"I just want to work with everything..."

It was definitely good seeing you guys yesterday ("seeing" being a relative term). But honestly, it was really good to chat, and I'm glad to see that people do miss me. (It was Mother's Day in England yesterday, and since he will be home so close to American Mother's Day, he got to skype with us this week.)

One thing I am grateful for, is that my testimony has been strengthened so much in the past few months. Elder Mercer and I have been researching the Gospel of Christ a lot, and trying to understand it -- he in a general sense, and me and in more specific -- but it's been phenomenal, and has changed me a lot for it. I think it's incredible that any and all problems can be sovled by the Gospel of Christ, and it shows that it's perfect. Problems arise when we choose not to follow it, in the same way they would if we tried not to follow gravity, or inertia. But, anyway.

Elder Mercer and I began working in a lot of smaller areas this week. We walked up to South Wonston, through a military field filled with unexploded ordnance. That was fun. We also did a bit of knocking out in Ropley, which is on the far end of our area. Like, way out there. I swear, some of the properties there are enormous, and absolutely gorgeous. I don't know what I would do in a house that size. I definitely don't know that I would enjoy it.

Elder Mercer and I out in the country.

Taking a close look at a dead badger.

We had Zone Conference on Saturday, with Elder & Sister Dyches of the Seventy, and it was really quite good. I think that the whole world is trying to get me to realize how close I am to coming home... I mean, President practically gave me a lecture on all the beautiful amazing Sister Missionaries that will be coming home at the same time as me, like Sister So-and-So, and this wonderful Sister... And then President Dyches gave like a half-hour presentation on the qualities we should look for in a wife/husband... But, aside from that, the Zone Conference was great! Sister Dyches is really wonderful. She totally called me out for not paying attention at the beginning of her talk (which I actually was, I was just staring off somewhere else as I listened...), and then called me up in front of all the missionaries for fifteen minutes to help her with something... But anyway, they had given this presentation on how to make origami missionary shirts to give away as thank you notes, and after my musical number (at this point, the Zone Conference had turned into the Elder Green show, and Elder Dyches was referring to me by name...) she gave me a really kind one talking about how well she thought I had done.

I'm setting goals now for the last three months of my mission, and I really want to drain my gas tanks. Like, I just want to work with everything. I'm not going to let anything get in my way, because I don't have time for that. I'll be done when I'm done.

Anyway, that's about it. I did think of one thing you could send me -- have Scotty pick out a nice Dodgers hat or shirt for me, I've decided I'm a fan and I'm tired of seeing the fake Dodgers hats that they sell here everywhere. I always try to use it as a contacting technique, and it goes like this:

Me: Hey! Are you a Dodgers Fan?
Them: What?
Me: Do you like the Dodgers?
Them: What are you talking about?
Me: ...Your hat?
Them: Oh, I just got this from Primark (low-end clothing store that's fashionable, but really, really low-quality).
Me: Oh. Can I leave you a card...?

Well, love you,
- Elder Green

P.S.- Here are the words to "Horace." This is a song that I wrote about my ancestor Horace Martin Alexander who left his wife and children at Winter Quarters Nebraska to go and serve in the Mormon Battalion. While he was away, his wife and newborn baby boy died, and his young daughters had to cross the plains in the care of a young woman. They eventually were reunited again in Utah.

Horace

Fire in his eyes,
As he rides under the cover
Of another day gone by.
Two men at his side
Sharing hope for the freedom
A new land would provide.

Longing for his wife,
And his two little daughters
That he left back in the ice.
And so he takes his flight
Having shouldered the rifle
And the pledge that he won't fight.

From ol' Virginia
Across the rivers
To California
God, deliver us.

Desperation cries
As she holds tight to the leather
And says her last goodbyes.
Yet another body lies,
But her soul escapes the heartache
Taking its place in the skies.

From ol' Virginia
Across the river
Out to Nebraska
God, deliver us.

