Week Thirty Four: Teddy Bear and a Closet

24.2.20






My new Trainee, Sister Jakobi from Germany 

Wow. I am completely and utterly exhausted. Who knew training would be so tiring?? Nobody warned me...Ha! Tuesday morning we woke up at 5 and headed to Nottingham then Leeds to pick up our trainees! My new star is Sister Jakobi from Germany! 

She is actually Visa waiting to go to Salt Lake visitors center, but will probably be here a few months. Our week was filled with lessons and studies. 
Put these things together for my trainee

We taught 4 lessons this week which is FANTASTIC over here in the east of England, and a wonderful way for Sister Jakobi to start off her mission! On Saturday I proudly made her try "German Pancakes" (named by Americans) as well as a first rootbeer float. It's fun to have a companion from a foreign country. 


On Wednesday night we taught a lesson to our friend J. We proceeded to teach him about the Book of Mormon and prayer for the 3rd time because we really wanted him to grasp the idea of how we can develop a personal relationship with God. We asked him at the end if he'd close with prayer, and to our surprise he said yes. After a few minutes of thinking, J. opened the prayer then said "thank you for giving me the Book of Mormon so I can find how to be happy. Thank you for sending these messengers to me" and then closed his prayer. It was so simple, yet I felt the spirit so strong. I never forgot when my older sister said on her mission that hearing someone pray for the first time was so special. And it is. Such precious moments as a missionary!

On my mission I have come to really appreciate the words in the hymns. One in particular was on my mind this week: "I Know that my Redeemer Lives". Two lines in particular were,

"He lives to silence all my fears"
"He lives to wipe away my tears"

Notice how it doesn't say that he will take away our fears, or cause us to not cry. We HAVE to experience pain and hardship in this life, but he is there to help us get through our adversity. The rest of the lyrics express that because Christ lives, he will enable us to face opposition in this life. Wow. Such a profound concept.
Sally Coxon's son Luca drew this. She got it printed on a pillow

You're probably wondering why in the world I titled this email "teddy bear and a closet", so here's to explain:

We have a dear friend who was baptized a bit ago. Because previous missionaries leave bits and bobs behind in our flat, we told him we'd give him a bag to take to the charity shop. We filled it with clothes, shoes, and a little teddy bear we found on the shelf. In our next meeting together, he told us that he had taken the bag, but hoped we didn't mind that he kept the teddy bear. He explained that because of his rough upbringing, he had never owned a toy in his life. Here he was, 60 or so years later, and finally had his first toy. Wow. My perspective has been so opened as I've lived out here. I see what people really go through. I see the reality and consequences of living in this fallen world. I wanted to share this story to hopefully remind each of us to not take the things we have for granted. 
From: Thailand, Portugal, Philippines, South Africa, Germany and America

I also had an interesting experience at the beginning of the week. In our bedroom, there is a massive standing closet that rises just barely below the ceiling. Well, because I'll be in Eastwood for a while I wanted a change of scenery for the coming transfer. I rearranged the beds, then attempted to move the closet. I pushed, then I pulled, then I shoved...it wouldn't budge. Well at this point I was annoyed. I could've just left it, but I'd already wasted 20 minutes trying to move it. Suddenly an idea came to mind that I should say a prayer. "That's so silly..." I thought to myself. Why would I pray that I could have the strength to move a closet? Well, I did. After my silent prayer, I tried again. And it moved. The closet took a full 90° turn to a different wall in less than a minute. This was quite a silly experience, but It taught me that God will answer our prayers, no matter how small and seemingly insignificant they may seem. 

Isn't is funny the lessons that a teddy bear and a closet can teach us?
Have a good week. Cheers!
Sister Eliza Jones
Valentines Gift from my Mom and Dad..just came in the mail!

They have the cutest craft stores here in England



Saying goodbye to my old comp sister Whitby. I will miss her tremendously!

