6.11.12

Dear Family,

You guessed it, I got transferred. :) Good but bad.  So I am living in Horbury right now and serving with Elder Henrikson.  He is pretty fun. :) He is from Norway and he speaks some Swedish! I finally got Bottan Anna and Dota and Camilla translated!

Pontefract is a huge area (I didn't even get to see all of it in the 6 months I was there) but Horbury is the smallest in the mission!  It is crazy! And the whole thing has been worked over so much by missionaries plus there are a lot of JWs around here so people aren't fond of religious callers.  I am expecting a lot of member work!

My current address is 50 Northfield Lane/WF4 50N/England.  I will get the packages from the mission office soonish anyway. I am now in a 4 man flat. It is a pretty big transition but Elders Timish and Short are epic and they keep life interesting. Anyway, that's about it for this week.

Love Y'all,

Elder Tombs

Oh - y Estoy Districto Leader. (Elder Serrano [my last comp] is as well.)

5.28.12

To my family, in whom I am well pleased,


Thanks for the mail this week everyone and especially to mom for the pics! :) So I don't have any to send in return this week because I don't have my camera cord once again.  But this week has been pretty good.  Well REALLY good.  We had a mission conference!  The
whole mission got together in York, to hear a 3-hour message from Elder Jensen (of the presidency of the seventy).  It was SO good!  I think that I have learned more in the past 2 weeks than the rest of this transfer combined.  Also, we have started singing a lot more as a
mission.  (Which I really enjoy.)  Singing is THE best way to bring the Spirit that I have ever seen.  Also this week the sun has finally decided to come out!  We have had an entire week of good weather.  Not a cloud in the sky and the temp has been 20+ every day.  We have been working in just short sleeves almost every day.  Love It! Love you all but I gots to go.


Until next week,
Elder William Tombs

5.21.12

Wow no emails.... my family must love me a lot… just kidding (mostly) it is ok though because I receive an email every week that tells me how much £ I have in my mission account, so I was not left out completely. ;)  So not too much to say this week. Ponty is still alive and kicking and we are still doing well :)  Oh and I havea new hat. :)  I talked to this drunk bloke wearing a black cowboy hat and complimented him on it.  So he gave it to me.  Ha! It was fun, but the hat is nowhere near big enough for my head. But it is cool anyway, and we got his phone # so hopefully we will be able to teach him sometime soon.
Love you alls,
Elder Tombs
Oh and if someone could txt Lindsey and tell her her letter is on it's way there have just been a few minor delays.

5.14.12

Yo Yo family,

So not too much to say seeing as I spoke with y'all yesterday. So yesterday mom asked some questions about my flat and Uncle Pat requested pics so here ya go. This is our humble abode. :)  Oh and yup, it is a 2-man flat.  Only Chinese speakers really get 4 man flats,
because all of their areas are big cities with good universities (i.e. York, NewCastle, Sheffield, and whatnot).  So they live with zone leaders in filthy flats. (Four missionaries make a lot of mess and no one likes to clean.)  So not much else to say.... Oh! I forgot to ask, is Fred really gone gone or is there any chance I see him again? If not I am thinking of investing in a new alligator/dinosaur/thing.

Anyway, much love,

Elder Tombs

5.8.12

Yo Yo Familia,
What is up with the emails this week?  Just Mom (and maybe Dad?) and Nana and Pappy.  Anyway things are going well here in west Yorkshire.  We have been working hard and teaching lots of crazies. :) I am supper supper tired. Mostly because p-day yesterday was so fun!  It was another bank holiday so we ended p-day at 5pm and get time today to email. We went to Harrogate to the poshest house on the planet (literally) and played football on their pitch!  It was a lot of fun! I defiantly enjoy playing soccer now (probably because I am ok now :)  Oh so about phone calls, I am going to try to work it out so that we take language study in the evening so if you call any time after 7:30 it should be alright.  Anyway g2g.
Love you all,
Elder Tombs

5.1.12

Dear Family,

Such A Good Week This Week!!!  So first off, I promised some pictures... but I don't have my camera cord, so here are some of Elder Serrano's.... nope. It isn't working for some reason.  I will just tell you.  Becky Got Baptized!!! It was so good!  The heating for the chapel wasn't working though so Elder Serrano and I filled up the font with cold water and then poured kettle upon kettle of boiling water in. It didn't work.  The water was colder than our pool in September!  I got pins and needles in my legs just standing in it! Becky was SO cold afterwards.  Oh and guess what we discovered this weekend?  She is 19! I totally thought she was like 25 (on account of her 6 year old child), but all is well that ends well and all her past is washed away :)  Phew.  Also yesterday we got transfer
call, but all is well and we are both staying here. 

TORNADOES in Lubbock!!?!! WHAT?  That is craziness!  It sounds like ya'll had a pretty hectic weekend :P  But we will get to talk about it pretty soon. So about the phone call, I don't know exactly how it all works still, but I know for certain that 10:40 is TOO late to call.  It might just be easiest if ya'll went to that Spanish speaking ward in El Paso again. Haha. (Actually Patrick could translate for you and everything).  But we still have plenty of time. 


Oh so fun story, Elder Serrano and I got locked out of our flat last night.  Our key got chipped and wouldn't open our door. But we prayed and then broke into our oun flat.  It was so stressful! Especially because it was transfer calls night, so we were supposed to be in and safe by no later than 9:05!  But it all worked out... and we didn't see any tornados so it is all good, until next week.

Love you all,
Elder Tombs

4.23.12

Dear Fam,
So thank you to everyone who has emailed me this week (and you, Lindsey, for written post :))  
This week has been one of the happiest of my mission.  I was able to baptize Stewart this weekend, Becky is scheduled for this Saturday, and Carl the week after that!!! :)  So things are going really well!  But I think the
best thing was this Sunday. So Stewart (husband of Joanne who was baptized just 3 or so weeks ago) has been taking the discusssions. At first I honestly just thought he was doing it for her, but then as the week progressed, he has become more and more committed and I think he understands the gospel better than anyone that I have taught! :) But this Sunday he was just a bro!  His wife was ready to leave just after Sacrament meeting, but he said that he felt like they needed to stay for all three hours!  It doesn't seem like such a big thing, but as we have taught them I have seen such a change in them, it is unbelievable!  I love it! But anyway, so I suppose I will answer a few of Mom's questions. So first, a typical English family for posh peeps is pretty much the same as back home, but in the poorer classes marriage is about
1/15 couples (or so I would estimate) and if you get to be 30 without any grand kids then you are considered a good parent. It is crazy!  We once taught a man that was 21 with a 7 year old son!!!! And nobody thinks that is weird over here. Oh and for your other question, the typical kid on a week night will finish school and go to hang out with his friends.  Typically they stay outside most of
the day and find different ways to get into mischief. Energy drinks here are dirt cheep, so there are lots of them guzzled.  Some of their favorite games that I have been able to observe are yell "Bible basher!", throw rocks or sometimes eggs or oranges, and ask in a loud
voice "Do jews (that's the chave way to say "yous"
or "y'all") believe in Jesus?"  They probably do other stuff, but that is generally what we see. Haha.  No it's all good, but I really can't imagine what they do for fun all day. But that's about it for this week. Elder Sarrano and I are going to watch a football game!  Chelsa vs Madrid.
See yous later,
Elder Tombs