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

This week has been a mixture of things....

January 27, 2014
Dear Family,
This week has been a mixture of all things. I'm currently battling another cold but this time it is making my lungs rattly and so that's not good. At church yesterday I left sacrament meeting to cough (as usual_ and then there were a few members that came out after and were all telling me to go home and get rest because I wasn't looking so good. Brother Power and Brother Cave gave me a blessing so hopefully things will start looking up tomorrow.
   I'm so sorry to hear about Chrissy's Dad. Tell her that I am praying for her and thinking about her, Scott, Penny and her family. The gospel brings so many blessings, one of which is the knowledge of life after this one. I've had some powerful contacting this week as we've testified of that. It was even emotional for me as I bore testimony to these people who I didn't even know.
    If Laycee is reading this, I am overjoyed for you! You know Lace, the gospel never became as real for me as it has in the past 8 months and I know without a doubt in my mind that the way to true peace and joy comes from following the example of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The Priesthood is real, and through it we can find  our purpose of this life and reach our God-given potential to become like our Heavenly Parents. I know it. You've always been a great example and friend. I wish I could be there!
     Ashy got a bearded dragon? How excitifying! Will it still be around by December though? ;)
     A Sister from our ward brought me maple syrup. :D
Another sister from our ward that's a nurse gave me this bottle of herbal Chinese medicine for coughs. It looks like t he medicine from Nanny McPhee but I've been taking it and it seems to be doing something...I think.
     This week we had some great miracles, one of which was while we were knocking .When the lady opened the door, we were able to take President Pilkington's council and be conversational at first, (he also tells us to mention the things we have given up to come here and mention where we're from so that people will see the importance and effect this message has on us). Anyway, we had a great lesson at her door and we are seeing her again Friday! She was emotional as we talked about the potential that God has given us, and we were able to relate to her the First Vision. She is a sweet lady, and miraculously has some connections to the ward here. It is crazy how that works out!
     Fun Fact: Elder Sim (from England) is serving her (in England) and he is "famous" on YouTube for his "What Mormons Say" videos that he has done with Bryce Hardy (who is from Calgary, and who I used to play with when I was 4 years old...small, small world).
     Also, I forgot to mention that Elder Olson is serving in Alnwick which is where the Alnwick Castle is, which is the HP castle. He's not in my zone but had they not recently split the zones, he would have been. I haven't seen him yet because we were in Sunderland instead of Newcastle last P-day but for some reason, President is banishing all of the Canadians to the north..hahaha. There's Sister Neilson (Cardston), Me (Magrath), Elder Dotschkat (Calgary), Elder Veitch (PEI), Elder Olson (Magrath) , and I'm sure there are more. We're taking over the North!
     I remembered a huge miracle !

     On Saturday, Ashleigh was going to come to a baptism in Newcastle with us and I was so excited. but then, she sent us a text saying she was tired and the weather was rubbish so she didn't want to leave her flat. We were devastated because we didn't know what we could do in t he awful weather and me feeling sick. We tried to call other people to come, but none of them could, and then we decided to say a prayer.
   After the prayer, the sun came out, and we got another text.  It was Ashleigh saying that we could meet her at the Chichester Metro! I knew Heavenly Father was looking out for us because our back-up plans were less than desirable.
     Ashleigh really loved the baptism and she started to talk about when she gets baptized. She came to church with us yesterday too and loved it again. She said being at the baptism made her realize how she really wants to try harder to read and pray and make these things priority. I feel so blessed.

Well, bless you all.
The Church is true.
Love,
Sister Lybbert :)

   

