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