Colddddddd

Hello, hello, hello!

This week has been good, and I apologise in advance that this letter is a bit all over the place... but let's just get right into it!

This week we had another appointment with our investigator named Raymond, the young-looking grandpa, and let me tell ya, this guy is soooooo hilarious. I think we were laughing for about half of the lesson. At one point he asked us what our full time job was, and when we told him that this is what we do for 18 months, his eyes got about as big as the moon. He was SO taken back by the fact that we do this full time and even more amazed by the fact that we pay for it. But we have had really cool experiences with him. He told us that after reading the introduction of the Book of Mormon, he felt he needed to read it. He has a strong desire to know if it is true. We are so excited to continue to teach him how the gospel can bless his life.

I think this picture proves that missionaries might just be the most unphotogenic group of people on this planet hahaha.

On Friday this week my companion got sick, so it was my first day being stuck in the flat all. day. long. And since I was NOT feeling sick, I didn't feel like I could sit back and relax, so I cleaned. And cleaned some more. Listened to tons of conference talks. Updated our area book. Studied the scriptures. And by the end of the day I truly think I was more exhausted than on a normal day in the field. But hey, our flat looked dang good haha!

On Saturday night we gained an hour of sleep which was sooooooo nice. But the not so nice part is that Sunday night Sister Mekonnen and I literally thought it was like 8:30pm and we looked at the time and it was only 5:15, and we were both like WHAT?! And it was so SO cold. Let me tell ya, England cold is wayyyyyyy different than Colorado/Utah cold. It's humid and wet and just plain coldddddd. And it's not even winter yet hahaha. Poor Sister Mekonnen is not used to any sort of cold weather. She came out on the mission in March, so she just hit the end of last winter, but the cold literally makes her bones hurt. It's all ok when we bundle up nice and warm, though. I will just be practically living off of hot chocolate for the next 6 months.

Something I am not a fan of is whatever their garbage (or should I say rubbish) system is here. It is just not good at alllll. Pretty much you just throw your bags out whenever they're full, and then they just sit in the open until workers come by and throw them into the dumpster truck. By garbage day the streets are disgusting. Seriously, there is just tons of stuff throughout the streets and along the sidewalks, and I pretty much just feel like I'm being contaminated by breathing in the air. And people drop a ton of stuff, so there's always nasty food spilled everywhere. Good thing we have the lovely pigeons to clean that all up (can you sense the sarcasm there?). That is my random rant about garbage. Moving on.

On Sunday night we got to go to bishop's house for dinner, and like I've mentioned many times before, the food is soooooooo good there. We had a whole crowd from the ward over with us. We sang happy birthday to the bishop, and to give you an idea of the diversity, we sang it in SEVEN languages: English (woohoo! I'm so cultured haha), Portuguese, Italian, Bulgarian, Chinese, Spanish, and Amharic (go Sista Mekonnen). It took a good chunk of time, but it was still so cool!

How do you get kids to love you? Let them play with photo booth haha.

This week I read an AMAZING talk by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland called The Grandeur of God. Elder Holland was recounting scriptures that give us an idea of God's love for each of his children. Beginning by recounting Enoch, he said,

"There, in the midst of a grand vision of humankind which heaven opened to his view, Enoch, observing both the blessings and challenges of mortality, turns his gaze toward the Father and is stunned to see Him weeping. He says in wonder and amazement to this most powerful Being in the universe, 'How is it that thou canst weep? ...Thou are just [and] merciful and kind forever; ...Peace...is the habitation of thy throne; and mercy shall go before thy face and have no end; how is it thou canst weep?'"

"Looking out on the events of almost any day, God replies: 'Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands. ...I gave unto them...[a] commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood. ...Wherefore should not the heavens weep, seeing these shall suffer?'"

"That single, riveting scene does more to teach the true nature of God than any theological treatise could ever convey. It also helps us understand much more emphatically that vivid moment in the Book of Mormon allegory of the olive tree, when after digging and dunging, watering and weeding, trimming, pruning, transplanting, and grafting, the great Lord of the vineyard throws down his spade and his pruning shears and weeps, crying out to any who would listen, 'What could I have done more for my vineyard?'"

