Sorry I'm running out of good subject lines for these emails. Let me know of any suggestions. It's kind of tough trying to be original about 100 times.
Some Highlights from the week:
- I went to Wednesbury (pronounced like Wednesday) where I have a lot of family history. We were only there for a bit to have dinner with our Ward Mission Leader and we popped into a bike shop to see if the guy there had a used bike that would work for Elder Ruka. He was way too pushy about selling the too good to be true only used bike he had so we made an exit. Other than that, it's fairly small and there's a decent bus station which is cool. Haven't seen much else.
- I learned from our Ward Mission Leader that Street signals (red=stop, green=go etc.) were invented in Wolverhampton, which is a hop on a bus away.
- I made some delicious food from Cape Verde that Elder Fonseca (one of the other Elders in the district) taught me to make on exchange. It's great and filling and perfect in just about every way-had leftovers for breakfast this morning.
- I bought a Lego Minifigure sticker book so spice life up with last week. Sticker books are the new thing in the mission.
- Church was wonderful yesterday. Just fabulous. I have a bit of a better knowledge of who people are etc. so it's great. We'll be singing in sacrament meeting next week as well which will be cool.
- We had a fantastic Zone Conference on Saturday and we were visited by an area seventy from the Netherlands and his wife (Elder and Sister Boom (pronounced Bohm)). It was perfect for my needs and I learned loads and felt the spirit strongly. I don't think I could survive without the spiritual upliftment that comes from the meetings we hold regularly. They are vital. Just a few of many amazing highlights:
- "God Loves us too much to leave us the way we are."
- The man who asked the Saviour "Carest thou not that we perish" was just about the worst question in the world to ask. Who on Earth cares more? We just need to stay in the boat and trust in the Lord
- The Area Seventy powerfully told us (with a bit of an accent) "When you Elders get home, don't touch those video games. We are preparing for the Second Coming of the Saviour Jesus Christ and we cannot afford to dabble in addictions" (not an exact quote at all-it was like that but better). One of the sisters in my district almost leaped up for joy and asked him to get someone to say that in general conference so her brothers would hear.
- From Sister Boom: Jenna and the Problem-Maker -a story with great applications to missionary work.
- I bought a new pair of shoes from a closing down store. Yay cheap shoes!
- We randomly met up with a woman we're working with at a farm. There were chickens, horses, a sheep, a cow, a mean guard goat, turkeys, ducks, geese, the whole shibang. It was pretty cool. Elder Ruka loved it (maybe in part aided by the fact that they don't have sheep, turkeys, horses, goats, or cows in his country) as did I-I suddenly wished I could have been raised on a farm- and it was good to interact with this lady in a positive way (she's had a lot a lot a lot of stress and challenges lately).
I've run myself out of time but I love you loads and look forward to hearing from you soon!
Elder Houghton
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