Monday, August 22, 2016
August 22, 2016
Greetings everyone!
It's been a pretty interesting week I must say, not very productive with missionary work in the Perth area because I wasn't in it very often this week. As you know last Monday I was in Edinburgh to drop off my lovely trainer Sister Stein! I'm so sad to see her go, but I know she's served her mission well and completed her mission. She needed to go home eventually. 
I'm so glad she was my trainer but I still feel inadequate to follow up train Sister Dahl, I hope that I can lead the Perth area well and get some work moving forward quickly this transfer. Anyway I'm going to organise this email because each day was kinda unique and weird.
I'm so glad she was my trainer but I still feel inadequate to follow up train Sister Dahl, I hope that I can lead the Perth area well and get some work moving forward quickly this transfer. Anyway I'm going to organise this email because each day was kinda unique and weird.
Monday 15th August, Basically I helped Sister Muller clean the STL Flat in Edinburgh, hung out with missionaries at the Mission home and then that night I taught with Sister Muller this guy called Marcus who's suppose to be baptised this Wednesday but it's been an up and down roller coaster of drama lately so I don't know what's happening. When we got back to the STL Flat that night there turned out to be 7 Sister Missionaries in the same flat!! And no shower working...
I was the shortest so I slept on a bed that wasn't quite long enough for me. They were there because they took the plane from Ireland for the trainer's meeting the next morning. Sister Fisher is training a newbie, and I slept next to her that night. It was good to see a familiar face, and we haven't really talked since we were first dropped off at the Mission Home. She seems to be doing well and excited to train.
Tuesday It's hard to believe that 3 transferres ago I got off the plane here from Utah MTC, and received the same instruction the new missionaries received. There were so MANY NEW missionaries that came in and a lot of them were Sisters, pretty much all of the Sisters are training, being trained or are in a leadership position. It's exciting and fun. Sister Six's trainee was in the Provo MTC learning Chinese and wasn't coming this day so that night I was with her.
Wednesday Sister Six is my companion till her trainee arrives {Later we found out that she went home due to illness and Sister Six was re-assigned a companion on Saturday} So we went around a huge park in Edinburgh together till be left to pick up my trainee from the bus station. We left at 11:30 and she wasn't coming till 1:45. It was INSANE! We went to the 'city center' part of Edinburgh and there were a sea of people EVERYWHERE. Seriously crazy. It was busier than usual because it was festival season, and I was the one driving through the city. Visualize that for me every one, Me. Driving. People. Craziness. I must admit I might've been protected by the spirit, because I almost got up almost killed twice, because I can't drive in city traffic and couldn't find a parking spot near the bus station for 1.5 hours. I ended up getting into a mall parking lot and we RAN to the bus stop, because the STL's told us she was coming at 1:20 and I was worried she'd walk off somewhere to find us if we took too long and she didn't have a phone. I will say this, it was a struggle to run through a sea of people trying to find the bus station and also not have my dress fly around. Sister Six may have also been laughing really hard at me as well... Anyway... We found the bus station at 1:30, called the Assistant President Elders and apparently her bus doesn't arrive till 1:45 so we were good. When I first saw sister Dahl I was so relieved and happy, FINALLY I HAVE MY COMPANION!! She's pretty tall and reminds me a bit of Sister Swindle. Very Utahan but that's okay I love them alright. I may have gotten us lost on the way back to the car because I thought we should take a short cut through a mall. To my credit, it turned out to be a short cut, we were only lost in the perfume section of a department store for a moment. Then when we got to the car, loaded everything up, lost my keys... I was so stressed out and WE FOUNDED THEM a few moments later. That day we drove straight back to Perth, Sister Dahl unpacked and then packed a small luggage for the night and we went to Sister Six's flat in Dundee. Her flat is way newer and nicer than the Perth flat, it's right along the river and a 10 minute walk from Dundee City centre. That evening we went to a Cottage Night (Scottish version of a fireside) at a member's home for Recent Converts, Less Actives and Investigators. It was a lot of fun and we played a word game.
Thursday We GQed (finding people on the street) in Dundee City Centre in the morning. There were SO MANY MISSIONARIES in the same spot, in Dundee there is 3 elder companionship and 1 sister companionship in the City Centre that day and it seems like there were too many missionaries to people ratio in one area. Dundee is a cute little city, it's bigger than Perth but smaller than Dublin. It's hard to tell with these cities because they don't have sky scrapers everywhere just a lot of low buildings. and the hills are very gradual so I didn't get a huge view of everything. Sister Six says that there is a lot of Chinese people here, especially during the school year. It's cool that even though people from a country like that can still have the opportunity to receive the gospel outside of their country, and be baptised before they go home. That evening we went to the Anderson's and had a wonderful dinner with them.