"What an indelible image of God's engagement in our lives! What anguish in a parent when His children do not choose Him nor 'the gospel of God' He sent! How easy to love someone who so singularly loves us!"

This talk is seriously so. good. I suggest that everyone take 15 minutes to read it! God truly does weep for us when we suffer, and rejoices with us when we do what is right. He wants us to make those decisions that will bring us eternal happiness.

I love you all! I hope your upcoming week is magnificent!

Love,
Sister Syddall

Come what may, and LOVE it!

Hello! Howdy! Hola! Bonjour!

I hope that you have all had a fantastic week! My week started out a little rough, but through the hardships there are always lessons to learn, which is what life is all about, right?! Although the beginning was trying and hard, I definitely have felt an immense amount of love and comfort from my Heavenly Father and my Savior, Jesus Christ. The power of prayer is real, people! Take advantage of that gift, it will turn those hard days into brighter ones, I can promise you that.

Now on the to big change that has happened this past week. I'm no longer with Sister Bader (sad day), and I am now with Sister Mekonnen, and can I just say she is SO amazing. We have already had so much fun together and we work hard, which is the perfect combination in a missionary companionship! We are so excited to hasten the work even further in Hayes. And I haven't gotten us super lost yet, which is success I would say (thank you iPads and google maps haha)! Oh, and she is the first missionary from Ethiopia to ever be called to England, so having had a Swiss, and now her, I would say I've been blessed with the coolest comps of them allllllll.  I am so pumped for what these next 5 weeks hold!

So the day of transfers I was all anxious and nervous and scared and sad to be saying bye to Sister Bader. How it works over here is that you get a call two nights before and they tell you what will be going on. Then we all gather at a train station (which, can I just say, is more confusing than an airport) and swap around our companions. The morning of the transfers we thought that we had given ourselves a good amount of time to get there at 9:15 in the morning, but we quickly realised that lugging around 150 lbs+ of luggage between two weak girls was not the easiest task hahaha. We finally got on the tube and were super stressed because we realised that we would be almost an hour late. But we were mainly glad that our arms didn't fall off in the process. Luckily, when we would get to the long flights of stairs there were kind people who would help us out because I can imagine we were a sight to behold. We finally got to the gathering place only to realise we didn't even need to be in a rush because many companionships were still not there. Then began the wait. We watched as the number of missionaries there trickled down. Then Sister Bader shot off with her new comp and I was with another Sister. And then one hour passed. Then two. Then another 30 minutes. At this point it was just me and that one Sister with the Zone Leaders. Finally our companions showed up (they were more than a 3 hour drive away from where we were meeting, so we were forgiving haha), and then it was another 2 hour trip lugging around even HEAVIER luggage. Oh, and I can't forget to mention that as we got on one of the trains, I hadn't held on yet and it took off and I went flying. FLYING I tell you, into this man, and stepped on his feet. Embarrassing? Yes. Needless to say, when we finally got back to the flat, we weren't too excited to carry everything up the stairs, but we survived! Then we realised we had to go grocery shopping, so yet another 30 minutes of carrying around stuff. My arms were straight up noodles when the day came to an end. Exercise the next morning was not very productive due to the fact that I couldn't put any weight on my arms hahaha. But I am almost back to no soreness, woohoo!!

The rest of the week consisted of finding and more finding and teaching and more teaching. The funniest thing is how confused investigators get when transfers happen, since generally they don't get a warning because WE don't even get any sort of warning. But everyone has just automatically loved Sister Mekonnen because she is just FUN. I am so pumped for these next five weeks! I was a little jealous of her, though, because she just got transferred from an Air Force base, so she was surrounded by my fellow Americans and they were all gearing up to celebrate Halloween and Thanksgiving and Christmas, and they just do holidays a LOT bigger in the good ol' U. S. of A. But I still love my Hayes friends, so I wouldn't want to leave them :)

