First Baptismal Date!

     This week has been so great. Fiona had her baptismal interview yesterday and she is ready! She is being baptized on August 3rd at 6:00. You are all invited. ;)
     Magrath days sounds like it was fun. This is only the second time I haven't been. The first being when we were on our church history tour. I'm not too broken up about it though, although I could go for a nice family pot-luck right about now, haha.
     Spencer W. is a good kid. I mean it. never did I ever think a 6 hour road trip with my littler cousin would be so fun. (I knew he was cool, but I didn't realize HOW cool.)
     This is so exciting hearing about everybody's mission calls. I didn't even know half of the people you tell me about are going. It is such a great experience and I wouldn't trade it. Not even for all the pancakes and maple syrup in the world.

A double decker bus...I wish
it was red but blue will suffice

     As for me, this week has been a good week. We have been visiting Joyce (the really elderly lady) regularly and I love her more and more every time we visit. last week Sister Jodicke and I were having a bit of a hard time (not with each other, but the work wasn't going as well as we wanted and we were feeling a bit down-hearted). We went to Joyce and sat in her tiny living room and asked her how she was doing. She's becoming a lot more positive although she never really says her day has been good. We started teaching about the importance of the Book of Mormon. She wasn't quite understanding it. We then used personal experience, and started talking about why we were missionaries and how we sacrificed because of how important the message of the Book of Mormon and the restoration of Jesus Christ's gospel is. She was amazed by it and she asked, "don't you miss your families?" We then answered truthfully, saying that sometimes it is difficult but we know that this is only a short time we are able to devote ourselves to this work. She then took our hands, and very lovingly told us that we must never forget that our mothers feel the same way about us being gone. She said such lovely things that I will never forget. She stated that there is a special bond between a mother and her children, and no matter where her children are in the world, a mother feels like there is still a connection. She hugged us and told us that we are always to remember how much our mothers love us and that for now, she can be our mother. She is the sweetest person and I love her so much. I would have never thought that by showing her we loved her these past few weeks, even though she never showed any interest of love back, would make such a difference in my life and in her life.
     The next time we visited she told us something else that was so amazing. She told us something like this:
"You aren't going to believe me, but there is actually something different about you two. I mean, I have grandchildren, and children, and I love them. But, you come here and I feel a kind of love that I have never felt before. I feel like you love me, and I only met you a short while ago."
     We were then able to tell her that what she was feeling was the Holy Spirit and we were able to testify to her that we were called by a prophet of God to be representatives of Jesus Christ, and to love people just as Christ loves us. That was the moment when she understood why we loved her and why we had devoted this time to the service of God. That was the first time she knew she had felt the Spirit of God. It was incredible.
     A few days later, we visited again and brought her some of the roses from our front garden. It is really cute how happy she is to see us now. I could visit her every day.
     Some other really great expediences have happened this week too. We went to Bible Study again with the Born Again Christians. It is held at a couple's house right near some other investigators and Jayne Mason, so it's really convenient. Whenever we go, they are so happy to see us and ask us to come back. The Bible Study started with prayer again, and I can't remember if I mentioned it last time, but their prayers are really loud and long and it is almost impossible for me to pray silently. I still try, but I know why we are supposed to pry in reverence. It really disrupts the Spirit when prayers are trying to over rule each other.
Anyway, the actual study went great. The Pastor talked about how we can develop joy in Christ. Then the man whose house we were in, shyly asked the Pastor to clarify what the Book of Mormon was and where it came from. He then took his Bible over to the Pastor and showed him a scripture. The scripture was (sorry, I can't remember what one exactly) it was the one about how we can't serve God and mammon. He thought we were Mammons and that we believed in the Book of Mammon. We quickly clarified that Mormon and mammon are not the same person...it was a pretty funny circumstance actually. Then the Pastor asked us to tell them what the Book of Mormon was. We ended up giving the Pastor a Book of Mormon, and he said he'd read some so that we can talk about it next week. This is one of those moments where you do a heel click down the street afterwards, haha.

The perfect house. It's adorable!

Cool caterpillar chompin' on a leaf

A park with a lot of poppies.

     I really love the ward that we are working in too. Carol Mitchell is a lady who was re-activated about 6 months ago after being inactive for years. She went on a mission to Toronto back in the day, and she is an amazing woman.There are so many people that I have met that I feel are some of my best friends, and it's hard to think that one day I will have to leave England behind and leave my friends behind. Sister Mitchell is so cute. Whenever we are at her house, she always has multiple friends from other apartments in the building drop by, and they are all such different characters but she's just the kind of person that is friends with everybody. All of these experiences I'm having just make me think that they'd make a good BBC period drama. I actually feel like I am living in one.
     Something that has been really fun lately is Sister Jodicke has been teaching me a German song. It is a happy birthday song, and I really have no idea what I'm saying, but I have memorized quite a lot of it. We practice it when we are walking and it can get really funny.

There are roses everywhere!
I wish I could show you how
beautiful the flowers here are!

 

Leeds Art Gallery

    I also am grateful to everyone who has been sending notes, pictures, cards, drawings of spiderman, etc. because everything is so much appreciated. I'm sorry if I fail to reply sometimes, but I do love the support and I love you! NOTE: Sister Lybbert mentioned in a separate email that the fire alarm in the library went off last week so her emailing time was cut short. 
     Never forget the basics of the gospel. They are what keep our testimonies and our faith strong. Always read your scriptures and pray every day. It is more important than I ever thought before and I will say this to everyone who ever reads this over and over again.
Love you,
Keep the Faith,
Sister A. Lybbert

First district: Elder Williamson(South Africa), Elder Jardine & Elder Orr
(both Utah),Elder Juran -Zone Leader (Czech), Elder Amundsen (Norway),
Sisters Lybbert & Jodicke (Germany)

Me and a slug. Double ew!