Birthday Week in Gloucester

Dear Everyone,

 

My Birthday Dinner! Thanks to my wonderful family for sending
me my favourite mac and cheese mix. Unfortunately,
we didn't have any macaroni noodles so we had Fusili 'n cheese instead!

 Gloucester Ward's spire in front of the building. It
makes this weird whistling noise in the wind.
Cheltenham may have stained glass windows
but we have a permanent sound feature!

So, this week has been another challenge. I think all weeks are but I guess that's a good thing in some ways. At least the weather has been nice. Also, I turned twenty. That's weird. My actual age birthday is in a different perspective though because mostly, we missionaries just think of our age in the mission. So it's funny that some of my leaders could yet be as young as eighteen but may have been in the mission field longer than me and I would think of them as older because of it but then I'm actually the older one-especially considering that I had experience at University that many of the young missionaries don't have when they come out. Anyway, the other Elders and the Sisters in Gloucester both got me some nice Birthday goodies and it was fun.

 We didn't do anything particularly exciting though because there was a Ward cleaning activity at the chapel and then Weekly Planning (because we had a trainng meeting in Birmingham and so couldn't do it on Friday like we normally do) plus three hours of study plus meals. That computes out to up to ten hours of stuff to do so very little time for actual missionary work (sigh).

 

This week I've had a dreadful itch/rash thing on my legs (and oddly, my ears). It's developed and gotten worse up to now so I have an appointment with a doctor in Cheltenham for this evening and hopefully he/she can get it fixed up (it's just the 1+ hour of travel time that's a bit tough) so I can get back to work (it's remarkable how hard it is to focus and work when your legs itch like there's no tomorrow).

 

Yesterday was English Mothers' Day which was cool. I don't know exactly why Americans and British people have Mothers' day on different days but it was nice anyway. The primary kids got to sing a nice little song and then they handed out goodies for all of the Sisters in the ward. Sisters Lambert and Muhlmann were petrified when they had to stand up to get their goodies handed to them across the faces of two of their male investigators. Also, it was a bit tough for our New Investigator K who felt that church should have been more focused on God than other stuff (mothers). We tried to explain that talking about Mothers and Service is really a good thing and acceptable for a Sunday but ya... He said he's not coming back because his Sabbath is Saturday. It will be fun with him. We'll see.

 

Last week as well, I got to go on exchange to the Forest of Dean. It was pretty swell. The Forest is a magical place and the Elders there are great. The whole District here is just fantastic! I love them so much!

 

In other news, my bike is really worn down and making lots of sad noises all the time. Also, I need a haircut. We're going down to Barton Street (where the Mosque is in Gloucester) because I miss all of the Muslims and Hindus from Coventry. For some reason, the barbers in Coventry were all from Kurdistan. I'm not sure if the one here is as well but they're definitely Middle Eastern so it's great! So, it's going to be a lovely P day of doctor and bike and barber shop visits! My favourite!

 

Anyhow, I love you all lots and am learning and growing loads! I'm so grateful for Grace! I got a hold of a great talk from Brad Wilcox on grace which was absolutely wonderful to read this morning for personal study...

 

Have a fantastic week! I hope to hear from you all soon!

 

Elder L.K. Houghton

A sling shot in a fishing pole box set thing. What do you
need a fishing pole for if you can just launch the bait???