Merry Christmas to All

Hello Everyone!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas this year! I also hope that as we only have a couple of days left until Christmas is here and gone that we can all remember the real reason we celebrate Christmas! I invite you all to take time this week to reflect on our Savior, Jesus Christ, and why he was born. He came to live and die for us so that we may return to our father in Heaven again some day. What does that mean to you?

This week has been wonderful! We had a great opportunity as a mission to get together and focus on our Savior. On Thursday, we had a big mission conference where we did many different Christmas activities! It was wonderful! We started off the morning by receiving trainings on each of the Christ-like attributes. It was wonderful and I learned so much on how I can work to be more Christ-like! We had a wonderful lunch after and got to spend time catching up with all of our missionary friends we have made! We played some games and had lots of fun laughing and joking around. After organizing all 250ish of us into a mission picture, we had a talent show! That was a fun thing to watch! There was only time for 20 talents and that was the reduced list! There are so many talented people here! It was quite the experience...I wish words could describe it! There were some pretty entertaining ones! We watched Mr. Kruger's Christmas and then got the nice surprise of getting a package or letter from our families! It was such a great day! The true spirit of Christmas was there and it felt so good to be able to relax for a bit from the stressful life of a missionary!

We met with some investigators this week, not much progress there yet. One investigator did come to the ward Christmas party on Friday night however, so that was great! She really enjoyed it and met a lot of the members. I think she was still there talking to people when we had to leave!

It was a wonderful week! I love you all so much! Have a great Christmas!

Love,

Sister Abbie London

This is a picture of my mommy, my little sister, and I at the Christmas Conference on Thursday! We are a cute little family!

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!