08.26.2013 -- Loving my time as a missionary and feel so blessed to be out!

Hello family!

Well that was exciting to get to email back and answer some of your questions!! Well this has been a great week here in Newcastle!! 

So Monday: Alnwick castle- beautiful! We had such a fun time!!!!!  I'll send pics! I was telling Sis S.t (oh ya so she doesn't live with us just is in our zone) but last summer I was so excited to go to Harry Potter World in Florida - and I was thinking about applying for a study abroad in London- but it didn't feel right. This summer seeing the real Harry castle but even more exciting serving a mission!!  Isn't that so crazy!! Never saw that one coming! But every day I am so grateful for the age change!! I am learning so much and I feel like I am changing so much as well! I absolutely LOVE this experience of serving the Lord and the people in England all day every day! D&C 4  :)

Tuesday: We had some lessons, got flogged a lot so did some street contacting and went to the cardiologist.  Sadly docs just aren't the same here, but I am getting some test done next week so it is all good :)

Wednesday: our district meeting was so so good! When I bore my testimony I shared about how there are angles building us up, on both sides of the veil- I have really felt that the past 2 weeks!  Then Elder B. came and taught a lesson with us, W. who sadly is just now to busy to see us and he has stopped progressing :( same with E. :( but it is ok! We are still kind of working with them and we are working hard to find new people!!

Thursday: Another day of lessons, we had some really powerful lessons! 

Friday was a really exciting day- so there was a specialized training meeting in the zone right below us, it was by invite only and it was for all of the trainers and the trainees. some how Sister S. and I were invited and we were the only two not in one of those categories there. It was SO GOOD!! Oh man!!  The first part they split us up into groups and did a Q&A which was funny because the group we were assigned to was trainers but I learned so much! Then President talked to all of us- it was so great!  I learned so much!!  He really focuses on teaching PEOPLE not lessons and developing Christ-like attributes, so amazing!

Then Sister S. and I did some street contacting in Newcastle, it was also really great we found some good people :)

Sat: we had a sad lesson with S. and J.. . . Sadly J. is never coming to the lessons again- but she said S. can still come. I gave S. the CTR ring that Emmy sent- and that meant so much to her!  Then S. didn't come to church :(

Sunday: we didn't have anyone at church- that was really sad and hard. We had left our phone in the zone leaders car and couldn't call anyone Sunday morning- but everyone we had confirmed was too busy with exams and essays. 

That has been the theme of the week, everyone is too busy- so it was a slower week than we are used to.  But it's ok- we are still working so hard!  It is sometimes hard not to get discouraged when things don't go how you planned especially when we are working so hard all day every day and trying to be so obedient- but I have learned that discouragement is from Satan, and when discouragement comes in our faith is weakened.  So even though it was a harder week it was one of the best weeks I have had yet! And I am so grateful for this week!! We are continuing to work hard in our area- and most importantly I am learning to become like the Savior- working on charity and it has been amazing how working on that this week has changed EVERYTHING! I love it so much here!! Next week is transfer calls. . . weird!!!!!

I love you all! thanks for all your love and support!!  ps please send pics!!!!

I am loving my time as a missionary! and feel so blessed to be out!  I love the England Leeds Mission!! <3

~Sister Monroe

MTC Companion and Sister Monroe at Alnwick Castle (Harry Potter Castle)

Very excited to be at Alnwick (Harry Potter) Castle!

Sister Monroe and Comp in front of Alnwick (Harry Potter) Castle

Sisters at Alnwick (Harry Potter) Castle

With Companion at Alnwick (Harry Potter) Castle

Very excited to be at Alnwick (Harry Potter) Castle!

08.19.2013 -- Trip to Harry Potter's Castle

Hey family! This was such a good week!! Sadly I don't have much time to write- because we are going to the Alnwick castle today!!! PS that is the Harry Potter castle! and we are so excited because there is some special harry fair this week or something hahaha but wait there is more good news! so there was an emergency transfer this week and Sister S. (my mtc comp) moved up to our zone!!!!!!!!!!! So Sis H., Ha., S. and I are going to the castle and we are PUMPED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So many great things happened,  We did a lot of service this week for members in our relief society. We have been doing a lot of gardening lately and we painted a fence, so that was great :)

Sister H. bday was this week same as Elder Mc.'s so we had a lot of bday celebrations! And I had my first proper Chinese meal, it is called hot pot, and Q. one of the recent converts made it for us- it was SO good!!!

