Spring Will Come

This blog comes to you in two parts! Part one: Goodbye Cannock! Part Two: Hello Cheltenham! That's right! Transfers have happened, and I am no longer in the Glorious town called Cannock. It's crazy to think that I was there for six months. Crazy to think that I've left.... 

Anyway! We'll start at the beginning. You guys know that my time in Cannock was a bit of an emotional roller coaster. I love that place and those people so much, but Cannock was my boulder. I pushed and I pushed and I pushed on that thing until I thought I was going to break in half and I got nothing. Then, I relaxed a little. I accepted that I wasn't going to move the boulder. I just had to be content to push and trust the Lord to do the rest. And would you believe it? The cheeky thing started to move. By the time my time in Cannock was over, really exciting things were happening. We were teaching a young couple with a family, a lovely Thai lady, and Oliver was progressing rapidly, as well as a few of our star less actives making good progress and the ward really coming together and working with us. It was hard to leave.

Even harder than leaving, though, was the week leading up to the calls that tell us what's happening, or 'dodge calls'. I don't know why we call it dodge, but we do. And the night we get the call is 'dodge night'. I love dodge night. I love dodge night because it means the end of my agony. I do not handle uncertainty well. I just don't do well with it. I like to know what's happening. And maybe I wouldn't mind so much if, once you got the call, it wasn't a two day turn around. We get the call Saturday night, and we leave on Tuesday. So I have a condition that I like to call Pre-Dodge Panic. Because, much like the toy dinosaur says in Toy Story 3, "I hate all this uncertainty!" It's just really hard for me to function that last week. I'm getting better. But anyway, I don't have to think about that for another month now. 

Part of the stress of Pre-Dodge Panic is that, if someone leaves, you'll have to get to know a new companion. Not that I really worried too much, but Sister Woolsey and I got into a nice flow after living together for three months. It took us a good while though, because, as we came to realise, we are exact opposites. I'm a bit of a city girl. She is totally a country girl. I like to drive cars on roads, she likes to drive them up rocks. I like science, she does not. She likes pushing the boundaries. I would rather stay safely within the lines. The list is endless. We actually had the bishop's daughter ask us a series of 'either-or' questions, and we answered every single one honestly and oppositely. But, despite our differences, we came together and made a really effective companionship. It's totally the principle of yin and yang. There has to be opposition, but there must be balance, each one making compromises so that it all flows together. By the end of it all, we became good friends. We had some good times, and it was sad to leave. 

On top of all of that, I had to say goodbye to a whole ward full of people that I absolutely love. We found out Saturday, so I had loads of people to say goodbye to on Sunday. It was a little strange to have everyone making a bit of a fuss over me. I enjoyed it, but it was weird. As a missionary, nothing you do is really about you. It's about the Lord, and His will for all those around you. I thought about this a lot as I was going through that day, and I came to the conclusion that it's not so much the things you do with the people you love that matter-it's the connections you make that are important. People were thanking me for things I had done, but the fuss wasn't really about that. I love them, and I miss them, and that's what it was all about.

And so we say goodbye to Cannock! So long! Farewell! (I can't spell that German one!) Goodbye! I got on a train Tuesday morning with everything I own in the world (which fit in two suitcases and a duffle bag) (and a bike) and made my way to Cheltenham! In the EBM, we all travel to the mission home first and disperse from there. Sometimes you meet your new companion there, most times, you get on a coach (bus) and get taken to your Zone to meet your companion. However, I would have been the only sister on the coach, so the Sister Training Leaders from Nottingham had to drive me to Gloucester, which is very far away from Nottingham. It worked though. I arrived at the Gloucester train station, got out of the car and walked right into a huge hug from Sister Belnap, my new companion. 

From the moment I met her, it was like I'd known her for years. We were instantaneously best friends. We've only had a couple weeks together, but I have laughed harder and felt the spirit stronger than I have at any time of my mission so far. Cheltenham is a beautiful city. It's town centre is so much bigger than Cannock's. And town is gorgeous. I can't wait for spring to explode on it. There's this big pedestrian walkway called the Promenade where a bunch of shops and café's are, and there are these big trees lining the walkway. It's beautiful now. I can't even begin to imagine it with all the green. It'll be awesome.

Cheltenham is considerably further south than Cannock is. Actually, this may be the closest to London I ever get. Oh! Speaking of! So, in Cheltenham, there's a big racecourse for horses, and one week during the spring they have a big tournament thing. This is called 'Race Week' and it makes Chelt super interesting because there are drunk people everywhere. The people flock to the races and drink all day. We were on our way to town one morning and some Welsh guys asked us if they were going the right way for town, and we were like, "Yeah, what are you going for?" They were going to drink. At 11:00 in the morning. Race Week was crazy, and that was my first week in Cheltenham. Apparently, on one of the days, the Queen came to Cheltenham, so that was cool. She came to me. :)

So, Sister Belnap. Sister Belnap is amazing. We are crazy similar. We're both from Arizona. We grew up about a 15 minute drive away from each other. We were both in the Gilbert Temple Cultural Celebration. We think the same way and we have the same sense of humour. So basically, we are the same person. We have so much fun and work so well. We are the Arizona twins. It's bomb. 