The sweet Senior Sisters <3 please ignore my awkward hair bump haha

After hearing David A. Bednar's talk a few weeks ago, I decided to study and listen to each of those wonderful talks he spoke about that were the last talks of some of our beloved Apostles. I was studying Joseph B. Wirthlin's Come What May and Love It, and I loved his closing testimony: "I know why there must be opposition in all things. Adversity, if handled correctly, can be a blessing in our lives. We can learn to love it. As we look for humor, seek for the eternal perspective, understand the principle of compensation, and draw near to our Heavenly Father, we can endure hardship and trial. We can say, as did my mother, 'Come what may, and love it.' Of this I testify in the name of Jesus Christ." Although none of us are anxiously awaiting any of the trials that lay ahead, we can constantly be striving to love whatever comes our way. Even though it's not always easy to recognise, always look for what you can learn when hard times come.

I love you all! I hope you have a fabulous week!

Love,
Sister Syddall

Aufwiedersehen

Helllllo everyone!

So I am sorry that last week I totally failed to inform you that it is transfers week and that I wouldn't be emailing until Tuesday... even though none of you were probably concerned haha... Ok, well, carrying on. So if you're on the edge of your seat just DYING to know what my fate will be for the next six weeks......................... (Is the suspense building?) well I will be staying in Hayes for my THIRD transfer and I am pumped! Sister Bader will be leaving which is the explanation of the title of this letter :'( but I will be getting a new companion named Sister Mekonnen and she is from Ethiopia! I am way excited to meet her, but I'm also flipping out a little on the inside because I am scared like none other since this area is HUGE and I feel like I'll never know how to get anywhere but that's life haha. This new transfer really creeped up on me. Like how on earth have two transfers already gone???!?! But hey, new things are exciting I guess! The motto I have heard from every. single. missionary. in. the. world. was that the days are long but the weeks are fast. That literally is the most accurate statement I have ever heard.

This is my missionary "family." Sister Bader is my mom, the eyebrows aka Elder Cook is my dad, and Elder Williams is my brotha. I find this whole family thing quite odd, but it's whatever hahaha. And also don't mind that my name tag is practically falling off.

Alright, so I've got a funny little story for y'all. A couple of weeks ago Sister Bader and I were tracting, ya know, just doing our thang, when we met this man named Raymond. He had just woken up when he answered the door so he asked if we could come back later. We tried him again and his family was all there so he asked if we could come back later. We tried him again and his family was all there so again he asked if we could come back. We tried yet AGAIN and he had a huge group of friends over, and so Sister Bader and I were like "Ok, we are going to try ONE MORE TIME" and so we went and he finally could let us in and talk to us! I was thinking every time that we met him that he was 25, maybe 26, but then he started talking and he was like "yeah, I just want to be the best example I can be to my kids and my grandson".... and we were like WUTTTTTT?????? So turns out he's like 10 years older than we had assumed. He's still a very young grandpa but it was seriously just mind boggling.

So this week we had the opportunity to do a service project for a less active member in the ward. We went to help her clean her home, and I am not passing any judgement here, but.... it was the messiest home that I have ever been in. I have never seen so many toys and clothes and shoes and dirty nappies and plates of old food in one place. Thankfully we recruited the help of the senior Sister missionaries in the ward, Sister Reeder and Sister McCann. They are seriously the funniest companionship everrrrrrr. We haven't really done much with them these past two transfers, but man-oh-man how much I regret that! Sister McCann is going home next week after serving in various missions for 4.5 years (she served in Nauvoo before London) and a new companion for Sister Reeder will come out. Luckily we've still got Sister Reeder to bring a whole lot of laughs. We all went to town cleaning that house. I have never seen people as fearless as those two in scraping off mould from the counters and picking up every single crumb off the floor (most of which were actually stuck to the floor). They were such a huge help and we finally made it possible for the member to have a kitchen table to eat on! I would measure that as a success. But it will be interesting to see the home's condition the next time we go to visit...

The prettiest little canal by our flat. Isn't it just the cutest?!?!?!

