Dear Family,

       Man it's been a beautiful week. I love Wales.. rain. shine. rain. shine. I never have to worry about a drought.... nope filling up the tank for the rest of my life here in Wales. That's how I am choosing to view it. The members just say I will catch a cold, but I don't care. Brollies are for sissies.. ... when I say sissies I mean younger sister missionaries. of course. You just get used to it. The problem is that where there is rain there is wind and brolly's and wind don't work very well, especially if you want to talk to anyone. oh well. The Lord will protect me and it's all good. I love the rain though. I love walking in it and just soakin... and then coming home. so not coming home afterwards is kinda uncomfortable.. but none the less, I feel like i am sacrificing something minor for sometihng greater I guess. Weird? yep. This mission isn't full of scary things, it's not full of bad, yucky, no hot water flats, in fact we are spoiled rotten here. So being soaked is just great!!! That is what we have to make up for the rest it all. Rain.

       Brian= best man I have ever met... today. He is amazing. We had that lesson about being forgiven and repentance.. what it truly is. Since then he has made restitution above and beyond what he thought he was capable of. He came to church yesterday and just gloried in it. He knpows this is where he needs to be. The week before he had gone somewhere else and felt without. He is so excited for his baptism!! today I will send you a poem he wrote with a few other things i was planning on sending last week... sorry it didn't go yet, just crazy stuff here. I am so grateful for him. He is helping me see that there are such elect people that God is working with and the miracles are outstanding. I can not tell you how this man and his repentance process are a miracle. I will one day though, but not today over email. Still a little personal for the internet.

     Steven is donig well and is gaining the promise given in Moroni 10:3-5.. He has been reading the scriptures daily and even understanding enough to ask questions like, "if we believe in the BoM, and Brigham Young was a prophet of our church and read the same things I am reading right now.. then how did he miss Jacob 2?" hahaha I was dying. So funny. He is a total joker. But none the less, the power of God is working within him. He said as he reads, even when he doesn't understand fully, he feels something stirring inside. yay for the sprit and I know that it is true. I love this gospel so much. There is nothing greater than seeing someone else love it as well.

     The Jones family are some members in the Beacon Heights ward. Arnold nd June Jones are who I want to focus on though for a moment. The grand parents of the family. They served a mission at the temple in Preston and worked in the London temple all right after their son died in a tragic accident, not a car accident mind. They told me of some of their experiences and we just enjoyed time talking about the joy of the temple. Oh my goodness me i reckon I will take a temple prep lesson for RM's from them right before I come back. They said they would do it for me for a dinner appt. around that time. it is amazing the spirit that was in their home because of the type of communication they have, the spiritual things they have on the walls, and the fact that you can tell they LIVE the gospel of Christ. No doubt about it. I thought about it and I feel like our home is like that alot of the time.. well at least when I was there ;) But isn't it interesting that whjat we put in our homes reflects a different kind of behaviour. I think that is true.

     This week I have been reding 3 Nephi 11-18. I love my Saviour. I love His teachings. I love that He tarries with us and perceives our thoughts and the intents of our hearts. I love that He gives commandments that help us find, live and experience joy. Real joy. He warns us not of what HE will do, but of what SATAN will do if we do not live His commandments. In Ch.18 I was reading about the importance of prayer and of partaking of the sacrament. v. 25: "And ye see that I have commanded that none of you should go away, but rather have commanded that ye should come unto me, that ye might feel and see; even so shall ye do unto the world; and whosoever breaketh this commandment suffereth himself to be led into temptation." Now this verse in particular is talking about church and not dismissing anyone from coming, but the same can be applied to prayer. Sometimes we don't feel comfortable or worthy to obey these two commandments. Sometimes we lack desire to do so. When these times come and we feel no spirit, and feel as if God has forsaken us we must recognize that in the scriptures there are invitations that if read correctly also have warnings attached to them. v.7 "and this shall ye do in remembrance of my body (talking about the sacrament), which I have shown unto you. And it shall be a testimony unto the Father that ye do always remember me. And if ye do always remember me ye shall have my spirit to be with you." If we remember Him we will have His spirit, but if we don't and infact reject what we know.. maybe we won't. but He never rejects us. v.32 "Nevertheless, ye shall not cast him out of your synagogues, or your places of worship, for unto such shall ye continue to minister; for ye know not but what they will return and repent, and come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I shall heal them; and ye shall be the means of bringing salvation unto them." God loves us. He gives us commandments that we may be safe from the adversary. Steven asked us why God is so strict and if we do anything wrong He will punish us. We were able to explain with scripture, "Wherefore men are FREE according to the flesh; and ALL THINGS are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, THROUGH THE GREAT MEDIATOR OF ALL MEN (Jesus Christ),or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and POWER OF THE DEVIL; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself." It is not punishment of God, it is punishment of the devil. We choose punishment or blessings. None the less it's our choice, until we give our choice to the devil so much that he starts to take it away and we are caught, but still if we turn to God with FULL PURPOSE of heart- He will save us. I know that to be true. I that God's comandments keep us safe, happy, and drama free.. if we CHOOSE to obey them. The greatest part is that we can live in full confidence knowing it is our choice.. so don't ever give it away.

