Pictures, Pictures, and more Pictures!!!!!

Sister Wilkinson's new haircut done by her- So proud!!

The tree where Elder Holland received the revelation to build the Preston Temple with Sister Crosby and President and Sister Ulrich

Loads of pictures sent to us by a wonderful Sister in Sister Wilkinson's Crosby ward!  Thank you Sister Moylan

Sorry, quick one

I've been in Liverpool all day, so this email will be quick (sorry).
It was Sister Setu's birthday, so we all joined her for Tai Pan
Chinese Buffet. It was really fun!
Also, Transfers are next week!!!!! Send me your guesses (Tell everyone
to send them). I think I am moving to Workington. Although I do want
to stay in Crosby.
Send everyone my love :)
-Sister Wilkinson

There is sunshine in my soul today

Wow!!! This week has been inspiring! Between the mission tour, companion exchange, and general conference, I've learned so much! We also had some miracles happen with our investigator!

So, his phone hasn't been working, so we haven't been able to meet with him, and we have been really sad about it. We wanted to meet with him, but we were not sure how. One day, we only had 20 minutes left, but we wanted to finish the day strong. So, we said a prayer and asked which direction we should go. Both of us just felt prompted to stay there for a minute, so we stopped a few people and they weren't interested, and then we turned and saw Him! It was so great to talk to him again. We told him about conference and invited him to watch it. While Sister Clawson and I were at conference, we both started crying during one of the talks because it was directed to Him in every way. It proved to us that God is aware of all his children. We left the room after he finished his talk, and said a prayer of gratitude and pleaded for Him to watch that talk and that it would touch his heart. Last night, we had an Hour before going in and we wanted to find this investigator, so we said a prayer that we would run into him and lead us to where he was. We had the impression to cross the street - and there he was! We stopped him and walked home with him, and had a great conversation. And another miracle? He watched last night's conference. I could tell he was touched, he just wouldn't admit it. He is literally the best though, and I'm so grateful to be teaching him.

The mission tour was wonderful, and it was fun to learn about the history of the mission as well as learning new ways of finding. It was good to see how other people would reach out to others. We also had a powerful lesson on hymns. We have been using hymns in all of our lessons because of this, and there is an incredible difference. It really does soften the hearts of those we speak to. We went to a members house this week, and we sang "O my father". Although we were terrible at singing it, and our voices were not the best at all, I looked up and saw that he was crying and that the spirit of the hymn was touching his heart. He told us after we finished that it was the song they sang at his wife's funeral. There was an automatic peace in the room, and he bore his testimony, and it was just a wonderful experience. We also sang hymns to less active members, and their hearts were softened. We even sang to a new investigator that we had only met once before. There is definitely power found in the hymns. We will keep using them!

I learned a lot during exchange and Conference as well. I really felt a spiritual boost. This has been such an uplifting week for me. 

Also, there will be a new temple in Saratoga!!! So wonderful! :)

Have a great week!!

Sister Wilkinson

One more thing

Remember when you send packages (tell this to everyone) to send them
to the Manchester address (Knutsford), that it should be under £30 and
marked as a gift.
If it's a hand written letter, they can mail it to Waterloo.
Thanks!!

Oh, and one last thing, Andy's birthday party has been moved.... to... today...

(Toy Story)

Um, yeah.... so... today is the mission tour which is exciting!! But, we just found out that we are going to exchange today instead of tomorrow, which is a surprise. Also we found out while on the bus, so we aren't prepared, and our Pday is also today.... so I'm not sure how we will get groceries or clean the flat today.... so that's a bit stressing, but other than that, this week has been great. 

The sun has been out all week ☀️ and it's been SOOOO nice!!! I've missed the sun! I mean, it was still windy, and I had to wear my coat still, but it was nice :)

Yesterday, the Zone leaders came to our area and did a Street display with us, and I learned so much. Elder Watterson is such a diligent missionary, and he was a great example. He talked to everyone he met, and he tried so many different approaches. He made a lot of people smile, and he was very good at having gospel discussions. At one point, a large group of people passed, and he held out his Book of Mormon and said, "Have any of you heard of this book before?" He was just so bold, and such a good zone leader. Elder Simtim is so charitable. He speaks and teaches from the heart. He reached out to everyone with love and thought them principles of the gospel easily and honestly. I looked over at one point, and he was showing a framed picture of his family in front of the temple and said, "I have been sealed to my family for all eternity. You can have this for your family as well." I loved to hear how sincere his testimony is, and how he shared it with others.

I learned a lot from their examples, and because of their help, we found eight new investigators yesterday alone, when last week we only had one for our key indicators. I know now that when we talk to everyone about the gospel - no matter if they accept it or not - we will find people to teach.

I also gave away a Book of Mormon yesterday. It's a bit sad to say that it was the first one I've personally gave away since the start of my mission. I've given many out as a companionship, but not by myself. So, I felt pretty proud that I was able to share the gospel. It helped me build my confidence.

This week has really been great!! 

Sorry for the short email, we have a quick Pday today!

-Sister Wilkinson

Um, I've been turned into a cow, can I go home?

