I made it to England and it hasn't even
rained on me yet! I love it here. The other missionaries in my zone and
district are super cool and fun to be with. I sadly have not played
futball here yet, but I will. Guaranteed.
I
went shopping today and they don't have crackers or quality peanut
butter. Besides that, the stuff was awesome and I got a weeks worth for
£10. (He told me..."Also, don't worry, mom,we went shopping today and I made sure to get several
kinds of fruits and a big bag of spinach as well as other frozen
veggies. I didn't get just sweets. I did get some canned stuff and
frozen since it was super cheap. But I will be pretty healthy for living
on my own.")
My companion, Elder Buckhoff, is so great
and he has helped me to feel at home here. I am so glad for the chance
to be with him. We have had some good times already. I still see Elder
Peck all the time and I am so glad. It would be weird not being with him
after so long.
The food here has so far been
just fine despite all I had heard. Our flat is pretty nice, by my
standards. I will send pictures next week.
I
am working on the language. All the people here speak a combo of Czech,
Slovak, and Roma (their own language that is a mix of all sorts of
stuff). That is difficult. I don't get most of what is said. I love our
branch. The people are great!
Love you all,
I have more time now to email so I will go into some more detail of this week. I figured it would be appreciated.
We
have taught tons of lessons which is good for my Slovak, but not as
good for my self-esteem. I still haven't met all of our investigators.
There are tons of people who meet with us and want to learn about this
message. The biggest problem here is that they all have problems with
the Word of Wisdom so they can't get baptized. Usually the issue is
drinking or smoking, but a lot of the time it is both. The Slovaks here
that are older don't know any English and therefore have trouble getting
good work. The money they do have is wasted on cigarettes or beer. They
live in really low quality flats and have tons of people living in each
house. I have been to one house about 5 different times and I have yet
to stop meeting people that live there. I meet at least 2 new ones each
go. Its insane.
I have some really great
experiences in my personal studies every morning. It has really
strengthened my knowledge that God hears and answers prayers and that
the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I come to my studies with a
specific question or concern. One example was I wanted to know how to
help one of our investigators, Alex, stop smoking. He is great and is my
favorite one we have met, but he can't kick the habit. He keeps trying
and trying, but he needs help. As I read, I had the feeling that we
needed to fast for him and he needed to with us. We told him about the
idea. Elder Buckhoff and I fasted, I hope he did. I know that this will
invite the power of God into his efforts to get over this temptation. He
is my favorite since he is younger and doesn't like the culture he grew
up in. He speaks super good English. Most of our lessons with him, he
speaks English and we speak Slovak. Also, since he is our age 20ish, we
can relate to him and have more fun. He has a job and doesn't drink and
wants to learn more and more.
Another great experience I had was my first night here. I had been out most of the day after having been on a plane for 10 hours and teaching in a language I could barely say anything in and where I couldn't understand anything. I wasn't in a flat with anyone I had known for more than a few hours since it is only myself and my companion there. When he went to bed, I felt super alone. I was kneeling there in the dark by my bedside and just feeling overwhelmed and there was no way I could do this. I started to pray and just tell all of these things I had been feeling to my Heavenly Father. As I did, I felt this warming sense of love come over me and I started to feel a little better. I was helped to see the little things that people had done for me that day to help me feel at home and it was so good for me. After a while of this most amazing feeling of comfort, I ended my prayer and got in bed. Since then, it has been wonderful. I know that God knows us and our concerns and our fears. He wants so bad to help us and when we pray, he will reach out. I really needed that.
We
had dinner with a family this week, the Nettleships. They are so
amazing. They made a cake for me on my birthday before they had ever met
me and it was because they had searched about me online and had found
out through my mother on facebook that it was my birthday. I felt so
welcomed. Brother Nettleship is in the branch presidency (a branch is
like a ward) and he learned Slovak so he could communicate better with
the Slovak members! How cool is that.
We ate
lunch with a man by the name of Brother Whitehouse on the second day or
so I was here. He was the first British person I had heard for a long
time. He sounds so funny. I found out after that lots of people from
this area talk like him. They say things like "init" instead of isn't
it. The also don't say "the" They just pause slightly where the "the"
would go. and if the last word before "the" is "in" the say "int"
instead. They also have some weird pronunciation of vowels and have a
few other words I don't know. He is hilarious. All of the missionaries
in my district love him and he has some fun with us. We try to imitate
his accent and see if he realizes.
The weirdest
thing the first day was the cars on the wrong side of the road. I was
especially freaked out by the roundabout. We entered what I thought was
the wrong way and it scared me a little, not gonna lie. I am getting
used to it.
For reals,
That is all I have for this week, I will be more organized and less wordy next week! Sorry it is so long!
Elder Pace
(He
also told me they don't have a car; they walk or take the bus. He sees
Elder Peck and the other elders quite often since they eat dinner
together at the Nettleships on Thursday, they have district meeting on
Wednesday, they serve in the branch on Sunday and they go on splits
throughout the week! They will be a close-knit group! He said the MTC
was very controlled but it is very different in the field. He said
President Turvey is very kind and he thought he was the perfect
president for him!)
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