Hiya!!

This week was SO GOOD. We saw so many miracles with finding and we were able to schedule a nine year old and her mom! We are way stoked about it! We got transfer calls yesterday. I am staying in Billingham with Sister Koepf! I am very relieved about that. Also, I hit my 2 month mark tomorrow!! I feel like I've been here for two weeks so it's crazy. On October 22 we are having mission conference and President Russell M. Nelson is COMING. YESSSSS. I can not wait!!! We have a lot of people we are teaching this week so we are definitely seeing blessings in England!! 

We went to a butterfly world today!! It was extremely hot and humid in the room so my glasses fogged up and my hair got a bit frizzy. But it was a lot of fun!! 

Yesterday during Relief Society the primary children were singing "I Hope They Call Me On A Mission" and Sister Koepf and I fist bumped each other. It was way weird to hear them sing that because I remember singing that and now I'm a missionary. What the? Also, yesterday we got to watch the woman's session of general conference and I loved President Uchtdorf's talk on faith. I especially loved when he said that the purpose of faith is not to change God's will. But be willing to act on God's will. Ah it was so good! God loves each of us and is aware of all our needs!

D&C 6:36

Love you and miss you all!

Sister Montgomery

Billingham District

There were meerkats in the butterfly world!!!!??

 

We found a teeter totter!!!!!

I spoke Parcel Tongue (is that how you spell it?) to the snake because I'm in England and everyone tells me I have Harry Potter glasses

I got a football jersey today so I guess now I'm pretty cool.

Hello all!

This week was pretty good. We met this lady on the street and she had just come from her mother's funeral but she was talking about how they didn't mourn, they just we're happy that her suffering is done and she's in a better place. She definitely was drunk and she gave us really long hugs and tried to kiss me but I didn't let her.

We went on exchange with the sister training leaders and it was a lot of fun! I got called a bible basher so I guess you could say I'm officially a missionary!

We walked passed this little boy and he looked at me and, in a snooty voice, he said "hey specs" but jokes on him because Specs is one of my favourite Newsies.

Today we went to Middlesborough and we went to a Chinese buffet called Banana Leaf. It was amazing! I got a Chinese plate and then they also had some American food so I got chicken nuggets and fries and green jello and I came to the table and the elders were like "could you be more Mormon, Sister Montgomery?" And in the most Utah accent I could use I said "I'm from Utah". It was good times.

We struggled to find people to teach last week but we feel really good about this week. I hope all is well with everyone.

Fun facts:

-everyone calls me "love" "darling" "flower" etc, and if that could still be a thing when I get back I would love it.

-everyone here loves the Osmond's. As soon as we mention that we are Mormon they immediately go "Donny Osmond!!" There was even this lady on the bus the other day that was like "yeah he turns 59 in November (I think? I don't remember)" and told me how many kids he has and how many grandkids he has. It was really funny.

I love you and miss you all!!!! xx

Exchange with Sister Berg (from Norway) and Sister Wood (from Ogden, Utah)

There is a member with about 8 dogs and 44 cats

"Well, one of us is going to have to change." We went all day without noticing that we matched.

A member gave us Kool-Aid!!!!!!!!!!!

Today at Banana Leaf

My "Mormon Meal" from the Chinese buffet

This email is going to be short because 1. I don't remember what happened, to be honest and 2. We went hiking today so I don't have a lot of time left.

We had Zone Conference on Wednesday and that was really cool and I learned so much.

We didn't teach a lot of people this week which was unfortunate but we found a lot of potentials so hopefully something will come from them.

Hahahahaha good heavens I literally can't remember what happened this week. I don't have my journal with me so I can't look back.....um....so how was your guys' week?

Okay, well I'll leave you with a few more fun facts:

-there are ice cream trucks EVERYWHERE and they have characters from the Simpsons on them.

-I'm definitely not used to cars driving on the wrong side of the road yet and I keep looking the wrong way when I cross the road

-there aren't hot dogs here (not so fun fact because I want a hot dog)

Anyways, hopefully I'll remember more next week and have more time to email. I love you all and miss you SO much!

-Sister Montgomery

Billingham Zone

Apparently pancakes aren't big in England.

Roseberry Toppings. The wind was probably 97 mph. I thought we were going to fly right off! It was beautiful though.

Hello!!

Wow this week was amazing and it flew by!! Being on a mission is so much fun!! So many interesting things have happened this week.

Sister Koepf and I got asked on a date by two guys who really wanted to feed us Kurdish food. It was very tempting but we had to say no. I met two deaf guys and I was SO excited that they were deaf!! I was like "my two years of sign language in high school are finally going to pay off!" So we were trying to sign to each other and I wasn't understanding them, they weren't understanding me, and I was like "what the heck?? What is going on??" And then I realised British sign language and American Sign Language are two completely different things...

