Feb 19, 2012

Hey Dad,Thanks for sending that photo, it is good to see you all. You look really tired though in that photo. I did manage to buy a cord for my camera. However, I got it at a really dodgy shop. It is a really big shop, but just has one tiny desk with some cords hanging on the wall behind it then just a ton of empty space. There were like 4 guys working at the same time, and none of them seemed to be doing anything. They were all Indian as well. They made me bring my camera into the shop, and then just opened up this drawer and starting pulling out loose cords. They tried a couple, and finally found one that fit my camera's USB port. I was like 'How do I know this works?' So they turned their laptop around that was sitting on the desk and let me plug my camera into it and make sure it connected, which it did. They then took the cord and put it in a ziploc bag for me. Needless to say, they only accepted cash. I had to pull some money out, but I pulled it out of my debit account because I don't think they charge me the cash advance charge like my VISA does. It was only 8 quid, so not to bad.
Alyssa's team sounds awesome in basketball. And next week you need to get me in on the Flames game betting. I'll give you my predicitons over email!We had another good week. Yesterday was really funny... a lot of the people who were supposed to be coming to church bailed. Jay, who was supposed to be baptized on Feb. 26, has backed out of his baptism because of his atheist friend and also he just hasn't recognized his answer. That was on saturday, and that was really disapointing. Ernest was also working again this Sunday. He really wants to be baptized, but can't seem to get work off Sunday's. We are going to see him in an hour. But we did manage to get Alla and Shivonne there. Alla is lady from Latvia who speaks Russian but does pretty good English. She was a teacher in Latvia and is going to college here to become a teacher assistant. She is really funny, and I think she mostly wanted to come to church to talk to our ward employment specialist. He really helped her, but I also think she really enjoyed church (although she said it was too long) and loved meeting all the people. She doesn't know very many people here yet. We had munch and mingle after church as well which is always good for investigators. Amazingly, we have a lady in the ward also from Latvia who speaks Russian who we are going to try and work with. Shivonne is the lady that has a lot of issues, I think I mentioned her in an earlier email. She has like OCD and depression and stuff. She is carrying around a ton of baggage and unresolved issues from her past. Our gospel principles lesson was on the plan of salvation, but it turned into a discussion about repentance and forgiveness. At the end of the class, I noticed Shivonne was crying. Everyone left and me and Curran stayed behind, and she broke down. She asked if she could just speak with me, so Curran left and she started telling me all these things she has never been able to come to terms with from her past. This was crazy stuff, and I had no idea what to say, so I just sat there and listened. After like 30 minutes, we went and got her friend Sandra (Sandra gave her a lift to church and has been coming on a lot of the teaches with us) and they went off and talked for another hour about everything. When they finished talking, Shivonne was happy and laughing and said she is going to really try to learn about this church and try to overcome these things through Jesus Christ. It was really weird at first but I think it ended up being what needed to happen today. After church is when things got funny. We had our Elder quorum president drive us and Alla home. He might have a crush on her... they are both like late 50's or 60 and single, and Robin (the EQP) was driving like a maniac, I'm pretty sure he was just trying to show off. Me and Curran were busting up laughing in the back seat. After we dropped her off, we went to stop by a potential. We were going to knock on the door, when Curran turned around and yelled 'ROBIN!' Turns out he had forgot his handbrake. His car was rolling away down the road towards a house. Robin took off after it, and we both froze for a second and then sprinted after him as well. The car got over the curb going towards the house, but we all jumped in front of it and managed to stop it. It also helped that it went into the hedge of this persons house which slowed it down. We quickly left and went to another potentials house. Also yesterday as we were making phone calls, we called a refferall we got from another set of missionaries. Turns out, this guy was also a gyspy. He seemed really interested on the phone, but eventually the topic turned to money as it always does with gypsies. As soon as Elder Curran said the words 'We can't help with money, but we can help with Jesus Christ,' he immediatly hung up the phone and wouldn't take any more of our calls. We thought it was really funny. Also this week we got to go to zone conference. It was really good, it is always great to see some of the guys I haven't seen for a while. Like Elder White was there, who was my zone leader for my 6 months in Helston. And one of the AP's, the same AP that was there to greet me after I got off the bus from the MTC, goes home in like 2 days. He was a great guy, and it was good to get to say goodbye to him before he goes home. Transfer week is next week! I am hoping I can stay in Slough again, it would suck to be moved again after 6 weeks and just as I'm settling in. What else happened... I got a Swiss Elder to order me a awesome Swiss army knife from back home. And we met this really cool guy named Jarome who is 20 and seemed really interested... we taught him the restoration and he loved it. But when we went to pick him up for church on Sunday, no one was home. Hopefully we can find him again. Well I am having difficulty with my camera getting photos uploaded... these library computers stop you from doing a lot of stuff. I will try to send some in another email. Other than that, it's been a pretty normal week. We did manage to get 5 d.a.'s this week though! Which is better than our usual 1 or 2. Hope you guys have a good week! Love Elder Steed