Busy in England!

It’s been a bit busy so I apologize for taking so long to update Casey’s blog.

July 1, 2013

So last week went really well. On Monday we went all over the city trying to find pedals in the right size for the loaner bike I got from one of the members while my bike is in the shop. no luck. so I biked all over the place last week with one pedal, no brakes and really just terrible gears. One of the bike shops said they could get the right size pedals in on Thursday, so I told them to order them. Tuesday was PACKED with appointments. well at least for England. we had 5 appointments scheduled and 4 of them were actually home when we got there! And all of them went really well. one of our investigators is praying about a baptismal date right now and we are planning to put two more on a date this week. On Wednesday we spent the whole morning doing finding and one of our less actives let us come in, visit with them, and share a spiritual thought. Then we had coordination with our Ward Mission Leader and ate dinner and retired to the flat. On Thursday we were in Malvern doing some finding, went to a deaf member’s home to learn some British sign language and had a DA. Friday we picked up my bike and it is way cooler than I expected. And way better than I expected. I had them change it to a single speed and put drops on it and he put really thin, light tires and wheels on it as well. It's really fast now. I love it with all my heart. Saturday we had an appointment with the Braces out at Brockhampton estate, which I will put pictures of on drop box soon. It's amazing, and then had a DA with the Stobbs'. and Sunday we had church and TWO, count them TWO, investigators showed up to sacrament meeting. so yeah. we're kind of a big deal. that was my week! love you tons and I'll talk to you next week! July 8, 2013

Last week went well. Monday was just your average P-day, shopping, email, and rest. Tuesday we had DA with the Stanley’s and two appointments. One with G in the morning and one with J in the evening. Both went well, not quite leaps and bounds of progress, but they both ended up showing up to church on Sunday, then we had PEC (Priesthood Executive Committee). Wednesday we were packed, we had district meeting, followed by an appointment with I, then S, then R, then M, and then we had football (soccer) with the young men. Thursday we met up with Bro Crook and visited quite a few people. We had a really good chat with a less-active family as well. then we had a service project/DA/British sign language lesson with one of our deaf members. And we ended the night with a DA with the Nolans! Friday we had weekly planning, Elder Harris got an emergency haircut (it really was an emergency. he looked nasty.) and we taught our recent convert Teresa and her son Krai. We then went over to Brother Robinsons house and had a Missionary coordination. Saturday started off with a huge service project at St Richards hospice (a place where terminal patients go to die) where we sanded down all of their outdoor benches and put a fresh coat of stain on them. It was a HUGE project and only about 5 ward members showed up, but we got it done eventually. Then we had an appointment with the * family and had to drop them. It was sad, but necessary. And we ended the night with a DA with the Castles. Wonderful people. Sunday we had 3 investigators show up to church! and that brings us to now. Love you guys!

July 15, 2013

I'm loving it here! I'm doing well. This week we got someone on a baptismal date! It was pretty intense, we had been trying to get her on a date for a long time, but she was very hesitant to do so. she kept saying that she wanted to have her life in order, have a good relationship with her family -- basically she wanted to be leading a perfect life before her baptism. We addressed her concerns several times and nothing helped. So we're over at the ** having a really spiritual lesson, when I get this prompting to ask her again. so I asked, and she said no. Then I felt a prompting to read the baptismal interview questions. So I explained what they were and I read them out loud. Then I explained to her that these things are all that the Lord requires of us to be ready for baptism and that after being baptized, the Lord can help you so much more through the power of the holy spirit in making family relationships better and stronger as well as guiding us through all of our other decisions in working toward a perfect life. Then she accepted. It was really great.