Elder Parkin, Unknown Elder and Elder Alec

Hola!
 

Happy Fourth of July! I hope England shoots off some fireworks today... But I'm not too optimistic. 

I'm going to structure my email a bit differently today. Let me know what you think:

English Culture:

- I Visited Buckingham Palace Today

 

Buckingham Palace

 

- The Weather is really moody

- There is diversity everywhere

- It's fun to travel on the Tube and get to know the stations and the tube lines better. 

- People don't usually talk on the tube. Until you talk to them first... (Insert smug face here)

 

 

Funny experiences

We accidentally bought a ton of fruit today. We just kept loading up our cart at Lidl and spent more than we intended. Hopefully it lasts :) Fruit is life. 

 

"Fruit is Life."

We were waiting for the train yesterday while travelling to Ilford for a baptismal interview. We were sitting on a bench, and talking, when I look across the tracks to see a small boy with his back towards me. He's at the edge of the fence facing the trees, and a stream of fluids comes from within his body. All the while, his dad stands proudly at his side. What has the world come to. 

Lessons I learned this week:

- I had an exchange with a certain elder this past week. He goes home later this year, and he's been having some struggles. During the exchange evaluation, he shared with me his struggles. Once again, I realised you can never judge someone, because you never know the full story

- A Quote from Jeffrey R. Holland stuck out to me. In essence it said "my morning schedule and routine will tell the tale of my day, month, year, mission and life" Wow...

Spiritual Experiences:

President Kearon came to our mission on Wednesday and it was amazing. Some of the things I gleaned from the conference with him, his wife, and President and Sister Stevens are as follows: 

-Pray every day that the Lord is preparing people in my current and future areas (Sis Kearon)

- Imagine the Lord being my companion for the day; How would I be different (Sis Kearon)

- Attack the morning; by praying with real intent, exercising (meaning I must sweat), taking a shower and then ending with a cold blast of water, and having good studies (Pres Kearon)

- Gain greater conviction of what the gospel and specific commandments do for me so I can bear greater personal witness in colloquial terms to those I teach (Pres. Kearon)

MLC was just amazing. President Kearon and his wife came. This was the best MLC of my entire mission... Sister Kearon shared a powerful, personal experience. As she shared, I felt the Spirit so strongly testify that God is so near to each of us, and he will never leave our side. There is no way for me to adequately describe the Spirit that was there, besides what it says in 3 Nephi 17:16 "The eye hath never seen, neither hath the ear heard, before, so great and marvelous things as we saw and heard." The Kearons are spiritual giants.

London Mission Conference

Even though I've been in Leadership for a while, I had my first baptismal interview yesterday! It was held in the Ilford chapel (which looks kinda like a castle). It was a very nice Spiritual experience. The candidate was well prepared, understood the responsibility that accompanies baptism, and had a very sweet, humble, simple, yet powerful testimony. 

Other just good experiences

- On Wednesday we ate dinner at a Columbian restaurant in Turnpike Lane with Valentina and Hanson. I spoke spanish to the chef, and tried to set up a time to meet with him, but he wasn't interested. It's all good though. I tried an Arepa for the first time! I sent a picture of it, but it's basically a rice disk with a burger, and cheese, and tomato, and something random on top. 

 

Arepa

The DeJohns (A Senior missionary couple) took us out to dinner after MLC to a really nice Italian restaurant in South Kensington. I just really enjoyed that time with them. They brought with them a friend that works with them in the archives, with whom I feel I made a positive impact (she seemed less than happy for whatever reason. she's an older lady). I spoke spanish to a couple that sat neighboring us, and gave them a Mormon.org card when they left. I left a Mormon.org card on the table with a brief thank you written on the back. I talked to a less active member from Stevenage on the Tube. And in the tube station, as we were walking I followed the prompting to stop a girl with a shirt that said "Spiritual gangster". She seemed quite interested, and lives in stratford. I told her that we were Spiritual Gangsters, too. haha

 

This was a great week! I really do love London. Thank you for your prayers and support.

Love you all!

Elder Withers

 

Happy Bday, Elder Withers! From Amos Family <3