"Meet The Mormons"

It's kind of a big thing here in the UK now. A programme in the tele that features a young lad who is serving a full-time mission in the England Leeds Mission. Just Google it, guys. Or click this link http://www.channel4.com/programmes/meet-the-mormons/episode-guide

We received different feedback from that show, both positive and negative. There were few people who approached us and said, "I feel so sorry for you, guys. You're trapped. You can't see your family for two years? That's not nice!" I just said to them that we're not trapped and we are here in England because of our own choice, no one forced us to do this.

And yes, I left my family for eighteen months so others can be with theirs for eternity.

I'd like to bear my testimony that I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true and living church of Christ here on earth today.

I'm a daughter of God and has a divine potential that I could be with my family together with Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father someday. As a woman, I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to share the restored gospel here in England. When I handed my mission papers to my branch president couple of months ago, I know that serving a mission is going to be hard. But I still opt to serve because I love my Heavenly Father so much and I love those people around me. Yes, serving a mission is hard especially in a country that is so foreign to me. But hey, you know what, I don't even care because as long as I do my best to be a consecrated missionary, I know that Heavenly Father will help me. This eighteen months will fly by, but the blessings that I will share here will be for forever. It's worth it.

I sustain President Thomas S. Monson as a prophet, seer and revelator but never ever would I worship him. I know that he is called of God and receives direct revelation from Him to guide and direct us. I am grateful for Joseph Smith. I know that he was a prophet of God and that he translated the Book of Mormon, another testament of Jesus Christ, by the power of God.

I know that these things are true and I am not going to deny it. In the name of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Dear Family and Friends,

Hiya!

How has your week been, guys? :)

Oh my days! Mine's really great! There are loads of stuff that happened this past week. Stake conference was so amazing! I love it!

We are teaching a lady named Elaine. She is so lovely! I love her to bits! 

And I love my Relief Society president and her whole family. Gosh. I found a Mum figure here! So sorry if my email is really weird and unorganised. haha.

There's nothing to tell really. My head is spinning. lol

Transfers will be on July 16th! I'm hoping that me and Sister Ferrell will stay together  here in Kettering. I LOVE HER SO MUCH. She's the best companion! 

We will go to London this Thursday for our Zone Conference. I'll email you the details next PDay.

And oh, last Saturday, we've had zone meeting. It was great! I'll email the photo of me, Sister Ishizawa (Japan) and Sister Som (Cambodia) next week. Haha. Asians FTW! And oh, don't forget Elder Wu from Taiwan. :)

I love and miss you all!

Love,

Sister Ordanza

No More Vitamin D pills!

23 June 2014
~

Yes. We've had sunshine this week and awkward tan lines. Oh I forgot to tell y'all that I'm wearing grandma shoes now. :p

Idc. It's comfy!

Dear Family and Friends,

Oh my days! Last week's been fabulous! Not that I'm counting but I can't believe that I've been here in England for over three months now! Wow!

Joan is going to be baptised this coming Sunday after the stake conference. :)

She's really excited for her baptism and is getting along with the whole ward!

We've had a miracle on "finding by the way" last Saturday. Oh actually, we were on our way to the Filipino dinner appointment that time.

We stopped this guy and had a spiritual lesson with him. He said he really doesn't believe in God, but that morning he tried to pray and asked for His help and that afternoon, he got his answer and that made him think if 'someone' is really up there. We left him our testimonies that God is really there and that He cares and loves for him because he is a son of God. He wants us to talk to him again and settle an appointment with him this coming Thursday.

We prayed with him on the middle of the street and went straight to our dinner appointment.

Before our night ended, we received a text message from a random number saying, "Thanks for stopping me a while ago.  It made me think. I'm looking forward for both of you to teach me next week!" and we realised it's from the guy we stopped.

I just want to share this quote from Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, "We see ourselves in terms of yesterday and today. Our Heavenly Father sees us in terms of forever. Although we might settle for less, Heavenly Father won't. For He sees us as the glorious beings we are capable of becoming."

