Missionary Work at Full Speed

Hello my lovelies!

So this week was intense! We had been pretty worried that we work would kind of slow down, slash we didn't really know WHAT to expect with all this TT madness, but the Lord truly blessed us SO much. We were able to keep busy, and met so many new people to teach. He is pouring out the blessings, and our work actually has been speeding up, not even slightly hindered by all of the bikers, YAY!!! :D

Also, I was inspired by the way my wonderful companion writes her emails, so i followed her example this week. It will be a bit longer, so if you don't want to read the whole thing, don't worry, you can skip down to the pics ;)

BLESS US MOMENTS X100

On Friday this week was the final race of the TT they call it the "Senior race" they make it a bank holiday so everyone has off work and everything! Haha it's intense. Our ward mission leader took us to catch a bit of it with the senior couple. At one point he asked us if we wanted to go to the "scary spot" and we were like umm sure! Haha so he took us down to an opening in the hedge where you can be close to the road and watch the bikes pass! Oh my goodness, they were passing us at about 130 mph and we were right close it was craaazzzyyy! They took some good pictures of us! 

On Wednesday this week we were down in a place called Castletown visiting iris. A less active couple lives down there and the wife has had a couple strokes recently so we wanted to take them some soup and let them know we were thinking about them. We got down and realised we had forgotten the soup so no big deal we ran to the shop to get some. We got to their house and brother Clarke answered the door AND WOULDN'T TAKE OUR DANG SOUP! We were like no but really this is for you, and he still wouldn't take it. Haha we were really confused, so we decided to put it on their neighbours doorstep with a Mormon.org card. Hope they needed it! 

MIRACLES 

okay so on Monday (Pday) me and sister Wamsley did something no missionary has ever done before... We forgot to plan our evening... (From 6-9 on Monday nights we proselyte) it was a bad mistake and won't happen again don't worry. But it's a good thing we are so blessed. As we were trying to know what to do we both decided we should go call by these certain less actives. We get to the area and it's pouring rain and we were feeling kind of just blah, we both had things on our minds and were just having a weird evening, as we started to walk I saw a penny on the ground and instantly knew it was for me! We kept walking and ended up on the wrong street but we didn't know, so we knocked where we thought the less active lived and found Leanne! She said she was busy at the moment but set a time for us to come back the next day! Then we went and made contact with the less active we were trying to find, and on our way back I found another penny. It was just another "it's all going to be okay" moment. I was so grateful at this point! We decided to go and call by another less active who we made contact with and set a return appointment, and on our way out of her neighbourhood we met Michael! He was walking his neighbours dog and said we can try to catch he and his partner in on Sunday! What a night! I am grateful for the spirit guiding us and giving us the strength we needed! I know not planning for the evening is a no no but in our case we needed it. Faith is something so easy to talk about but just a little more difficult to have. We are blessed with these "you got this" moments, even if it is just finding pennys on the ground and two new investigators and some less actives to help, it helps us to increase our faith. To know that God is aware of each one of us! 

ZONE MEETING 

On Tuesday we had Zone Meeting. I am currently in the Liverpool zone but because we are in the middle of the ocean we get to Skype in. Haha it's an interesting experience. It was a good meeting though! We talked a lot about the power of our calling as missionaries and how we can magnify it! We had a short testimony meeting at the end where we shared our "beliefs." It's always great to get to share your testimony.

STEPH AND KATIE 

On Tuesday we did some tracting and found few new friends! (We try not to tract a lot here because everywhere has been done, but we felt like we should today) they both had the question of "Why if all this tragedy is happening in the world would God exist?"  Both of us were like we know the answer! We explained about Gods plan for each of us and set a return appointment to teach them more! 

PETER 

On Thursday we taught Peter the Gospel of Jesus Christ! We taught him at the sea terminal which was so funny because it was raining sooooo hard and everyone took cover there so it was packed, but all was well. We talked to him about how faith in Jesus Christ leads us to repent which then leads us to make commitments and covenants with God and as we do so God promises blessings back to us! We are the given the Holy Ghost which then assists us in enduring to the end! We are so blessed to have these steps to help us! He understood it all and had a lot of questions as usual! He is going a little slower than we hope but that's okay. He really internalises what we teach him which is nice! 

IRIS 

We went and saw iris two times this week! We would sit and talk with her for a bit and then share a spiritual thought. On Wednesday we talked about how God is waiting to pour His blessings on us and often is we just have to recognise them! 

SIOBAN 

We taught Shioban on Saturday this week and talked to her about scripture study and how we can improve. Because she is just learning the Book of Mormon she often reads it side by side with the children's Book of Mormon which has helped her so much! In the Ensign for this month there is an article that gives ideas on how to make our scripture study more meaningful specifically by asking inspired questions. I love it! By having a question to ask as you read helps you really find the "gems" in the Book of Mormon. I have been trying to really have a taste of my own medicine by applying this same process into my own personal studies throughout the week, like "what does God want me to learn from this?" As I read in Alma 23, I realised one thing I can learn is true repentance. The anti-nephi-Lehi's buried their weapons of rebellion, and never dug them back up. Have I fully repented and changed my heart, or do I sometimes pick my weapons of rebellion back up? 

SACRAMENT MEETING

I had been praying all week that we might be able to have an investigator at sacrament meeting, some of your reading this who have served in other missions may be shocked by this, but it can be really thought to get just the one there. Other times it's a flood, but ya know. Anyways! I had been praying for this specifically, and put my faith in the Lord that He could make this happen. We sat there ready for the meeting to start, we had done all we could: Given invitations, wake up calls, etc. But still nobody was there. About 2 minutes before the meeting began, in walked a member, with her non member husband! We have been trying to begin teaching him for a while. I know that this was an answer to my prayer, and such a sweet tender mercy from the Lord.

MICHAEL AND CARRIE 

Okay so we met Michael on Monday and he told us to come back on Sunday so we did! I think people sometimes don't think that we will actually show back up haha it was all good though they let us in! We hadn't met his wife before so we sat down and started talking to them. Carrie was very sceptical of us. She kept trying to ask us questions to get us stuck but when we could answer them she was like "ohh that makes sense" we had a really good conversation with them both! At one point Carrie was just like "well then so is your whole purpose to just make people Mormon?" We answered that our whole purpose as missionaries is to "invite others to come into Christ" we are here trying to bring people closer to their Saviour, to help them develop or strengthen their relationship with God. If that ends up meaning they become "Mormon" then that's a bonus ;) I think it helped them to see that we are normal people, that we don't have multiple wives and are not a cult. That our whole purpose is to work towards and try to become like Jesus Christ by following His example. We are going back this week to teach them the plan of salvation! So exciting :)

It has been a fab week, and I am so incredibly grateful for all of these amazing people. I am also so thankful for the many evidences that God has given me lately of His love for me, and awareness of me. He is showering down blessings even heavier than the rain :) I love Him, and I love this Gospel.

Hope you all have a fab week!

love,

Sister Carter

One of the members took videos and pictures of us in the scary spot #blessed

pictures with our fav YSA hannah and katelyn :)