Our area is booming with potential!

Week 6, Transfer 9

This morning there was a car alarm that was SO loud and obnoxious and just plain rude outside for like an hour..it just kept on and on and on. IT DID NOT STOP. So, during our prayer on the way out to catch the bus to email, we prayed that the car alarm would stop, because it was hard to even think. As soon as we prayed for it to stop, it stopped, so we were like 'oh thank you!' and continued with the prayer.

That's how our week has been.

I've felt the need to visit less-actives I've never met before, so whatever area we're in for an investigator or tea with a member, we always have at least 1 or 2 LA's we can go by and visit. After a tea appointment on Friday Sister Staheli and I went to visit a less-active. She wasn't there. But on our way there we met a retired Chinese couple. Hai Yun (the wife) smiled at us across the road, so we went and said hello. She was SO happy and excited to talk to us. Like, we were almost in tears laughing at how funny she is. She is just hilarious. She wanted to take a picture with us as well. She told us that Elders met her years ago and gave her a Chinese Book of Mormon and she reads it every day. She LOVED talking to us...if only everyone was that excited to talk to us haha we met her the next day and brought Jane, a Chinese recent convert with us. She was a huge help. Hai Yun believes in God and first went to a church with her friend when she moved her 15 years ago or so. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and she believes it to be true. We also gave her another Chinese Book of Mormon because the one she has is quite old and actually a bit different (and thinner) than the ones we have now. We got her a ride to church for Sunday yesterday. She came. She loved it. There was a munch n mingle afterwards and she stayed for like 2 hours talking to everyone and laughing and joking around. She just really enjoyed herself. It was so good to see the members embrace her and love her. We asked her on Saturday if she came to know this was true if she would be baptized and she said 'maybe'. She is very 'with it' and intellectually sound. She's pretty sharp! She has been visited by the Jehovah Witnesses but I don't know if they come anymore. She loved church, loves meeting with us, loves reading The Book of Mormon. Miracle!

The next day we go for another tea appointment in a fairly dodgy area. We're in the area an hour early and we knock a street close to the member's home. We knock, and knock, and knock. Some people answer, have a few short conversations, no immediate success. We walk down the steps from yet another door and head up the street again. We ask a lady across the road what the name of the street we were on is called and she tells us, so we say thank you and smile at her. She then asks if we're Jehovah Witness. We walk across the street to her and explain who we are and what we do. She smiles and says 'please, please,.. come to my home' and points up the street. She tells us she's from Ethiopia, she was brought up in the Pentecostal church, she wants to learn English and read the Bible with us. We talk with her and we say a prayer as well. She was crying. I'm not sure if it was the spirit or she just likes to pray. I don't feel like I said anything exceptional in the prayer (and we all held hands because that's how she prays apparently), but she really loved us visiting. We're seeing her tonight and we're going to introduce the Book of Mormon to her. She lives with about 4 other people so there's potentials everywhere!!

THEN, as we were walking up to the member's door for our tea appointment, I had to make a phone call, so we waited outside while I was on the phone. These 3 young lads from next door come outside and one of them asks 'Are you Mormon?'. We were thinking it was yet another cheeky young guy on the street trying to be funny and we were ready for whatever immature comment they usually make..I got off the phone and we talked to them for a while. The lad who asked us if we were Mormon is the son of a member from Leeds 1. He said he's been a few times. He's not baptized and he seemed keen to learn more and come to church more. One of his friends lives next door to the member we were visiting, he's from Ethiopia, very intelligent as well. We asked the member Susan about them and she says his Mum is a really nice woman..so we might go by their house as well. All this took place in Chapeltown. which can a pretty sketchy area at night, so we won't go when it's dark, but it's booming with potential at the moment. While we were waiting at the bus stop afterwards, a lady crossed the street, she's from Chile, she was very interested in the church, we gave her a Book of Mormon and we may meet with her again.

Lee and Alice are still doing well. We scheduled them for the 12 of July. Lee just has to stop smoking and it'll be good to go. They love the church and they really want to be baptized together. 

We also saw Sam (Susan M, a recent convert's son's friend). We're teaching him this Thursday which is SO good. We think he'll progress really fast if he stops hanging around the people who influence him to do silly things. Fingers' crossed.

So everything's pretty good. So tired. Exhausted. Can't remember what else happened. But it was all good. I finished the Book of Mormon for the 2nd time on my mish and I've started Jesus The Christ again for the second time on my mission. I'm also half way through studying The Doctrines of the Gospel manual (I think that's what it's called?? I dunno, but it's GREAT.)

LOVE.

