April 11th–April 17th: And Then There Were Three

This week we have had a pretty crazy week. It was transfers and Elder Carling went! I'm so sad! I'm going to miss him, the 4 musketeers are now 3, but we now have Elder Korth.

This week we have seen Maggie quite a few times. She claims that she is stupid, but she really understands quite a bit. She is also the most committed investigator that we have at the moment. She actually read from the beginning to the Book of Omni. We told her how impressive that was and she just told us she didn't remember a thing and would need to read it again. Her memory isn't always the best but she definitely does try.  We also talked about the restoration with her again and I think that she kind of understood it. Once again she didn't give herself enough credit, she remembered a great deal about what we had talked about with her before.  She didn't understand some of it but she was really willing to learn. It was great to have her so interested and listening and taking it all in.

We saw Henry as well this week.  The lesson with him this week gave me a big old headache. He was asking some really strange and confusing questions about Jesus Christ. He doesn't understand what the point of Christ is and he can't wrap his head around a lot of what Jesus did and who he was. He is also struggling with the concept of God having a body and all that. For me it's hard to teach that God has a body because it's so common sense to me. God made us to look like him, well that means that God has to have a body, Jesus was said to be the express image of Heavenly Father, then that means that he must have a body. I just can't understand why everyone thinks he doesn't.

Oscar is doing really well, he finally seems to be getting himself on track which is good. He told us yesterday that he is going to start reading the Book of Mormon, he has kinda gone on a "new me" thing and he wants to get his life sorted out and happily he decided that one of the things is the Book of Mormon.

As far as other exciting happenings of the week, I went on an exchange of sorts with Elder Dimartino. It was fun to be back with him, it was so strange to be back in Crosby area. We went together to cover our appointments while our companions who are District Leaders went to Manchester for a leadership training. I really love Elder Dimartino like a brother, but being with him reminded me again how high strung he is. I definitely want to go and see him after my mission though. The hardest part will be finding the time and money to come and do all the things I want to do over here in Europe.  There's a lot of people I would like to come and visit here eventually. The good thing is that they have all offered to let me stay with them for a bit so the most expensive part will just be getting back here. Then the hard part will be having the time to make the plane ticket worth it. But no worries for that, I still have plenty of time not to worry about that.

So that's about what my week has been. Love you all lots and hope that you are doing well!

Elder Tarbet

Sunny in Southport

The four Southport elders with Francesca

Too much fun? Casual Onlookers Beware...

My Friends in Southport

Here are some details about the folks that Logan has been talking about for the past few weeks:

Francesca:   She is a member who has really taken to us as missionaries. We were able to help her to build the confidence to break out of a bad relationship and she has kinda adopted us. She's in her late 30s. She is the one who has kinda played chauffeur for us the last while and has introduced us to one of her good friends who is now having us over every Monday, not for lessons, yet, but we always share a message of some kind with her. And she absolutely loves the hymns so we have been singing with her (the friend Carolin).

Magy:  We found her from the area book. Her family didn't like the missionaries in the past but now she lives on her own. She was kinda an eternal investigator type of person but is now just jumped forward in her own and is kinda progressing again.

Hetty:  She is a less active member who we have been working with. She has been so wonderful to us and her and her friend Gil who is also a member have been making good progress toward coming back. The biggest thing we can find for Hetty is that her husband can't really be left. I think that otherwise she would totally come back.

Chyrol: The member who runs the temperance. The Temperance is a charity dating from about the 1830s that is against alcohol. The Temperance building that we always talk about is a historic building from the 1850s that we help out at.  We are trying to help her declutter the building. It's a hard process.

Nanavati:  Area book again. He isn't a member but is a certified eternal investigator. He has been meeting missionaries pretty regularly for about 10 years. He is super kind and very lonely. So we go and visit him and try and share a bit about the gospel with him.

Rachel:  She is a less active member who has just now moved over to the east coast so we won't be seeing her much. She is really nice and loves to feed us.

Ethan:  Ethan is a young man about 19 who has just kinda gotten back into the church. He is way fun and very good to us as missionaries. He is currently working on his mission papers and hopes to leave the end of the summer about September-ish. He will be a great missionary. He is the only active member of a family that half of them are apostate. I don't think that I would be doing near so well if I were in his shoes. 

