September 8th - The Walk In

On Sunday we had 3 walk ins to church. That never happens. One of them was a homeless man. He even went up and bore his testimony. I don't really know what he said... something about hitting someone and Hitler. It was pretty good. He said he felt very welcome and plans to come next week. Along with a Hungarian lady who we believe is a media referral we got a few days ago.

This week we were going by a less active as it was his birthday and it turns out he was baptized by Elder Chantry my last comp. He said he would like to come back to church and is going to meet with the bishop this week!

We also had zone conference this week and Elder Bowen of the 70 came and spoke. He did a good job and if it is your last zone conference they ask you to give your departing testimony. I spoke about the change that I felt I had made and said it was because my trainer and I came up with "Nike"..."Just do it". When you get a feeling you should do something...just do it. It was a bitter sweet moment to give my departing testimony. It has been a journey for sure.  I have learned so much I can't really say everything I want to in 2-3 minutes.

Not a bad week for being sick in the flat for most of it. I'm looking forward to feeling better and having another awesome week.

Love Elder Doty

September 1st

This week I went on an exchange with my district leader Elder Nielsen. He was one of my companions in Worcester. It was amazing to see how he has grown over the last 6 months. He is a completely different person. Amazing how in just a few months a person can change so much.

I had a chat with someone on the street.  He said something that I thought I was pretty funny. He said all churches are the same and that we need to go to the root of the tree and make a church there. I said "so maybe a church that Jesus Christ set up?" he said "Yes that would be it." I then told him that this was that church and showed him my tag the says Elder Doty The church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints. He looked at me and just walked away and would not listen to me. I got a chuckle out of that.

Been sick over the weekend. Last night was rough with only a few hours of sleep. I think sometimes we aren't grateful for when we do have a healthy body.

miss you all and love you

Love Elder Doty

PS I can't get the pictures to work on this computer will try again next week.

August 26th

Hello everyone I'm sure you have all heard I'm back in England and I have left Wales. It's good to be back in England it's alot different from Wales. Like over here you don't have to pay for a plastic bag when you are shopping. There are many others.

We have one investigator who is making progress and things are going well with him. We also have been getting alot of media referrals. We just got one that shows alot of promise. From what we understand in the text that the church sends us, she is from Hungary and wants to learn more about the church. It shows that the church is growing though out the whole world!

Hope you are all doing well. No pictures this week do to the computer not working. I will have to show you guys next week my visit to Aston Villa FC park!!

August 18th

I have left Wales :( and am very sad to leave that place.  I will miss it dearly. But I'm back in England.

The area I'm in is a place called Sheldon, but we cover the south area which is Acock's Green. It's  a bike, bus and walk area. It's the HOOD with lots of different races.  I'm exicited to be able talk to people and be able to understand them without a huge valley accent, but now I have the Birmingham accent. If you wanna hear it it's on youtube.

My new Companion is Elder Velsaco.  He is 23 and from the Philippines. He has about 8 months left in the mission. He is so funny.  I have a hard time understanding him because english is his second language.  He loves the UK and the USA and he is always positive which is great. Elder Nowak my Polish companion back in Bridgend taught me what it's like to always be happy. It's something I learned from him and hope to apply it to the rest of my life. And having elder Velsaco helps me continue to do that.

We have one investigator right now who shows promise. a few other leads that might turn out good.

Here are some photos of me leaving Wales and getting Elder Velsaco. I'm excited for this new chance to learn and grow and I have finally made it into Birmingham!

(Photos are not working for some reason... we aren't able to actually see them.)

Love Elder Doty

 

August 11th

Tonight we have the transfer calls. It seems that I will be leaving Wales :(  I have loved it here. I have a few pictures of members.

We were able to have a lesson with our investigator Nesley. Only problem is he is living with his girlfriend and won't get married until next year.

We had a very interesting thing happen to us this week. Our shower broke and we were unable to shower Sunday. And it just dumped rain like crazy - the size of golf balls.  So we had to walk in the rain and we got soaked. But the thing was we were so happy we just didn't even care. I think that comes from a knowledge of the gospel. It just makes you happy even when times aren't going very well. Don't worry the shower has been fixed.

Hopefully I will be able to stay here in Bridgend.

Miss you all and love you - Love Elder Doty

 

UPDATE on 8/12/14:  So I'm moving areas.  I'm going to a place called Sheldon.  It's in Birmingham. It should be a good area and I'm excited for this new chance I have to learn and grow.

August 4th - "Pobudka"

Elder Nowak tends to talk in his sleep. Sometimes it's in Polish and sometimes in English. Saturday night he spoke in Polish and had an issue. He started to yell "Pobudka"!  He starts to yell this at night over and over. He then gets up and goes to Elder Chantry's bed and starts to shake it and still yelling Pobuka!  Elder Chantry wakes up kinda freaked and says "pobudka" back to him. Elder Nowak then stops and goes back to sleep. We then ask him what "Pobudka" means the next morning.  Turns out it means "get up". He claims he slept fine Saturday night.

In Cardiff this week we saw some dudes from Britain's "Got Talent" doing a signing Cd's tees and stuff. I have never so many 12-16 year old girls in my life. Turns out the two boys sing about anti- bulling and it's a major hit over here. The 12-16 girls are in love with them. I give it 2 years and no one will know them. Boy band one hit wonder.

We have done  alot of service and we have almost built a shed for someone. I will show you a picture next week.

Our workout crew that does the insanity with us in the morning. They are all members of the ward.

 

July 28th

This week was alright. We got flogged a lot and people canceled which is never much fun. But it's still so much fun with having 3 Elders!

We went out today with our member who works out with us. I pulled my groin pretty good so this whole walking thing is going to hurt.

I had a man get up in my face this week because I put my rubbish in someone's bin...Only an old British would even care about that.

We are trying to find more and more Polish people so Elder Nowak can work his magic.  Hopefully this week will be better in that.

"Here we have hard working Elder, sport Elder and Lazy Elder" Elder Nowak

 

 

Miss you all and hope you all are doing well