Sister Kuhn

THE MAN Elder Saolatoga  (I hope I got his name right). He's from Brisbane. His Mum sent him 2 Aussie flags so he asked if I wanted one, I was like heck yes son I want one! AUSSIE PRIDE 

These were all taken on transfer day last Wednesday.

2 last pictures with THE ZURCH. Soooooo cute 

Kera's Baptism

Too much has happened this week. I think I'll just make it quick and short...like a band aid.

Kera got baptised! It was a very successful evening :) We had a good turnout as well. 60 or so people which is really great for baptismal services. We had 4 people scheduled to be baptised on that night but only 2 made it. There's missionary work for you!

Short story about the baptism:
It was Thursday 12th June. The baptism was at 7pm. We were having tea at Sarah Boycott's who lives super close to the chapel and we get a call at 5.45pm from our ward mission leader asking if we're filling up the font, "Ummmmmmm nope?". He then proceeds to tell us that it takes 2 hours to fill up the font. The clock was already against us. We call the Elders, they drive as quick as they can to the chapel. We then rush to the chapel. We get there and all four elders are frantically filling up buckets and bowls and anything they can find to fill the font up with. You need a key to open the font tap to turn it on and none of us had one. Our ward mission leader was on his way. We didn't have time to lose. We ran to the kitchen, I found a massive punch bowl, started filling. Sister Zurcher picked up a bin, I knew what she was thinking, we took the bin bag out of it, washed it out thoroughly, and started filling it with warm water. It was like being on the crew deck of The Black Pearl or something. We were running around like crazy people. Elder Olsen, one of the Zone Leader's, was almost dying of stress. He is the funniest person when he's stressed or tired. We could put him on a stage when he's either or both of those 2 things and charge people to come and be entertained. So anyway, after a WHILE, Yanos, our ward mission leader came, opening the font tap, turned on the boiler and it started filling. It was a miracle that it was full in time for the baptism. The whole time I just kept saying 'Well, it'll make for a good story!'. That's basically been my motto my whole mission.

That's that story...

 We went with Lee and Alice and their kids for Kera's birthday picnic. Her birthday was on Friday and they had a picnic on Saturday. It was really lovely :) Love that family!

 

 So, transfers: Sister Zurcher is being transferred up north to Darlington. Geordie land here she comes! I've really really REALLY loved serving with her. We've worked out that my missionary sister Sister Wynder (she had the same trainer/mother as me and also served with Sister Zurcher) is Sister Zurcher's twin sister, and I'm sister Zurcher's younger sister. Considering we're both the youngest in our families I thought she would love to have a younger sisters. We are like peas in a pod. If we add Sister Wynder to the mix it's just one happy little family! I'm really going to miss her. Lucky I get to see her at mission leadership council :) I will be getting Sister Staheli as a companion. I was able to go on exchange with her while I was serving over down in Hull as an STL. Sister Edgington was in the MTC with her and they got along super well. No doubt she will be excited! :) Sister Staheli is becoming a new Sister Trainer Leader :) she is a FANTASTIC missionary. I'll tell you more about her next week :)We had Laurence Mputu come on a mini mission with us this last weekend. I made her a badge from my badge. It was the most ghetto form of identification you will ever find, but she loved it. She came to District Meeting with us as well. Her testimony, WOW, so powerful. She will be SUCH a great missionary :) She will come on a few more mini missions with us as well. We're recruiting all the young ysa girls in the ward for mini missions and getting them all on missions! Haha

It's a short one today everyone. I'm so tired. Exhausted.

Love you

Sister Kuhn    xxxxxx

District Meeting

Elder Berrio and us - he always does the 'Awkward Book of Mormon Distance'. 

That's what I've called it and that's what it's going to be known as forever.

​I know this says 'HIT MAN' but I always read it as 'HIT NAN' and it just makes it 100000 times more funny.

This is a graffiti wall on a short cut we go through that goes past Carnegie Stadium which is the rugby homegrounds for Leeds Rhinos that a member of the ward plays for. How's that for an explanation! 

God Will ALWAYS Make A Way

Week 4, Transfer 9

God Will ALWAYS Make A Way

The heading of this blog is really special to me and I have a strong testimony of it. I'll explain it a little bit later. So this last week, the only words I can think to describe it would be HECTIC. Absolutely hectic. That start of last week seems so long ago. We had 1 exchange with Sister Schmidt and Sister Morris. Sister Schmidt came here with me. We had loads of fun together. We taught Lee and Alice, visited less-actives, had correlation on Tuesday night, visited with members. We did a lot. Then on Wednesday we swapped back over before both of our District meetings. On Thursday we went on another exchange to Huddersfield. (One of) the sisters who usually go on exchange there is having health problems, so they asked us if we could go on exchange with Sister Hedstrom and Sister Wiborny. It was all good fun :) Sister Wiborny is from Germany. She is like a German Buddha. So patient, kind, powerful, sweet, and loving. She is quite shy and so is Sister Hedstrom,  so they're pretty much the most gentle and cute companionship ever. While we were on that exchange we got a call from a sister missionary needing help, so we had to take about 20 minutes to talk to both her and her companion and tried to give them support and help. 

