Chorley Transfer with Sister Hanson

 I am now serving in Chorley with Sister Hanson from Idaho Falls. She was in the South Stake in Sunnyside ward. She seems so wonderful. Honestly I really felt I was leaving and some how I felt I would be coming to Chorley. It was nice to feel this way because it made it a little easier to say good bye. I will miss Kendal so much and Sister Crookston and the investigators. It is crazy cuz sister crookstons new companion was trained by Sister Hanson. So it is the "mothers" and the "daughters" together. Chorley is where the MTC and temple are so this will be quite different than kendal but it will be great. 

Dear President,

It has been really good to be here in Chorley with Sister Hanson. President, Sister Hanson is such a wonderful person and missionary. I feel so grateful that I get to serve with her. I wish she could see herself the way our Heavenly Father sees her. I think she is starting to, but it is hard. In fact before my mission I was very similar to that as well, and I still struggle with it from time to time, that is really recognizing who we are. It is difficult but it is so important. A few things that I believe helped me were whenever I would get down on myself I would go and serve someone else. It helped me take the focus off of me. I also had to pray with all my might to be able to transform my eyes to see myself in reality instead of some hazy image in my mind. The Lord knows us so much better than we know ourselves.

The members here in the Chorley 2nd ward are incredible. I already love them so much. They are so willing to help. It is amazing. What an impact that makes.

My brother leaves for the MTC on Wednesday. I am so excited for him. I remember the feeling just one year ago that I was doing just what he was doing. I feel I have grown a lot in this last year. I have a long ways to go before I am where I would like to be but I am so happy that I am constantly progressing. I feel Sister Hanson and Chorley will help me a lot with this.

Something I learned recently in my personal study was all about how we must trust in the Lord. Trust really requires true humility. A recognition then a submission. I know that our Heavenly Fathers ways are higher than our ways. I know that He has great things in store, but I want to know how I can bring those great things to pass. I want to learn how I can be the best instrument I can be in helping Him in the work. I learned that I must prepare. I have learned that preparation precedes power. That is something one of my softball coaches always would say before we had a game. I love it! It is so true. It is something I learned a lot about as we went to the temple then climbed Mt Snowdon. We can only prepare so much then we must pray and take a leap of faith. That is when we have to trust. Trust in God that he will fulfill His end of the promise. Trust that He knows the plan and that no matter what happens He is in control. I loved this insight. It is something I feel I really need right now. I am so grateful for our Heavenly Father and the example His son sent for us. I also am grateful that as we trust in the Lord and are obedient, the Holy Ghost will go before us leading us in what we must do.  

President, the church is true! I love this work and am excited for what adventures Chorley will bring.

Love Sister Longmore

DAD,

     That is so good that Taylor was able to have a successful farewell. I love president Mauhn. He is an amazing man.

     As for working with sister Hanson it is good. She is such a great missionary. Very humble and has the most amazing spiritual prayers. She speaks as if Heavenly Father is standing right in front of her. I am learning a lot from her. We are trying to learn how to work with one another because we are so used to doing things our way that we are really having to rely on the Lord for help which is what should be done all the time. 

      In the Chorley 2nd ward, the ward we are in, there are about 200 members. It is such a change from about 20. Our tea list is filled to the brim. Next week we have 5 tea appointments out of 7 days of the week. It will be great. They are from all over the place since a lot of them came her to be near the temple.  So in our area we have 2 people dated for baptism. One will be baptised this up coming saturday. and the other one hopefully will be on the 3rd of November.

      Dad I love being able to be a missionary. It has been something that has shaped my life. I feel that everyone must experience this.

      I hope that you have a good week and that it will be a good experience sending Taylor off to the MTC. I love you.

 Love -Lyssa Lou

Goodbye Cumbria--Transfer week

(this is a sweet email sent to me today by the branch president in Kendal)

Hi Melanie,

We are just about to say goodbye to an amazing missionary - your daughter! I wanted to tell you that she is working
so hard and is so so happy even in all the Cumbrian rain we have had this summer. She remains totally undaunted!

