Bit of a different week!

"This week was very different from the usual! Why? Because I pretty much was on a week long exchange! :S

On Monday we had a pretty normal P-Day. Tuesday was when we started our exchange! Elder Tellem and Elder Coomes came to Shrewsbury for us to start the exchange. We all had lunch together, and Elder Tellem and I left to Wrekin. When I was in Wrekin I had a bit of a surprise... Why? Because Wrekin is actually in the town of Telford. Does that name sound familiar at all? Well, it didn't to me until I got to the town centre and I saw the "International Centre" or whatever where we went to watch Carina's Cheerleading Competition! :O Haha! It was so strange to be walking around there! xD But, their chapel there is BEAUTIFUL! :O Anyway. On Tuesday night I had my first opportunity while out here in the field to bear my testimony to a portuguese man! Tuesday night was a bit of a crazy night to do proselyting! :/ We literally met every kind of person: Very nice military man who thanked us for what we do, crazy drunk lady shouting at us and threatning to throw a picture frame at us, polish man who could only swear in english, a crazy man, etc.

The members however are great! I only had the chance to meet a couple, but apparently a high percentage of the ward are RMs and they are so good at helping the missionaries out! The ones that I met were super nice! :) Wednesday was a bit of a wasted day really... We had to stay in from 3:30 till 5:30 waiting for the plumber to arrive and fix the shower. :/ In the end we had to get permission for a member to stay at the flat there and wait for the plumber. Apparently he only arrived at 6pm in the end (almost 3 hours late), and he only left at 8:50! How mad is that?! On thursday we made our way back to Shrewsbury for Weekly Planning. After weekly planning I went out with the DL again. and we worked until 9pm. Elders Tellem and Coomes stayed over the night and then we all travelled down to Manchester together. We had to wake up at 5am -_-' Soooooooo early! haha But it was worth it!

 

Zone Conference

So, the missionaries all got inside the chapel and sat down reading the scrips until Pres Preston and Pres Kearon arrived.

Pres Kearon spoke a lot about not being Robots, and how we should be ourselves. The whole reason why we have PMG is so we are no longer robotic but are natural instead. I thought it was a great training! We should be able to pick up on the things people are telling us to befriend these people.

 

On Saturday we finally exchanged back!

 

But yesterday, Sunday, we had our talks! There were 3 speakers. Elder Desir, Sister Jones and myself. All three of us got 10 minutes assignements. This is how it went. Elder Desir did a great talk on Loyalty and Dependability. He linked it to Basketball, and said that we have to be loyal to our Coach so that on Game day we will be ready to suit and he can call upon us and trust us. I really liked it! And he opened it up with a great joke which made everyone laugh: "Since I have been with Elder Pereira, he keeps telling me how terrible I am at spelling... He caught me out again yesterday when I wrote 'Armaggedon'... But come on! It's not the end of the world!" Everyone loved it! :) He did his talk in 11 minutes.

Sister Jones she had four pages to read out! :O Mine and Elder Desir's first thoughts, that's going to be one long talk! I only had a page with bullet points, and he only had two written out pages... Turns out she was done in 4 minutes. I still cannot believe the speeds she was speaking at! :O It was quite impressive :P hahahaha

And then it came my turn... I ended up speaking for about 14 minutes. Church can't just end 10 mins early :P haha I spoke about Kindness. Try giving a talk on that! :/ Haha But I think it went pretty well! At the end I was like "My invitation today is for you to examine yourselves and set goals that can help you develop kindness. One way that you can do that and that I can think about is by feeding the missionaries. That would be very kind. ;)" I think I did actually wink... hahaha!"

Shrewsbury is gorgeous!

"Oh my days! I love Shrewsbury so much! xD

Miracle Tuesday

Last Tuesday was SUCH a miracle day! Wow! So, the average QGCs/Appointments here in shrewsbury is 10/2. However, on Tuesday we were on FIRE! We had 19/5/3? I think that was it! :D Wow! Such an amazing day!

The last "3" were people we taught on the Spot. It was incredible! 2 of them were in the morning between 11 and 12. We went out and everyone we spoke to was incredible! But yeah! This week we have a few appointments set up, so it should be GOOOOOOOOOOD! :D

Zone Conference

This week we had the Newcastle Zone Conference! :D I love Zone conference so much!Because they aren't really a "Lesson", they are more of a council. We all gather in a semi circle, and even though there is someone who has prepared a training/instruction, we all participate. Something that I have been able to learn from the APs is that "when the spirit gives us a thought, it often is not for us, it is for someone else in the room", and because of that I always try to participate as much as possible! :) I know that mum now is probably thinking "Bless him, he probably speaks twice and he thinks he participates a lot!" Well, it's not like that! haha In fact, the other day I was talking to Elder Desir about how I used to be quite shy back at home and he said "Shy? You're not shy. You may be a little reserved, but youre not shy. And if you were back at home, you've been able to overcome that." So yeah, you better be proud of me! ;) hahaha

During the zone conference we also had an interview with President Preston. When I got to the office he was in, he was like:

