Chi town, Chi town, we gonna show 'em how we get down!

Greetings everyone! The subject line is from a Kanye West song... I couldn't resist using it, seeing as my area is CHIchester. I hope that doesn't make me a dreadful person. I don't think it does.

Anyways, this last week has been fantastic! Is it difficult? Yes. Have I been humbled? Oh yes. Would I ever change that? Absolutely not.

We had a Zone Conference with Elder Kearon from the Area Presidency today. President Millar kicked off the conference with a VERY humbling presentation regarding the number of baptisms in our mission the last three years compared to the number of baptisms in the rest of the European missions. Basically our numbers our dreadful. He then revolved the rest of his words around the quotation "where do we go from here?" He told us what needs to be done to make the work move in the direction it needs to be moving. We need to more fully apply the the principles contained in another humbling missionary experience- when President Hinckley received the letter instructing him to forget himself and go to work. This all relates to my goal that I set at the begginning of this transfer- to consecrate myself to the Lord more fully each and every day.

On a lighter note, it was great to see a bunch of my friends from the Bristol Zone and from my MTC group. We had a great time catching up and talking about our various missionary adventures. I also received my pre-Christmas package (which I LOVE by the way, thank you so much!) and a letter from Grandma/Grandpa Frederickson. I loved all of it, many thanks.

Our flat is all decorated for Christmas, we were not messing around regarding this. It looks amazing and I try and have Christmas music on as much as I can. It's hard to believe it is so SOON! If I have time, I'll include some pictures!

Chichester is such a cool place to serve. It's a lot bigger than I anticipated and transport is also quite tough. It's similar to Trowbridge, but instead of getting direct trains, we have to change trains if we are going anywhere besides Havant (which is where pretty much all the members live- not quite sure why the chapel is in Chichester.) That is okay though, it just means we have to be creative and efficient with our planning (those who know me know that budgeting time is NOT a strength of mine.)

In other news, we were contained in our flat yesterday, as Elder Grachyov was sick. I wasn't really sick so I read the majority of "Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Wilford Woodruff" and wrote some letters/Christmas Cards. I sent off like five letters today, by the way! I still have a few more I need to write but I think I'll have time for that today? We shall see!  I ended up being sick kind of... I randomly woke up in the middle of the night feeling VERY and threw up (it was NOT pleasant...) but I have felt just fine other than that so let's hope I am all better for good. I wanted to throw in a How I Met Your Mother reference using the "Vomit-free Since '93" line but I'm just not witty enough.

There is nothing else too crazy that is happening at the moment- we are just going hard all day every day, with the knowledge that the Lord will fill in the blanks. The work here is certainly difficult, but it is most definitely possible. Our God is a God of miracles and I know that as we diligently excercise our authority and live worth of the mantle which we have, we can call down angels to aid us.

I love you all, have an exceptional week!

-Elder Frederickson