Family family family... CRAZY WEEK!! 

   Debbie got baptized!!! Such an incredible event. She was super stressed from the week prior to. Man, the devil hates this work. He is willing to fight as hard as he will for our investigators, he did... he lost.. and I LOVE IT!! but the fight isn't over until the other side!! remember that people... you gotta keep fighting for yourself, your children, your ward members, your friends, etc. We are all in this together!! (stop the high school musical background music please.) but seriously. We are. I learn that every day, but this week I experienced it first hand. Debbie really struggled herself all week and just didn't want anything happy.. the devil really got to her and the happiest person I know became the maddest and saddest... when she finally figured it out (thanks to Kevin) she stopped, but it took loads of effort and prayers!! So the miracle of this event... we went on Thursday morning to see her and it wasn't good, their marriage was on the rocks, already, so we said you two need to go have a chat. They did, but that day we just prayed and prayed that she would be ok. She didn't want anything to do with anything good. She had walked out on us and we were scared. So that night after all our many teaching appointments (the Lord blessed us with appts. and not knocking on doors to keep our minds off the saddness), (we were supposed to be leaving cardigan to go finding but Sis. l just didn't feel like we should) we went and saw one potential, left her a note and still the feeling of don't go. So we said a quick prayer- please let us feel it in our hearts (I felt it strong, but stayed silent) then let us run into someone as we walk to the car and then we will just stay around here, and please let Debbie call us to come by or just to let us know where she is. We get up and started walking to the car.. I knew I had felt something but continued walking and felt something pulling me back.. should have been sign enough, but God loves us and is merciful to us even when we are silly and test it out.. well we ran into someone before getting to the car, so I finally spoke up about how I felt and we started walking towards Debbie just to tract until we had further direction.. not 30 seconds later, did Debbie call and say come over. Now. Realize that we had written her notes and left them not even 45min prior to this thinking we were going to go somewhere else, so we are saying man God answers prayers and oh gee golly the power of notes.. we get there after a little cry fest of gratitude and she hadn't seen the notes just knew we needed to come over and not leave it the way it was.. absolutely incredible. I pray I never forget that experience. He answered us in the specific ways we had asked because of the righteous desire we placed before Him. Everything started going smoother and Saturday, Debbie was just stressed with visa stuff for Kevin and him leaving so soon after (he's in America now.. sad days) but so the experience was incredible, but I wish that the devil could have just ya know sucked it up and realized he was going to lose!! what a baby. haha But yes it was wonderful. 

   We made an rrangement to "I Feel My Saviour's Love" for debbie, just Sis. L and I and it was brilliant if I do say so myself. So fun. We had 5 elders there with us which was a blast and we felt so blessed they came since few could because most of the ward members were attending the temple. Great celebration of life it was.

   Chrissy is amazing and now her kids are into it. Her son Brandon is brilliant and loves it. I could see in him how this Gospel was the answer to his prayers said or not. We asked what the difference is in his mum since she's been talking to us and he said she's happier.. this Gospel is happiness. I have noticed with Chrissy, Debbie, people in the ward, friends from home, myself and others that when we are reading the words of God and feasting upon them, we truly are happy. It is a living Gospel and we must live it and part of that is by reading the book. The joy it brings and encouragement for service and love is outstanding. I know the power is real. We can face any trial of faith with courage and humility if we but hold to the iron rod that can not break, it can not turn, it is steady and sure and only we can let it go.. but that's the thing: we don't have to and for safety reasons we have been commanded not to. Hold to the word of God and we can know the meaning of all things just as Moroni states. No other book comes with a promise that has been proven by any and everyone that reads it and actually tries it out. I LOVE THIS BOOK. I can't get enough of it.

   How is Grandma doing? I hope my room is cozy enough for her. I will keep her in my prayers loads. I really hope she is ok and if she needs it she can have the room. I'll take Matt's in a year  ;) yes, people sista Fili is to 6 months now .. 5th transfer and I am still in New Castle Emlyn... apparently next trasfer I am training however... kinda insane because that also means white washing... but the 2 I came out with are training now as we speak. haha, Sis. L and I are holding strong here though. It's because she doesn't have her British license and has been out over a year so her American one has expired.. so we gotta get that taken care of. Craziness. oh Mum, Kevin Gold, Debbie's hubby, knows Brent Rollands.. from Shelley, you graduated with him, ya? he served with him in Italy on his mission. Small world.

So many things to say and not enough time to say it all.

Loves forever and always!! 

