If you would like to write Erica her address is

Sister Erica Ann Ernenwein
England London South Mission
The London Temple
New Chapel
Surrey RH7 6NB

or email her at

erica.ernenwein@myldsmail.net

Sonia!

A quick practical update

As you could probably tell from the pictures that I sent last week I am no longer serving in Orpington. I've moved to the Spanish speaking branch in London, and my new companion is from Spain. We are assigned to proselyte only in Spanish, anywhere in London. It is quite a challenge, but we are having fun.

 

I've been meaning to share an experience that my companion and I had along time ago, but I haven't had a chance to yet. It happened when we were studying with one of the members  Preach My Gospel Chapter 6 (Preach My Gospel is the missionary study guide/ teaching manual). Chapter 6 is all about the characteristics of Christ and how we can develop those characteristics in ourselves. One of the attributes that PMG defines and describes is patience. It states: "Patience is the capacity to endure delay, trouble, opposition, or suffering without becoming angry, frustrated, or anxious. It is the ability to do God’s will and accept His timing. When you are patient, you hold up under pressure and are able to face adversity calmly and hopefully". As I read this definition I realised that often (almost always) the way that I respond to delay, trouble, opposition, and suffering is with frustration and anxiety. 

We set a goal to help us to overcome these challenges that we all face with patience. Each time we felt angry, frustrated, or anxious we would read a scripture, and try to memorize it. The scripture we chose is in 2 Nephi 4 in the Book of Mormon. It  states, " Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul. Do not anger again because of mine enemies. Do not slacken my strength because of mine afflictions." I love these verses and that chapter in the Book of Mormon, and as I memorized it in times when I felt anxious and impatient I felt myself increase in my capacity to feel peace and to be patient. I still have a long way to go though! 

Thank you all for you Thanksgiving e-mails. No one celebrates Thanksgiving here, and I actually almost completely forgot that it was Thanksgiving! Everyday, and everywhere however is a good time and place to recognise that we have much to be grateful for and to appreciate in this life!

This week was Remembrance Day. It is a bit like Veterans' Day. To remember those who have served in the military everyone wears a poppy. We volunteered helping to sell them in the mall last weekend.

Happy Halloween!

What does the Gospel of Jesus Christ have to do with a Jack-o-Lantern?

So this week one of our investigators asked if it would be ok for him to carve a pumpkin during our lesson on Halloween. Of course we agreed and also took it as a challenge to make the lesson an analogy about pumpkin carving. 

There are 5 principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: Fatih, repentance, baptism receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. 

Faith: It takes faith to cut into a pumpkin. You have a hope that by taking a chance and making that cut that you will be able to make something better than what you started with. Faith is "a hope for things which are not seen, which are true" (Alma 32).

Repentance: You have to clean out all of the pumpkin guts. Repentance is the process by which we become clean and are forgiven through the atonement of Jesus Christ. 

Baptism: The pumpkin has a new face. When we are baptised we are spiritually reborn. (Matthew 3) We become something new. We make a promise with God. He promises us blessings in return.

The Gift of the Holy Ghost: Our pumpkin gets a light inside. The Gift of the Holy Ghost is baptism by fire or by the Spirit. When we have it it is a constant light inside of us that helps us choose to do good.

Enduring to the end: What would happen if we just left the pumpkin out in the rain to rot or if we filled it back up with guts? It would be gross again. We have to constantly live the principles of faith and repent of our sins. By coming to church each week and taking the sacrament we renew the covenants we made at baptism. We commit to living as Christians each and every day. We pray and study the scriptures to make sure our light and we have the Holy Ghost with us. 

Also, The Red Sox are the best baseball team. I heard some great news about them this week :)

A few weeks ago, the Church announced that there are now more than 75,000 full time missionaries serving all over the world. Many people may wonder why so many young people would give up some of the best years of their lives to go to a foreign place, live by some very strict rules, and speak to strangers all day long. 

