Pictures From the Fourth of July

Sprained Ankle?! Really!?!

well it's been an interesting week to say the least. as always :) it started off quite slow and about the only excitment we saw in the week was going to district meeting. Sister Keogh is on these new meds for her anxiety and apparently they make things worse before they get better so it was a bit of a struggle. she had an anxiety attack the other day on the High Street while we were contacting. she's getting a little better though. we were able to go out working yesterday for like the first time this week! she's doing fine. sometimes I'm a bit frustrated but she is improving now that she is getting used to the meds again. BUT on saturday we were going out to do contacting and she seemed fine but we seriously took maybe ten steps and she tripped and sprained her ankle. again. yeah. haha it wasn't near as bad as it was last time luckily. the next day she was fine and we were able to work almost the whole day. she's doing fine now though. mostly. I think this week will be a lot better. this is the last week before transfers so who knows what will happen. I don't think they'll send her home cause there is improvement but who knows. I think president is pretty worried with deciding what to do.

thank you for praying and fasting for Robert! I was about to kill him yesterday. he didn't even come to church and I was really stressed about it and I called him about ready to pounce but he said someone who is normally working sunday mornings wasn't going to be there so he had to be there to fill in. he could have at least told me that beforehand so I didn't have to worry about it soo much haha he's doing great though. he quit smoking on saturday and he gave us all his tobacco and everything. he's doing so good I'm just really really nervous for his interview on Wednesday. this will be a stressful week I think. Just keep him in your prayers please :) thanks!

yesterday at church was amazing. we had a couple new investigators come to church which is always amazing. sunday mornings are horrible haha I hate waiting to see who will show up but a few did so that was awesome! but then, even better, emanuel smith passed the sacrament for the first time yesterday!! :) I was so excited about that and so was he. he just lights up when he talks about the gospel and he shares it with all his friends. everytime I talk to him he tells me about how he's trying to get another friend to come to church with him. he is so amazing. I'm definitely proud of that one :)

Jannie is doing ok.. we haven't seen him for a while. apparently he has been having a lot of family problems right now so he is staying with them. I don't know if someone is sick or what, he didn't really say but he won't answer his phone. I'm pretty worried about him, I hope he's doing ok.

that's pretty much my week. not a lot goes on when the majority of your time is spent in your flat. I promise it is getting better though. It'll be fine. I think I'll be so relieved when I don't have to worry about it anymore though. it's been tough. I've learned so much though. I've had a chance to start reading Jesus the Christ this last week. It is such an amazing book! I love it. I am so grateful for the time I get to study, it's really helped me in so many ways and I now after my mish I won't have much time for personal study so I'm trying to take advantage of that while I can. (serving with sister keogh has made that pretty easy)

anyway, thank you soo much for all you do! I love you so much and I loved looking at all those pics katie sent me. I have such a cute family :) love you!!!
love, sister gregson

Contacting in the Hospital?

hello :) how are you this week? it sounds like things are great! thanks for the email. I still can't believe Jess is getting married and I won't even be there for it!! plus who knows how many new nieces and nephews there will be. stop!

this week has been good. as I said, Sunday we were in the hospital for ages. I can't even remember why now, I feel like they know us there. in fact they really do. we were there again on Friday. yep. and we had a few people tell us they know us now haha we were in the hospital again but this time it wasn't for sister keogh's shaking. (however she was still slightly shaking on and off) on Friday we had training in Reading and she started doing the usual fainting. we were there all day and she was fainting pretty much the whole time. I'm getting pretty worn out by it to be honest. most the time I'm fine but I'm getting tired. after zone conference I was a bit worried cause the zl's had an appointment and couldn't drive us home so we would have to take the bus which would be fine till we got back to HW. I had no idea how I would get her to our flat on my own. but sister shamo wanted us to try and get back on our own. the zl's were driving us to the bus station and she was passed out the entire way there. I was pretty stressed cause there was no way I could get her home so the zl's had to cancel their appointment (again) and drive us home (again) those guys have been such a huge help to us with this whole thing. I feel awful, they've had to drop so many appointments to help us out. anyway, we're on our way back to our flat when sister keogh starts complaining about a sharp pain in her stomach and chest and her left arm went numb and she was really scared about it. she's had her appendix out and she said the pain was the same as it was then. so we ended up in the hospital once again. we got there at about 8 and were there until 1:30 in the morning. HW town centre is not my favorite place to be in the middle of the night, I was pretty scared. and wet. the doctors said the pain was caused by something to do with stomach acid...i don't really know. it was late, I was tired. they gave her pain medication and some anti-biotics but she's still been in quite a bit of pain, on sunday she was only able to make it through sacrament meeting and then we went home. I've been able to stay quite calm through all of this but I'm getting pretty exhausted with it. when she fist came out I didn't think it would last very long and she would eventually be fine but it is just one thing after another. I don't know if president can leave her out for too much longer if it doesn't get better by the end of this transfer. I feel bad, I want her to stay out and get better. I've seen what my mission is doing for me and I want that for her so badly but I don't know if physically she can be a missionary. we haven't been doing anything. I don't know if I'm technically even a missionary anymore haha

this has all been really tough and stressful but its been a really good experience for me. I've learned so much about service and ...patience... but it's been a really sacred time for me as I've had so much personal time with my Heavenly Father. It's been so amazing in such an unexpected way. I even finished the new testament and now I'm on to Jesus the Christ which I am soo excited to read :)

