As for the entries I should have been making (since BEFORE Christmas), I will make a separate post for each week, as if I never missed a post (it makes me feel better anyway ;-)
So here we go...
Greetings from Castell Newydd
Emlyn!!!!
Newcastle Emlyn is huge!!!!! (Well the mission area... the town itself is quite small...) and the roads are tiny! .... I’m not even sure you could picture this kind of tiny. Imagine one lane of a road... now add 3-4 foot high hedges on both sides, and random breaks in the hedges for driveways to little cottages and pastures. That’s the majority of the roads. If a car comes from the other direction one or the other has to drive in reverse till they come up to a drive way and can get out of the way. That hasn't happened to me yet. I’m sure it will sooner or later. Probably sooner. Knowing my luck it'll happen at night.
That first night - on our way home
from Birmingham was quite intimidating. I was really procrastinating getting
into the car, but I knew that rush in Birmingham would be miserable, so we had
to go soon. I had a blessing before I went cuz Sis. L. knew that I was
scared and some of the elders were willing :) I didn't do too
badly. I did get honked at once (drivers here honk all the time... like
it'll fix traffic or commute some random frustration...) I was driving in the
right lane of the motorway cuz i was going to make a turn soon, but the right
lane is the fast lane... so there was a line (a queue as they'd call it here)
behind me. They are adamant about their fast lanes. They would not go
around me through the middle lane. Ok. So I moved. And, luckily with
circles... if you miss your exit you can just drive around it again. I only did
that once. :) and we got home just after 9hrs. blugh. (Though we did stop
at tesco extra on the way - since there are no large grocery stores close to
our place.
our home is called the 'hay
loft' ... one of the members own a bed and breakfast and we are renting
the top floor of what used to be a barn (i think.) It’s been an
adventure. Especially with the near freezing weather... it feels much colder
than freezing with the humidity... it's always drafty in there (our bedroom is
the warmest room of the house. thankfully) and the shower is cold. bleck. That
just happened though. And our landlords (members-- own the bed and breakfast)
is already working on getting it fixed. I’ll be taking baths for the next few
days.... potentially using the teakettle to get it nice and hot. :)
A hot bath sound really nice right
now because I’m all achy... which I my fault. But worth it. ... so Sis. L
was planning on doing a talent with sis.
Lef. (her previous companion- who
had been here for nearly 9 months) ... dancing. Indian dancing. but now
that sis Lef. Is gone... I’m dancing. Indian dance. lol. Sis L. laughs...
she says my smile makes up for everything else (she is a classically trained Indian
dancer... she's so cute!) I ended up tweaking our dance a bit... added some
ballet... and other things. It’s unique. Definitely. Maybe YouTube
it....
So I’ve met a couple of families so
far. And I love them (though I miss Cardiff like crazy). We have a building thankfully... and it
sounds like they have a couple of nice investigators... though no one with a
baptism date. It doesn't help that Christmas is so close- everyone says
they're so busy with the holidays for church stuff. bah! Eternal salvation...
what better time to be baptized than at the time that we celebrate the birth of
our Saviour!? But by January we have full intentions of setting this area
on fire!
We met the bishop and his wife yesterday
morning. We are having Christmas over
there. I’m excited. Nice family... big family. 5 kids! It’ll feel like home :)
We're in a tiny library right now. So
tiny! The Florence library has got to be twice this size! It’s quaint. And
it's only open for 4 hours a day. On Mondays... which are the only days
that will matter to us... it's open from 330 to 730. But if ever
something happens, the landlords live right next door to us so we could
probably get permission from president to use their computer. I might ask
president if I can watch the animoto you sent. I’m sure he'll say yes. I
think. idk.
We had our d.a last night (well my
first d.a... Sister L. has been here for 8 weeks already.) With the ward
mission leader, he’s awesome. He has a powerful testimony of the gospel
and a strong desire to share it with everyone.
So now the goal is to learn this
area as quickly as possible. They were
very fond of Sis. Lef. and Sis. B. who
was here just as long (9 months in one area!!!)
It's such a beautiful area... and
soooo different from Cardiff! This is the picture I think of when I read
about Brittan in the old classic. The rolling green pastures, with hedges
for fences, sheep everywhere, little windy roads with trees and bushes arching
over. The sun was shining yesterday (deceiving since it was below zero
(in centigrade :P ))
kk. well I’m gonna send this now...
the library closes in ten minutes... but the computers might shut off ten minutes
early... so.
Till next Monday... only a couple
days... we'll be on around 4 ish.
i love you tons and tons!!!!
Love,
Ashley
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