,000 steps to go to the very top (my legs are literally still shaking haha). It was quite cool to see some history! Then we went to CHIPOTLE. Dang. I don't even remember it being that good, but it was DELICIOUS.

At St. Paul's Cathedral with the Sisters! Sisters Shamukiga, Smiddy, and Searle! A whole lotta S :)

Some cool views of London from the top of St. Paul's.

Sister Smiddy is going to Norwich, so we will be in the same zone!

The whole group from our London pday - Elder Gibbs, Elder Koehler, and the Sisters

Saturday evening we had a dinner appointment with Kathy. I've mentioned her in the past - she's the hilarious Chinese sister in the ward. I just wanted to share my favourite part of the night. To set the scene -- we were sharing our spiritual thought with her, and it went a little something like this:

Sister Searle in her American accent: "...and I'm just so grateful to know that there is a purpose in my life..."

Kathy (in her wonderful Chinese accent): "Purpose? What does this 'purpose' mean? I have never heard that word before. Please write it down for me so I can learn what it means."

Me (sitting there thinking there is no way she hasn't heard the word purpose, she's lived in England for like 50 years, so that would  make no sense) in my very poor attempt at imitating an English accent: "...PUH-pus...?"

Kathy: "OH! PUH-pus!"

Then we all busted up laughing for a good 5 minutes. Then we got back to the spiritual note, don't you worry. It was a great night! Kathy literally has a pure heart of gold, I don't think I've ever known someone so giving and kind.

We love Kathy! 

I was a bit sad on Sunday because Julieta was supposed to be getting baptised, but it has been pushed back a couple of weeks, sooooo I will not be here. BUT I am so glad that I have had the opportunity to teach her, and that I've been able to learn a little Spanish while I was at it haha. Julieta and her family have grown to be some of my all-time favourite people that I've met on the mission, and I'm just so glad I've had the opportunity to know them!

With Julieta! So sad I won't be here for her baptism :(

On Tuesday (the 7th), as I mentioned last week, we got to hear from Elder Dallin H. Oaks and it was sooooo wonderful! He gave so much wonderful counsel and advice, and I just loved the message that he shared. He focused on teaching repentance to all those we teach. He talked about the reality that this mission is a challenging one at finding people who will enter the waters of baptism. He talked about how the world is quickly moving away from a belief in God, and this is actually what brought him to England. He was going to talk at a conference about religious freedom, and why it's so essential. So the focus of his message was this: we need more people that believe in God. He spoke about how even though everyone we teach may not be baptised, if we can help them feel that they have a Heavenly Father who loves them, we are fulfilling our purpose. As we teach people how they can repent and how they can change, they still ultimately have their agency to choose if they will make covenants. Another point that was focused on was that no effort we make is too small. Ahhhhh, this day was just so amazing.

We also got to hear from President and Sister Gubler of the London South Mission, President and Sister Stevens, Elder Kearon of the Seventy and Sister Kearon, and Sister Oaks. All of their messages were so perfect, and just what I and many others needed. The Spirit was literally tangible. And I can't help but get the chills when I hear 400+ missionaries singing "Called to Serve." I just absolutely LOVED this day, and I could go on forever, but I'll stop myself there :)

The old Wembley District... plus a few! At the Elder Oaks conference.

I hope you all have an absolutely fantastic week! Love you! Sorry this email is literally in the most bizarre order and all over the place!

Love,
Sister Syddall


From Tina ~ I received this text message this morning:
"Here are your awesome missionaries. We ran into them at St. Paul's cathedral. Have a great day!"

Shilo told me the picture was taken by one of the AP's parents, who were in London to pick up their son at the conclusion of his mission. So fun to get texts like that!