Be Prepared!

Hello Everybody!

How are you? I am fine. This week was pretty awesome. We have continued teaching our cool people, and added to our pool. Wednesday was, as you know, transfers, and I am here now with Elder Olsen. He is from the same town as my MTC companion, and they went to the same High school. He comes from a family of 6 and is the 4th. He has been out for 2 transfers. Because we went from 4 elders to 2, we picked up a cool family the other missionaries were teaching. Our first visit we went to their house to get to know them and I shared my favorite scripture, Helaman 5:12. She read it and I guess it was a good choice because she said that I was inspired. It was pretty awesome. Other than that this week was just more of the same... Sunday we only had 1 person at Church, which was less than I hoped for, but its been a roller coaster ever since I came back. One week we'll have none and the next have 9 and the next have 1. Whatever though. President Robison is gone, which is super weird, but I am excited to work with President Gamiette. Enough about me though. I am glad you had a great time in Utah Mom. I am also glad you are back. Sorry that your week was a little rough Dad. Hows the car situation? Did you find out what was wrong with it? How is my car? Is it still alive? It better be CJ, because if not, I am blaming it all on you. I hope this week runs smoothly and everyone has a chillaxed time. I am really excited to see you all in 4 months, but don't worry, I am not trunky. I love you all to death and I will ttyl.

Peace out!

Elder Ison

Heat Wave

Dear Friends and Family,
I love my life  :) 
Tuesday was a good day.  We went and saw Adam, although we had to teach him in the park because we didn't have a member, but that was okay anyway.  Then we went with Sister Sim to see a young man named Jason.  He's sooo cool.  He pretty much knows everything about the beginning of the church and he's read the Book of Mormon.  He has friends who are members of the church.  It's awesome.  Only sad news, he's moving to London South (for lame  :(  haha).  Then in the evening we did finding so that's cool.
Wednesday afternoon we saw a woman named Shanti.  She's Hindu and has been struggling because her husband and son are unwell, and according to her religion, her struggles are her own fault because of something she did in a previous life.  I think she really felt the spirit, and it's comforting to know that we all have our own trials in life.  Then we went to see Micheal with Sis. Sim.  We taught him the plan of Salvation and he loved it.  He's being a self described "lazy reader" though... Oh well, we'll get him to read and pray  :) 
Thursday was planning day and in the evening we went to the Stanbury's for dinner.  It was great.  Their youngest son has autism, although he's very highly functioning.  They are such a nice family.  I love it.
Friday was a busy day.  In the morning we were meant to see Adam but he couldn't make it so we went with Sister Butcher to see Betty instead.  It was nice.  Then we went to see this woman named Louise.  She's had a rough life, and is a single mom with 2 sons and a daughter, but she's strong, and she wants more in her life.  I'm excited about her.  Then in the evening we went to a Birthday party at the Martins (Bruna's 17  :)  ) and Adam came.  It was really nice.  Watford ward is amazing.
Saturday was the coolest day of my life.  It was helping hands day.  We went to Ruislip forest.  It's an ancient forest.   It's really cool.  And we..... dug a pond.  Yup.  haha.  It was pretty intense and very.....muddy.  That's the best way to describe it.  There were toads and stinging nettle.  Elder Green even found a slow worm (it's actually a legless lizard!).  It wasn't too bad because I borrowed some wellies at first, so I wasn't too muddy, but then I slipped and fell straight into the mud, and that was pretty much the end of it.  And if that wasn't enough later I was "team working" with Elder Peiffer and I was "slicing" the mud into squares with a shovel and then he was picking it up and throwing it onto the bank.  Well, he threw one and it was too sloshy and it splashed all over my face.... Haha... it was fun anyways.  Micheal came and he got right in there with the rest of us.  And we did it.  We dug a super awesome pond  :)   Then we all went back to Hayes chapel for a barbeque.  It was rerally nice.  I tried squid (very chewey.....).  Also a load of people from Enfield were there!  The Doninyas, Felix Okrah, both Toffoletti families, Rose, Becky Lee, and more.  It was so cool to see them.  Oh yeah and Brother Ghartey said I've lost weight  :-P   Haha.  It was generally super awesome.  Then we went home and de-mudded.... that took some time.  I'll send you pictures sometime soon.... It's pretty intense.  Then we went finding.
Sunday was fun.  Micheal came to church and he wore a suit!  It was excellent.  He also stayed for the baptism after church.  He's doing very well, and he LOVES church.  We just need him to read and pray.  By the end of church I was nearly dying though.  I was soooooo sore, and I could barely move.  Even now as I type my arms are very sore.  I definitely need to work on upper body strength.  After church we went finding and it definitely took me some time to loosen up.  It was very difficult to move.  Haha.  But we got going  :)   I definitely slept very well.
Today we are in London.  It's very hot.  We're saying our last goodbyes to President and Sister Foulger.  *sniff*  But we get to meet the new president on Friday, so that's pretty cool.  So all in all it's been a great and very warm week.
*There's sunshine... blessed sunshine.... *  I love it!

