Dear Family,
Yes, it's starting to get a little colder now. Apparently today is supposed to be the last pretty sunny day, and starting tomorrow it will start raining again. Tomorrow is supposed to be pretty much a downpour, and I'm actually looking forward to it.
Elder Perkins and I have been looking at winter coats. There are basically two places that usually sell the style we both want to get (especially him because he's going home soon). They are called Burton's and Topman. They each only have one style of coat in right now, and neither of them are exactly what we're looking for, but I believe I still have enough money from the personal funds that I came out with to purchase it. If I don't have enough I will let you know.
I was thinking yesterday about a few things I might want in other packages, if people are short for ideas. Firstly, I really miss Nutter Butters. Also, the hot chocolate they sell in England is usually tasteless, and I was thinking that having some of that Deseret Industries hot chocolate mix would be incredible. It's definitely the best hot chocolate I've ever had. Maybe it's not called Deseret Industries, but it's the one that we always have in our food storage, that we get from the cannery. Don't know if they even are selling that right now. More peanut butter is always nice. Reeses are of course amazing. Gardettos are good, but only if you can get them on a sale at Albertsons or Walmart or something, otherwise they are way too expensive.
Sounds like a list of demands I'm making. On a more spiritual side, a big focus of our mission lately has been allowing the Spirit to be felt in the lives of our investigators, by letting them take a lot of crucial steps for themselves. Too often, investigators are 'babied' by missionaries who are afraid of losing them or being dropped. We've been taught that perhaps one of the most critical times of building up themselves can take place right after the first appointment, when we offer to leave with a prayer. We are now encouraged even more to have the investigator say the prayer instead of a missionary, and we are being taught to resolve any concerns they might have about saying a prayer in public. Sometimes that has been quite hard, but it had been worth it to see the people we are teaching make more critical steps for themselves.
I'm giving another talk in sacrament meeting, in 2 weeks time. Next week is Stake Conference, and Elder George Donaldson will be speaking. He is now an Area Seventy, but I knew him back in the MTC when he was one of the presidents there. He actually gave me my exit interview, and the following General Conference he was sustained to the Seventy which really surprised me. So now I get to meet Elder Donaldson again. I'm sure he'll remember me; everyone does. It's the hair.
Let James know I'm really excited for him leaving on a mission. Make sure I can get his mission address as soon as possible. Maybe even the MTC address too, because he'll be in there for a while.
I wish I had more to add about the work going on in Newton Aycliffe. We seem to rotate through investigators pretty frequently. It's a hard area to work in, but those seem to be the areas I'm getting sent to. I can guarantee as soon as the work really starts picking up, I'll be transferred up and away to another suffering area to see what I can make of it. It's enjoyable to me, though, to be switching around companions and areas so fast. I don't know if I could really stay with the same area and companion for very long, it would just get very boring to me.
Still safe and sound, let everyone know I'm doing well. My hair is still very much red, as people on the street feel they should point out every day. A red-haired missionary is a very new concept to them. Too bad they don't feel like paying extra close attention to what I say because of it.
Love,
Elder Alsop
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