Robert is doing really well! he's down to 3 a day with smoking and he's supposed to be quitting on saturday. I'm soo nervous about it but he seems so much more prepared this time around. I'm also pretty nervous about his baptism interview... we went over the q's this week and the first question is do you believe god is our eternal father and he couldn't even answer it. or the question after that. he still can't say he believes it all but he wants to be baptized and he wants to believe and be part of it. he just can't stop doubting but I know baptism is the step he needs to take. I think president shamo is going to come on a teach with us this week to talk to him and I am soo excited about it!! president surely has something to say to Robert that will help him get a clue. I think I've done and said all I could at this point and the rest is up to Robert. aahh!! this is soo stressful! I don't think I'll be able to relax until he actually shows up at his baptism. I think sister allred is coming to the baptism as well which will be a lot of fun! I'm soo excited :) thanks for praying and fasting for him! it is helping. you wouldn't believe the way this kid has changed since I first met him on the street. He is so different now. it's been amazing to watch his progression.

oh! I almost forgot. want to hear something soo funny?? so I had an interview with president this week and he told me Elder Bednar is coming in September!!!! I am soo excited! (that's not the funny part by the w) president then tells me that he wants a special musical number, the best yet! ...great.. and he wants me to organize a MISSIONARY CHOIR and lead them in a song, probably hark all ye nations. and basically the only time we have to practice it is right before the meeting. haha whatev. no big deal. this is going to be so interesting. every missionary I've asked to do it so far have said no way so I don't know how this will work. I'll come up with something I'm sure. I bet you are laughing so hard right now. remember when I was called as the ward choir director, I think this is scarier.

well. I gotta get going. sister keogh seems ok today so maybe we'll actually go knocking or something tonight. who knows? :) the amazing thing is that even through all this we've still seen soo many miracles. It's been so great.

I love you! thanks for all you do for me!!

love, sister chelsea gregson

revelation 7:17

The Shakes

hello!! how are you this week? thanks for the letter :) loved it as always, it sounds like everyone is doing really well? is Dan alive?? donde esta?

anyway this week...where do I begin. it's been pretty wild.
well first off. Robert set a baptism date!!! a few times now he said he wants to get baptized but was afraid of quitting smoking but now he's totally ready. please keep him in your prayers! the date for it is July 30. sister Keogh and I are going to fast for him every sunday leading up to it if you want to join us at all :) He's cut his smoking down a lot. he's on 5 a day right now and he's doing really well with it. last time he cut down to 5 a day he really struggled but this time seems to be much easier. he didn't answer his phone for a couple days so i was really worried about him but when I finally got a hold of him he was doing great. I think he's really looking forward to his baptism. I think right now I'm more nervous about the interview than anything... just pray hard! it will be the saturday before transfers and lets face it, I probably won't last another transfer in high Wycombe so it HAS to go through. all the ysa are super excited about it, he's basically already part of the ward. he's been coming to church consistently for about 5 months now and he's only missed maybe 3 times.

let's see what else. I was asked to sing at a wedding of one of our members haha she was marrying a non member so I think that's the only reason I got permission to do it. it was lot's of fun. also, did I tell you stephani meyer has been coming to the High Wycombe ward? I know katie will be excited about that one :) her and jared hess have been coming cause their making a movie, some spoof on a jayne austin movie or something like that. they are really cool.
we had the funniest, low budget bbq on the fourth of july with our whole zone. it was so much fun but yeah...way low budget :) it was hilarious!

anyway, biggest news of all. it's actually been a way crazy week. sister keogh has been doing ok. still been pretty sick though. on friday President Shamo had set up an appointment for us to meet with a doctor in London. I was in London! didn't get to see much of it though. it took forever for us to get there and then the appointment lasted ages but he gave her this medication that is supposed to help her with her anxiety problems she's been having. he said that they were supposed to make things worse before they make things better...wonderful :)

