Tuesday, January 15, 2013

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

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