I'm sure you are all dying to know about the riots and things going on over here! It really only happened in Manchester for a couple of nights so we were just told to stay in. We are some of the closest missionaries to the city center and we could hear all the sirens of the police all night, quite exciting! But we were totally safe. They were more concerned about us using buses than anything else.

This morning I FINISHED the Book of Mormon! I was so excited and sad all at once. I love the scriptures, I am truly reading them with new eyes and just want to feast upon the words each day. I try and read in ALL of my down time. Which usually means while brushing my teeth or eating a meal haha. I got my hands on a Book of Mormon Stories book and Sister Allison and I have also been going through the stories one by one. First we read the story then we read the corresponding verses from the Book of Mormon. Its a great way to better understand what is going on. And the illustrations are quite entertaining!

This week has been a bit different then most considering I have been quite under the weather or as they say it here "quite poorly". We actually spent most of the week going to various doctors and finally up to the mission GP in Preston. In the mean time just pray that I will have patience. Not being able to speak to people is way worse than any illness!!!

This week was like CHRISTMAS for me-
I got a package from Tiff and Carrie- so great SO MUCH CANDY! I loved the pictures of Josh and Indy- precious
I got a package from Hunter which was so thoughtful and I LOVE the planner he made me (Beatles themed- so awesome)
I got mail from Lauren- I LOVE YOU GORGEOUS - I am writing you soon!!
I got a whole fleet of letters from the POND family- I loved the great spiritual thoughts- letters coming your way soon
AND I got the Sun Valley package! I loved listening to the testimonies!! Chris Barden's about his conversion and Robin being his missionary!! I CRIED! Everyone looks so great and growing up so fast! I loved Granddad's words. What a gift to have all those sweet spirits caught on tape. That is a truly timeless treasure! I also loved the conversion story you included about Sister Kerr. What a fun piece of information about the local church leaders!!

It also felt like Christmas because Sister Allison put up the fake Christmas tree because one time she asked me what my favorite thing about Christmas was and I said Christmas lights, so when I was resting one day she put the tree up! It's great. I'll take a picture, CHRISTMAS in AUGUST!

Thank you to all of you for you love and support. You have no idea how much it means to me especially this week, The Lord has impeccable timing and you are all truly following promptings!!!

I love you all! Prayers for you this week. Hopefully better news and more spiritual substance from me next week!!

Sister Lovell

(Please keep Sister Lovell in your prayers this week! Thanks everyone!)

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Pics



Sister Lovell and Sister Allison



Our desk

Sisters Conference with President and Sister Preston



Outside our flat!



Sister's Meeting

HELLO FAMILY!

I just love all of you so much and I want you to know that I have REALLY felt your prayers this week!!!

I am seeing that every day of the mission is an opportunity to learn and grow. The Lord really does push us to our limits sometimes to help us better see our potential. So far the Lord has given me opportunities to love and serve two valiant Sisters and I am eternally grateful. We really do learn how to better love someone through serving. Especially when someone just needs to be listened to and loved. Sisters especially seem to wear themselves ragged too much trying to be perfect, but I feel that this is a time for healing and new beginnings.

This week we had a Sister's Meeting at the Mission Home. It was an entire day to just be trained as sisters. It was a great time to come together and bond. I felt so much more unity afterwards and a better understanding of who is on "my team" here in the field. The Sisters Meeting this week was a wonderful launch into a new perspective. I feel so strongly that all the sisters need to better rely on Sister Preston and let her be our "coordinating Sister". That is her role and I feel that the Sisters meeting helped all of us to better see that. She truly did a magnificent job, we all felt so loved and lifted from that blessed day. Sister Preston's strength is what all of the sister's need. Almost a reality check to not try and be perfect, be ourselves, and get to work. Each day I see the connection between hard work and happiness in a deeper way. Of course there is a balance. We must reach outwards but still take care of ourselves. Now that all the sisters have filled their wells I know the productivity will increase in the work.

I shared with you how much I respect and admire the YSA ward members. I am so humbled by the strength and wisdom of these valiant young people. Being able to serve them and work with them humbles me each day. I wanted to share a sweet experience from this week in the YSA ward this week. There is a member who recently came back to church. She went inactive when she was younger and came to institute a few weeks back and it sparked her interest in restoring her testimony. She asked to be re-taught the lessons from us, the Sister Missionaries. Her desire to really know truth and to humbly start over touched me so deeply. When we went and re shared the restoration with her the spirit engulfed me. Christ's love for this beautiful daughter of God was so immense. She and I both became emotional as the spirit testified through me of her value to the Lord. I am so grateful that the Lord has allowed me to meet her and for us to be able to begin with her back on the path of righteousness.

