Week 14 The First Transfer / 25 May

Dear Family,

Guess what! Transfer calls were last night, I am leaving Gateshead tomorrow morning. It was quite a suprise, I've only been in Gateshead for about three months. It's unusual for someone so new to be changing companions every transfer like this. Now, I don't know much about the area I'll be going to, but it's called Beverly, if you want to look it up. I hear it's a bit more to the South end of the mission boundaries.My companion's name is Elder Jacobson; however, I know nothing about him yet :) you'll be sure to get a plentiful email next week.

I think I'm going to miss Gateshead. There are a lot of great people, in and out of the church. It's also just a very scenic area, what with Newcastle just across the river, and there are always sights to see in England, probably just because it's so old. I've tried to take more pictures of just what would seem like normal scenery to me, so that you have more of an idea of the areas I've been in.

Nutter-Butters! That's one thing I needed to add to my list of things to send. They don't exist in England and I really want Nutter-Butters. Actually, I think I am just craving some proper peanut butter products.

Last week, or the week before maybe, I was on another exchange with Elder Caine in Gateshead. Since he's from South Africa, he likes to go out of his way to talk to all the black people he sees. It's pretty funny. Anyway, he talked to this little black lady named Chipo Muguti, who invited us to visit her the very next day. We found out that she is from Zimbabwe and that she has quite a bit of family here in England. We'd gone to see her twice, when we felt prompted to schedule her for baptism, which she accepted. Her date right is the 10th of June, she's been to church and she has loved it (she actually asked if she could take a Gospel Principles manual home with her). We even managed to find a Book of Mormon in Shona, which is her native tongue, and she has enjoyed reading from the scriptures even more since we gave her that. She has asked for multiple copies of the DVDs we've shown her so that she can give them to her friends and family. She especially loved the Restoration DVD. One of her sons, Jeff, lives with her, and the first time we were able to teach him, he told his mom afterward that he wanted to be a missionary. He's only 25 so that is quite possible for him.

Sadly, I am going to be leaving now. We have so many great investigators, I am very disappointed about leaving, just when it seems like the effort I put in is rewarding fruits. But I know that the Lord wants me in Beverly, wherever that is, so I am ready to go. It's still so weird to think that almost all my worldly posessions can fit into 2 suitcases. as I've been packing a lot.

We chose a late time to come to the Library for email. A lot of work needed to be done to clean out our flat, and of course there were people I needed to visit. It's 5:40 here right now and we have a tea appointment at 6... but I promise I'll write a lot next week, as I'm sure there will be a lot to say about Beverly. I hear some rumors floating around that it's a pretty high-class area to live in, so we'll see how it is.

All is well. Until next week-

Love,

Elder Alsop

A couple of photos Thomas sent us this week. See his captions below the photos.

Elder Heumos crying when he realised he hadn't recieved any post,only a menu from a local curry hut

A lovely picture of Mama Ives' nearly dead dog, named Andy. Note the droopy lips from having a grand total of 3 teeth.

Week 13 Stopped by Police / 18 May

We had just spoken on the phone to Thomas the day before he sent this e-mail. It was great to hear his voice and to have actual back and forth instantaneous conversation. Usually we have to wait a week for him to get a question from us and answer, then another week for our answer back to him. It makes it hard to do anything quickly.

He is a pleasure to have as a son. We love his willingness to follow the mission rules and to obey his leaders. These traits will serve him well over the course of his life.

James is another missionary in our ward who will be leaving for Mexico in September.

Dear Family,

I can hardly remember what I was about to talk about yesterday. I started explaining something at the end but then I completely forgot.

One thing I did remember that James might want to know (as well as Alisa) is bring only one type of black sock. Make them all the same color and style, because the socks I have now are all different styles and varieties and it takes an eternity to sort them out after laundry. It wasn't something I even considered before my mission, but I wish I had.

I still can't believe James is going to Mexico! I need to send him a letter, can I get his address? And I'm going to write the letter completely in Spanish, as well.

Did you ever manage to get a little photo book put together? I would love to have something like that to show the other missionaries. They refuse to believe that my entire family has brown hair.

I just remembered some stories I never told you about from a couple weeks ago. First of all, you remember that I told you we live in the middle of a fairly big Jewish community? Keep that in mind:

We were checking up on a potential investigator, and we were actually talking to him on the doorstep and checking up on his Book of Mormon reading, when all of the sudden, I glance over my shoulder and there's these 2 policemen standing behind me at the gate. Somehow, we managed to stay focused and finish our conversation with the investigator and leave him with a couple commitments, and he closes the door. We turn around and walk up to the policemen, and they tell us to come with them. We walk a little ways down the sidewalk, and then they stop, and start talking to us. One of the policemen (who actually had red hair) started off telling us "Alright, here's the problem we have." Meanwhile, I notice a growing group of Jewish people all standing off on the other side of the sidewalk looking at us and talking amongst themselves. "We received a report a couple weeks ago that one of your missionaries tried to offer cake to a Jewish kid. The kid panicked and phoned the police, and we've been looking for a 'ginger missionary' ever since." To which the red-headed police officer actually smiled.

