Shrimp Galore

What is Up my Family and Homies,

It’s been another rainy and cold week, but that doesn't stop us! We spent our last P-day down in Southend on Sea, pretty much the coast of England where the Thames is the widest, and the wind is the coldest! Yeah, that was fun. I had my first Kebab or slices of a large slab of meat cooked in greases with more grease on top! Yeah, the next morning after that one was bad....... Elder Hansen didn't go near the toilet after that... but yeah that was quite the experience. The rule for Kebabs here, the more gross and run down the establishment, the better the food! I don't know if I like those to statements going together... interestingly enough. Unfortunately Elder Hansen got sick this past Wednesday and we spent a good portion of the day in the flat. After taking his morning pills he slipped into the bathroom to release his innards.... I wasn't to happy to be stuck in the flat with a sick man... but I lived and didn't receive any illness!!! So that was fun...

We had a fun dinner with the Bortone's. Brother Bortone is one of my favorite people here because he has the greatest sense of humor. He's a returned and married missionary from Greece and loves to talk just about anything. We have been getting into really deep gospel topics like the creation and stuff and its highly entertaining and informative. I've been having a good time out here with the families and members. We went to our recent baptism person's family (aka Charolette) or the Stringers and had an awesome afternoon with them. Earlier in the week we had told them our favorite food, and on last Saturday they had almost everything we talked about! It was absolutely crazy!!! Shrimp Galore!!!!! I was in heaven for the next couple of hours!! I've never had so much shrimp and crab in my life because its dirt cheap here!! Sooo that was absolutely my favorite part of the week, just stuffing ourselves full of food that tastes so amazing!! Yeah... (cough, cough) there goes all the weight I lost... But that was absolutely my favorite thing.

We had stake conference in the Romford stake here, so that was fun. President and Sister Jordan came and we got to talk with them about transfers and stuff and we had a chill time there. But the Plan for today is to head to Lakeside Shopping Mall and to Costco again! We have most of the Elders in the Zone coming, and I'm getting us all into Costco! Pretty much awesome. Oh yeah and my Costco card got here! Thanks Mom and Ayn for getting that to me :) that was amazing. Also, that mini Quad came finally and I loved that!!! I'm working on marking it up... but it’s perfect. I haven't had such fresh scripture in so long!!! You'll have to see the photos I send to understand why I said "Fresh" Scriptures... (lol).

Other than that, I really look forward to those mittens mother! :) Things are starting to move along out here, the days go by faster when you work harder. Also, I recieve letters from Jeff about every week. I can forward those to you if you would like or ask Sister Jarman to forward them to you. I keep in contact with my friends don't worry :) I just recently sent Mikey a letter and I hope he has gotten it by now.  I love all the pictures you sent. I'm so jealous, and “No,” mother don't stop sending them. I love seeing these pictures and then sharing them with Elder Hansen. It’s cool to see all the family. You just need to get more pictures of Mark (lol) good luck with that. It would also be cool to get pictures of all our animals together, or at least individual shots of them (including Lemon).

I just love to see our family doing so well. It’s good to know that you guys are taking care of yourselves. I hope everything is going alright, you guys seem to be re-landscaping our whole yard... soon there won't be any trees left!! I'm just kidding. You guys take care of yourselves. I love you guys so much and I hope to hear from you soon. Also, I got all your mail from Shannon and Whitney so don't worry about that :). Take care and have a good week.

Love Your Son and Older Brother,

Elder Bradley J. Smith

Gray in Grays

Hi Family,

I can't believe it is another P-Day already... and to be honest not much has happened. We haven't seen a whole lot of success here lately, but I've had some very spiritual evenings with the families in this ward. Last night we went by the Jones and had a Thanksgiving Feast with him. Bro. Jones knows how to cook like a king, I never leave the Jones’ house hungry. It just isn't possible. He is easily my favorite member in the ward and he works so hard as the second counselor in the Bishopric. He is in his 70's and his wife is struggling with many health problems. He is literally her hands and feet, and I have never seen such a dedicated man to his wife. Sister Jones suffers from so many different things including muscular dystrophy.  She had her gallbladder removed, as well as, her appendix and so much more that I don't even know how she is alive.  Yet she is still here. I see a love between them that goes beyond any earthly measure. And that was probably the best part of my week. Getting to know just how important it is that families are forever. 

Besides that not much has happened as I said before. It’s starting to be Christmas time and there are people playing musical instruments in the streets and stuff like that... all the Christmas sale ads are already up and before I know it, I'll probably be transferred from this area right before Christmas. So transfers are on the Dec. 10, so I wouldn't send stuff to the flat I'm living in. I'd start sending the mail to the mission office, and then they get it to me as often as they can. After the transfer and I find out where I'm at, you can send stuff to the flat I'm living in. I just would hate to leave this area right before Christmas, because I know all the members, and I enjoy working here so much. It’s going be hard for me to move to another area now even though this is just my Greenie Area.

