Hey!

Hey Family!!

I hope you have had the GREATEST WEEK!! I just love you all so much and it is the greatest to get to hear from you!!! 

This week was a lot better!! Sorry for the little panic attack/mental breakdown I had last week. I was just being a little dramatic. Which totally happens on this rollercoaster ride some people call a mission but this week was a lot better! :) Thanks for all of your prayers and helpful advice!! It helped SO MUCH! So thank you! I just LOVE YOU! 

I feel like I am finally starting to get used to things here which is so nice. There still is a lot that im trying to work on but its getting better! Dad you asked about people we are teaching and OH MY GOODNESS we are teaching MIRACLES! These people are so prepared! Some of the top progressing are Holly (16) Jack (14)  and Fern (8). They are just the greatest kids and should be baptized this weekend! Something that I have learned while being here is that as a missionary I really am just here to find those people that are prepared. I am not here to try and talk people into the gospel or any of that - Heavenly Father is preparing people!! He is doing that part! It is just my job to find them and then teach them. But these kids are just so great! Holly stopped smoking cold turkey. Jack doesn't question anything. It just makes sense to him and he has already started asking about what he has to do to serve a mission - he wants to join the army too but has decided he'll just serve a mission first and then join. WHAT? freak out moment. And then Fern is just the sweetest little 8 year old who tells us everyday the number of days until the 31st! (the date they should be baptized!) It is just so great and so fun to teach them! Their mom is GREAT too! She hasn't sat in on the lessons yet mostly because she is a single mom and constantly working or out doing things but she supports them 100% and i know it is just a matter of time before she joins her family as well! So that is the biggest blessing! I'm just so excited and so grateful to realize that heavenly father really is at the head of this work! ITs so great!

I saw sister Hiatt at Zone Training this week! It was so crazy. We just laughed at how both of our moms and grandmas have been emailing us info about the other person! She seems so fun though and it the next couple of weeks we will be going on exchange so that will be the greatest! We will send pictures home! Maybe of us reinacting us in the bathtub with shaving cream... ;) 

So I got a little slap in the Face from Heavenly Father this week which was great to get me focused again! :) After zone training (which went really well! All the elders and sisters seemed to love it and hopefully they were able to take something out of it!) But leading up to the training i had been thinking a lot about how I feel like i had been slacking. I was in a new area and trying to figure everything out but with that it seemed like I had slowed down a little bit - just not talking to as many people and more observing. Which is great to an extent but it is no excuse to not be talking to people - I just kept coming up with excuses. So on the train ride home I was fighting myself to try and talk to people. Talking to people on the bus and trains is not something that Sister Stephenson ever did before. I guess they just sat there? I don't understand. BUT anyways... we got on the train and we sat next to this lady and her 2 boys. they seemed great! and i instantly thought! YES! Its a family! So i sat down and then all the sudden I got all of those excuses again. Just saying Maybe this isn't effective in this area? or Sister Stephenson is sitting right next to her. It would be weird for me to reach over her. NONSENSE thoughts. Finally our stop was up next and at the last minute I just reached over and asked if I could share a pass along card with her with a website on it. The sweet mom looked at me and said...

 "Oh! Ive actually been wondering! My family is Christian as well but we aren't mormons. Ive heard of your though. What is it you believe?"  

Slap. In. The. Face.

OH! I was SO angry with myself! Here I was sitting on this train with this lady who was TOTALLY prepared to listen to me and I sat there questioning everything. I just felt so silly. That time I was doubting I could have been testifying and helping this lady and her family come to know about TRUTH and how they could be together FOREVER!!! So yeah. It was the worst. I was just grateful we had given her a card. We had to run off the train but we left her with a breif testimony and told her to look at the website and then call us with any questions. But yeah. I felt like the worst but was so grateful for the chance to have a good little reminder to talk to everyone and not let satan put any kind of doubt in my head! So ive been better about that this week! :) 

OH and dad - remember when I sent you that fufu was of the devil. WELL ive found something else here that is even worse. SO many families here have these awful SATANIC little stickers on their doors that say we can't cold cold. (just knock on their door to talk to them) and they are EVERYWHERE around here. Obviously you]re initial thought would be that we should still just knock them right? well we can't. The sisters called President Gubler and I guess with the situation people are really serious about it and so we have to respect them. Oh they are the worse. So instead of knocking a lot this week we just put a lot of cards through their doors. If we can't knock we will still leave something for them to look at! :) 

But yes! this week was a lot better! Things here in England are great! The members in this ward are amazing too! i sent pictures of Joy and Martin. They truly are ANGELS and tender mercies everyday. They feed us multiple times a week and just those people that are always there if you need anything. Including warm hot chocolate and bathroom breaks! She is taking us to lunch and shopping today too - they SPOIL the missionaries. So I am just so grateful for them and for their love. Including all  of those in the ward! 

