Greetings From Sunny South London

Dear everybody,

This week has been great. Not much to report regarding investigators. We are still trying to build up our teaching pool. I was quite impressed with the articles that the Assistants and also the Eastbourne Elders wrote for the Harvester. After reading it on Saturday night, I felt that we could be doing more to increase our teaching pool. As it turns out, the solution seems to be simple planning smarter- ensure there is time for contacting between each and every appointment and keep things interesting by always being on the move! They said something in particular that struck me, "rarely did the Saviour have set appointments, he did most of his work while He was travelling." I thought about that and it is so true! What a wonderful insight! We set goals and made plans to talk to more people (everyone we possibly could, within reason), followed through, and saw miracles. We met several people who seem to be prepared to receive the Gospel.

I also learnt a lesson regarding persistence. Now, usually, I'm quite a persistent person... but when it comes to contacting and a conversation is going on and on and it doesn't seem like it's going anywhere I start to get a bit flustered. My mind starts to wander a bit. I just want the conversation to be over and to talk to any one of the hundreds of people walking by... but that isn't right. We stopped someone and they've stopped and we owe them our time and attention, even if what they have to say isn't quite what we want to hear. Yesterday we were talking to this guy who used to be a Jehovah's Witness but now does NOT like organised religion. We talked and talked and talked... on three seperate occasions I almost just ended the conversation... but for whatever reason, I felt we shouldn't. We kept talking and in the end, he actually was quite interested. If we give these people the time they deserve, we are also giving the Holy Ghost the time HE deserves to work on the hearts of these people.

I am also really grateful for the AUF project. We are finding some great people from it.  the Lord is also softening the hearts of these people and those that live around them. The way things are going, by the end of this week, our teaching pool will be composed almost entirely of people found from the AUF project. What a blessing.

I also love the goal our Zone has set to read the Book of Mormon in a transfer. I feel my testimony of it strengthening even more! I love reading it cover to cover because it allows me to "connect the dots" more, relate one story to another, and simply read it in the way Heavely Father laid it out! When you read Chapter 3 of Preach My Gospel, you get a similar effect. When we read with the Spirit, we can be informed regularly that these things are true and divine in nature. I would invite all of you to join me in beginning the Book of Mormon. It is so powerful and so true. It changes lives. I'm not going to ask all of you to read it by June 1st (which is the deadline I've given myself) but I'd invite you all to start reading!!!

I am really grateful as well to have my wonderful cousin, Sarah, as a member of the Catford Ward for my last few weeks of my mission. Who would've thought that was going to happen? The tender mercies of the Lord are real. It was also awesome to see BOTH Sarahs yesterday at Stake Conference. I feel like I see people from home all the time hahahaha apparently an Apostle once counselled missionaries "if you can't avoid it, enjoy it." I haven't been able to verify that, but I like it haha.

I'd also like to share two talks with all of you that I listened to this week and really struck me. Throughout my mission, I've developed a deep love of the word of the Lord as given through his inspired servants. Often times, throughout my mission, when God wants to communicate directly to me, he does so in the form of a that is sent to me or that I find in a shelf in our flat. Anyways, here a couple that I loved this week. The first is by Neal A. Maxwell and deals with our unique view of "Pre-mortality", the belief that we lived with God before we were born, a doctrine unique to our church. The second is a talk that I love by President Monson because it's just awesome.

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1985/10/premortality-a-glorious-reality?lang=eng&query=neal+a+maxwell+premortality

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1987/10/missionary-memories?lang=eng

This week will be good! We have Zone Conference in Crawley tomorrow. It goes without saying that I am excited.

I love you all so much! Have a wonderful week!!! :)

With love,

Elder Frederickson

First Week of the Last Transfer :O

April 28th

 

Good morning, everybody!