One of the first challenges we faced as a companionship was an extremely messy flat. Missionaries, as we go through our missions, acquire a lot of stuff. When you get transferred, you have to fit everything you own into two suitcases and a backpack, so some stuff just has to go. Often, we just leave things behind. These are called "flat finds", and they can to be pretty cool. What I found in the Cheltenham flat could be called "When Flat Finds Go Wild". There was so much junk everywhere. We have a lot of storage space in this flat, but we didn't have anywhere to put anything because it was all full of old clothes and just plain old rubbish. It was ridiculous.

We decided that things needed to change. If you remember in the fifth Harry Potter book, the people in the Order of the Phoenix all go to stay in a creepy old house called Grimauld place. And that place is full of junk. But that junk is like, scary magical cursed junk. Of course, this doesn't stop the indomitable Molly Weasly, who sweeps through the house like a wildfire, wand at the ready, trying to purge the place. I told you all of that because Sister Belnap and I took to calling our flat purge 'Molly Weasly-ing' the flat. We threw out so much junk, and found so many strange things. It was crazy. We didn't find any Cornish pixies or anything, and I'm grateful for that, but we did find a nightie that we could fit in at the same time and a bible from the early 1900's. No idea why it was there. We would have kept it, but it had pretty much disintegrated. Too bad. So yeah! That was fun.

Despite all of that, I have had a marvellous time in Cheltenham so far. It feels like coming home. There are three teams of missionaries in this ward, and I love them all a lot. And because of a military something-or-other here in Chelt, there are quite a few American families in the ward, which is super fun. Actually, one of them is from Arizona and Kevin Brown went to Corona del Sol, my old high school. We had the same choir director, and he now has a son who is like, 9. Crazy crazy connections. It is a teeny tiny world. Somehow, he found out about who I was and where I was from and what High school I'd been to before I even showed up in Cheltenham. He did confess that there was some Facebook stalking involved, but I'm still not quite clear on it. Anyway! Doesn't really matter. It's been a lot of fun getting to know people here and getting settled. It's way weird that the last place I lived is now not Arizona, but I think I'll get used to it. 

One of the really exciting things about moving away from Cannock is that, since Cheltenham is bigger, there are more fun things to do that are close. In one of the towns that's really close, Gloucester (Gloster), there's a cathedral where a few scenes from Harry Potter were filmed. So naturally we went there last Monday. It was a great time. For some reason I thought that the Great Hall scenes had been filmed there, but it was really just a couple of hallways and the entrance to the girls lavatory where they fight the troll. It was a beautiful cathedral, and it really did feel like we were in Hogwarts. We went with the Elders in our district, and we were cracking Harry Potter jokes the whole time. It was awesome. We even took a train to get there. So Hogwarts. 

My main takeaway from this month is that spring will come. We all have seasons in our lives. There are the summers and the autumns, good times of plenty and fun and friends and family. Then there are the winters. Bleak times when all that you love about the world seems to abandon you. These times can seem long. They can drag on forever. But the Lord, our Father in Heaven, has given us a promise that He will never abandon us in winter. Though it may not be to our benefit for Him to change the seasons, He can change our hearts, and we can feel spring—a time of new beginnings—long before we see spring around us. Spring will always come. Have faith, and look onward with a perfect brightness of hope. Whatever it is cannot and will not last forever.

I see now more clearly than ever that I had no real idea of what I was signing up for when I came out on my mission. I thought it was going to be amazing, but it is so much more crazy, wild and wonderful than I could have ever imagined before. I am growing and changing so rapidly that from one week to another, I hardly recognise myself. It's incredible to feel the Master's hand in your life, guiding and shaping you into what He sees. More than ever I realise that my life is not my own, but was given to me as an investment. The Lord has given me much. He expects me to do much in return, and I am happy to answer the call. 

I am grateful for new beginnings. For chances to start again and grow to a new level. I am grateful that the Lord, in all His wisdom, has seen fit for me to face new trials and new challenges. I know that He does the same for all of us in our lives. He guides us and shapes us and will lead us to where and who we need to be as far as we let Him. He is gentle and kind. He knows us perfectly and loves us as we are. As we trust Him, He will demonstrate that love to us. I'm thankful to all of you for your support and your love for me. I feel the power of your prayers working in my life. You give me strength beyond my own. Be strong. Spring is coming.

The Lord loves you and so do I,

Sister Alyssa Pike

What is Love?

My goodness, here we are again. You and me in this little corner of the Internet. Hard to believe that it's been yet another month. They just slip by so quietly. Even harder to believe that on March 17, I will have been in England for six months. Just think of it- you've all had six months of peace and quiet. How lovely has that been?! Don't worry, I'll be back and rocking boats again soon enough.

