New Address

5 Debden house
Sycamore Rise
Bracknell, Berkshire
RG12 9GH
England

Hello! That is my new address. I have been transfered AGAIN. I am in Bracknell in a tri with SISTER MILLS. haha the dynamic duo is back :) I'm sad I'm not going back to Exeter but Bracknell will be fun!
I love ya!
Love, sister gregson

I'm Alive!!!

December 26, 2011
I've already talked to you about a billion times this week but just know that I am doing well :) I am in really good hands! It is kind of exciting living with President and Sister Shamo. I get to hear about all the crazy things going on in the mission. I don't know how he puts up with all of it cause there are some crazy things happening! The Shamo's are so amazing. I am so grateful I was able to spend Christmas with them. They have taken really good care of me, they've even given me my own room :) President reminds me so much of dad so it has been fun to be around him lately.

I was sad to miss Martyn's baptism in Exeter but I talked to him afterwords and he was so happy. I can't believe the change I've seen in him already. Him and his wife Karina are so sweet and I'm excited to see how Martyn joining the church will bless both of their lives and their children as well.

Even though I didn't get to go to Martyn's baptism I did get to attend a baptism that night in London and after there was a carol service done by a gospel choir which was really cool. I loved it! It's cool to go to the churches in London. You become the minority because there are maybe 10 white people in the whole chapel. It's so different from Exeter. Exeter has mostly English people. The closer to London you get the more diverse it gets. It's fun :)

Just know that things are going well. I'm feeling pretty good today. I'm happy. I'm in good hands. I love life! I'm grateful for this experience. I hated staying in the hospital but I had a few opportunities to do missionary work while I was there and even managed to give out a couple of Book of Mormons.

It was so fun talking to everyone yesterday. Shortest hour ever.. Everyone looks so great and I can't believe how big all my nieces and nephew are!! It's crazy. It will be so much fun to see them when I get home :)

Thank you for everything! I love you so much. Quit worrying about me, I'm doing well. :)

Love ya!

Love, chels

Thank Goodness for Elders!

December 22, 2011
this is a pic of one of my zl's planners from the day we spent at the hospital. What a long day that was. I'm soo grateful they were there to save the day and I am especially grateful for worthy priesthood holders. They've been a huge blessing in my life this week.

I'm doing ok! Tell everyone thank you so much for the prayers and everything. It is helping me so much. I'm sad I can't go to martyn's baptism but it will be fun to spend Christmas with president. Sister Shamo just called me and told me about some of the plans they have:) it's going to be a crazy christmas.

Thank you for everything. I love you so much!

love sister gregson.

My Ukrainite Baby‏

oh my gosh. Life just doesn't slow down here. Every transfer has a new surprise...

I am still in exeter! Yay! I love it here so much so I was so excited to stay.

Sister Mills has been transferred to Bracknell.. :( that was sad. I loved serving with her so much. Right from the start we were always saying that our companionship would never last because it was too much fun all the time. I love that girl. We were so sad to be split up :( So I got a call from president on tuesday and he asked me if I was up for a new adventure. Here we go again! I am training!!! I was so shocked. I thought my time training was done.. My new companion is Sister Kustsevych.... yeah.. It sound like cute.savage. Or good.savage. Take your pick! She is from UKRAIN! Yes she does speak english thank goodness! I was worried she wouldn't. She is so funny. she is tall and blonde so we are pretty opposite :) she has a cute accent that I love and I have a hard time understanding her sometimes. She is trying to teach me ukainian but it is hard! Privit! that's hello :) there have been a few times where we've had some major culture shocks haha But it is going really well. I like her a lot and we are having fun. She is a major perfectionist though and I am so far from that so it is hard. It also seems like she isn't going to try to be friends with the members or anything which is complete opposite from me. There have been a few frustrating moments but for the most part it is a lot of fun. The weirdest thing - she hugs me every time we say a comp prayer! HA! should we make bets on how long I will let that last? It's so funny.

Things are going so well in Exeter! The people are so nice here. probably because we are farther away from london ;) Martyn is doing so well and he is right on track. He quit smoking this weekend!!! pray hard for him. He is so excited about his baptism though. It is going to be a white christmas!!!! (it still hasn't snowed here though.)

This last week we picked up two more people who are now preparing for baptism. They are both huge miracles. Anthony, we met him on the street. And Silva. She had discussions when she was on holiday in america and she is so eager to learn more. pray for both of them as well please!

Ok I really don't have much time left. We are going to Plymouth again today with our zone. We're filming a movie for the Christmas conference this week at the TEMPLE!!

Sorry this letter is so short. I will make up for it next week :) I promise!

I love you so much and I am so grateful for all you do for me. I miss you a ton but I have never been so happy. I love it so much out here. It really is the best. Even when it gets hard.

Thank you for everything. I love you!!!

Love, sister gregson

This Is My Life

Good morning! How are you?? Thank you for the email, it sounds like everyone is doing so great. Can you believe how fast Christmas is coming?? The lights in Exeter have been up for a couple weeks now and I love them but nothing compares to Temple Square.. I miss that so much!

This week has been amazing. We are seeing so many miracles and having lots of fun and staying so busy.

Monday for pday we got together with our whole zone which never happens because our zone is HUGE and it takes so long to travel but we got permission from president to do it this week. It was so much fun. We did a Thanksgiving dinner on a very low budget haha It turned out pretty well! Everyone brought something to share. It was a proper Thanksgiving dinner, turkey and all. We did it at the chapel in Plymouth and of course the Elders ran off to play basketball so putting the dinner together got dumped on us. It was surprizingly stressfull haha but it was so much fun! and one of the Elders gave us £20 for making it all. :) after our zone thanksgiving pday we were traveling out to Bracknell to spend the night with the sisters there because there was a conference the next morning in Reading. I feel like we've taken that 4 hour journey so many times now. The drive up always seems so eventful, no food poisoning this time but the Elder that was driving was speeding and we got pulled over and he got a £60 ticket! oops.

The conference was soo good! All the District Leaders and Zone Leaders had training and then they did a specialized training for all of the sisters as well. It was so much fun! I learned a lot and it was cool to have all the sisters there. The spirit is so powerful when you get together with all the other missionaries. It is amazing. I love it so much!

So, Sister Mills was having a massive ear ache all week and Wednesday we went to the hospital to get it looked at. She has a cyst in her ear, which is so hilarious because last week she had one in her eye. haha poor girl. I have now been to the hospital NINE times on my mission. And I think once was for me. I always get the sick companions haha But nothing compares to Sister Keogh so I can handle dealing with a little cyst :)

Martyn is doing well. We were pretty worried last week. He was dealing with so much opposition and really struggling with a lot of things but this week he seems so much better. He seems a lot happier. He's still pretty stressed though so please keep him in your prayers. We are doing an FHE with him at a members home tonight. Martyn is so funny, he is the biggest goofball. Imagine dad times 10. It's pretty wild.

