The Good Times Are Killing Me

Woah. I am a wreck. Yeah. Everything is going so well, but every good thing that happens is like another knife in my heart. I guess I will explain this week to you Wednesday. Enjoy the Pictures! Its spelled Indira, by the way. I made an error. I am really happy we had a baptism my last weekend! What a miracle. I love God.

I LOVE YOU GUYS!

ELDER ISON

9? 9? I don't believe you.

Dear family,

Hey! How are things. I unfortunatley didn't get the letter sent, but it is written, so maybe I'll send it this week to see if I can beat it home. It is probably the weirdest feeling in the world to be almost finished. I am going to try and make up for last weeks email in this one. Elder Jones is the same Elder Jones thats always been there. He told me to type that. Its the same Elder Jones I was companions with in Basse Terre and Lamentin during the strike. He's the District Leader. To answer your question about Lilia may take several days, because everything she does is a success story. This week we went to teach one of her friends from her old church, and she basically just wanted to bash, but it didn't phase Lilia at all. Her friend got really angry when she tried to explain why she knew her old baptism wasn't good. I almost lost my cool in that lesson when the friend said "Your Church isn't even persecuted. Your just all hunky dory in that Church." It was pretty funny. She called us later that evening and requested a Book of Mormon. We are going to cross that bridge this week. Saturday night we were at Lilia's house again, and the friend came over to talk, unfortunatley, we couldn't stay because we had a rendez vous, but we let her "borrow" a Book of Mormon to answer the questions in the back of the tract. She was civil and we left hoping it would remain that way. It didn't. We got a text message from Lilia about 20 minutes later explaining how her friend tried to force her to go back to the old church again. Sunday at church I asked her about it and she said, "Yeah, she started monologuing and I just kinda sat there When She left I went up in my room and started praying and While I was praying the kids found the Church History images a member gave us and posted them all over the house." That was funny. We went over to her house last night, and sure enough, paintings of pioneers, Joseph Smith, and Temples were all over the house. We looked at all of them, explained breifly the stories of each one, and we got to the front door and directly across from the front door was the picture of a temple baptimal font. She said, "this is our family goal."  Yeah. I was excited. She also explained in more detail about the happenings the night before with her friend. Apparently she bore her testimony about how shes seen big changes in her kids behavior since they joined the church and her friend said "Be careful, that might be from the devil" She thought to herself, Did she just say my kids were posessed by the devil. She told us she kinda thought it was funny because people said exactly the same thing about Jesus Christ. We have also been teaching this Woman named Nazeema and her daughter Indeerah, and this week we set a baptismal date for the 25th with Indeerah, and she came to Church. Nazeema told us she couldn't be baptized because she lives in sin. We told her she would have to get married or kick him out to make the Lord happy, so, we'll see about that. Indeerah is really shy so she was kinda scared at church, so I asked Lilia if she would talk to her, because she is 19 and after her baptism will be in the Relief Society. Lilia not only talked to her, but they swapped phone numbers. She takes her call seriously! We taught Indeerah and her mom yesterday and they asked if it was obligatory that she got baptized on the 25th because her birthday is the 9th? of November, and they wanted to move it to the 8th. We told her that was fine, and that the reason we set it for the 25th was because I was leaving and wanted to be there for it. Nazeema said, "Oh ok, the 25th it is." That was sweet. Pray for them. To cut things short, It is going to be almost unbearably depressing to have to leave this area behind and start living a normal life again. I love it here. I am really excited however, to see the chair! Oh yeah! That is all the news for this week, and all the time I have left to write. I love you guys so much. The Church is true!

Love,
Elder Ison

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHH

Dear family,

NO TIME!!! I am going to write you a letter this week.

Highlights:

Zone Conference

Crying investigator

Sweet Recent Converts

Cool Elder Jones

Rain (a little bit)

I LOVE YOU GUYS!

Elder Ison

PS.

I am SUPER TICKED! I just typed an INTENSE Email, and lost it. Look for my Letter!!!!

Get a Grip!

Dear Family,

What a week. I will start with the fun happenings Teusday. The Mission set a goal to have 100 baptisms in September, so at district meeting Elder Jones relayed the news that President asked that all the dates for this weekend be pushed up to Wednesday. I'll admit I was less than excited, but I know that obedience is key, espescially to mission leaders. We called Lilia to see what she thought and the conversation went something like this:

Me: Hello, Lilia?

Lilia: Yes.

M: How are you?

L: I'm alright

M:I have a question for you

L: Ok

M: Our mission president asked us to move all the dates from this weekend up to tomorrow. Do you think it would be possible for your sons to be baptized tomorrow?

At this point, I was kinda completly prepared to tell her it was ok if there was any problems and that we would just do it this weekend, but her faith was stronger than mine

L: Yes, that will work, what time?

The rest of the conversation we set up an appointment to teach the rest of the lessons and do the interviews and all the other business that goes along with it. I cannot belive their faith! They are a Godsent for sure. So,things didn't go at all as planned this week in Matoury, but that is ok. When we received the news that all investigators who could be baptized in September should, Elder Taerea and I were both a little hesitant, but we knew we needed to be obedient so we called our investigators and asked them with a postitive response. We taught them the rest of the things they needed to know that afternoon, and the next day they were baptized. I know we will see blessings from this obedience. We still have the goal for 3 in October, which will require a little more effort now that the 2 we had planned are already done, but I am sure we will see blessings. We have been working with some of our investigators, and we have some good ones, but the major problem remains transportation to Church. I also feel the branch needs alot of strengthening still, because we didn't see a lot of support from them with these recent converts. I am confident, however, that this family will be just like you said "more of a blessing than a burden." We are still searching for a building, but that will come. I love Elder Taerea. He tries so hard. I am grateful to be able to serve him and learn form his example. We are working much better together, and I am still working on getting over myself. The church is true. I seriously thought when I was younger that I was destined to be an apostle or something, because it seemed every time I listened to a General Authority speak, it was like he was speaking straight to me. I have come to realize that it is the same for everyone, and those men are inspired, and when they speak the Holy Ghost carries their message unto the hearts of men. I love my Heavenly Father, his son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. I am glad that it is him that will be guiding my converts and me on the path of eternal life. I love you guys, and I'm not going to lie either, I am super excited for Christmas too, But I try not to think about it.

Thank you for everything, and Dad, If you heard Elder Ballards talk, We got some things to talk about! I love you guys so much!

Elder Ison

PS: I did get to baptize for the first time Wednesday. I baptized Tyler.

Kristofer was Baptized by Pres. Guy D'Abreu

Come into the Water...

Stop "monkey"ing around

Don't be "sloth"ful

Don't "kiss" up

Just follow the spirit

Hey guys!

How was your week? Mine was excellent. I can't believe the Miracles we are seeing here in Matoury. This week we baptized Lilia. She is doing really well. Her 2 sons are preparing to be baptized between Conference sessions next week. She told us she hopes they serve missions. They were definitley prepared by the lord long before we found them. Other than that, we worked really hard on our contacts this week, and I called all of mine up to Saturday. We fixed some appointments with some cool people for this week and I know we will be blessed for it. We still haven't found a building yet, but it will come. Elder Taerea is good. He is doing a good job with the branch and there are no major problems. We are working well together and having a good transfer.