Life is Good

Dear Family,
    This week was pretty great, although e-mail time means that my mind goes blank and then I can't actually tell you about it.
      Dad, Keeping bees is on my bucket list! If you get started you can teach me the ropes later. How exciting! You should definitely do it! And Mom, that is class that you are getting a harp, except what about a new piano? (Then you can save your piano for your second daughter).
      This week we had interviews and Zone training. In President's Interviews, he told me to tell you (in case I haven't) That he likes me because I'm from Canada and Canada (Medicine Hat) looked after his father for three years in the Second World War. President is absolutely one of the classiest and most motivational people I know. I really wish you could meet him and Sister Pilkington.
     This week we scheduled appointments after church Sunday which we try to do sometimes but it's not always as effective as we hope, but these past two Sundays, we've done quite good. So, we stayed busy, but also made finding a priority, which was something I don't love to do because the weather was rainy and I go through phases where I crawl back into my shell and lose all confidence to talk to strangers. But, the Zone Meeting was all on Finding, and President is inspired. He is encouraging us to never again approach someone and say, "HI! My friend and I are missionaries...blah-de-blah-de-blah" because that will not make anyone listen. Instead, we are encouraged to be real people and try different approaches. the best ones we have started to use are, "Hi, can we ask you a question?  What makes you happy?" or "How do you feel about your ancestors?" That way we can talk about the gospel without spouting at them or talking at them, but talking with them and being conversational. It reminded me of a project that I was doing with a friend a few years ago where we wrote down a load of questions like that just because we wanted to see what different people were like, but we never got around (or got the courage) to actually go around and talk to strangers.
    The adventure for this week was that we had a flat inspection from a gas company of some sort, and our boiler was condemned. Which meant that we had to freeze for only one day and then temporarily move to Gateshead with Sisters Peck and Benner until it's fixed. Hopefully that gets sorted soon because that means we have to commute on the metro from Gateshead to South Shields every day.
     OH! I forgot! Yesterday evening we went to a Born Again church service. We met some people from there when we were visiting Marilyn from a few doors down our street. Anyway, we said that we'd come to theirs and they were invited to ours, only fair right? Right. Well, it was...interesting. The first half an hour I felt like I was at a gospel rock concert. The music wasn't weird or bad, it was probably something us missionaries would listen to in the morning, but the Spirit was lacking as the sermon went on because they were missing some important truths. It made me so grateful to not have to feel like so many important doctrines are unclear or missiong. After the sermon, the people were  very friendly and all interested to talk to us but didn't exactly let us get a word in. I'm so grateful for sacred sounding hymns, and having the Spirit in the building throughout the meeting, not just when bits of truth are told.
    This week has been great, thank you for your prayers and support. It is always appreciated.
 Love you all,
Sister Lybbert
 

Incredible week

Dear Family,
This week has been pretty incredible. We had some wonderful visits with the members, and transfers didn't change anything here in South Shields.

Sweater from Auntie Trishy
 and Uncle Mark

     Talyia met us at the church last week so that we could read the BOM with her and originally she was supposed to come with her friend, Ellie, but Ellie wasn't able to make it and we were somewhat disappointed, but we went and to our surprise, we saw Talyia coming up to the chapel with a friend! It wasn't Sally or Ellie either so we knew she has really been inviting all of her friends to hear about the gospel. She's  a great example to me. Her friends are all looking at the changes she's made in her life and her example and I don't think they realize how immensely these things change lives. Of all of the people I've ever met, these 12 year olds are the most powerful. understanding, and receptive of all of the people I've taught. It's absolutely breathtaking how the your are so strong.

With Talyia and Brother
and Sister Power

     The great thing is that the youth are the strongest people we meet, but they can also be the complete opposite because the gap between good and bad is definitely widening and it is happening fast. It seems that the teenage girls here are either getting drunk on the weekends, or they are discovering the role of their Father in Heaven and their Saviour. I feel so much responsibility in bringing them to the knowledge that there is more to life than just living and dying. I feel so much love for them because I know that being that age is hard, and peer pressure is hard, but I know that they can be powerful and become great disciples of Jesus Christ. Talyia has opened my eyes on the greatness of the youth, and to think that our Joshy is now 12 as well, I have such great hope for him.

This is for Keith...Christmas morning!

     So, please read your scriptures, pray with all the energy of heart, and prepare yourself to partake in the ordinance of the Sacrament every week. Invite the missionaries over.
   I have really loved to hear all of your stories about Family History work and it got me inspired. We are going to hold a class in a few weeks that we can invite people to as we're knocking, for them to find out how they can know about their ancestors. I am also VERY excited because on lds.org you can order your ancestor's patriarchal blessings (I discovered that back in June) andI kept think back on that and how I needed to order some of my great-grandmother's, and so I did and I can't wait. I think that is incredible that we are able to do that.
   Some scriptures that I really love lately are:
Romans 8: 35-39
2 Corinthians 4: 8-10
Alma 37: 35-37

