Guess Where?

Hello Family,

It’s time for the guess where Elder Smith is going game!!! Is it Number One: Deal Number Two: Luton or Number Three: Lea Valley ? You have 5 seconds to guess or just look at the line that comes after this one! I'm just messing with you guys. I just received my call yesterday and unfortunately I will not be able to stay here in Grays. The time has come for me to move out and begin my journey elsewhere. Tomorrow is when I part with my good buddy and friend, Elder Hansen. We have come a long way in this rough little town. I'm kinda glad to be getting out of here... but at the same time we had a killer Christmas set up and I had Costco :'( (I'm going to miss it so much :'( ).

My new area is going to be Luton. I don't even know where that area is besides that is north of London in the St. Albans Zone. All I've heard is that Luton has an airport... and that’s about all that is there from what I know. So... I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to be doing for Christmas, but once I find out what the address of our flat is in Luton I will let you know, so you guys can ship me those Amazon things. I'm excited for that.

This past week has been crazy... We've bottomed out on food because we each didn't want to buy food for the flat because that would have been wasted money for that person if they left the next week... so we've kinda been going on empty for the last few days. We're not too bad off,  just we haven't had milk for like 5 days or any fresh fruit. I'll have to say good bye to the Thames River, that’s one of the best things that is here in Grays. I'm a little nervous to leave this area... since my whole mission is condensed into this area at the moment. But, I'm sure many good things await in Luton. Also, my new companion will be Elder Affleck... yeah, just like Ben Affleck... That’s the first thing I'm going to ask him is if he is related to Ben Affleck... (lol). I'm excited to meet him. Elder Hansen says he's a solid missionary and a bit older than Elder Hansen (missionary wise). Everybody I'm serving with and around is on the downhill side of their mission, while I'm on the uphill side... it makes everything seem like I'm going to be here forever! But, I’ll just stick with it and everything will be ok.

I'm just glad everything still fits in my bags when I was packing earlier this morning. That was just crazy. It was the first time I was completely organized in the past 12 weeks. I'm going to miss my companion here, when he gets home in August, Elder Hansen wants to come down and see you guys so don't freak out if a random return missionary comes over or something... but yeah. All is well so far, just a hair disappointed I wouldn't be spending Christmas here.

I'll be spending the afternoon making my "Emergency Appointments" to all the families I want to see before I go. They make it so difficult for us to see the families we love before we leave the area... but All is well. I love the photos by the way. Everybody looks like their keeping up good. Also, I could use more envelopes or I'll buy some so I can send my snail mail. Sorry my letters haven't been coming much, I've just been so busy with everything that I haven't had a lot of time to write letters or do anything that doesn't pertain to missionary work... I know I'd get too busy... but I hope to get around to those things after things settle down after these transfers. I'm glad you guys are taking care of my car... and Shannon... please don't wreck it... I already messed up one too many cars. Anyways, I hope you guys are having a good week and I love to get your letters.

Love your Loving Son and Brother,

Elder Bradley J. Smith

Packing for Transfer