Nothing Too Exciting....

Hey y'all!

Sorry this weeks email will be a little boring....it was a slow week for us here in the Highland area. We had some more nasty cold weather and are on track for some even more nasty cold weather this week. However, we have a car and don't have to walk in the cold like some Elders do, so can't complain about that! 

We had a lot of our lessons cancel on us this week...most of our lessons cancel. It was rough but we did our best to stay positive and diligent, which payed off at the end of the week! 

On Wednesday, we had interviews with President Cleveland. Those went well, I passed! Haha no but seriously, I love interviews! We are doing some really cool things as a mission to try to increase finding. Every quarter, President comes out with a Mission Training Plan that we use in all of our meetings. It is different study topics from PMG and the Fundamentals that he feels will best help lift the mission. This Sunday we will be doing a mission wide fast for finding. It will be a really cool experience! I am excited to get to better prepare for that this coming week! 

As I said before, during the week it was a little slower and harder to teach people. We were able to find a little more success on Saturday! It was quite the day! We started off the day with our cars being grounded, meaning that we weren't allowed to drive them. We had planned to be in the farther part of our area, which didn't happen because it wouldn't have been wise to try and walk there. Instead we tried to be creative with our finding approach and try to contact people on the bus...tried being the key word. They weren't too interested and no one really liked us talking to them. But hey, at least we know now that it isn't very productive here! We visited with a recent convert and read to Book of Mormon with her. She is awesome and super funny! We will be eating dinner with her Friday (Jan. 31....aka my Birthday!!!) I am excited! Then we were able to have a lesson with one of our investigators who we hadn't been able to meet with yet. We talked to her about the crazy things that have been going on with her and read some of Mosiah 24 with her. She committed to come to church but didn't show up. :( We should be meeting with her again tonight. Later that night, we had a lesson with a guy name Joseph. He is really cool! He has a desire to learn about what we believe because he doesn't know really what it is that we do believe. We had a member come with us and she was just the best! It was perfect. She ended up answering most of her questions and was able to feel a joy in sharing the gospel that she hasn't really been able to feel before! We talked to Joseph about a lot of different things because he had lots of questions. We left him with the Restoration pamphlet and will be teaching him from that tomorrow night! Woot woot! 

Sister Jones and I spoke in church yesterday. We talked about prayer. She did really good and I think I did alright. I felt like my thoughts were a little scattered but for the most part I think it made sense. We were able to make contact with a less-active and an investigator for the first time since I've been here! We will be seeing the investigator again later this week and the less-active told us that she feels like coming back to church again! So that is really exciting! 

Like I said, not too exciting but this week is in store for some great times....Birthweeks always bring good things! I hope you are all still praying for missionary opportunities and are acting on those! Blessings will come! I love you all!

-Sister Abbie London

We had a sports themed District Meeting this week! Which meant that we wore sports stuff. So I brought my whistle and wore stripes and tennis shoes. We are very creative...it was a good time!  

This is the super awesome watch that I got this week from Sister Falkner! Thanks Sister Falkner! I love it! 

Highs and Lows

Hello Everyone!

I hope you are all staying warm this winter! I have no idea what the weather is like in your neck of the woods, but I know that it is constantly changing here! One day it's back up in the high 40's with all the snow melted and then the next day it's a miserable snowy day! It's very crazy! Everyone always says the weather in Utah is bipolar, well it is but not quite as drastically as it is here in Indiana! Today is a beautiful day! The sun is out melting the snow...the low for tomorrow is 1...yep, crazy weather changes! 

This week has been good! We've had a lot of lessons fall thr
ough this week, but hey, that's missionary work Jack! We had a lesson with 2 of our new investigators, Chris and Amber. The lesson went really well and the spirit was definitely there! The member whose house we taught at is recently returning to activity and bore an awesome testimony! The end of the lesson resulted in us committing them to be baptized! They haven't been extended a specific date yet, however we plan to give them one this week for April,5. They are super awesome and have such a sincere desire to know truth! 

We taught another one of our investigators this week, Coco, with that same desire to find truth. She is so great! She has spent a lot of her life confused and doesn't like it, I mean does anyone like being confused? So we met with her a couple of times this week and in our lesson on Friday, she started to understand! It was so great! We were showing her the apostasy cups. She understood it...and then her Evangelist mom came in and started preaching to us...so that was fun! She was really nice about it, which was good because it didn't end up in a bash. It ended up with us giving her a copy of the Book of Mormon and her wanting to meet with us again! What was even better was the Coco was able to explain the apostasy cups to her mom! She wasn't confused! She didn't make it to church however. It's okay, Sister Jones and I are speaking Sunday so maybe we can get some of our investigators to come hear us! 

We had a really cool Why I Believe last night! It was such a great, spiritual meeting! All of the speakers did wonderful! The common theme that I found between all of their conversion stories was that you are never alone. Heavenly Father loves each of us so much and is always there to guide and direct us. No matter how alone you may feel, Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are ALWAYS there to help you, you just have to let them. So this week as you go about your life. The ups, the downs, the crazy, funny moments, just remember that you are not alone. Turn to the Lord and He will help you overcome because out of everyone, He is the ONLY one who actually does know what you are feeling. He has felt it all for you. Rely on him and you will overcome whatever comes your way!

I love you all and hope you have the best of weeks! 

Love,

Sister Abbie London

A couple of weeks ago (when we were stuck inside from the weather)...just making cookies!

Snowman on a toilet!!!!!!!! 

Bloomington!

Hello Everyone!!!