I love you family. I pray for you always and hope that you know how much I care for you. I hope that everything made sense in this email and that it all came off how i wished for. I love being a missionary and just want to give him all my time and attetion for the little time I have left. I hope that I can do so and that you will pray for me to be able to do so. Life is crazy and I have ALWAYS been one to plan for the future, whether I am focused or not on the present. Right now i am focused on the present, but need help NOT to plan for the future in my down time.. solution equals no down time. i am working on this and hoping that you will pray for me. I just want the Lord to know how grateful I am to be His missionary and to be able to give my whole heart and know the moment it's over that I did so. No questions or opinions needed. Thank you for your examples!! I lvoe you all!!

oh aunt mell tell Tommy congrats on the engagement!! hope everything works out with getting to Peru in time!! super quick!

Romans 15:32

         Sista Fili

I Love Good News!

you alright?! (the british way of saying how are you... I used to think everyone thought I was doing bad)

so first off sorry if my sentences sound juvenile for the next 6 weeks... I am talking to a sister from pakistan, who speaks very little english, more than anyone and teaching her english but must explain things in simple terms .. hence the juvenile way of speaking in these last few sentences. It's starting to become how I think now too... what an issue. But there we are.

So announcements to respond to :

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!! (heather did I miss your's from ages ago and Davin and everyone this year.. don't you worry.. it will be made up for in 11 weeks ... dad thanks for pointing that one out!)

(oh ps sooooooooo sorry I did not say it last week. I remembered and all and was all prepped to write it and then I guess got distracted and never actually said it.. bummer.)

 

Baby baby- how did I know that would happen!! I love pregnant people. hey heather do you remember when you and steve first got married and i nagged you for ages about when you were going to have a kid.. now you are on #5!!! congrats!!

 

Aaron and Aubrey- that blows my mind, I am sooooo happy for them. you are right mum they will be the best parents ever.

 

oh My companion's cousin is serving in Mesa right now. She spends part of the day in the visitors center and then part of the day in her area. She is sis. Javed as well. If you see her- do talk to her.. she's stunning. Tell her hello and cheerio from me and ssiter Javed!!

oh I saw a picture of paul tieman in one of our ward members old missionary albums.. he served in the EBM too!! so cool.

 

I am glad that everyone seems to be doing well and that grandma is settlnig well into her new place. I had sent her a letter to her old address, but it didn't make it so I need her new address.. or I'll just send it home and you can get it to her.. ya? ok. I have some stuff to send today anyways.. so get excited.. I am excited too. you may laugh alot and that is good, it is with purpose.

 

This back half of the week has been great. It's kinda crazy to have 2 areas and be the only one who "knows" them both.. especially with someone who doesn't know what anyone is saying 2/3 of the time.. it's improving :) I can't imagine how she feels. Yesterday morning I woke up frustrated, lonely, overwhelmed, and very irritable... yes the natural man did overcome me... dumb!! ... but As I fasted and prayed for strength and listened to the talks I had more peace, but that did not solve it because to be honest the pressure just got worse. At the beginning of transfers everyone just loves to bombard the missionary who they do know and ask her loads of questions and what not, which is good.. but my mindset was not good. Alot of the questions were for things sis. javed didn't understand or that I needed to explain to her, but it felt doable.. just irritating when everyone is doing it at the same time. Right before our dinner appointment something happened that I am grateful for because the ice was broken. Sis. Javed is deathly afraid of dogs. Like literally won't go near it she sees it and either my arm comes off or I am in need of a companion because she is gone. It's kinda ridiculous sometimes, but there we are. Anyways, the family whome we were visiting didn't have a dog, but there was a dog just out by the front of it and she wouldn't move and got mad with me because I didn't tell her.. I didn't know the neighbors had one... . now understand we were extremely late for this DA and by this point the whole dog thing was getting to me because it's out of my control. I don't mind asking people who we know and know we are coming to put their dogs away, but how do you say that to a stranger.. you know? especially when the dog isn't even paying attention to us... so I didn't loose it, but I snapped a little.. oh so embarrassing.. but it's ok my companion will be the angel in a second because really that is what she is. An angel. She came to the door and said 'i know, this is my weakness'. I understand why it is.. bless, her cousin was killed by a dog. but that night when we got home i felt bad. I don't have too long of a irritable behaviour before I snap out of it and think of the jerk face that I can be... we talked.. man it took a long time of prying... like all of language studdy, for her to finaly open up. And the thing that impressed me was that she wasn't mad at me for snapping. She isn't ever mad with me for anyithng... she is so Christlike. She just wants to do and be the best she can be and it taught me something about becoming like Jesus Christ. It taught me that if we always look in to see our weakness instead of anothers than we will never judge another. She loves to say who am I to judge another when I am not perfect... I thouht alot about that. It is something I love to tell people to put on in their character, but then I thought about it... who AM I  to judge another? who is to say that I am not the only judgemental one of the bunch? Those who do not judge.. for realsies... are the ones that never tell anyone else not to judge. They only talk about their weaknesses, not others weaknesses. I am learning so much from my companion and yes sometimes it is frustrating, but why should I care? I am serving a servant of God and that is a privilege. She truly is a wonderful person and I am grateful that I get to learn from her for the next 6 weeks or so.

