London Calling: Area 3: Mitcham (Greater London)

It's Elder Green's birthday in a couple of weeks...May 15th! I know the best present he could get is to hear from friends and family, so if you have time...send him a note. They can be mailed to the mission office address located on the right column of this blog, or I just saw that he has added his new flat address at the bottom of this post...(Remember, it takes a week or more for mail to get to England from the states, and requires $1.10 postage.)

Oh my days, this last week has been so good. I love it up here in London. It was honestly a shock to the system, at first. People actually want to talk to us (sometimes). And we're actually able to go out and get work done. We haven't picked up tons of new investigators yet, but boy, they're coming.

Elder Munson is such a good, hard-working missionary. He wants to get work done, and wants to help me in any way he can. He and I get along super well -- I can totally see him hanging out with Tay, Sammy, Tahoe, Henry and I. He's from Pleasant Grove, but acts very California. So, we work hard together, and have a lot of fun doing it.

So, the area's much different than any of my previous areas. Where I actually felt like I was in England when I was in Newton Abbot and Havant, I feel like I'm in Little Ghana here. Kind of. The majority of the ward is African -- Ghanaian, Mauritian, Ugandan, etc. There are a few English people in the ward, but not too many. So basically, the culture that I was used to isn't how it is here. The ward members here are so happy to share the gospel, though. We get plenty of referrals from the members, and have gone to both a DA and an activity this week where members have brought friends and talked to them about coming to church. And they said yes! Granted, they didn't actually come to church yet, but we'll get them there.

The biggest challenge in this area is getting new investigators. When we talk to people on the street, they're very happy to listen, and have a lesson with there on the street. However, when we try to get contact details, a good many of them aren't too willing. They say they'll get us on Mormon.org.uk, or they'll call us, but many don't. I understand, it's a busy life here in London, but we're working to actually start teaching more people.

The food here, is so nice. My first day here, we had a member who had given us some foo foo and peanut soup. It was really, really tasty. I'm a big fan. I'm determined to learn to make it so that I can bring it home, but I've heard it's quite difficult to do correctly.

Everything else is going pretty well. I'm the new organist for the ward (as Sister West and Elder Munson are both tired of doing it). The Sisters are an incredible example to us, as they're tearing it up. I mean, they're baptizing left and right. Sister Yoshimura and Sister West work together really well, and want to work their hardest, so it's not hard to follow their example.

I think that's pretty much it. I love you guys,

- Elder Green

P.S. I'm trying to get permission to go see Hamlet at the Globe Theatre for P-Day next week. Tickets are £5. Crazy, huh? Cross your fingers.

P.P.S. If you want to send post to the flat, my current address is:

8 Netley Gardens

First Floor

Morden, Greater London
England

SM4 6JW

Here's a few more pictures...