Exciting and Scary

Hiya,

Okay, I will answer your questions first, before I say anything else. 1) I only hurt myself a little bit playing volleyball with the elders. I have small bruises running up the length of my forearms, some bloody scrapes on my hand, and bruises on my knees from diving for the ball. Other than that, I am okay! :D 2) Yes I am being transferred. I am going to open a new sisters area in a place called Eastbourne, down on the coast of the English Channel. I'm excited but that also means that I will miss baptisms and I will be close to water during the summertime! But it is exciting and scary to be opening a new area. I'll let you know how it goes! :) 

 

This last week was good. We obviously got the transfer call so that is exciting and scary. We also have been working on something for the Area Presidency (all the missionaries here have to do it), and part of the assignment requires us to knock about 20 doors in specific areas. We had to knock on the doors of these really posh homes! Like the houses that you find where Wendy's parents live, but these have lots of property and huge gates! We had to ring the buzzers instead of knock on the doors to get in the gates,and the second house that we buzzed just opened the gate before they even knew who we were and they actually let us come in and teach them! :O It was so cool! Such an awesome miracle! :)

 

Well, you'll hear from me next week from my new area, and I'll tell you what it's like! Hope you have another great week! I miss you guys, and love you lots!!! :D

 

Love,

Sister Connery

All Is Well

Hey guys,

It sounds like life is busy, as usual, in the Connery household. I hope the piggies do well for their weigh in! I haven't seen pigs in a long time, lol. School is almost out for you guys too! Be grateful that you don't live in England because their summer holiday is only 6 weeks long. However, they have more frequent and longer breaks during the school year. I hope everything with the house continues to go well. Moving really is a lot of fun. It's a new adventure! :)

We had a really good week! 11 people came to church yesterday! When I say people, I mean investigators, AND less-active members that we work with. Lots of them came yesterday! It was great! We may or may not be having a baptism this weekend. The investigator who is supposed to be getting baptised is having some housing issues and so until the social worker can find her a new place to live here in Staines, she has been moved to a temporary place over 1 hour drive away in East Sussex! So, we are not quite sure how we are going to make it work, but we got some advice from our mission president and we will see how it goes.

I have been feeling pretty good. The allergies have kicked in though, and I haven't had the time or the money to buy some allergy pills so for now I'm just roughing it. But it's all good. I'll sort it out today when we go shopping.

I'm excited because we are having a ward activity sponsored by the missionaries here at the chapel today, and we're gonna play some volleyball! I am so stoked! :) I'll be careful though! ;) lol.

Everything is good here. Things are going well! Moves are up next week, so P-Day won't be on Monday. I'll either email you on Wednesday or something, depending on if one of us is moving or not. So don't panic! All is well! :)

I love you guys, and hope you have a great week! Have fun! Love you lots!

Love,
Sister Connery :)

Sacrifice

Hiya!

Thanks for the pie recipe! We've got some Elders in our district that are going home at the end of this transfer and they have requested that I make them apple pie. So we will see how that goes. We did have a really good week. We taught a lot of lessons, and we still have 3 baptismal dates, and they are all really solid! We are working with really good people! Miracle story though! We are working with a part-member family. The family is less active, and their 11-year-old daughter was never baptised, but she has a baptismal date in June now, and her family is already preparing for her baptism! It's great! And, they all came to church with her yesterday! Her less-active parents and her younger brother all came dressed in their Sunday best, and we were floating on air! We were so happy! :) It's amazing to see the change that the gospel makes in people's lives. All for the better! :D

You have had a busy week but it sounds like it has been loads of fun! I am really excited for another move (it's about time!) I kinda like the change, and especially as a missionary you have to get used to change and adjust quickly, so I have been prepared for this for a long time! 

