EB Mission Blog: On the Run

Hello Friends and Family!

Here is a rundown of my week:

Monday was a test of faith. I made a goal this week to work on following promptings as soon as I got them and on Monday I got ZERO promptings. I had to rely totally on Sister Lowder and it was testing my faith a LOT. We ended up visiting some less actives (one of whom "slammed" the door in our face, kind of. It was a flat so we called her to open the door and she answered and as soon as we said it was the missionaries she hung up. So fun.) but we ended up visiting this sister named Valerie who is only less active because she has medical problems and cant leave her room. We played a hymn for her on the Ipad's and she said it had been YEARS since she heard the Hymns and she was so grateful that we came to visit her. I am so glad that I am able to hear the hymns and am physically able to attend church every week. Health is such a blessing :)

Tuesday - We had a trade off lesson with the Cardiff Central sisters, so we had to travel to city center to have that lesson. Our new investigator (who we are seeing tonight!!) is named Dennis and the lesson we had with him was REALLY cool. We were going to teach the plan of salvation and it ended up that he asked each of us to kind of share our conversion story (cause everyone has one) and to bear our testimony. The spirit was SO STRONG as we did that. We then challenged him to read and pray about the book of Mormon and when we called it turns out he did read and pray so I am SO EXCITED to meet with him tonight! He is really cool. He can't look anyone in the eye but he has such a faith in Christ and in God and I am excited to be able to teach him!

Wednesday - we went to Birmingham for the follow-up trainers meeting. It is basically just to make sure all the trainers are doing their job and that we are alive :) So I got to take the 3 hour train ride to Birmingham! And back....it was a long day but very good :) I learned a lot from President, he knows SO much about the gospel it is amazing. I also saw Elder Hunter again at that meeting! And we took a picture. And then my mission family took a pic - so my "mom" is Sister Lowder, her mom was there, and her mom's mom and her mom's grandma and some of their other kids #bigfamily so that was amazing as well! It is cool to see the different levels of experience sisters have and the difference it gives.

Thursday - we had district meeting and then went tracting!! It was cool cause we were able to talk to a lot of people compared to street contacting and WAY more people were friendly with us. We visited one girl named Anna who seemed really interested and so we are going back to see if she wants a lesson this week!! And we had lots of service opportunities as well! We also taught our dear old John (the blind man) and he is just amazing. So prepared to learn about the gospel. We told him he would see his wife again and the spirit was SO STRONG, and he told us that if he believed that he would run to the doors of our church as fast as he could. He loves his wife so much, he told us how he thanks God so much every day for letting him have so many years with her, and that there will never be a marriage like it. It is amazing to me how much love he has for her. I hope he can learn that he will be with his wife again...we are going to keep teaching him! He told us to keep coming back cause he still wants to learn, but he is on holiday this week with his son and daughter in law so we wont be seeing him this week.

Then we started our exchange that night, so I went to Merthyr (which is where Elder Jones who served in Cardston is from! FUN FACT: he is in the sisters ward up there! CRAZY. I remember going snowshoeing with him and having him play his Welsh music. Who thought I would ever be where he lived?). Sister Ronspies is who I was with, she goes HOME in 7 weeks....crazy. She is amazing though.

Friday - EXCHANGE!! WE WENT ON A RUN!! It was the BEST. I haven't run for weeks and it was so nice to run in the forest with a bit of rain and just run. I missed it. I think it definitely helped my mental health this week. And then on exchanges we did a lot of tracting and street contacting, and visited a less active family. I really learned how to talk to the Welsh people which was a really good learning experience for me. I am so grateful for exchanges - learning a lot from the sister training leaders is so good! We then came back to Rhiwbina and ended our exchange.

Saturday - This day was weird....all our plans ended up not working out, and we had to do weekly planning because we couldn't on Friday as there were exchanges, so we didn't get a ton done out in the area but we planned SO well for our next week, and were able to talk to some people on the street. We also kind of got back into contact with Lisa so that was a miracle! We still don't know what is going on but she texted us so that is a start :)

Sunday - oh how I LOVE Sundays. Church was amazing. I won't say a ton about it, but we went to the Maizey's for dinner again and how I love that family. I can't express how lovely it is to be in members homes - please take care of the missionaries in Cardston. We really go through a lot during the week and having a safe place where we are just loved and taken care of is so wonderful. If there is anything I want to do more when I come home, it's to help the missionaries more. Offer to go teaching with them at night, feed them, anything. Missionaries need members to do their work. We NEED them. Just a thought :)

Spiritual thought and a CHALLENGE

I was reading a talk by President Monson called "Think to Thank" from October 1998. In it, there is a quote by a Robert W. Woodruff, that says "the two most important words in the English language are these: "Thank you.""

The challenge I am giving you is kind of in the talk, so read it, and then do these four things at some point during the week

1. Express thanks to your parents for all they have done for you. For caring, for life, for sacrificing, for providing, for whatever you are most grateful for.

2. Express thanks to a teacher at school or church who changed your life or helped you learn something that influenced you.

3. Express thanks to a peer who influenced your life.

4. Express thanks to God for all of these people and the things you learned from them ( I added this step :) )

I know that as you do these things, you will come to love and appreciate the people around you more, and will be blessed to recognize more blessings in your life which will in turn make you happier!

I hope you have an amazing week, I love you all so much and am so grateful for all you do! I have received SO MUCH support, I cannot express my gratitude for it all but know that I pray for you every single day and love you so much.

Love,

Sister Emma Beazer

send real mail to:

44E Heol Llanishen Fach

Cardiff, Wales

CF14 6LE

United Kingdom

e-mail ANYTIME!
emma.beazer@myldsmail.net

Saw Elder Hunter (from Cardston) again.

This is my mission family....
My "mom" (trainer) is Sister Lowder, her "mom" (trainer) was there,
and her "mom's mom" (trainer), and her "mom's grandma" (trainer)
and some of their other kids
#bigfamily