December 3, 2008

Eric's e-mail was filled with info this week. He said the past week went by really fast. They had a zone conference, which is a meeting for all the missionaries in a specific area, usually about 20 or so missionaries. They had a special visitor at this conference, Elder Robert Oaks, who is a general authority from Salt Lake City. He spoke to the missionaries for 3 hours, and Eric said he enjoyed it very much. Hm. After he spoke, they had lunch, and, well, I'll let Eric tell you:

"I also was privileged to sit at his table and have lunch with him. In all honesty I was racing to be first in line for the food and I just happened to be first in at the table with a General Authority, good bonus I guess eh?"

It's refreshing to hear that even though they call him Elder Hansen, he's still the same old Eric in a lot of ways.

Eric said the weather is getting colder, and while he is used to cold weather, he isn't accustomed to staying out in it all day. He's thankful for long johns. It's even harder for Elder Chan, who comes from Singapore, near the equator, and isn't used to cold weather at all.

Universities in England are on similar schedules to those here, apparently. Eric said the students were taking finals this month and then many of them would leave for China for a month or so before returning for the next semester. He's concerned that this will make it difficult for them to find people to talk to, especially Chinese students. Jing Yuan, whom they have been teaching, surprised them by leaving for China this week. She was only supposed to be gone for a few days, though. Eric and Elder Chan have apparently been finding other people to teach and talk to. One is a Jamaican woman named Olushola. She has welcomed their message, and told them she believes the Book of Mormon and wants to be baptized. Eric is excited about that and hopeful that it will happen.

Eric reports that he's getting regular exercise, about 30 minutes a day. Sometimes they lift weights or do sit-ups and push-ups in their flat, and sometimes they go out for a jog on the trail by the river near their flat. They like to feed the ducks, so I don't know how serious of a jog it can be.

Eric and Elder Chan knocked on the door of an older Chinese man, who invited them to come back in a few days. Turns out, the man was a chef, and when they returned, he had prepared them a full Chinese meal. He even taught Eric how to use chopsticks. Eric even said the food was pretty good, which is a surprise to anyone who knows how he felt about Chinese food before his mission.

And we'll end with the lighter side of the week's experiences:

"We knocked on a door which was answered by an old middle eastern lady yelling at us in Arabic or Farsi or something. Nothing uncommon. Then she went back in the house but left the door open. Nothing uncommon, a lot of times the older foreign people go grab a younger person to translate for them. Well she didn't come back with anyone else...she came back with a big stick. She then proceeded to strike us with it! In all actuality she was waving it at about .5 mph and it inflicted no harm, just amusement. You should be happy to know that that is the most violence I've encountered yet. I probably shouldn't laugh at her, but I think it's ok to laugh at the situation."

And then:

"Another funny thing that happened is that somebody asked us this week if we were looking for the cemetary. Apparently our black suits had kind of a somber tone to them that day. That just goes on the list of things people confuse us with. I have also been asked in the supermarket where the syrup is. I've been asked by a lady on the street if it was legal to park in a certain place or if I would give her a ticket."