Dare To Be a Mormon

Hi guys!

Another week here in England has come and gone! Transfers were good. Sister Ball left, but I will still see her once a week as she is still in the zone. She is the new Sister Trainer Leader so I will get to go on some exchanges with her! :) So, my new companion. Her name is Sister Cranfield, and she is from Sydney, Australia. My first foreign companion, who (thankfully) speaks English. ;) She is really cool, and we have had a good week so far. Last week, we beat the amount of teaches from the previous week by one. So we had 33 teaches, which is the most either one of us has ever taught. She was in Weymouth before and the highest they had ever taught was 16 lessons, so Bracknell is a good change for her. We played more football (soccer) for P-Day yesterday (long story-short: It was a bank holiday yesterday so the library was closed, so we are emailing today and then going to work). We went to Farnborough and had a district P-Day together at the Farnborough ward picnic. I have this awesome bruise on my leg! It's HUGE! That's what I get for playing rough with fourteen men and only two girls (my companion and I). The highlight of our week though was being able to take one of our investigators, Jim, to the temple to the visitors center there. It was so much fun! I loved just being able to be there on the temple grounds! It was amazing! I can't wait to go inside one day! And Abu, unfortunately we haven't been able to get ahold of him this week. We are still trying; he just works a lot and is having some housing issues. But hopefully we can see him again soon. My testimony of this gospel and this church just gets stronger and stronger every single day! I love being able to see people change their lives for the better and seeing the blessings that come from being a member of this church. A mission is an incredible experience!

So, that's what is going on here. Not too much stuff, but it's great being able to be here to teach the gospel and stand up for what I believe in. There is a Mormon Message for Youth by President Monson, and he recites a poem that he learned in primary. I really enjoyed it and want to share it with you guys. It says,

Dare to be a Mormon,
Dare to stand alone.
Dare to have a purpose firm,
Dare to make it known!

I really like that, and I hope you guys do as well. It's a great reminder to stand up for what we believe in and let people know that we are Mormons! It may be difficult and uncomfortable sometimes, but there's a great quote about the Savior that I heard. "We are uncomfortable for Him, because He was first uncomfortable for us." The Lord needs us to stand up and be witnesses of Him, and Jesus Christ, at all times, and in all things, and in all places that we may be in Him even until death. (See Mosiah 18:9) Dare to be a Mormon, and dare to make it known!

I hope you guys have a great week! I am so proud of the things that you are all doing and I wish you all the best. I am praying for you constantly and I love you guys so much! Have a great week! Love you!

Love,
Sister Connery

 The building where our flat is

The building is called Debden House

Sister Cranfield and I at the London Temple

 Just for Jordan :)

An Exciting Time

Hi everyone!

So, the past transfer has been super exciting for us! Lot's of cool stuff has happened to us. Obviously the baptisms are amazing! It is such an exciting time to be a missionary. So, transfers are this week and Sister Ball is moving! She is moving the next area over, in the same zone, to be a Sister Trainer Leader (they go on exchanges with the other sisters and help them out and stuff)! She's not moving too far, and I will still get to see her a lot so I am happy about that. So I will be getting a new companion on Wednesday. President didn't say who or anything, but he told me that I have to be strong. Not quite sure what that means yet, but I will certainly do my best to do it! Some other exciting stuff that happened this week is that we reached 32 lessons this week! Yay! We are getting more and more, and we hope to keep it up! As a district (Bracknell-us, Crowthorne-Elder Grachyov and Elder Treadway, and Farnborough-Elder Davies and Elder Rogers), we taught a grand total of 107 lessons this last week! Crazy!!! The work is definitely progressing and hastening onward! I got to go on exchanges with Sister Hurst to her area in Earley this week too, and that was fun. We went to KFC for dinner with a member this week too. His name is Joff, and he is single so we couldn't go to his house, so he just took us out. We finally got to see Abu again, after almost two months of no contact and he still wants to meet with us and learn more, so that's good. We play football (soccer) every Thursday night, and I am getting better I think. I made two goals and a few assists last time. But I keep getting headaches from hitting the ball off my head. Maybe not such a good idea but still fun. I have found that I am really competitive, and some of the guys think I'm kinda rough when I play. It's not my fault if they get in the way when I'm going for the ball. Haha! We have been so tired lately as well! It's terrible! We both actually almost fell asleep while teaching a lesson to a less active. She noticed and even said, "Oi, you two must be tired, I can see your eyes going!" That woke us up for sure. There was also this cute Italian market in town for a few days selling some yummy food. It was so good! And Italian guys like to flirt! Oh my gosh, one was so persistent about getting my number. It was hilarious! Yes, my allergies act up, yes my shoulder acts up, but that's normal. It happens at home too, so what can you do? It's not too bad anyway. I will send a picture of our flat building. It's a really nice flat, but we're not really allowed to take pictures of the inside, but I can show you the outside. Yes, I was wearing a pink skirt. Sister Ball and I share clothes all the time, and I just pretend that it's red :)

This week has been so amazing and so full of miracles! Heavenly Father is hastening His work, and we are just the vessels that He uses to do it. Being a missionary is so much fun! A lot of hard work, but it's a blast! My testimony has grown so much since I have been here, and Heavenly Father answers our prayers and shows us miracles every day! He is a God of miracles, and miracles have not ceased! Miracles are wrought by faith, so have faith and believe, and miracles will happen! I hope you guys have a great week, and I can't wait to hear about what you are all up to next week. I love you guys so much! Thank you for everything!

