Dead Year DONE. Happy 2019

Hello everyone! Happy New Year! It's been a fantastic time serving as a missionary for all of 2018!

Well this week, we managed to stay pretty busy but nothing super exciting happened. The week felt extremely short with last pday being on a Wednesday. So not a lot to share haha! On Tuesday, we will get our transfer news so next week I may or may not be in a new area!

I finished the Book of Mormon this week. I'm so grateful for the challenge President Nelson gave us! Im just so grateful for the Book of Mormon and my testimony seems to increase every day. A scripture that stuck out to me particularly was Ether 12:41 "And now, I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written, that the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of them, may be and abide in you forever. Amen."
I'm sure many of you took on the challenge President Nelson gave us but I invite you all to" seek this Jesus" in the coming New Year. Set goals for yourselves for how many times you want to read the Book of Mormon. I have no doubt 2019 is going to be a good one.

Try not to party too hard this New Year's without me! Love you all!

Sister Gilland
England Manchester Mission 🇬🇧

Pictures: we got to climb 140 steps up a narrow spiral staircase to the top of a Church of England Cathedral. The man who took us was nice but definitely bashed us so here's a Pic of me getting bashed. Nice views tho!

A December to Remember

What a week, what a month and what an amazing Christmas! This whole month, the mission has been trying to make it a "December to Remember" using #LightTheWorld and doing all we can to progress our friends and serve the people around us. This week Sister McKinnon and I really tried to end the month with a bang. We did so many Family Home Evenings, service projects, and caroling.

🎄Tuesday we had district council in Wigan and did a street display there afterwards.
🎄On Wednesday, we got a a surprise call that we were having interviews with President McReynolds! Those went well even tho it was chaotic getting there.
🎄On Friday/Saturday, we went on exchanges with the Liverpool Sisters. I got to go with Sister Takata from Japan! She's like 4 feet tall and I love her with all my heart. We had such a fun time together. We also worked a lot together as a district and zone doing street displays in Liverpool. 
🎄On Sunday, we had the Special Sunday Service. Church was only one hour long and then we had the Primary do a Nativity Presentation--precious hahah they sang the song "If I were A Shepherd" and Sister McKinnon and I couldn't hold it together and were in tears at the end. Everyone go look it up.
🎄On Christmas Eve we had a district Council and then lunch together and then a street display promoting #LightTheWorld!. After that, we had a Carol Concert. I'm so blessed to have had TWO amazing Carol Concerts. It's just a big presentation the choir puts together and we all sing Christmas carols. It's an English tradition but not every ward in the mission does them but the two I've been at for Christmas do! #blessed
🎄On Christmas Day, we opened our one million presents from the sweet saints of Saint Helen's and then we went to Libby's in the afternoon and a member family, the Brownbills in the evening. It was also wonderful to see my fam on Skype! Crazy to think next time I see them, it will be in person!
🎄Today (Boxing Day) we did some shopping and are headed to the James family for dinner and games!

Also something fun, my mission started a new tradition called the "EMM-athon". As Companionships, we all ran on the the 24th, 25th, and 26th to make sure we stay fit this Christmas season (lol) and we will count up all the miles ran and see if the missionaries in the years to come will beat it!

It was an insane week and I truly believe I'll never forget this Christmas. There's really no place I'd rather be than on a mission in England at Christmas time. Such a wonderful feeling to be a representative of Christ at this special time of year! Transfer calls are next Monday and I'm so nervous because I've been here 3 transfers and I've yet to be in an area longer than that so I'm afraid my times up here... I don't know tho! We'll see!

I love you all! I hope your Christmas was as amazing as mine! Merry Christmas, Happy Boxing Day, and Happy New Year!

Sister Gilland
England Manchester Mission 🇬🇧

An EMM Christmas Part 2

Well this week we were still ill so we were pretty slowed down but we continued to work hard. It's also been upper windy and cold and wet! So great combination huh?!
On Tuesday, we got to do some service in the Town Hall and make Christmas Packages for Care Leavers and their children. We were wrapping loads of presents and jammin to Christmas music so we basically felt like elves.

Wednesday, we had the mission party. I've been looking forward to this since last year's. It was a blast. We played bingo, ate roasted pig and had a variety show. I did manage to make two appearances in the variety show. Both of which were absolute train wrecks (two skits). We ended on a spiritual note hearing the testimonies of the departing missionaries and some remarks from President and Sister McReynolds. It was a really good day!
Saturday we had the Ward Christmas Party. We had food and games and some of the members acted out the nativity. A lady in the ward literally just had a baby Wednesday so we had the perfect Mary and baby Jesus. It was a good night! Libby came with us and it was super fun!

Also, happy news... My friend Josh in Chorley baptized his two little sisters on Saturday! I only saw a picture but I was so excited for them!

