Another busy week in Leeds Mission....

 

BLOG TIME!

 

Week 4, Transfer 7

 

Hiya you alriiiiiight? (Yorkshire accent - google it if you want)

 

Well fam, it's been a hectic week. Not sure where it's gone..but it was fun :) A lot of bike riding and driving actually!

 

On Monday the zone p-day went well. I educated everyone on how to do a proper Tim Tam Slam and I made them Vegemite the poor things. Some of them liked it, others didn't go near it haha bless them. Sister Scott and I went to the Mess at the army base with Brother MConnell AKA Gordon the Great and had tea there and then practice taught Gordon. He always tries to be hard investigators, but we don't find it hard, we love a challenge :) and we also love Gordon!

 

Tuesday we had a member visit and did some knocking and some finding and had tea at the Metcalf's house who are so so lovely. We had correlation at night and then rode on our BICYCLES aaall the way home which took 10 minutes as opposed to the 30 mins it would usually take walking :)

 

Wednesday was district meeting and then zone training meeting. President came for the district meeting and then he left because he had other district meetings to go to. He's a busy man! Then we tried by Russell AGAIN. We met him a few weeks back and he was keen but then we couldn't contact him for ages. We finally found him home and it was a miracle! He's 30, tattood, led a bit of a rough life I think..but he had the desire to change and become better, so he did, he believes in God, believes in marriage once and once only, believes in and loves his family. He is so prepared. He has his concerns but he has such a sincere desire to be better. We taught him outside in his garden because we didn't have a member with us and he knows we can't be alone with him. He's so respectful. We had a lesson completely led by the spirit. I don't even know what I said, but he got emotional at times and he needed a moment. He also said the closing prayer. It was one of the most sincere prayers I've ever heard, asking God to forgive him of his sins etc. He is such a great example of humility. We are seeing him this week as well so we hope it will go well :) He also said he looked on the website and everything seemed familiar to him. BINGO! Then we had a member visit, tea at a members home, and saw Lisa George and her fam at night :)

 

Thursday..we had lunch at Elly Taylor's. She could obviously see we were burnt out and just exhausted (cycling in the wind is horrible)..and we had about half an hour left of the appointment, so she told us to go have a nap on her amazing big comfy couches, which we did..and it was what I needed. Especially because I had to drive to York later that day and it's about an hour away and I was just wasted with tiredness. It feels good to be tired though! Exhausted is a good feeling as a missionary :)  Then we drove to York and had an exchange with the York sisters which was good :)

 

Friday we got back from the exchange, the Oldroyds picked us up and got us some food and took us back to theirs so we could have a member visit with them. They are so nice!!!!!! Love them. Then Saturday we had weekly planning and the zone leaders came to watch which was nice. We have great zone leaders, seriously. We are all so harmonious :) It was a good day. Then we had tea with the Kitchin's - a part member family. Tanya's husband is great! Rob! He's warming up to us missionaries and the church, pretty rapidly by the looks of it, which is so good. That family is wonderful :) I can see them sealed in the temple one day :)

 

Sunday was gooooood. Hectic but good. We had a lesson with a guy called Chris. Tanya Kitchin came. He enjoys talking to us, and he has potential, and he invited us back..so we'll see :)

 

Well, I gotta roll..but it's transfers next Monday so fingers crossed I'll be staying here in Beverley! My track record is being transferred or emergency transferred every 6 weeks haha..oh bless me..

 

Love you all, keep up the good work! Thank you all for your emails and letters too!

 

Love Sister Kuhn xxxxxxxx

Members Ministering, Living Library, Draining Training and John's Baptism!!

Week 3, Transfer 7

DRAINED.

I am so so so drained. Riding bikes every day doesn't really help. A quick run down of the week…which, let's be real, probably won't be quick at all..

Monday - P-day! It was fab. We had a boring day, emailed, shopping, wrote letters. It was great! We wish we had time to sleep but P-days go by so quickly it's ridiculous. Especially because we have to cycle (ha! now we can cycle. BLESSINGS!) everywhere. Walking was taking WAY too long. Monday night, our member visit got cancelled so we went by the potentials we have in our area. We went by Adam, he wasn't home but as we were knocking these 2 guys walked by. Now, it's a dead end street, and we were towards the end at Adam's door (remember that small detail). As the guys walked past us, one of them muttered 'Bible bashers'.. and so I turned around and told him 'It's Book of Mormon bashers actually mate', Sister Scott then says 'Yeah if you're going to insult us, at least get it right'. They thought that was quite funny (they looked pretty young), they had a bit of a laugh. They were walking past Adam's by now and after we made our funny little comments they stopped and were like 'Is he not in?' and I said 'Who? Adam? If you're waiting for someone here, why'd you walk straight past the door? Coz we're here init?' They thought we were proper funny, so they came to chat with us. The one who made the failed attempt to make fun of us went inside, but his mate was interested in talking to us, so we chatted for about 15 minutes. Then Adam got home, we got a return appointment with him for the Sunday after, and his mate James said he would come to church. Lol. It was a funny situation. p.s James didn't end up coming to church. He doesn't even have a mobile. He works on a farm and doesn't see the use for technology like phones or computers lol the simple life. I think he would've been very cheeky when he was a little lad. But we'll no doubt see him again :) Anyway, we tried by a few other potentials and had some good chats :)

