Reliving the EMM

My mission reunion was last Friday and seeing former missionaries that I served with (unfortunately didn't see any of my companions) brought back a flood of memories. My mission was the England Manchester Mission (the EMM) also known as the Eternal Marriage Mission because of all the marriages that came out of this mission! I'm serious! So many sisters and district leaders either planned while on their missions to get married or met up afterwards. I can say, it happens very easily considering how much time we spent with the elders and chatting with the D.L. on the phone to report every night.
Anyways, more and more of us are finding each other on facebook (blessed website!) and reminiscing about the mission days. It's sad though, after 10 years for me, I don't remember many names anymore. Thankfully, at the reunion we had good old sticker name tags on.
This morning I broke open my mission scrapbook and looked through it trying to remember places and names of members and other missionaries. So I decided to post some pictures of some good memories. I have loads and loads of good memories and can't post them all, but, here are some I love to look at. And hey, don't laugh at how I looked! The bangs are my favorite!

The Red Phone Booth. Enough said.

The Bus Stop. I think I probably spent about 25% of my time at a bus stop. Thankfully, I had a car in a few of my areas since sisters weren't allowed to ride bikes. Fine with me!

We saw lots of graveyards, abby's, old churches and some pretty interesting statues like this one. I had to do it, can you blame me? I think I look Hot!

This is Danny and my companion, Sister Durkee. We were in Rochdale which was my second area. He's the sweetest irishman I've ever met! He was so great to teach and I was so excited when he decided to be baptized. The ward was really good for him too. I hope he's still around and active. This is where I lived with Sister Jessop in a village called Penny Bridge up in northern England. It was my last area and one of my favorites! It's beautiful and close to the ocean. We were so happy to have a car considering the bus came every 2 hours to take us to the area we actually worked in. One trip I enjoyed was the mission tour. We were able to see all the historical church spots in our mission which included the place where Pres. Hinckley lived, River Ribble where the first saints were baptized, downtown Preston where the first missionaries served and lived and the village of Downham where all the people of this village were converted to the church. It was such a neat experience!And last but not least, the Preston England temple. This temple was dedicated while I was there. All the missionaries had the opportunity for 2 weeks to work at the temple during the open house and then attend the dedication by Pres. Hinckley. This is my favorite temple, I am biased!Pictured in front with me is my companion, Sister Brown and the elders in our district.