December 30, 2008

Hello everyone!

I got MOVED!! I have officially left my greeny area and am now serving in the Portsmouth area. Before I forget, I’ll give my new address.

#70 Oriel Rd
Northend, Portsmouth
PO2 9EQ

England

It’s a lot shorter than the last one haha. I haven't seen much of the area yet, but it is a lot different than London. It is right along the southern coast, bordering the channel. My new companion is Elder Orme from Idaho Falls, Idaho. He seems really cool so far. I've only known him for about 2 hours, but I can tell he is a good missionary. He is the youngest of four boys and... I don't know much more. He seems like a smart and organized guy. I'll get to know him over this week and tell you more next time.

It hasn't been long since I talked to you on the phone. I really enjoyed that. You had really good questions. I was glad you had a lot, it’s what I expected. By the way did you record it? I thought I remembered doing that when Kyle called.

The day after Christmas (back in Catford) we picked up a new investigator named Morillo. He is from Brazil and speaks Portuguese and a little bit of English. The lesson went really well because we took the new Portuguese member that got baptized two Sundays ago. We saw him again yesterday (Dec. 29th) and taught him The Plan of Salvation using cards that you can lay out on the table. He loved it and long story short, he has a baptismal date for the 25 of January. I'm excited for him and look forward to hearing about his baptism. We picked up a few new investigators during the rest of the week, but now I'm in a different area. I don't know any of my new investigators yet, but I look forward to meeting them.

Travel went well. Elder Christensen is training now, so a brand new Scottish Elder took my place in Catford. They will do a great job. I went to the temple (where the mission home is) with him to pick up his new comp and to meet up with some Elders I would travel to my new area with. A lot of missionaries were around so we did a lot of talking and then some elders went to the visitors' center to watch the Joseph Smith video with a new member. I was waiting on them for my ride, so I went with my old Zone Leader, Elder King, to take people to the train station. On my way back I had my first driving experience in England!! It was pretty fun especially since it was a manual car. I have only driven a manual car once back home, and this time it was backwards!! haha. I did pretty well though and now have some encouragement to get my drivers license over here. One of my new Zone Leaders is named Elder Armstrong and is from Mesa. He went to Red Mountain. I talked to another Elder at the temple named Elder Barnwell who is from Mesa too. He went to Westwood. I actually met Elder Barnwell before my mission at ASU. He found out we got called to the same place and introduced himself at institute. I think I asked a long time ago, but I was wondering if Kyle ever served with or met an Elder Cusick while in Venezuela. There is one here, that is an AP now, who has an older brother that served there around the same time.

That’s about all I can think of to write about right now. I hope you all have an amazing week and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I love you.

Love
Elder Kade Karges

December 22nd

Dear Family,

Merry Christmas!!! It is good to hear that everything is well back home. We did sing at the Ward Christmas Party on Friday haha. It was just the four of us and we didn’t sound half bad. That is the second time I've done that on my mission now. Three other Elders and I sang on a Sunday in the MTC as well.

That was so nice of Sister Edwards to Email you. We were at their house for a DA and they decided to show us the video of the Angel Moroni being put on top of the temple. Elder Christensen asked to have it sent to his mom, so I did too. They are a good family. They are funny and very active. They are probably in their forties and have at least 3, maybe up to 5, children (13, 16, older). They served us a proper English meal. Potatoes, pea's, roast chicken, and Yorkshire pudding with gravy. It was good. It was one of my first English meals actually. We eat a lot of foods from other places

The rest of the week went well. I usually have my planner with me so I can remember the highlights, but I left it at the flat this time. The other two missionaries in Catford had a double baptism on Sunday morning. We have taught their investigators a couple of times so it was really cool to be a part of it. One was a Brazilian guy named Pedro, and the other is a Jamaican lady named Trudly-Ann. We had a white Christmas in London after all

I got the DeSpain’s package. Tell them thank you, thank you, thank you!!! And if I haven’t told you already,I got both of yours. The 12 days of Christmas have been great! I opened the boxing pens today haha I love you and thanks again.

I am holding Nesquick chocolate milk in my hand in the picture I just sent. Most of the pictures I have been sending come from other peoples cameras. I transfer them to my memory card. I’m still working on getting my own camera. The picture with the hat – it’s the hat you sent. I wore it around all day today. I took the picture with my camera, I just cant see what I’m taking the picture off. The screen doesn’t work, but I can guess where I am aiming and snap a picture to look at later

I just remembered that somebody asked if I had a certain English teacher at Hendrix Jr. High. I think I did have the teacher they mentioned and that’s cool to know she is using my papers as examples

We have all been getting sick lately. It hasn't hit me hard yet and hopefully it won't, but I definitely have a cold. Elder Call was down for a day or two and Elder Christensen was sick, but we only stayed in for half a day (I used the time to write a couple of last minute Christmas cards, I hope they get there in time). Everyone is gradually getting better. It has been affecting our investigators too. We went into this week and the next one hoping things would pick up because people would have more time, but kind of the opposite happened. People have been either sick or on holiday (vacation as we call it back home).

We are still working hard and enjoying the work. We hit a new record of finding this week for me. 29 hours!! The usual has been about 17 for me. It seemed to go by so fast though because we are having fun doing it. I am grateful for this Christmas season and feel very blessed. The ward has taken good care of us. We have dinner appointments lined up on either side of Christmas and possibly on Christmas Day. They have given quite a few cards and things as well. The biggest blessing I think is being a member of our family. I love you all so much and am so grateful for your support. I hope you have a Merry Christmas and I look forward to speaking to you on the phone!

Love Elder Karges
Ward members and the missionaries after church this Sunday. Joseph (recent RM: served in Ireland), me, Elder Christensen, Sam (Deaf member of the ward), Alex (18 year old ward mission leader), Elder Call, Elder Sorbonne

Our zone pday earlier today. We played sports and had a white elephant gift exchange in Wandsorth. People are holding their gifts.

December 15, 2008

Hellooo!!

First off I’ll just answer some questions before I forget. I got both packages and I have been opening the 12 days of Christmas. Thank you so much! I’m still working on the camera situation. Ill try to work on it today. I’ll let you know if I need help. I have a Conference edition Ensign already. Thank you for checking. I haven't got to read it much, but I will. The weather here is cold, windy, and rainy, but I’m doing alright. It’s a big change form good old AZ, but I worked into it gradually. I don’t really use my umbrella haha it’s kind of pointless sometimes with the wind. Even though it gets cold, it helps to know that at the end of the day I can go back to a warm flat. If we are in doors, it really isn’t bad at all. I actually get hot in the flat and have to open the windows. We sleep with a window open at night if that helps picture how it is. It doesn’t rain hard, but it rains a lot and for a long time. Everything gets wet so I’ve been putting stuff in plastic bags and then into my back pack... things still get ruined sometimes. From what I hear it’s been snowing everywhere else in England, but not so much here. I haven’t seen any since that Sunday morning a while ago and that wasn’t very much.

