Where is God when you need him?

A crazy week it has been in England!

I'm sure you all heard about the attack in Manchester... broke my heart. we woke up to a voicemail saying that the U.K. Was under eminent danger. They said that it is more than likely that something will happen again. Especially somewhere such as Birmingham because it is the 2nd largest city in the country. So we aren't allowed to Street contact or go anywhere near our town centres or Nottingham. Kind of scary!

It's made missionary work difficult in terms of finding. Any door we knock they yell at us saying "where was god in that situation?"

There was a man from Nottingham who heard of the news at 10:30 pm on his way back from work and immediately drove to Manchester and was helping people get places and find shelter and he drove back at 6 in the morning to go right back to work. There are so many stories like this we have heard and my testimony of God and his love for his children have been strengthened by this experience. 

On Tuesday for district finding we were meant to go into Nottingham, but instead everyone came to our area. We were meant to be here. One guy was walking behind us. He had no idea we were missionaries and just yelled out "where is god when you need him?" We immediately turned around with big smiles on our faces exclaiming "we have an answer!!!!!" We stood and talked to him for about 30 minutes and he agreed to meet with us the following day. We put him on a baptismal date for next month and he came to a church event as well as church on Sunday!!!! He calls us at least 10 times a day telling us how much this is helping him to change bless him. His name is dean we are excited to see what will come. 

This week I started reading "our search for happiness" by M. Russell Ballard. In the very first chapter he talks about when he was a missionary in Nottingham!!!!! He talked about walking down the Trent river which is literally our area. So neat. :)

We got 10 new investigators this week who knows how, but our teaching pool is so exciting right now. Great things to come here in Nottingham!!!!! I'm starting to love the area. ;) I miss serving in Birmingham but this is becoming home too. 

It was SO HOT THIS WEEK. It felt like I was in Florida. It's hilarious cuz if it's like 65 here everyone whips out their tank tops and every boy is shirtless. I've never seen so many drunk people in my life. We taught so many people who were not wearing shirts. England is so weird. It was literally 65 and I was sweating so bad I'm also way pale right now and haven't gone without tights in 9 months so that wasn't a pretty sight. 

Went on exchange with SISTER NKOMO best day of my life. We were together for a week in kiddie due to waiting for our greenies and it was the best week of my mission ha. Love her to bits. Also started running and doing hardcore exercise this week and my body is in so much pain. I was so thankful it was Sunday yesterday so I didn't have to work out hahaha. 

SPEAKING OF SUNDAY. I loved church. I felt so spiritually fed. I have grown such a testimony of what Gary B Sabin called "our spiritual sleeping bags". If the fire goes out, we will be cold if we don't do simple things such as reading our scriptures and going to church!!!!! I have grown such a love for the scriptures on my mission and the stories in them. This week I was studying Mark chapter 9. The story of the man who had a child with an unclean spirit and asked the saviour to cast it out of him. (Everyone read the talk Lord, I believe by Jeffery r holland I probably listened to it 10 times this week!!!!)

In the chapter it says:

“If thou canst do any thing,” he said, “have compassion on us, and help us."

“Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

“And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”

“Even if ye can no more than desire to believe,” Alma declares, “let this desire work in you, even until ye believe.”

If you have a desire to believe, that is all you need. And as prophesied in Enos, your faith will make you whole. No matter how small. I can promise you it will. I have seen it change and shape every aspect of my life. :) 

I love you all. 

Cheers,

Sister McEwan xxxxx

Pictures:

1) exchange

2) my favourite

3) elder ferrans birthday

4) sweetest less active came teaching with us but they told us to F off when we came to the appointment good times.

5) district finding plus the lincoln elders

6) going home next transfer :( have had fun in lichfield and notts together. Book of mormon apart dont worry guys

7) Nottingham robin hood county:)

8) silly stringed him

9) send this to sis ohanyan momma

A Wet Week in England

This week it Never. Stopped. Raining. 24/7 all day every day it was
raining. I came home every day soaked head to toe ringing out my
clothes and now I'm ill haha. Looked as if I got in the shower with
all my clothes on.

