A road trip, a new "Tri", and getting hit by a car!

I can't believe I've been out for 14 months! You don't even know how quickly it goes... It's not fair, honestly.

I was speaking with Brother Mann, our ward mission leader a few weeks ago during correlation, and he said something that stuck out to me quite poignantly. He was talking about how amazing it was that someone like Joseph Smith, and unlearned, 14 year-old farm boy from upstate New York could have possibly become the amazing Prophet and leader that he did. Elder Wood was the one to ask, "Well, how did he do it?" Brother Mann replied, "Well, you're not going to like the answer. You see, Joseph Smith grew at such an accelerated rate because of two factors that are present in, it seems, every prophet's life: high levels of spiritual experience mixed with extreme trial."

Now, I'm not going to make it out to be that I've had anything remotely close to "high levels of spiritual experience" or an "extreme trial", but when I've seen the two mixed together, I have noticed a lot more growth than I would have imagined otherwise.

This week's been a good representation of that on a small scale. We've had so many wonderful experiences, but it's also been difficult.

The beginning of the week was kind of tricky... We were having a rough time figuring everything out, because of constantly switching "tri's"... See, Elder Clark left on Monday, and we spent half of that day up at the temple waiting for Elder Rogers, who would be in a tri with us. I had no complaints there, because we got to do a session at the temple. And then the next day, after our cheese party with the Craggs family, I went on a road trip with Elder Rogers down to Uckfield, and then up to Welling while Elder Barney stayed here with Elder Gunnell and Elder Lane. And then Elder Cooper was in a tri with us until the next day when we got Elder Nunnally... Super confusing...

ROAD TRIP!

Our new Tri's getting there. I know we'll figure it out. Elder Barney, Elder Nunnally and I are all working hard to increase the companionship unity. First week with a new companion is always spent getting used to things, so I'm not too worried. Elder Nunnally's a great guy. He's from Georgia, and has only been out three months, so we're polishing him off. We all get along pretty well, and so I think things will roll really smoothly once he starts getting used to his second area.

Our new "Tri"...Elder Barney, me, and Elder Nunnally.

Like I told you before, our Lithuanian investigator is coming along super well! Man, he's such a star. We met with him twice this last week, and the second time we committed him to keep the Word of Wisdom. He's going to have to give up a few things for that, but he's already super desirous to do so. You should have seen how excited he was talking about it. His greatest desire is to be baptized, and it sounds like anything that will get him there he's willing to do, and I'm really inspired by that. He's set for October 4th right now. He came along with us to church yesterday, and though I think he wasn't anticipating how long three hours really is, he seemed to really enjoy it. I felt bad because I was responsible for getting a lot of other things done, and was having to run around everywhere, but Elder Barney and Elder Nunnally took good care of him.

Another one of our other investigators agreed to a date as well! But then she dropped us on Saturday morning... I'm pretty sure she got anti-ed, which is too bad... I find it ridiculous that other people feel the need to spread rumours about us and make things bigger than they are. C'est la vie misionnaire. We had a few other people drop us as well, and we've had to drop a few... It was strange seeing just how many people it was this morning. But, it's fine. As Dad always said, "Everyone learns at their own rate." They'll come to eventually, whether in this life, or the next. For the meanwhile, we're able to focus our efforts on the people that need what we've got for them right now.

Out "finding" in Bewbush.

I got hit by a car this week. It must have been going at least forty. And now that you're freaking out, I'll tell you why it's not such a big deal. We were walking down the sidewalk, and British roads are notoriously small, and this woman in her new car comes speeding down the way. I must have been a bit too close to the curb, and she must have been as well, so her side mirror smashed into my wrist. It folded inward and the mirror popped out, but I didn't see her stop. Some people behind me asked if I was alright, and I told them yeah, it wasn't a big deal. And then, this woman comes walking down the road and yells at me for walking too close to the edge, and leaving my bag hanging out, as my bag hit her mirror and broke it. I then informed her that it was my wrist she hit, and Elder Barney nearly flipped out on her for not apologizing to me for smashing into me with her car... After she calmed down from being so flustered, she apologized, and we fixed her mirror for her. And, because I'm such a man, I didn't even bruise.

Anyway, not much else to report. I expect things will be getting increasingly better as the weeks go on. We're doing our best to put our all in, and it's bringing back results.

Love you!

- Elder Green