My Last Week

Hello Hello,

            Well here you go. The last real e-mail is coming from a little internet cafe in the East End. Right now it’s raining. The guy who runs this little shop is Indian and is playing some loud Punjabi music. Part of the shop is the internet cafe and the other part is a barber shop. Guess I could e-mail and get a haircut at the same time!

            Well last week was really good. Tanya is doing absolutely amazing. I can’t believe how prepared she is. I am so happy for her. We went to institute with her this last Thursday in Hyde Park and she really enjoyed it. I am pretty gutted that I am going to miss her baptism on the 14th, but she said she would send me pictures. I can already tell a difference in her from the first time we met her. She seems happier and more confident. The gospel is a miraculous thing! She was definitely the person we had to meet this transfer!

            Also this last Saturday we went to Wicked, the musical. It was really good! We were waiting by Big Ben for some other missionaries so we could all go together. It was really calm and mellow because it was at like 6 in the morning because that’s when we had to go get tickets. While we were standing there it just kind of hit me … “I am in the middle of London standing next to the Houses of Parliament. I can see Westminster Abbey, the Thames, and Big Ben.” I had never really felt like that over the past two years. I am going to miss it here so much it is unreal!

            The musical was good. We ended up getting front row seats. The lady who plays the witch that isn’t green (Glinda) is a member of the church. She saw us with our white shirts apparently and during the intermission a guy who works for the theatre told us she wanted to take us backstage after the show. So we got to do that as well. Met some of the cast and got to go and stand on the stage and stuff. It was pretty awesome. I will send the pictures.

            I am really excited just to soak up everything I can this last week – take a deep deep breath and just take it all in. I love England so so much and I am going to miss all the people I have met here. These past two years have been the best adventure, and they have gone by far too quickly. I have grown so close to my Saviour Jesus Christ, and have made so many friends. It's weird looking back and seeing all of the things that have happened! I cannot thank God enough for this experience. I can’t even begin to.

            See you all in a week!

Love,

Elder Purdy

The Ongoing Ear Infection Saga

Note to Christian:  There are some things (like the May 20 update below) you really shouldn't share with your mother.  She worries. 

Friday, May 16, 2014

            Hi. Just writing to let you know I am having troubles with my ears again. I can’t hear very well out of either of them. I had a doctor’s appointment today in Canary Wharf (posh) and they said they just need to clean them out but the infection is gone. I don’t know when they are going to do that.

            No worries though.  I am all sorted out.

Tuesday, May 19, 2014

            I think my ears will be OK. I am pretty confident that the infection is gone, because they really don’t hurt anymore at all. They were pretty certain as well. They just got really clogged during the infection and all that crap is still in there. I don’t know why it takes so long to sort something like that out ... but hey that’s life. Should be all sorted this week.

Wednesday, May 20, 2014

            The doctors called me and told me they won’t be able to see me until next Tuesday! Well that was just not acceptable to me and I used some good old Purdy innovation along with a straw and a vacuum cleaner and sucked loads of stuff out of my ear. Hearing restored!!!! I will still go to the doctors on Tuesday though.

Times Never To Be Forgotten

Hello!

            It has been a very sunny and warm week! It has made every aspect of life much better. You can’t beat England this time of year. Everything is very green and alive.

            Our week was very good. Tanya and Lavinia are doing great – especially Tanya. She came to church yesterday for the second time and loved it! She prayed about the Book of Mormon, got an answer, and she really loves the story about Joseph Smith. We gave her a baptismal date for June 14th and yesterday at church she was talking about how excited she was for it. Her exact words were “I want to feel like this for the rest of my life.”

            The rest of our investigators are doing all right as well.

            We had interviews with President Jordan in Hyde Park last Tuesday. Not much to say about that. He pretty much said, “I will interview you in a couple weeks” and “finish strong.”

            Pretty crazy. Things are wrapping up real fast, but I am happy that we can teach great people like Tanya and Lavinia. It makes me want to stay for their baptism!

            The weather is good today as well. I am happy to be here and enjoying myself for the last couple weeks of the mission. These have been times never to be forgotten!

Love,

Elder Purdy

P.S. Mom, I went to the National Art Gallery yesterday. You were right, it was very cool. My favourite pieces were the Monet Impressionism stuff. I liked those a lot.

Doing Great

Hello!

            Well first off it was great speaking to you Mum! and the rest of the guys that were there. It was a fun time. I really enjoyed it.

            We have had a great week. It’s been very rainy and we had some very good lessons. Priscilla is doing great. She is loving our lessons and she even invited her cousin to the last lesson – her name is Rebecca. She was pretty disinterested when she first came in and sat down, but she ended up saying the closing prayer because she enjoyed everything so much. It shows that Priscilla loves what we teach because she wants her family to get involved as well.

            We have also started to teach a Mum and daughter – Lavinia and Tanya. We met the mum on the street and we popped by her house and some guy answered and started really shouting at me about how they don’t need what we are teaching. Then Tanya came downstairs during the middle of this and said “Mormons! I want you to help me to not be a sinner.” She saved us! The guy was really kicking off until she came down. Tanya also came to church and really enjoyed it.

            We have had lots of weird things happen to us on public transport recently – people shouting at cars out the window and shouting at us. Pretty much it is just a bunch of shouting as soon as we get on the bus.

            We are doing great. I love you all and I love London.

Elder Purdy

Mother's Day Skype Session

from Jen:  We talked with Christian for awhile before his friends came over to visit with him too.  It was so much fun listening to them talk to each other -- it has been over 2 years since they've seen each other. 

Here's a short clip of some of his stories.  I ran out of time to edit more, but you get the idea ...

Crazy Week in Stratford

Hello Hello,

            It has been a crazy week in Stratford – definitely one not to be forgotten.

            We had a lesson with a lady on Monday who was having some contact with some “spirits.” We would try and speak with her and she would start a conversation with a man that was not even there … kinda unnerving. We ended that lesson pretty fast. We said a closing prayer and she said, “The spirits say you are welcome back here anytime.” I guess they liked us. That was a great way to start the week!

            Priscilla is doing great. We gave her a baptismal date for May 31^st.  I really enjoy meeting with her. She said, “I don’t understand how people can’t believe Joseph Smith.” She is really digging the lessons. Keep her in your prayers. By the way Mum, I don’t think the Simbi's have been baptised in Norwich yet. Long story but they are still investigating.  I am not sure when they will be. I need to ask around.

            We also met another family from Ecuador this week. We knocked on their door and they invited us in. They sat us down in the kitchen, and then the whole family just was standing there staring at us. It turned out none of them spoke English. It was probably a long five minutes of silence and awkward eye contact before we realized that they were waiting for us to say something. Once we found that out it quickly turned into a game of charades as we tried to help them understand what we do as missionaries and what the Book of Mormon is. We gave up on that and called a missionary from Spain and just had them speak on the phone to him. They invited us back this week. They were really interested in the message, or so we were told by our Spanish friend. I am sure it will be just as fun as last time. We asked them, “Can we have your phone number?” and they handed us their vacuum. ???!

            The weather has been very hot here. Loads of people are outside all the time and we have some good conversations with people from all over the place. I’ve never been so confounded by accents on my whole mission – mostly from proper Jamaican people. When they speak with us it’s like a different language. The rule of thumb is when you think they say “beer can” they actually mean “bacon.” If you can figure that out then you will be alright haha. 

            I am just happy with life right now. I am happy to be here helping people and serving the Lord.

Love,

Elder Purdy