Book of Mormon Tower

Hi guys!

Things are pretty good here. Apparently Heavenly Father trusts us enough here to let us whitewash this area, so we have to do our best! Sister Polidario is wonderful! I love her so much already! :) I'm attaching a picture of us to this email. I am truly so excited about serving with her! I have actually been praying that I would have a companion from every continent (excluding Antarctica), and so far that prayer has been answered! I've had an American, Australian, European, now an Asian! All I need is a South American and I've got it all! It's so cool to see the different cultures and everything here, and to learn about it all from my companions. So, to answer your questions: 1) It depends on how the office elders arrange it. Sometimes you go by train, by bus, or car (either the zone leaders, office elders, or one of the senior couples drive us). This last transfer, Sister L and I were driven by the zone leaders. All the missionaries that will be transferred meet in one location, and then we go to our new areas. 2) I have ridden on MANY double-decker buses. That was basically the only travel that we had in Croydon was double deckers. So, yes I have. LOTS of them! 3) We pray a lot! The absolute minimum that we pray each day is around 12-14 times. At least! 4) Shoe size...ummm...at home I wear a size 8, and here I think that is a size 38 or something like that. I can't remember exactly.  

Wow, it really has been a whole year this week! It's crazy how fast the time goes! This time last year I was preparing to go to the MTC, and I spent conference weekend in the MTC. It was a really great experience! I absolutely love General Conference! And it is here again! This is one of those precious times of the year when we get to hear a prophet and apostles of the Lord speak to us! What a blessing! When Jesus Christ established His church, He set it up with prophets and apostles, and that is how it has worked since the beginning of time, starting with the prophet, Adam. How blessed we are to belong to the true church of Jesus Christ, complete with living prophets and apostles to lead and guide us. If you have any questions or doubts on your mind, be sure to watch and listen to General Conference carefully, and you will receive answers. I do that every time, and I have yet to not receive an answer. I have a challenge for all of you (either individually, or as a family) to invite one person to watch General Conference with you. I'm inviting 5+ people every day, so just invite one! Pray about whom you could invite, and do it! I know you guys can do this!

Thanks for the email! You are all so amazing! Thanks for everything, and I really hope you guys have another good week! You are always being prayed for! I love you all! :D

Love,
Sister Connery

 Sister Polidario and I

I decided to organize the Books of Mormon that we have in our flat (the non-english ones), and I kept piling them on top of one another, so now I made this tower of Books of Mormon. I even got Sister Polidario to stand next to it so you can see how tall it is (she is about 5'2"). 

Whitewashing

Hi guys!

Oh my goodness! I have so much to tell you! I am glad to hear that you are all doing well. I'm also extremely glad to hear about the temple trip! I love the temple so much! I really wish I could go again! I will never again take the temple for granted! Ever! It is such a blessing in our lives and a huge privilege for us to go to the house of the Lord! :D

Sometimes, Mama, we all need little nudges. Even missionaries. Sometimes we get too relaxed with everything, and we need to stop and keep working hard. We can rest in paradise after we die. But now is the time for us to perform our labours and prepare to meet Heavenly Father again (see Alma 34:32). So we need to work hard while we can! Take a good break and rest easy with Spring Break, and then you can be refreshed to start work and everything else again. I hope those kids are helping you out with everything, and if they're not then tell them to REPENT! ;) lol.

So, now for my news! Transfers came! I didn't mention it last week because when I emailed you on Monday morning I didn't know if I would be transferred or not. But transfer calls came on Monday evening, and I got transferred to a place called Staines (Google it). So that means a new companion, new place, new members, new everything! But not only that, my new companion and I are whitewashing! (Whitewashing=going to an area that both of you have never been to). So, we were both in previous areas, and then we got transferred here to Staines, so neither one of us know anything about this place, and we just have to figure it out. There were Sisters here before but both of them went home last week so President had to put two new missionaries here, and so he, through inspiration from Heavenly Father, chose us. It's really hard, but it can be really fun and it's a great opportunity for us to stretch and grow! My new companion is Sister Polidario, and she is from the Philippines! She has been on her mission for eight months, and she is just so sweet! She is the Sister Trainer Leader for our zone so we will be getting to go on a lot of exchanges! Fun stuff! But it has been so crazy this week! We have only been in the area since Wednesday evening, and we have no investigators at all. So we are finding, finding, and more finding! It's crazy! But so much fun! We are really excited! We have already found a few investigators so we are really chuffed about that! It's going to be great! Yes, I will miss the baptisms in Purley, but as long as they get baptized, then it doesn't matter if I am there. All is well! :)

So, yeah. Lot's of exciting and new things this week! But that is all for now! I hope that you all have a fantastic week and keeping going strong with everything! Pray for strength when you need it, and Heavenly Father will answer your prayers! Thank you all for everything! I couldn't do any of this without all of you! Love you all!!! :)

Love,

Sister Connery

A Precious Gift

Hello from beautiful, sunny England!

