Mummy and Daddy,
We've had quite the whirlwind week this week. We've been preparing Michael for his baptism on Saturday. Sister Hillgaard and I have acted as his social secretaries, carting him off to tea appointments, branch activities, movie nights etc. On Saturday, we went to Ashington to watch a baptism and have Michael's baptismal interview with our District Leader. The only hiccup was the baptism did not happen. The young man getting baptized was hauled away by his concerned cousin who came out of the woodwork for the day to poop on our dreams. We showed up for the aftermath. The sister missionaries, my friends, were beside themselves. It was the saddest thing. This guy wanted to get baptized so badly! Good news is Michael passed his interview with flying colors, and came out saying, "I really want to be washed clean of my sins. My goal in life is to stand before God with a clear conscience, and enter his kingdom." I tell you this man is so wonderful.
When we rounded the corner yesterday morning to pick him up for church we saw a note taped to his door and a plastic carrier bag outside.
No...no...no....no.....no.... *running*.....no no no no.....*gate squeaks open*....no no no no no...... In the note he expressed some concerns, a change of heart, and said that he went for a walk. I do not know how long Sister Hillgaard and I stood in front of that door. It felt like ten minutes.....in silence....reading and re-reading his note.
"What should we do? "
"No clue...let's say a prayer."
In our prayer we prayed for a miracle. We didn't know where Michael was, but we needed to find him."
We waited about some more.
"Should we leave? We're going to be late for church."
"........not yet.......let's leave him a note."
As soon as I stuffed the note in the letter box, keys rattled in the lock and Michael filled the doorway.
"I just got in from my walk."
"Can we come in for a minute and talk to you?"
*nod*
BAM! MIRACLE! NEXT! We talked for a long time about his concerns, and in the end we resolved him. "Do you believe the church is really The Church of Jesus Christ restored?"
"Yes, I believe that."
"Do you want us to push your baptism back a week to give you more time to pray about it?"
"No, I believe it... I want to go through with the baptism this Saturday." BAM! MIRACLE!!!!
Our prayer was answered! BAM! MIRACLE! I love this job :D Thank you so much for letting me be here. I really appreciate it. I wonder if you realize how much this mission means to me. Thank you so much!
I love you!
Love always and forever,
Your Sister Stephanie White
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Alnwick
Mummy and Daddy
I love it in this little land of Alnwick. The members are absolutely fantastic! They all are so excited to have us in their little branch. Our little flat is so cute. It's all secluded in this little yard. There aren't any street lights blaring into our little courtyard. On a night, Sister Hillgaard and I plop down on the ground and marvel at all the billions of glittering specs in the sky.....wow.....how can you not look at that and think there's more out there.....how can you look at that and not believe in a Supreme Creator! Wow.... We love our little flat. We've been having movers and boxes and all sorts in and out of this joint, but things are finally starting to settle down and we're getting things into their proper places. I'll show you when we're all settled. The people of Alnwick are wonderful. It's refreshing to walk down the street, wave at someone and not get sworn at :D ahhhhhh......it's even better to not have to chase down little oldies in their mobility scooters. Man, they can definitely kick it up a notch when they want to :D hahaha.
We're just having so many little miracles happen in our corner. We met Michael last week and he's soaking it all in. We give our investigators little calendars to help them keep track of all their reading, praying and church attendance. At our last appointment with Michael, I accidentally keiffed his calendar. When we had our next appointment, I told him I had it, and he said, "Not that I blame you for taking it.....I haven't been reading as much as I should, and I have so many things wrong in my life, I'm not worthy to have it anymore." He's such a stinkin sweet heart. He just wants the blessing of baptism so much. He wants a clean slate and a new life. He came to stake conference for the reorganization of the Sunderland England Stake, where he got to hear from Elder Causse of the Area Presidency and from President Lindley. He was so impressed and so inspired! Michael is incredible! BAM! MIRACLE!
