a series of short stories placed in an english setting: May 20, 2013 when the elves departed, only the taste of the river remains

Sent: Monday, May 20, 2013 4:53 AM
Subject: when the elves departed, only the taste of the river remains

Dear anyone who feels surprisingly cool anytime they inadvertently make use of the word "wherefore",

So in starting we have now OFFICIALLY moved in! All of the stuff that we call ours, as well as the stuff that just kinda seems to follow us around, have now been transferred to our new flat in the Hamble River area--which of course meant that numerous portions of the week were spent "sorting" various materials into new positions that comprise bunk beds, desk spaces, and furniture sculptures. Due to the suddenimity of the move we ended up moving into another set of missionaries’ flat instead of buying a new one, so we have been creatively conforming what used to be a two man space into a four man space. I must say the experience has been quite fun and has involved a lot less duct tape than I previously would have supposed.

I’m so excited to open up a new area! Like really this is something that I have wanted to do for nearly my entire mission and I really thought that I would probably never get the opportunity. We built our new area book a few days ago and it was really quite intimidating/ exciting to open up the area book and see absolutely nothing inside of it. It’s a little bit like looking at a blank sheet of paper that eventually is going to be turned as you your mid-semester art project and picturing just what you’re going to do with it. This area has so much potential. We haven’t had much opportunity to work in our area because of moving and exchanging hassles but the time we have been able to spend, has been fruitful and we've gotten loads of names from the people in this ward that we will be visiting this week so we have some great places to start. So get ready for some miracle stories :) cuz they're coming.

Interestingly though we still are teaching Rebecca, even though she is in the Southampton area. She lives really far away from the Southampton city itself and is basically impossible for the missionaries without a car to get to so we've been asked to continue teaching her and visit her on splits with the Southampton missionaries. She is still doing fantastic and has accepted to live all of the commandments. She won't be able to be baptized this coming Saturday like we originally planned but she is still working towards baptism and we will be setting a new date with her on Tuesday.

I hit my 18 month mark a few days ago, which is an interesting experience for a missionary. I don't usually spend too much time thinking about the months because that only seems to make the time go even faster, but this was an interesting moment of introspection for me. I remember when I was a new missionary how much I looked up to and sought to be like the missionaries I knew that had been out for 18 months. I watched everything they did, especially my zone leaders, and copied every good thing they did and also used any mistakes they made to justify my own less than perfect choices. Being on the other side of the spectrum, with that memory has made me recognize that my actions will most likely have much more weight than I will recognize or even suppose. I still sometimes find it interesting that people listen to me at all, let alone take what I say seriously. The weight of knowing that people are watching can be quite heavy at times, but I welcome the opportunity to grow. I don't think we can ever realize how much different we are as active members of the church and how much we can stand out to those around us. And we can never fully appreciate how much of a positive affect our good choices can have on those we associate with. I find I have even more reason to "watch ourselves and our thoughts, and our words, and our deeds" when I know that others are as well. Being an example is probably one of the best helps you can be to your friends and your family.

I love you all and I’m very grateful to you for all of your support and help and especially your prayers,

With love

Elder Jarman

ps. my bunk bed looks out over a river so basically the first thing I see every morning is boats and swans. I highly recommend it.