The Unthinkable

Happy Easter! I hope that everyone has had a wonderful Easter.

 

This week has been one of the craziest of my mission. We have been so busy, and also spent a surprising amount of time traveling, getting things sorted for Sister Smith to go to America. but despite the business and traveling a lot, we finished the transfer strong, and saw many miracles. 

Before Sister Smith leaves to America, she wanted to have as many English foods as possible. For dinner the other night we made one of her favourite English foods, Eggs and Soldiers. Which is half boiled eggs with toast cut into narrow strips to dip into the egg yolk. but when we peeled the eggs, we discovered that they were under cooked. So I just thought we could pop them into the microwave to finish them off. Bad idea! One of them exploded in the microwave, and the whole flat smelled of egg. the second egg exploded in my hand when I picked it up and poked it...covering us both with eggs. At least I didn't start another fire... haha! But lesson learned. 

We had an AMAZING week! We found so many prepared people and saw so many miracles. We have started working with two wonderful families, which is so exciting. We just found so many people who are so prepared to hear the gospel. We worked so hard for Sister Smith's last week in the England London mission. After a great day yesterday, we had a dinner appointment in a member's home. When we got there, I asked if I could use their toilet, where I took some moments to kneel down in their bathroom and say a prayer of gratitude for the miracles which we have seen. I was so excited for this next transfer because we had so much planned and so many people to work with.

But then the unthinkable happened... We got the news that not only will Sister Smith be leaving, but I am being transferred to Norwich! We are getting whitewashed. Something that usually happens when an area is struggling and needs some revival, which ours definitely hasn't. Quite the opposite, we have seen great success the past six weeks. Even worse, the new sisters will get here in 2 weeks time, so for two weeks the elders here will be taking over our area. I was absolutely heartbroken! I thought for sure I would be staying. After the call I just sat on the floor and cried. I am going to miss this place so much! It will be so hard to leave all these wonderful people, especially when things have been going so well. Gerry is going to be baptised next week, and I am devastated that I will miss that. I will just have to trust in God and take a leap of faith that everything here will be okay, even if I am not here to see it happen. 

So today has been really crazy, trying to pack and say goodbye to everyone. I'm still in denial about leaving... I don't want to go! I am going to miss this area terribly, and it will be so hard to not be able to see the people we have found progress. I am sure I will have lots of adventures in Norwich with Sister Cho. 

Have a wonderful week! 

Love, 

Sister McFarland 

Pictures: Buckingham Palace, Royal Albert Hall, giant chocolate Easter egg, Sister Smith and Sister McFarland

Puffy Baptism

Hello everyone! The reason I am emailing Tuesday is
because today we had to be in London for sister smith to get her visa
to America. So we got permission to switch our P- day to today
instead!

This week we had the amazing miracle of seeing Ella get baptised. We
have been working with their family for a long time, and it was so
great to see Ella take this important step in her life. We had a
pretty good turnout from the ward to support her, and like all Mormons
love to do, we had a 'munch and mingle' afterwards. But the best part
was being able to see Ella so happy. We stood with her mum in the
doorway to the bathroom, and when she came out of the water she had a
huge smile on her face and she just shone with the spirit. When we
talked with her afterwards she said she felt really 'puffy' and warm.
:) she was confirmed Sunday and her twin sisters were also
blessed. It was a really spiritual sacrament meeting. Ella got to be
confirmed twice because the first time they got some of the wording
wrong.

Yesterday we went to visit an elderly less active sister named Winnie
in hospital. She was in a room with 5 other patients and their
families. When we found her bed, she was surrounded by a loving
family, was unresponsive and couldn't open her eyes or talk. Most of
the family left the room so we could visit with her, but her daughter
who is also a member stayed with us. I sat down in the chair and held
her hand, but I honestly had no idea what to say to her. We told her
how much Heavenly Father loved her. Then Sister Smith had the idea to
show her the Easter initiative. I just stared at her like she was
crazy, I mean, this woman couldn't even open her eyes! But we held the
iPad close to her ear so she could hear. She nodded contently as she
listened to the words, and I really think it comforted her daughter as
well. It really hit me how inspired the Easter initiative is. We
visited with her daughter for a while then decided to sing to Winnie
before we left. For those of you who know me, you know that I am not
the most confident in singing in front of people. I held Winnie's hand
and wouldn't look up and felt so self conscious of all the other
nurses, patients and families in the room listening. But after singing
"Love One Another",  I looked up to see that there was not a single
dry eye in the room. Sister Smith and I looked at each other, both of
our eyes wet, amazed at the overpowering spirit that filled the room.
Then Winnie smiled, nodded, and put her hand to her heart.  The spirit
in that room was so strong, and I knew that Winnie felt it too. Today
we just received the news that Winnie had passed away later that
night.