Let me tell you a story. Last night, we went to a street we planned to knock. Before we even got out of the car, a member called us telling us he had some stuff for our flat he wanted to drop off. So we motored back, parked....but no member yet.....so we decided to knock the street on which we live. As part of Stake Conference, Elder Causse said something to the effect of, "The Lord knows these people, and he loves them enough to lead you to them." For some reason that idea stuck with me, and I thought a lot about it for the rest of the day. When we knocked on one door, I had that thought come to be again. "The Lord knows these people, and he loves them enough to lead you to them." The door opened. I can't for the life of me tell you what was said, but I do remember watching the man's eye's well up and his voice shake out, "Well....I'm not so sure....my wife died five years ago." A few moments later our member rolled up behind us.
"Can we come back in a half hour and talk to you some more?"
"Yes. Come back then."
Once we sorted things out with the member, we went back, and knocked on the door.
..............
*knocked louder*
..............
*knocked on the window*
.............
*knocked with the door knocker*
..............
*knocked with rhythm and beat*
..............
*whistled through the key hole*
..............
"Dang it....he was a good one!"
So we went back to the street we planned to knock, but it just didn't feel right. We knocked some houses.....turns out the Jehovah's Witnesses had been there earlier. We prayed, "Should we stay or go to another street?."...........We didn't feel anything in particular, so we carried on........but it still didn't feel right. We prayed, "We don't know where we need to be right now, but we feel like it's not here. Where should we be?" "Let's go back to that man's house." So we did. We knocked really hard with the door knocker and lo and behold, he answered!!! AND invited us in straight away. We got to talking. He had some excellent questions about the Plan of Salvation, and about our church. There was such a lovely spirit in that room. We invited him to be baptized and he accepted!!!!! He lost his leg a few years ago and after an exhilarating discussion about leg attachments (roller skate leg, pogo stick leg, broom leg, mop and bucket leg, the list went on and on....we all know of my love for amputees!!!!!) he told us he's getting a swimming leg (aka a leg that floats) in the next week or so. IT'S A SIGN!!!!!!!! See! You're meant to get baptized! He was absolutely wonderful! In his closing prayer he said, "Heavenly Father, thank you for sending these.....[choked up]..... two crazy women to my house. It's not an accident they're here. They're coming back soon, and we'll see what more we can't learn about you then....."
BAM! MIRACLE! NEXT!!!! I love being a missionary!!!! Thank you so much for letting me be here!
Love always and forever,
Your Sister Stephanie White
I love it in this little land of Alnwick. The members are absolutely fantastic! They all are so excited to have us in their little branch. Our little flat is so cute. It's all secluded in this little yard. There aren't any street lights blaring into our little courtyard. On a night, Sister Hillgaard and I plop down on the ground and marvel at all the billions of glittering specs in the sky.....wow.....how can you not look at that and think there's more out there.....how can you look at that and not believe in a Supreme Creator! Wow.... We love our little flat. We've been having movers and boxes and all sorts in and out of this joint, but things are finally starting to settle down and we're getting things into their proper places. I'll show you when we're all settled. The people of Alnwick are wonderful. It's refreshing to walk down the street, wave at someone and not get sworn at :D ahhhhhh......it's even better to not have to chase down little oldies in their mobility scooters. Man, they can definitely kick it up a notch when they want to :D hahaha.
We're just having so many little miracles happen in our corner. We met Michael last week and he's soaking it all in. We give our investigators little calendars to help them keep track of all their reading, praying and church attendance. At our last appointment with Michael, I accidentally keiffed his calendar. When we had our next appointment, I told him I had it, and he said, "Not that I blame you for taking it.....I haven't been reading as much as I should, and I have so many things wrong in my life, I'm not worthy to have it anymore." He's such a stinkin sweet heart. He just wants the blessing of baptism so much. He wants a clean slate and a new life. He came to stake conference for the reorganization of the Sunderland England Stake, where he got to hear from Elder Causse of the Area Presidency and from President Lindley. He was so impressed and so inspired! Michael is incredible! BAM! MIRACLE!
Let me tell you a story. Last night, we went to a street we planned to knock. Before we even got out of the car, a member called us telling us he had some stuff for our flat he wanted to drop off. So we motored back, parked....but no member yet.....so we decided to knock the street on which we live. As part of Stake Conference, Elder Causse said something to the effect of, "The Lord knows these people, and he loves them enough to lead you to them." For some reason that idea stuck with me, and I thought a lot about it for the rest of the day. When we knocked on one door, I had that thought come to be again. "The Lord knows these people, and he loves them enough to lead you to them." The door opened. I can't for the life of me tell you what was said, but I do remember watching the man's eye's well up and his voice shake out, "Well....I'm not so sure....my wife died five years ago." A few moments later our member rolled up behind us.