April 4th—April 10th: Seeing the Lord's Hand in my Life as a Missionary

Howdy all!

This week has been pretty good, we have stayed pretty busy. Not really sure too much of what to say because I told you the basics of what has happened. 

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we were on exchanges with the Zone Leaders. That was an interesting experience. I went with the missionary who trained Elder Fernandez, they couldn't be any more different. We skipped lunch and dinner so that we could get some more tracting in.  Oh he is absolutely crazy with his love of knocking doors. So after that exhausting 24 hours the rest of the week has been pretty good! 

We have been by Nanavati and had a really good talk with him about the goodness of God. We have also been to see Hetty a few times which is good, she is doing really well and her faith seems to be growing bit by bit.

We saw Henry on Saturday which was really good.  We hadn't seen him in about two weeks and I missed him. He has been reading and praying. We talked about general conference with him. We also talked about the Holy Ghost which we always seem to talk about.

Well, she (Francesca) did kinda a reverse tea appointment and she gave us the lesson. She told us a story about her mission and then she told us a story about our mission. She told us about how we helped her to have the confidence to remove herself from a bad relationship. She told us that we showed her how the priesthood should be, and how we should honour and support those around us. How we shouldn't abuse the power that we have. It was a really wonderful experience to me to see the fruits of my labours in a firsthand way.  My constant prayer of the last few months was that I would be able to fulfill my role as a representative of Christ and as one of his missionaries. I honestly felt like I was failing in that, I felt like he wasn't listening because how could I do that work when I was sick. I found out that my prayer had been answered. If I hadn't had been sick we never would have built the relationship that we have with Francesca. We wouldn't have been any help to her. I have been able to help her and she has been a great blessing to us. She has introduced us to a friend of hers who is at this time skeptical of us but wants us to keep coming over. Her friend (Carolin) actually feeds us when we go. She is a catholic priest but loves our hymns, I think that she will come around with time and patience.

So that's about all I've got to say. Hope that you've all had a good week!

Love y’all

Elder Tarbet

Easter and Conference Pictures

Easter Dinner at the McManus's House


Ran into Sister Watts from Crosby!

March 21st—April 3rd: Finally feeling better!!

Last week:

Monday—I wasn't feeling good and neither was Elder Carling so we stayed at the chapel and hung out while the others went to the sand dunes.

Tuesday—Not feeling well all day. We had district meeting, tried by a few people, then a member tried to take us to a walk in centre. It was a complete and utter wild goose chase. We first went to the hospital in Southport. They were no good. So we end up trying to find a place in Liverpool. We get there and all they are doing is triage. We then go back to Southport. I call this healthcare advice number thing and they tell me I need to go to the A&E (ER).  So we go back to the Southport hospital and they have an 8-12 hour waiting list. I wasn't about to wait all night in a waiting room so we opt to go home, sleep and then come back in the morning.

Wednesday—We get up and Francesca comes and picks us up, takes us to the A&E where we find people who were there the previous night, so glad we decided to sleep at home. But after 5 hours I finally get into the doctors. Can I just say that the NHS (National Healthcare System, we think)  is the biggest waste of money I've ever seen? A 5 hour waiting time and then I'm back with the doctor for less than ten minutes. They didn't really even do anything. They took my vitals, listened to my breathing, and gave me a cream for my eyes. That was it. I would think that if someone had been sick for 3 months they might look a bit harder as to why. But anyway, rant over.  The rest of the day I came home and slept.

Thursday—Pretty normal day, I still felt absolutely sick but President had committed me to work through it. So I did. I totally fell asleep in a few appointments and every time we got on the bus, but I did go out. We went and saw Hetty who is one of my favorite people. She is less active because her husband has Alzheimer's disease and so she can't leave him for long. The care centres here aren't very good for Alzheimer's so she wants to avoid that for as long as possible.

