CANNOCK WEEK #6

Hi Everyone.

Well, it has been a good couple of weeks here!  I didn't get to write last week because we helped a family move into the ward and it took up loads of  time that day.

It is also the end of another transfer.  I'll be staying in Cannock and my new companion is going to be Elder Misalucha.  He is coming from Bournemouth, which was formerly in the London South Mission before the boundary re-alignments so I don't know anything about him other than he is from the Philippines.  So two comps in a row from there.

There isn't much to tell from the last two weeks other than that they have been good.  We taught Jamie and that is going well.  We are hopefully going to be doing a chapel tour with him this week too.  He is really a super solid guy.  Not much is happening in the area as far as missionary work goes other than Jamie.  That is alright though because in my last area we seriously had nothing happen at all so even having one person to teach is pretty cool.

Elder Abecia is going home this week, so we had a "funeral" for him to say good-bye at our last District Meeting.  He made some Filipino food for us, which was really good!  Overall, a good day.

I'm excited for Parker heading over to the Philippines!  Can't wait to read about his experiences and adventures while he is serving there.

Also, glad Chase is doing well and recovering.  Thanks for sending the audio for me to listen to.

I'm glad Marissa's birthday was well celebrated.  And I'm glad my card made it there in time.  Happy Birthday Marissa!

We finally got some rain yesterday.  There was so much it was insane!  We were soaked all the way through and I won't lie, it was kind of nice!  The heat has been pretty brutal and it felt good to have the wet coming from outside rather than my body. lol.  I've been sweating so much it has been killing me!  It's still quite warm but clouded and more rain has come.

It has been a solid week.  Hope you're all doing well and that life is good!

-Elder Lott

P Day hike with the District

Some people in the ward invited us over for dinner and then took us up a hill near their home.

I think it used to be a massive coal mine.  It was really cool!

CANNOCK WEEK #4

Hello my Friends!

This was a really good week!  Something actually happened!  A man named Jamie, who I have mentioned in past emails, looks really solid!  We dropped by him on Tuesday and got to know him a little and explained to him what we do.  He expressed some concerns that he has had in his life and almost all were answered by the Plan of Salvation, so we set up a return appointment for Friday.  We went back on Friday and taught it to him and he even fed us!  We had a really good lesson and he was so accepting of all we taught.  He said several times how it all just made sense to him and it was so cool!  This hasn't happened since I was a greenie!  He is even open to being baptized.  He said as we teach him more and he comes to know for himself he would definitely be willing to take that step.  I am kinda freaking out because this hasn't happened in ages!

Aside from that it was still a really good week.  On Thursday we had a really good District Council so that was neat, and we did some District finding afterward, which was fun too.  On Saturday we did service for the Royal British Legion which is a military charity over here.  We just ran one of their stands during the Cannock Carnival and it was pretty fun.  The lady who runs it is a fun Scottish lady named Sheila and was was a blast to work with.  We had a great time serving at that!

On Sunday I gave a talk about the 11th Article of Faith, so that was good

Today we went to Lichfield Cathedral for P Day so that was cool.  Cathedrals are really cool but also kinda creepy.

Well, it has been a good week!  Some exciting stuff in the upcoming week, so pray for us as we keep teaching Jamie!  He is seriously such a cool dude.  He's ex-military and the biggest lad I've met in Cannock.  Good guy.

Love you all and have a good week!

-Elder Lott

Service at the Cannock Carnival for the RBL

(Royal British Legion)

P Day at Lichfield Cathedral

Am old Cadillac we found in our area

Elder Abecia opened the wrong side of the pepper container

CANNOCK WEEK #3

Hey Everybody!

This has been a good week!  We had a couple of exciting things happen.  We were able to get in contact with some former investigators and less active members who are interested in having us come by, so hopefully we are able to get them back on track and progressing to whatever their next steps in the Gospel may be!  Finding here has been hard so we have started to try different things.

We met our new Mission President, President Hughes this week and he is a proper lad.  I like him a lot.  He seems really cool and solid.  He is a very different personality from President Leppard.  It is kind of weird to see things done and handled in a different way.  I'm really looking forward to having him as my MP and getting to know him.  I think he is going to be great.

I got the package this week!  Thanks so much.  I loved the American deodorant and Swedish Fish.  Thanks also for sending my retainers.  They hurt hurt like crazy though!  I didn't think my mouth had moved too much because my teeth are straight while I smile, but they have moved loads I guess!  I only wear them for like 20 minutes at a time right now.