We taught Brian on saturday and it was amazing. He had told me the night prior on the phone that there was sometihng he was keeping from us... from the world for a long time and that he would tell us but that he wasn't sure he was worthy of baptism anymore because of it. This broke my heart to hear but saturday morning during my personal study I was reading 3 Nephi 9:13-22 and I knew that the Lord had something to tell Brian in these verses.. So I had left him Alma 36 and he read it and said I am alma... here's what happened (it's personal so I won't say over email) and then said and this is why I can't be baptized and I looked at him and knew that these verses were for him. So I asked if we could read them and on verse 20 he stopped. He couldn't read through all of it because of the tears .. and he said.. eventually... God IS saying this to me... this is for me. I knew at that moment that my Saviour loves His children. He knows us. He wants us to come back to Him and He has taken our sins upon Him that He might heal us from the imperfect state we dwell in while in this tabernacle of clay. In v. 15 Jesus Christ tells us "Behold, I am Jesus Christ the Son of God. I created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are. I was with the father from the beginning. I am in the Father, and the father in me; and in me hath the Father glorified his name." Now how can I relate this to us.. well I am Sister Lauren Lee Filichia (I am not saying I am Jesus Christ or anything, aight... just read on ;)) a daughter of God. I have been given the power to help create life and other creative things here upon the earth. Before I came to earth I was with the father since MY beginnining. If I live worthy I can be in the father, and if I give my will to God the father will be in me and through me, as His daughter since baptism, I will be able to glorify his name. I saw this and thought about how blessed we are to have the knowledge that we have. No I am not His begotten son, no I am not the creator of the universe, no i did not give my life that God's other children might have power over death, but I am one of His beloved daughters. I am a creator of life as a mother... someday... and for 18 months and for the rest of my life I will give my life to the Lord's work that I might glorify His name and bring His daughters and sons back to Him to dwell in His glory. This isn't just for me, but for all of us. Our purpose in life is not different to Jesus christ's, it is the same.. just maybe a lot less painful and much more imperfectly done. We are to help God bring to pass the immortality and eteral life of man. not just for 18-24 months, but for eternity. What can we do today to have the Father in us and us in the father? 3 Nephi 11 talks about how they couldn't understand the sound of God's voice till they looked steadfastly toward heaven. it is no different now than it was then. We will not recognize it till we look to Him in our lives. How can we have our lives facing steadfastly heavenward more now than yesterday? I am trying to be more like my saviour and am not always very good at it, but it's not about being perfect today it's about progressing everyday and I know that we can. i  know that I am weak, but with God I can be strong and for that i will give my life to Him. Thank you for all of your prayers, your support, your love and more than anything your examples. I learn from all of you. My mind draws upon the different times when you all showed me who Christ is through the represntatives you are and because of that i will progress little by little (very little, I am a slow learner) each day. I thank you each for that.

Alright enough with the sermon.. so sorry.. everytime.. but I hope it is something that helps boost you somehow a little each week. Your emails do that for me and I am soooooo grateful for them!! i love you all I'll be seein' you!!

