10.21.2013 another great week in York, a lot of teaching.

Hey fam!!  Well another great week in York :) good news we haven't locked ourselves out again so life is pretty good :)

I have never seen so much rain! it is insane!!!!!

We are starting to reap the rewards of speaking every hour last Sunday- we have so many tea appointments!  it is great :) this ward is just amazing!!!

S. is doing great :)  she told us that the gospel has given her so much confidence! she even went to the stake dance and had a good time, she told us before she would have never done that.

We went over to S. and E's flat, it is so nice they live across the street from us :) we walk in and V. opens the door (I think I've told you about him- he's buddist) so the elders were there reading with him- so we went upstairs and taught the girls in S's bedroom- it was a really funny surprise- so many missionaries in that house! But S. and E. are great!  They are hilarious!!  This was the first week that they haven't been to church- sadly they went to B.'s for afternoon tea- we hope they didn't actually drink tea- we just taught them about the word of wisdom!  But they are hilarious and the only set back is they feel like they haven't gotten an answer to their prayers yet- they are having a hard time recognizing which I mean they have never learned about God before so it is understandable!

We have seen so many miracles!  A girl just moved here from China- she joined the church 2 years ago when she was in Australia studying- it is so great because that is what our investigators need!  someone who is from china that can relate to them!  We have been seeing a lot of opposition, Satan is fighting hard and everyone we are teaching is concerned about the political environment and finding a job when they go back to China.  It will be an amazing day when china opens!  I have no doubt that the work will take off like CRAZY there!! 

T. and V. dropped us this week because of that :/ but its ok we will find more people to teach! We are teaching this great guy named G.!  we have met with him 2 times and he loved the plan of salvation- he is really prepared!!!

Sadly my Chinese is not very good- I can say a few words here and there but the tones are so hard- it can be the same word but if you say it in the wrong tone it is a completely different word, so that is challenging!  It is amazing though how much I understand! there were sometimes this week when sis ith would be speaking chinese to someone and I would pray really really hard to understand- and I was able to get most of the conversation!!!  So I guess I have been blessed with the gift of ''ears''—hahaha

can you believe I have been out 6 months?! where does the time go?!  Well sadly I am out of time but I love you all <3  you are the best family ever!! and I am loving it here!!

<3 Sister Monroe

10.15.2013 -- Top of the Mornin' - locked out of the flat, again

Hey family!!

Well you already heard!  But S. got baptized this week!!! Everything about Sarah was a miracle!!!  From Elder Newman knocking on one more door and finding her to us teaching her- it is just amazing the change the gospel has brought in her life!  When she came out of the water and into the bathroom she started jumping up and down she was so excited!!!  It was a great service!!!

It has been a super crazy week!!  Well teaching wise quite a few of our solid people dropped us, always sad.  But we are still blessed to have a big teaching pool!  T. and V. are so cute, we had a great lesson with S.  and E. about the plan of Salvation.

We went on exchange with the sister training leaders this week and it was a lot of fun! 

Mostly we were busy planning the baptism and lots and lots of lessons!!!! Wow we had a crazy week of lessons!!!  We are teaching these 2 English guys who are very religious, work for their church.  We met with them 2 times this week- it is amazing how the spirit guides you in lessons!  We have had really powerful lessons with them!!! All of the concerns they have about a living prophet and the Book of Mormon make sense- like they really want to know but it is very different from what they believe, so we are helping them to see they just have to put in their effort and they will know!  We prepare a lot for their lessons and the Spirit has prompted me what to say and what I have studied!! It's great!

So Saturday was the baptism- it was a great service everything went well :) but it is always stressful! Then Sunday we both had to speak in sacrament, we got to do sharing time for the primary and then we had the relief society lesson- it was a CRAZY day!!!!  We had tea at a members house and had a lesson.  The lesson was great! It was with this Chinese girl named A., she invited the spirit in so strong! She has a little knowledge of God and she wants to believe in Him- but we had such a powerful lesson! it was great, we invited at the end of the lesson, and she accepted a baptismal date! She was our miracle!

Then we walk home, in the cold rainy night. We get home and realized neither one of us grabbed our keys. . . . . So we waiting outside for an hour in the cold rain until the zone leaders decided what they would do with us. . . .. they ended up picking us up and driving us to Harrogate- where the other sisters are and we slept at their flat. . . they live pretty far away- and Sis Ith and I didn't sleep at all that night- hahaha we were SO dumb to BOTH forget a key!!!!!!!! The good news is their flat was HUGE and SO NICE! 

Oh and transfers- I'm staying in York! With Ith, actually pretty much everything stayed the same- so it was a little boring hahaha but by the end of the transfer I will be 7 1/2 months on the Chinese agenda!  That is the longest an English speaker has ever gone :)  lucky me!! I love it!

Well love you all!!! hope you have a great week!!!

<3 Sister Monroe

Oh I forgot to tell you why the subject was top of the mornin'.  So yesterday- was the morning we ''woke up'' in Harriogate- we didn't get any sleep so we were in a very weird crazy mood. . . We had district meeting and we were walking from the train station to our chapel and Sis Ith dared me to say top of the mornin’ to the next person that walked by, and we kept doing that to everyone we passed- we got so many weird looks and it was so funny!

