A Vision of the Work

Ahoy!

            We had a great week this last week – a very cold week, but a good week!  Things here are good. We didn’t teach 22 lessons this week, we taught 18 haha, and the Simbi family came to church which was good. Neil passed the sacrament and did great.  

            Wednesday we had to go into London for a leadership meeting. I saw lots of missionaries that I haven’t seen forever, like Elder Mongelli! He has had to get glasses since the last time I saw him, and he has put on some weight, but it was great to see him again – a joyous reunion indeed.

            The meeting was good. Something that stuck out to me is we were talking about how we need to have a “vision” of where we need to go in our work, and how we are going to help our zones get there as well – which is very true. If we don’t set goals, if we don’t look to broaden our horizons, then we really aren’t leading, because we don’t know where we want to go.

            Thursday I was in Lowestoft. We did lots of tracting and finding on the bus. Norfolk is one of those places where LDS missionaries have been since they came to England in the late 1800's. I actually saw an old newspaper that talked about missionaries baptizing at a mill that’s in my area in a place called North Walsham. So everybody knows who we are. It can make it kind of hard to teach people because they already have an OK idea of what we talk about. But we were tracting in Lowestoft and we met a great lady, who minutes before had been praying for guidance and then we knocked at the door. Coincidence? I think not! She has studied lots of religions and perspectives but never ours, so she was naturally curious and we had a great lesson with her and shared about the Book of Mormon. So even in a place like Norfolk where there have been missionaries since the beginning of the church, there are still people who haven’t heard, and need the gospel in their lives. The Lord definitely prepares people to hear our message!

            Saturday we had dinner with a couple named David and Jemma Masters. David is not a member but Jemma is. We visit them quite often. I really get on with them and we have a good time. They provided dinner and Elder Cuche made crepes for pudding.  I tried making some as well, but mine were pretty sub par. But it was fun, and I took a picture.

            Sunday was great. We had six investigators at church! The Simbi family and two of our Chinese investigators. We were running around frantic to make sure everybody was where they needed to be, and it was all good in the end. They felt the spirit and the ward was very warm and inviting towards them.

            That’s all for me this week. Transfers are next week so we will see what is in store for me! 

Pip pip cheerio,

Elder Purdy

Miracle after Miracle!

Christian: We taught 22 lessons this week.

Michael: 22 lessons is amazing!  You must be thrilled. That's how many I taught my entire mission!

Jen: Unfortunately, I don't think Mike is exaggerating about that number!

________________________________________________________________

Hello one and all!

            We had a fantastic week this week! Taught so many lessons and they all went very well! Elder Cuche and I have been fasting a lot and praying a lot for the past couple weeks and the Lord has blessed us in great ways. We have hardly had enough time to eat and what not because we have had so many people who can and want to meet with us. We found lots of new investigators this last week, some from Fiji, China, Papua New Guinea, and England. And we have just been teaching the Restoration as we meet and teach these people. It is very interesting to people to hear about Joseph Smith's experience. And I love testifying that I know that it is true. The spirit is always there as we talk about it.

            The Simbi's are doing very well. They didn’t come to church, but we taught them with a member of the bishopric and it went great. They really hit it off with him and should be coming out to more activities. They came to football on Saturday, and the boy who is 14 tore us up! He was really good. We had a good time.

            The girl from Cameroon who is a strong Catholic is fun to meet with. She really knows her doctrine so it really keeps me on my toes and makes us have to really show her from the scriptures that what we are teaching is true. Right now she can’t get past the idea that families are essential to God’s plan, so I am not sure how we will answer this one.

            This week we are heading to London for yet another meeting, and I am heading to the coast for an exchange as well. I am sure it will be cold.

            Well, I love you guys.

            Cheers.

Love,

Elder Purdy

Norwich Cathedral

On P-day we went to the Cathedral here. It was really good!!! My favourite one I have been in, to be honest.  Cool fact:  The flag is from the Napoleonic wars.

Internet facts about the cathedral: 

            Norwich Cathedral is the cathedral church for the Church of England Diocese of Norwich. It was begun in 1096 and constructed out of flint and mortar and faced with a cream-coloured Caen limestone. A Saxon settlement and two churches were demolished to make room for the buildings. The cathedral was completed in 1145 with the Norman tower still seen today topped with a wooden spire covered with lead. The cathedral spire, measuring at 315 ft. or 96 m, is the second tallest in England despite being partly rebuilt after being struck by lightning in 1169, just 23 months after its completion, which led to the building being set on fire. Several episodes of damage necessitated rebuilding of the east end and spire but since the final erection of the stone spire in 1480 there have been few fundamental alterations to the fabric.

            Norwich Cathedral has the second largest cloisters, only outsized by Salisbury Cathedral. 

A great missionary motto in stained glass

Heading to the treasury

Cheerful Thought:
"All you that do this place pass bye
Remember death for you must dye
As you are now even so was I
And as I am so that you be."

Lots to Do

Hello!

            I'm writing to just you guys today because we have lots to do today.

            The work here is good. We taught lots of people this week. Neil got the priesthood on Sunday, and he and Emma are both ward missionaries now so it will be fun to go teaching with them. I am happy for them.

            The Zambian family is doing well. Five of them now have baptismal dates for the 22nd of February, so happy birthday to me! They are struggling to understand the need for the Restoration, but they feel the spirit when we talk about it so that’s a good thing. They really like having us over and get sad when we leave haha.

            It’s cold here, but not as bad as I hear America is. It’s like 7 degrees Celsius every day, so not too bad.