I love hearing about the family every week. It’s amazing how good it is to hear from everyone and just know that things are going well back home. I’m excited to talk to you all on Christmas. It is still hard for me to believe that I’m already making my first out of four calls home. This week has been great. People are happier and nicer during Christmas which is nice. It doesn’t mean they are more willing to accept the gospel, but it’s possible and I like to think it does. Each part of London (ie Lewisham) has a council that runs things around the city. They put up Christmas light on a lot of the light posts around and even set up Christmas trees. The sidewalks here are different. They are just stone or brick laid on the ground, so they simply take out a few and put the tree straight in the ground! It’s pretty cool. I don’t know a whole lot of the local traditions. Ill let you know if I eat anything cool or ethnic. I heard that the ward has a pretty big celebration and a lot of old members come to visit. I’m looking forward to that.

This week went by fairly fast. I spent two days on exchanges with Crystal Palace and we had a lot of appointments. Things had slowed down for a while, but now they are picking back up. We have 8 investigators right now so it’s kinda hard to talk about all of them. They will most likely change by next week anyways haha, but you can know that they are doing well. One speaks French and another one Spanish. It’s pretty fun. I’m remembering a lot of what I learned in school. The work is going great and I love you guys. Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Kade Karges

in African Traditionals without holding them back. This is how they are supposed to be worn, but this one was way to big for me haha.

Dec. 8, 2008

Elder Christensen and I eating pumpkin pie the Pday after Thanksgiving

Hey,

This week has been really fast, I don’t know where all the time has gone. We are still working hard and having fun doing it. Not much has changed with our investigators, except that they are always changing haha. That’s just how it is though. There are millions of people here and thousands are ready to be baptized, we just have to find them. We have done a lot of finding (knocking and street contacting) lately and I’m looking forward to seeing the blessings and miracles that will hopefully come.

Last P-day we had a good time just hanging out at our flat with the Elders from Crystal Palace. We had a little Thanksgiving Celebration with pumpkin pie and everything! We made a make-shift grill out of our stove and oven rack and it worked pretty dang well. It was one of the best ideas we have ever had :)

Tuesday was Zone Meeting. They had Zone conference and meeting really early this moves. Hopefully the rest of moves doesn’t drag on because of it. I always love going to these meetings because President and Sister Swinton are amazing and always bring the spirit so strongly.

Wednesday and Friday were very similar. We went on exchanges both days with the other Catford Elders. Wednesday I was with Elder Sorbonne and Friday with Elder Call. Exchanges are always fun and miracles always come from them. They make the week fly by as well. I think we are having three next week! Wed through Fri with the Crystal Palace Elders and The Zone Leaders. I’m looking forward to that.

Thursday and Saturday were pretty normal, good days. We taught a few people and met a lot of new ones. We didn’t get to see our baptismal date, Timothy, like we had planned, because he has been working like crazy. I hope we do soon because we have a lot to teach him before he can be baptized. Saturday we also got a disappointing call from Elizabeth, the Nigerian member that is always feeding us and bringing people to church. She is moving!!! :( We are going to miss her a lot, and her cooking. We went over to her house that night and gave her a blessing because she had recently gone to the hospital for a few days with a really high fever. She is doing better now.

We never know what Sunday is going to be like... the ward here can be pretty exciting at times, and interesting at others. Everything is mostly the same as back home just a little less organized I guess. I don’t know how to explain it. I love it and love the members. They are all very nice, there are just some peculiar characters.

I hope I answered any questions that you all had. Let me know if I didn’t. I love you all and hope you have an amazing week.

Love,
Elder Kade Karges

my zone this moves at the bumper cars near the London Eye

December 1, 2008

Hiya!!

A lot people say hello that way over here. That or they abbreviate 'are you alright' and say 'yaright' as they walk by. This week has gone well. It seemed a little slower than past weeks because nothing too exciting happened. We dropped a lot of investigators and did a lot of finding. I’m excited to pick some new investigators up this week though and see how many get baptized by the end of the year!

We have been teaching a guy named Jeff that works as the head baker at a bakery called Percy Ingles. He is really cool and loves the new things he is learning from the Book of Mormon. He comes from a pretty stout Catholic family and doesn’t know how to tell his wife he is meeting with us - haha. We asked him if they knew about it and knew that he reads the Book of Mormon and he said it never leaves his bag when he gets home... his wife saw it once and he said it was nothing and put it away quickly. It’s pretty funny, but I hope he lets them know soon so the gospel can bless his whole family. Once he does, we will refer him to the boarding area (Peckham) because that’s where he actually lives. We had a couple really good teaches with him this week.

We had a 16-year-old named Ricardo Graham we were teaching and who was getting ready for baptism, but we haven’t seen him lately. It could be a parental thing. Hopefully we'll see him soon, but his baptism is postponed for now.

Our only other main investigator is Timothy who is from Nigeria. He came to church and liked it and we will be meeting him a lot now. He is really cool, but hard to read because he doesn’t get real excited or show a lot of emotion about it. He keeps commitments and wants to know the truth so I know he'll find it.

Monday we went back up towards the Eye and Big Ben again. We did bumper cars with the whole zone, it was cool. I’m sending a couple pictures I snagged from Elder Christensen’s camera.

Not much else happened this week, except another one of our investigators invited us over for a celebration. It was pretty fun, but we didn’t stay long.(oh and they don’t really celebrate Thanksgiving over here, but the ward knows we do and they try to help us celebrate with Dinner Appointments. For PDay today we are having a little get together of missionaries, as well.)

I’m out of time now. I love you guys! Take care and enjoy the Christmas Season!!!

The first one is of me and Elder Sorbonne at Big Ben. Elder Sorbonne has been with me my whole mission so far its pretty crazy!

Elder Christensen and I in a bumber car near the London Eye

Nov. 24, 2008

Hello!

When things are crazy or just all over the place, one of my Zone Leaders calls it a 'yard sale'. This Week has been a yard sale!! haha Things are going really well, we are really busy with everything, that is why I only had a half hour to email last week, well Thursday. I don’t remember everything I talked about last time, but ill try to pick out the highlights of the last two weeks.

Of course the biggest highlight was the Baptism of Mary Folusho Olatunbosun. She has been an amazing investigator and has a strong testimony. I know she will be an amazing asset to the Lord as a member of the church. Everything went well and the day was focused on her (I can’t remember if I told you already, but Sujana wasn’t baptized. Her husband didn’t like the idea of tithing and got upset with her. He even wanted her to move back to Nepal. She is still in London, but we haven’t seen her. She is a strong woman and wants to be baptized still, so I know she will find a way eventually.) She didn’t know too many people in the ward, but we still had a couple speakers and a full program. I felt really honored to be the one to baptize her. It was cool to have it right before church too, because she got Confirmed by Elder Christensen right after, in sacrament meeting. All and all it was a great day. I am trying to send pictures of it right now.