[Solo]

Tears fill in his eyes,
As they focus on the dust clouds
Trailing those who have survived.
The two loves of his life,
Yelling, "Daddy! We made it!"
As he hugs 'em close and cries.

From ol' Virginia
Across the rivers
To California
God, deliver us.
Out to Nebraska
Through bitter winter
Among the Rockies,
God, deliver us.

A Really Good, Weird Week

A hipster photo for this week...I'm sorry, I saw "Mainstream Court" and couldn't resist.
The ironic bit is that it's a dead end. Ha ha ha!

I can't believe that Tahoe got called to Rome! That's super legit. As I think about it, I think that Tahoe will do well in a place like that. If England's any kind of example of European thought, many seem to fall to one end or the other -- either devotedness to a certain faith (here in England it's pretty much uniformly Church of England), or un-budging secular humanism and atheism. I feel like Tahoe could relate to both groups of people, what with him being a fairly analytical and an intellectual person.

That's cool about running into Claudia. She actually went to Hamlin too, as I remember it. She was a grade younger, but we had AP Spanish together. It's kind of cool to hear that she's following what's been going on via Facebook. I don't really realize how many people might actually read this every week (especially since I haven't been following the pageviews in a little while).

I honestly can't think of much to send in the Easter package. I'm fine on deodorant, and I've found places to get a lot of the other stuff I need here (just found out that the Chinese Shop off the high street sells root beer. You don't know how excited we were, honestly. It's about £2.60 for a 1.5L bottle, but oh my days it's so worth it.) None of the kids in the ward I shared it with really appreciated it though. A lot of people here think it tastes like medicine. Oh well, their loss.

So, what happened this week? It was kind of a weird week, actually. A really good one, but a weird one. We picked up three people who committed to baptism, which is super cool. It was interesting, because all three of them were products of other people cancelling appointments. The first guy is from Brussels, and we actually met him right after that lady threatened to call the police on us last week. Between us talking to her at the door and putting a card through the door, we saw him walking up the way, and ran up to go talk to him. Apparently he has friends back in Brussels who are members of the church, and was invited to go along about 10 years ago. It was super exciting to hear that he's from Kinshasa down in the Congo originally. I'm definitely emailing Julius about that this week.

We also met another couple. We were just splitting up for an exchange with the Romsey guys down in Eastleigh, and our plans were to head up to Colden Common to see Leigh and her husband, but they had to cancel right around noon, as she was called in to work. But, seeing as the rest of our day was planned around that appointment... We were utterly lost. So, Elder Law and I sat down and said a prayer, and then resolved that we would talk to everyone on the way to visit one Less-Active member in Eastleigh, and following that, we would catch the train to Micheldever to visit someone we'd been asked to go by. We actually met a few really cool people on the way there, and were able to pick up a few return appointments. When we got to the Less-Active's street, they were standing there on the street with her little brother, so we approached them and asked if they believed in God, and if they knew anything about the Book of Mormon. They invited us into their place, and we were able to teach a full lesson, and at the end of it they both agreed to be baptised. It was pretty fantastic, really.

We've also had a ton of people giving us referrals this last week, which is really unusual. The one we were able to contact wasn't very solid, but we'll keep going by the others.

Also, Elder Mercer, Elder Law and I got to sing in sacrament on Sunday. I totally through that it was supposed to be for next Sunday, so I had to throw together an arrangement while I was in the shower on Tuesday morning, and then teach it to the other two guys over the next few days (which was tough, since I didn't have much opportunity to go through it with Elder Law. It went well enough, people from the ward were fairly impressed. I think it's been really cool to me to see just how much music can do in establishing trust with people. I'm still writing more, and actually just started a song about Horace Martin Alexander and his family this morning, which I hope will come out alright. I keep meaning to send you recordings of a few of the others I've done, but I only just figured out the reason why I can't play any of the songs on my voice recorder... And now it's out of battery. So, maybe I'll bring my guitar to the Pinney's on Sunday when I Skype.

