Transfer 1 Round Up

Warning: If you're looking for continuity and coherent thought, you've come to the wrong place.  This week marks the official end of my first transfer out here on the mish, and to celebrate I thought I'd do a more casual blog. Just kind of a loose handful of things I've thought about over the last six weeks and not so much moralising. 

First things first, I love the mission. This whole 'living in England' thing is really working for me. It's gorgeous here, even when the locals think it isn't. Maybe it's just that I'm from a desert and there are actual trees here, I don't know. I also really love how simple this life is. It's hard, but it's straightforward. I have one purpose. To invite others to come unto Christ. Everything centres on that. It's great.

English food is actually really good. (I warned you that this would be all over the place) The classic English roast is amazing, of course, but then you get stuff like roasties, which are potatoes, and Yorkshire puddings and roasted parsnips. Oh man, the parsnips were good. The only slightly unfortunate thing is that they put gravy on everything. Every dinner appointment we've had has involved quite a lot of gravy. Now gravy is good, don't get me wrong. But Sister Pickett and I are feeling that gravy on some of these hills we bike up. It's a rough life. ;) Really though. I'm trying to figure out how to politely suggest less gravy, because I feel like I'm drowning in it.

So, for the first few weeks, basically all of October, the weather here was beautiful. Like, amazingly beautiful. No rain, sunshine and blue skies. The leaves were all turning colours, and the world was a happy place. Then, no joke, as soon as November hit, the weather did a 180. November 1st, there was this wicked awesome fog that rolled in. Proper spooky, that was. Especially riding past the cemetery in town. Creepy. Anyway! Wet and cold is the life we live here. Rain is every day. Maybe not pouring, but if you're ever trying to envision what it's like for me out here, start with some kind of rain and you'll be on the right track. It's lovely though. Way nice. Nothing could make England unpleasant. I'm convinced. Short of a nuclear holocaust.

What else? Bike riding has become as natural as breathing. Although, with some of the hills we go up, breathing can feel pretty unnatural. My bike is awesome. Good little road bike. Everything works really well, except when I hit the front brakes, they squeal pretty bad. They work, they just complain about it the whole time. As a result, I've decided to name my bike Myrtle, as in Moaning Myrtle. Ah, Myrtle. What a character.

I guess I should talk about the actual work a little bit. Right now, we're having a hard time holding appointments, but we have a couple of people that we are teaching who are awesome people. Courtney is the first person we started teaching, and she is fantastic. She's 16, and the daughter of a less active who has been wanting her to learn from the missionaries for awhile, but he was waiting for sister to come. Now that we're here, she's making good progress. She's accepted baptism, but we're having a hard time really teaching her because she's so busy. We pray for her all the time. To be honest, if you could spare a minute for her, it would be awesome if you guys could pray for her too.  This is something that I know will be so good for her in her life. Not only that, but as she's learned more, Steve, her dad, has expressed an increasing desire to come back to church. This is so important for both of them. 

Other than those two lovely people, we are teaching Oliver, who is the most British man to ever British. You should hear him talk about his gardening. He is always wearing a tie. Always. He's 68, and he lives in this beautiful house that he's more than a little proud of. Anyway, he has a great faith in God and a desire to do His will, but he won't come to church, and we can't figure out why. He says he wants to come to church, but he never does. It's trying. But he's in the Lord's hands, and all we can do is keep loving and keep praying.

It's hard, but I love it. Everyday out in the field is hard work, loving and caring for people you don't even really know. But they're God's children, and we're here for them. It is so worth it. Even the smallest good thing makes me so happy. There are miracles happening left right and centre and it's a beautiful time to be alive.

Alright, back to the truly unimportant things. So I realised about a year ago that I am lactose intolerant, which makes so much sense. But I didn't really act like it for a long time, because not eating dairy is hard. First of all, it's hard to avoid. But also, I love cheese and butter and chocolate every now and then was really nice. However! I've drawn the line and finally gone dairy free. I drink the fake lactose free milk stuff, I don't eat cheese anymore, and I even found this fake lactose free butter! It's kind of fun, actually. I sometimes have to get creative with what I eat. One time, we were out of pretty much everything at the end of the week, and all we had for breakfast was cereal. I didn't have any fake milk left, but I refused to eat it dry. So I found some juice that we had and put that on it. Juice cereal. Delicious. Honestly though, it wasn't half bad. I probably won't do it again unless I have to, but it's an option.

I talked about rain a little bit before, but Imma talk about it again because rain is a huge part of life. There are many types of rain. I won't repeat Forrest Gump's list, but I would like to add a few. There's heavy rain, light rain, but most dangerous of all is stealth rain. Stealth rain is, as far as I'm aware, unique to England. It looks like... Like a mix between snow and mist. It doesn't really look like anything at all. And then ten minutes later you're completely drenched. It sneaks up behind you and just... I don't even know how it works! It doesn't even look like it's raining, and then you're wet. Crazy.

