Here we are once again, reading this weekly update from your favourite (2nd favourite, still acceptable in my eyes) missionary. So, let's get to it.
We received tranfer news and Elder Brewster and I are staying together on the island! We're pumped. It's been a blast and we are going to keep working hard and having all the right kind of fun on this beautiful island. Fun story. Last moves, our mission president called every companionship nad told them what was going to be happening for the next transfer. Naturally we expected the same to occur this go round. We spent all morning waiting for a phone call and we expected to hear before church but nothing came. We went to church and went through all of church and we did not hear anything. We were shocked because it did not take our misison president this long to do it last time. Then after some calls, we learned that it was sent out in an email *face palms with both hands*. Anyways, we are both excited.
We had interviews with our mission preisdent and his wife this week. President and Sister Checketts are so amazing. I love them so much. They are so full of love and really want to see the best things happen to us. I just love them.
We also had the Portsmouth elders come to the island for an exchange. We had a blast and Elder Werle and I reminisced on the old times in the Reading Zone. He is headed to Romford to be companions with Elder Cherrington, who I went to BYU with, so I am only a little bit jealous. He is going to do great things. We were able to have a really powerful visit with a couple who have not been to church in many many years. We testified boldly and lovingly and we felt the Spirit so strongly. We invited them to come back to church and they said they would. It was such an amazing experience. Then the next day they told us they changed their minds. We were gutted, especially because they would not tell us why, but we are not giving up yet.
Otherwise, this week was pretty regular. Nothing ridiculously exciting. Nothing ridiculously disappointing. Friday was a really rough day and at the end of it I felt very worn down and the Lord blessed us with a really amazing lesson and helped the day end in a really wonderful way.
Companion Comic: So we were walking home the other night and it happened to be saturday night and there is a very large drinking culture in England, especially on the weekends, so you ocasionally have some...interesting interactions with people haha. Anyways, we were walking down the pavement (sidewalk) and these two guys were walking towards us. You could tell one of them had had a bit to drink (I will call him Tory) and the other was fairly sober (and this guy James). They approached us and greeted us. We responded and asked their names. Then it went like this:
Tory: "You won't convert me."
Me: "Well, I would still like to know your name so I can say hello when I see you around town."
Tory: "Nah mate"
James: *looks at our badges* "Oh you're Mormons, are you?"
Tory: "No they're Jehovah's Witnesses"
Me: "Actually we're not Jehovah's Witnesses, we're Mormons"
Elder Brewster: "Yep, Mormons"
James: "Oh a friend of mine is a mor..."
Tory: "Oh OH OKAY MORMONS, THEN CARRY ON LADS" *hi-fives us*
Me: *trying not to laugh* "Yeah, what's your name?"
Tory: "Tory lads, nice to meet you, carry on then"
So we carried on :-)
British Word of the Week: winds me up - annoys you, almost to the point of anger; "Elder McKinley really winds me up"
British Food of the Week: double decker - chocolate bar that is like the double decker bus of chocolate bars. Basically a crunch bar mixed with a 3 musketeers. 8/10 would recommend
Scripture of the Week: 2 Nephi 2:11
I wanted to end with my favourite moment of the week. There is a family in the ward who had a son leave for his mission the exact day that I got to the island. They have two more kids who are 8 and 5 years old. They had us over for dinner on Saturday and we were chatting with them about how they were doing. They said it had been really difficult having their son gone and that his brothers were having a really difficult time adjusting. We were able to talk about the adjustment period. My mom recently told me how many of my childhood friends' parents are adjusting to being the parent of a missionary and I reflected on the adjustment my family had to make with my absence. I felt a deep love for this family in this moment and we were able to share words of encouragement with them and by the end of the visit, the two kids, who wouldn't even give us a hi-five when we came in, gave us hugs before we left. God does notice us and He does watch out for us, "but it is usually through other people that He meets our needs." - Spencer W. Kimball. I am grateful for every day I can spend meeting others' needs. I love you all so much and thank you for your prayers, your love, your letters, and for meeting my needs and the needs of my family. Have an amazing week!
Elder Finnegan McKinley
England London Mission
Comments
Post a Comment