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

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

Lots of Work to Do, Lots of Miracles to Happen

Ahoy,

            Crazy week – lots of twists and turns. Our mission started to use Facebook this week. It’s pretty interesting. I think it will be good, getting in contact with members and investigators. We will see where it takes us!

            Last Tuesday we went to the district meeting in Gillingham. It was crazy being back. It was all very familiar. It was a good meeting, and afterwards we went finding with the elders in Chatham. Spoke with a good guy from Afghanistan, and the other elders saw him this week. Chatham is an interesting place. There are always a couple of crazy people that are roaming around – definitely keeps things interesting. There was a man that had a banjo, which was wayyy out of tune, and he was just strumming away on it for a couple hours. Fun stuff.

            We really don’t have that great of a teaching pool right now. It is definitely lacking, so that’s a big focus for us this week. I've noticed that there are loads of people from Nepal here. Apparently they move over here and then work for the military in Ashford. Most of them are Hindi. Nice people, but it’s hard to communicate with them. To be quite frank, to just have a really good conversation with anybody is proving to be a task, but Elder Kopischke and I are doing a good job at it. We are slowly finding some people that are interested. Just takes a good attitude and a lot of faith!

            Saturday we had a leadership meeting in London. The train from Ashford to London is pretty fun. It’s part of the Eurostar so lots of people on the train are from Europe coming over from France and Belgium and places like that. It only takes about 30 minutes from Ashford to London – much better than the 3-hour drive from Norwich to London. It was a good meeting, and the mission is heading in a great direction!

            Yesterday was a good day as well. It was British Mother’s Day, so most the services were about families and motherhood. Afterwards we went and street-contacted in the park. It has been really beautiful and all the flowers and trees are budding. It was a good time and I really enjoyed it. We saw some good success as well.

            We then had a dinner appointment with some members. They are English but they used to live in India and they made a pretty wicked curry. It was delicious and I ate wayyy too much. Good way to end the week.

            I am sure this week will prove to be very eventful as well! Lots to do and not a lot of time to do it. Lots of work to do and lots of miracles to happen.

Cheers big ears,

Elder Purdy

I am Happy to be Serving Here

Hello Hello,

            Hope you all had a good weekend, I sure did!

            Elder Kopischke and I had a great time teaching and finding over the weekend.

            We are teaching a friend of the Stake President. His name is Brett and he is one of the nicest guys I have ever met! We helped him move a shed in the stake president’s back garden and got to talking. We invited him to take the missionary lessons and he said he would love to! We taught him on Sunday and he knows quite a bit about the church, and said he would be baptized if he feels the spirit. I'm well chuffed about him. He is a star.

            Also we had a lesson with a guy we met who used to live in the States. He has a friend who is a mission president in Uruguay. He just got back from there where he spent two weeks with him. He said he was very curious to learn more about our faith because he really felt good as he went to church meetings even though he does not speak Spanish. We are seeing him this week again.

            The flat here in Ashford is nice.  I agree with the way Elder Kopischke explained it – “it’s just enough” – just big enough to house both of us.  Especially the bathroom and shower – they are pretty tiny.

            The ward here is great. I am really happy to be working with them. They are very supportive and really help us to bring others unto Christ.

            We had a district meeting in Deal on Thursday. It was fun driving by Dover again and seeing the cliffs. They look very lovely around this time of year!

            I’m happy to help the other missionaries as well. We have 2 or 4 meetings this week with them and it will be fun to work with them and go on exchanges.

            I am happy to be serving here. I’ve got about 9 weeks left and I just want to love everybody into the Gospel. I am sure I will see plenty of miracles between now and June.

Love,

Elder Purdy

Looking Forward to Some New Adventures

Transfer Week … Back to the Garden of England

Well well, 

            President Jordan gave us a ring last night, and it seems I will be heading WAY down south to be a zone leader in Ashford in Kent – from one extreme in the mission to another, which will be interesting. My new companion is Elder Kopischke, from Germany! My third German companion. He is a great missionary and I am excited to work with him.

            I'm a bit gutted to leave Norwich. We have been doing great work up here and I have loved working with the missionaries and members up here. When I first got sent to Norwich all I could think about was how far away it is. But it has been amazing and I am so glad I could spend four transfers here. It’s going to be hard to say goodbye to good people like the Baldock family, the Stanton family, the Bikliqi family, and the Simbi's.

            I'm looking forward to some new adventures though.  I am sure Ashford will be good, and quite probably my last area! I'm excited to go and find the people that are waiting to hear the message of the Restoration and God's plan of happiness for us.

Love,

Elder Purdy

Good Times in Gorleston (plus Colchester, Norwich, and London)

Hello Hello,

On an exchange with Elder Call in Gorleston

            Great week this week. The weather has been absolutely lovely. It was like 18 degrees Celsius yesterday! It was brilliant.

            Had zone meeting at the beginning of the week. It was very uplifting. Good things were said, the spirit was felt. I love serving with the missionaries in this zone. We have a good time. I had an exchange in Gorleston this week, which was fun. We went finding by the beach most of the day because the weather was very nice. It was nice seeing the sea again. We met some very nice people and even found a family that was interested in learning more. I always like going to the little coastal towns in this zone. There are some good people there.

            We got a new car this week as well. Had to drive down to Colchester in Essex and sleep there for a night on Thursday night, and Friday we went the rest of the way into London and got the car. We did planning – organizing some things for our zone as we were down there as well.

            We had a great lesson with the Simbi’s this week. They were having some questions about the Book of Mormon, and during the lesson we really felt like we should just read some of it with them. We read 3 Nephi 11 and it was so powerful. We asked them how they would feel to be there when Jesus Christ appeared. And as they answered there was such a good spirit there. Power of the Book of Mormon! They are getting baptized on the 29th of this month.

            We are doing great. England is beautiful and we are having a good time.

Pip pip cheerio,

Elder Purdy

Here are some pictures from Gorleston:

. . . and some other random pictures:

This probably wasn't supposed to be a photobomb, but ...

looks like a rough morning for Elder Vogel

Happy as a Clam

On an exchange with Elder Elliott
from Jen:  no info about this Elder -- I just read his nametag  :) 

Hello Hello,

            Time flew by this week. We had a couple of exchanges with the Norwich elders and the elders in Lowestoft. It’s always fun to go cruise around the beaches of Lowestoft and speak with people – especially when the sun is out. We had a nice lesson with a girl on the sea front about prayer and how God answers prayers. It was a nice setting for a lesson.

            Cool experience – we were talking with people in Norwich city centre. I always like going to city centre because it is filled with the most interesting people! Norwich has a reputation for that, -- it has quite the characters. I had really prayed that we would find success, and we had some cool experiences. A lady came out of a shop right in front of us and I casually said hello. She said hi in a rather glum tone and we asked her if we could help her at all. She has a lot going on in life and we had a great lesson with her. She feels the gospel can help her. And we spoke with a Portuguese family that wants to learn more about eternal families.

            We also went into London on Saturday. That's always a good time. We have to go again this week for some more meetings and what not. 

the beautiful Simbi family

            On Sunday the Simbis fed us some proper African food – something called fufu??? Anyways it is pretty much like mashed potatoes, but it’s not potatoes. It was fufu, and some vegetables and meat. They don’t use silverware so were just going at it with our hands. It was something else. Apparently we didn’t eat it right because they were all laughing at us. It was a good time.

            Spring is in the air in beautiful England. Flowers are budding and popping up, and everything is turning green. It is beautiful and I am happy as a clam.

Cheerio,

Elder Purdy