Going To Be A Trainer!

From 3 March 2014

The Gloucester District

Dear Everyone,

 

It's March! Month of my birth! I'm turning twenty! How crazy is that! I am so old!  The weather has been not that bad this last week! We only had to bike in the rain like three times! I'm going to the Cathedral where Harry Potter was filmed today! I'm going to a Chinese Buffet today too! Tonight is Dodge Night so we find out about transfers! The Bishop in Gloucester is really happy with the missionaries who are here right now! I'm not as exclamation mark happy as I seem from this first paragraph!

 

He keeps saying he's going to visit the Gloucester
Cathedral.  We'll see if he fit it in!

I was called last Monday late afternoon to train a new missionary this upcoming transfer. I'm apprehensive but it should be good. It's a little scary having no idea what he will be like or where he will be from or what language he will speak or anything. I'll find out on Wednesday! We get the Dodge call tonight at like 9:45 so I don't even know for sure where I will be training but odds are (like 95% and that 5% only because we're teaching a French family) that I will be staying in Gloucester and Elder Decaudin will go elsewhere. My money is on him going to Wales or the Birmingham area (Lichfield and Birmingham Stakes) but who knows? We have District P Day today going to a Chinese Buffet called Angel Chef and then the Cathedral. It should be fun. I'm really excited and stressed for transfers. AHH! It's always hard for me at the end of transfers to stay focused and energetic but it's ok. Only two more days to go. I can make it! The funny thing is that when people are called to train, they are told not to let anyone know but their companions. It's tricky though because you would have to lie and it's pretty easy to tell who will train. Some people thought I would and so they tried to get it out of me but it's been fun dodging the bullet. There are many ways to tell (going to the Trainers' meeting on Friday, planning on going to transfers early for the other trainers meeting on Wednesday morning, your companion acting like he's leaving and taking pictures with everyone (which Elder Decaudin did do but I think the other Gloucester Teams are oblivious still) etc. etc.) I've been really enjoying the fact that I think the other people in the District legitimately don't know (most people can't keep it a secret very well). On the other hand, I may just be fooling myself and they do know that I'm training and it's really obvious but it's fun either way.

 

The French Family that we've been teaching came to church on Sunday again. It was great. M, the wife, saw the Munch and Mingle after church last week (a rare occasion) and so she brought sandwiches to share with everyone. Then it was fast Sunday... So we ended up eating them with their family in the car park (breaking our fast early) after which we had real Lunch with a South African Family in the Ward. It was great. The ward is really happy with the missionaries right now too it seems and the Bishop made some positive remarks about how things are going with missionary work and wants us to call him at 10:30 to let him know what will be happening with transfers.

 

Also, on Wednesday night after transfers we are going to have a blitz night with a Dinner Appointment and then lesson with a really awesome husband of a member who we taught last Wednesday and is so totally going to be baptised! It's really exciting. There are lots of good things going for the upcoming transfer and I'm super excited!

 

Also, this last week I got to go on exchange with Elder Hunter who is in Gloucester A and is from Alberta just like his Trainer Elder Orr. It was great and Elder Hunter is wonderful. We have such wonderful missionaries in our District here. It's awesome and I love them so much!

 

I'm out of time but I love you all loads and loads!

 

Elder Houghton

 The first in a 11 part set of pictures that I've decided to call "The Many and Great Expressions of Elder Xavier Decaudin over Pancakes (which I accidentally used normal flour for so they didn't raise like they would have if I'd used self-raising flour like I'd intended but they were still good)."