Weeks 71&72

                                                                                                                       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

Week 70

Dear Mother and Everyone,
I'm not sure when you should expect travel plans, but it is a weird thought. I told them the information they needed about a week ago, so it shouldn't be too long until you know.

Knocking on the Bronte's door

     I loved General Conference. I loved how it was so focused on the Savior and about the Sacrament and how we can come to know Christ better by being agents and acting for ourselves. I have been studying from the manual, "The Life and Teachings of Jesus and His Apostles" and feel like my relationship with Christ has grown in so many ways this past week. I understand more about what His life was like, and what His teachings mean. I also feel a greater appreciation for the Atonement. Conference went along with my studies and questions so well. I also loved Neil L. Anderson's talk. Lately, we've had so many people bring up "facts" about Joseph Smith that are absolutely horrible, and obviously not true, considering the meekness and humility of his character. I think my favorite talk was Jorg Klebingat. It was amazing. I really want to study his talk more in the near future, and learn how to build better spiritual confidence.
     This week has been really good. I can't really remember much about it (my mind always goes during e-mail time). We had some really good miracles and were able to see some desire in some less-active members that we are working with.
Also, our district had a competition last week for the team that could get the best cat photo. We won, but who is surprised? haha, actually, everyone's were super funny. It is also a good way to get people at the door to realize that we aren't nuns, or robots. We love cats!
I love the gospel. I love being a missionary and I know that there is no more compelling or greater work than this!
I love you all as well!
Love,
Sister Lybbert

Cat photo #1

Cat photo #2

Cat photo #3
This lovely picture won the
district's cat photo contest

cat photo #4

Week 69

                                                                                                              September 29, 2014
Dear Everybody,

     It sounds like a lot has been happening back home. Camille is a missionary as well, which is super exciting!
     This week has been full of a lot of adventures. None of them had anything to do with mice, or dead things, so that was a relief.
     We have done another week of a lot of knocking doors. It has become something that I enjoy because you never know who is on the other side. It is like a present! (Sometimes a very awkward present though...haha)
     We met a really cute girl a couple of weeks ago named, E, and her dog, Bobby. She was adorable. She told us that she was moving to Oxenhope and so we volunteered to help her clean the flat she was moving out of. We were able to do that this week and it was excellent because she had never really talked to missionaries before. It left an extremely good impression and she said we can come see her and Booby in Oxenhope soon. :)
     The best thing about this week was J, the 22 year old boy we met last Sunday. When we got at return appointment with him after our first meeting, we felt impressed that we should arrange a member to come along with us (as you would). However, we both felt that we should ask President Pilkington if he could come. Let me just inform you that I was terribly nervous about this idea. teaching with the mission president isn't the recipe for staying calm in my books.

Meeeooow

     We acted on the prompting, and lo and behold, the busiest man on the planet had time to come all the way to Keighley from Leeds to teach with us.
     Let me tell you, that I have never felt the Spirit so powerfully in a lesson before. It was marvelous, and there was no doubt in my mind that that is what we needed to do. President and J connected so well, and I learned so many things in that lesson. J is incredible and he understands so much about the Plan of Salvation without being taught it at all. Unfortunately, he doesn't want to feel that anybody is influencing him on his decisions regarding the Book of Mormon, and coming to church, so he asked that he get back in contact with us. It was sad, but I know with all of my heart that he will never forget that experience. I definitely won't. Sister H and I fasted yesterday that he might be able to gain t he conviction he needs to continue learning more.
   This week we had another exciting adventure. We had a meeting for all of the Sisters in the Leeds Zones and Huddersfield Zone. It was so good. the weird thing is, that it was probably the last time I'll see Sister Monroe on the mission. She goes home this transfer.  She is planning on attending my homecoming if all is well with the weather and everything. We shall see. :)
I feel so blessed this week. Things are wonderful. :)
I love you!
Sister Lybbert

Angela and me with our fancy glasses

Sisters...literally. Sister Jodicke
 is our mum

with Sister Scott

Gnomeo, Gnomeo....

