MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

This week, by far, was the absolute week!!! Wednesday we had a Christmas party with the missionaries in the south zone. It was SO FUN. I loved it because I got to see a lot of my friends from my previous area and catch up with them. We played some games, listened to the Michael Buble Christmas album (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), watched (and participated in) a talent show, had a nativity program, and ate a lot of amazing food!!! In the talent show, Sister Lundahl and I did a gingerbread house decorating tutorial. Sister Lundahl was my arms while I was the eyes. Everyone seemed to really enjoy it! It was also really weird because we got to travel in our trousers so it was so weird to wear trousers in public but it was also fun!

We spent a lot of the days singing Christmas carols to people which really made us and the people we were singing to really happy!! We also visited Albert again. He said he really admires our faith but he just doesn't think he can gain his own faith. But he said "I hope nothing bad ever happens to you girls to make you lose your faith because I just think it's amazing" it was really nice of him to say
that.

On Friday it POURED rain on us!!! We were absolutely soaking wet by the end of the night. We stopped to see Mary and she was like *gasp* "Get by the fire!!!! Here's a hot drink!!!! Give me your coats and sweaters and I'll hang them up by the heater you are NOT going back out there like that!!!" It was really funny.

Then on Saturday we basically went by former investigators all day so we were quite exhausted by the end of the day because of how much we walked. Then we had Christmas Eve dinner with a member which was GREAT. Oh and also earlier that day SANTA CAME!!! (Time difference I guess...)

And yesterday was Christmas!!! We were allowed to sleep until 8:30 but we were up by 7:45 haha. We opened our packages from our friends and family and then went to church which was amazing!! And Michael (our investigator) came to church!!! It was a Christmas miracle!! We had Christmas dinner with a member which was delicious and then we went to our Bishop's house and got to Skype our families!! It was so good to talk to my family and see their faces!! Then we just went home and relaxed the rest of the night so it was a really solid day.

I hope all of your Christmases were amazing and full of fun and joy!! I absolutely loved being a missionary in the Christmas season. I also love you all and miss you like crazy. Party hard this weekend for me because I'll be in bed by 10:30 on New Year's Eve...

LOVE YOU xx

Sister Montgomery

Making our Gingerbread house

The end result of our masterpiece

Billingham homies reunited (Elder Verrieras, Elder Christensen, Elder Stahl, Sister Wood)

Yeah, I'm not really sure what is happening in this one.

I hung out with my best friend again

Our Christmas "tree"

CHRISTMAS EVE IN MY SHERLOCK ONESIE

Christmas outfit

My favourite part of Christmas

We did face masks

Hello friends and family!!

This week was a bit crazy!! Tuesday we stayed the night in Hull because Wednesday morning we had to wake up early to go to Huddersfield for a conference. Elder Kearon, the Europe area president, came and spoke to us basically the whole day. It was amazing and he gave me a lot of motivation!! He talked a lot about how we need to stop worrying and just go to work. We each got to shake his
hand before the meeting and I introduced myself and he said "thank you for your service" and, yes, he said that to almost all of the other missionaries BUT it was still amazing to hear him say that to me!

Then Thursday was a pretty normal day but then that night Sister Lundahl and I both were up all night going back and forth to the toilet with food poisoning. (Talk about companionship unity) so we stayed in all Friday. Which was really sad because we were planning on seeing Albert that day AND the ward Christmas Party was also that day. BUT we got to sleep in which was nice! A member was awesome and brought us medicine and some drinks. It was weird to have a day of doing nothing. It was incredibly boring. Then Saturday we felt well enough to go out so we went knocking. We both still felt pretty weak but we were well enough and I said a little prayer before that we would get let in just so we could sit down (and so we could teach the gospel, of course). I knew we would get let in in the street we picked but I figured it would be a "fourth floor, last door" type of thing but good news!! It was the fourth door we knocked on!! BLESSINGS. It was this sweet lady named Mary who used to have the elders come over about two years ago. She is really in to sewing and vintage decorations so her house was so cool!! We are going to start teaching her this week! It was such a blessing to find her and how quickly we found her! Heavenly Father really watches out for us and wants us to
be happy and to have joy! I am so grateful for everything he does. :)

I hope you all have such a great week this week! CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!! I know I'm going to have a great week! :) I definitely will be missing you all just a little bit more this week though. But I am so PUMPED about this week!! Remember to think of the greatest gift of all our Saviour Jesus Christ. :)

I love you all so so much and miss you as well!! xx

Love,
Sister Montgomery

We made some Saffron Buns ( a Swedish treat) Guess which one is mine.

Heading to Huddersfield BRIGHT AND EARLY

Chilling on a bouncy castle for P day

 This week was a crazy one. We went on exchange which a lot of fun! We met some crazy people in Hull but they were great! And then we had weekly planning with Sister Blair and I kind of broke down during it because it's been a rough last few weeks. I wasn't planning on doing that but then we were talking about success as a missionary and how Heavenly Father pushes us because He wants us to grow. She said some things to try to make me feel better but it just wasn't doing anything for me. That night I prayed to Heavenly Father about how He felt I was doing as a missionary. The next day we went knocking with a member who is preparing for her mission. We let her pick the street and we were not having any luck. We got to the other side of the street and we knocked on this door and an old man opened the door and said "Hello ladies! Are you Mormon?" We said yes and he said "Right. Come on in. I don't promise I'll convert but you can come in and rest for a bit" I asked if we could share a message as well and he said yes. We introduced ourselves and found out that his name is Albert and he is 91! I asked if we could say a prayer with him and he said yes. So I said it and then he started to tell some stories about his children and he got really emotional and said "I'm sorry. That prayer really did me good. I can just tell you that your day was not wasted at all." And I started crying too! It's amazing how fast Heavenly Fatheranswered my prayer! It's amazing how my mission is shaping me. It's been quite the roller coaster of emotions but it's only making me stronger. To quote Augustus Waters "I'm on a roller coaster that only goes up, my friends!"

We also had transfer calls this week but I am still staying in Grimsby with Sister Lundahl!

I hope you all have a great week and remember the reason for the season!! xx

Love,
Sister Montgomery

Sister Lundal's mom sent us some advent calendars

The Sisters of the Hull zone

The Grimsby District

Exchange with Sister Blair and Sister Eschgfäller!

A member's dog decided he wanted to cuddle with us!

Hello!!!

We still haven't taught anyone yet BUT remember Darius and Pzremek?? Okay so we lost contact with them which made us SO sad but yesterday we were walking home and I saw this guy who looked like Pzremek but I thought "nah it's too good to be true" BUT IT WAS HIM. So we talked to
him and he let us know he had to change his number. But he didn't have his phone with him so he said he will text us to give us his new number! He hasn't done that yet...But I know he will! Ah it was so amazing though!! Sister Lundahl did a major happy dance when he couldn't see us anymore! I hope you all have fantastic weeks! 

Love you all!
xx

Sister Montgomery

Grimsby's fish and chips are HEAVENLY!

Companions who have cute Christmas sweaters together, stay together.