Sister Ellie Smith England, Manchester Mission

Hello hello hello hello! Hellooooo! How is everyone? God really wanted to astonish us this week and he DID. We made 12 new friends and the week was sooo busy, I honestly don't even know how it happened but GOD IS AWESOME. We were also about to put two people on date so now we have 4 on date! No way God isn't real that's all I have to say.  Lots of great things happened this week. First was I got to attend sweet Graham's funeral and what a blessing he was to me. It was so special to celebrate his life with other missionaries and talk about our experiences together. Man! I miss him so much but it makes me so joyful knowing the missionary he is in Heaven right now. Sister Rowland found the PERFECT scripture that describes him exactly. D+C 138:55-57  "I beheld that the faithful elders of this dispensation, when they depart from mortal life, continue their labors in the preaching of the gospel of repentance and redemption, through the sacrifice of the Only Begotten Son ...

This week was special with the Lamb of God! At the performance the whole time I kept thinking, "There is no way God is not here right now!" What a privilege it was to attend and perform!! I feel so lucky. I love the lyrics in, "My Kindess Shall Not Depart from Thee." I was reassured each time I sang it that I am not alone. I am with the Savior and Heavenly Father throughout my whole life. This week we also have been implementing shorter and more frequent lessons and WOW! It made a world of a difference. I am so excited for the whole mission to do this. Our friends progress so much easier. I know this will do wonders, with referrals too.  One success I had this week was at church. Our friend Nosuyi brings his son Nicolas every week. Yesterday he sat by me and after Sacrament meeting he said, "I am really gonna miss you when you move back to America Sister Smith." He was SO beyond grateful for the things we were teaching him. I then told him that I would com...

Howwwzit Hello everyone. I'm really loving being a missionary! I am just overwhelmed with joy. For you return missionaries I'm sure you know this feeling. I would not trade my life for the world right now. My gratitude is FULL! What a blessing it is to have Jesus Christ on our side. It makes the hard times a bit less painful. I have learned so much what it means to trust and have confidence in Him and I just know that he is the source of all joy. I am living proof! At the happiest moments my mind is centered on the Savior. He has met me at the highest moments and lowest. Now it sounds like this transfer has been full of pure joy but I've had some of the lowest points. It's weird how you become grateful for them though because wow! You learn and grow so much. There's no other way.  We were able to put 2 very special people on date this week! Easter baptism coming sooooon. Charley and Joe are brothers and I have seen their desire grow and grow to live the gospel. I fe...

Hellllooo! I dont really have much to say but again gotta keep the streak.  How is everyone?? Howwzziittt in America or wherever you may be. I bet you don't have crumpets though. This week was so fun. I got to go to the incoming missionary day again and graduation for the missionaries that finished training and what a blessing!!!! I love seeing the Lord work through each missionary in this mission and man they all just have so many strengths.  I also got to film the departing sisters testimonies and SISTERS if you are reading this I want you to know that I miss you so much and thank you for changing my perspective of a mission. I would not be the missionary I am today without these sisters and although it sucks to not have them here anymore in the EMM they are going to be the strongest kingdom builders at home I just know it.  Life is fabulous. Jesus Christ's power and healing Atonement is so real. He loves all of you so much. And so do IIIIIIIII!!! Hope everyone had the ...

Can't believe it has already been a week! Back again with this amazing streak. The start of this week started on a big low. One of the people that have changed my life and many others is my good friend Graham Jarvis. Man he is just absolutely incredible. Sister Hanks and I had the privilege to get to know him last transfer and he became our new best friend. Graham is a recent new member in the Oldham ward and is the most devoted disciple of Jesus Christ I have ever met. If you know the chapter Alma 26 in the Book of Mormon, he is the definition of that chapter. FULL of joy and rejoicing in the Savior any moment he can. Graham had a sudden heart attack and passed away last week. My heart shattered hearing the news but my mind has fully been enlightened by the wonderful Plan of Happiness. I was able to call my mom that night and she helped me realize truly one of the greatest blessings; that Graham will be my angel the rest of my mission uplifting and strengthenin...

Whaaaaats up! How is everyone doing? Hope you had a quick week.  Here's the highlight of mine: God's power is real and this week I realized that we have some of that power to envision! Envisioning really does work!!! On Tuesday during district finding, we met an amazing man named Ade. He was SO COOL. He started talking to us for so long about God and basically his whole life story. He then said, "I actually had a dream about you two coming up and talking to me." !!! He even predicted that I would have twins and told me to write that down. We will see about that. After this expereince I realized that we always envision who we want to find but sometimes they are envisioning to find us! How cool is that?  Saturday was another day full of envisioning. In the morning we planned to find someone specific in each part of the day. In the morning we envisioned a buisness lady and we found her! She was interested in learning about the Book of Mormon and she even had my same firs...

Hi fellow lads. What a wonderful dayyyyyy!  I just love you so much and I hope you know! Even if you don't read these emails. Honestly fair enough I stink at it too. But just know I love ya! This week I had the lowest points of my mission and also some of the best. Love it! My whole life I've grown up hearing that the Savior has healing power through His Atonement and sacrifice for us. That he has the ability to heal us and comfort us DURING our trials. Right? I assumed that's what I was feeling but I honestly never really felt comfort through a trial. How is that possible? Well. I finally experienced what that truly felt like this week and what a special thing. I know it is possible for Jesus Christ to heal and strengthen you in the very time of your trial but only if you trust that He will. He needs you to trust Him. That's how it works. He wants us to come to Him because that's the only way He truly can heal us. By the end of the week I couldn't stop thinking...

Definitely. Kidding. A member just let us use their house when they weren't home. It was so weird. It felt like being home alone again for the first time ever. Looooove it.  Helllooooo! Another week down here in Manchester. This week the Lord just really wanted to magnify our efforts it was SWEET.  One of my favorite days this week was Sunday. It was such a special day!!! 5 people came to church and the past few weeks it's just been 1. It was so happy to see them enjoy the service. And every single thing the members said was just exactly what our friends needed to hear. Don't you just love when that happens. I've noticed that always happens the days I dread waking up and going to church.  The Lord really is hastening his work in Stretford and I am so lucky to have a front row seat. We saw so many miracles this week! I will just share one. One of the biggest things I've learned on my mission is that almost every time visiting yellow dots (online referrals), leads you...

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...