Miracles never cease! We have seen so many this week. A couple weeks ago we got a referral, Silva, from the office but we couldn't contact her and we can't really get to her on the bus. We got a call from the office saying they had gotten an email from the referrals friend asking why we hadn't gone yet and they explained why so they told us to try again. We called Silva right after we talked to the office and she answered! And she is so amazing!! She had discussions with missionaries with her friend in the states recently and she loved it so much and she really wants to learn more. She was so excited to talk with us and even said she would drive out to us to meet. We haven't met her yet because she was gone over the weekend but hopefully sometime this week we will be able to see her. She is swedish but there doesn't seem to be much of a language barrier because she speaks english very well. I'm so excited to teach her!

We also met this guy, Anthony, this week. Sister Mills has seen him in town the past couple transfers but she's always been teaching someone when she sees him so she's never talked to him. The other day we were at the library teaching someone and we saw him and he waved at us. The very next day we got a bus into town and the second we walked off the bus he was there!! We started talking to him and he was so nice and really wanted to meet with us. We taught him this morning and he is incredible. The teach went so well and the spirit was so strong. Sister Mills and I usually work very well together but it was magnified in the teach. It was amazing. He accepted a baptism date for december 31 so please keep him in your prayers :)

Keep the Goddards in your prayers as well!! They are that family we met. They are doing so well. I love teaching them. We are teaching them again tomorrow. We were supposed to teach them last week but they had to cancel, we still saw them briefly but it wasn't a proper teach. I think the most difficult thing will be the dad. He is friends with the husband of someone the elders in newton abbot are teaching. Both the husbands aren't too thrilled about their wives meeting with us. It's a pretty crazy situation. I just hope he allows them to continue learning and hopefully get baptized as well.

Anyway, times up!

Things are going so well! I love it out here so much. Exeter is amazing. It is so beautiful and I really like the ward. Sister Mills is great. I love working with her! We have so much fun. Transfers are WEDNESDAY!! I hope we both stay but who knows. It's always so unpredictable with President Shamo.

Thank you so much for everything! I love you so much! Have a great week:)

Love, sister gregson

ps i love you

pps. Someone sent this poem to Sister Mills and I loved it. It describes the mission so well :)

http://theideadoor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2474

Thanksgiving Dinner, Duck, Duck, Goose and an Exchange

hello!! how are you? I'm glad to hear you are still alive and doing well. I hope you are feeling better! Thank you for all the Thanksgiving letters. I really appreciate all the support that my family and friends have been giving me while I've been out here. It helps me so much :)

I know I say this probably every week but time is going by WAY too fast!! I don't like it. This transfer especially has just been flying by. I wish it would just slow down.

I love being out here. I am having so much fun. When I thought of serving a mission I didn't really think about how much fun it would be but I am having a blast! Missions are so amazing. I think I'll stay out here :)

I think time is going by so fast because we have been so busy and are always just running from one place to another. We are teaching a lot of really great people.

Monday night we had a fiesta with the Bishop and his family. 7 kids! I felt right at home :) they invited another family from the ward and then they also invited some non member friends of theirs. It was so fun. We had mexican food for dinner which was so good. I miss mexican food, they don't really have it here so Sister Mills and I were so excited!! after dinner we shared a message about the Book of Mormon and then we played duck duck goose haha even the bishop got in on it and it was so funny. Bishop Wright and his family have made pans to move to Utah around the same time I get home from my mission and I am so excited to have a little taste of England back home with me :) They are such a fun family.

Thanksgiving dinner was SO GOOD! we even had some pumpkin pie! Not near as good as grandmas but it was soo good. I missed being home with the fam but Sister Mills and I have been talking recently about how we haven't really gotten homesick on our missions because all the members are so good to us and make sure that we are taken care of. I am so grateful for that because I think if they weren't so fun and supportive I would get homesick during the holidays. I don't miss ya! sorry! ha jk, of course I miss you but I know this is where I need to be and I love it out here so much. It just feels right :)

We did an exchange today. Sister Mills stayed here with Sister Priestley and I went to a place called Paignton with Sister Cabrera. Sister Cabrera is a new missionary and she is from Chile. She is so cool, we had a lot of fun. I felt bad for her though because she got really really lost and I was no help to her at all cause I don't know the area. We were literally jumping from one bus to another trying to figure out where to go. Luckily we eventually made it to our appointment which was with Peter Shofield, the man who just got baptised that had me sing Jerusalem at his baptism, and his wife sue who got baptised a month ago.

(I just realised this computer automatically does the english spelling haha)

It was so fun to see them again. You can see that the gospel has brought them so much happiness and they are so eager to continue learning more. We were teaching him priesthood and he already knew all of it.

Sister Cabrera and I got to have language study in the morning so we worked on her english and then she helped me with my spanish! I haven't spoken spanish in so long. I forgot how much I love it! she helped me write down my testimony in spanish which was really cool. maybe one day I will get to use it.

Ok MIRACLE OF THE WEEK.

We knocked into a family! ..no there are not 8 of them sadly haha

We had gone out to go knocking and we were close to Martyn so we thought maybe we should go see him cause we hadn't been able to meet with him for a couple of days. I knew if we did we would be there forever and we would have time to go knocking and Sister Mills and I hadn't even gone knocking together yet cause we are always too busy so I said we should just go knocking instead cause that is what we originally planned. So we went and the very first door we knocked on opened and it was a family. The Goddard family. They are so cool. The mom (kelly) was raised JW but she doesn't really follow it and her kids follow it a little. We talked to them forever and she wouldn't give us her number or anything but kept talking to us so we kept teaching and eventually she let us in!! They were so interested in everything we were teaching them. It was so amazing. We were in shock the whole time. It was Sister Mills first time knocking in so she was super excited. When we left we were just screaming and acting like fools because we were so excited! We will be seeing them this week so keep them and Martyn in your prayers. Kelly (mom) Charlie (daughter, 14) Harry, and Toby (her two sons) the dad left the room when we came in but hopefully we will be able to teach him as well when we go back.

Anyway, I'm low on time. Just want to say thank you for everything. I am so grateful for you and all you do for me! It really means a lot to me.

Things are going so well here and I am so happy. I love being a missionary and seeing the way the saviour changes people. Its amazing.

I love you I love you I love you!!!

Love, chels

Comp Cuts

well just to let you know. I chopped my hair off. yes. yes. I think I cut off about 7 or 8 inches. It is SHORT. sadly no donation to locks of love this time. Sister Mills chopped hers off too so everyone says we look like sisters.

