28th (Sheldon)

Hey everyone!!  

 

 This week seems very long! A lot has changed. I already told you last time that on Monday we went to a Seik temple! They gave us a short tour and gave us some very interesting food... that was all good! So Tuesday was Elder Hoffmann's day to leave.  We spent all morning packing, cleaning, and just getting ready! Elder Hoffmann wouldn't really admit it but I know he was so excited to go home!  I had a good time last transfer with him.

 

So Tuesday was actually so sick! We went to the mission home to drop him off and I was going to stay with Elder Watt (Coventry Zone Leader) for the night. Anyways I get in Elder Watts car and in his Scottish accent said 'So, you're Pappa is in the district' Elder Watt let me spend 3 hours with Elder Harris! We taught a lesson to one of his Chinese investigators and then had a chippy for dinner. It was so great hanging out with my dad, the day before I got a son! (...hanging out with my trainer the day before I get my new trainee) Wednesday was transfers so we had to be at the mission home early. I had accidently left my exchange stuff at Elder Harris' flat so we went over there so I could change and then headed off for the mission home. For a few hours we just hung around and all the trainers got pizza for lunch. After that, we watched all of the new missionaries stand on the mission cornerstone and say who they are and where they are from. We then had a meeting with all of the new missionaries and trainers and at the end of the meeting they announced the new companionships. My new companions name is Elder Tupou from Tonga! It's so cool! He doesn't speak English very well so we have to do language study! It's really cool trying to talk him through everything in a way he'll understand. He's already such a great missionary though. He tracts and GQs better than I did when I was 2 days out! And I spoke the language! His testimony is so powerful too. He is the only member in his family and has only been a member for 2 years! Wednesday night we had ward coordination meeting. Thursday we had district meeting in Solihull, we woke up and studied then went straight there. It was nice to meet the new members of the district. When we got back we went finding until our dinner appointment at the Stilgers (Bishops family) Bishop was traveling for work though. We had a great time there and Elder Tupou's spiritual thought was extremely powerful.

 

Friday we had to weekly plan, I hate weekly planning! That took a couple of hours and then we had a bit of a miracle. Elder Chardon and Ruka called us and we had a lesson with our investigator that speaks Dutch! Her name is Wedwhatie and she talked to the missionaries 8 years ago in Holland. Elder Chardon is Dutch so we all four went and had a lesson completely in Dutch.  Saturday was my six month mark! I can't believe it, time has gone by so fast. We found all day on Saturday, then a storm started coming in. There was thunder and lightning and it didn't start raining, but hailing! That was extremely interesting, especially for Elder Tupou!  He was like 'is that ice!?' We escaped the storm for a little while and warmed up in our flat.

 

We had a dinner appointment at the Watsons again and had a really great time there. We burned a tie, well two ties that night in honor of my six month mark. The first one wouldn't start so I got another one and poured hand sanitizer all over them and caught them on fire. It seems like yesterday we were burning Elder Harris' tie in Shaun's back garden.  Sunday was another good day at church. After church we had a dinner appointment with the Matthews family. They are an awesome family. They made us big English meal with tons of... mushrooms. Again, you know my feelings about mushrooms, but guess what, I ate them all! And enjoyed it! Miracles happen every day. 

 

Things have been really great this week. It's been funny watching Elder Tupou deal with the cold weather here. He's been sleeping in thermals, a jacket, sweat trousers, a scarf, and socks all under a big duvet. He does have a pretty bad cold though. I can't wait for these next few weeks to watch the miracles that come. I hope all of y'all have been great!
Love you all, Elder Evan Pogue