"Must Buy Card Reader!"

Hey family,

I hope you are all doing well. Seems like spring has just barely started to spring up around here. The weather is still wet, but the temperature has improved... so, I'm not always wearing my large jacket anymore :) about time. This past week has been interesting. My new German companion, Elder Wolf, it’s not actually spelled with an “E”... didn't know that before I met him, is pretty cool. He's not quite as talkative as Elder Jamieson, but he's very knowledgeable. He knows his scriptures very well and he loves his study time. He also has a great sense of good humor. He is a very sensible person as well. This describes him... He is a gentleman if you treat him nicely, and he can turn sour if you are not. So far, I've been on the good side and he's really cool. I've had no problems at all with him. He has a very soft German accent that comes from the north... so nothing harsh that you are probably thinking of. I've been having a great time so far.

Unfortunately... we don't have a card reader yet... I've been borrowing all of my companion's card readers... so I can't upload photos or videos this time.  I'm going to the store today to buy one so I can continue to send you cool stuff. Sorry mom... I haven't been too good in the past few weeks. Things have been a little hectic. I'm just trying to sort things out.

So far there are a ton of new missionaries here. Just loads have moved in. I'm surprised I wasn't called to train this past transfer... but it’s probably bound to happen sometime soon.  I'm privilegded to learn from a very old missionary. Elder Wolf has been out for almost 21 months, so he's dead soon :P All my companions have been quite old. Elder Hansen, Elder Affleck, and Elder Wolf have all been out for over 20 months now. Elder Jamieson was on the younger side with almost 15 months... but they have all been out twice as long as I have. Everything is going well. The flat is all nice and clean. We worked really hard on that. We are probably going to hang out in St. Albans today and hang out with our Zone leaders and the new senior missionary couple the Sanchez's.

I hope things are going alright with you guys. I get to call you this Mother’s day soon :) So that is coming up. Plus it’s a double Birthday this transfer. Elder Wolf and I both have birthdays in the same week almost. Mine is Friday the 17th and his is the 22nd of May. So we are going to have a missionary party like you've never seen... or will ever see... because you guys aren't in England :P But I will take pictures don't worry. Anyway I love you guys and I'll get those pics and videos to you soon.

Love, 

Elder Bradley Smith

"Ooo La, La" Good Food (That's French Isn't It?)

Alright, I finally have a free moment in time!

It’s been a flippin’ fast week.  I remember Monday, that was when I was in

London, so I didn't get a chance to email. Tuesday I had a work over in St. Albans so I didn't get a chance to touch a computer, and yesterday again I was in London for  a Media Training. Elder Allen of the 70 came over to teach us about this huge media campaign going on in London. (Mom you should

look it up. Its way cool :) So, the Church has spent a lot of money on ads covering al of the tube stations in central London.  There are a lot of “I'm a Mormon Ads” all over the place in central London to add to our free advertising from the Book of Mormon Musical. The popularity of the Church is getting growing here.

 I spent 5 hours in meetings yesterday with General Authorities which was pretty cool... except after the fourth hour they were just talking about not very important stuff so they were doing my

head in...I had such a big head ache after that meeting because they didn't

give us any breaks and we all needed the bathroom and everyone was hungry.

They didn't even feed us or anything >:P

So we pretty much didn't get any work done yesterday because they kept us in the whole time. So we got back at 8:30 and went out to a new favorite place in Luton, the Toby Carvery. Such a glorious place to eat. Toby is a restaurant that does English Roast for not too expensive... if that grammar makes any sense... so I had a really nice meal last night. Plus its quite health compared to what we eat

normally nowadays :P So not to bad there.

Things have been coasting along... the end of the transfer is already next week... which I'm quite upset about because I love serving with my companion here :( I don't really want to leave, but with all the new missionaries coming in I'll probably be training or something... so next Monday we get the Moves Calls which everyone dreads so it will be interesting. That also means P-day will be Tuesday instead of Monday but I bet you guys are used to me telling that.

The weather has been quite nice for about 2 days, but now it’s gone back to the spring rain showers routine.  No surprises there—This is LondonJ  But I hope you guys are doing well, I hope Grandpa Hillyard is doing OK, tell him I'm praying for him. I'll send you guys some good pictures and a video.

Love,

Elder Bradley Smith

Speedier than a Flying...hummmm...WEEK...Yes! that's it.

Oh Hi Theerrreee,

     So another fast week gone by. I don't know where the time has gone. Today was finally a slower p-day. We've spent the past 3 weeks in London every week because my companion is part of a missionary choir that our mission president is putting together. So I'm really glad things have slowed down for a day and I've just been able to relax and unwind for the past few hours. Our missionary work has been going quite well. We've had four new investigators this week which has been crazy compared the past few months here in this city. I think this is probably owed to our attitudes. I love working really well with Elder Jamieson. He's not as contentious as my previous com-padre. 

     So things have been going quite well. The days seem to go by a lot faster, and its crazy! I just hit 7 months has of two days ago! So cool :) My videos have been more interesting to say the least. Oh, we spent a lot of time in the hospital this past week because my companion had a "special condition" or a abscess on his back. So he had to have it surgically removed. So the first day we went into the NHS walk in office and he was told to go to the hospital that evening so they could just quickly drain it. But things didn't go that smoothly. We got to the hospital around six in the evening and waited for an hour and half for someone to see us. Then when he finally got a bed... we had to wait another 3 hours before anyone came to see us. We were so BORED! We even made a video for you guys in our boredom. So when a doctor finally came to see my companion, he just told us to come back in the morning for a bigger surgery because the abscess was deeper than it looked. 

     So we had to go back again the next morning, so instead I got to hang out with the Dunstable missionaries for a while. Elder Jamieson has been recovering this week. He's not bed ridden or anything, he's just really sore in his back. So he's hanging in there. That was about the most exciting thing that has happened so far :P Well I'm glad you guys get to go for an exciting vacation without me :P I really like Moab, its such a cool place. I hope that goes well for you guys. 

    As for the Grandparents, I hope they can recover well. I'm praying for them, so I hope that helps somewhat. But this transfer has gone by so fast. Elder Jamieson and I only have two and a half weeks left together, or we might have more... we'll have to see what our president Jordan thinks. This was a shorter transfer, only five weeks, so that does kinda cut our time together. Well, I'll have to catch you guys later. I'm going to send the videos tomorrow or something because I keep forgetting to bring my camera card whenever I email >_< . My own stupidity. 

K, I love you guys and hope to hear from you soon. 

Love, 

Elder Bradley Smith