I testify that Heavenly Father is real. He is there. He loves You.

Til next PDay!

♥,

Sister Ordanza

Happy World Cup...I mean, Father's Day! ♥

16 June 2014

~

Last Mother's day, I hugged so many Mums.
I wish I can hug a Dad here.
Anyways, I love you, Pa! ♥♥♥

Dear Family and Friends,

How's your prayer been going this past week? :)


Last week was so awesome! We are having so much fun and success in this blessed land of Kettering! :)

For the first time in my life, I've had the opportunity to work with an Asian companion. Don't get me wrong, I do love Sister Ferrell but it was so amazing to spend a day here in Kettering with Sister Stewart (from Hong Kong), one of our Sister Training Leaders (STL). We've had Asian craziness before we went to bed that day. haha.

Sister Ferrell and I set a goal of 10 new investigators last week. It was a challenging goal because the Standard of Excellence is 4. We just want to stretch and work so hard. Around 19:45 last night, we have 9 people so far. We went finding around the town centre which wasn't a good idea because the town's dead at that time aside from drunk people around the pubs. Kettering is a small town. (Don't worry, the ward is massive though. They have 500+ members and 300+ attendance every week.) We were so determined to find one so we prayed in the corner asking Heavenly Father to help us. Literally few steps away from the area, we met Sandra, talked to her, had a posh lesson for twenty minutes and tada, she's so golden! We are going to see her again this week!

We've had goose bumps after that knowing how much Heavenly Father loves us and knows exactly what we need. I know, just like what President Eyring said,  "Heavenly Father sends prepared people to His prepared servants".

I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to serve Him as a full-time missionary!

I am so excited for those of you who are preparing to serve as a full-time missionary as well. I can't wait for you to encounter loads of spiritual experiences!


Thank you for your letters, guys! And shout out to my best friend, Meg for sending me tons of letters every week. Whoops. ♥

Til next PDay!


♥,

Sister Ordanza

P.S

Yesterday, we went to our investigator to have a lesson and dinner appointment. They made us a traditional African meal and I brought biko for dessert and adobo for one of the main dishes. ( You gotta be proud of me, Mum! I made it!!! ;) ) We ate with our hands and it was so fun! They loved the biko and adobo btw. And this coming Saturday, we'll attend a FHE with our Filipino family here in the ward! Me and Sister Ferrell (she loves Filipino food as well) are so excited!!!!!!!!!!

"There is Sunshine in My Soul Today"

9 June 2014
~

Kahit sa kanta man lang, at least may sinag din ng araw dito sa Britanya. :P

Dear Family and Friends,

Hi. Hello.

Last week's really really amazing! Why? Hmmm. Lemme tell you the reason behind it. :)

Last Wednesday, me and Sister Ferrell prayed to our Heavenly Father so hard that He'll help us find someone that is ready/prepared to hear the message of the restored gospel and that we'll have the companionship of the Spirit so that someone will recognize us as representatives of Christ.

After our studies, we have an appointment at 10:30 in the morning to someone named Joan, who we met on the street last Monday.

She is an amazing lady. We were just in the Lesson 1, principle 1 (God is Our Loving Heavenly Father) when tears started to flow in her eyes. She said she felt the love of her Father in Heaven in that exact moment. We finished teaching the Restoration and she's still crying. It was one of the teaching moments that I've had that I felt the spirit so strong that I can't control my tears. Me and my companion were teary eyed as well. We invited her to be baptise on the 28th of this month and she accepted it wholeheartedly. Few minutes before we left her house, she said, in her own words, "Sisters, I know you're meant to stop me on the street that day. You don't even know how grateful I am right now. I'm so amazed how happy you both are! I love your smiles! There's something about the two of you that I can't even describe." We left her house with a big smile on our faces knowing that Heavenly Father answered the prayer that we offered before we left our flat that day.