We've been teaching this guy from Iran who speaks Persian and we've really been trying to help him understand the priesthood. So I asked him "do you understand what the priesthood is?" And he said yes so I said "so do you understand why it's important to be baptised by someone holding that priesthood?" And he said yes so I said "so will you be baptised by someone holding that priesthood?" And he said yes so Sister Koepf said "we're holding a baptismal service on the 30 of September, will you prepare yourself to be baptised on that day?" And he was like ".....you want me to be baptised again?" (He's already been baptised in the baptist church) and we were like "......yes" so then the next lesson we had with him (which was yesterday) we found out that the whole time we've been saying priesthood he thought we were saying Protestant.... So we cleared that up for him and I think he finally understands why our church is different so he said he's going to pray about it (woot woot)

On the bus the other day a lady saw my name tag and said "I went to Salt Lake City!" And I said "no way! I'm from there!" And I asked her why she was there and she told me she visited the temple and the family history centre and I asked her how she felt while she was there and she was like "oh it was amazing. There is just something so special about you guys and I felt absolutely amazing while I was in Utah" and I was like "that is so awesome! So have you thought about taking our lessons then and learning more about us?" And almost immediately she was like "no. Absolutely not"and I was like"....what?" And she was like "I don't believe in God. I really want to, I've always been envious of people like you who have such strong faith in him and I want that but I just can't get it" and I was like
"well you know, that's why I left my home in beautiful Utah so I can share with people how to get that faith. It's really simple actually. I just share the tools I use." And she was like "no. It was lovely talking to you but no" and that was it. So that was great. It made me really really sad actually.

Fun facts:

-I see red mini coopers and light blue Jaguars everywhere in England
so it makes me feel like I'm back home with my mum and dad

-everyone thinks we're Canadian

Anyways, it's been fun. It's been real. It's been real fun. Keep it fresh, mates.

Love,
Sister Montgomery

We found this cute little guy while we were knocking

WOW I am so beyond overwhelmed with the amount of emails sent to me this week!! Thank you for all of your love and support back home. This week was DEFINITELY a better week. I have learned so much this week.

1. I have the best friends and family in the whole world and you aren't making it easy to not be with you.

2. I am so blessed to have the life I have back home and that I have the gospel in my life. I meet so many people every day who just don't understand why this gospel is so amazing and important and it breaks my heart.

3. If you take a new experience one moment at a time, it's a lot easier than taking it all at once.

4. I LOVE LIVING IN UTAH. I love having chapels and temples everywhere I look. And I miss that a lot.

5. I have already been out for a month, that was probably the fastest month of my life. People say it only gets faster. If that's true, I'll be home before I can say "I want to go home"

6. This is the most important. The Lord will NEVER leave you alone. He is by your side always and wants to help you. If you let him, He WILL help you. It may not be the way you expect, but he will. I PROMISE He will. He loves all of His children and wants us to have joy in this life. I have felt my Father in Heaven's love for me more than I ever have in life. "My brothers and sisters, the first great commandment of all eternity is to love God with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength--that’s the first great commandment. But the first great truth of all eternity is that God loves us with all of His heart, might, mind, and strength. That love is the foundation stone of eternity, and it should be the foundation stone of our daily life. Indeed it is only with that reassurance burning in our soul that we
can have the confidence to keep trying to improve, keep seeking forgiveness for our sins, and keep extending that grace to our neighbor...His divine love and unfailing help will be with us even when we struggle--no, will be with us especially when we struggle." (Elder Holland)

I taught so many lessons and we have five new investigators this week (I told you if you keep faith in Him and ask for help, he will bless you). We had two investigators at church which was also a huge
blessing!! I'm learning and growing so much and I'm so grateful to be a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I love my Savior. I love the opportunity to serve. Stay safe everyone.

I love you and miss you like crazy!!!!

Love,
Sister Montgomery

MY NEW MICKEY MOUSE ONESIE. (Don't worry mom I washed it)

I killed a spider as big as a GOLF BALL. (Not an exaggeration. There was a golf ball next to it and I compared) and yes, dad I killed it by myself. I may have also said a prayer right before I killed it. I vacuumed it up because I didn't want to touch it at all. Sister Koepf: just leave it in there and we'll deal with it in the morning. Me: I don't want it in our house. I then went and flushed Satan's minion.

We got parmo (fried chicken with cream and cheese heart attack) and fish and chips to celebrate my month mark and Sis Koepf's 6 month mark. The parmo was DELICIOUS. The fish wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, I'll have it again but it's not my favourite. CUTE COMPANIONS!

