Stories from Ruth # 29

This week has been CRAZY!

 

About thirty minutes after we got home last Monday I had finished doing the dishes and was at the table with my smoothie when I heard a strange noise. I called my companion and went over to the sink. It was turned off. I turned it on and the noise lessened and then I turned it off again. A little scared I opened underneath the sink and there was boiling water spraying everywhere! It was soaking the carpet and spraying so much that we could not keep up with it! We tried to turn it off but none of the knobs under the sink would budge. We even had a neighbor who tried to help us And they could not figure it out. When the water was about half an inch high on the floor and was getting onto the carpet, Sister Georgieva started getting scared because all the wires were getting soaked. Eventually we found a way to get to the boiler and turn off the hot water. The Elders then arrived and were able to turn it off. Well we met the woman who lives below us because it started to leak through her bathroom lights. A plumber did come the next morning and we got a brand new sink! Apparently one of the hot water pipes burst. Well our carpet it pulled up and is a tripping hazard. Also there are sharp spikes underneath it to keep it down so now that it has been lifted and pulled out I keep stepping on those.

On Tuesday we went to Great Dunmow where we met this woman who as soon as she opened the door began to laugh and said, "Oh Mormons! I would invite you in but right now we have guests." In shock we responded: "When can we come back?" "Oh anytime" etc. So yeah... It is a beautiful town with some very lovely people. Everytime we go now we just spend the day. We meet a lot of greek and english people there.

Wednesday is a blur.  

Thursday I turned 20! Ah! The elders in my district and Sister Georgieva suprised me with some Reeses Puffs and chocolate cake. Yes! We then went whiteboard finding with the maldon elders and as soon as we left the Lord helped us make it right on time to our bus! We then had a dinner appointment with the Lallyettes which is always fun! She made chinese and we had lemon cake, brownies, and ice cream for dessert! (No I did not tell any members that it was my birthday, this is just our typical Thursday dinner) Haha! Then we had a service activity with the releif society where we all made treats and brought them to less active sisters that nobody knew. I went with Sister Tofpik who made me brownies made with no egg or milk. They were made with coconut and honestly they are propbably the best brownies I have ever eaten. Well Sister Georgieva was assigned to visit a woman who's husband we had met in the park. He is a nonmember and had told us we could visit them. That night we got a text from the members active brother telling us not to. They were only being polite in the park. We were so mad when we got he text, however when she went they were happy to have them. The husband, Dan, remembered everything we had told him and wants to know more! The kids also adore the missionaries. On Sunday we saw the daughter at the chapel. She was only there to give something to her parents, but she told us that we could come over right in front of her brother!

 

Saturday we helped Ellen, a recent convert, pack. Then we went and did service with the elders where we helped paint Scotty, an investigators house. That day we went finding and I got told that I was a fake american because I do jot have an american accent. Later we went tracting and Sister Georgieva got complimented on her cool american accent.

Sunday we saw lots of less actives and part member families at church! It was crazy but so fun getting to meet them all or see when we can visit them again! I loved it! Also on the walk up to church we met a less active we dphad never met before. He did not come with us to church but we are seeing him next week! We then had a dinner with the Stewarts, a scottish family in the ward. Oh my days I love them! Scottish people are amazing! I have also realized how much my Robertson family looks Scottish since quite a bit of this ward is.  

Today we had a blitz in Braintree and one Chelmsford with the Wittham elders! It was a lot of fun! I truly do love finding and teaching people.

The scripture today is Helaman 3: 35 "Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God."
I love this scripture. It has deeply affected me.

This Week at Our House # 12

Mostly it was a good week. School went well, the kids are doing well. We had a little dessert for Ruth's birthday, though I am sure that I am not going to eat dessert every time I have a child away from home for his or her birthday, but the kids wanted to celebrate. Then we had to deal with the big mess with our church records and are back to the ward that takes an hour to get to. All I can say is that I detest bureaucracy.

