Do you have 20 Pence Please

On Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 7:07 AM,
This is what I wrote my president but I thought you would like to hear it too....
Hola Presidente!
This week has been another amazing week. Last night especially was really incredible. We were on our way to find a lost sheep, and on the way so many opportunities presented themselves for us to serve and to share the gospel. A woman came to us and asked us for twenty pence. Sister Hoffman immediately said, “No. Sorry,” but for some reason I couldn’t move on. As I looked at her I felt I wanted to talk with her more. She had a disfigured hand. It looked as if she had been burnt really bad and only had two mangled fingers. I asked her, “What do you need twenty pence for?” She then told us she has been outside all day and wants some warm tea. I then looked through my bag for some change and gave her all I had, which really was only about 13 pence. As I looked into her eyes I saw so much sadness. I asked her if she had a place to stay. She told us she stays in a half-way house. We then started talking with her about God’s plan of happiness. We shared our testimonies of how God really knows her and loves her. I then asked her if she knew what we need to do for God to help us. She didn’t know. I said, “Follow Him!” She started to cry. She was starting to get embarrassed and wanted to walk away. We assured her that it was ok. “We don’t mind and the Lord definitely doesn’t mind if you’re crying,” we shared. I then got this prompting to give her a hug. I asked her if it was ok and she said, “Yes.” At that she started to cry even more. It was probably a long time since she has received a hug. She opened up to us that she was electrocuted when she was young and her family kicked her out of her home and she is now homeless. People make fun of her and call her “The Claw” because of her hand. Sister Hoffman then decided to give her an extra copy of the Book of Mormon. We also were able to say a prayer with her. As we walked away I felt so incredible. I felt the spirit so strong. The Saviour was merely working through me. I could feel it! I normally would not have done that to some stranger, let alone a homeless person. I felt the spirit guiding and directing us that night. We never found the lost sheep that we had intended to find that night, but we came across many others and pointed them in the right direction.
President, I absolutely love my mission! I feel I am growing and being stretched in ways I never knew were possible.
We have two investigators that are progressing really well. One of them accepted a baptismal date of the 24th of March. She is so excited. We also plan to have a gospel principles temple trip. Our ward mission leader wants to take the progressing investigators and recent converts since that is the ultimate goal, to get to the temple. I thought that was a great idea, what do you think?
We have many less-active members that we are trying to get the ward involved with. I know that as they feel they have a friend at church they will want to come back.
My personal studies have also been amazing. They have been revelatory experiences for me. It feels like my mind has been cracked open and the Lord is pouring inspiration into my brain. I love it! The main thing I felt was how I want members to also have the chance to pray and fast for opportunities to share the gospel (Alma 6:6). I then felt they need some time to prepare and learn how to go about sharing the gospel. I think a good way to do this is to teach them at a fire-side. We then want to challenge them to teach, testify, and invite. Later on they can follow-up. The members will then account to everyone on how the experience went. Do you have any ideas or suggestions of how to accomplish this? Or is this even a good idea?
I love the gospel and love serving in Birkenhead with Sister Hoffman.
-Love Sister Longmore

First Transfer!--Birkenhead with Sister Hoffman from California

this is what I e-mailed president and why I didn't have enough time to truly e-mail you... sorry:( please know I love you and am doing great)

Dear President,
I am so sorry we didn’t e-mail last week. It was a little crazy since neither Sister Hoffman nor I knew our way around Birkenhead, but good news we have finally found the library.
Sister Hoffman is great. I am really grateful that we are white-washing this area together. We are both learning so much from one another. Something she has taught me is to not worry so much. I tend to set many high goals for myself that I rarely accomplish all of them. I am a dreamer and I never will give up on my big dreams, but I think it would be better to take on one thing at a time and really succeed at it. I tend to be the fox in the hedgehog and fox analogy.
I am loving it in Birkenhead! It is a challenge but an adventure none the less. It is quite different from what I am used to in Liverpool, but it is good. We don’t have many investigators, but there is an abundance of less-active members we can help and serve. I can already tell that by the end of this transfer I will have grown a lot, that’s the goal at least.
It is exciting to finally start knowing our way around the town. Yesterday, church was so helpful. We met so many wonderful members. The bishop, ward mission leader, and other auxiliary leaders are so involved in the work. This is exactly what we need in order for our investigators and recent converts to grow in the gospel. The members were so happy that sister missionaries are back in their ward, because I guess it had been quite some time since they have been there. I hope we live up to their expectations, but I’m pretty confident we will be fine. President I am so grateful to the Lord for inspiring you to know where I should serve, because as much as I miss Liverpool, I am so excited and really feel that I need to be here in Birkenhead. I feel this will be such a growing experience for Sister Hoffman and I. I will learn things in my time here that I never could have learned in any other way.

I want to give you the little article I wrote up about the Chinese New Year Activity we had. Sorry it has taken me so long to get it to you. You can do whatever you would like with it, whether that be send it to the Ensign or not…..

The Gospel Spreads Forth

Coming together in a foreign land in celebration of Chinese New Year, about 80 sons and daughters of God met in the Chorely chapel to partake in the festivities. The gospel is spreading forth! Missionaries and leaders in the England Manchester Mission seized the opportunity to help many Chinese members, recent converts, investigators, and friends feel more at home despite being so far away from family at this special time of year. It is amazing to think that not too long ago; many of these Chinese friends of ours didn’t even know who God was. Despite this they now gather outside the Preston Temple looking forward to the day they can enter and be with their family forever. Amy Jiang, a student at Liverpool University and investigator of the church said, “I am so happy. When Can I go back to the temple?” She soon will be able to go back and have the incredible opportunity to share the gospel with her family members that are on the other side of the veil as well as with those in this life.

Food, games, socializing and of course the spirit unites young people of the church everywhere, and the Chinese are no different. In honour of the 2012 Olympics in London, we held a mini Olympics of our own. Everyone was divided into teams where they did a variety of team building games and challenges. For example; each team had to stand on a duvet cover and somehow manage to flip the duvet cover over without any member of their team touching the floor beneath them. It was challenging and tricky but as they worked together as one unit it was possible. “I loved the activities! They helped and encouraged us to work together and have fun,” Susan Zhao, a Manchester University student and investigator of the church said in response to the Chinese New Year Activity 2012.

This was quite a success. We as missionaries are already starting to see the fruits of the efforts this one activity had on the people that attended. We are even seeing baptisms that are happening all because an investigator brought a friend to the activity, and in result they had fun, felt the spirit, and decided to meet with the missionaries. Alan Chen, an investigator and student of UCLAN University in Preston said, “It was a great day where the Chinese could come together to celebrate this special time. It was a happy day.” Indeed this is a happy time; a time that should be celebrated. This is a time where we have the fullness of the gospel on the earth and we are seeing it spread forth to all nations. -By Sister Longmore