Sista Fili

wow... heather your letter, liz's letter, matt's letter, the package mum and dad, the hunters pictures and notes, grandma's letter.. all of it everyone tht has done anything made it the best birthday ever.. really. heather the subject for yours.. the best birthday present ever was more true than you can even imagine. I showed everyone the pictures you sent!! we went to Sharon's house that ngiht and she loved them!! I was so excited to finally show off my family in an album!! haha the sensa weight loss program.. that just happened. We were at zone conference when i got it and Sister Stuki was opening it with me and we were dying laughing.. some of the elders came in and we showed them and they were red in the face laughing... not becasue i am fat, because you have humor!! ... right? well we'll dicuss it later. I told them you are just looking out for me and must know something i don't know about my future. Just a wishful guess. none the less i love every bit... even the paydays to counteract the sensa... good one. but really... the pictures from the kids and cards.. CREATIVE!!! i love them. I wish you could hear me say it.. so much more believable. man i am a lucky sucker. 17 miracles... yes please!!! i am soooo excited to watch it. Sis. L is too. That's our palnned entertainment today!! I can't wait. All of it the scarf's- worn them, love them, sis. L loves them.. and I couldn't be happier. White undershirt long sleeve thing.. necessary and appreciated, with style ;) All of it.. too much to go on about, just know the Cd's were great, thanks liz!! The christmas cd is ace. all of them are great!! i can't get over it, so I am gonig to move on before you get bored.

This week Debbie Dare and kevin Gold became Kevin and Debbie Gold!!!! soooo wonderful. We had so much fun with the plans and getting everything prepped for it. Sis. l and I got to help plan a wedding- simple and sweet, but still who'd a thought!! The song went well... they had me sing while they signed the registery and her kids had to as well for the witness thing... man I didn't know what to do. it was at the pulpit.. so already weird to sing a lvoe there, while a missionary, while distraction was hppening in the corner, a crowd that only two people really care about whatyou are don't  and the rest are there to support their mom otherwise they wouldn't be caught dead in an LDS chapel.... very awkward. i didn't know who to sing to so... I just tried to keep the confidence and work it all, guess it was ok. but the words were thre and although I was toroughly distracted nd concentrating alot on the presentation thst i wasn't sure about.. it all came out rgiht, so the lord blesses us in our weaknesses I guess. can I pelase say though debbie is the bomb.com!!! we go have a buffet in the next room after the wedding and she is just promoting the church like crazy! Asking everyone if they are coming to church the next day!! Sharon was there becuse she did her cake and tey made friends, the whoel time debbie is talking to her about ccoming to chruch and how she's got to to get the blessings she requires... dude out of the mouths of babes!! HELLO she gets it. Good thing she is getting baptized thisweekend huh... ya i am excited. She is stoked we may or may not be more stoked... i lveo her. I love all of these people!! i just feel sooooo blessed.

After church yesterday we had an appointment with a girl named Lucy who we had met on thursday becasue a less Active, who we had an appt. with flotgged us. man am \I ever so grateful for that flog!! haha We were on a finding high from Zone conference and the reminder of Elder ballard's promise to us about finding and doubling our baptism's and investigators if we talk to EVERYONE regardless of appointments or not. So we saw her on a bench and Sis. L said we need to talk to her, so we did... she was pretty interesteed and we set a return a ppointment for 2pm on that same bench on Sunday.. kinda nerve wracking becasue we didn't get her number because she doesn't have one... she's 14. So after church we rush over because we were kinda late and barely maske it!! they were walking up the lane away from us and we shouted 'LUCY' and she turned around with her friend Summer. i have never een any two young people take to the joseph smith story with so much enthusiasm. They freaked out with joy... lucy took the lord's (JesusChrist)  name in vain after | resited the experience of the First vision and then went 'no woops' then said oh my .. dog backwards and said 'i mean gosh not the other one too!!' haha pretty funny... at least the cursing came in for good humor for once. Anyways... they were so excited to learn more to read the Book of mormon and to find out for themselves. Lucy had said that she read the restoration leaflet we had left her and that she tried out the 'how can i know' in the back.. she asked her own question about her family and recieved an answer, which was incredible prep for the lesson and for her gaining her own witness of this gospel. They both left saying 'i know what I am donig tongiht!! reading and praying!!' They want so badly to ave their own sorty of Joseph Smith experience and I know we can all have it. We mgiht not see god the Father and jesus christ in front of our eyes, but we can feel his presence and maybe even hear His voice whispering words of truth to our soul. I pray we can all be as enthusiastic about this gospel and how it effects our life as these two are!! I know now why Joseph Smith was 14, not 18 or 30... 14. impressionable and excitedable. Those are wonderful characteristics we should all keep and enjoy (in the right ways of course!!) be impressionable and exciteable about things of the gospel, things of God and He can and will mold us to becme his humble servants. we are so blessed to live when we do and as we do. I can't get over how siple life is when we hold true to the covenants we make at basptism and then in the temple and with every priesthood authority given to the men. when we live worthy of the spirit life won't be a perfect, but it will be easier. Drugs, fags (cigarette's here) and beer and stuff like that binds us and makes us unhappy... the law of chastity protects us more than we can fathom!! drama comes from donig it satan's way and giving into temptation.. ease and a low drama life comes from being christlike and living his commandments.. repenting and really meaning it. man i am learning a life time's worth of stuff and i pray i never lose it!! if i do.. sit me down and smack me will you? ya.. thanks. great. well I love you all and heather shavings of wood they call shavings... cigarettes they call faggots though... it's great we got fags everywhere here. I can honestly say I hate them and not feel like i am demeaning a child of God. it's great :D The smell is WRETCHED!! ya, don't even get me started. loves!!

