Manchester England Mission

Saturday, September 8, 2012

A momentous day

Taylor got his mission call at the beginning of August. He wanted to tell his sister where he was called. He stayed up all night until it was 8:00am England time, called the mission home & got permission to call Alyssa on her cell phone to tell her the good news. Alyssa & her companion were just getting off the bus to go hiking in Mt. Snowdon, Wales & then to the Preston Temple. Needless to say she was caught off guard and a little choked up when here little brother let her know he would be going to New York, New York North Spanish speaking!

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Finding Rosie

Dear President Preston,
This week again flew by way too fast. I did however manage to learn a lot about myself, the Lord, and Satan.

About a month ago we met and had the most amazing lesson in the pouring rain with a woman named Rosie. We haven't been able to get a hold of her since then though. We knew which street she lived on but not which number. We also knew where she worked and therefore, tried stopping in a few times but had no luck. Her phone only accepted text messages so we tried that but never received any reply. We came to the conclusion that we should make a covenant with the Lord and promise that we would do all we could to contact her but if we couldn't find her by the month mark of our first meeting we would tract her street and the Lord would allow us to find her if that was his will. Yesterday was the month mark so we headed out to Burnside with the main town road ahead of us to tract.....

Let me rewind a bit to give a little background. In Church the spirit was felt very strongly. The only thing that could have made it better would have been if our investigators would have made it to church. That is always a little disappointing, but we carry on despite our disappointments. After church for some reason I had a flood of memories of home, family, and fun holidays pop into my mind. I was beginning to feel like I was missing home. I was really loosing focus of the work and I didn't like it. It didn't feel right. I didn't feel like a good missionary and definitely didn't feel worthy of the miracle that we were asking for; the miracle of finding Rosie. I knew I didn't have the right mindset to find her, but at that thought, I felt like someone was talking to my heart and mind. I have had this feeling come to me before and it often feels as if I am giving advice to myself but I know it is not me. I think it was one of my ancestors cheering me on, or possibly the Holy Ghost telling me not to give up. With those thoughts in my soul I somehow gained courage to carry on. I still felt like digging my heals into the pavement and staying put until my desires shifted, however I put one foot in front of the other and moved forward.

As we got to Burnside, we stepped to the side of the street to say a prayer to know which part of the street we should start tracking on since it was a main street we had no idea where to begin. We had continued onward and changed our minds about 3 different times but then we made our decision. I saw a vase of flowers in the window with a beautiful yellow accent paper around the flowers. When I saw them I thought, "I could definitely see Rosie living here." After our second knock on the door, a woman opened the door, and guess who it was. ROSIE!!! Of course it was her. It was what he had promised with the Lord. I just couldn't believe it was the very first door we knocked on. She even said she wants to meet again. YAY! I felt so great. Satan knew this miracle was going to happen and wanted to make me doubt myself and give up. He wanted me to loose track of my focus. He nearly did. As I forgot myself though and pushed onward, despite not wanting to, Heavenly Father won. He always does if we do what is right and follow the spirit despite our natural tendencies to doubt ourselves and give up. I needed to have this experience. It taught me so much, I will never forget that day.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Alyssa "at work"

Yes-It has been very wet & cold-but it's going to take a lot more than a little rain to get Alyssa down

