[SENT JUNE 6, 2016]

Alec, Elder Jensen and other Elders

Hola!                                                                                                                                                                   

I have had a great week! I'll tell you about it. 

On Tuesday, it was a dreary, rainy morning. We were getting ready for the day when Lauren Fagg called us and said they needed help because their house was flooding. I changed out of my proselyting clothes, and out on flip flops, Chiefs, a shirt, a windbreaker, and my name badge (of course). We drive to the Fagg family, to see them forcing the water with shovels and a broom around the side of their house to prevent it from flooding their house. Elder Jensen and I joined em in their efforts. My feet were submerged in the water at various points of our service, and the water was cold! My feet got used to it though, as they became numb. I was 'past feeling' in my feeties. But I was happy and smiling as we served, and actually had a really nice experience even though it was rainy and cold. 

Something I've thought about recently is from my blessing given to me to set me apart as a missionary. "People's first impression of me will often be social." I've tried to smile and be more happy and enthusiastic while finding and talking with people. 

Recently I said a prayer asking to know what I needed to improve on most! I was surprised at how specific and clear of an answer I received. God answers prayers. 

Elder Jensen and I went tracting on Wednesday night. Not too long ago, I read part of the Ricciardi letter (written about a legendary Italian missionary that served in England). Being inspired by his boldness, I made a move at one of the doors we knocked. A Greek couple opened the door, and stood back a bit from the door. Early in the convo, I spotted something on their dresser thing that was near the door. I asked what it was, and they didn't know what I was referring to. I then walked into their home, past them to get a closer look. We tried to see if we could sit down with them right then but their baby was in bed. We set up an appointment for the next morning. The appointment didn't happen, but it was a fun experience setting up an appointment from inside their home. Boldness be my friend :) 

We also stopped by a less active woman named Gabrielle on Wednesday.

At one point while we were at the door, her 6 year old son, Niall, came to the door and told us he had a surprise for us. He proceeded to turn around and release a wet sounding passage of gas in mine and Elder Jensen's direction. Thanks for the surprise, Niall...

Thursday we woke up at 4am to travel to London for MLC. On Saturday, we had Zone Meeting. On the way there, Elder Jensen unintentionally ran over a squirrel. The squirrel "picked the wrong lane". 

Ipswich Zone Conference

We went tracting with a different style of approach. Our goal was to place 5 BoM's and get inside 3 homes. We hit our goal as well! We went by yesterday to follow up with those that we gave a chapter to read.

Sadly, no one had the experience that we wanted for them (due to lack of reading, sincerity, and prayer). But we feel we can make tracting/finding more effective now by focusing on getting people to read from the Book of Mormon. After all, it is the keystone of our religion and it brings the Spirit more than any other book! 

While tracting we met some interesting people: a woman who was a witch who had a dog named Demon, a woman who said water is God, a Buddhist dude that let us in his home but wasn't teachable, and another guy that we had a funny convo with that wanted to think about reading the BoM before we gave him one. People are great 😊 

Love you all! Hope you're having a great vida!

 

Elder Withers