I saw all your pictures that you sent, and I just would like to take a walk in the nice fall leaves of the Utah mountains right now. Being is Grays is very gray. I'm not depressed or anything, but there just isn't any countryside or anything. The people are all very glum, and we spend our time trying to bring a smile to these people's faces.

I'm excited for those gloves mom. I can tell they are going to be good :). Besides that, the world just goes on. I don't know what I'm going to do for Christmas. A Costco Christmas would be great... but there is a fair chance that I might be moved from this area... so I might not have Costco anymore, so we'll have to see about what happens there. I'm grateful for the support I get from you guys. I know my letters are getting shorter... but I just don’t have much to talk about at the moment. I just have to keep going from day to day. I'll tell you one thing.  You learn so much out here. Gospel doctrine is a lot deeper than I would have thought, and I have so much to learn and to read about. If anything, this has been the largest learning curve of my life. I don't think things will get boring in that perspective. An interesting thing you might Amazon me is something called the LDS Almanac 2011, or the 2012 version would be nice. It’s full of Gospel information and I'd like to have one for reference and study.

Besides that, I'm still waiting on any packages you may have sent. I haven't gotten anything except post from Shannon and Whitney.  By the way I appreciate that post a lot. I love getting letters because Elder Hansen gets all the post. He has like ten chicks just writing to him.  So... I kinda need to one up him with more post... just kidding. I hope everything is going ok for you guys back home. I didn't have a lot of pictures this week so I'll send you what I can. I love you guys so much and I hope to hear from you soon.

Love,

Elder Bradley J. Smith

Snow Envy

First Mission Haircut

Dear Family,

It has been another long and tiring week. Sometimes I wonder if this mission is going to last forever... nah, it’s fun stuff. This week we met some Portuguese families with Bishop Terra, our Portuguese speaking bishop, and helped us teach them... it was more like Bishop talking for an hour and a half and us just listening to a foreign language conversation... but you could definitely feel the spirit there. Raul, like from phantom of the opera, is an interesting man trying to make amends in his hard life. I was expelled from home at age 8 and has been in a life of crime and jail for the past thirty five years. He now is out of jail and wanting to make a difference because he is tired of living like scum, according to him. He has really humbled himself and has found a member of the church that is going to be his wife soon, we are helping arrange their marriage... But he is a really interesting person... Plus he has HIV... so that kind of scared me, but I didn't let it show. Either way he's going to get baptized after his marriage so things are moving along smoothly with him.

Our other investigators are like dead fish. They are not progressing and they don't seem to want to keep their commitments or come to church... So we've been trying very hard these past few weeks to find some more investigators because our investigator pool is like five people. So we've been street contacting to tracting and trying various methods of getting people to talk to us. So nothing really new has happened around here except things getting colder and people coming outside less.

We went to Costco today! I was so stoked as we went around the store. Ok, first thing mom. You have to mail me my Costco card. According to the people at Costco, they cannot issue an American Costco card. Apparently the American Costco's are different from the English ones. So every time I go there I have to get a temporary slip to go in and it is kind of a pain... but I can get in with my Costco number and I.D. but you have to send me the card, then I can use any Costco here. My first purchases in Costco were, guess what... muffins and pancake mix. Totally carb intolerant materials I know. Actually I have been eating very well, and I'm starting to get much more fit. I'm so pleased :) But yeah, good things happening there. Thanks for setting me up with that stuff.

I'm jealous of all the snow... I saw those pictures and got all trunky... not really but I do miss the snow. I'll send you more pictures of our week and hope you enjoy them. I heard about the Elections and to be honest I don't think anything has really changed with Obama so I haven't really cared. Like Dad says, I respect the office of the president. Besides as missionaries we aren't supposed to talk politics... but we do anyways amongst ourselves lol.

We've been having great dinner appointments so I love the members out here, they take good care of us and make sure we don't go hungry ever :) Besides that I'm looking forward to those gloves, mother :) I saw all those pictures of Ludwig in the snow and I laughed so hard. That was great to see that little fur monster in the snow, you can't even see him. We are managing to stay warm over here, but I don't mind anything you can send me, the more the better. I don't know what you guys are going to do about Christmas, but I'll let you know if I want anything and you can just put money on my card or something and that would work a lot better than you sending me a box, but if you guys want to send a box don't let me stop you:)

Elder Hansen and I get along very well, so don't worry about roommate problems or anything. He's almost impossible to get mad so that’s very nice, cause I know I drive you guys crazy at home. I also appreciate the pictures a lot mom, thanks for sending them to me. The days are starting to go by faster, so I look forward to sending you guys more pictures of our adventures. The Adventures of Elder Smith continue this next coming P-Day!!!!

 Lol, I love you guys and I hope to talk to you soon. You guys sent me 30 emails literally so it took me awhile to get through them... thus I can't write as long. So I'll have to catch you next week. And also, I love you so much mom. I know you are going to read this in like five minutes so I give my thoughts to you. I miss being away from home, but I'm learning so much. Don't worry too much, you guys have raised me well. I'm proud to be part of our Family.

Love your son and brother,

Elder Bradley J. Smith

What are we going to do today Elder Smith?

