Planting Seeds

Hey y'all!!!!

This week has been good. Mostly seed planting, which makes for a dull email. But hey, at least you're getting one! We didn't meet with our new investigators...they sadly cancelled but we are determined to get them this week!

I am writing this very quickly and my brain is scattered due to a crazy day and the news of an engagement and what not...so sorry this is a wild email!!!!

I can't even remember what happened this week....let me get out my planner.

Susan! So Susan is awesome!!!! She is a former investigator kind of. She was introduced to the church years ago and had a friend who is a member. That friend talked to her about the Book of Mormon and she decided to read it. She has been taught by missionaries on and off for a long time and she is basically a member minus the fact that she doesn't go to church and isn't baptized. She isn't baptized because she decided along time ago that she wasn't going to do anything without her husband....and her husband isn't interested. :( She watches conference and loves it! We don't understand her...we are meeting with herTuesday and are going to teach her the few things she hasn't already been taught. We are praying about what she needs to be able to accept baptism.

We also taught another investigator, Jeanie. She isn't too interested in being baptized (yet...) but has questions. She is going through a lot in her life right now and loves being able to talk to us about God. She has so much potential and wants to come to church! She is waiting until January when we change to the1:00 block because one of the things going on with her is not sleeping at night. We are focusing on coming to church and reading the Book of Mormon with her right now. She feels like she needs to read the bible if she is going to read anything, so we are going to go over and read with her to get her started! Once she gets started, I know she won't want to put it down! She is awesome and keeps saying how there is a reason that we came over. There is a reason she let us in. There is always a reason...we know that this message will help her get through this hard time and are excited to be able to help her!

It has been a good week! Sorry for the scatter-brained email...blame Nicole and Nate! ;) Love you all!!! Have a Merry Christmas!

Love,

Sister Abbie London

Our cute little Christmas tree! Thanks Child Family for the cute Christmas package you sent this week!!!! I love you all!

A Winter Wonderland

Hello everyone!

I hope you have all had a good week! It has been great here as well! The weather was nice the beginning of the week and then the snow decided to come. We woke up on Friday to a beautiful winter wonderland outside! Luckily the roads weren't bad so we were still able to go to zone meeting. It snowed that whole day and has been snowing on and off since then. It is cold...but I am coping well. I mean, snow isn't really anything new...I have lived in Utah my whole life.

This week started off great with us having a lesson with our new investigators, Mitch and Kourtney. They were former investigators that we contacted last week on our exchanges. We talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and how we came to know that it is true. They had a lot of questions and Mitch wanted proof that the Nephites and Lamanites actually lived here. We testified of the holy Ghost telling us the truth and the spirit was definitely there. Kourtney said that she doesn't know if it is true or if she will be able to know as much as we do. She mentioned how our faces light up when we talk about it! I think her realizing that made her be able to see how important this book really is. We are meeting with them again tonight. There is so much potential there, I just hope they can continue to feel that spirit!

We worked a lot with less-actives again this week. Most of these people had such a strong testimony of the gospel at one point. It is so sad to see how Satan can worm his way into people's hearts and make them forget or deny the truth! There are a ton of less-actives here, so there is plenty of work to do! We have noticed that something that helps them invite us in is to have a plate of cookies in your hand for them! We took some cookies to this in-active sister and was not going to let us in. She looked annoyed that we had come by...and then we told her we brought her some cookies! She invited us in to chat for a couple minutes...an hour later we were leaving! She is going to another church right now and doesn't really think she has a testimony. She doesn't think she will ever come back to church but doesn't want her name taken off because she says "stranger things have happened." Moral of the story, cookies work!

We had a cool experience at church yesterday! We were going to class when the Elders came up to us and told us that a non-member was at church! So we gathered up some people to come to the Gospel Principles class. Him and his wife are looking for a church for them and their family to go to and his wife sent him to check us out. He stayed for all 3 hours. He seemed pretty interested. He said he wasn't ready for missionaries yet but the Elders gave him a Restoration pamphlet and their phone number. I think he will be back!

Well, that's about all for this week! I hope you have a wonderful week and that as Christmas grows closer, remember the reason we celebrate Christmas! Try your very best to serve as many people as the Lord puts in your path this week! Like it says in Mosiah 2:17, "when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."

Love you all!!

-Sister London

Hoosier Holiday

Howdy y'all!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I know I did! This week has been really good! We have met a lot more of the members and have been working with less actives. We have slowly been making our way around the ward, I still get lost a lot however. I can find our way home from a couple streets though, which is good!

Our Thanksgiving consisted of weekly planning in the morning, followed by doing some of the normal Monday activites such as cleaning the apartment and the car. At 2:00 we went to this members house for Thanksgiving. It was them and then Sister Jeffery and I. The smallest Thanksgiving I have ever been too! I think it was the first time that I have seen the Turkey carved at the table! It was definitely a different Thanksgiving than I was used to but it was very nice! I really enjoyed spending that time getting to know these members! The food was good and I was so stuffed I thought I would never be able to eat again...and then they brought out the fresh apple pie and ice cream. I thought I would explode! I didn't though so life's good! We talked about the different things we are grateful for and it was awesome to see how many different aspects of the gospel that I am thankful for! It truly is such a blessing to me in my life! I am so blessed to be a missionary!

