:D I LOVE MY MISSION!!!!

Nothing too exciting happened this week, but I just love getting to be out here, talking to everybody and seeing people get touched by the spirit! SUCH an EPIC experience!

We had a sick day this week though. . . Sister Evans caught a bug, so I spent all of Tuesday making T-Books for Sisters Smith and Terry. :) But MAN it is SO BORING just sitting around your flat for 12 hours with NOTHING to do. All I wanted to do that day was go outside and talk to people.

Transfers are next week, ALREADY! It is absolutely crazy how fast time is moving out here. I reach my sixth month mark on Sunday! :o

Wow, sorry for how boring this is. . . OH! I know a story I can tell!

Okay, so the other week, during nightly planning, Sister Evans had this potential investigator she had met a couple of months ago pop into her head and she was like, 'I need to ring that person tomorrow and set up an appointment'. But then about 15 minutes later HE RANG US! Crazy, right? Then he asked for a Book of Mormon and that he was really interested! :D We have been seeing him regularly since. He is a 16 year old college student AND HE IS AMAZING! He rings us all the time with SUCH good questions! And one day he rang us and asked if we really weren't allowed to drink coffee, and we said yes. So the next day he wanted us to teach him that lesson, so we did and when we committed him to live the Word of Wisdom, he said that he had been living it since we told him the day before! He is such a good kid and he LOVES the Book of Mormon. It has been an incredible experience, getting to teach him. :)

Love,

Sister Ali Stout

The Lord Will Provide

More amazing things are happening in Brid! We found five new investigators and we couldn't be more chuffed! :D  One of them in particular is AMAZING! He is only 16, but he rang US asking if he could have a BoM and he rings us multiple times a day, just so we can answer questions that he has about it and MAN he is SOOOOO prepared! This work is so inspired and it truly is about relying on the spirit and trusting that the Lord will provide. The branch is  so great and I'm growing to love them all so much!

It's funny how I think there are so many things to write about and then I get to the actual writing part and I can't think of ANYTHING to say.

Well, last P-Day, one of the members took us to this place called Burton Agnes Hall and that was nice. It was built in the 12th century, so needless to say, considering how old it is, I LOVED IT!! And in the gardens, there was this HUGE chess set and it was JUST like playing wizards chess!

I love you all soooo much!!

Sister Ali Stout

Billingham Zone at Christmas time!

Me, Julie and Sister Terry!

My shop!!!!!

CHRISTMAS TREE!!! With AMAZING PRESENTS!!!

This is a pub near the Redcar flat :)

Billingham zones favourite p-day activity, BADMINTON!!!!

Me with the missionaries mum and dad in Redcar, June and Eric!!!

It was SOOOO windy one day, so Sister Evens and I took a short break by stepping into a phone booth :)

I went on exchange a couple weeks ago with Sister Graabek! So much fun!!

Me in that super old manor house!!

WIZARD CHESS!!!!!

Miracles!! Miracles EVERYWHERE

THERE CAN BE MIIIIIIRAAAACCCLLLLESSSS WHEN YOU BEEEEELIIIIEVE!!!!!

 

Miracles!! Miracles EVERYWHERE this past week! Just when you think Heavenly Father has kind of forgotten you or that you don't really matter that much to him, he just HEAPS the blessings on you. :D We found 6 new investigators this week. Brid hasn't had ANY new investigators in TWO transfers. This is why there must ALWAYS be opposition! You can't truly appreciate success until you have faced trial and disappointment.

 

I LOVE Bridlington, it is such a special place and I feel so at home here! The Branch is wonderful and the people who live here are nice in general. I obviously still get doors slammed in my face, but that is NO MATTER! :D  The gospel WILL be spread whether they want to listen or not!

 

I lovelovelove being a missionary it is the greatest blessing I have EVER experienced. Anybody who thinks they should go. . . remember that if you have a desire to serve God you are CALLED to the work! DO ITTTTT!!!!! Best thing you will EVER do. The hard things that you have to do are the BEST.

 

Speaking of doing hard things, my zone is doing these challenges everyday that will take us out of our comfort zone. For our first one we were talking to people in their cars while they were at red lights. That was SO MUCH FUN! Haha, I never would have DREAMED of doing something like that before my mission! Then we had to pray with people as we were finding. Haha, people look at you REALLY weird if you ask if you can pray with them as they are passing you on the street! :)

 

Anyway, that is what happened this week. I have VERY good hopes for the future of Brid!

 

I love you all!!

 

Sister Ali Stout

Finding Happiness in the Small Things

Brid is great! I am learning a ton, like always. . . We currently don't have any investigators, but we are working on that. :) Well, actually, we have two 'kind of' investigators. They are just really old and aren't progressing. But if we drop them then we really won't have ANYBODY to teach. 

There is honestly not much to write about. We pretty much are doing nine hours of finding everyday, which can be a bit tiring. But it is all about keeping positive and finding happiness in the small things.

 

We are having a good time out here. Things will be picking up soon, hopefully.

 

Today for p-day we are just going to go shopping and watch a movie at a members house. So that will be good.

 

I love you all!!

 

Sister Stout

 

Happy New Year Everyone!

I don't have a lot of time today because yesterday was my p-day but also a holiday, so no computers were available to us.  So first off, I got transferred to another small coastal town called Bridlington.  It's weird being somewhere else, but nice.  My companion is Sister Evans and she's amazing!  Bridlington is about 60 miles south of Redcar.

We have a branch here in Bridlington.  We have a total of zero investigators.  This is something we are struggling with right now. My flat is SUPER POSH.  Way posher than in Redcar! The area is a lot like Redcar though, which isn't bad, just familiar in lots of ways.

The saddest part about leaving was leaving my zone.  I LOVED the Billingham zone.  Everyone that got transferred this time round DIDN'T want to leave. We all loved it there. Everyone was so epic. But now I'm in the York zone, and it's good so far. :)  But in Brid, it's nearly IMPOSSIBLE, no actually it IS impossible to go anywhere for p-day. Oh, well. So we won't get to see our zone much.  We are about a 2 hour train ride ONE WAY to York, which is rubbish.

Here in Bridlington, we walk. That is all. Just walking. No buses, or anything.  Thankfully, Bridlington is a much smaller town than Redcar.  At least I'm in excellent shape after walking what seems about 20 miles everyday.  I don't do my 30 minutes workout everyday because of the amount of walking we do. As many calories as I put into my body I should weigh about 300 pounds, but I know I'm eating a lot because of all the walking.  But I'm used to it because I also walked in Redcar.  I've already been through one pair of shoes and I've only been out 5 months!

I have to get going! But I would LOVE to get some letters.  Don't worry too much or anything, but I could really use some right now. :)  I am excited to be here.  There is SOMETHING that Heavenly Father wants me to learn by being here.

I love you all so much and I LOVED talking to you all on Christmas!! :D

GOODBYE MY DEAREST FAMILY!!!

Love,
Sister Stout