Stories from Ruth # 43

 

"The time will come when only those who believe deeply and actively in the family will be able to preserve their families in the midst of the gathering evil around us." Spencer W Kimball 

I fell down the escalator in kings cross station. You know the station in Harry Potter? Yeah, that one. Elder Ramos walked past us as we were moving all the bags saying we were a mess. Humph. Then two minutes later I was carrying two big suitcases as we got on the escalator. And as the stairs separated I realized that both suitcases were titled off. So first the lower suitcase fell. Then I fell. Then the suitcase above me fell. Thankfully I jumped out of the way so it did not hit me or anyone else. The only injured thing was my pride and half of my nail ripped off so there was blood everywhere. At the bottom of the escalator people were just jumping over the suitcases. One lady even jumped on them like a cat. I wish I had seen it. My companion could not stop laughing. Neither could I.

I moved to Enfield Which is back in the Watford zone! On Saturday we're actually going to Watford

as a stake so I will be able to see some of the members and Michael (my recent convert) again! When I moved here there were a lot of people to work with, so every night we have been running home to make it home by 9pm and then having dinner. We are in a huge four sister flat with three bathrooms and a beautiful kitchen. When we came in with the other sisters and elders in our ward (we are in a ward with six missionaries) we were whitewashed, so there was a lot of luggage. My companion is Sister Lotter from Australia! She served with Sister Cannon and Sister Nunes and knew Elder Williams from back home. Wild. Then the other two sisters are Sister Kaithwas and Sister Thiruthuvaraj. Both are from India. Then for the elders we have Elder Polishcuck from Ukraine and Elder Park from Korea. Basically I am the only american again. Haha! I love it.

 

The ward here is awesome! There are almost no white people and the ones who are from Italy or Spain. Basically everyone is from Nigeria, Ghana, or Uganda. We have like two English families. There is one really sweet family from Ecuador who we help her daughter with homework and she will teach us Spanish and we will teach her English.

We saw so many miracles this week with all of our hard work, but I want to talk about one. She was on date for the 7th of July from the sisters who were whitewashed, so they referred her to Sister Lotter when they left. We went over to her house and she invited us in. She is the sweetest woman and beleives in Jesus Christ. She joined a methodist church a while ago, but always felt like something was missing. Then about a year ago, her uncles family in America joined the church and taught her about it. They had skype lessons with her and the missionaries in America and one day when she was sick an elder over there prayed for her and she was healed almost immediately. After that and reading the Book of Mormon with the Bible she knew that the church was true. The missionaries referred her to the missionaries over here. She knows the church is true, and believes that Joseph Smith really was a prophet of God who saw God and Jesus Christ and restored his church onto the earth today. On Sunday President Checketts came and interviewed her. During the interview AP Elder O'Hare asked if we had the baptismal form. We did not. So we ran home. And ran back right as she got out of her interview. We were just dripping in sweat because it was 30 degrees Celsius. Long story short, we made it back in time. Oh and did I mention I was in heels so I ran barefoot. Well, anyway, she passed! And will get baptized on Friday! I am so grateful that I get to be a part of this miracle. 

Ether 12:24 cAnd thou hast made us that we could write but little, because of the awkwardness of our hands. Behold, thou hast not made us mighty in writing like unto the brother of Jared, for thou madest him that the things which he wrote were mighty even as thou art, unto the overpowering of man to read them."

This scripture really struck me for two reasons. First was the humility of Ether. He says that God makes them that way. He has made them strong in writing, to write scripture, but they are still not as great as God is. Their words are not unto the overpowering of man just as it is to hear God. We are not faithful enough to be worthy to live in God's presence, but as we seek to abandon the world and become like him then we will learn his way and enter into his kingdom with his perfect laws, on the path to become as he is.

This Week at Our House #26

We are hanging in there. CPS still has not closed our case. We had another visit, but this time she just stood in the doorway and apologized that she still had to come. Still, this is probably the hardest thing I have had to live through. I love my kids. They are my life. I do everything for them day and night and have for 20 years. I want this stress to leave.