Picking up our new Trainees :) Elder Cody Campbell, Preston Heaton, Orlyn Fenn and Trey Stewart







Week Thirty Three: Rejected but Redirected

17.2.20


Jammie hearts we made!

 Hello! I wanted to give a quick rundown of my week....first off, I got a call from President Green last night and he asked me to train! Pretty gutted because Sister Whitby will be going all the way up to Hartleypool, but I'm looking forward to training a new sister! I swear I was just in that chapel, a new wide-eye missionary, looking out at all the trainers wondering which would be mine. Now here I am, 7 months later, wondering where all of that time went!
Last week with Sister Whitby.😢 I have loved being comps with her!!!

On Thursday we taught our friend P. As Sister Whitby and I discussed what we should teach him, she said that she felt prompted that we should only teach him the first principle of lesson #3 instead of the whole lesson. I wasn't sure why, but I trusted her. We spent the whole hour talking about Jesus Christ and his atonement. Later that night we had Come Follow Me study group and to our surprise, P. turned up! As we discussed the readings and prompts from this week they were all centered around Christ's atonement. It's so incredible to have experiences like this where the spirit prompts you to do a certain thing, then you are able to see why afterwards. I feel like the amount of times this happens on a mission is like, tripled! So cool!
Ruby. Relief society president..I love her

On Friday we were able to help Sally set up a family history account to prepare for the temple. As soon as she entered in her granddad's name, a few generations prior appeared. She discovered that a distant cousin of hers was a member and had already done some of her work. She was absolutely thrilled. The more I do family history, the more I love it! 
Sister Whitby painted this for Ruby 

Ok...Come Follow Me. Did anyone else just love it this week?! I got so much out of it. One of my favourite verses was 2 nephi 10:20-
"And now, my beloved brethren, seeing that our merciful God has given us so great knowledge concerning these things, let us remember him, and lay aside our sins, and not hang down our heads, for we are not cast off; nevertheless, we have been driven out of the land of our inheritance; but we have been led to a better land, for the Lord has made the sea our path, and we are upon an isle of the sea."
Sister Whitby drew this. (She is currently an art major at Utah State 2023)

The part I want to focus on is the last bit. Jacob explains that although they'd been driven out of the land of their inheritance, they "have been led to a better land." How many times does our life not go the way we think it should? We didn't get the job, we didn't make the team, we got declined, rejected, but then, redirected. The Lord sometimes redirects us "out of the land of our inheritance" to give us a better opportunity further down the road.

When you ask the Lord for something, he will never answer no. He will answer: yes, not yet, or, I have something better for you. Trust that he knows all things. We don't see the big picture, but he does. Amidst the troubles of life, trust him enough to cheerfully lift up your head and say, "the Lord has something better in store for me." This is something I'm really striving to do out here in the middle of England. 
Ok, that's bout it! Have a wonderful week! Cheers! 
Sister Jones




Bishop King and Katrina took us out for lunch. I won't forget the delicious honeycomb pie 



Week Thirty Two: "But if Not"

10.2.20

Week Thirty One: "Ups and Downs"

3.2.20

Sending Letters Home

Batman house- Wollaton hall - Pday

This week was filled with so many emotions. To put S. in a brief nutshell: She was SO excited to get baptized. We taught all the lessons, she had her interview, and was eating up the gospel faster than we could teach it. Her testimony is SO STRONG. On Sunday she brought her son L. (who had some special needs) to church for the first time. Her baptism was announced and she was beaming. However, her son didn't cope so well with such a new environment during the Sacrament meeting. Before the meeting ended, she left the chapel. We assumed she had gone into the hall with her son, but apparently she left church. She sent us a message about a half hour later saying that she didn't want to be baptized anymore or be in contact. It was so out of the blue. And to be quite honest, it was the hardest day of my mission. I felt so much sadness. I had seen how the gospel had complelty turned her life around. Her baptism was only 6 days away. 
As I read my scriptures that night, I came across a couple verses that really resonated with me: "But the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:26, 28).
I am incredibly grateful for a Savior who knows exactly how I feel. I am thankful for my knowledge of the gospel and the plan of happiness. Please keep S. in your prayers.
Nottingham