On Saturday, we went on exchanges with our Sister Training Leaders. We blitzed our area, which means both companionships stayed in Indy 1, which was awesome because it allowed Sister Jeffery and I to get more work done and to see more of the area! It was a day of miracle! We both had 3 other lessons, exceeding our weekly goal of 5. We picked up 2 new investigators and were able to get in contact with one of the investigators that the previous sisters were teaching. It was awesome! I want to share one cool experience. So every week we do service at this thrift store called Humble Impressions. The owner had recently lost her step-son and has just been through a lot. So Sister Saunders and I are trying a less-active on Saturday morning. She was sick and wasn't able to come talk to us. So Sister Saunders suggest that we try some of the neighbors to see if they are interested. We knock on the door to the right of this less-active and the lady who opens the door is the owner of the store. It was the day of the memorial for her son and we were able to go in and talk to her about how Heavenly Father has comforted her thoughout her life. We left her with a Plan of Salvation pamphlet and ended up having a really good chat with her. It was such a testimony builder that there are people everywhere that need to be comforted in some way and this gospel will do that. It was one of the many miracles I saw that day!

I love you all and hope that you all have a great week! 2 Nephi 32:3! Read it!

Love,

Sister London!

Abbie and Sis Saunders taking cool pictures on exchanges

A Whole New World

Hello Everyone!

I hope you have all had a good week! I know that I have! So, I am sure you are all wondering where Sister London has ended up?! Well, I am now serving in the Indianapolis 1st Ward with Sister Jeffery. We are reopening the area to sisters, so we were double transferred in, which really stressed me out at first! I am more calm now since I have been able to meet some of the ward members and have become a little more comfortable with the area. I named this a whole new world because that is exactly what it is...I feel like I am in a completely different world than I was in last week. When people told me Fishers was a bubble I thought they were joking...nope it is a bubble! I mean I am technically still serving in a city but it is completely different! I really like the area so far!

We are working with lots of less-actives, or at least the sisters here 6 weeks ago were. So that is where we have kind of started here. Meeting with ward leaders, visiting less-actives, and just trying to get in some sort of contact with the investigators that the sisters were teaching. It is definitely hard work and is going to take a lot of patience and diligence to get the work back up. I am excited for the challenge however and am enjoying the experience!

Sister Jeffery is pretty awesome! She is 22 and from Mountain Home Idaho. She has a very calming personality, which has helped me become a little less stressed about the area. She is tall but most people are tall compared to me. I have enjoyed getting to know her better the last couple of days and can tell that we are going to have a good time together over the next 6 weeks.

So Wednesday was a very crazy day! That was the day of transfer meeting. All of the missionaries in the mission except for 40 were in attendance. The majority of areas were double transferred and it was a very exciting meeting with the creation of 12 new zones! Funny story time! President was going through and giving the new assignments. How he does it is he says the area and then says the new companionship. So he is up there and says "Serving in Indy 1.2, Sister London serving with Elder...(everyone laughing or "ohing", with me standing there laughing but really nervous because he still hasn't said my companion yet)...well that is one way for me to get sent home early." It was something along those lines that he said, but it was pretty funny! Now the other missionaries either ask how it felt to almost be put with an Elder or they ask if I was the one that almost got put with an Elder! It was funny! So I am glad that I am not companions with an Elder!

I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving this week! I love you all! My new address is:

8622 Hay Meadow Ct. Apt F

Indianapolis, IN 46227

love,

Sister Abbie London

PS I don't know where to plug my camera in on this computer so if I figure it out I'll send a picture of me and sister Jeffery...I'm very confused right now...

Luckily she figured it out-Abbie and Sister Jeffrey!

New Adventures

Hello Everybody!!!

So this is it....I am being transferred! I have spent the last 4 1/2 months here in Fishers and now it is time to move on to experience new adventures and new areas! I knew I would be leaving here and am excited for this opportunity to gain more experiences and to learn and grow into a better missionary. I don't know where I will be headed yet. I'll find out on Wednesday at transfer meeting, which is going to be the biggest transfer the mission has ever had because 5 new zones are being added to the mission. President said 180 of the missionaries (over half) will be at transfer meeting! I am excited to be a part of this! 

So this week has been amazing and a little crazy! To start off, last Tuesday we met with an investigator Becky! She is so awesome! I just love her to death! I think she is the reason why I was here in Fishers...anyway, our lessons with her are always so great! She has such a sincere desire to learn and understand what we believe! She has a hard time understanding why we need a prophet and how he becomes a prophet but she said that she believes in Joseph Smith and in the Book of Mormon so prophets will come soon enough! We invited her to church and she would have come...but more on that later! We meet with her again tomorrow before I leave so I can get a chance to teach her one last time. We want to watch Pres. Monson's talk from the Relief Society broadcast with her and then maybe do the first vision as well. She is amazing!