Dear Mom, Dad, and Family,
Did the Zucchini baby sleep well this first week? I hear that Zucchini babies can be quite restless at night, I hope that you all got a decent amount of sleep. There is a reason missionaries don't have Zucchini babies. When I wake up every morning I wonder if I ever actually fell asleep. I wouldn't have the patience or capacity for one.

And, my sisters are crazy.

It sounds like it has been quite the adventuresome week. I believe that this week was one of the very vest weeks of my mission. It was just so so so so good. We did more knocking of doors than I ever had in my whole life, but for some reason, Sister Howard and I just had an incredible attitude toward it. I actually looked forward to it.
     I think something that contributed to my positive attitude was that I've been studying a lot about consecration. There's a talk by Neal A. Maxwell (or James E. Faust) about it and it is so powerful. I felt so happy, focused, and diligent this past week.
     We had so many miracles. We had Zone Training Meeting and we were asked to prepare a ten minute report on it as a companionship. The topic was how to increase church attendance. We didn't get called on to report, but what we prepared was 100% exactly what President had prepared for the meeting. I felt so happy to know that we were guided by the Spirit.
     We also had a good lesson about obedience this week. Lately there has been an enforcement on the rule "no tea appointments at restaurants." Anyway, we had a tea appointment with the Radcliffe's on Wednesday, and when Sister Radcliffe picked us up, she informed us that she was going to treat us by taking us out to dinner. My heart dropped. Her excitement was so much that I felt it would make her upset if we said anything, but I couldn't bear calling President afterward and telling him that we did, in fact, go out to tea at a restaurant. Anyway, we got to the parking lot and Sister Howard and I looked at each other. We both felt so uncomfortable. However, Sister Howard found the courage to tell her the situation, and although disappointing to her (because her house was not organized and she only had things to make ham sandwiches, we ended up having ham sandwiches sitting in her front room. And do you know something? Ham sandwiches tasted as good as anything else. It was the best.
     We had a brilliant lesson with the Filipino lady, Myrna, and her daughter, Ava. They are scheduled for a baptismal date and are official investigators! I feel so blessed. Seriously, they are incredible. We are going to see them this evening. I hope that it all goes well.

Sister Howard 

   And yesterday we had a huge miracle. I had a prompting to pull out my old planner from when I was in Keighley a year ago, and that we should try by some of the  potentials listed in it. So yesterday evening, we did. We found James. He is 22 and he is so prepared. We taught him on the doorstep about the Restoration and parts of the Plan of Salvation and his beliefs were almost identical. He believed that Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ and the Spirit was powerful. We asked if we could meet with him again, and he said he didn't want to become part of a church or be labeled as anything.
We asked him, "Well, if you believe that Joseph Smith saw God, wouldn't you want to find out how that affects you?"
He pondered the question for a moment, and then said with a solid and resounding, "Yes!"
I couldn't believe my ears. It was a miracle and we are seeing him on Thursday.
That means we found three new investigators this week, and we found so many promising potentials. I could not feel more happy.

The Cursed Gnome Garden

Funny Story:
On Saturday morning, we headed out to knock on some doors. We cam across yet another gnome infested lawn, and so we went across the street to take a picture.
As we were, I stepped back and slipped on something. I thought it was probably just some wet leaves. I looked behind me,
.....and it was a dead mouse, and I squished its guts out.
It was honestly the most disgusting feeling to know that my leg flattened a mouse and I shrieked. Then I leaned up against a stone wall, my face white, and me laughing, and  feeling so disgusted that my shoe had mouse guts all over it. Oh my days, I still feel so traumatized. But it was seriously the funniest experience of the week.
Well, this email is quite long and I have not very much time left. I am sorry to those that I cannot reply to today (Josh, T






al, and all others). I still love you though!
Love,
Sister Lybbert

Here are last week's pictures. Thanks to Samara for helping me convert them to Jpeg files!

with Sister Rawles

with Elder Dotschkat from Calgary

Is there such a thing as too
many gnomes?