Speaking of Skyping, I'll be Skyping you from their place on Sunday. (It's English Mother's Day.) We'll have choir after church, And so I'll probably just Skype after dinner's done at their place on Sunday, probably between 3:00 and 4:00 our time, so 7:00 and 8:00 yours. Otherwise I suppose I could try to do it really early that morning, around 8:00ish, or earlier, which would be the night before for you guys. I might actually vie for that one. I'll message you again at the end of the day and let you know.

Well, that's about it. Elder Mercer's getting tired of me using Thai Fish sauce in the flat, because it smells like dead rat, but I make a pretty mean stir fry now. Also tried my hand at chili this week, with some really odd ingredients (we were out of chili powder, so I tried spicing it with horseradish, mustard, and some balsamic vinegar), but it turned out quite nicely in the end. We're making more Mexican food for people this week, which is always a joy. But oh, Mission Burrito sounds so nice right now.

So, I look forward to seeing you Sunday!

Love you,

- Elder Green

Oh, P.S. You can tell all the girls that one of the members here said that I speak more like a British person, and have more British mannerisms than any other American missionary he's ever met. It kind of made a little piece of me die inside. No, that doesn't mean I've got a British Accent, as Americans understand a British Accent. I just say weird things like, "I don't want to, but I should do." and ask questions like British people do -- that is inflecting down at the end of a question instead of up.

100 days left...but who's counting?

Elder Mercer and I out in the rain!

Weather here's been really strange lately, actually. Right now I can see perfect blue skies up ahead, but yesterday started out this way and then featured scattered showers, hail, lightning... You know, the usual.

Man, it's so nuts to think about Tahoe and Walker getting their calls... I still need to Email Hen. I'll probably do that right after I'm done with this. And Tay'll get his call not long after that, so weird. Not ready for all of this "growing up" stuff.

The transfer's moving a bit slow for me as well. Well, I guess not really. We're on week three already, and today marks 100 days (I'm surprised you didn't bring that up). The last day of this transfer is the 25th. I've not been requesting an area. I told him straight up at interviews, "look, send me where the Lord will send me, but there's a few good opportunities here that you could pray specifically about." So, we'll see.

Work this last week has been pretty good. We had an exchange with the Zone Leaders, and so I was off with Elder Kirk who's from my group. It was fun being with him, and I sure learned a lot, but I find that anymore, when I work with certain Zone Leaders, they can't always see everything going on in the area. Still, I did learn a lot from him, and have been able to apply quite a bit, if not all, of what we did on exchange to the work here.

Eating lunch at the old Black Boy pub, on Wharf Hill in Winchester, with my district. 

You want to hear a crazy miracle? So, as Elder Kirk and I started our exchange, we were planning on going down to some little podunk town called Colden Common to go visit a member we'd been asked to go see. We were called up to do a bit of service moving a former member of the ward, and he gave us a lift down there afterwards (while telling us all sorts of stories of people being mauled by bears and lions and things). Well, we knocked on the member's door, and... Nothing. So, we went to go knock ten doors aside like we'd planned. The very next door we knock on, a guy walks up to the door and basically tells us that he's got his dinner on the table waiting for him, and to get to the point. Elder Kirk mentioned the Book of Mormon, and he said, "Woah, wait, Mormon? You need to speak to my wife." A few seconds later she came to the door, and explained that she was a member of the Church, and that she had been speaking to a Sister Missionary online for the past few months trying to get back to church, but that she knew it would be difficult. So we have an appointment with her this week.

After we finished up our knocking, the member who drove us down told us he would give us a lift back as well, and that it would take about a half hour. An hour and a half later, he still wasn't done... So, we went looking for a bus. And being as it was about 7:00 pm, there were none. So, we talked to one guy sitting in his car, who really wasn't interested, and were about to start walking towards Eastleigh (at least an hour and a half's walk) when Leigh's husband came walking down the road with his dog, recognized that we looked a bit lost, and offered us a lift back. We talked to him the entire way home, he's super nice, and is actually looking forward to seeing us Thursday.

