Church is for sinners -- not for perfect people!

This week was great! Super eventful, especially with the changes they made with the missionary program world-wide.

What a great week it was for us with our work! Our investigator, Daniel, is

perfect! We are moving his date up because he is so ready! We joke that we are trying to find a woman to convert so he can find a nice wife for him to take to the temple with his four amazing and cute kids! Haha! Daniel is Polish and with the kids’ English, their house is full of lots of accents! I didn’t realize how many Polish folks there are here, but there are quite a few in this area!

My Mission Home/Office

We also visited a less active member yesterday and had a nice hour-long conversation with him. Man, he's super nice too! He’s a member but his wife and kids are not. He had been so wrapped up in work and hadn’t been to church in a long while. Then he felt guilty about missing church so he continued to not go (horrible mind set; always, always, always go to church). Church is for sinners – not for perfect people. If we were perfect, we wouldn't need church! So, after a long discussion about what’s important to him and his family, he said he would come to church this Sunday!! Miracles!!! I hope by the end of my mission I can watch them walk into the temple together and watch him gain what he has so longed for.

We've meet some really cool people this week. We met and visited with one man, Dalton, at the bus stop. Afterwards, Dalton wrote to us and said he just felt so strong and confident when talking to us and he knew we had a purpose and he wanted to find his own purpose! So, we are going to meet with him this week! Another miracle happened when we met up with a former investigator, Chris, who had stopped coming to church.  He said the only reason he stopped looking into the church and attending was because he thought it was too long of a church service -_- ! Ha, yeah, sometimes we all feel that way! So we challenged him to come (I bribed him with snacks, haha!) and he came this week! He said he will start coming and we can start teaching him again! So many miracles this week, and many more I wish I could share, but my time is limited!

Oh, this week we finally got furniture in our flat! I was sick of sitting on the

floor all the time so I made an announcement in relief society that we

needed furniture and our flat is so full now with furniture donated by ward members! We now have a beautiful china cabinet, a glass bookcase, a table, a mirror and four chairs. Then, our landlord (who isn’t a member) just gave us two couches!! So, we are baking her brownies and bringing them over to say thank you. I may try to slip in a picture of Jesus – maybe I'll bake it in the brownie! Haha! Just kidding! Anyway, now our flat looks super posh! I'm so stoked, we have a table to eat on and couch to sit on now.

My companionship is amazing; we are such great friends! She actually just

decided to go to BYU-Idaho when she finishes her mission (which is just two transfers away), so hopefully we can room together, if she's not married by the time I get back!

But all is well here! I love it here! I love you all very much and hope you have an amazing week!

Also I challenge all my LDS friends and family EVERYWHERE to look in the LDS tool app on your little gadgets and look for three names you don't recognize or see at church and try to contact them, whether it be on Facebook, phone or message them or even visit them! I know there are plenty in our ward back home because I looked at it the other day and there are over 137+ less active members in our ward – that is outrageous. So, everyone (especially in Bloomington 1^st Ward!) – three names to contact! On your mark, get set, GO!! 

Cheers,

Sister Abeling

Survived my first transfer!

We wrote our names in the snow!

I survived my first transfer and am staying in Mildenhal! Yay! I got a new companion, Sister Mura, from France. She's so amazing! I love her! This is most likely her last area (she has two more transfers left). She's super sweet, hardworking and funny! We're more like sisters than companions and we are really enjoying working and living together.

We got bikes last week, which met we also had to purchase reflective gear and helmets; looks very stylish with our skirts and is especially nice in the rain on bikes! I'll send pictures soon, but I’m so stoked to have some transportation; we don’t have to walk as much anymore! I have been protected so much because these roads are crazy! But all is well here!

 

So many great things happening and many miracles here in Mildenhall, England!! It is just so awesome to see! I love watching growth in people and seeing happiness flow over them. Last week, we met Daniel, a strong Christian in another religion, who said he had been praying for more in his life and then, woola, we knocked on his door! He has come to church now twice, once he brought a friend with him and this last Sunday, he brought his children (one of which threw up in my bag so I’ll need to get a new bag, haha!). We’ve taught him a few lessons and he says he wants to be baptized and has set a date – I am so excited to see where he goes and super excited for Daniel and his family!