Testimony: I don't know where to start. God exists. I am his son. He loves me. He blesses me even though, in the words of King Benjamin, I am an "unprofitable servant." We can't do this work with out his help. The Atonement is real, and over the past month I have seen it work it's amazing healing power in the lives of our convert and her family. I love Jesus Christ and I know that he lives. I love being a missionary and I love my mission. I am grateful for President Robison, and for you, because you have really helped me to recieve a mighty change of heart. My family isn't even going to recognize me when I get home. It has gone by way to fast, and I look forward to seeing miracles throughout the last month of my mission. I am also excited for General conference this weekend and the chance we have to listen to a Prophets voice in our day. I love my family and am grateful for them. Most of all, I love my Father in Heaven.


Anyway, That picture is at the space center in Kourou. I am looking up into the rocket booster. I am going to attach some photos now, but I love you guys!

Your favorite Missionary,

Elder Ison

Come into the water

Elder Taerea

Elder Ison's balancing act

Should I be Standing Here?

What happens if I push this button?

Hey Family!
I am gonna try and send some pictures today, so if the email isn't super long this week, don't get upset! Our week was nuts! Lilia continues to get better and better. We taught the word of wisdom to her and her kids, and her kids brought out all their tea, and we went through it and they got rid of the "bad tea" right away. She keeps every commitment, and is going to institute this week. Her family has been to church activities I didn't even know about and her sons want to be baptized too. I can't even believe the crazy amounts of blessings we are receiving! The kids names are Tyler and Christopher and they are 11 and 9 respectively. They are probably some of the coolest kids ever. After we watched the Restoration DVD and taught the Word of Wisdom, Christopher said "That was a really good lesson Mom."
Needless to say, They are doing well. We have also found some other Cool people that are progressing fairly well, one of which is a Rasta woman. All is well here, except for we still don't have a building. I am glad you had a fun road trip this week, and I hope your week continues to go well.

I love you guys!

Elder Ison

Line up the rickshaws

This week was so good! Holy cow! Matoury is doing great. This week we were able to set a hard date with our investigator that came to church last week. It was one of the most miraculous experiences ever. We talked about Baptism and left her with 2 Nephi 31 to read earlier in the week, and asked her if baptism was something she wanted to do, and she responded 'Absolutely'. We set the date the next day and said: "We would like to set a date for your baptism." And she responded "I think thats a good idea, because I got my answer last night." I was completely blown out of the water. Nobody has ever just told us they received their answer like that. She was so prepared by God, that when we suggested the 26th for her date, she paused, smiled, and said "yes". That was it. It was a true miracle. Her name is Lilia, and she is a single mother, 33 years old, with 4 boys (11,9,5,and 3). She brought her cousin with her to church on Sunday. That was super duper cool. We are still hunting for a Church, and I realized that there has to be something more we could do to find a building, so I am going to fast and pray about that. With the contacts, we have found many cool people and have some really cool investigators. We had our Zone Conference in Suriname this week, which is why the Email is late, and it was incredible, as usual. I am definitely going to miss that. Elder Anderson, one of the Area Presidency was there, and taught one of the most awesomely intense lessons I ever heard. Elder Taerea is doing well. He continues to teach me, and I am learning to be patient. I love him though. 2 weeks ago as we applied the new definition of contacting without asking questions, the Lord stuck right in our path an investigator who was prepared to receive the gospel, that, if it wasn't for the new rule, I might not of contacted. My testimony of the truthfulness of this work continues to increased. I know the Lord blesses obedience abundantly.

I LOVE YOU GUYS!

Have a good week, Elder Ison

PS: CJ IS THE BEST EVER! What a stud.

How far away is that Plane?

We just got home so here is last week's email

Dear Family,
I have never used a keyboard with a space bar that was so freaky outty. If there are bazillions of extra spaces, you will know why. Thank you for your prayers, but it looks like we still need them. Matoury is still doing well. We are seeing many miracles as we try our best to work with the members and get our contacts. We did get to work with ex-President Baksh again this week, which was awesome, but unfortunatley Julio lost his phone, so we were not able to work him. Next week looks good on that front anyways. The super exciting news is we finally had an investigator at church, and she liked it. Her name is Lilia, and she was a lady I contacted a little over a week ago, and she is super legit. She has been searching for the truth, and said she feels close to finding it with our Church. Unfortunatley, we are again on the search for a place to have church due to a problem with the pool.(apparently pools aren't allowed...) As we improve the quality of our contacts, we are blessed. Elder Taerea is good. He is very busy with branch business and missionary work. He is doing a good job with both though. Nothing gets past Dad though. Elder Taerea's culture is a lot different than ours, and he's pretty stuborn, and its kinda a his way or no way sort of deal. He's been out for a year and a half. Its nothing too serious though. The church is true, and the Book of Mormon is the key to conversion. I know that it is true and am trying to use it better. God blesses us when we are obedient. I try not to think about how much time I have left, and usually I don't think about it. Everyone else here is trunky enough for me. "How much time do you have left? Less than 2 months? You are so trunky!" I hear that at least once a week, but according to Elder Jones I am "Significantly less trunky" than he expected. You don't have to worry about that yet. I do have startling realizations from time to time, such as the fact that my "replacement" is most likley already in the MTC. Zone conference was supposed to be this week, but unfortunatley, it was postponed til next weekend. We get to go to Suriname! My passport is looking pretty good! haha. I am glad everyone got home safe and all that jazz, and tell Steph and CJ to take luck to school with them. I gotta let you go, But I LOVE YOU GUYS! Enjoy your little vacation!

LOVE!

Elder Ison

She's Home!!!

She arrived home safely. It was exciting to see her - What an amazing girl!!! (She was ready to go back - the sign of a great missionary).

You're not hardcore, until you live hardcore

Hey guys!

It sounds like you had a good week! I can't believe Steph is finished! Holy Cow! I am alright. Matoury saw many mighty miracles this week as we strove to get our contacts and work towards our goals. We got to finally work with some of our members and have some amazing lessons with them, which in and of itself was a miracle. I also noticed that as we worked on getting good contacts this week, we found lots of people ready to receive us. The last thing I wanted to mention was as we worked our best through our own efforts to find a building for Matoury, we were blessed exceedingly. We found a building that looked pretty good and called the landlord and he reffered us to the agency he was working through who told us the house was stirictly residential, but Elder Taerea was inspired to call the landlord again and he told us that he didn't really care how we used the house as long as we didn't make any unauthorized changes, and we paid the rent. The only problems was that it was a little expensive and a little farther from the main road than we would have liked, but we were happy to at least have a perspective building after 7 months. Later that same day we got a call from President Magny telling us that he got a call from one of the agencies telling him they found a place we could rent to have church. After 7 months of searching we had 2 offers in the same day! The second house was just what we were looking for; A centralized location cheaper, with everything we need to have a branch there. When I asked when it would be available they told us the 1st. My heart sank a little because I thought they meant of October and we would have to wait another month, but as soon as I found out that they meant September, I almost cried. (not really) We finally have a building, and I know that the blessings are going to continue to flow. Several people we have contacted expressed an interest in coming to Church if it was close enough to walk or ride a bike, because many of them don't have transport to get all the way to Cayenne. Elder Taerea and I are doing well together, and I have noticed a great improvement in the unity of our teaching this week. Wow. I don't even know where to start this week. Heavenly Father loves his children thats for sure! I know of a surety that God answers prayers, but also that he tries your faith! His plan is perfect, thanks to his Son, Jesus Christ, and The Atonement, and through these gifts we can lift ourselves out of the filth and grime of the world and be exalted with them. He prepares his children to hear the gospel and if we are faithful, he will lead us to them. I love the Church, I love its members, and I love its creator. I hope your guys' week this week is AMAZING! Give my love to Steph when you see her this week, and Peace out.