We went district finding in beeston for the elders. Met the weirdest
old woman who was crying to us because she had sinned decades ago. We
asked her what it was she felt she hadn't been forgiven for and it was
all because she mistreated her cat. We tried to comfort her the best
we could..... and in return got several slobbery kisses all over our
cheeks.... oh man. We also knocked into a woman who got
excommunicated!!!! But that was several years ago and she agreed that
we could come over and teach her and her family. The 4 kids were
climbing all over me with their Dorito covered fingers showing me all
their toys and colouring books I just wanted to talk to the mom and
figure out what we could do to help her it was madness bless them

Jenna receive the Holy Ghost in sacrament meeting!!!!! It was so
special. The spirit was SO strong following. I never want that feeling
to go away!

This week I read from Enos to W.O.M. I loved the book of Enos and
reading about the "wrestle" he had before God. I have been praying
about what to pray for, and this chapter really helped me. The book of
Omni made me laugh. My companion was confused as to why I was giggling
during my scripture study! It was funny to me when whoever was writing
would say: "well I dont really have anything to write so I am going to
make an end." or "I dont have much to say but here it is." or when
Amaron procrastinated his writing and wrote the day he gave it to his
brother, who then only chose to write one verse! It made me feel
better about my journal entries which sound so similar at times. :)

We planned to spend the rest of the day after interviews on finding.
We prayed beforehand so we could know where it was we should go and 2
streets came into mind. We set off for the first one and after an hour
of not even a single person interested we sat on the curb in silence
absolutely soaked from the rain for a few minutes. Then a man came
over and asked us what we were doing. Immediately we sat up straight
and said "we have a life saving message to share, and no one will
listen to us!" He looked at his watch and said, "well I have 10
minutes, so I will listen." He then sat down next to us and we taught
him the restoration. Everything made sense to him and he was really
interested in learning more. It was such a tender mercy.

That gave us just enough strength to press forward!! We walked to the
next street we'd prayed about. The first door we knocked let us in.
And it was a family!!! They have 2 little boys, but not married. So
hopefully we can plan a wedding sometime soon. ;) The rest of the
street had success as well. We were cursed at, we were told that we
were brainwashed, another man let us in but right as his wife saw us
come in she shooed us out and told us we were a cult, but overcoming
the greatest adversities bring the greatest miracles! We kept going
and found some really promising potentials. It was worth every minute.

This week my testimony of Gods omnipotence was strengthened. "He who
knows the beginning from the end, knows, therefore, all that is in
between." We tracted a street we were positive we received a prompting
to knock, having no idea that the one we were meant to find, found us.
Soaking wet on the side of the road, with something that can save him.
:)

Have the best week and make the best choices!!!!

Cheers,
Sister McEwan x

Pictures:

1) bus
2) the edlerzzz
3) Never ending rain and an umbrella that was lent to us for half a day
4) just chillin
5) games night is my fave
6) walking home
7) rain rain rain rain rain never going away
8) a meme of sister Bacchus made specifically for myself.
9-11) BATMANS MANSION oh yaaaa 

Jenna's Baptism and More of Notts

Hiya duck. (Everyone in Nottingham calls you duck!)

This week was again full of finding!!!!! My favourite!!! I actually do
love it the weirdest things happen and it's just so memorable and you
also are able to experience the best of miracles. :)

So our washing machine has been broken for 2 weeks..... I'm runnin out
of clothes!!!!!! (You wouldn't think if you saw me dragging all my
luggage through England a couple weeks ago...) but ya the washing
machine door won't open and my clothes were stuck in there for several
days. And I got aggressive and accidentally ripped the handle off cuz
I was pulling so hard to open the door hahahaha oooops. But ya
hopefully we get that sorted soon. :) we tried to fix it and it
resulted in flooding our kitchen. :) blessseed.