On Saturday morning we finally had the opportunity to watch the General Women's broadcast! Two weeks late is better than never, right? It seriously was so amazing. Beforehand the stake put together a breakfast with pancakes and eggs and bacon (which is way different than American bacon fyi) and beans that are essentially just in tomato sauce (pretty much their version of baked beans which is a staple breakfast item over here) and hot chocolate. It was so fun to talk to some sisters in the stake and be unified as we watched those inspired messages with others from all around the world (just at a completely different time haha).

Saturday night we had the exciting opportunity to have a lesson with a Jehovahs Witness. That was very interesting if I do say so myself. I don't know how familiar you are with that religious group, but they have some interesting views to say the least and it pretty much turned into her sharing with us about their church. That is not the first time that someone has tried to turn around and teach us, and I am just so glad that I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only church that has the complete fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. When I hear other people's beliefs, my testimony becomes more and more deeply rooted because it really just. makes. sense. It's as simple as that.

Sunday was Elder Warburton's birthday, so after church our bishop's wife ran up to us and was like "I didn't know it was his birthday!! Oh no, you all HAVE to come to dinner tonight to celebrate!" So after two appointments that we were very excited about, which BOTH happened to fall through (ah, the disappointment) we were able to end the night off with a delicious meal and fun times at Bishop's house! It's always a party when you're with a bunch of Brazilians and Italians hahaha. I also found out from Elder Sowah that my Ghanian name is "Yaa". I think it has a nice ring to it, so I may just go by that from now on hahaha.

The bishop's daughter made little party bags for Elder Warburton's party and they literally just had string in them hahaha but it was still so sweet.

Well.... that's about all I've got for this week. I'm sure that next Monday I'll lots of great stuff to excite you all with, since I'm sure this week will include a lot of getting lost and adjusting and learning! I love you all!

Sincerely,
Sister Syddall

Better than Super Bowl Sunday

Hello Friends and Family!!!

How's it going? It's been another superb week this week, and it has been SO sunny, which has just made me super happy. Besides today... it's been raining/misting/sleeting, but we {almost} made it a whole week with nice weather! I can tell winter is rapidly approaching, which is gonna be colddddd. Apparently it gets dark at like 4pm in the winter here, which is a bummerrrr, but I'm sure I'll adjust in no time!

So, what could be better than Super Bowl Sunday you may ask???? Well, my friends, GENERAL CONFERENCE SUNDAY is the answer! I have received quite a few questions pertaining to how general conference weekend works here with the time difference, so I will give you a little outline:

• 5-7 pm on Saturday we watched the Saturday morning session live at the Stake Center
• Sunday morning/afternoon we went to a member's home and watched the Saturday afternoon session and Priesthood session (and they fed us a proper English breakfast, and then a proper Ghanian lunch which was SO good)
• Sunday night we went to our Bishop's home to watch the Sunday morning session live
• Today we decided to meet up with some Elders and we will watch the Sunday afternoon session!

But oh. my. goodness. The talks that were given at conference were truly SO inspired. I could feel of the Spirit so strongly as I heard those messages. I can't even choose any specific talk that stood out to me the most because every single one held such precious truths! Of course I loved hearing from our beloved prophet, Thomas S. Monson, and his comments about how we can let our light shine; "We become examples of the believers by living the gospel of Jesus Christ in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, and in purity... As we do so, our lights will shine for others to see." I love him, and the loving service and guidance he has given the church over all of these years! I also loved hearing the three new apostles that were called. I felt the Spirit so strongly witness to me that they were called of God as they bore their humble testimonies. I invite all of you to go to lds.org and read (or re-read) these inspired talks! I promise that they can inspire you, and answer questions that you have.

I got hit in the head by a pigeon this week and can I just reiterate... I. Hate. Pigeons. They are literally the dumbest birds on this planet and they just walk around like they own the world. They don't even fly away if you walk right next to them, so I'm constantly watching my step because I don't want to be a bird murderer. But my heart dropped to the floor when that dang bird hit me.

Hmmmmmm, so not much else happened this week out of the norm... I did visit a psychiatric ward, which was quite the experience. I've just got to say I have a lot of respect for doctors that work there because that is not an easy job. We've had some really good lessons this week... We've done some service... We had a zone meeting... And yeah, that is really all! The work keeps progressing and I still grow to love it more and more every day!

