Archive

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

7/27/09
hello family,
Well i have survived the first 5 days
of the three-some. The first fews days were
soo hard! because we are all in different
places on our missions and we have different
ways of doing things. Saturday was a lot
better and we actualy got to teach some
people :) yay! sunday was so rejuvinating ..
and today (monday) was an excellent time to
get to know the sisters a little better.
They cleaned up the flat a bit and i built
the bunk beds that arrived! haha it was
fun.. hopefully it will survive the night.
;) naw im sure it will i screwed it tight.
I think it is amazing when we are
knocking and someone pretty much tells us
we are wrong and brainwashed and everything..
the spirit just testify's and burns even
stronger inside of you! i love it. The area
is still great.. meeting tons of different
people daily. We have a few new investigators.
Ezekial, is pretty cool, we met him on the
oxford rd and set up an appt. We came over
and taught him and he loved it. He was
suppost to come to church but got called
into work, so we are seeing him on wed.
As i think i mentioned before.. Ollie
and Philip are the ones getting baptised
on the 8th and the 15th. :) yippee!!! tammy,
the one got baptised last weekend) is doing
amazing!!! she feeds us and wants to go out
on teaches with us soon! :) i love her!!!
:) We are also teaching this man named
Melvin.. he is a star!!! you cant help but
love him. His walls are covered in books
and when we gave him the Book of Mormon
last night he was so excited he was reading
right then and there. We had to ask him to
wait for us to finish the lesson. We only
left him 2 Nephi 2 to read but im sure he
will have much more read by then. He loved
everything about the lesson. He always wondered
why there were no prophets or revelations
given to people for the 200 years or so
after Christ and when we told him he got
so excited and he is so prayerful and has
accepted to be baptised once he has recieved
an answer from God. Amazing!!! We have a
few other who we are just getting to know
or some we are just reading with because
they havent really grasped what we were
teaching.
I am official not a greeny any more!!!
The Ap's called me on saturday to tell
me because the new missionaries came in
on thursday im no longer a "golden" as
they call it. So now every morning as
part of my morning study i have a new
assignment for the next 6 weeks. Its called
the Atonement study... were we read from
preach My Gospel and all the scripture
refrenses and whatnots which are with it.
So my focus for a while is strickly on the
Atonement. Im really excited. I already love
the atonement so i can just imagine its
going to be wonderful!!
Happy birthday to Em!!! and i will write to
you all soon!
love you all so much! loving it here in
Reading!! and cant wait to hear more great
news from you all
love
sister meredith :)
xxxxxx
7/13/09
So this is my last week with my first
companion and since she is going home
i will be getting a new one and i should
be staying in this same area (reading)
so my writing address should be the same..
i will inform all if something new comes up.
I had a tough week, one of our investigators
who was suppost to be baptised on sat
decided to go back home to Nigeria and
become King. He dropped us and it was so hard!
I've never felt so torn before in my life..
lets just say there was a lot of crying
between the two of us. Seeing someone who
had the truth and new it was true and then
somehow satan jumped in and took him from
us.. part of me literally died with him :(
but we continue to pray.. well my time is
about to stop on the computer but we are
coming back later today to keep writing..
so things are well though we have a baptism
on sat with a girl named tammy! she is
amazing.. i'll tell you about her later.
love you all!!!
sister meredith
6/29/09
Hiya family!!!