Love,

Elder Ison

Home again, home again, jiggidy jig...

Dear Family,
Oh mixed feelings..... I think I'll just write about this week  :) 
Monday was so much fun.  We went bowling as a district, that was so fun.  In the evening, we went with Sister N'jie to see a man named Jeff.  He's super nice, although he didn't have time to talk much, we got another appointment, so that's good.  Then we went to the MacKenzies and had dinner and I got a hair cut.  I love it  :)   So that's good.
Tuesday was also a great day!  In the morning we went to visit Klaudia Hondrado.  She's so great!  She does a lot of missionary work!  Then in the evening we had Amy N'Jie with us again, and we tried to stop by and see Debbie Stanbridge one last time and she was in!  It was such a blessing, because Amy used to work with her, so that is so cool!  Then we had to most amazing appointment with a man named Steve.  He's so prepared.  He never used to believe in God, but so many things have happened to make him believe, but he's still not sure, and there are so many churches and he's confused.  After we taught the lesson he said, "I've listened to a lot of people about religion, but something about your message is different.  It doesn't sound like a sales pitch."  So cool!
Wednesday was great.  I had my last District Meeting.  Then we went to see Carol and finalized things for her baptism.  She's so cute!  She asked Brother Barratt to baptize her.  She's super excited.  |Then we went to the Hughes' for dinner.  What a fun family!
Thursday we did planning and had lunch with Fiona Smith!  She is so cool  :)   Then Sister Jensen and I did a workover!  I came into South Kensington with Sister Garcia, and Sister Carnioletta went with Sister Jensen.  It was so good!  That evening we went to dinner at a Portuguese family's home.  I had no idea what was going on  :)   But it was fun.  The family had invited over their friends to dinner and then after dinner the family asked their friends if they would like to meet with the missionaries and they said yes!  It was so cool.
Friday was crazy!  But I realized something!  I'm allergic to London!  I have horrible allergies all the time when I am here!  Anyways in the morning we saw this super cute less active named Katty and her friend.  It was an amazing appointment and we just got to talk about God, and who he is, and why we sometimes suffer, and Katty's friend wanted to learn more!  Haha, then we taught a man named Alberto who speaks only Spanish, so Sister Garcia taught the whole lesson.  Fun  :)   Then we switched back and Sister Jensen and I went to the Sui's for dinner.   Sister Jensen got to practice Violin for Sister Shooter's baptism, and I got to look at Alaister's mission pictures.  It was fun because I knew quite a few of the people, because he served in Birmingham.  :) 
Saturday was crazy because in the morning I got a call from President Patch telling me I was moving to London on Sunday until the end of my mission!  Madness!  Then we went to help the Martin's move into their new house.  Then after that we did some finding and had an appointment with a really nice kid named James.  Then we went home and I packed.  and packed.  and threw out stuff.  Haha, I got rid of so much stuff!
So Sunday was crazy!  Sister Jensen and I were teaching both Sunday School and Primary, and then when I got there Brother Perry asked me to speak in Sacrament Meeting (ah!).  Then afterwards we had a munch and mingle, and  the ward gave me a really cute card.  It was so great.  Then at 5:00 pm Sister Clemente came and they took me away.  Oh my goodness.  Then I got with Sister Umurshadyan.  It was fun.
Monday morning we OYM'd around Hyde Park.  So cool!  OH my goodness!  We also OYM'd by Harrod's.  Let me tell you, it's really distracting to try and OYM in London!  Haha.  Then Sister Feller and Sister Kuoppala came and we taught a man named Fredrico.  He's so golden.  Then Sister Feller and I went OYM around Hyde park for 3 1/2 hours.  It was so cool!  Haha.  It's so crazy.  Because Sister Feller is training, so she's my companion until the new Sister comes, and Sister Kuoppala and Sister Umurshadyan actually belong to Brittania Ward.
So now I'm here in the office e-mailing, and EVERYONE is here.  Crazy! and I want to go see them, so I'm going to run.  But I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!  I'll see you on Thursday!

Hugs hugs hugs and kisses,
Sister Ison!

Be Our Guest!

Dearest family,

How the heck are you? I am fine. Matoury is a pretty challenging area, but I feel that I am growing more and more each day, and because of the trials, I am getting stronger and stronger. This week we finally got to work with President Baksh, and even though he is no longer the branch president, I think we are going to be able to work better with him and his family. The biggest problem remains Church. The people that are humble and ready to recieve the message don't have any transportation. We are going to try our best this week to figure out a way that our members with cars can come and pick up those without. Unfortunatley this week the few members we have were working, but we talked to them yesterday, and they said that they could work with us this week. That is my new goal. Do everything possible to light the fire in the Members. Elder Taerea is doing good. He was made branch president this week. I am excited for that, and we are going to try our best to support the branch here. The Church is true. I am continually amazed at the faith of our active members because Even though the church here is tiny, they remain faithful. Every sunday they bear their testimonies to me by coming and partaking of the sacrament, even though there are only very few people there. I love that the truthfulness of this church is not dependant on its popularity, but the testimony of the Spirit. The coolest thing that happened this week was, we went to a lesson with a lady named Gertude, and there was a guy there we had never met before. He had a lot of questions, and was very eager to show us his knowlege of the Bible. He said that he only trusted the Bible because it was impossible to know which church was true. We tried to explain about the Restoration, but he was firmly set in his opinion. Finally we told him he could know which Church was true, and he challenged us "How?" Then Gertude butted in before we could say anything and said "Do like Joseph Smith did, Ask God!" It was cool. I gotta get going but I love you!

Love,
Elder Ison

After the trial of your faith....

