Happy Christmas, Merry Christmas, Feliz Natal, Feliz Navidad and however else you may say it.

Happy Christmas everyone!

This Christmas has been great and one to remember for sure. Christmas in London, England while being on a mission. It was quite different but that is good. It is supposed to be different. But first before I tell you what we all did this past week I will tell you the news on where I will be spending my next six weeks. I am.......................................... MOVING TO HYDE PARK. I am the new district leader in Hyde Park in Central London. My new companion is Elder Adriano and he is from Portugal. He speaks like every language so I will be learning Portuguese, German, French, and Spanish. It will be a good time.

This past week our District (the group of missionaries in our area) sang a lot. We went to go visit people and give them cookies and sing them a song. The Elders did not bake the cookies but the Sisters did. Smart move right? On Christmas Eve one of the members of the Church invited us over for dinner and a "Guys Christmas Eve" (whatever that means). The guys that invited us over one is from India and the other Mexico so it was a very cultural night with different Christmas dishes. We had an indian dish and some authentic mexican food so it was a success. They could of fed an army with the amount of food they prepared but the 6 of us handled it nicely. After we went back to our flat for the night to get ready for Christmas. We cleaned and made it look nice so Santa would be impressed with us as missionaries. And he was. It smelt, felt, and looked like Christmas. We had our tree in the corner (thanks mom for that), we had it lit with scented ornaments my companion got from home and with beautiful lights and a star. Underneath we had all of our present stacked neatly and with it organized so we knew exactly where our stuff was. We had Christmas music playing in the background to top it all off. The four of us in the flat decided to have a spend the night in the living room.So we dragged out all of our mattress' and slept by the lit tree waiting for Santa to come. Before we went to bed we read Luke chapter 2 together and said flat prayer before crashing into our pillows. We were bad and forgot to make cookies and put out carrots but we knew Santa would understand because our cookies would have injured him. We fell asleep by the tree and He was quite sneaky and did not wake us up in the night. We woke up to a sight of presents and decided to open them immediately. We all got amazing gifts and it was so weird opening them with four strange yet amazing men rather than our beloved families back home.

We all finished opening presents and getting ready and by then it was time to go the church to watch Disney!! On Christmas and today (Boxing Day) we are allowed to watch Disney Movies or Children's movies. We started of by watching Dispicable me 2 and I about died throughout the whole movie. Those little minions are amazing. After that we watched Wreck it Ralph and finished off with The Muppets. After our movie marathon we were invited over to a members families house for dinner and more movies! This family is from Laguna Beach, California and their Christmas tradition is an "Anything Goes Dinner". So they asked all the missionaries what they wanted and made it for us. I was quite stressed about such a decision but finally my mind settled on the most random meal that came to mind. Chicken and Waffles. And it was delicious indeed. I am weird I know but hey it came to mind so I went with it. We watched Monsters University after dinner and then got to Skype our families. It was a really great night. If you want to know how skyping went ask my mom but try not to make her cry please. Thank you haha sorry mom. Love ya.

As I said today is Boxing Day. It is a holiday here in England and each person I ask what it is, I get a different response. So as far as I know it is a day full of sport, a day of shopping, a day of boxing up all your bad presents and returning them for cash, literal boxing day (that would be a "hit" at my home), and boxing things up that you do not need because you have so much junk from past years. So pick whatever you wold like best and that is what Boxing Day is.

I hope that this Christmas has been great for all of you and I really hope you were all able to slow down and feel of the actual spirit of Christmas. It is not too late to feel the spirit of the season. We call it Christmas season since the 1st of December so we should still call it that until the 19th January, 25 days after. It has been 6 months today since I left home and it has flown by. Time is flying by for me. Really you lose yourself in the time. Lose yourself in time as you serve others. What an amazing feeling it is. I love you all and Happy Christmas.

Here is a picture of us Elders in the Tube and our Christmas Flat. Enjoy.

 

 

 

 

Tis the Season to be Jolly!

Evening Mates!

Another week closer to Christmas! It is hard to walk through the streets without getting hit with shopping bags. People literally shop until they drop! 

So this past week Elder Mitchell and I have been teaching this woman named Florence. She is a from Nigeria and really loves Jesus. She was taught by the missionaries like 20 years ago and we have recently found her and are now preparing her to get baptised. She said she was not ready 20 years ago but now she feels like she is in the right spot. 20 years ago she also pregnant at the time with a girl. Now that girl is 20 years old and is not taking the discussions with us with her mother. It is amazing to be able to teach both of them. I love how we are all prepared for the gospel in our own due time. But we at some point in our life we will be prepared. 

While being a missionary I have come to notice how hard attending church is for people learning about the gospel. They do not understand that it is a commandment to keep the sabbath day holy and to worship thy god unceasingly. But for those who attend church regularly it is one of the easiest commandments to live. I have really noticed that attending church does make a real difference. It changes your outlook on life and it a place where we can seek revelation. Church is so important and it has taken me 18 years to finally get it.  

Today we spent our day on the new double decker buses. They are so cool. They look new but they also look like they are from the 50's. We rode down to central London to see some sights and then went to Soho. So here is a boy band photo in Soho. People looked at us funny. 

Here are some cool quotes I heard this week: 

"Belief is not the absence of doubt, but the triumph over it."

"Where we spend our time represents what we love."

"That woman looks like a swamp donkey." Says angry black man. (The woman called him a mean name before hand but I wont repeat it.)

I love you all and have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Elder David

"Pure Motives Are The Essence of Divine Guidence"

Ello Mates!