What else... Had the police called on us. Some guy we met down in Colden Common sounded really interested and told us his name, he lived back in Winchester, and come visit Saturday at 11:00. Well, we showed up, and there were kids running around inside which made me really excited, because I was hoping to teach a family. Knocked on the door, no answer. Knocked again, a lady came to the door, "No, I'm too busy." And slammed the door. Awkward. So, I knocked again. Still nothing... So, I put a card through the door saying, "Hey! Sorry we missed you... Your wife was really busy, and I don't think she recognized us. Give us a call!" She texted a few minutes later saying, "I want to know how you got my address. So-and-so hasn't lived here in a long time as our marriage just broke up and I'm trying to deal with all of these kids." So, I told her we met her husband, and she said, "No, I just spoke to him on the phone, and he's never met you in his life." Then her husband called, and we had to explain it all to him, and she was wanting to know the whole story too... Back and forth... Pretty crazy, a bit disappointing, but the police haven't contacted us or anything, so I'm not too worried. It's not the first time that we've had to speak to police about people we're working with.

Anyway, that's about it for the week.

Love you!

- Elder Green

Planting Good Seeds

Totally still not Zone Conference week... But, that's okay. Zone Conference is a lot later this transfer, because we're having a mission tour again. So, we're going to have one the area Presidency come and speak to us, likely about the Area training plan. Because of that, it won't be until the second to last week of the transfer. Unusual, and kind of disappointing, but it is what it is.

But, you'll be happy to know that we are having interviews this Thursday, so I'll finally be able to get my ecclesiastical endorsement renewed, along with my temple recommend... I keep thinking it's going to be a long interview, but knowing President Millar, it's likely not. I know I've mentioned it before, but he is definitely a heart surgeon, just based on how quick and orderly the interviews are.

Work here's still moving along. It's sometimes difficult to see the actual progress we're making, since I do look at it from a day to day perspective, but I do think that things are generally improving. Elder Mercer seems a lot more confident in everything he's doing  and we're finding all sorts of really great people. I just keep praying that they'll turn out. We're certainly planting a lot for the future, finding all sorts of people who can meet with us in a month, or want to meet up, but just can't do it this week... Why is the world so busy? It's all good, though, I understand that I'm filling a need.

We picked up one really nice family this last week that we've started working with. There's a mother, a 13-year-old son, and a 6-year-old daughter. They're pretty great, and really trying to understand the things that we teach. The preparation for the lesson was a testament to me that the Lord does always recognizes the best people for the job. We tried really hard to find a member to come with us for the first appointment, and were unable to find anyone. So, we showed up, and apologized, and said we'd have to come back the next day. So, we called, and called, and called.... And finally got someone. The next morning -- they cancelled. And so we called, and called, and called, until we finally found a young man who was on half-term, and could come out with us. Turns out, the family's really into Minecraft, and so is he. And a lot of the different challenges in the family that I couldn't relate to, he could. I'm pretty grateful for that.

Also, learned a great lesson from the pioneers this week. I remember hearing a while back about how the pioneers always planted crops as they went along so that those that followed them in however many months would have food along the trail to eat, and how as they did that, the Lord would often bless them that they would have enough food to eat themselves. As Elder Mercer and I were walking through Highcliffe the other day, we stopped to talk to a man building a fence. He wasn't super interested, but he was willing to talk for a while, and so we tried our best to help him understand how important what we had to share was. By the end, he still wasn't too keen, so we left him a card, and continued on our way. I remarked to Elder Mercer about that lesson from the pioneers, and how when you spread good seeds, and tend the soil properly for future missionaries, you'll find good seeds and properly tended soil that other missionaries have left behind. So, we went to go knock on a few doors. We knocked on one, and then felt to talk to a man on the road working in his van. We helped him out with a pipe he was cutting, and then spoke to him about the church. He'd met missionaries before, and said he felt we were "on the same path, but didn't quite believe the same things". I asked him what he meant by that, and as we talked he recognized the fact that we believed largely the same things, and that the things beyond that we had to share were really quite logical. He gave us his address and phone number, and so we'll be by in about a month when he gets back from visiting his son in France.