One last completely random thing. There are cats everywhere here. Everywhere. I'm beginning to think that they're using Cannock as a place to amass an army for the imminent cat invasion. Everybody seems to own cats, but no one seems to care whether those cats are in their house or not. So the cats are running loose in the streets. And staring at us from windows. Good stuff.

We had a special conference two days ago. It was a mission conference, where we met with the entire England Birmingham Mission to hear from Elder M. Russell Ballard. It was a magnificent opportunity. Even more incredible was the fact that Sister Pickett and I were asked to put together a musical item for that conference. We sang with two other sisters from Wales. We sang "Joseph Smith's First Prayer" to the tune of "Come Thou Fount". It was really special, and an amazing privilege. Listening to Elder Ballard, sitting at the feet of an apostle and learning from him was a powerful experience. 

I love you all so much, and I'm looking forward to another great transfer here in Cannock. 

God is good, life is great! Talk to you soon,

Sister Pike

Buckle Up

So in the third Harry Potter movie, there's this crazy wizard bus called the Knight Bus that has these shrunken heads hanging on the rear view mirror. The heads can talk, and the entire time the bus is driving, they make snarky comments in stereotypical Jamaican accents.  I tell you this because there's a road that Sister Pickett and I bike down all the time, and it's really bumpy. Very extremely bumpy. It's almost guaranteed that every time we go over it, Sister Pickett will say, in a barely Jamaican accent, "It's gonna be a bumpy ride!" To which I invariably respond, also in a Jamaican accent, "Take it away, Ernie!" It's from the movie, I promise.

"But Sister Pike," you may be thinking, "What does this have to do with the nature of missionary work?" Boy am I glad you asked. The phrase "it's gonna be a bumpy ride" is an incredibly accurate description of mission life. Sometimes it's just a bit of a bumpy road, but a majority of the time it's a veritable emotional roller coaster. There are good days and bad days, of course. Then there are the days where you feel fine one minute, and then something happens and you drop like it's the Tower of Terror. And then 20 minutes later you're feeling great again. I've begun to wonder how long my sanity will last. Maybe it's gone already! Maybe I never had it....

Seriously though, it's a wild ride. My catchphrase for the past couple weeks has been 'buckle up'. I like it, cause it reminds me of a couple of things. First of all, I chose to get on this crazy ride. I paid for entry, and waited in line for 10 years for this roller coaster of a life I'm living right now. It was my choice, so there's nothing for it but to strap in, hold on, and enjoy whatever gets thrown at me as best I can. Secondly, it reminds me that, as much as I get thrown around, I can be belted in. The Lord has designed things to hold me fast and keep me buckled up. I have a companion who is a spiritual rock. I have the scriptures to remind me who I am and how much God loves me. I have prayer to communicate with my Father in Heaven, to get guidance, to resolve my concerns, and to thank the being who is responsible for all of my happiness.  Those things are always there, but I have to make the effort to buckle up.

We all have those things available to us. Life can be a roller coaster. We can get tossed around a bit. So buckle up. Hang on to the things that have been given to us to keep us safe.  Read the Book of Mormon every day. It's the thing that keeps me sane, and keeps everything in perspective. Pray daily at least, or as often as you may feel the need. I can promise you that as you make that effort, though the ride may get bumpy, you will not be shaken loose. You will be held fast. There are definitely times where I feel like I don't need to be buckled, like everything is fine and stable. Those are the times that we most need to check our seat belts. We never know when the ride will get crazy again, but it's almost guaranteed that it will. If we hold on while things are fine, we can be more confident in the harness when things are not fine.

These past few weeks have definitely been bumpy, but they have been so good. Sister Pickett and I are really getting settled into Cannock. We're coming to really love the ward, and they're starting to get comfortable with us. Good things are happening here. I'm learning how to bring the person I was back home to England, and as I'm figuring it out, I'm having more and more fun. Fun is important. Fun is the beating heart of work well done.

Apropos of nothing, it's getting kind of cold here, so whenever I walk into a warm house after being outside for awhile, my glasses instantly fog up and I can't see anything. It's great when it happens in members homes, cause then I can stagger around a bit and call out, "I've gone blind!" In everyone else's homes I just have to deal with it. Side note: Houses here are tiny. Everything here is tiny. Most of the roads are only about two small cars wide, and people generally park on the curb along roads, so it's pretty normal to see cars driving down the wrong side of the road for stretches when there are cars parked along. Traffic here is mad. Roundabouts are complete madness, especially on bikes. I think I've seen one stop sign since I've been here, and we've gotten around a bit.

The Lord loves you and so do I. Stay buckled up, and keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times. :)

-Sister Pike