I went ahead and attached a picture from Brother Andrew's baptism. It went beautifully well and he is excited for this change in his life. Baptism is a covenant or a promise with God and is really just an outward expression of a change that is happening on the inside. I have honestly noticed this change in Daniel's life, and I know that he will forever be blessed for the decision he made.
One area that I decided to improve in this week was travel contacting. Travel contacting basically refers to talking to people while you are traveling places such as on the bus, train, etc. The idea is that there are people everywhere that need to hear our message and what is the difference if you meet them on the bus or on the street? To be honest, I wasn't comfortable with travel contacting at first. Talking to people in confined places just didn't seem fair, mostly to them. However, this week, our zone leaders (Elder Dantas and Elder Feith) came to district meeting and talked about travel contacting. They mentioned how we should be having quality conversations with people as we traveled. As a result, I focused on having one quality conversation about the gospel each time I traveled somewhere. I did not succeed every time I traveled, but everyone has his or her agency (or choice) so you can only do so much. Although, I did have some nice conversation that lasted between five and twenty minutes.
My favorite conversation (that came as a result of travel contacting) was with a young lad named Andrew. He was sitting across from me on the train ride to Liverpool. I figured when he looked up at some stage, I could get his attention and say hello. However, we sat there for at least 10 minutes while he just stared down at his iPhone. I kept thinking to myself, how sad is it that this young lad will not take his eyes off his phone? Between texting, listening to music and doing who knows what, he seemed completely unaware of his surroundings. Finally, I was to wave and catch his attention. He took his earphones out and we had a quality gospel conversation. While we talked about the gospel, we also discussed our interests and how the gospel applies into many aspects of our lives. He grew up in Liverpool and is going to University (studying history) there. He likes to cook and his family is very important to him. He is not in my area, so I gave his contact information to some other missionaries. I am not sure what will happen, but I do know one thing—he took a moment that day to appreciate the people around him rather than his phone. How often do we go around and forget to notice the things around us? I notice it more and more in the world today that we get caught up with technology and forget the simplicity of life and its beauty. I challenge each of you to take a look around you the next time you are outside for a walk and say hello to a neighbor, smile at the person passing you on the sidewalk and enjoy nature. I know that as we do these things, we find greater happiness and joy in the simplicity of life.
That is all for now, but I will be sure to write more next week. Next week is transfers, so you won't hear from me until Wednesday. I will most likely be staying in Wigan and getting a new companion, but you never know for sure. That is at least what Sister Davis is fairly confident of.
Love you all and I am grateful for all your support! It is wonderful to hear from you.
Becca
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