Happiness, a Sleepover, a Hindi Lesson, and a Black Squirrel Sighting

Hello Hello!

                A fine week indeed. I am well chuffed over our work. It was an interesting one

                On Tuesday my companion and I had to run over to Harlow Essex and do a baptismal interview. It takes like 2 hours to get there, and when we finally arrived we had a 20-minute bike ride to the chapel where we were going to do the interview. Then we found out it was cancelled. So we sped back to the train station to go home, but all of the buses were cancelled. So we had a little sleepover in Harlow. I curled up on a little recliner and fell asleep. Pretty fun. The only way is Essex!

                But Wednesday made up for it. We had a lesson with a very good investigator named Lauren, a young single mum who wants to be more religious. She invited her friend Abby to the lesson who wanted to know more about what we are all about. We got there and had such a powerful lesson! The spirit was strong and I saw them both tear up when we talked about the First Vision. We committed them both to baptism for the 26th of October. We asked them what they expected out of meeting with us and Lauren said, “Because you both look so happy and I want to know why. I want some of your happiness.” They unfortunately could not come to church but we are seeing them this Wednesday. Keep them in your prayers.

                The rest of the week was good as well with finding and teaching. We still teach Ashwani, and we still teach him in Hindi. He is doing very well, and I now know a few sentences in Hindi like:

aap kaise ho?

app ka family kaisi hai?

aaj ka plans kya hai?

Look them up.

from Jen:  OK I looked them up.  Google translated them as follows:

आप कैसे हो?                 "How are you?"

आप का फॅमिली कैसी है?     "Family, how are you?"

आज का प्लान्स क्या है?      "What are the plans today?"

            I also had the privilege of seeing one of the ever elusive Letchworth black squirrels! I also found out that they are just a mutated version of the gray squirrel and they are only found around Letchworth. What a majestic creature.

God save the Queen!

Elder Purdy!

Rule Britannia! Pip Pip

You all right mates?

            Well it has been a cold and rainy week! Autumn seems to be here to stay.

            Our week was all right. Elder Botcha and I worked very hard, but we were not able to see as much success as hoped for. We had lots of appointments cancel on us this week, but we were able to stay busy and stay happy. We tracted a lot and we went to try and find some less actives a lot. But the Lord still blessed us to stay happy and stay positive and I am very grateful for that.

            Ashwani is doing well. We saw him this week. We came to his home and he was sitting down watching some Bollywood film haha. We walked in and it looked so funny – it was a really old one with English subtitles. The subtitles kept saying "blood for blood, blood for blood" while some song was going on in Hindi and some guy was walking toward an empty prison cell. I am not sure what was going on but we turned it off. We taught him and the spirit was pretty strong. We talked about some of the goals he had in his life and how he thought he could achieve those goals, and if living a good clean life would further help him. He agreed that it would and we taught about Christ and how we can receive blessings. It was very good.

            We also got a family referred to us! – which never happens. A lovely French sister in the ward here referred an Italian family she used to live with – the Virgelitto family. She was really nervous about us going over and was worried that they would not be interested, but we told her we would fast with her and go over the next day. We did and we met the dad, Vinchenzo. He doesn’t speak English very well, and Elder Botcha and I don’t speak Italian very well, but I remembered a little bit from being with Elder Mongelli. We told him we were friends of the sister and we wanted to talk about God and families. They were really busy but they invited us back this week. I am really excited for that! and I really pray everything will go well. They seem like excellent people.

            The rest of the week was us trying to find investigators and teach people through a drizzle of rain every day, but we had a good time.

            I have been studying in the Bible quite a bit, especially from the Book of Job in the OT. I don’t know why but I just want to read it. I have liked it so far. I am learning a lot.

            Well that’s all I have. This is a picture of me at a very posh house of a family that live in our ward. I am trying to look very studious.

            Well, I love you all – have a good week.

Rule Britannia! Pip Pip

Elder Purdy

Rainy As Usual

It has been rainy rainy rainy here just as usual. My companion asks me five times a day if this is what it’s going to be like his whole mission, and I very patiently reply yes. Don’t know if he is thinking the answer is going to change.

A Baptism!

            Well I am just well chuffed over our week. It was a good one. Tuesday we were in Letchworth Garden City, a nice place. I like it there.  It’s really green, and as a matter of fact the new Simon Pegg film was filmed there. We saw part of the shooting a few months ago, so that’s fun. But we saw a lady named Ajinder up there. She is an Anglo-Indian lady – really nice – and we had a good lesson on the Restoration with her. She enjoyed it and said she really felt some "positive energy" in the room as we spoke, and said she saw the "the light in us." I don’t know ... I guess she is just one of those people. She has gone to Nepal, though – went to go meditate and have a nice holiday. She took a Book of Mormon with her, so hopefully she will read it. The rest of the day we walked around the streets, saw a less active and talked with people. A good day.

