This Week at Our House #13 Easter and General Conference

We had a normal week of school, followed by an exciting weekend. Friday night began our spring break. We have not taken a day off from school since January 1st, and have not even had a field trip. This will be a welcome break. Saturday and Sunday were General Conference and Sunday was Easter! All of these are a great way to begin spring break!

1. John has now had two interviews in which they have asked him to do a huge project. He worked 30 or more hours this week on two projects requested to see if he will move on to another portion of the job interviewing process for a company. It seems almost criminal, since he is not paid and they may use his code, but he needs the job and he can use these projects to show what he can do in the future if this job does not work out. He learned a lot with this too.
2. I enjoyed our fun weekend of Easter and General Conference. I was so happy to have them combined this year. It seemed perfect.
3. I sure miss being able to talk to Ruth on a regular basis. Yet I am so proud of how she is doing. She is strong and good. We missed having her around for Easter.
4. Because of our church record fiasco, Kate's mission paper opening and starting was probably undone. But I think we can still go ahead with her medical and dental and getting her drivers license since they only have to be done no more than 6 months in advance. I cannot even think of Kate going, though. There will be such a blank left in our family. But serving a mission is Kate's deepest desire.
5. I've finally got Johnny to write for the story club. I had no idea what a good writer he is. 
6. We had nice weather this week and Adam spent a good deal of time outside. He has been the force getting other kids outdoors and playing different games. Over spring break, I will be having him dig trenches in my garden. He likes to dig holes, so hopefully this will not ruin it for him.
7. Rachel has my long feet and she hates them. She is very tiny, for her age, and she says that it is not fair that her feet are too big. Kate has tiny feet. Rachel's feet are almost the same length as Kate's.
8. We have learned to call Anya our professional ignorer because she is there and she is taught, but she tends to take that time to daydream or sleep. Of course, we are working to convince her to focus her mind when it is important.
9. I was woken up from an short nap in the late afternoon Thursday by Susan, Arwen, Joshua, and Joseph making a lot of noise and commotion. Apparently there was a large bug in the garage. Joseph squished it and it's guts came out. This whole little group of kids were stunned. They were not sure what it was. Joseph said, "I did not know guacamole would come out." And then they were questing whether or not that meant that the bug was dead and if the guacamole was the bug guts. My city have moved to the country!!! 
10. Joseph convinced Josh to share his m&ms (Josh's reading treat) by telling him to throw them at him so he could catch them in his mouth. Joshua thought that was a good game and readily tossed lots of m&ms at Joseph's face.
11. Arwen is a very helpful and capable little 5 year old. She cleans and organizes exceedingly well for her age. She is a great comfort to me, but I don't think she really knows it.
12. Susan came to me and said, "Are you a girl?" I replied in the affirmative. She then said, "I'm a girl. I'm a princess. So I am beautiful. I am pretty like a flower." Later that night she was looking at her reflection and sang, "I am beautiful. You are beautiful," to it. Getting out of the car one night after dark, Susan listened to the frogs and crickets for a moment and said, "What's that beeping?"
13. The night I grocery shopped, I came home with everyone's reading treats. Anya requested some m&ms. While she was opening them, Sam was watching. He put his hands in the air, bounced up and down and said, "Yay, yay, yay!" in a very excited voice. Sam has taken climbing to a whole new level. He is up on the counters and everything else. He is moving chairs to get things he wants. In one day he moved the chair to the front door to try and unlock it; he pushed a chair up to the bar to climb up, he climbed on the table and on the counter by the kitchen sink by using the table; and he stood up to play the piano in the middle of family scripture study.

Pictures

We had our candy hunt outside this year. That was a nice change.

watching general conference

Our traditional Lamb dinner for Easter

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.