On Wednesday this last week we had a dinner appointment with a lady that actually ended up being at a care center (rest home). I don’t think all the guests were staying there, but they were all pretty old. She had intended it to be a thanksgiving dinner, and it was pretty close. I really enjoyed it. We wanted to try and teach some of them, as none of them were members, but they were pretty set in their ways, plus once they started with the wine, there was no chance. It was pretty entertaining though, to say the least. One of the men was Jewish, and long story short, he ate pork without realizing it! I know that’s bad, but it was kind of funny too! haha. An older lady asked him if he had ever had pork before and he said ''no... wait I thought this was chicken!!! I was thinking wow this chicken is really good.'' He stopped eating it, but said that it tasted good.

We had a couple other DA's recently. One was Monday night. We took Mary for her first FHE at a member’s house. That went well. We had another one Saturday night at Elizabeth’s again. She is in her mid seventies, but is the best member missionary I know. She had her son's fiance’ and three of her grand children over so we could teach them. They all live out of our area, but we still enjoyed it.

It seems like we have been teaching a lot of people that haven't become investigators because we don’t have a return appointment, or they are out of our area. We have had an excellent week though and have two more baptismal dates planned right now, a kid named Ricardo Graham (16) and a lady named Shade (late 50's pronounced Sha-Day). Their date is on the 7th of December right now, but might be moved back a week.

It is so good to hear from everyone and hear about the old ward. I miss everyone, but I am loving the work. Elder Christensen and I get along great and work well together I love him and look up to him as a missionary.

That is such exciting news about Kyle and Jenny's engagement! I am excited for them and look forward to having a new sister-in-law. I really have appreciated all of her letters and look forward to them :) She has been a big support to me. Let her know that and also tell Harmony I said hi back.

I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!

Love Elder Kade Karges

The first pic was of my district last moves. The only thing that has changed since then is Elder Coombes on the far left is gone and Elder Call is here. Oh and we have a new Zone Leader form Scottland named Elder King!! He is really cool

Me, Elder Gasperado (From Italy), Mary, Elder Lee (From Gilbert, AZ), and Elder Christensen (From Delta, UT) right before Mary's baptism. The other two missionaries are from Peckham and are the ones who found her and refered her to us.

Christensen, Mery, and I right before her baptism

November 20, 2008

You were right. When we have moves, pday will be on Thursday instead of Monday. I am still in Catford with Elder Christensen, but we had to go with Elder Sorbonne to get his new companion, so we had to wait till now to email. Pday still ends at six our time and that only left of 30 minutes to email, soo this will probably be a short email. Its funny how i have even more days to write about than normal, but less time!

On the bright side, not too much happened during the week last week. We had several teaches, and did a lot of finding each day. We are constantly cycling through investigators. We actually started teaching a few old ones again which is cool. We saw Mary all week long and the Bishop and his wife actually took her to see the Temple and the new visitor’s center on Saturday! She had an amazing week that led to an amazing baptism on Sunday! She is officially a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints! It went soo well and it was a really special day for her as well as for me, it being my first baptism. It was by far the best day of my mission so far. I can’t wait to hear how she progresses in the gospel. She is only living here for another couple weeks though. She is moving back to Nigeria for a while (she was actually here an holiday for a month or two). I am completely out of time now. I love you all and will talk to you Monday.

Love Elder Karges

November 10, 2008

HELLO!!

Things are going great here, still working away. Our two investigators with the baptism dates are doing amazing. They have learned so much and will have a joint baptism on the morning of Sunday November 16th! I am so excited for them. They are so cool. Mary is from Nigeria and Sujana is from Nepal. They didn’t know each other, but they have met a few times now. We just had stake conference and it was great! Both of them came.

I’m glad the family enjoys the letters. That’s why I try so hard. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to keep it up though haha. I’ll just keep telling about each week as it happens. They are pretty repetitious, so I might just start telling the highlights. As for this week...

Monday (PDAY!) went by really fast. I talked about it last email. We had it cut short on both ends. We have been really blessed for giving up some of our Pday time to teach, but today we made sure to have the whole day open haha.

Tuesday I went on exchange to Crystal Palace with Elder Poulsen. He is a cool guy. He was my District Leader (DL) last moves, but now he is training Elder McLacklan. Elder Christensen (my comp) is DL now so he needed to have an exchange with the new guy. Elder Poulsen and I just got to do it for fun. I liked it a lot. I’m used to Catford though and like it a little better. Crystal palace is kind of slow, while Catford is crazy busy.

Wednesday, we switched back halfway through they day. I was happy to be back. We had a few teaches and helped one of our new investigators pick up a large amount of groceries for a big family event coming up. I’ll talk more about that later.

Thursday was a really good day. We taught both Mary and Sujana one right after the other. Earlier in the day we got an unexpected phone call from the other Catford Edlers. Apparently they had found $70 on the ground! That’s like 140 bucks! They decided to share their little miracle with us and took us out to eat at Nandos. Nandos is a really good Portuguese restaurant that is famous among the missionaries. Everyone goes to Nando's and tries to see how hot of chicken they can handle. I am proud to say I worked my way up to "Extra Hot". I have a little sticker on the back of my badge to prove it. Ill have to send a picture to explain.

Friday we went on exchanges with the other Catford elders for about half the day. Elder Coombs and I had fun. We work in the same are so it was pretty normal. Mary and Sujana had their Baptismal interviews and passed with flying colors!

Saturday we had a dinner appointment with Elizabeth again. I have been over there a few times now. She is from Nigeria and is an amazing cook! I love Nigerian food. The rest of the day went well. We did a lot of finding (as well as the rest of the week).

Sunday was great! Like I said we had Stake conference. We took a train there, but were able to get a ride back with the bishop which was nice. We found the rest of the day except for one visit to an investigator named Felix. He is the one we helped get groceries. He said we could come over and when we got there, they were having a big party! They recently had a baby girl and they were celebrating with a lot of friends and family. We stayed for a while and they fed us some more amazing African food. We talked to their friends a lot and were trying to learn how to say things in their tribal languages. It was fun, We were the only two white guys at an African party haha!

Today was Pday again and we had a really full day. I think I did more today than any other Pday. We went and saw Tower Bridge as well as The London Eye and Big Ben. While by the Eye we did bumper cars and bowling. I have a lot more pictures that I will send later (I’ve already made a CD or two. I was going to surprise you and send them home). To answer your question about the weather ITS WAY RAINY! Yahoo said there is a flood warning over a lot of England. We got soaked sight seeing and I’m still wet.

I love you guys and hope things are still going well. Take care. You are always in my prayers.

Love Elder Karges

Nov. 2, 2008

Nov. 2^, 2008

Hey, I am running late with my emails today, I’m almost out of time so ill tell you how my week went first and try to answer questions.

