Sister Pursglove in the England Manchester LDS Mission: Weekly Letter #26: March 30, 2020

Hello all!

Thank you so much for those of you who have been emailing me. For those asking me if I am going home or not, we've been quarantined for 13 days now and luckily the work is still going great. My mission is one of the few missions around the world where it has been decided not to send the missionaries home. In fact, missionaries in Europe and Europe East areas are all staying for now because I am pretty sure that there will be a greater risk of getting the virus on the way home and some of the countries might be closing their borders soon. So no, I am NOT going home still! Yay!

Last Monday night we had an emergency mission call. We were told by our dear President, who was informed by the Prime Minister Boris Johnson through a countrywide broadcast, that we MUST stay at home and can only go out for exercise once a day AND all the weddings and baptisms have to be cancelled until further notice. There was a moment after the call when we were just sitting on the floor staring at each other with our mouths opened then started laughing. Just kidding, that was so dramatic. We were so sad though because Olivia could have been baptized and confirmed by now! What's even crazier was that on Friday we heard some news that the Prime Minister got the virus. Bless him. Bless England. If I die here, bless me.

Honestly this week has been a bit of a drag while we try and figure out how we can find new people to teach and be effective, so the most exciting day was yesterday! We had 22 member lessons every 30 minutes. We started at 10 AM and we ended at 9 PM with a one hour break for tea and stretching. Craziness. We read "The Living Christ" with most people and discussed 3 Nephi 11 (talks about Christ’s appearance on the American continent following his resurrection) so if you want to take a look, check those out. The craziest day of teaching we've had so far.

There's a scripture I found this week that helped me a lot while going through this crazy time so here you go:

Psalms 27:1 "THE LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"

Life is really crazy rough right now and it definitely can feel like there is no hope or no light at the end of the tunnel. However, if there's anything that I've learned in the last 6 months that I've been here, it's that God is our Heavenly Father and He loves us. He knows what's going on and He has a specific plan for why this is happening and He is in control. He is constantly reaching out to us and waiting to hear from us and is always wanting to help us. Say a prayer and ask for the things you need. Say a prayer and say what's on your mind. Talk it out. Ask questions. Tell Him what you're struggling with and what you're feeling. He wants to know. He loves you. He loves me. He loves us all.

If you have any questions at all about how I know or why I believe any of this EMAIL OR CALL ME (savannah.pursglove@missionary.org)!! I literally came out here to talk about this with people and to share what I know because I know it brings peace and comfort and hope! I know it has the power to change lives because I've seen it change mine, and I've seen it change others’ lives over the last few months. I love Heavenly Father. I love Christ. I love the Book of Mormon. I love prayer. I love the scriptures and the answers and clarification reading them brings. Again, if you have questions, comments, concerns, thoughts, personal experiences, EMAIL OR CALL ME (savannah.pursglove@missionary.org if you email me I can give you my phone number)! I want to know! I want to hear! I want to talk!

My invitation this week is for you to hear a living prophet speak! This weekend, our church has General Conference—a meeting broadcast around the world and translated into over a hundred languages. At the center of it all is the invitation to come unto Christ, through the words of His servants, the prophets. This is an amazing opportunity to hear the word of God! I invite each of you to come prepared, with questions and with an open heart. Watch or listen to at least one session (you can find them at churchofjesuschrist.org), then act based on what you learn. I know as you do, you will find greater peace and you will more clearly understand God's will for your life.
General Conference (for an overview and lots of options)

General Conference broadcast page: Click here

I love you all! Keep being wonderful and strong. For those of you missionaries who are home already, thank you for your service and for being such great examples to me. The Lord understands and is always by your side. Take care y'all and social distance!

xxxx
Cheers

Sister Pursglove

Photographs below and links to some great videos that I highly recommend! Just click on the links or the image to launch the videos