December 29, 2014

Dear Family,

I'm convinced that a couple of the members of the ward were out to kill me this week with the amount of food they were slamming down on my plate. It was so good but it was too much. I was definitely pushed to my limits, especially with Citi the Ethiopian. Oh my days, was I full!

Other than that I had a very wonderful Christmas. We visited lots of the members and some of our investigators that were around and had a very nice time. 

Thank you so much for the emails this week. Mom, that talk that you told me about is one of my all-time favorites. Elder Klebingat really lays it down.  I listen to it almost every day. Its the best. It's just so bold and straightforward. Just how the gospel should be.

It was really nice to talk to you guys as well on Wednesday. You all look really good. I'm a little gutted it had to be a little short but it was good, nonetheless. I loved seeing all of your smiling faces. It was super strange to see some new ones, though. Campbell is super cute, and Wake was talking soooo much. 

So, on Tuesday I am moving. I'm going to another part of London called Sutton. My new comp is Elder Pulman. He's from wales! I met him awhile ago, back when I was serving in Oxford. President told me he's struggling a bit so I'm going to go in there and cheer him up. Elder Herrod is also leaving and so is Elder Ertmann. It's probably the hardest for Elder Herrod, though. He came to Welling January 2  and has been here ever since, except for his short stint with me in Oxford. He says leaving Welling is harder than when he left home in California. Welling is pretty much his home. Some of the members even started calling him Brother Herrod. Haha. I'm going to miss him a lot, too. He's one of my best friends. He's moving out to Cornwall to be one of the Plymouth ZL's. I'll shoot him some emails while he's out there, though. 

This week we had 2 to 3 dinner appointments every day. I'm getting pretty tired of Gelaphrice. But that German BBQ was really cool. Actually, it was Swiss! Maybe you've had it, Dad. Sis. Eckelt had these cool grill things and we grilled some pork on the top, but there was also these little tray things that you stick inside of the grill with like potatoes and cheese and some meat and veg and it gets all nice and gooey and delicious in there. So good! And yesterday we went over to Sister Lou's (she probably one of my favorite members here) and had a proper British roast (its been a long time since I've had one of those, too) and watched the coolest nativity movie ever. I'll have to show it to you guys when it get home. It's the best.    

​Well, the next time I email I'll be somewhere else! 

I love you all and hope you have a Happy New Year!

Love, Elder Glasgow

Sweet Food Fatigue, bleh!

Elder Byron and I with our investigator, Du, and her kids.

December 15, 2014

Dear Family,

 

I'm feeling a lot better this week. My cold finally left me! My appetite is still somewhere else, though. Yesterday it was Elder Byron's 25th birthday and we were invited for double birthday Dinner Appointments. I was so full. First a German/English Roast, with birthday cake afterwards and then all of the Gelafrice, Chicken, and Peanut Stew I could eat, with another birthday cake on top of that. It was too much. During accounting I laid on the ground to ease my swollen stomach.

 

Thank you so much for the letters this week. Chirstmas is almost upon us! I just love the Christmas season. It's definitely a time of reflection and a time of giving. Oh, how I miss those Windsor Ward Christmas Parties. We just had our ward's party last Saturday. There was loads of sweets and Santa's Grotto and a Christmas Quiz and a musical number by the U.S. Missionaries. It was lots of fun, but I still didn't think it compared. Holidays are just so much better in the States!

 

This week we want to sing some carols on the street with just the ''He is the Gift'' banner and see how that goes. It's really nice using the banners because people just come right up to you and ask all sorts of questions and it's different. Missionary work sometimes can get a little monotonous so we have to always be trying all sorts of different things to shake it up.

 

It was really nice to talk to you guys the other day to set up our Christmas Skype. It's so strange to hear your voices though. You all sound so American. And Chase it growing up quick. So is Crew.

 

Mom, something I've learned on my mission. If you don't ask, you won't know. And what's the worst that could happen? The answer is no and you move on. I think it's pretty easy.

 

Good news! I told you guys about Summer, right? Well she's accepted a baptismal date for the 10th of January! She's super great and has some great fellowshippers. We also met a guy named Harry (not the Prince) who has some serious potential. We'll be teaching him on Tuesday.

 

I don't really see much difference in how holiday cheer affects people here during the Christmas season. However, it gets pretty crazy on the High Street on the weekends, with all sorts of performers and publicity acts and stuff. I do like singing all the Christmas hymns at church a lot though.