The whole zone... just like one big happy family :)

Now for some random facts:

I do not think that I will ever obtain a liking for fish. It just is not happening for me in the slightest, and we get fed it all. the. time. I feel bad telling people I dislike fish, so I just smile through the pain :,) I even tried shrimp, which in my opinion just tastes like rubber nothingness. One meal had three different types of fish in it, I could see the scales and all, and it seriously tasted like I put the whole dang ocean into my mouth. But I SURVIVED!

I also get asked regularly if I am from somewhere besides the United States. Generally people guess France, but hey, I'll take it. I'll just respond "oui" when people ask me lol.

Well everyone, that's all for this week! I hope you all have a fabulous week ahead!

Love,

Sister Syddall

Have a Nice Day!

Hello hello hello!

The weeks just keep on rollin, it seriously baffles me! They go quicker and quicker and I still learn soooooo much every day. It is truly amazing to see the change in myself in these {almost} three months. I have found that a mission truly makes you evaluate where your own testimony stands, and I am so grateful I have been able to truly ponder and reflect on that! I have been able to see what I can work on strengthening because I have found that there is always room for improvement - we are constantly being converted to the gospel throughout our entire lives.

Now that I've got that little rant out of the way, I'll get on with what's been going on in good ol' London!

Last P-day, like I had mentioned, we got to go see all the super touristy sights in London, which was quite fun. I've never been one who is super into looking at old buildings, but might I say, all of the architecture here is quite amazing.

 I know the quality of this selfie is top notch ;)

Oh, hey, Big Ben!

Of course we had to go where William and Kate were married!

We just kind of went all over the place, but it was still fun! And then to finish it off we went to this place called "My Old Dutch" where we got these HUGE crepes, and holy cannoli, they were soooooo good. There was just too. much. good. food.

My Old Dutch. The picture says it all.

Something else exciting that we had this week was interviews with President Stevens. It was great to get to be with him and Sister Stevens for the morning. Interviews are an opportunity for each of the missionaries to meet with President for about 15 minutes and just chat about all sorts of different things: how we've adjusted, how the area is doing, etc. And then when we are not being interviewed, we are getting a training from Sister Stevens. We discussed member missionary work with her once again, because that has been a hot topic in the mission recently. After President completed all of the interviews, he and Sister Stevens gave us another training on not having fear. 2 Timothy 1:7. Sister Stevens shared her experience of the first time that she spoke in General Conference and how nervous she was, but that as soon as she got up to speak she realised that there was no need to fear because the Lord was by her side. She and President Stevens truly illuminate the light of Christ, and are such an amazing example to me and each of the missionaries.

The rest of the week consisted of teaching, serving, finding. Just the basics of missionary work haha. Sister Bader and I are always busy but I have found that being super busy is the best way to be! I love being a missionary and I love everything that it has taught me thus far. I can already see how much it has blessed my life, and am so grateful to know that it will bless my life forever. To any of you folks who are going back and forth on whether or not you should serve a mission, I'm tellin ya, you will not regret it in the slightest.

I would have to say the funniest moment of this week was when we were teaching one of our investigators. Now this guy is so hilarious I can't even begin to explain how funny he is. But the best part of it all is that he is totally not trying to be funny and is so serious in all that he says. We teach him along with his girlfriend and she just thinks he's ridiculous half the time and rolls her eyes, which just adds to the humour. So as you can imagine, lessons are sometimes a bit challenging to get through promptly because he goes off on a random topic a lot, and I am just constantly trying to stop myself from laughing out loud. This past week I don't even know what we were talking about, but he went off on some tangent about spicy food. And then he goes, "You know how people like Beyonce get their bodies? They eat spicy food. That's all you gotta do, just eat spicy food." I started laughing like a fool, but he assured me that he was serious. So if I come home looking like Beyonce, just remember it was the spicy food that did it ;) hahahaha

To explain my subject line... The Book of Mormon musical is a pretty big thing in this neck of the woods, so there are advertisements EVERYWHERE. They say, "Have a nice day!" or "I <3 Mormon." I seriously love all of the advertisements and so I had to take a picture by one obviously. And the best part is that literally every time we are rejected we just yell, "Have a nice day!" so they were quite accurate with that one hahaha.