When I struggled with my testimony of the gospel it was valiant YSA who brought me back. I have always felt this deep love and debt to the young people of the church and every time I see hope restored in their eyes from the words we share I want to cry. I remember what it feels like to feel hopeless and of no self worth, and I know I am in the YSA ward to lift others and bring them back to the light the way others helped me. It is so easy to get caught up in the things that don't matter. So easy as young people to get distracted by our problems by ourselves. I pray to the Lord each day to help me see the need. I want to see who needs to be loved, who needs to be lifted, and then I will do it.

The Lord loves all of his children so much. These Young Single Adults are the future of the church. I want so deeply to be able to help them see their worth and potential to make a difference in the world. And each time I get to meet one on a bus or in the street I boldly share how I know that my Redeemer lives. It is our stewardship to be beacons of light. We have the truth and we must share it with all those we can. So they can all come to the light, truth, and knowledge for themselves.

President has asked us to read the first 12 sections of the Doctrine and Covenants to better understand our role as missionaries. What makes a good missionary and how divine our calling really is. Studying this has helped humble me and shift my perspective. I invite all those who are thinking about serving missions to study these chapters to better identify what they can do to improve themselves.

Please continue updating me on your lives. it is such a blessing to know how you all are doing and I really want you to know I pray for all of you BY NAME!!!

I haven’t received mail in a while because we haven’t received what is at the office but I will tell you if it came next week!

I LOVE YOU! KEEP SMILING

love love love Sister Lovell

Knowledge Is Power

Oh my, what a GLORIOUS week it has been! Full of mixed weather and adventures and best of all MIRACLES!!!!

A few weeks ago when Sister Allison and I were heading home we stopped a lady in the street named Natalie. She was amazed that we stopped her as she said she had just been praying while walking, telling God she wasn't going to give up on Him and then BOOM-we stopped her! True hand of the Lord moment. We have since been able to meet with her a few times and started to teach her and her daughter Cuba. They are so lovely. They have both been involved with many different faiths, but Natalie is so excited to learn about the restoration of the Gospel and how we know that this is the true Church of Jesus Christ. Every time we come to her home, the lessons are SO POWERFUL. The spirit just flows and envelops us. I try not to cry, but I am just a baby. Sister Allison says the longer you are on the mission the more spiritually tough you become and you don't cry every time you feel the spirit, so maybe there is hope for me. We shared with Natalie and Cuba about baptism and invited them to begin preparing. We left them with the commitment to pray to know if what we were sharing was true and to confirm their decision to be baptised. We stopped by the next morning and Cuba was delighted to share with us that she had had a dream about getting baptised. She said she was in all white and her Mum was there and everyone was smiling. She said she couldn't remember all the details but she knew and remembered how she felt. Her darling testimony gives me so much strength. The Lord really is preparing souls everyday. There are people everywhere in the world who are ready and waiting for the gospel and simply " know not where to find it".

Natalie was able to join us at church on Sunday. By the end of the third hour she was just about ready to jump into the baptismal font! She said she feels at home and so welcome. She sees how happy all the members are and she wants that for her and Cuba. She even mentioned wanting to become a missionary haha. We just love her enthusiasm and love of the gospel and more importantly her dedication to deepen her relationship with Jesus Christ.

Another miracle was with our investigator Billy, the 78 yr old violin maker. We LOVE Billy he is always trying to give us things and take care of us. Sweetest old man ever. Honestly he reminds me SO MUCH of Owen in 60 years. Just precious and kind hearted (p.s. can someone please get me a way to write Owen?!) Billy used to be in the antique car industry and he got invited to go to a show on Sunday. You could tell he REALLY wanted to go and when we came to teach him on Saturday he wanted us to pretty much give him permission. We retaught him the principle of 'keeping the sabbath day holy' and told him that it was a decision he needed to make between him and the Lord and that we promised he would know what to do. Sister Allison bore beautiful testimony and promised that when we sacrifice what we want to be obedient the Lord will always bless us. Billy came to church and stayed all three hours. :)

Something I have been focusing on in study is KNOWLEDGE. In D&C 131: 6 it says it is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance. Spiritual knowledge really is POWER. I am trying to deepen my desire to learn and love learning. I have always done the minimum to understand something so I can get on with it but I am trying to really let my "soul delighteth in scriptures" so that "my heart pondereth continually upon the things which I have seen and heard" (Nephi 4:15-16) I want to FEAST upon the words of Christ and develop habits that I will have for my whole life. I understand more and more each day how sacred our personal study time is and I am getting into much more of a rhythm there, which is good. I realized something very important as we study. We must FEAST on the words, then PONDER on what we have read. We MUST take the time to digest what we intake so we can properly nourish our souls. If we just inhale our spirit food and go for a run it will not settle right. We cannot simply read and move on. We must take the time to record what insights we have. I am learning to spend a lot of time writing down my insights because the spirit teaches me AS I WRITE. Sometimes I look back at what I have written and think where did that come from?!

As we really LEARN from what we study then we can APPLY it. We must first understand something, truly and deeply before we can adequately apply it to our lives.

