Sister Pursglove in the England Manchester LDS Mission: Weekly Letter #46: August 24, 2020

Hello world! This email is LONG like - whoo boy buckle up cowboy. Also I'm going to the Lakes
today so if I don't respond forgive me.

To begin this little email, all you need to know about my week is that the absolute LIVING LEGENDS President and Sister Johnson have arrived and are presiding over the England Manchester Mission finally!!! In case you haven't read my emails in a hot sec, the Johnsons have been delayed by about 2 months because of the coronavirus, so we had President & Sister McReynolds for an extra month, and had an interim Mission President for a month, but the Johnsons are finally here!!! More thoughts on them further down this email.

WEEK IN A NUTSHELL?
This week was so so so insane so I'll just give basic bullet points of the main attention grabbers while looking through my journal.

- Some members were super nice and came and looked at our car for us for free after we found out that the soonest we could get it checked out in the shop we have to take it to was September 8th. Our engine light has been on for a solid week and a half and it's started making funky noises but don't worry it got sorted because.....

- Elder Forsyth (our vehicle coordinator) came all the way up to Lancaster and swapped out cars with us so we now have a new car that works, and he'll go take our car that doesn't work to a different shop down in Altrincham! Bless that man - he deserves so much.

- We had 500,000 meetings and lessons this week and my brain is #fried. Genuinely, I love all the meetings and lessons but after hour 6 of not moving and having to sit still and look at a tiny screen, you go a little tiny crazy.

- We got to go down to LIVERPOOL!!! We drove down to Liverpool on Thursday and were able to meet with our STLs (Sister Training Leaders, by the way) while socially distanced and following all government guidelines. That was the best day ever!! We taught a couple lessons, found a miracle friend by calling the wrong person, and had the most delicious pizza and chips with a member who brought us food to eat outside the Chapel all together. What a great day.

- We had to say goodbye to the Turveys which was sad because they hadn't been here that long, but they were so incredible!!! I learned SO much from them and will truly treasure and love the time I was able to serve under them.

THE JOHNSONS?

Folks. I love the Johnsons. We had a mission-wide call with them on Friday and we got on that call and saw their faces and I just immediately loved them and knew I was supposed to be serving under them. They are already some of the nicest, funniest, and most charismatic people I've met and they are absolute spiritual powerhouses!!! Every time they share a spiritual thought or bear their testimonies, I always come away from them with my testimony strengthened. We're possibly having interviews with them this week so I'll keep everyone updated!

INSTAGRAM!
So in case you don't ever go on social media, you probably haven't seen that a few missionaries over here just got Instagram to start testing it out and see how we can best use it!! It is the way of the future of missionary work if you ask me!! It's the app that youth/young adults use, and people there are SO much more responsive and interested in meeting with us. There have been so many miracles we've seen on Instagram and it has been an amazing week and I am so so excited for the rest of the time we have to trial it! Also, go follow me at:

~~ @savannahepursglove ~~

FUNNY STORY?
2 slightly funny stories for you to make up for the fact that I don't have 1 really amazingly funny story:

1) We were on a Zoom call that the entire ward was attending (40-45 people) and somehow in the middle of someone sharing their thoughts about a scripture, we became unmuted and I didn't realize it (classic), so everyone listened to me talk about how much I love the Book of Mormon for a solid 2 minutes before someone was like.... Sisters? You're unmuted??

I was mortified and was even more so when the elders serving in our area sent us a voice recording of them dying laughing for a solid minute. I sometimes hate Zoom because I am a fool.

2) We were on a lesson with one of our friends who's getting baptized and she asked us what fasting was as it had been mentioned in the previous church meeting. I kid you not, my brain went blank and my companion's brain went blank and we just sat there and had no clue what to say or how to answer the question. We probably sat there coming up with really awful answers for 2 minutes until someone finally turned the switch for our brains back on and we were able to teach her what fasting was. Again, I am a fool.

SPIRITUAL STORY?
Again, I have 2:

1) When the Johnsons came on the Zoom call for all of the missionaries in the mission to meet them, I was SO excited!!!! I was so pumped for what they would bring and what I could learn from them what kind of style they would have and on and on and on. They finally started talking and started bearing their testimony of how they knew that we all were supposed to be here at this time and the Spirit was so strong. It was so so strong. I know that I'm supposed to be here right now, with this mission president, with these areas, with this companion. There are things I need to learn, and things I need or improve on, and things I want to do.

2) The last couple of weeks have been kind of interesting and I've been doing a lot of reflection on myself and my growth. Personally for me, I think it's really hard for me to look at myself and see way I've grown, because I mostly just look at myself and see everything I need to work on honestly!!

However, I've seen and been in quite a few situations that are SO similar to ones I've had in the beginning of my mission, and my reactions to them are a lot different now than they were then. I have become a lot more patient with myself and with others, and I genuinely think I've found the joy in the work. That doesn't necessarily mean that the work is super easy, that my companion and I get along swimmingly, and that I never have hard times!! It just means I've grown and I've been able to become stronger in different areas and that's because of Christ's Atonement. There is no way I could change in the tiniest bit without His help. It's just too hard! However, with Him, it becomes so much easier.

THE END
In the end, I love it here. I may get impatient or frustrated or stressed or irritated or I might even roll my eyes a couple times but in the end I love it. I know I'm here for a reason. Love you all and thanks for the support!!

Photographs Below :)