Called to Serve : Yes I have definitely fallen asleep while my companion has been praying

Oh my days guess what I am officially HALFWAY through my mission on Wednesday. AH I CAN'T BELIEVE IT. I want to cry. I love it here! Oh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHOUT OUT TO MY LITTLE BROTHER ADAM. He is turning 15.. you know what that means.... stay off the roads.

This week was a very interesting week! It was kind of a long week and many appointments canceled so we did quite a bit of walking. All of my shoes that I came out with are pretty much completely worn down... seriously we walk so much its crazy. You all should be so grateful you have a car!

Yeah so the week was pretty long, but Friday was probably the most exciting day of the week! Okay so we usually weekly plan every Friday morning, and that is for 3 hours. We always start this planning session with like a 30 minute prayer and pray for every one that we are working with.... (Yes I have definitely fallen asleep while my companion has been praying before.... haha) well during the prayer we got two calls, so after when we went to check, it was the Gillingham Elders, Elder Packer and Nakomaha.... So we call back and it was actually Elder packer and Elder Ramsay and they were like... "Sisters we are coming to Rainham to do a blitz (a blitz is when lots of missionaries do finding in one area to find more people.) with you guys and we will be there soon!!!" ....... Umm excuse me??? Flipping heck Elders. Ha yeah so we ended up having to postpone weekly planning and go to Rainham.

So we get to Rainham and they tell us that we are going to split up. So for the first 30 minutes I was with Elder Packer finding in town centre. But no worries because we were always in sight and sound of the other two! Actually I really liked doing this because it's a chance to learn from new people!

Oh my days Elder Packer asks the funniest questions I was dying. Here are just a few classic examples....

"Would you like to have free lessons on Mormons?"....... after the person said no, he looked at me and said.... "that was the stupidest question I have ever asked." hahaha

"What do you usually do on Sunday?"

......... *as she is walking away* "I just like to relax!"

*He yells back* "Would you like to relax at church?"

haha I was dying!

Well we ended up stopping this guy who was carrying a bike helmet and just talked to him briefly about biking, then he left. Well like 15 minutes later he comes back and shows us his bike and for the

next 20 minutes we have such an amazing conversation with him about Jesus Christ! He is a born again Christian but we showed him the scripture in Alma 7:12, and the Spirit was so strong it was amazing! We told him about what makes our church different from all of the other Christian churches and Elder Packer then testified of the atonement and asked when we could see him again. He looked down and thought about it........... And thought about it.......... And thought about it......... For 5 minutes. We just sat there in silence while the Spirit touched our heart and I know it touched his too. Then finally he said that he doesn't think he wants to change churches........... Oh my it broke my heart! I KNOW that he felt the Spirit testify to him that what we said was true. But we all have our agency to choose whether or not we want to act on those promptings.

Yes so after that hour of finding we went to Tesco to get lunch and oh my days. I just can't help but laugh when I think about it. We were meandering through Tesco not finding anything that sounded good when Elder Packer makes the decision to get Apple pie and vanilla ice cream. So yes we had apple pie and vanilla ice cream for lunch. Oh my I love those two elders. After we left Sister Mathews and I just looked at each other and wondered what the heck happened the last 3 hours of our lives. Haha good times.

President Emailed me last week and told me that he really felt strongly that I needed to stay in this area for one more transfer. I have been really praying hard that I can fulfill my purpose here and do all that the Lord needs me to do. I truly love these people! The less active families we are working with are progressing really well! That makes me so happy:) Helping people to discover the blessings of the gospel has been my greatest joy.

Here are a few quotes that I really like this week that I wanted to share......

"Jesus’ statement “Come and see” provides both an invitation and a promise to all people everywhere. Come to Him; see Him as King of Kings and Lord of Lords; recognize in Him the great Messiah who will come again with healing in His wings, to set His people free. He will wrap you about in the cloak of His redeeming love, and your life will be changed forever."

-Alexander B. Morrison

"From all the distant places of sin and alienation in which the children of the Father find themselves, it has always been the work of Christ (and his disciples) in every dispensation to gather them, heal them, and unite them with their Master”

-Jeffery R. Holland

I love my Savior Jesus Christ.

Click here for a video of Autumn in England

ONWARD AND UPWARD.

GOD BLESS.

Sister Sara Ranck