sista fili

Wowsers.... 

   I am excited for Wednesday!! I should be seeing the fun stuff ya'll have sent me. I really just pray you put photos in there :) I love seeing your faces and knowing you are all so happy... Kendra, Carrie, and Jen that goes for you too!! haha well family I forgot to tell a funny tale from last week that I didn't have time to tell but I must make time for now!! haha here we go, this is called "phone in car":

    So Sis. Lauritzen and I are on our way to District Meeting and need to call someone, so the phone was in the back tucked her bag at this point, so I lean back to get it and it ends up getting pushed on the side between the seat and the door. So I tell her speed up to the round about and then break fast so it comes forward, logic.. yes.... well no. So she does it and the phone flies under her seat. We couldn't find it, so we pull over to look. Over here, a phone is more important to missionaries than it is to high school seniors. It is literally our life line. If we don't answer when the district, zone or assistants to president call us... we're dead apparently... so we gotta have it!! Anyways, so we are looking for it and can not find it!! I mean how many places could it go in a car? right? well we found it... in the air condition tube right under her seat. It couldn't have fit more perfectly. Barely the right side and only when laying horizontally at the top of the phone (hope that made sense). it was literally stuck... we could only see it with the nifty torch (flash light) Big Daddy gave me.... soo... ok we're sunk. So, we get to district meeting and wait till the end to ask the elders for their 'professional boy scout' advice. Pretty for sure we tried it all!! We tried knives... I don't know why... we tried a stick with masking tape on the end, getting it out how we got it in but opposite. Probably the funniest one to do and watch. The elders got in the car drove up the steapest hill and reversed back as quickly (and safely) as possible to a complete sharp stop and nothing... while all that was happening, Sis. L and I were following them with all our stuff.. stuff meaning knives... and we walk up to this spot to sit and wait. I look back and there is this guy laying on the ground .. he looks dead (but he was napping) and Sis. L standing in front of him with a bunch of long sharp kitchen knives.. haven't been able to look at her the same way since... nah just kidding it was funny. We giggled and took a photo with Elder Blackwood's camera since we didn't have one on us of our own. Super funny. So, finally we did the sensible thing and just went to a car shop. Kwik Fit to the rescue. We walk up tell them our phone is below the seat in the air conditioning vent, do you think you could help us out? oh ya of course! how much will that cost ? oh nothing it shouldn't be that hard. (a little sarcastic and 'you are dum girls' look on the face- so the go and check it out the guy looks at us and says- so uh this is a little more than we thouht. we need to take the whole seat off to get to it so that's gonna cost you £10. not bad can do... but the guy looked like he felt bad for thinking we were so low on the educational totem pole... oh well. I am used to it!!) haha but it was pretty funny.

   On to more spiritual matters!! Debbie and Kevin are getting married!!! On Saturday.. well as of right now, still a few things to sort out, but no worries!! I get to sing "From This Moment On" at the wedding.. fun. exciting. Hope it goes well since my voice is poop now but there we are. I am soooo happy for them. Debbie bore her testimony to us last night and people she gets it!! She is incredible!! She just understands that church is prioity!! She feels the love you ought to feel when you walk in the doors. She has her own witness of the BOM and when she told us that the spirit was so strong. She made me gain a testimony!! Her friend came to town and they were talking and Debbie was telling her all about it and her friend said since you've been doing this you've changed alot, but all for the better. Not gonna lie, that's the best thing for us to hear!! People notice. I think it made her feel soooo good too!! 

