April 29th

This was a busy week but that's great. I love busy weeks - they are just the best. We had a few interesting things happen this week.  Let me tell you about them.

Monday we had P-day.  It was sweet.  We then went to the stake patriarch's house to do some service for him. But I didn't even do anything.  I just watched as he and Elder Webber did it as I just talked to his wife and got a free meal out of it. So it was pretty sweet.

Tuesday we had Zone meeting so it took us 4 hours to bus and train to the meeting, sit in a pointless meeting for 2 hours, then take 4 hours to bus and train back. Sorry I just hate meetings we have them all the time and I think they are just a waste of time. Some are good and some are just a waste of time. So we didn't get back to Evesham until 7 pm so that was pretty much our whole day.

Wednesday we went to Worcester to do a work over. They are having problems finding people so we came over for the day to help them. I got into two fights with people. Not like me, but when people say the right thing boy do I snap. One lady said that I was wasting my time and my "leader is a child raper".  I had a good talking with her as she yelled at me. And then 1 hour later I got into a fight with a drunk man saying "Show me we have a god." That was pretty good as well. People just don't listen to me like I can explain why they think that way, but they just won't stop to listen.

Thursday we did some service where I got a firm talking to by a lady in the ward about my purpose as a missionary is not to fight with people about the church. I told her they started it. After that we went out to Pershore and I have never been there and we had a few people to see.  But I had no idea where I was going.  Only one was home so that was a bit upsetting. We then went to seminary and young women's activity. They cooked us a meal it was pretty good. A nice way to settle down after a busy day. I could get used to coming home and having a girl cook for me  ;)

Friday was mixed highs and lows. We went out to see some people and they weren't home. Then get this... a Jehovah's Witness pulls up and "wants to have a chat with us".  He pretty much said we should be JW. I didn't say anything.  Elder Webber took it and we left after 40 mins of talking to him in the rain feeling upset. We then walked in the hail to meet with this investigator. We stop under a tree and say a prayer because we were both so upset. So we pray and go into our investigator's place and we had a great lesson. Could not have gone better. We left feeling so good it was amazing!! Then we go into a store called Morrisons to get some food because it's like 3 and we hadn't had lunch yet. I see this VERY VERY pretty girl and I walk past her stop and turn to go talk to her - you know flirt to join. As I turn I see her locked lips with his boy. I could not believe it.  I was so gutted. Oh well. Once we got back to Evesham we went and played basketball at a park and a few kids came and played with us. They asked us what we are and we got to tell them we are missionaries. It was fun to talk and play basketball with kids.

Saturday we had the stake soccer tournament. They get so into it - yelling, pushing and all kinds of stuff. Oh boy did I love it!! We took last place but it was so much fun.  I did America proud.  We then got back to Evesham and we crashed for a bit and ate some food and then went out to see some less actives.  We ran into the kids we played basketball with we talked with them again and kicked a ball around it was fun.

Sunday church was very good.  It was all about trials which we all face. We then went to dinner at a member's house. Their son just got his call and he is going to Poland so they are all about missionary work right now so we are working with them.  

It was over all a very good week lots of fun and I enjoyed it. Thank you all for the emails and letters.

Love Elder Doty

Every Day Sights

 David's new companion, Elder Webber

 What David sees when he looks out the window.

David says he eats this almost every day.



Five Month Mark

Hello family and friends. Today is my 5 month mark. It;s crazy how fast time has gone by. Also thank you all for the prayer that came my way this week. I cannot express how thankful I am for them. They really had a effect on my week.

Monday we had pday and then we went to a member's house for family home evening.  We planted sunflower seeds.I don't know why because they aren't going to grow in the country. But they did give us a referral.

Tuesday we biked around a bit. Our Branch President gave us a list of 101 less active people to go see so we did alot of that on Tuesday. We found a family that we are going to start working with. The dad is not a member but he likes us so we are going to start going over once maybe twice a week.