DId you have the time chance there yet? We did here and its getting dark around 5. THE WORST since we are out until 9. haha! It should be a fun winter! :) 

Well i just  LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!! and miss you! But am keeping you in ALL of my prayers and am so grateful that we will get to be able to spend eternity together! Thank you for all of your support and love and prayers! I miss you but will keep working hard so you can be blessed at home! :) Keep me updated on EVERYTHING!!!! 

I LOVE YOU!! 

Sister Gwilliam 

Joy and Martyn!! I'll tell you about them next week! They are AMAZING!! And my adopted family here! I love them so much!!

I thought Linds would like this! :)

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Posted By Megan to Sister Megan Gwilliam at 10/26/2015 06:12:00 AM

Halloween Dance

Savannah Sherwood asked Kyle to the dance, I have yet to get the detail, but it sounds like he had a great time.  They went as characters from the wizard of oz.

Sandy Dog Park

Tyse loves taking Goose to the dog park.  Goose just meanders around while Tyse plays will any and all dogs that will be his friend!

Halloween Activities

Painting Pumpkins from Bob's Garden

Halloween Sugar Cookies

Hee Haw Farms (this picture taken especially for Grandpa Gwilliam)

Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point (ran out of battery or there would be a whole lot more pictures of this place!)

Sleeping Beauties

Lindsey doesn't like to sleep by herself...she often sleeps with Tyse in his bed.  Bruce snapped this picture one morning before leaving for work.

I love you!!

Hey Family!!

OH MY GOODNESS I just love you all! I LOVE MONDAYS becuase I can e-mail you and get updated on everything! In my prayers this morning I really just said thank you a million times OH i just love you and LOVE getting to hear from you!

BUT this week was craziness. I feel like all of Peckham was just a dream and I just left the MTC to come here. Lots to adjust to but its so good!

First off, there are SO MANY WHITE PEOPLE. I almost don't even know how to handle myself. Haha. THat was one of the first things I noticed being here. In Aldershot there are a lot of nepalese people - but they dont speak english so we rarely get the change to talk to them. BUT everywhere else in our area is just full of english people. Its taking me some getting used to. I feel like I am finally in England - based on the people actually being english and the fact that everyone here is athiest and don't want anything to do with us! :) Which is just SO different than Peckham. If I said Jesus Christ all the africans LOVED me. Even if they didn't want to join the church they respected what we were doing and loved to talk about him! I felt like most of my time there wasn't defending Christ but was defending Joseph Smith. Im learning very quickly though that isn't the case here... So its been a good week of evaluating and trying to figure out the best way to approach people on the street and with knocking. WE KNOCKED FOR YEARS THIS WEEK! So lots different but a good learning experience!:)

Another crazy thing about this area is that it is so big! The ward we serve in only has us in it - where peckham has 1 set of sisters and 2 elders! But without having other missionaries we have to cover a lot of area - Ive struggled feeling like most of my time is traveling rather than talking to people. A lot of places we have to take a 30 minute bus ride to get to the train station and then take an hour train ride from there. And then with that we walk. Forever. and ever. I thought I walked a lot before but I truly had no idea. This week we got up to 30,000 steps one day! IT WAS CRAZINESS!! Its probably for the best since I can hopefully start walking off the pounds of fufu and rice that I was fed the past three months but it is a lot! Im thinking my shoes might not last as long as I hoped! :) 

BUT the area is beautiful! It is fun to actually see trees and grass! :) Aldershot itself isn't the prettiest but when we get out into the other areas it is just amazing! So many trees and its just so green! It reminds me SO MUCH of Lafayette CA! and I LOVE LAFAYETTE so its another tender mercy heavenly Father has given! I'll send a picture I snapped while we were walking the other day! Its not the best but I wasn't very good at taking pictures this week... so forigve me and I'll be better next week! :)

Another fun thing is that is FREEZING! Its so cold. It hasn't been too rainy which is nice (probably just jinxed myself) But its just so cold. Ive started wearing tights and then leggings and then a jacket under my rain coat. And apparently it is only Fall here - the real winter hasn't even set in yet. umm.. what? Im pretty sure i'll freeze this winter. Next week Sister Stephenson and I are going to go shopping and I'll hopefully find the thickest tights and some good boots that I can wear when its not raining. we'll see. Pray for sunshine here is lovely old Aldershot!

