Miracle on Devonshire Street

Hello friends and fam! Ok first off, I'M SORRY some of y'all can't see my pictures. Technology is wack. If you want to see some from past weeks, here is a link to my blog Sisterlorennicolegilland.blogspot.com 
Shout out to the blogmaster, (my mom lol)

I hope you're all well! This week was AMAZING. 

Lol Funny District Meeting 
Ok so we had district meeting which is normally pretty chill. My comp and I were assigned to lead a training for Preach My Gospel and I wasn't too nervous until I found out my Mission President (super intimidating man) , and the Zone Leaders would be attending.  And since I'm a noob,  I totally didn't know what I was doing lol but it all went ok haha. The Holy Ghost really does put words in our mouths #blessed. 

Interview with Prezo 
After said District Meeting, I got to have my transfer interview with my President which went well. I can't believe transfers are in two weeks. I'm sure I'll be staying in Birkenhead but I'll be getting a new trainer.  I absolutely LOVE my President. He's so intimidating but his sense of humor kills me. He very subtly roasts me and it cracks me up and I just laugh at myself all the time. Love him.

Update on Roger
He continues to come to church and he's still progressing. He has some struggles with word of wisdom but the Lord is helping him through it. Still dated for November 11!

BIGGEST MIRACLE OF MY LIFE
On Wednesday afternoon, I experienced the greatest miracle so far. Just some background info: Two weeks ago, an older Sister in the ward introduced us to her neighbour, Kallum. He's 21 and he was somewhat interested in the church but he told us to not come to his house because his family would be super mad, so he didn't give us his address. 
**Fast forward two weeks**
We took a bus to a town called Pensby. Previously, we had met 3 potential investigators all in the same area that we wanted to visit. Well one of them was sick, one wasn't home and one told us never to come back. So we were pretty bummed. We decided to tract Devonshire Street until our tea appointment. On the third door we knocked, KALLUM ANSWERED. When he answered the door, all three of our jaws dropped. And he looked up to the sky and said "thank you". He told us that we came at the perfect time because his family wasn't home. ALSO- He was wearing a primary CTR ring on his pinky!! 
Our area covers over half a million people. We didn't have his address, we weren't even planning on tracting that day and somehow the Lord led us to him. 
He recognized that this was for sure a sign and agreed to meet with us. We met again on Saturday and he seems super interested and is coming to church on Saturday and a SECOND LESSON on Monday. 

Accidentally tracted a Convent 
Also, while tracting we stumbled into a convent (house for nuns) and had a lovely chat with a cute nun and we are having Dinner with them next week! (casual) I'll update y'all on how that goes! I'm so excited!

One last thought. 
Jacob 6:
5 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I beseech of you in words of soberness that ye would repent, and come with full purpose of heart, and cleave unto God as he cleaveth unto you. And while his arm of mercy is extended towards you in the light of the day, harden not your 
hearts.
This is what I want all the people who slam doors in my faces to read!!! There's so many people here that don't believe in God.  It hurts my heart that they are so lost and in the crazy world we live in, they have nothing to hang onto with assurance. But GOD IS REAL. I know it. God is our father and we are his children. His arm of mercy is extended towards us! Remember that!

Vocab word: Squash means juice , so when people offer me a cup of squash I always say yes because it's soooo good!

For Pday today we went to the docs that Heber C Kimbal & his associates arrived at 180 years ago to begin the first overseas mission. (EMM)


Pretty sure Liverpool's changed a lot in the last 35 years, Dad. 

Happy Halloween! Love y'all!
Tara' til next week

Sister Gilland 

Cold Hands; Warm Heart

It's been getting SUPER cold already here. It's really windy and of course rainy. Every time I shake someone's hands they're like, "WOW your hands are super cold."  And then almost every time they follow with, "must mean you have a warm heart." Apparently it's a common expression here! 

Country Hoppin to Wales 
Tuesday, my comp and I got to go to Wales! I went on exchanges with my STL, Sister Southerland. She's from Jamaica. Anyways She's the sweetest and I learned SO much from her in just a short 24 hour exchange.  Wales is so crazy. All the signs are written in Welsh (and English luckily). 

Zone Conference in Crewe
On Thursday we finally had Zone Conference!  It was in a city called Crewe. We of course got to see good ole President McReynolds and the first thing he said to me was "Wow Sister Gilland, you looked tired"... haha thanks prezo...anyways, I learned SO much and got to meet the rest of the Chester Zone as well as New Castle Zone. I love how on a mission, when you're away from your family, members of your zone (really the whole mission) is your temporary family. Fun fact, in my mission there's about 180 missionaries and 40 different nationalities! It was my sweet companions last zone conf so she had to bare her testimony and oh my heck she did so amazing.  She's literally the best missionary in the world.  We are both in denial that she's leaving. 