They must have something that is really important to share, and they do--we do. But who would really want to take the word of a very young and not very wise 19 year old-- probably no one. This is why God has given us tangible evidence that the message that I (and the other 75,000+ missionaries) share with the world is true. 

This evidence is the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is the proof that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true. The introduction to the Book of Mormon explains the purpose of the Book of Mormon, where it came from, and perhaps most importantly how we can find out for ourselves if it is true. It states "We invite all men everywhere to read the Book of Mormon, to ponder in their hearts the message it contains, and then to ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ if the book is true. Those who pursue this course and ask in faith will gain a testimony of its truth and divinity by the power of the Holy Ghost. (See Moroni 10:3–5.)"

I have recently finished reading the Book of Mormon and begun reading it once again. I followed these simple steps. I read it, I pondered in my heart the message it contains, and I asked God in the name of Christ if the Book is true. I know that it is! The Book of Mormon is a powerful witness of Jesus Christ. So I would add my own personal invitation to everyone to read it and to find out for themselves if it is true. I know that everyone can! 

The final paragraph of the introduction says:

"Those who gain this divine witness from the Holy Spirit will also come to know by the same power that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that Joseph Smith is His revelator and prophet in these last days, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord’s kingdom once again established on the earth, preparatory to the Second Coming of the Messiah."

The Book of Mormon is for everyone. The first thing that we will come to know by reading pondering and praying about the Book of Mormon is that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. So if you have ever wondered or questioned or doubted that He is-- you can know, and the way that you can know is by reading the Book of Mormon and asking God if it is true! I know that every individual who sincerely reads and prays about the Book of Mormon with intentions to act on the answer they receive will come to know that it is true. And if the Book of Mormon is true than the man who translated it was a prophet of God and the church that he restored is "the Lord's kingdom once again established on the earth". 

So I would encourage each of you who read this to read the Book of Mormon. There is no way to credit or discredit the work that 75,000 of us are now participating in without reading the Book of Mormon and finding out for oneself if it is really from God. 

If you have already read it, read it again. Never take it for granted. There is no book more powerful, nor any with such a great impact as the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon has changed my life, and I know that it can change yours too. 

-Sister Ernenwein

p.s. The best part is the book is free-- and always better :)

This is a picture of a really cute street!

 I'm not sure what order they are in but there should be a picture of the Hyde Park chapel from when we went to the zone conference with Elder Ballard,  a few pictures of my companion and I, a picture of our district, a picture of our district with our zone leaders bowling,

 This is the Hyde Park chapel we to a zone conference here when we saw Elder Ballard speak.

 Our district bowling with our Zone leaders

 My companion and I

 I here went to visit the Chislehurst caves for p-day today

Weekly update

A lot has happened this week. I don't even really know where to start.

Yesterday was a really special Sunday. Sacrament meeting was great. We heard form the Senior couple serving in our ward who are going home tomorrow and a young man leaving for his mission this week and his older brother. Four of our investigators came to church! One woman and her son have been coming for about a year, and he gave his first talk in primary yesterday. He did a great job! They are a really amazing little family.  Last night we watched the worldwide leadership broadcast, and it was fantastic! I would definitely recommend watching it if you haven't seen it yet. It is all about missionary work and member missionary work. 

 

Funny story of the week: 

We were coming home from an appointment on Saturday night and were waiting at the bus stop. There were these two really pretty young girls not wearing much clothing who kept staring at our badges. One of them whispered to the other a little too loudly "Are they missionaries?". We told them we were missionaries, and then one of them ran behind the bus stop in an attempt to hide. We were like what is going on? She came back and said "I need to go home and repent!" We ended up getting on the same bus as them and found out that they are both members from a different ward and were on their way to a party that they probably shouldn't have been going to. We didn't even really know what to say. I think just seeing us was enough. Its amazing how God works sometimes!

 

We have met some really amazing people. They are so special and prepared! I wish I had more time to tell you all about them, but I don't. The church is true, and God loves and knows each of us. 

 

-Sister Ernenwein

p.s. next week is transfers so I won't write on Monday. I'll probably get to e-mail Wednesday instead. 