At church we learned about President Uchtdorf's talk on the 2 principles of any economy- LEARN & WORK (I invite you to read it!)

It helped me better understand that I need to love to learn and love to work. These are my goals not only this week but for the rest of my life.

I am so glad that Sun Valley was a good time. Thank you for sending me those pictures :) Send my love to everyone. HUGS from ENGLAND!!

Dylan- YES PLEASE send me pictures! I prefer them to be in the mail so I can keep them, but email is allowed.

My address: 

Flat 3 14 Burlington Rd

Withington, M20 4QA

England

I love you all!!!!!Keep smiling, keep praying, keep reading, and most importantly always remember that God loves you and Jesus Christ is your best friend!

Both my wonderful trainers-Sister Davis and Sister Allison

New companion-Sister Allison from Lester England

The Character of Christ

WOW SUCH A GOOD WEEK!!!

I am so obsessed with my new companion Sister Allison. We are already bonded and working together with such unity! It is such a blessing. She is a very strong missionary and natural leader. I love learning from her and I am begging to better understand how I can be myself in the work. We have a blast. Summer here in England seems to be over. We enjoyed it while it lasted (a week). The heavens are opened and they are POURING DOWN upon us. Literally. But I feel right at home :). This week has been one of great humility and new perspectives. I have been trying to focus myself entirely in doing what the Lord wants me to do and not what I want to do. As a missionary it is very easy to see your personal flaws, the Lord does not hesitate in bringing them to your attention so you can CHANGE. However it is very easy to get caught up focusing too much on ourselves, thinking I need to improve, I need to know more, I need to speak more simply, etc.. Something I am learning, as we reach outward and focus on lifting and developing others, THAT is when we learn and grow the most ourselves.

Belle Spafford General Relief Society President said:

The Lord's call "Follow Me" comes to us this day, as truly as it came to his early disciples...His work must go on. It's progress depends upon the strengths we lend it. Each of us is called to a particular work because of some strengths we posses. It is our responsibility to accept His calls, to grow in His service to such stature that our weakness and our limitations will not impede the progress of His work. We must not be so sensitive to our shortcoming that we fail to recognize and MAGNIFY our STRENGTHS. As we magnify our strengths our weaknesses will diminish.

As I have pondered the idea of magnifying our strengths to diminish our weaknesses I have refocused my study to the character of Christ, the ultimate example of strength in righteousness.

Elder Bednar said:

Character is revealed, in the power to discern the suffering of other people when we ourselves are suffering; in the ability to detect hunger of others when we are hungry; and in the power to reach out and extend compassion for the spiritual agony of others when we are in the midst of our own spiritual distress. Thus, character is demonstrated by looking and reaching outward when the natural and instinctive response is to be self-absorbed and turn inward.

Jesus Christ's character was/is the perfect example. The perfection of His character is what we are trying to become. Before my mission I thought of "Sister Lovell" as a character or role I was preparing for. I got a costume and lines to remember as if I would be "acting" as a representative of the Lord. But now I see so much clearer that as I not only learn about Christ but try to truly KNOW Him, only then can I become more Christ-like.

I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that He is my brother, and suffered for me in a way that is incomprehensible. I desire now to know Him, his character, his motives. I desire to love people as He did, so unconditionally and selflessly. This transfer I am committing, with more resolve than ever before, to myself and to Him, to study, to pray, and to act as He would. Not only because I want to look like a missionary outwardly, but because my conduct, countenance and character should reflect my divine calling as a representative of Him. I share this commitment with you to increase my level of accountability. I know that as we show Heavenly Father our dedication in following through, only then can He assist us (we could all use more of that help).

I invite anyone reading this to join me this week in focusing your study on the Character of Christ, who He is, and what he has done for each of us.

As we study Jesus Christ more we can better know Him. I know that that this is His gospel and it is true. I know that it has been restored on earth today by Joseph Smith. I know that it is true because I see and feel His power everyday. Any doubt of truth I ever had is gone. It is not true simply because I want it to be or hope it is. I know it is true from the miracles I see everyday. From the clarity that the Holy Ghost brings to me when we align our lives and actions with God's will. I pray that all those who are doubting will just take the time today, right now, to read the Book of Mormon. Study it out in your mind and pray. Plead with the Lord for clarity, for discernment, acknowledge your mistakes, repent, plead for forgiveness, then let the love of the Lord heal you.

Spiritual knowledge is power. Focus on the things that matter, don't dwell on the details that are irrelevant to your salvation. When you have questions take them right to the source. When we are not praying we cannot receive answers to the questions that cause us to doubt.

I love this Gospel, I am honored to serve and represent our Lord and Savior.

I pray that all of you have a beautiful, spirit-filled day and truly ponder Jesus Christ's example.His purpose is to give us hope. 

I love you family, I feel your prayers, they give me strength and comfort each day- keep smiling!

Love always,

 Sister Lovell