Exhausting.

On Saturday we saw Rachel (recent convert) and helped her with her talk for Stake Conference that weekend. We had Stake Conference (Sat session) on Saturday night. It was so so good. The First Presidency asked if the theme for the Sat eve session to be on Hastening The Work of Salvation through prayer, faith and the help of individuals, families, and friends. Last stake conference was also on Hastening The Work of Salvation. It was so powerful. Sister Decker spoke (future General Relief Society President. Seriously) and Elder Amundsen, one of the APs spoke too. They represented all the full-time missionaries fantastically! 

Sunday session of stake conference was also powerful. They had a variety of speakers and topics. Although I LOVED Sunday session and it was great and I felt the spirit strongly and took loads of notes, my highlight was probably this:

The SIMCOCK'S!!!!!!!!!!!! I also saw President and Sister Slater (Branch President of Skipton branch). President Slater hugged me haha bless him. Also, Naomi Simcock is getting married!!!! I am just SO excited. I may or may not have cried when she told me...

Before or even on your mission, you don't realize fully the connection and the love that you will have for people. I was lucky and able to be reunited with one of my most favourite mission families and I realised how much I love them! And then I realised how much Heavenly Father loves them and loves all his children. It's powerful to experience a love like that for people that a year ago you could pass on the street and not even notice them. So I love this family. That's official. And I'm SO happy for Naomi!!!! It was a GREAT day for me :) I do miss Skipton on days like that!

I also was able to see Patsy and her sister Maggie who both came to Stake Conference. They're adorable :) Patsy is still Patsy and Maggie is still Maggie and I love them both!

So yep! Then Sunday evening we went and saw Aaron. Aaron is a champion. We LOVE teaching him. He is the happiest person you will ever meet. The lesson was so so powerful. We just let the spirit guide it and it went so smoothly and great.

I've been able to REALLY give the reins to the Lord at this point in my mission. I can speak clearly and simply and I say things that are inspired, but it's not me. It's 100% not me. It's the Holy Ghost. I know that. And I am SO grateful to be able to be an instrument in the Lord's hands in that way. Seriously. The gratitude for the spirit and for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ I've felt this week has been immense. It's crazy. I just love it!

I have grown a lot it feels like in the last week. It's kind of weird actually. But this week I can actually mark my progress. First time my whole mission. Alma 26:12 though, always. 

So, before I go I want to explain the title of this blog. Sister Zurcher shared this section of a talk by President Hinckley and it's stuck with me and I love it.

"What marvelous things happen when men walk with faith in obedience to that which is required of them! I recently read the interesting story of Commander William Robert Anderson, the naval officer who took the submarine Nautilis beneath the polar ice from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, a daring and dangerous feat. It recounted a number of other exploits of similar danger. It concluded with a statement that he carried in his wallet a tattered card that had on it these words, which I commend to you:

I believe I am always divinely guided.

I believe I will always take the right road.

I believe God will always make a way where there is no way.

I too believe that God will always make a way where there is no way. I believe that if we will walk in obedience to the commandments of God, if we will follow the counsel of the priesthood, he will open a way even where there appears to be no way."

I thirdly believe that God will ALWAYS always always make a way where this is none. I've seen it with this whole mega baptism event on Thursday. Sister Zurcher and I, 3 or 4 weeks ago, were doing weekly planning, and we had Tango and Aaron as investigators, we decided to go ahead a few weeks until this week and put in goals for 2 people baptized and confirmed. Tango ended up not meeting with us anymore, and Aaron has a pretty major concern and who knows how long it will be until or if he ever gets baptized. BUT, we got that referral for Lee and Alice and their 5 kids. We scheduled Alice and Kera for baptism for this week. Lee still is trying to quit smoking. We will reach the goals we set weeks ago. We didn't know what was going to happen, we just set them in faith, and a miracle happened.

That's what happens when you set goals in faith and do your best. Heavenly Father won't hold back his help, ever. He loves us. Why would he? That's my thought for the day :) He will always make a way where there is no way. I testify to you all of that you guyyysssss.