            Wednesday we were walking to the train station to catch a train and I stopped this lady named Lauren. She a single mum, and as I said who we were she said "Oh yeah I have wanted to get baptized for awhile and so does my mate." So I hope we have a couple baptisms coming up! We sat down on a park bench with her and had a real nice chat about God and families and what we do as missionaries. We should be seeing her on Wednesday. Miracles happen. She has had a rough couple years it sounds like and I really hope she sees that this can really help her.

            Thursday we had a meeting in St. Albans – pretty cool city with lots of Roman ruins – and I had a workover with Elder Peirera from Brazil. He surfs as well so we talked about that a bit and had a good day together. We took him to Isabella's house, who is Brazilian and so is her mother, and they just jabbered away in Portugese. I just waited until we could speak English again. We ate dinner with them and then went tracting.

            Friday was a bummer – hosed appointments  and rain. It’s getting a bit colder here as well, which is always not fun.

            And Saturday Emilie got baptized! It was great. She was grinning from ear to ear afterwards and her mother was very proud. We taught them at a family’s home called the Meades so we had Brother Meade baptize her. I gave a talk about baptism. It was really nice, and her family that aren’t members seemed to really enjoy it – until the next day when Kylie told me they still think we are a cult that is going to hell …

            We are looking forward to this week. Elder Botcha is getting his patriarchal blessing tomorrow and we really want to get one more baptism this transfer. Most of our investigators have kind of fizzled out into not being interested, but we have some good new ones and we are excited to find some more.

            

Love you all,

Elder Purdy

Neverending Cycle of Finding and More Curry

          

            Things here are going well, just chillin’. We found a couple new investigators, but people are starting to just kind of fizzle out.   It’s frustrating so we are trying to find some other people – neverending cycle.  I find the best place to find people is usually the time when you are not even trying to find people.  The unplanned, by-the-way person is usually the best person to find.  They are usually put in your path for a reason, like on a train or something,

            Anyways, here is my latest curry haha and some naan.

Another Great Week!

Another great week!

            First thing, Elder Botcha is teaching me how to make some pretty proper curry. I am getting pretty good. I asked his mum to send us some more recipes so we can make some more – it’s good stuff.

            Also we found two families this week. Two families is a ton for us. It has been so good. One of them is a single mum and her two daughters. Her name is Sheryl. We shared some mormon.org videos with her and bore our testimonies that the gospel blesses families, and talked more about how it can help theirs. They loved it and we committed them to say a prayer as a family. It was such a spiritual lesson, and they called us the next day to say that they said a prayer and they felt so peaceful.

            The other one is Ashwani who I talked about last week, and his son. The mum is less active and the son wants to get baptized. Ashwani has been baptized before into a different church and has a concern about priesthood and stuff, but we are sharing the restoration with him this week and it’s going to be powerful! We had a good lesson with them last time and this week will be good as well.

            Also we are teaching a cool girl named Carly. She is 24. We knocked on her door when we were tracting by a member and she was the first door we knocked on. She invited us in. We pretty much talked about faith and how the gospel blesses families and she loved it! We shared Alma 32 and you could literally see her face light up as we read it. So cool. She has been reading lots of the Book of Mormon since then. 

            It is so cool to have investigators that you reallly love, that you really get along with. It is good and it helps me really focus on them and how I can help them accept the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. It has been a very tiring and rewarding experience. I look forward to meeting with all of them this week and we are planning on bringing some members with us. The more the merrier!

            The gospel is true. I know that happiness can come from understanding the simplicity of the gospel and then living it. We can accomplish so much as we do this.

            The pictures are of me taking a break by the duck pond in town centre, and my dank curry! The third one is of Hitchin Town Centre. It has some pretty cool cobblestoned streets and shops and whatnot.

Love you all.

            Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Emilie will be getting baptized this Saturday! Woohoo! I am very excited for her.

taking a break by the duck pond

Christian's curry

Hitchin Town Centre

Lots of Curry and a Hindi Miracle

Well hello,

Visakhapatnam, India

            We are starting to see a bit less of the sun over here. Summer is fading away and here comes fall, which means, rain rain rain. Bring on the umbrella.

            As I have said in my last e-mail, my new companion is Elder Botcha from India – Visakhapatnam to be exact. His native tongue is Telugu, and he speaks Hindi and English as well. It’s good to have him here. We eat curry twice a day and my insides are feeling it. But I like eating it so it’s good.

            I will start with a cool miracle we had together. Yesterday we had a potential person that did not show up for our meeting. So we looked at the ward list and I saw an Indian name, Eisha, a less active lady. We decided that since she and Elder Botcha are Indian, we should head over there. So we went and knocked on her door in Letchworth and a guy answers.  He is Indian as well and speaks poor English. We asked him if Eisha was there and he said no and started to close the door, then all of the sudden Elder Botcha turns on the Hindi and the guy gets really excited and lets us in. His name is Ashwani, and he is Eisha's husband. We sat down in his living room and since he doesn’t speak English the two of them were talking in Hindi.  I just sat back and tried to look like I was part of the conversation. It turns out he investigated the church in India for a number of years.  He has a Book of Mormon and reads it all the time. He asked Elder Botcha how to pay tithing and where the closest church was. He is sooo prepared.  He asked us to teach him so we did.  Well, Elder Botcha did – and I pointed out good scriptures. We are going there next week. The guy is rock solid. We will also be meeting with Eisha who is excited to see missionaries again.

