Week 5 - Hard Work, 4th of July, and Field Trip

Happy Birthday to America!

The Fourth was great here. Building up to it, the Americans here were kind of sad about how the Brits don't celebrate it. (Sidenote, apparently they don't even teach about the American Revolution in Great Britain. They're entirely uneducated about how, why, and what even really happened beyond the fact that we're two separate countries now.) But then on the Fourth of July, we Americans were mildly obnoxious about drawing flags, wearing stripes and anything that would resemble our flag, singing the National Anthem, etc. Dinner was the best, because we were surprised with an outside barbecue of (European) burgers and hot dogs, rootbeer and Reeses cups, streamers, obnoxious decorations, and even a picture of Donald Trump with the MTC President's face photoshopped on it. The Brits were amused. The Americans were ecstatic. It was a blast. :)

That night, we also watched the "Character of Christ" MTC devotional from a few years ago by Elder Bednar. Unfortunately, you won't be able to access it unless you're in the MTC, so... I'll send some pictures of my notes. Maybe.

But it was a phenomenal devotional. <3

Due to the *cough* "heat wave" here of 28 Celsius (around 82 Fahrenheit), people have been dropping like flies. S. Saunders was out with a massive headache for a few days, S. Baird has tonsilitis and Glandular Fever (?!), and many other Sisters have been throwing up. And then the Desert-dwellers (like me) have just been sitting here in the breeze, enjoying the lovely late-spring-like weather.

On Thursday, we went on a Church History Tour. I took most of the pictures on my camera, so I need to figure out how to upload those, but my favorite part of the tour was at the end - and I got those pictures on my tablet. We started in Preston, and learned about where the first missionaries preached and gathered on Sundays, where the first baptisms were, where Gordon B. Hinckley lived when he got the letter from his dad saying "forget yourself and go to work", etc. But the end we went to this little village that has stayed pretty much exactly the same for ages because of building regulations that require modern advancements to be hidden as much as possible. I felt like I was back in time, and I loved how green it was and how bright and happy the birds sounded. 

My companionship taught Relief Society on Sunday. It wasn't the best lesson, but we felt the Spirit and that's all that matters. :)

During our free time on Sunday, we watched the movie "Legacy" (it's a pioneer one) in German with English subtitles. I was surprised at how much I understood, and at how I was even able to recognize when the translation wasn't the best.

In lieu of FHE, we attended the Manchester Mission's New-Convert Fireside, since it was held in the building across from the MTC. Basically what that is, is that they have recent converts share their conversion stories, and the Manchester Missionaries can bring any investigators they have to come and listen to them. It was really cool! Plus, at the end, I saw Sister Terry from the 10th ward back home! She's been out for 7 months, and we took a picture so I could prove it to Mark and Sister Ericson. ;)

Proselyting yesterday was a good final-MTC-proselyting. We did run into some very inappropriate teenage boys filming for a youtube video, but S. Baird was able to say that we weren't interested in participating and asked them to leave politely and they did, thankfully. The rest of the afternoon was phenomenal, though. We placed 4-5 copies of the Book of Mormon, and shared even more pass-along cards. We got 3-4 phone numbers, too. And at the very end, the last BoM we placed was in a 3 minute conversation as we were heading back to our bus, and as we walked away we saw him already starting to read it!

I've truly learned just how important the Book of Mormon is. After that experience yesterday, I read through chapter 5 in Preach My Gospel and it just reemphasized how cool it is. So if you haven't been reading it recently - do it!

Favorite funny quote:

It's less of a quote, and more of a WHY?!. The pictures in the physical German "Chastity" pamphlet that we use to teach the law of chastity are so painful and cringe-worthy. There's this couple holding a volleyball and gazing into each other's eyes... the electronic one in both German and English have a couple playing tennis and the girl looks like she's about to eat the tennis ball. I cry inside when we use it. We desperately need updated not-so-painful pictures.

Favorite new word:

der Boden - the floor

There's an Elder here named Elder Boden, so it's a bit of a running joke about tripping on the Boden and falling on the Boden and whatnot.

Favorite spiritual quote/thought:

"There would have been no atoning sacrifice without the CHARACTER of Christ." - Neal A Maxwell

Meaning that because Christ was who He was (somebody who turned outward when others would be selfish and turn inward), we can return to live with our Heavenly Father. Elder Bednar challenged us to be more like Christ and try to remember to focus on others even in times of trial.

Ich habe euch lieb!

~Sister Hamilton