Yesterday, Joan attended church and she loved it! She is so happy that everyone is so nice to her and she feels that she's a part of a big family. She is looking forward for her baptism!

I testify that Heavenly Father loves each and everyone of us. I haven't appreciated prayer so much until I serve a full-time mission. Just like in a primary song, "Some say that heaven is far away, But I feel it close around me as I pray.", He is just a prayer away. He loves YOU and He wants to hear from YOU.


Pray, he is there;

Speak, he is list'ning.

You are His child;

His love now surrounds you.

Thank you for your emails and letters! Know that someone out here in England prays for all of you. I love y'all! I hope you will have an amazing and lovely week ahead.

Til next PDay!

~Sister Ordanza

P.S

Is Archie really engaged?

Stayin' Togetha!

3 June 2014

~

*in a funny Asian accent*

Whatevz. Idec. :p

Dear Family and Friends,

Sister Ferrell and I are staying together here in Kettering for six more weeks! Yayyyy!

Oh yeah, sorry that I didn't tell you on my last week's email that tomorrow will be our Transfer Day. Anyways...

So yeah, last week's absolutely amazing! I love Kettering ward so much. Members here are all amazing. They're really lovely people. I love serving them. (Hey, I'm not saying this because they feed us every night but.... ;) )

Caroline and Eled (the couple we're teaching who are from Malaui) are really awesome. We're gonna have fun with them. I mean, I just remembered those moments when the missionaries were teaching my family!

We are teaching a family from Pakistan and they are so sweet. I love them! I can imagine them wearing white clothes for their baptism!

Sister Ferrell and I are having so much fun everyday. Missionary work = missionary fun, remember? ;)

Have I told you that we're the smallest district in the whole mission? XD

Just me, Sister Ferrell and the Elders in the ward. lol

But we're the best district ever. Elder Thornton (from Australia) is leaving and Elder Gore (from England) will be our new district leader and he'll train a new missionary fresh from the MTC! (So I'm not the newbie anymore. ;) )

This morning, I want to share a part of my study to all of you. It's from President Monson, he said:

"We can’t direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails. For maximum happiness, peace, and contentment, may we choose a positive attitude.

Don’t limit yourself and don’t let others convince you that you are limited in what you can do. Believe in yourself and then live so as to reachyour possibilities.

You can achieve what you believe you can. Trust and believe and have faith."

Attitude matters. Not just in missionary life, but in our everyday lives. I challenge all of you to have a positive attitude everyday, starting today. Live a wrinkle free life! ;)

If you want to be happy, then be. :)

Much love,

Sister Ordanza

P.S

I still haven't received any of your letters, guys. :( But anyways, thank you for sending me one, I appreciate it. At least I'm expecting some, right? ;)

For Your Eyes Only-4

27 May 2014

~

Sorry!

I'll send some more next time.

But this one's cool because ELM stands for England London Mission. XD

Love ya!

Landahn Tahn Innit

26 May 2014
~

I don't even understand that phrase.
Pardon, mate.

Dear Family and Friends,

Last week's really amazing and great! I love Sister Ferrell! She's amazing and we clicked as companions starting the first day!

Sister Ferrell and I are both working on an attribute of being grateful for EVERYTHING (and everything means including the weather!)

Last Thursday, it rained sooooooooo hard. Okay, it rains everyday here but not as hard as that day. Anyways, we we're both soaking wet but it didn't make us stop to do missionary work. We're armies of Helaman, 24/7, rain or shine. :)

We stopped this lady, (name withheld), and we're wondering if what made her happy that day. She looked at us like she's surprised that someone wants to talk to her in that kind of weather but she answered politely. It turned out as one of the miraculous TTI's (Teach,Testify, Invite) that I've ever had as a missionary! Yep. She's our new investigator now. :)

After that, we tried calling potential investigators and referrals. We called a lady whom we've been contacting everyday but can't get a hold of her and that time, she answered her phone and it was so amazing, we did have a lesson for her over the phone and it was so spiritual, the spirit was so strong that even I haven't met her yet (but we're going to see her this week) I felt so much love for her!

