Miracles happen....

Hello friends and family!
I love you all!   :)   This week has been a tiring one, but such a good one.
Monday in the evening we went to see Bjorn, Elder Obradavich's friend.  He's a really nice guy.  We discussed some interesting theory's about the world ending in 2012.  haha, it was good though.  Then in the evening we went to family home evening, and we taught a lesson about the Book of Mormon.  Then we played this quiz "football" game.  It was fun.
Tuesday I woke up and I had some serious back pain.  It was weird, but we went OYMing anyway.  It was kind of tough.  Really, to be honest i just wanted to go home and lie down, but I know that all things are possible with Heavenly Father's help  :)   and I was able to make until lunch, and then we took our lunch break and I laid down on the couch the whole time, and then I felt much better.  Then we got to see a referral from the Romford Elders named Justin.  He's pretty confused about religion, but he liked the fact that when he asked the Romford Elders where God came from that they said 'I don't know'.  He felt like they were being honest with him.  We had a lesson with him and Sister Stevenson, and Sister Stevenson taught about the great apostasy.  It was a really good lesson.  Then in the evening we went to see Baetsi, Linda and Mark.  We are really trying to work on them to get them to church.
Wednesday we had District Meeting.  I did a training on being effective Stewards and Watchmen.  I had a lot of fun preparing it.  Then Elder Vaneiderhausen made us lunch.  It was Cous cous and curry.  yum.  Then we went and did finding until the evening time, when we saw Bella.  It was a good lesson.
Thursday was a long day.  A member of the ward, Brother Lawrence, passed away last week, and it was his funeral.  We attended it.  The chapel was full to bursting!  It was a beautiful funeral, and he was a very loved man.  Then when they went to the graveside, we stayed at the chapel and taught Suresh, and also waited for the caterers to show up.  Then everyone came back for refreshments after the funeral, and we mingled.  I am sooooo grateful for the plan of salvation.  So many people there didn't believe in God, because Brother Lawrence is the only active member in his family.  It was hard to try and express sympathy and comfort to those that didn't have a hope for something to come.  but we did get to talk to some good people.  I met a couple from the states, and the woman, Dianne, was actually originally from Quincy, IL!  Also, when they lived in Vermont she said that she had a boss who was Mormon.  We talked a bit about the difference between the States and England, and I explained a bit about what I was doing as a missionary.  Then after the funeral they came and invited us over for dinner.  I'm not sure if they're more interested in talking to a "fellow midwesterner", as Dianne put it, or in learning more about the gospel, but it's pretty exciting anyway.  Then we stayed to help to clean up.  One of the members thought I was swedish or Scandavian, haha.  then in the evening we went to visit Claudia, and i brought the cookie bars that Emma sent me in her package.  They were so good, and everyone LOVED them.   :)   We were supposed to be watching The Testaments with them, but, as tends to happen, none of their DVD players would work, so we'll have to try another time.  Oh, and also, I met Elder Oliver West's Grandparents at the funeral, and they were excited to hear about Zak  :) .  She said that she would ask Elder West if he knew Elder Ison.
Friday, all of our appointments cancelled, but we did some finding.  It was actually a really interesting day.  But in the evening we got to go to Sam's mission farewell party.  It was fun.
Saturday morning we went to see Doreen and Roger.  We watched the Restoration DVD with them, and Doreen was astonished by how young Joseph Smith was.  It was a really good lesson, and I'm excited about them.  Roger is especially excited to come to church.  They couldn't make it this week, and he was disappointed, but he made a note about it so that they could be sure to come next week.  Then in the evening we went with Bella to Sister Mariucci's for dinner.  It was a great evening.  Sister Mariucci is the Relief Society President, and Bella never stays to Relief Society, so it was really good for her to get to know her a little better.
That brings us to Sunday.  It was AMAZING.  Justin came to church.  Sam spoke and shared his conversion story.  The whole time I was just thinking about how perfect it was for Justin.  Also, Jane's husband came!  Jane is one of the recent converts, so it was super exciting because he's not shown much interest before.  Plus I just loved the Relief Society lesson.  It was about finding peace and harmony.  But the miraculous bit happened after church.  So Sister Kuoppala and I still needed 6 hours of accounted labor to reach the Standard of excellence for the mission, because we were a little bit behind due to spending all day at the funeral of Thursday (each hour of finding, and each lesson counts as an 'hour' even though lessons are sometimes a bit shorter, and the standard of exellence calls for 15 hours finding and 15 lessons, or 30 hours of accounted labor per week).  Usually on a Sunday we are lucky to get 3 or 4 hours of accounted labor, because of church, but we were determined that we could do it.  Well, I have no idea how it actually happened, but we had 4 investigator lessons, 2 member lessons, and 1 hour finding after church, so we actually ended up with 7 hours of accounted labor!  It was a miracle for sure, because I still don't know how that happened.  It was good.  Right after church we went to see Bella, because she didn't come to church because she wasn't feeling well.  We talked to her about enduring to the end and how we can prepare for baptism.  Then when we left the house it was pouring rain!  There was actually a flash of lightning and some thunder as well!  well, Sister Kuoppala and I got drenched!  haha, but we made it alive to see joice.  We taught Joice about baptism, and she wants to be baptised, and we're going to help her come to church on Sunday.  I'm so excited about her!  Then we went with the Stevenson's to see Brother Olalade.  He fed us fish, and this 'yam'.  It was really good!  It was like spicy potatoes.  Then after we saw Sam we went to visit an investigator named Stella.  Then we went to visit Sister Akunne, because she had an operation and hasn't been able to be a church.  It was really good to see her.  Then, to top off the day, we went to visit Baetsi, Linda, and Mark.  It was seriously a miracle.
oh how I love being a missionary!

Mom-  I'm so excited about the missionary work in the ward! Ah!  I'm so glad you went out teaching with the Elder's as well.  That is amazing!

Dad-  i'm glad you were well enough to take care of all the sick folks  :-P   There haven't been any Toni sightings in a little while.

Nathan-  I love you!

Grandma and Grandpa-  I'll definitely tell Elder Cardon.  I can't remember exactly where he's from, but it's not Riverton, but it's near by.  I love you so much!

Elder Ison-  I'm glad you are a bit settled! Hooray! Haha, Elder West's Grandparents were talking to me about the Strike as well, but they said that things were settling down a bit for the French speaking missionaries.

Sister Besso-  I'll write you soon!  Love you!

Micheal Godfrey-  I got your wedding announcement and I love it!  That's so exciting.

Everyone else-  I love you!

Love,
Sister Ison