1. John had a job interview and he said that it seemed to go well. We will see if he hears back. 
2. I took kids to more dentist appointments, went grocery shopping, took one trip to the beach with the kids and did a whole lot of house work. It has been very hot and humid, so the house has been getting messier faster. 
3. Ruth will remain in the London mission. That means she might get to serve near the London Temple and she gets a new mission president.
4. Kate will have dental surgery to remove her wisdom teeth on Tuesday, so we are having our steak and watermelon 4th of July meal today because she will only be able to eat soft foods for the following week. 
5. Johnny has spent a lot of time computer programming this week. He is a real diligent worker. 
6. Adam had his two cavities filled and he was as calm as can be. 
7. Rachel has missed out on a lot of young women's things because of where we live. She will miss out on girl's camp too because we cannot send her away from home without knowing the people she will be with. I hope to get this fixed so she can enjoy her young women's days.
8. Anya, my sweet, draws pictures and makes up stories all day long.
9. Joseph said that he loves his chicken most of all. Joseph has gotten very excited about my garden. He loves to go in and see what is growing and pick the ripened vegetables. We have watermelon, honey dew, tons of butternut squash, yellow summer squash, onions, and tomatoes growing now.
10. When we went to the beach, Josh did not have to go because John did not, but he went and he swam the whole time and had a wonderful time. The water was perfect too. It was warm, the waves were tall but too crashing, so it was gentle and fun and Josh loved it.
11. Arwen is currently sleeping on the couch with a little kitten under her arm. It's very cute.
12. Suzy has been claiming her name as Suzy or Susan or Lila now. 
13. Sam sat down with a book and sang, "Dad, dad, dad" for every page and he did it during family scripture study.

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Stories from Ruth #42

I am leaving Chelmsford and moving to Enfield. I keep flip-flopping between the Ipswitch and Watford Zones. This means I will stay in the London Mission! We will meet our new president and some London South missionaries next week. I will miss Chelmsford a lot, especially the members.
On Monday we had permission to go to Cambridge. We had a lot of fun with the Cambridge Sisters, Sister Jung and Sister Shin. Sister Lezano and I stopped by Sister Lucas and got to see Huck and her new baby Micah! Then we went to the chapel next to kings college and went to the top! It was a gorgeous view but we had to climb up a long set of steep stairs about two feet wide.

This week we had a miracle. Sister Lezano and I were finding and we stopped and talked to this guy on a bench. His name was István from Hungary. I told him that someone I had known in Cambridge served as a missionary there. We talked to him about the gospel and about church. He agreed to meet us the next day and to have a tour of the chapel. István also said that he wanted to come for church. While we were talking to him his girlfriend came up. At first she asked him "Going to church?! How did they convince you to do that?" Then we explained to her about the gospel and the church and invited her to come as well and she agreed. She was also from Hungary and her name is Greta.
The next day they came to the lesson and we had the member from Cambridge who had just gotten home from her mission my first transfer in Cambridge. It was amazing. They both felt the spirit and had so many questions. After the lesson we asked them how they felt and István said that this chapel felt warm unlike the church in Hungary. Greta agreed. She said that it was very calm. We explained that was a spirit and gave them a Hungarian Book of Mormon. They told us that they would come back for church.

They agreed to meet us on Friday but we learned that István lived in the elders area, so we would have to refer him. On Friday only István showed up because Greta was in London and he introduced him to the elders who taught him.

On Sunday they came! It was so amazing! Greta lives in our area, so we were not sure who would teach them, so we had a conjoined missionary lesson with them this morning that went well! They are so cute and sassy! They both have so many questions and want to learn more. After church István found and watched the restoration, the whole hour film, on his own and it answered a lot of his questions.

Saturday night we had a combined service activity at Luana and Antonio's. Luana is a convert to the church, and Antonio is not a member. The first thing they had me do was clean spider webs off of a table and chairs. The spiders out here are big and I do not like spiders, so it was a lot of screaming, hitting, and jumping, until they moved me to trimming the bushes. I happily obliged. We then had an italian dinner, since they are both from Italy. At the end of the lesson and after the prayer Luana asked the elders to give Antonio a blessing for his health, and they did. It was powerful and he was better the next day.

I love the priesthood. I am grateful for worthy priesthood holders in my life.
I wanted to share a quote I found this week by Elder Neal A Maxwell: "Comparatively, brothers and sisters, it matters very little what people think of us, but it matters very much what we think of Him. It matters very little, too, who others say we are; what matters is who we say Jesus is. (See Matt. 16:13–17.)"