 

Sista Fili

 

Dear family,

wow that email from mum gave me all sorts of emotions. but my first question is how the heck did you know about my companion? so crazy. ya Sister Javed is great. I will learn alot from her. I am alittle overwhelmed though right now- two areas, only driver, now an english teacher, and I feel like I don't know any of it that well... even english... . But if the Lord calls us to it He will get us through it. I guess that's how everyone feels at home for sure. Poor Cherise- she will be in my prayers. I hope she is ok. How serious is serious- does she have her gorgeous hair still? Man, I can't wait to see these kids... ah my pride and joy. I hope they haven't forgotten me- one of my biggest fears for sure. Student council for the boys.. I love it. Following in the family footsteps. I  hope they all know how proud I am of them. They best be ready for a massive cooch (hug) when I get home.

This whole transfers thing was kinda insane though. On Monday night we get the call and I was actually supposed to be serving with 2 sisters- Sister Javed AND Sister Matapo (from Africa). I was not opposed to either at all, but I felt weird about Sister Matapo in this area, but pushed it aside thinking that it was no big deal. Well the next day I still felt uneasy. We spent loads of time with the Zone leaders and discussed it and no mtter what they said to put me at ease it didn't work. So we go to a members house and told them who was coming and my feelings were confirmed with one comment from them and I knew I had to make a call that I was not excited about at all. So I called and they said they would think on it. I guess president went to sleep that night and felt my concern, he too knew that the original was not right, so a move was made and we got a call yesterday morning about a sister McRae coming with us and this made me feel good, she could drive- and speak english- pressure simmered down! So we get to transfers and president calls us all in to his office and the final decision was that sister mcrae be sent to stamford with sister giles and sister matapo so that she can drive because they can not. Sos that is how it ended up just sister javed and I. i feel that this is right though. Although I feel overwhelmed I have confidene that all will be but a small moment and it will teach me more than I ever thought possible. This is my future family prep right here. i am becoming a few different roles, but I know that it will be fun and glorious because let's face it- this is the Lord's work. What isn't amazing about that. I will miss sister nelson and sister Laborero though- they are like sisters to me. It was an amazing transfer, but I am glad that we can all feel so confident about the way things are and just feel privileged that God allowed us to be together for those 6 weeks.

So this last week we had an exchange with Sisters from new castle Emlyn. Sister |benson came to me and Sister Nelson and sister laborero went there with sister lafevre from ...ARIZONA BABY. yeah she be cool. ASnyways it was fun- we got completely drenched. the first picture is us when we though the rain was heavy- it got worse and then we had to run for cover and go home and change- like anyone would let our soaking bodies in like that!. 

Then this sunday Brian came to church... who by the way has a baptismal date for the 1st of september!!! He is so elect.. kinda not sure if his mind is alittle gone or not, but still this person has been touched by the masters hand and is ready to make chagnes and come to God. At church he bore his testimony and just lvoed it. trhe scarament meeting really was incredible. I can't say enough how amazing it was. A few people bore their testimony who have lost someone close recently to them and it was brilliant the spirit that was felt. We later found out that brianm has not only lost his wife, but his daughter as well. He lost them 7 days apart. My heart goes out to this man, and my glory goes to God for knowing and prompting others to give their feelings on the plan of salvation. So then we look over and guess who is in our congregation- only sister mitt romney. ha the woman is welsh!! I guess they were doing some tour on her family history and she has a horse in the olympics... man they are posh. She is goregous. i have never felt so unfit in all my life than I did stood next to her. But I guess you can only expect that. You want to know what she said about the election though............. ya I thought you would... she said, no matter what the polls say, she knows her husband will win- it has been written.... whoa. That's kind of a big deal. Too bad the Brits don't fancy him. All of a sudden everyone told us this... but we refrained from too much discussion. it's not like we have much to say but ok didn't know that I've only been gone for... all of it. but still it was cool. We got a picture with the future first lady... first mormon first lady in fact! haha. Who knows. I think Sister Laborero was more excited than us Americans though- funny girl.

it's been an amazing week and I am grateful for the tender mercies of God all around us- really there is nothing better than when you take the time to notice and then humility is spread all over you and all you feel is a deep sense of love and gratitude. If only everyone could just take sometime to look around them and notice the beauties of the world. I don't think then as many would not believe in God. He is everything to us and I am grateful for His sacrifice. I know that my purpose here is being fullfilled and that today with this new transfer my mission can begin today. I may only have 12 weeks left, but in those 12 weeks i pray that I will be the best instrument for the Lord that I can be. I love this work. I love being a missionary. I love new beginnings and I love challenges. When I am not being challenged I know that there is something wrong and then another transfer comes. God does here our prayers and I know Sister Javed was an answer to mine. I hope that you all know how I pray for you. Good luck with school beginning again mum and I pray that Grandma continues to settle in well in her new home. I miss you all. Love you!!