Well, that's about it. English Mother's Day is on the 15th of March, and so assuming I carry through with that, that's when I'll be Skyping. I figure that doing that will be much more effective than waiting until May, especially because it likely reduces the chance of trunkiness resulting.

Visit to a local graveyard...

Fun Ward Activity

Love you so much!

- Elder Green

"Desperately Seeking..."

On the train to Romsey...

So glad to hear that things are going well. I'm glad Tay had a great birthday. Can't believe Rincon was packed... Rincon never seems to be packed, but I guess that if you've got the winter surf plus the summer weather, I can definitely see the draw. It is funny to think that I've been gone long enough, though, that it's beginning to become second nature for you, enough so as that you would (almost) forget to email me. Don't feel bad about it, it's just funny.

Still so weird to think that my siblings are growing so old... Sounds like Katie's birthday ought to be a lot of fun as well. I'm glad everything's getting sorted well with the rooming. It's good to know that I don't have to do too much regarding all that.

Mom, awesome things are happening here. Like, really good things. So, we've been meeting all sorts of cool people from time to time, and have been trying to put in more effort, and it's been helping. I find it interesting, because in one sense, I know I ought to be exercising patience, but we're also given a sense of urgency from our leaders regarding the kind of results we can possibly be seeing. I don't know sometimes it's hard to reconcile the two in my head. But, I'm trying to be more patient, and things are happening.

For example, remember last week, when I told you about the two atheist girls who invited us around for dinner? Well, that turned into five new investigators, and a return appointment for tonight. It's so cool, man. They're really awesome -- they're all twenty, and are Creative Writing majors at University here. And they were sooo nice. I mean, Elder Mercer and I didn't really know what to expect, after being grilled on the doorstep for twenty minutes the first time, but they were super nice, and really respectful. I mean, throughout talking to them about our beliefs, not only were they accepting of what we believed and happy about it, but it really made sense to all of them. I mean, (one of the original girls we met on the doorstep) at the end asked us if we would pray for her father, and said, "Man, I don't know why we spent all of dinner talking about movies and things! We should have just jumped straight in to talking about your church!" So, we're making them Mexcian food and teaching them again tonight with one of the YSAs in the ward, and they already want to come to church next Sunday. So, I'm smiling.

The rest of this week has been fairly uneventful, as I remember. I already told you, we haven't had Zone Conference... That's this week, probably. Last week was transfers. Everything's pretty much the same. We've been working to help the Romsey Elders out a bit -- they've been getting discouraged about the work, and so have struggled with getting themselves in gear, so we did a workover with them, and were able to find a few new people for them to teach. Now I'm trying to work on inspiring them to greater responsibility as they seem to think that they'll cancel the teach for a Dinner Appointment... Ugh! They'll get there.

Elder Mercer and I are quite happy. It's interesting seeing that he and I have had similar issues over the course of our missions. But, he's a diligent kid, and so I'm not worried for him. I'm only now realizing though what a responsibility follow-up training is, even if it's not officially training.

Elder Mercer and I eating overpriced, all-you-can-eat Sushi.

Mom, you're so funny. I can't seem to be trunky in the slightest. I just want more to happen! Not in a discouraged way, but in a desperate way. President quoted Elder Nelson in his letter today saying, "My dear elders and sisters, I pray that on your mission you will have many moments of complete and overwhelming and even anguishing desperation. Why? Because then, and only then, will you desperately ask, desperately seek, and desperately knock. Then, and only then, will you find the courage and determination to follow through with exactness everything the Lord needs you to do in order to serve a valiant, vibrant, worthy, and very successful mission for Him." And that's how I'm starting to feel. I keep studying the New Testament and finding that the more I learn about the Saviour, the more I want to do all of this for Him, and then I just have to look for more that I can change in myself! It's really invigorating, actually.

