Bargain-Hunting like a Boss

Brad mentioned in his video (family-only) that he ran out of money by the 10th of January last month; consequently, he is has been more frugal in February. He called it "bargain-hunting like a boss." He's lost about 1 1/2 stones = 20 lbs. He's looking great. --MOMOMOMMOM PS I added the foggy London photo from deviantart.com. No, Bradley hasn't suddenly become an amazing photographer:)

So I hope I filled you guys in with that last video so I guess I can talk about whatever now :) I just wrote two long letters to Trevor and Kyle. Man, Trevor leaves for the MTC this Wednesday. That is so crazy. I remember the few days before I left for that place... those were long days. Just crazy how fast things go, yet strangely while you are on the mission things take forever... This past week has been decent. My companion and I have been getting along a lot better. Sometimes he can be a little difficult to be with... but that's everyone every once in a while. I've been enjoying the freezing wind going in my face while I spend hours in town center... that is just fun stuff... 

We haven't had any new investigators this week which kind of stinks... so we've just spent hours trying to talk to people that are not interested in being talked to. Makes things a little difficult. I can't wait for summer. The Brilliant sun will be the most amazing thing I've ever seen once this dreary winter is over. I can't wait to see what this country looks like when the sun is out... probably a lot better :) I'm just going to keep plodding on, and do my best and things will get along just fine. I love you guys and I hope to hear from you soon.

I'm glad you are enjoying the video, I have like 30 seconds left so I'll talk to you guys next week. I'm doing alright... we actually just went bowling a few hours ago so kinda fun... just way to expensive holy cow. Everything here is expensive... so I'm learning to be thrifty with my money... kinda like what I say in the video :) I hope you get better mother, you seem to get beaten up a lot at racquetball :) so take care of yourself. Also I'll probably do a video for mark since He'll be heading to the big BYU here in the summer. Tell him I'm proud of him. He's a good kid. But don't let that go to his head :)

Love your son and brother,

Elder Bradley J. Smith

Video Man

Hey I've got a few more videos on the way, so you can download those ones :) This week has been pretty good. I don't have anything to complain about. I hope you guys enjoy the videos, they are the very essence of my life here :) I don't even feel like I have to write an email now... All I have to do is send a video once a week lol. Its unfortunate to here about Mark's friends and about Sydney Bruning. As I said last week, it left a bitter taste in my mouth. :( I hope you guys are doing well, and I hope that Grandpa Smith can recover as well. If there is anything I can do just let me know. I love you and take care :)

Love,

Elder Bradley Smith

On We Go...

     Wow, after reading what you said about Sydney Bruning just made me feel a little bit empty inside... That is so sad that something like that would happen to such a good family. Give them my condolences, if I spelled that right, and I will be praying for them. As for this week I've been doing really well. I'm trying to sort this google drive thing out, so at the moment I am uploading my videos to my drive and hopefully I can somehow email them to you or have you access them from my seriousbradsmith1 account which you should have the user name and password. 

     The time this week really flies, and I'm starting to enjoy the days. This transfer is a 7 week one because of the awkward shift in the number of missionaries so I get an extra week with Elder Affleck. And yes, I got all of your cards mom :) I love all of them , and Elder Affleck was stunned that you would send him a card, plus he absolutely loved the magnet :) Good thinking. I got to the library here extra late so I only have a half hour instead of a whole hours... so I'm trying to get everything finished... I might have to use a half hour tomorrow to send all the videos and stuff. 

     Things are going pretty well, I've been in post contact with Kyle now and we are sending letters to each other. He really appreciates my moral boost for him. We just had a zone p day in Stevenage playing basketball and stuff.. wow it feels so good to be able to play some sports again wow.  Just being able to run around and be normal for a few hours really does me good. I know valentines day is coming up and I'm glad I don't have a girlfriend :P because then I would just be using a bunch of money for dates and stuff... just kidding that stuff is awesome. Valentines day here is called the GREAT DAY of Lonliness :P Where every missionary mournes the that they cannot have their girlfriends here. Funny stuff. Also as you know its my companion's birthday and he loves the post you send. 

     I'll have to make a few more videos so you guys can see the flat and stuff. I'm really excited for this video stuff because it will make sending information and stuff so much easier :) I'll catch you in a bit and I hope that my videos go through and you can enjoy those for longer than this email :)

Love your son and Brother, 

Elder Bradley Smith

Madame Tussaud's Topped Off by the Slug & Lettuce

Hey Maties,

This week seemed to fly by. Wow I never realized when you work hard the time just flies out the window. We've been busy every day this week just out finding and talking to people and teaching and tons of stuff. It’s all really good right now. I feel the flow now, somewhat. As you said previously mom, I just hit my 5 month mark! I'm kind a nervous.  I've got the Bump coming up. So a way we describe the mission as you go along is at the first six months you hit the Bump, at the year mark you hit the Hump, and at the last six months you hit the Slump. Kind a funny. So the Bump is coming up at the end of this month. I can't believe... we actually I can, that it has almost been six months out here.

We just hit probably the best day of London yet! We went to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum which had just tons of stuff in it. From Models to Actors to Football players, Madame Tussaud’s has just a ton of stuff. I'll send you some of the pictures but I'd be here all day if I sent all of them. We took over 300 photos. So I'll send you the best ones. Afterwards we took a stroll around town catching sights of pretty cars.

 I got pictures of a few Aston Martins and a Maserati and I saw a few Ferrari's, but I couldn't catch them on camera. Good day there. We spent a ton of time on the famous Oxford Street again. We walked the strip. Man I've never seen so many posh stores in one place. The most expensive stores actually have 2 or 3 of the same store on Oxford Street. That’s how big this road is. We also went to an awesome restaurant called the Slug and Lettuce. The food is super posh but all of it is half off on Mondays so usually after a district meeting or something we go to Slug and Lettuce for lunch and it doesn't cost us a fortune. Love that place.

I was just so tired after hitting London all day, but we got invited over to make some awesome curry last evening with our good member friend Adam Grey. He's a great guy who moved into the Ward about 3 weeks ago from Southend and he's an awesome guy. We spent the evening their eating food and having a good time.

Now it’s back to the regular day. Dang, it’s hard to go back after a day like yesterday. I hope you guys are taking care. It doesn't seem like too much is going on, just the usual. Mom getting injured in racquetball and stuff like that... nothing unordinary :) Well, I'll be dribbling on from here.

The sun has been out the past few days and I just love the sun now. I've missed it for several months now so I'll be sunbathing while we talk to investigators ;) I love you guys and I'll catch in you 19 months, guess what I'm out of the 20's. *high five*

Love your Son and Brother,

Elder Bradley Smith

This is where I fit in . . . with the nerds:)

Beyonce is kind of dodgy and she just played the Super Bowl , I've heard.

Leaders of the world-funny stuff.

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