Monday was good, but busy last week. P-day got cut short by appointments, but Ihave seen the blessing because of it. Theteaches we had went great! It was a good day.

Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty normal and everything went well. We taught an older guy that is a new member. It was kind of hard to teach him because he likes to tell stories and his wife isn’t a member but she is nice. She made us some kind of weird Sandwiches... They had some kind of meat balls, sauce, and what I think were chunks of butter. They were cold because we taught before we ate, but its all good. We scarfed them down. During correlation on Tuesday we had banana bread! It was good. I told Alex (18 year old ward mission leader) That I always email home telling what his mom makes us haha. I love their family.

Thursday went by fast. We had Zone Meetings in Wansworth. It went really well and I learned loads. That took all day, but it was good. We have a huge zone now because they combined WW (Wansworth) east and WW West. The missionaries are really cool, I love working with them.

Friday and Saturday were very similar. Both days most of our teaches cancelled except for one. Friday we taught Mary and Saturday we taught Sujana. They are both amazing and the teaches went great. They have strong Testimonies and are looking forward to their combined baptism on the 15th (maybe 16th). I am so excited for them and can’t wait for the baptism.

Sunday was just the icing on the cake with our baptismal dates. It was Mary's first time to church and she bore her testimony!! She is so cool and has a really strong testimony. When we taught her the word of Wisdom she said she was excited to go home and teach her family haha. We ended up being late to our first teach after church, but it still went amazing, and although it was our first time at their house and basically our first time talking to them, they fed us some amazing African food. The lesson went good as well :) We also got fed by a member right after that haha. We didn’t know it was going to work out that way. We were wayyy too full. I guess that’s what we get. We haven’t been getting dinner appointments lately so we have been trying to work that out. I think our Heavenly Father has a sense of humor and decided if we wanted food, He'd give it to us.

Today is another hectic P-Day. We had a meeting this morning and a teach that cuts our day short again, but after seeing the blessings that came from it last week, it’s not a problem at all. I love missionary work and know that it is the Lord’s. He has His hand in everything that we do. I am so grateful for a living prophet and the Book of Mormon.

Well that was my week. I hope yours went well, it sounds like it did. I love you and hope you all have a good week.

Love Elder Karges

(Sorry for the delay in getting this posted. I thought it went up Monday night, but I guess I forgot to push the publish botton. - Katie)

October 27, 2008

Hello!

Man the weeks seem to be going by faster and faster. Everything is going great here, as normal as things in London can be. It sounds like a pretty good week back home. Keep it up with the house hunt. It’s always in my prayers. Maybe the Lord just needs you in that ward for now. Everything happens on his time.

Another package sounds great!! I don’t even care what’s in it :) I’ve been trying to put some thought into what I want for Christmas and all I can think of is candy, more cheez-its, and music. I need more music... I have a few requests with that ( Insideout and Colours - Katie should have those CD's, Vatamin String Quartet - Kyle or Kevin might be able to find that, and any EFY cds, Hymns, or Conference talks that you can find). Those are things that I have noticed a lot of other missionaries have and I Enjoy. Thanks! Anything else you want to throw in would be greatly appreciated.

I found out that one of the elders (Elder Ryan Lee) in my zone is from Jacob Allen's home ward and knew Jacque. We talked about it when Elder Christensen and I went to Peckham to meet a new investigator at a baptism the Peckham Elders were having (Peckham is close but out of my area). He is really cool and knew a lot of the people I did. He was so surprised to hear that I was Jacque's cousin haha. It was funny.

As for the week... We did a lot of finding on the high streets and knocking. We dropped a few investigators and picked up a few. We have two baptismal dates right now one is Sujana Maharjan from Nepal and the Other is Mary Folusho from Africa (we met her at the baptism in Peckham, she was a referral from Elder Lee and Gasperado (from Italy)). They are both really cool and progressing well. Sujana still doesn’t know a whole lot about Christianity, but we are hoping that she will continue to learn quickly. Mary didn’t come to church on Sunday because her husband decided he finally want to go to his church again and have her come too. Hopefully she will come the next two weeks even though the second one will be stake conference in Wansworth. They have the same date of the 15th of November.

P-day was good. I Still haven’t seen Big Ben. I’ll have to do that in the next couple weeks. I’ve been up near the river, just not right there. We wrote letters and did some shopping and then went back to the football turfs we played at last week by the war museum. Other Elders in the Zone wanted to play again and I love playing, so I couldn’t pass up the chance.

Tuesday we had I left with Elder Cusick to Peckham. Elder Barker stayed to Catford with Elder Christensen. The day went really well. He is a cool guy and a great missionary. He has been out for a while now. At the end of the day we taught a lady form South America and I mentioned that Kyle went to Venezuela on his mission. Elder Cusick said that his brother did too!! The same mission as Kyle in fact and around the same time. He is a little older than Kyle, but the name sounds familiar to me and they easily could have known each other. It would be cool if they did. Let me know if you find out anything about that.

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were all pretty normal. We mostly found all day. We saw Stacia and Andrew again. Things are still slow moving with them. They haven’t found a place to move to yet. We don’t even count them in our number of investigators, but we still visit every once and a while.

Saturday was a good day. We had four teaches, one with the "Graham" Family (They are a good family and I thought it was cool that their last name was Graham), another with a Lady named Shade (Sha-day) who used to be a Jehovah's Witness, and an Elderly guy named Trever who we have since dropped. The last Teach was with Mary after the baptism I have already mentioned. We actually didn’t even make it to the baptism. Traffic was horrible on the buses and it took us about 2 hours to get there, but we made it and now have a baptismal date with her!

Sunday went very well. It had a primary program that was really good, but kind of different... there were only three primary children haha. Sometimes there is up to ten, but not this time. It was pretty funny when Sujana called us in the morning saying she was on her way an hour early. We had reminded her that it was daylight savings (I’ve never had to do daylight savings before, I think its more trouble than it’s worth), but she forgot. She waited and showed up on time. Our clocks got turned back an hour so I’m guessing we are only 7 hrs ahead of you now? Shade also came. She walked about two mile by herself to get there! I was so surprised. I know she will be blessed for it and am excited to keep teaching her.

Today is P-day again, but not much of one. We already had one teach at Noon and have another one at 4:30. We couldn't really get around it, but hopefully good things will come of it

I love you all and hope things continue to go well. You are always in my prayers.

Love,
Elder Kade Karges

Elder Christensen and I at the new Visitors center (the mural behind the Christus has a really cool story, don't have time to tell it, but remind me later

Me at the war museum getting shot by a cannon

October 20, 2008

Hello everyone!

