Watch out for pigeons!!!

 So i got pooped on by a pigeon, and my bike helmet got stolen but its okay I am doing fine.

Ya it has been one of those kind of weeks. it started out pretty awesome we had a week full of good stuff planned. Tuesday was good some of our appointments canceled but we were okay good weather and good work got done, and we had a DA with a member that loves horses so I got to talk horses for like an hour with her, (she is the one that wants to see pictures of the horses please send some) and then we also baked cookies to take to our investigators because that is what previous missionaries said they had done so we tried our best, I thought they tasted good.

Wednesday was good we had a lesson with a couple and that went really good I think then we went up to Ponty pool area and stopped by some people up there and had dinner with them and our new member came as well and that was awesome.Thursday was were things started to go badly for me. the morning was fine all good just a bit rushed. Our interview with president go moved up at the last second so we rushed to a train, had district meeting and interviews and that was really good President Leopard is really cool and chill. then we came back and with trains it always takes you twice as long to do something than needs to be done, so we didn't get back till 5:40 but that's okay then we went straight to a DA with brother Forward and that was good as always that guy is a spiritual giant, then we went to meet with a less active in town and that's when it happened the great poop. We were sitting on a bench in town talking to him and just out of the blue a pigeon swoops and poops and it hit me on the hand the head and the back, i do feel a bit luck because it wasn't like the black and white poops it was clear like pee or some thing but it was still gross and our investigator and Elder D. laughed at me. So we got back to the flat I changed and washed my head and hand and tried to forget about it. then on Friday everything was going fine a few of our lessons flogged or canceled on us but that's normal for missionary life, one had just gotten out of the hospital and didn't feel well enough to meet with us, so we went and did a little tracting and that's when my helmet got nicked (stolen sorry British English) while we had our bike locked up. we locked our bikes up but usually we don't worry to much about our helmets because who really wants to steal a sweaty nasty helmet and especially mine it has a few dents in it from my wreck and ya its just rubbish but they took mine and left elder D. and his is like brand new mine is three years old. but anyway I was without a helmet for a few days. we went back to our flat and all elder D could do was laugh at me, and also the weather on Friday was awful rain pouring down all day. I changed my cloths once and almost twice but by the time you get soaked through the second time you are just used to it so I didn't bother to change again. 

On Saturday we were pretty booked up with appointments so I didn't think I would have time to look for a helmet but then one of our appointments flogged so we went a looked at one store and they wanted 15£ for a helmet and I wasn't going to pay that much and we didn't have time to look at any other shops so I just went without. I was just really careful. Yesterday it rained all day pretty much again so we were all decked out in our rain gear water proof trousers and i got smarter and double jacketed, because no matter how good of a water proof you have it will go through at some point so I put on two one to get rid of most of the water and one to keep the rest off of me. and it was a good day two lessons and a DA, then later that night after planning there was a knock on our door and  an investigator of ours (we had mentioned that my helmet got stolen and she must have mentioned it to,  her uncle who's wife is a member) he came and gave me a helmet and said that he hadn't even opened it and had had it for 20 years because he always meant to ride his bike but never did, so now I have a helmet.

So that has been our epic adventure of the week.

love you guys!

Elder Poll

Here's the last two weeks

July 20

So I will be here for a while i think at least till the end of the transfer because after we finished emailing last week they called and told elder Rasmussen that he was leaving and that they would pick him up in 3 hours so it kind of ruined our pday we basically just went home and he packed and then left then we went a got our shopping done and that was it. Now it is just me and my companion from south Africa and he is cool we get along alright so things are good.This week we were all over the place in and out of both areas and stuff.

Tuesday we had a cool lesson with Donna a former investigator that is really interested but just really busy so previous missionaries gave up on her but that was good. Please pray the we will be able to meet up with her again this week. then we had dinner with a very cool family the ones we helped move in last transfer and he does a home business in razors for shaving and he just gave a us a free set of shaving stuff so I have the fancy brush and soap and cool razor to use.