So this weekend was crazy! Well, mostly yesterday was so crazy! To start off, we were at the church in a meeting yesterday. Our ward was supposed to have a linger longer after church. So we are in this meeting when the bishop starts talking about how we should maybe cancel the linger longer because of the nasty storm that is supposed to come through the area around 4:00. After some discussion with the ward council, they decided to just monitor the weather and the tornado warnings and then play it by ear. Then there is a knock on the door and the bishop from the 2nd ward tells us how the Westfield ward cancelled their sacrament meeting because of the storm and that he is sending his ward home. So here we are...sitting in the bishop's office 40 minutes before church starts trying to figure out what to do. Sister Francis, The Elders, and I all think this is kind of cool. Tornado's coming through Fishers...that never happens! They decided to cancel church, so I didn't get to go on my last Sunday here! That is also why Becky wasn't able to come to church. The worst part was that we didn't get to take the sacrament. I never really truly understood the importance of the sacrament until my mission and I am so sad we didn't get it. 

The cool part of that story happens now! We didn't have any back up plans for church because...hello, it's church why would you need them....so we decided to contact this referral we had gotten. We go over and it looks like no one is home and then the light turns on! We go in and meet April. She is awesome! Her fiance referred her because he was baptized in Denver a year and a half ago and just loves the church and wants to one day be sealed to her. She has had a pretty rough life but feels like she has been led down this path to Jonah her whole life! We talked and she felt the spirit during that lesson! As we taught most of the first lesson, we felt like we needed to invite her to baptism on Dec. 14. She was so excited and wants to be baptized then! We told her to still pray about it, but she is so ready to accept this gospel! She has felt the love of God in her life and wants to continue to feel the warm influence of the Holy Ghost! I am so glad that I was able to teach her at least once before I leave. I am sad however that I will not continue to be able to teach her but I know that there is a reason we found her now and not 4 1/2 months ago. 

So we were leaving April and Jonah's and heard this alarm going off....yep, it was the Tornado warnings. It was strange because we heard this and were looking at blue sky with white fluffy clouds on one side and dark storm clouds on the other. So we went and hid out at a members until the alarms stopped. Our dinner appointment told us how there was a small tornado up in the northern part of Hamilton County (our county here) so the alarm went off in the whole county until it passed. This happened at around 4:00, so there could have been church but everything worked out. It was a pretty exciting day. The funniest part was that when the alarms were going off there was barely any wind and then at like 7:00 it was 10 times windier than before! It was funny! 

It has been a great week and I am excited for this next week! Tune in next week to find out where Sister London will go next! Love you all!! 

-Sister Abbie London

We raked leaves again this week...for the same lady as last time...another big pile to jump in. The Elders thought it would be funny to rake sister Francis and I up in the pile so this is me surrounded by leaves!

A Bunch of Leaves

Hello everyone!

This week has been really great! To start off, we got a new investigator! Her name is Jaclyn. She is amazing and loves to watch BYU-TV! She likes to watch the panel of old guys who go through and make sense of the Book of Mormon. We met her a while ago and sisters have talked with her in the past. She was a potential investigator of ours who has had many questions for us in the past. We stopped by last Monday night and talked with her about what happens after we die because she had just had a friend of hers pass away. So we talked about the spirit world and committed her to read Alma Chapter 40. We were supposed to meet with her again on Friday, but she had her friends funeral that day so we stopped by on Thursday to give her some cookies. We are excited to teach her! 

On Tuesday we did some service for a widow in our ward, she needed some leaves raked. So we were like,"hey, cool! We rake leaves," thinking that we could go in the morning and then be done with it. Yeah...that wasn't quite the case. You see, we didn't realize how big her yard was and how big her tree was....I though our tree at home was big with a lot of leaves but there were soooooo many! So Sister Francis and I started raking and then we raked some more and then 1.5 hours later it was time for us to go to lunch with the other sisters and we had done a little less than half of the yard. So we went to lunch and then came back to finish. This time though, we called in reinforcements....we made the Elders come help us. There were so many leaves that we decided to make a big pile with all of the leaves...a pile taller than me! Which, as you all know, isn't very tall but hey in leaves...that's a lot! So we made this pile and then all took turns jumping in it! It was so much fun! So now the funny part of this story. This sister has a garden where she puts her pile of leaves and dead branches. So this is where the giant pile is going to go once we finish jumping. While we are jumping she walks by and tells us to be careful while we are putting the leaves on the pile because it is really hot over there. So we look over and this pile is just on fire! She had poured some gas on it and lit it on fire and walked back inside! It was so funny!! Also, we drove by a couple days later and the yard was blanketed in leaves again...that just shows how big this tree is! 

It has been a good week of working with members and less-actives as well. We have really gotten to know the youth in the ward better, which has been great! On Sunday was Sister Francis' Birthday, so we celebrated that on Sunday, as well as throughout the week with members. It was fun! We also went to the missionary fireside in Indy on Sunday, which was fun because we got to see all of our missionary friends in other areas now. 

We have transfers coming up next week! So we will see what is next for Sister London! I will most likely be leaving so if you are sending any letters this week, it would be best to send them to the mission office! I love you all so much! Keep praying for missionary opportunities! 

love,

              Sister London

 Our giant pile of leaves! Yes, I am in my owl shirt! :) 

Double Halloween

Our Halloween picture with our yummy Halloween cupcakes! Thanks Aunt Debbie for the yummy treat!!! ;)

Hey everyone! 