Dear Friends and Family,
This week has turned out to be a really good week, but it's been hard work!
Monday was good. We did some finding and went to Amie N'Jie's in the evening. She gave us some food, so that was great. She's the sweetest lady. She makes me laugh.
Tuesday we also did a lot of finding. Then in the evening we went to see the Mason's. I love that family! It was so great. David "Danger" Mason told us the story of how he came to join the church. He said that he was working at the coast as a surf instructor, and had no interest in religion at all. However there was this one girl that he was working with that seemed so strong in her faith. He was intrigued by how strong she stood in her faith even when surrounded with so much worldliness. He started to ask her questions, and even met her family. He saw that they were all the same! He didn't understand how they could have such faith that would affect every aspect of their lives. He wanted something like that. But he said, that little did he realize that it came with a whole package, like a testimony and the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was great.
Wednesday we had District Meeting. It was supposed to be our last District Meeting with Elder Voneiderhausern, but then he wasn't there! That was sad, but it was a good District Meeting anyway :) Then we got to see Carol Shooter. She was doing well, and we talked a lot about Visiting Teaching. It was cool. We want to get her involved as soon as possible. Then we had a very long bus ride home... oh boy. haha, and then we went finding for the rest of the evening.
Thursday was a busy day. Early in the morning we met with a young man named Felici. He's great. He's honestly trying to look into a lot of churches. Then we went with Elders Hatch and Spekschinder to see Carol so she could have her baptism interview and she passed! :) Then we went to see a woman named Aldjia. She's searching for something, but she's not sure what. Then finally in the evening we went to do some service at Ursula's. We helped a bit in her front garden with some trimming, and with hanging up her washing. It was really nice. And she made us an amazing meal. Then in the evening we went to see Dominique with the Lidders. I don't think she's ready, and not very interested... but maybe someday she'll figure it out.
Friday haha, welllll..... we had a lot of meetings. We did planning all day, and we had correlation. Then in the evening we did some service, in helping set up for a wedding at the chapel. AND it was Jonathan Young and Rebecka Lee's wedding! Jonathan said to tell Micheal that he loves him very much :) I thought that was so much fun, because it was an unexpected service opportunity. Then we went to a barbeque with some of the ward members by the canal. So that was great.
Saturday morning we went with Mr M to the Martins house and watched The Testaments. I love that movie. So that was really nice. Then we did some finding, and we went to see Amie N'Jie again, because she's soooo sweet and she wanted to feed us again. So that was good :) Sunday was an amazing day! We arrived at church and none of our investigators were there. Then we looked out the door and Sylivia Hollands (less active) was standing there with her nonmember friend Sandra. That was sooo cool! And it turns out that Sandra was the one that convinced Sylvia that she should come to church, because she had heard so much about it, and she wanted to come. Awesome, eh? Then as we ran outside to greet Sylvia someone came up and tapped Sister Jensen on the shoulder, and it was Susan, Giovanni, and the boys, Alex and Sam! It was a wonderful surprise because we hadn't been able to see them in a long time. Sacrament meeting was phenomal, the whole thing. Especially when Elder Green spoke about how he found his testimony on his mission. Giovanni was touched by his sincerity, and afterwards said to Sister Jensen, "That's why I invited you back. A lot of people knock on our door, but there was a light about you." It was AMAZING. Also, the boys were about to not go to primary again, but then the ward mission leader's son, Matt, came and asked them if they would come with him, and they did! Giovanni and Susan loved Sunday School, and the boys enjoyed Primary. It was perfect! Sister Jensen and I had to teach the youth Sunday school, and it was so good. The youth here are amazing! They were so well-behaved, and thoughtfully answered every question we asked, and after it was all over Nichola Perry even thanked us for the lesson! :) Then after church Sandra asked for a Priesthood blessing, so she got one and it was great. And we went home with the Lidders, and after church Reginda said that missionary work had never been her thing, and that this week was the first time she had ever been teaching, and in church she interacted with the investigators, and then she said, "I think I like it." haha, it made me so happy. The Lidder's make me so happy. They are a funny couple. Sunday was so perfect. And it doesn't end there. Because even after that, we went finding for the rest of the evening. We got a lot of appointments and even one really cute Muslim young woman who invited us in, let us teach her, and is going to let us come back later in the week! It was a wonderful way to end the week, and I am so grateful for the Lord's tender mercies, because, to be honest, this past week was hard work, and spiritually draining. It seemed like no one wanted to listen, and some people were very anti, but Heavenly Father is in control, and the blessings come after the trial of your faith!
I love the gospel of Jesus Christ. It doesn't always immediately make sense logically, and it can't be proven by science, but if we test the seed, we will see that it is good. :)

Mom- I can't believe school is started already! Crazy! The trunkiness has set into the ward here, because Elder VonNeiderhausern went home on Saturday and Elder Green and I are preparing to go home. It's so weird, and everyone keeps coming up to say goodbye. I'm going to miss it here. But I still have a week and a half left :)

Nathan- You are so silly! It sounds like you are a very good boy in school. I love you!

Everyone- I love you!

Love,
Sister Ison

That's Inapropriate

Hey guys, Sorry about last weeks email. I always get the crappist computers and something always happens. I have already typed one email this week, and an error erased it. I also have to always type a report to P. Gamiette. My last excuse is I didn't have alot to say because I knoew nothing about the area yet. Now I do! Matoury is a challenging area. The biggest problem is Church. We are trying our very best to find a building close by so our cool investigators can go, but are having little success. Our members with cars are few, and they are full already, but we are still trying to work with them to get our investigators to church. Our branch President is very busy with his job, and we haven't been able to meet with him yet. He has worked the past two sundays, so I haven't even seen him yet. We have planned to do all we can to motivate the members to pray without ceasing for us to have the blessing of a branch building in our own area, and to help us teach, because we feel that it is really up to them. If they pray with faith and show it with their works, I am confident that we could find a building and help the branch to grow. They are all really great members and I know that they could be a real assett to the work. Other than that we have been working hard looking for a building and new investigators with vehicles so we can get them to church, and have found some people that seem really cool. My newest companion, Elder Taerea, is great. He is from Tahiti. He is a barrel of laughs and a good worker. His testimony is rock solid, and he is an excellent teacher. He has been a real example to me in the way that he asks everyone for refferals, and the way he contacts everyone.I love this church and this work. The more time passes by, the sadder it is that its almost over. I know that if I work my hardest to do the will of the lord, we will see miracles here. I can feel it. I love the scriptures, and I love the treasures of knowlege that are in them. I know that Thomas Monson is a prophet of God, and that the Apostles are called of God and will not lead us astray. I love this mission, and I love this people. I can't wait to see the miracles the future holds for this area of the world. I don't got a lot of time, but I am way freaked out that everyone is getting married, and really excited to see what you've done with the house! Have fun with school and seminary, and I love you!

Love,

Elder Ison 

Would a better time be better? no...

Dear Friends and Family,
Being a missionary is so cool.  You just get to know so many different people.  Monday night we stopped by to visit Amy N'Jie.  She is so amazing.  She has her sister visiting, and it's stressful for her because her family doesn't know that she's Christian yet.  But she said that her sister must be suspicious because she doesn't say her Muslim prayers anymore and there are pictures of Christ everywhere.  It made me happy in a way to hear that, because even though she's afraid to tell her family, she's not pretending to be something she's not.  She needs a lot of prayers.
Tuesday morning we went to visit Claudia Honrado.  She really misses Portugual, but she is so sweet.  It was so nice to get to know her and see little Isaac.  He's so funny.  Then in the evening we had a reallly cool lesson with a man named Nathan.  He's a Hindu, and we taught him the message of the restoration.  It was so amazing because he just understood everything we were talking about.  His wife was really sweet as well and gave us muffins and apples and water and coffee (which we had to decline :-P).  At the end she said that she works for a Catholic School and asked if we do set prayers.  When we explained that we don't Nathan said that prayers said from the heart were much better, so that was pretty cool.  The only sad thing is he was moving back to India on Saturday for two months.  But we gave him the website and he's coming back to Birmingham in two months, so he promised to look the church up.   :)   He was so cool.
Wednesday we did a lot of planning and a bit of finding  :)   In the afternoon we went to see Carol Shooter, and are working with her to get her baptized on 1 September  :) .  She's doing well, and working hard to get ready for that day.
Thursday was Zone Conference and it was a really weird day.  I can't believe that was my last Zone Conference.  I had to bear my departing testimony and everyone kept asking me what it was like to be going home and if I was okay and stuff.  Oh my days, I don't think I like it  :-P .  Then in the evening we went to see Dominique again and Sister Butcher came with us.  Dominique had read a little, and is open minded to a point, but she doesn't really understand to importance of Jesus Christ.  She is willing to learn though so that's really good  :)   It was a really nice lesson and great to have Sister Butcher there, as usual.
Friday we did a lot of finding then in the evening we went to visit Kathy Taylor.  She's such a sweet heart.  Then we went and had a marvelous dinner with the Ips.  They are so funny.  It was a lot of fun.
Saturday was a really neat day!  We were tracting before a lunch appointment with the Martins and Mr M, and then they called to say that they were running late.  So we got to keep tracting for a little longer and we met this Hindu man.  We were talking to him on the doorstep and he said, "It's windy, would you like to come inside?"  His wife was upstairs so we went in and started to ask him questions and he told us that he had met Mormons before and that he had a Book of Mormon.  I already thought that was pretty cool, and then as we kept talking we found out that he had actually only met the missionaries 2 weeks previous in Florida when he was staying with his son.  They had taught him about the restoration, and he had wanted to come to church, but with everything being so busy to prepare to come back to England he wasn't able to.  Then we knocked on his door, so we taught him a bit about the Plan of Salvation.  He kept asking us what he could do to find peace of mind.  We talked about God's plan for us, and how following the commandments will bring us peace, and he really liked it.  But, sad day, he is leaving to go to India for 2 months soon, and then he's going back to Florida.  He got all of our information and said he'd be in touch.  I thought it was so cool how the Lord sent missionaries to him in both Florida and here.  He must really want Ramniklal Sangami.  :)   Too bad we keep losing all our cool new investigators to India.  haha.  Then we went to the Martins for Lunch with Mr M, and it was really nice.  We had Tacos, and talked about the Priesthood.  Then in the evening we went finding so that was cool.
Sunday was fun.  I gave a talk in sacrament meeting on Personal Revelation.  So did Elder VonNeiderhausern, because it's his last Sunday!  Crazy.  Then we met with Brother Ip and one of our investigators to discuss some financial stuff in order to enable them to pay tithing.  It was crazy.  They used a lot of big words that I didn't understand, but I did learn one thing.  Stay out of debt! Haha.  Then Sister Jensen and I taught Sharing time.  Then after church we went with the Flandros to their house.  It was so cool.  They have a BEAUTIFUL house, and they are such fun people.  They made me laugh.  Brother Flandro served his mission in Rome, Italy.  He told us some cool stories.  Then we did more finding in the evening.  It was a great Sunday.
So that was my week.  Pretty awesome although it's so strange to have everyone keep telling me I'm so close to going home.  Oh well  :) 