            Pretty cool. We are also still teaching I- and E-.  E- will be getting baptized in two weeks, on the 7th. I am excited for that and so are the members. Things are good.  

            I have been studying the Book of Mormon a lot this week. What a book. I love how it relates to our day. We can get so much out of its teachings if we really pay attention to what we are reading. So good. I was reading the part where Nephi is going to go try and get the plates from Laban after a number of failed attempts, in a verse where he is walking by the city walls he says "And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do." 
            I like that. In life we can’t be worrying too much about things or be too scared to do things. We need to just get from point A to point B and have faith that the Lord will take care of whatever we are doing. 

            I gave a baptismal interview this week in Essex to a lady named L-  – really really nice English lady, was not raised religious at all. She married a South African Mormon and decided to find out what we believe by reading the Book of Mormon. She read it, decided that she believed it, and got baptized. That is the power of the restored gospel.

Love you all.

Same Place, New Companion

            Looks like I will be staying in Hitchin for another 6 weeks, except I am getting a new companion named Elder Botcha from India! He is from the south part of India, and he is really quiet and really shy. He is short and we look pretty goofy standing next to each other .... but hey, that’s what the Lord wants, I guess. Elder Torbit is running off to Enfield which is about the most northern part of London.

            We had a good week last week. I- is doing great and so is her whole family. Her father has been making some pretty interesting comments that really makes me think that he is taking in all of the stuff that we are teaching. It’s good, and I- is just taking in all of the stuff that we are teaching. She is golden, but for heaven’s sake we need to get her to church. It has been a struggle with their schedules on Sunday, but we will make it work this week! I am determined.

            Also last week we found a lady named C-, who is from Nigeria. She used to go to our church there and her family all joined the church but then something happened – don’t know what – that made her family leave the church. She talked a lot about that but invited us in to teach her. She is really cool, and we committed her to pray about the Book of Mormon because she said she never did when she was in Nigeria. I am excited to go over there a bit more. She is a very nice lady and wants to make us some proper Nigerian food.

            We are really trying to find some new investigators, we need some more people to teach. It is a work in progress. The most success we have had is through unplanned finding opportunities, whether we are on a bus or just walking to an appointment. We have had the best success through those things. Funny how the Lord puts people like that in our path at those times!

            It has been good, I am excited to see what another transfer in Hitchin has to offer. I know that the gospel can bring people the happiness that they all desire to have in their lives. We can become the people that God has designed us to be. We can grow our talents and abilities as we exercise our faith.

Love you,

Elder Purdy

Last Full Week of This Transfer

Ahoy,

            Had a meeting in London yesterday so I am shooting off my e-mails today!

            The meeting was good. Elder Evans from the missionary department came and spoke to us about finding people, it was really inspiring! I loved what he said, he talked a lot about how we should not just stop people in the street and turn on the fire hose with doctrine and Joseph Smith and what not, but we need to just keep our cool and talk with people, not talk to people. He said it bugged him that missionaries would set aside time to find people instead of just constantly being involved. It was good. I took some good notes.

            Our week last week was interesting. Lots of traveling. I had a workover in St. Albans with Elder Doudou from Germany on Tuesday, and then on Thursday I had a workover in Harlow Essex with a missionary from my district. Felt like we had lots of travel and I wasn’t really able to be here for some of the lessons with our investigators. Emily is doing well, and will be baptized at the end of this month.  I- is doing fantastic. Her mother was excited because we brought a missionary from Brazil with us to the lesson and they just went off pretty much the whole time speaking in Portuguese.

            We actually ended up dropping a few people this week. Sometimes people are just not willing to change. They love to have us over and to hear what we have to say, but won’t apply what we ask them to in their own lives. It is terribly frustrating, so my personal goal for this week is to find just one person to teach – find the one that wants to change.  Just one!

            The meeting in London was a good way to start off the week, and it was perfect for the things I want to accomplish this week. I am really looking forward to seeing some miracles happen! I care so much about the people of England and I could not think of something I would rather be doing right now than inviting them to come to Christ, to achieve their goals, to find more happiness in life.

            Cool story, I was talking with one of the youth in our ward on Sunday, and I asked him about the youth camp that was last week in Wales. He said it was fun, then his friend, who I had never met before said he enjoyed it too. Apparently he went and loved it and came to church that Sunday with his friend.  He now wants to join the church – excellent! It’s funny how all of our investigators pretty much are under the age of 16 haha.

            Well, transfers are next week and I will let you all know what’s going down. Have a good week! Here is a picture from the meeting in London.

Love,

Elder Purdy

Photo Assortment -- Beautiful Hertfordshire