Love,
Sister Connery

Here are some pictures of Windsor Castle and the River Thames

A Short Report

Hi Ya'll

So some good things and some not so good things have happened this past week. A good thing was that we broke our record and we taught 30 lessons this last week!!! It was hard to get so many, but we managed to do it. Some not so good things are that we are struggling a little to find new investigators, and we lost our baptismal date that we had for this coming Saturday. Our investigator isn't ready for it so we have to push it back. Not much else exciting has been going on around here. So, that means this is going to be a super short email! Oh, there is one more exciting thing that happened this week. As a mission, we taught a total of 2,038 lessons! The work here is definitely hastening! The area seventy here has told us repeatedly that if the work in Europe is going to increase, it will start in the England London, and England London South Missions. What a huge responsibility we have here! I just hope and pray that we can do it! However, we know that with the help of Heavenly Father we will be able to accomplish anything. In the Bible there is a scripture that talks about how with men it may be impossible, but with God all things are possible. That is such a true statement! Well, I don't really have a lot else to tell you guys this week. Sorry it's so short and kinda boring. I hope to hear from you guys again soon! I love you guys tons and I hope that you have a great week! I love you!

Love,
Sister Connery

Windsor Castle

Hiya everyone!

We had an amazing week this last week and the week before. It really was a miracle that Penny got baptized, but it just shows that Heavenly Father is hastening His work and changing the hearts of people. So, last P-Day, Penny took us to Windsor Castle! It's where the Queen lives part of the time and it is only like 20 minutes away from us, but it's out of our zone so we couldn't go normally. We had to get special permission from President Millar to go, and he said yes so we got to go to Windsor! We had so much fun! I took lots of pictures, and it was so fun! We even had lunch on the banks of the River Thames! It was so much fun! The rest of our week was good too. We saw lots of people, and sometimes our plans changed and things didn't go the way we planned, but we know that everything happens for a reason, and we just have to trust Heavenly Father. We were able to teach 26 lessons this week, which is the highest that we have ever gotten. We now have a goal next week to get 30 lessons! Pray hard for us! The power of prayer definitely works! That's how Penny got baptized, through our prayers and the prayers of others, and that is how Alma the Younger was converted to the gospel, through the prayers of his father and the church members. Don't ever doubt the power of prayer! So, a high point of our week happened on Saturday, when one of our investigators, Vicky, got baptized! Yay! Another baptism and confirmation! We are really trying hard, and Heavenly Father is really blessing us! It has been such a great week for us! It has also been a good week for our mission as well. A few months ago, (March to be precise) this mission was teaching under 1,000 lessons a week, but ever since April when the huge increase in missionaries started to happen, our mission has consistently been teaching over 1,000 a week. And we found out this morning that this last week, our entire mission taught 1,960 lessons! Heavenly Father is helping all of us so much and is working very hard to help us bring others unto the Savior Jesus Christ. The past few weeks have been so amazing!!!

As of yesterday, I have been on my mission for 4 whole months now! Crazy!!! It's gone by so fast, but yet so slow. I guess when you dive into the work and just work hard, the time passes and you don't even notice. I'm glad y'all had such a great week, and I can't wait to read about all of your fun adventures next Monday. Say hello to all the family for me. That includes: Miltie, Shayna, Cy, Mimi, Angelina, Hailee, Phoenix, Jen, Jordan, Maddie, McKinley, Chris, Wendy, Clara, Adam, Paul, Matt, Peyton, Lincoln, Sam, Grace, Adam, Grandma, Daddy, and Mama.

I miss you all tons, but Heavenly Father will bless us for the work that myself and you all do for Him. I pray for you all each day, and I pray that the Lord will bless you in your daily lives. I hope you have a great week, and I love you all so much! :)

Love,
Sister Connery

Sis. Ball and I and Sister Aslett and her daughter Bethany (she is going on a mission to Fairfax Canada and leaves on the 27th of August)

Us and the Thairs family consisting of Brother and Sister Thairs, Charlotte, Michael, Elianna, Matthew, and James (Bro. Thairs is our ward mission leader)

Us and Lynne, who is a convert who was baptized just before I came

Us and one of our favorite couples, Brother and Sister Hamilton who we love! They are so good to us! 

This is a picture of us and Penny, my first convert! :)