Keep it real! Thank you to everyone who reads this blog as well. Appreciate the prayers and love and support! All of us missionaries out here definitely need it!

Love you all. 

Sister Kuhn xxxxxx

 

I HIT MY YEAR MARK ON THE 6TH OF JUNE!!!! We were on exchange and the sisters surprised me as I got out of the bathroom with balloons and sticky notes. It was sosososossosososo cute. 

Happy year mark to me!

"This week was...a blessing."

Week 3, Transfer 9

Everyone, let me just start this off by saying how no matter what we do or don't do, the Lord's work WILL go on, so you may as well get on board, enjoy the ride (and the blessings) of being obedient and faithful :) 

This week was...a blessing. A tender, tender mercy of the Lord. Honestly. I don't have a whole lot of time, but in short:

We saw Kate (the Chinese girl we met when we did the POWER HOUR of finding last Monday) with Maria (Maria is, for lack of a better explanation, a dry Mormon..she hasn't been baptised yet but she was introduced to the church ironically while she was doing study abroad in China by some friends from uni over there who were members of the church. She came back to Leeds where she's studying at uni and comes to church every Sunday, she knows it's true, her testimony is so powerful, she knows more than a lot of recent converts do! She's from Essex and she is absolutely amazing. Family is extremely important to her so she wants to make sure her family understand and are accepting of her being baptised before she goes ahead with it. She will hopefully be getting baptised end of June or start of July. Her parents are from China and she knows Mandarin so she comes with us to see all the Chinese investigators we have. She's seriously...ahhh...so so so great. The heavens will be rejoicing the day she's baptised!) Aaaaand that's the Maria Ma Biography haha so she and Jane (a recent Chinese convert from the end of last year).....(and I said this was going to be short..haha what a joke) we talked to Kate about God and about prayer and Maria shared her story with her about how she found the church and her experience and her testimony and it was just such a great lesson. She also came to church on Sunday and she seemed to really enjoy it. 

Lee + Alice plus their five kids Kera, Natalie, Logan, Bella and Mercy all came as well. The ward just enveloped them with love and support. This is what it's about, helping others with love and kindness along their way in their progression back to Heavenly Father. We got them rides to and from church. The members in Leeds 1 are FAB! Such a blessing. I can't thank them enough for their support with this family. Kera and Alice will be getting baptised on the 12th of June at the huge baptismal fireside. Lee will follow them in a few weeks :) such a miracle. This family are wonderful. We love them a lot.

What else...honestly not that much. We had a great week. Busy, but great. We see Lee and Alice every night at 8pm so we can teach them with Kera while the others are in bed. The kids have so much energy man it's crazy. At church on Sunday I felt like a mother! I was sitting next to Natalie and then Kate was next to me on the other side, she was sitting next to little Logan and then Kera and then Sister Zurcher and then Alice with Bella and Mercy and Lee sat 2 rows behind because there was no more room! Natalie is the most hyper kid out of all of them,. but she was SO good at church. We bought them colouring books and crayons and after sacrament they just coloured the whole time. Natalie also wanted her own Book of Mormon, so I gave her mine to have and wrote her name in it. She was well chuffed! They all loved their primary classes as well. That's how it's meant to be. Families, coming into the gospel, partaking of those saving ordinances, making covenants with Heavenly Father and then going onto the temple together, as a family. That's our goal for them. I would do anything for this family. 

Other than that, it's hectic, it's busy, it's crazy, but I'm happy, Sister Zurcher's happy, the weather can do whatever it wants, rain, hail or shine, we're happy. We're blessed. 

This week, well, starting today, we have an exchange with Sister Schmidt and Sister Morris. I'm staying in Leeds with Sister Schmidt and Sister Zurcher is heading to Keighley. We'll meet back up at district meeting on Wednesday. Then on Thursday we have Mission Leadership Council, and then after that we're dropping the ZL's back to Leeds, taking the car and going up to Huddersfield for ANOTHER exchange until Friday. One of the STL's who usually go on exchange with Huddersfield are having health problems so they can't go. And Stake Conference this Saturday night and Sunday. We need to find rides for 342809812903812 people. All the Chinese people, investigators, and Lee and Alice's family. Joy! And then the week after on the Thursday is the Baptismal Fireside. So we need to make sure everyone who's getting baptised is ready and prepared and everything's sorted. 

Juggling act! 

Love you all. Keep up the great work! Don't forget to take time to chill!

xxxxx Sister Kuhn

Out with Tracy once again! Off to see Lee and Alice last night :)  

​On a scale of 1-100 my frumpy scale in this picture is 4000..and it's the day everyone decides to take a District picture + Elder Olaussen (one of the Zone Leaders).