Sister Stephenson is great! She really is super sweet and wants to work hard so we have gotten along really well. I hope that we can become the best of friends! It seems like her trainer - this is her first transfer without her - was very controlling with things. So she was trained but wasn't really able to teach anything or anyone. A lot of the door approaches and such she tells me how she just doesn't feel confident because she's never been the one talking for the 4.5 months together!! So I just realized even more how grateful I am for the worlds greatest trainer. Sister Barnes was the best and hopefully I can help Sister Stephenson feel more confident in herself.

But besides that it is great! We are getting along well and excited to get to know her better! And Granny Annie is the spunkiest most random old lady. She is so funny! I meant to get a picture of her before so I could send it but she is just this little old english lady. Her husband passed away about 10 years ago so she has had missionaries living with her since! She seems to LOVE to company. I feel like I'm a little on my toes still because she has a lot of rules to keep the house clean and such so I'm just hoping Im doing everything right! She is sweet though and it is fun to have a grandma here!

BUT this next week will be super busy! With being STL Me and Sister Stephenson and the Zone Leaders are in charge of the Zone training on Wednesday - it will be from like 10 - 4 of us teaching and carrying out things taught by President Gubler and the Mission Training plan. We have a lot of calls including a sisters call where we help the sisters at nights and then on Saturday we are going to do splits with the Guildford Sisters - they seem to be really struggling so we are going to their area to help them find as well as split them up and hopefully be able to offer some advice and encouragement! Hopefully we can help them! Then exchanges will start next week so that will be exciting! I feel like I'm not really sure what is going on still but it is great! :) I have also been asked to sing which will be so fun and KY - I play the piano ALL THE TIME here! So keep practicing! The ward needs a pianist a lot as well as people will ask you all the time in District meetings/ Zone trainings and conferences! SO keep practicing! :) 

Something that I loved this week while reading the Book of Mormon was in Alma 12:14. its talking about how we will be judged according to our works on this earth. Ive been studying the BOM with the BOM study guide in the Gospel LIbrary and there was a quote from Elder Oaks that talked about how he doesn't believe we will be judged according to our works but what we have BECOME because of what we chose to do. So our good deeds definitely help us but also our bad decision but then how we took those - applied the atonement - and then BECAME better! I loved that so much! I am so grateful for this gospel and a Saviour who cares so little about where we've been or what we done or who we currently are but is only concerned with who we will BECOME! This gospel is about becoming and I am doing my best everyday to become the greatest person I can be. And that is only possible through our Saviour. I need him everyday. So grateful for the sacrifice he made that makes it possible for me to change and to become better!!

I hope you all have the greatest week! I LOVE YOU! And miss you lots and lots! looks like it was a fun week with goblin valley and everything! Thank you for the pictures! I LOVE THEM! 

Thanks for all of your love and support!! Talk to soon! :) 

Sister Gwilliam 

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Posted By Megan to Sister Megan Gwilliam at 10/19/2015 11:25:00 AM

Goblin Valley

 For Fall Break, we went with Kari and her kids, Scott, Rachel, Lydia and Grandpa to Goblin Valley.

We explored, played tag and then night games (sardines) in the Goblins.  Grandpa brought his lantern and everyone had to stay in view of the light.  Tyse loved playing in the dirt!

Little Wild Horse Canyon.  This is the closest Tyson and I got.  Michelle stayed back to see if she could help with Tyson.  It was just too much climbing for his body.  The rest went on.  It is one of my favorite hikes with the slot canyon that starts just beyond this point.

Back at Camp.  More dirt for Tyson.  Climbing rocks.  Soccer skills

I took this picture as Kyle and Kegan were sarcastically smirking and saying, "Well, this is the best last fall break ever!"  Not quite as magical for them as it was when they were little boys.

Kari woke up early in the early morning hours to the sound of our neighbors diesel truck pulling out and going to the trash dispenser.  She was convinced he had dumped a body in the trash.  She even typed a note in her phone in case he came to get her next.  They all went over to investigate in the morning.  Only found garbage :)

The sarcastic "This is the funnest last fall break ever."  Kyle and Kegan

Scott's Crack or Crav"ass" 

Playing sardines and tag and the goblins at night

Playing kick the can in the camp ground

The kids playing with the soccer ball to see how many juggles they could get

Getting extremely dusty riding in the Razor

Our neighbor dumping a body in the dumpster at 5:30 in the morning and then rinsing away the evidence.

