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| The Crawley Zone visiting Sir Winston Churchill's home, Chartwell, in Kent. |
Anyway, we've had a solid week. It's still been a little bit crazy with how we count lessons now, but I've become so grateful for it. It really helped us to focus on setting return appointments with everyone that we see on the street, and so we've had multiple appointments every day of the week. Granted, only three or four of those actually came through... But, the people we did meet with were really solid. We've actually got one new baptismal date because of it! He's a really sincere English guy. He kind of looks like Dad, actually... We didn't get to teach him much on the street when we saw him, but when we came around for the appointment, and taught him about the Book of Mormon, he was so amazed. It was really cool to see someone that excited about that. So, he's set for the 18th of October, and he'll be at church next week.
Our other investigator is still doing super well. We're hoping to get him to the temple this week to watch the Joseph Smith movie. It ought to be pretty good. He still loves coming to church, and was so disappointed he couldn't make it yesterday. We had a teach with him this week, and asked him to pray, and (as always) it was one of the most sincere prayers I've ever heard. As the three of us walked out, Elder Barney looked over and said, "Guys, I think he's converted." It's fantastic seeing that kind of change in someone.
What else... We met a lot of really amazing people on the street this week. We stopped a really cool Buddhist Monk lady on the street. She actually knows a few of the people from the ward. She was super nice, and really wants to come see the chapel. So, we left her with a prayer, and she left us with a Buddhist blessing of something like, "inshila", which means "As you pass." I totally thought she was about to say, "enchilada", though, and got really excited. (I have Mexican food on the brain!)
We also had an interesting experience with a bunch of Mauritian guys in Broadfield. We were walking along on our way home, after having had a bunch of appointments flog us, and decided to go stop by one last potential. Well, we saw this one Mauritian guy sitting on some stairs next to an underpass, so I went up and started talking to him about the Book of Mormon. He was really interested initially, and so we said an opening prayer, and continued on with the lesson. And then two more guys rolled up. And then two more guys rolled up. And then two more guys rolled up, so we were teaching like eight or nine of them. And then they all started "rolling up," if you know what I mean... We left, seeing as they were high, but we got one of their addresses to pop around another time.
As part of our Zone Goals, we've been focusing on sacrificing the things that aren't any good for us to help us to have the Spirit stronger in our work, and one of the things that's been helping a ton is actually as simple as watching what we say. We meet quite a few pretty rude people on the street. That's just part of missionary work. However, we've decided to stop being snide and cheeky after meeting them on the street. Where usually, we would stop someone, and it would go like this:
Us: Hey Sir!
Them: Sorry, busy.
Us: Oh, we're talking about the Book of Mormon!
Them: No. Busy.
Us: Oh, can we leave you a card?
Them: I'm busy.
Us: Right... We can just give you this card, and you can go on the website and look it up when you're not busy...
Them: Do you speak English? I told you I'm busy! Stop harassing me!
Us: *grumble grumble* They obviously don't speak English... *grumble grumble*
We now just skip the grumbling, and we find that we're much happier! And find far more people who want to listen.
Last P-day was good, by the by. We were planning on going to Chartwell (Winston Churchill's Home) around 2:00, so that we had plenty of time, but as soon as I got to the Visitor's Centre, there was a man on the phone speaking Spanish, and they needed me to translate for him. It was a Sister Missionary's father. Apparently she has been quite ill, and so I had to translate all of the details for him, which was interesting. I was really grateful for the opportunity, even though it meant that I only got to go to Chartwell for an hour or so. And I guess, speaking of languages, my Portuguese has also been improving. I started reading the Book of Mormon in Portuguese, and occasionally listen to it, and it's gotten me to the point where I can actually communicate quite decently with Portuguese people.
Anyway, Chartwell was pretty cool. They had a real Monet on the wall, which was pretty sweet. My favorite part, though, was all of the gifts given to him by Stalin. Honestly, the USSR gives some fantastic gifts, like fruit bowls made of crystal with a man shooting a grizzly bear with a bow in silver. I wish I was friends with Stalin. Unfortunately, they wouldn't let us take pictures inside... So, there's not a whole lot of pictures to show... Oh well.
Well, love you guys. Hope you have a great week!
- Elder Green
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