It has been a good week. Our numbers (at least with lessons) were a bit down because we spent a lot of time working on AUFs and I have found that it is quite a bit more difficult to teach lessons on a doorstep than on the street. It is, however, necessary since we have 36 total AUFs that are spread out all over humanity. AUFs are something called "Address Unknown Files."  We are also instructed to knock at least 20 doors near each one. When I was in Basingstoke we had 10 and it took us a whole transfer... so you can imagine how much 36 is hahahaha and we have til June 4th to do it! We've definitely seen some cool miracles from the project though, including finding a less-active who wants to come back and has three children aged 9, 10, and 12. Another cool thing- two of the AUFs are a married couple who were actually referred to us by our Romanian investigators... so I guess they're members?! I recall them talking about their "Romanian Church." Could it have been THE church? :) We'll have to pick them up again and check into that. So far all of the AUFs that we've spoken to (I think 12 or 13 now) have been pleased to see us.

We also picked up some new baptismal dates. We began teaching this awesome guy named Ashley. He said that the message we share (we've taught Restoration and Plan of Salvation) "makes sense, logically" but that he needed to double check to ensure everything "matches" with the Bible. It does. Now we need to emphasize church attendance and the Book of Mormon. We also began teaching a French/African woman named Lisette. She LOVED our message, she double checked every time we quoted scripture to make sure we weren't making up scriptures hahaha. In particular, she loved our testimonies. She was impressed with our message because we invited her to ask God and said, with confidence, that he'd answer. That was refreshing. They, along with Susan and Cash, are dated for May 31st.

Lately, we've been seeing a lot of success with getting our less-actives to church. I'm struck by how prepared some of these people are to come back- all they need is a bold but loving invitation. It takes a little bit of faith to do this but it makes a world of a difference.

A couple of days ago, the streets of South London began to adorned with Rick Ross posters and I have to admit, I laugh every time I see one! Also, only a few of you will understand this, but someone on the street we were knocking the other day was blasting "I've Got A Feeling" and I cringed. It's been what, three or four years now? And it still send shivers down my spine. 

Also, word on the street is that the Wizards are up 3-1 on the Bulls in the playoffs? That's what I like to hear! :) Shout out to them for making major, major improvements in the past two years.

This weekend we fasted as a Zone to have 15 baptisms in the Wandsworth Stake this transfer. I know it will happen. We also broke our fast with one of my favourite Nigerian members who fed us Jollof Rice and Goat. It was really really good.

Yesterday was also Elder and Sister Bradford's last Sunday in the Catford Ward. The work they've done there the past two years has been incredible and I am going to miss having them around SO much. 

I know this work that I am engaged in is the work of Almighty God. I am so grateful for the privilege I have to share the Gospel each and every day to the people of London.

I love you all! :)

Elder Fred

Shout Out to the London Marathon

April 14th -

 

Wow! It is hard to believe I am writing this letter again! The past week has flown by. There have definitely been ups and downs but that is what missionary work is all about. It certainly hasn't been an easy week.

First thing, big time shout out to the London Marathon for starting right next to our chapel and shutting down all bus routes to our chapel, especially in Greenwich and Charlton! Hahaha but also big time shout out to everyone who did the London Marathon because I could never do that ever. Maybe some day. :)

One thing that was particularly hard, but that I learnt a lot from, was regarding one of our investigators. He kept every single commitment we gave him. He stuck to the reading calendar. He came to church. He saw Conference. We did everything we could for him- prepare lessons, acts of love, we even organised a temple trip! But he just didn't progress. He didn't get an answer Why? I'll be honest, I asked myself that this week. He did his part, we did ours, why didn't the answer come? I feel that sometimes these things happen because that's just the way God wants it to be. Like a lot of things on my mission, it's confusing and doesn't make sense and is a bit hard to swallow, but sometimes we have to just trust God and accept the fact that His thoughts and ways are simply higher than ours. I do know this- that he felt the Spirit We plan on getting him hooked up with missionaries back in Colombia. I think that he'll be much more willing to accept the Gospel there where he can hear it in his language I'm grateful for the opportunity we've had to plant that seed of faith in him. I am confident that some day, it will grow and he will be baptised.

