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| Alec and Elder Jensen visiting Colchester Castle |
Hello family!
So much has happened this past week and it's all a blur.
I feel so bad that I haven't been writing in my journal because I'm losing
memories!
Yikes... It's so tough because we have call ins from
9:20-10:20 (if we start and end on time) every Wednesday, Friday, Sunday, and
on the other days I always feel so busy, and I often use night time to call
missionaries and see how here doing/follow up/ challenge them, since the days
get so busy. I'll include things that I can remember and use my planner to prompt
further memories.
On Tuesday, we drove to Cambridge in the morning! How
cool is that?!
It's like 1 hour 15 minutes away. We attended a District
Meeting their in a senior missionary couple's home (The Jackmans). They're so
amazing! They like me too because I went to BYU and I remind them of someone
they're related to. After DM, they provided lunch. We then spent time finding
with the missionaries there, and returned home to Colchester with a set of
elders.
That night, we took part in a great mutual activity
planned and prepared by the sisters. It was a mini-MTC experience! They put
together mission calls for the various youth (one of which was the Ohio
Cleveland mission), provided paper nametags, and planned things so well. Elder
Jensen and I got to make some opening remarks. Which I quite enjoyed. I find it
fun to stand up in front of people and talk.
Anywho, I was with Elder Walker since we were on an
exchange. We took a group of the most choice and righteous youth (those that
had been called to the Cleveland mission) to the chapel where we taught them
how to find aka how to talk to people on the streets. Afterwards, they went
outside with their companion and tried to find people to teach.
The leaders were outside in casual clothes pretending to
be an average joe. After they set a return appointment, all the youth came back
inside where the sisters instructed them a bit on how to pick a lesson to teach
and told them to extend a baptismal date. The "missionaries" then taught the lesson to their investigator. It was a
fun activity! I really enjoyed interacting with the youth. Maybe the Ohio youth
would love it, too.
On Wednesday we had a District Meeting in Colchester. We
had lunch together after DM. Later that day we had dinner with the Stake
President's family! We played a game where there were M&Ms in a bowl at
they had to transfer to pan empty cup.
They had 30 seconds to get as many as they could into the cup. It was a
competition to see who could get most. We made some parallels to our testimony.
One of the things we said was that testimony grows bit by bit and it takes
effort over time. Our testimony also grows by sharing it. We invited them to
share their testimony with someone!
On Thursday we went to Ipswich for their DM. I gave a
training! It was fun. Like I said before, I enjoy standing in front of people
and talking.
On Friday we went to London for an AP Exchange. 'Twas
fun.
Sunday we had a linger longer lunch after church. Yummy
yummy.
I've committed to be disciplined with my eating. We
exercised a little today in our gym! I did 10 minutes of interval training on
the treadmill. I ran 1 mile.
Funny story:
Both Elder Jensen and I got haircuts today at a Turkish
barber. That was exciting. The guy that cut my hair couldn't speak English. It
was so funny... At one point he turned on the sink in front of me and gestured.
I was like "what?" And since I didn't know what he wanted me to do I
stuck my hand in it. Lol. Then he said something again and I half- realized he
wanted me to put my head in the sink. So I did and he proceeded, to my
surprise, to wash my hair with water and shampoo right then and there. After
that, he dried my hair, had me sit back in the chair and lean my head back. He
went over to another place in the shop and got a towel that was warm and
smelled really good (like vicks) and put it over my face and left it for a bit.
Then he styled my hair and asked if I wanted gel or anything. I said no. A
little bit later he asked if there was anything else and I was like "did
you say there was gel?" So he put gel in my hair. And it's max hard gel
that makes me look like a greaser. And then he was using a mirror to show me
how long my hair was, asking if it was ok, and then I was like its a little
long in the back. Another employee translated for my hair cutter friend, and
then I was like oh no it's fine, and then the translator dude was basically
like "if you want it shorter it's alright" and so this Turkish guy
but the hair cutting bib over me and cut my hair again, saying Turkish words
that were foreign to my American ears. I presume he said something about me...
Lol it was a good experience.
Margaret Randall feeds us dinner every week and makes us
muffins as well. She gives us 3 bags; 1 for us and 1 for each set of sisters in
the ward. The most recent batch was super good and we were tempted to take some
of the sisters muffins. But we decided not to. Just thought you'd like to know
:)
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| Alec on the street outside his flat |
I called Elder Rix back and shared the reason why our
call ended so abruptly, and resumed our conversation.
Elder Jensen and I have definitely had some good
laughs...
Well I love all y'all! Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Withers
I just remembered!
On Sunday before church (at 9:50) a sister missionary said
"oh! You're speaking today!" And I said no I'm not. And she said that
I was, and then I was like shoot. haha
I kinda spaced on it because a little while ago I was going
to give a talk, and then I was told that just Elder Jensen and 2 sister
missionaries would speak. At some point in the past I was asked to speak on a
different topic anddd I just forgot.
So I explained this to Brother Foster (1st counselor) and I
asked him what my topic was for my talk. He told me, and I prepared it, and
then delivered it! I was the first speaker and my talk went really well. I was
rather pleased with it. It was easy since it was only supposed to be 5 minutes
Anywho, love yall!
Love, Me
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| Colchester Castle |
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