Mail box fun

People are interesting here, really dry humor. They're different in lots of ways though... So it should be a little while before you really relate with them. I don't find that the case. I love all of our investigators. We are teaching around 15 people now. Some just love us and don't wanna hear the message, some have a testimony and wish they didn't, and some acknowledge they know its true but pretend like they don't. I'll highlight some of the more interesting people we're teaching for the sake of time. Anne, owns a music shop in town center and is Super awesome. She's had spiritual experiences all her life, and strong answers from heavenly Father, She's been taught for a long time, so she knows a lot the gospel, but she's expecting a huge answer. We're trying to help her get past looking for the huge sign, and working on the things she has. Lorrane is a really lovely lady whos husband totally up and left for some young fitness trainer. We're just trying to get a single heart to heart lesson with her. Edith, is an even older lady who is looking for spiritual answers. She swears she's not, but she's being taught by 3 different sects at her house.. she believes the BoM is true but refuses to come to church. She's been Church of England her whole life, I think she just doesn't want the change, and know what she'll find when she goes to church. Mike is the coolest. This guy wants to be converted. he has a couple issues with some doctrine but he wants to be a member of the church. I love teaching him! He is so straightforward, there's no digging involved to get to the bottom of an issue. Ken baxter is a widower less active, who is a really sweet guy. We've been trying to help him as he is struggling with the loss. Wesley, is the GREATEST guy ever. He loves Heavenly Father and improving his relationship with him. He has two awesome dogs that make me miss clark, but they always slobber on us. The church has helped him through some rough patches so he LOVES missionaries. Elder DePRIEST locked our keys out of the flat one night and he sped over to see if he could pick the lock. Told us he could drill it, and took us back up the hill to his flat whilst we got our answer. We ended up unlocking it with a cane through the letterbox the next day. (thanks Kim Young for the idea).. I was the one who got it, and as I knew I would, got my hands stuck in the slot. So i lost a bit of skin on that. ( the mailman totally walked in right after I had finished the job and my hands were stuck in the door, so we had a good laugh over that...)

St. Ediths

The town is lovely, theres a big chapel st. edithas with bells that are always going off, and the town has a castle in it. The ward is so lovely, we get fed like lambs to the slaughter. We bike a lot, but it totally depends on the day. the first day we biked like 10 miles, some days we just walk. So it's very different from day to day. also as you may be able to tell... The people we teach are all so different, with individual needs and demands. I do really love the work here. We keep super busy. Most nights I cant get to bed on time, because we try to do all the list of things we're meant to. It's pretty hilly here, so that's a pain sometimes. But I'm getting us to it.

Tamworth Castle

Ist Area

\

So I'm in the first area now. Guess where I got sent?!? Tamworth..... That probably doesn't ring a bell, but it will in a sec... wait for it..... It's where Reliant Robins were manufactured. My first area is the reliant robin town. haha I haven't seen any yet though. Ps- I'm jealous you saw a reliant! I still haven't. Well I probably have, just not noticed.

(This is an old family joke about Rick wanting to buy an Elio motors 3 wheel car and the boys showing him videos of rolling Reliant Robins every time he mentions one.)

I've met some pretty cool people here. Super English, really cool little town! The houses are great here to! People here are wonderful.  I rode like 10 miles the first day here.... and it's all hills here. SO that's been a pain. I've been adjusting well! It's awesome here, the ward is AMAZING!

It's been a month since I left WA, and it's been nuts. It feels like it has been AGES! I'm happy i get 23 more of these though! I'm growing so much out here. I feel the spirit so much, especially so in lessons. I feel it the strongest when I testify to people, so I've done that a lot. I gave a talk yesterday in church and that went well also. The people here are wonderful, and like you if you make fun of who they are (which is weird to get used to).

They do market days on Tuesday and sat, and people just set up stalls all over. Anyways, We took a bus straight to the mission office which is in a place called Sutton Colfield. It's a really wealthy area. But yeah Tamworth does have a lot of cool things about it. It's very mixed, Also I found out why England is so compact in the cities, and so spread out. They zone all the open land as 'green belt zones' where you can't build anything more than a lean to. Also, there are so many trees everywhere because if you cut one down you have to have permission, and you have to replant one. Even like on your land for your business. It's a bit excessive, but it does have a nice effect.

Oh turns out I have a few more minutes! Oh guess what? There's a cartridge world like 100 feet from our flat! I think it's funny every time I ride by. The spirit has been really lovely in the field. I've been able to give some great lessons already! The work is really nice here. There is lots to do. We bike A LOT. The district meetings are in the next town over, it's called Lichfield. There is and ENORMOUS cathedral there. I'll be sure to get some pictures before I leave the area. This town has a really old chapel in it too. But the one in Lichfield is extremely old. Take a look on google maps, I think you'd like it!

