WEEK FOUR: A Greenie in Sheffield

Meeting my trainer, Sister Mottlova for the first time. If I only knew what was ahead of me :)

I survived my first week in the field YAY! Wow missionary work is tough. On Wednesday I was assigned to my trainer, Sister Mottlovà. She is 25, from Czech Rupublic, and was baptized two years ago. We were assigned to the Sheffield area, about a hour south of Leeds.

On Thursday, my first full day in the field, we went to teach a Czech family. The woman's Muslim brother was there so it didn't go quite as planned. We were in a heat wave and no one has AC, so it was blistering hot, everyone was speaking in Czech, and the man was yelling at me and pointing to the Koran. I had no idea what was going on. Hopefully that doesn't happen with every lesson, ha.

The past few days have consisted of following my companion around in the rain, getting on random buses, and trying to have enough confidence to start conversations with strangers. This will definitely take some time to adjust to but I am trying hard to improve!

On Sunday we experienced a small miracle. We were able to bring two friends,

S & J, to church with us. 5 minutes after the meeting started, a Slovak family showed up. We have been contacting them this past week but with no success. They came with 3 of their children, and told us they wanted to bring their other 3 but they didn't have room in the car! I couldn't believe we had 7 people at church with us... that may set the record for my whole mission!

I have been studying about charity this week in hopes to increase my ability to love, to judge less, and become more christlike. In Moroni 7:48 it says, "...pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ...". I love this scripture because it shows that we are not naturally charitable. The natural man is selfish, judgmental, and prideful. But when we pray for this love, HE can fill us with it. I hope that as I serve God's children, that he can fill me with his charity. Missionary work is hard. It is humbling. It requires patience, resilience, diligence, and so much faith. But because the gospel is true, the work is worth it. It only makes sense that others have the opportunity to have the happiness and peace we find in this gospel.

Hope all is well in America... I miss my country! Cheers!

Sister Eliza Jones

(Ps: Have you heard of the 21 day Book of Mormon challenge? If you want to change up your scripture reading a little, look it up on the church website! It helps answer many of the soul searching questions people have.)

A gift from my trainer Sister Mottlovà

Cow and Calf Hill, Sheffield England

Ani and Visi, our two friends we are teaching from Albania. I convinced my comp to let them go as I realized they were mostly just interested in her, not the church. Sister Mottlova ended up marrying Ani (the blonde...).