Anyway, how are you?? How has your week been? Is everything ok?
Its been a good week. We've been really busy and it's been so good. We've recovered from the food poisoning :) back to work!
In our mission, December is the lowest baptizing month and a few months ago President Shamo told us to start praying that we could have a baptism in December as a gift to the Savior for his birthday. So I've been praying and praying for that but President hasn't left me anywhere long enough so I kept getting close and then he would just move me. But this weekend in Exeter we found our baptism for the savior!! His name is Martyn. He is married to a member and Sister Mills has been working with him for ages. We taught him at the start of the week and he told us he believes Joseph Smith is a prophet but he doesn't believe the BOM....huh??? one of the Elders were like 'that's like saying Jesus is the Christ but he didn't die for me.' haha We did our best to resolve his problem but it was pretty tough. He said he would keep praying about it though. So then, the Sister in Paignton had called and asked if I would sing Jerusalem at their baptism on Saturday but we could only go if we had an investigator there. Martyn and his wife agreed to come with us. When the baptism started martyn just waited outside. We were pretty sad but right before I sang, his wife grabbed him and told him to come listen so he came in and the rest of the service was so spiritual. It was a great baptism. The sisters had found this couple while knocking recently and the wife was baptized about a month ago and her husband got baptized that night. It was amazing and they looked so happy and I think Martyn noticed that and wants that for him and his wife. Later, when we were having refreshments, Martyn came up to me and showed me his phone and it said 'December 24-Baptize me'
WHAT??! I thought he was joking but he wasn't. I guess he had really felt the spirit at the baptism, plus one of the sisters at the baptism is extremely bold so we just had her use her magic and by the end of the night we chose a baptism date!! Christmas baptism :) I am soo excited!!!! He is such an amazing guy, please pray for him.. he smokes so that will be a bit tough but he has recently given up drinking alcohol and coffee.
That was definitely the highlight of the week.

This week we are going to a familys home for Thanksgiving! I am really excited because she is American so it will actually be a proper Thanksgiving!! :) Pumpkin pie and all.

Things are going great. I love being out here. It is so much fun. Exeter is gorgeous and really cool. We've seen parades in town twice this week. We even saw santa and his real life reindeer. You better believe it :) the other parade was troops who had just gotten back from afghanistan. I think they said there were 600 of them. It was really cool! There is always stuff going on in this town I love it. Street performers are always everywhere too. Sister Mills and I are planning on borrowing a guitar from a member and doing some street performing as a finding tool haha I just need to learn some hymns on the guitar now.
Thanks for everything! I love you. I am so grateful for you and all you do for me! You keep me going! I love you so much! Happy Thanksgiving!

Love, chels

Brighton

eck.se.tuh

 Hello!!! How are you this week? Thank you for the emails :) It sound like all of you are doing great!
Guess what? I finally made it to EXETER! Yay! It is beautiful here! A lot more wet though. In my other areas it didn't ever rain excessively but it doesn't seem to stop here... It is going to be a looong winter. Wet and cold. And what is even better, we don't have heating in our flat. Just space heaters! Really? Yes. Really. That's the first time that has happened on my mish. Just in time for winter. sweet.
It has been a wild ride already in Exeter. Sister Mills is awesome. We get along really well so we are having so much fun all the time. We are pretty similar so of course it is just a party all the time :)

You won't believe the week we have had. My time in Exeter has definitely started off with a bang!
So, Tuesday was Sister Mills birthday. I took her out to lunch at a place called Nandos. yum!! best food ever. but that was the last real food we had till now BECAUSE that night we went to a members home for Dinner. They were doing a b day dinner for Sister Mills. They made us this stew but I am positive the meat was still moving.... or mooing. It was soo bad! We've had food poisoning ever since. Today is the first day that I haven't felt sick to my stomach. All week I've lived on toast and tomato soup. It's been a long week. haha
Happy Birthday Sister Mills, Welcome to Exeter Sister Gregson!

The next day we were soo sick and we had to drive with the elders all the way to Bracknell that night because there was a Zone Conference in Reading and we were staying overnight with the Sisters in Bracknell. The elders picked us up and maybe half an hour later we were pulled over on a tiny dark country road and Sister Mills was throwing up. We were either laughing or crying the whole time. We were sitting out there for about 45 minutes and the elders were just sitting in the car waiting. haha it was a little sad but mostly just funny. Eventually Sister Mills was ok so we got her a priesthood blessing and we were on the road again. Bracknell is about a three hour drive away...it was a long car ride haha
 

That whole night I felt fine and Sister Mills was suffering but the next morning we swapped roles and I felt horrible. It was zone conference so a 70, Elder Wright, was coming. Sadly we didn't really get to enjoy it. I also got a priesthood blessing that day from one of the elders which helped a lot. It was such a long day. Elder Wright heard we were sick so he came over to us during lunch and talked to us. He is such a great guy. What I heard of the conference was AMAZING! but we didn't hear much haha

That's our week in a nutshell. The rest of the week went about the same. I haven't eaten a proper meal in so long. I'm starving but I'm scared to eat anything.. I'm feeling ok today so we'll see how it goes. I might go vegetarian...
It was definitely a beautiful mess.

 That's about it..ha! this morning before coming to email, Sister Mills and I went to this place called 'suckers' it is this place where you dip your feet in a fish tank and these little fish eat away your dead skin! It is so funny! I had a cut on one of my feet so I only got to put one in and so I asked the guy if I could get half price and he said no but he let me do my hands as well and then after they gave us a foot massage and a hand massage! it was so fun :) My left foot was a little lonely, no foot massage due to the...cut.

Good times :) anyway, That about covers the week#1 I miss being so close to the temple but I think I am really going to like it here in Exeter. Once I get a chance to work properly haha
Thanks for everything! I love you so much!!
Have a great day!
Love, chels

UK Driver for Life

Moi! Mita cooloo?
(Hello how are you in Finnish)

I passed my driving test!!!!!! yay!!! It was scary, it's way harder to pass the test here than it is in Utah. But it actually went really well. I was so nervous for it but I said lots of prayers and I got a blessing and I even fasted and it definitely helped! So, great news! I now have a uk drivers license that lasts for the rest of my life so if I ever come back to England and live here for over a year I can legally drive haha I'm sure it will come in handy.... On the test you can 15 minor fautls or 1 major fault. If you get one major fault you fail automatically. I got a few minor faults and I actually got one fault that should have been a major and I should have failed but he said I did great on the rest of the test so he decided to pass me. woo! And I've finally mastered parallel parking but it's on the opposite side haha

So I still haven't made it to Exeter... yesterday at church the Haywards Heath ward was really confused that I was still there! They thought the transfers were changed again and they decided to leave me here. Not quite haha They pushed it back even more because Sister Fekete (Sister Howards new companion) is coming from Exeter and she has to get surgery on her knee in London this week so they just left us both in our areas until her surgery came closer. Sister Mills and Sister Fekete are taking the train out here and then I will catch the train back. I think it's like a 4 hour train ride. I passed my driving test and I don't even get a car in my area... hmm.. I'm assuming he'll either give us a car next transfer or he will move me yet again to an area that gets a car. At this point who knows? I can't seem to predict what President Shamo is going to do ever.

