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!"