Mom-  Have a safe journey home!  It sounds like you had a great trip.

Dad- Yeah, our new mission President is President Patch.  He's from Orem, UT, and apparently he used to be assistant to the Presiding Bishopric or something like that... pretty cool  :) 

Nathan-  Yes!  I'm a missionary!  I love you!

Sister Besso-  You rock my world.  Watford is fantastic  :) 

Elder Ison-  Did you send my letter?

Love,
Sister Ison

We got a pepper bar!

Hello family!
How is everybody! I feel I better explain why my last email I seemed a little "down". For some reason this transfer, emails have been the most stressful time of the week. All of the email places in Capesterre decided to always be closed on monday so our chice is to go to this place with one computer that is crazy expensive, or get on a bus and spend the whole day in another town doing them. We chose the one computer place lately because we are out of travel money. It isn't very fun and makes me kind of grumpy. I'm ok now. HAPPY ONE DAY LATE FATHERS DAY DAD!!! You are the best. I am glad you had a good one, even though mom was gone. I hope the air conditioner is fixed. I don't know what I would do if I had to spend my time in a place that is hot and humid and has no air conditioning. ;) I was so sad to hear about Brother Sheperd. He was so cool. He is definitley going to be missed. Send Sister Sheperd-Kent my love please. I am impressed that the boys were able to pull off a meal. Maybe there is hope for Ben as a chef after all. I am also quite glad that Mom has had a fun time in Utah. Tell everyone hi for me! I had a good week this week. We found another sweet lady who had been taught by the missionaries 2ish years ago, and are working hard with her. The other lady we found last week is doing really well. They weren't able to come to church sadly, but we still had 5 people there, so that was really cool. I am really excited to stay here and find and teach those people I gotta reach this transfer. I will get my titre and be legal end of July, so that is exciting news. I don't know anything about my new companion yet, because transfers don't happen til Wednesday, so I will have to tell you about it next week. I better peace out though, because my time is short and Elder Lish still has to go... I Love you so much and am really excited to see everybody again.
Have a crazy cool week guys!

Elder Ison

Okay, so still Best Week ever, altough I am slightly annoyed......

Yeah, so I typed a ginormous wonderful e-mail about my amazing week, and it's all gone! Nooooo... :) Well... I guess that's life. Here's a fast forward version of the highlights of my week. Monday night we went to the Butchers and they invited over a friends, Ursula. It was really nice.
Tuesday morning we had district meeting at a members house and they fed us a huge roast dinner afterwards. Apparently they do this every week. haha, good thing we walk a lot. In the evening Iliana Flandro took us out to a little Italian restaurant and then came teaching with us to a man named Micheal Bagampangye. He's 30 and from Uganda (Agandi is how you say hello.... haha, I'm multi-lingual). It was a great lesson. He really listened and asked good questions and answered our questions thoughtfully. He agreed to read, pray, be baptized when he knows it's true, come to the Friday night activity, and to come to church. Pretty awesome :) Wednesday we had our last Zone meeting with President and Sister Foulger. I'm going to miss them so much. Then in the evening we had a ward missionary meeting. This ward is so on fire with missionary work.
Thursday we did planning and then in the evening had ward council.
Friday morning we met with a man named Adam Horwood. He's 34 and a native Englishman. He is really searching for more purpose in his life, and loved everything and said he felt really happy after we taught him. He also agreed to come to the Friday night activity that evening. Then we went finding and a sweet old lady named Betty invited us in the teach her. She's a little set in her ways, but sweet nonetheless. We'll see her again next week. The Friday night activity was amazing. The Elders had 4 investigators there and both Adam and Micheal came. Adam and Micheal instantly became friends with almost everyone there. It was great. These activities are a wonderful opportunity. Saturday we went finding all day. :) Sunday was FANTASTIC. Ursula, Micheal, and Adam all came to church. Adam and Micheal loved it so much, and it was a surprise that Ursula even came because no one was expecting her, so that was pretty cool. Then after church we went to the Feredays for dinner. It was really nice.
So that's a fast forward version of my wonderful week.