She and Sister Crookston have worked so hard in Kendal - they are a great team! And they are so persistent in their
requests to do service - so much so that I let them come to help me with digging up a bit of my lawn to plant vegetables. Not only did they do that but they wrestled with massive ferns that were invading our garden and also jumped over the wall to tackle some more.

One of the people looking into the Church described these two sisters as 'beautiful' and 'spectacular' people.

When their Mission President came to talk in Kendal, he described them as the most hard-working missionaries in the Manchester Mission - we can understand why he said that!

We will really miss Sister Longmore and hope to stay in touch. You must be so proud of her.

With Love from
President & Sister Humphreys
Kendal Branch
Preston Stake
UK

Inspiration takes perspiration

Now for the coolest thing. YOu know how we have a family member from Moreland, Westmoreland. Well last P-Day a member of the branch wanted to take us on a tour of the lakes, I think I told you that in my last e-mail, well he did that but he also took us on a suprize visit to Moreland. IT WAS AMAZING!!!! it was tiny. Blink and you miss it kind of town. The oldest church in Cumbria, which is the county now, is in moreland. It was from when the Saxons came into england. They even have a cemitary in front. I know you would have loved this mom. We will have to visit there when you come to get me. WOW! it had such a history. It was amazing I will try to send you some pictures.

Hey Dad,
I love the stories and experiences you share with me. Thank you. I am so happy and grateful for the example you set for me of scripture study. I remember waking up in the morning and going to get some brakefast and seeing your bowl of cereal out with your scriptures open next to it. :) I will never forget that. It was such an example to me of consistant scripture study.
I know Taylor will do good on his mission and sure the MTC will be a wake up call and it will be tough, but if it is not then you know there will be another humbling experience coming your way just around the corner. It was so humbling to me when I went to the MTC. I remember going in thinking, "Ya I've got this! I can teach people the gospel" but boy was I wrong. I am not even to do the teaching. I am purely there to help create the right environment to where the spirit can be felt and the investigator can teach themselves. I love missionary work dad! it is great! Have you been able to do any lately? I know it can be quite hard in Utah but I'm sure it is still possible. Just pray for those opportunities and they will come.
We definitely go tracking a lot. We have had some success with it. We just have to know what time is the best to go and where are the best areas. The greatest is when we pray before our nightly planning and we both look at the map and a street jumps out at both my companion and I. I've had that experience before. I even had a dream the other night of a street that I feel we need to tract and it was a street that Sister Crookston also felt we should do. It is quite a ways away. It will take us an hour bus ride to get there but it is worth it even if just one person were to listen to what we have to share. I will let you know how it goes when we tract it.
We definitely run into a lot of other ministers. Just like with you most of them are kind but we get a few that just want to bash. We've even seen 2 Jahova's Witnesses going around tracting doors. It was funny we had a nice little chat with them.
Well I love you so much and hope your week goes nicely!
Love your missionary- Alyssa

Dear President,

This last week started out interesting. I was feeling quite agrivated last p-day for no reason. I decided I should go into the other room and council with the Lord. As I did I very strong impression came to me that I should fast. Inside myself I could feel my natural man fighting to give into my spirit. But as I finished my prayer I knew what I needed to do. I started my fast to allow my spirit to be more in control and have the Lord leading and guiding me in the work. I know how important the spirit is and how with out it not only shall we not teach, but I would even suggest that we can not teach. Our words become jumbled and our thought prosses starts to twist and turn in ways that we can't keep up with. I knew not only did I need to have the spirit in control, but our investigators depended on us to have the spirit leading and guiding us. The second I decided to fast, I instantly felt calm. I knew I had taken the Lords advice and followed the council He gave to me.

I have loved serving with Sister Crookston so much and have grately enjoyed serving in Kendal. I feel it has been the gratest learning periods in my mission thus far. I pray for you as you go into the week of transfer planning. I pray that you will will recieve the revelation and guidence you need. We all rely on you to call us to the areas where the Lord needs us. President I know you are called of God and I thank you for living worthy of that call.

