Hitchin Halloween Party!

Hiya!                              

Hope everyone is doing well. Life is so good. Here's a flavour of England for ya:

"Jacket potato" = baked potato

"flu jab" = flu shot

"Dual carriage way" = split highway

people pronounce the "a" in tomato as "ah" 

Fun fun. I shall now talk about my week! 

On Tuesday, Elder Rix and I gave Stuart (one of our investigators that actually dropped us yesterday) a church tour. We asked Brother Hopwood to join us for the teaching appointment, and he played the organ while we did the tour. After the tour, we had a lesson with Stuart and Brother Hopwood.  Brother Hopwood is a great man, and he's the Stake Patriarch. We had a lesson on the Sabbath Day, and then Brother Hopwood shared some of his conversion story, to which Stuart could really relate to. I love teaching with members! Their testimonies and personal experiences have such great power to touch the hearts of those we teach. 

I downloaded some EFY music and put it on my USB (the one that I received in my Halloween package). It's great! 

I feel that I have improved a lot in my finding abilities. People's first impression of me will often be social. As such, it's so important to be cheerful, clever, and comfortably conversational, instead of being creepy, cowardly, cranky, or cocky. I hope you all enjoyed that alliteration station. I feel that the most effective way to find new friends to teach is to start a conversation, and let it flow naturally to the gospel by asking effective questions, listening to both the person and the Spirit, and then expressing my own thoughts and feelings. Trying to find people to teach is much more enjoyable when I invest both time and effort into personal, positive, and powerful conversations. 

Shane, an investigator of the Letchworth Sister missionaries (they go to the Hitchin ward, too), came to church on Sunday 8 November. It was his first time at a LDS church, and when I saw him I could tell that he was nervous. So I talked with, complimented, and befriended him. He sent a text last week on Monday 9 November saying "Hi I never had a chance yesterday to thank you for making me feel really welcome so thank you!" What a neat experience. 

Elder Rix and I went tracking on Tuesday night. We talked to this man that is divorced, living alone, his kids are with his ex-wife, and he's suffering with depression. I asked him about what makes him happy, and one of the things he said was motor bikes. I felt prompted to ask if we could see his motor bikes (at this point we were having a conversation at his door). He out his shoes on, and walked out of his house and opened his garage, and showed us his 2 motorbikes. As we were talking, I felt a prompting to show a video to him, although I didn't know which one. I pulled out my iPad, and quickly looked through some of the Mormon Messages, and I decided on "Mountains to Climb". It's about 5 minutes long, and it's about how finding faith in Jesus will help us endure and overcome even the hardest trials in life. The Spirit was there during the video and while we spoke. Sadly, he did not accept the invitation to meet with us. But I think he felt the Spirit. It was a testimony building experience. 

Tuesday was a special day for more reasons than 1! We had a church tour, a neat experience with the motor bike guy, and Tuesday 10 November marked my 5 month mark in Hitchin! That's so crazy. I got to Hitchin on 10 June. It seems like such a long time ago. Boy has the time gone fast! 

The front tube of my bike went flat due to 2 punctures. Stuart (the investigator that we did the church tour with) patched it for me on Wednesday! 

Thursday we had zone conference! After ZC, I saw Elder Taylor Jensen (my MTC companion) at Hyde Park chapel. It was so good to see him. He and his companion had a lesson at the HP chapel (he's serving in an area where he can go to HP chapel).

On Friday elder Rix and I both purchased a bike light for the front of our bikes from poundland. After poundland, we both got a flu jab. The mission provided a voucher to any missionary who wanted one. So I got one

After the jab, Elder Rix and I were walking back to our flat and I saw a guy on the other side of the road. When I could, I crossed the road to talk to him. He had headphones on, but he quickly took them off when he realised I was trying to talk to him. I got his full name and his address (his phone was dead but I thought I could contact him via Facebook). I set up an appointment for Sunday night. I was so glad I crossed the street to talk to him. 

Saturday was cold! And for part of the day it rained.

Sunday, we had church. A baby named Diego was named and blessed! Jack Cornish (who has his mission call to the England Leeds mission) gave his farewell talk on Sunday. He leaves home on 26 November. How strange that not too long ago that I was in his position! When he leaves for the MTC, it'll be about my 6 month mark of my mission.

 

Strangeness! 

There was a munch and mingle after church because of Jack and Diego.

Sunday was probably my last Sunday in the Hitchin ward building as a missionary! I'm currently on my 4th transfer in Hitchin. We have stake conference Sunday 22 November, and moves calls is on Monday 23 November. If I leave Hitchin (I'm anticipating that I will) it'll be on Wednesday 25 November! 

I hope you all had a great week! 

Con amor,

Elder Withers