Mom- Give everyone in Utah my love and give Grandma a big hug for me!

Dad- So I'm not the only one sweating here :) . It's been quite warm here lately. I love you! Happy Father's Day (one day late)!!!!!

Nathan- Your chair sounds so cool! Good Job! I love you!

Sister Shepherd-Kent- I'm so sorry to hear about Brother Shepherd. I love you, and I know that although we miss him very much he is in a better place. I'll be praying for you!

Love,
Sister Ison

We didn't start the fire!

Dear Family,

How are you? We are doing well, except for emails are one of the most stressful times of the week! For some reason all of the email places in Capesterre decided to always be closed on mondays. Pretty lame. This week had its ups and downs, like usual. We found a sweet lady who was taught by the missionaries here 2 years ago, and she has a book of Mormon and everything. That was pretty cool, and we had some good lessons. This sunday however, wasn't as fantastic, but it was ok. Nobody came this week, which was sad, but it was good nonetheless. We found out about transfers a bit early this transfer, and I found out that I will be staying here with Elder Olsen, an Elder who has been out 2 transfers, and Elder Lish is going to Abymes. I don't know what Dad means about particulars, but Elder Lish is from Chubbick Idaho, and is really excited to be here. His french is insane considering he has only been out 1 transfer. He likes to play baseball and ride motorcycles, and has a girlfriend that he is going to marry after the mission. Our lady, Elisabeth is doing alright, but we still gotta work with her. Tell Nathan how proud I am of him. He is a true athlete. I am so excited for this Christmas! It is going to be awesome. Don't worry though, I am not trunky. I think it is soo cool that Quince is hanging out with Andrew. That is soo cool. Tell Quince that if he needs a roomate for BYU-I I am down. haha. It is soo weird to have so little time left. It is going to be weird to leave. Oh well. Give my love to everyone, and I will catch you next week!


I LOVE YOU!

