Go Baptize!

Good morning!! How is Salt Lake??  Wow the pictures of Weber are absolutely beautiful.  I can't believe all of that snow!  It looks freezing!  How much longer can the horses be up there with all the snow?  Poor things-must be freezing. This has been a good week on this side of the world!  Cold here too, but not enough for snow.  Just jumpers. Sister Swann and I were having a laugh the other day and trying to come up with different sayings to help describe Ilford.  We came up with a few, let me tell you about them.. #onlyinIlford do you ask for someone's number before their name. #onlyinIlford are there different clothes hanging on the clothesline in your backyard than the day before. #onlyinIlford do you hear clapping for the Primary Program (well that could be other places too) #onlyinIlford Do you wake up in the morning and go walking with the seek walking group #onlyinIlford Do you cross the road any place except the cross walk ...

So you know how I said last week may have been the craziest week? This week definitely rivals that statement.  I mean verses it.  Right? :)  But I have a strange feeling I might be saying that every week in Ilford. So there were a couple of exchanges and a zone conference. And I am not exactly sure how to express what happened the rest of the week. But here is a couple of good things I can think of! Mavis.  Mavis is really cool.  She is from Ghana and has 3 children. Benjamin (12 yrs old), Elisa (10) and Joel (9).  Their dad is in Ghana right now.  We met Mavis on the bus.  We "needed" directions and she helped us out.  Is that terrible to ask if you already know?  I don't know.  Either way, it worked!  She didn't seem super interested but we got a return appointment for her and all is well!  Well Sister Swann went and saw her the following Tuesday on our exchange.  She was with Sister Calixto (a sister f...

Hello, I have no idea where to start.  This week may be the craziest week of my life. But I am getting used to it.  So that is good. Yes I am now in Ilford!  It is in the Romford Stake and is just outside of London.  It is East London and Essex.  And it is absolutely insane.   English?  What is English?  There are people from around the world  here.  Everyone that is, except for British people.  They are not here.   Makes sense.  The main places  represented are Africa and Middle East.  So many muslims and pentacostals.  There is a nickname for Ilford,  "Ilfordstan".  Basically what Ilford is. So I am going to do my best to explain a few things that go on here now.   (BTW I think I have entered a whole new world and now I am a greenie missionary all over again) How to find people in Colchester: "Hello!  Excuse me, my friend and I are asking everyone a ...

Hello, Glad to hear there are good news at home! Unfortunately this has been a rather hard couple of days on this end. And I'm not really sure how to send this email because the range of emotions felt in the past couple of days have been pretty severe. So Fred, he is one of tour very favorite people. He was doing so well. His life was changing. He stopped swearing and was happy, came to church once, prayed daily, accepted to live all of the commandments and was really excited to be baptized in a couple of weeks. Well on Sunday sister whitehouse and I went to pick him up from his house to go to church and there had been a fire. His whole flat was black-the front window was shattered and his broken bed was pulled through. Police tape was everywhere. We didn't actually get to find out what happened until about 10:30 Sunday night.      Fred passed away. His granddaughter, Lisa (who we were teaching off and on) got arrested for arson. It happened 1:30 am...