Young Love And Extreme Cake Hiking

Hi everyone. Thank you for all the birthday wishes! I will get back to you as soon as I can. Yes, I know I didn't get an email out last week, so sorry. It has been a bit of a crazy time but I have some pretty funny stories to share with you all.

So trying to recap from the email that should've come out last week, it was quite an uneventful couple days, until Sunday.

 

 

We have become friends with this awesome 15 year old Russian lad and his family and we invited him to church and he actually came! 

 

 

Later that night we met with a Muslim who we had met on the street for a lesson. He is firm in his Islamic faith and if anything, we managed to reignite his belief in Mohammed as a prophet as we respectfully shared our beliefs. (Peace be upon him.) Also, this guy is a literal rocket scientist at 22 years old who didn't complete a formal education. He just works and works and trusts God and his life has been alright. He recently got a motorbike which he pulled up in and showed to us.

 

 

This past week was quite exciting in terms of the work:

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*Germanas, (The 15 year old Russian), invited us over several times and we were able to teach his family about Jesus' Resurrection. They are the nicest. 

 

 

*For a month now, a mum of a non-practicing Muslim family we are teaching has lied to us and not answered the door. All due respect, however this has prevented us from teaching who we are really after, the highly interested children (All grown up now) who were candidates for baptism. But I am thanking my lucky stars because this week we knocked on the door one more time, at the time the spirit prompted us too, and met the family once again because someone else answered the door! The sister pulled up in her car after work out front. She is definitely someone to work with. She actually teaches religion at a University, but she really wants to meet with us and hear our beliefs and decide what the true faith is. With God I know we can carry the spirit unto her heart.

 

 

*Our friend Phillipa accepted Baptism and is now on date. I just want to say I am so woefully inadequate to convince someone to take such a step, but I know that my companion and the spirit were vital in her commitment.

 

 

*We had the opportunity to teach 2 returning members and they both came to church

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Okay, now for those crazy stories that seem to only happen to missionaries:

 

 

1. The area about 2 streets over from us is the most sketchy in Newport. Yet, several of our friends are there so we walk around it. Well, the vibe is not the greatest and there is a lot of crime that goes down. We went walking a little ways off the main road to see a friend and coming back we encountered a trio of 14-15 year old drunk boys. They yelled at us and asked us if we were American. We explained for a moment who we were and then, when the kids started getting aggressive, started to walk away. Then I started getting things thrown at me and almost hit in the head with a bottle of Coca Cola laced with vodka. Luckily we got to the main road before anything else happened.

 

 

2. So yeah, the MVP friend of the week is, you guessed it: Germanas. So Imma be honest, church last week was a bit uncomfortable for Germanas being a previous Russian Orthodox. But then I got a text at midnight asking if we could take him to church again. Yeah! Of course. We pull up at church and, oh boy, that Brazilian family that fed us tons, remember? Yeah, they were there back from their vacation. We sat down for the meeting and Germanas looked over at one of their daughters and told my companion "That girl is beautiful'' Elder Morriss, my companion explained that this girl was unlike any other girl he has met in the past because, as a member of the church, she didn't smoke, drink, she was chaste, and she really tried to follow God. He was afraid to talk to her, but the G got the courage, got composed and started talking to her after the meeting. With newfound motivation rather than going home like we planned on, the man stayed and sat through the presentation of our Ward Mission Plan to impress the girl. How boring for him. After church he went up to the mother and told her that her daughter was "very beautiful". Then it was time for us to go but not before these crazy words uttered by the Brazilian father: "When are you free for dinner this next week? Have Germanas come over and his family is welcome to come too!" Looks like we are tagging along for a date tonight! We may have just created an eternal family. Nonetheless, the guy understands more and more of the lifestyle and is rapidly being prepared to work towards baptism. His family wants us over all the time.

 

 

3. Yesterday we had one of the best P-days since my time in Newport. The plan was to all meet together and travel to the forest on the Eastern edge of our area. Everything was working out great. We are waiting all together for a train to take us out there when the Cwmbran Sisters call me over. They surprised me with the most incredible birthday cake ever! Two layers, frozenish fruit all throughout, Kit Kats on top..... Dang I liked this cake. I was so honored to receive such an amazing gift. But here is the problem: It's a cake. Like a whole giant cake and we don't have any tupperware or napkins or plates. Nope. Just the tray it is on and 7 forks. So we board the train, take a seat and the boys try to eat this cake but we only get about a third of the way there. Elder Morriss is too healthy to help us out as well. Good for him. Anyway we got to our destination, the peaceful town of Chepstow. We don't dare throw out this cake right in front of the Sisters who made it. So here we are taking our beautiful walk  to a castle, through some sheep fields, over fences, through the forest on the muddy slippery path and into caves and such all whilst carrying this 6 pound cake on a tray. I question if any cake has ever been on such an adventure as this cake had embarked on. After about 4 miles of carrying this gooey, coagulated mound of sugar we made it to a little pub for some food. Mind you our train back home arrived in approximately 40 or so minutes. To end the day there was nothing short of a miracle. The waiter gets us our food to which we immediately ask for the check only to discover that it had been miraculously paid for by none other than Elder Morriss. Then we get some To-Go boxes the size of a single American Cheeseburger and cram as much food into it as possible. With the train arriving and departing in 5 minutes we ran to the train station. I get a bit ahead of the rest trying to lead the way because, oh yeah, they gotta carry this chuffing cake. With 1 minute to spare we board this train, come home and that is the end of this insane, unforgettable P-day where we discovered the new sport of extreme cake hiking.

 

 

-Onward and Upward

Elder Berry