First "P" Day

FYI:  "P" day for a missionary is "preparation" day.  The day a missionary does all his errands, laundry, etc.
David's e-mail to us say: "Today we went to the Preston temple. What a powerful experience. I was an escort for elder Popa who is from Romania. (He had never been through the temple before.) He had that deer in the head lights look. But very powerful." 

"Everything here is a big change from the food to the people to the cars. But one thing is the same, the gospel. I have two companions. elder Popa and elder Wienhimer. Elder Popa has a very strong testimony and when he teaches it comes from the heart and you can just tell the gospel means everything to him and he wants everyone to know. We work very well together. Elder Wienhimer comes from Utah."

"Also today we went into the town to look around and get some things. It is kinda like home only everything has a different name. The weather here is pretty much just like home only you have to cover every part of your body. They say this kind of cold goes right to your bones. I can tell you that what they say is true, it does."

First Sunday at the MTC

David's first Sunday at the MTC included a lesson on how to lead music! 

Because all missionaries need to know how to lead the hymns, just in case.

 

Here is a photo looking out the main front window of the MTC on a non-rainy day.

And each missionary stood and told a little bit about themselves...

 

Love this picture of Elder Doty!!

MTC Photos

A few photos of David learning at the MTC...

And some photos of the foyer at the England MTC all decorated for Christmas.

This is what David sees every day.

 



Thanksgiving at the England MTC

More photos from the MTC in England on my computer this morning!  (What a great surprise!!  I wonder if whoever is taking these photos would be willing to follow David around for the next 2 years... ). 
This morning they had a meeting at 8:00 am. Then it looks like they had a tour of the MTC, including the laundry room.  (FYI:  if you click on these pictures it is much easier to see them.)

 

This is a photo of a typical dorm room at the MTC. 

I'm sure David will be missing his queen-sized bed!

 

 

Nice to know they celebrated Thanksgiving!  There were photos of turkey, dressing, potatoes, veggies and pie.  (Pretty sure we all know what that looks like...)

 

We celebrated Thanksgiving with David on Saturday, Nov. 17th before he left for England.

So this is his 2nd Thanksgiving!

Arriving at the MTC

David left for the airport at 4:15 am Wednesday morning (November 21st, 2012).  His flight plans were to fly to Salt Lake City where he would meet up with some other Elders, fly to Chicago and then on to Manchester, England where the MTC is.

First thing this morning we had an e-mail from David: 

"I am safe in England. I found my flights and some members did help me along the way but I made it safely. I really don't wanna make that flight ever again. It's kinda hard to understand some of the people here. They have a very strong accent. So I'm here in the MTC. There are only 8 of us in the MTC. The smallest amount President Walker has ever had before. There is an Elder here from Fiji. So crazy. The other elder is from utah. The others have not made it to England yet. P-days are Tuesday so you will hear more from me then."

He then mentions that we'll be getting a link to a site with some picture of the missionaries at the MTC. A few hours later that showed up in my e-mail box. What a great surprise!!

We don't know yet if he will be at the MTC for 2 or 3 weeks.  But if you would like to write to him there the address is:

Elder David Joseph Doty
England Birmingham Mission
England Missionary Training Center
Temple Way
Chorley
Lancashire
England PR6 7EQ

Sixteen Days But Who's Counting...

David will fly to Manchester, England on Wednesday, November 21st at some early morning hour.  He is anxiously counting down the days until then.