An Extra 6 Miles & A Water Bottle

Family,

I can't believe you went to St. George without me!!! Ah, I miss mountains so much already! Though I am glad I don't have to bike up them!! It looks like you had a super fun time and that it was a great way to end the summer! Man I feel so old! I'm not quite sure about this whole taking care of myself thing and at this point I really want someone to cook me dinner! We have had a few D/A's but not many. So this week has flown by and I feel like it was yesterday that I emailed you guys last.

Last Monday we went on a search for a bike, cause well the one that I am riding is terrible!!! We biked 3 miles from the chapel to a store called Halford's that sells bikes. When we got there it just looked like a auto repair shop so we didn't go in! We went a little further up the road and found a bike shop and looked around and a few bikes stood out to me, but nothing really popped. So we decided to bike another 3 miles to a store called decathlon to look there. We got there and there was just nothing I liked so yea 3 miles for nothing! I was super tired so I was so glad I remembered to bring a water bottle. We decided to go back to the bike shop and order one of the ones that I kinda liked, but we got there too late and it had closed! It looked like we had biked 9 miles for nothing! But as we were passing Halford's on the way home we saw this little sign that said "Bikes" on it! Ah, we went 6 miles only to come back to the store we started at! So we went in and I found a nice bike that I really like for £200 or $350! It's expensive but not as much as a lot of the other bikes, and it will last me my whole mission! So I ordered the bike and the guy helping me is named Matt. I reached to get a drink out of my water bottle and found it was empty so I asked Matt if there was somewhere I could fill it up! He took us back into the shop where there was a tap and as I was filling it up he asked us about what we do! So we told him and he was super interested in finding out if there is a God and Prayer! We were super excited and are teaching him later this week! So pray that we can answer his questions and that he finds what he is looking for! Sometime the Lord just needs us to bike an extra 6 miles so we need to fill up a water bottle. Without that we never would have had that conversation and we wouldn't be teaching Matt! Also the Lord knows that I am super out of shape so another 6 miles is actually good for me! I am getting in shape though! I have already lost over 10 pounds and am dropping! So ya all of my pants are huge!!!!! I'm not really sure what to do but I'll figure something out!

My awesome new bike

On Tuesday I went on my first exchange and it was with Elder Passey. Yes he is the other greeny in our district. Elder Worlton thought it would be pretty funny to put the two new-bees on exchange together, when neither of us know the area! But we showed him and had a pretty awesome day! We ended up placing a BOM and getting 5 potential investigators! We also went and knocked on doors! We don't actually go tracking in this mission very often. Most of our finding is street contacting. So it was my first time knocking doors when I went with Elder Passey! We found one cool family so that was cool! On Wednesday we did service for Rose again idk if I told you about her but she is a super funny old lady! Me and Elder Passey had a bit of trouble finding her house but it wasn't too bad! But I did forget to take my tennis shoes on exchange so I did service in basketball shorts and my church shoes, Classy! It was pretty hot to say the least! Rose actually got a little mad at me for not wearing the right shoes! It was funny! 

Thursday was just a long day of biking and finding, but it ended up being a good day cause we got to have dinner with the Lams! The Lams are a chinese family from Hong Kong that have lived here for like twenty years. Brother Lam was a chef and they owned there own restaurant! So yea It was the best curry I have every eaten in my whole entire life!! It was his own recipe and I about died it was so good!!!! He also got a kick out of the one Cantonese word that I know, Yowmogowchaw!! I'm pretty sure I'm his new favorite missionary. He was laughing so hard! It was really great to get to know them a bit better and eat a home cooked meal! 

Friday was pretty good we taught Suzanne and Wayne again and they are on tract to come back to church and on the road for the temple so that's exciting! We also had Dinner with the Russell's. Brother Russell is in the bishopric and has a young family with 4 kids! They live in a flat that is about half the size that they need! But we had a great meal and Sister Russell made a really great dessert that of course was covered in cream! On Sunday we walked with one of our investigators to church, her name is Wai Yin, she is from Hong Kong and is super awesome! She has so many questions and is doing a lot of research! I think she is our strongest investigator at the moment!

This is a beautiful sunset at a park we were contacting at! Too bad, as you can see, there was nobody there!  We are mostly in the city not a whole lot of open space, just the occasional park or field.