 

This Thursday we'll be going to the Temple and having a Christmas dinner with President Millar. I'm really excited about that. It should be pretty revelatory.

 

Hope you guys have a great week. Only 10 more days 'til Christmas! I love you all.

 

Elder Glasgow

pix. a new suit, wooo hooo!  and the birthday boy

December 8, 2014

Dear Family,

Well.... this week I got sick.... Like I got a terrible cold and I'm pretty sure it's evolved into Bronchitis.... So for most of the weekend there wasn't much work getting done.... yeah.

The work we were able to do this week has been really good, though. We've been going out with some Banners to the High Street and it's been very very successful. We have lots of people to hunt down next week. 

Our investigators are doing good. We weren't able to meet with Summer, yet but tomorrow I am going to give her friend Emily a call and set up dinner with all of her family and Summer. Its so nice when investigators already have stellar fellowshippers. Perhaps you guys could think of someone new to introduce to the Missionaries back home? I bet the Sisters there would be super grateful. I feel so blessed whenever I get a referral. It helps a lot. 

Elder Ertmann is great. That Thanksgiving turkey was so good! His comp is Elder Alambra. He was born in the Philippines but is really from Australia. He's a real good guy. 

We're also working with a member of the ward, who works at a Prison, so we can go give a presentation there! I am praying it will all work out because that would be so cool to go preach at a Prison! 

Oh! I tried calling you guys yesterday but no one answered. We need to sort out Skyping for Chirstmas. I'll try calling today again, though. It'll be at like 10pm my time. Cool?

This week has been rough with me being sick, but I trust it'll all work out. Elder Byron is raring to get out there and I don't want to keep him or myself from finding the Lord's sheep too much longer. 

I love you all! 

Elder Glasgow

December 1, 2014

Dear Family,

Thank you so much for the birthday package. I made those Brownies last night and they were delicious. I'm going to buy some extra milk today so I can make that pudding. I'm so excited for that. It's little things like brownies and pudding that you forget about on the mission, but then someone reminds you and then you miss them soooo much, then a great family, like yourselves, sends them and it's just the best. 

Thanksgiving was really good this year. We actually had to have it a day early because of some appointments we set up... but it was good. We had Thanksgiving as a District. We bought a whole turkey and Elder Ertmann put it all together. That guy knows how to bake. It was so good! I have some pictures of the turkey and stuff. 

My birthday was really good, too. The other Elders bought me some Dunkin Donuts and a member in the Ward will be baking me a cake on Tuesday. She was upset that she forgot. But it's not really a problem. 

I got to shake my 4th Apostles hand on Tuesday, too! Elder Quentin L. Cook came over to Hyde Park and talked with both of the London Missions. It was really great to see some of my old MTC District there and even my old comp, Elder Butterfield. There were so many missionaries, and Elder Cook was great. He talked all about the heritage of the mission and PMG. Did you know that Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball walked the banks of the Thames in Woolwich??? I was just there two days ago!! And did you know that Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and and Elder Cook were companions in England? Super cool!

Man, I miss all the good AZ stuff like hiking and shooting guns and just all of it.  It sounds like you've been having some fun. 

This week has been really good to us. We've met lots of good people and picked up a really solid investigator named Summer. She is a friend of one of the families here. She came to church and also brought along a less active YSA that hadn't been to church for 4 years! We'll be seeing them both this week. 

John and Tasha are doing really good, too. John struggles to read but when you sit him down and read with him, he understands just great. They are really excited for the Christmas party the Ward is putting on as well. 

The french speaking guy is my comp dad!   He is from the French speaking side of St. Lucia and is learning English. It would be really nice if you could send him a quick message in French. He's had the craziest life ever. Seriously. I'm going to write his autobiography. It's that great. 

Cousin Bentley is in Paris??!! That's so cool!

Thanks for putting some cash in my account. I'm going over to Bromley with Elder Herrod today and we'll look for something that suits me (haha punny, Suits) It will be nice to spend the day with him, too. I love that guy. And yes, after the mish I'll be going to to San Diego all the time to hang out with Elder Herrod and Elder Jackman. They will probably come to AZ a couple of times, too. 

As for Chirstmas.... I dunno. You can probably just wander around Walmart and get me some random stuff that you think will strike my fancy. I will love it all. I'm going to be sending home a small package for everyone, too. 

Thanks again for everything. I love you all so much. Go on this website and share this video on your Facebooks! That means all of you! He is the Gift

Thanks, and loves

Elder Glasgow 

Haha!  Notice the pic behind me and Elder Herrod!

