Sunshine in my Soul

This week there is not only sunshine in my soul, but also sunshine outside. We actually got a couple of days of sunny weather, which is quite the treat!

Nothing too eventful happened this week. We did lots and lots of finding. We have been enjoying our time on bikes. I bought a new bike a couple of weeks ago because my old one fell apart, and this one is still used and not the best, but so much better! There's nothing quite like the feel of the wind when you're biking down a hill.
 

We had a first and second lesson with Ae this week. He is from Italy and is just here learning English for 3 months. He speaks almost no English, but luckily we have a member in our ward who speaks Italian. That was a huge help!

We went on exchange Friday night to Saturday night. I stayed in Swindon and Sister Stapley, a Sister Training Leader came with me. We had a pretty good day finding and I enjoyed learning from her.

This week I learned more about what doing my best means. I have learned a lot as a missionary in the past 9 (almost 10!) months. Heavenly Father always asks us to give our best and our all, but what that is tends to change throughout life. What Heavenly Father accepted as my best in the first 6 mo. of my mission is different then what he expects now, because I have experienced and learned so much more than I have 9 months ago. And, the only way we can all really be happy in life is when we are learning and growing. I feel happy when I am giving my best now, not what was my best 9 months ago. Its an interesting thing.

This is a mormon message based on one of my favorite talks that I've discovered on the mission... and now there's a mormon message for it! Hooray! 
http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=3146975328001

Love you all!!
Sister Roscher

 Sister Roscher's new daisy wellies (boots) and a beautiful sunny day!

 Me, Sister Krylborn, Sister Stapley and Sister Appleby

The Wise Man Built his House Upon a Rock

***If you're reading this, you should write Sister Roscher a Birthday letter! Her address is to the left, and she would love to hear from you!*** Now for the weekly update: 

The title of this email is fitting because England is being washed away!!! There has been massive flooding all over England because of a record high amount of rainfall. Swindon has (luckily) been spared for the most part. Instead, we've just been facing constant downpour, gusts of wind and wet feet :) But other places, such as Cornwall, have really been hit hard, and are practically under water (or so they say).

This week has been a week of learning, evaluating and acting. We've met some pretty cool people and we've had some funny experiences (such as running through a flooded subway to get to a dinner appointment). We got to paint our investigator S4's kitchen fire engine red and that was pretty fun!! Its always nice to mix it up during the week with service. I love painting.

Monday was Zone P-day so we trained to Cheltenam. The Zone leaders did a great job planning it. We played football (district v. district), did a Preach My Gospel challenge, fed our companions cereal in a relay, and had to come up with a music video to the song "Ye Elders of Israel." My favorite part was the cereal challenge because Sister Appleby and I owned it. We were the first Sisters finished (because we both know how to EAT haha). The music video was pretty funny to watch, but embarrassing to be a part of haha. P.S. Cheltenam is a really pretty town.

The most exciting part of the week was M and J. J is M's 16 yr. old son, and he is such a good kid. Getting him involved in the youth program is going to be the best thing ever; it is going to CHANGE his life. Literally. We had a first lesson with them yesterday, and it was a real miracle.

This week we found out the Jose  A. Teixeira will be touring our mission in March, so we will have Zone conference with him the week of March 18. That is something to look forward to.

Also... my claim to fame. One of the villages surrounding Swindon is Marlborough. We went out there a couple of times to contact a referral and then we had a dinner appointment out there on Sunday with this amazing family, and can I just say, I LOVE IT?? It is where Kate Middleton went to school, at a really fancy boarding school. It has the cutest high street, and a beautiful country feel. Man. I die and go to Heaven every time I go there.

Now for some pictures:

 This is a street sign in Marlborough.Looks very English, huh?

 This is a picture of a flooded Subway. Needless to say, my feet were pretty wet after we made it through!

 My poor boots. They've seen better days...

Love you all!

Sister Roscher

When it Rains, it Pours!

This week has been miracle after miracle, and I am SO grateful for the faith-building experiences which I have had this week.