Our biggest miracle was T., we met him this week on the street- set up a return appointment for the next day and we have seen him every day since! and he came to church!!! and loved it!!! He is loving what we are teaching him and it will be hard for him to give up tea and red wine but he is willing to try to give it up! YAY!!

E. is also progressing a lot!  Sadly he has been out of town the past 2 weekends so he hasn't come to church, but he tells us he feels so bad and guilty when he doesn't come- so he is starting to really recognize the Spirit!

W. is also progressing loads!  He has been reading more and more and he is feeling the Spirit, and he is starting to realize that he is feeling it! It is so amazing to watch W. progress!!!

So President Pilkington did a fireside yesterday and we were supposed to bring as many investigators as we could, sadly only H. could come- but it was so good for him!  President Pilkington is amazing!! and he talked about the book of Mormon and how the Spirit works- it was so good for H. because he is really really religious and like works for another church so it was perfect for him!

Sadly we didn't see S. or J. this week- and S. didn't come to church- she had a dance performance. But we are praying hard for them!

Well I don't have much time, I love you loads!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for all you do!!!!!!!!

<3 Sister Monroe

ps I got spencers letter about trek hahaha good to know he is the same ole Spence, oh and please send pics of the family!! and the little cousins!!!!!

Chinese Pancake

Giant Guinea Pig at Member's House

"The King" Elvis' Ring

Sisters from the MTC (MTC Comp on the left)

Companion's Birthday!

Service Project - Painting Fence

Hot Pot

The sister training leaders were on exchange with the other sisters

08.12.2013 Elder Ballard Visit

Hey family!  glad to hear you all survived lake powell and it sounded like a lot of fun! Thanks for sending pics!  I loved to see it!!!

Wow it is crazy to think that your summer is almost over and that you are going back to school with the kids- that will be so fun! and that is so neat that Luke is in your class! He is the cutest!

This week has been really great!

Monday we went to the beach for zone pday- it was loads of fun. We played American football, which was great because it was two hand touch and none of the Elders can touch the sisters haha and it rained the whole time so that was fun because we had the beach to ourselves :) Then we had a really fun FHE, we were crammed in this little cubical in the student union -- it is so great to get everyone together and watch them fellowship each other.  But sadly none of our investigators came! Lame but it was still really great!

Tuesday we ended up getting flogged all day so we did a lot of street contacting :D always a blast ;) haha

Wednesday we traveled down to hear Elder Ballard, oh man- it was SO GOOD! So it was all of the full time missionaries all of the stake presidents all of the bishops and the ward missionaries were invited.  They spoke a lot about working with the ward and how this is a team so we should work together- brilliant, it was so great! And he was funny, we learned SO much! It was SO good, at the end all of us were so pumped to go out and talk to everyone, he told us that if we want to baptize more we have to talk to more people- which means we are going to be better at bus contacting- awe ya :)

it was also really great to see all my friends!!!!  I was so excited to see sister S.!  It was a great reunion we had :)  We didn't get back to our flat until after 11:30 that night- oh man I was so tired- still trying to recuperate from our late night. It is so weird to think that 11:30 used to be nothing for me hahaha

Thursday and Friday were great days we had a lot of street contacting and we have had some really good lessons.  The miracle of the week-- we scheduled W.!!  Did I talk about him before? He is the one that has been passed from missionary to missionary since January- well he accepted a date and he brought a friend to church this week!  yay! But there is still so much we have to do with him and he is so busy so we are praying really hard that we will be able to continue to meet with him!

Saturday we got to clean the chapel that was great.