I hope you all had a Happy Halloween! I know that we did here in Fishers...well actually we had 2 Happy Halloweens! One on Thursday and then one on Friday! So long story short, the weather forecast for actual Halloween was rainy and windy, so the town of Fishers (as well as some other cities) decided to move trick-or-treating to Friday night...weird right? I guess these Hoosiers are a little afraid of some wetness. They aren't as tough as us Utahans I guess, since I spent many Halloweens as a kid trick-or-treating in the snow! Any way it was fun and we spent actual Halloween painting pumpkins with one of the families in the ward and fake Halloween eating Chili, corn bread, and homemade donuts with some ward members. It was a fun time! 

the yummy homemade doughnut! 

This week has been good! Nothing really new to report this week, except that my Halloween wish came true and we got a car!!!! That was a good thing! We were pretty excited to get that back! 

So something that President Cleveland has been wanting us to do is to work more with the youth. So Sister Francis and I have been going to mutual every Tuesday to get to know the young women better. It has been so good! These youth are amazing! 4 of the young women bore their testimonies in sacrament meeting yesterday and they were so powerful! These girls are doing missionary work and don't even realize it! It is really just go great! 

So to end off I will tell you a funny story that happened on Tuesday when we were at mutual. We were playing Family Feud with the Mia Maids and the Teachers. When it first started there weren't enough youth to make up the 2 teams, so we played as well as 2 of the young men leaders. So on on team was 5 youth and then on the other team was the leaders and us and one young man. He sat there and said, "It's me and all the old people!" So apparently 19 is now considered old...who knew right?! Well I love you all and am sorry that I don't have much to report. It was a slow week but life is still good! We just keep looking forward at what we still have to do! 

Love,

Sister London

Happy Halloween!

Hi all!!!

This week has been good! To start off, last Monday night we went to dinner at the Vivona's. They are members in the ward who feed us every 3rd Monday and have us stay for FHE with them and their 2 daughters and their families. It is fun and I have really enjoyed getting to know this family! They are the ones who fed us Chicken Roll-Ups so...yeah...they are pretty great! Anyway, they had us over for dinner and we carved pumpkins with them! It was fun to participate in this fall tradition with them and to get to know them all better. I gutted the pumpkin and Sister Francis carved it since she hates the smell and the inside guts. We carved a Mickey Mouse pumpkin! It was a fun night. 

This week we have done a lot of work with some less-active members. Mostly just getting to know them better and trying to figure out how we, as well as the ward, can help them. There are so many different people here in Fishers all with different struggles. It has been good to start forming this relationship with them. This one less-active just finished chemo-therapy and will be starting radiation soon. She is so sweet and is only 27. Her 2 daughters aren't members so we want to start teaching them and working to reactivate her. She is really struggling with all of it, feeling like one thing after another just keeps hitting her. Ah! She just needs to come to church! I know that it will help her so much! 

As well as less-active members, we have been working with active members as well. Getting to know them and help them see that we are normal people, not missionary robots. It has been great to start to form different relationships with different families in the ward. Members really are the key to missionary work. This one Mia Maid in the ward was sitting at school and her teacher knew she was a member and started asking her about the church. This young women started telling her that we have this book that is just another testament of Jesus Christ and told her she could bring her a copy if she would like! So today the girl took the Book of Mormon to give to this teacher! It is so great to see the youth get involved in missionary work as well because they really do interact with more nonmembers than adults. 

I love you all and thanks for all the love and support! Keep praying for those missionary opportunities! I would love to hear what experiences you have from them! Don't forget to write!  And have a Happy Halloween this Thursday!! :)

-Sister London

Ours is the cute Micky one on the top step...the one with all the sticks in it is the Elders....and the one next to the Elders is supposed to glow in the dark! 

Third Times the Charm....

The Elders who took our car brought us 3 toy cars to try and make up for it. This picture represents how sad I was to see my second car be taken.

Good Morning Everyone!

So....this week has been a roller coaster week! First off, we did not get to teach one of our investigators this week. They either cancelled or we were not able to get in contact with them. :( That's okay though, we will work extra hard this week to meet with them at least once, if not more. We have spent this week trying to find new people to teach through different approaches. We tried rake tracting by going through the neighborhoods and raking up people's leaves. We haven't seen any success from that yet but I am hoping that they at least looked at Mormon.org since we left a card on the door. It is definitely difficult to find here in Fishers. For those who do not know much about Fishers, aka probably all of you..., it is a more well off area. Many of the neighborhoods are no soliciting so even if we wanted to, we can't tract. Since it is a more rich area, everyone is super busy with work, school, or kids. Most everyone has a church they are "satisfied" with. It is great! I seriously love the work here! It was a slow week, slower than usual, but that has just made me so much more motivated to hasten the work!!!!! 

Another thing that happened this week that relates to the title of this email is.....wait for it.....they took away our car again! Yep that's right, we are now sharing the car with the other sisters again. For all of those counting along at home, this is the 3rd time that this has happened. This time it's a little trickier though because we just barely split the area with the Elders and we are in the part farthest away from our apartment. So we are trying to figure out how to actually get into our area each day, without having to spend the whole time actually traveling into our area. Luckily the other sisters are teaching a lot of people in the apartment complex, so if we need the car while they are in a lesson with one of those investigators we can take it. Maybe this is exactly what we need to get the work moving in Fishers...maybe not...we will see. They told us we would get a new car in 2-3 weeks so it won't be too bad. Just pray that winter comes after we get the car! That's what we are doing!

