Week 48

So apparently England gets hurricanes? I'm more inland so it's just a
ton of wind but ya people are freaking out about the weather.

This week we got our transfer dodge... and I'm staying in Swindon for
another transfer! But the trio life is coming to an end sadly sister
Gee is leaving us for Derby but sister Chenna and I are staying
together so that will be good! Just sad that we have no more trio
life! Sister Chenna and I have decided that we are going to eat an
Indian diet which is basically vegetarian but with curry so I'm pretty
pumped for it she keeps telling me that we are gonna feel so much
better after this Transfer but I'm not so sure because it's starting
to get colder outside which means primarily our dinner appointments
are going to be roast dinners.. which is basically the opposite of
vegetarian.

So this week we got a referral so we biked to the bottom of Swindon
(1hr later) to meet this old man who joined the church in 1989 and
hasn't been able to go to church in the last 18 years but he has been
reading the Book of Mormon everyday watching general conference and
studying church material. And then on Sunday he came to church for the
first time it was so cool! He said it blew his mind that there was so
many people because when he first joined there was only 25.

This week we went on exchanges which wasn't to exciting except we
found some cool people that we are excited to follow up with this
week.

So in England proper sized apples grow from trees... not little crap
crab apples that are painful to eat but Freaking huge apples called
Brambly apples and they are so good I'm so proud of the fact that I
was walking saw this massive thing on a tree picked it and ate it!

The work in Swindon is slow but life is still good.




Love,
Sister Talia Brown 🇬🇧
3 westonbirt house
21 woodcutters mews
SN25 4DP
Swindon
England

Week 47

Well to be honest nothing to crazy happened this week and it was
probably not the happiest week of my mission experience but it's
thanksgiving so I think I'm just gonna say some things I'm thankful
for.

I am so thankful that my flat is on the main floor and that I don't
have to walk up a flight of stairs with my bike every morning and
every night. I am so thankful I have been able to come to England and
honestly come to love more people then I could ever imagine. I'm so
grateful that I have been able to have the means to provide for myself
while on the mission and being able to be dependent. I'm so grateful
for my loving family who have loved and supported me my whole life.
I'm so grateful for good friends who have continued to support me even
when we are so very far apart and communication is about once a week.
I'm so grateful for members who give us way to much food and love. I'm
so grateful for my bike that is making it possible to not be a walking
blimp right now from all the member food and love. I'm so grateful for
great companions who care and make the not fun moments more fun. I'm
very grateful to be serving in a country that is definitely just a bit
outside my comfort zone but not to much to that would completely send
me over the edge. I'm grateful for tender mercies like random nice
people in between doors of not so nice people who don't wanna hear
about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm grateful for technology
and being able to talk to friends and family. I'm so grateful for my
Heavenly Father who continues to amaze me when I think I've hit my
limit of what I can handle and then some how I'm able to handle the
next challenge. I'm so very grateful for the Atonement and that Jesus
Christ would go through something like that for someone like me. I'm
so grateful for the Prophet Joseph Smith who had the desire to ask a
question and had the faith to receive an answer to that question. I'm
so grateful that I've been able to be born in this dispensation when
the gospel is on the earth in its fullness and that I have the
opportunity to share its glad message. I'm so very grateful for my
life and for the trials I get that help me become better.

Transfer calls go out this Sunday so I guess we will see what happens

Love,
Sister Talia Brown 

Week 46

Well this week was a busy one we did a lot of finding and I'm pretty
sure we biked up and down Swindon at least twice a day this week or at
least that's how it feels.

This week we went too Wotton under edge with our District to go
finding after District meeting, it's a town in the middle of the
Cotswolds so it's gorgeous as you could expect I took about a million
photos. We hiked up a minor part of the Cotswolds (big Freaking hill)
and we could see Wales so that was really cool.

This week we stopped by our Brazilian Investigators oh man they are so
fun but also awkward because we speak English and they speak
Portuguese and we both have our google translates out just going back
and forth with our broken Portuguese and there broken English for an
hour but hey we figured it out. I'm now a master at saying thank you
and good bye and that's about it but hey we still got three more weeks
of this transfer so maybe I'll pick up some more.

I forgot that riding a bike makes me look like I'm being abused by my
companions I have a constant supply of bruises up and down my body.
Don't ask me why they just keep appearing.

On Sunday we went to a less actives home and watched the women's
session with her and it was honestly just so great to be taught
something. I love the analogy of the oil in the lamp and that we need
to keep filling ours up along with sharing our oil. I feel like as a
missionary sometimes it just feels like I'm sharing my oil with
everyone and then caught running low myself. But by watching
conference and going to church and the little things like praying and
reading the scriptures helps put drops back into my own lamp. So
needless to say I am beyond excited for General conference this week.
Again I'm also Freaking out because last general conference was
literally just the other day and now it's here again so time just
feels like it's flying these days.

Life is good Swindon is pretty and my companions are a ball



Love,
Sister Talia Brown 🇬🇧
3 westonbirt house
21 woodcutters mews
SN25 4DP
Swindon
England

Week 45

Well this week was a busy one we did a lot of finding and I'm pretty
sure we biked up and down Swindon at least twice a day this week or at
least that's how it feels.

This week we went too Wotton under edge with our District to go
finding after District meeting, it's a town in the middle of the
Cotswolds so it's gorgeous as you could expect I took about a million
photos. We hiked up a minor part of the Cotswolds (big Freaking hill)
and we could see Wales so that was really cool.