Wednesday we had Elder Webber's very first district meeting.  He did not really know what to do but I helped him out alot and I taught a bit of it. I talked about being patient. which is something that I have been working on my whole mission. After we had dinner at a member's house and went by some more less actives.

Thursday we went out to Honeybourne. I hate that place. I swear it has a dark cloud around it and just rains all the time. Once you're outside of the town it's sunny and nice. But we are teaching someone up there now so we are going to have to go back :(  Also we went to the branch seminary that night. It brought back good times of me being a clown in the back of class. The teachers did a good job.

Friday we had weekly planning that went a bit long because we are planning where the less actives are and how we can best use our time doing the next week. After we did some work around Evesham and went by a few less actives...again.

Saturday we had sport with the young men. Boy am I out of shape.  I'm still sore from it. We also went to Tewkesbury and saw a few people. We got a new investigator,  Zak. He saw The Book of Mormon musical and wants to know more about the mormons. We also had a branch activity a member brought some nonmemeber friends, but they live outside of the area (dang).

Sunday we had to teach priesthood. That as a mess but glad it's over. We then went to dinner with a member family and thenwe had to go to the Wildings and give them a blessing. Howard who is not a member asked for one. I was shocked because I never thought he would ever ask for one. But he is really sick. Still it was a blessing and an answer to many prayers.

This was a good week and I hope we have many more like them. We were very busy with not a dull moment and that's how I like it. Thank you once again for the many prayers and emails.

Love Elder Doty

Goodbye Elder Dalton

The time has come and Elder Dalton (Luke) has gone home.  It was very sad to see him go. But I knew the time would come, it just came a bit faster than I thought it would.

Monday night we got back from a branch party to say goodbye to Elder Dalton.  It was fun to see people and say goodbyes and give gifts and stuff. We got back to the flat and it didn't feel like he was going home.  It just felt like we were going out to do another week of work.

Tuesday we had to travel to Kidderminster where Dalton hooked up with another Elder who was going home and they departed via train to the mission home. Elder Dalton did not want to go on that train it was very sad to see him go. After he left Elder Seacy and I did some work in Kidderminster. We both were just sad to see our companions go.

Wednesday Elder Seacy and I traveld to the mission home where we picked up our new compainions. Mine is Elder Webber.  He is from New Zealand and has been out a bit over a year. He is pretty chill. We then had to travel all the way back to Evesham but due to some rules we had to take a bus to some place then catch two trains back to Evesham. And that cost me alot of money because Elder Webber had lost his wallet. So I now have 4 pounds for the rest of the month. Later that night we had branch council and then went back to unpack.

Thursday we needed to shop and get some food because we hadn't done that all week. After that we went by some members and got Elder Webber to know some of the members.

Friday we had planning most of the day getting him on the same page. We later went out to Badsey to see Angie.  She is doing alright. We then went by a few less actives at night.

Saturday we had a meeting with the branch president.  He gave of a list of 101 less active people in the branch that he wants us to go find or to go teach/visit. So we will be busy the next few weeks biking out to places and seeing people. I also found out that we have 59 active people in the branch. We need 80 people active to build a chapel.

Sunday was fast sunday.  We got the whole branch to see Elder Webber and they all want us over for dinner so that is nice. We later biked to the Barnes for dinner and then we biked to Angies and had a lesson with her. We have plans to start teaching her 10 year old girl this up coming week so hopefully that will all go well.

Well I miss you all very much I hope and pray that everyone is dong alright.

Love Elder Doty

Photos

Saying Goodbye to Elder Dalton

Well the time has come for Elder Dalton to go back home. I have spent 4 mouths waking up to see his face and it will be sad to see him leave me. So I will be staying in Evesham and getting a new companion. I don't know his name or who he is but I will find out tonight.

This week was alot of saying goodbye to members.  Let me take you though it

Tuesday we rode out to Honeybourne and on the way back I got a flat tire and we had to walk the 4 miles back to Evesham So that kinda messed up our plans for the day but it was very nice so we didnt mind the walk too bad.

