A Funny Gummy Bear Story

Thomas got permission to phone home the week following Mother's Day because Tom was in Israel on a business trip the week of Mother's Day. We had a fun conversation with him as he regaled us with tales of his adventures in England.

One story he shared with us involved a handful of gummy bears:

In February, we sent Thomas a huge package which included all kinds of treats. Among the Gardettos, gum, Mike & Ike candies, Reeses, and Easter treats, there was a huge bag of gummy bears. We didn't get the really good kind from Costco, just the Black Forest ones from the grocery store.

Apparently Thomas is not a big fan of that kind of gummy bears, and neither are any of the other missionaries in his zone. He shared, or tried to share them with everyone without much success. He pleaded with us not to send any more gummy bears!

The funny part is that his Zone Leader 100% hates gummy bears, period. So as he, the Zone Leader was being transferred, Thomas took a handful of gummy bears and tucked them into every pocket and nook and cranny in his clothes. When the Zone Leader arrived at his destination, he kept finding gummy bears everywhere! He phoned Thomas and gave him a piece of his mind! Thomas was laughing so hard when he told us that story over the phone and we laugh still when we think of it.

I'm so glad he's having a great time!

Week 15 News from Beverley / 1 June

Dear Family,

Give a warm brotherly welcome from me to Kenyon. I'll write him and the rest of the family letters as soon as I find time on a P-Day, yesterday was hectic because there was so much cleaning and organizing to do, I didn't get to do hardly anything at all.

First of all, let me describe what happened since I last wrote an email. Transfer meeting was on Wednesday. I packed all of my worldly belongings into 2 suitcases and headed off with some other missionaries on a bus to Leeds. Saying good-bye to Gateshead was hard, I loved that area. I actually took a really nice picture of some proper chavs walking along the street, and I wanted to send it to you, but the computers at this library won't allow me to work with my camera at all. So it's going to be a picture-less area over here, I'm afraid, unless we can find some other computers to use.

Transfer meeting was fun. It's one of the few times that a lot of missionaries gather together into one place, so it's always a good time to catch up on what other missionaries have been doing. We had 14 missionaries go home and 13 new ones come in; a big transfer. I might have mentioned it before, but Elder Heumos is now training a new missionary, which is the reason I had to leave in the first place. 3 months is the average time a missionary here stays in an area anyway, so it wasn't much of a surprise to those who knew me.

I then took another chartered bus to the Hull zone, along with the other missionaries being transferred there. Beverly was one of the later stops along the way, so I was on the bus for a couple hours. I met my new companion Elder Jacobson at the Hull Chapel, and we drove with a member from there to Beverly.

First, let me tell you about Elder Jacobson. He's from Denver, Colorado and he's only been out 6 weeks longer than me, which was a big surprise. We're both what the ward calls very "fresh" missionaries. He's very soft spoken, which is funny at times because we'll knock on someone's door, and he'll say "hello" so quietly I can barely hear it. The people always have to lean in to hear what he's saying, and then as soon as they realise we're missionaries they usually say, "sorry, not interested" to which all of the sudden Elder Jacobson will get really loud and say "Why not!?", which more often then not shocks the person at the door into listening more. However, I'll just say right now that Beverly is a very, very closed community. It's more in the upper class of society and everyone is pretty comfortable with their lives. You have to be a very precise and obedient missionary if you want to hear the Spirit directing you to an exact house; otherwise, no-one will ever listen to you.

Strangely, we live in a house with a non-member. His name is Steve, he's middle-aged and he's a nice guy, but it's still a little weird to be living in this house with someone not in the Church. We have this little room upstairs which, when I got there, was a right mess. There was also practically no food in our cupboard (we have one cupboard in the kitchen in which to store our food), which to me was very saddening indeed. I ended up mostly eating Bran Flakes until Monday, when we could go shopping. Not a very fun diet, but I feel very carbohydratey.

So the first thing we did was clean the little room in the morning, and also we spent some time on Friday afternoon cleaning out the Area Book, which contains all the information of anyone that's ever been contacted by the missionaries. It was an absolute mess, so we organized it and started going through all the former investigators, which is a way that missionaries can find people to teach. People who have been taught before but have decided to not take any more of the missionary lesson sometimes change their minds and regret discontinuing contact with the missionaries. So we spent a good hour or so calling all the former investigators who had given us their phone numbers, and trying to set up appointments with them. One of them actually said to come by that night, so we did, and he is now a new investigator for us. The Area Book is one of the most ignored things in the missionary field, yet it is critical for so many reasons in missionary work. Maybe that's why I got transferred to Beverly; all the missionaries before me just kind of gave up because of what a tough area Beverly generally is, but there are people in every area that need to be taught, it's just a matter of finding them.

Beverly also happens to be an area where bikes pretty much are required. It's optional right now in all areas; if your area doesn't have a car assigned to it you can choose to use public transportation to get around, or you can use a bike. Since there's basically no public transportation here, bikes are what we use. If you look at a map of the Beverly area you'll see that Beverly itself is a smallish village, in the middle of a lot of country and forest. There are a lot of little villages around where we are, and the area we actually cover is enormous. I'm not sure what the exact boundaries are, but if you get a map and look at some of the places I'm going to mention you'll see what I mean. It goes all the way to the east coast, covering the village of Hornsea. It goes as far north as Driffield, and extends to other villages I don't even know the names of. A few villages are Walkington, Cherry Burton, and Cranswick. Lots of other places too.
There's actually a place right next to Beverly called Westwood, which you can google and find out more about. Basically it's this fielded area where no one can build anything, by law. There's just a couple small roads going through, and a whole lot of cows roaming free throughout this area. Reminds me of Dad telling us about his trip to India.

This is definitely a very scenic area. I'll take some pictures and send them when I can, because there are just so many narrow streets and old buildings. Gateshead actually looked pretty modern compared to Beverly, but to me it seems like it's been lost in time, especially in the city center. Cobblestones, terraced, 2-storied housing is absolutely everywhere.

Well it's another busy day ahead. Mostly just finding and knocking for now, not too many people we're teaching right now. Don't worry, we'll get some.

There seems to be a lot of troubled kids around this area though. Somehow not suprising, I think they're a bit spoiled by their parents. Last night we locked up our bikes to this lamp-post so we could go knocking in the area, and when we came back, our back tires were flat and we could see some chavs looking at us from across this park. It kind of looked like they were laughing. Elder Jacobson got mad and started to yell at them but I reminded him that that's exactly what they wanted to do: get a reaction out of us. Something I learned from my parents, I believe :) but anyway, we just walked home with our bikes (with the chavs starting to yell at us as we walked), and it took a good 30 minutes to do so. Not too bad, considering how big our area is. It could have been a lot worse and we might have needed to call a member to come pick us up.

It was just a learning experience for me though. Time sure flies here. Can't believe it's June, and I don't plan on believing it until next year when it's June again. Not that the weather says its June anyway. It's just one big cloud, as far as I can see, and still pretty cold. Just like Oregon.

Anyway, my time here at the library is far spent. Looking forward to more pictures of everyone of course, and I hope that everyone over there stays safe.

Until next Monday-

Love,

Elder Alsop

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