Wednesday we had  zone meeting and it was cool i got to meet the Elder from Ben's ward he is being trained in my zone. We had a lesson with a recent convert she is from china.

Wednesday we helped a member move out of the ward to Sommerset. and that was good some good old fashion physical labor.The rest of the week was pretty much finding but it was all good 

oh ya we had a record for DA's this week we had 5 that might even have topped any of my other areas for how many in a week. and this week we have three, but we are really trying to get into members houses not just for food. We have the money for food, but just to get to know everyone, Have you guys had the missionaries around much in the home ward since I have been out or not really.

Also one of our investigators just went into labor on Saturday and it was early she should still be a month or so away from 9 months so she was in the hospital and just got out this morning so we are going to take her cookies tonight and see how she is doing. But that's about it for this week.

thanks guys love you.

July 13

 

So new this week if you couldn't guess from my statement about companions I will inform you I am back into a tripanionship for the second time on my mission. So transfers brought some weird news Monday night we got the call we were staying but on Tuesday morning as we were going to get my bike fixed we walked about 10 min away from the flat and got a call telling us that our area is closing down and that we needed to get our flat all packed up and cleaned up so they could give it back to the rental agency. Elder B would be going to Kidiminster in a tripanionship and that i would be going to Cwmbran a flat with the other elders in a tri so that was our day on Tuesday packing everything up into boxes. Lucky for us a member had just moved in and they said that we could have some of there boxes so we boxed and cleaned everything and the other elders came and helped us and we got it all done just in the nick of time. Me and elder B were up till probably 12 getting everything clean. then on Tuesday I took elder B to Cardiff and he got on the coach and left for Kidiminster then I was back in a tri with the other elders, we were lucky enough to have some really cool members that gave us some help with getting my stuff from one flat to the other and also getting my bike there as well. (still wasn't fixed yet because we had to go back and clean the flat instead of getting it fixed). I did get my bike fixed today all the way, the handle bars actually were mostly ok they bent them back and that with it but I had messed up my back tire so I had to get a new one of those put on today so now everything is all good.

 I could move at any time to a new area and out of a tri or I could stay like this for a whole transfer, I just don't know, I am honestly not sure if i should give you my new address.

Anyway needless to say this week has been interesting to say the least 3 guys again in one room but at least I have a good mattress and neither one snores so I can get some sleep. Elder S snored really bad, and on the plus side I have a bed frame now, 

So as investigators go i just gained about 10 so that was good, and both of my new comps are cool.

So amazing. funny stuff one of my comps now is elder Rasmussen but no relation to pres, and

Elder D is my other one he is from South Africa, elder R is from Sandy Utah.

This week has been interesting and good and I love you guys and I will send more to you next week about how our tipanionship is going, 

Love Elder Poll

 Just a little bike crash

So positive news we do have a new investigator and we should be getting
one later this week as well. And oh
we went to castle today for pday it was awesome I was off to a ,out
amazing pday until I crashed on my bike and now my head and my leg
hurt. And I need to fix my handlebars on my bike.
President  is cool I thought he would be a bit scary at first
because when he first walked in he didn't smile or anything but as
soon as he started to talk to us he asked each of us to come up and
shake his hand, when we did he was smiling and laughing and joking
around I even hugged him and I was the first one to do that then after
me all the elders did. It was pretty funny though because elder B
told me he was going to hug president and I joked with him just don't
kiss him and it will be okay but then elder B was before me and
he didn't even hug him and I didn't even mean to hug him I got into a
half hug then felt awkward and pulled out then he said elder it's okay
to hug me if you want to and so I finished the hug, but he is cool. By
the end of he meeting he was joking with us. What really surprised me
though was the fact that they are really young and they told us that he
hadn't really held large and important callings they had just been
called out of the blue.
But the rest of this week has been pretty normal finding and more
finding, I used to find it really discouraging to go finding for hours
and not find anyone but then you realize that they are not rejecting
you they are rejecting the Savior and I am not saying that that makes
it easier to find but that it does make it sting a little less.
And oh we went to castle today for pday it was awesome I was off to a great
amazing pday until I crashed on my bike and now my head and my leg
hurt. And I need to fix my handlebars on my bike.
But the castle was amazing.

