Where did this week go? It went by so fast! This past week we had the farewell conference with President and Sister Jordan on Monday, Tuesday we went to Colchester and I got to go on an exchange with Elder Hesen (zone leader), Wednesday we were local in Braintree and Braintree Bocking, Thursday we traveled to South Kensington to the Hyde Park Chapel to have our three week missionary meeting, Friday we had two lessons, Saturday we went to a renaissance fair at St. Nicholas church in Whitham, and Sunday we had church and stopped by members at home.
So what were the highlights? I really did like the farewell conference with the Jordan's last Monday. We went to the Ipswich stake centre, which is very nice. Going on the exchange was a blast as well. I really liked getting out of our area for a little bit and experiencing a little bit bigger city feel. University of Essex is is in Colchester, and I had fun finding there. It made me miss my time at BYU. The highlight of Wednesday had to be meeting Christopher and Melvin.
We were walking up past the library on Wednesday morning when we met Christopher. Christopher loves to talk. We talked with him on the street there for over an hour, but it was great. Both Elder Seely and I felt that we should have invited him to come to church this week, but we actually got the chance to do that later. We were stopping by a less active in an area of Braintree in the north called Bocking, and while doing some tracting, we ran into Christopher again! He was handing out flyers for work. And again, he talked with us for another hour. He told us of a story about his dad who is a WWI vet, and how he got a job as a radio operator for Marconi himself in London. I loved this story. To continue on with the radio enthusiasm, we met Melvin later that night. On our walk home I spotted another house with ham radio antennas on it, knocked, and met Melvin, G0EMK. He wasn't that interested in religion, but he loved that I was a ham from the states and gave me information for and the May newsletter of the Braintree Amateur Radio Society. They have a club meeting on Monday, July 6th and I really hope to go. If anything, we will just get to know more people in the community. I like being friends with people before jumping straight into the Gospel. Of all the times I've said that being a ham would open doors, I never thought it would literally open doors for me.
Thursday was our meeting in Hyde Park for the three week missionaries. It was nice to have one more training with President and Sister Jordan. I learned about the importance of study journals, planning, exercise, and how members can be involved in missionary work. Even though I only knew them for three weeks, saying bye was still hard, but I am looking forward to meeting President and Sister Stevens, which is this coming week!
My two favourite quotes from this week are "make every last day count" (Sister Jordan) and "there is no lid" (President Jordan). If one thinks about it, every day really is a last day. Have no regrets each day. This doesn't mean go out and be crazy each day, but to make the most of each day by talking and being kind with everyone, but this can be interpreted in so many ways. I took President Jordan's quote as encouragement to always improve. Once we reach a goal, it does not become a lid, but a new floor, of a new foundation to build upon.
Oh and we also had McDonalds this week and it was really good, though a large soda here is the size of a small in the states, and everything costs more because of the exchange rate. We had to fill up the car here and it cost the equivalent of $95 (£61) for ~13 gallons (50 litres). Crazy!
On the plate for this coming week is zone training meeting tomorrow (Tuesday, June 30), and specialised training with President Stevens on Wednesday. Hopefully it'll be another busy week!
Cheers until next time,
Elder Ammermon
P.S. I do enjoy getting individual emails and I will take time to respond, just make sure you email Sunday night because of the time change to England.
spencer.ammermon@myldsmail.net