1. John had two interviews and has a huge project requested for another possible job. So while none of these may work out, it always feels good to have something happening, after months of silence.
2.  My good kids are such a comfort to me in times like this. 
3. Ruth had a birthday. We will get to hear how it went Monday or Tuesday when she emails us.
4. Kate is moving along in reading the History of Church. Now if I have a question about church history or a quote from Joseph Smith, I can go to Kate and she knows all the details or looks up the full letter or sermon from Joseph Smith and reads it to me.
5. John has been having Johnny work much harder on computer stuff. He will work with Johnny late into the evening and on Saturday. I think this is good Johnny, though, because it is job training.
6. Adam tries very hard to shirk his school work. Thankfully, John is on my side about keeping him on task.
7. One cold afternoon Rachel, Anya, Adam, Joseph, Josh, and Arwen made a tent city in our home. I heard Rachel and Anya begging to move into Adam's tent and Adam saying they had too much stuff, but the Rachel squeezing her way in with what she said, "not that much stuff". They did clean it all up without much nagging, so I did not mind.
8. Anya helps me hang out the laundry everyday. She turns the clothes right side out and hands them to me with a clothespin. I like having her company.
9. We had a cold week and Joseph ran around and around and around. It is weeks like these that our house seems small. But it will warm up and he will want to run around outside again.
10. Joshua talks a lot. He has so much to say about anything and everything. It's cute, but he does not have an off button.
11. Arwen is reading her books well now. It's really cute to see her hold her books with her cute dimpled hands and point to each word. If she doesn't know a word, she says all the sounds and keeps reading without saying the word.
12. Susan still says she is Lila. She liked the tent city idea and she and Arwen have built smaller versions since the big one.
13. Sam had another grumpy week. I miss my happy baby, but have had enough babies to know that they go through stages and that is normal. He is just unhappy that he can't climb everything and break everything.

Pictures

Happy Birthday, Ruth

I have now been a mother for 20 years. I remember holding Ruth for the first time and feeling a little terrified and like I had not thought this through well enough. I held baby Ruth and realized that I was in for the long haul, there was no going back. There was work to be done and I would have to do it. And now, 20 years later, I am so glad that I did. I may have understood that there would be work, but I did not understand how much joy and happiness that work would bring me.

Ruth's reluctant to leave her teens and join the world of adults, as many of us felt at that transition. But, as I keep telling her-- twenties are a good time. There are many wonderful things that this next decade will bring to her, and I am excited about them. She'll come home from her mission a better person, find a spouse, marry, and have her first couple of children. She's stepped into a wonderful time. Being a missionary, dating, and marrying and having young children all have their difficulties, but they all hold fun, and joy that pales to anything a child can do.

My dearest daughter has grown into a choice daughter of God. I don't think I could adequately express Ruth's goodness. She's not only kind and serviceable, she is deeply good. When I think of who Ruth is, I think of the words of the 13th Article of Faith. Ruth is honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and does good to all mankind.

Stories from Ruth #28

Friday was beautiful! We went out and the sun was shining! Saturday morning we woke up to a blizzard. English weather is unpredictable. This week we did a lot of tracting which is always interesting since you never know what could be behind the door. We went tracting on this road called shrublands, and there were some of the nicest english people I have ever met on that road. Most of them shut us down or told us to come back but they were so nice about it! Haha! Sister Georgieva and I were in shock.

One of the people we taught on the street, was excited when we told him of the Book of Mormon. He told us that the idea that God sent us another book to help us know him made him feel valued. I loved the response, but best of all he accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and agreed to read it.
The Chelmsford Ward celebrated 50 years of having a chapel and they invited rhe mayor. Both wards combined and there was a lunchin afterwards. It was awesome! All the visitors loved it. They told us that they felt a special spirit that they never had before.

Our investigator Scotty argued with the Sisters about a month ago about whether worshiping Mary

was right or not. We admire and respect and even revere Mary, but we do not worship her, as she is not God. Well we called him and had a lesson, and he testified to us of how Mary was a chosen vessel of the Lord, but we should not worship her. Sister Georgieva and I were in shock since no one had told him that. Later we understood when we read Alma 7:10 "And behold, he shall be born of Mary, at Jerusalem which is the land of our forefathers, she being a virgin, a precious and chosen vessel, who shall be overshadowed and conceive by the power of the Holy Ghost, and bring forth a son, yea, even the Son of God." Because he had been reading the Book of Mormon and praying every day God had softened his heart and taught him the important truth when he was prepared. It was a great testimony to me of the convincing word of God.


 

Some things:
-Sister Georgieva compared other religions and a belief in Christ to turning on a lightbulb, but coming to the true church and feeling the spirit is when you turn on a heater as well. A lightbulb provides light it will not protect you against the cold.
-England's food is as reserved as its people.
-"Doing alright in missionary work is really doing not so well." Elder Shonemier
"I tried being vegetarian for a day, but members kept feeding me meat!" Elder Williams
-Sister Georgieva's explanation for why english people always say "ya right?": English people have to ask each other every day to see if one of them went mental. Their idea of fun is the pub
-Never ask an english person on St. Patrick's day what makes them happy or gives them hope because their response half the time will be the pub or alcohol

This Week at Our House #11 A little More Snow

This week was a pretty average school week. It rained all day Tuesday and then we woke up to snow on Wednesday morning. It was melted by midday and in the evening I took the kids to their youth activities and Kate went out with the sister missionaries while I did all the grocery shopping. By Friday it was nice and warm and the kids spent a lot of time playing outside.
 

