Week #74

Dearest Mother and Everybody,
This week has been good, and I am so happy to hear that everything has been good for you! Halloween sounds like it was a blast. I am so happy it is over, I am completely in the Christmas mood as of November 1st. Christmas music was on that morning! Whoo!
     I am so happy to hear that you and Sister Monroe (*ahem* Alli) are in touch! She is the greatest with a capital GREATEST. I don't know if we told you our plans of living in the wilderness and becoming friends with the Sasquatches, but that is what we are doing. She is my long lost sister. Seriously. :D
     This week we have seen so many miracles. Eddie, our investigator from Nigeria, is scheduled for baptism on November 15 and he is going to make it, I know it! He is so accepting of everything we teach, and when there is an inconveniently deep question by a certain someone in Gospel Principles, he answers it simply with his testimony that it just doesn't matter whether we know it or not! Bam! He was first contacted on the street by Sister Monroe and Sister Howard, and now he is progressing in the gospel so well. He loves church, he loves the Book of Mormon, and he is ready. This is all so excitifying.
     Sister Garrett is so sweet. She is seriously the cutest thing since the Baby Kitty riding on a baby duck that I drew on Sister Monroe's planner once upon a time.
I am happy, things are wonderful, the weather is marvelous (for the next five minutes anyway) and we are seeing so many miracles. :)

I love you all,
Love,
Sister Lybbert :D
p.s. Thanks mom for the poppies! Sister Garrett and I love them!

Week 73

Dear Family,

Well, I have some exciting news! I am still in Keighley!

AND...

My daughters! Sisters Garrett
 and Sister Nigido

I have another daughter! I am training a lovely missionary from Ogden, Utah *ahem* The Rocky Mountains (people on the street like to hear that more). Her name is Sister Garrett and she is adorable. This transfer will be great. I am so happy and excited. And the Elder Thomson you mentioned, I saw him at transfer meeting but didn't get a chance to talk to him. That is really neat that I know Alex, who is his sister!

This week has been pretty crazy. A good kind of crazy.

We made Eddie an official new investigator! He is the one from Nigeria, not sure if I've mentioned it at all. He is so solid. In gospel principles the lesson was on "the Gathering of Israel" (bless...) and he completely understood it\, so hopefully that will aid in his desire to be adopted into the house of  Israel...if you know what I mean. :)

     Sister Howard was a brilliant companion, we had lots of fun together and were all of the time, happy missionaries. she is now in Sheffield.

Farewell to the Mon in Monrybby!

AND the sad part is that Sister Monroe is flying home as we speak. But, she is planning on possibly coming up to Canada for my "homecoming." I would love that because I love her to death.

What else?

I am happy to be in Keighley. I have really learned to love it more as I've been here a second time. The first time I was here I didn't really get attached to anyone [she was only there for 6 weeks]. 

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.

Yes, things are great and I seriously just want to stay another transfer

our District with our district t-shirts
depicting the cat versions of us
[I wonder whose idea that was]

...but I can't and it breaks my heart. If it wasn't the Christmas transfer I would be so on board with extending.

I love you all,

Love,

Sister Lybbert

at the train station

Leeds a Zone 

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.