April 8, 2012

Hey,

Ya the big p-day was so fun. The only other p-day I have ever had that could rival that one was the time we went to Plymouth with Ken and Toni and went ice-skating and then out to Nando's. We had over 30 missionaries there, and I also got a recent convert to come play as well. It was our zone against the neighboring zone, and it was such a good game. We actually had a coach (one of the guys wanted to coach us) and we had 11 on 11, so the coaches ran the subs, and it was actually two 45 minute halves. We went down 2-0 in the first 10 mintues, but then got on track and went up 4-2 by half. With 8 minutes left we were up 6-4 and thought we had it in the bag, so we were taunting them and not really trying. But then they scored 3 goals in the last 8 mintues and won 7-6. We were so gutted. But it was a blast, and if I stay here next moves I think we are going to go up to Reading to rematch them in a few weeks.

The Woods actually got us the new shoes. They are the senior couple here. Pettersen is my companion haha. 

Transfers are every 6 weeks. Except the transfer that starts this Wednesday is actually only 5 weeks. My mission has 17 transfers, and two of them will be 5 week transfers and the rest will be 6 week transfers. So my last day will be sometime around July 1 2013 as far as I am aware. I think what might be good is if I come home and then like a week later us three could fly back to England and then we could go around and see everything/everyone and that way I will be released as a missionary and can do fun stuff. I think it would be good to email the mission president and ask him what the usual protocol is. I have heard of a lot of missionaries who get their parents to do that. 

Transfers is on Wednesday! I have a feeling that I am moving, but I'm not really sure. I have only been here for 2 moves, and we have some issues in the district and we also have the Baral family, so for those reasons I think I might be staying. But just with like 50 missionaries going home in the next 2 months, I think they are going to be doing a lot of changes. I would love to train a new missionary. 

Ya I will find a new suit, the suits here are all really slim suits and look really good, so I am excited to get one. I think that I can make my remaining suit last for 3 more months and buy a new suit at my year mark. That is good to hear about the good deals of the kitchen tables.

On a similar note, the Baral's moved to a new flat this week! We helped them move. They needed another double mattress, as the one they had been using belonged to the landlord and not them, and they called us the morning they were moving asking us if we knew of anyone that had an extra mattress. We didn't, so we went online to this website called freecycle and we found them a free mattress, which we were able to locate and pick up all in the same day and had it for them that night. It was a small miracle how many little things just worked out perfectly to allow us to get that for them. And their new flat is tiny, but it is all new appliances and actually has working radiators, so they seem happier about it. And it is quite a bit cheaper. 

We didn't have a great week for finding new people... we really just have the same teaching pool. We have dropped Jay, and Berry has pretty much fallen off as well. We are starting to lose faith in Ernest, as he just won't keep appointments to church.  Me and Curran found 24 new investigators last moves, and this moves we have only found like maybe 7 or 8. The work is a lot different based on who your companion is. Pettersen has his strengths as a missionary, but with Elder Curran we just seemed to have a lot of success contacting people on the street, and we haven't really had that this moves. It will be interesting to see what happens on transfer day.

The Barals are still really good... they asked us how we celebrate easter, so we have coordinated some things and we are getting them down to the London Temple tonight! They are having a special easter fireside there, and an easter egg hunt, so we are hoping it will be a lot of fun and a spiritual experience as well. We keep trying to push them towards baptism, but they just won't accept a date. It is very discouraging sometimes, but we are just trying to go at it from all angles and see if we can find anything that works. We have made them a calendar with a different BoM chapter for each day, and a place to record if they read and prayed or not that day. So for this week they have been reading and praying together as a family, which is a really big step and a really good thing. The only reason I would want to stay here is for them. I don't really feel like a part of the ward here that much, and we don't have any other really awesome investigators. Either it's time for a change, or it is time for me to stay here and learn something more from this area. 

Love Elder Steed