1. John has been working pretty hard on different things, probably a good 10 or more hours a day to make himself more employable. 
2. I am astonished how long it takes me to grocery shop for this family now. I used to shop weekly, but now I do it every two weeks now to save on gas. It is always about 4 hours to leave, shop, come home, and then another hour more to get it all put away.
3. I loved all that Ruth had to say to Kate. I love how hard my two oldest girls are working and trying to have all the spiritual protection they can get to prepare to be mothers. I think of them as the virgins who have spare oil.
4. Kate has started to fill out her mission papers and we have found a dentist who is a member of the church and said he would help us with that part. We will make an appointment with him right away, but we will still need to find a doctor.
5. Johnny was sick this week. I knew he really didn't feel well because he complained, which he never does, and he didn't help at all, which he always does.
6. The weather has been a bit cold, but on the nicer days, Adam is outside. 
7. Rachel does not like to be sent to bed, so when we send her to bed, she stays up very late reading. She's been reading about 3 books a week, and only reads after she is sent to bed. 
8. Anya has made up a mystical world game that she has been playing with Joseph and Adam. She has also gotten everyone to go outside and play their store game again.
9. Joseph got a big treat because he read 4 books in two weeks, and he shared it all freely.
10. Josh asked Kate if Easter was tomorrow. Kate said no, that it is in April. He said, "Oh, well can we have it today then?" Josh came to me and said, "Mom, do you remember that time we had Easter on a Sunday?" And when I told Josh that it sounded like he was losing his voice, he said, "Or Adam stole it, or a dragon did."
11. Arwen told me that she had lost her paints, so I took them from the place I had hidden them and gave them to her. Then Arwen went outside and painted a bunch of rocks. 
12. No matter how hard we try, we cannot get Susan to stay in bed before midnight. When John gets a job, I think we will buy a lock and try and persuade her that way. An older friend of mine was telling me how she told her kids to just clothes their eyes and they would be able to get to sleep and it worked. I tried that too, but it failed.
13. Samuel loves to go outside. But we have to be very careful to watch him because he has also decided that it is perfectly fine to wander away. 

Pictures

Stories from Ruth # 27

So we have one brazilian investigator who is on date! He is struggling with coffee right now but is throwing it all out of his house! We have two old men who are very nice. And we are teaching a few uni students. One her name is Meggie and she is studying biology, and we are also teaching her roommate!

Guess who is coming to the England London mission in April. President Nelson and Elder Holland! I am going to meet the prophet! Or at least shake hands with him hopefully. Anyway it is still cool.

Sister Georgieva and I taught a lot of lesssons this week to a few former investigators that they found in town! All of them are really open to learning more and applying what we teach them into their lives! Until last Friday it had never occured to me that I would have to teach someone that after Christ the law of Moses was fulfilled, and that it is not necessary for our salvation to wear fringe just as it was not necessary for Adam and Noah. However, repentance and baptism are. We had a miracle this week where we were going through the Chelmsford elders phone and area book, because they were shut down when I left Cambridge, and we looked on the maps and found a part member family with a phone number. Sister Georgieva felt impressed to call them and the woman picked up. She had not had a call or visit from missionaries in over eight years. We visited her Saturday and she told us that her daughter had been telling her that there was never a time their family had been happier than when they had been going to church weekly, and they were considering coming back! Wednesday we had the mission tour with Brother Johnson which was a lot of fun since three zones got together in Hyde park! Sister Georgieva and I signed up for the choir which was one of my favorite parts. I also got to meet up with my companion Sister Cannon from the MTC!

Sister Georgieva and I taught this older guy named Kevin on Thursday. He is Catholic and we invited a member to teach with us who also used to be Catholic. The lesson went really well and now he is going to be reading the Book of Mormom which is really exciting! I know the Book of Mormon truly is the keystone of our religion. Without it we would not have this gospel or the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I would invite all of you to read it and listen to the talk "What Think Ye of the Book of Mormon" by Bruce R McConkie.

