EB Mission Blog: the battle goes on every day and must be fought with courage . . .

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow. So....wow. This week has been insane. So much craziness has happened, but it's been good.

Monday - so we went to the transport museum as a district, which was WAY fun. I was the only one in the district who had been before, so it was good to go with everyone else! Then after pday we went to dinner with Tish, which was so good and we got to meet her daughter who came all the way from South Africa! Then....poor sister Gillette really wasn't feeling well, so we came back and I taught a phone lesson with a friend of ours and that was our day!

Tuesday - we were actually able to see quite a few people!!! We taught some good lessons in the morning, did service for Georgie in her garden (which was WAY fun!) and then taught some more lessons in the afternoon! And that night we planned out the Coventry zone meeting with the elders! It was a solid day.

Wednesday - we had zone meeting in Leicester! Wow. This was one of the best zone meetings i have ever been to on my mission actually. The spirit was so strong and I think everyone there was touched. I learned a lot about my purpose, and was reminded of why I came out here in a mission, and why I am still here. It was SO good. We came home and had a bit of a crazy experience driving in the rain....wow haha. We drove through a river on the motorway, which was quite exciting. But we were safe so it's all ok! We had a cool miracle where we went to see our Romanian family, and we ended up singing for them. They love music, and were singing for us in Romanian about Jesus, and then they were like "it's your turn!!" So we sang a hymn, and then they had a friend walk in the door named Cornelius. The family was like "sing again!!" And so we agreed and I was looking through for a hymn and decided on Joseph smiths first vision, and we ended up teaching the restoration to Cornelius from the song! We explained it and...it was just a really cool experience. Music touches hearts :)

Thursday - we had the Coventry zone meeting, which was also amazing! We could really feel the love our leaders and the zone has for each other. It was awesome :) after zone meeting we went to Warwick to help the sisters out there, which was a really good experience for me. Sometimes, I think God helps us to help others more than we ever could on our own. I know I am not "qualified" exactly to help these sisters, but God helps me to do it! I felt so blessed to have his help...and it was a good experience. We then went to dinner with Georgie, who brought her friend who we then ended up giving a chapel tour to and teaching a lesson! Members sharing the gospel with their friends is always the best!! It was so cool. Miracles every day :)

Friday - we taught some lessons in the morning, and then had to take some sisters to Birmingham to help them out and were stuck in traffic for like an hour and a half....ugh. But we were able to help them and get back safely AND still teach a lesson in the evening, so that was good. We are always blessed when we help others anyways :)

Saturday - we saw bill in the morning! He was so happy about his baptism and everything, it was awesome!! He is such a cool kid, and it going to bring loads of people to the church I think. We then had sports and then had a crazy day trying to figure out where we were supposed to go for dinner cause we couldn't read the name AT ALL on our dinner list. It was an exciting adventure...my goodness. And then...all our lessons fell through. It was one of those days, but I think a cool miracle is we were able to find out about some people in the ward that moved away! So we now know that and can move their records....woo!

Sunday - we had church, which was really good and Bill got confirmed!! Such a good day. We tried to teach some people with Solange, but no one was home or we were only able to set up return appointments but it was still really good to go teaching with her. We then had a MIRACLE after dinner. We just stopped by this investigator, and his sister was home as well and we ended up teaching an amazing lesson with both of them and they are going to read the scriptures and pray together!!! SO COOL. Miracles all day every day :)

So I wanted to go back to those points I have been sharing...and share the last one!

1. don't be afraid
2. have faith
3. work
4. do what is right
5. persevere to the end.

Persevere to the end. I think sometimes we have hard days, or weeks, or months, or even years. It can be HARD sometimes. There is a quote that says "people who struggle with challenges need to know that the battle goes on every day and must be fought with courage and honour and faith. We need to remind ourselves that God is allowing our faith to grow as we reach and stretch for him." Sometimes, we have hard times that allow our faith to grow as we give everything to God. Ultimately, it is as we give our life to God that we find true happiness, and we are able to make it through the hard times we face. My challenge is just to remember to persevere to the end - whether it's the end of a day, a week, or a year - and remember that God knows each of us and has a plan. Sometimes, his plan isn't our plan. In fact, most of the time it isn't our plan. But his plan always makes us happier and allows us to grow more than our plan ever would.

I love you all lots!! Thank you for your support!!

~ Sister Emma Beazer