August 22, 2011

Thank you for the letters. I really enjoyed hearing from everyone. I will reply to everyone who sends me letters, but it may not be so quick.

I am really pumped up to get to Leeds tomorrow. I am really excited to meet Pres. Lindley and my trainer companion, who I will spend the first three months of my mission with. That's four times longer than my time in the MTC, so hopefully he's a good one, haha.

I have enjoyed my time with Elder Kelley even though he and I are nothing alike. He is very, very quiet and rarely smiles. Elder Kelley is a good person though who has been through a lot in his life. I have learned a lot from him. I am thankful to have had him as my first companion on my mission. I have really enjoyed the MTC in general. I am really close to several elders, some of which will be in Leeds, and some of which I may never see again. The schedule is just as tough as it was on day 1, but I am pulling through strong.

I am really loving it here. I did get to practice proselyting last Wednesday. Oh boy, was that an experience.  I got rejected pretty quickly all but one time. One man listened to what we had to say in the park, but eventually wasn't interested at all because he had no belief in religion. So the park didn't go too well. HOWEVER, the train ride to Manchester Picadelly (downtown Manchester, where we were) was a different story. After being too nervous for much of the ride there, Elder Kelley and I had a very good conversation with a Hungarian couple for about the last 15 minutes of the ride. We were sitting and the train was full when they got on, so naturally we offered them our seats. This was really the first thing that opened up a conversation with anyone without having to walk up to them and speak with them about the gospel, which is what we had to do for everyone else afterward and had too much of a fear to do beforehand. The couple had been married for about a year and though the man spoke decent English, I doubt the woman understood a word we said. He asked us several questions about our missions and we were able to reply with doctrine. He accepted a Book of Mormon and a passalong card. He said he would request a copy in Hungarian when he returned home. We were so excited to speak with him we forgot to get his name! No one after that was very receptive, but we put in our best effort and so we considered ourselves successful. That's what makes successful missionaries: committment.

I love you all and I am very excited to write you soon and tell you how real missionary life is.