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Showing posts with label St. Helens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label St. Helens. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Weekly Letter #9: November 26, 2019

Hello! 

This week has been good and boring at the same time. Some great things happened, but I was also really sick and in bed/on the floor under the Christmas tree with a fever for the last half of the week so that's always fun! 

 Fun things that happened this week: 

 - I was in a trio/threesome for the past week and it has been so much fun! Being with three people is an absolute party all the time and we can get so much done! Sister Smith is from Tahiti (French-speaking) and she is the absolute sweetest person in the world. I've loved having her in our companionship as she has definitely taught me so much! 

 - Had my “Five Weeks Meeting” at the mission home with all the new missionaries and their trainers. We received training as well as role-playing how to contact people. We also talked about how we all have agency and how we can use that agency to determine how we react to situations and those around us. It's hard to believe that I've been out in the field for 6 weeks now, let alone being out for 2 months! Time flies when you're working hard and you're having fun! 

 - We met with our friend Phil this week. He has been progressing a lot and has really noticed a lot of good changes in his life and has enjoyed learning about the gospel. We felt like we should ask him to be baptized, so we did, and he said yes! Yay! 

 - Uh…I'm getting transferred? So in this mission, it is UNHEARD of for people to get transferred while they are still training. However, guess who is getting transferred while I'm still training? Me! I'm getting moved up to Oldham in Manchester, and my new companion is from France (I seem to attract French people)! Woohoo! Anyone who knows me well knows I'm pretty much fluent in French so that talent has definitely been a blessing :) (#IFailedFrench). However, I won't lie, I definitely cried for a little bit because I didn't want to leave my friends here, but c'est la vie (as the French say lol)! 

 So yeah, that was my week! Next week I'll be emailing from a whole new area so yay! 

 Sister Pursglove 

 Fave food: bakewell tart. Oh boy, these are my absolute favourite. 
Fave expression: Pop a squat - means sit down. That's American but everyone here loves it and thinks it's funny so... 

 Photographs below :)
 
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Monday, November 18, 2019

Weekly Letter #8: November 18, 2019

Time here is the weirdest thing. Feels like the days are 20 years long, but the weeks feel like 20 seconds. Hard to believe that I have already been out in the field for almost 5 weeks! How crazy is that? 

 Not gonna lie, when people told me that missions were hard, I was expecting more of physically hard and difficult companions and whatnot. However, in my 5 week opinion, missions are hard because of the emotional roller coaster you're put on. 

 For example, just on Friday our good friend David, who was progressing the most, dropped us and that was heartbreaking. A recent convert we love quit her job that was preventing her from doing a lot of church things so that was exciting. A lady in a wheelchair cussed us out and told us quite explicitly we were brainwashed (but don't worry she didn't even offend me, I just laughed my head off once she left--whoops). I got a blender which made me so so happy. We found blood on our fireplace in our flat so we had police and a locksmith all come to our house late at night. We video called President & Sister McReynolds. We had a sleepover at a member's house because we didn't feel safe at our flat. All in day's work! 

 If I were to guess which crazy thing that happened on Friday alone caught your attention, it would be the fact that Sister Clark and I found blood on our fireplace! Story time: 

 We had been out all day and had just got back right at curfew so we plopped down on our couch and were just about to call some people, when we noticed what looked like random drips of blood coming down our fireplace. We went over to investigate and it smelled (no I did not smell it) and looked like blood so we began to freak out. We called our district leader who told us to call our zone leaders. We then called the zone leaders who laughed at us, and told us to call President jokingly. We then called President to ask him what to do because we were mildly panicking, and he told us to call 999 and check to make sure we were alone in the flat. We then grabbed kitchen knives and stalked around our house to see if there were any signs of forced entry or to see if there was someone in our house. 

 Luckily, no one was there and there was also no sign of forced entry anywhere. Yikes. We then called 999 and the police came over about 5 minutes later and checked ALL over our house and checked out the blood. In the end, they were positive it was blood but they couldn't call a forensics team to test it because there wasn't a body, signs of forced entry, or a limb just laying somewhere. That was comforting. Really, in the end, they were like, "Hahaha, we're sorry we can't be more help but there's not a lot we can do because this situation literally doesn't make sense." Classic. We then called President again to tell him the verdict and he told us to call the landlord and get the locks changed that night and then call members around us to see who we could stay with that night. Had a great time and really enjoyed that. But no worries, our locks were changed and our flat was rededicated so we are safe! That was just our fun story for the week. 

