Christmas in England

Hello everyone!

I hope you all had a magical Christmas. Christmas here in England was so wonderful, and I loved being able to skype my family. It was so good to talk to you all! 

We had a really lovely Christmas zone conference in London on the 17th. We had some really spiritual messages and musical numbers. After that we played a lot of fun Christmas games and everyone wore Christmas jumpers. President and Sister Stevens got us all pillowcases with the England London mission logo printed on them. It was such a fun zone conference! 

Straight after the conference I got to go on exchange with the sister training leaders. So Sister Swann andSsister Rank came back to Ashford, and I went with sister Fenu to Isford. The exchange was super fun and I really learned a lot from working with Sister Fenu.

I love Christmas time so much, but it is a rough time for finding. Apparently no one wants to be stopped by two missionaries right before Christmas. And as most of our investigators were on holidays, it was brutal trying to do missionary work. We ended up seeing a lot of less active members and visiting members in the ward. 

On Christmas Eve we did a lot of service with some members. We baked a ton of cookies and gave them away to people who might need a bit of cheering up this Christmas; and let's be honest, we ate a lot of them too.  That evening we had a carol concert at the church, where the whole ward gathered to sing carols. I love how much music can bring the Christmas spirit. After the carol concert, the bishop called all the missionaries up to the front. And I just want to say how amazing the ward is here in Ashford, because the whole ward had pitched in and bought us a huge box full of food, sweets, and gifts to make sure our first Christmas away from home was special. I don't think any of our eyes were dry. I was so touched and humbled by the ward and what they did for us. I love the people here in Ashford! 

For Christmas day, we spent the morning with Sister King and watched Big Hero 6 and Frozen. We had such a fun time with her! That evening we were with another family, the Drews. It was so much fun and we just felt included in their family. We played the cardboard box game, which is when you have to bend down and pick up a box off of the floor with only your mouth, and only your feet are allowed to touch the floor. The boys and the girls tied. We all got a bit stretched out and were really sore! 

We were expecting to transfer this week, but had a surprise call that transfers have been moved to next week, so I get to spend a extra week in Ashford! 

I hope you all had a really great Christmas! I love you all. Have a great week! 

Love, 

Sister McFarland 

Five Months!

Sister Swann and I passed our five month mark this week! It is so
crazy to think that we have been out that long already. Sister Swann
and I being the same age in the mission, it was fun to have our five
month mark together.

We had a district goal to find one new investigator every day for the
next week. At first we thought this was a crazy goal because we have
been struggling to find people to teach. But we really saw miracles
and we found so many people.

We had a ward Christmas party this week, which was really fun. We
watched the first presidency Christmas devotional. During the
devotional we were sitting by our investigator Lisa and her two little
girls Paris and London, who did not want to sit and watch the
devotional. So Sister Swann and I went to the back of the room with
them and brought out notebooks and sticky notes to colour with. They
loved it and were having a lot of fun. Soon other kids started
noticing how much fun we were having and wanted to join in too, so
then we ended up drawing with a bunch of kids in the back of the room,
and it became really hard to keep them all entertained with sticky
notes and pens.

Other than that it has been a surprisingly chill week. I am getting so
excited for Christmas! Sister Swann and I have been practicing singing so
that we can go caroling when we go tracting. I freaking love Christmas!
Love you all! I hope you have an amazing week and a Merry Christmas!

Sister McFarland

Pictures: 1. Helping make Christmas decorations
2. Drawing with Paris and London

Twins...Sister Swann x 2

I have a problem. I keep losing things. Like my badge. How I can lose
something that is always on me I have no idea. But the other day we
were in town and I was introducing myself and pointed to my badge as I
was saying my name, only do realize that I didn't have a badge! So I
have been borrowing Sister Swann's badge until I can get a new one.
Hopefully that will be really soon. So it has been confusing for
everyone we meet who sees that we are both Sister Swann, so once I
just said we were sisters.

We set up our Christmas tree last p-day. Our landlord was very kind
and got us a tree and some decorations. We are so excited for
Christmas! Town centre is all decorated with lights and a big tree. It
really brings the Christmas spirit. I love the church's Christmas
initiative "A Saviour is born." We have been sharing it with people we
meet. I would love to challenge you to invite someone to watch the
video, either by sharing it online or with a friend. This time of year
people are more open to learn about the true meaning of Christmas,
Jesus Christ. I love Christmas!

Tomas is doing well and is really excited for his baptism next week!
We are so excited for him. He is a great guy!

We had stake conference this week, so yesterday for church we were in
Gillingham at the stake centre. It was a really good meeting!

Sorry for the boring email, but not that much else has happened this
week. We just met a lot of weird people... But that is just part of
missionary life!

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love,
Sister McFarland