Tonight we visited a member who has been going through a lot. We testified to her of the atonement of Jesus Christ and I testified of the power of it in my life. She then asked me how I had gotten to the point I was from where I used to be. I told her that it was because I had began to read the Book of Mormon everyday and that I would never have come here or to this point if I had not done so. She stopped and almost cried and told me that she had just started again to listen and to read it every day, that that is what she had decided to do after her Christmas trip to America. It really touched me that God truly directs us and guided us that he gives to us what they need to hear. He has promised such in D&C 21:11 as we obtain his words.

And part of her to letter Kate is worth putting here:

I love having Sister Georgieva as my companion because she has all these books by Bruce R

McConkie and we have been reading that and teachings of the prophet Joseph Smith together! We read today about how sacrifice brings the faith necessary for salvation and were just discussing that that is part of why a mission was so important for both of us. That we have to sacrifice in order to develop any faith that we might be saved and begin the path to enter into the kingdom of God. I am so glad that I am here on my mission. To me it would be agony not to be here. I am so glad about the way you are preparing and how blessed you are for that! It truly is what we both needed to prepare us to have righteous families, learn more about the gospel, and direct us to be on the Lord's side. Honestly I think it is what we needed in order to truly develop faith and prepare to protect our families. I do not think we would live happy lives if we were not preparing.

This Week at Our House #10 Some Sickness Returns

The week was pretty ordinary except that Kate, Rachel, and Joseph began feeling sick again. They weren't sick like they were before, but they felt sick and stayed down and did not eat. I was not surprised because we had a stomach flu like this years ago where some of us kept feeling sick on and off over a month or two.

1. John heard nothing back from jobs. He is working all day to find ways to make money without having to work for someone. He needs something now, though. It is so hard to have no income at all.
2. I got my clothesline and clothespins this week. The laundry is simpler and gets done faster this way, much to my surprise. I can get our usual 3 loads hung out in about 2 hours, and they don't take long to dry, so the laundry is not an all day routine now. I feel blessed that I was able to make this change because the heating unit to the dryer died on Friday. I was still giving the towels one time through in the dryer to soften them, now we will just have hard towels. I would have been in tears if I did not already have a good alternative. I feel silly writing this, though. I grew up helping my mom hang clothes out to dry and never occurred to me that it was a good option.
3. Susan looked at the pictures that Ruth sent and said, "Ruth gets a snowman." Ruth felt just as happy about that, I think. She has always loved snow.
4. Kate can't read when she is sick because it makes her nauseous. Since reading is one of her favorite things, that makes it a lot harder to be sick. When Kate was 6 she told me that she had a primary lesson on talents and she thought her talent was watching tv. Now she almost never watches tv, but loves to read.
5. John has been giving Johnny much more intense lessons on computer programming, hoping that he can use this to support his family in time.
6. Adam is really good with Sam. I love seeing the older kids holding and playing with the babies. It's a nice part of having a large family.
7. Rachel was sick for most of the week, and the rest of the week, she spent in her room building a very large apartment building out of legos. The young women's president in our ward came up to me today with camp paperwork. Rachel will be 12 and moving on to young women's in a few more weeks. She will only have one more Sunday of primary singing and sharing time because we have stake conference and general conference two of those weeks. I still can't grasp this as real. Rachel still seems so young to me.
8. Anya is learning all of the states, their capitols, and where they are on the map. She pronounces the states and their capitols phonetically. It's fun to hear her say them.
9. Joseph was the other sick kid. I could tell that he really didn't feel well because he actually stopped bouncing around for about 24 hours.
10. I am just pleased with how well Joshua is reading now. He is even starting to enjoy it, and he is reading some picture books on his own time.
11. Arwen loves candy and cake and she will only get these treats if she focuses and does her school work without being nagged. She has been very conscientious about doing a good job everyday now. What was taking her an hour or more to get done, she now finishes in 10 minutes. 
12. When Johnny asked me what he could make for lunch, Susan jumped up and said, "Johnny, make marshmellows! Let's have marshmellows!"
13. Sam has been throwing big screaming on the floor temper tantrums over the sillies things. He had one during the Sacrament today when we did not let him eat all the bread on the tray, and another one later today when John would not let Sam chew on John's headphones.

Pictures

In a competition to get a basket first, John and Adam threw the ball and "made" a basket at the same time.

I made cinnamon rolls and Kate made pizza and John took a picture of his good luck.

Rachel's wedding "scene" for lego story play.

Anya's farm "scene" for lego story play.

Sam brought his giraffe into our bed and this is how I found John when Sam and I got out of bed.