MTC and the Spirit

The spirit here is so wonderful, It is like a red hot fire. You can always feel it, and when you focus and come close it is so powerful.

The experience has been the most amazing of my life! It has been a week and I have grown so much. The culture here is AMAZING. and it's beautiful.

I am excited beyond belief!! It is so cool here at the mtc, and I can go walk the grounds and see the temple after this. love you guys and will keep in touch.

We're a stones throw from the temple and went today and it was AMAZING.. It is like heaven on earth!! And honestly this place is like refuge for truth. All it take is focus and you can feel the spirit like a FIRE at anywhere in the building. I'm so glad I'll be serving along side these people. They are the most genuine sincere people I have ever been around besides family. I mean we really treat each other like family. I would trust these guys with my life.

It is beautiful. It's one of the largest in Europe, if not the largest... And yet its MAYBE half the size of the portland temple. But the session was amazing. I am trying to absorb everything I can from the mtc before I go back out into the harsh world. Becuase I know the spirit thrives here in a way thats unmatched.

 


Anyways, Chorley is great... and the temple grounds are absurd. The temple has some stained glass windows, so at night it glows in the most remarkable way. I LOVE IT. We got to go to the temple twice as 2 week stayers. So yeah the MTC was great, the spirit was amazing, and the people were all so bright and cheery.

The weather here is a lot like home, more crazy really... And seeing people transition to this weather has taught me a couple things. One the lord prepared me in so many ways to come here. Two- It doesn't matter how bad the storm is outside if the inside invites the spirit. I was talking to Elder Erickson the other night about how excited we are to have our own families and make our homes places of spiritual strength and enlightenment. I know how powerful that is now, and the amazing thing is it comes entirely from diligence.

I have a great comp. elder tsai from tailand, we laugh a lot and tells lots of jokes. And I know some Chinese words now :P and I say 'ELDAH' now in an aussy accent now, because elder corcoran from autralia who has the greatest accent ever haha. Honestly I say more things in an Aussy accent than in an English one.



anyways, hope you're doing well,
I send my love as always. - elder Jarvis

Arrived in England

I dont have a lot of time, so I just wanted to say I got here alright and it's been a wonderful experience! It's so spiritual at the mtc I am LOVING IT. there's a private catering service so we are eating SO MUCH FOOD. The food is so amazing it's flippin ridiculous. The culture here is fantastic, I love it already. The weathers a lot like home, but more intense... The accents are great, and the stereotypes better ( or rather the fact that the stereotypes are spot on)  You wouldn't believe how much my teacher says brilliant. It cracks me up. Anyways, Chorley Is beautiful.

I wish I could never leave the MTC because It is the most amazing place I have ever been to in my life. The temple is a 3 minutes walk.

Anyways, it is so beautiful here. The houses are packed together, so there is still a lot of untouched land. There is beauty all around, it's wonderful. Also it's very normal here in ways, they have asda which is basically walmart. it's owned by walmart in fact ~ in all fairness it is a little different. I like it a lot more than walmart. It's set up nicely. Things can be expensive here, but also really cheap. Like when you buy the white shirts from Asda for 8 £ you can get them tailored fro 5£. So not bad if you're a brit. If you have to convert money, you're out of luck. With conversion fees, 13£ cost like 188998234$. But really though. ON the plus side, you can get cheap suits at asda for 20£ for the coat. Or 10£ jeans, that are actually nice. You have to drive down a long road to get to asda , which is filled with houses. I love how many brick houses there are here! Also I love that they don't tear down, they renovate. So the houses are super old and the town has the coolest feel to it. Also everything is close together, so when you drive you can see rolling hills and scattered trees without any buildings on the land. It feels so different, and so similar. The weather is so much like home. It rained snowed hailed and was sunny the other day, and the locals didn't seem to notice.

I used to think of traveling to Europe, and while I obviously want to come back... I think it's better to find a way to come stay here for a while. From the little I've seen, it appears that being super rich isn't as realistic... so people are more okay with that... They take life for what it is. Good sunday roast, desserts in cyclical patterns etc. it all points to the same thing. Making life comfortable. There is somthing to be said about the Ideas in the USA, but I do love the way this place looks and feels.
Also my teacher is one of the 'investigators' we teach, which we do multiple times a day. He told me the way I think is very European, which is cool. Another thing I see here is people think differently... As my teacher put, and I would agree, Americans think more surface level, and Europeans thinks more below the surface. I had expirienced this before in Model UN, but I see it now. From the toilet paper to the cars, things are more logical here. Which I love, It suits me quite well. So maybe I become a prof out here someday, who knows. But I do know this, Europeans can travel between countries so easily ( which makes food and other goods here fresh and imported if imported is better) so everything is nice here.