MY FAVOURITE EXPERIENCE THIS WEEK
My sweet companion is from Guyana. She is the strongest girl i have
ever met. Her mom passed away the week before she left on her mission.
Her funeral was the day before she got on the plane to england. This
week she recieved her patriarchal blessing and asked me to sit in on
it and experience it with her because i am her only family. It was one
of the most spiritual experiences of my entire life. It is impossible
to describe. It reminds me of Jeffrey r hollands words in his most
recent conference talk:

"This is when feelings are so deep and personal, even so sacred, that
they either cannot be or should not be expressed--like Cordelia’s love
for her father, of which she said: “My love’s … richer than my tongue.
… I cannot heave my heart into my mouth.” Coming to us as something
holy, these sentiments are simply unutterable--spiritually
ineffable--like the prayer Jesus offered for the Nephite children."

I love the gospel.

We have a cool new investigator in a part memb family named kevin. The
lesson was quite contentious at first / bashy. I have found that to
remove that contention, all you can do is share your testimony. They
can not deny things that you know, and it immediately brings the
spirit. But he said he'd be willing to read the Book of Mormon with us
once a week so that's cool. :) Met so many other cool people we are
teaching now which is exciting!!! It's nice to finally have some
investigators ha this area had nothing.

Jenna was baptised!!!!!! Her date was in july or something and we
moved it up a couple months haha. Shes a former, and has been dropped
so many times just because she requires lots of patience to teach, it
takes her a while to fully understand things. But with daily lessons
and lots of prayers she passed her interview with flying colours and
was baptised sunday!!! The ward was so excited and the service was
beautiful, as they all are!!!

This week in my studies I read the following scripture:

For behold, after ye have been nourished by the good word of God all
the day long, will ye bring forth evil fruit, that ye must be hewn
down and cast into the fire?

READ YOUR SCRIPTURES PEOPLE!!!!!! Take my word for it;). As Boyd K
Packer taught, it truly is the key to spiritual protection. When we
read and study the scriptures, how can we bring forth evil fruit? We
will desire to do good, and the holy ghost will always warn us of what
is evil.

I love love love you guys. Skyping was so special for me. Happy
mothers day to all the very important women in my life!!!!!

Cheers,
Sister mcewan xxxx

1) Nottingham zone conference
2) the district. (Me, sis Bacchus, elder Williams, ferran, winterton,
and Willis)
3) games night with some investigators :)
4) scrubbing the font for the baptism... such a trial.
5) I made sister Bacchus hoover all the spiders.
6) happy day!!!!!!
7) sweet Jenna's special day
8) Mother's Day Skype!!!!!!
9) a missionary selfie

Faith Over Fear

Hello from Long Eaton Nottingham!!!

It was the coolest experience getting here honestly. I was provided so many angels along the way!!! It felt so weird traveling alone. I kept making videos on my iPad to my family because it felt so uncomfortable not having a companion to talk to. Once I got to Birmingham I was slightly panicking because I had to drag all my luggage through the city for about 15 minutes. My suitcases were SO HEAVY. learned my lesson ha. But there was a man at the station who asked if he could help me take all my luggage through Birmingham to the other station even though he'd be late to work he was literally sent from heaven!!!! And I made sure to tell him that as well many times haha he walked me all the way to the platform and I even got to teach him about Joseph Smith.:):)

Then once I got to Nottingham I needed to take another train into long eaton. There wasn't an elevator and I needed to take all my luggage up and down a staircase over to the other platform and this old man was like hunny I will help you and brought it all over even though he had a bad back people are so good. After 4 hours on many trains I made it. :)

Boy oh boy it feels so weird to not be in Birmingham. 9 months I won't forget. (ya I'm halfway..... what????) Feels like I am learning a whole new language all over again. My ears have finally adapted to the Birmingham accent.... Notts is way easier tho and a lot more posh like the movies hahaha.

I'm in a ward 5x the size of Kidderminster branch. There is a primary, and a youth, AND the members feed you every night!!!!! I'm going to gain some serious weight in this area.