This week has gone by so fast! its hard
to believe that its already Monday again.
There has been so many wonderful miracles and
experiences as well as hard times and frustration
but im still smiling and knowing what i have
is the greatest free gift anyone can recieve!
ok lets see... im just flipping through my
journal so i can share some great things.. well..
i was having some really hard times and i have
truely been a witness of the power of prayer...
its amazing how many times in a day or in an
hour we pray in our hearts to seek guidence
and support... but i have definately recieved
it. We did have an interesting (funny) moment
the other night. We were knocking and a man
opened the door with a little girl in his arms
and pretty church just asked us to leave ..
but after we tried and started walking away we
heard his wife from inside ask "where they the
God squad?" haha it may not be as funny now as
it was during that moment but it really made us
smile and help to continue on. On sunday i was
able to watch one of Sister Eyres converts get
confirmed and recieve the aronic preisthood.
It was the first time witnessing this since i
was set apart and what a difference it is. The
spirit i felt was so amazing and i cant wait
until the 4 people we have preparing for baptism
in the next few weeks can recieve the amazing
gift of the Holy Ghost. Our ward missionary
leader Gram Beisly whom we call Beez is amazing!!
i love him so much. He is funny and loud and
sometimes he talks so fast i can hardly
understand him.
Sister Eyre and i decided to have a bit of
fun.. so we pulled our matresses into the study
room and camped out for the night.. wierd i know.
it was fun though.. probably the best i slept
in a long time though.
Tuesday and wed went really good. I didnt have
time to jot too much down but i really felt
answers to my prayers these days to have endurance
and to continue both days with the mind set
of "the best day ever". Thursday was dad b-day!
hope you got my card. We also had temple
conference!!! yay!!!! we got up fairly early.
The Zone Elders (zimmer and armstrong) came
and picked us up and we headed for the London
temple.. about an hour drive. Once there we
were re-united with tons of elders and sisters..
it was nice cause it felt like it had been a
really long time since i had seen my friends
from the MTC... well only three of them were
there but it was great getting to know the new
missionaries as well. President Swinton spoke
to us first and then we went for a endownment
session. The London temple is really nice.. and
the celestial room way beautiful :) temples
are the best. President also sang to us..
it was so priceless and touching.
IF I TRUST IN THE LORD- HE WILL TRUST IN ME
Then we heard from President Irwin.. not sure
where he is from.. and then from sister Swinton..
she is amazing and im a bit sad she is leaving..
but in about 5 days we meet our new mission
presidents the Shamos.. exciting! We talked about
2 kings 2:8-14 and 2 kings 6:14-17.. i love those
verses!! with chariots of fire behind us :)
Thursday was pretty much the greatest day ever!!
i took lots of pictures but the computer im
on doesnt have a USB input.. so hopefully i
can send them soon.

Friday.. our investigator tammy!! she is a star!
she isnt getting baptised until july 18th but
she has already committed herself to everything
we have taught her.. infact she is going to the
temple and visitor center on wed and will be
100% smoking free!!! yay!!!
we are also teaching this guy rob! he was truly
sent to us. He is so ready for everything and has
a baptismal date of july 11 super excited for him.
He is having a bit of a hard time right now with
his wife but i think he will be just fine.
Patrick and Austin are giving us a bit of
struggle right now.. Patrick is hard to read and
we dont know if he is keeping his commitments
and austin never has time to meet with us but
both are determined and have recieved answers to
be baptised.. so i guess we will just have to
wait and see what the Lord has planned for them.
We have a few new people as well but i'll mention
them once we have a second apt taught and
completed :)
The ward is so amazing here! i still feel like
im just a missionary and not their missionary
yet but im working on it. Sister Eyre has been
in the same ward for a really long time so i
think maybe when she is gone (not that i want
her to leave) then they will take me in more.. :)

Im hoping for another fantastic week!!! there
are a lot of things to look forward to.

love always
sister meredith





6/15/09
1. me and sister styles in front of president
hinkly's flat when he served here :)
2. me and my first comp.. sister eyre..
we just met.
3. telephone booth! hahah on our tour of
preston
4. oops i wanted to do one where i was smiling
but i downloaded the wrong one.. but this is
everyone and their new comps heading to
london south.. sorry
5. sisters on bridge over the river ribble..
lets baptize!!!!

ok im out of time.. just 1 hour..
have a great day.. i love you all and i will
write and send more pictures when i can

cheers!!
missy

Note: sorry the photo's are out of order! Emily
6/11/09
Everyone!
First off.. i was just informed that i can
receive email from everyone but i can only send
email to family.. so friends :( it would be
awesome if you wrote me by hand so i can write
you back :)

my address here is
Sister Melissa Meredith
flat 1
223 Oxford Road
Reading
Berkshire
RG1 7PX
England
and I'm here for about 6 weeks unless i don't
get transferred.

So i got my first companion today!!! yay!!!
she is awesome and we have so much in common.
Her name is Sister Eyre and she is from Utah
of all places!!! hahah but she is leaving in
6 weeks :( so im her last transfer. Reading is
awesome! more city like then im use to but im
enjoying it.. ive been here for about 4 hours
:) hehehe. Also.. my sister from the training
center Sister Smith is here just about 25
minutes away!! happy days :) the area seems
great and im excited to go out and do work!!
i have a few lessons planned for tonight :)
which im excited to go and do. I road in a
double decker today!! ahahah but it wasnt red
:( Im starting to talk more English too! words
are coming out more naturally without laughing
is what i mean.
My companion and i have a small flat here just
the two of us.. its upstairs above a shop in
the middle of town and the bus stop in right in
front which is great!! The weather right now is
amazing as well!! but like i said im just ready
to get out and serve and baptise and everything!!!
:) i love you all so much and i will write when
i have more to say.. email me and i will get to
you when i can.. .write me hand writen and i
will get to you sooner i hope :) i guess thats
it... i cant think of much to say cause im a
little tired from the journey down here from
preston but im well :)
love you all and hope you are well.
Sister Meredith :)

ps em send me pics of the new baby!!!! :)
also if you got this email and know of anyone
i missed that wants to write me give them my
address thanks!!!
dad! if you can get a hold of the kehoes or
sister arrington please give them my address!!!
i dont have krystals info so her mom can give
her me address
thanks!!!!xoxoxoxoxoxo

