Christmas 2019

So our P day was changed to Thursday this week so it's been a long 10 days since I last wrote or had P day. But it was a good one and a hectic one but most importantly it was filled with the spirit and great experiences! 

Tuesday (Dec 17): Today was transfer day and my new companion is Elder Grimaldi from Brazil. After the transfer devotional and taking care of a few things at the office, we then were able to come back to our area and we had to buy food for the week. Then I had to catch up my companion and talk to him a little bit about the zone and the goals and plans which we have, as well as counseling together on how we want the transfer to be. Then tonight we had a dinner appointment with a really crazy and fun family haha. The kids would just not leave us alone the whole time, always wanting our attention. But the food was good and we had a good time with them and then we came back home for the night.

Wednesday: First full day of the transfer and we just went out and sent it on the streets. We had a solid 4 hours of street contacting today and we were able to find 9 friends who said they would be willing to meet up. At night we had our gospel principles study class and someone decided they wanted to order a whole buffet of Turkish food for us to eat beforehand so yeah, it was a great class! And tonight we were on the edge of being back home on time so we had to sprint about the last 5 minutes and we barely made it back by 8:59 so we were happy about that. 

Thursday: In the morning we had district council and it was great as always. Then we did a bit of street contacting, and had to travel in to Hyde Park to work at the giving machines. Carried a big old box full of copies of the Book of Mormon home, then we spent some time contacting and finding outside the church before we headed back home. 

Friday: It was one of those days where almost every single thing goes contrary to what your original plan was, yet somehow everything still ends up feeling like it went the way it should. It's funny how God does that to prove to us sometimes that he always knows what's best. But we went to another district council in the zone this morning, and then ate some lunch. We then came back to help set up for our ward Christmas party which took forever! And then we went to a members home for dinner and you could tell she really needed some company, and especially people to help talk about the gospel with to be able to invite the spirit more into her home and into her life. It was a beautiful moment being able to talk to her. As well as tonight. One of the Sisters we are serving with requested a blessing from us and it was an indescribable feeling of the power of the priesthood as well as the Holy Ghost which engulfed my soul while we were giving that blessing. I could not contain my emotions haha. But the joy and the gratitude which I felt from those 2 experiences tonight were yet another firm testimony building experience that I have had while serving a mission. God is love! 

Saturday: This morning we were able to work at the giving machines yet again and we had lots of fun and lots of success with that. I think the closer we get to Christmas, the better these shifts end up going.

Me with my new comp working at the Giving Machines

Then we grabbed some lunch to eat while traveling to our next appointment with a recent convert who moved here a few months ago from Germany. He said it was the first time missionaries have visited him here and he was really grateful that we took to time to visit him. Then we had to go to the chapel so that we could work on the calendar for our zone this transfer. And then it was the ward Christmas party tonight which was an absolute blast! Definitely an amazing party! 

Sunday: Today was a good day at church. It was the special Christmas service and I enjoyed it. Then we had a munch and mingle afterward with the leftover food from the party last night.

Our delicious food from the ward Christmas Party

Our friend who just got baptized last week wanted me to talk to his family back in Pakistan and they wanted to meet missionaries as well haha. I think it's so awesome, he is already a missionary talking to his family and he just barely got baptized. Then after eating we went to go finding for a few hours. There happened to be a Tottenham vs Chelsea game going on nearby where we go finding so that was pretty interesting too. There were a lot of people! Then we came back to the church to do weekly planning and to work on a couple things to help the zone. It was a decent Sunday, not too much to complain about. 

Monday: Unfortunately today was not preparation day, it got changed to Thursday, the day after Christmas, so we had another full on work day. Thankfully we had until 12pm today to buy food and get haircuts to kind of prepare ourselves for the week. Then we went in to Hyde Park to work a short shift on the Giving Machines which were just really wonderful today, lots of people were interested to check it out. Then we came back to the area to teach a first lesson, and visit a member who wanted to give us something for Christmas time, and then we headed near the chapel to do street contacting at night outside the chapel where we were able to talk to 2 cool people. Then we came home for dinner, the day went by very quickly. 

Tuesday: Christmas Eve! What a great day it was. First of all we had district council in the morning, and after that we basically went out finding for the next 3 hours straight. We knew we were going to have the next 2 days off so we wanted to give everything we had before that. We managed to find 6 new people today who said they would meet up, so that's a blessing! 2 of those people were an absolute miracle, they just stopped us and asked when our church service was and said they had recently moved here and felt like this would be a good church to go to. God really blessed us for our hard work today. In the evening from 5-9 we were not allowed to Proselyte because it's Christmas Eve, and so we all gathered together as a district and ate pizza and watched Toy Story 4 as our movie for Christmas. It was such a fun time and man this was just a really great day!

Pizza and Toy Story 4

Wednesday (Christmas): My last Christmas in the mission field, wow that's unbelievable! But it was a really good one so I'm grateful for that. First of all the weather was gorgeous today, it was sunny, and calm, it was just so nice. In the morning we finished reading the Book of Mormon together as a mission by reading Moroni 10 on a mission call, and then we just chilled all morning. We walked to a family's home for lunch where we spent a bit of time with them and talking to our families, before walking to another family's house for dinner and spending time with them. It was just really great to relax and enjoy spending time with members, Christmas really is the most wonderful time of the year! 

My family Christmas Gifts

We were next to Arsenals stadium on Christmas so we had to take a picture

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and many amazing experiences this week. It's only going to be a short 4 days until you hear from me next, so I guess I will talk to you all on Monday! Thanks for all you do.

Elder Orchard

Just me listening to a Unicorn preach