It's a bit weird saying that because of all the rain that we have had the past few months, but the last week-ish has been so beautiful here! There have been several times when we have gone out without coats on because the weather is so nice! So, I will start by answering the questions that you have. I already told you about the weather, so on to General Conference. Yes, we do get to watch General Conference but we usually only get to watch 3 sessions of it because of the timing. It makes it a bit harder because you guys are having a session at 1pm, and that session for us is at 10pm. So, we just have to wait for the Ensign to come out and read up some more. Sister Laineenkare has been trying to teach me some Finnish (that is her native language), but it is a hard one to learn. But her English is great! She doesn't always know how to pronounce some words or what some things mean, but they have to start learning English in school when they are seven, so she sounds proper American when she speaks English (seriously, everyone always thinks she's from the States, lol). Yes, I did have a good chat with President Millar about things. I won't be needing a sling or anything as my shoulder is doing much better now. (not lying) I followed his advice directly and I am doing much better with it. So no worries.

Congrats to Adam about the basketball game and the piglets! That is so exciting! Have fun! The Time Out sounds like it was a lot of fun. I look forward to being able to go in the future, and I'll have to listen to that new CD when I get back. Now, Sam, I'm sorry that you have been rejected so much about prom. The great thing is that you still have next year, but don't give up hope now! Chin up kid! I get my offers to people rejected every day! Maybe this is a way that the Lord is preparing you for your mission. lol. :) That's great that you guys are going out teaching with the missionaries! They really appreciate it! Trust me, you guys have no idea how much we appreciate when members come on teaches with us! Keep up the good work!

So, this week has been so good! We really feel like this has been a good week for us! We still have our four investigators with baptismal dates and two of those came to church yesterday! We had a total of three people at church that we are teaching, and as a district we had a total of six at church. It has been a really good week for that! We are so happy and excited when people get to come to church and feel the Spirit that is there! I love the opportunity that I have every week to go there, to feel the Spirit and partake of the Sacrament. We too have had a main topic for this month be the Atonement in our classes and such. I have actually been studying a lot about this topic, and as you said, "this precious gift". We meet people every day who ask us questions about sins and how could God forgive people of certain sins. We tell them that no matter how great or how small the sin may be, we all make mistakes-every single one of us. Missionaries are here to help others know how we can all be cleansed from our mistakes. Only through Jesus Christ can that happen. He came to the Earth and suffered incomprehensible amounts of pain on our behalf so that we can have the opportunity to return to live with Heavenly Father again. When we make mistakes we have to face the consequences for them. That is justice. However, when the Saviour, performed the Atonement, He satisfied the demands of justice. In Mosiah 15:9, it says, "Having ascended into heaven, having the bowels of mercy; being filled with compassion towards the children of men; standing betwixt them and justice; having broken the bands of death, taken upon himself their iniquity and their transgressions, having redeemed them, and satisfied the demands of justice." Because of what He did, Jesus Christ gives us the opportunity to receive mercy from them (Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ), and they can forgive us of our sins. We can only be forgiven if we accept Jesus Christ and what He has done for us, repent, obey the commandments, and live the gospel of Jesus Christ (which is: having faith in Him, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end). But mercy cannot rob justice (see Alma 42: 22-25), so we have to do our part by doing the things previously mentioned. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ want to forgive us of our sins, and we can be forgiven. There are big sins and little sins, and Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ can forgive whomever they want (see D&C 64:10). We cannot get to the celestial kingdom alone. Only through the merits of Jesus Christ can we get there. Repentance is a process, and it isn't easy, but it is possible, and it is worth it in the end.

That was my sermon for this week. :) I hope that you guys have another good week, or that things go better for those who haven't had such a good week. Stay strong, and press on! (hey, that was almost like 'Keep Calm and Carry On' haha!) Anyway, have a great week guys! Love you!!!

Love,
Sister Connery 

Looking Through Windows

Hi guys!

Congratulations Sam on the Court of Honour! Good for you! That's really cool! In fact, today we are actually going to help one of the young men in our ward to do his Eagle project (He is American and they are living here so he is just doing it here). Maybe then I will feel somewhat part of this experience. It really does sound like you guys had a full house, but that is so cool! You all got together and I'm sure that you had a great time! I'm glad that everyone is doing so good, including Mudflap. I'm sure that she did enjoy her sleepover. And thanks for the sermon Mama. It's nice to be able to share the spiritual things that we are learning. :)

