Called to Serve : I didn't know I could be this happy and so exhausted at the same time!

Sister Fenu. My new companion from Italy.

Wells first things first, I don't even know what country I am in anymore because it sure doesn't feel like England! I stick out like a sore thumb here with my white hair and pink complexion! Haha. BUT OH MY DAYS THE WORK HERE IS CRAZY! I love it so much!!!! We don't have ANY people we are working with from England, they are all from different countries. The majority of the people here are from India, Middle eastern countries, or Africa! And literally everything inbetween. It is crazy! The nickname for this area is Ilford-Stan.......... Oh man I love it! I feel so happy I could just cry right now.

I love my companion as well! Sister Fenu is from Italy and is such a FANTASTIC missionary. Wow love her already! She has helped me out a lot. She speaks Italian and Spanish and we had a lesson on Saturday with someone all in Spanish. Hah I was pretty much useless the whole time. I am probably gonna be fluent in both of those languages in 6 weeks. Okay not really but I will try! She is wonderful and such a diligent worker! It is fun working with her because I have been training my whole mission so I have been the one who "knows what I am doing...." So it is nice to be with someone who actually does know what she is doing! We will be a great team this transfer:)

Billa is a recent convert. He is from India and he is
hilarious!

Well if I thought my life was crazy before, it sure just got a whole heck of a lot crazier. So I am now on the mission leadership council so once a month I get to go to Hyde Park for MLC, which I am really excited for. It is all the zone leaders and sister training leaders and we go at the beginning of each month to have trainings from President and Sister Stevens and council together. We are going on Thursday. So some of the responsibilities I have as a sister training leader is I am responsible for 7 different sister companion ships..... ONE OF WHICH IS MY GIRLS SISTER HAYNIE AND SISTER MATHEWS IN GILLINGHAM!!!! FLIP YEAH! So once a transfer we go on exchanges with each companionship... So yes I will be going on 7 exchanges this transfer. So that is crazy, and also we give trainings at zone meetings and zone conferences. Life is hectic I tell you! The first few days of being here I felt very overwhelmed trying to get to know the area, my new companion, and everything and was super stressed. But last night I felt much better and today I feel great! I am excited for this new adventure:)

Laisvis and Kumar.

Okay GUESS WHAT. We have a baptism this Saturday and His name is Laisvis and he is from Lithuania!!!! OKAY I LOVE THIS GUY! He is 20 and has lived in England for 1 year. I feel bad for the sister who left because she taught him everything, but I also feel very blessed to be able to meet him and help him start this new journey of his life! Okay here is his story.......

A few months ago he was walking and it was raining outside, and some guy who was really happy stopped him on the street to invite him to church. He was thinking to himself, "how can this guy be so happy if it is cold and rainy outside?" He has never believed in God or anything at this point, so he decided to go and buy a bible and start going to different churches to see why everyone who believes is really happy! Well a little bit after this he was on a bus one day and was reading his bible, when a returned missionary asked him what he was reading? This returned missionary then invited him to come to a ward activity they were having the next day and he agreed, and since then he has been meeting with the sisters! That was like 2 months ago and now he is

Aylesbury Sisters!

FINALLY going to be baptized and he is soooo excited! Ah I love this kid! He has such a strong testimony! We have taught him a few times since I have been here and wow he is amazing! He is going to be a missionary one day!

So yes that is exciting! OH. And this weekend was stake conference and President and Sister Stevens were there and they spoke. After the conference, Sister Stevens came straight up to Laisvis and started getting emotional as she told him that her eyes were just drawn to him as she spoke because she just saw light and goodness radiating from him. It was a really neat moment! Wow I just feel very blessed to be here!!

Also, last night we had the most AMAZING lesson with another investigator called Henry. Top 3 most powerful lessons I have participated in on my mission. Henry is from Ghana and is a strong Christian. He met elders (actually Elder Haysman is the one who found him!) a few months ago and has been meeting with the missionaries for quite awhile now. Well he was on date to be baptized this

weekend as well and he really wants to be, but we felt he wasn't quite ready yet because he didn't understand that if he is baptised in our church he is now a member of OUR church. Anywho, long story and not quite sure how to explain his concern to you. So last week at the end of a lesson he asked us if we are trying to convert people to only coming to our church because he doesn't want to leave his church. Does that make more sense? Wow I am not explaining this well at all! Ha..

ANYWHO. We have been studying for him for the past few days and prepared a really good lesson on the priesthood and what makes our church different from other churches... And boy as we taught that lesson the Spirit was so powerful and he really understood what we were teaching him! It is crazy because sometimes someone will ask a question that you have heard and answered a hundred times, but sometimes you get this same question and as you open your mouth to answer, the Spirit takes over and you suddenly find yourself answering the question in a way you have never done before, in a way the investigator can

understand. After that I just sit back and think, where the heck did that come from? That happened a few times in this lesson with Henry. Goodness the way the Spirit works is amazing! God really does know all of us so well and teaches us according to our own understanding! Ahhhh I just love this work!!

So yes we postponed his date for one more week!

Okay one last story! We had a crazy experience on Saturday..... So we had an appointment with a potential investigator but he didn't show up. So we decided to go get dinner down the road from the chapel. Well while we were there we got a call from a member and he said he was at the chapel with someone and we needed to come...... Alrighty then! So we booked it to the chapel and his member just happened to come to the chapel at the same time this potential investigator showed up! #miraclenumberone.

AND THEN. This other guy from Nigeria just decided to come to the church as well at the same time and he said that he has been in Nigeria for the past 10 months and literally got back that morning! He was going to church a little bit in Nigeria and before that he was meeting with missionaries in Hyde Park! CRAZY. Um his never happens....... #miraclenumbertwo

So we split up and I taught one guy and Sister Fenu taught the other and we got two new investigators and both of them accepted a baptismal date for the same day! It was crazy!!!! Haha that was really cool. Gods timing is so perfect!

Wow I love this work. I didn't know I could be this happy and so exhausted at the same time! I sure do know that God loves us all so much. He is in the details of our lives, all we have to do is pay attention!

ONWARD AND UPWARD.

KEEP THE FAITH.

Sister Sara Ranck