My birthday was great! So many people shared so much love for me. Alec and susana had me over for lunch and they gave me some great gifts! And then nathalie had us over for dinner, she made us lasagna! they all made homemade food and bought me cakes. Nathalie also gave me lucky charms!! So good. Then we were able to teach sarah and she gave me a gift too, it was a necklace! And then the elders here bought me some honeycomb ice cream.:) sister belliston decked out the kitchen and gave me back my sweats she stole from me for my birthday gift. haha The missionaries here in edinburgh gave me a jar and on the outside it says "reasons we love you". They all wrote little reasons why they love me and put them in the jar. I am so grateful to have been surrounded by such great people. It has been such a great birthday.
So this past week was transfers. I was moved from edinburgh over to glasgow city centre as stl:) i am excited to be here in glasgow for my last transfer:) i was really sad to leave sister belliston though, we have become such good friends! my new companion is sister ethington from oregon. It was very hard to say good bye to all my good friends in edinburgh. We were able to have meals with them the week I left, to say bye or just quick visits by their home. Very hard to leave these people that you have become so attached to.
We said bye to jesika and her two kids and it was a very sad. but i have seen their family become so much stronger and happier as they have continued to come back to church. She said that her family is so much better because we have come around and were able to teach them. Ashley is preparing for her baptism for when her family comes into town. I love them so much.
Saying bye to nathalie was so hard as well. She is so amazing and is having an amazing journey in this gospel. i am so grateful that i am able to see it happen. I have had so many spiritual conversations with her. She messaged me this week and said that she is leaning towards baptism now, she has such a special light about her. She has become a very close friend to me.
Louise and her family had us over for dinner with her parents and it was a great opportunity to be with them and say goodbye. its been so great to be able to share the gospel with them these past 6 months. Louise should also be having her baby soon so i am so stoked for their family!
Also andrea and julian, our family from romania, are doing amazing. Andrea has been able to accept a baptism date and should be getting baptised next month. They are such a happy family. They have 3 kids. I love going to there home, they speak little english but are so kind to us.
I am here in glasgow though and i have been able to meet so many amazing people already. We are teaching this one dude who is preparing for his baptism. His name is ryan, he is from glasgow and is 23. He's so sick. We had a really cool experience on sunday. Since both me and sister ethington white washed into glasgow we dont know anyone. So we asked the ward clerk for the ward membership sheet so we could try by some less actives and members. Well, it was 58 pages! So we got in our car and were looking at this list and said a prayer to be guided as to who we should visit. And i saw this one chicks name selina, and we decided to go visit her. so we drove to this flat and knocked on her door. she was really hesitant to open the door because its a very dangerous area, so she made us show her our badges and eveything and then invited us in. Her 17 yr old daughter, michelle, was there and they are from zimbambwe. We all got to talking and they said it was so amazing that we stopped by because they haven't been to church in years but were just thinking about the church the other day. And we testified of the power that God has to direct his children. Selina shared with us her powerful testimony of the one time she went to the temple. We are going to continue to go back and teach both of them:) they were so happy we came and kept saying we came at the right time.
I met this one chick named rachel this week who had just moved here from china. she was so kind and said she was very willing to learn more about jesus. Which i wasnt expecting at all because a lot of chinese aren't too interested in religion. i am so excited to meet with her this week!
