November 28, 2011

Hey everyone! Sorry I didn't have time to write last week. In fact, I haven't had much time to write the blog posts at all. Even today I have to be quick because P-days are so full of things to do. Well, I am officially a Grimsby elder now. It's a seaside town with weather very similar to Seattle, for those of you that have been there. It's considered a fishing town and was once one of the busiest seaports in England. It's simmered down a lot since then and is just a nice, quiet town on the east coast of England. If you look on a map, it's just under the Humber River, which juts in about 50 miles on the east coast. On the other side of the river is Hull, so that's what separates the North and South sides of our zone. The ward members here are absolutely fantastic. We have been fed close to every night, and most of the time they are able to feed all four of us in Grimsby 2. I'm getting more used to English food as well, including my veggies (I can at least tolerate everything but peas and corn, which is a vast improvement on my tongue's end). Unfortunately, we are stuggling greatly to find people to teach. In fact, this week we taught zero investigators (we did teach a less-active). We saw a lot of success in Leeds 5, but many of them were foreigners, and Grimsby is about 95% English, so I think now I'm seeing more what English people are really like. These have been a very trying first two weeks, and perhaps the Lord is testing our patience, but He knows and we know that we will see a baptism this transfer. That means that we have to find people this week to baptize before Christmas. We are confident that this is possible and we are focusing every last bit ofour efforts on our goal this week. We are going to be more dilligent than ever before, and despite both Elder Dundee's and my inexperience in the field, we will see a baptism before Christmas. Speaking of Christmas, it is very good to see that England at least gets in to the Christmas spirit, even if most people do it for commercial reasons over religious reasons. Lights have been up for quite a while now since there is no Thanksgiving to keep Christmas preparations from beginning early. Speaking of Thanksgiving, we actually did get a Thanksgiving dinner, a proper one, too, by English family. So that was nice. Three of the four of us serving in Grimsby 2 are from the States (and only one from Utah!), so someone was bound to feed us. Well, I've got to be off now, but I would ask that you keep Elder Dundee and I in your prayers so that we can see some miracles this week! I remember a story in the book of Act where Peter is put into prison but then is able to escape miraculously because the whole church had been praying for him. Prayer really, really works. That is one of the great things I have learned thus far on my mission. Letters help too! (heehee) Okay, gotta go now! Love you all!

 

Elder Winder