Everything is going great here in London! Last P-day we went and saw a really cool war museum. I cant remember the name, but I’ll try to send some pictures. I could have spent days in that place. We played football with all the Elders in our zone after that on some turf courts next to the museum. It was a lot of fun. I am picking up on my 'soccer' skills a lot. There are some really cool Elders in my zone. A couple are from AZ. One grew up in Jacob's ward and knows his family his name is Elder Lee. There is another one from queen creek. I know there are a few more throughout the mission, but I don’t know much about them. There is a sister who's family lives in Chandler and goes to Corona. She lived there for a few months before coming out, but is originally from Utah. When I asked her, she said she likes AZ more ;) I agreed.

Normally we would have district meeting on Tuesday, but because zone (temple) conference was Friday we didn’t. We did have correlation with our 18 year old ward mission leader (Alex). He is such a good kid. I am constantly impressed by him. Growing up in the church here in England is nothing like growing up back home. All the kids band together though and keep holding strong. The London lifestyle doesn’t effect them. Alex's family is amazing though. They hold a lot of callings is our ward, and his mom always gives us treats when we come for correlation. I think I’ve mentioned that before, but that’s how much I appreciate it! She baked us cookies this week. American cookies! What British people call cookies is totally different... We had a few teaches and did a lot of finding all day. Some times we have really good talks with people, but its just doesn’t turn into anything. They don’t realize the importance of our message and how very real it is that this church is the only church with the fullness of the gospel. They will talk to us and learn so much, but then just move on. Maybe we are just planting the seeds with those people though. As they come in contact with the church more, they'll start to recognize it.

Wednesday and Thursday were pretty normal. We had several lessons, did some street contacting and door knocking. It is getting colder out and darker sooner. We picked up some new investigators. One is a lady named Sujanna from Nepal. She is so cool! She doesn’t know a whole lot about Christianity, but is learning quickly and had a baptismal date already. We just realized that weekend is stake conference so we are going to push her baptism back a week. We still have a LOT to teach her before she is actually ready for baptism, but we have been asked to be more upfront with our purpose and commit people to be baptized in the first couple visits. We meet SO many people in London and need to sort through them to find the ones that are true investigators.

Friday was amazing! We had Temple Conference in the visitor’s center that is by the London Temple. They just rebuilt it and it is such a blessing to have. I was really impressed. I took having a visitor’s center for granted back home. It is such a useful tool and you can learn so much there. I wish it was closer to my area or even in it so I could go more often and take investigators. Maybe I’ll serve there before the end of my mission. We got to go through the temple as well. It was amazing to see so many missionaries in one session. The spirit was so powerful. I love that temple. We had a good conference as well. President and Sister Swinton did most of the speaking. They are truly amazing I am so grateful to have them as my mission President and Wife. We get to here some pretty cool stories from Sister Swinton about President Monson because she is writing his biography. She spends 6 hours a day doing it and gets to talk to him on a daily basis.

Saturday was a miracle day. We taught 2 new families, picking them all up as new investigators! Sunday was good as well. I was disappointed at how few of our investigators should up for church, but it all went well and we will just keep working on them.

I don’t know what I want for Christmas... sorry. Surprise me. Maybe a cheap quad. Lots of snacks (cheez-its) Oh and tell Jenny she is amazing for sending that package of letters! I am totally out of time.

I love you all take care!

Love Elder Kade Karges

October 13, 2008

Wow it sounds like things are going amazing back in good ol AZ. I miss it. The weather here for the past couple days reminded me of it because for some reason it got warm again, but I know that won’t last long. It looks like its going to rain a lot today and everyone keeps telling me how cold and rainy it gets... I’ll manage though. I definitely need more winter clothing, but I’ll need it before Christmas. I’ll have to buy it here, possibly today. I’m going to buy a better jacket for keeping warm. Right now I just have one rain coat. I’m going to buy a sweater too. I’ll need them soon. My new companion is really cool. I like him a lot. He comes from a small town and has a bit of a small town accent. He hunted a lot back home and did other out door activities. We get along well and are learning tons from each other. Both of us are pretty young so we are learning at the same time. I feel confident though and I’m not worried. The Lord will provide a way for us to do it all. He has the extra pressure of being District Leader too. I loved Elder Warner and miss him too. He was an amazing trainer. He called me last night to see how things were going and just ask about our investigators. He told my companion to take care of his boy. In the mission they call your trainer your dad or father, making me his son or his boy. I’m his "first born son" haha. But then his trainer (Elder McConkie- the apostle is his literal grandpa I believe) is my Grandpa and my Great Grandpa (Elder Sean Gardner -there were two Elder Gardners) Just went back home to Orem this moves. Elder Gardner was also my zone leader. He had a glass eye too which was pretty crazy. He got in an accident a few years back and lost one. I have a good lineage though and look forward to making my ancestor proud ;) As of the other lingo I use. White wash means opening a new area or putting two new people in an area they have never been in. Elder Warner and his companion both came from other places to Oxford. There was already a companionship there, but they are a brand new one. Footie is just short for football (soccer back in the states) and that is what we have been playing some mornings and on p-days. The flat is just our house. A flat here is usually a room that a person rents kind of like an apartment, but because there are so many people and it is expensive a lot of times it’s just a room. Flat has become a term used to just refer to where ever you live. Technically ours is a house, but it is more like a large apartment or condo back home.

That was so cool that you had a couple days off Mom. The family sounds so good. I am so proud of everyone. Tell Chris Baker I said hi if you see him. I get emails from Katie’s Blog and the one that came this time I think had a video, but the comp wont let me see it. Oh well. I really enjoy their pictures though. I can see the kids growing up. My invetigators.... are doing okay in general. We have a problem with Keisha. She hasn’t talked to us in a couple days. Last time we talked everything was still ok. Her testimony of prophets was a little shaky, but the problem was that a friend had said he was bringing her a video about the Mormons for her to watch. We tried to discourage it, but she probably watched it and it was probably anti stuff. We are going to try to get back in contact with her, but for now her date for baptism is dropped. We are seeing Andrew and Stacia today so we will see how they are doing. We have several other investigators. We are hoping to give a girl named Nelicia a baptismal date this week. She is really cool and solid.

Overall last week was great! I really did enjoy it. It seemed so fast. It has been interesting having to run the area on our own. We are doing well though. I was a little worried at first because London is a big and busy place, but we've actually done quite well with the buses and knowing where to go. I’m looking forward to this week. We get to go to the temple this Friday for temple conference!! It’s going to be sweet. We are going sight seeing today. I will get to see big Ben and a few other cool things along the River. I’ll take pictures and send them.

Kevin. I think they have most of the same holidays over here. Probably not Thanksgiving :( I think Greg is doing great on his mission. (He was in Bolivia and was moved to Peru.) I’ve heard from him a couple times. I haven’t heard from Brit. Have you heard anything about him? Thanks for telling me about my friends too. I don’t hear from them. Tell Beau to keep up the good work and get them papers in. It is so worth it! I love missionary work man. I can’t wait to hear where he is going.

Thank you for your love and prayers. I know they are helping. I Pray for you all everyday as well. I hope they are helping. I love you all and can’t wait to talk to you next Monday

Love Elder Karges!

