22 Things I've Learned as a Missionary

 
1. When I miss the bus, that is a clue to start talking to even more people.  There is someone to find.
 
2. Heavenly Father will go any distance for one person.
 
3. If I want something to happen - do it. Don't wait for my companion,... the Bishop, ...the District Leader,... just get it done!
 
4. Missionaries do Nothing. They are just the vessel for the Lord. He does everything, the Spirit does everything.
 
5. The way my testimony grows is through study. Some people, it is prayer, others learn from discussion or listening. For me, it is the scriptures. It is the scriptures and a pencil and paper.
 
6. Bus schedules... Who'd have thought I'd come and learn how to master bus schedules?
 
7. Dittos for maps. I'm a pro at reading a map now.
 
8. Sometimes you have to act before you can receive promptings.
 
9. Allowing people to change is the greatest kind of love you can give them.
 
10. Write things down. I used planners before, but never have so valued "To Do" lists.
 
11. Big goals must be accomplished by little goals.
 
12. Speak with shorter sentences. Use one descriptive word, not ten (I am infamous for the latter)
 
13. Teaching requires Listening.
 
14. If I don't say it, no one else will know what I'm thinking, no one else will understand what the heck I'm doing.
 
15. The value of sincerity incredibly high.
 
16. People cannot be dealt with collectively, they must be met one by one.
 
17. If you know a little about where a person comes from, they wll trust you a lot more.
 
18. No effort is wasted.
 
19. Some people have such sincerity and purity, you cannot be around them without feeling uplifted. I have seen their faces, "lit up with the gospel".
 
20. A favorite Holland quote, " Surely the thing God enjoys most about being God is the thrill of being merciful, especially to those who don’t expect it and often feel they don’t deserve it."

21. The gospel brings me peace.
 
22. If nothing else, I know that my Redeemer Lives.

One Good Turn....

22  Ways I'm Turning into My Parents

(Hi Mom.  Amylah?)

1.  I carry a water bottle with me everywhere.

2. I can't function unless I've had a drink from said water bottle.

3.  I adore the earrings my Mom sent me.  She'd totally wear them.

4.  Tissue  packets can always be found in my purse.

5.  Children suddenly seem to like me?

6.  The even weirder part... I ... actually like them too?  I like children? 

7.  I'll spend a day in an art museum, no problem.

8.  Our hair is getting to be about the same length - my Mother and mine, that is. 

9.  If I were home and it was allowed to listen to the radio, I'd probably be listening to BYU Radio.

10. I love MoTab.

11.  Whenever food is nicely arranged on a plate i fight the urge to say, "Oh that's beautiful."

12.  I've stopped telling people when my birthday is (or it's getting less at least).

13.  Occasionally I get joked up about scripture study

14.  I'm fascinated to hear where people are from, and their entire life story.

15.  Early bed time sounds so good. 

16.  I'm physically unable to take naps.

17.  "Walks" are becoming enjoyable, not boring.

18.  I love to stop into little towns just to "poke around".

19.  Sometimes I stop talking halfway through a sentence and just drift...

20.  The beauty of nature stuns me.

21.  I look for everything on sale first

22.  I scorn Hershey's chocolate. Pass the *Lindt please.  

(*I did not understand that Mom.  I thought you were SUCH a killjoy.  Now I understand.)

The Queen's English

This month is going to have a theme.  And unless you've read, "Because of Winn-Dixie) you won't understand it when I tell you, "No, the theme is not pink."

Nope, this month the theme is 22.  Any guesses why?

So for this week, since this is a common question I hear, the theme is:

22 English Words/Things You Didn't know about England

1. Proper.  I'm proper hungry.  You're proper ugly.  She's proper tall.

2. Garbage cans don't exist.  They're called rubbish bins.

3. Rubbish bins also don't exist.  At least not publicly.  I rarely see    them on the streets and as a result carry all sorts of odd things in my bag

4.  Rubbish is now a descriptive word.  At home I never had a trash  day, but here, a rubbish day is a completely normal thing to say.

5.  Cheers.  Also means thanks, but not allowed by President   Preston

6.  Ta.  Thanks.  (again.)  or just a general acknowledgement of one's existence.  Hey I like your bag. "Ta"  As brief and to the point as possible.  Just like the British.

7.  Swimsuits are now swimming costumes.  (I picture Halloween every time)

8.  No one even celebrates Halloween.  When I ask if they do, people seem to think I'm accusing them of a pagan ritual or devil worship.

9. Candy = Sweets.

10. Cookies = Biscuits

11.  Chips = Fries

12.  Yogurt = Yoghurt

13.  If it were a race, England's yoghurt would be Usain Bolting it to the finish line and the U.S. would be wandering around somewhere like a backwards child trying to tie their shoes 

14.  Ditto for chocolate but you all knew that already.

15.  "Bless her socks".  (This may be just a Bishop Diamond phrase, not an all around English phrase.)

16.  Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are a novelty here.  The only thing they do with pumpkins is carve them.