This week was great! Yesterday our entire mission fasted together. It was a really powerful experience. There is so much power in prayer and fasting. It is something that I could feel very strongly.

I am learning so much about the gospel, and also a lot about myself. 

We are going to do something with our district today for p-day :) so our e-mail time was shortened a little bit, but everything is going really well here!

 

I would love to hear from all of you!

 

Love,

Sister Ernenwein

So much has happened this past week. I don't have much time so I'll just tell you about the most exciting part. Last Monday we traveled to the Hyde Park Chapel to hear Elder Ballard (one of the 12 apostles) speak! Hyde Park is not even in our mission boundaries so usually we would NEVER be allowed to go there. We got a phone call on Saturday that said we would be getting travel plans Sunday, but we wouldn't know if it was happening or not until Monday morning. Monday morning at 10 we got a text saying that we were going! We were instructed to go straight there and then straight home afterward so we obviously didn't do any sightseeing, but I saw London Bridge and the Eye out the window of the train.  Elder Ballard was supposed to go to St. Petersburg Russia, but his visa didn't go through so that's why we didn't find out until last minute. When we got there he was speaking to the missionaries from the London mission and we were instructed to go to the basement waiting room until he was finished speaking to them. We waited for about an hour, and then the mission President's wife from the London Mission came down and made an announcement that Elder Ballard wanted to speak to all of the missionaries together!

 

It was incredibly powerful to have 400 missionaries from two different missions all together listening to an apostle. The Spirit was so strong in that room! One of the things that Elder Ballard told us was that we can and ought to be baptizing more. He said that we can find, teach, and baptize more if we just believe. He also instructed us to always have Gethsemane in our minds. When we are thinking of the Atonement we will do the best we can because we love the Savior. 

President Texiera (the area president for all of Europe) also spoke to all of the missionaries. He said that the church needs to and will grow in Europe, and that growth will start in England. The Lord wants the Church to grow in the UK. Then he said that the growth in England will begin in the two London missions. He also encouraged us to set goals and plans and to increase our expectations (PMG pg. 10). 

 

We also heard from President and Sister Millar. They are both wonderful. I feel very blessed to be serving under their direction. 

 

We are very busy doing the Lord's work here, and it is wonderful. We are teaching a lot of really incredible people! 

 

I love you all!

-Sister Ernenwein

Sorry everyone just gets a big group e-mail today. We don't have much time at all. We are traveling to Hyde Park for a special zone conference with Elder Ballard!!! We are so excited.

Orpington is an amazing area. There are so many miracles happening here. Its beautiful, the members are wonderful, and the people are so prepared. We are super busy everyday and working very hard. 

 

 

I'll write a real e-mail next week!

 

Love you lots,

Sister Ernenwein

I am serving in Orpington, and my trainer's name is Sister Paulsen. She is from Denmark! She's amazing. All of the other missionaries and members absolutely love her. She has been serving for 15 months and she is the kind of person I want to be at the end of my mission. We get along really well, and I am learning a lot from her.

We have been crazy busy ever since I got here. On Wednesday we left Staines after the transfer meeting was over and traveled straight to the chapel in Orpington for a teaching appointment. Then, we went to the institute dinner with a lot of the YSAs so I met a lot of people from the ward. It was kind of scary. I was so nervous the first time I introduced myself that I said my first name accidentally. 

We have been teaching a lot! There is so much potential in this area, and the ward members are very involved in missionary work and willing to sacrifice anything to help the Church grow. 

On Saturday Amy was baptized. It was an incredible experience. I felt the Spirit so strongly, and she was just glowing. You could just see how much joy she was feeling. Sunday was a wonderful day as well, Amy was confirmed and we had an area 70 visit our ward. I feel so blessed to be here. 

I'm learning that missionary work is extremely difficult and demanding, but also incredibly rewarding. I feel like every day I get to participate in a miracle, and I am so blessed to do so. 

-Sister Ernenwein

More picture from the MTC