On the other hand, Lux is doing great! Besides Church Attendance (which was an all-around nightmare yesterday due to the London Marathon) he is fantastic. The first thing he said to us when we walked in was "I have several questions regarding the book of Enos." He also referred us to one of his friends. He is excited for his baptism. We'll have to push it back a week but that't okay. He has changed a lot since I've met him. It goes to show that you cannot judge the people we meet on the street (or knocking!) because you never know who will progress. We need to always be following up as Elder Ballard counseled us last week and that is when miracles come!

P-Day should be good. It's so hard to believe it's the last one of the transfer! We're not doing anything too crazy. Maybe going to Greenwich and taking some pictures.

I am sorry if this letter makes me sound down, I'm super happy I promise! :) But some weeks on a mission are more challenging than others and this was definitely one of the more challenging weeks. This week will be wonderful though. Lots of appointments, progressing investigators, pancake breakfast with the zone, and exchange... it'll be great :)

I love you all so much! I know the message that I share each day is TRUE!

With love,

Elder Fred

Love Conference!!!

Good morning, my friends.

Everything is great here! Conference was good. In particular, I enjoyed Elder Ballard, Elder Bednar, President Uchtdorf, and Elder Oaks (Priesthood session.)  Since Wandsworth Chapel is... well, on the other side of London, we decided it would be a much better idea to organize viewings at our chapel and at the homes of less-actives. This was fruitful. The Spirit was felt by all, in some way or another.

This week, the focus was progression. We spent the week doing things we felt would strengthen our investigators. Perhaps we could've done a bit more finding, but at the end of the day there isn't much point to finding if you don't progress those you find! :)

I've been making a concentrated effort to pray for and expect miracles. These miracles have taken the form of referrals! From investigators, from members, from mormon.org... it's awesome! If you ask everyone for referrals (including the Lord!) you'll receive, sometimes in ways you don't expect. I'm learning that you can think of all the techniques, tricks, and schemes possible to get referrals but at the end of the day the biggest things you can do are ask, serve, and WORK! If we do those things, the Lord will provide.

Our investigators are doing well. It's really crunch time with them. We're bringing them both to a baptism this Saturday. We're taking Andres to the temple.  He saw the Sunday morning session yesterday. He was obsessed with President Uchtdorfs talk!  Hahaha I wish I could peer into his mind to see how it works. We were able to focus on President Uchtdorfs talk though and help him recognize that he is feeling the Spirit. He is definitely progressing though.

L. is one of the fascinating people I've ever taught. He's amazing. He finished 2 Nephi this week and when asked about how he liked 2 Nephi his comment was that he couldn't believe they ate raw meat but he researched it and found that when you cook meat, it loses a lot of vitamins so now he understands. He also commented on how he loved the Isaiah chapters. Wow. We also made him a CD of Churchy songs he can listen to on Sunday, because he asked for hymn recommendations when we taught Sabbath day.

We also began teaching an Italian girl.  She is SO COOL! We brought along Tony, a recent convert and he did amazing. She is Catholic but she said that our belief that God isn't three people mysteriously in one, but that God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are seperate beings makes "much more sense." Amen to that. She accepted a date for May 3rd. We'll see what happens! She's YSA so that's always good, means we have a great support system.

Today will be fun! The Zone is getting together at Wandsworth chapel just to chill I think. It'll be good to hang with everyone and play some sports.

I love you all so much!

-Elder Frederickson

Picture: (Most of) the original Basingstoke District. Idk what the pose is, I was trying to make fun of Sister Wests pose but ended up channelling Spider Man.

"When I was a hippie, I had the swag" - March 31st

Hello, everybody!

This week will be a slightly short email I think.

This week has been wonderful. We worked hard. We saw miracles. Our investigators are not progressing as well as they could, but we've set goals and made plans to help them progress this week. We have high hopes from them. The member referrals have begun to pour in. There is a huge harvest to be reaped in this area and the time for it has come. Obedience, planning, faith, and WORK are a few of our tools that we intend to use to reap. It's so exciting to serve here!