This week we had an awesome service project in Indy with our zone. It was through this Community Outreach Program and we went around this neighborhood cleaning the garbage off the streets and pulling weeds. We did this Saturday morning and it was awesome!!!!! I  love serving people! The weather was rainy and cold but to me, that made it so much better! It was definitely a highlight of my week! If you all want to see more about it and see some pictures from it, they will be uploaded onto the facebook page for our mission today! For those of you who do not know about our missions FB page, it is www.facebook.com/indymission ! At least that's what I think it it.... hehehe! Go and like it! 

Service in Crossroads on Saturday! 

Anyways, it's been a good week and I have learned a lot. I would love to hear about all of your lives as well! My address is still the same and I LOVE getting mail from you! But mostly, I just love you all! 

-Sister London

Transfer 3

Abbie and Sister Francis

Howdy Ya'll!

I'm not really in the south, but sometimes it is just fun to act like it! So this week I started my 3rd transfer out in Indiana! Crazy, right?!?! Anyways, that means that I am done with being trained and am now with a new companion! Her name is Sister Francis. She has been on her mission for 4 1/2 months, which means she came out the transfer before me!!!!! There are so many exclamation points because that is rare! They usually put a new missionary with an older missionary, but because the mission is becoming so young now, they are switching it up! Some of the Elders I came out with are companions with other Elders that came out with us! It is so great to see the hastening of the work! Sister Francis and I are very similar! We both love pink, Disney, and Chick-fil-A!!!! There are many more similarities but we are on limited time, so stay tuned! 

This week has been great! We started off the week by going bowling last Monday with the Fishers district before 3 of the missionaries got transferred! It was really fun even though my ball spent more time in the gutter than on the lane...but let's just say, without my 61 points, Fishers 1 would have lost to Fishers 2 by 62 points...so yeah...I kind of rock it! We had a lesson with an investigator, Becky, Monday night! It went so great and the spirit was so strong! It was a great lesson! We spent most of Tuesday going to various members homes so Sis. Knight could say bye.Wednesday we went to transfer meeting and then spent the majority of the day getting Sis. Francis familiar with the area. We were supposed to have a lesson with Amber on Thursday night however, she had to cancel. :( So It has been probably a month since we have been able to have an actual lesson with her...not good. We will keep trying though. I know that she is still interested, she is too solid not to be! We spent most of the weekend trying people except on Saturday night we were able to get a lesson with an investigator! The absolute best part of the week was yesterday though!! Sacrament meeting was so great for a couple different reasons! First, Becky came!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is only the 2nd time that I have had an investigator attend sacrament meeting! She wants to keep coming too! Woot woot!!!! Another reason it was so great was because of the talks. All 3 speakers spoke on charity but all had such a different approach. They shared different experiences and told different stories, but they all tied together and the spirit was sooooooooo strong! I am so blessed to be serving in this ward for another 5 weeks! I love Fishers! We had a missionary fireside last night, which was also amazing! The spirit is so strong there as well! It is a testimony meeting where recent converts share their conversion stories! It is my favorite time of the month! 

Life in Indiana is great! Like I said, I am still loving Fishers. The work is hard and it is probably one of the more difficult areas but it is great! I have learned so much in the short 3 months that I've been here! I hope you all are doing well! Know that I love you! 

-Sister London

Fishers family bowling

Another 6 Weeks in Fishers

The Fishers Sisters wishing you all a "Happy Halloween!"

Hello All!!!

So we got transfer calls last night, and can I just say that I was so nervous I thought I was going to pee my skirt! But all is well and I am pretty sure we were the first ones called. Calls start being made at 9:30 and that is when we got our call. So I will be staying here in Fishers for another 6 weeks and Sister Knight will be transferred. I am sad to see her go, but am ready and excited for a little change. That's what mission life is.

This week has been good. Nothing too exciting going on. I got a nice call this week from the mission office telling me that there was someone that was friends with my dad when he was here that wanted to take me and Sister Knight out to lunch, so I called them back and it was the Overmeyer's. They were close with my dad when he was in Muncie, so on Thursday they came down and took us to lunch! It was a fun time! They brought me some pictures of my dad when he was here 35 years ago!!! It was awesome and Doug and Bobbi are just great!  We had a lot of member lessons this week, so we went and taught some of the members the Restoration or Plan of Salvation. President Cleveland is really pushing us to get into members homes to teach, which is good because if you listened to General Conference this weekend you may have caught a similar push on members and missionaries working together! It is an exciting time in missionary work and in church growth in general! 15 Million members!!!!!! I love it! It is really just a fantastic time in church history and we are all a part of it!

