38th Letter from England (Sheldon)

Heyy!

I'm so happy to hear that baby Mollie is here!  That's awesome!  I did get the pictures too.  I was thinking about how weird it is that she'll be so old when I get home.  Things will be so different by then!  I can't believe it's only been one week since last time I wrote home.  Things have been so up and down this week.  In some aspects it was a great week, in other aspects a really really hard one.  A lot has transpired though.  This whole transfer has just flown by.  Transfers happen next Wednesday, so we'll get the 'dodge call' next Monday.  Honestly, I hope there's a big change.  I was thinking about it the other day and I just don't feel like a missionary here in Sheldon.  We just don't teach very many lessons, and aren't asked to do much for the ward.  It's kind of like I have a desire to serve as hard as I can and do everything I can but the opportunities for me to aren't there.  We'll see though, I'll be happy with whatever happens. 

  This week was Elder Tupou's 'senior week'  where he takes the lead in everything: planning, phone calls, proselyting, teaching, everything.  He did a great job too.  He took on a whole new demeanor where I could tell he really wanted to prove himself and give it his all. 

On Monday we had Zone P-day where most of it we just played volley-ball.  It was a lot of fun but we didn't have any time to do anything else because of travels and things like that.

Tuesday was a packed day.  We had tons of names out of the Area book to stop by. (former investigators)  We ended up having a lesson with S. that was really good and powerful.  He knows the gospel is true but can't commit to being baptized because of his family situation.  I wish he would just realize that everything would work out fine, and even better than before.  Doing the area book thing kind of sucks because in this area most people have moved so we find ourselves just walking from place to place and the person doesn't even live there, but it needs to be done.

Wednesday was a really great day!  We had a lesson at 11 with Maria R. (the romanian family) and we brought Jenny M. with us because they both speak Portuguese.  Elder Tupou and I basically sat outside because we weren't allowed to go in without a male and let Jenny teach the lesson.  We played with her kids Dennis and Elizabeth who are 2 and 4.  Later, we had two lessons scheduled but neither one of them worked out.  And ward coordination that night as usual.  Maria it turns out had also been meeting with her Jehovah's Witness friend but stopped seeing her because she felt really good when she met with us and not good when she met with the JW. 

We had a huge and great miracle on Thursday morning.We were at district meeting and we got a call from Jenny because she had called Maria to see how reading and praying about the Book of Mormon went.  She had read and prayed and felt the spirit as well, but that night she went to sleep and had a dream!  Her prayer was answered in a dream in which two guys came to her with a Book of Mormon and said this is the truth, this is the path you need to go.  That was such a powerful and exciting moment.  We had district meeting that morning and had a regular day.

Friday was our weekly planning day so we planned most of the day.  We had to go on a mini exchange because Elder Ruka was sick so I stayed with him for a couple of hours while the other Elders went to a lesson they had scheduled.  That night we had the opportunity to go to the chapel and watch the British Pageant on DVD.  It was so great to see it again!  You can see me walking by at the end just for a brief second.  It's such a great show, I wish all of y'all were able to see it. 

Saturday,   We went to see Maria breifly but we couldn't go in because there was no man there and we couldn't really talk because she doesn't speak English but it was a good visit.  Right after that we saw two women fighting.  In a fist fight, it was a bit awkward.  I didn't know what to do.  One girl got kicked in the face.  It didn't last long.  We went to conference right after that.  To the Saturday morning session.  What powerhouse talks.  I loved it. 

Sunday was a great day as well because we just woke up early and went to Harborne chapel and stayed all day.  We watched Priesthood, Saturday evening, and Sunday morning sessions.  Some of my favorites from that were Elder Hollands of course, Both of Elder Eyrings in priesthood (made me think a lot of people like Dad, PaPa, Mr.Zack and others) just people I really look up to and think of why I look up to them.  Of course President Monson.   I can't even list them off because I really enjoyed them all a lot.  I feel like the theme of this conference was both, love, and building up your testimony (build upon the rock of our redeemer).

This morning we got up and went to Solihull for studies to watch the Sunday afternoon session.  President Packers talk was insane.  So powerful.  I really don't think we'll here from him again.  We just ate at a chippy and for the rest of today we really don't have much planned but we'll see. 

I hope all of y'all are doing great!  

Love you all!

Elder Pogue