 

The weather has been sunny and warm for about a week now! I hope it continues, but I heard that they are forecasting rain tomorrow. :/ Hope it stays away! So, just to share something really quick. I have recently been studying 'Our Heritage' and it has been really good. I read today about the sacrifices made by the people to go on missions and to build the Nauvoo temple. No matter what we are asked to sacrifice, it won't be as hard or as great as the sacrifice made by our Saviour for us, so we should be willing to sacrifice anything to repay him for the kindness and love that He showed by His sacrifice. 

 

I hope you guys have another great week and I am looking forward to hearing what happens next week! Love and miss you all! :)

 

Love,

Sister Connery :) 

Best Decision I've Ever Made

Hey everyone!

It was so great to Skype with you all yesterday! You guys are so different! It's really weird, but in a good way. The changes when I get back will be very obvious. Thanks for the update on everything! One of the first things I want to do when I get home is go to the temple.  I miss it so much! I wanna go again and again! :) For now I will continue to focus on my calling and enjoy the last few months that I have here. 

I'm glad you guys think I look good. I am really happy! I love being here and doing this! Best decision I've ever made! :) No matter what happens while I'm here, the Spirit overpowers the bad experiences and chases them away. So it's all good! :)

We do have lots of baptisms coming up but not this week. Before the end of the transfer we should have 2 or 3. And then we have two young girls with dates for the end of June. I hope I'm still around to see it! Our area is doing really well! Sister Polidario is a really hard worker, and she has taught me a lot! I've been blessed with great companions whom I've learnt a lot from!

I really am excited to be able to help Sam prepare for his mission. He will be the most trained missionary, and he will be AP before you know it! Make sure he goes out with the missionaries. Not just on teaches, but knocking and street contacting as well. It will be really good for him.

There's not much to report on since I told you guys everything yesterday. I'm surprised that you don't have more questions though. I am in a foreign country ya know! It's all good though. :) It was so great to talk to you all yesterday, and not just talk to you, but see your faces! Next time it will be at the Spokane Airport. But for now, let's just keep working hard to bring about the great work of salvation where we are. :)

Have a great week, and I pray that the Lord will continue to bless you all! :) Love you and miss you lots! :)

Love,
Sister Connery

Tender Mercies, Tender Mercies!

HEY!!!

What a fantastic email you have sent this week! I am so happy for Chris and Wendy!!! I'm an auntie again!!! Hooray! :D Welcome to the world, Baby! Aunt Casey loves you already (just like I love the rest of my little nieces and nephews)! :) I am really excited to finally get to Skype you guys on Sunday! It might take a bit to figure it all out, so be patient with us and wait until we get it through. Okay? I'm so excited!!!

Anyway, let me tell you about my week! Oh it was so good! The tender mercies of the Lord have been upon us. We now have 5 people preparing for baptism! :O It's amazing! And I have to tell you that yesterday we saw so many miracles! My testimony, especially of prayer, has grown so much just from that one day! Yesterday morning we came to the chapel for church to wait for our investigators. We had arranged lifts for some, and some had just said that they would come on their own. We were waiting for several people. 5 minutes before the meeting started we were panicking because none of our investigators were there yet. One of the members we had asked to pick someone up arrived without our investigator with her! We didn't know what to do, and we were both getting really upset. Our Bishop saw our obvious distress, and very calmly told us that we just need to relax and put it all in the Lord's hands, and He would take care of it according to His will. (Our Bishop has gone through a lot in the past few months and has learnt this lesson well) We felt so bad because we had not even prayed up to that point. I immediately started to pray in my heart as we walked in to start sacrament meeting. I was pleading with Heavenly Father, and I hadn't even said "Amen" yet, and one of our investigators walked in! Shortly thereafter, another investigator walked in, and she had come on her own! I nearly started crying. Heavenly Father answered my prayers, and it was miraculous! Not only that, but after sacrament we went out into the foyer and another investigator was there with her less active mother, and they BOTH stayed for the rest of church! Tender mercies, tender mercies! The Lord hears and answers our prayers, but we have to turn to Him and put it all in His hands. Trust in Him, and He will take care of us. My testimony has grown so much in one single day of several principles. The Lord loves us. He hears and answers our prayers. It was an amazing experience! :D

