Look Up!

January, in a word, was slow. Our star investigator, Harriet, moved out of our area, and therefore we can no longer teach her, and finding new people to teach has been like pulling teeth. To be honest, adjusting to a new companion is hard. Especially with how close Sister Pickett and I got. The transition was difficult. For awhile, trying to develop a relationship with Sister Woolsey felt like I was banging my head against a brick wall. However, as Randy Pausch once said, and as my mother often reminds me, "Brick walls are there for the people who don't want it bad enough." 

I was sitting there, pounding my head against this wall thinking, 'This is never going to work. There's this wall here, and look! I'm trying, but I can't get through it! What more could I do?' Then, after a lot of pain (possible side-effect of head-banging), I decided to change my approach. Instead of staring straight ahead at the wall and thinking, 'The only way forward is through', I looked up, and saw that the wall was not as tall as I thought it was. So I started building a ladder. Then, after spending some time building the tools, up and over I went! And boy is it awesome on the other side!

Basically, to summarise that extended metaphor, things were hard while I tried to keep doing them the way I'd always done them. But once I adapted and looked for a new way, everything sorted out and is now all sunshine and roses—figuratively at least—it’s still raining all the time. Anyway, Sister Woolsey is wonderful, thoughtful, hilarious, and not completely sane, as I had previously hoped. ;) Then again, I can't really claim to be sane either, so we make a good pair. 

It's actually pretty interesting. While there hasn't been a ton of teaching this month, there has been so much learning. I have changed so much this last month, and it's awesome. One thing that's changed a lot is the way I view and read the scriptures. I've always liked reading the scriptures. I love the stories, I love the teachings, but for me, before my mission, scripture reading was like a five minute thing at the end of the day. Read a chapter, think 'Oh that's nice', and then go to bed. Since coming out on my mission, the scriptures have exploded in my mind. Rather than looking at the page and thinking, "Yes that is a piece of paper", it's gotten to be more like, "WOAH, IS THAT NARNIA?!" They've become like a portal to a whole other world of understanding. The scriptures are awesome! I'm even starting to like Isaiah. Crazy! I have come to love reading the scriptures.

The only thing cooler than the scriptures themselves is prayer and scripture study. Start with a prayer for understanding, read awesome doctrine from ancient prophets, and pray again. So many doctrinal questions that I've had my whole life have just clicked into place this last month as I've improved my scripture study. Honestly, I'm starting to feel like I could learn anything from God if He willed it. Actually, that's something that I really believe. God is not the author of confusion. If there is anything He wants, it's for us to know the way forward. 

Sometimes, that way forward is not what we think it ought to be. I know that it's probably the same for all of us. Maybe you're staring down a brick wall. The Lord knows that. He sees us, and He sees what we can become. He has not left us alone, but He has given us prayer—a constant lifeline to Him—and scripture study, through which our minds can be enlightened. But none of that makes any difference if we keep our heads down, focused on the hard thing right in front of us. We have to look up and imagine that there could be something more than this. When we do that, the Lord can show us a path.

Well, I hope you all had a lovely January! Here's to a love-filled February! ☺

Love you all!

Sister Pike

Don't Give Up!

Jeepers, it's been awhile hasn't it? Sorry about that. I decided mid-month to make this blog a monthly thing. So I waited until the end of the month after the month I was in. Because I'm a procrastinator and I like to do things at the last possible minute. Many things have changed. Unfortunately not that bit. Yet.

Anyway, I'm doing well! December has been a weird month. Halfway through this month, my first companion, Sister Pickett, went home and I got my second companion, Sister Woolsey. Boy has it been an adjustment. I don't know if you all are aware of this, but people have different personalities and different ways of doing things! I guess I had forgotten. As companions, we're literally with each other 24/7 except for very rare circumstances. Your first companion, or your trainer, teaches you about how to do things out on the mission. You can get really attached to your trainer. Actually, it's time to learn mission lingo....

Mission 101: (Sisters Version)

Formal Term                                  Slang Term                     

Coming into the mission                  Being born

First area                                        Birthplace

New Missionary                             Greenie

First companion/Trainer                  Mom

First District leader                          Dad

Others Trained by your Trainer       Sisters

People you Train                             Children (daughters)

Starting to want to go Home            Getting Trunky

Going home soon                             Dying

Gone home                                      Dead

Your companion going home           Killing your companion

Mission family relationships get really complicated. My basic, super simplified mission family is Sister Pickett, who is my mum, Elder Kerr, my dad, then I have two sisters out on the mission, and Elder Kerr trained Elder Clayton, and he's my brother. This is excluding all of the half brothers, nephews, grandparents and great grandparents. It gets weird, but it's entertaining. 

