Easter surprise, a new companion.

Picture 1- Some kind of spider.

Picture 2- My new companion Elder Aveiro.

Happy Easter! I had a pretty good Easter, there were very good meetings on Sunday that made me think and reflect and feel the spirit. As for the rest of the week, it was pretty good too. We had a Specialized Training thing with President Shamo on Tuesday, and we had interviews with him which is always good and makes me feel a bit better. And at this training, Elder Harris got an envelope that says his visa background check is complete! So we went up to the Temple on Friday and he is going to the embassy on Tuesday and will fly out shortly after that. So, he's staying in Crawley now because they have a car and are closer to London and the temple. Sooo, I have a new companion named Elder Aveiro! He's from Jersey, one of the Channel Islands (Not the one Elder Evans went to, the other big one.), and he's waiting for his visa too. He's been called to the SLC South mission, and he still has yet to go to the MTC, so he'll go to the one in Provo once his visa comes through. So yeah, another new companion right in the middle of transfers! :D He's a cool guy, and we get on really well.

When at the temple on Friday, we had a funny experience. Elder Howarth (who was also at the temple just waiting for his new companion) and I were walking around the temple housing and distribution centre, eating lasagna and peanut butter eggs from one of the senior couples. And then we talked to one lady, whose brother-in-law used to live around Elder Howarth in Luxembourg! So what a small world it is! There were a LOT more connections between them, but I can't even attempt to write them all, for fear of my brain being over-exploded. But it made me think how cool it is in such a HUGE world, we all have these connections and we're all really brothers and sisters.

Well, that's about it for this week, I hope you all had a good Easter! And I hope you have a good week! It's good to hear from you any of you guys, and I wish I had the motivation to write more letters, but sadly I don't. I do appreciate all of you very much though! Talk to you later, bye!

A 1-year older Elder. :)

Yes, a kind of clever name for an email, finally! I was getting bored of all the hellos and that kind of generic greeting. :)

Picture 1- Dad, this is Elder Lamb, Richard's nephew. Small world. :)

Picture 2- Typewriter! I have to put carbon paper on top of real paper, so I can't see what I write until after, haha. But it's fun.

Picture 3- Birthday preparation...

Picture 4- 20 Marshmallow sticks long/old!

Picture 5- 20 Reeses eggs long/old!

6- CAKE!

 

7- Blowing out candle reenactment.

8- Beautiful cake. It was truly awesome cake. I had some for breakfast today.

Hello! This has been a good week! The new Zone leaders brought my camera back to me on Tuesday, which I was very grateful for. A member had found it in the chapel and returned it to them, so that was a very good thing. :) I also had an exchange with Elder Anderson, who is from my MTC group, and that was good. We met a guy who said he was a member and a street magician. I've never seen him before, and have no idea if he really is either of those, but we're going to try and catch him in this week and find out, haha. We met a lot of other cool people too, and had really good discussions with them. We had an investigator come to church on Sunday, which was good. She is an 80ish year old lady who was raised Catholic but not practicing. We had a member pick her up, and they got along great and she enjoyed church, so that was good to see her enjoy it.

Also, it was my birthday on Sunday! So that was good, we had a delicious cake that we made from the mix Mom sent! I don't feel much older, nor wiser, nor mature. So I guess I've got to wait another 20 years for that. But it really was a very good birthday. The lady we live with gave me a box of chocolates, so that was a nice surprise. And a few members wished me a good birthday. :)

It was a good week, and this week is going to be good too! We have a lot of people to see this week, and I really hope they all go through. Tomorrow we're having another Zone Training thing, which will be good. I don't have too much time left now, so I'll send this off. But Thank you everyone for sending birthday wishes!! I love ya, have a really good week! Bye!

April!

Hello everyone! I don't have a lot of time this week. I also don't have a lot to say this week.

Sooo, this is a bit of a boring post. It's been really similar to the last three weeks, which means it was good. But things seem to be right on the cusp of happening, but it still hasn't made it over the hill yet!! So we're trying to get that last push up the hill to actually have a steady teaching pool and people wanting to come to church with us. We're really close. Hmm, let's see, this week's highlights:

-Someone bought us some smoothies, which was really nice.
-I have finished the Book of Judges in the Old Testament. It was weird, and I enjoyed it if nothing else for the weird things in it. But it's got to have taught someone else something, so it's served its purpose. :) On to Ruth and 1 Samuel!
-I made a mess of stir-fry vegetables and noodles the other day and it was quite nice.
-I'm enjoying myself, and happy to be here! I'm finding myself more motivated to use my life to make a difference in the world. I just have to keep selfishness in check while allowing enough time for myself. :)

Okay, well that's about it. Oh yeah, it's my birthday on Sunday but don't feel you need to send me anything other than good wishes, prayers, and emails. Love you guys, bye!

Happy April!

Hello there! This week has been good, but sadly I have misplaced my camera so there will be no pictures until I find it. I think I left it at the chapel in Crawley or in the Zone Leader's car. But anyways, this last week we've had good things happen. We've found lots of cool people who we're about to start teaching. We've also had one guy give the Book of Mormon back just because he couldn't be bothered to think about it. Fair enough. :) But all in all it's been a pleasant week. I really enjoyed General Conference. The priesthood session was great, I loved the last 3 talks especially.

As far as moves goes, we're both staying here, which was to be expected since Elder Harris and I basically had moves 3 weeks ago. I'm glad we're both staying, because the last few weeks have been good! We're getting to know so many people, and just trying to share the gospel to everyone in a peaceful yet bold way. That's the tricky balance to achieve.

Hmm, there aren't too many stories to tell. We've just kind of met all sorts of people. It's just getting the second appointment to go through that's the problem, haha. The most exciting thing I can think of is that we met a gypsy.

Anyways, in my studies at the moment, I'm still reading through the Old Testament which is sometimes extremely hard to read and there's lots of little things in there that I've never heard of before. I've made it all the way to Judges (7th book in the Bible) and it has some weird things in it. I don't know if we really have all the information to really know why everything is happening the way it did then. But it is interesting and you can learn something from it every once in a while. :)

I'm also reading the Doctrine and Covenants all the way through and I just made it to Section 90. There are some really good things in there as well. I seem to recall enjoying Section 88 a lot, but I can't really remember because it's P-day and I'm just excited to relax. :D It's been a long time since the last P-day.

Well I love all of you! Thanks for the thoughts, prayers, letters, emails, gospel songs about making mistakes (haha), etc. Make a new friend this week! That's the challenge for all of us! If anyone actually does it (which they should!), let me know. :D Okay, bye!!

Stay Tuned . . .

No email today--transfer day. Stay tuned for Wednesday!