I loved all the pics of everyones Halloween costumes. All the kids are growing up soo much!! I can' t believe it! Halloween was pretty funny this year. Last year Sister Boleska and I went knocking/trick or treating. This year we were told to stay inside if we don't have appointments so that day for pday we went to Brighton again. I love it there! And then that night we went to see a recent convert and taught her and then went back to our flat. We didn't have anything to do and we wanted to carve pumpkins but we couldn't find any. lame. But recently when we were on the train to Brighton we saw this pic in a newspaper of a kid who had carved all these figures out a bananas haha we were laughing so hard at it They were actually way good! On one he had carved posiedon and a whole set of horses around him... so Sister Howard decided she wanted to carve SOMETHING on Halloween so she carved a banana haha and then I joined the fun and carved an apple. What a wild night :)

I'm excited to work with Sister Mills. I've heard she is a great missionary. It was so much fun serving with Sister Howard. She is so funny. Did I tell you she aquires the accent of whoever she is talking to? It is hilarious! She says she doesn't do it on purpose and it just comes out that way. She's actually way embarrassed about it but it still happens. It makes me laugh so hard. Her new companion is Hungarian so I'm dying to see what will happen to her accent now! Sister Howard is amazing. I love her. She has changed so much in the time that we have served together. That is something I love about training. You see them really make changes and it is so cool to watch.
This week has just been as crazy as all the others but when I look back on it I have no idea what was even going on. We were busy a lot but not really with teaching or finding. Mostly just busy with practicing for my test and other meetings and being at the VC as well. We got to go to the temple this week. I had to go one last time before I leave because who knows when I will get to come back. I love it there. The London Temple is gorgeous. I wish I could do sessions more often but I've been so blessed to do as many as I have on my mission.

So how is everything back home? Still getting snow? We haven't gotten any yet but I'm sure it will come soon enough. England has been gorgeous lately with all the leaves changing colors. I love it!
The pics of all the kids in the Halloween costumes were soo cute! I wish I could be there. They are growing up so much!
It sounds like everyone is doing great. Thank you for all the letters and emails. I love them! I miss you and I hope you are doing well. Have a great week!! Thanks for everything, you are amazing. I love you!!

Love, chels

West Side

10/31/11

Welllll...I'm being transfered AGAIN. I guess President just doesn't know what to do with me. ha! At least I'm not white washing again, thank goodness. I'm off to EXETER. It is SO far away! It's like a 4 hour drive from the temple or something. It's not quite Cornwall area but it is the same zone. I was talking to my zl and he said our zone (plymouth zone) takes up almost 1/3 of the mission. It's huge! I've heard Exeter is gorgeous though so I'm really excited! My companion will be Sister Mills, I don't know much about her but I've heard great things.
I haven't made it out to Exeter yet. Transfers were on Wednesday but I have my driving test on Thursday so they are leaving me here until then. Pray for me please!! I'm glad to stay in Haywards Heath for an extra week. I love it here. It's such a cool place and the ward is awesome. I am really going to miss being so close to the temple. I've been spoiled though. Sister Howard and I are doing a session on Wednesday so I can go one last time before I am banished to plymouth zone. I've heard when you serve out there you never really have contact with anyone else haha But it sounds like a cool place. On Saturday I got to see a lot of the High Wycombe crew again! The Bishop was laughing saying I've seen him more at the temple than I did in HW. It was so fun to see everyone. I really miss that ward. I think I'm going to start asking president if I can serve there again before I finish my mission :) Speaking of finishing my mission. I have already been told the date that I'll be returning home. Actually I was told forever ago but I didn't want to tell you haha I leave April 11 so get ready! I'll barely miss conference at home :( so close! Time is flying by, I can't believe how fast it goes...
It's good to hear that everyone is doing so well. I wish I could see the new baby!! She's beautiful in all the pics though, thanks for sending some :)
Things have been great this week. Just really busy as always. Alice is amazing. It sounds like she's been having some family problems lately though and we're having a hard time meeting with her. She is an amazing girl though. She reminds me a lot of Emma and Laura in Chichester and I was so excited to teach her so I'm kinda bummed to be leaving. We also met with Nigel this week, he is doing great. I think I told you but I can't remember. We don't meet with him very often because he is so busy. He is the cousin of one of the Haywards Heath members. He is a great guy and so prepared but he won't get baptized for a while because we can't meet with him often enough. We are also working with this family. Bridget and Mick and Bridget's kids Shannon and Bobby. They are an incredible family. Bobby and Shannon were baptized recently and Bridget wants to be baptized SO bad but she can't until she get divorced to her husband and marry's Mick. It is taking a really long to for everything to go through with the divorce papers and it is really frustrating for her because she wants to be baptized more than anything. They are the best family ever. I've loved working with them. They are just the sweetest people ever. I will really miss Haywards Heath. I can't believe I'm moving again!!! We've been teaching a lot the last couple weeks. It has been so much fun.
Things at the VC are great! I am so glad we got Saturdays because that is the only day that it gets very busy. It's a lot of fun when it's busy. I met this kid this last week who is getting ready to go on his mission in like a week or two. He was supposed to call you.... did he? When I was talking to him he was talking about how he has to go to Provo MTC but he flies out a day early and so he has no where to stay so I may have told him he can stay with you..... haha SURPRIZE! I hope you don't mind! :) He seemed a bit desperate and I thought you might like to hang out with a cool english missionary for a day. sorry, I just felt bad for him. But he is awesome! you will love him. I don't know if he will really call you but I gave him your number just in case. I don't think he can even stay with you cause there's no preisthood at home so then I offered Grandma and Grandpa Richards home hahaha Remember...you love me :) I'm just helping out a fellow missionary!
I'm kinda sad I won't be working at the VC anymore. It's been a good balance to work there twice a week. And you meet so many cool members there! I will miss it. I won't really miss chat. Chat is blah. Sometimes it is pretty cool but I prefer real people as opposed to virtual. The AP's were at the office the other day and one of them decided to get on chat and ask us what Kolob is haha I was talking to people who were in the VC so I wasn't there for it but Sister Howard later said 'what would you tell someone if they asked you what kolob is?' she said she had no idea what to say but the chat disconnected right after he asked so she didn't have to answer anyway. Then a while later we were talking to the AP's and they were like 'does anyone ever ask you weird doctrinal questions like what is Kolob??' haha we were laughing so hard when we found out it was them. It was pretty funny.
Well, we are off to Brighton again today to hang out with the elders. I made sure to charge my camera this time :) I'm excited! I love it in Brighton! It is so fun there.
I hope you are all doing great! It sounds like things are going well. Happy Halloween! We were told this morning that we need to be inside tonight so we are going to see a recent convert tonight and then we are going over to a members home and she does reflexology so she's going to give us a foot massage or something... I don't really know. She just texted us and said 'can I do you feet tonight?' I don't know what she'll be doing but it sounds like fun!
Anyway, I love you!!! Thank you for everything! You are the best!
forget me not.
Love, sister gregson

I Have the Cutest New Niece Evers!