Elder Ison

Just keep walking, just keep walking...walking, walking, walking walking... :-P

Dear Friends and Family,
What a week! I'll just get started and tell you what's up :) So Tuesday evening we stopped by Bela to say goodbye. We also chatted with Suresh and saw Claudia and Roseanna. Oh my goodness I'm going to miss Ilford so much. It's amazing, and I have so many great memories there. It was really hard to leave.
Wednesday was a most intense day! There was a strike on the London Underground, so a lot of the lines just weren't running! It was crazy! Getting to the Liverpool Street Station wasn't a problem because we just took an overground train. Brother and Sister Stevenson came along and helped me with my extra large bags. It was great. Oh man, I miss them, they are so great. Once we were at Liverpool street the walking began.... well actually the waiting... haha. We waited for nearly two hours for a bus that's supposed to come every 5 to 10 minutes. Then we got on the bus and it took nearly another hour to get to Victoria Station. Then we began to walk and we made it a little bit... but we had Sister Garcia's bags (some Elders had taken mine earlier) and the wheels actually melted because the screws got too hot! So then finally we just had to get a taxi the rest of the way to the mission office. Then we got there and waited a bit because we found out that the new missionaries were late too. That was around 4:00. Then finally I got to meet my new companion. Her name is Sister Jensen and she is amazing! She's from Idaho. She has two older brothers and an older Sister. She's a Violinist, and all around awesome missionary. I'm pretty sure they give me all the new missionaries that don't need any training! So then I pretty much had no idea what was going on and they didn't have a phone to give us or anything. It was pretty intense. But we just did what we could and we had to walk all the way from the office to Green Park Station. And let me tell you that is a long walk. Especially with Sister Jensen's two suit cases, and one of mine. But we made it, and from there we were able to get a tube line that was open and then arrived at Euston station. Then we went to a pay phone to try and call the Watford Elders and find out which station they wanted us to go to and to tell them what time we were meant to arrive, but they didn't answer so we just took a guess and took a train to Watford Junction. There we used a pay phone to call the Elders again and they answered and said that they were there! It was soooo exciting after a very long day, because by this time it was 8:30pm. They took us to our new house. We're living with Sister Marge Bettridge, the Stake President's mum. She so great! I loved it immediately. We also met Paulo and his two children Bruna and Miguel. They are so helpful. They got us in and settled, and we got to bed around 11:30pm. Oh my goodness I slept so well :) Thursday morning Paulo came to pick us up with his daughter Bruna. She was so helpful! She spent the whole day with us! First we met a member named Ruth. She was super cute! Then, we went to Watford town center and OYM'd all morning. Then we met the Elders and they took us to correlation with Bro. McKenzie. Oh my goodness, he is great! I'm so excited to be here. We discussed our assignments, and we as the Watford Sisters are going to spend our time in Rickmansworth and Croxley Green. So then we went back to our neighbourhood with Bruna, and finished up our studies with her. Then we went and met a less active family that lives near us, the Gurney's. They were very nice :) Then we went finding on their street and we saw a Police Seige on a house. haha, it was really interesting! Then Brother Martins (Paulo) came and picked us and Bruna up and we went to his house for dinner with the Elders. Then in the evening President Bettridge came and gave us a ward list and suggested some good starting places for us, so that was great!
Friday in the morning we did more finding. There are so many people who are prepared. It's kind of fun to start from scratch down here :) Then in the evening we went to a ward activity and played volleyball with a basketball. Haha, a little painful, but also a lot of fun. Also Brother Paulo Martins brought his friend Kwase, so that was great. I can already see that these Friday night activites will be a great missionary tool.
Saturday was an amazing day. We went tracting and street contacting all day and met some more wonderful people. We met one woman, Stephanie, who had almost every question of the soul. The first thing she asked us when she opened the door was why there were so many churches. Then she asked us if God really answered prayers and why there were so many trials and tribulations in life. We were able to give her a Book of Mormon and we'll see her this week. It's amazing how people just open up and tell us their problems! What's even more amazing is how the restored gospel is the solution! So it was an all around great day until we came home and I realized that I'd dropped the key out of my bag while we were in the house and we were locked out. We hoped that Sister Bettridge would be home soon (and there wasn't much to do anyway, because we didn't have a phone), so we just sat on the porch and did our planning. Then time passed and it was past 10pm so we decided we'd better do something. We could see our neighbour's were home so we knocked on their door, but I think we scared them knocking so late at night because they immediately turned out the lights and didn't answer. So then we were stuck again... but just then a man drove up and got out of his car so we went up to him and asked if he had a phone we could borrow because we were locked out. Luckily he did, and he very kindly let us call the Elders, and they got ahold of the Stake President who had a spare key and came and let us in. Haha.... he also took pity on us and invited us to Sunday Dinner, so that was great :-P Sunday was amazing. We got to meet so many amazing people, and especially youth. Watford has some of the strongest youth I've seen. It was fast and testimony meeting, and they almost all got up and bore very mature testimonies. I love it! Plus the ward is so excited to have sisters, and Bruna (who is a ward missionary in charge of dinner appointments) said that she couldn't get any dinner appointments for the Elders because everyone wants to feed us. Also several people have just told us that they have friends who they would like to introduce to us because they think they'll be receptive to Sisters! Isn't it nice to feel wanted? :) Then in the afternoon we went and had dinner with President Bettridge, his wife, his three boys (Isaac, William, and Austin... they are soooo cute!), Sister Marge Bettridge, and his brother Kevin. It was so nice. They are an adorable family. Then we did a bit of finding in the evening, and for the first time since we arrived in Watford we went to bed by 10:30 :) That brings us to today. This morning we've been cleaning and unpacking, and then we went to the library and got a library card, and we're sitting and e-mailing :) So it was a great week :) I'm so excited to be in Watford, and to have Sister Jensen here. Oh, and I almost forgot! Elder Jentsch (how to spell that I actually have no idea) is my District leader (the one who was in Stratford) and his cousin Elder Jentsch is my Zone Leader (here in Watford with Elder Green). I thought it was pretty funny.