Mom-  I can't believe Brooke is married!  Send her my love!   Oh and Ian!  Tell him congrats as well.   Haha, it made me laugh about Sacrament Meeting.  I love my family  :) 

Dad- Thank-you sooooo much for everything.  Thank-you again, you're a life saver!  P.S. Your e-mails keep getting shorter and shorter as well  :-P 

Elder Ison-  Man, French Guyana sounds so cool.  It'll definitely be an adventure for you!

Nathan-  You are so cool!  I love you!

Love,
Sister Ison

P.S. The subject line is something that Sister Jensen said on the doorstep and it just made me laugh.   Of course a better time would be better, but the person still said no.... oh boy  :-P 

Mister, I'll make a man out of you

6 Lot. Heliconias
Route de Baduel
97300, Cayenne
French Guyana


Thats my new address, just in case you were wondering. How are you doing? I am well. The trip here was pretty uneventful, except my flight got delayed a whole day. It turned out to be a HUGE blessing though because #1: I got to go to an FHE at Jean and Helenes House, which was pretty insanely awesome, and #2 instead of Air Caribes, I got to fly AirFrance, which is much nicer. Now I am here. It is A LOT differerent here than anywhere else I've served. People here are from all over! Most of the people here are from Guyana, Suriname, Haiti, and Brazil. There is an ENORMOUS squatter neighborhood in our area, and its a pretty intense place. The work here can be difficult, because most everyone here is illegal, and are scared to get deported. I was pretty excited to find out however, that there are also a couple Amerindian villages in our area. It is interesting and different, but cool too. Our priority right now is finding a place to hold church close by, because the chapel in Cayenne is too far for most people. I am way excited to see the work you've done though! You guys are the best. I gotta get going, but I love you guys!

Love, Elder Ison

I love my family! :)

Dear Friends and Family,
How are you!?  Life is great.  Being a missionary is the best thing ever.
Monday night at the Snailham's was great as usual.  They are a cute family.
Tuesday was also a good day.  We went finding in the morning, and we met this woman named Elizabeth who immediately let us in.  She's a very wise woman, and understands a lot, especially about the importance of the family.  It was a nice lsson.  Then in the evening we had an appointment with another woman named Dominique.  She's from France.  It was a great appointment, and I love how the spirit gives us the words to speak.  Dominique didn't understand the point of going to church because she believes God is everywhere and in everything.  I wasn't sure what to say, but the spirit definitely gave me the words, and I was able to explain how she was right in that God will listen to and answer our prayers no matter where we are, but he's given us the church in order to have access to the highest of his blessings.  it was cool  :) 
Wednesday was awesome!  The Elders were picking us up for District meeting so at around 9:30 am when there was a knock on the door, we assummed it was them and ignored it, and prayed.  But then the doorbell rang, so I just yelled, "We're coming!"  And then we got all our stuff and went to the door, and the poor postman was standing there!  haha, But he still gave me my parcel.   :)   Thank-you so much!  I LOVED the pictures so much!  They made me smile all day.  Also, the CD is FANTASTIC!  Did you listen to it?  It's so cool.  Thank-you.  Then after District meeting we went to see Carol Shooter.  She's doing so well.  She's working on a way to come to church every Sunday, and she wants to be baptized on 5 September, so that's good.  Then in the evening we went and met with the Mc Shanes's (Micheal was supposed to come, but due to miscommunication, that didn't work out exactly.)  Then we went to see Govanni and Susan with Sister Butcher.  At first Govanni wasn't there, but in the end it ended up being a good thing, because it was really nice just to talk to Susan and find out what she was thinking, because she's very much involved in her own church.  We had a really good lesson about really investigating the church with real intent, and we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  And then Govanni came in at the end, so we got to see him a bit as well.  Then we went to travel home, and we got to Hemel Hempstead Train Station, and sat there for like 20 minutes, and our bus never came! Oh my days, it drives me mad when buses don't come.  But the Lidders very kindly picked us up and took us home after we called them for an emergency favour  :)   People are so great!
Thursday we did our planning and some finding, so that was a good uneventful day.
Friday morning we went to see Elizabeth again and Sister Ip came with us.  Elizabeth, although very wise, doesn't seem prepared to open her heart to accept that there would be any one true church, but we were able to bear testimony, so that's good.  Then we called to Elders to ask them a question and they told us that we had interviews at 1:30!  That was definitely a shock, because by that point it was already nearly noon, and it would take us nearly two hours to get there by bus and train!  Not possible!  So after a bit of panicking, the Elders very kindly offered to give us a lift and to go early.  *phew*, so we made it on time and had a very nice interviews.  President and Sister Patch are great.  They make me laugh.  As we were walking to have interviews, President Patch looked at me and said, "Looking at you just makes me sad."  Haha, oh man.  Then we were able to go with Sister McShane to Mr M's house for dinner, and it was SOOOOOO good.  I think that coolest thing (for me anyways), was that he prepared mashed green bananas (I can't remember the Uganda word for it), and they tasted really nice.  It tastes almost like mashed potatoes.  Then we went to the Friday Night activity and played chair football.  That was cool.
Saturday morning was Angela's baptism (one of the Elders investigators).  It was so nice to be there.  She is such a sweet woman, and had faced a lot of opposition, but she said, "It's true, what else matters?"  She had a great fear of water, and had never in her life been swimming or anything.  She had a really hard time, but she was so brave and she had so much faith, and after much prayer she was able to do it.  It was amazing.  Then in the afternoon into the evening we went finding.
Sunday was another great day!  When we got to the bus stop to go to church there was this little Latvian lady there, who had been here visiting and was trying to go to the airport to go home.  She spoke almost no English, but through showing us her various tickets, and a few things that her friends had written out for her we were able to figure out where she was trying to go, and then she said, "You help me?"  Hehe, so of course we helped her get to where she was trying to go.  Then Sister Jensen went to give her a card for a Book of Mormon, and when she saw it, she pointed at it and nodded and indicated she had seen it before, and between gestures and very broken English she indicated that in Latvia she was learning English in that church.  Three Boys who were American were teaching the class.  Then she smiled and said, "Snowflake City" .  I loved it!  She was so cute.  Then we got to church.  Angela got confirmed.  The spirit was so strong there.  The topic of Sacrament Meeting was Charity.  Sister Jensen gave a talk.  She's amazing!  She speaks like a general authority.  Also Alastair Sui gave his homecoming talk, so that was pretty cool as well.  Micheal, of course  :-P , was there.  After church we went to Paulo Martins house for lunch.  They are such a fun family.  Then we came back to Hemel and met with a member named May Cook.  She is a sweet sweet lady.  It was nice to get to know her, and she gave us so much food.  Watford Ward takes good care of the missionaries.  Then we went finding.
So all in all a great week.   :) 

