Life in the East End

Hello from the East End!

a popular BBC soap opera /
Christian is living a true "EastEnder" life

            The first night I was here there was a fight outside our window hahaha.

            I am loving it here in London. We are really trying to build up a teaching pool because we don’t really have one, but it’s going really well. Literally nobody is from England in our area so it is really fun to go out and speak with people – lots of people from Jamaica, Ghana, Nigeria, Poland, Brazil, and loads from Muslim countries. A mix of all of this makes for some pretty interesting conversations in the street.

            Elder Harding is my companion. We have known each other for a long time in the mission and it has been really good working with him. We get along great and are having a good time. The ward here in Stratford is great. They all know it’s my last transfer and they want to help me go out with a bang. So I am really stoked to be here. I know this is where the Lord wants me to be.

            One experience this week really helped me realise that. We were tracting in West Ham and there weren’t many people listening. We had been doing it for a couple of hours and we decided to go back home and eat some dinner. I was kind of frustrated that we didn’t find anybody because I really want to have a baptism this transfer. As we were walking back we stopped a girl who said we could walk back to her home and share more with her. Her name is Priscilla. She is originally from Ghana but grew up in Germany and now lives with her Auntie here in London. She’s one of the coolest investigators I have ever had. None of her family live here except her Auntie, and she is only about 17-20 years old. We shared the Restoration with her and she said she would start reading the Book of Mormon that night. The whole lesson just clicked for her. We asked her if we could help her out with anything and she said, “Just come back and share more with me. That’s all I want you to do.” So keep her in your prayers! We are seeing her again this Thursday.

            After that we tried to speak with a guy but he just grunted at us like a dog....

            We also met a girl from Ecuador that seems very interested as well.

            We are also teaching a guy from Brazil. He is a really wonderful guy named Marcello. He knows everything we have to teach him, but just wants to feel when the right time to be baptized is. He loves the church but, but just doesn’t feel ready to make the step into the font. I am excited to work with him.

            Time is really flying and we are making the most of it here in Stratford! It’s a great time to be alive!

Love,

Elder Purdy

Last Transfer

Friends and family!

            Well I have only been in Ashford for five short weeks and I am already moving!

Christian lives just a little bit southeast of the Olympic stadium

I got released as a zone leader and I am going to Stratford in London for my last transfer. It’s where the Olympic stadium is. I’m pretty excited! I was one of the missionaries that was a zone leader the longest so it was about time I got released. Should be fun – one more transfer!

His flat is the one with the white door

            I was really surprised to be moved but I suppose it is what the Lord wants. My new companion is Elder Harding from Pleasant Grove. Stratford is pretty much all Africans! Not many English people at all, so it’s very different than what I am used to. It is going to be a fun last transfer though. I am excited to go out with a bang.

            This week has been good. Elder Kopischke taught some great lessons. On Easter Sunday we had a fantastic lesson with a girl from Guyana who is here studying. As we bore testimony about the reality of Christ and the Book of Mormon the spirit was so strong, even though we were just sitting at a bus stop! It was raining, but amidst all of that we all felt the spirit. It was good. After that we had an amazing dinner with members who made us a very delicious Sunday roast. That is something I am going to miss about the U.K, having a roast dinner every Sunday! I will have to bring that tradition back home.

            Unfortunately this week my camera got stolen … straight out of my bag. I had it next to me sitting on a bench and then some guy snatched it and ran off. We went looking for him and we found my bag on the ground. Everything was in it except my camera, so all the pictures that I had from Ashford are gone.  I am not sure how I will sort that one out but it’s OK. I am just happy to be here and be involved in some amazing things! I’ll just have to steal some pictures from Elder Kopischke’s camera.

            I also had to sort out my ear this week. It turned out I did have an ear infection. The first doctor was terribly wrong. The second one I went to got me sorted out with some antibiotics and I am already feeling better.

            Well I have this final transfer and I am so excited to see what comes of it. It’s going to be pretty amazing and I am eager to get out and work hard.

Love,

Elder Purdy

Small World / Too Many Cheeseburgers

Michael asked Christian if he was ready for the annual road trip to South Dakota again this summer.  Christian replied:

            Speaking of South Dakota, I met this proper Afrikaans lady last week who was here just visiting on her way to the Channel tunnel and the continent. She found out I was American and said she had just been living there for 6 months. Where did she live??? RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA. Don’t know what took her there, but she enjoyed it. We had a long conversation about that. She said she got really sick of cheeseburgers hahaha. She was interested in the Book of Mormon as well and I speak with her on Facebook.