Can you say, "Matching"?

We love Sister Ellis!

Sister Mura and I are working diligently to grow and fortify this area and spread the gospel to those whom the Lord has prepared. We have more referrals coming in and so our work is progressing! The work is really coming along!

I'm so happy! I really love my mission and my ward family here!!! It's so amazing and my companion is awesome!

My District

This week was great, filled with a lot of hard work and a lot of wonderful blessings!

I love you all so much!

Love,

Sister A in the UK

Tender mercies

Was asked to "model" lipstick.

So many tender mercies the past two weeks, too many to write about! Lots of ups and downs this week, for a variety of reasons. It’s been a hard but really good couple of weeks.

A less active member committed to coming to church this Sunday! I'm so excited for that! It'll be her first time coming back in over 30 years. She (Janice) is a sweetheart and has been through so much this year, including the sudden loss of her husband.

Last week, my companion and I had a really scary but interesting experience that really opened our eyes. We were tracting in an area called Beckrow, which is about an hour+ walk there and an hour+ walk back, so it's kind of an all-day thing when we go.

Christmas Eve with a family

The perfect duck face!

On our walk back, it was dark and we were about 40 minutes (almost halfway home) into our walk when we saw this guy walking towards us. Normally, I go up to and talk with every single soul that I come across. But this night, the spirit told me not to approach this guy, which I thought was odd. Then I got a feeling and sense of danger. When I told my companion about this feeling, we decided to keep walking. About five minutes down the country road, we saw a woman crying and distraught. We stopped to check on her and learned that the man we passed had just beaten her up and taken her money. It appeared they had partied together and things had gotten out of hand. I used my nursing skills to begin taking care of her and trying to get her out of shock. She was just not in a good place at that moment, for obvious reasons.

Bob and Louis, two of my
favorite people!

We carried her back to Beckrow and while walking she shared how she wished she could just die. I knew the Lord put us in that spot, at that time, to help this woman in more than one way. She didn’t want to call police, so we kept walking. The man headed back towards us so we slipped into a little convenience store and hid in the back. The man kept watch outside; I’ve never prayed so hard in my life than while we were in the back of that shop. We called a church member who came and picked us up. As we drove her to her hotel room, she explained that she had started reading the Bible 13 days ago and that we were her “sign and her angels.” We got her settled, took care of her wounds and said a prayer with her before we left. The prayer was so powerful and the spirit so strong in that moment. I truly felt the love the lord has for her and I knew what he needed her to hear. So we both balled our eyes out. We exchanged numbers, gave her a Book of Mormon to read and I actually gave her my badge because the spirit told me too. She was safe we were safe! She now wants to learn more about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I know how much the lord knows her and loves her because all day things worked out so that we could be there for her. And he protected us so much!!! The Lord is so good! It's just crazy and so wonderful to really feel that love for this woman; someone I had never met before that night!

Man, the gospel is so true, and the Lord knows us so well. He gives us each our own little angels on this earth to save us or to help us and that night, we really got to be that hand for the Lord – we did what the Lord would have if he were here in Mildenhall. So neat to be apart of that and to use my nursing skills, too, because I miss working so much!

Many, many miracles happening in Mildenhall! I'm so just glad I listened to all the promptings especially the one to stop for "Tina." Kind of humbled me a bit too because I don't always act on my promptings in fear of what others might think. But, I will always listen and act on promptings now, even if it makes someone mad. I report to the Lord first. So flippin’ neat; the Lord is so awesome!

Transfers were today and I’ll stay here in Mildenhall for another six weeks, but received a new companion today. All is good – I'm healthy and happy and feeling very blessed!

Thinking of you all and so thankful for you! Grateful, too, for this awesome experience and feeling the Lord's influence in my life daily! God is good! He is AWESOME! So thankful for all of His tender mercies and for the angels that surround me daily!

Love, 
Sister A in the UK!