August 22

Hiya!!

So it may have been a couple of days since I last emailed...yah...sorry.  :)  But I am emailing now!  And you betcha-there are exciting things to relate! 

 And I am just throwing everyone in this email  :)  Hope that's acceptable.  Feel free to delete if needed.  :)  I can't see what happens on the other side.

Sister Whitehouse and I tried to complete a service project for a couple of our friends.  It went well (I mean all we had was a spade and shovel to rake out a giant bush and a mini tree).  (We are just a little helpless).  Everything was lovely until one of our friends accidentally struck an unsuspecting wasp nest in the ground.  Then it wasn't quite so lovely.  But good news is that Sister Whitehouse and I are semi fast runners.  We managed to escape with no fatal wounds, but unfortunately our friends were not quite as lucky.  They received a sting on their head and arm.  :(  Not good.  And so ended our service project.  ...  Not sure if we are going to take on a new one in the near future. 

Second service project idea!  We helped to throw a birthday party!!  This was a genius idea :).  IT WAS SO FUN!  It was thrown by a Brazilian woman and a Portuguese woman (my personal favourite of the ward if we are allowed favorites).  So you know, they went ALL OUT!  It was basically pinterest on steroids.  I've already booked them for all future birthday parties I may come across in the near future.  Decorations, matching t-shrits, carnival games, homemade piñatas, treasure hunts, homemade layered cakes with themes, a million balloons, plus about 82 children.  Think Garff end of the year school party.  It was crazy.  So much fun.  We loved every minute of it.  I will definitely attach photos in another email.  It tops every party I have ever been to.  (told you they are my favourite people in the entire Colchester area)  (Colchester is the area I am serving in, just in case you forgot cuz my last email was about a millennial ago).  And we even found a mom at the party who wants to learn about the restored gospel.  :)  yesssss

This past week I woke up in the middle of the night and realized I was praying for people to come to church.  PEOPLE COME TO CHURCH!!  They need it.  It brings the spirit so much and helps them so much with their progression.  Just so much (wrong grammar) benefits.  Just so much.  But I think the 24 hour prayers worked cuz they came.  :)  Oh happy days. 

Sam was someone who came to church this last Sunday.  She is super cool!  She is actually English (a shock to the rest of the missionaries around here because apparently my companion and I are getting a reputation of only working with Africans.  Not all of my fault.  They are just so great!).  She is late 20's?  I believe.  I don't know too much because it is actually only the second time we have ever seen her.  We met her on the bus last week.  Actually we missed our stop because we were chatting with her, but WORTH IT!  The ward was great welcoming her.  The lesson in relief society was all about marriage (which apparently is a big thing among my friends these days.....no comment).  But it was great because she is actually living with her boyf right now.  And she wants to get married...(for all of you return missionaries (just like the district right??).  So that would be grand!  Oh and she LOVES America.  LOVES it.  Talks nonstop about it, saying words like elevator, Hershey's, what's up; thinking it is just the most spell bounding thing in the world.  It's actually most of the reason we were able to talk to her on the bus.  We sat down, offered a few words of greeting and to our surprise she bursts out with, "AHH you're American!!  I love America.  I wait all year to try the cookies and cream Hershey's...)  In my head ("Really?  Hershey's??  You have CADBURY here.  Little bit of mixed up priorities there hun.)  But she is super cute and has awesome potential.  I'll try to keep you updated.  (although who knows when I'll email again...hehe sorry)

Sunday afternoon this girl named Anna called us.  We met her a few days ago on the street.  She is from Portugual AND her sister is already a member.  Haha gotcha!  Anyway, she rings us and says, "I woke up this morning and really felt like I needed to call you both."  (Why yes you did Anna.  Thank you Heavenly Father!)  We are seeing her tomorrow.  And baptising her in 5 weeks.  Well.  We will see what she wants to do also.  And what the Lord has in store.  Such an adventure--it is just THE BEST!! 

So, even though England may at times seem like the refiner's fire of missions, it is indeed a blessed land of miracles.  God is always good.  :)

One other person I really want to tell you about.  Sister Whitehouse and I are teaching someone named Fred.  Fred is English and he is 80 years old.  He has the super loud phone that rings and then you go deaf for about 4 hours.  He is hilarious.  He always says, "You lot..." while threateningly pointing his finger at us while we sit on cigarette stained couches and then proceeds to say how the Mormon church is wonderful.  yay!  Thanks Fred.  We taught him word of wisdom this week and he begins by saying, "I am never, never, NEVER giving up tea!  I have 6 cups every morning!"  Oh my days.  That is a lot of tea.  He is not wasting time.  But by the end of the lesson he says, "You know, I think you are converting me because I WILL give up tea!"  haha thank you Heavenly Father for the help!!  His lessons are always really funny.  Brother and Sister Horrigan were there (an English/irish older couple in the ward)  and they are very strict followers of the word of wisdom.  I doubt Brother Horrigan has ever eaten anything packaged with bright colors.  He has never even heard of skittles.  Him and Fred were getting along great though because they kept talking about how Colchester used to be filled with beautiful fields but is now brimming with rubbish houses.  hahah perfect.  Let us swing this on back to the Word of Wisdom because fields = grains = healthy = word of wisdom.  Right??  Works for us.  Hopefully he can come to church.  Poor guy is not doing well and was in a diabetic coma last week and couldn't come to church last week.  Apparently he is fine now but...I don't know what we do in this situation!  Just, well, yeah.  Looks like the 24 hour prayers will continue :).

Thanks for all the kind words of support and love.  I appreciate all of the prayers.  THEY DO WONDERS!!! 

Love all of you, love this gospel, love my Savior. 

#churchistrue

GOD IS GOOD!

Sister Soulier :)

Mosiah 2:20-23

Sis Soulier and Sis Whitehouse