January 26, 2011

Hello family,

I'm writing late this week because my companion has been sick with the stomach flu for the past two days. He is doing better now though, so all is well. This last week was Adam's baptism which went very well. He was very emotional after both his baptism and his confirmation. He is a stud. Unfortunately I forgot my camera so I can't send pictures, but I will send them next week. You aren't missing much though because I forgot my camera at the baptism as well, haha.

Things are going pretty well. We were inside for the two worst weather days in quite a while and it's beautiful today. It's transfers next week so I won't be emailing until either Wednesday or Thursday next week. Because this is a branch and is generally a pretty slow area, missionaries don't normally stay for longer than two transfers, so there is a good chance I will have another companion when I email next. I'm looking forward to that.

Not much else to say. Aside from the baptism it's been pretty uneventful. We have seen a ton of miracles, but they are more "you had to be there to really experience it" sort of things.

Things are going well

Love

Elder Misbach

Hello Family,

This past week was once again a very successful week for us. The Lord is really blessing us. We now have 3 solidly dated investigators and Adam is being baptized this Saturday. I'm really looking forward to that. This past week we street contacted the promenade for about 2 hours and it was gorgeous. It's really nice to be in this area because even when I'm not really feeling excited about missionary work I can enjoy the scenery and that cheers me up. We tracted out a woman last night that told us about how she had been baptized in the river Jordan and then proceeded to whip out her photo album and show us her entire trip. She was close to 80 and was cracking jokes and everything. It was quite enjoyable. I love the interesting people you meet on a mission. Things are going well and the weather is beautiful today. I'm going to send pictures of Conwy Castle, views from the castle, and my new hair cut. I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out. It's the first time I have had multiple lengths of hair in about 7 months. Hope everything is going well!

love,

Elder Misbach

Colwyn Bay

Hello Family!

I'm serving in Colwyn Bay!! It is absolutely gorgeous here. You will have to look it up on the internet because it is beautiful. It is a coastal resort town in Whales. The weather is perfect and there is practically no ghetto areas. I'm loving it! We even have a solid investigator with a baptismal date, which is not what you expect in an area like this. I hear that the branch out here is a little crazy, so I'm excited for that as well. I have already heard many great stories about what happens in the branch. We meet in an office building, I haven't been there yet, but I'm excited to go this Sunday. I'm serving with Elder Hanks. He is a die hard Ute fan which makes me want to throw up constantly, but we are getting along fine. We just can't talk about college sports. The missionaries apparently just barely moved into the flat that we are staying in right now. I love it. It is way small and perfect for a missionary flat, we even have our own reclinable sofas. This is also my first bus area, so I was able to buy my first bus pass and do some bus contacting! Good stuff. I'll send a few pictures but I haven't taken any pictures of the area yet. I will definitely be sending some soon. There are so many things to take pictures of. Oh, and I'm feeling fine now. I had a cough yesterday but I'm doing great. Anyway, thank you for the emails and it was good to talk to you all, even though I was sick.

Love,

Elder Misbach

Pictures: 1) Me and Elder and Sister Cannon (Joe's parents) 2) Christmas tree in Telford 3) Elder Rapata and I with the Wrekin Elders at the Hoars home on Christmas 4) Elder Rapata and I as I was leaving 5) My new companion Elder Hanks

Baptized!!

Hello Family,

My first baptism!! Woo! It finally arrived, and although it didn't go nearly as smoothly as it should have Craig is now baptised and confirmed. We received 10 inches of snow on the day of the baptism, and England is amazingly ill-equipped to handle snow, so there was a brief time when we thought that we might have to postpone the baptism. Then we realized it was much more important for Craig to receive the Holy Ghost than wait for three weeks just so more members could see it.

After we decided to go ahead with the baptism we started to worry that no one would be there and we were just trying to ensure that we had at least another witness. Luckily we have a strong ward here and there was a pretty good showing, with a lot of late-comers.

Then the baptismal service began and it was certainly less than spectacular, haha. We had a member of the bishopric who had been called just last week. He is very handsy when he speaks and has trouble getting to the point, and he decided to not use the podium when he welcomed Craig to the ward, haha. But we were just grateful he came. We also had a speaker who only joined the church last march and has just been called to be the first counselor in the Elders quorum. He gave a very interesting talk on the Holy Ghost including one part where he mentioned that after Craig was confirmed he would be "invaded" by the Holy Ghost, haha. That was enjoyable.