"Can we come back in a half hour and talk to you some more?"
"Yes. Come back then."
Once we sorted things out with the member, we went back, and knocked on the door.
..............
*knocked louder*
..............
*knocked on the window*
.............
*knocked with the door knocker*
..............
*knocked with rhythm and beat*
..............
*whistled through the key hole*
..............
"Dang it....he was a good one!"
So we went back to the street we planned to knock, but it just didn't feel right. We knocked some houses.....turns out the Jehovah's Witnesses had been there earlier. We prayed, "Should we stay or go to another street?."...........We didn't feel anything in particular, so we carried on........but it still didn't feel right. We prayed, "We don't know where we need to be right now, but we feel like it's not here. Where should we be?" "Let's go back to that man's house." So we did. We knocked really hard with the door knocker and lo and behold, he answered!!! AND invited us in straight away. We got to talking. He had some excellent questions about the Plan of Salvation, and about our church. There was such a lovely spirit in that room. We invited him to be baptized and he accepted!!!!! He lost his leg a few years ago and after an exhilarating discussion about leg attachments (roller skate leg, pogo stick leg, broom leg, mop and bucket leg, the list went on and on....we all know of my love for amputees!!!!!) he told us he's getting a swimming leg (aka a leg that floats) in the next week or so. IT'S A SIGN!!!!!!!! See! You're meant to get baptized! He was absolutely wonderful! In his closing prayer he said, "Heavenly Father, thank you for sending these.....[choked up]..... two crazy women to my house. It's not an accident they're here. They're coming back soon, and we'll see what more we can't learn about you then....."
BAM! MIRACLE! NEXT!!!! I love being a missionary!!!! Thank you so much for letting me be here!
Love always and forever,
Your Sister Stephanie White
Monday, October 10, 2011
Alnwick
Mummy and Daddy,
Where to begin? Well....Alnwick area covers basically 1/8th of England! It's mostly just green....not a lot of people up yonder, so we stole another missionary team's car :D heh heh they weren't too keen on that, bless 'em. After transfer meeting, we made our way on the coach up to Redcar, stole their car, and Sister Hillgaard drove us all the way up to Alnwick. A bit about Sister Gretel Hillgaard. She is from Denmark. She's been on her mission for 5 months and she loves dragons. She can name every Pokemon every made. She wishes she was an Avatar so much that she brought a pair of Avatar fangs along on her mission to pop in when she gets and urge. She makes the best impression of a guinea pig of anyone I've ever seen and her favorite food is liver pate. She's a driving fiend in Denmark, but she's never driven on the left hand side of the road. Since I'm American, my US license is only valid for a year, so I cannot legally drive anymore. So our only option was to have Sister Hillgaard drive us up there. :D We made it in one piece. We drifted now and again to the left and played tag with the curb. I suppose our game went on a bit too long because suddenly in the side mirrors, blue lights glitter in my eyes......oh......poop.
Us: Hello Officer, How are you today, Sir?
Police Man: Fine. When was the last time you had an alcoholic beverage?
Us: HAHAHAHAHAHAHHA what?!
Police Man: We got a report from a fellow driver that was concerned that you were under the influence of alcohol, and for the safety of everyone on the road we've come to investigate.
Us: No... we're just foreign.
That is a definite first.....Two LDS missionaries getting pulled over for drunk driving! hahahha
We're staying with Brother and Sister Loynes who are absolutely wonderful, and the Branch is fantastic!!! They've made us very welcome indeed!!!! Everyone is so excited to have us out and about and they're bending over backwards to get anything we need!
Alnwick town is like the quintessential England. When you think, "small English town", the picture that comes up in your head....THAT'S WHERE I LIVE!!!! I walk down the spindly cobbled streets, look up at the big clock towers and quaint shops and say to myself....ahhhh....I love this land. I love where I live
We went out knocking our first day and found this man named Michael!!!! He is a miracle man! He wanted to know what Heaven and Hell were. We taught him straight away, scheduled him for baptism, he came to church and he absolutely loved it!!!!!
