Thursday, July 29, 2010
I am still here
Well neither of us got moved. I'm glad about that. I really like this ward and I want to see Chipo get baptized. We were expecting to stay here. There were only a few changes made to our district. But the mission as a whole had a lot of changes. They took it from 8 zones down to 6, so our zone now covers another zone. The zone leaders are way stressed about that and now they are going to be training a greenie. Everyone thinks that President has gone crazy.
Another change that is now in effect is P-day is being switched to Mondays, we are only going to have interviews and zone conferences quarterly now. I don't know when we are supposed to get our post. That part kind of annoys me because we already have to wait forever if someone sends anything to us. Maybe they will start forwarding our post like the other missions. I don't know though.
My teaching skills are getting better. Not the greatest still but it’s ok. As long as I am getting better I'll be happy with that. Last week was my "senior week". I was the senior companion for the week. It was fun and annoying at the same time but a great experience.
It has been raining all week. Well it’s off and on but the weather here is so weird, one second it will be raining then it will be sunny then it will be rainy again. We always have to take a coat with or at least put one in our bags. All the stuff in my bag got wet the other day. Nothing that was beyond use anymore but my scriptures and my preach my gospel are now a little water damaged. Nothing too bad though so I think that I will be alright. Now I have to keep everything in plastic grocery bags. It’s annoying when you are looking for stuff but I don't want anything to get ruined so it worth it.
Love you all!
Elder Wright
Thursday, July 22, 2010
It's raining!
Nothing too exciting has happened. It has been raining a lot though. The weather here is crazy. It is hot and humid one second and literally within a few minutes it is raining hard. I got a new raincoat last P-Day. Last Saturday we had a full day of teaching. Or rather we were supposed to. People didn't show up for their appointments or gave us the wrong house number. But we were able to teach a few lessons. We only had two investigators at church. We had one Less Active there. That is one thing that we are really concentrating on. The Area President and Elder Perry have set a goal for the Europe area to double the Sacrament attendance in 10 years. This is going to be done through new members but also through reactivating Less Actives. Unfortunately this ward that we are serving in is not very good at giving us names to go see.
President Ogden is different from the Previous Mission President. The previous one was all about baptize, baptize, baptize but President Ogden is very much centered on baptizing and keeping members and also bringing back the Less Actives. So far this year there have only been about 20 baptisms in this stake (last year had 100) but the Sacrament attendance has already increased by 8%. The goal is 10% for this year.
Yesterday Elsa, the bicycle, had some issues. (Elder Bedke named her when he used her). It’s going to cost like £30 to fix. Kinda sucks but I guess I really don't have an option. I don't want to buy a new bike.
Our investigator Chipo is perfect. This week when we were going to commit her to baptism, she asked us if she could be baptized before we could ask her. It was great. She is so excited too. We went and saw her yesterday and she can't wait to get baptized. She has a really strong testimony in prayer. She loves us to come over and pray with her. The other day she had a Dr's appointment and wanted us to pray with her. We were in City center with a bunch of people walking around. She insisted that we say a prayer over the phone. It was so awkward but she loved it. She is 42 and a nursing student. She has a daughter that we want to teach the lessons too also but she is off at school or something. She said the prayer the other day. It was so intense. It was like one of those crazy prayers that you see on TV. It almost sounded like a rap but it was good.
Rex, the guy that was baptized a few weeks ago, was supposed to get the Priesthood the last 2 weeks but he didn't show up either day. We have seen him and he sounds like he is excited to come to church but from some reason he doesn't show up. We are a little worried that he has gone back to drinking but doesn't want to admit it. We'll see though. Stanford, the little boy that got baptized the same day as Rex has moved away to Cheltenham. Hopefully I'll get transferred there sometime.
That’s all for this Week!
Elder Wright
President Ogden is different from the Previous Mission President. The previous one was all about baptize, baptize, baptize but President Ogden is very much centered on baptizing and keeping members and also bringing back the Less Actives. So far this year there have only been about 20 baptisms in this stake (last year had 100) but the Sacrament attendance has already increased by 8%. The goal is 10% for this year.
Yesterday Elsa, the bicycle, had some issues. (Elder Bedke named her when he used her). It’s going to cost like £30 to fix. Kinda sucks but I guess I really don't have an option. I don't want to buy a new bike.
Our investigator Chipo is perfect. This week when we were going to commit her to baptism, she asked us if she could be baptized before we could ask her. It was great. She is so excited too. We went and saw her yesterday and she can't wait to get baptized. She has a really strong testimony in prayer. She loves us to come over and pray with her. The other day she had a Dr's appointment and wanted us to pray with her. We were in City center with a bunch of people walking around. She insisted that we say a prayer over the phone. It was so awkward but she loved it. She is 42 and a nursing student. She has a daughter that we want to teach the lessons too also but she is off at school or something. She said the prayer the other day. It was so intense. It was like one of those crazy prayers that you see on TV. It almost sounded like a rap but it was good.
Rex, the guy that was baptized a few weeks ago, was supposed to get the Priesthood the last 2 weeks but he didn't show up either day. We have seen him and he sounds like he is excited to come to church but from some reason he doesn't show up. We are a little worried that he has gone back to drinking but doesn't want to admit it. We'll see though. Stanford, the little boy that got baptized the same day as Rex has moved away to Cheltenham. Hopefully I'll get transferred there sometime.