Mom-  Thanks for the message from Sister Stevenson!  Oh my goodness I'm soooooo excited!  Tell her to give Justian Evans a huge congrats from me!  That's so cool.  :)   Sounds like you had a fun week.

Dad-  Mom is great at finding bargains, haha. 

Nathan-  No more monkeys jumping on the bed!  I love you Nathan!  Thank-you for the beautiful picture!

Elder Ison-  What?  You're no longer on Gaudeloupe?  Crazy!  Good luck in your new area!

Sister Arnquist-  You rock my world!  Sounds like really awesome things are happening on temple square.

Sister Besso-  My Favourite Australian Companion!   :)   Hey, tell Sister Bidwell, that I respond to every letter I receive  :-P   Hehe.

Love,
Sister Ison

Try to say goodbye and I choke...

Hey you guys!

Sorry for the lateness of this email, but yesterday was crazy! We had a Lunch at the Collings house, and I didn't have time to email. This week was good. We got transfer calls on Saturday and I am going to Matoury, French Guyana. I will be co-companions with Elder Taerea from Tahiti, and he will be the Branch President. That is pretty cool. I will still be the district leader as well. I am really excited to go down there, but it is also really hard because this will probably be my last day serving on Guadeloupe. Goodbyes are always lame. That's basically what I did all day today. I hope now you understand why I wanted you to wait. I hope you got that email!!! I will have the Collings Email you with the address there. How was your week? I was pretty excited to hear Mom is trying out some new recipes!!! The Book of Mormon is the best. I am excited Mom is teaching it too. I LOVE IT! Anyways the investigators here in Capesterre are doing good. Dylan and Cynthia weren't there this week, so we didn't get to see them that much, but Jonathan is doing well. I saw him smiling yesterday, and since he is so Gangsta, thats basically the first time I've seen that. I am sure he'll be baptized soon. I dunno if I told you but we ahve also been working with Thédy, Sr. Naines Brother. He wants to be baptized and be a branch missionary, but first he wants to read the Book of Mormon 2 times. It is going to be hard to leave, but Elder Olsen will take care of everyone. He's training. Haha, its really funny because he has only been out 3 transfers and he is training on his 4th. I better get going, I don't got a lot of time, but send everyone my love, and if you don't get this email, I am going to be pretty T-Oed. alright, PEACE OUT!

Love,

Elder Ison

Who ya gonna call?

HEY GUYS!
How the heck are you? I am doing great! Capesterre is doing well. We are working with alot of family members of members, and we are definitley seeing results. Cynthia and Dylan, the neice and nephew of Frere Bonbon, are progressing really well, and both have growing testimonies and know the church is true. We also have been working with Sr. Naines brother, and he said that he believes our church is true and wants to keep following it. And, of course, there is Jonathan Bonbon who has also expressed a desire for baptism. He is just not exactly sure when. I will definitley keep you posted on their progress. I have seen alot of success as I have planned for it! Zone Conference was one of the awesomest of my mission for sure. I love learning, but it is kind of sad, because I learned so much and don't have much time to put it into practice. Today we had a sweet P-day and visited some waterfalls and hiked a while in the jungle. It was nice. I am kinda a little bit super jealous that you got to see the Joseph Smith movie and Nauvoo pageant. I can't wait to see them again. I actually have a suggestion to ask. Don't send my package this week, because it is transfer week, I will tell you whether or not you need to send it to a different address next week. I still have not recieved my Drivers lisence thing though... I hope it comes this week-ish. I am glad to hear that Andrew is doing well, I love that guy. Well, Hate to love you and leave you, but thats the way the cookie crumbles.


Love You!

Elder Ison

Zone Leader Council

Dear Friends and Family,
So monday turned out to be a fun day. We saw Govanni and Susan with Sister Butcher in the evening. They enjoyed church and Sister Butcher bore powerful testimony about how this is the fulness of the gospel. Tuesday was so cool! President Patch invited Sister Jensen and I to come to ZLC (Zone Leader Council). It was really cool so see what the Zone Leaders are up to :-P They discussed a lot about how to improve missionary work on an area to area basis. It's neat how individual each area is. That took pretty much all day, but when we got home in the evening we had time to do a little bit of finding. It was actually our first time tracting in Hemel Hempstead! Cool! :) Wednesday we had District meeting, and then afterwards we went to see a less-active woman named Heather Hiscock. She is a sweet lady who is experiencing sooo many trials in her life right now. It was wonderful to be able to talk to her about how the gospel really brings us that peace and hope that we need to get through trying times. Then we went to the Stanbury's for dinner. I can't get enough of that family. Mr M was busy working on some assignments so he couldn't make it. Thursday we saw Sister Shooter. She's doing well. She even said half a prayer out loud (she doesn't like to pray out loud). So that was progress :) We did planning the rest of the day and finding. Friday was pretty cool. We went finding in the morning, and then in the early evening we went and met another branch of the Martins family, Alberto and Tina. They are all such sweet people. It was really fun. She actually taught him and he got baptized while she was on her mission in Portugual. Then he served a mission as well and then 8 years later they met again at some mission reunion thing, and then started dating....etc. I thought it was cute :) Then we went and saw Micheal at the chapel and talked about fasting. Then we played a rowsing game of dodgeball for our Friday night activity, and I decided that I don't like it much anyway :-P Saturday was cool because the ward had arranged a temple trip and Mr M got to go on it. He really enjoyed it. :) Then in the morning we taught a woman named Kathy. She's sweet and under a lot of stress right now. We aren't exactly sure how much she understands but it was nice anyways. Then we went with a member Amy N'jie to visit her neighbour Simon, who has been taught by the Elders. It was sooo cool! Simon is so prepared and Amy is just a gem. I love member missionary work. Amy actually used to be Muslim, but she is now a Latter-day Saint through and through. Simon used to be very active in his own church, but then one day he prayed to God to show him the place to go, and he just stopped going to his church and never went to church again until the day he met the Elders. Cool eh? Then in the evening we went to Teacher Training with Elder Hatch and Elder Spekschinder (spelled completely wrong by the way :) ) so that was cool.