We're moving tomorrow to our brand new flat.
I absolutely love it here in this land! People don't curse at me every five seconds! People actually listen to me on the street whether they're interested or not! The branch is beautiful! The land is beautiful! I live next to a castle for Pete's sake!
My time's out but I love it here! I love being a missionary!
Love always and forever,
Sister Stephanie White
Where to begin? Well....Alnwick area covers basically 1/8th of England! It's mostly just green....not a lot of people up yonder, so we stole another missionary team's car :D heh heh they weren't too keen on that, bless 'em. After transfer meeting, we made our way on the coach up to Redcar, stole their car, and Sister Hillgaard drove us all the way up to Alnwick. A bit about Sister Gretel Hillgaard. She is from Denmark. She's been on her mission for 5 months and she loves dragons. She can name every Pokemon every made. She wishes she was an Avatar so much that she brought a pair of Avatar fangs along on her mission to pop in when she gets and urge. She makes the best impression of a guinea pig of anyone I've ever seen and her favorite food is liver pate. She's a driving fiend in Denmark, but she's never driven on the left hand side of the road. Since I'm American, my US license is only valid for a year, so I cannot legally drive anymore. So our only option was to have Sister Hillgaard drive us up there. :D We made it in one piece. We drifted now and again to the left and played tag with the curb. I suppose our game went on a bit too long because suddenly in the side mirrors, blue lights glitter in my eyes......oh......poop.
Us: Hello Officer, How are you today, Sir?
Police Man: Fine. When was the last time you had an alcoholic beverage?
Us: HAHAHAHAHAHAHHA what?!
Police Man: We got a report from a fellow driver that was concerned that you were under the influence of alcohol, and for the safety of everyone on the road we've come to investigate.
Us: No... we're just foreign.
That is a definite first.....Two LDS missionaries getting pulled over for drunk driving! hahahha
We're staying with Brother and Sister Loynes who are absolutely wonderful, and the Branch is fantastic!!! They've made us very welcome indeed!!!! Everyone is so excited to have us out and about and they're bending over backwards to get anything we need!
Alnwick town is like the quintessential England. When you think, "small English town", the picture that comes up in your head....THAT'S WHERE I LIVE!!!! I walk down the spindly cobbled streets, look up at the big clock towers and quaint shops and say to myself....ahhhh....I love this land. I love where I live
We went out knocking our first day and found this man named Michael!!!! He is a miracle man! He wanted to know what Heaven and Hell were. We taught him straight away, scheduled him for baptism, he came to church and he absolutely loved it!!!!!
We're moving tomorrow to our brand new flat.
I absolutely love it here in this land! People don't curse at me every five seconds! People actually listen to me on the street whether they're interested or not! The branch is beautiful! The land is beautiful! I live next to a castle for Pete's sake!
My time's out but I love it here! I love being a missionary!
Love always and forever,
Sister Stephanie White
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Horbury
Mummy and Daddy,
I suppose I shall begin with the biggest news.....I am getting transferred! Guess where I'm going.....you'll never guess...so I'll tell you. I am going to Alnwick (Annec) home of none other than the HARRY POTTER CASTLE!!!!!! WHOO!!!! I wonder if you realize what a huge deal this is within the mission :D Alnwick area is the farthest north you can possibly go in the England Leeds Mission, (I'm going just in time for winter :D) and it hasn't had missionaries for two years. So me and SISTER HILLGARDE are WHITE WASHING!!!!!! Whoo! We're getting a brand new flat and a car! I can't legally drive anymore on my American license so Sister Hillgarde will get to chauffeur me about :D I hear the branch is wonderful and they sound quite Scottish! WHOO!!!!!! It will be an adventure....that is....if I don't turn into a human popsicle by the end of it :D More to come. I've spent my morning packing.....I have so much stuff.....a lot of it I can't afford to chuck. I need as many layers as I can get my silly little hands on! As usual, while my companion is eating breakfast, getting ready etc....there I am upstairs ramming my body into my suitcase. GET.... IN! GET ...IN! OOOOOOH!