It turns out that Jewish kids tend to freak out a lot, due to their parents teaching them that everyone else is basically a heathen. The police thought it might have been some sort of child abuser at large, but when they saw me and started talking to me they actually started laughing. They had a similar incident in which these 2 chavs were giving a Jewish kid a hard time. This big guy walked up to the chavs and told them off. Once the chavs had walked away, the big guy turned to the Jewish kid and said "Are you alright?" The Jewish kid ran away, and called the police on him. I had to laugh when I heard that story.

We left the police on good terms, and I'm sure it made their day. They actually gave us a personal number cell number to call if we ever needed anything. I especially liked that the officer regarded us highly once he realised we were still teenagers. He said he wished all the youth of the world could do such respectable things with their lives. I've seen that same officer a couple times and we always wave at each other.

Later that night, on a completely unrelated event, we got back to the flat and started to plan for the next day when we heard a noise outside the door. Sounded like a cat yowling, and sure enough, it was. A little black kitten had found its way into our backyard and had no way to get out. We eventually had to prop open the back gate just so it could leave, because every time I would put it outside our little yard, it would climb up and drop back in and have no way out. We just had to leave it, and try and get some sleep, but it kept yowling all night. Whoof. Two days later it finally disappeared, and later on I saw it running along with its mom cat. I'm attaching some pictures, some of the cat. I think Brandon will enjoy those pictures. I actually have a video but I can't send it right now due to camera difficulties. I'll try next week.

I'm out of stories for now! For a final checklist on things to send: Proper American peanut butter, Reeses, different flavor Mike&Ikes, Gardettos, picture book, pens, and I think that's about it. Pack it full of anything else you think I might like, though :) I'm sure my companion will enjoy tasting American treats no matter what they are.

Take care, and let the ward know I'm working hard. Mostly walking.

Love,

Elder Alsop

Week 12 It Is Always Worth It! / 10 May

Our stake held a groundbreaking ceremony for a stake center building on May 15th. Our stake offices have been in an office building in town, while the wards in our stake have been sharing our building (three congregations), and farming out one of our wards to another stake's building. It is an exciting time for all of us and we will be excited to have our own building for stake conferences and other activities.

Dear Family,

What's happened since Wednesday? A lot of walking, of course, but I think there is one amazing experience that really sticks out to me.

Since Thursday Elder Hemous and I have been working through the former investigators in the area book. We organized them accoring to areas, and then streets within the areas, and since then we have been going through and visiting all these people. We visited a former investigator who lives on a street called St.Cuthberts Rd, and who unfortunately wasn't even there at the time. But then we felt impressed to go back a different way to visit our next appointment. We took a really curvy path through a park, and Elder Heumos saw this man walking down a path a little ways down. It would have been easy to just ignore him but Elder Heumos yelled "Hey!" at the top of his voice and got this man to stop. We approached him and told him who we were, then straightaway told him there was a living prophet on the earth today, who had been called by God. He stopped and had this weird look on his face, which was frighteningly similar to the "Staunch Catholic Hatred" face we get a lot. I thought we were going to get told off again, but he just asked "Wait... you're telling me, there's a prophet, alive, on the earth today?" to which we replied with a happy yes. I asked him "How important would that be to you if you could find out that was true?" He just was silent for a couple seconds, but then exclaimed "That would be amazing!"

It was indeed amazing, as we taught him about the Restoration right there on the street. He seemed skeptical but opened up once we explained how he could know the truth for himself through prayer. He understood completely that he needed to ask God for himself (which, to be honest, is not something that happens over here) and accepted a return appointment as well as the challenge to come to Church on Sunday. Unfortunately he ended up not coming to church on Sunday because of his wife being in the hospital, but we talked to him on the phone a few times that day and are visiting him tomorrow. Of course, my more experienced companion is afraid to get his hopes up, but I always think to myself "What's the point of having hopes if you can't get them up? And of course, if we get let down, I always have the Atonement to rely on so that I don't discouraged. Missionary work is tough work but it is always worth it.

And how the time is absolutely flying by. I can't believe it's already been almost 3 months. When I think about the almost 3 years in Israel, and how that went by like nothing at all, I can already see the end of my mission coming ever closer, and I don't like the feeling. I can already understand how the missionaries who are going home must feel. It's probably the most depressing point in your mission when you realise you're going home. It's so important to make the most of every second of this time we're given.

The Stake Center groundbreaking is this Saturday. Wow. That is incredibly hard to think about, that there might be a finished Forest Grove Stake Center when I get back. And maybe even a fully established pig pen. Who knows?

