August 2, 2010

Hello,

Our teaching pool is dwindling. We have pretty much lost all of our investigators. One night we taught these amazingly troubled people and as we left we found out that they flattened our tires (or tyres if you're English). Right after that a social worker for one of our 2 progressing investigators called and chewed out Elder Kersey. Now we can't teach that investigator anymore. The other progressing investigator said he doesn't want to get baptized anymore and his smoking is now getting worse. Other than that we really have no one. The night after that I had quite an argument with Elder Kersey. He was completely neglecting things that I was saying and other various things that I didn't appreciate, so we had a rather heated debate. But overall things are better then ever. Because of the argument we get along a lot better now. And on that one horrible day with the tires, I really wasn't irritated. I just kind of felt shock and pity for the people who did that. Yesterday was almost completely unsuccessful but I still felt good. I'm very glad to finally be able to consistently enjoy the work.

It is amazing how much England smells like smoke. I just had two people come and sit down at the computer next to me and they smell like one big lit cigarette. I don't know how it is in America but all of the cigarette boxes here have big bold letters on the front that say "Smoking Kills" and then facts about how bad it is. A few of them even have very graphic pictures of smoking related tumors and stuff. It is amazing how many people smoke!

I think I might have a really small piece of gravel in my hand from my bike crash, because it doesn't look like a scrape and it refuses to go away. The streets in Europe are so small it's ridiculous. I'm absolutely amazed that there aren't more accidents. People just park on the sidewalk. I had another crash last week. I wasn't injured, but right as it happened this car drove past and gave me an exaggerated laugh. I don't get bothered by those people though, the people in cars are really easy for me to ignore for some reason. Plus, I don't think they realize that when they drive past and yell things, it's impossible to understand them; especially for me because of their accents. It's kind of funny how many unintelligent things people say to us everyday. I think we cause so much negative emotions and hate in some people that they can't even think straight when they are trying to insult us, haha. It's a shame really. But things are going better and I seem to be finding the right mindset. It's not as hard. I'm starting to look forward to the mission and not just going back home.

That is really it. Not much happening. Lots of rejection at the moment, but I have a feeeling it's going to turn around soon.

I love you very much. Tell the family I love them as well. I miss you all and I hope everything is going great.