Give Me Your Heart

 P-day last week at Cardiff Bay! FYI: This is where they filmed Doctor Who.

Good morning from the UK,

     What a week. On Tuesday, we headed to Merthyr for my driving test. I didn't sleep too good the night before and really needed a pep-talk before we left. I went into the bathroom and looked at my reflection in the mirror and simply said "You can do this! You can pass any driving test, no matter how hard!" PUMPED! We got to the testing center and Robert was the man! He asked me to pull over on the side of the road during the test. I did as I was told and totally bumped the curb. AHH! I had heard before if you only bump the curb, that it is an automatic fail. My confidence went out the window and I didn't say a word for a few minutes.  He then asked me to parallel park. I had only practiced this once. I actually did quite good until I bumped the curb...again. That's it! I thought I was done! I drove in fear for the next 30 minutes and we eventually came to the end. As he made some marks on his paper, I couldn't breathe. "Well........ya passed!" Wwhhhaatttt? It must've been my American charm or something! Haha. We had a dance party and celebrated with ice cream later on. I am now legally licensed in the UK  and as a result, I won't have to pay as much on my insurance when I get home because it is so difficult to drive over here. There are perks everywhere! What a blast. 

Cardiff is the coolest

A screenshot from when we were popping Mormon
bubbly after I passed my test. Hahah, it was terrifying! 

      After we got done visiting a member on Wednesday, we found that our car was boxed in by somebody.. So I jump in the car and decide to try and maneuver it out of at small gap in the back. This guy come out of his house swearing and telling us that he has children and that we are very inconsiderate for parking in his (non-marked) spot. He threatened us multiple times, even when we just tried to calmly apologise and ask him if he could move his car so that we could get home. "You can try to get out of there, but I'll make sure that you don't! You're not going anywhere tonight!" PANIC. It's 8:45 now.. After being threatened some more and praying a little bit, he agreed to move his car, but the F-word was used to express his anger. We held back our tears and we're just grateful to have gotten out of there unharmed. Scarrryyyyy. 

      We left a passalong card on a less actives door and got a text a few hours later that she did not live there. But this guy then said that he looked up the website and ordered a book of mormon from us. WHAT?! Blessings. We are excited to see him this week!

I am now a legal U.K. driver! Woot!

 First snow in 13 months!!! So fun! 

I love this place..

      I have been reminded to read the fourth missionary this week and have really come to understand that these last 5 months are the "refining period" of my mission. I know how to do the work and it's not as terrifying as it once was; therefore I have no excuse but to work hard and give my everything to the Lord. C.S. Lewis put it best: "Give me all. I don't want so much of your time, so much of your talents and money, and so much of your work: I want You. All of you. I have not come to torment or frustrate the natural man, but to kill it. No half-measures will do. I don't want to only prune a branch here and another there; rather, I want the whole tree out. Hand it all over to me, the whole outfit, all of your desires, all of your wants and wishes and dreams. Turn them all over to me and I will make of you a new self in my image. Give me yourself and in exchange I will give you Myself. My will, shall become your will. My heart, shall become your heart." (Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis, p. 167)

First exchange in Ponty with the Blackwood sisters!

My beautiful Sue and her fancy new haircut!
So grateful for Welsh mums! 

There is no excuse!!!!

      You know, we give up a lot during these 18 months/2 years. Everything that brought us joy beforehand, is back home in a box on the shelf and we will pick them up when we come home and some of them will no longer hold the appeal that they once did. We give up our time, talents, friends, family, education, movies, music, and even gum for 18 months/2 years! Why? All to be refined through the refiners fire called a mission? Yes. Absolutely. Of course! We have to grow up quite quickly, we have to trust in our testimony, we have the choice to be encouraged or discouraged by the hardships that we face, we have to figure out who we are in this country where nobody knows us...and we do it all by choice. Some come for different reasons, but my reason was and still is solely because I love my Savior. No, this journey has not been easy. But I know that if I submit my will to the Lord, I will reap of every possible blessing that He has in store for me. GOD IS SO GOOD! 

All my love,

Sister Sydney Jones