Cooper's bedroom in the cliffs around camp.

Nicole asking every 10 minutes if she could go home.

Tyson filling the Gwilliam's tent full of sand.

Lydia singing to us every morning at breakfast.

Lydia wanting to be the leader in Little Wild Horse.

Dinner Dates

Tyse's new favorite activity (that he asks for daily) is to go out to dinner with Bruce.  It can't be Mom...it has to be Dad.  He know his restaurants and what they have to offer.  Chili's has hot lava cake and when they go there, it is the entree of his choice.

IF YOU ARE AWAKE EMAIL ME BACK NOW! Love you! :)

IF YOU ARE AWAKE EMAIL ME BACK NOW! Love you! :)

Family!!!!!

Oh my goodness! So much to tell you! It's been a great and crazy week!

So once upon a time it was a great week! It was sister Barnes last
week so we were working hard and enjoying being together! We finally
had a solid.... and I mean SOLID... teaching pool which was the
biggest blessing! We have 4 on track for baptism by the end of
October!!! And these people are just SO PREPARED! Just the people who
say they have been waiting for his message, they've wanted to change
their lives, they want to be baptized (even before we bring it up!!)
just all of these amazing things that you hear people say to
missionaries but you don't believe it is true! But it is true. And
sister Barnes and I were blessed enough to have 4 of them! So it was
just the BEST! We got to Friday morning where we were doing weekly
planning - idk if you did this dad? But we plan for our entire week!
Put all of our plans down. Talk about what lessons we will teach Our
investigators. Less actives and recent converts, who can fellowship
who, how to use members and the wArd council.... All those good
things! It takes about 3 hours to do each Friday but then is the
biggest blessing throughout the week!:) SO anyways, we are doing
weekly planning and I remember just feeling so great and so ready to
take on all the things we were talking about. Even with sister Barnes
leaving I felt confident to be able to help my new companion and I
teach these people, I could show her around the are without getting
lost.... For the most part:), I felt like I had a good relationship
with the ward and member so member work would stay up, and I LOVED
these people! I loved the ward, and Peckham, and our investigators (so
much!!!) and even the fufu and rice was becoming bearable -kay maybe not that part - but 
everything was great! I was happy and even though I was sad to have
sister Barnes I just knew me and my new companion would be able to
carry things out. WHEN ALL OF THE SUDDEN... The phone starts ringing.
And who was it? President Gubler!! Sister Barnes and I literally start
screaming and then finally answer it. We all talk for a minute and
joke around when he asks if I am there. Umm... Moment of panic. But he
goes on to say that he has been praying a lot and even with the
situation with sister Barnes leaving I will be moving too because I
have been called to be a Sister Training Leader!!! AHHH!!!! Oh my good
heavens. First off moving was a shock - It wasn't even on my radAr to
think I would move since Sister Barnes was leaving and we had pink
washed the area when we moved in. I thought no way they would do that
again! And then sister training leader!!! COMPLETE SHOCK! President
said that usually he wouldn't pink wash twice - not the ideal thing to
do but he really felt like I needed to be a sister training leader -
and since sister Cunha and sister ramsayers (my flat mates:) ) - had
just been called to be the STLs for the Wandsworth zone, I was going
to move and be an STL in the stains zone! So holy smokes! I've been
DYING TO TELL YOU EVER SINCE I FOUND OUT!!! I'm so excited but also so
nervous and just can't believe it still. I feel like I'm starting all
over with this whole missionary thing with moving but it will be
great! I know the Lord will help me and I'll just have a whole new
area and zone full of friends!:)