Oh and this is my new address:
42 Middleton Road
Rickmansworth
WD3 8JE

Mum- That sounds like a busy but great week! Give everyone in Utah my love as well!

Dad- This ward is definitely one of the largest I've been in (I'm not good with numbers though :-P) and definitely the most missionary work oriented! They have over 20 ward missionaries each with specific assignments. It's great!

Nathan- Congratulations on your gold and bronze Medals! I love you!

Everyone- I love you very much!

Love,
Sister Ison!

"Those missionaries are doing a good job..."

Dear Friends and Family,
May I submit that life just keeps getting better and better and better.  Haha.
Monday evening we saw Brother Evans and organized his baptismal program.  He was so thoughtful and made sure to find ways to include everyone.  The change in him is amazing.  Also Suibha and Kahn came to family home evening for the first time.  We actually haven't taught either of them, but they both seemed to really enjoy it.
Tuesday was District Meeting and then my driving test.  Before you get too excited....I failed.  Why, you may ask?  Because I'm an idiot... Haha, actually I just habitually forgot to check my blind spot.  I was so worried about the Mirror-Signal-Manevoure thing that I totally forgot.... but next time  :)   That was it.  Then that evening we went to the Fowles for dinner.  I love that family soooo much.  They make me laugh.
Wednesday morning we met with a less-active named David Greenhill.  He's pretty funny, and seems interested in coming back so that's good.  In the afternoon we saw Brother Evans, and we talked about the tree of life.  Nicholas was there as well.  Nicholas comes more and more often.  I think he's becoming more keen, but I think he mostly comes because he's bored.  haha.  Then we went to the Freita's for dinner.  And one of Sister Frieta's friends joined in the lesson!  That was great!
Thursday we had lunch with Brother Beasley at the noodle bar.  He's the sweetest man ever.  He told me to warn you that he will be calling when I come home.   :)   Then in the evening we had correlation with the Stevenson's.  They rock hardcore.   :) 
Friday in the morning we saw a young woman named Laura.  She is really sweet and we had a really good lesson with her.  Then we stopped by to see Doreen and her new baby girl, Cedrica.  Oh my goodness, she is the most precious thing.  Doreen had to have an emergency C-section and the baby almost didn't make it, but now everyone's fine and Doreen is recovering, so that's good.  They are such a cute family.  Then we saw Brother Evans and talked with him about service to others, using King Benjamin.  Sister Stevenson came along, and it was great, as usual.  Then in the evening we went with the Stevensons to see a less active Michelle, and then we went to see Oke, Jane's Husband!  He even let us read from the Book of Mormon with him, which is a huge step!  I love it!
Saturday was pretty much the best day of my life!  haha.  In the morning we saw a woman named Geraldine.  It was one of the best first lessons we'd had in a long time.  She really had questions about what we believed and as we shared about the message of the restoration she really liked it.  Then we had a quick lunch with Bishop and Sister Theed, it was really nice.  Then we went to the Hyde Park Chapel.  We had a mission picture.  I also got to see Elder Martin and Elder Shunke from my MTC group because London South came as well!  Then we had a giant mission conference with President Uchtdorf and Elder Andersen.  Oh my goodness.  It was AMAZING!  Plus they shook all of our hands.  That was pretty cool.  I can't even begin to explain how amazing it is here.  I'll have to write you a letter, because time is of the essence.  Then after the conference we all had to leave quickly because of the Priesthood Session which was directly afterwards, and I ran into Patryk Tomezewski (sp?  oh my goodness I already forgot, haha).  He said that he put in his mission papers 3 weeks ago and he's just waiting now.  That's so exciting!  Missions are the greatest!  Then on the way back to Ilford in the tunnel we ran into 4 different members who were visiting.  Then on the tube we ran into 3 BYU study abroad students.  I was talking to one of them (I'm ashamed to say I can't think of her name) and in the conversation I found out that she served her mission in New York and that she was companions with Sister Colbert!!! Isn't that cool?  What a small world.
Sunday was also a most fantastic day.  Bela gave us a lift to the new members meeting before Stake Conference.  It was really great.  Bela, Sam, Suresh, and Justian all came from Ilford ward.  The conference was fantastic!  President Uchtdorf, Elder Andersen, Sister Dibb, and Sister Lant all spoke.  What an amazing opportunity!  Then the greatness of the day continued.  We went tracting and we met a man named Terry who had a lot of questions and invited us to come back.  Then we met a woman named Anna who was totally confused by all the different churches, and she really just wants to find the truth.  Then we went OYMing in Ilford and met a man named Eddie who told us he was having a very interesting day, and that on any other day he would have never stopped and talked with us, but that day he just was full of questions.  It's amazing how people are being prepared.  Also we ran into a man named Ted, who was also a member who's been backpacking with his family across Europe for the last 5 weeks, and we just happened to run into him in Ilford.  Haha.  This weekend was just so great!
Yesterday was really good as well.  In the morning we had a combined Zone District meeting/farewell for Elder Smith.  Then the Ricks treated us to lunch at Nando's, which was sooo nice of them.  Then we went to see Brother Evans and Brother Tavner came with.  We read Jose Texiera's talk from the last conference and talked about how we can keep a strong "signal" with the Holy Ghost.  It was really good.  We looked at baptismal clothes and finalized a few things for Brother Evan's baptism.  Then we saw Suresh and helped him get started on his talk because Brother Evan's asked him to speak at his baptism.  Then right before family home evening I got a phone call from President.  He wants me to train this next moves and I'm going to open up a new Sisters area in Watford!  It's pretty intense.  There will be both Sisters and Elders in Watford Ward now.  I was entirely shocked.  It's pretty overwhelming.  Brother Evans came in at the end of the phone call, and he's sad, as am I, that I won't be at his baptism, but it was always a possibility.  Then in the evening we has Family Home Evening and both Brother Evans and Suibha came entirely unsolicited.  It was really great, and Suresh really took care of Suibha.  Oh my goodness Ilford ward is so great.  The whole evening was sort of twinged with sadness because I really don't want to leave.  I love the people so much here, but I know it will be in good hands because Sister Feller is coming, and she's the cutest thing since sliced bread.  Oh my goodness! And you'll never guess what else!  Sister Strunk is training!  haha, I'm having a "granddaughter."  I'm excited about that.
So as you can see, it's been a very eventful week.  But a great week.  Ilford is sooo great, and though I'm sad to leave, I know that everything will be great.