I hope that you guys enjoyed that story because I will never get tired of telling it! I hope you guys have another great week until I talk to you again next Sunday!!! :) I love you guys and I will talk to you next week! :D

Love,
Sister Connery

P.S.-We went to the National Archives last week (the London Family History Centre is currently located there), and we learnt more about Family History and we were able to do some of our own! I've already found several generations on Daddy's side of the family! It was so cool! I have found the Spirit of Elijah in myself, and I can't wait to do more family history! 

Here is a picture of me outside of the Archives

Christ is the Reason

Hey!

Congrats everyone on the track and field stuff! Good job on the talk in sacrament Sam! It's great to hear that you have an increased desire to serve a mission! It really is the best! (Besides, girls like RM's! But do not use that as motivation. Love is the motive (for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ), and Christ is the reason!) Convert retention is a problem everywhere! We as members have a responsibility to reach out to the new converts. It is a totally different world than what they are used to. We go about our daily stuff because it is what we have known, but to them it is new and they need help to integrate into our "society". It's not an easy task, but there is no point in finding new people if we can't keep the ones that we already have. Every convert is a special gift to be handled with great care.  

Well, we have had a fantastic week! The past few weeks we have gotten 4 baptismal dates, with 2 of them at church on Sunday, and both of them are progressing towards their baptisms really nicely! Unfortunately, Sister Polidario and I are almost positive that this will be our last transfer together. But all is well, because as missionaries our lives can be changed completely every 6 weeks, so you get used to the constant changes. It was such a good week! We are truly being blessed by Heavenly Father and are seeing miracles happen every single day! Always look for miracles each day, because there will always be one to find!

So, you guys haven't been saying much about Mother's Day. Next week I will tell you what time I can skype you. I hope that you guys know how to use it. If we can't get it figured out, I am going to call instead, but I would like to skype this time. I may have to do it during your church time though because of the time difference, but we will see.

Hope you guys have a great week, and I pray that the Lord will continue to bless you! Love you and miss you all lots! :)

Love,
Sister Connery

What Matters Most

Hi guys!

So, I don't know if I mentioned this, but neither one of us is getting transferred, so we're staying in Staines for another transfer, but we both feel like one of us will move at the end of this transfer. :/

Anyway, Happy Easter to you guys as well! I love this time of the year because we get to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, and Saviour, Jesus Christ! Definitely a day to celebrate! We did have a great Easter dinner with a really cool family, The Russells. Their oldest son James, just got called on a mission to Colombia! So we got to share some insights with him. 

It's nice to hear how well you guys are! The rain here hasn't let up much. I'll send you a picture that I just took yesterday after we got home. We were outside for a max of ten minutes and...you'll see when you look at the picture. It's great that you have been studying the scriptures more. That same (or similar) phrase is used a lot in the scriptures, and like I always say, if something is repeated, it is definitely important! Keep up the great work!

Our week was really good as well. We have some baptismal dates and we're getting lots of lessons, so that is really good! It's not as important to me as it was in the beginning of my mission. Yes, our key indicators are still really important, but what matters more to us is that we are inviting people to come unto Christ. We can teach lots of lessons, and all of that, but if these people are not truly developing faith in Jesus Christ, then it is all a futile effort. The most important thing is to fulfill our purpose. The purpose of a missionary is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. That is the purpose of all missionaries. Not to force people to do anything, but to invite. :) And we are happy as long as we are doing all that we can to fulfill that purpose.

Well, I hope you guys have another great week! I am excited to Skype with you guys on Mother's Day. Have a great week! Love and miss you all! :)

Love,
Sister Connery

This week was Sister Polidario's birthday, and I made her a cake!

 Us and the Russell family on Easter!

Only 10 minutes outside and my skirt looks like this!