So I loved watching conference! All of the talks were so inspired! I got so much out of conference. One of my favorite speakers this year was Elder Dube of the Seventy. I really liked his talk on never looking back. In missionary work that is an important thing to remember! There are so many people that do not get baptized and it is so hard not to look back and dwell on why that is. But by doing that, we are missing the people who are ready! Do not live in the past! I also enjoyed the quote, "Doubt your doubt before you doubt your fears." As the Walmart greeter here told one of the Elders, "When fear is tolerated, faith is contaminated." Don't let your fears or your past get you down!

Sorry it wasn't as exciting this week, we still had lots of fun here in Fishers though! I love you all and would love to hear from you all too! Since I am staying in Fishers, that means my address won't change for at least another month and a half!

-Sister London

 After our yummy lunch! 

Fish

"sis. vidmar sis knight sis gil and me! The sisters of the Fishers District and apt. 12188!"

Hello Everybody!

So you are probably wondering why my email is titled "Fish". And I will tell you! If you know me, you will know that I do not eat fish. I don't like the fishy smell and all that. So we go to our dinner appointment on Wednesday night at a part member families house and what is for dinner? Fish. Being a missionary we are encouraged to eat the food unless you are allergic or something. So I ate it. Starting small with one tiny piece of course and guess what! I didn't hate it! This man made really good Talapia (I'm new...I don't know fish spellings)...I even had a second piece!!!! It was an exciting night!

Also on Wednesday night, we had a lesson with a new investigator Becky. She is awesome and we are super excited to teach her some more! She is about 40 and has 2 kids. She is the neighbor of our primary president so we've been teaching in her home. Becky has so many questions about Joseph Smith and why we need a modern day prophet. She is also curious why she can't "go to Temple" as she said it. She is mostly just lacking the solid knowledge on her part because she can see why we believe in a prophet and why you need a recommend to go into the temple, but she studied theology for 8 years and questions everything! Which is a challenge sometimes but this week we are going to start from the beginning and hopefully that will clear some stuff up!

We met with Sister Dewald on Saturday and she told us that she isn't going to be baptized. :( We are still pretty sad about that but her reasons have nothing to do with the doctrine, it is all just the physical pains and what not she feels right now. So I really believe that one day she will accept this gospel. It may not be in this lifetime as we would have liked, but I think it will happen.
So we have transfer calls on Sunday! I am excited and also nervous to see what happens! Since I will be done with training, anything could happen! I will let you all know next week what is going to happen to little Sister London! :) Enjoy your conference weekend and the great opportunity to listen to our prophet and apostles! I am super excited!
love you all!

-Sister London

A Real Missionary

Hello Everyone!

So this week has been awesome! It started off great because for dinner last Monday, the member made chicken roll-ups (thanks for sending them that mom!)!!!!!! They were so good and I ate 3! We have had lots of fun teaching and applying the things taught to us a couple weeks ago from our Zone Conference! We had a goal to teach 5 other lessons (lessons without a member) last week and ended up teaching 8!!!! The power of talking with everyone! It was awesome! 

I had an exchange this week and spent Wednesday in Carmel with one of our Sister Training Leaders, Sister Cordner. It was a good day and gave me a lot of practice with door approaches and tracting. Before when we have tracted, we hadn't found much success. No one was home, it was hot, blah blah blah...but it was awesome! I actually enjoyed it! We met so many interesting people and taught a couple lessons! It was a good day and I learned lots! 

On Thursday we went to try a LA in the ward and ended up on the very edge of our ward in a cute little town named Fortville...I've decided that some day I will live there...because it is awesome! You drive by all these corn fields to get there and it is just a cute little country town. It reminded me of Stars Hallow! :) So my goal is to baptize all of Fortville and have a branch there so that they don't have to drive 45 minutes to get to church! 

On Friday Night the relief society in the ward had "Fantastic Friday", their big crafts night. It was super cool and I made a verse of the week chalk board! It was awesome too because the sisters did amazing at inviting non-members! About 1/3 of the sisters there were non-members! We were able to talk with new potentials as well as get in contact with some less-actives we have been trying! 

On Saturday, we had a really cool experience teaching a potential (who turned into a new investigator). She is 15 and her mom wasn't home (who we were actually trying to get a lesson with that day), so we had to go sit on the curb to teach. We spent about an hour talking with her about the restoration and just answering her questions. I felt like a real missionary! You know how in some of the church montages, there is a clip of missionaries teaching someone outside? Well I felt like someone needed to be there filming this moment because it was just so missionary-ey! It was so awesome! 

Sister Dewald came to church yesterday and stayed for both Sacrament Meeting as well as Sunday School!!!! We were super excited about that because she usually leaves right after sacrament meeting! She is still stuck on baptism but she felt something during the opening hymn! After we finished singing "Oh My Father" she was crying and told Sister Knight that she felt something!!!! With her, that is major progress because she hasn't progressed really in the whole 2 1/2 months that I've been teaching her! 

I love you all! Have an awesome week! :)

-Sister London

My yummy chicken roll up leftovers!

 I was being a super missionary! Do you like my cape?

My verse of the week board with an actual verse on it! I am thinking that I will keep it out here for my mission, but will probably send it home before I come home. I'll ship it and mark it fragile or something. But it is small enough to take from area to area with me!

Me being a goon on Saturday night! Since I had an "real missionary moment" I needed to reenact the moment!