Yes, Cold's gone (finally). Luckily, the Zone Leaders let us take last Monday as P-day, even though it was moves week, so I was able to rest up a bit.

Well, love you!

- Elder Green

Miracles Everywhere!

The arches at Winchester Cathedral

I am so excited to come home to another dog. Oh my days. I'm with Tay, I mean, I like the name George, especially having been here this long now, but I do like the name Fitz... Or we could go all out and name him "Pug", or something clever and ironic like that. I met some guy here that named his puggle "Puggle". Anyway, I'm struggling with my vote on the name, because he does kind of look like a George, and Taylor's going to hate me for saying that. I'm up for either.

In response to Maddie's question, honestly, I think that sheep are fantastic, as well as capybaras and pugs. I think that funny looking animals are so much better than normal looking animals.

Goodness, I'm grateful that things are picking up here, this is such a fantastic area, and Elder Mercer and I are having a ton of fun getting the work done. We've had some awesome experiences in this past week: first off, Elder Mercer can't stop talking about this one. I guess last transfer, he and Elder Treadway met this guy named Jack from Poland, and when they stopped him in the street he said, "Hey, sorry, I'm just off to get some coffee... Can I buy you guys something?" So, they went and got hot chocolate with him, and taught him the Restoration, and he was so excited about it, had tons of great questions. Still, he wasn't comfortable giving his address, so he just gave them his email.

Well, this week, as we were walking along the road, Elder Mercer and I felt impressed that we needed to talk about families. So, we walked down the road, and I passed two mothers with buggies. I felt bad for not stopping them, and so I determined that the next woman I passed with a buggy, I needed to stop. We started talking to her, and she said, "Oh, I think you met my husband Jack a few weeks ago! He was very excited to meet you guys, and told me all about you." So, we'll be seeing them later this week.

Our next big miracle was someone actually giving us referrals! Something that I've become quite aware of on my mission is the fact that people feel like someone has to be absolutely golden to give them as a referral to the missionaries, where in all reality, often the people that we don't expect are the ones that accept the Gospel. Well, we met up for hot chocolate at Costa (kind of like Starbucks) with one of the YSA in our ward this week, and after we shared a lesson with him, we asked if he could think of anyone we should stop by. He sat there, got a cheeky grin on his face, and then said, "Oh, they'd hate me for this... But here, try by her." And then he thought for a moment, and said, "Actually, her too." By the end of it, he had given us five people for us to stop by, even though he couldn't remember the exact addresses of all of them.

That actually proved to be a miracle in and of itself, though, because in our knocking one of the flat complexes where one of the referrals lived, we found a new investigator. His name is Mark, and all we basically had to say was, "Hey, we're talking about how we can come closer to God," and he said, "That's awesome. Want to come in?" What was really cool about the teach with him, was that we've been trying something different in our lessons. We're not taking as much time to actually teach, because too frequently, missionaries talk too much. Instead, we teach him the doctrine according to his needs, and then we basically said, "Well, we'd like you to pray about it. Start whenever you like, but after you finish, we'll just sit here quietly for a minute, and you break the silence when you feel comfortable." The Spirit was so strong. Like, you don't even know. It was amazing. And I think it really changed something for him. Honestly, he was pretty happy and confident before the prayer, but right afterward, though he was still happy, he was a lot more sober... It was amazing.