 But for real, I can handle all the walking and the rejection and the blows to my pride and companions and everything, but holy guacamole it's the heartbreaks and the happy moments that just send your emotions all over the place that's the real killer. It's just so sad to see your friends that you've seen change and grow turn their back on what can give them happiness and direction. On the other hand, it's so happy and exciting to see your friends you love progress and find answers to their questions. Overall though, I love missionary work and being here. It's hard but I feel like I've already grown so much and I see how much more I can grow. 

 On an unrelated note, I started studying about pride and humility in Preach my Gospel and in the scriptures and I decided to go through and mark every reference to pride in the Book of Mormon and it is so crazy! Pride is everywhere! Literally it is on every page multiple times, except when mentioning how to come closer to Christ. So far that's been really interesting to go through and study. Would highly recommend doing that if you ever have a spare second. Would also highly recommend reading the general conference talk called "The Prophet and the Prison" by Elder Marvin J. Ashton. 

In the end, this week was crazy but it was a good time. I'm just livin’ la vida loca over in St. Helens! 

 Hope you all are having a great week and having fun getting ready for Thanksgiving! 

 Thanks for the emails and the pictures (next week pday is on Tuesday because of transfers FYI)! Keep sending them because they make me happy :) 

 Love y’all! 
Sister P 

 Fave food: Steak and kidney pie. Mmmmm 
Fave saying: Tarah! Means bye or something like that

 Photographs below :)

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Monday, November 11, 2019

Weekly Letter #7: November 11, 2019

Hello everyone!

 It has recently come to my attention that people love my letters so much, they send their favourite parts to my dad to tell them their thoughts. I am honoured. “Welcome to St.Helens, honey!”
#Lee

Also another random thought I had was that if 2 missionaries ever just show up on your front porch, then you should probably be nice to them, and maybe feed them and invite them into your home. Maybe even listen to them as they teach you about the Book of Mormon. Who knows?  It could probably change your life since it's changed mine. 
#Lee pt. 2

Everyone, this week was really great but really hard!  Sometimes I forget life isn't just amazing all the time so that sucks. But honestly, life is great here and I'm loving it and learning lots. Also sorry I have absolutely zero time to write anyone else as this email literally just deleted itself 20 minutes before P-day ends. Hahahaha. 

Also please forgive how terrible I look in most photos as it is typically pouring and crazy windy here so yikes. Honestly I don't care, but some of you might be terrified, so sorry! I promise I shower and stuff!

Guy Fawkes Day! A long time ago in a land far away, a man named Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the English Parliament. Unfortunately, he failed. Haha. But for some reason, they created a holiday to celebrate the fact he failed. So fun! Pretty much it's a lot of fireworks, bonfires, and burning scarecrows and just having a dandy time. For some reason, missionaries had to go in early to stay safe, so we decided to put up Christmas decorations and sing Christmas carols. We love that for us. Also, I realize that quite a few missionaries don't have housing that's quite as nice as mine, so I'm sorry. If it makes you feel better, we didn't have hot water in our kitchen tap this week. It was a trial.

Zone Conference was on Wednesday (woot woot)! Another great thing that made it awesome was the fact that it was in Chorley, literally on the MTC grounds right next to the temple. Not gonna lie, these last few weeks have been a little emotionally crazy so I prayed for the entire week that I would be able to talk to either one of my MTC teachers, or someone I knew from the MTC, just so I could talk to someone from my "normal" life (does that make any sense?). 

All day long I kept praying and had my eyes peeled but there was nobody. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero. It finally reached the end of zone conference and it was time for us to head home. To say that I was disappointed was a major understatement. We started leaving and right as we were about to turn to leave the MTC grounds, lo and behold, who turned around the other corner? Brother Casadibari, one of my MTC teachers who changed my life. It literally was the dumbest and shortest conversation ever, but it truly was such a tender mercy, and just a little confirmation that Heavenly Father is looking out for me. Made me so happy and I was so grateful. Heavenly Father loves us folks. He really does.

