Best P-Day Ever

Hi guys!

Sorry I didn't email you yesterday. We had something super exciting happen, which I will explain about later in the email. Anyway, well it sounds like you are all doing great! Yes, some English men are quite friendly, and yes, receiving kisses is against the rules, but unfortunately, they are usually surprises. We had just finished teaching a man this last week and he surprised us both with a kiss on the cheek. It's pretty awkward. Anyway, Elder Grachyov does speak English quite well. Sometimes he gets confused and he'll talk to us in Russian and we have to say, "English please". But he and Elder Treadway are both good missionaries and they are doing well in their area.

Sister Ball and I have seen so many blessings and so many miracles happen in the past few weeks! Abu accepted a baptism date for the 13th of July! Hopefully he feels that he will be ready enough. He is going back to Spain for a few weeks, so we may have to push it back, but he is progressing so well! I am continually getting better (I think) at speaking up in lessons and talking to more people. It's an ongoing thing that we all have to work on. Sister Ball and I also got called as the Zone Music Directors, so every time our zone gets together we are in charge of picking the music. By the way, did I already mention that Sister Ball and I are going to open a sandwich shop when we get home? It was our Zone Leader's idea. We also got to go to Zone training last week which was a lot of fun! We got to have interviews with President Millar so see how we are doing. He and his wife are so amazing! We absolutely adore them!

So this last week Sister Ball and I had a goal of 16 lessons. We reached and surpassed our goal and ended the week with 20 lessons! Sister Ball has been wanting to reach 20 lessons for her entire mission and we finally did it! She hit her one-year mark last week as well, so she is now slowly dying. :( My grandma (Sister Ball's trainer) also died (went home) a few weeks ago. Unfortunately I did not get to meet her. But on the bright side, we got 20 lessons and five new investigators this week! Heavenly Father is blessing us greatly! He is such a merciful Father in Heaven!

Now, back to why I didn't email you all on the right day. We got to take a trip into LONDON to see and hear ELDER M. RUSSELL BALLARD of the QUORUM OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES!!! It was the best p-day ever!!! We were in the third row, and he walked right past our row at the end of the meeting! We were less than five feet from an Apostle of the Lord! It was such an amazing experience! We didn't know until yesterday morning at 10 that we would be going, so it was a last minute thing but it was such an amazing talk! He talked to us all about missionary work and how we are doing such a good job, but we can do so much more! Unfortunately, only select zones from the mission that were close enough could go to see him, but luckily I was close enough and we got to go! It was an amazing experience that I will never forget!

May Heavenly Father continue to bless you all in all of you righteous endeavors! Enjoy your summer and have fun! I miss you guys a ton, but a mission is the experience of lifetime! I would definitely recommend it! I love you all so much, and I'm excited to hear about what you are up to this week! Love you!

Love,

Sister Connery