I forgot to mention Saturday we were playing football and well I may have gotten hit in the chin and chipped a tooth... It is one of my back teeth don't worry. I am going to see a dentist at some point this week to try and get it fixed! Man I wish Cameron was here I trust him so much more than any of the dentists here! But it should be an easy fix and it isn't bothering me that much! I just have to avoid hard foods. Other than the tooth it's been a good week. I can feel my legs getting stronger and losing weight isn't all that bad! I love all of you and miss you tons! I hope this last week of freedom is a great one for the guys!! 

Love,

Elder Kmetzsch (Jakey)      

FIRST WEEK

Family & Friends,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I remembered it was your birthday on the bus ride to Birmingham and was so sad that I forgot to wish you a happy birthday!!!! So there is it, Happy Birthday!  

Well I guess you want to know everything that has happened in the last week so here it goes! I woke up at around 4:30 on Wednesday morning and put my luggage on a bus. Then I emailed real quick and had breakfast. We left the MTC at 6:30 and drove 2 hours to the mission home! It was a pretty long ride though I sat next to Elder Poll who was a good friend at the MTC. We both felt pretty sick and not super excited but as time went on we got better! When we arrived at the mission home we were greeted by President and Sister Rasmussen who are super great! President Rasmussen is a hugger so I liked him right off the bat!

President and Sister Rasmussen

 I think he gave me four hugs by the time I left the mission home that day, ha ha!! It was pretty great though, it did make me want to give Mom and Dad a big hug! After we met with the President, we met the AP's and guess what we got to do! That's right Role Play! My absolute favorite pass time! For lunch we had pizza from Papa John's which was a little different but still good! After lunch I got my companion, Elder Worlton! Who you probably have already seen a picture of but I'll send more just in case! Me and him get along great! He loves cars so that's pretty much all we talk about, ha ha! He is from Herriman, Utah and we are pretty sure he knows John Blodgett cause well John was the head counselor at his school! I actually did see Sister Wood at transfers and we got a picture. She was super happy to see "Elder Kmetzsch" and was really nice! Thanks for letting her know that I was coming Brigs!

Me and Sister Wood

After we were put together we sat around for hours waiting for a bus to take us to Coventry! Like you know, I am serving in Coventry, ha ha. The area specifically is Coventry E there are five area's in Coventry district and yes only one ward! So that equals Ten missionaries for one ward. There are four sets of elders and one set of sisters. The sisters are a little, well a lot crazy, but they are really fun to be around Sister Gardener, and Sister Bertha. Sister Gardener knows Drew Linton so she freaked out to hear that I was literally his next door neighbor! She knew him from college so that was cool. You'll have to let the Linton's know so that they can tell Drew! Well after we got to our area we went strait to ward coordination and met our ward mission leader Sam. Sam is 23 and super motivational! The work is going so much more smoothly because of his efforts! I love everybody in the district as well! Elders Anderson and Smith are super funny especially Elder Smith. Elder Anderson is a chinese speaking missionary! It's such a blessing to have him cause we teach a lot of Chinese people in Coventry! Elders Rutter and Passey are also pretty great! Elder Passey is from my MTC group so I knew him already. We have the Zone Leaders in our district as well! Elders Winters and Sommer. Yes we know that we have Winter and Sommer, ha ha. We are just looking for fall and spring to come in next transfer! They are great! Then you have Elder Worlton and myself. Elder Worlton is the district leader so that's pretty cool cause we get to talk to everybody everyday!

I about died when we got to the flat because it was such a mess! I almost threw up when I saw the bathroom and kitchen and it was just bad! So we spent more than a few hours cleaning! I literally turned into my father and started scrubbing and organizing, ha ha! Thankfully it is clean and much more organized now! It was Thursday that we cleaned and later that day we taught Susanne and Wayne who are less active members, but not a couple just two friends who happen to be less active, ha ha. I personally think that they are a couple and need to get married and come back to church! They are funny and sometimes get things confused for example the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity. They knew the doctrine they just messed up the names! They are starting to come back to church and teaching them is fun! On Friday we had our flat inspection which went well, we passed. Brother and Sister Fells are the inspectors and they are great! They gave us some cakes that were really good! Another thing the chocolate here is so, so much better! I will for sure send some home for Emma! But not for Nate and brigham, ha ha! Later Friday night we met with Phillip! Phillip is already one of my favorite people. He is 22 and from Kenya! He loves everything about the gospel and is so great! The one catch is the Word of Wisdom! Tea and Coffee have just been in his culture for his whole life so he is really struggling with keeping it! So pray for Phillip! He was going to be baptized this week but he wasn't quite ready and the worst part is that he is going back to Kenya this Tuesday. But the missionaries down there will get him there and he will be a strong member!

