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