Hard at work in Kendall

Monday, July 23, 2012

Dear President Preston,

This week has been incredible. We have been seeing miracle after miracle. We had what I would consider to be the best lesson I have ever had since being on my mission just last night. We made plans to go do Burneside to call by some potential investigators and street contact our way from one to the next. It wasn't until looking back that I saw truly how precise and to the T the Lord allowed things to go. The train we caught was 10 minutes late but no worries that allowed us to talk a little longer to a woman. After arriving we spoke with a 93 year-old man that had dementia and told us the same stories 3 times in a row, but that is ok because we taught him of gospel truths. We then started talking with a woman that was walking her dog. Before we even spoke Sister Crookston did something that was so kind and that taught me so much. She put her own umbrella over this woman’s head. I would have probably later in the conversation but the very first thing my companion did was serve this woman. We then proceeded to have the best lesson ever. This woman, Rosie, was very kind and said how she kept wondering why bad things happen to good people. She said how no preacher could answer her question. We simply allowed the Book of Mormon to do the heavy lifting and shared Alma 60:13. She said that made sense. Question after question we answered with the Book of Mormon. She told us how when she was young she had such amazing faith that at age 6 she decided on her own she wanted to be baptized but not by the sprinkling of water but by going all the way under the water like Jesus did. She said she was baptized in a barrel. She said since then she kind of fell away and questioned if God was there. She said she prayed and prayed and prayed but had received no answer. But then it seemed like she had an epiphany and said, "Maybe this is my answer." We went on to share the restoration. The spirit was so strong and she pointed out that many times she said she felt goose bumps. We were then able to help her identify the spirit. She beat us to the punch line of every principle in the Restoration lesson. It was as if the spirit was telling her things that she already knew from the pre-existence and we just had to open up the scriptures to secure those truths and answer her questions. One of the things that astonished me the most was when she said she was engaged to be married next year and wondered why some people bother getting married if they do it in a hotel or on the beach, because she understood it to be a commitment you make between you your spouse and the Lord. She already knows about the temple sealing! This was incredible! One of the crazy things was that she told us she normally wouldn't stop to talk with people like us because of the stigma against missionaries. But despite the pouring rain, her hyper active dog, her tardiness to visit her sick mother, she stopped and received an answer to her prayers. I am so grateful I was able to be present and help in the Lord meeting the needs of one of his precious children.

I know this church is true. I know the Lord hears and answers our prayers. I know that I we all can learn from others no matter how new they might be to the mission field.

Love Sister Longmore

Sister Missionaries on Bikes

(A letter from Alyssa to her Dad when he asked her how she got around England

Oh Dad,

I love you. Life is going well for me too. We actually road the bikes only that once on p-day then our mission president asked that we not ride the bikes since were sisters and came and got them for some elders to use. We have only ridden the bus once here. We walk everywhere or take the train. but I think this transfer we will figure out the bus schedual.

We hardly even realize the olympics will be happening. No one talks about it. wierd

I love it here dad!! I love sharing the gospel. I love serving my companions. I love working hard. It is a great feeling.

Service

Dear President Preston,

Once again we have had a good week. We were able to do our 4 hours of service. One was spent with a less active member that is vision impaired. We were helping her organize her wardrobe. Later on in the week we did some gardening for a member that unfortunately, do to age, is not able to do her gardening. The grass was up to our knees and we only managed to finish half of it but we plan on going back to do the rest. We then had a miracle happen to us regarding service. A goal we had set in the previous weekly planning session was to pray for opportunities to serve because we were struggling to fill our 4 hours during the week. Our prayers were answered. We received a phone call half way through the week from a former investigator that said he needed some help with some gardening as well. He had a heart attack a little while ago and can’t manage to do his gardening on his own. I am so happy that he felt comfortable enough to call upon us to help him. It was a moment like one in the 1 hour Restoration DVD where the Saints were giving a woman some service and she said, “I do not agree with your religion, but I do appreciate what you’ve done.” Joseph Smith said in response, “Some might say this is our religion.” I love this response because that is how we truly show our beliefs; through our actions.

President I have really enjoyed serving with Sister Mauch. She has opened up to me a lot and I know she is going through a hard time right now but I am at least happy she feels comfortable enough with me to share her feelings. It took a while to get to this point but I am glad that she trusts me. I truly love her so much. She has a kind heart and really sees the good intentions in everyone. I know it is sometimes difficult for her to get out and go to work but she does it anyway with very little complaining. I feel we are doing really great work together. We are both together for a reason and I also know we are here in Kendal at this time for a specific reason as well. I don’t exactly know what the reasons are but we will just continue working hard and I know that things will all work out according to the Lords will.

I love this work. I love the Lord and I know that it is only by relying on Him that we are able to become who we are truly meant to be. I know that the atonement is real and if we allow Him to we can be healed through our Saviour. I know that the gospel has been restored to the earth for the final time before the triumphant return of our Saviour and King. I know that the Book of Mormon is true through studying and praying about it. I have felt the power it has had in my life and want others to feel it to.

Love Alyssa Longmore