Hello friends and family!

Good heavens what a week it has been. We found a new investigator this week! His name is Bernard and we met him while knocking. The night before, during nightly planning, we were looking at the map on our iPads for a street we could knock and I chose a pretty decent-sized street. We got there the next day and there were literally like 4 houses on the street...But we knocked it anyway and Bernard was the in the first house! It was really cool. We talked a lot about the afterlife and he invited us back! We went the next day and taught him the plan of salvation. He seemed to really enjoy it and he said it made sense. He said we could come back and teach him more! So that was a huge blessing to find him.

Then Thursday we had interviews with President. It was really nice to talk to him and receive advice and encouragement from him. It was also really nice to Sister Turvey. She made me feel great after talking to her! I seriously love her! After, we received training from the Assistants which was really helpful. The whole day was just very much needed and very motivating.

Saturday we tried by this former investigator named Steve. We found out he stopped his interest because he had a lot of questions and concerns about the Book of Mormon and prophets etc. We went in and taught him and tried to answer his questions and, thanks to the training we received from the assistants, I think succeeded at answering his questions and made him interested in learning more
again!

Yesterday was...rough. Michael called and said he needed to talk to us. We went over there and he said that some conflict came up and he told us he can't join the church. So uh, that was one of the hardest things to hear. We asked him to pray about it and he's going to. We're still going to see him on Tuesday so we'll hear back from him then. Then the rest of our day consisted of all of our plans falling through. BUT, I think because we were fasting, we received a huge blessing of keeping a positive attitude all day. I really have no idea how we did it though because we wanted to be sad and throw ourselves a pity party but for some reason we just stayed positive and were able to still be happy. I have such a strong testimony that Heavenly Father cares about all of us. He loves us and wants what is best for us. Sometimes we just have to be patient both with ourselves and those
around us.

I love you all and hope you have the best week! xx

Love
Sister Montgomery

The coolest doorbell I have ever seen

Hello!!!!

I hope all of your New Years were great!! Mine sure was a party. We had tea with a member and then had to be in our flat by 6:30 and asleep by 10:30...But we set an alarm for 11:58 so we could watch the fireworks and celebrate for a second. But I was soooo tired when we woke up and I was basically falling asleep as I stood in front of the window. It was kind of pathetic really. Sister Lundahl tried to get me to celebrate with a glass of Shloer (the equivalent of Martinelli's) but I accidentally passed out on my bed. But it was a fun 2 minutes anyways.

Yesterday we had lunch with our Stake President and his family. It was so fun! They have such cute kids and they are so entertaining! I laughed quite a lot during our time with them. Then we went to a less active member's (Anne) home and she had two of her friends there with her. It was such an amazing visit! We were able to talk to her friends about the church a little bit and one of them, Viv, had some really good questions and she said "I just want to know the truth!". Sister Lundhal and I really perked up when she said that. We told her when she hears the truth it will have a familiar ring to her and will bring her peace and comfort. We told her the beginning of the plan of salvation and she seemed to really enjoy it and she pondered a lot on it. Anne asked her if she wanted to take the lessons and she said she would think about it. The whole lesson was lead by the spirit and it really just proved to me that Heavenly Father puts you exactly where He needs you at the exact moment He needs you. She is so prepared and we really look forward to seeing her again!

I hope you all have a great week! And that this year is FANTASTIC.

Love you and miss you all xx

Sister Montgomery

This sunset was beautiful!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SISTER LUNDAHL. We celebrated with chicken kabobs and they were absolutely AMAZING!

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.

Hello friends and family!!

This week, again, was a lot of finding and visiting members. We are finding our way around beautiful Grimsby a lot better now which is good! We taught these two Polish guys named Darius and Pzremek! They struggle a little bit with English but we make it work. (I may have been called to England but I feel like I have been called to every country in the world with all the foreigners I have been teaching. AND I LOVE IT.) they are a lot of fun to teach because they are so animated! And they kept making fun of me because I say "way cool" a lot (haha silly American). We had quite a long lesson with them because they had so many good questions! But it was really good and they are going to read the Book of Mormon!

GOOD NEWS: I can speak a sentence of Swedish. Sister Lundahl taught it to me. It's a line in a song. She sings the whole song but then there is one sentence that I get to sing and man I give it my all! It's "jag väntar vad Herren sänt" which means something like "I wait what the Lord sent".

Today we are having a thanksgiving dinner with our whole zone! I am STOKED. We were in charge of making the stuffing and let me tell you the stuffing here is nothing compared to America's stuffing. But it's the thought that counts I guess. So if everyone could eat some American stuffing in my behalf I would really appreciate it. I hope you all have a great week and that you eat a lot of turkey and watch a lot of American football. And remember to give thanks to the two people who matter the most: our Saviour Jesus Christ and loving Father in Heaven.

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

Love,
Sister Montgomery

We had a Toy Story themed Zone Training! I LOVED IT!

Zone Sisters

Zone Thanksgiving.