Now for a little spiritual upliftment for the week: "Sometimes the Saviour calms the storm. Sometimes He lets the storm rage and calms you." --Carol B. Thomas

I hope you all have a wonderful week! I love hearing from everyone!

Love,
Sister Syddall

Get Ahead of Yourself

Another week has come and goneeeeeeeee everybody! I'm sorry that this letter is going to be a bit shorter than most, but our district is going to see the sights of London today!! Woooooohoooooo I can officially check that off of my tourist list! And apparently we will be eating some super good food so be prepared, you might get a whole paragraph about that next week haha.

The whole mission. Don't you love how colourful the sisters are??

Where's Waldo Sister Syddall?

I'll just roll right into some highlights from this past week!

So a cool little miracle that happened was on Wednesday. It rained literally ALL day long (like I've said, my rain boots have saved my life since I've been here) and we were just cruisin along on our way to a member's home for dinner. While we were walking through town we passed this man and he had a hood on so we didn't really recognise him as someone we knew, but all of a sudden we heard, "Hey, church girls!!! Why didn't you stop by for the lesson?" So we turned around and it ended up being a guy named Jerome we had met like two weeks earlier. The first time we met him and his girlfriend they told us we could stop by to teach them a lesson and gave us a house number, but we could NOT find it, so we had figured that they probably gave us a fake address. It ended up being our bad all along. Oops. Now we will meet with them and we are super pumped!

Another exciting event that happened this week is that we had exchanges. I had to stay in my area and lead a Sister Training Leader around. Holy cannoli I was sooooo nervous, because if you know me, you know that I am literally the most directionally challenged person that has ever walked on this earth!! It doesn't really help that the area we cover is very very large and you have to know a billion buses and the right tube to take, and then on top of that just feeling like a deer in the headlights because I'm still pretty fresh in the mish. BUT it actually ended up being so so good! I was with Sister Nebeker and she was so sweet. Even when I couldn't find the road we were supposed to tract (I have also discovered that I am no good at reading maps lol), we ended up going somewhere else and found some really great Potential Investigators, and I truly think we were where we needed to be! A funny side story - if you are familiar with mission rules, you are not supposed to hug anyone of the opposite gender, so while we were walking to an appointment we were just talking to people along the way and we met this superrrrr tall man (like probably 6'7"ish) and he was just super smiley and happy and so excited to be talking about God. Then he established that he was Muslim and wasn't interested in hearing more, but he just HAD to give us hug because we were spreading a good message. So Sister Nebeker and I just stood there super awkwardly while this large man hugged us. We just started cracking up because it was just so odd but so hilarious at the same time.

After I survived the exchange with Sister Nebeker

We had a district meeting and it was the first one with the new district! It was super fun to see all of the new missionaries and hear how they are adjusting to the missionary life, since I'm practically already a veteran (hahahaha just kidding, just kidding). But really, it is crazy how much change you see in one transfer! And I still have so so sooooooo much to learn but I love being able to see that progress that I can make every day, even if it is just little by little. Back to district meeting and a random side note that I found hilarious which probably won't come off nearly as hilarious... but oh well haha. We were talking about exercise in the morning and our district leader goes "It isn't a good workout unless you are sweating by the end of it" and then our zone leader goes "Yeah sometimes I like to just turn on the shower and sit there in the steam." We all just lost it hahahahahaha ALL OF THE MISSIONARIES ARE SO GREAT.

The new district! Sister Bader and I decided we would sit since we are taller than every single one of them hahahahaha

Another random tidbit that I found funny this week was we were at the house of a family in the ward who is moving back to the states in a week (booooo), and they were giving us loads of stuff that they couldn't take back with them. They pull out some American lined paper and Sister Bader just about flipped out - she thought it was the greatest thing ever hahaha it was so funny.

