October 13, 2014
Dear Mumsy and Everyone,
Happy Birthday to Cameron! Eat some pumpkin cheesecake for me, because England does not believe in pumpkin flavored things hardly at all and it makes me sad. In fact, they don't even have Thanksgiving. I made sloppy joes this week though. I'm trying to be a healthy person so I used Turkey mince instead of Beef mince [ground beef]. It was quite tasty. Then again, I don't think I have very high expectations of myself when it comes to cooking and ingesting food. I think I've graduated from making toast for every meal though...which sums up the entire first half of my mission. I do love toast though.
This week was pretty good. Poor Sister Howard rolled her ankle pretty bad and so we've been in the flat for a lot of time this week. We have been making it as productive as we can though. Yesterday we memorized over half of "The Living Christ." It is pretty powerful, and by the middle of the week we'll have it all memorized and it will become a part of us. I really feel a difference already. I guess Sister Marriott from the General Women's Meeting inspired me. (She's the one who is working on memorizing it, right?) It has been so good!
Also this week we had a brilliant miracle. We had a few minutes before a tea appointment, so we decided to knock a couple of doors. It was in a more posh area so I was a bit hesitant but we had faith. The first door we knocked, we met Paul. He was so friendly and told us that he has neighbors that are Mormons. Funny enough, I didn't realize that there were two solid, active families on his same street and he knew that they were members! He said that they were always happy, and smiling, and that they were very good and friendly neighbors. He's a stay-at-home father of two little kids, Sophie who's 3 and Harry, who's 7 months. He was open to listening to our message and we were able to meet with him two days later. He is a new investigator and we are seeing him tomorrow with Brother Hancock, on of the neighbors :)
Also, Angela surprised us this week! We went to her house a bit earlier than we had planned, and she wasn't in. We called her phone, and she didn't answer, but then we heard her yell from across the street to us. She looked so happy and bubbly. She came over and told us that she felt so good, even though she has been feeling really poorly the last few days. She said, "I've been feeling poorly for a good reason though!"
I replied, "Angela, there is never a good reason to feel poorly!"
Then she said, "Yes there is! I have only had 11 cigarettes in the last 72 hours!"
Sister Howard and I were so shocked, and of course I realized that that is a very good reason to not feel well. We are so proud of her. Normally, that is what she'd have in an hour or two. She is going to quit this time, I just know it!
Also, Helen, a recent convert is another great example to me. She was baptized just over a month ago, and since then, she has gone from having decent vision in one eye and only 8% in the other to now only having the 8% in the other. Something detached itself in the back of her good eye. She is incredible though. We have gone over and helped her hoover (she has a dog that sheds a lot, but she can't actually see well enough to clean) and we also make her bed and hang up her laundry on the line. She is so positive. She loves the gospel and she knows that if it weren't for the gospel right now, she'd be in a very terrible state. She was an atheist just a few weeks ago, and now her faith is like none that I've seen.
I love the gospel, I love the missionary work, and despite the rain and cold and lack of Thanksgiving, I am grateful and happy.
I love you all,
Sister Lybbert
October 20, 2014
Dear Everybody,
Congratulations to Brandon for graduating! [Bachelor's of Neuroscience] And Tony Roma's is lush...I miss ribs. And also, Happy Anniversary to Grandma and Grandpa Lybbert!
It sounds like this week has been quite eventful. Our week was really good too. We met with Esta and Bobby (her adorable dog) *note that I only love three dogs on this planet. Ozzie, Pooka (Dee's dog) and Bobby. And that is it.
Anyway, a few weeks ago we helped Esta clean her house as she was moving to Oxenhope. And yesterday we stopped by to see her. She's somewhere in her late 20's early 30's and she is either full Italian and grew up in Yorkshire, or she's half Italian. Anyway, we all know how much I love Italians. I seriously want to go to Italy sometime in the future.
We had an amazing lesson with her, we taught the Restoration, and she accepted it! She is anew investigator officially and we shall be seeing her and Bobby on Wednesday. :)
We also went on exchanges this week with Sister Staheli (Utah) and Sister Schmidt (Idaho). I went to Leeds with Sister Staheli and Sister Schmidt came here. It was good. Sister Staheli is super adorable and it was a lot of fun. For tea on Friday (during the exchange) the members fed us Chip Butties. It was the first time I'd had them, they didn't exactly appeal to me. (It's literally Fish 'n' Chips with
ketchup, vinegar, and salt...in a bun..a.k.a. death. It wrecked me. But I will not lie and say I didn't enjoy it. I don't think I'd ever eat it again, it is probably the greasiest, most carb-filled meal in the world, but it was actually nice
Oh! And we had a lesson with Ronny, an old man that we met a few weeks ago. And guess What?! He worked as border patrol in Cyprus in his younger days and he actually met Marilyn Monroe
and CARY GRANT. I think my jaw dropped to the floor and I actually jumped out of my chair. I met a person who met Cary Grant! My days... my connection to Cray Grant is now only through one person, and lucky you, yours is now only through two!
This week has been fab.
I love you all,
Sister Lybbert ;D
And we are teaching Jess, the daughter of a less-active member and she is so cute. She's 12 and last night we went to a Youth Fireside at the Leeds 3 chapel (it was weird seeing people from my first area when I was a stressed out deer in the headlights...people generally say I look more relaxed, haha). Also, I saw Adele, who is from Newcastle and hung out with Tal and Mazza and all of us. So, that was pretty crazy/exciting.
