So last week started off with some boxing! It was pretty intense.
Most of the matches were on the light-weight side, but some were more heavy, so the hits were harder and more intense. It was pretty fun!
It was just me, Elder Schmidt, and two elders from the other ward in Glasgow (Springboig Ward).
Sometimes when the lightweights were boxing I was kinda bored, but the good matches made up for it. And guess what else?
We saw Prince Harry, Prince William, and Duchess Kate there!
They walked in and took their seats across the arena from us. We heard some people sitting in front of us get all excited and talk about it, and that's how we noticed.
I got a couple blurry pictures from across the arena, and a couple of the Jumbotron when it showed them sitting there.
So yeah I was in the same room as royalty. Even if the boxing had been total crap it would be worth the £15 to say I was there with them. We didn't get to meet them or teach them about the gospel or anything but it was still cool.
The crowd all went crazy when boxers from Scotland, England, Wales, and N. Ireland boxed.
It seemed like the boxer in blue almost always won, and they were always the favourite.
Alright...now the rest of the week.
We met a lady on the street and talked with her for a few minutes, and then she started looking at me real closely and said I look exactly like someone she knows. The way I smile, laugh, talk, look, the hair, the eyes, and eyebrows, she said it was scarily similar. It was interesting.
I've only had that happen once before; a Mexican guy on one of the service trips I went on said I was the spitting image of one of his friends. Maybe someday I'll meet my doppelganger or see a photo.
I exchanged with Elder Jones who is a Mandarin-speaking missionary. It was cool; he taught one lesson to a lady in all Chinese! I just sat there in awe. It was really cool.
Apparently they teach a ton of students, who have never been able to learn about the gospel in China, and then they return home to China and hopefully spread the gospel to their friends there.
We're still teaching Alistair, and he's coming along...he has a very very good memory, sometimes he'll throw out answers to questions that involve very specific words from the lessons, and it's surprising that he remembers so much.
Sometimes he even says stuff that is spot on and we haven't taught him yet, and we're quite sure the past elders didn't either because they only taught him one lesson. Interesting guy.
Thursday we got bashed by Freddy again. Luckily it was just him, not his friend. The scriptures he read and related to the Godhead made sense, and I'd never heard them used before...but in the end, I KNOW Joseph Smith saw TWO personages and that's all that matters in the end!
Saturday we played football, then did some City Centre finding to take advantage of the Games atmosphere. We met some interesting people.
One guy who was wearing a kilt, and he says he wears it every day. We were interrupted mid-conversation by a drunk and/or high guy who was just asking random religious questions... "so...God so loved the world, right?...." "um...yes...?" "....." He would say random scripture references but they didn't make any sense. It was funny.
Then we were talking to an Indian-looking guy from England who is half Sikh and half Christian. He gave us a DVD on the life of Christ, and it's a bit old and cheesy.
My favourite part is when Jesus approaches John the Baptist, they shake hands, and then Jesus just lays down in the water, basically baptising himself.
We were interrupted in this conversation as well by a Slovakian guy who lives in the Highlands somewhere, telling us that he met two elders in his town and they never came to visit him. We talked for a little while, and by the end he said our conversation had cheered him up significantly.
We also met a squash player for the Lesotho team, and he accepted a Book of Mormon as soon as I held it out, but he didn't say much else. It's a seed, I spose.
Oh and I approached a young guy probably in his twenties, and he just stopped, looked at me angrily, and said "I know all about your church already. You're a cult! Get out of here! Go back to America!" It was quite funny.
I think my short time working at the call center helped me to face rejection with a good attitude on my mission; it's never really bothered me, I just find it entertaining sometimes.
Church was good. One of our long-term investigators came. She enjoyed it. Also it seems like every week there is at least one visitor who is here from America on business or holiday or something. It's interesting.
So yeah, that's my week. Hope all of yous's weeks were nice as well.
Love you!
Elder Spencer Burt
Boxing photos!!