That’s all for this Week!
Elder Wright
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
The work continues
This week has not been very exciting in the Evington Zone. After a rough start to last week, we were able to find some new investigators at the end of the week. Three of them were able to make it to church. One is a Chinese man who is extremely hard to teach because he doesn't know English too well and he has no belief in God. Our other Chinese investigator does have a belief so it’s easier. Then we have an African woman that we are teaching. The DeMontfort Elders found her on the way to church and had her come with them. But turns out she is in our area so we are teaching her. She loves to pray. We are going to ask her to be baptized today. The other woman is a Caribbean (there are a lot of Caribbean’s in England), she is not as promising but she at least came to church.
Rex was supposed to receive the Priesthood on Sunday but he was a no show. It took us a while to get a hold of him but we finally did. He seems to be o.k. so we'll see what’s up with him when we see him in a few days.
The weather had been good. That was until yesterday. It rained all day. I thought that the stuff in my bag was alright but it was all wet when I got into it this morning. Oh well. Turns out that giant coat that they told me people wear in England is not really what they wear here. I think I'll be getting a less ridiculous looking one today.
Rex was supposed to receive the Priesthood on Sunday but he was a no show. It took us a while to get a hold of him but we finally did. He seems to be o.k. so we'll see what’s up with him when we see him in a few days.
The weather had been good. That was until yesterday. It rained all day. I thought that the stuff in my bag was alright but it was all wet when I got into it this morning. Oh well. Turns out that giant coat that they told me people wear in England is not really what they wear here. I think I'll be getting a less ridiculous looking one today.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
This is a pic of the outside of our flat. The one is a pic of the building that our flat is behind. We have to walk through the big black doors to the Stables. I think it said it was built in the 1800s. Pretty much all the houses here are connected like that. There are a lot of people in small areas.
3 weeks out!
Things are going good here in Leister. It’s hard to believe that it is my 3 week out in the field. Sometimes it seems like time goes super slow but other times it seems like it is going super fast. It seems like I just got to the MTC. Walking and cycling around all day takes a lot out of you. I don't think that I will ever catch up on sleep. Almost every day at lunch I fall asleep on the couch or on my bed. Dinner or "tea" would probably be the same but we are usually at someone’s house for that. This is a good thing because we get food, but sometimes it would be nice to just relax. I like it though.
Right now our teaching pool has gone down since Rex and Stanford were baptized. We still see them but they aren't investigators. We have a Chinese couple and another Chinese man that we are teaching. It’s hard to teach them because their English is not too good and because they do not have any Christian Background. The couple has committed to be baptized. We think it will be at the end of August so I may be out of the area then. It’s more likely that I will stay in this area though because Elder Smith has been here a while and will probably be transferred before I go. But you never know.
People have asked about our flat. Like I said it’s literally stables that they turned into a flat. You walk in and it’s the kitchen/family room/office area. Then there is a bedroom with a bathroom off of that. The problem is that the walls do not go all the way to the ceiling. Not a big deal for the bedroom, but for the bathroom it’s a little gross. With no top on it the sounds and smells of the bathroom are shared with the entire flat.
We only get letters every couple of weeks when we go into the mission office. We went in last Thursday for zone conference. Elder Kopischke of the 70 was there. He is the Europe Area president. It was a really good conference. He was able to answer a lot of questions and give us some good insights to missionary work.
The trains aren't so bad. The first trip I had on one we didn't get a seat so we had to stand for an hour or two. It was just inconvenient. In this area we only ride them to Birmingham. But some of the other areas have to ride them to go shopping and stuff. I'm glad we don't have to do that. The hills are getting better. I still don't like them. Going down is still a lot of fun though!!!!
Right now our teaching pool has gone down since Rex and Stanford were baptized. We still see them but they aren't investigators. We have a Chinese couple and another Chinese man that we are teaching. It’s hard to teach them because their English is not too good and because they do not have any Christian Background. The couple has committed to be baptized. We think it will be at the end of August so I may be out of the area then. It’s more likely that I will stay in this area though because Elder Smith has been here a while and will probably be transferred before I go. But you never know.
People have asked about our flat. Like I said it’s literally stables that they turned into a flat. You walk in and it’s the kitchen/family room/office area. Then there is a bedroom with a bathroom off of that. The problem is that the walls do not go all the way to the ceiling. Not a big deal for the bedroom, but for the bathroom it’s a little gross. With no top on it the sounds and smells of the bathroom are shared with the entire flat.
We only get letters every couple of weeks when we go into the mission office. We went in last Thursday for zone conference. Elder Kopischke of the 70 was there. He is the Europe Area president. It was a really good conference. He was able to answer a lot of questions and give us some good insights to missionary work.
The trains aren't so bad. The first trip I had on one we didn't get a seat so we had to stand for an hour or two. It was just inconvenient. In this area we only ride them to Birmingham. But some of the other areas have to ride them to go shopping and stuff. I'm glad we don't have to do that. The hills are getting better. I still don't like them. Going down is still a lot of fun though!!!!
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