First week in Wales

"My first week in Wales has been good! Though its absolutely cold here! It rains daily and the Weather generally changes every ten minutes though sometimes it rains for several hours. The clouds here are amazing though, big and poofy and white and as tall as the sky. Weve spent a lot of time indoors (compare notes with LoraLynn, and Mom etc.) and what time we do spend outside weve spent most of it biking up hills for the last several days. Luckily, my bike is amazing and i got such good deal on it. It took me several days to figure out what to name it ( a tradition here) but after some random flipping through the Old Testament, Gibeon Zadok was christened. Elder Hutchings' bike is named Big Chaz. Classy. Back to the weather. I only recently got water proof pants to wear over my slacks but i can tell you right now, shoe polishing is a huge waste of time (good thing i dont have any!), as the wet grime from the street gives my shoes a fresh coat after every rain. Did i mention its cold? Its tricky when deciding how to dress, I cant wear my long underwear every day (did i mention the waste bands tore out of the bottoms almost immediately?) and when i do it seems like we spend a lot of time in some members very warm home. Its been a good week though! We have one investigator who I contacted on the street with another missionary. We have taught one lesson with him and he asked us if he could come to church with us. His name is Livingstone, hes fro Bangladesh and his english is not very good. He seemes concerned that the speakers on Sunday didnt mention Jesus Christ once (they were elderly former Temple workers, do the math) and so we couldnt set another appointment with him this week. We wont give up though, pray for him to let us come back! The best experience of the week was probably just last night. After church yesterday my companion started to feel very sick. We went to a lunch appointment and he ate too much and when we came home he was feeling even worse. Pretty soon he was in the bathroom for over an hour crapping his guts out. Then he slept on the couch for an hour while i read before getting up again and spending another hour on the toilet puking out both ends, and even coughing up some blood. Needless to say we didnt get to make up our ompanion study from that morning or our weekly planning (not enough hours in the day or the week!) I called the other Elders in the ward over and we gave him a blessing. One of the other Elders did the anointing and then it was my turn to do the blessing! I had anticipated it of course and spent an hour on the stairs nervously reading in my white handbook how to give the blessing. I couldnt clear my mind and couldnt help but think of what i might say, so I was worried that when the time came I wouldnt be able to give the blessing as directed by the spirit. Sure enough though, the moment I laid my hands on his head my mind was completely clear, and at that very moment I rested my hands on his head, I felt something Ive never felt before. I felt a kind of energy, emanating from our hands, through my arms and into my body. I stuttered a bit and in broken phrases simply blessed him that he would be healed of his sickness and that his pain and afflictions would cease. Afterwards he said he fely mostly better, though still very dehydrated. He seems to be fine now for the most part and is recovering well. It was a cool and totally knew experience. Its not like we all started glowing or anything, it wasnt nearly as miraculous as it might sound, but I can testify that I felt the power of the Melchizidek Priesthood, and tht it was not my own, and that I spoke the words God intended me to speak. You can be sure I wrote about it in my journal!

Continue to pray for me, especially that I will be patient and dilligent, and for those poeple that we are meeting and teaching, and I will keep you in my prayers! I love you! Tell John I love him so much!"

Cardiff, Wales

Elder Church is in his first area: Cardiff, Wales

"My first area is Cardiff, Wales!! I've been out since wednesday night and my companion is Elder Hutchings! Its already been an awesome experience. We don't have any new or progressing investigators but just in the last few days we've picked up 4 or 5 potentials. On my first day out we were let into someones home to teach them about the restoration. He was a student named Mark. We gave him a BoM and left our number with him, though he wasn't interested in another lesson at the time. Elder Hutchings told me that on average it takes an investigator 7 exposures to the Church before they are willing to be baptized so we can at least rest assured that we "leveled him up". We've met a few other people as well, on Saturday for example we were stopped on our bikes checking our map and a man rode up with a flat tire. We had a conversation and then taught him a bit and left him a Book Of Mormon. He even agreed to meet with us this week! There are few more people we've met who have expressed interest as well and I'm really looking forward to speaking with them again. Ive already seen miracles and prayers answered in so many different ways! My bike for example! Before leaving the flat we prayed to be able to find a nice affordable bike; after checking a few stores we found a very nice bike (probably worth £400) for £150. I had about £147 and was able to buy it! It rides extremely well (Note: I am now broke. Please send money if possible, $100 equals about £60 right now). I am having  a good experience so far but my only worry is that were not working hard enough. We've been having trouble getting out of the flat on time and every moment we arent finding or teaching I feel like were wasting time. All the missionaries I've met assure me and remind me i need to relax and rest more but I just want to get stuff done! I want to baptize people! 