Savannah is so cute!! I'm so sad I can't be home right now to see my new niece... :( she is beautiful though and I can't wait to see her. I am so happy for Mike and Alisha, they will be great parents! I can't believe there are now two nieces I have that I haven't even met. I miss all those cute little kids. There are a lot of kids in the Haywards Heath ward and they are so much fun. I can't wait till I can actually hold them again though. I still think Sisters should be an exception to that rule...

So Sister Howard and I went to Brighton last week and it was gorgeous! right on the coast!!! It was so much fun :) but guess what. We got there and my camera died so I didn't even get any pics :( Sis Howard took a couple so I'll try and send some soon.
This week is transfers...already. It is going by faster and faster every transfer. It is really weird. We will be getting moves calls probably tomorrow. Any predictions? We are getting 6 new sisters and none are going home so there will be tons of changes. I really want to stay in Haywards Heath with Sister Howard though.. I'm thinking I've had my fair share of training after Sister Keogh and then the twins so I'm thinking I probably won't be training this transfer. I really really want to stay in Haywards Heath through Christmas. We'll see.. I like it here a lot! I still miss High Wycombe though. That was definitely my favorite place but I do love Haywards Heath. There are some really great people here. We are really trying to work with the members a lot here and get them excited about missionary work and basically just teaching them how to be missionaries. It's going pretty well. Our ward mission leader is really cool. Definitely a 'git er done' kinda guy which is perfect with missionary work! 

Well it has been a really great week! Things are going well. The VC is always great, we've been having tons of people come in lately. There's been so many members bringing in non member friends so we've had a lot of teaching opportunities. Things are moving forwards in Haywards Heath as well. As I've said we've been doing a lot of work with the members and also just trying to stop by all the LA's the Bishop has asked us to see. We've struggled a bit with finding new investigators but this week we met a really cool girl. Her name is Alice. We talked to her briefly while she was waiting for the bus and she invited us to come back to her house. I will admit, I was a bit skeptical. I thought she was going to stand us up. When she opened the door she had just woken up and said she had an awful night but she still invited us in! The teach was amazing! We taught restoration and it went so well. Sister Howard and I had worked really hard to be prepared for that teach and we had prayed a lot...

...Ok I'll have to cut that story short. Sister Howard and I just started teaching a guy on a computer next to us. His name is Matthew and he goes to alaska a lot. perfect! sister howard made that connection, little miss alaska, and now we have a new investigator. yeah baby. But now I have no time to write. Sorry!
Alice is amazing! The teach with her was incredible. when we taught her about prophets she said she's always wondered why we don't have prophets anymore and when we extended baptism she said she's always wanted to be baptized! Yesss :) she's cool! She's getting baptized November 19 so keep her in your prayers.
 

Well sorry for the short email. I ran out of time.
I love you all so much! thank you for everything! I miss you and I'm sad I couldn't be there for the new baby but life is great out here! I love it!
Have a great week!
Love, chels

Left Side

My driving test is in about two weeks and I really hope I pass because Sister Howard's driving is scary! haha she is definitely improving but a few times we've ended up on the right side which is the wrong side. It's kind of funny but super scary. Bless her :) Sister Howard is really improving with her confidence, she's come so far since I first started serving with her in Crawley. I love serving with her, we are having a ton of fun.
I had a chance to work with Sister Burrows again this week. We did an exchange with her so I went to East Grinstead with her and Sister Allred came to Haywards Heath with Sis Howard. It was fun to work with Sister Burrows again, she is such a great missionary.
I talked to Sister Keogh the other night. President Shamo told her she could call me pretty much whenever she wants. It sounds like she is doing well considering the circumstances. Her brother is getting home from his mission I think this week so it will be a good distraction for her. She said she would start calling Robert weekly to help him cause he still struggles a bit but he's still going to church and everything. I'm hoping he will make a trip to the temple soon so I can see him. I saw tons of people I know at the temple this week. One of the families who was reactivated when I was in High Wycombe went through the temple for their first time on Saturday and that is the day I work at the VC so I got to see them! There was a whole crew of people from the HW ward. It was so fun to see everyone and catch up with them. I really hope that one day I will make it back to HW. I felt like I was leaving family when I left!
I also saw Laurie Beardall at the temple on Saturday!! Laurie was my sorority advisor. She is traveling around England with her husband and her sister and they happened to quickly stop by the temple on Saturday! It was so weird seeing them but it was so much fun to talk with her! It was so random haha she said she would come visit you and show you pics :)
This week has been really great. It makes me sad cause time really is just moving faster and faster. I seriously don't even know what happened this week. This transfer is almost over. I really hope I stay in Haywards Heath. I really like it hear. But who knows. President seems to like to move me around lately. Nigel is doing really well. Just keep him in your prayers. We are having a difficult time meeting with him frequently because he is so busy and he decided to take the alpha course...boo. I think he studies with JW's as well. He wants to make sure that The Church of Jesus Christ is right for him. Which is good but I think it will make some things difficult. He talks with his cousin, liz, about church and everything though and he loves church and he's been watching conference online and is really enjoying that as well. He is so great. sadly we won't be able to see him till Sunday this week which is a bummer. He actually lives in Crawley but he wants to be baptized in Haywards Heath so we've gotten permission to teach him.
We're struggling a bit with finding more people to teach in Haywards Heath. However, on chat we're teaching loads of people from sweden and portugal and lithuania. It's pretty crazy. We have a few people who are hopefully now meeting with missionaries and one of them has a baptism date for Dec 24. It is so weird teaching people over chat but it seems to be surprisingly effective.
Sister Howard and I did a session at the temple this week. It was so nice. I have been so spoiled with getting permission to attend the temple. That is one major plus of serving so close to the area it is in and serving at the VC. Most of the missionaries haven't been since December. The HW couple that just went through will be getting sealed next month and so I'm hoping I can get permission to go to the sealing. That would be such a great experience! If I'm still serving close to the temple I am sure I can get permission from President.
I really hope I stay in Haywards Heath this next transfer. Sister Howard and I have got some great ideas but they won't really get going until this next week probably. President has been wanting us to use family history more often as an approach so we are going to try to start teaching people how to do family history. I need to learn how first though haha but conveniently enough, the senior couple at the VC is going to help us figure it all out :) so hopefully that will get going soon, President has really been wanting people to use it more and no one really does but I will try! Even though I have no idea what I am doing.
How is the weather in Utah? It is beautiful here. It's been really sunny but it is getting colder and colder. I'll need a new supply of handwarmers soon haha you know how I do in the cold.
Today Sister Howard and I are going to Brighton for pday. It is down by the coast. Apparently it is kinda like the San Francisco of England? I don't know if that is good or bad but I liked San Fran when we went! It should be fun and hopefully we will get to see the coast and get some cool pics.