After that experience, we found out that another one of our
investigators had had her baby, and was in the same hospital!
Coincidence? I think not. Her name is Souyma and she is from India.
She is so sweet and Sister Smith and I gush about her all the time.
Her English is pretty good, but she still struggles with my name. So
she calls us Mac and The Smith. :) We stopped by to see her and help
her carry her bags out to the car so they could go home. Oh my
goodness, her baby was so adorable and it took all my willpower to not
pick her up and cuddle her right there. Sometimes missionary rules are
difficult.

I love you all! Thank you so much for your love and support. Have a great week!
Love,
Sister Mac

Pictures
1. Ella's baptism
2. Yes, Sister Smith and I got matching pyjama trousers. :)

A Child's Prayer

Hello everyone! I hope you have all had a nice week and have enjoyed the sunshine.

 It is amazing to see how quickly the weeks are flying by. I can't believe that this past week I passed my 8 month mark! Sometimes being on a mission feels like a treadmill. When you start out it is really slow and doesn't feel like it is moving at all. Then as you increase the speed, it gradually gets faster and faster until your legs can't keep up anymore as you frantically try to slow it down.

We have been working with a lovely family, the Comptons. The mum is less active, and has 3 little girls. The oldest, Ella, is 9 and is going to be baptized this Saturday! She also has 6 year old twin girls, Anna and Eva. I love teaching this family; they are so sweet and so fun. We usually feel extra blessed after we leave because all of the girls want to say the closing prayer, so we have at least 3 prayers before we go. Last week, Eva said one of the closing prayers, and she prayed that we would find lots and lots of people to teach. Both Sister Smith and I felt the spirit so strongly as we listened to her pure and childlike faith. There really is such a power in a child's prayer. This past week we have really felt that, as we found so many people who had been prepared to hear the gospel. We are so excited for the coming week to be able to start teaching these people. We were excited to go back and tell Eva how much her prayer helped us this week.

On Wednesday we traveled to London for zone conference. We felt very lucky because that was the day it just chucked it down with rain, and we got to be in the nice, dry chapel most of the day. We talked a lot about the atonement, and the real meaning of Easter. The spirit was so strong during the conference. As a missionary, I have grown to love and understand the atonement so much more, and this Easter time is the perfect time to reflect on the atonement. There is a new Easter initiative called #hallelujah. It really brings the true spirit of Easter, I would really encourage all of you to watch it and share it! 

While at the conference, the dreaded news came... The visa came through! Sister Smith will be leaving me at the end of the month.  I'm sad to see her go, but know she will do great in the blessed land of Arizona. So to all my friends in Arizona: watch out! Your getting one of the best missionaries ever! I am really going to miss her when she goes.

Every Wednesday evening we have a sports night at the church. It is a great way for investigators, members, and less actives to get to know each other better and to have fun. This last week however, we didn't have our sports clothes because we had just come back from London. We played football (soccer) and volleyball in our skirts, which actually ended up not being too bad. It was heaps of fun.

I love you all so much! I hope you have an amazing week.

Love,

Sister McFarland 

Pictures 

1. Making an all American breakfast to celebrate the visa

2. Today for P-day we got ice creams and walked along the sea front :)
3. This is part of our district (left to right) Elder Nelson from Texas, Elder Lapi from Albania, Elder Nakaima from Japan, Sister Smith from England, Elder Isaksen from Norway, and me from the 'Cuse.

Happy Mother's Day!

Hello Everyone!

It was mothers day in England yesterday, so happy mothers day! Our investigator Gerry told me to tell you all happy mothers day from him. Haha, I thought that was very sweet.

We are going to go to Hadleigh Castle again today. I am very excited and it feels so good to wear trousers! 

I am feeling much much better, although I am still coughing. Uncle Fong is an old Chinese man who was baptized last April. He speaks no English. He was really worried about my cough and kept telling me to go get medicine. He is so cute! You can tell how much we love him because we call him uncle. In fact, the whole ward calls him Uncle Fong. 

Sorry it is such a short email this week. Everything is going great!

I hope you have a really good week! 

love,

Sister McFarland