TTFN = Ta Ta for Now

October 1, 2012 Monday

Dear Family,

I know you guys have been busy, but I appreciate the time you take to write to me. There is nothing I look forward to more than P Days because I get to read all the mail :) I hope you guys have received my letter by now... if not... just let me know. I'm picking up some stamps from the post office today so I can send more letters home.

So to answer some of mother’s questions... The Taska bag I have is kinda big and bulky just for walking around talking to people in town center, so I'd like a smaller bag that I can fit just a few things in like a mini quad and a Book of Mormon or two, so I can hand them out to people who are interested. The bag he has is tall and narrow so it fits quite a bit of stuff, with taking up so much room. Don't get me wrong, I love the Taska bag for making visits to members and holding groceries and stuff.

The flat we are in is pretty Ghetto. The flat above us was leaking down into ours so I'll send you a picture of the honeycomb water droplets on the ceiling that were dripping down through. The flat above us got evicted because the guys were dealing drugs or something up above us... so pretty sketchy.

Yeah for the most part things are ok. I've been down to the river a few times and taken pictures with Elder Hansen and me looking into the sunset and stuff.  It’s pretty gorgeous along the Thames River here, but it’s also the docking port for England so quite industrial at the same time. I've been getting to know the area pretty well, we cover from Chadwell to Chafford Hundred so quite a few miles, and I've walked all of them. I've lost about 3 pounds on average since I've been here... so not bad eh?

Thames near Grays

We had our first District meeting last Friday and I got to meet the other Elders of our District. My district leader is Elder Badger and his comp. Elder Purrdy and the two zone leaders are in my district as well Elder Grove and Elder White. All these guys are awesome and I've had the pleasure of meeting them. Things have kind of been none stop around here. We always have somewhere to go somewhere to be and constantly walking... but that’s ok, I need the exercise.

Elder Hansen

 I've been teaching several investigators that are very... interesting. They believe everything we tell them yet... don't want to get baptized because they believe the Holy Spirit hasn't told them yet and they don't seem to understand the concept of authority... So we'll keep trying but they are some stubborn cookies out here... funny thing is they don't know what a cookie is out here :).

We met with a brand new investigator from Purfleet. His name is Alan and he was a referral from Basildon just up the road. He knows a recent convert friend of ours and has seen the changes that have come into his life, so Alan wants those same changes for himself. He's struggled with smoking pot and drugs for much of his teenage years and he is only 17... so kinda young to get into that kind of stuff... but he's eager to learn and to change himself, so we'll get to meet with him again this Wednesday.

I've been getting to know the members here, and boy are they solid. The members in England are so different than the ones in Utah because they have much stronger testimonies and they see the change the church has brought into their lives. I love hearing their conversion stories and how much they had to give up just to live in harmony with our standards. We have dinners with most of the ward about every other night, and I love to tell them about Utah and our family, but I love to hear their stories as well. When I get back I can share all of them... but I've heard so many I can't recall all of them through this email.

I love seeing the pictures you guys send. Everything is changing in Utah, like the leaves and the landscape, but here in England everything is still green... but it’s cold... damp cold. The winters here are worse than in Utah because the dampness. It clings to you and freezes you to the bone. I'm not terribly excited so I'll pick up some nice warm wool gloves like the ones Elder Hansen has. I really love that you guys still think of me and send stuff to me. I really need the support because a mission is hard and having a loving supporting family makes my life here a lot easier.

I love seeing Hazel and how she's doing, she's still my cute puppy dog over there and I show off her picture to the Elders around here. I hope you guys are making good use of my computer and iPad. It seems like you guys probably use it more than I do, and I'm glad that they didn't go to waste :) I miss my computer and stuff, but I'm so busy here, that even if I did have it I really would not have time to use it... surprisingly enough. My iPad would be a different story... I could find plenty of uses for it... but none the less I am obedient. It’s not like scout camp where you can sneak your electronics there lol :)

Audi R8

Anyways, I've had a nice week and I love all the recipes you sent for us. I really love them, and I'm going to try to use all of them. I'll send you multiple emails with the pictures I'm going to send. Also... if you had time... could you send me portable hard drive, like 500 GB maybe? I want to store my photos on them so I can erase them on the camera cards... because I take a lot of pictures :) I hope you guys see me in one of those traffic cameras or something that Dad was talking about. Feel free to send me physical letters as well as emails I love both. And... about the garments thing mom was talking about... I could use some Thermals maybe about 3 pair would be good because it gets cold over.... >_<

So I hope you guys are going to have a good week, and send me that credit card whenever you can... that would be great. Oh... and I realized a few days ago, and mom you’re not gonna like this, but my social security card was hiding behind one of my credit cards in my wallet >_<. So I put it in a safe place, and I don't want to lose it but I thought you guys should know. I'm having a great time out here with Elder Hansen and I'll let you guys know if I need anything. I'm grateful to have you guys looking out for me. I believe next week I'll include a section in this email to my friends and to some of the Elders that have left the MTC so I'll get you the addresses I want you to send that section of the email to them. I'll check my blog and see what it looks like :).

TTFN, Ta Ta for Now

Your Older Brother and Son,

Elder Bradley Smith