The Adventures of an American in England

This week was so amazing and I had lots of great experiences and really learned a lot.!

Tues (Oct 30): P-day hangover this morning. That's for sure. But I got over it by lunch time. It was funny today we had like 3 different people yell at us and tell us how stupid we are to believe our religion. We always get a good laugh out of those people. Holy cow it is freezing though! It is only October and I was wearing a coat which I bought and a beanie, as well as gloves most of the day. We did stop by a lot of members and less actives tonight, well pretty much all less actives but none of them would let us share a lesson. I feel like by the time I finally get to teach a lesson I will have had plenty of practice with studying it that's for sure. 

Wednesday: Honestly I completely forgot it was Halloween until later on in the day when I got a package from home with some gummy Kraby Patty's. Man I love those! 

So of course me and Elder Stoddard had to celebrate by doing some Trick-or-Tracting as well as stopping by some members. We didn't really think that one through because loads of people wouldn't answer the door because they assumed we were trick or treaters, or if they did answer they would be really confused about our "costumes." Haha, oh well it was still a blast. Missionary work is loads of fun. I did have some eggs for dinner tonight as well which usually I despise but I have made it a goal on my mission to eat some different things and I really enjoyed them. In fact I think I have had them every day for breakfast since!

Thursday: Wow today was awesome. We went on exchanges with the zone leaders. I taught my first lesson today and we committed the guy to a baptism date. Sadly I won't be able to teach him any more because I was only in the area for a day but it was an amazing experience none the less. I also had the chance to do some street contacting in that area and I gave away my first Book of Mormon and set up an appointment to teach the guy! Once again I won't actually get to teach him but still, great practice. The city we were in is called Woolwich (pronounced wool-itch) and it was really just a super great day. 

Friday: This morning we went to district meeting and then me and Elder Stoddard were back together after a day of exchanges. When we got back into Hasting we went out and did more contacting like usual and we found 4 people to teach!! Wow what a miracle. Also tonight me and elder Stoddard were doing our daily member work and found a street called Orchard Close so that was sweet. 

One of the older lady's told us she would bring us cookies on Sunday so we are stoked! All in all this was one of the best day ever!

Saturday: Today we had 4 appointments to teach people, and ALL 4 of them didn't show up! What the heck. I was super excited and then it made me sad for these people. But me and Elder Stoddard are continuing to give it our all and we know we will be blessed with at least one prepared person. We stopped and got some hot chocolate for our bus ride to do our nightly member work and it was great. I absolutely love hot chocolate. 

Sunday: It was my first fast Sunday in the field and honestly today was really great. We had like 4 different people bring us food at church. 

One lady gave us thermal socks too (3 pairs for each of us) Hastings is a tough area but man the people in this ward are amazing I have such a great love for them. In the evening we also had a chance to teach a Nigerian lady named Tobi who we met on the street after church. Her family was so cute and she had 2 little girls who were 3 and 5 but man they were crazy! One of the most spiritual experiences that I have felt my whole mission occurred during this lesson though. As I said her little girls were crazy and loud but as soon as I showed a picture of Joseph Smith's first vision and started reciting his account. Man the whole room just went silent and even the girls were paying full attention. The spirit was incredibly strong. We gave her a Book of Mormon and are going to teach her again on this Sunday so hopefully she reads and prays about the Book of Mormon because I know she will gain a testimony of it. I can truly say today that the Sabbath was a delight!

Monday: Today was zone conference and wow it was incredible! I literally love President and Sister Checketts so much and I know they are inspired.

Stockton was excited to see him MTC companion, Elder Jenkins and sat by him at lunch.

Plus we had a Thanksgiving lunch and oh my goodness that was the best meal I have had in a month. We did the free throw challenge as well but they made it a rule that you had to shoot granny style which kinda sucked. I did not win but that's all good. It was awesome to see some of my MTC friends and we spent the whole day just learning and it was great. I did fall asleep though on the train ride there because it was a 2 hour train ride into the mission office. I have changed a lot but that sleeping aspect hasn't quite changed. Thanks to Elder Stoddard he got a picture of it. 