The Nidderdale

for Joshy & Spencer!

Saying goodbye to Sarah & her children

Deja vu

Dear Mother,
This week has been strange, it was like deja vu. Everything seemed just like it was a year ago, except that the Chicken Cottage has closed down because it served dodgy food, haha, so although that is sad, I am sure I will be grateful in the long term. :)
we saw people that I thought I'd probably never see again, and another weird part of all of this is that Elder Amundsen is my district leader again, so it definitely feels like deja vu!
This week we did some good old knocking of some good old doors. We met some really promising potentials, so hopefully there will be stories to share with you for next week. Honestly, every time I sit down at this computer my mind goes completely blank.
I'm glad to hear that Brittany's talk went well, and that Kaitlyn's wedding did too [ she got confused with all the news I sent her, Kaitlyn's wedding is this coming Saturday] Missions really are the greatest, so Brittany will love it.
It is not super cold here during the day, but at night it gets really cold (what seems to me to be really cold anyway...and I'm always cold). I don't think I'll be seeing any snow, it is too humid.
Today for p-day we are going to the chapel as a district and making Hot Fudge Pudding cake. I'm really excited about that.
AND
Yesterday we had an interesting experience. We visited a less-active member who has been less-active for years. Anyway, he believes that he's inactive because his patriarchal blessing said he would be and that one day he will sit with the quorum of the Twelve Apostles when he gets through this "period of trial."  He also believes that the only commandments we have are the Ten Commandments. he thinks that all the other commandments are only suggestions. It is kind of funny, but it is impossibly frustrating. He claims that he has the Bible memorized, and he also prides himself on his conversion story, and that he has been through the temple. Of all these things, I can attest that he does make an excellent curry.
I hope that you all have an excellent week, I will try to reply to the other e-mails individually, but if I don't I do apologize!
Love,
Sister Lybbert
p.s.
Talyia's friend, Abbie, is getting baptized! It is the best news ever! And we ment a lady from the Philippines this week and we should be meeting wiht her and her daughter this week! She was so nice and let us in straight away. :D


note: Sister Lybbert sent several pictures but the computer she uses messes up the files so I can't add them to her blog. Hopefully we will be able to figure it out.

Transfers again!

                                                                                                              September 1, 2014
Dear Mumsy and Everybody,
I am happy to hear that things are going well! I cannot believe that it is September, I feel like it was June not long ago.
     I love pickled beets! [this came up because I had helped Mekaiah and Jen do beets last week] I don't know if I mentioned to you how much I love beets, pickled or not, but I eat them on their own quite frequently. I love them. I also love peaches, and blackberries, and raspberries. There are blackberry bushes lining the roads. It is so nice.
   I also am glad to hear that Family History is doing so well and we are forever discovering neat new facts. In the combined Priesthood/Relief Society lesson yesterday, there was a Family History presentation, "Hearts not Charts." It was really good. Brother Fisher, the Family History Consultant, is the cutest. We had lunch with him and his wife this week and they are always on about new things they have discovered in their family history. Sister Fisher is a very classy lady. She taught Chemistry and Biology  at a private grammar school for boys down south and she is very eloquent in her speech. She watches operas for entertainment. It is slightly intimidating being around her, (she uses big words and her accent is marvelous) but she loves Sister Seely and myself, so that does make me feel quite nice because it proves that we are not complete dafties!

Beautiful Yorkshire dales with sheep

Motivational poster

Motivational poster

     Things on this side of the pond are going quite well. We are dropping our only investigator this week, he is the eternal sort. He won't stop coming to church or seeing members, or attending FHE, but he just won't make any changes. He loves his booze. It will be hard to drop him because he loves having us sisters over, but it has to be done. Hopefully this will show the Lord that we have enough humility to have no teaching pool, and enough faith to find people who want what we are offering. but really, this week has been good. It is hot and sunny again, which is strange, but I am happy about it. And, we have had some good finding situations this week whilst bus contacting. Things are going so good with the less actives and the struggling members that we have been helping. :)
   Here's a funny story for you:

