Missionary Picture #1 (October 19, 2010)

I have a friend who served in the England London Mission and she sent me this picture last night she found on Facebook. Emma with her trainers! Wahoo! She's got to be the cutest dressed sister missionary ever. I was wearing Eddie Bauer and Lands End at the beginning of my mission. What a geek!

Missionary Letter #3 (October 18, 2010)

i have ten minutes to email because we're not sure if i'll be able to email tomorrow because we're going to our missions!! baaaaah! i'm going to my trainer!

one more tracting thing, sis c had to pee sooooo bad and we were just in a neighborhood. so we went to this little drugstore and there was no bathroom, and the store owner wouldn't let her use her bathroom in her home because then she'd have to close the store. haha sis c was sooooooo desperate and this little chinese girl came walking into the store so sis c asked if she lived nearby and if we could use her toilet!! haha! it was so hilarious. the cute little chinese girl was just like, uh, no...but sis c was so desperate she was willing to do anything. haha we ended up going across the street and using her toilet. her english wasn't very good, she was there for school (we went to lancaster) and so we talked to her for a little bit, gave her a book of mormon, and told her it would help her with anything she needed help with and gave her the church address. i don't think she really understood what was going on. we just kept handing her passalong cards and pamphlets and things. hahaha. woops! then sis f, a sister in my district, was like, "hey, bladders convert" and told us a bunch of stories like that. so awesome.

loooooooove,

sister cutie

Missionary Letter #2 (Oct 13, 2010)

oh gosh then we went contacting on friday in manchester. most stressful thing of my life. especially when they're like, talk to everyone, talk to every single person you see. so i'm like totally stressed out the whole time and i had to go up and start pretty much every conversation because sis c was really scared. i was like hey, i thought YOU were supposed to be the bold one. i guess one of us had been planning for reality and how scary it would be, and the other one had no idea how scary it was actually going to be. haha.

today we did a church history tour and saw where the first people were baptized and where the first missionaries came, and then we went to a tiny town that's where the painting above mom and dad's bed is. it's the cutest little town that this lord has made everyone preserve so there's no electricity. reminds me of the cotswolds. we'll have to go there when we come back. but a ton of people were baptized there and heber c kimball was talking to joseph smith about that place and joseph smith said that some ancient prophets were there and they blessed that land! how cool is that? it was so peaceful and nice, it did feel sacred. it was such a beautiful little town. everything stone and a little church and ivy growing on the houses and things. i was like, oh yeah, this is why i love england. wish it was possible to serve in places like that. probably not. 

it's been nice weather here, so during exercise we get to go outside and play football. yesterday i almost headed it! woo! i played defense like the whole time but then i started like actually running up for offense too and i kicked the ball into the district leader's crotch. uuuuuuh woops! haha! and then i ran round the track and there was a dead rabbit on the trail. pooooor peter rabbit :(

an area seventy came and talked to us and gave us a fireside on sunday. it was so good. and then afterward he came around and shook all of our hands and he said to me "you have a nice aura about you. families will love you." isn't that cute? so hopefully families will love me! gosh. i had to say the closing prayer for that too but then it was okay.

well! i'm starting to feel okay about being here! i leave the mtc on monday because there's some kind of conference for mission presidents. only a few more days here!

love you all!

sister Emma

Missionary Letter #1 (Oct 6, 2010)

Preface: Lauren here (Emma's favorite sister). I have hijacked her blog and added myself as a writer so that you may keep up with her mission. We don't have any pictures of her yet but when we get them, I will post them. And just as a little background, Emma entered the Provo MTC Wednesday October 29 (the same Wednesday as me, just five years later, I might add...), she was there for two days before learning her visa came through and was on a plane to England Friday October 1st. This is her first letter from England. Enjoy!

okay, so got here on saturday and was just toooootally wiped out. like i was walking around like a zombie because i was so dead. people kept asking me if i was okay, but i just knew that i'd have to sleep and then i'd be fine. a couple who works at the mtc here picked us up at the airport. we were pretty out of it by the time we were in london and before we went to manchester. 

there are 26 missionaries here right now. 11 sisters and 15 elders. apparently it's the biggest group of sisters they've every had, so that's kind of cool. there are people from all over the world here, two from the netherlands, a few english, a girl from pakistan who is one of my roommates, two beautiful swedes (of coooourse) and some others too. oh! one from italy and another from POLAND!!

we're going contacting in manchester on friday, so that's scary. i'm starting to freak out less though, so that's good. yesterday in class i was like, oh my gosh, i don't have to go to school. i don't have homework. i just get to study the scriptures and have gospel discussions and teach people that is so awesome!

i was looking at scriptures yesterday and jeremiah 16:16 talks about the fishers and hunters, so i was like, i think the fishers came 150 years ago. we're hunters who have to look in the mountains and search under the rocks. but our teachers tell us that we're a baptizing mission so we should think that we can baptize. anyway, i'm getting excited and not freaking out so much. it's good to be here. all of the sudden it's real and it's not so intense. just starting to be good and hard work and normal life.

i love you!

sister emma

Leave a comment if you want and I'll make sure Emma gets your love notes. And, if you're wondering why Emma would be so excited about someone being from Poland, it's because I served my mission there. Though I think the Pakistani sister is way more exciting.