6/02/09
hello,
I finally figured out how to use the email system over here.
This last week was fantastic! Thank you for everyone who
wrote me back :) So every few days we do what is called
a 'Milestone' which is when my companion and i teach a lesson
to a mock investigator and our teacher Brother cook records
and takes notes of how well we are doing. Its actually a
really great learning too. We have one tomorrow on the plan
of salvation.. pretty exciting :) We also went OYM tracting
yesterday!! wow! basically we all took a train to a different
part in England and we walked around and talk to everyone
about the gospel. my area was Preston.. and we started right
away. Sister Styles and I talked to a man and a woman
(co-workers) while on the train.. went fairly well. But then
it got tough!! man! everyone left and right.. no.. no...no..
but finally we came across a young lady who was christian so
she was excited to discuss our similar believes. We talked
for a while and taught her about prophets and the restoration
through Joseph Smith.. she wasn't too sure about that but she
liked the plan of salvation.. she ended up just thanking us
and continuing on her way. Then after a while we came across
an older gentle man sitting on a park bench all by himself..
I looked at sister Styles and said.. 'that's the one' (now
just so you know where we are.. i was standing right were
Heber
C Kimball first taught the gospel in Preston.. we were
only about 10 minutes away from the River Ribble.. it was
amazing to be there in person.. and know that i was doing
what he did at one time) so we walked up to him and he had the
strongest accent ever! but i understood him for the most part..
I'm glad my comp. understood him better than i did though. So
we talked for a little to get to know him.. i felt so bad for
him. He didn't care about life at all, he was ready to die and
his wife had already passed on and i think he was being
sarcastic but he said he didn't even really like seeing his
children more than once in a couple months. So we taught and
testified to him about Heavenly Father and that he does have
this amazing plan for us and that there is importance in
life. And we touched a little on the Plan of Salvation. He
kept interrupting us while talking so it took quite a while
to get our lesson across but slowly my comp and i could tell
his heart was beginning to soften. We did leave him a card
with a picture of the temple and told him to call for more
information.. but i know that the spirit was there and that
the things we testified were true and hopefully one day
before he passes on her will feel that what we said was true.
So overall it was Tough! but i loved it and in the end i still
know that the church is true and that we have a reason for
being here. I love that.. its an amazing feeling. We get to go
out again on Thursday and do the same. Not too sure as to where
we are going yet. Um... We went to the temple again today!!
amazing! the spirit was so strong and i could feel Love all
around us. The devotionals we have been having have
strengthened me more than i could imagine! I have about 8 more
days in the MTC and then i will be taking off for London South.
Sister Smith and sister Styles are also going with me and
about 4 other Elders. I'm short on time.. so I'll try posting
some pictures.. and i will try to write some hand written
letters soon. Dad: thanks for writing me back.. did you get my
letter??? also can i get the kehoes address? and if you can
figure out how to get sister arringtons address as well :) Myrna!
I'm so happy to hear that my email made your day! the Lord truly
did inspire me to write you :) i hope everything is going well..
tell everyone hello for me and can you send me your address so
i can send you something to share with Lowes?? thanks Steve! I'm
going to write you a hand written letter to respond. love ya
tons Yvonne, thanks for writing me too! I'm having an amazing
time.. learning tons and yes writing in my journal when ever i
get the chance to do so. I'm going to try and write another hand
written one soon.. i hope you received my first one.. you and dad
didn't say anything about getting it. Well i love you all.. hope
all is well. and write me when you can.. also i should be able to
update my blog once i get into the field.. :)

love always
sister Meredith

Update

To all friends and family,

Melissa is currently serving a mission in England London and will not be able to update her blog or check her facebook account until she returns. You can contact her with this e-mail address: melissa.m.meredith.ELSM@myldsmail.net I (her sister Emily) will do my best to keep updates posted for her while she is away. I'll put her e-mail updates on here for all to read.
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