I feel I am finally starting to grasp how to do missionary work, it only took me a year to get there. I have a vision, one that came to me when I first stepped foot in Kendal. I just know the branch will grow. The time is now. There are so many prepared individuals we are working with. One of which was the investigator referal that you met when you came up to Kendal. His name is Craig. Yesterday in fast and testimony meeting he got up and bore his testimony. WOW! President, it was amazing to see someone change, and have the spirit prompt them to do something and have them act on that prompting. I can't wait until I get to experience this again.

When I first came on my mission Sister Chuo asked me what I wanted to accomplish while on my mission. I told her I want to see hearts change. I saw it. I've seen it many times and it is such an amazing feeling. I know that hearts can only change as they allow Christ to touch them and heal them.

I know my Savior lives! I know that the Atonement is real and that it is available to anyone that humbles themself enough to ask for help, believing that help will come. I know that if they are sincere the help does come.

Love Sister Alyssa Ann Longmore

Chocolate for Mum!

The Famous 1667 Chocolate House

Alyssa sent me a WONDERFUL assortment of chocolates for my birthday!  It was all SO good--especially the infamous Mint Cake. 

On Top Of the World

Alyssa says this is the TOP OF THE WORLD

                                     Sister Longmore & Sister Crookston took this lovely lady for a walk

Dear President Preston,
Thank you so much for coming and speaking in the branch yesterday. It had a big impact on our investigators.
As for the day of finding, that was incredible. It was a very long day but we were working our absolute hardest. We are so appreciative of the activities you put together to help us as missionaries. We all truly feel your love. The get thee into the Mountain experience and the Day of Finding and many others have been ones that I feel have shaped me and will forever have an impact in my life. I never want to forget the way I felt.
I just saw you yesterday and feel that I have shared all my stories, so I don't know what else to tell you about. I feel Sister Crookston and I are working very well together. I have been learning a lot about humility in my scripture study. I am trying to be more submissive to the Lord and know that as long as I am trying to "be a good girl" that everything else must be His will.
I love you,
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Sister Alyssa Longmore

(an email to David)   I know I will remember my mission experiences for the rest of my life, and yes we help out the branch quite a lot. yesterday we sang a musical number in Sacrament, just Sister Crookston and I. Can you believe that. Never in a million years could you get me to do that before my mission and now I sang a duet and didn't even get nervous. We also taught Gospel Principles. The lesson was on the law of Chastity and in the class was a recent convert that has some mental disabilities, a 20 young man that is contimplating going on a mission(but might not be able to because of health complications), our Mission President and Wife( they were guest speakers for sacrament), our Branch president and his wife, and the 2nd councilor on the branch presidency. Normally that would be intimidating but you know, since my mission, I don't really get all that nervous. Maybe that is just the Lord protecting me, but for what ever reason, I'm happy about it. Oh also it was Sister Crookston's first time teaching the Law of Chastity since being in the MTC. It went well though.  

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Hola mi dear padre,

    I love answering your questions. They sometimes make me think but that is great because I don't really recognize the experiences had they not been pointed out to me.

 That is wonderful that you got to spend so much time with kaily and Jarry. I miss them. I feel I havent seen their family in forever. I really enjoyed going camping every year with the Hiatts and the Gleasons. I wish we could still do that. We kind of do with the jeeping thing, now the Hiatts just have to get a jeep. There are hardly any jeeps over here. If they do have a 4 wheel drive vehical it is a land rover or range rover. I love it when I see trucks or jeeps because they remind me of home. It has been different having to rely so heavily on public transportation. Did you ever have a biking, walking, or public transportation area on your mission?

    Well the work is going well and I am still trying my hardest to be the best Sister Alyssa Ann Longmore I can be. That is all I can do and the Lord will have to provide the rest.