On Thursday, we had a tea appointment where they gave me 4 high quality slices of blood sausage at the end. Did I definitely go home and fry it up and eat it? Yup! I love it. So delicious. Reconstituted pig's blood? Who cares? Not me!

Saturday we were able to teach one of my favorite families in the world about how families can be together forever, not just until we die, and it really struck me at how blessed I am to know that. I can be with Heavenly Father and my family forever. How amazing is that? They also fed us this bread pudding thing with toffee sauce and whipped cream and it was so delicious. I promise I love them because they're amazing, not just because they feed us. I swear.

Yesterday was Remembrance Sunday, which is when everyone gathers together to remember all the troops that have fought and died in any war. We got to go down to the town square with everyone else and listen to the ceremony and it was quite touching. Thank you to the people who fight for our freedoms and liberties, who literally put their lives on the line for us. 

Sorry this is super short, but read the Book of Mormon! Pray about it! Get your own testimony! Then write me because it makes my week (even if I can't respond I am so sorry it is so crazy here)!

love you all!
Sister Pursglove

Fave food: bloodsausage. don't look up what it is. just trust me when I say it's yummy.
Fave expression: chavs. literally means stupid kids or teenagers who do really dumb or stupid things. classic.

 Photographs below :)


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Monday, November 4, 2019

Weekly Letter #6: November 4, 2019

Hello y’all!

I promised that this week would be a longer email so please forgive me for last week's email. I was a wimp and wouldn't just type out an email. Oh well. If a mission has taught me anything it's that you learn from your mistakes or weaknesses and you just keep swimming. C'est la vie as my French friends would say!

This week has been crazy. This week has been the first week honestly where I was like hahaha, this sucks. I'm not going to lie, the end of the week got a little rough but it's helping me to learn more about myself and how I can improve even if I maybe don't want to, or don't think I can.

This week has also been crazy good! We had exchanges this week so Sister Clark and I got to go up to Manchester to swap out for our STL's. Sister Ward was my companion for the night and, geez louise, I love her. She is so chill and nice and funny and we clicked immediately.  We got to teach 1 lesson in Chinese (Sister Ward is a Mandarin Chinese speaker in the mission) and teach 2 lessons in English. One of the lessons, we taught this guy named Jake, and he is an absolute legend. Loved him. So sad I can't stay in Manchester to teach him. Taught him about walking in faith and trusting that God will help everything to work out and we just had a really spiritual lesson that was great. 10/10 baby!

We also had Halloween!! Just to be safe, missionaries were required to be in early so we deep cleaned our flat and then had a Halloween feast which consisted of mummy hot dogs, butterbeer, pumpkin cookies, and caramel apples. We then treated ourselves and watched the scariest Church Video we could find which are the 12-step videos on addiction recovery. They're so good but also so scary. Would highly recommend them. 

As I write this email, I'm currently sitting on a double-decker bus watching two hooligans fist fighting and karate chopping each other in the aisle. Welcome to St. Helens, honey. Life is good and life is always amusing.

We have zone conference on Wednesday from 9-5 in Chorley! Very excited and fingers crossed that I get to see some of my favorite people. I am very excited to listen and learn and improve and just be better. My mission is great. Genuinely amazing.

One thing I know for sure is that God knows us and loves us. Of that I am definitely 100% confident. If you don't know that, get on your knees and ask.

Love you all! Keep writing!

xxx Sister Pursglove

Fave expression: outside ya gaff - I'm at your house

Fave food: vanilla slice - puff pastry layered with vanilla icing and custard

 Photographs below :)
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Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Weekly Letter #5: October 28, 2019

A long time ago in a land far away, I always was frustrated when my missionary friends wouldn't write long or detailed weekly emails home. Now I totally understand why.

I am so happy here and I love it so much. My companion is wonderful and I love her.

I am SO happy and I know God loves us all so much. He loves us so much!

Also make sure you invite your missionaries to tea. They are most likely starving for good food.

 Love you all! Happy Halloween !

Photographs below :)

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