Yesterday was great. I love Fast and tesimony meeting. President and Sister Patch were there! Mr M came and so did Sister Shooter. Sister Mason shared with the whole Relief Society how cool it was to have us over to visit her friend Vicky and told them all to do the same :) And Sister Jensen and I got to teach the sunbeams. And they are 3 of the cutest little sunbeams I have ever seen :) So that was super fun. Then we went finding and found quite a few potential investigators. All in all, as usual, an amazing week.

Haha.... guess what. Fiona Smith just walked into the Library and is e-mailing next to me. She's so cool :-P
Mom- I love my pictures too :-P I love our new flat so much! It's really nice. :) I'll give you a virtual tour. (you didn't happen to send me a memory card by chance? :-P ) I can't believe it's already August. Time flies.

Dad- Thank-you for your testimony! More and more as a missionary I just think that the sweetest thing to hear is someone bear their testimony :) It's excellent.

Nathan- That was such a nice e-mail! Everyone loves Nathan! :)
Love,
Sister Ison

Hemel Hempstead

Dearest Friends and Family,
Oh my goodness.... things keep getting better  :) 
Tuesday Bruna spent the day with us and came with us to see Govanni and Susan.  It was a really good lesson and they agreed to come to church and they said they'd bring their two youngest boys with them as well.  Then in the evening we went to dinner at Sister Mason's with her friend Vickie.  They are both so sweet and they have little babies  :) .  We talked about the importance of motherhood, and it was really nice.
Wednesday Elder Voneiderhausern arrived, and we had correlation with Brother MacKenzie.  It's so crazy.  We have 5 missionaries in Watford ward now.  Then in the evening, we went to the Stanbury's with Micheal.  He's doing very well.  We watched Special Witnesses of Christ and talked about sustaining the Prophet.  He said he'd prepare to be baptized on 22 August  :) .  It's exciting to see how he's growing.  He also told us that he was actually looking for a church when we met him, so that's pretty cool.  It was just a perfect lesson and the Stanbury's are a great help.
Thursday we did our planning and then we went to see Carol Shooter with the Barratts.  The Barratts are such sweethearts, and Carol promised to come to church every other Sunday (instead of the first Sunday of the month), so that's excellent!  Then we went and got to meet the McShanes.  They are so cool as well.  Watford Ward is so great.  Then in the evening we decided to tract Cecil Road.  So we were knocking on doors when to our surprise Marco Martins opened the door!  Haha, he's a member of the ward, and we hadn't realized we were tracting their street.  It was a funny surprise and then, to make it even more fun, he said to us, "If you would like to come back in half an hour, you can eat dinner with us."  It was so sweet!  So we had an excellent meal, and found out that he knows more about geography (even in the United States) than I probably do  :-P .
Friday (Happy Pioneer Day!)  was crazy because we spent a good part of the day packing.  But in the evening we went to the chapel and taught Micheal about the Ten Commandments and keeping the Sabbath Day Holy.  He said he'd do better on his reading, because he wants to make sure he's being baptized for the right reasons  :) .  Then we went tracting a bit and it was really funny because the first house we walked up to the guy was just getting out of his car, so we said hello, and asked him if he believed in God, and he threw two squishy balls, one at each of us!  Haha, he let us keep them, and then after we talked to him a bit and got his number he also gave us each a packet of delicious jelly beans.  Then we went to the chapel and Elder O'Toole (who is now Luke....weird) was there visiting, and the Barratt's very kindly gave us a lift home.
Saturday we spent our day finishing packing and cleaning, and transporting, and a bit of tracting in Rickmansworth before leaving.  We got checked into our new flat.  It's so nice.  I love it!  It makes me happy.  It was so nice as well because Brother Gary Snailham and the three Elders helped us move in, and with so many hands it only took like 5 minutes to get all our stuff up and in!  It was so cool  :) 
Sunday was pretty much the most perfect Sunday ever.  All in all between the Elders and us we had about 19 investigators at church, including 3 families.  Micheal came (of course, he's part of the ward now  :)  ), and so did Govanni, Susan, and their two boys, Alex, and Sam.  The sacrament meeting was all about Family History and Temple Sealings.  The Gospel Principles class was the "Lord's law of health", and Priesthood/Relief Society was "Sacred Homes Sacred Temples."  It was absolutely perfect.  Govanni and Susan enjoyed it.  Susan already knew one of the families the Elders were teaching and one of the women from the ward, so that was pretty cool.  Then after church we had lunch with Sister Hughes, and that was awesome.  I love her a lot, and it was also pretty cool because they have their Canal Boat parked directly behind the chapel.  Then we went back to our new area in Hemel Hempstead, and went to visit a lady in a home named Kathy Taylor.  She's really sweet.  We met some nice people as well.
So it's been an excellent week.   :) 

Mom- That is so cool!  I love Nauvoo.  I've already told everyone it's my favourite place.  Brother Mackenzie has some relatives that work on the pageant, so that's cool as well.  Our new flat is so perfect.  It came furnished and with dishes and cleaning supplies as well!   :)   Oh, and yes, that's our new mailing address  :)   That's so cool to think about the bookends  :)   I have the best family ever!

Dad-  I am in desperate need of new shoes..... and I'm trying to make mine stretch, but they are literally falling apart...so yeah... .I'll be spending the money anyway  :-P   The character in my ward is "Jane".  She's the black lady who helped out "Anthony".  Do you know who I'm talking about now?

Nathan-  Nauvoo is the greatest!  I love you!

Love,
Sister Ison

I really am having a rough time coming up with a clever subject line for this email.

Hey guys!
How are you? I am doing pretty good. We had a good week and worked hard. We painted our apartment this week and it looks a lot better. President Gamiette wants it temple like, so we have been working our butts off here to make it like that. We also have been working hard with investigators and finding new people. We have been working hard with the Bonbon's son Jonathan. He wasn't baptized with the rest of his family and went to France for a year on his own and lived a pretty gangsta lifestyle, but he came back of his own free will and choice, because he didn't like who he was becoming. He is a really quiet guy, but you can tell that he has a good spirit in there. We are praying for him because the Bonbons do so much for us and it would be nice if he could get baptized and sealed to them. Fun story, Saturday, Elder Olsen and I were walking home from teaching Jonathan Bonbon, and we both got this strange eerie feeling, but we couldn't figure out what it was. We called Elder Colling and he suggested we ask Frere Bonbon to come and bless the apartment. Long story short, He came and gave one of the coolest blessings ever. The feeling went away instantly. He is the best. We also have some other investigators whose strength is not quite sure at the moment. They could go both ways, but we are hoping and praying that they go the Lords way. We had a fun activity this week and played soccer with all the members in Guadeloupe. It was a really good time. I am way excited to see my room though. How was your week this week? I hope it goes well. I hope that there are no more health issues either. I love you guys so much! I gotta go so I will ttyl!


LOVE!

Elder Ison

Busy week!

