Rubbish Weather

Me and my Japanese samurai Elder Hori

Tuesday (January 22): Well today was the day that I had to say goodbye to Elder Stoddard. I have really grown to love him and it was seriously pretty sad to have to leave him. Also it was such a joy to travel around the underground train of London with heavy suitcases to help him out. My new companion is Elder Hori from Tokyo, Japan and he is an absolute legend. Actually he is in the same MTC group as Elder Stoddard which is pretty cool. We had a short little devotional at Hyde Park and also lunch before heading back to our areas. We arrived at about 4:30pm and basically get everything unpacked and set up and then did our studies for the day. Also it started snowing today for the first time I've seen it in England. None of it stuck but it was still so exciting! Today was super crazy and eventful and I'm looking forward to this transfer. 

Wednesday: To be honest today was really tough. It was really just a big change going from a routine that I've been used to for a while now and also being with a companion who knew the area really well, then having to have no routine, being the only one who knows the area and people, and really just adjusting. Elder Hori is so cool though and I already love serving with him and being in Hastings. We did a lot of street contacting today and wow it was absolutely freezing. Turns out Elder Hori loves cooking so I lucked out on that one! He made some delicious pasta and meat tonight and it was amazing. Basically he does the cooking and I clean the dishes. It gives me great practice for the future 😏😂 haha. Today went by pretty slow but I made it through and I know it will only get better. 

Thursday: We went finding on the street this morning then came back and had some lunch. Then we went to serve with Brother Hobbs at about 12. It was Elder Hori's first time doing that type of work and he actually seemed to enjoy it. We were both dead afterwards though but it was good fun like always. And Brother Hobbs cooked us omelettes for dinner which were so tasty. We got dropped off at home and did a companionship study and then Brother Hobbs picked us up again to go to mutual. We played some basketball and football and it was a blast. 

Friday: Wow we were supposed to have 2 lessons this morning but they both cancelled and what made it even worse is that it was raining all morning while we did finding. After finding we went home and ate some lunch then went right back out in the weather to find some more. We then travelled out to stop by a former investigators house who agreed to meet again and have a lesson but she basically just bashed the whole time and it was pointless to argue. Then we ended the night with some great dinner and went to sleep.

Saturday: We taught a lesson this morning that was ok, not the best, but it was alright. Then we went to the chapel to do our district meeting via Skype because one of the Sisters has chicken pox and has been unable to leave the flat.

Skype call district meeting. Our district has a Brazilian, a sister from India, a Japanese, and an American!

It was a great meeting and by the time we travelled home we ate some lunch at about 2pm and then went out on the streets for about 3 hours in the rubbish weather. It was sooo windy and rainy and man we had like no success. I was getting really disappointed and felt like trash because I hated the weather and I felt like we had no success. Well I think God knew I needed a little pick me up and so literally the last person we talked to before we headed back to the flat was like a 20 year old guy and he was very open minded and willing to learn. We truly live in a day of miracles! I'm so thankful that I was able to be blessed for my efforts. Then we just planned for the upcoming week and had great dinner. 

English Weather Sucks. Sooo much rain!

Sunday: Church was great today. The topic in sacrament was about service and it was great I really enjoyed it. We also got invited for lunch afterwards and there were 2 members today who couldn't make it to church due to illness so we took the sacrament to both of them, and so we had the privilege of blessing the sacrament 3 times today including church. Nothing else too exciting happened today just a really awesome Sunday! 

Super cool picture that one of our friends who is like 80 years old took of us a while ago, he just emailed it to me

Hastings from my photographer friend.

Another picture by that same guy. This is the train station and Hastings!

Muddy shoes!

Another older picture with Elder Stoddard

Questions from mom: Hi Buddy.  Great for you to have a cooking companion.  Maybe you can learn a few things!  Did you actually plan meals for the week other than grilled cheese?  I’m assuming you have already been to the store this morning.  What is Elder Hori’s impression of the work in that area?  You think it is slow but he has been other places.  I’m curious what he thinks.  Yeah we've had something that was kinda like spaghetti and then some good soup as well. His last area got closed down because the work was so slow but he said here it's basically the same. Haha so that's good to know. 

Have you had any allergy problems? Nah not terribly. If people have dogs or cats sometime I get a little sniffly but I just don't pet them and I'm usually ok. Oh by the way something really cool that I found out this week. Jason Glade in your ward actually served with Brother Hobbs parents when he was on his mission! How crazy is that?! You'll have to talk to him about it this week but he sent me an email with a picture and I showed brother Hobbs and he said it was his parents!

Questions from Dad:  How did your transfer day go?  How is the new companion?  How has the adjustment been to getting a new companion?  I assume he is the District Leader for the district? My new companion Elder Hori is great. He is a super good cook and he's pretty funny as well. We get along nicely. It was weird to adjust but I'm pretty sure I'm about used to it now. 

I am glad to hear that you are enjoying your companion.  I assume that is English is pretty good if he has been out for 17 months.  Did he speak any before he came on his mission?  I assume he probably had learned some in school. Yeah he has great English but he actually knew none before his mission. But he studied really hard when he first came out and he has very good English now.