Sunday was really great, we were able to get 5 people to church. S. brought her boyfriend and W. brought a friend so it was really exciting to be able to have 2 referrals there!

today we are going shopping! I am so excited!  Oh so btw I pulled money out 2 weeks ago and will pull money out again today just so you know.

Well I am glad to hear that everyone is doing good!  I love you loads! And don't worry too much about my health- we are in contact with a doc right now and I will be going to a cardiologist soon, but I am feeling pretty good right now :)  I just figured I'll go so that you all will stop worrying ;)

Well have a great week!! love you!

<3 sister Monroe

08.05.2013 -- Elder Ballard visiting Mission!

Hey family!!  So you're going to lake powell! Ah that's exciting!!  Tell the family I say hey and that I love them all!  I sent a letter your way and it had two pics in it- let me know when you get it!

I have some exciting news too, Elder M Russell Ballard is coming to do a mission tour this week! and we are having a mission conference on Wed and he is speaking at it!  I am so excited for a couple of reasons 1. it will be exciting and great to hear from an apostle! 2. the whole mission will be there!! and all of my MTC friends are in the south so it has been ages since I have seen them! way pumped!  It is crazy though so it is held in the only chapel that is big enough to hold all the missionaries so it is past Leeds- we will be traveling like all day long to get there!  but I am excited!!

So this week we worked so so so hard.  Seriously I was working hard before but this week was insane!!  I loved it :) Sadly the majority of our solid investigators dropped us :( which was really sad. . . but we did see some miracles!

So there was a ward BBQ on Saturday and J. told us S. and J. were coming. The day of the bbq J. phoned us and told us S. wasn't coming but J. said she still wanted to come and to have a lesson from the missionaries! that was a BIG step! So we had a really powerful lesson about the Atonement and the Book of Mormon, and we asked her if S. could get baptized, she said no.  She also said she wouldn't pray.  I was thinking oh NO! we had a powerful lesson!!! What the heck! but then she told us she has been praying at home and she has been praying with S.! That made me so happy to hear!!!!!! 

We have been doing service at an elderly lady's house, all 6 missionaries have been gardening and we have worked for maybe 6 hours total and we are just now starting to see the dirt- but it has been fun!

We had a really good district meeting this week, Elder B. talked about Elder Holland's talk on missionary work and the Atonement, and it is a really powerful talk! It has helped me so much!

We ran into B. in the street, set up an appointment, it was really good! He said he was going to come to church, then didn't show up :(  so I don't know what's happening with him.

BC. is still so great, we don't meet with him as much but we take him teaching with us and he is such a great member present! The chinese group is so great, they all fellowship each other and become such good friends!  It is really neat to watch them become good friends and come to church together and FHE and grow and learn together.

At the BBQ we had an investigator there named H., and he is a really religious guy- so we watched the Restoration DVD- we had one of the guys who was just baptized, another member, and W. (who is the Chinese group leader) and 2 of the sisters investigators.  We were able to have a really good talk after and it was really powerful!

I am so grateful for the gospel! and for the Atonement! I love you all so much! Thanks for all you do to support me!  You are the best! Have so much fun at Lake Powell! Send pics :)

love you <3

~Sister Monroe

07.29.2013 Start of 3rd Transfer -- New Companion from Taiwan

Wow it is so crazy that transfer 3 starts today!! AHHH So Sis R. left (moment of silence) I am going to miss her so much, but I got my new companion! Her name is Sister H., she is from Taiwan- she has been out for about a year but this is only her 2nd area!  She is like the complete opposite from R., but she is super great and I love her a lot.  It is crazy because I am done with the 12 week training program, and Sis H. doesn't take language study so I went from a 7 hour work day to a 9 hour work day. But it has been great! I love it!!  I am learning a lot about patience, since we do things so differently but we are both working so hard and it has been great the past couple of days!