Wales is cold. Cardiff is a somewhat dirty cramped area but the surrounding hills and coast (when we actually get a chance to see them) are beautiful. Its worth noting that the thermals we bought are junk, primarily because the

waist bands of both bottoms tore off almost immediately with little provocation. Oh also! There are no Reeses in this country and peanut butter is a rare commodity so if youre going to send care packages these are necessary items. I would also appreciate if you could find any information on any ancestors we have from Wales! Stories would be best but names and dates would still be cool.

I love you! Youre in my prayers tell John Ill be working on a reply to his letter first chance I get!  Im trying to send pictures right now."

We're still working out how to get the pictures sent, as the files wouldn't open on my computer here, but we'll get that fixed soon!

More Pictures from the MTC

Street Contacting in Manchester

The whole group at the England MTC

Arriving at the MTC

Another shot of the whole group

Nephi District with the teacher, Sis. Jovero

Last e-mail home from the MTC

The American Elders and Sisters singing their National Anthem

Street Contacting

Pictures!

Here is the link that Sister Williams from the MTC sent out to all the families of the elders and sisters of their 3 weeks in the MTC. There's almost 300 picture, so enjoy!

 https://picasaweb.google.com/111434968645671758757/March222012?authkey=Gv1sRgCOuUkJGl8vCLOw

Last P-Day in the MTC

"Ive got a little bit of time here to write some more so i can answer some of your questions! The Elder Hess here is of no relation (Eric served with an Elder Hess, also from Utah), my favorite moment so far was our Devotional from Provo on sunday (recorded several years ago im sure) and the video im sending you! Youll see its a real treat! The Church history tour was really cool too. I did get to watch conference! Sadly i slept through most of Elder Hollands session which is just too bad because ive decided hes my favorite speaker! The hardest adjustment to make has probably been sitting in class again for 3 hours at a time. Like Eric says we do a whole lot of sitting and eating. I like the MTC! Im gonna miss it! We went street contacting twice over the course of our stay here and I was terrified! It gave me a good idea of how comfortable i was just sitting in the MTC. Thanks to my companion though we placed a total 6 BoM's and got 6  contacts the second time out as well! Im really scared to proslyte but im looking forward to get a good trainer! The MTC President says theyre going as far as to release assistants to make them trainers so we should all have good mentors!Oh and i am going to the mission home i believe so no worries. I crave Reeses. Always."

Letter of Departure

"ENGLAND MISSIONARY TRAINING CENTRE
Temple Way, Hartwood Green, Chorley,
Lancashire, PR6 7EQ, England
April 7, 2012

Dear Brother and Sister Church,

Your son will be departing the England Missionary Training Centre on Wednesday
morning, April 11. We want you to know how much we have enjoyed having him with us.
Elder Church is a fine young man and we are grateful for the opportunity we have
had to work with him on a daily basis. He is well-prepared for his mission and he continues
each day to grow spiritually. He is developing good teaching skills and is excited about the
work. He will soon be ready for full time service in the England Birmingham Mission.
We love this young man and are grateful to you for all you have done to prepare
him for this wonderful time in his life. Your love and continued support are important to his
success. Letters from home are always greatly anticipated and appreciated. Please address
all future mail to:

England Birmingham Mission
187 Penns Lane
Sutton Coldfield
West Midlands
B76 1 JU

May you and your family be blessed as he continues to serve our Heavenly Father.
Sincerely,

President and Sister Walker
President and Sister Walker
President and Sister Williams"

This Week in the MTC

"I did get to watch General conference and i took some good notes. I did however completely pass out during the session Elder Holland spoke though. Im still waititng for the conference issue of the ensign to come out so i can read it. I woke up for the one part i probably needed to hear though when he said not to envy. One of the elders in my district has gotten at least five letters a day in the mail for over a week now and a package every couple of days. Im not usually homesick but its discouraging to hand out mail to someone else everyday and still not get anything from anyone. I dont have much time to type because i have to go get a haircut in a few minutes but ill have some more time to type later after my companion and i go to ASDA (its like walmart i guess)"

Let's all make sure Elder Jake knows that we love him and send him lots o letters! The address is in the bar to te left.