Also, we found an amazing family, a referral from other missionaries in our zone (they talked to them on the bus station). They're from Malaui (dunno if I've spelt that right, but yeah, it's near Zimbabwe in Africa) and they've been taught by the missionaries before, been to church in 2007 and they've loved it! But when they've moved here, they don't know where the church is, haven't seen missionaries as well. When we arrived, it was as if they're waiting for us to teach them! I just love them so much. They're gonna be one of the kingdom builders here in Kettering ward.

That pretty much sums up our week.

JC, Kevin, Luka, Richie are all doing good. Gonna send pictures soon on their baptisms! :)

I just love being a missionary. You'll probably tired of me saying this but serving a mission is the best thing ever.

I testify that "through serving others you'll get a love for and testimony of the restored gospel".

I love y'all. Til next week!

~Sister Ordanza

P.S

So the Filipino party that we've attended last Saturday was one of the highlights of my week. You can't even imagine how much I freaked out when they served hamonado, pansit, sinangag na kanin and biko. Oh my days!

Oh btw, we do insanity work-out every other mornings, the other mornings, we just run sooooooooooooooo hard. So don't ya worry 'bout me, I'll burn those calories! ;)

I hate good bye's!

20 May 2014

~

Yup. I've had an emergency transfer!

And yeah, today's my second month mark in the mission field!

Dear Family and Friends,

So sorry to email you this late. But yeah, don't freak out yet. Nothing happened. Just an emergency transfer. So here's the story.

Due to Sister Loveland's health condition, she needed to be in the Visitors' Centre Area where missionary work is kind of different and less-stressful.

Yup. I just got back from London to pick my new companion up. I'm with Sister Ferrell, she's from Alpine Utah! She's amazing. And she's cute. Like a Pinterest sister missionary. ;)

She's new in the mission as well, a transfer older than me and this is her first time to move out from the Visitors' Centre so we're kind of training each other. Haha. She'll help me finish my 12 week! :)

This week's pretty amazing. We have loads of miracles everyday. Jane-charlotte passed her interview last week and she's going to be baptise this coming Saturday. Yayyyy!

And oh, we ha've had a new bishop. :)

I'm kind of scared of leading the area but I know this is the Lord's will. :)

I sent tons of letter last week so I hope all of you that sent their addresses to me got it. If not, then you need to email me your home addresses because we don't have enough time in the computer every Monday. :)

I'll email y'all next week. I promise! I gtg bc we have an appointment in few minutes. So yeah, I love y'all!

~Sister Ordanza

P.S

So Elder Ballard's grandson is in my zone and when I saw him last Thursday during interview's I said to him that his grandad is now on Twitter and he's like, "o.O?!!" Haha yeah.

P.P.S

We're going to a Filipino party this Saturday, after JC's baptism! Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

Hey, it's Mother's Day!!!!!!!!!!

12 May 2014
~

I can't believe I bawled in front of my family over Skype yesterday. Ewwness! XD

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week's been pretty amazing! I'm learning so much on serving on the Lord's mission. I am developing so much love for every people that I meet and talk everyday, especially our investigators. Jane-charlotte's is really an amazing gal. I can't believe how much she have changed from the first moment that we taught her. She'll be baptise next week! Kevin, is doing great as well. He'll be baptise on June as well as with Luka! I love Ada so much. She's such a Mom to us. She feeds us a lot, she's from St. Vincent and she's a sweetie. Okay, most of our investigators are not British. They're from Macedonia, Jamaica, Poland, Zimbabwe and India. And most of them have no background about God at all! Missionary work is the BESTest thing evah!

We have met new investigators this week! Sister Loveland and I are faithful to extend baptismal dates with them. Man, it's crazy because we have an amazing relationship with the ward and the Ward Mission Plan here in Kettering's really superb!