Wednesday we had to cancel distrist meeting due to some train issues.  So we fixed the bike tire, got back to the flat and found I had another flat.  So we spent from 10-4 fixing my bike. That wasn't alot of fun and cost me a a great deal of money. We later went out and said goodbye to a few former investigators that Elder Dalton had worked with.

Thursday we biked up to Bidford. It was all up hill and windy and it snowed for part of it. We said goodbye to more people on the way up. On the way back the wind was so strong that we didn't need to pedal and the wind took us two miles without pedaling which was very nice. We saw the Johnsons.  They were pulling a trailer house with a jeep like the old one grandpa used to have and they then ripped the whole front of the trailer off.  It was so funny but the man was so mad I thought he was going to come after us.  So we left and went to the flat and a senior couple that elder Dalton worked with took us out for dinner.  We went to some pub and it was a very nice meal.

Friday we went out to Broadway to do some tracking but once we started we got a call from members in the branch that wanted to feed us.  So we cancelled our plans and biked to their house. In the total we biked 25 miles in about 3 hours of time. We didnt have a problem sleeping that night.

Saturday we went to the Wildings and did some service for them and they went to General Conference.

Sunday we spent the whole day in Cheltenham watching General conference. I have seen all of saturday but none of sunday. We then left during the sunday morning and went to the Goddards to say goodbye to them and another family. It was a very sad time and it hit both elder Dalton and I Sunday night that he really is going home.

Today we will say goodbye to Angie and we are going over to a mebers house for FHE and dinner. I will find out who my new compainon is then. Tuesday we are traveling to Kiddiminster so elder Dalton can meet up with another missionary who is going home.  I will stay with Elder cc (?) for the night then meet up with the new guy on Wednesday and head back to Evesham and get back to work. It has been a great time being with elder Dalton and I'm sad to see him go. I will miss him dearly.

Well thanks everyone for the prayers and help I love you all and miss you all very much!!

Love Elder Doty

April 1st

On Tuesday we had zone meeting and interviews so I had a nice chat with President Rasmussen  He said he feels like I will be staying in Evesham for a while. He said I will be taking over the area once Elder Dalton leaves and then I will have to "step up" which means I'm going to have to train.  In the next 4-5 months we are getting like 90 new missionaies so that means we are going to need some people to train them and I have a feeling I might be one of them.  After zone meeting I went on exchange with elder Mucke the german.  He goes home in 8 days so he is pretty much done with his mission. We went to the forest of dean. They filmed some of Harry Potter there.

 

Wednesday we have to help this family move. The wife just had a baby and the dad was sick. So elder Dalton and I had to pack everything and then move it all into the truck/van. Lets jsut say it sucked alot. So we did that wesdesday and Thursday and we didn't get alot of missionary work done and we were just wiped out because of it. We did get to play some basketball Thursday night which was just awesome!!

Friday we had to bike like 7 miles out to this place to see someone and he flogged us. We were so mad so we biked back and stopped in a few places along the way.  When we got back we just did weekly planning and that was the rest of the day.  It was upsetting that the dude flogged us.

Saturday morning we got a text from the church saying that this guy named Zach wanted a visit from us. So we went out to Tewkesbury to see him. He is a 19 year old guy who saw the Book of Mormon musical and wanted a Book of Mormon and wants to learn more about it. It was pretty cool.  I think we will get alot more people like that who just wanna know what's up with this whole mormon thing.

Sunday was Easter.  We had church and elder Dalton spoke.  It was very good. We then went to a member's house with a few other people for an Easter dinner. They do something called hot cross buns. It's really like a roll with a cross on it. It's something they do here in England. And now I'm at Rob's house emailing because the library is closed. We are going to go play some basketball later today because its finally nice outside.  We had some snow a few days ago but when were helping those people move so we didn't have to deal with it. Elder Dalton has 8 more days till he goes home and he is hating it because he doesn't wanna go home. Well we were not able to see many people this week as alot of people were out of town such as angie and her daugter. Danny has been acting up so we might see him this week. Well thank you all so much - you guys are the best!!

Love Elder Doty