Love you
Elder Poll

 Getting a new Mission President.

This week has been tiring but good and still not quite what I was hoping. So we still don't have any new investigators this week but we did have a few people tells us we could come back by so that was progress as we went by some former investigators. It was interesting to read some of the descriptions for people then meet the actual people and some times the description fits and some time you look and your like what was that elder thinking when he wrote this, or has this person changed that much since the missionaries last saw him. So the work is slow right now.

This week i went on exchange to New Port with elder Jam Jam from .South Africa he is cool but it was a pretty lame exchange because he had earlier that week been at an investigators house and went upstairs to use the toilet and on his way back down he slid or fell he doesn't really remember how it happened just one min he was at the top of the stairs the other he was are the bottom in lots of pain, He landed on his back and the doctors said that he has deeply bruised muscle and bones so he was on crutches and pain killers when I was with him and so he couldn't do a  lot and he was just tired all the time form the pills so we taught a lesson and then had a dinner appointment and then went back to the flat and he went to bed and I was board for like 4 hours, 

Cool... new this week we helped a new family move in and they are awesome and they are the stake presidents in-laws and they have already set a good impression in my mind probably because after we finished  they told us that they would have us over for dinner as soon as they got settled and that they would like to have us over whenever they can to eat with them. It is just the two of them and they like company so that's nice. 

Also i think we are starting to make a better impression on the members than the last missionaries did because the members are all wanting to have us over for dinner. This week we have three DA's which is like a record for this area for the past 6 months I have heard so that's nice.

I will try to get the info on presidents home coming and stuff so that you can go and meet him, he is leaving on Wednesday. I love the guy and I can't believe that he is leaving it's going to be weird being here without him. It will be interesting to see how things change with President Leopard. I don't anticipate any big changes for at least 6 weeks maybe more then things might change.

I love you guys and I will let you know how things go with the new mission president

Love Elder Poll

This has been a hard week

So this week has been good but also depressing I wish I had some
really great things to say like we are teaching lots people but right
now we are not teaching anyone so it's been a rough week for me when we
did our weekly planning it was sad. All we did was plan ideas to find
new investigators and stuff. We had a hard week and we will
probably have a hard week ahead.

So this week we biked to Blaenavon a really far obscure part of our
area and it took us 1 1/2 to bike there without stopping. My butt was
so sore and my legs were burning but at the same time it was a good
burning like I was working hard but I slept really good that night. I
fact funny thing my companion says I snore really bad but that it
didn't start until after our meeting with elder Holland but he says
that I have snored ever since. I don't really care how I sleep and
 he gets enough sleep but he wishes that I would stop snoring.
I found some cool post cards that I am going to send they are Welsh
stuff and it is really cool. Welsh is cool I want to learn it after my
mission.  Well I love you guys and I am not sure what else to tell you
other than I am really excited because next week we are going to visit
Caerphilly castle for pday.

Love and prays
Elder Poll

Got to meet Elder Holland...Awesome!!!

So this week has been crazy but good we had exchanges and also our over nigher in Cardiff so we could go to our meeting with Elder Holland on Thursday. by the way that meeting was awesome I made a voice recording about it it is on dropbox. Also Monday we went to a mine shaft and got to tour that and it was awesome we went a mile under the ground and it was so cool and there are pictures of that on drop box but they wouldn't let us take pictures in the mine for fear of static that could spark an explosion. honestly most of our week is on the voice recording.

Also we went this morning to get Elder B a new suit with some members because Elder B didn't have a suit so the members wanted to get him one and it is really nice. I was really happy for him. The new bike is awesome. Thanks for the scripture about the jw's we see them almost every day and people get us confused with them. About every day people go past us and yell bible bashers and stuff but its alright.

