Wednesday, 22 January 2014

Overcoming opposition can be just like weights training.. the weight doesn't get lighter, YOU get stronger.


Week 1, Transfer 6

 Hull...
 Hull, Hull, Hull…what am I going to do with you..

I've honestly had more marriage and date proposals here than I ever have my whole life (and that's not saying much because I never got many/any anyway). We met a lovely DRUNK Rob at the bus interchange last night, he even got on the same bus as us and then blamed us for telling him it was the right bus for him when we had no idea where he's even going. You meet a lot of really interesting people as a missionary, especially at 8.30 at night (Rob being one of them). Haha oh bless them all.....

ANYWAY..
So, last week..well,

Broken boiler, no stove or oven for 2 weeks, no hot water, no heating + winter = the life of a missionary :)

It's not as bad as it sounds, but since we moved into the flat (which used to be the Elders flat and they never told the mission office about ANY repairs) there's no stove or oven, the boiler is broken (it worked up until yesterday but that's another story), there are doors that have fallen off so they simply just didn't use them and they rest up against the walls wherever there's space, and it's also been freezing the past 2 weeks.

So yesterday the cooker FINALLY came and the people hooked it up to the gas and everything. It's great. We can now cook normal food. I don't know how the Elders survived A WHOLE 6 WEEK TRANSFER without a cooker. They survived on microwave meals. Yuck. Anyway, the gas man had to turn the gas on to hook up the cooker, and he went to turn it all back on but the boiler wouldn't turn on, so he tried to do it manually and the switch doesn't work which means the pilot light didn't turn on which means no hot water or heating. So we call the mission office and tell them the situation, they find us somewhere to stay last night (which was AMAZING by the way). We stayed at a members’ house a bit out of Hull called the Graffs. They're from Orange County, California. Here for 4 years, been here for 6 months so far. Brother Graff works for an oil refinery company. They're GREAT. I LOVE AMERICA! They have a huge house. Indoor huge swimming pool, a slide, a backyard you could fit like 3 tennis courts on and a lovely big kitchen (most important!). We basically had our own WING in the house haha so we stayed there last night. Might have to stay there tonight as well if the boiler doesn't get fixed today. So that was the last 2 days.

Rewind to the start of the week. We had District meeting on Wednesday which was great. Elder Pollock from Arizona is our District leader. We are the only sisters. I can't even remember what I wrote last week so I apologize if I repeat. I have a bad enough memory as it is :)

We got like 5 referrals last week as well. Mostly from members. It's been SO good! Brett didn't come to church this week because he was called into work but he's coming next week. We still haven't been able to meet with him outside of church but hey at least he's coming on Sunday! That's usually the hardest thing to get people to come to. We keep calling and scheduling appointments with people from our area book - former investigators and potential investigators. We have 2 new investigators :) Danielle - she referred herself to mormon.org in December. We got the referral and visited her on Wednesday last week. She wants to be baptized. She goes to Salvation Army and is pretty involved in it, but she wants to be baptized and Salvos don't do it and the Church of England won't do it for her because she's been christened and they take that as baptism. Danielle knows what a legit baptism is meant to be so she googled BAPTISM CHURCHES and she found ours :) So we're teaching her and she's come to Institute on Thursday and a YSA activity on Saturday AND a double baptism in Hull 2 Ward before the YSA activity and a CES broadcast last night at church and we're seeing her on Tuesday and Wednesday and she's just great :) There are a few concerns but nothing that can't be explained and sorted out.

We also got Joyce, who is from Africa. We met her the first 2 days we were in Hull. Sister Pacis and Sister Shmidt went to see her while I was on exchange with Sis Scott in Louth. They taught the first lesson and she said she'd be baptized if she found out the Book of Mormon is true :)  She's so great ..we love Joyce! We're seeing her again on Friday and she said she will come to church this Sunday, same with Brett and HOPEFULLY Danielle but she's still very involved with the Salvation Army. Hull has so much potential.

We have ZONE P-DAY today. We're a little behind schedule since we slept at the Graff's house and all had to shower and get ready and drive back into Hull etc. but hopefully we'll make Zone P-day for a little bit! Sister Scott and I are also going on exchange today to York because the assistants didn't want us to wait until Thursday to go. So we're off to York after P-day finishes! We will take the train and Sis Scott and I can talk about the 15 minute instruction we're giving at zone training this Thursday about Finding. So many things to do! But as a missionary you just have to take it in your stride and go with whatever happens knowing that everything will be ok and to not get stressed.

Church was great, we met with the Relief Society president and she ran us through all the sisters who need help or could do with visits. It was good to touch base with her and know what we can do to help the ward here in Hull and to help the members.

I don't know what else to say but there was so much that happened this week. Church is great, the area is great, going on exchange is great…hard and challenging, but great. Opposition is what makes us grow. The gospel is there to help us against opposition. But just because we're obedient doesn't mean life gets easier. It's just like in Mosiah 24:13-16 ..the Lord will EASE the burdens. He won't take them away. He will either ease them or help make us stronger so that we can overcome the trials. Just like weight training..the weight doesn't get lighter, YOU get stronger. That's how it works. That's life. We just need to try our best to keep our feet planted firmly in the gospel doing all we can to fulfill our purpose as members of the church and to share the gospel with other people so they can have a better perspective on life and challenges. The gospel is for everyone. No-one is exempt or doesn't qualify.

I'm out. Love you all! Thank you for the letters and emails everyone. They're SO appreciated xxxx

Sister Kuhn


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