If you're wondering what my hair looks like after a rainy day in England. (It's definitely not as bad as I thought it would be but still a bit frizzy)

HELLO

Okay these last two weeks have been the craziest weeks of my life. So my last week of the MTC: we went to Manchester to talk to people for 2 hours and that was definitely the worst 2 hours of my life. I
definitely may have gone behind a wall and cried for a bit because people were not being nice to me at all. We got back on the bus and I was just bawling. I told myself "as soon as I get back to the MTC I'm going to talk to president Preston and tell him I'm going home." I was so frustrated and upset. I started praying and asking "Heavenly Father, you know I am extremely, sensitive to this stuff, why did you send me on a mission? I can not do this" and then and Elder named Elder Santos came over and started talking to my companion. He is from Brasil and is really struggling with English. He was also really struggling to say my name so he was really practising it. He finally learned it so every time he would see me he would yell "Sister Montgomery!!" It was great. So while I was crying on the bus he said "Sister Montgomery!" And I didn't want to show him I was crying but I didn't want to be rude so I turned to him and he saw me crying, looked me straight in the eye and said "do you know God loves you?" And I started crying even more. And then he was talking more to companion and she was asking him how his English was coming along and he said "you know what? I came out on a mission because I love my Saviour. And yes I'm struggling to learn English but I know I can do it because I have my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ on my side." And I started crying even MORE. But it was a huge help for me and I decided I wasn't going to go home. I was still crying a lot though and could not stop for so long. I still had no idea how I was going to do this. I talked to President and he said that I got through the hardest part. It's only going to get easier from here. And he was so proud of me for staying out and saying I was very brave. It made me feel better but I still could not stop crying. I went to my room and just stared praying and I said "Heavenly Father please lift this burden. I can't keep being a missionary if I'm going to feel like this every time I go tracting." And almost instantly, I stopped crying. And I didn't cry for the rest of the day. I felt SO much better. Guys, I can't tell you enough how much Heavenly Father loves and watches over us. He is on our side and cheering us on. The rest of the week was great. It was really hard to leave the MTC because I loved everyone there.

First week in the field:
Street contacting is definitely not as hard as it was at the MTC because I have someone with me who knows what she is doing. I love her and she helps me so much. Her name is Sister Koepf (Keff). She is from Michigan and she only has 3 toes on one of her feet! We get along really well! My area is called Billingham. My zone leaders are in my district and their names are Elder Norton from California, Elder Boswell from Oregon, my district leader is Elder Stahle from Bountiful Utah, and his companion is Elder Verrieras from France. They are all great people and I'm excited to get to work with them. It's definitely been a better week. I have only had one lesson with an investigator last week and were meeting with him again this week. Hopefully everything goes well with that. The members are great. Everyone loves how strong my accent is. Street contacting is interesting because I'll try to talk to someone and they'll say something like "I'm a lesbian" or "I hope the real God blesses you" and stuff like that. It's great. I'm still trying to get use to the lingo. Okay so in England "pants" means "underwear" and "trousers"'mean "pants" SO I keep saying "hey I like your pants!" And people keep looking down horrified that I can see their underwear so I have to be like "sorry!! Your trousers!! I'm American.." And they're like "ha....yeah thanks" it's fun stuff.

GOOD NEWS. In my flat I found a MICKEY MOUSE ONESIE. My dreams have come true. Okay before this email gets any longer, I should end it. I love you all. Miss you lots!!

My trainer Sister Koepf. I was a bit relieved no one was on the bus

We got bored waiting for a less active member at the bus stop on Sunday.

It was poring rain and I was a bit excited about it

The district (minus the Zone Leaders) on Pday. Watching movies and emailing our families all day. BEST DAY OF MY LIFE

Elder Stahle, Sister Koepf, Elder Verrieras

Sporting my Utah necklace and my Snow College hoodie because I miss home lots.

We received this email this morning from Katie's Mission President. We are grateful that she made it safely!

Dear Brother & Sister Montgomery,

Sister Turvey and I have had the privilege of welcoming your daughter to the England Leeds Mission. How grateful we are for her desire to service the Lord.

We are grateful for her smiles, for her warmth, and especially for her sweet spirit.

Her trainer has been prayerfully considered and is Sister Amanda Jo Koepf . They will be serving in the Billingham 1 Area in the Billingham Zone.

We look forward to serving alongside Sister Katie Frances Montgomery and sharing her progress and successes from time to time with you.

We already love them

President & Sister Turvey

P.S. Facebook: England Leeds Mission Turvey 2016-2019

You can send letters to your daughter's flat address, but make sure you remember transfers happen every six weeks. Packages, however, need to be sent to the mission office at the address below. Please be aware that it takes some time to actually get here, then it may take a couple more weeks for us to get them delivered to your missionary.

England Leeds Mission
Lister House, Lister Hill
Horsforth
Leeds LS18 5AZ
England

New Missionaries with President & Sister Turvey

Katie & her trainer Sister Koepf with President & Sister Turvey