Well... London is crazy! This is way different than I thought it would be, but I am adjusting well. I have lived nine months out in the countryside, where the roads are small, towns are also small, where I thought people were busy, and so on. Now in my third area, each area I have had has gotten a little "bigger and busier". Starting off life in the quaint towns of Braintree and Witham with surrounding areas, I thought my whole mission would be is knocking on doors of thatched roof houses made before 1700 (it wasn't always that, but I really did love my time in the villages). I got to drive here and got the experience I needed to pass my driving test. Six months later I moved to Bedford. Bedford was a "bigger town" feel with an actual town centre, and no more car for us! I was on a bike, and we rode the bus occasionally. We would usually go out and talk with people along the river in the morning, and this was one of my favourite things to do.
The flat we had was amazing and in really good condition for being built in 1910. Three months later I have moved to Wembley, my first area in greater London.
Wembley is completely different than anywhere else I've been before. Different than Braintree or Bedford, and also bigger places I got to experience on exchanges like Colchester and Northampton. I am living in a four-man flat now, so Elder Gonçalves and Elder Wen are living with us as well. Talk about a culture mix! We have America, Spain, Portugal, and Hong Kong all represented here. The other Wembley Elders are Elder Pastén and Elder Tobón, from Chile and Columbia respectively. I am starting to remember a lot more of my Spanish again from using it in the flat.
I thought people were too busy to talk before, but at least they had time to stop to tell us they were too busy. People here are actually too busy to stop and talk. We are taught that people are accustomed to short, powerful messages, and being in a London area will hone that skill. For transportation here we use the bus and the tube. The bus and the tube use the same payment method, called Oyster card.
Basically, we buy a six week travel card for London zones 3-5, and that gets us unlimited travel inside the area we are in. The Oyster card is a contactless card that holds the payment information, and whenever we get on the bus or tube, we just hold the card on a reader for a few seconds, a green light shows, and we go through. Buses here are a lot more frequent than Bedford and go everywhere (they are also the infamous red double decker buses).
The tube is also an adventure. Our journey yesterday on the tube that should have taken 15 minutes, took an hour. A tree fell on the tracks and they had to get some special team to walk up and remove the tree branch. I don't blame them, because the rails power the tube and carry
~600 volts on them.
There are three companionships in the Wembley area, and we have actual city of Wembley with the stadium in ours. The stadium is way bigger than I thought it would be. I haven't been up close yet, because we have been so busy running around the area this week.
Upcoming this week is a district meeting tomorrow, and a Super MLC on Wednesday. Super Mission Leadership Conference is held a few times a year where the district leaders get to go as well, so I'll be heading to the office in South Kensington on Wednesday.
Cheers!
Elder Spencer Ammermon
England London Mission
64-68 Princes Gate, Exhibition Road
South Kensington
London
England SW7 2PA