     As for the city hall or tourism office, that is funny that you ask that because just 3 years ago the Kendal Branch did not have a building to meet in so they gathered in the city hall. They were doing this for many years. The branch presidents wife used to work at the tourism office which was located in the city hall and just 8 years ago she wasn't a member but would come and sit in the back of sacrament meeting and just take loads of notes. Her son was the first one to join and then after fighting it for a while herself and President Humphreys were baptized. Not even a year after joining was President Humphrey's called to be the Branch President. He is still the Branch president today. He is incredible.

I love you Dad and pray for you and the family.

-Love Alyssa

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(an email from Alyssa to Cassie) As for funny things that happened this week, you will have to share this with the rest of the family. Yesterday we had 2 investigators at church. It was great. they only came for Sacrament Meeting, but hey they came. They were sitting on the end of the row and when the sacrament was being passed, instead of just passing the trays of water, they took out the cup and passed it to the end then did another one until we all got one. HAHA it was so funny but it was sweet at the same time cuz it was done in innocence. ps these investigators are in their 30's, just so it gives you a visual.

I hope you have a fantastic week.... Oh will you do something for me. Turn your music up really load and dance like no one is watching. Just go crazy. Thanks. I miss doing that. :)

-Love you-lyssa

Life in Kendal

Sister Longmore & Sister Crookston

Alyssa's first taste of Sardines (the members of the Kendal Ward have a basket at church where place food that they donate to the missionaries.  Can you guess what the most donated food is??? Sardines!!!!)

Planking at the Kendal Castle

The Porsche Dealership is just around the corner from their flat

Just around the corner

(THIS IS A BLIP FROM ALYSSA'S REPLY TO CASSIE'S QUERY ABOUT ANY COOL EXPERIENCES SHE MIGHT HAVE HAD)

As for any cool stories I have one that could have been really cool but now it is just kind of cool.... Last week after e-mailing we were walking to our flat and I saw a man that looked so much like Brad Pitt but I didn't think anything of it. All I thought was wow that is a good looking man, haha. But then yesterday one of our investigators told us that Brad Pitt was in the Lake District this last week. I think I saw Brad Pitt. See not that cool, but if I would have stopped him and tried to share the gospel with him, now that would have been cool.
     Well I love you Cassie.
Love Alyssa

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Alyssa Longmore <alyssa.longmore@myldsmail.net>
To: Melanie Longmore <mel_longmore@yahoo.com>
Sent: Monday, September 10, 2012 6:03 AM
Subject: letter to the president

Dear President Preston,
      Something great must be just around the corner for the Kendal Branch because there is so much opposition with getting our investigators to church. Let me tell you it is frustrating. We are trying everything we can to teach our investigators the importance of sacrament attendance, inviting everyone, praying for them, getting them lifts and even walking with them if necessary. It was really hard for me yesterday when, for the second time, our investigator, Ian, said he would come to church and even confirmed it Sunday morning but then didn't show up. It was devastating! I will admit I even teared up a little bit because I prayed with all my might for our investigators to wake up with the prompting to come to church, and I believe that the Lord provided that, but that means that our investigators simply chose not to come. Agency! It is wonderful! There must be some concern that we are not digging up. Do you have any suggestions to help our investigators come to church?
     We did have some great things happen though this week. We have 4 new investigators who are wonderful. Their names are;
Nicola: The mother of 2 young children whom we are teaching. She is going through a divorce and wants to find peace.
Mr. Dixon: An older man that recently lost his wife to cancer and upon our first meeting he didn't believe in God, but since seeing us he's prayed and now feels that God is there.
Michael: A man from Ghana that we had a lesson on the bus with. Upon hearing there is a prophet on the earth today, he said he wants to shake his hand.
Dani: A Methodist woman that thinks of Mormons as the happiest people.
       I really enjoy being a missionary where I am able to help point people in the path of true happiness. I love the Lord with all my heart and am so grateful for the ups and downs life has given me that have allowed me to learn to trust in my Saviour, Jesus Christ. I am especially grateful for my parents for teaching me to walk in the light.

Love Sister Alyssa Longmore