Missionary Letter #14 (January 3, 2011)

so mom asked me about english people and their accents and if you just forget. and that is how it's been like the whole time, that i don't even recognise that they're saying funny things because it all already seems normal! haha. so i have to kind of watch for it and then think, "okay, that is NOT normal." like the congregation all having their input in sacrament meeting? i had to remind myself that that wasn't normal. haha! and i wrote another one yesterday from church. the bishop was giving the lesson in relief society, and he talked about goals and things, but he started off with a story that elder ballard gives about a husband and wife who want to get a divorce, and the story starts out with the judge saying, "what are the grounds of divorce?" and as soon as he said that, this old, hilarious lady in the ward who is always telling us the gossip in the ward and things burst in through the doors (we were in the chapel) and she just walks in and says, "men" and doesn't even smile and just goes and sits down. sis g and i were laughing so hard!! haha! and the american students. and then the english people just laugh a little quieter. it's like they love being clever, but they don't just laugh at what someone says, the goal is to up them after kind of, instead of in our family where we laugh for a while and then think of something else to say. haha!

on friday there was a memorial service for this 97 year-old woman from the ward. i had to play piano again because no one is in town that usually plays! but i knew what the hymns would be before hand so i practiced. the closing was nearer my god to thee, and since it's an easy one, i played it an octave higher and added some little frills on the top hand and some arpeggio type things on the bottom hand and played that for the last verse, and like everyone there told me how pretty it was! "it was like she was just going off into the stars" people said. and some of them started crying. it was cute. 

well, we got half the day on new year's eve off and new year's too. sis g rented TEN movies and we watched all of them. haha! it was out of control. including hannah montana and camp rock 2. we watched the climb like seven times. haha!

well, yesterday, it was cool because we had two investigators at church. literally it feels like a miracle anytime an investigator comes to church. ever. yesterday this guy that we taught for like two months but we haven't heard from him this entire transfer came. he would never come before. we couldn't figure out why. he just wouldn't come. but then yesterday he was riding his bike to the train station, which is near church, and he just felt like he needed to go to church! so he just showed up!! what in the world??? it was so cool! so anyway. that was kind of a huge miracle.

anyway, this friday, i'm doing a workover in ilford! yay! so that's like the highest baptising area in the mission (it's full of immigrants--especially africans) and so that should be fun. just for a day. and then transfers is a week from wednesday! i'm gonna be so sad if sister g leaves. we're already making up a handshake for when we see each other later. it's to the justin bieber song. haha! oh man.

love you all so much!