The Ison Blog

Dear friends and family,
The weather is amazing right now!  Yes!  haha, it's actually been pretty chilly this week though.
Monday was great.  Suresh took us out to lunch at the Indian Restaurant he works at.  It was realllllly good food.  And he got us this desert that was boiled milk with almond and pistachio, or something like that.  I can't remember what it was called, but it was reallllly good.  mmm  :) 
Tuesday in the morning we had district meeting.  I did a training on living what you learn.  It was really fun.  Then afterwards Sister Kuoppala and I did lunch.  We did wraps with tomato past, chicken, cheese, and taco seasoning.  They were pretty good  :)   Then we went to see Bella.  She's so excited about her baptism.  I love it!  We made final arrangements for her interview, and Sister Stevenson came with us.  Then in the afternoon we went to see a couple named Tola and Bola.  They were really good, and we taught them about the restoration.  Then in the evening we saw Baetsi, Linda and Mark.  We taught the plan of salvation, but we kept getting a little side tracked, so it was a pretty long lesson.... haha... but it was good.
Wednesday was fun.  In the morning we saw Bella again, then we did our weekly planning.  Then Sister Kuoppala and I hopped on a train to London Liverpool Street to meet up with Sister Worthen and Sister Feller and do my first ever work over.  Haha.  It was great.  I went with Sister Feller to Maldon.  Sister Feller is adorable.  She's a graduate from Utah State with a degree in Sociology.  She has a lot of siblings, including one little brother who's currently on a mission.  That evening we had an appointment with a girl named Shannon and her boyfriend James in the home of Sam and Emma Hector.  Sam and Emma were just perfect  :)   It was a good lesson.
Then Thursday we went out and about.  Most of our appointments cancelled, so we spent the day tracting.  Let me tell you, the Maldon area is beautiful!  It's out in the country.  We did have one appointment with the Lee family.  They are so cute.  They live in a cottage that was built in the 1500s!  She made us a really good dinner, and we taught her 8-year-old daughter, Annabelle, about the Bible and the Book of Mormon and how they support each other.  She's really bright.  She's very excited to be baptized  :-) .  I love the members in Maldon, they are really sweet.  Also, they live with a member named Sister Allen.  She's very nice and has a beautiful home!  It was a nice day.
Friday was Zone Conference in Colchester.  I loved it!  Elder and Sister Malm came from Sweden to speak to us.  Elder Malm spoke a lot about dignity in our calling, and I loved it!  Plus, Sister Berret is in my Zone Conference again!  Yes!  It was exciting to see her, because I hadn't seen her in a while.  She is so funny.  At lunch we were discussing about how everything we learn on our missions prepares us for the future, and she said (joking of course  :)  ), "Man, I've been conned.  Here I came on a mission thinking I was going to have this great spiritual experience, and all it is is one giant marriage prep..."  haha.  It was a really good day.  Sister Worthen goes home in a couple weeks.  That's so strange.  Oh how time flies.  Oh my goodness, and President and Sister Foulger go home in July!  They announced our new mission president, who is President Patch.  I'll miss the Foulger's so much!  They are amazing!  Then I came back with Sister Kuoppala to good ol' Ilford (Love it!).  We went to the Onalapo's for dinner, and we watched some stuff on church welfare.  That was fun.  It was a great evening.  I love the Onalapos!
That brings us to Saturday.  It was a very good day.  We did a lot of finding!  But we did see Muyiwa, Honey, and their friend Richmond in the afternoon, so that was fun.
Sunday was great!  President and Sister Foulger came!  President met with Bella, and she's all ready for her baptism next week!  I love it!  Also, Joice and Selam came to church for the first time with little Yolanda!  It was great!  They loved it and said they would come next week.  It was such a happy day.  Also, Mfundo came again, and hopefully we're going to see him again this week.  It was just generally a great day.  Plus, it was so sunny and warm!  It was another busy day, but we managed to get in all the hours we needed.  We met with Sarah after church.  We read about when Nephi builds the boat with her, and discussed obedience, and she really liked it!  It was great.  Then we went to see a woman named Julie.  It was sad though, because she didn't want anything to do with the Book of Mormon, and she wouldn't open her mind to it.  But maybe, someday, she will.  Then in the evening Brother Onalopo came with us to visit Stella.  We taught about following the prophet, and general conference.  It was a really great lesson, and Brother Onalopo was perfect!  I love working with members!!  :)   They make all the difference!  :) 
So that's been my week.  A very good one for sure.  I'm so excited for Bella's baptism, and about Joice.   :-D   Today looks like it'll be a good day.  The sun is shining  :)   Also, I cut my hair this morning, well, actually I just trimmed my fringe, because it seems that it's getting warm enough that I won't need to wear a hat much anymore!  Yes!  Oh I love springtime.

Mom-  Oh man.  I love Nauvoo!   It's an amazing place!  It's so great how the gospel unites and blesses families.  Thank-you for your amazing example always to me.  I'm so excited that everyone will be at BYU-I this fall!  :-D   It will be great fun!  Speaking of which.  Do you know when registration is yet?  I'm excited to have some pictures of CJ, because I've realized that I have pretty much, none........  :) 

Nathan- You are so cute!  I love you!

Elder Ison-  I hope you are feeling better!  Oh, and guess what, Elder West is from Maldon Ward, where I did my workover.  Pretty cool, eh?  Small world.

Sister Arnquist-  Thanks for your postcard!

Everyone else-  I love you!

Love,
Sister Ison