The same thing we do every day. Try to take over the World!

Our Motivational Quote

An English Home Depot

Elder Hansen

Don't Forget the Syrup!

"Elder Shrek, I Presume"

Dear Family,

It’s Freaking Cold. And that’s all that’s really new around here... I get more trunky everyday. I love that word... Trunky. In missionary terms it means ready to go home or move to a new area. It’s been a decent week nobody new to teach or anything... go figure this is England but we did have our first Baptism! How sweet it is, the epitome of missionary work. Is that how you spell that? I have achieved what every missionary desires to do. Alright, I'm ready to come home, I baptized someone so I'm ready to leave this Gray place.

I'm just kidding. Our baptism was Charolette S. and it is a rather cool story. Basically, Charolette has been coming to church for years, but hasn't ever really felt the need to be baptized. After she attended EFY she randomly decided she would, and I just happened to be here... so I really didn't have to work hard to get this baptism...But it was a cool experience anyways. So I'll send you pictures of me and her family. Besides that I haven't had any really cool stories. 

As transfers were last week, we have a new missionary in our Area and he is hilarious. Elder Mckormack is from Scottland and is serving in Southend on Sea. While at a district meeting we were having lunch after our meeting and I was having a bowl of soup and bread. While I was eating Elder McKormack made the observation that I was an Ogre. I really wonder if my eating manners are that bad... but he said, " not bad ogre, a very polite and gentle ogre. Kinda like Shrek." So now I've heard everything. I'm now Shrek of the mission field. Kinda funny, but Mom I swear my manners are not bad, or else I'd probably not get any more dinner appointments... So that was just a funny experience.

I've heard so much from you guys in the way of home. I'm excited to see what the house looks like when I get home. I probably won't even recognize it when I get back because Dad will have changed everything. I heard about your iPhone dad... I'm already trunky enough as it is out here. Everyone here has an iPad or an iPhone and I got to show the Stringer family how to use their devices... because they are really computer illiterate. But there is a big Apple store at the Lakeside Shopping mall we were just in today and I saw a sign in front of the Apple store that said "due to the popularity of our products, we are sold out of "a large list of products" therefore we will not be able to service you today". Man, Apple is making bank on their products... and I saw the iPad mini... and I'm jealous about that one, too... but enough about my nerdiness.

It’s hard to live without my most basic electronics and I've learned to appreciate them so much more. Also, Mom, I swear I’ll never complain about food again. Please forgive me for being a complaining turd at the dinner table for the past 18 years. I have learned to appreciate all the food I’m given whether it be a stew or a gross looking plate of slop. I've learned to just like everything I'm given... except brussel sprouts... I just can't choke them down. I've tried over and over but I just end of throwing them up... or pretty close to it.

Also, my companion wants pictures of previous girls I've dated... which is kind of an odd thing, but if you want to include in the pictures you’re sending me some of my past prom pictures and dance pictures that would be nice. Also, could I get our cookie recipe, the one I always do I think it;s the Tollhouse one or something like that. Here's the link to Nestle's Tollhouse Cookies. And, Karen Acerson's Brownie recipe that would be great, as well. Here's the link to Karen's family brownie recipe. (Remember to use 100% butter. It is not as good with oil or Crisco.) Karen's Brownies Plus, I can do 5 full pull ups now. I feel like a champion. I'm improving and losing weight. I'm down to 217, soo.... I'm getting there. Word of Wisdom please give me strength... lol.

It gets dark here about 4 o clock so if you guys think you have it bad, its pitch dark here by four in the afternoon... England is pretty unreal. Besides that I'm glad to be here and see those pictures. I like your costumes guys. Shannon makes a pretty good Napoleon Dynamite. I'm doing just fine, just the days are really long and my bed is too nice and cozy so getting up in the mornings is difficult. But, I remember the 55 mile hike I did years ago and just tell myself, "I can do hard things". If this mission wasn't hard then there would be no point in coming out here. Everything is so dang expensive. I hate it... so if you ever want to top my bank account up please feel free... Anyways I love you guys so much. I'm having a good time in my second transfer and I only have 15 more to go... Anyways, I'll send you this week’s pictures. TTFN.

Love your Son and Older Brother,

Elder Bradley J. Smith

PS Halloween--the rats belong to the family of the person we baptized last Saturday. And I found the top hat in the church closet so it made a good costume. I called myself Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter.

On Mon, Nov 5, 2012 at 4:31 PM, Karen Smith  wrote:

Hey,

Where is your email letter? Are you galvanting today?  I hope you're doing something fun on your P-day. 

Did you get any food? You were broke 10 days ago.  

I miss you!

Love,

MOMOMOMOMOMOM

Brad replied:  Yes mother I just sent you my letter. I got plenty of food don't worry. We just spent the day out at lakeside and I'm getting a haircut in a half hour. I hope you're still by the computer so you'll get this. Its been some long days out here and I hope I can last another 22 months. I miss your guys's voices already, even if its just Shannon and Whitney fighting together. I just need all the moral support I can get.

Thanks, 

Elder Shrek Smith