There is so much work to do here..... the sisters only have 2 investigators so ya we have been finding more than I've ever done in my entire life hahaha. But hey we put one of those gators on a date for next Sunday so hopefully we will have a baptism next week. :) we took all her tea out of her flat and now we have so much tea in our flat hahaha.

Anyways nothing too exciting from the norm to talk about. Went to Nottingham castle / Robin Hood Land and city centre today which was way fun I'll send pictures. :) Notts is gorgeous.

SPIRITUAL BIT..... on my mission I have discovered this thing called..... being an optimist. :) there is a quote by Gordon B. Hinckley that says: “It isn’t as bad as you sometimes think it is. It all works out. Don’t worry. I say that to myself every day." “If you do your best, it will all work out. Put your trust in God, and move forward with faith and confidence in the future. The Lord will not forsake us.”

The Lord is on our side!!!!! Faith over fear. Everything will work out exactly how it's supposed to. We MUST trust the creator. :) I love you guys!!!! Thanks for all your support, always.

Cheers,
Sister McEwan xxx

1) taking tea off an investigator so she doesn't get tempted
2) less active I got to practise my Arabic with from teaching English in kiddie
3) a cat that I may or may not have given bread to the last few nights so he is now a permanent resident.
4) our back garden (garden is yard here. No sense.)
5) this cafe in Nottingham has tons of cats roaming around it as you eat. Gross. England and their cats man.
6) just me and ROBIN HOOD!!!!!! :)
7) tourism at its finest
8) me and robin again
9) a slightly pointless and dramatic photo

Nottingham!!!

Hey Family!!!!!! It's transfer dodge:)))) I'm moving to Nottingham!!!!!!!!! Robin Hood country :) also where some of Downtown Abbey and Pride and Prejudice was filmed @dad @isabelle. Man I'm so excited. I've only heard the best things about Notts. :) It's beautiful! I am follow up training a girl named sister Bacchus from Guyana. It's sick cause our area is the uni so we get to work with tons of ysa and tract all at the university. ITS GOING TO BE SO GREAT!!!!!

This weekend was just a lot of saying goodbye to everyone. Kidderminster is home. It was so hard. Sister Ohanyan is nervous to have a different companion. So keep her in your prayers!!!!! Love this girl it was such an honour and privilege to be her trainer. I will miss her every day.

Not really anything spectacular other than lots of hard goodbyes. Especially the less active families we've been working with. One of them (the Betts) the wife (not a member, part memb fam) came to church for the first time!!!!!!! It was so great. After working with her for 3 transfers she finally came haha. We saw charly several times this week. Had really good discussions with her about the church. It was awful saying goodbye to her and her sweet kids. They came all the way from Cannock to say bye. Also their Nan who lives in Cannock surprised me and came!!!!! It was the best thing ever charly was taking us somewhere in kiddie to do a Fhe with her kids on Sunday and when she picked us up she said "I have a surprise for you" she took me around the corner and there was Val!!!!!!!! She was one of my very favourites from Cannock.

Saying bye to our Syrian families was awful as well. Ahmed told me that their little 2 year old Reemas always cries "McEwan, McEwan!" When we leave haha ahhhh i can't think about it. I have been so blessed with so many people I love so dearly here.

Sarah George is doing SO MUCH FAMILY HISTORY and getting ready to take all the names to the temple!!!!!! A true convert. I am so proud of her.

Nora, our investigator from Hong Kong, came to church which was awesome and she loved it.

So much happened but I'm exhausted and haven't slept in days. Nervous for transfers tomorrow as I have to travel to the other side of England by myself with 3 luggage and a bike...... I get to walk through Birmingham struggling..... the first presidency changed transfers to where missionaries can be by themselves.... but "We will never be alone if we choose to walk with him." My only spiritual advice this week haha.  Love you guys!!!!!!

Cheers,
Sister McEwan xxxxx

KIDDITCH. last district meeting. I'm going to die without these people....

 Reemas I love her so much

Sheila bless her. Hated saying bye to her.

Sarah George