HEY CANTERBURY

Yo familio!

This week has probably been one of the best weeks and the worst at the

same time! We celebrated Chinese New Year on Monday and it was a

success, 60 people attended which was way more than we expected and

everyone had a lot of fun. Our ward mission leader is great! The sad

part is that he got released as well this Sunday and now I am leaving

Colchester :'( I am getting transferred to Canterbury to follow up

train Sister Carr. Happy to face a new challenge but I have become

really attached to Colchester and the members!

Miracles for this week, we have 10 (TEN) PEOPLE ON DATE FOR BAPTISM!!!

I am happy that we are finishing on a high and are leaving this area a

bit better than how we found it 😄

Sister Sydney Johannes

I'M PRETTY MUCH CHINESE

This has been a very normal missionary week. It wasn't necessarily bad, nor was it super good. So it was average. 

MONDAY We went to Ipswich for a Zone Pday. We played sports & ate pizza. At one point we did this weird trust exercise (not really sure if that's actually what I can call it hahah) where I had to walk on all the missionaries' hands across the gym. That's a really bad way to explain it. So they held hands with another missionary & while they were standing up I had to walk across their hands.... Anyways, just know that it was scary. 

TUESDAY We taught someone today who speaks no English, so by "we" I mean "my companion taught & I pretended like I understood." Then we taught a few of our other friends at the university. A member who is 16 & preparing for his mission came with us for the last half of the day. In between a couple lessons, we bought pizza (I think that was the highlight of his day). Then we went to Youth Night & played games with the young women. 

WEDNESDAY This morning we went to the uni super early to meet a friend called Heydon. While we were teaching him, a girl came to us & asked if we were a part of a religious club on campus. We explained to her that we were missionaries & while Sister Lung continued to teach Heydon, I talked with Clara about what we do as missionaries. She was so interested & so excited to meet with us. After, we taught Heydon & put him on date for March 18th! Such a miracle! 

THURSDAY Today was Sister Lung's birthday! We went to a Japanese restaurant & Sister Lung ate sooo much raw fish. Then we saw a couple friends & put them on date! We had correlation in the evening & our ward mission leader brought cake & party hats. 

FRIDAY We had zone meeting & learned about the importance of the sacrament, both for the people we are teaching & ourselves. Then we had zone lunch at Subway & went back to Colchester to see our friends. 

SATURDAY We helped paint someone's house in the morning, then saw some friends. 

SUNDAY We taught the Plan of Salvation in Young Women's class. Then we went to visit an elderly member in a care home & sang to her, then we did weekly planning & had dinner at a member's home. 

MONDAY All day long we prepared for the Chinese New Year family home evening ward activity (that's such a long name). It was so fun & so many of our friends came to the activity! I'm a professional at making Chinese food as well hahaha. 

Sister Sydney Johannes

LIFE ISN'T EASY

Okay I've rubbish at keeping a journal this transfer, so I can't really remember what happened this week. But in short: 

- We had exchange & I went to Ipswich while Sister Lung stayed in Colchester. She put someone on date for baptism in February & I taught a 10 year old Portuguese girl & met a crazy less active Chinese member. 

- Remember when I said how creepy we were & that we find people through Facebook? IT WORKED! We talked to someone & he said he wanted to meet right then, so we met him & put him on date for February! It's crazy! 

Taniesha & her family were baptised! 

- We had a really good lesson with a part member family we are working with & the mom (who is not a member) came to Taniesha's baptism & felt the spirit so strong. She wants to be baptised! 

- We had a service night where we packed boxes of food to give to the refugees in Calais. It was a fun night & my arms are super buff now from lifting all the heavy boxes. 

- I hit my 8 month mark! 

- I sing all the time. No joke. At church: singing. In a lesson: singing. Knocking on doors: singing.  Exercising: trying to sing but failing. Raining: singing. Sunny: singing. I don't even care anymore if people hear me sing because I know I'm terrible & I've embraced it. 

- Our friend who was baptized called the Melchizedek priesthood the mel-cheese-adek priesthood in his testimony lol. 

Okay now I'll share something I learned this week/this transfer/throughout my whole life:

It is necessary that we go through trials & hardships in order to become more like our Heavenly Father. In all things there must be opposition, but when we face that opposition & overcome it, we are able to learn & grow. We are able to become the person that our Father in Heaven sees us to be. Missions aren't easy, life isn't easy, & choosing to be a disciple of Christ will never be easy. But we can find comfort in knowing that after every trial, comes a blessing. Each challenge is leading us down a path to the best blessings. So never give up, just keep going. 

Sister Sydney Johannes

迎猴晚會

AHHHH I love and miss you. Thanks to everyone who has sent me emails recently. I cannot thank you enough for all the support you have given me. This week was pretty normal, nothing too special or too crazy.

MONDAY We went bowling with our district! I've wanted to go bowling my whole mission, & I finally convinced everyone to go. Yasssss. 