On a happier note, our friend P. is progressing very well. We sat down with him the other day to teach a lesson on faith and the spirit, and before we could start he said, "Ok so today I would like to talk about The Book of Mormon." So we quickly switched our gears and spent a bit explaining where it came from, what it's about, and how we came to know that it is true. He expressed that at first he was just curious, but he has really grown a desire to know if it is true. Crazy that we just happened to meet him at a bus stop...
Teaching Parissa with the Farsi speaking elders

On Saturday we taught our sweet friend Parisa The Farsi elders came to assist in translating. At one point in the lesson, I looked around and just thought to myself, "Wow. This is SO cool. I'm sitting here in England teaching a woman from Iran about The Book of Mormon. When else in my life am I ever going to have an opportunity like this?" 
Zone Conference (a few weeks ago)

On a foodie note: This week my companion and I decided we were through with grilled cheese and pb&j's. We uped out game and made Coconut Lime bars, Chicken Alfredo pasta, ground beef tacos, and Chicken Salad crossiants (with the grapes, celery, and all). It was so sentimental and homie. 
Coconut Lime Bars 

Oh also...we made a pasta salad that included balsamic vinegar. Well, anyone who knows Sister Jones knows that she doesn't like balsamic vinegar. But I thought to myself, hey I'll be adventurous. Maybe my tastes buds have matured. Well, I poured balsamic over this nice pasta salad that took an hour to make and took a few bites. It was horrible. I looked at the expiration date (such a me thing to do) and it expired TWO YEARS AGO. Reminds me of the time that we found Mac and Cheese that expired in 2008 in grandmas cupboard at the cabin. Soooo I'm going back to not eating balsamic vinegar.

Ok back to missionary work. Our current widespread mission goal is gear our efforts to finding families. At this point it's basically engrained in me to stop everything I'm doing whenever I see a pram, buggy or pushchair (for all y'all Americans those are all varieties of strollers) and attempt to talk to them. On Tuesday we stopped a lot of mums and a few gave us their contact info. As I went to call one of them afterwards, I ended up calling the wrong #. In a situation like this you just kind of roll with it, so I told the woman on the other end that who we were and if she'd like to learn more. To my surprise, she said she'd been taught by missionaries years ago and would love to meet up. WHAT?! Total miracle. 

I wanted to end on a song I came across on Sunday as I was flipping through the hymn book. It is, "More holiness give me". As you read through the lyrics, pay attention to what pleadings are made. They are not to get out of difficult trials, but rather pleadings to become more like our Savior Jesus Christ. 

          1.More holiness give me,
More strivings within,
More patience in suff’ring,
More sorrow for sin,
More faith in my Savior,
More sense of his care,
More joy in his service,
More purpose in prayer.
2. More gratitude give me,
More trust in the Lord,
More pride in his glory,
More hope in his word,
More tears for his sorrows,
More pain at his grief,
More meekness in trial,
More praise for relief.
3. More purity give me,
More strength to o’ercome,
More freedom from earthstains,
More longing for home.
More fit for the kingdom,
More used would I be,
More blessed and holy—
More, Savior, like thee.

I hope we can all strive to make our pleadings to God like the ones in this hymn. I am grateful for the enabling Power of Christs atonement, and I know that I can do anything THROUGH him. 

Have a good week. 
Sister Eliza Jones

Crocuses

IT WAS SOOOO COLD TODAY



        This is the kitty cafe. You sit and eat and cats are walking all over everything
                  
Kitty Cafe


Valentines bunting (banner)  I made with my comp

Gavin. A recent convert in Eastwood. We like to play darts with him



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