I'm reminded of President Monson's words, "Our duty, in addition to saving ourselves is to guide others to the celestial kingdom of God."

Being on a mission has taught me a lot of things in preparation for my future.

So yeah, how are y'all?! We (the Elders and us plus Jotham went to Chinese buffet today. lol

I freaked out! Hahaha. Anyways, that's all for this week. Oh yeah, I'm looking forward this Thursday because we'll have interviews with our mission president, President Jordan. Can't wait! :)

I love all of you.

Til next week!

~Sister Ordanza

P.S

Okay. I freaked out when I read the news on Facebook the other day that Elder Ballard has now a twitter account! asdfghjkl!!!!!!

Good Marninnnnn'!

6 May 2014
~

*in a Scottish accent*

Man, we live in a village full of Scottish people and I am loving it. And no, unfortunately I still have my American accent. K fine bye. :p

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week has been crazy but a miracle week.

I went to London last Tuesday to have exchanges with the STL's. (Oh I forgot to tell you that last April 15th, I got to led our area, Kettering, with Sister Butler.) This time, I worked with Sister Jensen. Oh btw, the 'fellow missionaries' thingy in my blog, I met most of them now. K. My email's being disorganised.

Anyways, yeah I did have fun at London! Man, missionary work's really amazing there. You get to talk to tons of people in few minutes. That's so crazy.

So, Sister Loveland's been ill for almost the whole week. But the miracle was we still reached our goal even if we stayed at the flat most of the days and our investigators who have baptismal dates still attended church yesterday. :)

My email will be so short this week but you are all in my prayers everyday because you are all precious to me.

In conclusion, I want to share a quote from President Uchtdorf:

"You are not alone on this journey. Your Heavenly Father knows you. Even when no one else hears you, He hears you. When you rejoice in righteousness, He rejoices with you. When you are beset with trial, He grieves with you.

Heavenly Father's interest in you does not depend on how rich or beautiful or healthy or smart you are. He sees you as not the world sees you; He sees who you really are. He looks on your heart. He loves you because you are His child.

I promise you, you are not alone."

Til next week!

~Sister Ordanza

P.S

I'm excited for Mother's Day. Unfortunately, I can't sent cards because I can't find in any shops because British Mum's Day was a month ago! Anyways, I'm excited to Skype my family this Sunday! Gahhhhh!

P.P.S

Can I have the addresses of the Brit anons, please? I miss Kayla, Jess and Lottie!

I have a favor to ask y'all!

Please share one of my posts on FB. Salamat po! :)

https://www.facebook.com/sisterlorelei.ordanza

New Area

22 April 2014

~

Ugh.

Peke lang. Nyaha.

Dear Family and Friends,

Sister Loveland and I are both staying here in Kettering this transfer. Yayyy.

Last week's been the most intense and spiritual feast moment in my mission so far.

Geoffrey got baptised last Saturday which was mine and my family's 6th year mark of being members of the church and my month mark in the mission field as well. How amazing was that?! He's kind of shy and when he bore his testimony, it was really uplifting. He found the church through the news paper advertisement about the Open House. Cool, isn't it? :)

After his baptism, we planned to go to certain area but suddenly we felt prompted to knock another people's home. And guess what? We found a person that Heavenly Father prepared for His faithful servants. ;)

His name's David. Gah. All of our investigators are potential priesthood holders. Yayyyy!

He is soooooooooo prepared! He read the Book of Mormon before and he know that it is true and he knows that Joseph Smith's a true prophet of God! Man, we haven't taught him anything yet that time and he also mentioned the Great Apostasy in depth! He also said that he's praying of what church should he go to and asked us if he could come to our church, and we're like, heck yeahhhhhhhhhhhh! Haha. Okay, not like that but yeah, he came to church and three more of our investigators.

The field is white already to harvest.

I love you all!

♥,

Sister Ordanza