TUESDAY This morning we had district meeting, then went to lunch at a Chinese buffet, then to the university to teach our friend named Andrew. He is from New York! Seriously one of the only Americans I've met since coming to England hahaha. 

WEDNESDAY The best part of this day was that our recent convert, Liu, bought us lunch. We did a bunch of finding as well. In the evening, our district came together to watch a worldwide missionary broadcast. The leaders talked to us about teaching repentance & baptizing converts. One of the most powerful statements I heard was said by Elder Anderson. He said that if we speak of Him, Jesus Christ, He will speak of us to our Father in Heaven. As missionaries & representatives of Jesus Christ, we need to "always keep His name on our lips." We need to use every opportunity we have to share about Him & His resorted gospel. 

THURSDAY Today was an average day. In the evening we had a dinner appointment with the Watling's, but ended up accidentally arriving 40 minutes early. We decided to stop by a former investigator that lived in the area to make the most of the time. When we got there, she immediately let us in & was so excited to see us. We talked about her experience with missionaries in the past & she said that the reason she had stopped meeting with them before was because she had no time with the job she is working. But she recently got a new job & has time to meet with us again! She also shared that normally she is not back from work at the time we stopped by, but today she finished early! It was amazing that the Lord has provided both us missionaries & her with time to see each other this day! 

FRIDAY Today we met an older member in town to teach with us at the university. Oh my, she is so full of energy & loves life. It's impossible not to smile when you are around her. When we got to the uni we taught a 7 Day Adventist & committed him to baptism. Then we were supposed to teach two investigators at 2 & 3, but they both slept in... Until 3:30. Sometimes teaching uni students is hard hahahah but I remember doing the same thing when I was at byu, so I can understand them. Later that evening we also had a dinner with a part member family & they made us Indian spinach curry with fish & it was so good (MOM I ATE MORE FISH!!). 

SATURDAY Today we were supposed to teach one person, but they blocked our number, so we are lunch with the member we were with, Jason. He told us he wanted to study fashion & then critiqued our outfits hahaha. We saw some other people, & then made cookies for the ward. 

SUNDAY We had ward council & church. Four investigators came to church! It was a miracle because we didn't think they would all be able to come! After, we went to visit a care home & sang with the elders. Then went to the Bueno's home for lunch. 

RANDOM THINGS

- Because we are a Facebook mission, & we are in a university area, we have to start using Facebook to find investigators. So we add a bunch of random people, then message them & eventually lead it to a gospel conversation, then we set appointments, teach them, & baptize them (hopefully). It's so different than normal finding & I feel so creepy doing it, but we have gotten a few really good investigators by doing it. 

- Sister Lung & I are planning a ward activity for Chinese New Year & it will be sick. 

- OUR FRIENDS ARE GETTING BAPTIZED THIS SATURDAY!!! 

I love you all. Keep being you. 

Sister Sydney Johannes

MOSIAH 7:33

Oh hey! It's pday again! I feel like every week goes by so fast I seriously cannot keep up. This week was really good! We had interviews with President & Sister Stevens on Tuesday. We were given some trainings about the atonement from both Sister & President Stevens, which inspired me to study the atonement throughout the rest of this week. 

One talk I studied was In the Strength of the Lord by David A. Bednar. It talks about both the healing & the enabling power of the Atonement. He starts with a quote by David O. McKay which says, "The purpose of the gospel is . . . to make bad men good and good men better, and to change human nature." Which he goes on to explain that bad doesn't just mean wicked & evil, but the natural man. The atonement is able to help us to put off the natural man, & then, from there, we are able to be strengthened to become saints, or go from good to better. One way we can do this is by praying & asking for strength to overcome trials, not asking for our circumstances to be change. We are then able to become a force that acts, & not an object to be acted upon. 

I have no idea how to explain all of that in an email, so just know it all makes more sense in my head than it does written out. 

We decided to go through out area book this week & call some former investigators to see if they were willing to listen to the messages again. We were able to set up quite a few appointments, one of them with a man named Gordon. Two years ago, when the missionaries met him, he was homeless. But he turned his life around & is now working, owns a home & a car. He was a little bit sceptical when we first talked about God, but throughout the lesson, his heart was softened & he ended up accepting a baptismal date for the 26th of February! 

We saw a lot of other miracles as well! We met with a woman whose husband had just left her & her kids. She is such a strong woman & is trying to teach her three children to follow Christ. In our first lesson with her, the children loved us & didn't want us to leave, & she accepted to come to church with us & her family. 

On Friday, Sister Lung & I both woke up really ill. She had a bad cold & I had been throwing up all night. We had to stay in for the first part of the day, but we had appointments with some of our investigators, so at 12 we left our flat. Oh my days. We were both like zombies. Soooo dead. We managed to make it through the whole day & even went to "play" volleyball with the youth & one of the families we are working with. When the elders saw us they were so surprised we were even out of our flat cuz we both looked like we were dying, but hey! The Lord blessed us for working & we are both 100% okay now! 

I love you all! 

Sister Sydney Johannes