Friday—Henry came out with us to try and see what it was like to be a missionary. That was interesting for sure. We took him tracting and we went and visited some people. It was a pretty good day and I think he found it interesting. Luckily, everyone was relatively nice to us that day. We were able to talk about his baptism as well. He compared it to a marriage and said that he didn't want to commit until he knew his wife and that he knew he would be able to stick to it.

Saturday—We went and saw Henry in Ormskirk, and besides that it was kinda a waste of a day. We have those way too much.

Sunday—We had Magy come to church! It was fantastic!!! She did start swearing like a sailor in Gospel Principles but for her, she was on best behaviour. She has a good sized swearing problem. Dinner at the McManus's house. They are one of my favourite families for sure. They are so nice and treat us so well. I love them to bits, they are just so good to us.

This week:

Monday—We went to the Temple. It was a good session, but I think everyone in the room (the session was completely full) was really sick of my coughing by the time it was over. I coughed the whole time. After the temple, we had our interviews with President, it was a good interview. I love both President and Sister Ulrich. They have been so good and loving towards me through my seemingly endless problems. Sister Ulrich especially, she just acts as a mother to all of us which is great cuz I really miss my own. Francesca then took us on a mini historical tour of Preston which was pretty good.

Tuesday—I woke up, not sick at all. It was fantastic! No cough, no runny nose, nothing!! We went to the Temperance and helped out there after District meeting. It was pretty fun, Chyrol has some issues getting rid of stuff so she has all kinds of treasures to be found all through the building. That evening we went to the Smiths. They are a fun family and they have grown on me a lot. Another of my favourite families probably. It is just fun to talk to them. I have gotten the nickname of "adorkable" from them. Not quite sure what that means but it makes me laugh. 

Wednesday—We went and helped Magy rearrange her flat for some new carpet to be laid. While we were there we learned that she is totally crazy (in a fun way) haha. She has full conversations with herself. It's hilarious. She also is so sassy to us. She is so sarcastic and just takes the mic out of us all the time. She's good fun. We then went and saw Hetty. She is just like a grandmother to us. We get there and she has gotten us some Easter eggs and she is just so relaxing to talk to. Side note: They don't have plastic eggs here. They have chocolate ones that are hollow, they are so strange.

Thursday—We had weekly planning, then we had coordination. We then went and visited Nanavati. That man is really fun to talk to. It's just a good conversation and I always learn so much. He is a retired doctor who has done quite a lot with his life and so he is very very smart. We talked about the miracle of our bodies, specifically the heart. He has heart problems and so he was teaching us how all the heart works and what not. It was fascinating. We also saw Gabriel and Ana. They are doing well they have been reading the scriptures that we left them. It was fun to talk to them, and their oldest son Daniel is so stinkin smart. He will sometimes translate for his parents and he can read both Portuguese and English.  It's incredible. He said the closing prayer and it was so nice.

Friday—Nothing too major happened. We had set up to play football with Gabriel but he didn't show up. So we wasted all afternoon doing nothing. That is something that I struggle with and need to work on, I don't think about it until the time is already gone.

Saturday—We went and helped the other Elders deep clean their flat because it was nasty and they had a mouse problem. So we went in the morning and helped them clean. That flat has gotten pretty gross in the last transfer or so. We then went out to Ormskirk to see Rachel.  She fed us lunch and then Elder Carling and I went on a mini exchange to see some investigators. Meanwhile, Elder Pape and Elder Singsam took her dogs on a walk. We then went back to Southport and watched conference. I absolutely loved the talk about "How Firm a Foundation." No matter what we are going through, the Lord is right there with us and hasn't left us alone. He has been through it all and he is now giving us the opportunity to learn. Loved it.

Sunday—Got up and went to conference. Such a wonderful experience, conference as a missionary.  I did manage to see some faces from home in the different choirs. My favourite talk (possibly) was Elder Utchdorf's last talk. Although I did love both of President Monson's short messages.

So that's been my past two weeks, sorry again for the lack of email last week.

Love you all!

Elder Tarbet

Marcth 28th: A Very Busy P-Day!

Hi, sorry super crazy day. I've been at the temple, been interviewed by president,  and a member has taken us around Preston and what not. So I'm so sorry, but my emailing this week is super limited. I will tell you more about everything next week.

Love you all!

Elder Tarbet