Happy Valentine's Day!

February 11, 2019

Happy Valentine's Day!

Honestly, this week has been a complete blur. I can't even remember half the things that went on. YAY FOR JOURNALS!

First things first, we got our moves call Saturday night, and I'm staying in Derry with Sister Cox! She'll be the first companion since Sister McNamara trained me that I'll be with for more than one transfer. It's been a pretty crazy time up here in Scotland and Ireland! We're gonna do some good things here in Derry. One of our Elders went home, and the other's moving to Omagh, which is still in our district, so we''l be seeing him every Tuesday and some Mondays still haha. Kinda weird. And we're getting two new Elders! Our new District Leader's coming to Derry! We're pretty excited. :)

On Wednesday, we helped again with a little Family History class thing that was going on. It was so fun to be able to help all these older people put in their genealogy on Family Search. It's so cute and they're so excited about it! I've made a few friends from helping out. :)

We visited a "returning member" (that's gonna take me a while to get used to) and his children at their home. This man, Tim O'Sullivan, used to be a counselor in the Branch Presidency, back when Foyle Ward was a branch, and then he got into a different job and made some decisions that took him away. He's divorced and has four kids living with him, spanning from age 21 to 12. When we showed up, he gathered them all together in their living room, and we all had a nice chat. We gave them a Come Follow Me book and explained the program. Sister Cox shared a wee thought out of it, and we asked them all some questions. Tim started talking about when he would always go to church. He practically bore his testimony. The Spirit was so strong right then. It's a sad thing when people know something's true, but just don't know or don't want to get back into it. He was telling us that he had made some mistakes, and that he knew that he turned his back on God. We committed him and his children to pray as a family, and begin studying the Come Follow Me program together. Hopefully at least he does it (none of the kids are members). Anyway, he was awesome! He just needs to find his way back!

Anthony's doing alright. He's stopped smoking again and has been trying to read the Book of Mormon and pray. It's still really difficult for him to do it. We'll be seeing him twice this next week!

On Saturday we had a funeral at the church. One of our members passed away this week. His name's Robert Smyth, and he helped build this chapel. I only met him once, since he's been so ill this whole time. He seemed like a pretty special guy. Apparently he had his whole funeral planned out too. And it was so nice. Lots of people showed, and it was just such a sweet occasion. I'm so grateful for the Plan of Salvation, and for the knowledge that we have that we can be with our families even after this life! WE ARE FOREVER!! I've been so blessed to have been raised with this knowledge and belief. So blessed.

I love you all, and I hope you're feeling so blessed too! Our Heavenly Father is TOO GOOD to us! How could we ever deserve the precious gift of His Son and this Gospel.

Have a beautiful week everyone!

Sister Syphus

PS Starting tomorrow, my email will be kendyl.syphus@missionary.org HOWEVER, if you send stuff to the @myldsmail.net one, it'll be forwarded to the new one. :)