People are going absolutely nuts about the world cup!  We walked through town on Saturday night after they beat Sweden and town center was going crazy!  Over here shops close around 6 on a weekday and around 4 or 5 on the weekend, so town center is usually dead quite.  But it was so exciting that night.  We had like 10 people say "Hey lads!  It's coming home!  Football's coming home!" to us.  I hope that they win it all.  I think that would be really cool to happen while I am here.  When a game is on you know exactly what is happening whether you are watching or not because of how loud people get while watching haha! I bought a jersey - I wanted a red one but they are out everywhere so I bought a white one instead.

The heatwave here has been insane!  My last transfer in Hinckley was good weather with rain usually about once a week. (That itself is unusual.  It typically rains multiple times a week/day here).  It was a little gloomy my last day in Hinckley but that is the last sign of moisture we have seen since.  There are seldom even clouds in the sky, which is really weird!  So pretty much for the last 3 weeks it has been 5-10 degrees Celsius hotter than normal and it hasn't rained at all, which is even crazier!  People are  kind of flipping out!  There is also a mild concern about water supply because they don't have any solid reservoirs or anything here since they don't really usually need them.

We did some service for a lady named Viv this week too.  Some of the Sisters in our District found her while we were doing District Finding and they graciously volunteered us to do her yard work for her.  We mowed her lawn and pruned a tree and I used my first electric lawn mower.  It was quite different.  And it was so small.  It just felt wrong. haha

Well, it has been a good week!  I've hit 9 months now so that's cool.  Time just keeps moving on!

Love you all!

-Elder Lott

For you  Mom

9 months!  Woo-Woo!

Viv's electric lawn mower 

CANNOCK WEEK #2!

Hello Everybody!  We have had a cool week so I will tell you about it!

I went on exchange with an Australian lad, Elder Gibson, from Brisbane this week and that was fun!  We had a good time and got on really well.  We've also had a little success in finding so that's great!  We have found a couple of people who are interested in the Savior or are interested in Mormons so hopefully that goes somewhere!  One guy, named Jamie, pulled onto the street we were on and yelled at us from his car, but he actually ended up being pretty cool.

We will get to meet the new Mission President on Friday so that will be sweet!

Something cool we've been doing this week is teaching one of the young men in our ward named Isaac.  He has been a member his whole life but is currently the only one in his family who is still attending church.  He doesn't know if he believes though, so he has asked us to teach him as if he were an investigator because he feels like he doesn't have all the gospel knowledge he should have.  He is really cool and we get along quite well.  He's just a year or two younger than me and he is such a lad, so it is fun teaching him.  He also is a huge basketball fan, so he keeps me updated on what's happening.  I have missed knowing what is happening in the basketball world.

It has also been flipping blazing here this week.  We haven't had rain in weeks and all the grass is dying everywhere and everybody is kind of flipping out over here.  We are resting around like 25-30 degrees.  I have no idea how hot that is in Fahrenheit, but just know it's pretty toasty.  The humidity is just the cherry on top too.  #prayforengland

I'm happy that Chase made it home safely.  It is an exhausting and long flight and I'm sure that is was just that much harder with his bad knee.  I'm sure that the next few weeks, if not months, will be tough and long for him.  I hope that he heals well and is able to return to the field.  That day we spent together a few years ago was pretty fun though haha.  Him with ACL surgery and me with my wisdom teeth just out.  We were a couple of disabled dudes that day.  I remember he started eating pretzels and talking trash on me so I did some jumping jacks.  Good times.

Enjoy the 4th of July!  We did a 4th of July lunch for P Day so we had burgers, hot dogs and watermelon with all of the most American foods we could find.  It was loads of fun.  We even bought a little disposable barbecue so we could grill it all.  lol.  It was so good though!  Four out of the six of us are American so the Russian and Filipino joined in.  I have come to love America twice as much as I did at home.  Honestly, the best way to put it is I am "America Trunky".    England is great!  But there is nothing like home.  Of the things that now mean more to me, America is high on the list.  To all of my American friends, please celebrate the 4th of July as hard as you can for me because America is great.  Give Old Glory some love for me!  #USUSUS

Well, I love you all and hope that this week is cool!  If it isn't feeling cool than go do something to make it cool!

-Elder Lott

Tracting is fun in the hot sun!

-with Elder Gibson

Happy 4th of July everyone!

The new England Birmingham Mission Boundaries

July 2018