Mom-  Haha, you make me laugh with your "dancing with the stars"  By the way, Sister Stevenson wants you to check your facebook.

Dad-  Thank-you so much for taking care of everything.  I'm sure it's great  :)   Speaking of driving tests..... I kind of need money to take it again (sorry  :(   I know I'm lame)  It costs £64.

Nathan-  It sounds like you had a great week!  Oh my goodness  :)   Camp-I-Can is awesome!

Elder Ison-  It sounds like things are going very well! Your picture's make me laugh.  I'm excited for your letter!

Everyone Else-  I love you very much!

Love,
Sister Ison

Six Pack

Dear Family,

Holy cow! We  had one of the best Sundays ever. We had Elizabeth, one of our investigators, there, and before the meeting started, one of the recent converts came up and said, "I haven't seen you in a while!" During the meeting, that same recent convert bore a sweet testimony of the church. After the meeting more members recognized her. But thats not all, we had, between the 4 of us missionaries, 9 people at church. that is a record. It was such a sweet week! Elizabeth will probably be baptized soon. How was your guys' week? I hope it was cool. I am so proud of the boys. I have the best brothers in the whole wide world. I am excited to study the Book of Mormon with you guys! It is the best book! I spent over a week studying chapter 5 in Preach my Gospel about it. I love it. I am at the beginning of Alma currently. Pretty Sweet. I was so sad when I heard about Brother Sheperd! Holy cow man! Send him my love. Send Everyone my love.This weekend was Mothers Day weekend in france, and we had a pretty fun party after church. It was pretty cool. The Members are great. The Bonbons are still on fire. I love that family. This morning I had my rendez-vous at the prefecture, and it looks like I may finally get legal after all! it was good news, but still alot of waiting. Other than that we are still working our hardest. I love you guys and hope this week is awesome!


Peace Out!

Elder Ison

I get by with a little help from my friends

Holy Cow Man!

