Cheers!

Cheers everyone! I honestly am still kind of at a loss of words for what I've experienced here in London. My preparation day will from now on be on Monday.

 

Firstly: I did soooo much traveling on Wednesday. The England missionaries all left the Provo MTC and we went to a bus stop, rode a bus to a train station, then a train station to another train, then that train took us to another bus, which FINALLY took us to the airport. We flew from Salt Lake City to Chicago, then to London. The flight was so long, but so good in many ways. We didn't make it to London until 6am on Thursday morning.

 

On the flight, two of the missionaries got to hand out a Book of Mormon to interested people. Me and my companion were actually able to talk to a girl in front of us, who was traveling with a member of our church and she was really interested. We taught her the whole first lesson us missionaries typically will teach, as well as parts of the next lesson. It helped answer a lot of questions she had about our faith and how to better connect with God. She was then super happy and thankful when we offered her a B.O.M. Finally a real-life missionary experience! That was such a blessing and great opportunity.

 

The culture here was definitely a shock. Me and Caden both met our mission presidents and then parted ways for our respective England missions. I was then taken by some awesome missionaries to the mission home and introduced to the mission and what we we're going to do. I have to quarantine for 5 days here and take 2 tests before I am free. 

 

It was so weird to be on the other side of the road. The sinks are weird. The outlets are weird. The smells are weird. Just a whole new world. The food I've had so far is way better; in particular anything with chocolate. Holy Cow. Haven't had any traditional meals yet though; mostly snacks. We got to mail our first COVID tests on Saturday and we walked around Hide Park while finding our way to a postbox. There were so many birds and ducks that don't mind being close to people at all. There are so many different people and accents and languages. It's so cool!

 

I'm staying in quarantine with 4 other elders who have such a strong passion for living the gospel. All but one have traveled with me. I'm super happy I'm still with Elder Montoya. One of us is from Germany and is so good at English after 8 weeks on the online MTC. We are constantly teaching him new words and American phrases while also learning things from him. He is awesome. Can't wait to get out of quarantine, find people, and teach.

 

This morning a senior missionary couple took me and one of the Elders driving so we can get used to that. What an experience. So many different things about driving: roundabouts, shorter lights, bikes, people, motorcycles, busses, signals, signs, you name it. But it was great and it went very well. I'm a little more confident in driving here now. 

 

I am spiritually growing so much. I have been given the opportunity with quarantine to study a lot more than I would have if I wasn't quarantined and it's such a blessing. I know I'm where I'm supposed to be and with the people I'm supposed to serve. I love it here and I love God's constant hand in my life. I have a testimony that the Gospel of Christ is available and everywhere in the world. 

 

Fav. Scripture from this week (D&C 10:37):

 

"But as you cannot always judge the righteous, or as you cannot always tell the wicked from the righteous, therefore I say unto you, hold your peace until I shall see fit to make all things known unto the world concerning the matter."

 

Pictures: 

1. The train to the Airport

2. The flight attendant let us look at the cockpit.

3. The arrival to the London Heathrow Airport

4. A walk through Hide Park

5. Some of us were tired 

6. Dinner in the flat.