First Baptism?? (Maybeeee)
Our first lesson with Roger went pretty well!  He's got a few issues with the word of wisdom but he's progressing rapidly and is officially dated for baptism on November 11!  He loves coming to church and the spirit he feels when he listens to our lessons. 
Our teaching pool is a growin. We have THREE investigators and TONS of potential investigators

We had Stake Conference which was really good. A recent convert drove us and was asked to share her conversion story at conference. She's like 24 and she's so cute and she was SO nervous but she did amazing!  The rest of stake conference was so good. My Mission President and his wife both spoke and then the Stake President spoke and talked all about member missionary work and he announced that they will be doing a stake wide fast for the missionaries to find success. Its a good time to be a missionary in the EMM. 🇬🇧

Today was such a good Pday! We got to go to Conaway castle! It was so gorgeous and we got to go with our district and I love them all so much! Such a fun day! I'll send pics!

One last thought
I probably sound like I'm just repeating myself but if there's one thing that I've learned out here so far, it's that the savior is your BEST FRIEND.  I loved what my mission President said in stake conferemce. "When we feel so achingly alone, so wrecked in anguish, so overwhlmed with sin, remember that HE descended below all things in that he comprehended all things."
The savior can not only sympathize with us but he can also empathize. He suffered all pains and sorrows for us. The atonement is the greatest gift we have. As a missionary, I've had to rely on the savior every single day. When I'm tracting in the pouring rain and I'm soaking wet and cold I can always turn to my savior because he has felt that. 

Mosiah 3: 
7 And lo, he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people.
8 And he shall be called Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning;

I love you all lots! Thanks for the continuous prayers and support! England is amazing. I love being a missionary! 

English Vocab 
Package- Parcel  (as in, "mom plz send me a parcel") xoxo

Sister Gilland

What Happens in Birkenvegas....

Hiyaaa! Y'all miss me yet?! I can't believe it but I hit my 1 month mark on Friday the 13th! My companion just hit her 17 month mark haha I'll get there one day....

This week went a lot faster and smoother. I absolutely LOVE my ward. It really feels like family already. Something super funny about my ward is the Bishop, the Relief Society President, and the Young Women's President area all siblings.  Also the ward mission leader, is their cousin. #FamilyGoalsss. After several Tea Appointments this week, and getting to know so many families, I already feel like I've been in this ward for forever. This ward hasn't had Sister Missionaries in like decades!  I REALLY hope they keep me in this area for Christmas.  

We had our first district meeting and it's so crazy, we had to take 3 trains and two busses to get to it. Our meeting is only 2 hours long but we didn't even get home til 3 haha. Lots of Train and Bus contacting (one of my weaknesses) . An elder in my area, just told me to just stop caring about getting embarrassed when talking to people on the public transport because odds are, I'll never see them again...unless it's for a return appointment ;)! 

Wednesday and Thursday were some of the hardest days I've had so far. We just walked and walked and didn't accomplish any of our goals.  We didn't hand out any books of mormon and didn't even get a new contact. We decided to visit 2 old ladies in our ward and we found out that it totally made their day and lifted there spirits so at least we did something right!

Lol funny story! On friday we were out tracting around 8 at night and there was a house that we walked by and decided not to ring because the man in the window looked passed out drunk and he had a scary dog. So we went to the next door and then my companion and I felt guilty (robbing a child of God of learning about their salvation) so we went back and as soon as we knocked we heard a huge bang on the door and it was the giant dog body slamming into the door or something and both of us took off running the 'Beware of Dog' and 'No Cold Calling' signs should've tipped us off. Lol probably the most scared I've been so far- well at least until about 20 min later (continue to next paragraph).

So later that night, we were walking home and I saw a little ball of fur (looked like a rat) run over towards our rubbish bins and I screamed and jumped (naturally) and literally considered coming back to America for a second. We then came to find out it was a HEDGEHOG?! So that was definetly random but made for a pretty funny friday the 13th. I'll send pics. 

MISSIONARY MIRACLE:
Ok so on Saturday me and my companion and Elder Risk and Elder Santa Maria did a street display.  We set up a banner at a mall and talked to several people walking by.  I didn't have much success but one man, Roger, came up and talked to me.  After testifying of the book of mormon and giving him a copy, he seemed kinda interested so I gave him a flyer with our church's address and told him to come to church the following day. I honestly didn't have high hopes but heavenly father had other plans! He DID come to church and he wants to learn more! Yay! 