Then it was up to me. All I had to do was memorize one sentence. I probably said it over 100 times in the two days leading up to the baptism. But when it really counted, I choked, haha. I said "having been commissioned BY Jesus Christ" as opposed to "having been commissioned OF Jesus Christ" I honestly don't know how that happened and I knew it was wrong as soon as I said it, but needless to say it was fairly embarrassing. But then he was baptised and the purpose to the service was accomplished. Craig's Brother and Grandfather came which was good because his mother wasn't able to make it.

Overall it wasn't nearly how I thought it would be, but it was great. And it was on my six month anniversary, which I thought was cool. I included a good picture and a random picture.

Talk to you soon!!

Hello Family!

So I like the idea of sending a general update of myself to everyone and then responding individually. It seemed to work out nicely that one time. That way I don't have to type the same information 3 or 4 different times.

As for Elder Rapata and I in Telford, things are fantastic! We have another dated investigator. We walked to church with him yesterday. He is the most intelligent person I have taught so far on my mission and he is only 14 years old. His name is Craig and he is taking a R.E. (Religious Education) class at his school, which is why his mom said he would be interested. He keeps telling us stories about how he already knows the answers in R.E. because of what we are teaching him, haha. We told him that he probably knows more than the teacher. We are teaching his mom as well, but she doesn't have quite the same commitment Craig does. He should be baptized on the 11th of December! Long time between now and then, but I'm still excited.

The other dated investigator is named Kara and she is the finance of a member's less active son. She is doing really great. She has lived a very rough life so far and she tells us about how happy she has been since meeting with us. She has felt the spirit a ton and loves to tell us about it. She should be baptized on the 18th.

It was a pretty good week overall because of the progress we made with Craig and Kara. We really struggled to find new people though. I haven't experienced success yet, so now that we actually have some, I struggled to schedule things correctly and keep the right mind set. It's tough to go from teaching people that accept everything you say, to out on the streets where people aren't quite as nice. So, our finding was actually the worst of my mission, but we will do better.

Other than that, things are just going well. Elder Rapata and I get along very well. We haven't had any real conflicts. Because we are both fairly new we have a very similar mindset and we mesh well. It's getting very cold. They describe the cold here as one that sinks into you, and now I get what they mean. It's pretty brutal. Especially with the wind chill on the bikes. Overall though things are great.

Love,

Elder Misbach

Good Ol' England

Hello Family!

First off, thank you very much for the emails, they are the highlight of my week. I don't have a ton of time this week for various reasons, so I'll send a few individual replies, but I thought I would try one big general reply this week.

I'm very glad that everyone seems to be doing well, I hope that everyone had a good Halloween. I'll send a picture that shows the highlights of how I spent mine. We had to be in at 5 because of all the stuff that goes on at night. It is kind of cool right now though, because fireworks are allowed during the week prior to Guy Fawkes Day, so we were able to hear a ton of them and even see a few. Basically I spent the extra time trying to get my "whites" to the point where I felt they were worthy of that title again, reading Jesus the Christ which is just amazing, talking to Elder Holman about the three Nephites and John the Beloved still being alive; Bigfoot; and how incomplete the Bible is, drinking some delicious strawberry milk from a wine glass because I was too lazy to wash a normal one (plus I felt like it was a special occasion), and taking a very lengthy shower. I enjoyed it quite thoroughly.

As for England, it is doing great. It is beautiful over here right now. The weather isn't too cold and the trees are gorgeous. I went on two exchanges this week, one was with my district leader and one was with an assistant to the president. (The assistants came because lately Elder Holman has really been struggling). Both of them were amazing. Elder Craig (district leader) and I taught a Rastafarian (AKA people who justify smoking weed by placing it under the title of religion) who was very interesting. He was very happy. We also went down the biggest hill in our area called Wombridge Way. I have very limited breaks right now so I always just use the grass to slow me down, but I failed to realize the wet conditions. My fenders have been gone for quite a while so I got DRENCHED in mud. It was intense. It took me quite a while to get my suit to the point where I could justify not dry cleaning it. My exchange with Elder Lunt (the assistant) was just amazing and spiritual. He leaves this week and Telford was one of his old areas, so it was just amazing.

Other than that there isn't much to say about Telford. Things are still trying to pick up, and we have a lot of potential, but nothing real promising yet. I should be leaving next week, but you never know what the Lord has in store.

I love you all very much, thank you for the emails and support. I wont be emailing again until either Wednesday or Thursday next week, depending on if I get transferred or not.

Love you!

Elder Misbach