Tuesday - Did some service, saw a recent convert named Julie, had tea at a members house, knocked doors, talked to people..standard day. Always fun though :)

Wednesday - District meeting in Hull and then went to Bishop Burton College (for kids 16 and up basically who want to learn a trade or something either to work or go to uni…sort of like TAFE in South Australia). We were invited to do something called Living Library where students will ask you questions and you can chat to them etc. Wednesday was a bit slow because some of the classes couldn't go when they were scheduled to, but we got free lunch and stuff so it was good :) There were some people from other religions too. It was well interesting. We had a good time. Then we had a member visit, painted our nails haha so great.

Thursday/Friday - Had the living library thing on again in the morning on Thursday. It was SO busy that day. Hectic. We were like chatting away to groups of up to 10 every 5-10 minutes. We made a positive impact :) A lot of them took mormon.org cards and pamphlets and they looked at The Book of Mormon and things. It was faaaantastic! Good fun. I've always wanted to go into a school and do something like that so it was a dream come true for me haha Then we went and saw Tracy, one of our investigators who is amazing. Had a good lesson with her. Then we went to Harrogate for exchange. Now. Due to the delicateness (is that even a word?) of the situation, I can't say a whole lot. But Sister Edgington has hit struggle town with the sister she is training at the moment. She's only been out 3 weeks and is (having) some dramas..so Sister Scott and I went to give some support and assess the situation especially for President as well because he is well aware of the situation. It was DRAINING in every day possible. Emotional, physical, mental...just..bleghhhh. :) So we had that. Sister Edgington is handling like a PRO though, she is amazing. She is doing (everything right) and is just being 100% solid and amazing and I just love her and am so proud of how she is coping with the situation. It is grinding her down a little bit, but luckily she lives with 2 other sisters as well. They have been a huge strength. We call her or she calls us about every day. Hopefully it will all be alright :)

Saturday - We do our weekly planning on Saturdays because we are on exchange on the Friday and we sit in on other sisters’ weekly plannings. Then we went to Hornsea to see a recent convert called Andrew with Brother Drane who is lovely and takes us places :) Hornsea is by the sea, which we were able to drive by on the way home. It was nice :) We then did some service for Elly Taylor who is the most amazing and strongest woman ever. She is such a great example. She's had a lot happen in her life but she is still always smiling and she is just gorgeous and amazing. Then we had tea at the Roberts and their 2 crazy girls. Haha it was good. Theeeeeeen we went and saw Andy with Brother McConnel again like the week before. Andy was super tired because he works a lot but it was a solid lesson.

Sunday - Church. It was great, I love Sundays!!! Visited an elderly sister in the ward. She's so sweet :) Sister Fewster - Bishop's Mum :) Then we saw Adam (the guy from the Monday story lol). We took Brother Kenny Richardson with us. It was inspired because he was able to connect with Adam on a level that he could really understand and he worded things so well. It was a great lesson. Adam has had missionaries in the past come to him and talk with him for ages but now I think he has the desire to want to know if it's true or not. He said he'll read the Book of Mormon and might come to church. He has a lot of potential. He's young and intelligent and just a good bloke I think. He'd be a fantastic member of the church! In the evening we went and saw the Blakestons - 2 of the older people in the ward, husband and wife, they are so lovely :) They are having some hard times but they are so strong and sweet.

So that was my week in a nutshell! Thanks for coming. Until next week! PS. Today for P-day it's zone p-day and we're having an international p-day..I'm taking the TimTams you sent me Mum and vegemite and we're going to do TimTam slams !

Love you all! I wish I had more time to get into detail about my testimony and spiritual experiences and things, but I just have no time ever! But my testimony has grown SO much and my relationship with my Heavenly Father is growing every day, along with my sensitivity to the Holy Ghost. The Godhead are good friends of mine :)

Oh and pps JOHN EVANS GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  He's receiving the priesthood next week. Highlight of my mission :) So happy for him!!!!!! (He's grown a manly beard as well haha)

Love you byyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeee xoxxoxo

‪Sister Kuhn‬

We have bikes!

We finally got our bikes! We have sore bums :) but we will get fit and probably die but it's all good!  

Sister Pacis took this photo. She put it really high because she is really short.. Sister Tafangatoto and I at the flat during exchanges :)

This is what I have to deal with here..beautiful sunsets...even though it's freezing cold :) took this in a town called Market Weighton near Beverley.