I'll be seeing you :) Cheers!!

 

 Sista Fili

Sounds like things are a little hectic, crazy at home. I hope it gets better and I am grateful to hear that everyone is handling it so well. That really is the true sign of character is how you handle yourself when stress comes and also when no one is around and your life is stressful. I love that we have the Lord on our side helping us know that all of these things will be but a small moment. I have never recognized that so much until I came here on the mission and my life was placed in 6 weeks increments that have nothing to do with me necessarily but everything to do with others and then I realized that life isn't about living in the moment for yourself, but for others. Christ lived and died in the service of us all. He served us in His life by setting the example of what our lives should be like and His death was a service to us that we might repent and be made whole. His resurrection was a service that we too might live again and all of these things come together to give us the opportunity to live eternally blissful with our Father who art in Heaven above. Why then should we not make our lives as similar to His as we possibly can while in this tabernacle of clay? Even when focusing on how we can be better and improve it can be a service to others- they are effected by that decision. Our posterity is blessed according to our faithfulness, and our families become eternal as we strive to keep the covenants which we have made by being and doing good things to all. I truly do believe that although we at times think that if we are thinking at all about me it's not about others, but if we think about it as me becoming who I need to be so I can with Christ set the example of the believers than your me is for others. However, we do have a very me society where many love to think that we means me and visa versa and everything is actually about them.. I think that's when we reflect upon my favorite LIGHT saying "Look in, Look up, Reach out". Look in for only a moment to recognize that  all you are comes from above and guidance is given there to help us reach out beyond ourselves. If the world was centered around me and created for me than God would have placed me on an island all by myself named Sista Fili chili... but He didn't He placed us on earth together to help one another and to come to God as a family, both spiritual and physical together. Oh how I wish I could help EVERYONE understand this a little more.. I don't even fully get it. I just act like I do. ba ha. I love the perspective that the gospel can give us in this world we live in. 

   So this week was a little insane at the beginning. Monday was so fun to be on the beach and just be in the fresh air- I think I just laid there for a lot of it. it helped me feel better though for a second, but that night we came home and died!!! (but hey Pres. Rasmussen let us watch 17 Miracles... joy joy.)  So we decided Tuesday we were going to nip this cold in the butte and get it gone so we can get back to not infecting people with disease... well Sister Laborero was getting a little cabin fever and decided that she would clean out the shower drain that kept backing up and the water would rise super high (gotta love mission flats that just continually get groddier and groddier over time but no one takes the time to make it better). So she wanted to fix it- I tried to help since she was disgusted by all the stuff in there and I couldn't sleep with the fuss about it.. it was pretty funny to be honest... anyways!! Nothing was really being fixed so she decided I'll shower and then call Elder Skiles to let him know finally that we need help so she just put the silver thing on the drain but didn't screw it back in... ya we had a rain forest attack down stairs. So then we really had to call the man. And not to mention she clogged the toilet again. So Elder Skiles told us to move all our stuff over to the Troedyrhiw flat while they fix it... nice idea for resting our bods from a chest infectious head cold thing.... it took 3 car loads to get over there what we needed. By the end of the day I was basically ready to poop out and then the Elders call us and tell us they need to steal our car for a day... ok ... so the next day on Wednesday we walked over 15 miles, which wasn't terrible but we are already about 5-6 miles outside our area, so it took a while to get where we needed to be and then we were only there for about .2 seconds in comparison to the rest of the day... why we didn't just take the bus I dunno.. I think we wanted to be pioneers or something. It was a fun day- actually hot, super nice, but tiring when Sis. Nelson and I were still getting over the cold thing. So we get this call from this man named Brian who spoke to Sis. Lewis on the streets of Abergavenny back in April and he had been in Afghanistan (he's an SMO in the ARMY) for a while, but is back because of a leg injury. Anyways, he asks for us to come by and so we did on Thursday evening. It was the most incredible experience of my entire mission. The man said that he was never fussed over religion and in fact was more angry than happy about talking about it with anyone. So when Sis. Lewis gave him a card he was irritated, but as he walked across the street he said he felt like he was walking on clouds and found himself turning around to talk to her about it again. I guess he waited for her for a moment and then they spoke for a solid half hour. He took a restoration leaflet and read things he knew were true. In fact he said he'd never prayed before but that Moroni 10:4-5 became his prayer every night. He had even cut back on smoking because he began to feel it wasn't right and that God wouldn't want him to do it. When we were in his house listening to him Sis. Nelson and I started crying the spirit was so strong. (sis. Laborero isn't much of a public crier) By the end he said that he hadn't felt this way since that night he met Sis. Lewis on the street... this man is elect and I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to teach him!!

