11/18/13

Elder Hein in front of the giant snow globe in Piccadilly Circus

Make sure to read to the end - there is video this week :)

Dear Family,

This was a very interesting week.  Did I ever tell you about Andreas, the Greek man?  We've been teaching him for like 6 weeks or so.  He always comes to church, but he's super hard to teach.  He just loves to talk and talk about whatever deep philosophies are on his mind at any given moment.  We finally finished teaching him Lesson 2 this week and at the end we invited him to be baptized.  His response was "suppose I was already baptized twenty years ago. . ."  I asked him "well, were you?"  and he said "yes, yes I was."  He was baptized 20 years ago in the Hyde Park chapel!  He left the church in the early 90s for some very mysterious reason, which he won't tell us, but when we found him he decided to see how much the church had changed.  He's come to the conclusion that it's pretty much the same as it was before, just with different people.  He totally played us!  We think he might have been ex-communicated from the little amount of detail he's given us on why he left in the first place, so now we're not really sure what to do with him.  He won't even give us his birthday so we can look up his records because he doesn't want anyone to give him gifts or throw him a party.  It's just the most bizarre situation ever.

On a less crazy note, Lawrence blessed the sacrament yesterday!  It was a really cool experience.  Lawrence is great.  I love him.  He also scores us some nice food.  When ward members invite him over for dinner he tells them that he'll only come if his Elders can come too.  Haha, I don't really mind.  We should probably start pulling away a bit though.  I don't know what he's going to do when I finally get transferred.

There's a new Mormon message on Mormon channel called "Wrong Roads." The Mormon Channel http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=2714780496001#.UopIHTAGzf8.email 

I really like it.  Not only does it have a great message, but it talks about the Arizona strip and it reminds me of trips to Sink Valley with Grandpa Pugh.  It's a good one.  You should check it out.  There's also another one called "A father indeed."  The Mormon Channel http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=910930370001#.UopK9XKhqdY.email

It's way awesome.  I want to be a father like that someday.  My all-time favorite one is "Mountains to Climb."  The Mormon Channel http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=2176618422001#.UopNzLtNNqI.email

If you ever feel like ugly crying in front of your computer screen, give it a watch.  It should do the trick.  The only exception to this is if you have no soul like my investigator named Allar who when we asked him how he felt after watching it said, "well, pretty much the same as I did before watching it."  I don't know how anyone could ever watch that video without feeling at least something.

Charmaine and Johnny are being a bit tricky at the moment.  They seem to go one week on, one week off.  It's obnoxious.  Both of them are still on date, but they're having a hard time keeping certain commitments.  Johnny doesn't really have any trouble coming to church or reading his scriptures, but he has a hard time with most of the commandments.  Charmaine has absolutely no problem with any of the commandments, but has a hard time reading and coming to church.  It's very frustrating.  They still have sufficient time before their baptisms to get things together though.  We have two new investigators on date this week!  Two girls named Celsa and Saraya.  They're super solid.  Both of them accepted an invitation to be baptized in their second lesson.  Hopefully we can keep these people on date!  It's kind of frustrating at times how little control we actually have over our investigator's progression.  Everything falls on them doing the things we commit them to do.  All the missionaries can do is invite.  They have to accept.

I have still only received the one package that had the Halloween stuff in it.  I don't know what's happened to the other two.  I'll check in the office to see if they have been put with the Christmas gifts.  I really want to get my hands on that homemade jerky!  I'm really excited for it.  Hopefully you guys will like the little things I send your way.  Obviously I can't send much, but I'll do the best that I can.

Do you put all of the photos that I send to you on the blog?  I think dad asked me a question about them one week.  Just put everything on there, including the pictures that aren't even of me.  I'm sure other people will still enjoy them.  Also, don't worry too much about editing the blog.  Probably nobody even reads it, haha. If you've already done it, that's great, but if not, don't bother.  I'll attach a couple more pictures this week for you.  

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Hein

1 & 2 are pictures of a sunset from the park in Highgate wood.

3 is a picture of my 6 month tie burning (after the fact).  I couldn't decide which tie to burn, so I did the only one that I have two of.  I still have the other one, don't worry.  It was polyester, so it didn't really burn, it just melted into a pile of molten plastic.

Today Mom got a little more contact with her missionary! ! !

Elder Hein: Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 14:04:03 +0000
I'll probably be on for a little while longer if anyone wants to talk.

Mom: On Mon, Nov 18, 2013 at 2:18 PM

Hi Christian!  Are you there?

Elder Hein: Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 15:59:06 +0000

I'm in the apple store now :)

Mom: On Mon, Nov 18, 2013 at 4:03 PM

I watched the Mormon messages-they're wonderful :).  What do you think about sending the music again?

Elder Hein: Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 16:09:08 +0000
If you want to send it again, go for it.  I'm still holding to the hope that it'll get here eventually.  Will you forward the videos and pictures we sent from the apple store to Elder Nolan's blog?  We're not sure if we typed in the right emails for his family.  Thanks!

Mom: Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 09:11:21 -0700

Sure!  We'll forward these works of art.  They were awesome!!!  So fun to see you in 'person'.  Love you tons!  This is mom by the way :).  Cadee just watched your videos and when I turned it off complained loudly so I turned it back on.  After watching it a few more times, she hugged the monitor.  Consider yourself hugged:).