 On Saturdays we get to play soccer! Every Saturday the missionaries and the ward hold a soccer match and we bring investigators and less actives! This week however not one person showed up!! I was pretty bummed because we had two committed to come but both fell through! But it was still fun for the 6 of us to play a little soccer! The rest of the day kinda tanked on Saturday, but I did get a bike! It was a bike that had a flat tire and the brakes were too tight. So the 3 mile ride back to our flat was probably the worst experience I have ever had! Although now any other bike ride is going to seem easy! Yes it is a biking mission and we bike around 15 miles every day! So getting used to that is going to be tough considering the most exercise I did in the last two months was walking upstairs from my bed!! But everyday it get's easier!

Sunday was great I got to meet a lot of the ward members and they are amazing! It is tiny compared to any ward in Utah but apparently it is huge for a ward in England, so I am feeling really blessed! We didn't do much else besides church on Sunday because Elder Worlton is the district leader. I forgot to mention that on Thursday we ate at a chinese place in town which was actually pretty good called Nicely Noodle Bowl! It's been a pretty good week though! 

Love you all,

Elder Kmetzsch (Jakey)

Me and my trainer Elder Worlton

Outside my first flat

The MTC is Great, but I Hate Role Plays!!!

Departed July 30, 2014

Family & Friends,

Wow... that flight was long and no I didn't sleep. But I made it and I am at the MTC. They fed us and we moved in, so it's all good. England is great I really love the cool weather and the humidity. It's really fun at the MTC cause a lot of the people are British and have super cool accents. I ate lunch with an Elder that Emma would find very good looking and he has a sweet accent. We haven't gotten our companions yet so I will let you know who he is and send some pictures next time. So I had a really cool experience on the plane ride over. I was sitting next to a kid my age and he wasn't a member. We got to talking and he has some LDS friends and new a little about the church, but not much. He was very religious and super curious to clear up any misconceptions he had about the our church. So we talked for like 2 hours about our beliefs and how the gospel is different from other churches. We talked about the plan of salvation, the word of wisdom, the priesthood, and the Book of Mormon. He asked about agency and just a lot of questions! It was pretty cool! Being the social butterfly that I am I challenged him to read the book of mormon and he said that he would and seemed pretty genuine! I know he probably won't but at least the seed has been planted right? Anyway I'm loving it over here and only have a short time to write. Love you guys!!

Elder Kmetzsch 

One Week Later August 6, 2014

Family & Friends,

The MTC is great! I love getting to know the other Elders and have made some pretty good friends. The three that I'm closest to are two Elders that I flew over with and one I met here, Elder Allred Elder Barton and Elder Poll. They have shown me a lot of love and I'm really sad that Elders Allred and Barton are going to Scotland/Ireland!! My companions name is Elder Michelson pronounced Mick not Mike. He is a short super skinning kid from South Weber and his dad has worked at Hill Air force base for a long time so maybe Dad knows him? But Elder Michelson is a good example to me he is super obedient and basically a walking scripture set! Whenever we get stuck in a lesson he just pulls a scripture out of nowhere it's really awesome! He is however not very social so I really miss talking.... I know Nate is laughing but he misses my constant jabber!!! 

Elder Kmetzsch and Elder Michelson

This last week has been pretty long at times but overall has gone by pretty fast! I love one of my teachers Brother Walsh and he says every day is faster than the last on the mission. My district is pretty great although they have no focus! Elder Allred and I are two of the better behaved ones and it's starting to get frustrating that certain Elders need to be constantly making jokes and saying stupid things. I am learning that just because you grew up in the gospel doesn't mean that you listened cause some of the clarifications we need to make are a little scary! Also in my district are Elder Linguist and Horgmo from Sweden and Norway! They are pretty funny and don't know that some words are not good to use ha ha! Elder Horgmo kept saying the S word every time he goes to the bathroom. He is getting better now that we have told him it is a swear word! We went to the temple today and that was an amazing break and I'm excited to go to the store today to pick up a few things I am missing!

Me at the Preston Temple

Me & Elder Barton and Elder Poll

Overall everyday is pretty much the same here and we do a lot of role plays. I HATE ROLE PLAYS!!!! I just need to get out of here and start my mission! Yes I am learning a lot but I need to teach real people and get real experience before I can be a confident teacher! Things are going good though and I'm getting really excited to leave! I love you all so much and miss you guys an incredible amount.

Love, Elder Kmetzsch (Jakey)