1,000 Things to Be Grateful For

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all doing well! Life in Indiana is good! We have been having some cooler fall weather, which has made biking a lot more enjoyable! It has made it harder for me to want to go outside and work out in the mornings as well though...you can't win them all! This week has been good!!!! Ah so good!

We had a zone conference this week and received a lot of great training! I am so excited to be a part of the work right now! It is really such a great time to be a missionary and President Cleveland knows it! The work is hastening at a rapid pace and there is so much more to come! It is awesome! 

We had a lesson with an investigator that the Elders gave to us this week. Her name is Amber and she is amazing! She is so prepared and really wants to learn and understand. We taught her part of the plan of salvation and gave her a baptismal date. She accepted and will be working towards being baptized on Oct. 26th!!!! I am so happy! I pray that she will continue to have this desire to learn and will work towards this goal! It is pretty exciting! The first investigator to say "yes" to a specific date, or baptism in general! 

I was reading in this months Ensign last week and read an article called "1,000 Things to Be Thankful For." It really got me thinking about my life and what I am thankful for. I decided after reading it that I would find at least 5 new things everyday that I am thankful for and why and then write it in my journal. I have been doing this only for a couple days but I can already see the difference it has made in my life and my attitude! It has really made me realize how blessed I am. I would encourage you all to read the article, as well as the whole issue. I have really enjoyed reading this months issue. I have taken something away from each article! 

I wanted to end off by sharing something that President  Cleveland shared today in his e-mail! He told us this because it brought a smile to his face. I am sharing it because I thought it was funny! Nicole, take a look at #3...Cougars don't cut corners but Saints do!!! :) I love you all! 

-Sister London

"Putting the Temple as a Priority in your Life"

Top 10 Reasons It's Easier To Go To the Temple Than To BYU!

10. The temple won't make you go home and shave.9. You only get interviewed every other year.8. There is always enough parking.
7. Construction is "finished" when the Temple is dedicated.
6. Temple workers won't get in trouble if everyone passes.
5. The temple doesn't want you to finish up after only four years.
4. Tuition is cheaper and never goes up. It's only 10%
3. You can walk on the grass.
2. The final exam in the temple isn't for a very long time yet.
1. If you can't go yourself, someone else will do the work for you.

I didn't really have any awesome pictures to send this week, so I just took this gem in the library 5 seconds ago! :)

I found St. George Blvd. the other day when we were walking to a members house...I was a little confused. "When did I leave Indiana?"

A New Investigator

Hi y'all!

So this week, we got a new investigator!!! He is awesome! He is a pastor in a non-denominational church but he did not want to bash at all! He came into the lesson with an open heart and an open mind, really wanting to understand what we believe! He had questions about the Book of Mormon and the Bible and was surprised when we showed him in Ezekiel 37 how the Book of Mormon is mentioned! He really has a desire to read the Book of Mormon and learn more. The only problem is that he coaches basketball, I think for little kids as well as high school, and has try-outs the next couple of weeks. So it will be a little while before we get to have another lesson with him. He is golden though! It will be good because it will give him time to start reading the Book of Mormon. He wants to have started reading before we meet again. 

Our other investigators haven't really been getting back to us. Our old lady investigator is just really afraid of change and is not sure if baptism is right for her. We know it is but agency is key. We have stressed over and over again the importance of making this decision based upon her and Heavenly Father. She is so worried about what her family and friends will say about it though and has been factoring them in as excuses. We just need to be patient. Everything happens in the Lords time. That is definitely something that I have come to understand more since I have been out. Everything is based on the Lords time table...which isn't always easy for us to understand. It is always better in the end however! We had a fireside last night that is held on the second Sunday of every month and she was able to come! It was perfect too because there was a speaker who shared her conversion story and it is almost EXACTLY what Sister Dewald is going through! It was great! I hope she was able to hear it all because it could definitely help her! I will keep you posted! 

This week I did something drastic...I cut my hair! I asked for about and inch and a half off but I think it was more like 2 inches. Which is okay because I love it! It is hard to get used to but is cute and cut clean. On of the members in the ward has a non-member daughter in cosmetology school and needs credit hours. So Sister Knight and I volunteered our hair for the greater good! It was great because we got to get to know the daughter better and give her a positive vibe of missionaries. She has had bad experiences with Sisters in the past. We were also able to talk about missionary work to her fellow students! It was great and for a student, she did a great job! 

It has been such a great week as always and I love the work! Indiana is getting all fally with the many leaves starting to change! It is absolutely gorgeous! I hope you are all well and I love and miss you all! I encourage you all to seek out missionary opportunities everyday. Pray for those. Missionary work is impossible without the help of the members. I can promise you that blessings will come from this! Have an awesome week! 

Love, 

Sister London

 Before the haircut....

After the haircut...

2 WHOLE MONTHS

P-Day Pedicure Party

Howdy Ya'll!!!

So can you believe I've already been out 2 months now?!?! Crazy right?!?! I can't believe it either! My life is just so different now, I can hardly remember life before this! Missionary life is so great and I absolutely love it and the work we do! The people are great and so is Indiana!