This didn't last long! Mmmmmm!

November 24, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you all for the letters this week. They always mean a lot to me. I finally got both packages you guys sent, just yesterday. Thanks for the cars Crew, I'll play with them every day. And thanks for the letters. They help. There's just something really special about hand written letters. And don't worry, I won't open up the birthday package until Saturday. 

Time is just flying by so fast. I only have 5 more days as a teenager. No more childhood. That's a sad thought. Speaking of childhood, I listened to a really great talk about children. It was by Brad Wilcox. Not only was it hilarious but it also taught me a lot. He explains that as we grow up we loose things; things that all children have, but are forgotten as we grow up. These things are self-esteem, love, wisdom and faith. Little kids are just chalk full of that stuff. Christ taught that unless we become as little children we cannot return to live with Him. I think those four attributes are a great place to start.

So, my new comp, his name is Elder Flavius Byron. He's from the countryside of St. Lucia. He is a convert of 3 years and has been on a mission for about 16 months, 9 of that in the West Indies. He actually served in the same ward as Kyle Brown for a bit, and the rest here in London South. He had to learn English when he came here because he only knew French. You should email him sometime, Dad, flavius.byron@myldsmail.net. He is a really great guy. I'm doing my best to help him with his English but I'm still trying to work out what is most effective. I enjoy serving with him. He's really funny and has quite the history. 

This week was pretty crazy for us though. We had to clean the Flat because of Transfer, and then Elder Ye took the key with him to Oxford! When he mailed it back all that arrived was an empty envelope! So, we had to go cut a new one. It was a process! And then the Key Code to get into our Flat stopped working and Elder Herrod lost the fob awhile ago so we had to call to get a new password and hopefully we'll be getting a new fob as well because the password will only last so long.... whew. 

Some of our investigators dropped out this week, but the most promising ones are still around. Last night we were able to see John and Tasha. They are doing really well. Tasha loves what we are teaching her but John stuggles. He is very apprehensive about it all and stuggles to read the Book of Mormon. Last night we read Alma 7 with them, and talked about Jesus Christ, and they liked it a lot.

Tomorrow the London missions get to go to Hyde Park, and see Elder Cook! I'm really excited about it all and am awaiting the wisdom he will share with us. Tonight we are starting a Fast to prepare ourselves for it. There will also be District Leader Council and Zone Training coming up. So we'll be really busy. 

Thanks again for the letters and prayers. I pray for you guys every night. I love you guys.

Elder Glasgow

pic. our plan of salvation display from last week. sweet

November 17, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you so much for your letters this week. It makes me so happy to hear about how well everyone is doing. I miss the american holiday season so much, especially in our family. November and December are just so full and it makes it all the better. I hope you guys can make it one more time without me. haha. 

This week has been quite the experience. Loads of really great stuff has happened. So our District got the great idea to try out some creative finding ideas and what we ended up doing is hand painting a giant Plan of Salvation on a big sheet and we've been going to the High Street and talking with everyone about it. It's probably the most effective/fun way to find, ever. I love doing it. We've found lots of good people as a District doing this and we are going to continue to do it every week from now on. 

On Friday we had a Multi Cultural evening. It was awesome. There was loads of food. Us missionaries even made proper Corn Dogs! the ward loved them!! African music playing, dancing and all sorts of fun. Did I ever tell you about Shaun? He's a Less-Active that showed up to church yesterday after quite of few years of not coming out, so we've been teaching him lately. He's making leaps and bounds. He brought his non-member wife to the party as well. She's very nice and we are praying we can teach her soon. 

Saturday I had an exchange with Elder Rogers. It's so funny to go on exchanges with previous companions. It's a lot easier than with the regular Zone Leader. But it was really cool because we were able to see how much we have grown over the past year. We also had a really cool experience together. We were driving back to the Flat to go Park and Contact around for awhile before going to teach an investigator and we saw this guy who was trying to fix his car so we stopped and was able to help him change his flat tire! He was so grateful for our help. But it was like a textbook missionary thing. Helping people fix their flats. Haha. He was from France, too. We ended up even giving him a Book of Mormon and a Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith pamphlet. 

Last night while at Du's house I got a phone call from President Millar as well. I'll be getting a new comp on Wednesday because Elder Ye is going to Oxford! I'm kinda jealous of him. But my new comp is Elder Byron. He's from the West Indies. To be honest I'm a little nervous. I've met Elder Byron before but we'll see how the Transfer goes. 

