Good week! - Dec. 1, 2014

Hey Family,

 

  I can't believe that December is here! November has come and gone and I can't believe how fast the time is passing. Lights are hanging up around in the towne centre and Christmas trees are starting to pop up in windows. The feeling of Christmas is in the air and it's making me very excited. Congrats to Maddie on your win! That's awesome! Good luck next week and in your tournament :)

  This week has been pretty good! The harvest festival went really well and it was great to be able to have a fancy meal. Megan, our investigator, was able to make it and I think that she had a really good time. The women have been really friendly to her and things are going really good. We've been able to meet a couple of really cool potentials this week, including a man named Iman (not quite sure how you spell it). He just moved here from Egypt and is a doctor in Dudley. He has his own faith but when we introduced him to the Book of Mormon he was very interested and says that he wants to learn more. Unfortunately we won't be able to see him for a couple of weeks because he is on call for work, but the day that we set up for him is the day that the rest of his family will be coming from London so hopefully we'll be able to teach them as well. One of the coolest experiences that I had this week was during a lesson with Georgette. We were running really late to get to the appointment because of the buses, and we sort of changed our lesson plans because we knew that she wouldn't be able to stay for very long. When we got there and finally began talking to her, she took out her Book of Mormon and told us she has some questions about a chapter that she read. It was Mosiah 18. She told us that she had prayed to Heavenly Father and then when she opened the book that was where it fell open to. We discussed it, talking about baptism and other things, and then she told us that she knew what she needed to do. She wants to get baptized! She said that she felt like God was speaking directly to her and that she had received her answer. She is now preparing to be baptized onJanuary 10th! It was incredible! It was such an amazing experience to see that she had been able to receive and answer to her prayers. It totally strengthened my testimony and I know that the power of prayer is real. We still have a lot to teach her but I'm so excited for her and for what's ahead.

   Sorry that this email is coming in so late and that it is so short. We went to the German market today in Birmingham and we don't have a whole lot of time. I'm putting up a bunch of photos so hopefully that will make up for it. Another crazy thing this week, the Sisters in Stourbridge have been living in our flat for the past couple of days because their heater broke and they don't have any warm water.  Super crazy but also a lot of fun. Thanks for all of your support! We'll have more time next week so I'll be sure to give you a better update. Hope you guys have an amazing week. Love you!!

 

Love,

Sister Wilde

I hate Brussel sprouts!! - Nov. 24,2014

Hello family!

 

 Thank you for your email! It is so good to hear from you and about all the fun things that are going on in your lives. Happy birthday to Mitch and Maddie!! I can't believe that you guys are flippin seventeen years old! Crazy stuff.  I'm sorry that your packages didn't arrive before your birthday. But just know that something is on it's way :) I'm super jealeous that you went to that movie! There are adverts for it everywhere over here and it looks really good. Holy moly 27 plays! Man that's awesome! I'm looking forward to hearing about the season and how Maddie will be tearing it up on the court :) How has the weather been for you guys? I've heard a little bit about New York. That's crazy! Have you had any snow at the house? It's hasn't been too wet but man it is getting pretty cold. In fact, we were having a lesson at Sammi's house, one of our investigators, and you could see our breath while we were teaching. It was pretty dang cold haha. I think I'm about to start wearing two pairs of tights! It's definitely cold, cold. Supposedly this time of year is usully alright but come January and February and it will be pretty nasty. Hopefully I'll be able to get used to this humidity sooner than later. Also, tell Carson that he better go to Africa. That would be so cool! You'll have to let me know what he decides to do!

  So I realized that I've been telling you about a lot of different people but not really what has happened with them. I guess I'll fill you in! Charly. We tried to have a lesson with her after the first time she came to church but we were never able to and we invited her to church again but she never came. One day we were throwing our rubbish away before heading out and we saw Charly drive past on her scooter. We saw her and waved but she looked at us like she was trying to go by without us seeing her. We walked out to the sidewalk to see her but when we got there she was a long ways away and she wasn't looking back. I guess she isn't really interested. But it's super awkward now because we literally see her EVERYWHERE. We always say hi when we can but most times she just looks down and drives past us as fast as she can. Totes awks. Cheezie never called us back and doesn't answer the phone and Natalie and Vinny are never home. Kind of a bummer but I've noticed more and more that that just kind of happens. But no worries, we are working with some pretty cool people at the moment and things are going really well. Our new progressing investigator is named Megan. She is awesome! We were able to teach her twice in the week and then she came to church with us yesterday. We were pretty stoked! She has been investigating other religions since she was about 15 years old and hasn't really been satisfied with any of them. Imagine that :) We first time we spoke to Megan while we were waiting at a bus stop. We had seen her a couple of times around town that day and we figured that we were probably supposed to talk to her. She said that she knew a little bit about our church, but wasn't really interested in learning more. We eventually convinced her to let us stop by at least for a little bit to share a short message with her. Both lessons that we've had with her have gone really well! We have taught her about the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation She is very knowledgeable and has a great understanding. We invited her to be baptized and she said yes! The only problem is that she says she'll need about six months. She is worried about jumping into it too quickly and then getting bored of it or it not being right because that's what has happened with the other religions that she has tried out. She is sincerely studying it out though and I know that once she knows that this is true that she won't have any problems with it being sooner. That's the hope at least :) Owen wasn't able to make it to church because of a family situation but he told us that he is still interested and that he will keep in touch. We have two other investigators right now as well. Ryan and Mitch. Ryan is 19 years old and is in college. He doesn't have a religious background and is pretty curious. We had a good first lesson with him and he still wants to learn more. Unfortunately we just found out that he is in the Elders area so we'll be losing him. Mitch is older, not sure his age, and is from Jamaica. He is very religious. We actually stopped to talk to him because he was playing some gospel music really loud from his car :) I'm not sure how interested he is in the church but we've had some good conversations about God and I think that he'll want to learn more once we can have an actual lesson with him. Things are definitely going well! We have definitely been blessed and I know that Heavenly Father is watching over us and helping us along the way.

  So you're probably wondering why the subject says "I hate brussel sprouts". It's because I do. We have had a few dinner appointments this week and we've had them everytime. THEY ARE DISGUSTING. Thank you mom for never making them. I've tried my best to eat them but it is so difficult. Even when I pile on everything else to make it bearable the still the taste comes through. Nasty. Anyways, I hope that you guys have a good week and Thanksgiving holiday! Even though they don't celebrate Thanksgiving, they do celebrate the Harvest so we are having a Relief Society Harvest/Thanksgiving feast on Thursday. I'm pretty excited! Thank you so much for your love and encouragment. You guys are truly amazing and I'm so grateful for your examples. I love you all and I'll talk to you soon!!

 

love,

sister wilde