Sister Ellie Smith England, Manchester Mission

Helloooooo everybody!! Howzit.  This week was wonderful. Got to go to the temple today and I just feel so lucky to be there on such a beeeautiful day! Also saw my MTC teachers Sister Chapman and Sister Wade!!! Goodness I love them so much it was so good to see them.  This past week we had Zone Conference and I was lucky enough to go to both days to film it. And MAN it was so gooooood. We learned all about teaching as the Savior would. What a powerful teacher the Savior is. Something that really stood out to me was how the Savior asked questions. Crazy fact. Jesus Chirst asked about 300 questions as he taught and has only answered 3. Whaaaat! The importance of questions. They bring so much power into every conversation and that's where the spirit comes into play.  Not going to lie this week was hard but recently I have just felt so grateful and reflecting a lot on my Savior and how close I have been with him recently. I never thought I could love someone so much. I had int...

Howzzzzit everyone. Happy Pday. Hope you are all well and swell.  This week rocked. I am now the videographer/social media sister in the mission with SISTER ROWLAND SHEEEE IS GREAT. I remember when she filmed me coming in Day 1 and I loved her immediately. Look at us know. Filming together.. So good.  Because of this new assignment we are so lucky and get to go to everything to film it. So this week we were able to go film all the incoming missionaries and see them get their trainers which are my bestest friends from the mission so it was sooo much fun. They are gonna be the BEST. Trainers in the world. Love you sisters. Also got to go to Lyme park for missionary graduation for those who just finished training and WOWEW it's beautiful.  Being able to film the incoming missionaries was so fun because it was like I was back to day 1 and got to hear everything President told me when I first came, AGAIN. There were so many things I needed to hear again. Something that re...

Where do you I even begin. God is sooooo so so so so good.  First of all. Im getting transferred again. Shocker but I'm stoked. Going to Stretford and I'm the new EMM videographer what the flipppp! So good. Gonna be the best. With such an amazing companion. Here I come!  I felt an immense amount of joy and had an endless amount of expereinces from Heavenly Father this past week. We were struck with how many ways God astonished us so I want to name just a brief few! 1. We said God would astonish us by 6 friends at church. 30 minutes in...no one. Then SEVEN friends come flooding through the door!!! We hit all of out Key Indicators this week. What a blessing! 2. On Friday we had another miracle. We were street contacting in town and met a man named Daniel. We had a really great conversation with him but he wasn't too interested. He then said, "But my coworker Jimmy is super religious and would love this!" REFERRAL! We had all aligned (mission zoom call) that morning ...

Heeeeey! Super great week. I flippin found a superhero on the bus. 1. Because his name is Marvel. 2. Because he is the most elect person I've ever met.  Met Marvel on an exchange on Saturday and we were just chatting it up and laughing on the bus cracking jokes. Then he said this year he wants to more fully commit to God and wants to be baptized with his WHOLE family THIS year!!!! I knew 2025 would be a good one. Booooya. He's so amazing and we are stoked. God is so good! I'll add a screenshot of his amazing fam.  Happy new year!!!! It's been such a great start to the year. Made some goals and I'm so excited to commit to my Savior. D&C is going to be so good.  Let me know what your goals were!!  Last week of the transfer which is sooooo wild. Pray that I stay here with Sis Hanks! THANKS! Psh that rhymed.  Love you all! Keep rockin over there in the USA or wherever you may be.  I think I might start sending my favorite scripture a week. I promise I'...

HEYO turkeys!!!! It's almost 2025??? That's amazing and flippin weird. Happy new year everyone. So stoked to have a new year and set some new goals. Let me know some of yours!  Saturday was one of the most incredible days on my mission so far. God astonished us ALL day. We walked around with huge smiles and were so grateful for the opportunities Heavenly Father provided for us. We met SO many people. Lots of them came from knocking on member dots. 3 different times it led us to other people who were interested in building their faith in Christ. The last door we knocked happened because a lesson fell through so we knocked on a dot nearby. It wasn't the member we thought but a woman named Madi. We chatted with her and she let us in! She was the nicest lady and had the biggest smile the whole time. She is from Bangladesh and we were able to teach her a lesson and are going back on Thursday! We also decided last minute to talk to this other lady who was walking into her door. W...

