Meg's Mission Week 2

Thank you everyone for all of the love and support! I had another awesome week. We've been teaching a lot of lessons with a lot of new investigators. We've had a couple of substitutes since one of our teachers has been at FSY (English EFY) and we only get to teach them once for ten minutes and that is very difficult. But it's good to learn how to share a message quickly. We have one investigator, Manuel, who we've had some wonderful lessons with. He is working here in Chorley while his family is back in Spain. His mother-in-law is a member and started taking his kids to church with her. So he's meeting with us so that he can learn what his kids are learning. Over the course of our meetings, a change in him has been visible. Now he comes because he has a desire to follow Christ and to learn for himself, not just so he knows what his children are learning. In the middle of one of the more recent lessons we taught, I felt like I should talk about the word of wisdom. I didn't know why, it wasn't part of our lesson plan. But I did. We then found out that he has a smoking problem that his wife absolutely hates and she wants him to quit. It wasn't until after the lesson that I realized that the feeling I had to talk about the word of wisdom was the spirit guiding our lesson. 

On Thursday we got to go on a church history tour and it was INCREDIBLE. We went around the city of Preston and saw places where the first missionaries in England stayed and preached. We went to the place where the first baptisms in England were performed.

 There is also a tree in a park near that river that is dedicated to all of the missionaries who have served in England and it has a plaque next to it. And we got to go to the home President Hinckley stayed in as a missionary where he read the letter from his father that said "Forget yourself and go to work." The spirit in each of these places was so strong. I know that the things that happened here are sacred and I am so blessed to be able to serve here. I'll send some pictures as well. 

On Sunday we got to listen to the famous Character of Christ MTC devotional by Elder Bednar. It was insanely amazing. I've never heard a more humbling, powerful devotional in my life. You can't hear it anywhere but the MTC though. In it, he talks about the true character of Christ and how He turned outward rather than inward even in the most difficult times in His life. It was just incredible. 

Thanks again for all the love and support! It means the world to me! I love you all, have a wonderful week.

-Sister Garside

Pictures: 

River where first baptisms in England were performed.

My cute comp and I :)

My comp and the other sisters in our district (Sis. Eschgfaller, Sis. Staple, and Sis. Silva)

Mom's addition:  Garside sign!  

Meg's Mission Week 1

I've made it to the England MTC!! Okay, I will try as best I can to make this email make sense, but I have never typed so frantically in my life, so no promises. Also, my keyboard isnt working so excuse the poor grammar.  Wow. First of all, England is SO beautiful. Seriously, everything is gorgeous. Even the windows are pretty. The MTC and the Preston Temple are together on the same grounds. We get to walk up to the temple when we get free time. It's beautiful. And the distribution center is right next door as well. Sadly the temple is closed until next week for maintenance, so we haven't been able to go which I'm SUPER disappointed about. But we can go next week which is good.

 I made it safely to Manchester on Wednesday morning and have been so so busy ever since. The MTC president, President Preston, is so wonderful. Seriously the sweetest man alive. They feed us A LOT. And its so good. Were in class all day long and weve been teaching since the second day. I was so nervous to do the role plays with investigators, but they threw us right into it. And it's been so good. We taught a man named Santiago who is from Spain. He lived in Utah for a year with a Mormon family while he was on foreign exchange program, and he went to church with them every Sunday. (Sound familiar? :) He came back and moved to England with his mom. Since, he has been taking lessons with the missionaries. His father wasn't too happy about it though. But as we've taught him, he's opened up to us and his father, has been reading and praying, came to church with us, and he's even invited his father to pray with him. It's been such a wonderful experience being able to teach him. Role plays are such an amazing way to really learn how to effectively teach. I have learned more in this week than I even thought was possible. But I know that I wouldn't be learning half as fast without the Saviour. Being a missionary is so unique. I've been able to do things that I was never able to do before, and I'm comfortable being out of my comfort zone. Which is awesome because there is no growth in the comfort zone! That has seriously been my motto so far. And I understand scriptures in such a different way. Not a better way, just different. I love it. 

And can I just say THANK GOODNESS for speaking English. There are a couple German speaking missionaries here and I am so thankful I don't have to learn another language. To everyone who has done that, you are AMAZING. Seriously. 

My companions name is Sister Eschgfaller and she is from PARAGUAY. Her English is SO good. There have been a couple words I've had to help her with, and a few times while we're teaching that I've had to help her out with a sentence. But the gift of tongues is real people. Love it. Also, she know Astraya, Orion's fiance! She served in her ward. It's always cool to find connections with people here. My comp is the sweetest sister in the world and she has so much love for everyone. 

The biggest lesson I've learned this week is how essential the Spirit is in conversion and in fulfilling my purpose as a missionary.  SO SO essential. If the Spirit isn't there, your investigator will not gain a desire to follow Christ. They won't feel anything. WIthout it, we're just some random people telling them about our church. You need need NEED the Spirit at all times in order to help them FEEL the gospel and to be able to teach for them specifically. 

The church is true everyone. I am loving it here, and I love being able to come closer to Christ as I learn more about this gospel and how I can be an effective missionary in helping people come unto Him. I love you all!! I'll attach a couple pictures :)

-Sister Garside

Scripture of the Week: Alma 32:27 (or really that entire chapter :)