Righto, Flower! (two week update)

                                                                                                 February 17, 2014
Hello Everyone,
This week has been one of the best. And to top it off, I can't believe what's happened with transfers. Nigido and I are both STAYING, whoo!! To make matters EVEN better, Sister Monroe is staying and the crazy thing is that Sister Peck is coming to South Shields from Gateshead and Sister Neilson is going to Gateshead from South Shields. It is incredible! We 6 were so sad to separate and all that happened was a little swap. Cushty Belta! (talyia thought I said that one day but I didn't even know what it was...it means posh/sharp/classy even though the term itself sounds otherwise...haha)
     I can't remember if I told you about the girl we met while knocking that is from the Born Again Church we attended a few weeks ago. Anyway, we had a huge miracle in that she accepted everything we taught her about the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, and about the importance of Priesthood Authority on the earth through prophets. She even said she'd come to church with us as soon as her mam is recovered from a recent surgery. I was shocked knowing the background she came from and how open she was to learn more about the gospel. She's adorable as well and I am so happy that I am staying so that I can still meet with her.
   AND we had tea with the Church of England Minister and his wife. We actually found out he is a retired Church of England Canon, which is apparently pretty "up there." It went really well. We had decided that this time we would not let any topics contain the slightest amount of tension and so Sister Nigido and I planned to leave a spiritual thought through singing them a hymn instead of reading them scriptures that they might contend with. So all week we had been planning this and singing to people at our other appointments because it really was so uplifting and it was nice to do something a bit different like that. We chose the hymn, "O, My Father" because it teaches the plan of salvation. Another beauty of singing a hymn was that nobody can interrupt a hymn, nobody can help but feel the spirit during a hymn, and it taught something unique to our faith but it wasn't in any sense "pushed" onto them. The sad part was that, the very day I started to get an infection in my throat. I had just got over the cold I had, and then this came on the morning of that day. We sang anyhow and it was good. Angela, his wife absolutely loved it and they invited us back for whenever we can make it.
     As for the infection, Sister Pilkington has arranged for me to see a doctor. I talked to Sister Kinghorn on Sunday who is a nurse and she examined my throat and told me there were glands that were swollen and that I should call Sister P. if they didn't' clear up in the next couple of days. Well, they haven't but I'm alright. Nothing to worry about. I just sound like a man.
    Ashleigh is being baptized on Saturday! We have so much to look forward to this transfer. I'm grateful for the lovely people in South Shields and that I get to spend 6 months here! And with the Italian!Wahoo! :)
     And Mom, I did get the Valentine's card. I love the pictures. I carry them with me everywhere! Everyone looks so old!
I love you all,
God Bless,
Sister Lybbert :)


                                                                                                                 February 24, 2014
Dear Family,
This week went really well. Ashleigh's baptism was perfect, she's doing great and we are feeling really blessed to be here another transfer in South Shields with our BFF Talyia! She's incredible, absolutely incredible. She started indexing last Thursday and by Saturday she'd done over 1 000 names. Champion!

Ashleigh's Baptism

     I don't really know what else to talk about this week. I'm healthy again. That's been nice. Apparently it was just a very bad viral infection in my throat. It was not fun, but now I'm back to my usual self. (Not sure if that's good or bad, I am a bit crazy as you all know.)
   I'm so bad at remembering things...it was such a crazy week too with transfers happening, and the baptism. We had some fun knocking this week too, and found some classy people. One guy is named Malcolm and he's 82. He has worked as the Chief Engineer out at sea, which is a pretty big deal and at first he wasn't so keen on being "brainwashed" by us, but when he realized that we're human and that we just wanted to be friends he was nicer. I sang "Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy" to him and it softened him a bit. He told us some stories of his life in WWII (I'm always fascinated by it) and then he told us that we can come back but only "if you have nothing better to do". It was such a good experience though, I'm always learning so many things about people and how to help them recognized God in their lives.
   We met another seafarer yesterday. He was plastered in tattoos, and so at first when he opened the door, naturally I didn't think he'd listen. But, again, we had a lovely conversation, he accepted a Book of Mormon, and said that if we're in the area again, to stop by and talk to him. He's so nice, and was genuine even though his wife clearly was not. I like people like that.
     Tomorrow is Zone Conference in Leeds! Whoo! I'm so excited.
Thank you everyone for your love, prayers, and support.
I love you all!
Sister Lybbert

p.s. thank you to everyone who has been sending letters. Letters are always nice. this week I got one from Cammie, Camille/Janae/ Amber, and Kaiah. :)

Famous pumpkin cookies

February? Whatever!

FROGS!

District 3

MTC crew! Elders D., L.,
Sisters Lybbert, P., and C.,

With Sis. I

On Tal's penny board

The Book of Mormon is mint!

Transfer night with Italian Pizza!

Church in Simonside

Sis. Lybbert & Sis. W

With two of my favorite
people, Jean and Delwin

Week of Miracles

Dear Family,
This week has been one of miracles. To start off, we were able to go to Durham to see the Cathedral last P-day, I will send photos. It was just like you could imagine on the inside, and the "courtyard" is where they filmed quite a few scenes from Harry Potter, so that was also pretty neat. Durham is a beautiful little place as well. I love places with little shops, cobblestone streets, and a nice castle AND a cathedral. We didn't go in the castle though be cause it is Uni student housing. How neat is that?
     Tal love, love, loved the Temple. I am so glad about it because we had such a short time to get everything organized for her to go. She was able to take the bus with other young women in the stake, and with Sister Deacon, Sister Choi and Sister Kinghorn. She really had an excellent time. she said she was so full of the Spirit while she was there and that she was emotional with the strength of it.