After church we had the privilege to hear from Elder Ballard in a broadcast shown only to Europe (sorry USA). He talked all about miracles and also member missionary work. Fun fact: weve had 3 baptisms in my ward since june and ALL of them have been from member referrals. 

Well that was my week folks! I want to leave you with a little thought. I want to echo what Russel M Nelson asked us at the recent General Conference.  
1 What would your life be like without the book of mormon?
2 What would you not know?
3 What would you not have?
For me personally, my parents met at byu in Book of Mormon class (#goals) so I know I probably wouldn't be alive! But on top of that, I wouldn't know the extent of how much my savior loves me. I wouldn't know the importance of following his commandments and enduring to the end. I wouldn't believe Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God. I wouldn't be able to comprehend God's infinite love for me. I certainly wouldn't be in England sharing the gospel for 18 months!  Who knows where I'd be. Where would you be?

English Vocab of the Week

Eggplant- aubergine 

Sidewalk- foot path

Sick- poorly (like "I'm feeling rather poorly today")

 Well I love and miss you all! Thanks for the continuous prayers! I definitely feel them! God loves you!

Tara' loves

Sister Gilland 

HIYA FROM BIRKENHEAD

Hiya! (Lol that's how everyone says hello here) friends and family! I miss y'all! I hope you're all doing amazing! I arrived safely to England and it's as beautiful as I imagined. I have been assigned to the Birkenhead area and I live in a small town called Prenton! 

My Companion 
My companion is Sister Menlove! She's from Payson Utah! We have a few mutual friends and she actually trained Sister Stapel from Springville! And she has a 24 year old sister named Hillary And she plays tennis! #sameee What are the odds?! She's probably the best missionary in the world, and it's her LAST transfer. I'm gonna be so sad when she leaves.  We've already become super close. She makes all my food too. She's like a mom haha I just love her. 

My Area 
Birkenhead, is also known as 'BirkenVegas', 'the Whirral', and according to the members, 'Zion'. 

For those familiar with England, I'm located south of Liverpool across the River Mersey.  Something a bit scary though, is my companion and I are BOTH new to this area (normally I'd be put with someone who's been here a transfer or so but NOPE)  AND it's brand new so we are literally building it from the ground up. Our area book is empty. AND the area is literally HUGE.  The population is about half a million people. We have 2 elders here as well in this area, Elder Risk and Elder Santa Maria.  We started with zero potential investigators.  We've had little success but have seen many small miracles that boost our confidence a bit. This week I've handed out several pass along cards and placed 3 books of mormon.  9 times out of 10 the people reject us. Some are super rude, some are just not into it. It's definitely tricky here but I'm confident that we will have success. 

The accent here does NOT sound like Harry Potter at all. It's an accent called Scouse and it's hardly english.  Most people greet you with "Hiya ya alright?" Which means "how are you ?" It sounds so weird but I'm just goin with it!  People also give you nick names like "love". Hahah I love it!

My Ward
The one ward here is so amazing, they're so humble and the kindest people you'll ever meet. They've been so excited for sister missionaries to come because apparently it's been years.  One funny surprise was they had me and sister Menlove bare our testimonies in church lol YAY.  The ward is amazing though, we've already had two tea appointments and lots scheduled this week.  Oh ya "Tea" here means dinner! So im getting fed LOTS. Also English food is amazing! A lil bland but ya just gotta dump some salt and pepper on it!

My President
President McReynolds is AMAZING. It's funny though because he has been here since July and apparently the previous one President Ulrich had lots of rules. And McReynolds is sgill strict but not as strict. The missionaries joke about Ulrich being like Moses and it was like living the law of Moses and now we are living the higher law so I guess that makes McReynolds Jesus???  Hahah lucky me! We had a good first interview. His brother served in Manchester the same time my dad did so we had that connection.

Funny Rules
So this is super funny for me, but apparently this mission is really big on refraining from saying the words "cool" "awesome" and "you guys". They think it sounds too casual. It's been super hard to adjust but I'm getting better. 

Trip to LIVERPOOL
I went on splits with Sister Libron this cute sister from the Philippines so that Sister Menlove could travel to her previous area, Oldham to watch someone she taught get baptized! While they were there, Sister Libron and I got to hang out in Liverpool. Dad- Pretty sure it's changed a ton since you left haha. It looks like time square haha.

Not gonna lie. This week has been quite the struggle. The people here are not the nicest. I've probably had dozens of doors slammed in my face, but like I said, we've had some small miracles that give me hope that I can touch the lives of the children God has prepared for me to teach. Cute Sister Melove showed me a scripture in Alma 20:30
"And, as it happened, it was their lot to have fallen into the hands of a more hardened and a more stiffnecked people..."  #relateable
I know it was my lot to have been called to England. I know that this is going to be hard and that I'll have so much rejection but know it's exactly where I'm supposed to be. I love England and I love Birkenhead.  The people here are so amazing. I can't wait to build this place from the ground up. I'm humbled President McReynolds trusts Sister Menlove and I with such a daunting task. I'm hopeful that we will see miracles!