Last Monday evening we met a man walking his four dogs, and started to chat with him. At the end of our conversation he gladly accepted our invitation to learn more, and gave us his address and we set up an appointment. It was really exciting for us, and he was very friendly.
     The next day, we had to leave correlation meeting early so we could make the appointment. We knocked on the door, and a very nice lady answered. She looked happy to see us.
"Hi! Is Ian here?"
             "No, he isn't, he hasn't lived here since last September,"
"Oh, well we met him yesterday and he was very pleasant and asked if we'd come around to see him at this address."
            "Well girls, that is what your ex-husband will do to you!"
It actually was funny, and we all laughed including his ex-wife. She was so nice to us, but didn't really want to learn more. However, I really hope we run into Ian agina so we can make him feel super awkward. :)
Well, I love you!
 Sister Lybbert


                                                                                                      September 9, 2014
Dear Mother and Everyone,
It sounds like an eventful week! I am so happy that things are going well, and that the Labor Day traditions are still going strong!
     Boating...can you believe that in all the years now that you have had the boat [only 2 years], I have only been on it twice, and that was when it was May and freezing cold? You will probably be all bored of the boat by the time I can actually go in it, haha.
     This week has been eventful. I almost forgot to tell you the news! I am being transferred and I am going.....drum roll....back to Keighley! [pronounced 'Keith-lee] I was a bit surprised to say the least. It should be good, I think I will really enjoy it. I was only there for six weeks and so I was just getting comfortable with the area and knowing the people before I left. the funny thing is, that this is the exact transfer that I went last time. It was exactly a year ago and it was General Conference transfer. the other crazy thing about that is that it was almost a year ago that I went to my home away from home, South Shields. the other night I could not fall asleep because my mind was racing just thinking about how much I miss it. But, I am so grateful that there are good things ahead as well! I will miss Harrogate so much too. the Peirces, and Sarah and her kids, and everyone. And it's beautiful here.

Our FHE crew minus Barry & Charles

Barry and me. He's so cute.
He is going through the temple for the
first time this month!

  Keighley will be fun to go back to. maybe this time I will take the steam train up to Haworth...But mostly I'm justexcited to be going to a great ward again.. My companion is going to be Sister Howard, from the U.S.A. I think she's from Virginia? I met her once a while back.
     We had some really great miracles this week. One of them being that we met a fifteen year old girl who seems really promising. We are seeing her this afternoon because we want to meet with her so badly before I go, and we don't want to put off teaching her. I love the moments when the Spirit tells us so strongly to talk to a particular person, and then the Spirit testifies instantly of what we say, and you can see the Light of Christ illuminating in their eyes. I love it.
     I have also been studying the topic of Resilience lately. I never really thought it was such an important thing until it was taught in Relief Society on Sunday. It is the ability to have self-confidence, gratitude, and a good attitude in times of struggle.
     This week I really want to work harder at reaching my goals. As a missionary sometimes it seems that every week just blends into the previous week and goals just slip out from under you. Goal setting is valuable and I love it, and this week I am going to do better at it. There is no feeling like accomplishing a worthy goal! :)

The Neal Girls! There is a sixth one,
 and she's so little. Anyway, the story
with this one is that the tallest girl,
is 5'9". Do you want to know how old
she is? She is 12. And Gwen, the
blonde on just in front of me, is Ashy's
long lost identical twin. Seriously, she
confuses me so much because I
always think she's Ashy.

     I love you all and am grateful for your love and support.
Love,
Sister Lybbert :)

The bus stop where Sister C
was hit by a car. It was
last year and they still haven't
fixed it! No worries, she was
fine, it was her leg and she
just had a few bruises. 

The District: Elder Green, Funk,
Mckay, Rogers...probably not in that
order. All American.

Tony and me. He is also going through
the temple for the first time this month!

Me, Katherine and Sarah. I love them to bits!

This is Buddy, his real name is Buddy
 Holly and we sing to him when we
clean his bowl for Tony

Farewell banner at the Peirce's

More missionaries in the family!