That pretty much sums up my week. It's been crazy. 

Pops - the English are lame when it comes to the Holidays. There's usually some small displays in grocery stores but that's about it. Barely any Chirstmas lights. It's nothing compared to our street!! haha. 

Thank you again for the letters. They have helped a lot. I'm going to have to go on a Temple tour when I get home now!

Love you all,

Elder Glasgow

ps. went to Lesnes Abby for p-day.  Built in 1178, pulled down after the "Dissolution of the Monasteries" in 1524.

November 10, 2014

Dear Family and Friends and whoever else reads this on my blog,

 

So, that Sister that you heard about from Grandma Wiegel is Sis. Brown, who is Brennan Brown's mum, if you guys remember him (we played volleyball together and hung out quite a bit). Sis. Brown was companions with a member of the Welling Ward, Sis Lou, who I am actually going to go have dinner with tonight. It's so crazy to find out all the ways that we are connected to one another. The world is much smaller than we think. Crazy.

 

You know Mom, sometimes I still find it hard to fully understand what Grace is, too. But from what I do understand, it's something along the lines of this... Our Father in Heaven is just that, a Father. He's our Father. Christ is our Father, too, because we have taken upon us his name so that we can grow to be like Him. So, there's 2 father figures. I'm sure you understand as a parent that you do all that you can for your children. Well, so does Heavenly Father and Christ. They have given us a body, an earth to live on, Prophets and Revelation and Christ gave all the Atonement. All of these are free gifts with no cost to us. The only reason They gave them to us as well is simply because they love us. So in my definition, Grace is all the gifts God has given us simply because He loves us. But like I'm sure you understand, these gifts, like a tool, is useless if you just leave it in the tool box. You have to take the gift and use it. For example, the Atonement. It's available to everyone but requires effort on our part to use it. We have to repent and confess our sins to God and understand our potential and then it can be used effectively.

 

But now to answer your question. How to receive Grace as a Mother. I think the greatest way to apply Grace is to simply understand it. For example, I recall a story I read in a book. There was a young family. A mother, father and one child. They raised their son in the church. They went to church every week and the mother and father were as righteous as they could be and they raised the child to be righteous, too. But once the young boy became a young man, he started to sway, get caught up in the wrong crowd, he became unrighteous. The parents didn't know what to do. They had done all that they knew how, yet it made them frustrated their son didn't choose the right. One night, as they were praying, because the son had decided to run away from home, tears streams down the mothers face. She was asking the Father, ''why? why is it that my son has strayed? how has this happened? I've done all that I could do.'' Shortly thereafter, she got a reply. ''He's my son, too''. She heard those words loud and clear.

 

I don't know if this little parable has helped you at all, but I hope it has. I think it's kind of the same with you as the RS President. Sometimes things are out of our control. Sometimes people make choices that we don't want them to make. But all things are done is the wisdom of him that knoweth all things. That's how I see Grace. We do our part, God makes up the rest. Because He loves us. If we are doing our best, there is no need to be overwhelmed with our calling or our family. God knows whats going on. Have faith, trust and lean on him. He won't let any of us down. That's what I think about Grace.

 

I was able to talk to Brice Cox a little bit just last week. It sounds like he's doing really good. And I would definitely agree, Jace Hancock has learned LOADS on his mission. I'm excited to seem them all when I get back. Doesn't Hamilton Crocket come home next month?

 

Pops - I could count on my hand the number of Brits that actually like the NFL. That's super cool though that the Cardinals are doing so good! Is Fitzgerald still around?

 

The whole ward is changing! Next thing you know Dad's going to be Bishop! I always thought Bro. Whitehead was a great Councilor. Have you guys heard anything about Tyler Whitehead at all?  Has Truman Crocket left yet? What's going on with Will Carvalho as well??

 

You guys probably want to hear about my week, huh? Well, we did soooo much finding it was crazy, and we saw lots of miracles as well. One of our investigators had a little emergency last week, though. You remember John? Well we might have to call him 7-fingered John, now, because he lost a few in a construction accident... Oh my. He sounded alright though when we talked to him on the phone. We'll be seeing him Tuesday.

 

I'm doing really good this week. It's just been good. Happy birthday to Cedar and Chase.

 

Love,

 

Elder Glasgow 

 

ps, we got lost in these woods looking for a Less-Active, and then we made hobo dinners!  Mmmmmm!