Mini golf on preparation day!

Family,                                                                                   

This has been another great week. It went so fast. Last P day we bought a rubbish bin and a small mirror for shaving, and played mini golf so that was exciting. I'll send some nice pics. There are dinosaurs involved.

My companion

 We've been focusing on improving the quality of our street conversations. This past week Elder Nelson said "I think that we're thinking more than we're feeling." It was such an inspired comment. He's adjusting well to missionary life. His foot has been hurting him though (from the walking and runs in the morning. I think he needs better shoes). So we'll go to a Pediatrician on thursday. Today we'll play some b ball in the chapel after emailing so I'm excited for that. He's willing to "seat hop" as I like to call it (talking to someone on the bus, and after that convo/if they're not interested getting up and then talking to someone else. 

The Work

On Wednesday we went over to Brunel University. We met a guy that we've taught once. He seems like he has good potential. After we talked with him we continued talking with more students. When it was time to go, I said lets talk with one more person. We saw a girl on a perpendicular path to us, so we accelerate our pace to stop her where our path met hers. Her mom is Christian and her dad is Muslim. We had a nice first lesson with her about the Restoration and she felt good about it. She accepted the invitation to be baptized. We're hoping things go well this week, but not sure because we haven't heard from her recently. 

Spiritual

Allen T. Phillips came to our mission on Friday. He spoke about many things, but the most impactful was the two analogies to describe testimony. One of them is that testimony is a wall, composed of 'bricks' of the gospel such as the BoM, Temples, the Word of Wisdom, The Atonement, Service, etc. For people whose testimony is represented by these things, they're likely to crumble when 3-4 'bricks' are displaced through doubts, poor habits, or other reasons. 

Testimony could also be likened to a spider web. When spiders spin their web, they begin by solidifying a strong central line, then creating an 'x' with two other lines. Once this is done, they will weave in-between the main lines, thus creating their web. The Central line here represents Jesus Christ. If we make him the center of our testimony, knowledge, and experience, we will not fall. Referring to Helaman 5:12, as Christ is our foundation, we will never go astray. It's so easy to get carried away with the many wonderful things in the gospel. But everything ultimately points to Christ, and if he is our foundation stone, we will never fall. 

Me

I'm happy, healthy, and focused. I go to bed so tired at nights, to be resurrected as the clock strikes 6:15am. Since my companion can't run, we go to a place near our flat and I run back and forth in a straight line to get my cardio in while he does some stationary work outs. I'm working on patience and love, wanting these to define me and the way I think about and treat others. I've been having wonderful experiences with the sacrament, and am enjoying what we're doing here. Life is good, the mission is great. Also, I got a haircut today. 

Thanks for your love and prayers! Have a great week

Elder Withers