I will send each picture as a separate email as usual. I love you all and I thank you for your prayers and support I can truly feel your love from the other side of the world. Until Monday!

Elder Orchard

The beautiful Atlantic ocean from Hastings beach.

This couple is from Grandma and Grandpa Sproul's ward.  They wrote this email home to Grandpa:  Look who we found at today's zone conference.  This young lad is going to be a great missionary.  Regards from London.  The Phillips'

Other things we learned this week:

Did you buy your winter coat? You said you got a coat but is it your nice one you need? Yes I bought a nice one and beanie for 65 pounds and it is great. 

How many dinner appointments did you have this week and what did they feed you? We had 1 dinner appointment and Sunday and we had chicken and vegetables which was really good. I also had a dinner appointment while I was on exchanges with a different companion and we had Sheppards pie which is basically hamburger and spices.

What is your schedule for a typical day? We wake up at 6:20 and pray, exercise, then get ready (which includes shower and breakfast). Then we try to be quick and by the time we are done we plan out our day and usually have 90 minutes to study which is super great because I have already read 300 pages in the Book of Mormon in the month I have been here. We leave the flat by 10am and most of the time go out looking for new friends (investigators) until 12 when we come back for lunch and then do companion study. Then we usually go out again looking for people to teach for 2 hours then we come back and do a training study. Which we get an additional hour because I am new. Then we do member work from 5 to 7:30 which is basically just stopping by members homes both active and less active and seeing if we can teach a short lesson or do anything to help their family. Then after travel we get home by 8 and do dinner. From 9 until 10:30 we have what is called "Sacred Time" where basically you can use that time to better yourself through pondering, extra study, and we also have this time to read any emails we have received. Then we go to bed. Thats our typical day. 

How often do you go to the grocery stores? What do you buy? Are you still eating soup for dinners? What kind? We just do all of our shopping on P day. We get bread, eggs, bagels, I also have peanut butter and strawberry jelly that we got last week. Then we also get bananas, cereal and milk, and then usually some type of little treat. We spend about 25 pounds on food a week for the both of us so we are doing a good job with being smart money wise. Now for dinner I usually do soup (just like beef and vegetables or tomato) or I make a sandwich or some eggs. Wow I have really started liking eggs they are good! 

Do you drink regular milk now? Yes I do drink regular milk but very cautiously, no more than just a glass or one bowl of cereal.

Tell us more about zone conference.  It was just really awesome and it was a whole day thing. I loved it and sat next to President Checketts during lunch and he is so cool. Turns out he was the reason why Salt Lake has an MLS team because he bought the team and moved them. Also he is a temple sealer in the New York Temple.

What is the normal number of lessons taught each week/month in the mission? We don't keep track of that. There are only 3 key indicators we keep track of and that's: New friends (investigators), people committed to go to church this week, and people with baptismal dates. And I don't know the mission averages so I couldn't tell you. 

How close do you live to other missionaries? How often do you see other missionaries? The closest ones are sister missionaries who live in a town called Tumbridge Wells which is about an 45 minute train ride north so we are quite isolated. I did at zone conference, and we see the missionaries in our district once a week at district meeting and thats about it. 

**Now for some mom editorial.  I was really worried about Stockton this week.  I knew he was struggling adjusting to the weather, the new life of being a missionary, the rejection and sometimes boredom.  I was sure he was homesick and wondering what he got himself into.  I included these words in my email:

I’m SO glad you had a better week! We prayed and prayed for you and fasted together on Sunday. Somehow my heart knew you were ok (the Holy Ghost I’m sure!) but it’s nice to hear it. I’m sure the work will pick up. It seems like so much happened from that first  week to the second! Keep up the good work. ❤️

His response back to me was so humbling:

Thanks for the recipe and prayers. One of the things that I pray for every night is that you guys will be able to know that I am safe and well so that is really interesting how you said you could just feel it. Crazy how the spirit works right!