We had two investigators at Sacrament! But we had four show up right afterwards, so in reality we had six! We were so excited to have so many people at church!  there is a spirit of missionary work here. It's awesome! I love this area and this ward.

Funny story of the week: Yesterday this guy wearing a Che  hoodie and jeans carrying a saxophone walks right into the really intensely spiritual combined thrid hour where we were talking about the atonement. I knew something interesting was about to happen hahaha.

We had a munch and mingle afterwards and this guy starts playing a really jazzy version of "When The Saints Go Marching In" while dancing. It lasted about two seconds before Elder Bradford (senior couple) shut it down hahahaha.

I love you all, have a wonderful week! :)

With love,

Elder Frederickon

March 24th

Dear friends and family,

Last week, it dawned on me... I have two transfers left. That is not much time. I have eleven short weeks to reap the harvest and... well, the rest of my life to think about it! As such, I felt it necessary to increase the work rate here. A lot. After transfers happened, Elder Ganta I just went all out! We talked to EVERYONE. Absolutely everyone. We were rewarded for the work we put in and saw miracles.

Our two main focuses were wasting no minutes and getting people out to church. We are making sure that we are finding as much as possible between set appointments. It really is as simple as putting in that extra mile to show your love for the Lord. When that happens, the Lord provides. Sometimes he provides in ways we do not expect. For example, despite our focusing on getting our investigators to church, only one that we'd been teaching came. Despite that, several non-members showed up with whom we were able to set appointments and we hope to work with them in the coming days and weeks.

One of our investigators did came to church, and he was just wonderful. He loved the service. He is such a deep thinker and always thinks outside the box. After gospel principles, he was going to go home but he felt something telling him to stay a bit more. He even made a wonderful contribution to the ever-entertaining Priesthood lesson! We offered him a reading calendar but he said he'd rather just read it cover to cover. He is definitely progressing and we are so excited for him!

We also started teaching a Jamaican named Ricky. He's awesome. 

 

A funny story from the week- on the way to an appointment, we walked through this on high-streetish place in Catford where there is always lots of activity and many colourful characters. We saw an old, drunk man stumbling around carrying a boom box blasting a loud reggae beat. Over this beat he sang "How Great Thou Art" at the TOP OF HIS LUNGS. I love London.

Anyways, to end this on a more spiritual note- two scriptures I came across this week.

Helamen 3:29-30... the scriptures are POWERFUL. Are we using them the way we should?

29 Yea, we see that whosoever will may lay hold upon the word of God, which is quick and. powerful, which shall divide asunder all the cunning and the snares and the wiles of the devil, and lead the man of Christ in a strait and narrow course across that everlasting gulf of misery which is prepared to engulf the wicked—

 30 And land their souls, yea, their immortal souls, at the arighthand of God in the kingdom of heaven, to sit down with Abraham,and Isaac, and with Jacob, and with all our holy fathers, to go nomore out

And 2 Corinthians 9:5... do not forget this, fellow labourers :) 

 6 But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.

I know this church is true and the work I do is the work of the Almighty! I love you all so much! :)

With love,

Elder Frederickson

 

March 19th

Dinner with Becky was wonderful! My new comp is good. He is from India. He's been in the flat for a transfer already so I know him. This coming transfer is just a five weeker, then I might be outta London. We'll see :)

Elder Mafubelu is moving- he has my DREAM moves call hahahahahha ZL in Reading with Elder Hanks. Obviously I knew that wasn't happening though hahaha. He was the one with whom I butted heads sometime but we really sorted things out. I'll attach a picture with him from this morning at Clapham Junction. Our ZLs are Elder Popa and a new ZL, ELder Alejandre from Spain. I LOVE Elder Alejandre he is such a nice guy.

I am really excited for the transfer to come. We have so many people that are going to be baptised. Idk if I'll be here two transfers. We'll see! :) 

Thank you so much for the package as well :) I loved it! You guys are the best!

Love you!