Week 2, Transfer 7

This will be a quick blog, nothing CRAY CRAY to report, just bits and bobs :)

Highlight of the week was probably getting 1 new investigator called Andy. He is a funny lad. Shy and intelligent..but funny in his own little way (I laugh anyway lol). We had a member called Gordon come with us. They got along really well despite the age difference (not that that means anything lol)

We had an exchange with my old comp Sister Pacis and Sister Tafangatoto my girl from Tongaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! I was with Sister T and we cruised around Beverley being bomb missionaries talking to errbody and whatnot. The weather is lovely as well. I am just so happy about it! Spring is coming! Winter wasn't even that bad! The exchange went fantastical. Sister T said it was the best exchange she's had on her mission (she's been out abooout 12 months now). She said Sister Scott and I are relaxed but hard working and we are ourselves all the time. So that was really nice. It made us feel good :) and like we were actually fulfilling our calling and helping the sisters. We have such amazing sisters in this mission! They are the best examples to me. I learn more on exchanges that they do I think!

We had mission leadership council this week as well. We drove with the Zone Leaders. It's like an hour and a half to the chapel where we have the council every month, but it's nice to sit down and it's also nice to become more unified with our leaders. We have great zone leaders. One from Utah Elder Hillyard (I forgot how to spell his name) and one from Spain Elder Trassiera (can't spell his name either). They are fantasssstic! The counsel was so good - it's with all the zone leaders, sister trainer leaders, AP's, and President and Sister Pilkington. We have an agenda and we discuss things and concerns and questions and issues etc. The spirit of the meeting was so lovely. Different from last time. I hope all our meetings can have the humble and loving spirit (as) in that meeting. It really felt like we were gathered together to HELP and to inspire and uplift and encourage everyone.

Anywayyyyy, I must be off! I have emails to reply to! I thought everyone would have forgotten about me by now but I keep getting emails so I guess that's not the case haha Thanks for all the support and prayers and love and emails and letters and EVERYTHING. You are all so amazing. I just love you all!

Sister Kuhn

Making friends in Beverley.

Week 1, Transfer 7

Not sure where February has gone but it's gone. This last week was AMAZING. Not for any huge particular reason, but miracles are just happening all over the joint!

First, the people we met last week:

Gary Morrison - we were coming back from an exchange with the Sisters in Louth and it was Friday night. We saw this guy fixing his side mirror (it was obvious someone side swiped him). We said hi and then ended up chatting for about 20 mins. He had so many crazy stories. He moved to Vietnam and travelled to places near there for a solid few months, He trained in martial arts with this group of people who train in the forest. He just went around Asia training in all sorts of martial arts and then he studied to be a Buddhist monk and he loved it…and he met his wife in Vietnam as well. He has tattoos all down his arm, shaved head, but you wouldn't find a nicer guy. Probs in his 40s or 50s. The most impressive thing he said though was mid-conversation. He stopped and said 'Salt Lake City. That..that is my favourite place in the whole world. I would move there tomorrow if I could… anywhere else and I'd have to think about it.' We were like WOW! He loved his time he spent there with his wife. Everyone was so lovely and he saw the Tabernacle Choir and LOVED it. He is just sold on Salt Lake City haha he also offered to fix one of our bikes because that's what he does as a hobby sort of thing and he's really good at it. So we made a new friend, his favourite place is Salt Lake City, he's the nicest guy and he's always offering to help. Amazing! So we'll see him a bit more I hope :) He's not interested YET about the church and things but we just want to be a friend at the moment. It's all in the Lord's time :)

Zoe Laing - she is amazing! We met her over a week ago. Saw her on Saturday. She says she's athiest. She's about 17, such a lovely person, seriously, so nice. We got a member, Tanya, to come with us to the lesson. She's a young Mum with kids and they got along really well. They connected perfectly and I know that's exactly what Zoe needed. We taught the first lesson which was sort of all over the place because she had a lot of questions but we love questions so it was great :) She also said her first prayer at the end!!!! It was so powerful! We invited her to be baptized and she said if God tells her this is right then she would. She will need a bit of time I think but the seed has been planted and she has a desire to figure it all out :) We love Zoe!!!!

Ruthy - oh Ruthy...she is just an amazing human being. She is a friend of a member Ellie Taylor. She's never let missionaries in before but at an activity that Ellie invited her to Sister Scott and Sister Shmidt talked to her and she said to come around. She's not interested AT ALL in the church for now, but we just fellowship her and bake with her and make things (because she is SUPER talented at everything). She's like mid-30's I think. We love spending time with her. We're going to her house next P-day to make things and bake.