(Emperors New Groove) I decided to use this quote because I am gaining so much weight that I basically look like a cow ;)

My highlight for this week would have to be when we tracted a high rise Flat. So, we were calling by some less actives, and on our way to one of them, Sister Clawson noticed a high rise Flat and said, "I think we should tract that building". I thought she was kidding at first, but she insisted on tracting it. I have a really hard time tracting flats for some reason. It's easier for me to talk when I can see their face, and I also feel like it's easier to hang up on someone than it is to slam a door. So, because I really struggled with this, and because it wasn't a part of our original plans, I was very resistant. But I knew that if Sister Clawson felt so strongly about it, that I would try my best to forget my selfish desires, and submit to the will of the Lord. The security was somewhat hard, so it would have been easy to give up, but I endured until finally someone let us in. Once we were in the building, we started on the top floor (14th floor) and knocked on every single door working our way back down to the 1st floor. It was actually pretty fun, and I felt accomplished afterwards. We didn't find much success at first, but once we got to the lower floors (after the trial of our faith), we saw a miracle happen. I felt like the "Fourth floor, last door" talk was literally coming into play for us. A man opened his door and the first words he said to us were, "You found me". Apparently, we had stopped him on a bridge and gave him a Mormon.org card and invited him to church, then we saw him again on the train, and I talked to him a bit then and he said he wanted to come to church, and then we tracted into him. So, we gave him a Book of Mormon and told him to read the introduction page and we are seeing him again this coming week. This just shows me that the Lord really does put prepared people in your path (sometimes 3 times). I know that Sister Clawson was inspired to tract that Flat, and it helped me work on my patience and to take a step out of my comfort zone. So that was a major miracle that we saw this week.

Mormon.org | What is the Mormon Church and Religion? mormon.org Learn about the Mormon religion and meet members of the Mormon Church. Modern Mormons talk about their faith and answer common questions.

 

We also had an adventure in Formby this week... 😂😂😂 Something strange always happens in Formby. Last time, a bird pooped on me, and I had to try to wash it out with napkins from a Carvery (like an all you can eat buffet). Anyways, I won't go into the details of everything that happened there because it was a lot... and also embarrassing 😂 but we laughed a lot, and it was great.

Also, our companionship is wonderful. Sister Clawson and I get along so well, and our unity is great. Sometimes we catch each other saying the same thing at the same time, or finishing each other's thoughts. It's actually really funny. I absolutely love serving with her though. She is always determined to be the best she can be, and talks to everyone she meets. She is so good at showing her love towards others and showing that she truly cares for them. She has shown me such good ways to approach people, and has helped to stretch my abilities. Every day is a new challenge, and I've grown so much because of it. I love being with her and I am grateful she is my companion.

We have been focusing on consecration a bit, and that has helped us as well. Because we are both from Utah, and live only an Hour away, it is easy to talk about home and compare stories, and talk about all the different places that both of us know so well. But because of that, it becomes a bit of a struggle to be fully consecrated. So this has been our main goal for this transfer. We have also set a goal to lose some weight... because we are cows ;)

This has been a great week full of laughs and amazing experiences. I'm grateful for everything that happened this week.

Sister Wilkinson

Wow, I'm impressed

Zootopia) For some reason, this has been the quote of the week this week. I've said it many times so far.
Anyways, guess what happened this week? .... TRANSFERS!!!!!
Guess where I'm serving??
England Manchester Mission, in the Liverpool zone, in the Crosby Area!!!
With...... SISTER CLAWSON!!!
So yeah, no changes.
But it's SO GOOD!!!! I absolutely love serving with Sister Clawson, so I'm excited to have another transfer with her :)
I don't really have anything too eventful to update on... we have an investigator that is progressing towards baptism but doesn't have a date yet. But yeah, other than that, I've got nothing.
So... want to hear a funny story???
Sister Clawson and I were walking for a long time the other day, and we were feeling a bit stressed because of transfers. We were talking about the various places in Utah and also quoting the Lego movie in order to stop worrying about transfers, which I thought was pretty funny. But anyway, both of us were finding it hard to even take another step because our bodies were tired and we just felt exhausted. But as we kept walking, guess what we found? £10! We didn't really know what to do at first, but there was nobody around, so we couldn't
really return it. So we decided that was Heavenly Father's tender mercy and way of telling us to keep going. There are always blessings ahead when we endure to the end :) ...but then guess what happened? We took a few more steps and found a fruitella 😂 Heavenly Father REALLY wanted us to keep walking on this
street. We felt like little children just picking things up along our way.
Also, another thing that made me laugh this week: so, we have a Romanian investigator, and he doesn't speak English very well, but he understands everything we say. So, every now and then we will text him
scriptures, or ask when we can see him. So, this last week, we asked him if we could meet him sometime and his response was, " I want " so we were laughing about that, and then when we suggested a time, he
responded with, "Fain:)?" Exactly like that. We were laughing for a while, and we have said that all the time this week. I'm excited for this transfer, I think it will be a real great one :)
Other random things:
I am fat... HELP!! 😬 haha but really, I've gained a lot of weight, and I need to lose it. It's so easy to gain weight here. You would think since I'm exercising every day with all the walking we have to do as missionaries that it wouldn't be this easy. But if any of you have ideas for quick healthy meals, I would love some recipes :)
One of our goals this transfer is to eat healthy and lose weight. If you have any good ideas, share them :)
I love you all!!!! This will be a great transfer 😁
(Sorry for the rant... also sorry for not emailing last week!)

-Sister Wilkinson

HERE IS A PICTURE THAT  EXPLAINS OUR COMPANIONSHIP PERFECTLY