Missionaries!

One of the things that I love about living in England is the opportunity to feed the missionaries and work with them. While living in Utah the past 10 years we never had missionaries in our ward.  I grew up in a home where we always had the missionaries over for dinner.  It is something I want to continue doing now and when we have children.  I think missionaries bring a special spirit in the home.  I also loved when members fed me as a missionary or let me serve them, so now it is time to pay it forward.

We used to have 3 sets of missionaries in the ward.  First it was 2 sets of Sisters and 1 set of Elders.  Then it was 2 sets of Elders and 1 set of Sisters.  Transfers are today and now we are down to 1 set of Elders and 1 set of Sisters.  We feed the missionaries at least once a week.  We have already seen some of our favorite missionaries leave.

My favorite set of sisters so far were both new the same Sunday we arrived in England.  Sisters Leslie (from Utah) and Maiurnikova (from Ukraine).  They were the training sisters (kind of like Zone Leaders, but over just sisters).  They were both only here for one transfer.  They were hilarious and always made me laugh. When they found out I had no job and didn't know anyone here they were both like we'll be your friends! They always made sure I was doing ok.  While they were here they helped us clean our back yard area.  When we moved in we were greeted with lots of unpleasant surprises.  The back yard was one of them with trash everywhere and lots of TLC needed.  Here are some pictures from when the sisters came to help:

The shed in the back full of trash

Sister Maiurnikova in the back and Sister Leslie in front

This is us after cleaning the back yard and having lunch

I think we had over 35 bags of trash from that day we cleaned out the back yard.  We were very grateful to them for coming to help us.  I miss these crazy sisters!  Here is a better picture from their last Sunday in the ward:

L to R: Sister Maiurnikova, Leslie, Me, and Simon

One of the Elders who also arrived the same week we did, just got transferred today.  We had them over for dinner last night.  We fed them tacos 2 weeks ago and he loves them so much he requested them for dinner last night (I was more than happy to oblige because Simon and I love them too).  Also, English people don't really know what mexican food is.  When someone asked me what my favorite food was once, I said mexican and they said, oh like chili?  What?????  Chili is not mexican.  Anyway, his name is Elder Peterson and he is from Montana.  We have had a new member lesson with one of their recent converts before in our home.  We have also had their investigators over for dinner.  We will miss him.  He is going to Manchester YSA to be a Zone Leader.

Me, Simon, and Elder Peterson

Elder Paheroo, Simon, and Elder Peterson

Elder Paheroo is from Tahiti.  He is staying another transfer.  He told us about life in Tahiti last night and Simon and I decided we are going to visit him when he gets home.  Simon really wants to learn how to spear fish.  Elder Paheroo showed us this dish from Tahiti, it is called Poisson Cru (Tahitian Salad):

Raw tuna, cucumber, coconut milk, tomato

Elder Paheroo says it is delicious.  I was a little sceptical when I found out it was a raw fish salad.  I guess we will wait and see!