Things are going so well. I am so happy. I love being here in England and being a missionary. It is so much fun! I think I'll stay :)
It sounds like you are doing really well. I hope you have a great week! Thank you for the letters. I'm so grateful for all you do. I love you!!

Love, sister g

Prunes and Custard

yes. I had prunes and custard at a dinner appointment this week. I definitely do not recommend it.

Anyway, how are you?! How has your week been? I can't believe you had snow already! That is so crazy. The weather has been a little cold this last week but not too bad yet. I'll need to pull out my winter coat soon enough though. That will be a sad day.
Well, first up in the London South. Sister Keogh went home :( That was a sad day. I was talking to her almost every night and she kept saying over and over that she feels like she needs to stay and then I called her early last week and she said 'I'm going home' she had prayed a lot about it and we had fasted together on Sunday and she said she felt like going home now was right. She had needed to stay until this point. President Shamo told her he would work through it with her and she didn't have to go home just yet but she said she knew it was the right thing to do. We go as the Spirit directs. She was an incredible missionary and I'm so glad I got to work with her. We had a lot of fun and saw so many miracles together, even with being stuck in a flat all the time :) She was pretty emotional the day she was going home but she still had a sense of peace. Heavenly Father has a different plan for her right now and she knows that. She said she will be coming to Utah within the next year so it will be fun to see her again! Maybe one day I will even make it to Scotland :)

It's been a great week! We've had some frustrating moments but we've also seen some miracles. We have this woman in our ward, Elizabeth, who has been sharing the gospel with her cousin, Nigel, and he has been studying on his own and with Elizabeth. I think I told you about him a little bit last week? He came with Liz to the Visitors Center this week and he loved it. He seemed to have a really great time. We were the only ones in the vc and we got to teach him. It was a really amazing experience, the spirit was so strong the entire lesson. Sister Howard and I were being led in all our words and the scriptures we were using. We talked with Nigel about baptism and he wants to be baptized! He said he wants to take his time with it though so it won't be until December 10. That is far away but it is ok because he can only meet with us once a week anyway. He is such a good guy. So sincere and humble. Liz is an amazing missionary. She's helping Nigel a lot and she also texted us recently saying she was at a lecture and all these people started talking about family history so now we are going to start teaching family history class for them, probably next week. That will be tough cause I've never really done family history but the senior couple at the vc will train us and help us teach it because they have a lot of experience with it.

Yesterday was funny. Sister Howard and I got to sing in sacrament which was fun! but we had an Elder who just finished his mish here in elsm come back and visit. He served in Haywards Heath so he came to visit the ward. It was so funny cause we saw him there and then we stopped by less actives after church and he was there too. I didn't like teaching them with him there. Pressure.. ha! It was really wierd but he helped us a lot actually cause he gave us tips with visiting a few recent converts.

I've had a few opportunities to talk with people who want to serve missions one day. At the vc on Saturday this father and daughter were there and he came up to us and asked if we could talk to his daughter about serving a mission. she is only 10 but she wants to go one day and he was so excited that his daughter got to talk to sister missionaries because she never had before. it was a really cool experience. I also had a chance to talk to this guy last night about serving. He comes to the vc a lot because he lives in the area. He is in his 20's and he was baptized last October. He is a really cool kid. I saw him last night and we started talking about missions. He really wants to go but his parents are a little bit anti towards the church and especially towards missions. It's really been a struggle for him but it was good to just share my testimony of missionary work and that if it is what Heavenly Father wants him to do he will have that opportunity. He really wants to go and he would be a great missionary so I hope his parents will support him more on that.
Speaking of future missionaries, I am so excited for all the girls from our ward serving and preparing to serve!! How many sisters is that now? I think like 6? yess holladay 26 :) Missions are the best. It is going by way too fast. We're already half way through this transfer!

We had training this week as well. Lots and lots and lots of practice. It was good but I was so sick of role play by the end. Sister Howard and I had a cool experience afterwords though. The training was in Crawley and we had gotten there before the gates were opened for the car park so we parked in a little neighborhood and walked over. when we were walking back I saw a lady across the street so we went over and ended up talking to her for about half and hour. She had a lot of questions about the church and our beliefs. I tried to get her to come to the chapel with us for a chapel tour (and she could just happen to meet president... he can convert anyone) :) but she didn't have time. She didn't want to meet with missionaries either but it was just fun to teach her and talk with her and she was so excited to have a book of mormon and read from it. Sister Howard is improving a lot as well. She is pretty shy with talking to people but this last week I've really seen a difference in her. We've had a lot of fun contacting and bearing our testimonies to people.

well, I gotta go. Thank you for everything! I love you so much and I'm grateful for your love and support! It helps me a lot :) have a great week! I love you!
love, sister gregson

Beautiful England!

Hello :) how are you this week? Didn't you love conference!! I still haven't watched all of it sadly. I saw all of it except the Sunday afternoon session. Usually they show it a couple weeks later in sacrament meeting but who knows if I will ever get to watch it. I hope so!

I think time is starting to go faster and faster... I don't even know what happened this week.

 We had Zone Conference on Tuesday and it was soo good! I always learn so much from President and Sister Shamo. They are the best. I saw Sister Keogh at the Conference. She didn't look very good. Poor girl. Her companion had called me monday afternoon and she was really worried cause sister k had been passed out for a good 15-20 minutes. Her poor companion didn't know what to do so she figured she would call me cause I know how to deal with it. I just talked her through it and tried to help but there wasn't much I could do. she had been doing so well last transfer but this transfer has been a lot worse and she's been passing out again. I think she even passed out a couple times during the conference. Most the time during conference we were training so I didn't get much of a chance to talk with sister k but when I went to talk to her after she was in tears. She told me she doesn't know if she can deal with this health problem/anxiety anymore and she wants to go home but I think she was just saying that out of frustration. She called me later that night and said that she doesn't want to go home she just doesn't know if she can fight through it anymore but she feels like she needs to stay on her mission. I feel so bad for her and I wish I could help her. It has got to be so hard to have such a strong desire to do the work but struggle so much physically. She said President Shamo has talked to her dad about it and he will be calling her today with a decision of what he will have to do with her. At this point who knows? I think President is really getting frustrated with it and doesn't know what to do with her. Just pray for her :) She will be ok and it will all work out but it is just a really difficult situation.

