Elder Brad Smith Across the Pond: Trying to Take Over the World:)

First Package--Hard Drive for Photo Storage

October 9, 2012 Tuesday

Hello again Family,

It has been another long and exciting week in England where all it does is rain and be cold... but that’s OK. I've had the best privilege of enjoying General Conference this weekend. Mom, you asked how we watched it, and I will tell you; so, we started watching the Saturday Morning session about at 5 in the afternoon. That was the only session we actually watched live. Because missionaries have to be in their flats by nine we could not watch the later session or Priesthood session until Sunday Morning. We watched three sessions of Conference on Sunday including the Priesthood session, Saturday afternoon, and Sunday morning. We have to wait two weeks where in our sacrament meetings they will show the last session of Conference.

We had to travel to the only stake center in the area which is Romford. Man, travel is so dang expensive. This past week we have had to take trains to everywhere we go and it really stacks up. So, General Conference probably cost us about 25 pounds or 40 dollars just for travel. And that was only just Conference, not even all the other places we went during the week. We couldn't catch a train to Upminster where we would then go back to Grays the first night of Conference, so we had to take a double bus, which was a lot of fun, back to Lakeside and then walked 5 miles back to the flat... all at eleven at night... Plus, we had the Southend Elders with us because they could not catch a train back either... So, Elder Badger and Elder Purddy crashed at our flat for that night and stole all my blankets and stuff. What an interesting weekend.

You guys obviously heard how they changed the age limit for serving missions. I was so stoked to hear that Mark could actually serve his mission right out of high school, but I got your letter and I agree that a semester of college would be better for him before he comes out here. I've been having a lot of fun out here and I haven't forgotten all the support I get from home... I love you guys so much. I might send some snail mail letters but postage is outrageous here... so I'll see if I can get some stamps or something. I'm sending some pics home of our flat so you can see what the place I live in is like. I also got my Hard Drive already... so sweet. Thanks so much Dad. That got here in like two days. So yes, I do have it.

We just met some really cool people today while OYMing, Open Your Mouth, basically just talking to people, and found a woman who had just lost her partner, kinda like a husband but not legally married... kinda weird for me but normal for England, and she was distressed about why her church couldn't answer her questions. Oh Man!, did we help her out. We answered all her questions, plus some, and we got to know her pretty well. She had a daughter, I believe... not sure if they are related, but they live together, and she came and started talking to us. We gave both of them a Book of Mormon and asked if we could meet them again. We really did talk for a long time, and my letter can't really fit in all the details, but these people really did feel the Spirit. The girl was about twenty and she was sort of flirting with us. She actually respected us a lot because we don't act like the other twenty year olds out here. She basically said she'd love to marry us because we have such high standards... but that would be kinda awkward... Anyways it’s kind of nice to know that people respect us because we aren't low lifes, drug addicted, nubcakes like the Chavs that live out here. A Chav is kind of like a punk in our society, but they talk super funny like "What up Brov" and "A'low it Man" and funny stuff like that. Their accent just cracks me up because they sound like utter retards, even the regular English people think they are dumb.

Anyways I've been working on getting these recipes mom has given me and actually cooking them. I've learned a lot of different dishes and one of these days I'm going to send back some of the recipes that I have gotten from the members out here. Oh I'm so excited, On Friday I get to meet with Bro. Jones and again try the “Jones Challenge”. Basically Bro Jones just gives us so much food that we can't eat it all... but I'm going to prove him wrong this time!!! Lol, it’s all fun out here. Don't worry about me too much, but the cold is coming in so Mittens and Gloves and Scarves would be great if you could send them to me. The best thing ever, would be to make me some gloves out of Ludwig’s fur and I'll take a picture of me wearing them in Town Center or something. I'll take pictures of the stuff you send me just so you know it gets to me.

I hope you guys will write more letters this next week, I love looking forward to writing back to you guys. I wish you best of luck back at school and hope that everything is going OK. I hope I covered everything this week, so I hope to hear from you soon. Of course I'll send more pictures. I love seeing them go up on the blog. Mom, I love the blog keep it up. I wrote you guys on Tuesday today because we had a zone p-day yesterday so I had no time to write yesterday. I love getting pictures from you guys, I love my puppy dog, Hazel. She is so pretty. Dad I love getting letters from you, but I haven't really had time to write you personally... Sorry about that! Hopefully, everything is good. Just let me know if you want anything... souveanier wise... I can't spell either... blehhh... but yeah. Hope to hear from you soon.

Your Son, and Brother

Elder Bradley J. Smith

"What are we doing today, Elder Smith?""The same thing we do every day. Trying to take over the World!!!!, Elder."