With Sis. N from Italy

     Also, Ashleigh is progressing toward baptism! She is scheduled for February 22nd which is exciting. Sad thing is that transfers are next week (unbelievable!) and so Kneadyourdough or myself will not be here. (Kneadyourdough is a nickname for Sis. Nigido because one of the members couldn't remember her name for the longest time...and then we came up with that. haha)

Do you recognize this? It's where
 a lot of the scenes from Harry Potter were filmed.

     Another great miracle is that we tried by a Church of England Minister that we had met previously. He told us to try by on  Thursday afternoon so we did. He let us in straightaway and we sat down at his kitchen table. I was pretty nervous, as you could imagine, and was praying so hard that I'd just be able to peaceably answer any questions or discuss any scriptures that he might throw at us. Well, the very first thing he did was tell us that one of our leaders was in the paper. I was hoping it would be something positive, as I saw the article my heart sank. I was then informed about the issues going on right now with President Monson and the Westminster court. Obviously, it is all quite ridiculous, but how was I supposed to defend my faith when he had that sitting in front of us? At first, things were a bit contentious just because he was trying to undermine Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. I have a fault of being a bit too bold in these circumstances, but I was trying my best to not let the situation get to me.  He then left for a minute and I looked at Sister Nigido, who has a gift of remaining calm in all situations. It is a great blessing to have a companion like that, because we looked at each other, whispered a few uplifting things, and I was able to better relax. When he came back in the kitchen we were able to testify boldly, ask inspired questions, and we must have done something right because he and his wife have invited us for dinner on Thursday. :)

     Something funny that happened this week was that yesterday we visited an elderly woman from our ward. Just to give you an idea of what she's like, her testimony was probably 25 minutes long last Sunday. She is a doll, and she has a heart as big as the whole outdoors. We were there for ages and being as polite as we could while listening to her. We had just come from tea with the Adlingtons, who provided a beautiful Sunday dinner, so we were completely stuffed to the brim . This dear sister (like everyone else) had assumed that missionaries here are somehow starving (that's how I've gained 15lbs) and she had prepared a platter of food for us. Sister Nigido and I knew that we had to shove it down, and quickly otherwise we'd be there until Monday morning. by the time we left we could have been rolled out of the house. I don't think I've eaten so much in my life.
   Now back to the Spiritual side of things. I've learned this week that God knows exactly how we feel and what we need. I had some prayers answered this week and my testimony has increased a great deal because of it. I love how the gospel is so simple, and that all it teaches us is the directions God has given us in order to let us be the absolute happiest we can ever be.
I love you all,
Keep the faith!
Sister Lybbert :)

Durham Cathedral with Sister N.
 from Mountain View

Splendid Week!

This week was splendid! We had an exchange, I was in Gateshead with Sister Peck and Sister Benner was in Shields. Sister Peck and I had a wonderful time street contacting, and knocking and going to different lessons. It was funny because we went to a less active's house whose name was on the ward list but people hadn't really met before, and she said she is a Jehovah's Witness and never was baptized a "Mormon." It confused us a bit, haha. Maybe she accidentally slipped in the font?
     Sister Peck and I are also mastering our snowboarding techniques so that we can eventually become hermits in the Canadian Wilderness and then establish friendships with the Sasquatches, but we can snowboard places when we need to get supplies. No, we didn't go snowboarding, we just took the snowboarding stance while riding the metro to and from appointments, and didn't hold on to anything. Mind, there weren't many people in the same car as us so nobody knows that we're proper crazy.
     This week was also wonderful because we scheduled Ashleigh for baptism! The goal is February 15th which is coming up quickly, but I believe that she can do it. She came to another baptism with us on Saturday and it was another Chinese. I love the Chinese! They have such a strong Chinese LDS community and are always baptizing. Ashleigh had a lovely time there and afterward there was an activity to celebrate the Chinese New Year. I felt very cultured because we had Chinese Hot Pot (where you eat mystery fish/meat/seafood that you throw in a pot and fight over with chopsticks to get things when they're cooked...can't say it's very sanitary but it was SO good.) And one of the Elders did some crazy Marital Arts Dance. And then Sister Wu started an icing war with the leftover cake. She's hilarious. But the best thing was that Ashleigh was able to get to know some more YSA and she enjoyed it all so much!
     Talyia is going on a youth temple trip this Saturday! I'm so excited for her and more than anything I wish that we could go with her. I miss the temple, it will be so nice when I can go whenever I want.
     Another thing I miss, that I didn't realize until recently is everything Maple Flavored. I miss Maple Cookies, Maple Cream Doughnuts, Aunt Jemima's, etc. A sister from the ward brought me some Maple Syrup at church last week and it was so sweet of her. I didn't realize either that if you aren't in Canada, Maple things are scarce. It is a sad reality.
     I had a really wonderful week and some great experiences while finding. I love it when we talk to people that are polite and friendly and that you can have instant friendships with. We've had a few experiences like t hat in the past few weeks. I love how people of all types and of all places all have the Light of Christ. It is something that I value, is the way I've been able to change my perspective on different people. Heavenly Father really cares about His children and being here and trying to serve whole-heartedly has taught me so many things about His love for us. I'm by far not even close to the perfect missionary, but I feel God is always helping me to work more effectively every day. We have seen so many miracles with the amount of lessons we had, and the way that things are going especially with Tal and Ashleigh.
     I cannot believe that it is February either. And another fun fact; A bird pooped on my head this week, for the first time ever. The sad thing is that as a visionary, you don't exactly have time to go shower so I made Sister Nigido sanitize my head with my Brownie Mix hand sanitizer from Bath and Body Works. I was not impressed with the situation. In Sister Jodicke's words, "That is not okay!"
Well family and friends, I love you!
Keep the faith,
Sister Lybbert