Pictures: Bedford Area, The Walk Along the River, Night Time in Bedford
Hello everyone! This past week has been crazy. New area, new people, and so much to learn all over again. I am loving Bedford!
Wednesday was my first day here and right from the start we hit the ground running. I unpacked for about half an hour, then we got to go finding in the town centre. We got to meet Amigo (his name is Juan, but we just call him Amigo), who owns a burrito stand that he runs in town centre. Ah how I have missed Mexican food. They also just turned on the Christmas lights here! It looks amazing. We live right by the river that runs through Bedford, and we get to see the lights along the embankment.
Fun history fact about Bedford: Joseph Fielding, his sister Mercy Rachel, and their younger sister, Mary Anne all moved from Bedford to Charleton, Canada around 1832. They then moved to Kirtland, Ohio, where Mary met Hyrum Smith, the older brother to Joseph Smith. They got married and had Joseph Fielding Smith, who would later also become the Prophet and the President of The Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints. How cool! Bedford was also one of the first branches of the Church to be established in England. After the first missionaries arrived in 1837 near Preston, they came down to Bedford.
I could very well be walking some of the same streets that Heber C.
Kimball and Brigham Young walked as missionaries.
I forgot how much fun it was to ride a bike! Having a car is really nice especially on the really cold and wet days, but having the bike gives us more opportunities to talk with people. I get more chance to take a look at the scenery than I did from the car. We have averaged only about 6-8 miles a day so far. Last night when we were riding back from Kempston where our meetinghouse is, some crazy Polish guy started yelling at us for no reason. I think he was drunk, but who knows.
Since it gets dark so early now (around 3.45 PM) the rides in the dark can be a little sketchy.
One of my favourite things about being here so far is how excited everyone seems to be for Christmas. Thursday night they had a lot of things going on in town related to the start of the Christmas season.
We have been showing people the new Christmas video put out by the Church, called A Savior Is Born. It is a great video that is just two minutes long, that brings a powerful reminder of the true meaning of Christmas. The video is available at http://www.christmas.mormon.org to watch. We have seen some great miracles showing people this video, especially the tremendous change of heart that comes over some people.
Cheers until next week!
-Elder Ammermon