August 18, 2014
Dear Mom & Everyone,
It sounds like you have had a great week full of lots and lots of crazy fun things. there really aren't many lakes in England I don't think, at least, the only lakes that I've heard of in my mission is "The Lake District" which everyone goes to for holiday, and it is out of my mission boundaries.
    Spencer, Spencer, Spencer. What a gem. I miss that individual [in reference to Sis. L's cousin].

    It is  crazy that Jared didn't recognize Ashy, I don't feel like time has continued for anyone else but me, but, I guess it does!

Samara asked for this picture ages ago.
(She made these toothpick
dolls for Sis. Lybbert)

District photo!

    This week has been pretty exhausting, but good. I decided that I was actually going to try and put effort into morning exercise (instead of just exercising my eyelids whilst stretching...) so that might have had something to do with it, plus we have been endlessly knocking on doors for this transfer. Sister Seely and I have really been trying to be as obedient as we can, as effective as we can, and as positive and grateful as we can be because we just have not been teaching anybody who wants the gospel bad enough to work for it, and that's sad.
     Well, the Lord heard our prayers and helped us to both feel that we are adequate, and hard-working and that He is mindful of us. It is so hard on a mission to differentiate between feeling like you are doing your best and the Lord is just testing diligence and patience, or if you are doing something wrong in your finding techniques, or obedience, or you're not 'skilled' enough at street contacting, etc.
     The last two days, were the first times in ages that we've found somebody that told us we could come back and share more. We have return appointments with both, and members to accompany us. I could not be more grateful.
     The weather has become cold; it feels like it is Autumn. Last summer was so long, and hot, but yesterday we had cold winds and I felt like I was back in Southern Alberta. Haha.

Pistachio Pudding!

     I really have  felt my testimony of the gospel increase this week though as I've been studying on how to become more Christlike, and how to put my heart in this work even more. I love Sacrament meeting too, it has become one of the best highlights of my week.
     Also, thanks for replying to Sarah C, she really appreciates it. She's the sweetest.
Have a great week!
Love,
Sister Lybbert :)



August 26, 2014
Dear Family,
It is so exciting that we have yet another missionary in the family! Jayson will love it. I wish I could have been there for his talk, but I guess being a fellow missionary cousin with him is something only Gilbert and I got to do, which is way cooler. ahem. ;)
     Congratulations to Ashy for doing so well in the Highland games! You are phenomenal, girl!
     This week has been pretty great. We have been experiencing cold weather though, which isn't ideal, but we've been able to find a few potential investigators, one of which we are meeting with tonight, and I'm pretty happy about it.
     It's crazy because after a while of being here and experiencing missionary work, I haven't really come up with much to tell you that is new. I love Harrogate still, and Sister Seely is wonderful and I finally got the bathroom floor clean. (I thought the dirt was permanent, but now that we've mopped it a lot of times, it seems to be a bit better...I'm still wearing my slippers around the house though.).

Sister Seely's depiction of our nationalities

     And Grandma Lybbert will be pleased to know that I used her tactic for getting rid of fruit flies and it worked tremendously well. At first, Sister Seely wasn't quite sure about it, but when she saw the success, she was very pleased. We made three jars with funnels in them and fruit at the bottom, and then we'd put them in the freezer when they'd get a decent amount of flies. It was a food feeling to rid the house of something else that's gross.
     I have had some incredible personal studies this week.  This morning I was reading through The Gospel of Jesus Christ in Preach My Gospel and that led me to reading about happiness, and prayer, and sacrifice. I love how God really does know what experiences we need to help us grow. Some of the things that I've experienced on the mission have been perfect for that time. Just as we missionaries plan spiritual experiences for the people we teach, Heavenly Father has done that for us and he has backup plans too. That is also the beauty of agency. I love that this is all so simple, but so very intricate.
     I'm happy, the sun is shining, the work is doing well, and today we have a lunch appointment at the Peirce's, which is always extremely and absolutely delightful!

I love you all,
Sister Lybbert :)