Extending 6 months!

Wow! I never know what to say anymore. I'm so sorry if you all are bored by these emails haha.

This week was so great! We went to an awesome Indian restaurant, ate some delicious curry, almost saw our friend die from choking on his (just kidding, it just went down the wrong pipe--the end result was the same though.. lots of regurgitated food), bruised my face, knocked down a wall in the nursery/primary room and helped make a doorway, sang a Christmas hymn in French in front of a bunch of missionaries and messed up really bad, talked in sacrament meeting, met lots of fun people while chapping, and had some great lessons with some of our friends. The people over here are so funny.

We had an All-Scotland Christmas conference, and President Macdonald got up to make a few announcements. One of them was that the Elders' missions are being extended up to three years, and the Sisters' up to two!! So I'm extending 6 months!

Just kidding. President did announce that, and the room was completely silent for a couple of seconds before the LSTLs started yelling "FALSE DOCTRINE!" It was so funny. He was full of jokes that day. After the atmosphere became more serious and reverent, President talked a lot about our purpose (it doesn't only apply to us missionaries, but every member as well) to invite others to come unto Christ, and we spoke about conversion. How we need to continually increase in our conversion in order to help others become converted. In other words, we need to constantly be partaking of the fruit of the tree of life! If we merely taste it, we might forget how delicious it tastes and how much joy it can bring. IT'S NEVER-ENDING! We also had an iron rod activity, where we all closed our eyes and made our way along a tricky string with a bunch of missionaries acting as distractions and helps along the way. That's when I hit my cheek on a wall and bruised it. My badge also got stolen, and someone put a bag over my head. I still made it though! And we watched Toy Story 4! It's really so weird to watch a movie while on a mission. It makes me feel strange. I felt a bit nauseous at the end of it and everything because it was so foreign.

Yesterday, we had five of our friends come to church! It was awesome! And guess what! One of them is a GIRL!!! The only other woman I've seriously taught my whole mission is Nan, in Cumbernauld. Ah I'm so excited to meet with her this week! She's so great!

Well, this verse just popped into my head, so I'll share it with a thought. I was studying in Alma 23 and I came across this:

6 And as sure as the Lord liveth, so sure as many as believed, or as many as were brought to the knowledge of the truth, through the preaching of Ammon and his brethren, according to the spirit of revelation and of prophecy, and the power of God working miracles in them—yea, I say unto you, as the Lord liveth, as many of the Lamanites as believed in their preaching, and were converted unto the Lord, never did fall away.
7 For they became a righteous people; they did lay down the weapons of their rebellion, that they did not fight against God any more, neither against any of their brethren.

Now, the first of these verses has been one that I've gone back to many times over the course of my mission, but I've never paid too much attention to the second one. Now, we know that these people who were converted, who later called themselves Anti-Nephi-Lehies, buried their weapons of war and covenanted with God to never again shed the blood of another person. So whenever I read this verse, I thought of this covenant. But this time around, this verse and the promise they made took on a whole other meaning. They didn't just lay down and bury their physical, literal weapons, they also buried their spiritual weapons of rebellion. It says that they "did not fight against God any more," as well as their brethren. They knew God, loved Him, and determined to follow Him. Completely. Even to the point of not only laying down their weapons, but laying down their lives as well, with no struggle, no fight. And because of this, they were received in heaven and gained eternal glory. What a sweet, incredible sign of conversion. They completely rid themselves of their pride and sought to become one with God through making and keeping their covenants with Him. Even I fight against God sometimes. I'm so grateful for the examples we have in the Book of Mormon. I really cannot express how great a treasure it is.

"WOW. GUYS." (Sister Guilain says that all the time). I love the Gospel SO MUCH! We are so blessed to have it!

I love you all. Be happy and stay safe!
Love, Sister Syphus