"Haha! Elder Pereira, I love your letters! Do you keep a journal?" "Yes" "I thought so... but let me ask you, how much time do you spend writing to me?" "About 30-40 mins" "Elder Pereira, I give you permission to write to your family and just send me the same email you send to them. You are spending too much time writing to me!" - Hahahaha! xD I thought that was pretty funny :P But I am still going to write to him individually, because he is my Mission President, he deserves that! :)

Terrible Close to our Wednesday

Our Wednesday didn't end so well though. :/ We had an appointment with our dated Investigator. We confirmed the appointment earlier that day with him and everything, for 8pm. His girlfriend wouldn't go because she had a bad back, he said he would be there but he wasn't. The next day we tried to call his girlfriend to see if she'd be there at church and he was shouting "I AM SMOKING A CIGARETTE!" :'( It's so sad! And the biggest problem is that his girlfriend has been baptised, but her boyfriend has a hold on her so she isn't coming to church or meeting with us now. :( :/

 

Sunday

I love Sundays! And yesterday was one of the best Sundays ever! I'll start from the beginning!

It was Primary Presentation day! :D What a laugh xD hehehehehe I love how something always goes wrong! xD One of the kids didn't want to read his scripture or whatever so he pretended to be asleep xD And then there was a kid that would only whisper and so you coulnt hear anything. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much fun!

I also got to pass the sacrament with the YMs President, and his son, the Deacon's Quorum President .

After church, we went around a Ward family for dinner. They live about 20mins away from the church by car. However, we biked there... And it was all uphill... And if that wasn't bad enough, the bearings on my bike broke so I couldn't pedal. -_-' So we locked our bikes to a post and started walking. Now, to get to their house, we had to walk through a rocky road. The problem was that it had rained the day before and so there were massive puddles from one side of the road to the other and so we were stuck. -_-' haha! So we called the family and told them everything that happened, and the brother came to pick us up.

The dinner was a good ol' Sunday Roast! :) YUM! And for dessert we had Lemon Merangue (???) and ice cream. It was really nice! :) When they asked me about Portuguese food I of course mentioned fish! Especially jaquinzinhos. Their different reactions were hilarious! xD The parents were like "Wow! That sounds delicious. The son and the little girl just kind of looked at me in unbelief. And one of the daughters and Elder Desir were just like "You ate the head?! Even the eyes?! That is disgusting!" xD hahahahahahaha! xD

The lesson was pretty good too! :D Although I am still very quiet at the dinner table, during teaching situations I feel at home, and I just kept making the whole family laugh which was great! :D Their family kind of reminds me of ours when we had missionaries over! :) It was good! I wish they lived closer so we could go over more often! :)"

Week 1 in Shrewsbury!

"Wow! It is so weird to be in Shrewsbury and not Barrow! I was so used to being there already, I knew where EVERYTHING was, where everyone lived, it was great! Here, however, I am always lost! :O

Shrewsbury Ward

The Shrewsbury Ward is great! They were all so warm and welcoming to me! So nice! :) The ward has around... 50 members I'd say. A lot bigger than Barrow! The Gospel Priciples class is great! There were about 10 of us in the room. The Ward Mission Leader teaches the class and he is a hilarious man! Such a good WML! :)

The youth love us missionaries and so they always give us sweets! WOOOOO! :D haha It's the best! :) 

Elder Desir and I keep having a laugh!

Oh my days! It's been HILARIOUS! Seriously! It seems that every day something happens that just makes us laugh for the rest of the day!

Thursday - We were tracting and we weren't being very successful. At one point we were talking to an older gentleman who wanted to close the door, but wouldnt because we kept asking him questions. When we saw it was pointless, Elder Desir asked "Who do you know that would like to be with their family forever?" "No one" "Would YOU like to be with your family forever?" - As soon as he said that, a woman which we didn't know was in the house starts bursting out laughing! xD And Elder Desir can't control himself and laughs aswell! xD So I just tried to keep serious and said "Well... I hope you have a nice evening..." As the man closed the door, we laughed for about 5 mins xD

Friday - We were doing street contacting down a hill, facing incoming traffic. I saw a lady on a bike and tried to stop her, but she said "If I stop...*running out of breath* I won't be able to start again!" LOL!

Saturday - we had just been doing finding with a YM from the ward, and got a lift from his dad back into town, we get out of the car and each one of us tries to speak to someone. The man I approached ignored me, the girl Elder Desir approached stopped:

E.D."We are sharing a message about how families can last forever even after this life, but what would that mean to you?"

Girl "*laughs* That's crazyyyyy..."

E.P. "Wouldn't you like to be with your loved ones forever though?"

Girl "Of course!"

E.D. "Could we share this message with you right now?"

Girl "Ummm... I'm on my way to break up with my boooyfriend..."

Elder Desir gets super confounded

Girl "But... I could give you my number I guess..."

E.D. "Yeah... Uh... Well... Uh..." *he starts taking the phone out and puts it back in his pocket, takes the planner out but puts it back too

E.P. "Ok, if I give you our number, do you have credit to ring us so we have your number?"

