I Am Way Stoked on Member Finding

            Hope you are all doing well. I am doing just great. 

            We had lots of meetings in London in the first half of the week.  On Wednesday I went into London and I saw all the people in my MTC group which was fun. And we had some good uplifting meetings there as well. President Jordan again stressed the importance of member finding, so Elder Murri and I really tried to get into it this week.

            Most of the members here live in a town called Rochford, which really is kind of your classic British Township, and we went up there a lot this week. In particular we met with the Bowen Family.  I love those guys so much.  It is a family of 6 boys and a mom and dad.  We pretty much just talked to the oldest son and the dad. They hadn’t had missionaries over in like 2 years so it was good to get over there. Because we went and saw them they want us to help baptize their 9 year old son! So I am way stoked on member finding now.

           

Love you guys

Elder Purdy

an internet photo of Rochford's main square 

MTC Picture Recap

Christian's pictures haven't been coming through with his e-mails, but this week we finally figured out a photo-sharing system.  Here is a recap of his MTC experience through some of his pictures:

walkway to the temple

at the temple

in Preston

President and Sister Walker during the church history tour

with his companion in Preston

at President Hinckley's first missionary apartment

Christian loved the village of Downham

The Williams

after the testimony meeting the night before leaving the MTC

The Walkers

Goodbye MTC

last e-mail home

Captions from pictures posted by the Missionary Training Center:

Time to say goodbye to our great group.  Luggage down by 6:15 a.m.  

“Let’s gather for prayer.”  

London South and Birmingham went on the same coach – a big one to hold all the luggage.

   It takes about two hours to Birmingham and another two-and-a half to South London.

Everyone will be there by lunch. 

  Five missionaries [including Christian] are going to the London mission.

They go by train from Preston to London. 

President Williams gives Elder Purdy a goodbye hug.

Elder Knuttson left last to catch a plane to Sweden. 

"Goodbye. It’s been a wonderful three weeks.  Our prayers and love go with you."

London is Calling to Me

            I LEAVE FOR LONDON ON WEDNESDAY! I am so excited!!!!!!!!!!!

                It’s actually kind of bittersweet cause I am going to miss all of these guys, but I am excited to actually teach and what not.

                It will truly be something. They said some missionaries will help out with the Olympics like traffic and all that stuff so maybe that will be me.
 

              

Letter of Departure

June 23, 2012

Dear Brother and Sister Purdy,

Your son will be departing from the England Missionary Training Centre on Wednesday, June 27.  We want you to know how much we have enjoyed having him with us.

Elder Purdy is a fine young man and we are grateful for the opportunity we have had to work with him on a daily basis.  He is well-prepared for his mission and he continues each day to grow spiritually.  He is developing good teaching skills and is excited about the work.  He will soon be ready for full time service in the England London Mission.

We love this young man and are grateful to you for all you have done to prepare him for this wonderful time in his life.  Your love and continued support are important to his success.   Letters from home are always greatly anticipated and appreciated.

May you and your family be blessed as he continues to serve our Heavenly Father.

Sincerely,

President and Sister Walker

President and Sister Williams

Class

from Christian's e-mail:

"The MTC has been good.  Unfortunately I doodle and stuff a lot but I try to pay attention.  My drawing skills have improved ten-fold but so has my knowledge of the gospel."

Alma District with their instructor Sister Jovero

P-DAY

                Hey family!!

                Today is P-day! So I can actually write you guys a decent e-mail.

                I miss you guys sooooooooooooo much.

                Like I said before, my companion is Elder Knutsson, from Sweden.   I am making friends with the other elders [too].   An Elder Frederickson and I get along great as well as a few others.  Fredrickson and I have similar music tastes and what not so we get along well. Everybody always plays basketball or football (soccer) together and it’s a good time.

                I am really learning a lot about the gospel and my testimony has really strengthened a lot. As a matter of fact I was feeling kind of homesick and I said a prayer that night that God would help me and the next morning I got a letter from Elder Sutton that really comforted me and made me excited to get to London. I feel really cooped up here. It’s just class after class after class after class.  It is good and bad at the same time.

                I love England soooo much! Today we went into Chorley the town and a lady got really mad and started yelling at us, saying stuff like "nobody wants your Bull S&^%!" and stuff, then when she passed us she spat on one of us so that was interesting. None of us were mad though.  We all thought it was funny.

                I miss you guys!   I love you and know I am all right!

                 Love, Christian

From Jen:

We learned that the temple and the MTC are located in Chorley, about 10 miles away from Preston.   Chorley has been a market town for hundreds of years, and the Chorley Market is still a popular spot today. 

first P-Day in downtown Chorley
Notice the red, white, and blue flags for the Queen's Jubilee.

Sunday

Sundays were busy days organized and presided over by the MTC Presidency: The Walkers and Williams.  On Sunday mornings they held Sacrament Meeting, Priesthood/Relief Society, and District Meetings.  After lunch was choir practice.....

...... and Christian discovered he was one of the three tallest missionaries there.  The tallest was 6'7".

They also helped President Williams celebrate his birthday.

MTC Pictures

Here are some pictures from Sister Williams at the MTC:


MTC entry

MTC foyer



MTC cafeteria



The Preston Missionary Training Centre

There were 34 missionaries from 14 different countries in Christian's group at the MTC, including one sister from England who would be serving in Hong Kong, and Christian's companion who would be returning to Sweden to serve his mission there.  The rest were called to serve missions in the UK.

MTC Day 1

Friday, June 8, 2012

England Missionary Training Center

Your missionaries are up and in class. They slept well until the ducks in the pond outside their windows awoke them early...

view of the pond from the MTC dining room

waiting for companion announcements

Alma District

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Hey

        Yeah, my companion is Elder Knutsson from Sweden. He is a good guy.  He is going back to Sweden on his mission. This MTC is pretty international. There are kids from Spain, Australia, India, Netherlands, Sweden, South Africa, Germany – it’s pretty cool.

Elder Knutsson

Elder Purdy