Well it being Christmas and all, I read chapter 8 of Jesus the Christ. It talks all about the birth of Jesus Christ. I've had the opportunity to read a lot of Jesus the Christ on my mission and I'm hoping to finish before my times up. The part that stuck out to me was "The trustful and unsophisticated keepers of sheep had not asked for sign or confirmation; their faith was in unison with the heavenly communication; nevertheless the angel had given them what he called a sign, to guide them in their search. They waited not, but went in haste, for in their hearts they believed, yea, more than believed, they knew, and this was the tenor of their resolve: “Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.”
May we all have the faith as that of the Shepherds this Christmas as we truly believe in the Son of God and exercise our faith continually in Him!

My next email will be Wednesday the 26th of December (aka Boxing Day!). I love you all dearly and hope you have an amazing Christ-Centered Christmas! I'm looking forward to Skyping my family on the 25th! It truly is the most magical time of year to be a missionary!

Merry Christmas!

Sister Gilland
England Manchester Mission 🇬🇧

When It Rains, It Pours!

So in England it tends to rain... When I got my call to England, I thought it would rain every day of my mission. But it hasn't! It definitely rains a lot but not every day and I've actually been surprised by how much it doesn't rain. However, this week it rained ALL DAY EVERY DAY. So it's been fun.

It's been another good week. The days just seem to fly, not very much happened this week but it still felt like such a quick week. Sister McKinnon and I both got a cold at the same time #companionshipunity. We weren't sick enough to stay in the flat but it definitely slowed us down. Our investigators are all kind of at a stand still to be honest. Just trying to get them to progress!

We had one day this week where 4 of our lessons fell through, it was pouring rain, freezing cold and we were both super ill. Nobody wants to listen to us in general, let alone in the rain so we weren't talking to many people. Just a rough day that sucks in the moment. I read a talk later that day that most of yall have probably read by Elder Holland in Oct 1999 called "An High Priest of Good Things To Come". If the title doesn't sound familiar this quote will. "Don’t give up. Don’t you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead. You keep your chin up. It will be all right in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come.”. Sometimes I look around me and everyone just looks so sad and it just makes me want to shout this quote from the rooftops. Heavenly Father gives us these little hard moments to stretch us and and help us grow not to stunt our growth and make us miserable! So keep going and know that there really are good things to come.

I hope you're all doing well and getting ready for the Christmas season. We have the Mission Christmas Party on Wednesday. Still can't believe it's that time of year again. So grateful to have TWO Christmases on my mission! I love you all and miss you dearly. Have a good week!

Sister Gilland
England Manchester Mission 🇬🇧

Frog I picked up
Just 2 sick missionaries

2 Birds With One Phone

OK so in England they call girls "birds" ??? Anyways our friend Libby made the joke that we were two birds with one phone and it sounds like "two birds with one stone" so we all laughed for like 20 minutes. My sense of humor is gone yall.

So if you've been reading my emails you'll know about how we've been teaching Libby and the big thing stopping her from baptism is that she feels like her prayers haven't really been answered. We encouraged her to keep a list of little spiritual "coincidences" she's had since she started meeting with us. She called us up on Tuesday night to tell us that she had been pondering and she really feels like God has heard her and that all these little things aren't just coincidences but divine answers from God! She also on her own read the talk, "To the Friends and Investigators of the Church (April 2017)". We didn't even tell her about it, she was just browsing gospel library! She's made so many changes in her life as she's learned the commandments and it's just amazing to watch! We invited her to fast with us on Sunday for her to get more answers/revelation from the Fireside that Sunday night. I think it worked cuz it was one of the best firesides I've been to!

On Tuesday this girl got on the bus and sat behind me and turned around and started talking to her and she sounded more American than me. Turns out she's from Lithuania and she watched a lot if American TV. Anyways her name is Juta (pronounced like "UTAH" ). She's so nice and she met with us the next day and asked so many good questions. She's 20 like us but seems so mature. We're looking forward to our next lesson!

We had a huge miracle on Wednesday. A girl we street contacted into about a month ago, Ny (from Ghana) , called us and left us a message (we were in a lesson). We called her back and texted her twice but she didn't respond. We tried again on Saturday night and she answered! She told us that she's been super busy but that she was having a really hard time when we street contacted into her a month ago. She wasn't going to her Anglican church anymore and she felt like she was going down the wrong path. She quit her job at a pub and was praying that God would help her that very night we met her. We are going to see her Wednesday and we can't wait. She is amazing!

On Friday we had Zone Conference in Liverpool. Definitely a rebuking session but hey that's how we improve right??

I was reading in Alma 26 and verse 3 stuck out to me.
"Behold, I answer for you; for our brethren, the Lamanites, were in darkness, yea, even in the darkest abyss, but behold, how many of them are brought to behold the marvelous light of God! And this is the blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work."
Sometimes I forget that as missionaries, we are literally God's instruments. More often, it seems like all we do is find or run around trying to share he gospel with people that won't listen. It's easy to get discouraged and feel like there's no more prepared people left in England! But occasionally we get to be an answer to someone like Ny's prayer. It's the most incredible, rewarding, amazing feeling in the world. It's such a wonderful pleasure being part of this work!

I love you all, have a great week!

Sister Gilland
England Manchester Mission 🇬🇧

Teaching Libby how to make Mac and cheese
Drenched in the rain