So, this week...I don't even know where to start. I guess I will just start at the beginning. Monday was the usual. Tuesday was just ridiculous! In the morning we had an appointment and we got flogged (person wasn't home/didn't show up,etc.), then my skirt ripped so we had to go home to change it, and on the bus on the way home, there was a bus on the opposite side of the road going the way we had just come, and a dog ran out into the street and it hit the dog! We watched the whole thing, and it was just awful! The windows of the bus were open so we could hear the poor dog just howling, and it was terrible! It was the saddest thing, and I cried (silently-no sobbing) for about the next two hours. We were on another bus ride later in the day, and this guy got on the bus and was just angry. He kept yelling and screaming and swearing, and it was awful as well! Unfortunately we were both not in such great spiritual moods by that point, and we went to the Orpington chapel for our interviews with our Mission President. He asked me how I was, and I nearly started crying again. I just told him everything, and after I finished it just left. It all left me, and I felt so much better. Telling other missionaries about it didn't help, but being able to let my feelings show to President helped so much. The interview was great, and the rest of the day was just fine. Missionaries have bad days too, but then the next few days are the best! That's why I'm telling you all this because we had such great miracles, and had a really good rest of the week! We went on exchanges with the Sisters in Hastings, and Sister Ross and I came back to Purley. It was a great exchange, and I learned a lot. We switched back the next day, and I spent a total of eight hours in the car in two days and I have to say that I loved it. I miss road trips, but I was so tired the rest of the week. It's the sitting and travelling that takes the most out of you. Anyway, so we also have a total of 4 baptismal dates now! We have this fantastic family that we are teaching, and they are so great! Heavenly Father is truly blessing us in this area! The week started off pretty rough, but the end result was amazing and completely worth it! :)

I'm sorry to hear about the lack of confidence in yourselves. I was in your shoes once, though. A few times I have stood before judges and sang for them. It is scary, but you do it, and afterwards you can at least say that you did it. But I understand. You will get used to it soon enough. I have been forced to get used to it on my mission with the many solos that I have had to sing. I'm mostly over being shy about it now because when we are riding on the bus, or at a bus stop, or on the street, or wherever, I am usually singing something. I've just come to get used it and not care what others think. I actually studied something similar to this topic this morning in my personal study. So, at the end of the Sermon on the Mount (in both the Bible and the Book of Mormon), Jesus commands: "Judge not..." (see Matt, 7:1; and 3 Nephi 14:1). He continues on to say, "And why beholdest thou the mot that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?" (see Matt. 7:3; and 3 Nephi 14:3). There is a Mormon Message based on a talk by President Monson, entitled "Looking Through Windows", and it talks about this subject. (the link is: http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=1472070326001) I love especially how he paraphrases it so that it applies to us today, and we can understand that same scripture (Matt. 7:3; 3 Nephi 14:3) in the language of our day. Jesus Christ was definitely right that we shouldn't judge others because we will be judged as well (see Matt. 7:2; 3 Nephi 14:2). I enjoy what President Monson says about how we don't know everything about the lives of other people, so it's best for us to follow the commandment of the Saviour, and "Judge not...".

Kind of a long email for you guys today, but this week has been one for learning and growing and I wanted to share all the new knowledge that I have with you guys. I hope you continue to stay safe, and that there will be no more mishaps to report next week! Have a great week you guys! Love you all!

Love,
Sister Connery :D

Thy Word Is a Lamp Unto My Feet

Hiya!

I'm so sorry to hear about the missionary experience that went downhill. Unfortunately there are always times like that, but we just have to keep trying! Heavenly Father will help us! He and the Saviour are always there for us, and the Holy Ghost is there as well when we speak the truth. Look at the story in the February Ensign in the "Latter-Day Saints Voices" section, particularly the story entitled, "I Defended My Faith". :)

I'm glad to hear that all is well otherwise. :) The musical sounds like it was loads of fun! It's the first one in a long time that I actually haven't been able to see. It's kinda weird. Anyway, I think that it could be possible for me to be transferred soon. I have been here for five months now, and I've spent two transfers with Sister Laineenkare, so usually it seems that President would probably move me pretty soon, but you never know! We'll have to wait and see! The church buildings here look pretty similar to the ones back home. Our current ward building doesn't look like a church at all. It's like a big box with a spire. But it kinda depends on the building. Some are new and built by the church and others were buildings that the church bought, so they're all different.

So we have had a really good week! We were able to find six new investigators, still have a baptismal date and taught a lot of lessons! It has been really good because we have really been struggling to find new investigators, but now we have some! We just have to keep it up and get them to progress! Another great thing this week was that we had fast and testimony meeting yesterday (since if was fast Sunday of course), and I really wanted to get up and bear my testimony (there wasn't enough time, but one of our investigators that was there got up and bore her testimony!). So I specifically wanted to bear my testimony of the scriptures. I LOVE the scriptures! The approved scriptures of the Church are: the Holy Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. I am currently in the midst of reading the Bible, and I came across one of my favourite scriptures in the Old Testament. In Psalms 119:105, it says: "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." I love that scripture, and it is so true! Heavenly Father's word - the scriptures - light the way for us that we should go. In the Book of Mormon, in 2 Nephi 32:3, it says: "...feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do." The words written in the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price all contain the words of Christ. We should read them, treasure them, and live according to what they say. The scriptures are here for our profit and learning (see 1 Nephi 19:22-23), to testify of Christ that we might believe in Him, and then we can receive eternal life if we do the things that He says (see John 20:31). That is my testimony of the scriptures, that they are the word of God and through them we can learn the things that we need to know to be successful in this life.

That's it for me! Still doing good here, and I hope that all continues to go well at home. I pray that the blessings of Heavenly Father be upon all of you! Have a great week! I love you all!

Love,
Sister Connery