Kurtas are Kute on these Boys

Fewww.... I thought I was going to be moving again but I am safe for another six weeks. We just had moves calls last night and I was afraid I was going to be packing again for another area. I'm staying here in Luton for another 6 weeks with my good buddy Elder Affleck. I'm kinda surprised I 'm not getting a new companion... apparently its kinda unusually to have companions for 2 transfers but who knows I'm ok with it. We had a awesome time in London last week for P-day. I'll have to show you the pictures but we went to London dressed in Kurtas. A Kurta is a Indian formal wear, kinda like a suit for westerners, and is like an enormous shirts with tons of bling on it. My comp has the pictures and I'll send those to you when I get them :) So we had alot of different looks at us because of what we were wearing. Out entire district had them and we just went and chilled in London for a few hours and took pictures at all the sights again. So that was a pretty cool P-day. I don't think I'll ever have a cooler distric than I just did. Alot of our good buddies are getting moved tomorrow so things will be changing up around here. Besides that we've still been trying to recover from our Christmas hangover... things have seemed to slow down so much because of the snow here. Yes, we have snow Finally! but when it snows here the whole country shuts down. Literally. So we took pictures in the snow and enjoyed the weather like little kids. We ever went sledding a little bit down the huge hills here in Luton :) All the sidewalks are iced over and we can ski down into town, which is kinda fun. This weather really sucks for contacting though. Absolutely no one will talk to use because its a blizzard so we've had to hang around in the flat some of the days because of the weather. We'd go into the mall and talk to people... but by law we aren't allowed to proslyte inside the malls. So some of our days have been good, anothers kinda boring. On those days we just do alot of study, or invite other missionaries over had just have a small chill because we can't do much else. The weather is finally getting the better the past few days so we've been working hard to get over our cabin fever. I don't know what happened this month... but I've been broke since the 10 of January. So now I know what it feels like to scrap for cash. I've been trying to get my mountain of reimbursements in... but the office elders are so slow at getting those in... and I don't have money for groceries. The thing is, I was keeping track of my money and should have had around 60 quid and I hit the ATM and had nothing. So I'm kinda confused on how I got broke... probably annonmous spending that I haven't realized. But I should be getting cash from reimbursements... if they would hurry, than I will be just fine. The end of the month is coming soon so that will have to save me as well. It seems like the same old stuff back home. I'm glad nothing to big is happening without me :) Just take care of yourselves and you'll be alright. I hope to see you guys in about 20 months. Yeah, I'm almost out of the 20's! I'll talk to you guys next week. Take care :)

Love your son and Brother,

Elder Bradley J. Smith

Wkly Lttr

January 15, 2013 Tuesday

I like the subject title, lol. I took all the vowels out of it :)

Anyway, I've been enjoying the frigid weather over here. About 5 days ago a cold front came through and everything dropped much below freezing point. Before that everything was actually pretty warm considering that it is January, and now real January has set in... not my favorite thing. But I'm doing alright.

We just had a baptism this last Saturday of my good friend Wang Ti. He's from China and he is literally the most solid investigator ever. It almost seems fake. He just accepts everything and does everything that we tell him to do,  plus some. Elder Affleck and I made Mormon bets that he is going to be an area 70 sometime in the future.

I sorry I didn't email you yesterday.  I was out hanging around in London again, but this time in the more shabby part or the ghetto. We went to an area called Camden town which has the biggest flea market I've ever seen... It’s pretty dodgy. So’ I didn't keep any money on me because I was afraid of getting robbed.... I'm a bit over precautious. I had a killer time there though seeing all the culture and the funny stuff that people sell.

 I had an amazing weekend with all of our district and our baptism so that pretty much is what made this week totally worthwhile. I'm actually trying to learn Chinese off of our new investigators and some of our recent converts. They have been willing to take the time to teach me a few of the basics but I'm going to pick up a English to Chinese dictionary and have Ti, our recent baptism, help teach me the basics, so I can talk to the china men on the street. It really impresses them and helps them feel more comfortable. My zone leader Elder Helske, the most crazy man you will ever meet, can speak a little Chinese and he totally impresses random Chinese people on the street and they want to meet with him to learn more about the gospel.