Well I've got to go. Until next week-

Love,

Elder Alsop

Week 11 Another Rare Excerpt From the Life of England / 5 May

A minute of "Momentary"...

Thomas talks a lot in this e-mail about his side part. For those of you who know him well, he has always had fairly untamable hair. His hair does as it likes, and about all we can do is pull out the weedwhacker to chop it down every 6 weeks or so. It's unruly, curly, and not agreeable to a part. One of the requirements of this mission is to have your hair with a side part. We joked so much about this before he left. He was required to send in a passport photo with a side part in his hair. We gelled and coaxed and managed to get him to Costco with a side part. By the time I finished my shopping, his hair was asserting its vow to defy control. By the time he gets back in 2012, I think he will have conquered his hair, maybe forever!

Thomas also makes reference to "the skunk thing". About 11 at night on Saturday, May 1st to the most horrible skunk smell I have ever experienced in my life. We still do not know exactly where it came from, but it made sleeping impossible. Of course Tom was out of the country on a business trip, so I didn't even have a man to "rescue" me. Holy cow, it was horrid. My eyes were watering, and there was not much sleeping that night. It wouldn't do any good to open the doors and windows to air out the house since the "air out" is where the stench was coming from. Finally, sometime the next day, the smell abated enough to breathe freely, but lingered on outside for a few days. Some skunk, somewhere, met his doom and made my life miserable. I was just grateful that it wasn't my dog or my kid that tangled with the skunk!


Dear Family,

It's hard to wait until Wednesday to email home. It was another bank holiday this last Monday (there are quite a few of those throughout the year in England) so I couldn't email then, and zone conference was yesterday in Billingham so everyone had to wait until today to email. Things like that will probably happen quite frequently over here.

Zone conference was absolutely amazing. Sister Stock gave another amazing talk and testimony about Jesus Christ, and President Stock was so moved by it that his talk afterwards was mostly just in reflection of his wife's words. Somehow the whole day just zipped by as we learned more about helping our investigators make and keep commitments, which is something that Elder Heumos and I were really in need of after last week. Somehow, we confirmed about 6 people for church (and by 'confirmed' I mean they seemed sincerely set on attending) and then none of them showed up! Of course it was disappointing, but afterwards I realised that I had done all I could to bring these people to church. No matter what we do, people will always have their agency, especially since agency is one of the most important things in God's plan for us. We'll try to see all those people again and try and resolve any concerns they might have, and I know that as long as we are continually guided by the Spirit that we have done our part.

We are still teaching some wonderful people though. We talked to an elderly man and woman on the street named Gordon, and Betty, and set up a return appointment to talk to Betty (Gordon wasn't interested). When we showed up at the appointed time, no one was home, but we continually checked by because I felt like we needed to keep trying to get into contact with her. Finally after a week or so, we knocked and Gordon showed up at the door. He was visiting Betty, and we were invited in. It turns out Betty had been at a hospital a lot, caring for one of her relatives. We talked to both of them about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and surprisingly enough, Gordon turned out to be the one who showed the most interest. Betty is a wonderful lady, always very cheerful, but she's in her 80s and is a little deaf, and maybe not entirely there upstairs. Gordon, on the other hand, is bright and has so many questions about the Plan of Salvation that I spent almost the entire time talking with him. We committed them both to read about the Plan of Salvation and pray to know of its truthfulness. They are also coming to church this next Sunday, that is, if Betty doesn't have to go to the hospital again. I think we are going to try and see them later today.

Gateshead is a strange area, to be honest. The people are generally more friendly than the rest of England, but when we find a sincere person to teach, and leave them a commitment, we tend to never see them again. I used to think that this was just part of missionary work in general, but Elder Heumos is confused at the fact that no one up here keeps appointments. Down South, I think its more of a strict custom to keep commitments with people you talk to, but up North its a bit of a struggle. Isn't that weird?

I've never had more fun doing missionary work though. Sometimes, when Elder Heumos has had enough of people turning him down, he relieves stress by hailing people in different ways, and introducing our message by unorthodox means (with surprising results). He enjoys referring to men as "Captain" as he waves them down, and from time to time, the first thing he asks people to introduce the gospel is "Excuse me, do you think my side part is powerful? That's good, because we share a powerful message about Jesus Christ..."

In case you're wondering, side parts are all that matter to senior missionaries. How "powerful" their side parts are determines (semi-jokingly) how powerfully they can be guided by the Spirit. "Inspiration comes through the side part, Elder" is one of Elder Heumos' favorite things to say. I guess it makes sense.

Anyway, its good to know that everyone is getting better. Except the skunk thing, that's not so good. When are you gettting pigs? Just make sure to send pictures of everything going on over there (and everyone), so I don't feel like a complete stranger when I get back. Is Rudy looking a whole lot older now? And how are the stake center plans?

Alright, I'm running out of time. Let everyone know I'm still safe and sound.

Love,

Elder Alsop