            We are wayyyyy busy this week and have lots to do.

            Give my love to everybody.

Love you,

Elder Purdy 

A Great Way to Start the Year

Ahoy!

            Another week gone by! We saw some pretty great miracles this week! Not to mention that it is 2014! Crazy stuff!

            Monday was zone training meeting. We met with the zone and gave some trainings on setting baptismal dates and effective planning. It was a good meeting. After the meeting we had call-ins with the assistants and went finding.

            Tuesday, since it was New Year’s Eve, we went to the Carruthers family for lunch and just a wholesome good time. There was some excellent food – jacket potatoes and what not. And we had fun. We went and taught Neil and Emma afterwards, Emma just got back from Thailand and it was good to see them both again. We went to bed at 10:30 as usual to celebrate the new year. Woo!

            Wednesday we went finding again. We spoke with three girls from Zambia. They are Christian and were very open to have us come around, so we set a time for Sunday. The rest of the day we met lots of different people. We met a cool English guy named Neil who rode his motorcycle from Norwich to Bombay … he said it took him seven. Some people are crazy. He is now planning on driving a Range Rover from Finland to South Africa, so I am sure that will be exciting. He had some pretty far out stories to tell us haha. 

            Thursday we had an exchange with Elder Dominguez. He is from Spain and came up from London to be with Elder Cuche and I. We had a nice time. We taught a less active guy, asked him for a referral, and he said the people across the street were less active and hadn’t been visited in a long time. So we went by after his lesson, and they let us in. We taught them and gave them a blessing. We then asked them for a referral and they gave us their son's address and told us to go by. We did and he let us in and we taught him as well. The power of working with members and less actives! It was a cool thing to experience all in the matter of like two hours.

            The weekend was a bit slow except for Sunday. We fasted and prayed for our investigators and for these African girls we wanted to teach, and when we went by for our appointment with them not only were the three girls there but the whole family was in the living room waiting for us, except the father who was working. All together there were six.  The mother looked familiar and it turns out we stopped her like five weeks ago and she wanted us to come by, but her English was very, very poor and we couldn’t understand where she lived. But we taught a powerful lesson on the Restoration to the whole family plus some aunties. And now all six of them are investigating and they said their father would be as well.

            I’m glad we could fast for them and teach them. They are very sincere and we are excited to teach them and unite this family in the gospel. It was a great way to start this year off. I’m grateful for the Restoration of the gospel, and I am glad I can share this unique message with people like the Simbi family.

Cheerio,

Elder Purdy

Happy New Year!

Ahoy,

            Well Elder Cuche and I finished the year off the right way – with a baptism! Neil got baptised on the 27th. We were at one of our Mission Leadership Meetings in London and had to head home a bit earlier than usual to get everything set up. It was a lovely service. He didn’t want a lot of people there so there were a few members and such. Elder Cuche gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and I gave a talk on enduring to the end. After which we had a musical number where we tried to sing "I am a Child of God" in Chinese – didn’t go well. Sister Lee, the missionary from Taiwan, really carried the team on that one. But everybody enjoyed it I think.  Elder Cowan baptised him and everything else went very smoothly.

Elder Cuche, Elder Cowan, Neil, and Christian

            Jenny is doing really well. She is the lady who found out she was half Maori a few years back and tracked down her family. It turns out over half of them or something are members so she has a huge interest in the church. We really get on with one another. She is in her 60's or so and she is just a lovely lady. She lives a bit south of Norwich in a place called Pouringland in a very English Cottage. We had a really good lesson with her. She has some mixed up ideas about Mormons but her sister in New Zealand is a member and has really been a good influence on her and helped her. During the lesson she said, “I don’t think I could join any other church except the Mormons,” which dropped my jaw a bit. But then she said, “I am too old to do anything about religion.”  She has come to church a few times and has loved it but thinks that she can only come three times or so and then we won’t let her come anymore haha but she has loved attending church. So keep her in your prayers, she is a wonderful person.

            At the end of our lesson with her she showed us a picture of one of her great-grandfathers who was Maori and a member as well. He was some sort of tribal leader, and by his picture there was some quote by him where he was telling his people to love each other and never forsake the church of Christ. It sounded familiar to me and I looked in the Book of Mormon and it was almost exactly like 2 Nephi 31:20!! We showed it to her and she liked it a lot.

Elder Cuche and Neil

            We spent New Year’s Eve with the Carruthers family. They are so fun! We had a good time and in the evening we taught Emma and Neil and played some Monopoly haha.

            I have been really thinking about things God wants me to do, with investigators, as a missionary, as just a normal person. And I love how the phrase “Be faithful and I will be with you” comes up so much in the D&C. That tells me that God wants us to make our own decisions sometimes. We need to be obedient and faithful to what he has given us, and then God will help us with the choices we make. Brilliant!

The Church is true.

Love,

Elder Purdy

Chillin' in Norwich

from Jen to Christian:

The Queen and other royals spend Christmas through February at their Sandringham estate -- it is very near Kings Lynn.  You may run into them in your Norfolk travels :)  If so, get a picture of the baby and you'll be rich after you sell it. haha

            Yes ma'am. I watched it all on Christmas Day. That’s what everybody does every year. You watch the Queen’s speech.

            I knew she spent Christmas in Sandringham along with the rest of the gang. Some of the missionaries up here met Princess Kate in Kings Lynn, but I was not one of them. I was chillin’ in Norwich. But I was in the same county hahaha

"just a street in Norwich"