 Their baptism rate in the zone leader area has gone up because of him. I was impressed so I kind of want to do the same thing.... just a little bit :) Besides that,  nothing completely new is happening. The end of the transfer is coming up already which is not next week but the one after. I believe I will be staying in this area for probably the next transfer, but my guess is that I will spend 6 months here.

We are having an influx of investigators due to Wang Ti. He is inviting all his friends to meet with us, which is pretty unreal. The average person doesn't due that so I've really been impressed with Ti. This guy will serious be the most successful businessman ever. I know I'm talking about him alot, but this guy is amazing. He's super posh, his Dad is a business leader of a herbal medicine company and a business partner of Warren Buffet, and he is extremely disciplined with his studies and his diet. There is nothing that is going to stop this guy. He is like the ideal person.... I don't know how he does it. I wish I could be like him. Anyway, enough about Ti, I'll get back to the Elder Smith I guess.

I'm doing just fine.... I have everything I need, so don't worry about me. I'm a little bit low on money this transfer since we've spent it all on travel and food and repairing the flat... I need to do reimbursements. Besides that everything is good. I just fixed our vacuum which has been broken forever... mostly because the other elders that have lived here have been too lazy to fix it so I finally just sat down and did it. That’s my accomplishment of the week. Yup... I'll just keep trekking now. Still just trying to get into the routine... I really struggle with conforming exactly to the schedule. Things like getting out of the flat at 10, it’s usually 10:30... stuff like that. One thing I will not miss out my mission... living with another man in the same room... That one is hard. Mark get ready for it. Your mission is just around the corner, so don't do anything too stupid. There are a lot of things that I wish I would have done better, but I guess I wouldn't have learned why they weren’t great until I got out here on my mission. So, we live and we learn. That’s a good philosophy. Anyway I love you guys and I hope you are doing OK mom, you seem to be getting beaten up a lot by Dad at racquetball :) Take care of yourselves and I'll send a few photos and try to get the rest from my comp.

Love your son and brother,

Elder Bradley J. Smith

PS Ok I just realized how stupid this computer is... they have taken off the right click menu so I can't get the photos off of the memory card... I'll need to bring my flash drive next week and transfer them to that and then send them... they have also removed my computer from these machines.... I hate public computers because they have to simplify them so much just because people misuse them.

Till next week...

Elder Smith

XCountry

It has actually been an awesome week. The time actually seems to have flown by... I hope the rest of my mission goes like this. I feel like the groove of things is coming along. I'm not to worried by anything at the moment so I feel pretty good. Plus I just started my new diet and workout several days ago. My goal is to 185 pounds by my birthday but I'm trying to get under 200 by Valentines day so I've got some work to do. We've been working on running every morning and I'm being trained by Elder Affleck who has run cross country. Now I know how you feel Shannon... the goal is that we don't stop running the entire time we are out. No walking period. And its so dang hard. But I've noticed as I've worked on sprinting drills how I get energy back after doing a short sprint by just keep jogging instead of walking. It makes a huge difference. 

So that's how things are going their. I'm really cutting back on my eating as well. That part is harder. I went to the YSA activity in Dunstable last night and I didn't eat one thing. I felt so good having the self control not to gorge out on deep fried candy bars, which they really were deep frying. They were deep frying everything for the YSA activity and some of the stuff their did not look to appetizing... 

I know I can't spell. I just did a huge cleaning this morning on our flat so it looks so much cleaner and more comfortable to live in. I also wasn't quite careful the first time I wore my new suit last week to church and I busted the crotch lining... so I'm getting that fixed... The slim suits here are awesome!! I love the style here in London/England. Everything is slim and fit, and it looks so good! So that's why I'm getting slim and fit now... or at least trying. I'm cutting back on the carbs mother, yes I remember what you have said. I'm feeling much better than I did before and I appreciate the cards you guys sent me. 