Update on the bike situation: we have 1 bike! Gary is fixing the tyre FOR FREE and then we're trading it with one of the elder's bikes because the one we got is a man's mountain bike. Skirt…man's mountain bike..yeeeaahh..not gunna happen. So yup! We're picking up the other bike from another set of members on Friday and we are buying helmets and locks and stuff today and BADABOOM we will have bikes! Yeewwww!!

We're working with 2 less active families at the moment. I don't like calling less-activies "less-actives". Anyway, the Ashmore family, Ann (the Mum) and Millie and Sam are her 2 kids. They are an amazing family!!!!! After the lesson we shared with them last week, Ann said 'I really enjoyed this lesson!' She's so kind and genuine and a really good Mum. She just doesn't think that of herself. I just love the Ashmore family! They all have such great qualities and although they may lack a bit of confidence at the moment, Sister Scott and I can see it growing the more we see them and set them challenges.

The other family we're working with is Lisa George and her 2 kids Rhys and Amelia..and boy do I love that family as well! Lisa is like SO talented at re-doing furniture and selling it, she has an eye for bargains as well. Her house is decked out with amazing things from garage sales and all sorts. Love it. Apparently Sister Scott and Sister Shmidt were never were invited in when they went to see her a bunch of times last transfer. I called her when I first got here, she said she'd call us when she was free. Then we saw them outside doing the garden and spoke to her briefly. Then one night just randomly, like a week ago, we went by and she opened the door and we said hi and things and she was like 'Are you going to come in?' We like were YEAHH BUDDYYY!!!! I love Lisa..she's super genuine and always ALWAYS is offering to help even though she has a lot of things to deal with herself. She is a great example to me. She shared personal things about why she stopped coming and things but we don't push her on anything. We're merely there to get to know and to love and uplift her and her family. She then invited us around again for yesterday night. She fed us curry and everything! We ate, laughed, played charades, talked..and half way through she says 'you know, I was just thinking..Paul (her partner who lives in London) is coming up in 2 weeks..and he thinks all you do is come here to preach and things. I'd love for him to meet you and get him to see you're just normal, fun, people..who are thousands of miles (well, I am lol) away from their families..." We were like haha ohhhh man..we would LOVE to come over when Paul is here! We just love that family and we look forward to knowing Paul better. He believes in God but doesn't know anything about the church so automatically he's not interested. But just being a friend and getting to know each other is great too!

We had Zone conference as well this week. I think I'll copy and paste what I wrote to President..well, bits of what I wrote. Last week on Monday I had a very powerful spiritual experience concerning prayer, and then at zone conference, everything I learnt and heard just supported and testified of my experience. I LOVED zone conference. It was fantastic! President (made) a comment that I loved. He said 'I'm not going back to Egypt!' He related it to the children of Israel and how the Lord delivered them SO many times..but when times got tough, they wanted to go back to being enslaved and things..they forgot about the miracles and everything the Lord had done for them. He also talked about how this church doesn't go backwards. It only knows how to move forwards, because it is Christ's church. I wrote down these notes in my letter to him last week:
What stuck out to me
• There is opposition in all things, we need to expect (and be ready for) the dark to come where there is light

• Keep refining our finding approaches

• We need to continue to march north (President always says that lol)

• It was great how (he) spoke about Moses in relation to light and dark (opposition/Satan), and the children of Israel (forgetting the miracles and lacking faith), and Elijah and his experiences and then related it to us as missionaries, missionary work and even individually

• We can achieve great things if we have faith and work hard

• We need to be exactly obedient

• Remember the miracles we've witnessed, especially on a day to day basis, because they happen, and we need to be mindful of them. Remember the help we receive from our Heavenly Father.

• Don't limit ourselves- we can reach the goal of 501 baptisms

• I'm not going back to Egypt either!

.

On the beach at Mablethorpe 

We went on exchange to Louth as well with the sisters there, Sister Staheli and Sister Scott (not my companion, a different Sister Scott..from Arizona lol) We loved the exchange. We went to a town by the beach! I took some photos briefly of the coast of England! Lots of miracles, spoke to loads of people. The sisters there are doing so well. They're the only sisters in their zone and the only ones in their area as well. They're guns!

We went to a place called Market Weighton in our area..saw these footpritnts everywhere..apparently the tallest man in the world lived there..and this is how big his foot was.  Big fella!






Ummm..yeah that's about all I can remember at the moment. My study at the moment has also been supporting my experience last Monday. It's been amazing! We shouldn't wait to call on the Lord. He is ALWAYS there and waiting with his arm outstretched to help us. I made the mistake of not calling upon him when I needed him and I just kept feeling (the way) I did…and then when I finally did heed to the promptings of the spirit and prayed for help, I got it, in a very powerful way. Prayer is POWERFUL. Never forget that!

Love you all, have a great week! Summer is coming here in England! Wooooo!!!!!!

Sister Kuhn xxxx

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