Happy in Mildenhall

Catching up with Sister A in the UK over the last two weeks ...

My yard

My first week in the field was a great experience. I am in a tiny town called Mildenhall. It’s in the country and reminds me a bit of Monticello, IA, but it's super British looking and very cute. There are two military bases here, so lots of Americans and American food! The whole ward is American with only a few Brits.

A glimpse of the town of Mildenhall

We are opening this area; this is only the second transfer in here! So all tracting!! But it's fun if you make it fun.

Funny street sign outside of town

There are a lot of small towns in a big area here, so there’s lots of walking. Because our area is huge, we used to have a car, but the sister before me totaled it so we have no car right now. Hoping that during the next transfer we might get one and, if we do, I'm the designated driver 😳 – talk about anxiety! I've almost gotten hit by cars a billion times because I forget to look right when crossing the street instead of left and, there's no gap between the road and the sidewalks here so they're super close, but the Lord has my back!

Knocking on doors is so funny. A lot of people apparently don't like to talk about Jesus here; many also seem sad here – maybe they've got a huge vitamin D deficiency! Maybe I’ll start handing out vitamin D tablets with the Book of Mormon! Not really, just kidding; I just want to bring them happiness!

Random family picked us up and
delivered us from the freezing rain

The funniest stories so far from knocking on doors is one lady looked out the door and than hid from us so not to answer the door, but we could still see her. Another family’s home had Christmas lights on and kids playing in the living room so it seemed like the golden door opportunity to knock! When we walked up, the kids ran to the window and we waved and the kids waved back, but when we knocked on the door, the grandparents made the kids turn the lights out and the tree lights off and hide and acted like they weren't home. When we left, the kids ran back to the window and we waved again. It's funny and creative how people get out of talking to us.

Talk about funny stories; my companion told me I had to eat everything on the plate when eating at people’s houses. So, the first night, the dinner we had was a roast lamb dinner and food was piled on my plate, like stacked high enough it could have fed our whole family. I tried my best to eat it all, but it just wasn't happening. The woman was super nice about it though; she's like yeah, don't eat it all that'd be dumb to eat what you can't. Lamb isn't bad but I had it a few times I just feel bad about who I'm eating. Turns out you don't have to eat all the food haha! The bishop told me yesterday that that's not a thing and not to go against your body. Whew, good thing!

Inside a church built in 1336

The work is amazing. Everything is going great! I love the area and the people. The second week in Mildenhall was pretty awesome and we had some miracles happen. One lesson fell through so we knocked on the doors nearby and we got three return appointments in a row!!! And one is a solid investigator who is so ready for the gospel – she felt the spirit so strongly, it was amazing. She's so cool!!!  Another investigator was having a hard time gaining a testimony of the BOM so I bore my testimony of how I came to know it's truth. And the spirit like punched her in the face – in a nice way. But she was crying and was such a wonderful experience to feel the spirit so intensely. That was a major turning point for her.  She's got a baptism date set for Jan. 28.

My Christmas tree!

Another family we are teaching has a baptism date set for Jan. 8! They are Chinese and the mom doesn’t speak English, so we have an interpreter who helps. They have two little boys who are the boss. During the first lesson, one of them asked about our heavenly mother. Deep!

Joy can come in small red cans!
A bit of home thanks to a member!

I love talking to people about the gospel and learning more about them at the same time. I’ve discovered everyone learns differently and for some people, it’s hard to separate the people from the gospel. I let them know that people are imperfect and don't always follow the commandments, but they are still good people. I reassure them that the gospel is Jesus Christ's gospel and it never changes; it is the same today, yesterday and forever.

I am happiest when I'm doing the work – I love the work; it's so worth it and so far we are seeing some success! We have four baptisms on date and a couple more prospects!!! Super stoked and we work our bums off.

I love you so much and can't wait to FaceTime Christmas Day!!! 

Faithfully yours, 

Sister A in the UK