This has been a pretty stressful emailing situation, but thank goodness its almost over. This week was amazing, as it was the last Zone Conference with the Robisons. It will be way sad to see them leave. Funny story, I was supposed to ask you about Sean. Thanks for the info, though. We had a pretty good week, and are still on good terms with all of our investigators. I hope what mom said is right, because the investigators we have now are kinda hearers of the word, and not doers. We are still working hard and not getting discouraged or trunky. I was sick sunday, which was kinda lame, but I'm doing a lot better now. Elder Lish and I hiked up to the waterfall this morning and got a lot of sweet pics, so I will try and send some of those your way. I have been out of the regular schedule so long, I can't even remember what the heck we did last week! Oh yeah. We talked to a few of our investigators, and helped someone move. We also found our butts off. That is how it goes. I can't believe that Ben is in Drivers Ed! I can teach him how to drive! I am officially old enough to help him get his hours. Anyways, I can't believe Brooke is engaged! I leave for 2 years and everything goes crazy! Holy cow!

Mom: You are the bomb.

Dad: SORRY! I forgot to tell you I got new shoes. I used the other ones til they were totally and completley dead.

Cj: I am way proud of you! You are way cooler than me.

Ben: WHAT! Drivers Ed????!!!

Sister Ison: Its coming!

Nathan: Have fun at Camp I can!

Well, that is all for now. I g2g before I go over, so, I LOVE YOU GUYS!