How annoying was that title? That's how I feel though. Merry Merry Christmas to everyone!! It's the best time of the flippin year.  Been doing so great over here. There's been so many Christmas acitivites and it's been a blast. I'll add some photos. I love love love the birth of Christ it's such a special time. Its been such an amazing time to reflect of what the Lord has done for me. An experience this week when the Lord assisted us was on Wednesday. Sister Hanks and I emphasised the importance of alignment prayers and were saying them consistently throughout the day. Prayers of gratitude, strength, and forgiveness after EVERY little thing we did. We went to visit a random member dot family that we have never heard of. We felt prompted to go and knock on their door. They didn't answer so what did we do? Alignment prayer! In the middle of the prayer the mom called us and said please please come back on Saturday! She sounded so happy and so excited. Then we s...

This week was full of hard work and joy! We were able to see the Lord magnify our efforts for being diligent and working hard.  Saturday was brilliant. We were able to follow the spirit and accomplish things that the Lord wanted us to. We had to decide either to walk or bus to the chapel for the ward Christmas party. We said a prayer and felt that we needed to take the bus. So we did! This transfer, we have been envisioning an African family with 3 kids to bring into this ward. As soon as the bus drove up, I saw this couple and said, "Ohhh we are definitely sitting by that amazing couple." So we immediately sat next to them and started a conversation. They are from Nigeria and moved here with their family. With THREE kids!!! Sister Hanks and I were beaming with a smile. We started getting to know them and they are strong believers in Christ. We met with their beliefs and introduced the Book of Mormon. They grabbed it immediately and started flipping through the pages. We gave...

  Hellooooo everyone.  CRAZIEST past 2 weeks ever. We have be running around like headless chickens with no pday. But man we've worked hard!  Here in Oldham now with the awesome Sister Hanks. We have been having a blast and she is the most incredible missionary I've ever seen. So lucky that the Lord placed me with her. Lots and lots of things been going on!! Christmas is coming. Sang in the missionary chior and somehow got in the small group. Don't know how but it was great! Very special to share our testimony of Christ through music. Christmas season is the BEST and there is such a special spirit.  Have to be quick because it's been SOO busy and gotta go already. But just wanted to say there is absolute nothing better than serving the Lord. I feel so lucky to be spending my time here in England for my Savior, especially during this Christmas season. There is no greater feeling than knowing how much he loves me and all of the people we are teaching. He is so awa...

I'm leaving AGAAAAAIN. See ya. So crazy I feel like I just got to Chester but I'm outta here! I am moving to Oldham and so stoked but also sad to leave. It's a weird mix always.  This week was good. It was definitely hard but good. Shocker. But I'm so excited for Christmas!!! It's coming! It's time to light the world! This has probably been one of the hardest transfers yet but I am so grateful for all the things I've learned. The biggest thing I've learned and probably said a million times is that I seriously cannot do any of this without the Savior. I'm going to be completely honest, no matter how many times I tried to remind myself, I did not rely on Jesus Christ as much as I needed to. We really need him in this life. Mosiah 4:27 will always be my favorite scripture and something I will always need to apply. We cannot run faster than we have strength!! We can. Not. God has his own order and timing and we need to follow it.  Really amazing news. On...

Hellooo friends and family! Please let me know how you are all doing!! What was the highlight of your week I would love to hear. You win the prize if you tell me.  Just basically wrote an email but I'm still going strong out here! I almost froze into an ice block this week. Not used to this weather but it's kinda awesome. Kinda. Any tips on cold or snow let me know. Saw the Lord's love for me a lot this week! I have the hardest time of being too hard on myself for every little thing but this week I learned a lot about keeping Christ at the center because that's where we get strength. I thought I would have that down by now butttt realized that's a lifelong process and it's hard. But it's so important! It shows God and Christ that you are willing. I've been trying to ask myself in every circumstance, How can I connect with Jesus Christ right now? Although it's hard to find those ways, it's beyond worth it.  This is the last week of the transfer!!!...