A couple of random P-day pics.

A piece of cement in line with where time starts.

October 9, 2008

Hey everyone!

Man this week has gone by so fast! So much had happened. Everything is great though! I can’t believe I have been out for 2 months already! I guess I should explain why I’m writing a day late. I don’t know if I told you last week, but today is moves day which happens every six weeks. That is when I could get moved to a different area. The good new is that I’m still in Catford, the bad news is that Elder Warner is gone, as well as Elder Martin. The other good news is that my new companion is Elder Christiansen! He is from Delta UT. Elder Sorbonne's new companion (the other new missionary in our flat) is Elder Coombs and he is from Sandy UT. I just asked him if he knew the Erbes and he said no... and my PDay will be Monday from now on.

Elder Christiansen has been out for one moves more than me so 3 months and is the new District Leader! So that makes me a DLB (district leader boy). Some missionaries would say that I am being followed up trained right now, but I’m done with training really. I will technically still be a greeny until I leave my Greeny area though. Elder Coombs has been out for two moves more than me so 4.5 months. That is still pretty new and he is the oldest one in our flat and area! We have a really young group.

I try to send as many pictures as I can. but the computer is really slow at loading them. It takes a lot of email time if I do too many.

Conference weekend was amazing. Conference has never meant so much to me before. I took notes on everything I could and it still wasn’t enough. There were so many great speakers and dad I loved that Documentary on President Monson too. Our schedule was pretty weird because of the time difference. We had to travel to the Wandsworth stake center to watch the broadcast. Saturday night we got to watch Sat Morning Session live, and the rest we watched Sunday. Sunday morning we watched Priesthood and then 2 hours later we watched Saturday night session and then in the evening we watched the Sunday morning session. Somewhere in between we watched the President Monson video. We didn’t get to see the Sunday night session :( it would have gone until almost midnight here. We might get to see it later. Man conference was amazing though. I am so grateful to have a living prophet and Apostles on the earth today. The main themes I noticed were missionary work and building Zion. It seemed like they were a lot more serious about being prepared for the second coming soon.

Our investigators are doing pretty good. Keisha has a baptismal date for the 19th now! She is so ready for it too. She is excited. We had to push it back because she couldn’t go to conference and needs to come to church again. Thank you for your prayers. I love you all. Take care.

Love
Elder Karges

This is Elder Warner and I on our last day in Catford. We are on the Catford High Street with the Catford Cat above us.

This is my District... or used to be. In the back it is elder Martin, Elder McFee, Elder Poulsen (District Leader), and Elder Barker (Zone Leader). In the front it is Elder Gardner (Zone Leader that actually goes home tomorrow Oct 10th), Me and Elder Warner.

October 1, 2008

Hey guys!

This week is going great. Thanks you for those two letters mom! I got them both yesterday. It was a great surprise! It’s easier to find time to read letters. I love them and I love the emails too.

That sounds like quite an exciting Sunday, haha. (We were helping with the Primary Program.) I’m glad you all survived. Mine was good. No investigators showed up... it’s really disappointing when that happens. A few had committed to come, but as Elder Kopischke told us, the only limit to what our faith can do is the agency of others. It was a good meeting though. It was a missionary homecoming, maybe we will be able to get him out on some teaches with us. They had a big lunch thing after too, for the whole ward! It was awesome. I love free food.
Ill try to tell about my week real quick.
Thursday was zone meeting. It went really well. I love President and Sister Swinton. I had my first President’s interview which went well. It was really quick. I hear that short interviews are a good thing :) haha. That took up all day. We saw Andrew and Stacia that night and a couple of times since them. They have been getting taught since before I got here. Pray that they will find a place to move out to and that they will get married soon. They have a little 15 month old boy named Ramario. He is the coolest little kid.
Friday we had half of a normal day and the other half we had an exchange with the AP's. They are cool and I know why they are the President’s Assistants. They are such good missionaries! I learned a lot from them.
Saturday we had grounds day so we cleaned up the church in the morning. Service is a good way to start out your day. We did some knocking and had a DA with a Jamaican member name Elizabeth. She is an amazing cook! We also taught a 22 year old named Zack. It went well, but he is worried he ca’t come to church because his whole family goes to some weird celestial Church of God or something. It is scary to see the things that the Adversary has come up with to lead people astray.
Sunday was that church meeting I talked about and a couple of teaches. One was a family who had a friend over from their church who was actually from the US Air Force. It was cool to hear an American accent. I don’t know what to think of that teach. They are from a church that is way to close to ours to be a coincidence. I don’t know the name, but they claim to have an apostle and have a few temples. They would be such a solid family in the gospel. I hope we can help them.
Monday was normal. We taught a lady named Kiesha who has been around for a long time. Some of the ward even thought she was a member. Pray for her that she won’t be afraid and will want to be baptized SOON. She has dyslexia so pray that that will get better as she reads the Book of Mormon too. Thanks!
Tuesday (PDay-eve) was normal too. One potential investigator led us on a wild goose chase all morning and we didn’t even teach her. It was frustrating, but the rest of the day was good. We saw Stacia and Andrew, and Kiesha again. We are trying to see Kiesha everyday. We tried to plan a date with her, but she backed out. She thinks she isn’t ready, but she really is. She is just afraid. We are trying to prepare her for the 12th. I hope it happens.
Today is Pday of course and it is going well. We got some cleaning done and I got a hair cut.
I don’t know what I want for Christmas yet. ( I had asked him to think about it.) I forgot to think about it during the week. Lots of cheezits and american candy for sure. Ill keep thinking.

Keep up the good missionary work everyone! I love you guys. It is good to hear that you are doing well. Have an amazing week!

Love,
Elder Karges

September 17, 2008

Hey Everyone!

My week has been great. There were a couple days where things slowed down, but we picked it back up and are doing well. We have met a lot of new people and our investigators have switched around a lot. I’m starting to realize that’s how its going to be the whole time. This week went by really fast because we had several things going on. We were supposed to have a flat inspection by the mission so we spent a whole morning cleaning to find out the senior couple that was supposed to do it had been moved to the new visitors center by the London Temple. Another day we had grounds day at the chapel for a whole morning. Usually we study all morning so it made it go by really fast not to, for a couple days. On Mondays we have district meeting with the companionship in Crystal Palace. Usually we just meet and then come back. This time I stayed and had my first exchange! It was really cool. I loved being in a new area and seeing how other missionaries work. I was with Elder Poulsen for the day. He is really cool and we got along well. We found all day long, but it went by fast because we were getting to know each other. I’m back in the Catford area though, and things are going great. We have Zone Conference this Friday. It will be my first. Ill let you know how it goes.