We have been doing loads of finding for the lest several weeks, and this week we finally had some luck in getting new investigators!

Here's a couple of  the miracles of this week:

1- We went in to KFC to get chips and a shake and ended up having a good (but brief) conversation with one of the workers. We gave her our card with our number and she contacted us! She's way cool.

2- We were biking back from an apartment where the person had stood us up and standing right outside of her house on a side road was a potential investigator that had previously stood us up for an appointment. We went up to her, and it turns out she hadn't meant to stand us up; she'd had an emergency. We were able to teach her a lesson on the spot and get another appointment!

3- H- H referred herself through Mormon.org. She has been to many different churches and disagrees with her current church's views on the trinity, and the afterlife. She has about as much real-intent as you can have and is highly religious and familiar with the Bible. We met with her and her husband on Thursday night and they are SO cool. Her husband used to attend our church but never got baptized because of lots of small reasons. He has studied (not just read) the Book of Mormon and the Pearl of Great Price and believes its ALL true. The beauty of it is- if they are truly seeking the truth (which I believe they are) they will know it! When we teach people and ask them to pray to know if these things are true and ask them to exercise their faith, we do it because we know God will answer them. It is not a matter of us going over and convincing them of the truth and teaching them all the facts. We teach (with the Spirit) and then they take it to God. When we read the promise of the Book of Mormon with them (Moroni 10:3-5) I was particularly struck by the knowledge that God will tell us the truth. We just have to ask him. He is the ultimate source of truth.

4- We were getting ready for a long cold Saturday night of finding after we finished giving H and her husband, R, a church tour on Saturday and we met this girl Ln. She is so cool. We set up a return appointment and then walked away. 2 Minutes later Sister Appleby turned to me and said the whole time we'd been talking to her she'd felt like we needed to ask to teach her a lesson at the church right then. (we were only a ten minute walk from the church). We turned around, and she wasn't there anymore. But we both felt strongly we should try to find her and ask her if she was free right then. We turned around, hoping that we hadn't missed our chance .We walked for 5 minutes (a suspenseful 5 minutes!)  without seeing her and then, we ran into her coming out of the corner shop! She was free and we went back to the church with her an taught her the restoration. She had tears in her eyes as we taught. And she LOVED the idea of the book of Mormon.  We scheduled to meet with her again Sunday and she canceled, but she sent us a text about how she had read the Book of Mormon and really liked it and would continue reading it. She also said that after she met with us she was much more peaceful and happy. I'm not too down she canceled on us (although it was sad), I think we'll be seeing more of her. People who read the Book of Mormon and feel the Spirit when they read it tend to seek more after that :)

This week Sister Appleby and I were talking about the Hastening of the Work. Heavenly Father is preparing more of his children to receive the gospel as part of this. However, another part of this great Hastening of the Work is that members are being asked to do a little more, to invite others to learn the message of the restoration and then to help fellowship them and bring those who have wandered back. Another part is that missionaries are being asked to set their sights higher. They're asked to do more than has been done in the past. To be more obedient, more diligent, more in tune with the spirit. To never stop working and being a missionary. This truly is the time. Satan knows that Heavenly Father has asked everyone to put their game face on and truly put on their 'A' game and he is working harder than ever to stop this work from progressing. In order to stop him from holding back this work we truly do need to set our sights a little higher and raise the standard. Now is the time for us all, members and missionaries, to do this! Start today and take the little step to set your sights higher in building the Kindgom of God.

It been a wonderful week full of miracles, trials and triumphs! I am so grateful for this chance I have to be serving the Lord and doing His work His way. It is an honor.

Now its picture time!

 We got kebabs and chips for dinner from the little kebab kart outside our neighborhood and man- it was good. But soooo bad for your health! I can now say I've had a kebab though. Look at all the food! I only made it through half of it...

 Nothing like a winter pic! The weather wasn't too great this week.... but that's ok, We've got the gospel! 

 

Love you all!

Sister Roscher