The week was full of up's and downs and ended with Sis. Laborero getting ill and now we are once again planning on going to Swansea for another district beach day.. aaahhh butta. I am grateful for God in my life. I am grateful that we are His servants and that He always blesses with people to serve because He loves them and gives us opportunity to grow and learn to love as he does. He loves us so much it is incomprehensible and that knowledge is outstanding and forever healing if we let it be. I hope we continue to get through the trials placed before us and make room for more friends around us. I love you all so much and can't wait to hear from you again next week ;) (oh by the way next week is transfers so I won't email till Thursday probably... gosh I can't believe it is already here again, and this time I don't want it to be!!!) Oh well- Mum to answer your question that I think I may have left out last time I didn't get pictures on an email.. super sad, but try again!! I want to see them, 3 months is too long!)

Moroni 8:3   Sista Fili

Hold Your Light Up!

so this week has been eventful to say the least. Started with a great exchange (picture with other sisters) I went to Stroud with Sister Javed from Pakistan. What a fun time and it was interesting. She had me help her learn some English... so hard to teach and use other simple words to explain complicated words... our language is not as simple as we think. Bless her heart it's been an adjustment in everyway to come here, but she is amazing. She taught me how strictly obedience blesses you. Since she's been out (only about 4 months now) her father has been baptized and so has her uncle. She said it was a complete miracle and I told her it was a miracle wrought by faith and obedience. She is amazing. I felt bad for her though we had an appointment with their investigator who is supposedly an athiest (but I think she only doesn't 'believe' because she knos if she does she'll have to give up all her 'lusts' to keep the commandments) and we taught her the 10 commandments.. it was all good in unity until we came to adultery... then the investigator threw loads of information at us about her... life.... that Sister Javed did not know how to handle since in their culture PDA is a sin... let alone sex before marriage and even if it occurs it's not talked about, it is all very hidden. Needless to say by the end of it we were in fits of laughter.... it was so awkward  and open what she told us and everything that all we could do was laugh (not rudely.. she just got more into it like when you laugh with a child about something silly they did and they continue to try to make you laugh with it over and over again...) ya interesting. Sister Javed is a legend though. By the end  she was very bold and just let her know it wasn't good. haha. What an awesome exchange.

So, we had a baptism this weekend!!! Kimberly Jane Sullivan was baptized and confirmed by Matthew Llewellyn on the 21st and 22nd of July 2012.... woot woot. I have never seen any couple sooooo happy. On Saturday morning we went to go see her and she wasn't doing well. A little ill, a little nervous, and super overwhelmed with everything people were throwing at her. Bless her. But we prayed and that evening before the baptism you could tell she was ready, excited and willing to take his name upon her. The service was lovely. so cute... After she was baptized she walked up the stairs to where we were and Matthew was walking up his and then as they were closing the font doors he run through the water over to her and gives her a big ole kiss... ya we werre like, thank you for that. so precious. I am just so happy that this is the beginning of her life with Heavenly Father and also with Matthew as well. I love helping others progress and fullfill the commitments they made with God before the world was created in order to return to Him. How wonderful. After the baptism before she came back in to sit down and enjoy the rest of the service their were a few testimonies and then I got to sing "Saviour, Redeemer of my Soul" accompanied by Elder MacGarther... side note Kim's family, who are obviously not members, thought that Elder MacGarther and I were married... ya, kinda funny becuse I am more of a nun right now than single even.... So there is a picture depicting our humour of the whole situation too... it went well and the spirit was strong. Kim said afterwards that she felt so good and comfortable. Just really relaxed. The spirirtt speaks to us in all sorts of ways and I think that that is what it is all about. We all speak to one another differently according to how others respond, femaleor male, old or young, depressed or chipper, etc. The spireit recognizes those thigs and knows us better than we know ourselves simply because he is God's messenger to us all and therefore speaks to each of us in such a way that is necessary for our understanding. We just have to listen. After everything we went to this chinese buffet with the family and it was "cheap" for the UK... ya right. But we were getting ready to pay at the till and Matthew's older brother Richard comes up and goes, well sisters I think it's time for you to go and we said ya we know we're just about to pay and he said no you should just go and gives us this big smile and head flick towards leaving and we got the picture... we just felt so grateful for his generosity. We felt like that was this families thank you to us for I guess whatever we did with Kim.