So Sis S. left too, and Sis I. is training again so Sis S. is here- she's from Cali San Diego, she is super cute and the best news is she will go running with me!! YAY! haha Sis S. lasted 2 times and then stopped going with me hahaha so I am way excited! :)

We have a new DL and two new ZLs.  and most of our zone changed so it will be good to get to know everyone.  So they changed the districts up a little bit and I'm not in the Gateshead district anymore, which is sad because Elder H. is still there and he is like our bff.  But we are in the Durham distrtict and our DL is Elder B.l, he has served in Newcastle before, he has actually been on the chinese agenda for a lot of his mission even though he isn't a chinese speaker- (which gives me hope that maybe I can stay that way too!! haha) so it will be great :)

This week has been really good.  So we got in contact with B.- he has been so busy with school and he has his huge project due in 2 weeks and he told me he was afraid that if he gave up the time to study (by praying and reading) and if he got a bad score he would end up not believing in God.  So we met with him and resolved his concern and he promised he would come to sacrament meeting, but then he didn't show up :( so sad. . . . . .

But we had a great lesson with J. and S..  We showed the Finding Faith in Christ dvd.  J. and S were crying through it. So at the end I bore my testimony about the Savior- and the spirit was so strong- I teared up a little. Poor Sis H.- she had no idea what was going on haha.  It was so great though!  J. told us she wouldn't come to church but we got them to commit to saying a family prayer this week (for J. that is a big step).  Then J. and S. left and we had a great member visit with J.- her other daughter C. lives in our ward with her husband and 3 of their kids.  I guess P. is having serious heart problems and J. was so stressed about them, their kids, and J. and S.- so we had a really good talk with her and she asked me to say a prayer for the family.  It was a really powerful experience.  I love the little miracles we see with that family!

So M. and J., the couple we found last week street contacting, they are so great! They went on holiday and when they came back we met with them and M. said she believes in God.  She had an amazing experience with prayer while they were gone. Sis R. taught her in relief society that once we love and accept God we should serve other people. So M. decided since she doesn't have a job where she could share her money with the poor that she would donate her time at a charity shop. So that is what she is doing now!! M. wasn't able to come to church because of that- but J. came and had another great experience!  They are coming to FHE tonight and we are so excited for them!!!!!!!!!!! and we found out they don't live together! so we are so excited that we don't have to tell them that one of them has to move out! hahaha

Pres and sister P. came to our ward to speak- they were so great! Pres P. is such a great speaker!  He talked about missionary work and how it isn't scary and how they are already doing it.  It was so great for the ward to hear- and we are trying to work even harder with the ward in our missionary efforts.  Then all the sisters had our interviews with him, he is so great and President and sister P’s are worried about my health and they are really supportive and he was impressed with the work that we have done and building up the chinese group. I really really really really like the P’s! and their british humor- hilarious! hahaha

Well that is all I got for this week :) I love you loads!  Hope everyone is doing well!!!!  <3 Sister Monroe

07.23.2013 Transfer Calls

Hey family!! So transfer calls came in last night and I AM STAYING IN NEWCASTLE!!! Even though we all knew I was going to stay here I was so relieved!!! I love it here so much!!

Ok So much has happened that I don't even know where to begin. . But I am working on a letter so you should get it soon and it has more details. . .

Well the chinese group- it is growing SO MUCH!  Everyother week the chinese break off and have their own seperate meetings.  Ever since it has started we have seen so many miracles!  We had 6 investigators at church this last Sunday! and the other sisters had 6 as well! plus those that are already members, the group was around 23!  And the sisters had a baptism this week and another one next week- it is so amazing to watch it grow!! FHE is so much fun and the chinese love it!  Sis I. and I are going to work SO hard this transfer, we want to see the chinese group become it's own branch!!!! The only problem with that is no one we teach stays in England, they are all students so we have to find solid men who can receive the Melchezidek (ya have no idea how to spell that one) priesthood.  I am so so so so glad I get to stay here because I am so excited to be a part of these miracles and to watch it grow and to get to help as many people as I can!!!

So B. was supposed to get interviewed Saturday- he was so golden.  But he texted us told us he was tired after going to the gym so he wasn't coming. then he didn't come to church- or FHE and he hasn't called us back or responded to our texts.  So I hope that he eventually calls us. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  so sad.