Sister Howard got sick for a bit this week. It was like the good old days with sister k. I was able to keep myself pretty busy though. our flat is really clean :) and our map now has stickers telling us where members and less actives live haha the great part was at zone conference president gave us all portable dvd players. dead serious :) I can only imagine the apostasy that will be happening.... We have them so we can do training on them. there are a lot of PMG training videos and they show missionaries teaching people. It is kinda like a documentary thing. so while she was sick, that night I watched some movies. all of which are approved don't worry! but that got old quickly...you can only watch Finding Faith in Christ so many times. ;)

We've seen a lot of miracles this week. White washing is hard but we're getting adjusted. we're still just trying to get things moving which is taking longer than I was hoping. however the ward here is so amazing and they actually do missionary work! there is this woman who has been bring her cousin to church and he is very interested. We will be teaching him at the temple this week. He got up in priesthood last week and basically told everyone he knows it is true. But for some reason he doesn't want to meet with us yet. I don't know why but I'm excited to have him at the temple. it works every time:)

We also met this really cool girl, Pinal, from India. she is awesome. she has been in England for about a year and she was so excited when she came here because she really wanted to learn about all the churches and get involved with the communities but turns out not many people in England go to church. huh. Sister Howard approached her and said 'do you have any friends that want to learn about christianity?' and she was like 'no, but I do!' haha it was really cool! we talked with her about Jesus Christ, she is hindu so her beliefs are very different. we want to get her to the temple on wednesday as well. She seems really interested in learning about our church.

 that is pretty much my week. conference was definitely the highlight. I loved it! President Monson is so funny :) There were so many great talks and I learned a lot. I was so sad when it ended.

Haywards Heath is a lot of fun. the ward members are so cool and they are always calling us checking up on us and making sure we have dinners and everything. they are amazing!

England is so beautiful right now. the leaves are changing but the weather has been surprisingly hot this week. I'm dreading the cold weather. I got so cold last year!

Thank you so much for everything! It sounds like you are doing great :) I missed the egg mcmuffins for breakfast conference morning.

I love you! have a great week!

love, sister gregson

Forget Me Not

Hello! :) how are you this week? thank you for the emails!

This week has been just as wild as all the others the past couple weeks. I feel like ever since I got the twins I've been running around constantly trying to figure everything out. A lot of it is probably because of white washing...It's been really crazy but lots of fun. This week has been nuts though. Mainly due to a faulty sat nav sold to me by an Elder. It's a long story but a few times I have ended up about an hour away from the destination it was supposed to take me to. It's been a disaster and at the time it is not funny but the next day Sister Howard and I can't stop laughing about it. We typed in the address of the Temple the other day and I don't even know where we were. We ended up in the middle of nowhere and there was no where to really turn around cause we were on all these tiny roads that didn't have any place to turn around. At least the drive was beautiful! It is so funny now but at the time it wasn't :) after it took us to the middle of no where it died. great! So we saw this guy and asked him for directions. It was a little tender mercy from Heavenly Father because he knew exactly where the Temple was (only because he's an Osmond follower) and he was really nice to us. we ended up talking to him for quite a while and sharing the gospel with him and we will hopefully be meeting with him sometime this week! that was a miracle!

Good news! I passed my theory test! I was so nervous but it ended up being really easy. I'm really nervous about the test though. I am taking it on Nov. 3 which is the earliest I could sign up. This week is my last week of driving here. Oct. 1 is my one year mark in England and after that I can't drive on my American license anymore. So Sister Howard will be taking over now. I'm scared. she's not the best driver. It's pretty scary haha

Haywards Heath is amazing! I love it so much! the ward is incredible. There are some really amazing people here and I already feel like I am at home. We have a lot of work to do here. I'm excited about it though! We had stopped by a few less actives the bishop wanted us to see this last week and 2 of them came to church which was so amazing!

We had the funniest dinner appointment the other night. We went over to this womans house and we were pretty nervous cause the Elders had told us crazy stories about her. It wasn't bad it was just a really funny night. The best part was that she was playing old twangy country music in the background the entire time we were eating dinner! She asked us if people play music for us a lot when we eat dinner with them and I said no and she was completely appalled that no one ever does haha at one point the song 'This Must Be Love' came on and I told her I love that song so she put in on repeat and it was repeating for about half an hour before she decided to change it haha She talked about John Wayne a lot too. ( I thought of Mark! )

Things at the temple are going really well. we are there every Tuesday and Saturday. It is pretty fun! Saturday was crazy busy. we were there until 9:30.... yeah, it was a late night but it was a great day. we had about 10 non members come in! There were so many people there the whole day. At the Temple there were 18 people who took their endowments out for their first time that day! That is the most they have ever had. I got to see Jo Bishop again and a few other members from the Chichester ward and I also saw a few from Crawley. That is one thing I love about serving at the VC. I get to see lots of people from my mish!

We got to go to the womens broadcast last night. It was soo good! I loved President Uchtdorfs talk. He is so amazing.

Anyway, I'm running out of time! this hour always goes by so fast.. Things are great! I am loving Mission life. it is so much fun. The longer I'm out the more a feel the spirit guide me as a teach and testify to people. I've learned so much being out here.

wow... this letter is really short. sorry!

just know I love you! thanks for everything! Have a great week! Forget me not :)

I love you!

love, chels

I Told You Utah Is Better!

wow! I have so many remarks about the Utah game going through my head I can't choose which one to use. I'm surprised you gave me as many details as you did :) ha! GO UTES!!! yess. I'm soo sad I wasn't there for it. There's a few Elders in my zone who are BYU fans, maybe I'll give them a hard time about the game since none of you are around. Sounds like it was a great game!

Anyway, how are you? Apart from your loss how has your week been?

so, any last transfer predictions??
remember when I predicted that President Shamo will be moving me around a lot after being in HW for so long? I think I was right. I got moved again! already :( I'm now serving in Haywards Heath. And guess what...I'm white washing AGAIN. boo.. I'm not too excited about that. I hate white washing. I'm still with Sister Howard as well which I'm happy about. Haywards Heath is quite close to the Temple still. It's about a half hour drive, yes, we still have a car. Sister Burrows was also moved to East Grinstead which is the area that the Temple is in and she is serving with Sister Allred. They are in a tri with another new missionary. Sister Howard and I will be serving at the VC two days a week. Every Tuesday and Saturday. The Sisters in East Grinstead will be there 3 days a week and then there are two other companionships that will be serving there as well. It's a bit crazy right now but in the end it will probably be best because this way we can work in the VC and in our areas and hopefully get more work done. We were really sad when we got the transfer call. I loved working in a tri. It was so much fun! I'm excited to still be working with Sister Howard though. She is a bit shy and struggles with teaching so it will be good to have a chance to train her one on one now. She really beats herself up a lot. she's so hard on herself so I've really been trying to help boost up her confidence. She's amazing though. I love working with her and she is so funny. She makes me laugh so hard. She is ALWAYS falling asleep, when I'm driving, at church, at the Temple...and she is a major head bobber haha
People always think it is so cool that she's from Alaska. The other day we were talking to this lady and she was asking Sister Howard about Alaska and then she's like ' You speak English so well!!! ' hahaha Apparently they speak a different language in Alaska? who knew? It was so funny.