 

Another week in the books! The Missionary Band has been travelling all over England these past two weeks. You could say that "the best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear." So that is what we have been doing! I am really glad that I switched paths in high school from being all sports to all music. It was honestly quite weird changing from one to the other. I had new friends, new after school activities, new everything! But hey now look what it has led too. I now am able to help others feet the spirit through music. I have a firm testimony that music invites the spirit into our lives. I am greatful as well for the people I have met doing both sport and music. I have gained lifelong friends that I truly do love.

 

 How did it go meeting new people this past week? Did you actually do it? If not, here it is again. Expand your network. Do things that are different and you will find things out about yourself that you may not have known before. That is what happened when I started doing musicals. I did not think I would like it at all but it grew on me. It was an amazing experience and I do not regret it one bit.

 

This week we were teaching this man named Obiola. He is really lazy. We went to see him at 7 at night and he was sleeping. He sleeps literally all day long. Even though he was coming out of a deep sleep we had a really spiritual lesson with him and he committed to come to church with us on Sunday. Sunday morning comes and we get a text from him saying "Hey missionaries. Don't come by this morning to pick me up. I need to sleep. Oh and no need to come back I will just study the Book of Mormon myself. You guys are interferring with my sleep schedule. But thanks for everything." So yeah we don't teach him anymore. Some peoples children. But this past tuesday Elder Mitchell and I were setting up for our wards Ping Pong night. It's intense. And while we were waiting for it to start, a woman and daughter walk into the church. They come up to us and say in broken english, "Hello we are Christains and we want to help the church with cooking an cleaning for free." We were amazed! Huong and Lily are from Vietnam and have moved here recently. Her 8 year old daughter is fluent in English and translates for her mother. We are seeing Huong and her family this coming week! Posh miracle.

 

I have been reflecting on my past decisions. Like for instance what I was talking about earlier. School activities, my future University, my mission, and so forth. I was wondering why I decided to choose one way rather than the other in certains circumstances. My mission president shared this quote with us; "Pure motives are the essence of divine guidence." I realized that with my decisions I always included the Lord in helping me make the right choice. I'd like to think that my motives were pure so that I qualified for the divine guidence. I know that the Lord was directing me in the path in which he has prepared for me and that he does that for all of his children. We are eligible for our Heavenly Fathers guidence as we strive to keep the commandments, pray fervently, and listen with our spiritaul ears. In the scriptures it tells us the the Holy Ghost is neither loud or harsh but rather the still small voice. In 3 Nephi 11:3 it reads;

 "...and it was not a harsh voice, neither was it a loud voice; nevertheless, and notwithstanding it being a ^bsmall voice it did ^cpierce them that did hear to the center, insomuch that there was no part of their frame that it did not cause to quake; yea, it did pierce them to the very soul, and did cause their hearts to burn."

The Holy Ghost will guide you in all things in which you should do according to the purity in your motives. Take a moment to think about your motives in your everyday activities. Are they in harmony with our Saviour's teachings? We are able to make changes to realign our lives with the straight and narrow path. What a perfect time of year to do so. With Chrismas fast approching, let us all strengthen our testimony in Jesus Christ. As you do so with your families, you will feel a sweet spirit within the home. A home centered on Jesus Christ, is a home where He can reside.

 

I love you all and hope you enjoy this Christmas season! Have a wonderful week.

 

Love,

Elder David

Some Cool People

While serving here, you meet some very cool people! So I wanted to take this time to introduce you to them!

1. Keenan: There is a man in our ward who has helped make Man of Steel, Harry Potter, Avatar, and so forth. He is a super cool guy and he shows us clips in movies where they always use him as an extra.

2. Herbert West: We recently found out that Mr. West used to be the badest Gangster in London. He is in our ward as well. He lost his leg in war but when he had his leg he stood at 6 feet and 5 inches. He is from Antiga. He now moves his way around London in his wheel chair and people are still affraid of him and his power haha. The other missionaries went to go buy some fruit for him and the men selling the fruit asked who are you buying this for? Soon the missionaries told them it was Herebert. "Herbert West?" The missionaries nodded their head. As soon as they did this the other men went crazy and asked how we knew Herbert. They then told us that 20 years ago he owned the streets and that he was loaded with money. They were shocked. We then asked Herbert at church what that was about and he said "Everyone has a past. Lets not talk about it." Haha Crazy man.

3. Mr. Obi: I met a man 2 weeks ago that owns a international oil company. He was quite wealthy....

4. Mary: Mary is a sweet little Sri Lankan woman from our ward and she revealed to us that her sister is married to the President in Sri Lanka! Her sister is Mormon too.

5. Kurt: One of the Arsenal Coaches. We eat at their house every Sunday night.

6. Mehdi: This man lived in Iran and as he grew up he started to believe in Jesus Christ. That is a big no no in Iran. So he was almost killed. He fled the country in his late teens and is now one of the best cocktail artists in London. He is trying to stop drinking though. The Irony.

7. Henrike: Henrike is going to be a friend of mine even after my mission. She has back packed across America, has learned 4 or more languages including sign language, has like 5 masters degreees, her Dad has been the doctor for the last 2-3 Popes, and she is the nicest and most sincere woman I have ever met. She is from Germany and helps me with my German. She now practices Chinese Medicine and has a job oportunity to be the doctor for the Red Bull Pilots in Austria. She has done it all. She is so amazing.

There are some amazing people in this world! And I have met all of these people by the same method. Opening my mouth. When you open you mouth to talk to people around or just in the que (line) at the grocery store, you will meet some amazing people. Everyone has a story. Everyone has had cool experiences. We are all brothers and sisters so lets get to know one another. This week lets try something. Talk to random people while doing your daily business. I promise you will meet some great people and you will also meet some wacko's too. Wacko's make for good stories. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving this past week. Now let the Christmas festivites commence! Have a great week! I love you all!

Oh and here is me on a rope swing.

Love,

Elder David