Regular Letter Postmarked 8/7/2014

Dear Mom and Dad,

I didn't really get to sit and think about what I wanted to say when I emailed you today because so many others needed to write home too.  So I decided to write you a letter even though it won't reach you for several days, at least.

I was a very long flight across the Atlantic, made even longer by the fact that we couldn't watch television or listen to music.  But the really tough part was not the 7 hr 40 min flight, it was the 30 min wait on the plane in Manchester, where we could see England but they would not let us out.

When we finally got out we had to stand in line at immigration for another 30 min before they would let us officially into the country.  Then we got on a bus and rode to the MTC in Preston.

The MTC is a lot smaller than I thought it would be.  It is only one building in the Church compound with a little under 100 missionaries in it.  We all eat, sleep and study in this one building.  It is not uncommon to go 2 or 3 days without stepping outside. Especially when the football game gets rained out. (Dad note: that sport is only called soccer in the US, in the rest of the world is is called football)

Tomorrow we are going into Manchester where we will get our first chance to preach the gospel to real people.  I am very excited for that.  Today I got to go to the temple, which makes it 3 times that I have been.   They only used 2 rooms for the endowment and it was 1 of the older movies.

I tried to get a picture of the temple for you guys, but my camera did not work. It is very interesting here in England.  It is pretty much the same as America except everything has a bit of an English twist to it:  the showers, the cars, the food.

Speaking of food, our experience with the "canteen," as they call it here has been quite interesting.  At first they served very "international" foods like pancakes and sandwiches and slowly they have added more colorful stuff, cottage pie and rice pudding, as well as a lot of Indian food, which is really popular here.

So far I have eaten everything they have put on my plate, which I am quite pleased about.

And I almost forgot to mention that Sister Sawyer, from Wales, says that she will teach me a little Welsh, which I think will be cool.

I am having a great time here.  I love you all.

Sincerely,

Elder Purser