A quote from President Thomas S. Monson that I read this week and LOVED said, "Can we not appreciate that our very business in life is not to get ahead of others, but to get ahead of ourselves? To break our own records, to outstrip our yesterdays by our todays, to bear our trials more beautifully than we ever dreamed we could, to give as we have never given, to do our work with more force and a finer finish than ever -- this is the true idea: to get ahead of ourselves." We should be focusing on bettering ourselves and not focused on trying to be better than other people. As long as we are trying our best and doing everything we can to "get ahead of ourselves" we will lose that tendency to compare ourselves to what other people are accomplishing. We should strive to develop the ability to feel true happiness for others when they accomplish great things, and not let it make us feel inadequate. We are all truly magnificent in Heavenly Father's eyes, and he has blessed each and every one of us with talents and gifts that are unique. As we better ourselves we will recognise those gifts and it will bless us and the lives of others so much!

Well, I love you all lots! I hope your week goes wonderfully and that all is well!

Love,
Sister Syddall

I Believe in Miracles!

Helllllloooooo Everybody! What's up?!

So I think I'll just start right off by writing about the amazing miracle we have seen this week. I believe it was two weeks ago that I told you about the woman who asked us if she could come to our church [even though she was active in another church]. But I should actually start from the wayyyyy beginning. This woman was a referral from a recent convert. Sister Bader and her previous companion had challenged this new convert to just give a pass along card to a friend. She happily agreed and gave it to her closest and dearest friend, and her friend was willing to meet with us, but made it very clear that she had her own church that she was very happy with. Now fast forward past the experience of her coming to church with her grandson and asking if she could come to our church. Sister Bader and I were just eating lunch on Wednesday and we get a text from our recent convert saying... HER FRIEND WANTS TO GET BAPTISED!!!! She wants to meet with us and take the rest of the lessons as soon as possible! Ahhhhhh Sister Bader and I were freaking out for a good 15 minutes. This was seriously such an AMAZING miracle! I have to say that one of my favourite parts of the mission is definitely seeing the happiness and joy that the gospel brings to people's lives! I love sharing it with everyone and seeing the progression as they begin to develop a testimony of the gospel. Ahhhhh the church is so true!

I have to say that one of the funniest moments of the week was when we went to visit a super sweet old sister in our ward. She is in her 80's and is unable to come to church, so we go to visit with her and read the Book of Mormon with her. While Sister Bader and I were visiting with her, we somehow got on the topic of favourite colours and we were all talking about how great the colour pink is, and then the older sister says, "Pink makes the boys wink - that's why I wear it!" I was just cracking up because I did not expect that at all hahaha.

On Saturday night we had a farewell party for one of the young men in the ward who will be leaving on his mission to Honduras in a couple weeks. Elder Sowah thought that it would be a grand idea to do a musical number, so Sister Bader and I so kindly obliged. We seriously practiced for like two minutes before, and it was so funny because Elder Sowah was playing the piano SO LOUD you could not even hear us singing at all so it was just awkward haha. Afterwards people were like "hey, good job! We couldn't really hear you singing... but you were all smiling!" lol

Sorry I don't have a ton to say this week... so I'll share another word that is different here that really threw me for a loop... they call a flashlight a torch. We were at a member's home and one of them was like "ahhh, there's a spider" and the mom was like "oh just go get a torch and kill it" and not going to lie, I was just a wee bit concerned that they were going to pull out this fire torch and light up the spider in the house hahaha. Then they came in with a flashlight and I felt like a fool, but hey, that happens to me at least once every day.

Something that I came across this week in my study was in a talk by Randall L. Ridd called "Living with Purpose: The Importance of Real Intent." There was a quote that really stood out to me. He said, "Don't spend time focused on climbing a mountain only to discover you climbed the wrong one." It just made me realise how important it is to be focused on the right things. Put the Lord first in your life and try to always strive to do what He would want you to do, and focus on what He would want you to focus on. If we do that, we will not have to face the feeling of energy wasted on something that did not deserve the time.

Well I hope that you all have a wonderful week! Thank you for the support and prayers! I love you all!

Love,
Sister Syddall