Week 59:Third time is the charm

Salutations friends and family. Welcome once again. The title of my email comes from the fact that I have now closed down three flats on my mission and have been involved in the relocation of three flats worth of furniture in the course of my mission. I sincerely hope that it does not happen again, but it is nothing compared to Elder McLennan's record because he basically closes one every week. But still, three is a lot. It has taught me much about my interior design skills and desires for the future. I'll include some pics to show what we have now. We have literally spent the whole day cleaning and we are still not done but hey that is life for you. Again, as a public service announcement, take some time once a month to purge your belongings and really determine what you do and don't need and then get rid of the excess. It will save you a ton of space and just make you a happier person. 

So most of this week involved closing that old flat down because we learned on Monday that we needed to be out of it by Saturday and if we were on the mainland and the mission could have sent other missionaries to help us out, it would have gone a bit faster. however, since were are 100% still an island, and car ferries are super duper expensive, they hired some local movers to help us with the big stuff, but asked if we could do all the small stuff on our own. We happily agreed, mostly because we had pleaded to stay in the current flat we have instead of moving back into the old one and our request was granted, so we thought we could do everything we could to return the favour. This did mean spending parts of multiple days clearing out the small stuff and cleaning up the thick layer of dust that had settled in the place (it's been empty for about 2 months). Again, for your sanity, and the sanity of anyone who would be cleaning up your belongings if you were to pass away tomorrow, go through your clutter and purge. It will make everyone happier :-)

Some fun findings:

-seventh day adventist literature

-a taio cruz cd (not very useful currently)

-a GIANT map of the island (very useful currently)

-an entire extra fridge that is currently sitting in a corner 

-6 chairs (I really don't understand this one because there are only ever 2 missionaries, maybe 4 in a flat at a time; on a totally unrelated note do you know anyone who needs any chairs? we have 8 now)

-a mini slow cooker

-and Elder Kapolnasi's ministerial certificate (someone who has his email should forward this to him for me)

Other great moments from this week:

-We had a fantastic lesson with our friend and were able to really set expectations for what he was seeking from us and what our job as missionaries is. I was able to bear some really powerful testimony about the Christ's true church being restored along with the knowledge we have that families can be eternal and that the pains and sorrows of mortality are for a small moment and the things God has in store for us are so much greater than we can imagine IF we keep His commandments.

-I ate an entire pack of Bourbon biscuits (they're basically posh chocolate oreos) and drank a litre of chocolate milk in an afternoon and I only felt a little ashamed 

-We looked into this really fantastic charity that operates out of an old trinitarian church in Ryde. We are hopefully going to be volunteering there soon. I am always touched how, regardless of our differences, we can come together as communities and friends and really change people's lives when we put our minds to it.

-I learned how to replace a window. Don't worry, it was not my fault...we were just helping out a friend who is a builder haha

-I just got off the phone with our friend who we were supposed to meet in an hour and he said he can't because the window he bought to replace the window he just ripped out is too small :-(

-We learned calligraphy! A friend of ours has been having some difficulty with having motivation to go about the day and calligraphy is a passion of his he has not done for some time. So we told him we wanted to learn! We tried to follow the example of President Nelson who, as he mentioned in April of this year, made a life long friend by truly showing interest in his hobbies and asking to learn more. Let me tell you, something magical happens when people talk about the things they love. You learn so much about them and get a glimpse into who they are and what makes them tick. I really feel blessed that I get to talk with so many interesting people out there and hear about what they love. If you want to get to know someone better, talk about what they love with them.

British Word of the Week: cotton bud - so to prove that I have been away from America for a long time, I cannot for the life of me remember what the American name is and it is KILLING ME but they are those sticks with cotton on the end of each side that you use to clean your ears

British Food of the Week: mince pie ice cream - we saw it in the store today and I am slightly horrified

Scripture of the Week: 1 Nephi 13:37 this is one of my new favourites; also, I have restarted the Book of Mormon with a specific question in mind and have been highlighting everything that I feel applies to my question. Already, I have received some guidance and been able to think about it in new ways and I feel the Lord guiding me to the way to find my answer. Elder Bednar recommended we do this when we have a specific question we want answered (he said this at a youth devotional about 6 years ago and I have never forgotten it, but this is the first time I am really applying it). I highly recommend it.

Companion Comic: so we played manhunt with the youth after being asked to come to youth last minute (funny story about that really quick. we were having dinner at the house of our ward mission leader (the guy who correlates what we do with the local congregation) and his wife got a call from her younger sister who was asked by her dad to call and ask us if we could come to youth. We said yes, but had to laugh that they 1) went to all that trouble to go through so many different people to call us and 2) they knew that we were having dinner at their house) and doc martens are not ideal for running too much (they are fine for indoor athletics of course, see last week's email about chair football) so I took them off. Then at the end of the evening, I found them tied to a post with rocks in them. While I was more surprised than anything else, once I had released them and emerged from the room they had been in, one of the youth said "how did you untie them? that was my most difficult knot!" and i didn't even really have to untie them, I just pulled. So pranking skills for the Isle of Wight youth are great, knot tying skills are a bit lacking.

So to end this behemoth of an email, I wanted to share my thoughts from General Conference...but I left my notebook and notes at home. Just know this. I know that Russell M. Nelson is a prophet and that everyone who spoke this weekend was speaking what the Lord would have His children know. I know that I matter to the Lord and that you matter to Him and that questions we have can and will be answered as we seek in faith. I know that the heavens are open and that the Lord is eager to make known His will for His children. He loves us, He watches over us, and He knows what we need. He will sustain you in your darkest hours and celebrate with you in your triumphs. I know such because I have experienced it. I love Him. I love you all. Have an amazing, spirit filled week.