SO with all of the news. I am moving to Aldershot! It is in the stains
zone. (I don't know if you have a map of the zones- I think there is
one in my call packet? Idk?:) but anyways! I am going to Aldershot!
It's about 3 hours south west of London! And Me and my new companion
(her name is Sister Stevenson - and she is ENGLISH!!! Accent here I
come!:) ) will be the Sister Training Leaders (STLs) for the stains
zone. As STLs I will be responsible for all of the sisters in the
stains zone- it's basically the responsibility of a zone leader but
only over the sisters!:) Me and sister Stevenson will go on exchanges
with the sisters once or twice a week depending on how many their are in our area and then our job is to help train them to be better missionaries! We are supposed to be a good example of working hard,contacting people on the street, being focused on helping them
accomplish their goals, go on teaches with them, help them be more
converted to the mission training plan and to the Lord and mostLy
support and love them!:) oh my goodness. I will also attend the
missionary leadership council each month (president gubler, the APs,
zone leaders, and then sister training leaders attend) and then we
also will go to the district leadership council with the zone leaders
and district leaders to pass the information from MLC to the district leaders and zone. So a lot more responsibility on my part.Im really excited but also a little overhwlemed with all of it! I feel like I am completely new and still am trying to figure things out - I am the one who needs a good sister training leader to help me but now I am the one who needs to be good enough to be the support the other sisters need. So its exciting but Im nervous. AH I was really excited to tell you though! Did you get an email about it from president?? Ive heard Zone Leaders parents get them so maybe STLs parents do too and you already know all of this! 

So... I wrote that out yesterday while sister barnes was getting all of her pictures off her Ipad and such! BUT right now I am officially in Aldershot. This morning we traveled to the Crawley chapel and then zone leaders drove me here! Its been crazy, I feel like it hasn't really hit yet, I feel like im just going on exchange and I will be back in Peckham with Sister Barnes tomorrow but I already like it a lot here. But oh my goodness. It is SO DIFFERENT! There are NOT as many people. A lot more english. And instead of being in Africa I'm now in Nepal. Those people are everywhere. As Sister Stevenson and I walked to get groceries almost everyone we passed she would put her hands together and do a little bow to them saying "NAMASTE!" I laughed when she started saying it just because of all of the crap ky and dad gave me with Namaste and volleyball - its all coming back around! ;) But yeah. So thats definitely going to be different. It really is super weird for me to not have thousands of people passing me every minute. Street contacting will be a lot different for sure. 

AND another fun thing! WHen I was telling people where I was moving everyone kept telling me about this "granny annie" I was a little confused by it all but it turns out they were telling me about her becuase we live with her!! Me and my companion live with this old sweet spunky old english lady! LIke we share the kitchen and bathroom and house with her! How fun is that? Sister Stevenson said it is great for the most part but she does like to talk a lot - which I can see already, I guess she is just lonely and so when we are home she has to catch us up on everything - but she does seem sweet and it will be fun to have a grandma like person here! She likes things very neat and tidy which will be good for me too.... Sister Barnes and I probably could have been better about that! :) So yeah, I'll keep you updated on how all of that is! Hopefully Its just the greatest! 

Sister Stevenson seems great already! We have only been together now for only a couple hours but it seems like we are going to get along really well! Her last companion was a health nut - didn't eat sweets very often and was vegetarian - so the fact that I love meet and chocolate already made me a winner in her mind!:) She is from Northern England and came the transfer before I did! So she has only been out for about 4.5 months! She has been a sister Training leader for 2 transfers though so she will be able to catch me up on everything with that! She seems so sweet though and im excited to be able to learn and grow with her!! 

But yeah, I feel like that is the big news of the week! I feel like everything else is a little bit of a blur. The last weekend in Peckham was crazy! We RAN from different appointments and everyone decided they wanted to feed us! I have lots of pictures that I'll send right after this!! Im excited for this new transfer! Super anxious as well! I truly feel like im starting completely over. jUst without knowing my companion or the area or the people and having it be with granny annie and labanese people everywhere! Haha its just completely different! BUT i'll just keep relying on my Saviour and know that with his help I'll be able to adjust and love it here just like I did in Peckham! :) 

I love you all SO MUCH!! You all are always in my prayers! THank you for the emails and your love and prayers and support! I miss you so much but am so grateful to be here!! 

LOVE YOU!! Excited to email you next week and tell you all the crazy adventures that will happen in this new area! :) 

Love,

Sister Gwilliam 

This is Sister Hill. I have to send you an email telling all about how amazing she is!! This sweet lady was mistreated for some medical problem she had about 20 years ago and because of that she has gone completely blind and is confined to her home. It truly is the saddest thing but it is amazing because she has the STRONGEST faith and testimony! OH I could just go off on all I think of her. Some of the most spiritual experiences I have had so far have been In her flat just being with her and learning from her example!! I'll miss her for sure! 

Sister Aidoo! I LOVE HER!!!

This is Andy our investigor!! He was the greatest and can't wait to hear about when he gets baptized!

Sister Quaye and her cute girls! She is a returning member/LA. She was always so kind to us though and always good to feed us!:)

Painting on Saturday for Sister Cambell!

You mean we won't be together?