The St Deny's -- American equivalent to Denny's!

Halloween package received!

Transfer predictions

Baptism

Baptism

Gore family

Locked out of Flat -- Companion trying to get in.

Locked out of Flat -- Companion trying to get in

10.06.2013 - Another Great Week in York! Bloody Elders and Sisters Hit by Taxi

Hey family!  This has been another great week in York!!! Next week is transfer calls!!! What?! crazy how fast time flies!!!

This week we have had a lot of lessons with S.!  It has been really great- she is growing so much!  She is still super shy but she has been able to open up a lot more.  She really feels like a part of a big family when she is at church- that is one of the reasons she is most excited for baptism! 

T. and V.- they are the couple we are teaching- they are SO prepared!!  It is amazing, they were in Scotland for 2 weeks so we weren't able to meet with them for a while- but they prayed together every day, and they really grew so much during that time!  So we are so excited because now we are meeting with them more and they are loving learning about God- and they are starting to experience and recognize the Spirit in their life!  I LOVE teaching the Chinese because they know nothing about ''the God'' and as we teach them they get so excited and start to have ''the face in the God'' (faith in God) and it changes their lives forever!!  We are so blessed to teach T. and V.!!  They make me so happy! Whenever we call them V. is always like ''OH Monroe'' (Chinese people have the hardest time saying Monroe- and it is so cute every time!!) and she gets so excited!

We brought T. and V. to our tea appointment (dinner) at the Bishops home this week- and talked about how the gospel blesses families and prophets.  It made them so excited because they want that for their future family!!!!!  and they came to a session of conference with us- it was so great, they couldn't understand much, just key words- but they really enjoyed it!  They felt the spirit so strong!  and T. could not get over how the church started with 6 people and now has 15 million- that made him excited haha.

It was so different having conference in England!  We watched the Saturday morning on Saturday evening, and then Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning on Sunday. And wow getting investigators to church is stressful but conference was so much crazier!!  But S., T., V., S. and E. all really enjoyed it!!  (S. and E. are two of V.’s roommates and they continue to be a miracle every time we meet with them! THEY ARE SO GREAT!!)  We were just really worried watching it with them because they can't completely understand- and sometimes they talk about things we haven't taught them yet.  But they all had spiritual experiences and they all really enjoyed the talks and the Spirit they felt!  It was SO great!!!!

Well the Lord really is hastening His work! We are finding so many prepared people!  It is so great!! 

Next week is transfer calls- I think I am leaving York :( and leaving the Chinese agenda.  I am preparing myself for the worst so I won't get disappointed ;) haha But no matter what happens I know it will be great!

OH so at district meeting we came out of follow-ups and all the missionaries were in the foyer we were like what's going on?!  The elders were doing a push up competition and one elder dared another to do a push up and clap behind his back- well he didn't catch himself and fell on his face and started bleeding so bad- his white shirt was red, an ambulance ended up getting him and he had to get stitches. . . It was crazy!  At the time it was scary because he was losing so much blood-- and it happened to be the week our zone leaders weren't there haha So when elder B. heard it he kept calling the accident an act of heroism ;) poor elder!!  The same day the other set of sisters got hit by a taxi- we still don't know for sure what happened but they are fine!  Crazy stuff!!

Well, I love you all!!! Thanks for everything!!!!!

<3 Sister Monroe 

09.30.2013 -- Miracles!!!!

Wow so much happened this week!  I wish I had more time to email!!!  Well first off- glad to hear everyone is doing well!!  Loved the pics you sent this week!  I got the last family letters-- thank everyone for me!!!

I LOVED hearing from the family!  Sounds like lake powell was fun for everyone and that they are all doing good!

How is teaching mom??  Is Luke giving you trouble ;) 

Well good news!! Our little S. is doing so well!!  We met with her quite a bit this week :) M. loves us which is very good and is supportive of S. coming to church and learning more!!  Sarah was so shy but she really opened up- even at church!!  She loves the YW, btw the YW in this ward are amazing and have really loved S. and fellowshipped her nicely!  It has been amazing to see the transformation in her! She says the things we are teaching her helps her feel safe and happy.

Our biggest miracle came from V.- so we sadly had to kind of half drop V., he says he wants to learn, read and come to church!  But he has no desire to change from Buddhism or to pray.  So we were really sad after that lesson. . . But he invited his 3 housemates to church- they are 3 girls brand new to England!  They came to church- LOVED it!  we were able to schedule all 3 of them!!!  They really want religion in their life because they said- the world values are going down and they want morals and standards in their life, they really want to know if there is a God and S. said I am willing to do anything to find out!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It was amazing!! At the end of church V. was like I am helping you with your missionary work!  It was so amazing!!!!!

