Wednesday, 20 December 2017

Week 57

Hey so this week was great very busy and incredibly emotional because it’s been like seven months since I’ve talked to my family haha and I miss them so much sister Hall and I took turns crying this week but hey we got to hang out with a ton of really cool sisters this week and spread the gospel so that was a bonus we did the light the world campaign and asked the good people of Derby what did they treasure most? And you know what most said? Family, friends and Tacos so I think the folks of Derby pretty much have themselves sorted out haha. Also while we were in the great white north of Derby it snowed heeps so that was fun to see again. Of course it was 

This week was full of good ol Christmas fun, we gotta go to a Zone Conference in Coventry which was so much fun I gotta meet my mission posterity And see my girl sister James again. We also went to Leicester to see a pantomime that was put on by the stake and we also gotta go to a Christmas carol concert so needless to say we are all Christ-massed out just about. And to make things even better I get to go to the promised land of Boston this week to hang out with the sisters there and share the gospel so it going to be a fairly wonderful week.

Needless to say I’m doing good and loving life.

So Merry Christmas! hope you all have a wonderful week leading up to it and  take some time to see Christ in it.

And family I’ll see you in seven sleeps!!
















Monday, 11 December 2017

Week 56

Well I feel like I really can’t talk about anything before I mention the fact that it Freaking snowed! Sister Hall and I woke up Sunday morning as per usual and then sister Hall screamed Sister Brown Sister Brown! It’s snowing! It actually took me back to when I was a Greenie and sister Vousden screamed the same thing at me “Sister Brown Sister Brown! It’s snowing!” Why is it that I’m never the first to realise it’s snowing? I thought I would have an internal alarm go off or something to notify me when it snows but alas the 17 years straight of being raised in Canada has done nothing for me. (Just kidding Canada I still love you take me back in 5 months?) 

A bit later we got the phone call that church was cancelled so we had a brilliant Idea that we would deliver service to the kind people of Stamford. So sister Hall and I each put on three pairs of trousers, sweaters and hoodies and jackets and socks and our very anti snow friendly boots and drove to the chapel to borrow the snow shovels. Upon or arrival there were a few members that turned up for church who hadn’t heard it was cancelled so they all nicely dressed in there Sunday best decided that since there was enough priesthood they would just do the sacrament. So sister Hall and I still in our very homeless looking duds went into the chapel and took the sacrament. We almost had to use the left over Christmas mince pies from the Christmas party a few nights before for the sacrament but unfortunately someone found bread so we almost had the most unusual sacrament service ever. But hey it’s one I probably won’t forget.

This week was filled with the Christmas spirit In between lending service in helping people decorate there tree, attending our relief society Christmas diner, attending a ward Christmas party in Leicester, drinking a ridiculous amount of hot chocolate, trying  not to fall and break our hips while walking through the snow, listening to as much Christmas music as possible and ending the week with watching the Christmas devotional which was soooo dang good! 

So ya it was a very cheer filled week oh and I can’t forget about the light the world advent calendar we’ve been doing. Funny story one of them was to help children by lifting there spirits and spending time with them and according to the white handbook it’s kind of a no no for us to be alone with or to be holding children so Sister Hall and I decided to drop off a treat to a family with some young children from our branch and I go a little carried away with playing with one of the little boys where he made a game of jumping off the furniture so I would have to catch him or he would fall, the second time he launched him self at me his head smashed into my face and for a second I seriously thought I might have knocked out a couple teeth (sorry mom) but praise the Lord they are all still there and accounted for. The parents laughed because the kid being a Fijian toddler apparently has a coconut for a head so the kid was totally fine but unfortunately I got the fattest lip of my life as a result haha So for future reference just listen to the white hand book and don’t touch the little kids even if they hurdle themselves at you or are the most adorable toddler you’ve ever seen.

On Saturday one of my Investigators from Swindon was Baptised I wasn’t able to go to his Baptism but I got a photo and I can imagine it was a pretty wonderful day for Bobby. He was the wolf pack guy I took a picture with and also one with his crazy gutting knife.

I gotta go hangout with Sister Johnson this week in Evington a suburb of Leicester but we unfortunately didn’t see to much of Leicester because she was super sick. But I got to redeem my trip to Leicester when I went to another Suburb called Glenfield and I got to drive around that crazy city with sister Blackburn. Leicester is nice but holy the driving is scary over there.

We were trying to be useful and help out a member for the light the world but we ended up with our car being packed with clothes going to Africa for about three days so needless to say we started to feel incredibly claustrophobic in there haha. We spread our wings a bit by going up to Burghly house. It’s funny because in England people just kinda stay inside and keep to themselves but Sister Hall and I discovered something that bring the English people out of there cozy brick homes... SNOW! It works wonders all day people were outside looking at the snow admiring the snow touching the snow and walking through it. Granted I think the main reason is that no one here knows how to drive on snow so they just avoid there cars and driving all together but it could also really be the fact that it hasn’t properly snowed in Stamford for about eight years.

So as you can tell this week I basically was just walking through a winter wonderland as well as preaching the gospel and serving as much as possible along the way so all in all it was a very good week. I love my area my companion and the work.

Love,
Sister Talia Brown 🇬🇧

3 westonbirt house

Monday, 4 December 2017

Week 55

Well I’ve made it safe and sound to Stamford and it’s been pretty much go, go, go ever since I got here. I got to go hangout with Sister Ohanyan from Armenia in Peterborough Wednesday to Thursday so that was fun. Something I noticed is that I’m quite a bit farther up north now then when I was in Swindon so I’m pretty much freezing my butt off now which is a sad story I think I’ve pretty much aclimatised so now I start shivering at +10 instead of -20 so it’s going to be a long winter I think. It also doesn’t help that it gets dark at 4 now so we had to resort to taking a selfie while using the glow from someone’s door way haha.

I got to go to Birmingham for a meeting so that was exciting and it was nice to see some of my friends and of course sister Romero!

Sister Hall is my new companion she goes home next Transfer so that’s crazy she is from New Zealand. It’s funny because when we talk on the phone people keep getting our voices mixed up so we are convinced that our accents are super confused now because we are so old in the mission! We’ve just been in England to long now I guess haha.

Of course we’ve been kicking Christmas off right by decorating our tree, sitting by our fireplace at the end of a cold day and eating Chocolate from our kinder advent calendar oh and also doing the light the world of course! The ultimate Christlike advent calendar.

It’s been pretty fun to be close to Boston on Sunday we went to my old ward mission leaders home for diner because they live in the Stamford branch boundary so I got to see the Hanson’s and there family so that was pretty happy! 

I’m pretty happy to be back over on this side of the mission I’ve definitely missed living in Lincolnshire! And oh how I’ve missed being called duck! 

Life is good though very busy but pretty dang good!