Elder Ison

Heat Wave

Dear Friends and family,
I love you all soooooooo much!  I also love the gospel of Jesus Christ!  Oh my goodness.... life is great  :) 
Monday was a fun day.  We ended up going to the science musuem.  The space part was pretty cool, and I saw Wallace and Gromit... haha, but after that I got kind of bored of it.  I think it would be more fun under less time contstraint, but it was still pretty cool.  Then in the evening we went to a ward Family Home Evening.  It was so much fun.  I love Ilford Ward so much.  Plus, the Stratford Elders announced Joice's baptism.  Ah!  I'm so excited that she got baptised, but I'll talk about that later  :)   In the evening we went to see a woman named Glory.  She has a little newborn baby girl named Favourite.  She was really cute and it was a nice lesson  :) 
Tuesday was great.  We had district meeting, and then afterwards we went to Sister Rudloff's for lunch.  It was pretty much super fun.  Sister Rudloff is from Brazil, and Brother Rudloff is from Germany.  They have a little son, and Sister Rudloff always speaks Portuguese to him and Brother Rudloff always speaks German to him, but they speak English with each other.  Haha, Sister Rudloff says that she feels sorry for the confused little boy  :)   He does know how to say Danke, however  :)   It was really nice.  They are moving to Germany in a couple of weeks, and I'm going to miss them.  Then we went to see Brother Evans, and Brother Tavner came with.  We talked about Zeezrom and the power of forgiveness and making restitution.  We also talked about forgiving others, and being patient with other's imperfections.  It was a nice lesson, and Brother Evans seems to be doing very well with baptism preparations  :) 
Wednesday it rained and was windy allllll day.  Also all of our appointments either hosed or cancelled, so we did seven hours of finding.  A good chance to earn some husband points, that's for sure.  It was good though because we found 6 new investigators as well  :) 
Thursday the weather took a turn for the better, and ever since it has been hot and sunny!  Even now as I type the sun is a-shining.  Oh, it makes me smile, but anyways.  So in the afternoon we saw Brother Evans with Sister Robertson.  We went over the baptism interview questions and everything was great, and we talked a bit about Alma (the elder) and admitting our wrongs and trying continually to be better.  Brother Evans seems excited for his baptism, and he seemed ready for his interview, so that was great.  It was also really exciting because Brother Evan's sometimes has a bit of a temper and is a little impatient with people, but he was telling us how he was annoyed with someone, but then he said, "But nobody's perfect."  I LOVE IT!  Haha, even in the little things, the gospel of Jesus Christ slowly perfects us!  Then in the evening we went to the Stevenson's for correlation.  Oh how I love the Stevenson's.  They are pretty much the great Ward Mission Leader and Ward Missionary ever  :)   They say that they didn't have so much of a problem with crazy people until I got here... haha... I seem to attract them, but that's okay  :) 
Friday was another great day.  We saw Gertrude in the morning.  She seems a bit stubborn about coming to church, but she's a sweet lady, and hopefully we can get her to come.  Then in the afternoon Brother Evans had his interview and he passed!  He's going to be baptized 13 June 2009 at 11:00 am.  It's great  :)   He seemed very pleased as well.  Then we went to the Lighten's for dinner.  I love the Lightens.   They make me laugh.  It was a really nice meal, and afterwards Sister Lighten gave us a lift to see Brother Conteh.  We saw him and talked about Patriarchal Blessings using True to the Faith.  He seemed very excited about it, and really wants one.  Haha, I think it's the most excited I've ever seen Brother Conteh, because he's a very mellow guy  :)   We told him to pray about it.  He's so great.  Then on the way to the bus stop we saw this little boy streak out of his house in his underwear, and then this older boy ran out after him to catch him, and the little boy was just laughing.  It just made me laugh, so I thought I'd share  :-D 
Saturday was pretty much the most perfect day ever.   :)   In the morning we did enough finding to finish off our 15 hours for the week (plus an extra half an hour), then we got to go to Joice's Baptism.  It was wonderful, and the best part is that Joice seemed soooooo happy  :)   It made me happy to see her so happy, and I just feel so blessed that even though she moved I was still able to attend her baptism.  Her Brother-in-law Brother Kangetsambo (Ilford Ward Clerk) got up and bore his testimony about how when she had first come to the country she had moved in with them, and they told her that since she was staying with them that she would have a special assignment to help the family.  They assigned her to read the Book of Mormon out loud to the family every night.  For over a year she lived with them, and read to them, but she would never come to church.  He said that we first came to him, and told him we were teaching a woman who claimed to be his relative and after he figured out who it was, at first he was excited, and then he was a little frustrated, and he said to himself, "She lived with me for over a year, what did I do wrong?"  But then he smiled and said that now his investment was paying dividends, and that he was so happy to have her not only as part of his earthly family, but now that she could become part of his eternal family.  It was just wonderful.  :)   After that we went to see Bela, and Sister Stevenson came.  It was a really good lesson.  Then in the evening we stopped in to see Sarah, and by a miracle she was home, but only because she was very sick  :(   We just shared a short message with her so that she could rest.
Sunday was very nice.  They announced Brother Evans baptism.  Also, Bela came to church!!!! It was sooo great.  She seemed very happy to be there  :)   It was great.  Also it was the 1 year anniversary of Brother Conteh's baptism!  He's getting kicked out of Gospel Principles to Gospel Doctrine.  Ah man, I'm going to miss him in class, but it's great to see him progress  :)   Then in the evening we saw a man named Christopher.  He's a Bible Scholar.  He doesn't think it matters what church you go to, and he wouldn't take a Book of Mormon with him, but he said that he'd read it with us anytime...... We didn't have time to properly explain the restoration because he talked a lot, but hopefully next time we can help him see why it's so important  :)   Then we were at the bus stop waiting to go to our next appointment and this man from Romania, named Emmanuel, started to talk to us about how much he loved the church, and how it gave him such a special feeling.  He was talking about the Book of Mormon, The Pearl of Great Price, The Doctrine of Covenants, The Liahona, President Hinckley, and President Monson.  Finally we asked him if he was a member and he said no.  It's really kind of sad, he loves the church so much, and he wants to got there, but he thinks he can't because he was born Christian Orthodox, and he thinks he must stay there.  We managed to get his number before our bus came, and we certainly hope to be able to help him see that religion isn't something you're born into.  It's amazing the stumbling blocks that satan can use to put in people's way.
So that was my marvelous sun-shiny week.   :)   Today we have to go all the way to Colchester so that I can practice driving because my driving test is tomorrow!  Please pray for me!  I'm kind of nervous, because I haven't driven in a long time.  But I'm sure everything will work out.  :) 

Mom- I can't believe Brooke is engaged!  Do you know anything about him?  Oh my goodness.  It sounds like you had a good week  :) 

Nathan-  Wow!  It sounds like a good year coming for you!  I love you!

Elder Ison-  I want a letter  ;) 

Sister Arnquist-  That's so cool that your speaking French now!  Ah!  Keep up the great work!

Everyone Else-  I love you!

Love,
Sister Ison