Anyway! The reason I told you all of that was so that I could say the sentence, "I killed my mum", and you would all know what I was talking about. So yeah, Sister Pickett is dead and actually is probably reading this blog. (*waves* Hi Sister Pickett!!!!!!) She is a fantastic missionary and taught me a way of doing things that I really like. I learned a lot from her, and I love her so much. So much that I don't even mind that half of the people out here call me Sister Pickett by mistake. After three months of the two of us being 'Sister Pike and Sister Pickett' I'm really not surprised. I'm proud to be "Sister Pickett's girl", as I've been called a few times.

Alright, alright, I can hear it now, "Gosh, enough of the 'Sister Pickett Appreciation Post' Sister Pike! Tell us about other things pleeeaaaasseee." Ask and you shall receive, my friends. My new companion is very different from Sister Pickett, but just as wonderful. We had a really nice Christmas together, which was super fun. Unfortunately, it wasn't super eventful, so I don't have a lot of stories to tell. Although I may have indulged in a karaoke rendition of 'Let it Go' with a member's daughter. There is no evidence. Anyhow, Sister Woolsey is really sweet and really thoughtful. She's a lot quieter than Sister Pickett, and as of right now, seems to be considerably more sane than Sister Pickett ;) It's a change of pace, but it's so good for me to see a different way of doing things. It's helping me to define the way I like to do things.

The nature of the mission (and life) is change. This is my first real taste of it, and it's shifted my perspective on a lot of things. Before I really get into that, I want to talk about the work for a little bit. A while ago, we met this awesome girl named Harriet. We started teaching her, and she is doing fantastic. We haven't been able to see her a lot recently because of the holidays, but she is so awesome. She quit smoking in a week flat, and has been smoke free ever since. Since the day we introduced The Book of Mormon to her, she has read every day with just a couple exceptions. She's an inspiration to me. She's done some incredibly difficult things, and she hasn't flinched, hasn't turned away from the challenge of changing. 

Right now, Harriet is the only person we're really teaching. We have a couple other people we're beginning to teach, but I want to focus on Harriet. I talked about this in my farewell talk--change is an essential part of the human experience. At some point in our lives, God will ask us to make some changes. Sometimes they are little changes, sometimes they're 'stop smoking' changes. When we invited her to stop smoking, she was more than a little nervous. However, she knew that quitting would change her life for the better, and as scary as it was, she wanted what was on the other side. So she dove right in. It wasn't easy. Not in the slightest. But she's happier now. She's said it, and we can see it and feel it as we talk to her.

This last month, there have been a lot of changes. Some that have just happened, and some that I've chosen to make. In both cases, the challenge initially looked absolutely terrifying, but I knew, and I continue to know, that I want what is on the other side of these changes. It's better. Not that where I've been is bad or wrong, but where I'm going is much, much better. That's not to say that the way is easy. The path to worthwhile change hardly ever is. But, as Josh Groban sings in probably the best song ever--don't give up, because you are loved. 

You are loved. You have your friends, you have your family, I love you and the Lord loves you. The Lord loves you so much. Don't you give up. Stare those changes in the face, whatever they may be, and say, "Whatever comes, the other side is worth it," and dive right in. Reach out to those around you for help and strength. I have asked for help so many times in the past month, and it has been so worth it. It's been the only way I've made it through.

This mission is the best thing that has ever happened to me, and it's only just beginning. I want to bear a firm witness to you that God lives. He loves each and every one of us individually, and He is looking out for us even now. I know that our Savior, Jesus Christ, suffered for our sins and afflictions. He is there with us through ever step of our lives, to help us carry all of our burdens. I feel this, I know this, I have seen the effect of this truth in my life and I can never deny it. And I have gained all this knowledge through serving my brothers and sisters. Serving, helping others is the greatest thing we can do. As we reach out to others, showing them the love we have for them, we learn just how much we can become. And we have a lot of potential. 

I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve the Lord and my friends here in England, and I'm grateful for the opportunity I have to share my thoughts and feelings with you all. If you ever have anything you'd like to share with me, please email me and tell me about it! I promise I'll be thrilled to hear from you :) Remember "Everybody wants to be loved. Don't give up, because you are loved." Have a great month and a brilliant new year! (And seriously look up that Josh Groban song because it's fantastic :)

The Lord loves you and so do I,

Sister Alyssa Pike

 

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