Speaking of time, time out here is so weird. It's almost impossible to tell if time is passing quickly or slowly. On one hand, it feels like just yesterday that I was with all of you. On the other, it feels like I've lived here in Cannock all of my life! When I mention to members how long I've been out, they always ask the same question. "Does it go fast?" The only answer I can give that has really made sense to me is "The days are weeks and the weeks are days." Every day feels like forever. Especially when we're busy. You feel like you've done a weeks worth of stuff in a single day. And then suddenly you're at Sunday again and you think "Wait a minute- didn't I just do this?!" The weeks fly by. It's the strangest thing I've ever experienced. 

  Last month was rough, and to be honest, I got really stressed about it. Nothing was going the way I wanted it to and I kept twisting myself into knot after knot after knot until I couldn't even recognise myself through the knotted mess of my emotions. By the time February hit, it was clear that either something needed to change, or I was going to spontaneously combust.

My hope was to untie the knots neatly, one by one, but I didn't even know where to begin. As I prayed for guidance, I got the subtle impression that it all came down to one thing--I needed to learn how to truly love myself.  Something my mom wrote me in a letter really helped me.  She said that when we're in a tough spot, we can check to see if there's some thing we need to do differently, or something different we need to do, or if we just need to stay strong and ride it out. She shared two scripture verses on charity, the pure love of Christ, and how we can use those descriptions of charity as benchmarks to see how we're doing and where we need to improve. . 

Anyway, there are a lot of ups and downs in life, and sometimes it's hard to see how we are improving, or even that we are improving. Those verses my mom talked about help me to understand where I'm at and where I need to go, and it makes it all look a bit more manageable. Life out here it so centred on improvement. It's awesome, but it can be overwhelming. There's this quote I found that I like by Howard W. Hunter, "Our detours and disappointments are the straight and narrow path to Him." Meaning that as we fail and mess up and have to try again, all of those things are bringing us closer and closer to Christ. I totally agree. 

I have to say, I feel like I've been through the mill this last month, but things are finally picking up. Sister Woolsey and I have hit our stride, and we have begun to be busy. We're having a hard time finding the time to do everything, and it is a fantastic problem to have. I'm loving it.

If you remember way back, Sister Pickett and I started teaching this great guy. He was awesome and we loved him, but he just wasn't progressing for some reason. We found out that his sister was super ill with cancer, and that he was spending a lot of his time and energy there. We thought it best to leave it all be for a while because just like we're always telling people, family is super important. Then, not too long ago, we stopped by his house and he told us that he'd lost his sister and that he'd love for us to come by again. Since then, he has been progressing rapidly. And actually, he came to church for the first time ever just this past Sunday! It is super duper exciting. Really really happy for him. You can see him changing, and it is a beautiful thing to behold.

Also in January sometime, this random couple showed up to church. They talked to Bishop, and apparently the woman is the granddaughter of a home bound member. They told Bishop that they'd like to get married in the chapel, oh and also that they'd like to be baptised as soon as possible. 

Right?! How crazy is that?! They just moved into our area, so we've been able to start teaching them. They are super sweet. They know next to nothing about the gospel, but they know that they like the way they feel when they come to church and they really want to be a part of it. It's very, very exciting. Good things are happening in the glorious ward called Cannock, and I love it here.

One last story to finish. So I had these boots for winter, right? Super cheapo, but they kept the rain out and they kept my legs warm, so they worked. They were actually the second pair of these boots that I'd bought because the others had a zipper that had busted. Anyway, they were good boots. Then, we went out on a drizzly, wet, horrible day, and my feet got wet. I was really confused, because my boots looked fine. There were no cracks on the edges or anything, so when we came in for lunch, I changed my socks and tights, called it a fluke and went back out again. And they got wet again. And not just a little wet. I was squelching up a storm! I felt like I had two little swimming pools chillin in my boots. I was totally baffled. I couldn't understand it. Finally, Sister Woolsey said, "Have you checked the bottom?" So I lifted up my foot, and there you go! There was a huge hole in each heel of my cheap boots. We didn't have time to go back and change, but I couldn't hang around with wet feet, so we went to Asda (basically Walmart) and I bought new shoes and tights and socks which I had to put on in the bathroom there. It was a fun adventure. Oh, the life of a missionary. Anyway, spring is here now, so I just tossed the boots and called it good. 

My main takeaway from this month is that, in order to love other people the way we ought to, we first need to love ourselves. We can't really know what it is to deeply love others until we begin to love ourselves. And not the ideal of the way we want to be, but the way we are at this very minute, right now. When we really try to do that, our ability to love increases, and everything gets better. I'm only beginning this journey for myself, but I can see the massive changes that are taking place in my life. I am a different person to the one I was two weeks ago. Heck, I'm different from the person I was two days ago! But that is what life is all about, and it's awesome. 

Live life and love the ride! Have a good month!

Sister Pike

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