Week Thirty One: "Ups and Downs"

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