Work's still going strong. We've still got our three baptismal dates set for next month, and I'm fairly certain they'll make it there. They may not all make it for their date, but Jade, John and Pam all do have a strong desire to move forward with the work. And what's great is that the ward is still showing a bit more desire to help us out. We just had a prospective missionary called to be a ward missionary, and he's right chuffed about it. Man, you should have seen him in church yesterday! Hahaha. But he wants to come out with us as much as he can, and it's really good to see. Needless to say, we'll be taking advantage of him.
Life in general is still quite good here. We've not lost our hand at cooking yet. When we were shopping at Tesco last week, we noticed that there was a bag of mussels on sale, and feeling a little burnt out from the previous week, we decided it'd be fun to see what we could do with them. Got a recipe from the fishmonger, and took them home to make a really nice seafood pasta for quite cheap. I'll attach a picture.
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| The recipe called for white wine, which we didn't think was appropriate for missionaries to purchase, so we used grape juice instead. A little sweet...but still delicious! |
As for other things, Saturday was quite fun: we spent the morning doing service up at the church. The grounds needed a bit of maintenance, and so we were out there trimming trees and hedges. You don't know how good it was to smell garden clippings and the motors from the chainsaw going: felt just like being at home. I know you mentioned the landscaping crew was going to be needing a bit of help, so please sign me up when I get back. Following that we had District Leader's Council down in Portsmouth. It was a good experience to be able to see just how much our leaders care about the individual areas' growth. I think I'm going to enjoy serving in this capacity.
As for a sermon, I'll do my best. Elder Dyck asked each of us in the district a few weeks ago to speak on a Christ-like attribute, and the one he asked me to speak on was faith. As I prepared the talk, the conclusion that I came to was that faith is, as the book by Stephen E. Robinson puts it, believing in Christ as well as believing Christ. So often we can say, "Yes, I know that Christ is there, but what does that matter to me?" though I don't think it comes out that way... It comes out as, "I know I'm supposed to follow this commandment, but does it really matter that much?" One of the experiences that I thought of was from the very beginning of my mission, when I was companions with Elder Schorzman. I remember reading through the white handbook with him, and reading the sentence that talked about the fact that we are to wear solid, dark socks that match our trousers. Well, I had been wearing socks with little Union Jacks on them because they were the coolest socks, and I was in England. Surely, the socks that I wore didn't matter that much. But as I understand it now, Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ don't ask us not to do something for no reason. If nothing else, it allows us to put more faith in Them, and allows us to grow thereby. Obedience is a sure measure of faith, as it demonstrates to our Father that we trust Him and His counsel.
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| A beautiful old church in Southbourne. |
Anyhow, love you!
- Elder Green
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