Girl "yeah..."

It was HILARIOUS! xD What a timing we have! :P

 

Sunday - We approach an older gentleman and he says to us "It's ok lads, I'm already with British Gas" :S :L haha!

I am actually loving to serve here! And my District Leader is great! So funny! His name is Elder Tellem, and he is actually a friend of Annabel's! :)"

 

Hello from... Shrewsbury!!

"It is true, I have been moved :'( How sad! I had grown to love Barrow so much that I was actually quite sad to be leaving! I would never have guessed I'd be sad 2 trasnfers ago :P haha

Shrewsbury is in the Newcastle zone (Stake) and it is such a pretty town! :D THERE'S A CASTLE!!!! But yeah... ;) haha

As for my new companion......

It

is

...

ELDER....

DESIR!

As in THE Elder Desir! How weird/fun is that?! :D I'll explain how everything happened.

First of all, Transfer calls are on Mondays with the whole Zone. That's the only time you find out if you are getting moved really unless you are training, follow-up training or becoming a leader.

Well, on Sunday Morning while we were doing our Personal Study we received a call from the Mission Home, from President Preston because he wanted to speak to Elder Matute. And then President Preston asked to speak to me.

"Hello Elder Pereira! What did you think of the announcement at General Conference last night, etc... As you probably heard, I called to extend an invitation to Elder Matute to train a new missionary. That means you will be moving from Barrow. And I'd like to extend you an invitation as well. I would like to invite you to Follow-up train Elder Desir in Shrewsbury, Newcastle Zone" :O :O :O "Do you accept the invitation?" Uhhhh... Of course President (I reminded myself of Elder Al-Jamal xD)

So yes... I've been made senior :/ And am follow-up training Elder Desir - that means this is his 2nd transfer.

I didn't think I'd be made senior this soon! Now I need to be more diligent and hard working!

I've only been here for about 18 hours, but I've already had Ward Correlation Meeting. SO GOOD. The Ward Mission Leader is AMAZING! Seriously, he gets things done! OH YEAH! I am so excited to have a good Ward Mission Leader! :D I haven't met many members yet, but the ones I've met are so nice! :D I love it already, seriously.

 

General Conference

OH MY GOODNESS! :O

When President Monson made that Historic announcement, we LITERALLY jumped out of our seats and were like "NO WAY! NO WAY! NO WAY! :O :O :O" We couldn't believe it!

There were SO many amazing talks! I loved it! Even though it was really weird to miss the very last session - and yes, that means I didn't get to hear from Elder Bednar :'(

But oh my days. Elder Holland's talk. WOW! Such an amazing talk! He had done a very similar talk for missionaries and Mission Presidents titled "Feed My Sheep", but this time he focused mainly in Peter. Wow. I was just amazed. If you look at my notes, everything looks really neat and tidy like this email, but then, BAM!

DO YOU LOVE ME?

So yes, I did love that talk. :)

I also really enjoyed Pres Eyring's talk about the Gifts of the Spirit. I have been studying about them, so that really helped me! :D And Pres Monson's talk in Priesthood "The responsibility is upon us, Brethren. *motions towards EVERYONE*" Oooooo. :/

Elder Uchtdorf's talks were so good as well "Dear, this is a journey, not a race! Enjoy the moment!" Hehehehehe xD hahaha! Love it!

But yes! Such an amazing GenConf! It was all about Families and Missionary work though! :O

And oh yeah! Raquel, are you too thinking about going on a mission?! :O - President Preston asked me to tell that if you are, you should write down you'd like to come to the EMM xD haha! :)"

Service... Cultural differences!

"Service Friday!

We went around a member's home to give her some service. We painted her kitchen walls. After Service, I showed my family pictures to the sister and Elder Matute jokingly said, pointing to Raquel, "That's my future wife!" (It's a joke, as missionaries, to want to marry each other's sisters) to which Sister Kennyon replied "I don't think she'd like you"... :S haha OUCH! :P Hahaha.

But yeah, and as if that wasn't insulting enough, we kept talking about marriage and then she turned to us and said "You two keep talking about marriage, but what if no one wants to marry you?" BAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I just found it hilarious :P

But yeah... That was service on Friday!

Cultural differences!

Elder Matute was texting one of our investigators on the other day, and she sent an "x" at the end of the text. For Elder Matute (in Spanish) that means "Why?", "how?", etc. So he replied with a super ridiculous text! xD it was hilarious! I laughed so much! When I told him that an "x" was a kiss, he got so embarrassed xD hahahaha!

 

Right now

Well, I am going to be honest, but mum, if you go into ultra protective mum mode, I won't be able to be honest again! ;) haha I have a cold at the moment and so we werent able to go out and work last night :( Nights have been pretty horrible, but, I feel slightly better today! Thankfully I don't have a temperature though! :D Elder Matute has been great. He has made me soup, and other warm foods, keeps telling me not to wash the dishes, etc :P hahaha

But yeah... Im surprised my nose isn't super sore yet seeing as I have been blowing it so much :(

I am starving right now! Some things never change!;)"