Here's your British Vocab for the week (who said I'm not learning a language) ;)

Pram- Stroller

Hoover-  Vacuum 

Courgette- Zucinni (lol what)

P.S. My British accent is coming along nicely. Jk haha

Love you all! Tara' til next week (Tara' means byeeee)

Sister Gilland 

Pics:

1) President McReynolds and is wife 

2) View from my cute flat 

3) My first Fish n chips!

4) The door to my flat- the place was built in 1850!

5) My Companion Sister Menlove!

Hi From Manchester

I made it!  This is the mission home.  This is the same mission home as when my Dad served here 30 years ago.  I can't wait to meet my trainer and get my assigned area.

BYE MTC

Hi family and friends! K I know that I said my next email will be from Manchester, but I just  wanted to give a little update because so many amazing things happened this week!  Sorry not sorry! 
I can't believe I'm done with the MTC! Here's a few things that happened of my week

My "Investigator", Laree:
Our TRC's went great this week. Sister Mills and I met with Laree. She's in her 20's and found out about the church from her roommates. She was drawn to the church because she saw a difference in attitude her roommates had about life.  We had 3 lessons with her and talked about the Restoration and Plan of Salvation. On our third lesson, I gave my companion 'the look' and she nodded and I asked Laree if she wanted to be baptized...YOLO. She responded with a yes! It was such a good feeling!

Funny Story
My close friends will get a kick out if this because they know how clumsy I can be.  Lol so we were packing on Saturday and I was coming down my bunk bed ladder carrying a ton of stuff in both a hands. I totally lost my footing and landed in my companions suitcase FLAT on my back. It didn't hurt and we had a pretty good laugh about it. I knew it was bound to happen. I'll be staying away from the top bunks from now on. LOL

GOODBYES:
I said so many goodbyes this week. I'm sure it won't surprise any of yall that I bawlled my eyes out saying bye to my two sweet teachers, Sister Shaw and Brother Hackman, and my amazing zone and district.  I just wanted to hug them all! But I can't cuz (page 33)  I've really grown to love this group and they have been my family in these hard (but wonderful) 3 weeks.  On our last night, we met as a district one last time and had a brief testimony meeting and then received blessings from the elders. For most of them it was their first time giving a blessing. I asked Elder Downey to do mine.  After that cryfest, we stood in a circle outside and sang "God Be With You til We Meet Again". I'm sure I'll see the sisters again when we're in the field. The Elders however will be serving in Billings, Montana and Tucson, Arizona. I know they will be phenomenal missionaries and I'm grateful for all they've taught me.

General Conference:
I felt so blessed to get to spend my last 2 days in the MTC watching General Conference.  All the missionaries were packed in the aus

auditorium. There's something amazing about sitting in a room full of 3000 if the Lord's servants. And ME being one of them!
To my non member friends on this email, General Conference is a time when we all get to hear from the Lord's Prophets, Apostles, and other faithful servants. I strongly encourage you to go to lds.org and watch some of them.  I guarantee that you will get something amazing from it.  

Here's a few of my takeaways:
-LOVED Quinton L Cook's talk because he talked about his mission to England and it got me super pumped. He also talked about how we should all be humble. Definitely needed to hear that cuz I'm the worst at that.
 -Another awesome one was Elder Rasbands. He said "sometimes we consider changes in our plans as missteps in our journey, think of them as first steps in our heavenly fathers plan." 
- I especially loved Elder Zwicks talk because he reference the lion king and who doesn't love that. 
Also there was a scripture referenced THREE times this conference that is on my missionary plaque and in my heart always. D&C 84:88 

"And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up."

I testify that the Lord speaks through these amazing servants. I know that we have a beloved prophet. It hurts my heart that his health is deteriorating but I know that he is an amazing Prophet of the Lord who loves us so much.

I also want to thank everyone for all the amazing emails ,letters and packages!  In the 20 days i was at the MTC, I received TWELVE packages! WHAT?! I've never felt so loved in my life so from the bottom of my heart, thank you. I feel your prayers and pray for you too. Ok for real my NEXT email will be from MANCHESTER. Bye!

Lots of Love

Sister Gilland 

My teacher Sister Shaw

Our last sand volleyball tournament as a zone 

My teacher Brother Hackman

Me and Laree

3. General Conference at the MTC

 President and Sister Martino (MTC Presidents)

The fearless STL's and ZL's of Branch 37