Hmm... ¿Qué más? P-Day was fun last week. Elder Mercer and Elder Law took a lot longer to Email than Elder Johnson and I, so we set off around town to go see some of the sights. The Cathedral is absolutely gorgeous -- we're going to see if we can get Bishop's tickets so we can go look around inside. Jane Austen is buried there (we actually saw the home that she lived in when she died) as well as a number of other amazing people. Later on, we climbed St. Catherine's Hill on the South end of town. It's not the most beautiful hike, but at the top of the hill, they had this old turf maze that was kind of cool, and a copse of trees where the old Roman fort used to be. Now, there's just a nice rope swing. We tried to find what are referred to on the map as "Plague Pits", but could find no sign of them...

The beautiful Cathedral

An old Turf Maze

Rope Swing!

Members of the ward are great here. They've already got me singing a solo for ward conference... Oh days. Sister Pinney kind of sprung it on me in the middle of choir practice yesterday, so I sounded pretty awful for that first go, but I'll have time to get my breathing and placement back to where they need to be.

Oh, and just right now a less-active member texted us saying that she wants to come back to church and asking if we can meet with her this week. Miracles everywhere!

And that's about it. I'm super jealous you guys got to see Wicked. That's one I've been wanting to see. I'm excited to go see Phantom with you guys when I get back, though.

Love you so much!!

- Elder Green

"People here are so friendly."

That's really funny about your dream, mom,  I actually just had one last night that I was home from my mission as well, but it was just a little holiday back. It's probably one of the more common dreams I have out here.

It is the New Year! Isn't it crazy? Man... We kind of just spent the whole day working, trying to stop Uni students on their way to the pubs. We did have a nice Dinner Appointment that night, though, with one of the Recent Converts in the ward. She's pretty great -- I think you'd get along with her really well. It was really funny, because we were just having a nice chat with two Jehovah's Witnesses on the way there, and they said, "Make sure not to drink too much tonight! Oh wait, you guys don't get drunk, do you?" Well... Yeah, it's kind of impossible when you don't drink at all.

People here are so friendly. They're so friendly. It's the greatest. You knock on someone's door, and they don't seem to have any problem with it at all, they're so nice, and personable, and cheery... It's so strange coming from London to this, because people are pretty cold on the streets in London when they're not interested. But, on the reverse end, people in London are pretty frequently interested, and people here, well, they aren't really. But I'm determined, and I'm certain that we can find baptisms here. The Lord's been pretty supportive of that, from what I can tell, and so I'm working really hard for the next two weeks to talk to everyone I can so as to find those people.

And the ward is so great. Everyone kind of seemed in a hurry to get in, and so I wasn't able to speak to a ton of people during church, but everyone was really happy to have me in the ward once choir practice started. One of the things I really wanted to make sure that I did in this ward was to sing in sacrament meeting as soon as I can, so I kind of talked myself up a bit to the choir director... I felt bad kind of vaunting myself, but at the same time, I think it's important to ensure that I've got a good relationship with the ward so that we get a lot of member support behind our own personal efforts.

Oh, Elder Mercer's pretty great too. I think I told you he's from Colorado Springs, and is really cool. I'm follow-up training him, in addition to being District Leader here (I think I'm determined to be an eternal District Leader, which I'm totally cool with -- I enjoy working with people on a more personal level anyway). He has a bit of apprehension with talking to people still, which I can definitely understand, but he's super humble, and desirous to put forward his all, so I know that we'll be able to get the work up to speed pretty quickly. In addition, he and I have a lot in common -- the least of which being we both went to BYU, so that's pretty nice as well.

Again, this is the most beautiful place I've lived in England. You might be interested to know that one of the last scenes of the new Les Miserables was filmed here at the Cathedral, the one where Jean Valjean is in the church and Fantine's ghost appears. I don't think I told you that yet...

Sorry, only a few photos... The Clam Chowder was so good. I was so happy about it. And a quickie from moving the other day. We'll take a lot today.

The Clam Chowder was so good. Thanks mom for sending the ingredients for homemade!

Elder Ocando helping me off at the train station.
(I think this picture is missing one suitcase and an instrument...I don't know how he gets from place to place on transfer day!)

Love you all!

- Elder Green