Oh before i forget, Elder Warner (his companion) said that his mom tried to email you. I hope it got to you. I think it would be cool for you to talk and exchange info because I’m sure we don’t say the same things in our emails. ---- I just read the part of your email where is said you got her email haha. Sounds great. I went through the MTC with Elder Wheat and Elder Allred actually, so I know them pretty well! They are really cool guys. Allred is from Utah and Wheat is a local. On the bus ride from the mission home we stopped at a service station and while there Elder Allred and I walked around practicing our approaches on people. We got rejected every time, but it was fun. By the way, did you ever get that letter from the mission home? (We didn’t, we think they probably don’t have our correct address.)

We've been able to play footie quite often lately. We wake up early and jog to a grassy area close by, play for 30 or 40 minutes and then jog back. On P-days sometimes we play more. We want to spend some time playing today. We have another flat inspection today but by the land lord this time. We already have the flat clean, but have to rush home after emailing to be there when they show up. I find myself thinking about home a lot. I definitely miss it and all of you. It’s not a home sick feeling though, I love it out here.

Thanks you so much for sending that package mom! I can’t wait to get it. I’ll be looking forward to it all week :) I am glad you sent it to my flat because I will get it a lot sooner. In my paper work it said to send it to the mission home, but Elder Warner said it would be a lot better to send it directly. In another area it might not be ok, but it is fine here.

It sounds like the ward is doing good. I just read Dads email and was surprised to here about all the changes in Alma 12th ward. If you talk to my old leaders tell them I said hi. (Our Bishopric changed back in Chandler this past Sunday.) Zwiefel will be an amazing bishop and he picked some outstanding counselors. I hope work is going well with everyone. Oh and thank you mom for getting things worked out with my plaque. I will try to keep sending pictures too.

How are Katie Ryan and the family? Are the kids doing well? Law school/work? Wish them luck for me as well as Kevin and Kyle.

Thats crazy about Bolivia! Do you know what happened to Greg!? I havent heard from him in a while. Keep me posted!

I love you all and can’t wait to hear from you in another week! Just like you mom, I look forward to it all week.

Love,
Elder Kade Karges

September 10, 2008

Hey Mom and Dad!
This week has been really good. Nothing to exciting though. I have had a lot of really good experiences and am really learning what missionary work is all about. It’s hard to think of what to say in my emails because so much has happened. Sorry if I repeat myself or jump around a lot.

I love going to church now! It’s a good break from my hectic week where I can feel the spirit and spiritually rejuvinate (sp). It feels like even more than that though, I feel better physically too. My comp and I taught the adult Sunday school class this week. The ward isn't very big and is made up of a lot of new converts. The leadership is pretty good though and all the people are really nice. It is really cool that the church is the same no matter where you go. Almost everything is just like home. The people are a little different and the chapel building looks more like a fire house but it’s cool. The bishop is only 25 and the ward mission leader is only 18! He hasn’t even been on a mission yet, but he is amazing. Sometimes I think he is more prepared than I am right now. I haven’t had as many DA's (dinner appointments) but that’s ok.

We did a bit more finding this week. We either walked up and down the High Street (where all the shops are, each city has one) or knocked a street. Our investigators are always changing. We have a few less now, but that’s probably better. I think we need to find some more committed ones. Oh and I am in London basically. The London area is a lot like Phoenix in the sense that it is made up of a bunch of cities. I live south of the River Thames, the other side of the river is the London mission.

I did get you letter. Both of them actually. I got the one with my blessing and the article first. That was a really good story by the way. I liked it. The next day I got the one that was supposed to be an email. It was good that you sent it because I could read it without spending time on the computer. I hope I answered questions you had in that letter, I cant remember it all that well. If I didn’t answer something, ask me again!

I asked the guys if they knew of a good way to send packages, but they didn’t. Sorry. Thanks for trying so hard though. That way you found is probably the best. I don’t know if it would be cheaper to send the money, probably not. Twenty bucks would only be worth half that over here. (I was trying to send him a few things that he left here – 1^st attempt was $75, I eliminated a lot and had a 2# package that was still $45. With LaDawn’s help I found some flat rate boxes that go for $38 or an envelope for $11 no matter how much it weighs. I was hoping England might be a bit better, but oh-well J)

I’m pickin up on a little slang over here. Like Trousers instead of pants(means underwear instead) and mates instead of friends. They say things like “oh that’s well good mate.” Everything else is pretty normal. I don’t have a bike. I walk a lot and take buses. I have a monthly bus pass. It’s called an oyster card. The bus system is huge over here. Everyone uses it. They have an extra fee for driving big cars and gas is like 13 dollars a gallon! I see a lot of cars I don’t recognize, but there are a lot of normal ones too. Most of there cars look like hatch backs, even civics and stuff. I saw a corvet the other day and a H2 though. People are either proper rich or pretty dang poor over here.

Well good luck with school and everything. Cheers (thanks/goodbye). I love you guys and hope your week goes well with school and work and the hunt for a house.

Love,
Elder Karges

September 3, 2008

I’m glad you liked the pictures. Thanks haha I've got a lot more, but i can only send two at a time and I actually need to buy a card reader before I can send more. I decided it would be a bad idea to try and send my card because if it gets lost then all my pictures are gone. I probably wont be able to take as many pictures out in the field though. Some of the questions you asked should be in the letter the mission home should have sent you. I wrote all about my first moves from the MTC to Catford area. They had a lot of meetings and talks in the MTC. Sorry if I haven’t said much about them. Most of them were just videos of talks given by Apostles. An area seventy came in named Elder Kerr I think and the Preston Temple President did too. The MTC President and 1st counselor taught us a lot as well. They didn’t really say much about how to get to know the people, just to be friendly. They (mostly the British Elders)advised us on certain things I probably shouldn’t say and that there is a wide range of people over here. I have found that to be very true. I have met people from all over Europe and Asia already. It’s been a lot of fun. It feels great to be here. I love the area and the elders I am with. I live in a four man flat so there are two other elders in my area. On of them is Elder Martin who came out with my companion (Elder Warner) and has been out for 6 months and the other one came out with me. His name is Elder Sorbonne and he was in the MTC with me. It has made things really fun to have so many of us. We can relate stories and do all kinds of things we couldn’t normally do. It is nice to have someone I knew already too. All three of the others are from Utah and are really cool. I have really been blessed with the area I have been given and the companion I have to train me. He really knows his stuff and is a cool guy. I am learning fast and enjoying every minute of it. The church is not all that big in my area and we have a lot of new converts, but the members we do have a really strong. There are a lot less English people than I thought there would be. The majority of our ward is African or Jamaican. I have had tons of appointments already and have plenty more set up. It has been hard to find time in my day to do everything I need to. We actually had an appointment the first night I was here, after emailing you last week. It ended up getting cancelled (or us getting flogged as they call it in the field) so we decided to knock the street. About six houses down and on my second door approach I got us in and we taught a brother and sister! It was probably beginners luck but it felt great! Things have only gotten busier since then and our days are usually full of appointments. We actually have 20 investigators right now!! I think only one of them is English and a couple are Black British people, but the rest are either African or Jamaican. All of them are amazing and I know the Lord has prepared many of them to hear our message. Whenever we aren’t teaching, we are out tracting or street contacting. I have only been in the field a week, but I have already had 3 DA's (dinner appts) with members and one with an investigator. The investigators are well on there way to being baptized, but need to get married first. They cooked us some amazing African food. I have been fed really well at the DAs and tried quite a few new foods. My own cooking isn’t all that great though haha. I eat a lot of cereal, toast or PB & J, and frozen foods. Ill start experimenting more when I get used to everything else. I don’t really know what I’m doing most of the time, I just follow Elder Warner around. That’s ok though ill get to know the area soon. Its no a very posh (wealthy) area but I like it and am growing to love the people. Wow i thought i just lost my email because I got logged off. I am out of time, but they let me log back in to send it. Sorry if I left anything out. I love you all and hope to keep hearing from you. It really makes my day to get a letter or when I get to email. Have a good week and keep me posted with what’s going on. Love,Elder Kade Karges