We met this great guy named A., he really wants to know if there is a God, sadly JWs got to him before we did, so he is meeting with their missionaries but coming to church with us. . . . . ?? ya I don't know how we managed to get him to church (MIRACLE) but they are teaching him miracles in the bible- so we are teaching him that miracles happen today! But it is with God's Priesthood, which is with our church :D  But it was quite the adventure getting him to church. . . We met him in city centre- he was late so we missed our bus. There wasn't enough time to walk- so in total we waited outside for like an hour got to church about 10 mins early and then we were running around like crazy all throughout church-  whoever said Sundays are a day of rest, was not talking about missionaries!  Church is our most hectic stressful time of the week!!!  But church was SO good this week!  We were blessed to have 6 investigators at church! talk about a miracle!!!!!!! 

The ward here is so amazing!

After church we went to a members home and had tea, they invited S. too!  They were such great fellowshippers! Really welcoming and supportive! She really opened up!!

We have really seen this area pick up this week!! It has been amazing!!!! I love this area! I love this ward! We are so blessed here in York!! :)

I love you all <3

<3 Sister Monroe

09.23.2013 with pictures

Hey sorry with sending pics I don't have much time!

But it has been such a great week here in york!!

Monday: we had zone pday- it was zone Olympics and it was SO MUCH FUN! with basketball, nurf gun wars, salt water pong, ultimate spoons, and they had a nurf sword fighting competition- it was all bracketed out- beat Sister I. round 1 and then lost to Elder Rodgers round 2 ;( hahaha

We saw so many miracles!  We are teaching this chinese couple T. and V. and they are so great!  They really encourage each other and T. prayed when he went home!  He didn't feel any special feelings but he said he would continue to pray!  We gave them each a Book of Mormon and they were so excited!

Our biggest miracle was a referral we got from Elder N., M. and S.- mom and daughter.  We went to their house on Saturday had a great lesson and then they came to church on Sunday! Sarah who is 15 loved it so much!!! In fact she asked us if she could stay for the mission president fireside that was at 6 that night! so of course we were so excited to hear her say that!  Our church gets out at 4 so we just stayed at the chapel with her, watched the restoration DVD and had a great lesson with her.  The mission president fireside was so good!!

Don't worry I am sending a letter this week- so I'll give you more details then!

But I can't believe we are on week 3 of the transfer!  IT goes by so fast!  Sister I. and I are having so much fun and working really hard!  We have been blessed to see this area grow so much in the short amount of time!!  It isn't Newcastle but it is ok because we are loving street contacting and when we do get to teach someone we appreciate it that much more!!

Such a great week! Our ward is amazing and they just love sister missionaries :)  The primary did their presentation this Sunday- they were so cute and S. loved it so much!

We were also able to get V. to church!  He is so interesting- and he believes there is a God- but that there are many paths to get to him- everytime when we go to his house he always ends up teaching the member we have with us about Buddah- so they are very interesting lessons! haha but he finally committed to reading the BoM so that is great!!

Well I have to go but I love you all so much! Thank you for ALL that you do!!!! and all of the letters! I love love love letters!!!!! You're the best!  I am so grateful for all of you <3

Love Sister Monroe

ps I keep having a dream that Spence got his call to the England Leeds Mission. . . hahaha weird!

First two pictures below are Holly and her kids- we ate their every single week when I was in Newcastle!  She was like my mom and I LOVED the kids!!!!!!  SO MUCH!!!!  They are so cute and fun!!

My goodbye to this sweet girl who I love so much!

My last morning walking the streets of Newcastle- Northumberland, we street contacted for hours everyday on this road!

The Newcastle missionaries

My mission '' sibilings''  Elder H.- our ''brother'' and then Sister I. is my ''sister'' posterity on the mission ;)

Our first night-- what an adventure, Elder B. gave us the wrong key, so we waited outside for a while! haha

York Minster Cathedral in York, England

Hanging out

We love this Sister!

09.16.2013 Hard Work

Hey family! Sounds like you had such a good week!! I am so glad to hear that!! We had a great week here in York as well!!! 

So I have a story about working hard until the last minute-- so this week we were working on finding new investigators but we kept getting flogged and yesterday we only had 1 new investigator, but we still were working really hard and we had faith that we would find more-- so yesterday at 8pm we had a lesson with this chinese couple we met- they were so great!  They kind of knew about the Savior- but most of it was new to them, and they loved learning more!   When we challenged them to pray when they go home Thomas said, well I don't really know, I don't know if the God will be there- but if it works I will try it again.   It was such a powerful lesson!!  The spirit was so strong!  And so the last hour before we report on our week we had 2 new investigators!!!!!  Diligence and faith :) it pays off!

So our teaching pool is still pretty small, but it is all good because we are working really hard and seeing so many miracles!!!!   Our ward is amazing!!!!!  We taught the lesson in YWs which was so fun!  The members are so willing to give lifts to us and our investigators- they are so great!!

Sorry I am almost out of time!

But we had a lot of street contacting this week, a lot of member visits- and this ward is keeping us well fed!!  The zone leaders had a baptism this week and we were able to bring our investigator V. to the baptism- he really wants to learn more but he is having a hard time because he won't pray-  it is so different from his culture- but he really wants to learn more and he love the plan of salvation-  so we are so excited to continue to teach him and help him recognize the spirit!!!

I love you all so much! Thanks for all you do!! You are the best family ever!!!! I love you to death!!

<3 Sister Monroe