I know this is true. We need to put God and first in our lives. That is the first and great commandment to love the Lord with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength. That means, putting him first in our lives.

This Week at Our House #25 Dentist, a Birthday, and the Beach

This week was an intense dentist week. I took Joseph for a filling on Monday. Kate and Joseph had their oral surgeon consultation on Tuesday. They're putting them both under general anesthesia. Wednesday, I took Anya to get her two fillings done, and Thursday, I took Adam and Josh in to get their teeth cleaned. And the trend will continue. Adam has his first filling to be done tomorrow, and Suzy sees the pediatric dentist to get some fillings on Tuesday. Then on July 2nd at 8:15 Joseph will get his two bottom 6 yr old molars pulled because they are too rotten to fix. (Don't worry, it means he will have space for his wisdom teeth.) Later that day, Rachel will get her one cavity filled at the regular dentist. At 10:45am on July 3rd, Kate will get all four of her wisdom teeth out. Then on July 18th, Johnny and Arwen will get their teeth cleaned and we will see if they have any cavities. Plus, Adam will need one more appointment to get his second cavity filled, which I will make on Monday. Then I will have to make appointments for 6 months out. We had our first dentist visits at the end of May. This is when having a big family is not so fun. But we did manage to get in two trips to the beach, after dentist appointments, and a fun little birthday party for Suzy.

1. Well, John never did hear back from the job interview, so I believe it was a dodge saying they would get back to him, and he has only sold about 10 copies of his game. But just when everything seemed rather discouraging, he got a request for an interview with another company for this coming week.
2. I spent a lot of time in dentist offices this week, and that trend will continue for a little while. I also got to enjoy the beach twice. That's the best part of living where we live. I love the Atlantic Ocean and I love to swim, and John and the kids love it too.
3. Ruth seems to be doing well. I know she is loving her mission.
4. Kate did all the baking for Suzy's birthday. She made these adorable mini chicago style deep dish pizzas, and 4 ice cream cake rolls. Kate is a very good cook, and she makes things look nice too.
5. Johnny had not been very interested in the ocean this season yet until this week when the temperatures felt well into the hundreds because of the humidity. He dove right in the last time we went to the beach. All spring, he felt like it was too cold.
6. Adam has been working on making 3D animated space ships using a program called Blender. He likes to do it, so this is the one thing that we do not need to nag him about at all.
7. Some fire ants decided to move into our house, so we decided to vacuum them and put down some poison, but Rachel got 23 ant bites and spent a whole night awake playing games with John, who also couldn't sleep, and complaining about fire ant bites.
8. Anya has been disappearing to her room to build legos, and then every now and then, I notice her sitting on the couch next to me with her head rested against my leg or arm. Then she disappears to create some more.
9. Joseph loves to swim at the beach. It makes him so happy when he does it, but before he gets there, he always says he doesn't want to go.
10. Josh said, "I hate the beach, but I love the ocean. I hate the beach because of the sand, but I love the ocean because you swim in it." During church today Josh made up a game and drew it out. He said it was a video game and it had five levels with fighter ships and bosses to defeat. He made sure that I saved it and brought it home so he could finish it after church.
11. During Arwen's prayers she asked twice for no tornados, and help to know where the invisible snakes and invisible snapping turtles are. Then she prayed for cats, horses, and dogs. John asked her why she prayed for those animals and Arwen said that Anya says that, so she started to say it in her prayers too. Out of the blue, Arwen said, "I like Ruth." John asked her why she said that, and she answered, "One day Ruth played with me with all three unicorns."
12. Suzy of course had her birthday. She is four now, and still won't dress herself. She says it is too hard. Ruth said the same thing at the same age.
13. Sam was very cute this week. He is starting to talk a lot more and he understands things very well. When I needed to change his diaper, he brought me the diaper and wipes, then pointed to his diaper and said, "poop, poop, poop." When I told Rachel to give him a bath, he stood beside her, took her hand, and started walking her toward the bathroom. One afternoon when I was at a dentist appointment, Sam came up to Kate to give her a hug. She hugged him and then he immediately slumped down and started lightly snoring.

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