Zprasti! (Hello in Bulgarian). As usual, this week went by very fast. We had an interesting miracle happen yesterday, we did lots of gardening this week, and so on. I haven't had the chance to get out to the villages yet with Elder Bastien because he is still getting used to Braintree and Witham.
In having the responsibility to show my new companion around the area, I've realised how large our area is, and how well I actually know it. This really surprised me actually, because I had thought I didn't know the area that well. Since we got here, we have just been doing work around Braintree and Witham, and there is much to do still. We have been stopping by a lot of members and getting him to know the ward.
And now for the miracle: yesterday (Sunday) we had planned to stop by someone here in Braintree, and on the way there I noticed some smoke coming up between some houses. It is fairly common for people to burn their garden clippings, but the smoke was very black compared to the light grey from plants burning. We decided to check it out, and we found a skip (dumpster) on fire and a pool of some type of fuel on fire next to it. The fence behind had also caught fire and it was threatening two houses. No one was home at the two houses so I called 999 (911) to report the fire, and we finally found a neighbour home down the street. They also called to report the fire, and the fire department showed up within minutes and had the fire knocked down in about 30 seconds, and the houses were fine. If we were not in the right spot at the right time, the outcome might have been a lot different, because none of the neighbours noticed the fire at the end of the street until we banged on their doors.
We have also had a sudden influx of service projects this past week and this coming week. We have been doing a lot of gardening lately. We have been over with Derek, one of the members, working on his back garden to turn part of it into a place to grow vegetables. We also did some work with the Pan family on Friday, and got fed lunch there as well. That's always a plus. I have found that service projects make the time go by fast as well as earn the trust of people here.
Cheers!
-Elder Ammermon