Dear Friends and Family,
I love my life! This week has been so cool, and I hope I can remember everything.
Monday was a good day. We went bowling with Elder Hatch and Elder Jentzsch. Then in the evening we went to dinner at Lee Snailham's house. He's the Elder's Quorum President, and he's fantastic. It was really nice to meet his family (his wife isn't a member). It really was a good evening.
Tuesday in the morning we went to visit a potential and found out that he's actually our mailman. Haha, genius, he was busy, but hopefully we'll be able to contact him again. At lunchtime we made over 40 no bake cookies :) We gave them to various investigators and members, so that was super fun. Then in the evening we saw Micheal and taught him about the Word of Wisdom. Sister Bettridge came with us and she was great :) She's so good to us. Micheal was pretty shocked that tea was on the list of No-no's, but we promised him blessings and he said he'd put the Lord to the test and give it a shot, and he's been doing good on that. :) Then in the evening we went to see a man named Govanni who invited us back to meet his wife, Susan. We taught them and it was a nice lesson. They already had a Book of Mormon that Susan had picked up out of curiosity a few years earlier, so that was pretty cool. She's part of some Reverend Moon church, that I don't know a whole lot about, but that's okay :) We're going to see them again today actually. So that's cool.
Wednesday we had District Meeting, and then we went out to deliver some of our cookies. We went to see Shanti. She seemed to appreciate the cookies, but is still very busy. Then we went to see the Gurney's. They loved their cookies and invited us in to see them, so that was great. They are such sweet people! Sister Gurney said that even though she doesn't make it to church she is definitely a mormon at heart. I thought that was cute. Then we stopped by Jill, and she was very touched by the cookies. She's very friendly and her daughter Zoey was happy to see "The ladies", as she calls us. Then we stopped by a potential investigator named mark and got to meet his wife who just had a baby 2 weeks ago. She was really sweet, and even though it was the first time we met her, she let us come in and see little Luke, and she took the cookies. Hopefully when things settle down a bit we'll be able to go back and teach them, they are such a sweet family. Then to top it off we gave some cookies to Louise and Stephanie. Louise seemed a bit cold, but Stephanie was so happy :) It's amazing what a few cookies can do :) Then in the evneing we went to meet one of the Elders old investigators named Carol Shooter. It was nice to meet her and we're going to start teaching her now, because she has some concerns that might be better resolved with the gentleness of sisters :-) Then to top off an already great day we went to meet a woman named Amy. She was so sweet, and even though she had worked an overnight shift, and was very sleep deprived, she still made time for us. It was a really good lesson. :) Thursday morning we had correlation with the Elders and Brother MacKenzie. It was really good and we got a lot accomplished. Then we went around the chapel and had lunch. It was the first day of the "Weathering the Storms of Life" Exhibition which was sooooo cool! Plus I got to see Brother Tony McGary! He's alive. Oh my days... haha... and also Brother Brezzo, so that was really fun. We went around a bit distributing flyers to encourage people to come, and we went around the Exhibition with Carol Shooter who came. Then we answered a lot of questions for a theologist named Jemma. It was really interesting, but what I loved the most is that through all the questions, and in every answer I felt the spirit prompt me what to say. I loved it! haha. Then we met up with Micheal and went to the Stanbury's for dinner. Did I mention how much I love the Stanbury's? It was great. We watched the restoration and Brother Stanbury expressed his desire to baptize Micheal :-P It was great! It was also so cute, because their autisitc son, Sebastian, was sick, so he stayed upstairs. They gave him some ice cream, and then he came downstairs and told us that the ice cream had given him the ability to walk, and that he needed some more so that he could be healed. So cute! It was great and then afterwards Micheal came with us to a special fireside about the exhibition. It was so good, and a lot of people were there. Cool stuff really :) Friday we did our planning and then some finding. Pretty low key day.
Saturday was another fun day full of finding, and then in the evening we went and did teacher training at the chapel. While we were waiting for Elder Hatch and Elder Jentzsch to pick us up at Watford Town Center we did some OYMing in Babylon. Haha, I decided it wasn't my favourite activity :-P , but the Elders saved us and we went to the chapel. They were cleaning up from the exhibition and it was really cool because we got to take some more pictures from helping hands and they had pictures from the pond we made! It was sooooo coool! It's actually a pond, and we helped to make it :) So that was really fun.
Sunday was such a spectacular day. Micheal is like a part of the ward now, we just need to get him to be baptized. We taught Sharing time and that was really fun. The Stake President and his whole family spoke in sacrament meeting (including Isaac, William, and Austen, who are all age 8 and under). Then after church we went with Micheal to the Feredays for lunch. Then we had the most amazing appointment with Kiyonori Asano and his family. He joined the church when he was 17 in Hiroshima, but stopped going when he was around 19. He has a wife and 3 children, a girl who's 15, and two boys who are 10 and 7. The whole family came for the lesson, and all the children seemed really interested. I think Kiyonori wants this for his family, but he's afraid to push it because his wife doesn't like religion much. We weren't able to get a return appointment because they want to discuss it as a family, but we have a phone number and we're going back to give his wife a Japanese Book of Mormon. It was just really nice to teach a whole family, and they were all very nice and involved and asking good questions, and Kia, the 15 year old, seemed particularly interested in it all. It was especially cool to start from the beginning, because they didn't even really have knowledge of Christianity or the bible at all.
Monday was equally as fantastic. We had District Meeting at Brother Gibbs house, and he made the hottest Indian Curry I have ever eaten. Oh my days, I nearly died. haha, but I survived, and then we got to have another great appointment. Not far from where we live there is a restaurant called the Thai Orchid. We got to go teach one of the chefs, Tyson, one of the waitresses, Am, and their friend Pianee. They are all from Thailand and have no Christian background at all. Tyson has looked at the Bible before and that's it. We had one Thai Book of Mormon for them to share and we talked a lot about God and prayer. It was so nice, and they were so nice, and they really got it! They were very happy to have the Book of Mormon in Thai. I'm really excited about them. Then we spent the evening finding and met some nice people. Then we went to wait for the bus to come home and it never came! How rude! haha, so we had to call Sister Bettridge to bail us out, and she very kindly came to pick us up. What a life saver!
So it was a really great week! As you can tell I haven't moved yet. Oh and moves calls were last night and they are taking the Sisters out of Enfield and putting Elders there! I was shocked. So, I'm staying in Watford for the rest of my mission..... that's so weird to think about. We should be moving to Hemel Hempstead this weekend, because the papers are all in the process. So yeah... That's my week :)
New Address (as of Saturday):
50 Tattershall Drive
Hemel Hempstead
HP2 7QF

Mom- I hope that you are feeling better. Give Sister Shepherd-Kent my love, and also the Gauthier family. I pray for them.
Dad- Thanks for looking that up for me :)
Nathan- You are so silly! I love you!

Elder Ison- I did get your letter, and I wrote back, so hopefully you'll get that soon :)
Love,
Sister Ison

Je voudrais deja etre roi!

Hey guys!

What is going down? I am a little jealous of your awesome week. I am glad the boys have started running, because they are gonna have to be in shape for when I get back. I wish I could go to the Dollar store! Anyways, on my end the week wasn't too bad either. We have been asked by the Mission president to make our apartments clean as a temple, which is a challenge for us, because our apartment isn't in the best of shape. We have spent some quality time this week scrubbing the walls because we got permission to paint them. We still got some work to do, but the landlord is happy, which is a step in the right direction. Other than all that, we did find time to do some good old fashioned finding and teaching. We finally were able to see a lady named Sabrina and her family. She has 4 children between the ages of 12 and 8, and lives with her sister who has a child who is 8 as well. The kids are awesome and really eager to listen, so I am excited about that. We also taught a really good lesson to Frere Bonbons niece and nephew (twins of 17), and their brother in law. They were really nice and had alot of cool questions. They even talked about baptism. We also found a couple people with potential tracting, so our investigator pool isn't as shallow any more. All in all, it wasn't a bad week. I didn't appreciate that comment though, Dad. I am not Vain. I just am trying my best to take care of the gift God gave me. Anyways, I love you guys, and I hope this week is another fun adventure!(I just realized that sounded sorta Barney-esque)
I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

Elder Ison

PS. Have you got your letter yet, Sister Ison?