   At church, the members were soo cute to me. One of them, Amy Wilcox, made me a cake and had the YW and her kids present it to me after church. So cute. Debbie and Kev were taking photos on their phone like cute parents would.. I really felt the love. So funny... I felt like you were there Mum, just getting awkward photos and saying they are cute. Thanks. Anyways, then we had a birthday dinner at the Hutchinson's and Sarah Hall drove down from University in Aberystwyth to surprise me!! Sooo fun. I love that family and I love Sarah!!

   Chrissy our new investigator with a baptismal date brought her kids to church!! Awesome. They liked it and my birthday was complete. Seeing people come and share the joy of the Gospel with you and it be a new experience for them is something that touches my heart greatly!! It was amazing to see her!! She really is a fun lady.

   Something i loved from conference was President Monson's talk in the Sunday morning session. It wasn't the stories or the jokes though, it was his boldness with the commandments. I have been studying faith a lot lately. Faith and works are eternally connected. Obedience to the commandments is the next element we over pass quite often. By being obedient, we find faith because that is how we test out the promises God gives us to the commandments He addresses. Remember that always- if you feel your faith wavering, what is it that you are not being obedient to? Look to that first and fix it and I know with all my heart that your faith will be restored!! Commandments are not negotiable. If you find yourself justifying, just put God in your face and justify it to Him.. a little intimidating? ya you wouldn't probably... I think it is incredible that we have a Prophet who leads and guides the way to us knowing and understanding the true and everlasting Gospel. God loves us and I know it!! Thank you for all you do!! Talk to you next week!!

Rwyn dy garu di!!!!! With all my heart!!

Sista Fili

Alright family-what a week!! MIRACLES!!! Yes... so where do I start. Oh Dad-Thank you for the  music.. such a blessing! I can't even stand it!!

   #1 Bob- he's a referral we were given with little to no directions to get to his house (in Llanybydder by the spar shop down a little lane of trees.. COME ON PEOPLE!!!) Haha, Sister Lauritzen and I had no choice but to exercise faith in God and just go and do. Well, we parked the car by the spar shop in Llanybydder and said a prayer and basically just said we have no clue what to do to find this man, but guide our feet... and He did. We only walked up 2 lanes of trees (and in Wales there are MANY LANES) until we found him. When we got there.. the place was empty, but we thought for some reason, even though we'd never met this man, to leave him a note. Well, I am glad we took the time to do so, because it was only a matter of 40 seconds into writing and deciding what to put on a note to a stranger that he drove up. We introduced ourselves and why we were there, who sent us and he said oh please come back. He gave us his number without us asking for it and man... God will use us if we but listen!! I know that to be true!!

   #2 Chrissy- we met her on the street 2 weeks a go ish and she seemed farely interested, but was never able to keep appt.'s made with her. She lives 3 doors down from Debbie and we were over there one morning and honestly it took way longer than we had planned, but my heart is filled with gratitude for that because as we were leaving, I looked at Sister Lauritzen and said we need to go to Chrissy's house-it's Thursday and that is the only day she and we have the same schedule- open for the Gospel... so we went. She had just barely COME HOME FROM TESCO'S (thier version of walmart... kinda... split with fry's... I am sure there is a closer comparison but anyways back to the story) and she let us in straight away. We got to know her a bit and she said she has been looking for God in her life. She is losing herself and wanting to find what she enjoys and who she is on her own two feet again and figures God is the best place to start.. yep sounds like someone prepared for the Gospel to me!! haha! So we shared the Restoration with her and she fully excepted all of it. In fact, the more we talked about it, the more excited she became about all of it. She was beaming by the end and as I was writing down the times for General Conference for her, Sis. Lauritzen gave her the baptismal invitation.. remember FIRST LESSON PEOPLE... she accepted the invitation for November 5. I feel so blessed that I was able to be apart of that experience. She after went on to say that she had been thinking about baptism for some time. She told her mum about how she felt about all of this before we even came over and so on... this lady is amazing and I pray it continues. I feel so blessed I can't even stand it. Who am I to have these experiences? All I know is I am nothing, but as I and we heed to the promptings of the Holy Ghost to do the Lord's work, we will see miracles. Many other things to come next week.

   I feel so much gratitude for my Saviour after listening to General Conference this weekend. Let me invite all of us (me included) to act on what we learn.. there's no point in learning something if you don't act on it. Thank you for all you do!!! I love you greatly and am in severe debt to all you have taught me over the years.

   Sorry this is late-mission football yesterday. Blast!!! soooo good. No, i didn't play very much, I put my gabber on off the field :) We all have different talents people .. it's cool.

Love you love you love you!!

Sista Fili.

 All the letters are great !! thank you Grandmas Connie and Nancy!

Muah

Rwyn dy Garu di!!