We have a new investigator his name is Michael we met him while we were street contacting in Pontypool but we didn't think it would go anywhere. Then out of the blue he text us and asked if we could meet so we did and it is going well. He might have some concerns about the word of wisdom but we will cross that bridge when we get there.

That's about it for this week love you guys and listen to the voice recording so you can get the rest of the week stuff

Love and prayers Elder Poll

So we listened to the voice recording and he talked about how great the message that Elder Holland gave was. He said that they got there a little early so the got a really good seat. They were on the 3rd row so they could even see him spit. He said it felt like Elder Holland was talking directly to him. 

Before the meeting he and each missionary was able to shake his hand. They got to tell him there name and where they were from. When Elder Poll told him his name and where he was from he asked if he was Bob Poll's grandson. (Apparently Bob was in the same mission with him and they were in the mission office together and traveled around the mission quite a bit together.) Anyway he was excited Elder Holland told them that as he was shaking their hands he was conducting a personal interview with each of them. He told them that usually he has to give the obedience talk. But he felt after talking to each one that he was able to give a different talk and he gave them a great one on the Atonement.  Elder Holland was there with a couple of area seventy's and they spoke for a few min. And Blake said that while they were speaking that you could watch Elder Holland almost like he was receiving revelation right there about what to speak about. He was very impressed and it was the best meeting he has ever been to.

I Broke My Bike

I broke my bike and so i need to buy a new one today. It was sad we were biking this last week and i broke my back tire and messed up all the gears. and now it will cost more for me to fix my bike that to just get a new one. but I am not going to make the same mistake that i made on the last one i am going to spend more and get one that won't give me problems. I have had it  for about 10 months but in my first two areas i didn't really use it and now I came here and use it every day and I broke it in a week and then I payed a bit to fix it the first time and then it broke worse and now I need a new bike. I also tried to talk to some of the missionaries going home and most of them don't have bikes or have broken them or they are about to brake so I thought well that stinks. i wish i had the bike i left bike home it is nice and doesn't brake and its a good brand and it is easy to fix and my bike here is none of those.

Other than the bike thing the only real excitement was that Elder Holland did come to Scotland and they broadcast that to the whole uk Ireland and Scandinavia and he is still coming to talk to us on Thursday. man I am so excited and his talk on Sunday was so cool he talked about the book of Mormon and how important it is and it was just so powerful he did a pulpit slam with his book of Mormon and it was awesome. Oh we had zone meeting and I got to see some of the kids from my group that were in the mtc with me and it was really cool they are still the awesome guys that I remember. and kind of funny one of them is actually serving in the same ward as me here in Cwbrawn. 

so to explain the tripanionship thing. it was because there were extra missionaries but also I feel like now that it was a blessing to get here early so that elder s could show me around so i could learn the area because elder B doesn't really know the area because he had only been here 4 weeks and he is not good with directions and reading maps and stuff. so I know my way around the area as good or better than elder B. but that's okay he is a cool guy. 

Man I missed Alma camp dang I love that place it was such a good preparation for the mission and it really helped me to learn and recognize when I was feeling the spirit.

As for investigators we don't really have any right now so could you just pray that we might find some people and that they will keep there appointments. We have been challenged to get 2 new investigators before Elder Holland speaks to us and we are currently and 0 so your prayers would be much appreciated.

Man it sounds like you guys have a lot of projects going. we have a few here ourselves. There are a few members that live not to far from us that are elderly and so they need a bit of help with there back yards. Can I just say the i miss gas powered tools that are so much more powerful and get the job done way quicker. and also I am glad we don't have any Japanese knot weed in our yard. we were helping a member try to remove some this week and it is worse than thistle not as pokey but it takes over everything and is near impossible to get rid of.

Speaking of president packer I met his grandson he is serving in Burton my first area and he is way cool he goes home at the end of this transfer with Elder D and Elder M.

also exciting this week we are going on exchange with the Newport elders but i will be staying here so I hope i don't get us to lost. 

That's about it for this week I love you guys 

Elder Poll