Sister McEwan in England: I Could Feel Heaven Cheering Me On

There's a saying in the mission that goes like this: "Every door you knock in England there's a baptism in Mexico." And there have been loads of baptisms in Mexico this week LET ME TELL YA!!!

This was the best week so far. But it did start with quite the trial. Tuesday I woke up feeling so achy and extremely exhausted. I had chills and all flu symptoms. It was very difficult to walk and I looked very weird trying to. It was probably the most pain I've ever been in haha. But I didn't want to give in and knew I would be strengthened to get done what we needed to that day!! We did some finding then Ingrid called and asked that we bring her more pears to the hospital so we did that. After the walk to the hospital I literally had to sit down and contemplate if I could go any further. I was extremely stressed because our dinner appointment was about an hour uphill walk. But I knew if I prayed the entire time there I'd make it so I pressed on. The words from a talk from Jeffrey R. Holland kept repeating in my mind as I was walking (and taking very frequent breaks),

Sarah Adleen Giles

"Keep loving. Keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep growing. Heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow, and forever."

I could literally feel heaven cheering me on!!! I said a prayer and asked Heavenly Father if Sarah was helping me. I asked that he give me a sign that she was. Every few minutes I would see a butterfly - without even consciously looking for them. Then and there I knew that my Heavenly Father, and my sweet cousin Sarah, and all others who have gone before me, were helping me get to that member's home. I was practically unable to move by the time I got there, but I made it.

There is a bus stop right in front of their house that goes to the church (BLESSED) so we took that to youth. With no luck in potential investigators that day Sister Price and I were pretty bummed. Right when we got on the bus the driver recognized our badges and asked if he could learn more - what the heck!!! That does not happen!!! What if I had stayed at the flat all day?! Heavenly Father blesses us when we put all of our faith in him, and press forward. PRESS FORWARD WITH A STEADFASTNESS IN CHRIST. Amen to that.

Wednesday I felt a ton better it was just a 24-hour bug. I woke up pretty sad that I was going to miss Amelia's 18th birthday, but that only meant I had to get to work so I wouldn't think about it!! We contacted loads of less-actives and invited a lot to Conference. Also knocked some doors and found potentials. Woooohoo none of them are answering our calls though.

Thursday = EXCHANGES YAY!!!!!!!! The whole week I was praying and praying and praying that I would enjoy exchanges. I really was not looking forward to packing stuff to go to Coventry for the day and do work outside our area. (Lame. Don't be like me) But ya. We had district meeting and finding that morning in Cannock with the elders and they found a ton of potentials for us which is sweet. Then the STL's Sister Belnap and Sister Gillette came to pick us up and take us to Coventry. THREE HOURS LATER we got there because there was sooo much traffic. Uggg. I hate when hours are wasted. It's fine. When we got there Sister Belnap and I went to a dinner appointment and then started some door knocking. What the heck I learned SO MUCH FROM HER. Oh my gosh my prayers were answered. We knocked in some sketchy student housing at night but literally every door listened to us and we even got invited in and got to teach the sweetest Muslim girls. We showed them the "Because of Him" video and the spirit was sooo thick in that room. That video is incredible and touches everyone no matter what faith. We talked to so many great people and made loads of return appointments (sad I can't go with her). But ya she got me so excited about door knocking and now I basically beg Sister Price to knock doors haha. I'm praying I get to serve with Sister Belnap one day!!!! She's incredible!!!! I want to be just like her!!!

Friday was the end of the exchange. :( I seriously was so sad to leave the STL flat. We had such a fun night together. We get to do exchanges again though next month! We got back to Cannock around 4 and GOT TO WORK!!!! We knocked loads of doors. We found a woman from Russia named Tanya who wanted us to come back, another woman we made a return appointment with, we met a boy named Callum which I honestly just wants to talk to us because we are American :/. Seriously I can't tell you how many times I've been snap chatted for being American by teenagers. You tell them you're American and their jaws drop and they snap you to all your friends like you're some sort of celebrity. It's hilarious. Later that day Callum texted us and asked if we wanted to go clubbing so ya we deleted his number.

We had a dinner appointment with the Dentons. We arrived about 4:45 but dinner wasn't until 5 so Sister Price and I dropped off our bags at their house and told them we were going to knock for a few minutes. I'M SO GLAD WE DID!!!!!! We knocked a few and no one answered so we thought we'd knock just one more ("4th floor, last door" - Dieter) and wow. A man in a wheelchair answered. We told him who we were and he was just in shock. He told us how much he loved Jesus Christ and how he has made him strong. His name is Dean and he was in a really horrific car accident in 2009 that left the left side of his body paralyzed. But he is still 100% there and nothing holds him back from doing the things he wants to do (he literally rock climbs!!! And owns a construction company!!!) We asked him if he went to church and he said no. We asked him if he wanted to come with us next Sunday. We said we would walk with him because he lives just down the street from the church! He started to cry and said that he had been praying to go back to church. He was so happy. He let us in for a minute and we showed him and his mom the "Because of Him" video. They were both left speechless and Dean said that he had chills and was so touched by it. Sister Price and I couldn't stop smiling. His mom said that we looked like angels and that we were just glowing!!! Haha. We are meeting with both of them tonight and we're SO excited. :) That was the best day of my life. Seriously. Then Sister Denton fed us an incredible meal which made it that much better. :) After we stopped by Oliver and he gave us a tour of his garden. Such a sweetie.

Saturday. Hard day. We went to teach Kelvin and he said he didn't want to see us anymore. That this wasn't what he was looking for and he was perfectly happy without religion. It's okay though. We are going to keep stopping by to say hi and see how he's doing and he agreed to that. We will get him some day. I think that it is just too much of a commitment for Kelvin. He has been taught on and off for 3 years though. He keeps coming back. I don't understand what's holding him back. After we went to watch the General Women's Conference at Lichfield. SO AMMMAAAZEEE. We also watched the Saturday morning session live (5 pm England time).

Sunday conference!!!! We met our investigator Steven at the train station at 10 and headed to Lichfield. We taught him the restoration on the way there and emphasized prophets. In England they have access to conference on their computers so most just watch it at home. So it was basically just us and the elders at the chapel. It was so good for Steven though because he's the same age as the elders so he got along really well with them. He even asked us, "What would I be called if I were an elder?" He wanted to go by Elder Green for the day hahaha. We watched the Saturday afternoon session and then we watched the Sunday morning session live. I was so impressed he stayed with us the whole time and watched the whole thing!!!! He loved it!! We will get to watch the Sunday afternoon session on our iPads sometime this week. On the way back we talked about what he felt and he said peace. I have a lot of hope for Steven! We also met a girl on the way back on the train named Mia and we invited her to sing in our sacrament one day cuz I guess she's a super good singer. Hehehe we are so sneaky in our ways to get people to church. ;)

Conference was amazing. There was so much on missionary work and I just ate it up!!! It's a lot different watching it on the mission versus watching it at home. I did miss watching it in my pajamas, but I do believe I got a little more out of it this time around. ;)

Every time you hang up the phone with someone from England this is literally how it goes:

Me: Bye

Them: Bye! Bye! Bye! Cheers! Tarah!!! Tarah!!! Bye!! Cheers!!!
Tarah!!! Bye Bye!!!

So annoying. I love it here.

Cheers!!!!!

Sister McEwan xx