Well Sunday morning came and Sister Nelson hasn't been well, and I caught on to it too. So the confirmation was lovely, but after church the Clare's sent us home to bed. Quite forcfully infact.. but at least we're being taken care of I guess. Kim said after the confirmation that she felt something she's never felt before and didn't know how to describe it. Yep sure sounds like the Holy Ghost to me!! What a lovely weekend that ended with a cold. I even tried to sing hymn #123... can't think of the name with my foggy brain right now... for prelude in the Heads of the Valleys Ward, I guess it went well. Fun stuff.

Today we are gonig to the beach in Swansea as a district and gong to enjoy the sun.. since it never comes we thuogh we'd take advantage of it all together.. even if sis. N and I are ill... we'll take it easy on the beach and call it good. can't wait!!

I am grateful for my Saviour and for the gifts He gives me and all those around me in being able to serve Him and His children. I love this work!! Yippee!! I am a missionary. I love it.

Talk to you soon!!! Love you mucho.

Sista Fili

Moroni 8:3- you are all in my prayers. Mum and Dad thank you for the updates on everyone. I will be mindful of them all. Thank you for tyour examples of perseverence.

Called to Serve Him!

It rains too much sometimes... but then it makes days like yesterday lush as ever! It was gorgeous! Sun out... mmm mm good... and no puddles that drench my feet.. I think I almost even prespired a little... phenomenol. None the less I love it here and it is only preparing me for continual drought season.. well filling up my water tank so I appreciate the boiling sun beams more. Good thing is I still got loads more to come.. brilliant :) Anyways, how was everyone's week? Ours was great. We got 2 new investigators because God loves them and blesses us with the opportunity to teach them. Dan and Garith it is. I love teaching people who initially say I only want to learn for educational purposes and than as you teach and ask inspired questions or allow the spirit to speak to them they say things like, 'this is the only doctrine that has ever made sense and matched my own personal beliefs so well' and than they spill their guts out about how this is actually not educational, it is personal... but still the next meeting put on the educational front and it all just repeats again and again.. I adore it. They'll pop when we pop the question.. and only God knows when it is right. I stil feel so blessed that we get to be apart of it.

SO Kim Sullivan is the cherry on top of the week, she passed her baptismal interview and is getting baptized this Saturday the 21st. She is great. 22, has been dating a member, Matthew Llewellyn (who looks like Sean Farris from Forever Strong... ya about that...) for about 6 years now. So this baptism is a long time coming, but we are so excited to be apart of it now. Funny thing is her and Sis. Laborero were freinds before the mission- weird, so it is fun to get to see the miracle of it all happening. We are excited and just humbled.

Today I was reading in Helaman 3 and a few things stood out to me:

 27 Thus we may see that the Lord is merciful unto all who will, in the sincerity of their hearts, call upon his holy name.

    Why is He only merciful to them? Maybe it means that the mercy that comes from the atonement is only given when we accept it and call upon His name. We get to choose to accept the gift He gives to us or not.

 28 Yea, thus we see that the ^agate of heaven is open unto ^ball, even to those who will believe on the name of Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God. 29 Yea, we see thatwhosoever will may lay hold upon the ^aword of God, which is ^quick and powerful, which shall ^cdivide asunder all the cunning and the snares and the wiles of the devil, and lead the man of Christ in a strait and ^dnarrow course across that everlasting ^egulf of misery which is prepared to engulf the wicked— 30 And land their souls, yea, their immortal souls, at the ^aright hand of God in the kingdom of heaven, to sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and with Jacob, and with all our holy fathers, to go no more out.

Scripture power keeps me safe from sin... it is both quick and powerful. When we read, we gain an instant spirit that may take time to feel, but lasts so long and strong that we won't be able to deny it. Why then are we so forgetful to read if it is so powerful? Do you think that in 2 Nephi 32 when it talks about how the evil spirit teaches a man not to pray that it is the same for reading your scriptures... I'll fall asleep, I don't have time, I don't get it anything out of it anyways because of the old language, or it's just not for me... the excuses, but when we look at them we realize they are silly in comarison to the promise given.