This week has been good! We got a new sister in our apartment! She is great and just came out ready to work! We are sharing a car again so we are on bikes part time again! It is a little easier to get used to this time around! We biked like crazy on Saturday! We went at least 7 miles most likely more! The area I am in is just huge! The ward boundaries are as big or bigger than my stake boundaries at home! So on biking days we don't really get as much done with potentials or formers as we try to on car days. We aren't pro bikers yet so we haven't risked venturing down too far into the lower half of the area...it is exciting though and really helps us get to know the streets better! Plus it adds extra exercise! Who doesn't love that!

We don't have any new investigators but last week, we were finally able to meet with an investigator we had been trying since Sister Knight first got here 3 months ago! She is nice and loves learning about what we believe but is an "Elder" in her church and loves having that leadership role, so she is having issues with understanding why women don't hold the priesthood. We are meeting with her again today so hopefully we can see a miracle with her! Sister Dewald hasn't committed yet so we may be dropping her this week. She isn't really keeping commitments and we have taught her all the lessons...it's just hard because she is so old we don't want to break her little heart!

For Prep Day yesterday we got pedicures! It was lots of fun and super relaxing!

Love you all and hope you have a fantastic week! I love getting mail! (hint hint)

-Sister London

One Whole Transfer

Hello Everyone!

I cannot believe that I have already been here for a whole 6 weeks! It has felt like forever since I was home, but I still cannot believe that it has gone by this fast!! I am still in training so will be staying here in Fishers for at least another 6 weeks to finish that! Then we will see where I go from there! So since I'm still in Fishers that means that my address is still the same and I really would love to hear from all of you! Letters give me something to look forward to at night when I don't get to be out working!

This week has been good! Nothing too exciting to report on though. Pretty much the same old stuff that we usually do but we did get a new investigator this week! She is pretty intense and has had some family issues lately so it is really hard to get through a whole lesson because she is telling us all of her problems. When we met with her on Saturday our member showed her this awesome Mormon Message that helped invite the spirit back and made her feel something. It had Elder Holland telling a story and at the end she said, "I want to meet that guy! Who is he?" We told her that by coming to church she would be able to have that same feeling, but sadly she couldn't make it. I have a feeling that unless she starts letting us actually teach, we might have to drop her. We are missionaries, not therapists.. She is really sweet though and makes scarfs! I bought a cute light pink one (real shock on the color right?!) I hope she continues to feel the spirit because this gospel would help her so much in her life right now! Hopefully things go a little better tomorrow when we meet with her.

Other than that, we haven't had any other big things happen. Just the small everyday miracles that make everyday out here worth it!

Love you all, 

Sister London

This was my district last transfer! 3 of the people in this picture are leaving. The one on the far left w/the sunglasses is being transferred, same with the Sister next to him and the Elder next to me folding his arms is going home tomorrow. This is the Fishers/Indianapolis 2 district!

A Week of GA's

Abbie and Sister Donaldson

Hello!!!!

This week I had the opportunity to hear from 3, yes 3, General Authorities! It was amazing! On Wednesday we had a big mission conference with Elder Schwitzer from the 2nd Quorum of the 70. It was such an amazing experience where I learned so much! It was so cool to meet him and have to opportunity to learn from him and his wife. There were so many wonderful thoughts shared and I wish I had my journal to share some of those, but I left it at home.

Then this weekend was Stake Conference and Elder Holland came out to rearrange the stake presidency! So we got to hear from him this weekend as well, both Saturday night and Sunday morning. On Sunday I was 11 rows away from him and am pretty sure we made eye contact during the closing hymn. It was such an amazing experience and his remarks really hit home for me. On Saturday night he was typical Elder Holland. Speaking with his voice raised and he even pounded on the pulpit! He did it in a very loving way though! He spoke on how in life it feels like we will always be in darkness when we are going through a trial but Heavenly Father will always be with you. He is closer to you at those times than ever before. One thing that I really liked that he said was "This is the church of happy endings." So no matter how hard it gets, this gospel only brings happy endings. That is something I need to be better on remembering. We also heard from Elder Dunagon. He is an area 70. His remarks were also truly amazing! It was just such an awesome experience!

This week we haven't really been able to get in contact with many investigators so we have trying lots of people.On Thursday-Friday I went on an exchange with one of the Sister Training Leaders, Sister Donaldson. While we were out on Thursday night, we got contact with a potential Sis. Knight and I had been trying to schedule an appointment with. He was home and we had a nice conversation with him about keeping our promises to the Lord. He is a minister who was writing his sermon on that at the time. We got talking about the Book of Mormon and he asked why the Bible doesn't mention the Book of Mormon. So we told him it did and scheduled a time to meet with him in a couple weeks to teach him more about where it says that and how the Book of Mormon and the Bible work together! The exchange was an awesome experience! I learned so much and was so lucky because Sister Donaldson is going home next week so I got to have a transfer with the most experienced Sister in Indiana!

Last night we had a music fireside by Nela Otuafi. He is a Tongan songwriter and producer who writes music about the gospel. It was called "The Power of Music" and was just so good! I loved it and he is really good. I encourage all of you to look him up and listen to his music! Also I wouldn't mind if you sent me some of his CD's mom! ;)

I hope you are all doing well! I would love to hear from you! Sisters need mail too!!!

-Sister London