Friday Spent the morning and afternoon in Perth then headed back to Dundee that night.
Saturday Morning and afternoon in Dundee, evening in Perth
Sunday Had so much fun introducing my two companions for the week to the branch got a bunch of strange looks, it felt like way too much fun this week with Sister Six and Sister Dahl, We are going to be sad to slit up again later on Monday night. We went chapping for a bit after dinner but wasn't very productive because the first door we knocked on was a nice family or Jehovah Witnesses. We had an actually pretty pleasant converstation with them about comparing out different belief's and trying to understand one another. They were excited to see Sister Missionaries because they thought only Guys we knocking on doors. We explained that Sister Missionaries have been doing this for a while. I think it's pretty awesome though how pleasant they were, but as usual JW's don't think that the Book of Mormon could be a scripture of God like the Bible, they always say it's a work of a man, you follow a man, it's an idea that man came up with. Whatever... I recited the first vision to them and a few memorised scriptures, which I was pretty proud of myself or thankful to have them in my head. It was funny as well because we were talking to the Grandma, Mum and Son, like all the generations in the home. They all knock on doors whenever they have free time but the son who seems to be the same age as us and he just got back from a youth conference for JW's about 'missionary work. They also don't call it missionary work which is strange. Some of the ideas they have and the pictures they have are super weird, kinda depressing and sad. I enjoyed the converstation and I'm always open to hear other people's opinions and thoughts. This is definately not the first time I've had a conversation like this, I've spoken to atheist, Buddhist, Catholics, Born-Again, normal Christians, undecided and Muslims. Personally the conversations where people talk about what they believe and we compare is my favourite, it's funny when the born again Christians, end the conversation with "I'll pray for you", because they think I'll be dammed. I love it when people get kinda upset at me, and I'll just do my thing anyway.
Monday Going to Saint Andrews today!! I heard so much exciting things about that place and we are going with all three of us!
So this week was fasinating, I hope Sister Dahl and I can get back to the missionary work next week quickly.
Have an awesome week!
Sister Miranda Johnson,
15th August 2016
Good day everyone!
I hope everyone has been doing well. Right now I'm in Edinburgh Mission Home, with a bunch of missionaries. Sister Stein will be flying back to the Netherlands tomorrow morning and I'll just been chilling out till my new companion Sister Dahl, comes from Ireland on Wednesday. I'm be follow up training her, so for those who don't know how training works for Missionaries. We get trained in the MTC, but then get field training for the first 2 transfers or approximately the first 12 weeks of our mission. With that training we have in the companionship a trainer and a junior companion. Since I've done 2 transfers so far I'm done with my training and Sister Dahl has finished her 1st transfer. I'm going to be her trainer for her 2nd last bit of her training. A little bit scared and excited at the same time to be leading the area of Perth. No more Sister Stein... I'm going to miss her. Sister Dahl doesn't know what she is getting her self into. On Wednesday I think we went to Brother and Sister Watford's house, they live pretty far away from Perth, but it's beautiful out here. Surrounding there house is forest and little fields and rolling hills (they call mountains) and in the Photo you can see a massive loch that is right infront of their home. They've lived there for 27 years I think and as they lived there they've turned this little cottage on a slope into a home. removed tons of dirt to make leveled ground, and Sister Watford keeps a beautiful veggie and fruit garden.
Billy is doing so well spiritually and continues to study the atonement, he unfortunately isn't doing good health wise since Friday and couldn't make it to Church this sunday. Right now in Perth we just really need to find people to baptise and teach so bad, my new companion and I are going to do so much finding this week and try and find one more new person between Thursday and Sunday! Pray for us to succeed!
I've been thinking about Family History so much on my mission and continue to feel the pressure from my anstors to do the work for them in the temple. First thing though I need to find the names, and build my family tree on familysearch. I have to wait to do that when I get home, right now I'm doing the work for the living.
Ahhh! just so much stuff is going through my mind right now I can't write a proper email this week. 😛 It wasn't a bad week, I love Perth it's just RESPONSIBILITY, I want to do really well this transfer and get some one closer to christ!
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