S. and J. were out of town this week :/

We found a great couple! There names are M. and J.!  We have only met with them once, but they also came to church and they had such a great experience so I am way excited to continue to teach them!  Oh and B., he told me to call him after transfer calls because he would be really sad if R. and I both left, haha

Ok so transfer calls- crazy how one call changes everything, oh the drama that went down yesterday!  All I knew was that R. was leaving and (don't share this with to many people).  Sister I. has been called to train again! so sis Seely is leaving and I am getting Sis H.- i am so excited!!!!  She has been out almost a year, and everything I have ever heard about her is good!  I hear she is really funny and works super hard!  So I am so excited!!!! and we are going to crank it in Newcastle!!!

I went to the Doctor, there wasn't much they could do.  Did I already tell you this? It all blurs together. . . umm but I am feeling really really good right now! they want me to see a cardiologist but i'm not so sure- i'm feeling good now and that just takes time and there isn't a whole lot they can do.  But stop worrying! hahaha I'm good for reals! and Sis P. has really become like a mom to me, she checks up on me and is so worried.  Actually President is speaking in our ward next Sunday so she'll be up here and I'll get to talk to her more!

I am so so so sad to lose R..  She has been such an amazing trainer and companion, I love her to death and she has been so great! We have had so much fun together- wow maybe too much fun but we have worked so so hard.  Right now Sis R. and I carrying our zone!  I love her to death and it will be weird to be in newcastle with out my ''mom''. . But I am so excited for her!

ok I will send pics- have a great week! Love you!

~Sis Monroe

07.15.2013 Feeling Better!

Hey family!! So before I forget, thank you for fasting for me!  And please give a special shout out to Emily and Syd- thanks so much for thinking of me and for fasting- I know fasting is really hard but it really really helped me!!!

I know you are dying to hear so- I called sister P. on Friday, I had to tell her all of my symptoms, whats been going on and then she phones someone in America and tells them.  So someone from Etna will be calling me today to tell me when and where I will go to meet with the doctor.  But I should have an appointment either tomorrow or Wednesday :)  So never frett!!!!!!  But I am doing loads better than before!!!  So thank you all for your prayers and support! I can really feel them over here in England! 

This week was really great!  So we went to Durham last p-day, and no big deal but the durham cathedral is where they filmed parts of harry potter!!!  Hahaha I was so excited!! You can't take pictures inside but in the middle there is a court yard and I took lots of pics there because that is in the first 4 movies :) hahaha but it was so much fun! and BEAUTIFUL!!! we climbed to the top of the tower, 325 stairs and at the start there is a sign that says climb at your own risk.  But it was so much fun!! I forgot my camera today so i'll send pics next week!!!

It has been so so so hot here lately!! We haven't seen rain in like 2 weeks- which is weird! and England doesn't know how to handle heat- most buildings don't have air conditioning so we have been teaching outside in the shade- and I am starting to get horrible tan lines! hahaha and my hair is getting so blonde!!! what the heck! it's crazy! 

Monday we had the most epic FHE, we are really trying to make chinese FHE amazing so that all of our investigators will bring friends- that way we can start teaching their friends and really strengthen the group we have! 

S. and J. are doing great! S. is just so adorable!  We were going to ask J. if S. could be baptized so that way R. will get to see it before she goes home, but they are going to be out of town next weekend so sadly it doesn't work :(

B. is doing great, he is going to start to come teaching with us and he is way excited!

Our investigator B. is getting interviewed next week!!  The only thing that is holding him back is yesterday was his first time at church and they have to come at least 2 times before getting baptized.  But he is so great!  We LOVE B.! He is hilarious and he really wants to become perfect so the gospel makes him really really happy knowing that one day he can live with God and be perfect.  His faith is so strong.  I have never met more humble people, the chinese are so sincere and humble!

We met with W. this week!!  we randomly called him and he said he wanted to meet with us again, it was so great we sat there and bore our testimonies and he said he had read from the BoM since we saw him last! It is so great because I had a feeling my time with W. wasn't over!

Well it has a great week! I'm glad to hear that you are all doing well and having fun!! I love you loads!!!!!

<3 Sister Monroe