 anyway, saturday was alright. she was really wiped out from the new meds though. then sunday was wild. church was fine. you could tell she was super tired but she was ok and then after church we went to eat dinner with some members. it was such a wierd Dinner appointment. the family is moving so there was no room at the table. we ate at the table and the rest of them ate in front of the TV haha so we basically ate by ourselves and none of them talked to us. it was so funny. I couldn't stop laughing. but the craziest part was as soon as we sat down at the table sister keogh's leg started shaking really really bad. she didn't say anything and it took me a sec to notice but then I looked down and her right leg was twitching like mad. she said she couldn't move it or anything and she thought it was just having a random spasm in her leg and that it would pass soon. our first reaction was just laughing. the whole situation was so weird. but then a few minutes later the shaking spread to her right arm and it got all cramped up. That's when i got a little freaked out so i went over to one of the members and said we needed to get her to the hospital. they couldn't take their car because all these boxes were in it so we called another member and he took us to the hospital. we were there for about 4 hours. and the whole time her whole right side was shaking uncontrollably. it was so crazy. Sister Keogh is great though, she had a smile on her face the whole time. we had about 4 different doctors come in and ask us questions. eventually the shaking stopped in her leg but it continued in her arm and after a while the doctors told us that it was probably just a bad reaction to the new medication and they told her to stop taking it and sent us on our way and said if it doesn't stop by the next morning we should come back. so we went home and her arm was still going crazy. sometimes it was funny but others not so much. she said her arm is so sore today, the muscles are really achy. all night it was shaking and this morning it is STILL shaking! not nearly as bad. she's able to move it now and use it more than she could. her leg will start up occasionally too. I don't know what we'll do. we probably won't go to the hospital unless it doesn't stop soon or if it gets worse but it doesn't seem like they know how to help us until the meds have just worn off.

crazy right? just another great day with Sister Keogh:) it's definitely been an adventure to serve with her. this was our third time in the hospital. I don't know how much longer president will let this continue if the situation doesn't get taken care of soon. we aren't doing the work right now. we've still been able to see tons of miracles which has been amazing but most the time we don't do much cause she's always sick so I really don't know what is going to happen... I've been trying to just help her keep her mind off of it, which is hard since we can't work much, we did a spa night the other day haha anyway...hopefully that story made sense, my mind is so scattered right now.

 anyway, I gotta get going but I hope you have a great week! thanks for all you do for me!! I love you soo much :)
love, sister gregson

2 tim 1:7

ps. little side note.. just so you know, Sister Boleska is going to be in Utah soon! she wants to meet the fam so I gave her your number :) give her a big fat bbq, she'll love it :)

If You Fall I Will Catch You

hello! how are you? happy fourth of July!! I'm so glad it's pday today :) we are having a bbq with our zone in Reading today, I'm so excited. then later today I'll be spending the day in Bracknell with the sisters there because we have zone training in Crawley tomorrow and we can't get there on time from High Wycombe. the trains in High Wycombe only go through London for some reason so we can't ever get anywhere without traveling out of the mission or traveling by bus for hours.

I can't believe another week has come and gone. it goes by soo fast! I hit NINE MONTHS this last week. that was so wierd. I can't believe it's been 9 months.
so, guess how many times Sister Keogh passed out this week? actually, I don't even know the answer to that, I lost track. it was a lot. I've gotten so good at catching her though :) we were at district meeting last week and she could barely stay consious, she doesnt' really remember any of it. it was so crazy. President almost sent her home again but Sister K talked to the mission psych and she said that it isn't so much a health problem, it is an anxiety problem. she gets really anxious, especially when it comes to finding and eventually that leads to her fainting or getting really ill. we still haven't done too much work. she was able to go to our appointments or do a little finding but she was sick almost everyday this week. there was one day where we spent almost the entire day in our flat. I was going crazy. by the end of the night I was craving a nice long run haha anyway, the mission doctor is going to be sending her some anti anxiety pills hopefully this week sometime so she should be doing much better and maybe now we will work a lot more. the area is doing ok considering but it can always be better. 

everything is going really well. I'm having a lot of fun, when we're outside of the flat anyway :) but it is great. we were contacting the other day and it was so funny. you meet so many crazy people. this one guy saw us and he yelled from across the street 'christians!' so we went over to talk to him and he started telling us about this vision he had. he says 'I saw angels the other day, they were really tall and all wearing white...AND THEY WERE DRINKIN!' haha it was soo funny. I started crying from laughing so hard. we see him everywhere too. every time he sees us he yells 'christians!' he is so funny.

liana and andreas are doing so well. they love learning about the gospel and it is so fun to teach them. the hardest part is getting their mom more excited about it because they can't get baptized or come to church without her and it's not that she doesn't want to be part of it she is just so busy. she is a nurse and she works crazy hours. saturday nights she works all night so getting her motivated to come to church the next day is really hard.

Robert is still Robert. I don't know what it is but something wont let me give up on him. we aren't meeting with him too often anymore but we talk to him on the phone a lot and he always asks for chapters from the bom to read or he'll text us and ask for one. I don't get him. I tell him to get baptized every time I talk to him and this week he told me he would if he didn't have to quit smoking. he says it is too hard for him to give it up. he is a tough one. I don't know what to do for him or what to say for him that will make a difference. he likes church though. and he likes reading the bom and he prays everyday. sometimes I just want to shake him haha

Jannie is doing soo good. he's having ysa fhe at his house tonight :) we taught him about missionary work this week and we ordered him a PMG and he's super excited about it. we told him he should serve a mission and he said he's thought about it! then at the end of the lesson I asked him if he had any questions and he said 'where do I sign up??' he's totally going to serve a mission! I hope he does anyway, that would be amazing. and he would be such a great missionary.

well I gotta run, bbq time! love you guys so much! I hope everything is going well. thanks for the letters! enjoy the pics :) hahaha

I love you!
love, sister chelsea gregson