Annie arrived and was able to write a quick email.
February 4, 2016
Family!!!
I am so happy I get to write a message to you today, although it is a British computer and a bunch of the symbols are different. This may be a slow process, but hopefully I can tell you some of what has happened on this super eventful day!!!
First of all, I miss you all SO MUCH! Everywhere I turn I wish all of you were here so you could share in the adventure. Cuz oh boy, it has been an adventure!!
Ma, this next bit is for you because this is all about my airplane experience and you did not want to miss out on that. Alright, here we go! After saying goodbye to you guys, I found my gate and slowly walked up. I looked all over for any elders to talk to so that I wouldn't be alone. Of course all of them had disappeared. So, I decided I had to start talking to people! Since the flight was to Atlanta there were so many Southern Baptist people there. I walked up to a couple of different people and actually started a conversation! It wasn't to bad considering all things cuz you just ask them about the flight that they are about to board. However the tricky part (and somehow the most important) is talking about the gospel. Luckily with my tag I was able to bring it up but I didn't know what to say after! I talked to this one lady for a bit and she was nice-we joked a bit about skiing. I brought up the fact that I was going on a mission and asked if she knew about my church? She replied she hadn't! (I have to say I was so shocked she didn't know anything about the church and I didn't really have a super good response back) I attempted to tell her about the church but i swear only mumbled words came out. I just didn't know what part to tell her!! Boy it was awkward. And she eventually just turned away to talk to her family after a while. No harm though, cuz I can talk to people without getting too nervous!! Score.
On the flight I finally met up with 3 elders. Elder Lindsay, Elder Zollinger, and Elder Radford. We sat sort of near each other and shared beginning of mission jitters. Anyway, I talked to the person next to me, a member nice but our conversation lasted about 3 minutes. Once we landed the elders and I dashed over to our gate with no problem and made the plane in time. Before we boarded we stopped and got some food. I actually got an orange! I know so proud. it was so good and so I went to go get another one. This cute girl was working the cash register and she was a couple of years older than me. I joked with her that I was stealing all of her delicious oranges, just basically being friendly. Well I went back to the elders with my stash and jokingly said I should give her a pass along card because she was so kind to sell me all of her oranges. And what do you know, the elders said, okay, do it! So I walked up to her and expressed gratitude for her friendly smiles and told her that I was on a mission for my church to tell everyone about Jesus Christ and that they are loved. I gave her a pass along card and she totally took it! She was way happy about it too!! YES. First give out. I was on cloud 9 and proceeded to give another pass along card to my gate agent at the next flight. So walking on to my flight to Manchester, you could say I was a little excited.
And yes dad, Virgin Atlantic IS AWESOME! Plus the flight was super empty and I had two seats to myself. Talk about blessed. And then this, is the portion of the story where I meet Wilma. Wilma is was born and raised in Ireland and is mighty proud of it. She is a grandmother. From everything to her announcing she was going to the loo (talk about a strong accent!!) to offering me brandy to stay warm when I pulled 3 blankets on top of myself. Oh she was hilarious. With 2 hours left of the flight, I had run out of things to do about 3 hours ago and could not sleep for the life of me. I was reading the BoM and read Moroni 7:33. I thought about what ma and dad said about faith and actively moving the work forward, so I decided I had to give her a book of Mormon. Well after 7 pep talks and 17 minutes of planning what to say, I finally mustered up the courage to give her the book of Mormon by suggesting it for something to read for the rest of the flight. I tapped her on the shoulder (she was a row ahead) and eventually talked about this good book I was reading and opened my mouth to say the words I had carefully planned when she quickly said, oh I hate reading! (in my head...are you kidding me. What am I suppose to do now my plans are shot.) And Wilma proceeded to say how she never had the right attention span and never enjoyed reading. Discouraged I sunk back into my chair and eventually let the conversation die out. Well, I read the scripture again and thought, one simple statement can't beat my faith that easy!! So 14 pep talks later I tapped her on the shoulder again and asked if she would like to hear the message from my church that I am bringing to England. Doubtfully she shrugged her shoulders and nodded. Elated, I grabbed the seat next to her and asked her her religious background. (In my mind I thought I could give her part of the first discussion. I mean I knew the jist of it and figured although my delivery would be rocky if I had faith in Christ it would be fine) I don't have time to go into the details of the conversation, but basically we discussed how she believed there was a higher being watching out for her that she was grateful for. Wonderful knowledge right?! I told her so and talked about how that knowledge made me happy. She didn't push anymore on the subject so I eventually let it die out. But I didn't testify directly of any specific principles of our church ah I wish I did. But it was all so scary and I was trying to ask questions but didn't know what I was doing at all. Luckily she was super nice about it and I felt really good about the whole experience.
Okay fast forward to right now. It is currently 1:45 and I haven't slept since I saw you all. I have arrived safely in Preston and this is just suppose to be an I'm okay type of email but let's be real I have way to much to share. And these are just half of the things!!
BIG NEWS I AM ONLY STAYING IN THE PRESTON MTC FOR 2 WEEKS I have 1 P day (Wednesday) and then I get my first area on my next P day!!! GAHHHHHH THIS IS CRAZY
Okay I'll write more on Wednesday about my experiences. I am loving it here and everyone is so happy but I am running out of time and I still need to tell you of my roommates!! Only 2 out of 12 sisters are American. Hahaha a sister from France is learning English and she told me I was very active (energetic) most of them are still learning English! And oh my gosh there are a total of 29 missionaries in the MTC. Yep you hear me right, 29!!! shoot I'll need to write you a letter or something. And by then I'll know my companion (finding out tonight) ps LOVE the mtc presidents they are so sweet. Also, the gray skies are beautiful in their own way--the mist of gray bleeds everywhere into the old homes on this English countryside.
I am super happy to be here!!! (although that may still be my adrenaline) And I am ready to work!
LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH. I hope your days are going so well. I'll hear from you on Wednesday :) Talk to you soon and sorry I have to run
MISS YOU
Cheers, Sister Soulier
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