This week we stopped by our Brazilian Investigators oh man they are so
fun but also awkward because we speak English and they speak
Portuguese and we both have our google translates out just going back
and forth with our broken Portuguese and there broken English for an
hour but hey we figured it out. I'm now a master at saying thank you
and good bye and that's about it but hey we still got three more weeks
of this transfer so maybe I'll pick up some more.

I forgot that riding a bike makes me look like I'm being abused by my
companions I have a constant supply of bruises up and down my body.
Don't ask me why they just keep appearing.
  
On Sunday we went to a less actives home and watched the women's
session with her and it was honestly just so great to be taught
something. I love the analogy of the oil in the lamp and that we need
to keep filling ours up along with sharing our oil. I feel like as a
missionary sometimes it just feels like I'm sharing my oil with
everyone and then caught running low myself. But by watching
conference and going to church and the little things like praying and
reading the scriptures helps put drops back into my own lamp. So
needless to say I am beyond excited for General conference this week.
Again I'm also Freaking out because last general conference was
literally just the other day and now it's here again so time just
feels like it's flying these days.

Life is good Swindon is pretty and my companions are a ball



Love,
Sister Talia Brown 🇬🇧
3 westonbirt house
21 woodcutters mews
SN25 4DP
Swindon
England

Week 44

Well needless to say I'm feeling 22 after this week of birthday
shenanigans. But for real though I'm pretty partied out.

So my companions told all our diner appointments this week that it was
my birthday so I had not one not two but five birthday cakes this week
haha so we had a pretty good time with members. I felt very loved.

On Thursday at district Meeting my district celebrated my last days of
being 21 and we did that by almost setting the chapel on fire.... Just
kidding one of the Elders made chicken adobo for my birthday and the
only thing he had to make at the chapel was the rice. So halfway
during our District meeting he remembered the rice and ran out of the
room we were all super confused and then the fire
alarm went off so we ran down to the kitchen to see the poor elder
fanning smoke out the window from his destroyed rice. We spent the
next few minutes running around like chickens with our heads cut off
trying to figure out how to turn off the fire alarm. We finally called
the bishop and got it sorted but us poor missionaries were pretty much
scared after that experience. The chapel is fine by the way the rice
is just a bit charred.

This week we had a lot of DTR's (define the relationship) with
Investigators, I'm so old I had no idea what that acronym meant till
this week. So our teaching pool is under some major construction but
it's ok we are saying good bye to those who aren't ready so we can say
hello to those who are ready for the gospel.

My companions are so sweet on my birthday they made me breakfast in
bed and we had a good time seeing our Investigators and seeing our
Less active we are working with. That night we ordered Chinese food
for diner and watched a church movie so it was pretty a pretty magical
day haha Also my companions got me a Swindon magic round about t-shirt
because that's what Swindon is famous for haha.

I'm starting to realise just how huge and a bit hilly Swindon is it's
a really nice place though it definitely looks like England which is a
big change to Boston sometimes I'll turn a corner and have a major
deja vu moment because Swindon looks so much like Gloucester.

Life is good though and I was able to have a very happy birthday.

Love,
Sister Talia Brown 🇬🇧
3 westonbirt house
21 woodcutters mews
SN25 4DP
Swindon
England

Week 43

Well on Tuesday I left my beloved Boston for my new area Swindon!

Transfers were only slightly traumatic but against all odds I've made
it to Swindon with my bike and all my crap. Navigating trains is
probably my least favourite past time in the world I think now.

I met my new companions Sister Gee and Sister Chenna. Sister Gee is
from Provo Utah and she is incredibly sweet she is in sister James
group so she has only been out for three months. So Swindon is still
her greenie area. She is so funny I don't think I've laughed this much
for a while. Sister Chenna is from Andhara Pradesh ,vishakapatnam
(India) haha she has been out for four months and she is adorable but
funny enough she has a wicked sense of humour like telling sister Gee
she is acting like a drunkard or that she is like a light bulb open
off open off. Oh my days between the two off them I just sit there and
pee my pants haha. Oh also out of the three of us I'm the one with
cooking skills so I've been putting my home making skills to the test
this week but I made curry and I got sister Chenna's stamp of
approval.

So I got to Swindon and we had a Baptism to plan for that Saturday
holy stressful! It wasn't our areas baptism either it was the other
teams but they got there area closed so we were given there
Investigator and four lessons to teach him and a baptism to plan for
him but he is seriously as good as gold such a sweet heart and he
kinda even looks like Santa haha. So sister Gee sister Chenna and I
put on our big girl skirts and planned a baptism in less then a week!
But it went beautifully the only hitch was that the font wouldn't fill
but after we made an ensemble line with buckets we filled that thing
right up!

Guess what else happened this week! I gotta see my mission mom
(trainer) Sister Vousden! She was already planning on coming up to
help her sister move and of course because we are missionary's we were
there helping her move too so it was nice being able to see her and
talk to her after like six months.

So I am no longer in a car and I've been put on a bike again oh my
days it's really sad because when I was a greenie I thought I worked
through the whole aching feet and muscles time of my life but after
being in a car for six months all my missionary muscles have turned to
mush so I'm back to square one which is a bit depressing but hey it
gets made up for by the wicked flat we live in that is only across the
street from Aldi!

Something else that blew my mind this week was the ward here in
Swindon they have a 120 active members it was a bit overwhelming to
see so many people at church! I couldn't believe how many youth and
primary they had as well it was so cool.

Anyway this week should be a bit less high speed now that we don't
have transfers or a baptism.