August 28, 2008

HEY! I am in my first area already! The mission home should have sent you a letter with a picture and stuff already. That letter will have a lot of information from the last couple days. The mission home is like 50 yards from the temples doors! I have been so busy! I am in the Catford area and my companion is Elder Warner from Ogden Utah. He is really cool and I think things are going to go well. We already have two teaching appointments tonight! I am in the London area so it’s really busy around and lots of people. I don’t have a bike, we will just take the bus everywhere. All companionships have cell phones, but it’s strictly for missionary work. My comp holds on to it.
I did get my scriptures back. Sorry I forgot to tell you. Thanks for sending another copy of my blessing though. Yeah it seems like mail has been taking a while. If you send it to my direct address now that I have one, it should go a lot faster. It is- #9 Highland TerraceAlgernon RoadLewisham, LondonSE13 7ABEngland I’m glad everyone is healthy and doing good. That’s cool that it’s been raining. Az really needs it. That’s great that you have been reading about Joseph Smith. I love him. He was such a great man and did so much for us. I know that he is a true prophet of God and really saw Him and Jesus Christ. We watched the Joseph Smith movie that usually shows at the Visitors Center in the MTC. It is amazing. If you haven’t seen it lately you really should. I watched it by myself before I left too. It really brings the spirit. Everything has become so much more real since I’ve come out here. I love it. Quite a few family members have written me and I’m working on writing them back, I’ve just been way too busy. Thank you for passing parts of my emails and letters on. It really helps. I’m really trying to write them and love getting their letters. All in all, I’m doing great. I love missionary work. It’s so good to hear from you, It’s the highlight of my week. I love you and hope things continue to go well. Thanks for everything.

Love,
Elder Kade Karges

August 23, 2008

I wanted to try and send you pictures but its not working. Ill keep trying. i have a lot of really good ones. Church history stuff and some that would work for my thing on the wall at church. I won’t be able to explain them very well if i do. Stuff like the temple and where President Hinckley stayed when he got that letter from his dad on his mission. The place where the twelve apostles stayed and where their first meeting house used to be.

The group I’m in has 22 elder 2 sisters and an older couple. Actually the couple is gone already. Everyone is going to either London, London South Or Birmingham. London will take the train and the other two will take a bus together. It’ll take mine the longest to get there. Probably 4 to 5 hours.

Oh the first Sunday I sang in a quartet haha. It was fun. We sounded pretty good I think. We got a lot of compliments.

I went trackting on Thursday! I was a little nervous but it was pretty fun. We drove about an hour away and just knocked doors in a neighborhood. We taught one lady like half of the first lesson and then realized she was repeating herself a lot. She was really old and it turned out had memory problems. She kept telling the same story about getting taught by catholic nuns as a little girl. She seemed really interested in hour message, but we left eventually. We talked to e few other people briefly and then we ran into an inactive guy. He let us right in and said he went to church as a teenager, but joined the army. He hadn’t been to church in twenty years! It didn’t seem like he was planning on going back real soon, but it wasn’t out of the picture. He was really really nice though. He was grateful that the church kept him out of trouble as a kid and had been out with the missionaries way back in the day so he knew we would like to see a friendly face. I turned his name in when we got back and they set up people from the word to go talk to him. I talked to a guy personally and gave him everything I knew. They are supposed to go meet him today. Hopefully I’ll hear what happens. He was home on sick leave because he broke his leg. Hopefully they can reactivate him before it heals and he leaves again haha.

The verse I wanted was in Alma 37: 35-37 i think. It was in my letter I think. My comp is going to Birmingham. I just resent that first email I tried to send dad to moms email.

The church out here is really strong, but the members are pretty spread out and a lot are converts. I don’t know what else to try and cram in- in the time I have left.

It sounded like everything was great! Write back soon! I don’t know when my p-day in the field will be for sure. I think it’s wed and I’ll be traveling so it might be a week and a half. I love you and i hope things are still going well.

Love, Elder Kade Karges

August 16, 2008

Hello Everyone!

Things are going amazing here. Thank you so much for sending the letters. I got that first one after I had already emailed and written you. I don’t know why it took so long to get to me. I just got your second one today that you, Dad, and Kevin all wrote in.

Ill try to answer as many of your questions as you asked, but in the interest of time I cant really go back and reread it as I write. I have been to the temple and it was amazing. It is so beautiful. I have spent a lot of time walking around it too. They let us go anywhere on the grounds some parts of the day.

As far as traveling, I didn’t meet anyone until I got to Atlanta and they were at the gate. And yes I have a mission companion now I’ve had one since the first day. His name is elder Bedford and he is from St George Utah. He is a nice guy and he works really hard. He is an awesome companion. And I can understand pretty much everyone. Some people I’ve heard talk really fast or kind of slur their words, but I haven’t had trouble understanding the majority of people. I didn’t hear many people talk in the airport, but I’ve already been to town twice. Once to Preston where we visited a bunch of church history sites (I took pictures that ill try to send you) and the on P-Day we got to go to Chorley to buy stuff and look around. They are pretty lenient at this MTC. We all just walked to Chorley as a group of elders and they let us do whatever we wanted. I bought a new alarm clock because the one I brought doesn’t seem to work and some sweat pants and a jacket. I took pictures of a lot of things, including me in my new clothes. We get to play sports everyday and I usually play soccer or football as the call it here. A group of us went running one morning too and we were allowed to run off 'campus'.

We got to practice teaching on some Sweedish young men today it was really cool. It was probably the coolest experience I’ve had so far here (besides the temple). They were visiting the grounds to go to the temple and stuff. They were really cool and we taught them a lot about missionary work. We ended up having a testimony meeting with them too, or rather a few of us elders bore our testimony. They asked me and two others too. I hope we influenced them to want to go on missions.

I am doing great here and love you all. There is so much to tell but so little time. I really got to go. Thanks and i hope i can say more next time.

Love,

Elder Kade Karges