This week we went to Carol, our investigator's, primary school class to teach her six and seven year olds what The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints believes. We taught them all about how God is the Father of our spirits. We are his children. We taught them a simplified version of the plan of salvation and showed them this video
http://lds.org/pages/mormon-messages-gallery?lang=eng#i-am-a-child-of-god-mormon-message
We taught them the song, "I Am a Child of God," and I cannot tell you how stinking cute it was to see their little mouths singing and believing they were children of God. They drew pictures of who God is, where he lives, and what he does. Then they wrote what they learned.
"God is a father."
"We are God's children."
"I am a child of God."
"Now I know God lives."
Carol came up to us afterwards saying, " I know now more than ever that what you say is true. I wish I joined years ago!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" BAM! MIRACLE! She photocopied all their drawings for us and fashioned them into little books for us!!!!
Carol came to the Saturday Afternoon session of Conference. Long story short....*The Librarian just announced the Library's closing in seven minutes.* When it was all over, we turned to her and asked, "Well, what'd you think?"
"It was good.....It's all good." Tears welled up in her eyes "I so wish I did this years ago!" BAM! MIRACLE! NEXT!!!!!!
I am so grateful for that assurance that I know this church truly is The Church of Jesus Christ!!! No other church claims that. No other church bears his name! No other church has the same organization that Jesus had. No other church has apostles. No other church has a Prophet, but we do. I'm so grateful to be out here doing what the Lord wants me to do. This is exactly where I need to be :D
I love you so much!
Love
Your Sister Stephanie White
I suppose I shall begin with the biggest news.....I am getting transferred! Guess where I'm going.....you'll never guess...so I'll tell you. I am going to Alnwick (Annec) home of none other than the HARRY POTTER CASTLE!!!!!! WHOO!!!! I wonder if you realize what a huge deal this is within the mission :D Alnwick area is the farthest north you can possibly go in the England Leeds Mission, (I'm going just in time for winter :D) and it hasn't had missionaries for two years. So me and SISTER HILLGARDE are WHITE WASHING!!!!!! Whoo! We're getting a brand new flat and a car! I can't legally drive anymore on my American license so Sister Hillgarde will get to chauffeur me about :D I hear the branch is wonderful and they sound quite Scottish! WHOO!!!!!! It will be an adventure....that is....if I don't turn into a human popsicle by the end of it :D More to come. I've spent my morning packing.....I have so much stuff.....a lot of it I can't afford to chuck. I need as many layers as I can get my silly little hands on! As usual, while my companion is eating breakfast, getting ready etc....there I am upstairs ramming my body into my suitcase. GET.... IN! GET ...IN! OOOOOOH!
This week we went to Carol, our investigator's, primary school class to teach her six and seven year olds what The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints believes. We taught them all about how God is the Father of our spirits. We are his children. We taught them a simplified version of the plan of salvation and showed them this video
http://lds.org/pages/mormon-messages-gallery?lang=eng#i-am-a-child-of-god-mormon-message
We taught them the song, "I Am a Child of God," and I cannot tell you how stinking cute it was to see their little mouths singing and believing they were children of God. They drew pictures of who God is, where he lives, and what he does. Then they wrote what they learned.
"God is a father."
"We are God's children."
"I am a child of God."
"Now I know God lives."
Carol came up to us afterwards saying, " I know now more than ever that what you say is true. I wish I joined years ago!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" BAM! MIRACLE! She photocopied all their drawings for us and fashioned them into little books for us!!!!
Carol came to the Saturday Afternoon session of Conference. Long story short....*The Librarian just announced the Library's closing in seven minutes.* When it was all over, we turned to her and asked, "Well, what'd you think?"
"It was good.....It's all good." Tears welled up in her eyes "I so wish I did this years ago!" BAM! MIRACLE! NEXT!!!!!!
I am so grateful for that assurance that I know this church truly is The Church of Jesus Christ!!! No other church claims that. No other church bears his name! No other church has the same organization that Jesus had. No other church has apostles. No other church has a Prophet, but we do. I'm so grateful to be out here doing what the Lord wants me to do. This is exactly where I need to be :D
I love you so much!
Love
Your Sister Stephanie White
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