oh no, I'm in an internet cafe and Michael Buble just came on... dang!

anyway. so this week has been another crazy one. The Crawley ward wasn't very happy when they found out we were leaving. They white washed us out and put 4 Elders in. They wanted us to stay there though. (because sisters are better than elders:) I loved working with that ward and they are going to see so many miracles. I wasn't too sad to leave the area though. Not that I didn't like it, I just hadn't been there for very long so I wasn't really attached yet. I really like the Haywards Heath ward. It is a small ward but they are great people. They were so friendly yesterday at church which was so nice. Sister Howard and I are coming up with some new ideas for finding people and we're going to try them out soon so hopefully things will move forward quickly. The chapel is in kind of a wierd location though so that will make things hard. Haywards Heath is beautiful! the drive from our flat to the Temple is so gorgeous. I love it. driving there is fun too, it's on a tiny road that curves all over the countryside. it's so pretty.

I'm taking my theory test on Thursday and if I pass that then I take my driving test in the next couple weeks. yikes! I'm so nervous for that. I still don't really understand why President wants me to get a license because I only have 6 months left and there are sisters here who can still drive on their American license for the next year. But oh well, I'll do as I'm told.

The weather is starting to get colder which I'm not very excited about. I'm looking forward to fall cause it will be beautiful but I'm dreading winter.

well, I have to go. Times up! sorry this is so short.. Thanks for everything! I love ya! you are amazing. Have a great week!!
Love sister gregson

ps. my new address for the fam is
1 arbor court
Heath Road
Haywards Heath
West Sussex
RH16 3BQ

You Mean Buzzing Actually Works?!

Hello! how has your week been?

things are great here! transfers are on Wednesday but for some reason we are supposed to email today... I don't know why. So right now my companions are in the VC doing chat and I'm around the corner at the mission office, finally a computer that works properly :) Any predictions on what will happen this transfer? Who knows, I don't think anything can beat last transfer..

the other night I got a call from our District Leader and he told me I was being e-moved (emergency moved) to Weymouth. I thought he was kidding but he was acting way serious and kept dragging it out so I started getting all sad but in the end he was kidding and was just calling to give us an announcement...which I can't even remember haha After that little prank I realized that I want to stay in Crawley and I want to stay with both of my companions! which means something will most likely change. This transfer has been really crazy and super hard and i've had to really rely on the Lord. It's been so stressful but so much fun at the same time. I think it has easily been one of my favorite transfers.

This week has been a really good one. We did an exchange with the sisters serving in Tunbridge Wells on Wednesday which was a lot of fun. I stayed in Crawley cause I'm the only one driving at the moment, and both my companions went to T.Wells. the T.Wells sisters are in a tri as well so two of them came to Crawley with me. sister priestley and sister keogh!! yes, sister keogh is still hanging in there! she is doing really great! she said it has been about 4 weeks since the last time she passed out. haha that's a huge improvement. I think in the three months we served together her record was a whole week and a half without passing out. She's doing really well, the new anxiety medication is helping her so much and I think working in a tri has been good for her cause there is less pressure on her. It was a really fun exchange. The Visitors Center is closed for cleaning. we still go there to do chat but since sister preistley and keogh aren't chat sisters we went out finding. I feel like it's been so long since i've actually done some proper contacting :) it was a lot of fun and i always learn so much from serving with other missionaries. It was difficult after serving with sister preistley for a day. she is an amazing missionary and I started wondering why she wasn't the one in my position, training two missionaries, cause they could have learned so much more from her but whatev. Heavenly Father gave me this calling for a reason so I'm trying to just do my best and not compare myself to others. It's been such a good experience for me and I have loved it.

During the exchange we went out knocking for a bit and eventually got to some flats so we started buzzing. I hate buzzing flats. very rarely do you actually get somewhere but then we had a massive miracle!! it was only the second flat we buzzed and a man came to the door. His name is Nikolay from Bulgaria. He has been here for about 2 months and he'll being leaving for India in a month or so to go back to his wife. as I talked to him on the doorstep I had a really cool conversation with him. I felt the spirit guiding my words and I was surprised at some of the things I was saying because it was things I had never before said when out talking to people. The spirit was so strong! I knew the spirit was guiding my words to say what Nikolay needed to hear because he stepped back and looked really shocked after hearing what I had to say.

we were able to see him again later in the week and it was an amazing teach. He is so prepared for the gospel. I had given him a Book of Mormon in English when i first met him and when we went back he said it was hard for him to read it and he needs one in bulgarian but he still felt good just having the book with him. We talked to him about church and he was so excited to come. He loved it too! it was soo funny though. I think word of wisdom might be a little tricky for him. he smokes and he seems to love his whiskey :) when they were passing the water for the sacrament he asked sister burrows if it was whiskey haha could you imagine?? everyone taking shots of whiskey for the sacrament... haha sorry pal, not quite.

He is such a funny guy and he is so excited about learning more about the church. I'm excited to teach him! One nice thing about serving at the VC is we are close and we can easily get investigators there and that is always such a great experience for them. we're hoping to get him there some time this week and it will be nice because since it will be closed we will be the only ones in there so there won't be any distractions.

so remember how i do chat? how weird is that? It's going well. Magnet Man has come back on a few different occasions. (I loved the drawing of him by Melissa and Em by the way!! that was so funny!) I think I told you about Mike, the kid who lives in portugal. Last week we talked to him for quite a while and we had set up a return appointment with him. we were all hopeful but slightly skepitcal because we didn't know if he would actually show. the time he was supposed to chat with us came and went and he didn't come so we were kinda bummed but we were still supposed to be doing chat for a couple of hours and eventually Mike showed up!! he was like 2 hours late but he came! we were soo excited! We have mostly been talking about prayer with him. he is struggling with feeling comfortable with it. the things he says and questions he has remind me SO much of Robert. it was such a good conversation though and we have another return appointment with him this week. we have a progressing investigator on chat... see? weird! but it's cool to see how it actually works.

That pretty much sums up my week. lots of driving lessons as well. my theory test is next week which is the written part and then a few weeks after that will be the driving test. I'm soo nervous! just pray i will pass so I can get my license soon cause my year mark is in like 3 weeks and then I can't drive with my american license anymore.

my year mark is in three weeks?? aahh!!

anyway, I gotta get going. thanks for everything!! I love you :) stay happy, have a great week!

I love ya

love, sister gregson

ps..on the church website there are like three pics of when elder bednar came to speak to us and one of them is of my awesome choir haha yesss