C'mon!  They have tacos there too!

Chatham, Ramsgate, Sittingbourne, and a National Health Experience

Ahoy!

            Things here are good. Pretty mental week. Had three exchanges. Tuesday I was in Chatham, Thursday Ramsgate, and Friday back in my old area Sittingbourne!

            It wore me out traveling around so much but it was fun! Most of the days we spent finding new investigators. I was pretty stoked because I finished the Book of Mormon this week again and I have been really eager to go and tell everybody about it. We met some pretty interesting people. We met a man who believed that the second coming already happened (??) There are some funny people out there!

       

Ramsgate Main Sands Beach

     I especially liked Ramsgate because it is right on the sea. In the morning we woke up and went running down the sea shore. The smell brought back fond memories, and the water looked really nice as well. I was with an Elder from South Africa who is from one of those tribes that speak that clicky language. We actually found a lady who comes from the same background as him. They got talking and clicking away and I just stood there. It was pretty fun to watch.

Click to see/hear an example of the Xhosa language.

            It was good being back in Sittingbourne as well. Saw some dear, dear friends. We taught one of their investigators who is really solid. He went from drinking 12 beers a day to 0! Amazing how the atonement can just totally transform somebody into a better person. It is amazing to see that process as a missionary. He will be baptized at the end of the month. Also, I felt really prompted that we should call an investigator who I taught when I was with Elder Mongelli. Her number was still in the phone and I rang her up. It turns out she lives in Ashford now! I think we will be able to meet up in the next couple of weeks. God works in his own time!

            Also, I forgot to mention I woke up Sunday morning and I my left ear was really deaf and hurt pretty bad. After church we went to the NHS hospital and they sorted me out all right – two hours of waiting for ten minutes of treatment. I may have hurt my ear drum. They gave me some ear drops. Today I can’t hear very well still, but it’s feeling a bit better. I should be all right. National Health was worth the experience anyways! Pretty interesting. Not too shabby.

Love you all!

Elder Purdy

Picture with the Stockers

from Jen:

Here is a note we received from a dear member family that has been so supportive of Christian.  He grew close to them when he served in Kent last year. In his last e-mail he mentioned these "dear, dear friends."

"Christian met our missionaries at my home so they could switch companions. Before they did he stayed for a little bit. It was so nice to see him. My children were glad he came by. My sister came over to see him and she was so happy to see him. I gave him the Easter package our family had put together for him. It was so good to have him back in our home. We took a photo I will add on Facebook for you."

Christian and the Stocker family.  Tracie and Brandon (left of Christian) came and visited us last fall.

A 3D Week: Duly-Ordained Minister, Didgeridoo, Dead Seagull

Hello Hello,

            Great week this week. Haven’t been able to use Facebook very much because it blocked me haha.  Too many people added me all at once so I am very limited as to what I can do on there now – only for a couple weeks though.

            Elder Kopischke and I are doing all right. We have been majorly trying to freshen up our teaching pool. C, one of our investigators, decided not to go through with baptism because she already has a burial plot in a Catholic cemetery, so she thought she might as well stay a Catholic. Fair enough.

having a go on the didgeridoo

            And we have stopped teaching other people due to various reasons.

            We had a zone meeting this week. Elder Kopischke and myself gave an excellent training on our authority and power as missionaries. On a little certificate we get at the beginning of our missions it says we are “duly ordained ministers” of Jesus Christ.  We focused a lot on that and how Christ is the true vine, and if we take him out of the equation, then we can do nothing.

            We did lots of service this week. On Tuesday we were at a member’s house for dinner. He was showing us his didgeridoo and letting us have a go on it. Then a lady from the ward called him and said she had a dead seagull on her roof and asked him to come get it off. We offered to help as well so off the three of us went! I thought she was exaggerating a bit and that it was probably a little pigeon, but when we got there she was right! A huge seagull was just lying in her rain gutter. I hung out of a bathroom window and poked at it with a broom until it fell off. 

Russell Square, London

             On Wednesday I had an exchange in London with the assistants. It was fun going into the big city for a couple of days. We went finding in front of the museums and then we took this big mormon.org display thing to Russell Square and spoke with people there. It was a good day! Spoke with lots of different people from all over the world. 

            We had a great General Conference weekend. We had one investigator watch the sessions as well. My favourite speaker was President Eyring. He is the man! Both of his talks were inspiring. I always feel stoked and ready to go do some proper missionary work after General Conference. It was good.

            I hope you all have a good week!

Love,

Elder Purdy

Saturday morning football