CANNOCK WEEK #1

Hello!  Transfers went well and it was much easier this time around now that I know what I am doing!  At least sometimes I do.  But yes I arrived in Cannock without much trouble at all and things have been going well so far.  The ward here is really good.  It is very small, but I find I really like that, to be honest, because everybody is a lot more involved.  Everyone I've met so far has been really kind and welcoming.

My companion, Elder Abecia is from Mindanao in the Philippines.  He is 24 and has been a member his whole life but was less active for the majority of that time.  His dad served in Quezon City Mission in 86-88.

My new District is quite different now.  My last one was four Elders.  Each District in my new Zone has only one set of Elders and the rest of the companionships are Sisters.  I am a "Relief Society President", as dubbed by the mission.  lol  We actually have a Relief Society Zone.   It has been fun so far though, and we all get along very well!

I'm so sorry to hear about Chase.  He went out with a bang though, going to an All Blacks game his last week.  That doesn't happen every day!  I hope he will be able to heal quickly.

The family gathering for Parker looked like fun.  I always love getting together with family.  He's going to do a great job in the  Philippines!

Not loads has happened this week though.  Lots of tracting and getting to know the area so not much to report there.  We stopped by a former investigators home and he let us in and we are going to meet with him again this week so hopefully something comes of that.

Hopefully the new week will be exciting!

-Elder Lott

A lorry stuck under a bridge in Nuneaton

Last photo with the Nuneaton District

My new District!

Tracting in the sun is always fun!

-with Elder Seth Gibson

FAREWELL, HINCKLES

Hello everyone!  It has been a good week with a fair few exciting things!  One of them, as you could probably tell from the subject line, is I am leaving Hinckley.  I'll be going to Cannock in the Lichfield Zone so I am not going to the Leeds Mission.  I know my companion will be Elder Abecia from the Philippines and he goes home at the end of next transfer so I'm going to kill my first companion in the area.  Training Elder Raicevic was great and I think he is good to go!  The ward as been good and the people have been great.

In addition to that we had our last Zone Conference with President Leppard this week too.  It was really good and he and Sister Leppard were a lot more informal this time around so it was good to see more of what they are like as normal people lol.  They wanted to start an hour early though, so Elder Raicevic and I had to get up at like 4:50 am so we could catch the trains and be there on time.  It was a loooooong day!  Zone Conference was great though and the Leppards bore very strong testimonies.  It was very evident how much their mission meant to them.  We also had a Q+A at the end of the conference and it was fun to get to know a little more about them.

I have some pictures this week.  I'll explain a few.

Elder Dodds goes home on Wednesday and he was at Zone Conference so we took a final picture.
The fields, sundial and prisoner thingy were at the Battlefield of Bosworth, where a massive battle was fought between two of the royal houses.  Richard 3 fought one of the Henries and it was a really big and important deal.  It was a cool walk and place.  The newspaper is my fly swatting tool.  We had flies coming out of nowhere this week and we didn't count exactly but by rough estimation I have killed 80+ flies inside our flat this week.  It was insane.  The Englands are an awesome family who have given us a ride to church every week, had us over for dinner loads, and they are just really good, kind people.  Their son got back from his mission to the Alpine German Speaking Mission a week and a half ago.  They are awesome!  The Iliffes are another awesome family who had us over for dinner every Thursday.   The last photo is of a street in my area

Have a great week everyone!

-Elder Lott

With Elder Dodds

Battle of Bosworth field

Battle of Bosworth Sundial

Battle of Bosworth Pillory

My weapon of mass destruction

with the England Family

with the Iliffes

A street in my area

ANOTHER ONE

Hi everybody!  I don't have a lot of time today so sorry if I wasn't able to respond to your emails.  Stuff is going along  though. 

Congrats to Tessa on graduating from high school. 

I'm jealous of Rochelle and Cole!  I think it would be so cool to go to China!

Next week is transfers, so we'll see what happens.  About 1/4 of the Birmingham Mission will go to the Leeds Mission with boundary changes. I have been here in Hinckley for three transfers so I am probably going to be moved.  Not set in stone of course, but likely.  It has been a good area.  My area for this next transfer will determine which mission I finish in.

Read the Book of Mormon!  Love you all!

-Elder Lott

Pancakes!

Hey y'all!  I hope it has been a good 7 days gone!  It has been pretty nice over here.  The sun has been shining so I can't complain too much.  We also got let in to a home while tracting for the first time in I can't even remember how long, so that was sweet!  We taught the whole Restoration to a good lad, so we will see how it goes!  Exciting stuff!

There was also a meeting in Birmingham this week that I got to go to and it was loads of fun!  Elder Raicevic and I stayed over with Nuneaton Elders the night before and we just hung out and had a good time.  We played a Book of Mormon card game called Heroes of the Promised Land and i felt sooooo missionary playing it, but it was loads of fun.  The meeting was really good though.  President Leppard gave some really incredible trainings and we had a really awesome Q&A session at the end.  He and Sister Leppard bore really powerful testimonies to finish the meeting because they go home at the end of this transfer and the Spirit was definitely there with us that day.

A stellar member brought us a big bag of Krusteaz pancake mix from Costco so we're making pancakes with mom's Buttermilk syrup.  Delicious!  I wasn't paying attention when I flipped some pancakes over so got burned from the oil. 

That's pretty much it for this week.  Nothing too exciting but life is still good.  I don't have many pictures this week, but I did get a Welch name tag and it is pretty cool.  It looks like a made up language to me. 

Love all of you guys!  Keep being good and doing the things you should be doing!

-Elder Lott

My Welch Name Tag

I ran into Elder Orr at our Birmingham Meeting

Oil burns