17.  College here is high school back home.  (School is for little children.  Imagine how impressed people are when I tell them I'm still in school.)

18.  If you ask people, "So where are you heading today?" They'll respond with "what?" every time.

19.  More than one person has told me they actually admire American accents. 

20.  No one uses dryers. washing is draped on the line (beats me how that works with all the rain) or on the heaters inside the home.

21.  All of the yards have little two foot wooden fences around them.  While aesthetically pleasing to the eye, the purpose is lost on me.  Has many a robber been undone by these tricky obstacles?  "Drat, I was going to break into this house but this confounding wooden fence has undone me!"  Unless the purpose is to make missionaries feel 1.000 times more like a creeper when they have to open the gate to knock the front door, in which case they're succeeding.

22.  They all drive better than you.  Even the ones without licenses.

me and e.e.

ode to rhyl

you gave me a thrill

i think of you still.

leaving made me feel a chill

those first 6 months you did fill

with joy and presents on the windowsill

your member missionary work is brill

i know the friendships will

endure beyond the mill (enium)

missions are like climbing a steep hill

but your love worked like a magic pill

i'll keep you in my thoughts until

we meet again, i love you rhyl!

(i hope this isn't overkill.)

Losing the Keys to the Kingdom

When you've been in a ward for 6 months, you get to know the members pretty well.  And they get to know you pretty well, too well perhaps.  Now I've learned a lot of things as a missionary.  Grown a lot, learned discipline in many ways I lacked.  But one thing lives on.

 

The infamous ability to lose/forget things.

 

Our ward mission leader, after returning my white handbook which was left in his car for two weeks, looked at me thoughtfully and mused, "You do forget a lot of things don't you Sister Gish?" 

 

Well maybe.  I do leave my proselyting Book of Mormon at a member's home at least once a week.  They've stopped asking who it belongs to, they just text me, "Sister Gish, your Book of Mormon is here."  

("Ah thank you, Graham.  Thank you, scheeze.") 

 

And on Saturday I managed to lock us out of the apartment.  Sister Toly had a proper freak out, rightfully so.  I always grab the keys.  I ALWAYS GRAB THE KEYS.  Except this once, when I also left my planner, bus pass, and the list of names/streets we were going to be stopping by the entire afternoon. 

 

Judge, Judge, Judge.  Go ahead.  I can hear the sound of it all the way over here in Wales and I don't even mind.

 

Luckily the landlord's office is close by and they have a spare set of keys.  The lady also said, "Oh, YOU again" which is quite unfair really because I swear this hasn't happened while I've been here.  Let's blame the Elders that were in the flat 9 months ago.

 

I'm also earning a rep as a cheeky missionary.   Last week I was on exchange and all I wanted all day was to just have some chocolate.  I was craving like a pregnant woman.  (At least that's how I hear they are...Lizzie?.. care to expound?)

 

  So when we went by a less active's house and she HAD chocolate sitting out on the table but went the entire lesson without offering us any... of COURSE i was going to comment and asked if it was all left over from Halloween.  "Oh no you don't have to offer me any...really, I was just wondering!  No children came by?  Shame.  Oh well, I suppose if you really want me to...."

 

And then I stole the Elders tea appointment.  Because the family preparing them tea wasn't home, just the mom, and they're not allowed to go in without another adult of their gender, so she called me to get their phone number so she could cancel with them.  And, seeing the opportunity, I asked, "Does that mean you want the sisters to come instead?"  And true to British style she responded rather nonchalantly, "Well you can do."  So we did. 

 

But sometimes a rep is a good thing, at least when you get treats dropped off at your doorstep and they know you well enough to personalize your juice boxes.  (thank you "Ginger Giant" and "Secret Ninja" I know ONE of you reads this blog.)

 

 

 

 

 I love how well you know me.  I definitely got the better juice box. 

 

 

 

 

 

 ('m making my best alien face, if you can't tell.  we look alike don't you think?)

 

 (ps as if to cement my earlier statements, I just realized i left my memory card/USB stick in the computer i used a half hour ago.)

 

Bending The Rules ? A Slippery Slope

Now I'm going to completely rationalize this next action, and you can all judge and tell me how evil rationalizing is.  

 

When you're out doing a lot of finding, sometimes you need to take a break.  

This is what my Mission President, the "Adjusting to Missionary Life" booklet, and my counselor tell me.

  So when I saw a slide... I took the opportunity.  

Just letting you know, 
a metal slide + a raincoat +plus rain = the pure terror you can see if you zoom up on my face.  
I did NOT expect that.  So worth it. 

Also worth the stain on my bum that looks suspiciously brown.  

(I didn't catch myself at the bottom)

lurv you

Investigating the Investigators

Not Exactly Invited Guests:

Here are some pictures of things that are in our flat but don't actually belong here.

See if you can spot the culprit:






No? a closer look then,


 


Do you see it? Do ya?

 

This is coming from:

 INSIDE OUR DRAIN!

haha... also I'm pretty much the man of the house, so all spiders are taken care of by me: