Birthday Boy

Yesterday I turned 20! No longer a teenager even though I am feeling the same. Even though I am pretty new to the ward, they treated me yesterday. One member of the ward brought lasagna and dessert for that evening. All the YSA people got me cupcakes and got me a princess card. All my family will laugh at this. It made up for Aunt Jenns usual Barbie doll gift! Do I put off the vibe that I like that stuff or something? But it was a great day. 

All the missionaries were assigned to speak this week as well.  Second time speaking in the last two weeks!! We also performed the song I'm trying to be like Jesus and I played the piano for it!! It was the first time I have performed a song while playing the piano! Elder Adriano played the violin and sang with elder Sunglao. Not a dry eye in the crowd. They did great! We will be recording it soon and I will send it out on the Google drive I set up. I will let you know when! 

This week we found a gold mine called pueblitos. It Is a Mexican restaurant that we got invited to last week and we met 4 people this week there that we are now teaching. All of them keep bringing their friends to us! One of them already met with missionaries when he lived in California and has visited the temple. He already knows it is all true!! Great miracles and it is helping me learn Spanish!! Good thing Elder Adriano speaks the language!

Two weeks ago we met a woman and had a great conversation with her! She felt the Spirit and began crying. When we asked to meet and exchange contact information she was hesitant and said she has had bad experiences in the past with that so she preferred not to. We said it was okay and gave her the details of the church. She walked off and that was it. Now yesterday while waiting for everyone to arrive for church, in walks this young mother and her husband dressed and ready for church!! We were so excited and introduced them to everyone! We will be meeting with wonderful new family this week! This work is truly I'm Gods hands. We couldn't have done anything for what happened. At some point she went home and told her husband about us and agreed to come. So cool. When we stopped her I asked, "Do you play the piano?" Because our ward needs someone who can play the piano.  She didn't but yesterday she comes to the church to see me playing the piano and was confused. I had to tell her I can't read music. She thought I was a liar at first!! Got it all sorted haha. 

Tonight Elder Adriano is taking me out to a birthday dinner in Covent Garden!! We really get on well!! We will take picture and I will send them when I can. We are on iPads in Westfield so I can't attach any photos from my camera!! 

Have a great week!!! 

Elder David 

African Food!

The new ward I am in is all African and they cook the best rice. I mentioned it last year and it is called Jalif rice! They always cook it with Plantain and Chicken! YUMMY!

This week we met a lot of Wonderful people and here is a story of one of them! 

So we were about to take the tube home until Elder Adrianospotted a man that he knew. We then tried chasing this man down the stairs and followed him on the tube and tried to talk with him but he got off and got on the next carriage down before we had a chance to catch up and sit next to him. So we were trapped on the tube and start speaking to this Columbian man who was so nice. He owned a restaurant and told us to come have free dinner tomorrow night at his restaurant. He told us we are doing a good job! So that was pretty cool. So then we get off to start heading back home. While waiting for the tube to come a man was passing by me and the words, "Hello Sir." Just slipped out of my mouth. I didn't mean to say them but it happened. The man looked behind him, thinking I was talking to someone else. We had a great conversation after that. He was going the same way. His name is Zsolt and is such a nice man from Hungary. He used to be a really good poker player and has given that up and moved here. He said he recently began to start believing in God and got baptised. He said it was so great to meet us and would like to come to church with us. We talked for about 40 minutes because he needed to take the exact same bus as well. The Lord put him in our path and pretty much made the words come out of my mouth! 

The next night we went to go eat at the Columbian Restaurant and while we were there guess who we saw? The man we were chasing after before meeting that guy! We talked to him and his wife and are going to see them tomorrow night to teach them and their son!! Miracle after miracle! 

Things are great here! I will be turning 20 this Sunday and I am excited!! The big 2-0. I will attach some pictures now! Enjoy! 

Cheers,

Elder David

Languages again!!

So as you all know and probably remember is that Elder Adriano speaks so many different languages and it is so cool to see him do it! Man we taught so many lessons this week in different languages and I just tag along! haha I like when it is in spanish and portugues because I can understand a little bit of it but not much! I can only imagine how Dalton feels and is probably a pro at it by now! I am jealous that he will be completely fluent when he comes home but it just motivates me to come home and learn some languages! 

This week we had some a really cool person come speak to us in the London North and Hyde Park Zones! Brad Wilcox came to speak to us and it was so dang cool! He gave a talk to us and also another one to the stake YSA! It was so cool. He has a famous talk called his grace is sufficient and you all need to read it. Type in Brad Wilcox his grace is sufficient and you should find it.  It is one of my favourite talks ever! 

So Arjay and Jing got baptised on Sunday! The family that Elder Torgeson and I taught when I was in Hyde Park! They got baptised and it was great to see. President let me come down to watch it and man it was beautiful to see.  I will attach some pictures when I receive them! 

Things are going great here and I am loving it! Will talk to you in a week!! 

Where the Olympics were  held!

Eu em Stratford, que e onde foram os jogos olimpicos de Londres.

Elder Adriano

Eu com o Brad Wilcox e a sua esposa e o elder David

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! 2015!

So last year I am sure you all remember the story of me sleeping through new years. I was so mad about it last year so I promised myself that it would not happen this year again. Especially becuase the new flat that I live in has the greatest view of London. We are in a huge building and have a look out over London. So I set my alarm for 11:50 and then go to bed. I then wake up in the morning to Elder Adriano's alarm at 6:29. I was so confused and wondered how I slept through the alarm again! I forgot that the phones here in Enland operate on the 24 hour clock so I set it for 11:50 am instead of the intended 23:50! So once again I sleep through the new year in London. 

I love serving again with Elder Adriano! He has been really sick this week but he didn't let that hold him back. He works so hard and because of it we had some amazing miracles this week. We had Zone Training Meeting on Thursday and it went great!

After Zone Training meeting we had an exchange with the Assistants and I was able to go back to Hyde Park haha. I walk back into the Visitors Centre and everyone was making comments like, "Back already?" or "Man, we just can't get rid of you can we?" It was so funny. Right as we walk in Malou comes around the corner and was so surprised to see me. She just lost it and started to scream and jump up and down. She tried to attack me but I handled it well and calmed her down. They were teaching Arjay and Jing who are getting baptised this weekend! So exciting! We had a great exchange! Then the next day I was back in the area. 

So here are a few miracles from the week:

1) Elder Adriano and I were going to find a less active member and see how they were doing. Neither of us have met the person we were searching for. We get to the door and knock. A small Nigerian woman answers the door and then comes down her husband. They were not the people we were looking for but they were interested and wanted us to come back and teach them more. It was so cool how we were led to this new family!

2) Ten minutes after that we were waiting at the bus stop for the bus and started talking to this man who is from the Congo. He looks at our badge and gets really excited to meet us. He then began to tell us that he has been going to church with his friend up in Birmingham and that he is moving down to our area in a few weeks. He has visited the temple and we think has been taught all the lessons. We will be seeing him Tuesday evening and he is coming to church with us this Sunday. 

3) On Saturday evening we were talking to people as we were going back to our flat for dinner and I stop these two young Chinese students. The boy is not very interested but the girl who was visiting from China was so interested. We talk for a short while and then she agreed to come to church with us on Sunday. We show up on Sunday and she is there. She sat through the service quietly and then after we began to talk. We step outside into the hall and I share a scripture with her. After sharing the scripture with her I look up and she has tears rolling down her cheeks. She felt the spirit so strong and knew it. She said, "I have been searching for God for four years now. It is hard to do that in China and I have this battle with myself arguing if Christianity is right or Busddhism. I lost my passport 2 days ago and had to cancel my flight and postpone my trip back to China. I was so frustrated and scared but now I know why I lost it. I was meant to meet you so you could teach me more about God." While still in tears we move to a quiet room and begin to teach her how to pray. As she prays for the first time she can not control her tears. I have never heard a more heart felt and sincere prayer than the one she offered. We gave her a Book of Mormon in Chinese later that evening and will be meeting with her one more time before she flies back to China for good. She just sent me this email though and it is so sweet.

Hi, David

Here is Sarah. Just say Hi and let you know that I have read the Chapter 32. I will let the seed grow and nourish it with great careness. Thank you for bringing a seed unto me.  I choose to give it time to grow, to swell and to occupy my heart. Then I could thoughly be with our God with all my heart. 

Thanks again, for bringing me to Him. 

She is so great and  I will keep you all updated on what happens next. Stay tuned. 

Just a great week!! And the Zone is doing so well too. The Lord is with us. 

Love, 

Elder David

Lego Santa gave me some great gifts!! 

Lego Santa and his Reindeer 

zone meeting