I just got all the post from the office and now I just receive like 8 letters at once and I made some of the other missionaries jealous :) but then they learned that it was all just from our family... so I didn't have much to say to that... Sorry I didn't have a girlfriend wait for me. Nah, I really don't care what other missionaries say, I love receiving post from you guys. I'm impressed with your origami Shannon. That frog is now sitting on my desk so I can see it every day. I also hang up all the cards you give me, so I'll show you a picture of my wall one of these weeks so you can see where all your hard work has gone. As of right now, I'm doing just fine, I love getting post so if you guys have free time feel free to send me something :) 

I'm glad to see mom is being somewhat financially frugal... with all of her projects :) I'm excited to see what the ping pong room looks like after its done. I'm gonna stick to my fitness project here, and you guys fix the house up there :) I love you guys so much and I hope that everything is going well. Take care and I'll talk to you guys soon.

Love your son and Brother,

Elder Bradley J. Smith

PS Sorry I didn't take to many photos this week... they are all on my companions camera at the moment and I didn't get to copy them yet. I will get those to you asap next week. sorry >_<

Elder Smith

English Slim Suit

Ok it has been a hectic week and we haven't slept properly in days... oh my goodness. We've been having parties and random sleep overs for the last little bit and my head is just a little out of whack. I'm just trying to organize everything right now so I can send all these pictures within a reasonable amount of time. Since we last talked on Christmas we've pretty much just been having a good time out here. I'm actually loving this area a lot. The zone leaders in my area are just amazing. They have so many good stories, plus the love the stories I have to share so I feel like I'm much more involved with the missionaries in my zone. I've also learned the value of working hard every day. I hate the fact that I haven't worked in the last few days very much and I just feel like a complete and totally waster. I don't know I'd actually ever say this, but I really want to work hard now because if I don't I feel like crap. On New Year’s we had to retire early to our flat, but we had a surprise visit from some of the missionaries here in our area and we turned a boring night into an absolute party! I had the most amazing New Year’s to date!

I really appreciate your gifts mom and dad. Those were amazing. The Boxing Day sales were awesome and we were first in line at four in the morning. So I bought a very nice suit for £75 which was normally £200 and I got some English style shoes for 25£ which were normally £75. So now I look so slick in my new suit. We took pictures but they are on our ward mission leader’s camera and he hasn't gotten those to me yet so I'll have to send those to you later, but for now I'll fill you in with the past 3 weeks of pictures.

I believe things will finally begin to settle down here and the work will begin to continue as normal, just missionary holidays are the only times we have to just relax a little bit. Most of the missionaries in my zone are out by about 18 months, so they are all on their last Christmas and last holidays before they go home and they are so trunky. It’s kinda unfair to see that they get to go home so much earlier than me, but I've only been out 4 months now... so I have nothing with which to back up my trunkiness. Anyways we watched quite a few movies. I got to see Brave, Tangled, Prince of Egypt, How to Train your Dragon, Toy Story 3, and Home Alone 2. I actually don't like watching movies all that much because it makes me trunky :) Nah, I'm kidding I love watching movies when I get the chance.

I was wondering if you could somehow send me a few CD's. Since the mission rules changed about music, we can have a much wider variety of music which is awesome so I'm wondering if I could put in a request to you Mom or anyone else in the family if I would get a few CD's. The first should be in the Regal... it should be a German band called Glasperlienspel, or something close to that, and that band can also be found on Shannon's phone if she hasn't wiped it or my iPad. Next I'd like the Disney Hercules soundtrack cuz that music is amazing and inspirational so it helps us keep pumped. Feel free to include any other music you want if you send me a CD or if you'd like to try to email them to me i'll see what I can do about downloading them to my flashdrive or iPod.

Anyways I'm doing quite well now, I love the post you send me. Every card you guys have made I blu tack up to my wall around my study area. So I love see all the creative cards you give me, those are quite amazing. Besides that I hope that's everything. You made my Christmas amazing, and thanks for the Boxing Day presents I really appreciate that so much. I need to save the last few minutes here for sending the photos so I'll talk to you next week.

Love your Son and Brother,

Elder Bradley J. Smith

I sent you the photos of us in front of the church... that is my new suit the bluish one. Its actually very nice and the trouser are slim fit... which is kind of a joke on me :)