 35 Nevertheless they did ^afast and ^bpray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their ^chumility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the ^dpurifying and the ^esanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their ^fyielding their hearts unto God.

context: these people of whome this verse is speaking of were being persecuted by their own friends within the church- members being rude and gossiping and not being very Christlike to say the least, just prideful.. who'd of thought (kind of scary how similar the scriptures are to us now) none the less these saints were faithful and they didn't just have faith, they exercised it. They worked for their charity by praying and fasting oft and becoming more and more humble. I am sure they served those who persecuted them for being "self righteous" when all along they were the only ones being rihteous... let us all learn from the examples of the past and learn to love. If we don't have that love, find it the way they did- fast for it, pray for it, serve for it, and become humble. Yes be careful what you ask for becaeu you will get it, but glory in it when the gift has been offered because it is yet another witness that not only does God live, but He loves us, hears our prayers, answers them, and gives us the opportunity to become like He is, perfect and refined. Yield to the Holy Spirit- the first prompting is always the right one. It is the only way to truly be happy. I know these things to be true. I love my Saviour, I love this work and I am so grateful to be here doing it! I lvoe and miss you all!! I'll be seein' you!

Love you forever and for always,

 Sista Fili

 

Nick sounds like he is doing amazing. I love how the mission changes boys into men so quickly. We start to see what is important and what is not. The blessings we are given is outrageous.

Mum I am so glad to hear you are doing better!! I am happy the 4th of July was a blast for you all.. we didn't even remeber till that evening what day it actually was. woops. oh well, it was a great day anyway, we met our new mission president and his wife that day!! woot woot. They are fantastic. I think they are just what we need... obviously because God called them to it. Very humble. Love it. it was weird though gonig in and President Ogden not being there... especially since Pres. Rasmussen is a small man and Pres. Ogden was a very tall man, it makes it even that much more different. I am glad though, if they were the same in the way they carried themselves it would be harder I think. Sister Rasmussen is a doll, so lovely. She is very real and we have enjoyed being with her as well.

it's been the first full week of this transfer, but we have had loads of meetings all week well with the new Mission president coming and what not and so it's been hard to get to everyone we wanted to get to, there is never enough time in the day, but this next week should be fun!!

ALERT!! Alert!! We had a miracle. So on the Friday afer our weekly planning session we had an appointment with a lady named Lisa who ended up flogging us.. sad, but not because Sis. laborero remembered a former who was near and said that we needed to go see him, well he wasn't home but she remembered that there as an inactive member on that say street just up the road a bit, so we knock on his door and he doesn't come to the door, but his next door neighbor did and said, 'did you knock on my door?' We looked at her and said oh no and then looked at eachother, smirked, and then walked toward her and told her what we were about and she let us in. So we go in and her and her sister sit there and allowed us to teach them a bit about the restoration. At about the half hour mark that she had agreed to I pulled out the Restoration DVD that's 20 minutes long and told them we could leave them with this to watch, or we could watchit now if they have a bit more time.. they wanted us to stay. By the end they were so excited about it. Joleen said that kieth (our former investigator) and her partner were good friends and that they would probabaly want to learnm togerther when her partner gets back from London... wow. Apparently they had been discussing finding a church to raise their child in, Joleen is pregnant 6 months along, qand she said that she felt this was a sign and her and her sister, Jade, were quite excited about the whole investigation. I love it when the Lord provides in such ways. I thought about it though and realized hat we weren't the deserving one's at all, but his children are and so there fore I can be confident he will prepare for us his children as we prepare the do our part.

Yesterday in church we all 3 gave talks in all 3 sacrament meetings we attended... ok to be fair Sis. Laborero and I only gave 2 of the 3 but bless Sis. Nelson's heart she had to do all 3 of them and she hates talking with a passion. It was very good and quite fun. I got a call on the Saturday before around 6 30 pm and they asked if I could speak in Beacon Heights so I said yes used tyhe skills Dad helped train me on.. except now Iam not nearly as bad as I used to be at it.. not good ether, but it's progressing, that's what we are gonig for!

I just spoke about Alma 56- standing strong in Holy places. The armies of the Nephites would not go fight on the enemies ground with their (the lamanites) strongholds but stood firm and withheld temptation until they came to their (the nephites) strong holds to fight for their freedom. It's the same with us and friends and satan in general. MAJORITY RULES. If we want to bring one back or bring one in as the Saviour did and commands us to do then we must help draw others to Him and bring them with us to feel of His matchless love, it doesn't work the other way. I have become obsessed with Christlike attributes and in the section in Preach My Gospel it says "Just as vital as what you do, is who you are." No matter the role we play in others lives it's just as important not only to do good, but to be good. Draw people towards Zion- make it attractive as Christ does. "Become who you want to be by being who you want to become, today."

I am excited for a new week and for just being a missionary- exhausted and all that jazz- no better activity in the world to make you more exhausted than missionary work! Thank you family for supporting me and always being there for me. I pray for you often and hope all goes well this week.

I'll be seein' you!

love you loads and loads!

Rwyn dy garu di!

 Sista Fili