A Cemetery. They're all neat but
I like the ivy

    They have really helped me and strengthened my testimony that God is always on our side and we can rely on Him through all hard times. I also love what Elder Kearan (1st counselor in the European Area Seventy?) said at the last Mission tour. He told us that we need to realize that nobody is the same person this week as they were last week and that we shouldn't judge others or ourselves because of that. We can become close to Christ day by day and so we must not be harsh on others or ourselves if we are sincerely trying to work toward that. I feel like the time here is going by so quickly and that I don't have time to become the person I hope to be by the end. I can't believe that it is January.
     I love this work.
     I love you all,

  Sister Lybbert

Happy New Year

January 7, 2014
This week has been lots of fun. We had some great lessons, and miracles and good news...all four South Shields sisters are STAYING! WHOO! The intensity transfer night every 6 weeks gets crazier and crazier. I was pretty sure we'd be staying though. Not too much even changed  this transfer with our zone. And, exciting news, Sister Monroe is now a Sister Trainer Leader. It's so great to be able to go on exchanges with them all of the time, and now I live with one. :)
     My mind is blanked...but we found a fantastic new investigator! Her name is Samantha and we met her while we were knocking. I may have already mentioned her (I can't remember anything during e-mail time) but she is incredible. We had our first lesson with her on Thursday and she was so enthusiastic about being able to pray and find out if Joseph Smith really did see God and Jesus Christ. She felt the Spirit strongly and she had a great desire to come to church with us on Sunday. It was all too perfect though (things like this don't happen with ease...the devil always has a way of slowing things down...) and ten minutes before Sacrament Meeting, she texted us saying there was some problems with support from her family and friends. It devastated me, but we are praying that she will get in contact with us again and that all is not lost.
    It's funny Mom, that you mentioned Joseph Fielding Smith's book, because I picked that up today and read through the beginning about his mission. It really made me feel better and helped me again, to understand that this is all in the Lord's timing, even if this isn't Samantha's time, it will happen.
     As for Ashleigh, she's doing brilliantly. We are seeing her again tonight and she loved church on Sunday. She's really motivated to make all of the necessary changes and to gain the courage she needs to change her work schedule around. There are so many blessings that we have experienced this past week. I was nervous to go from having so much holiday to full throttle missionary work, but it has proved to be even greater than before.
    New Year's Eve we spent with Kirsty, her mom, and Sister Dodsworth. I love those three. They're hilarious together. We watched The Sound of Music and had some absolutely canny commentary fro everyone. I loved it. We then watched the end bit of  "Nativity!" because we love it.
   New Year's Day we had off entirely (which is probably the last day of my mission that will happen) and there was no transit going that day so we weren't able to go to Durham Cathedral like we had planned. Not to worry though, because we had a really spiritual and uplifting time in the flat. We read through our Patriarchal Blessings individually and then took some time to make goals for this year that would help us with becoming who God needs us to be. Then, we shared our goals with each other. It was actually so incredible and the Spirit was strong. I'm very excited for the year 2014. I just can't believe that it is already here. It is THE YEAR where Sister Lybbert will work harder and be stronger and become closer to God than she ever has before.
   I love you all and I'm grateful for your love and support. I am so grateful that my little bro has taken on the great responsibility of becoming a Deacon. I'm so happy to be here. I'm loving it.
    Oh! and on Saturday, Sister Nigido and I did some service for Len and Elsie Power because they have done so much for us over the Christmas time and when we first arrived here. So, we made them a nice dinner (Talyia helped us too!). We made the mushroom chicken Dad always makes and banana bread for 'pudding.' It was delicious  and they loved it too!
   Now for some more fun stories of how small the world is:
Sister Power (formerly Sister Elsie Deacon - she was just re-married last summer) has a daughter-in-law who lives in Sugar City, Id. He name is Katie Deacon. Could someone ask Marnie and Doug if they know her? AND Sister Power also served a mission as a senior sister in Nauvoo when we would have been there! Not only that, but the lady from the frozen custard shop, Helen Campbell, is a really great friend of hers now AND she is from Magrath [Welling actually]. All too fun :)
The church is true and being a part of this work is beyond incredible.
I love you all,
Sister Lybbert