Sorry about not emailing last week! We got some pretty crazy weather here in Indiana! The high last Monday was -10 with a -30 wind chill, so we spent the majority of the day inside. The weather caused problems all over and the library here had some water leaks that caused it to be shut down for a couple days! So, be prepared to get 2 weeks worth of Sister London updates in one email...hopefully I can remember to include everything!

Jan. 1 we had transfer meeting! So we headed to the Fishers chapel to get our new assignments. I have been reassigned to serve in the Highland ward in Bloomington Indiana, which is South of where I have been, Bllomington is a cute little town! My companion is Sister Jones. She is awesome and we are very similar! It has been so fun working with her and it's been very easy to get along with her. She is from Orem, Utah and is the oldest with 3 little brothers. She has been out one transfer longer than me, which is great because now, we both know how to be missionaries and get to work more! We have some pretty solid people we are teaching! There are about 6 investigators who have said they want to be baptized, they just won't accept a baptismal date. :( We dates set for them that we will be extending this week that are probably a bit more realistic. We met this really awesome guy this week at a less-active's house. We were helping her make a Family Mission Plan and were sharing a scripture about missionary work with her. Her friend, Chris wanted to join us so we talked about the scripture and missionary work and then let the less-active share with him what we believe! It was perfect for her to start using her plan! We gave him a Book of Mormon and a Restoration pamphlet. He has never really looked into our church and is pretty excited to read and find out more. After we left, Rhonda (the LA), Chris, and his GF Amber read from the Book of Mormon together. The next day as we planned, Rhonda called and told us that Chris wants to meet Wed. night at 8:00! So we are super excited to teach him this week! He is super awesome!

So funny story! Sister Jones has been telling me all about this potential who is just so great. She didn't really explain to me much about him, just that he's pretty entertaining. So on Friday we stop by to see him. He is kind of older and was smoking (like everyone here...). So we sit down to talk to him and he tells us all about the USS Indianapolis that was sunk during WW2. He was telling the story because he has been trying to do some Family History and thinks his dad was on that ship. Then we start trying to talk to him about the gospel...he goes on and on about his Indian Bible that is the most correct bible on the earth. He talks about a Chinese Bible and some other bible as well. He just goes on and on talking about these random things and doesn't give a chance to talk...this whole time I keep thinking, "He is just like Uncle Si!" I get home and look at my Duck Dynasty cup with Si on it and realize that if this guy had a beard, he would look just like Uncle Si! It was so funny!!!!!!!!!!! 

We had some pretty cool experiences yesterday too! We went tracting for a little bit and met some pretty interesting people! A couple who show some awesome potential and then some who aren't quite as ready to accept the gospel. We knocked this one door and this guy kept telling us how wrong we were. He went on and on about how the Book of Mormon isn't true even though he had never read it. It was a big learning experience for me...learning in a way that I learned a lot of self-control and didn't snap at him or say something rude back to him! Then this morning, in my personal study I read a scripture in Alma 44 that said " And now see that you cannot destroy this our faith." It was such a strength to me to know that no matter how hard people try to bring us down and shake our faith, they can't! I know why I am here and I know that everything that man said to try to persuade us to not believe, is false! So, my little bit of advice this week is to hold onto your faith! People are always going to try to bring you down, do not let them! They can only destroy you if you allow them to! 

Sorry again for the novel...I hope I was able to tell you the things you wanted to know...if not, I am sorry!! It is hard to remember everything! Oh, one fun fact is that I am the perfect height for this apartment! Nothing is really that tall...except my bed...I have to jump to get on that every night! It is kind of funny!!

I love you all!!

-Sister Abbie London

New Year, New Transfer!

Happy New Year!!!!!!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and were able to spend some time finding Christ in Christmas! I know that I sure did! It was just wonderful to be a missionary at Christmas time! I was able to focus so much more on my Savior and the wonderful gift that He has given me! It was a wonderful day and we were shown so much love from all the great members here in the Indianapolis 1st Ward!

So....with the new year comes a new transfer, and for me a new transfer brings a new companion and a new area! Yep, that's right, I am leaving Indy and headed off into the great unknown of Indiana! I am headed off for "bigger and better things" as President Cleveland told me, whatever that means! I get the feeling that they will be sending me to the middle of nowhere Indiana, but hey! If that is where I am needed, I will gladly go! I always am down for a new adventure!

The biggest news of the week however is Marybeth! Marybeth is our new investigator!!!!!!!! She is awesome  and it was really cool how we came to start teaching her! She is a friend of a less-active member who we have been working with. This less-active invited her friend to stay for our lesson! #awesome!!! (yes, I still use hashtag's!) So we read Alma 36-37 with them and Marybeth just loved the Book of Mormon! She told us how interesting it was and how she is excited to read it! She is so prepared and by the time we left that lesson, we basically had our next lesson planned! It was such a cool experience! She told us that her daughter met with sisters before and over the years she has had missionaries come to her door. After our lesson with her, she kept saying how she wished she would have met with us sooner! She grew up Catholic but by the time she was a teenager, she felt like she didn't really belong anywhere. She has talked with people from lots of different churches but has never talked with missionaries from our church before. It is seriously the perfect set up! She is really good friends with this less-active. This could be exactly what the LA needs to get back to church! They are the perfect fellowship for one another! We meet with them again on Tuesday, so I am very happy that I get to have one more lesson with them!

It has been such a good week and transfer! I am so glad that I have been able to serve in this ward, with these amazing members and missionaries! I am so lucky to be a missionary!

I love you all and hope 2014 brings you lots of joy and happiness!

Love,

Sister Abbie London

The Indy 1 district!

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!