3 Days left…

Whoa, I have arrived at the last weekend before setting off to the MTC. Haven’t really had time to blog last couple of days, because I’ve been so busy.

On Wednesday morning, went to the Temple in the morning, had a few bit and pieces also need to buy from the Temple Resource Centre, manage to take some pictures of the beautiful autumn colours.

Temple in Oct

Dwayne came for a few hours to do some last minute downloading from my hard drives, totally did not have enough time before setting off to London to meet Alex & Yoshi. Yoshi unfortunately couldn’t make it in the end, would’ve like the opportunity to treat him to dinner to thank you him for showing me round in Tokyo.

Went to this Malay resturarant simple called C&R Resturant just on one of the alleys near Chinatown, for London prices, the food was reasonably priced and tasted quite nice. Had Hainan Chicken Rice(海南雞飯), which I often joked about wanting to eat in Leicester with Danny, never knew I could actually eat it in London before.

After dinner, went over to SNOG in Soho for yougurt desert, while bit on the expensive side, it was quite fun. In fact most of the night was quite fun. The topic of conversations mainly involved Dwayne and sugar, but thanks guys for a good night out!

Pretty lights in SNOG

Fruity yogurt - kiwi, mango & strawberry.

Dwayn'es all sugar yogurt

To top the night off, manage to get home to catch bit of Carling Cup highlights, where i saw my beloved Arsenal beat Liverpool.

Thursday was crazily busy also. Had to go for dental check up and dental hygienist appointment to make sure my teeth and dental implants (which cost the NHS so much money, about 25k I think) were in good condition. Later in the afternoon, went to GP to get a prescription for my asthma inhalers, seriously not looking forward to any potential detrimental effects on my health cause by extremely cold weather in Toronto in the upcoming winter.

Then spent rest of the night packing. I have the challenge of fitting everything I need to take with me for the 2 years from home in one suitcase, and weight limit of 23Kgs.

Retired to bed early because I was so exhausted. Slept till 11am this morning, currently still feeling tired, I think I got cold as well…*sigh* (just what I need right now!)

Mormon Missionaries – made simple.

Found a most likely unoffical material produced about Mormon Missionaries, but it is explains the general jest of things pretty well about what missionaries do. So I’ve post this up, because people are bound to find it useful.

I think they have many more videos like this on their youtube channel. Will be checking them out myself first before posting others on here.

Farewell talk at Selsdon, 8 days to go.

Got back late from Norwich after a fun weekend away staying at Danny’s flat. Was pretty beat, so had to bed about 1am, (would’ve been 2am if the clocks didn’t go back for DST).

So, comes my last sunday at Selsdon, for the next 2 years anyway, and explictily because it was my last sunday, I had to give a talk; the topic being: “How I’ve prepared myself to serve a honourable mission.”

Me & David Sheppard had been given the excat same topic to speak about, but had totally different approaches, used different scriptural references, therefore only overlapped each other’s talk slightly when covering the obivious about daily scripture study, testimony, which I didn’t make the focus of my talk. Mine was focused about how I’ve been prepared by the people around me.

Anyway, all that was well went well. The nerves didn’t get the better of me, I was composed (as much as possible), speaking clearly, projecting my voice. Could’ve looked up at the audience a bit more, and not spin my pencil as fast as I did around fingers. But eitherwise, it was ok, and probably one of many talks I will be giving during my mission.

Just wondering however, will I be speaking in English or Cantonese the next time I give a talk or bear my testimony?

Peace at the Temple

Whoa, is a beautiful place isn’t it. The London Temple located in Godstone (somewhere in Kent). Went there yesterday with my favourite couple and good friends, Ben & Emma. Unfortunately, it didn’t look so nice when i went today. The trees still have their leaves in autumn colours.

It always very nice to be able to visit the temple, I actually think it’s great to go on the weekend, makes a change from me sitting at my desk with my headphones on, following the football intensely on the BBC Football website and Radio 5 Live, which is where you usually find me during the day on saturday.

We attended the last session on the saturday, which was suprisingly empty for a weekend. I won’t really talk about what goes on there, because we hold the things that goes on there sacred, but not secret.  The peace and tranquility there I experience there really helps to refreshes ands relaxes my mind, and most importantly, removes any stressful distractions of the outside world.

Me, Ben & Emma at the London Temple yesterday.

What I’m going to write now, is purely my personal opinion, the feeling I get in the temple, I can sometimes sense something similar when I listen to really good, beautiful music. Its definitely not  sames spiritual experience, but in terms of the releasing of oneself from stress and tension, listening to music with my headphones on, isolated from other things is a experience I always enjoy. Recently one song really comes into mind.

Ayaka – Minna Sora no Shita

This is simply a most beautiful song, even if you don’t undertand what is being sung in the lyrics, the setting of the music video, or PV(promotional video) as the japanese calls it, Ayaka’s gorgeous vocie just projecting the feelings and emotions towards the viewer.  It gives a overwhelming sense of my worries taken away from me, everytime I listen to this song. The sound quality of the video is a not very good, so please feel to download the PV rip of the song here.

It was my 2nd to last Sunday at my home ward, Selsdon. It would really be sad not to be there for two years, I think I’ll really miss it, but I’m sure there are many wards and chapels I’ll serve at on my mission which will be fantastic. But nevertheless Selsdon Ward will always have a special place in my heart.

Just to end this post with another beautiful picture of the London Temple.

16 days left and counting…

With just barely over 2 weeks left of my pre-missionary life, it’s been finely balanced about finalizing things and sorting stuff out in this stage of my life alongside preparing to go on my mission.

Today I’ve planned out possibly my busiest thursday EVER. On the 29th, only few days before I leave, I’ve booked myself three seperate medically related appointments.  In the morning, gotta go see the dentist and especially a dental hygenists to ensure my teeth and more imporant my precious dental implants are in good healthy condition.  In the afternoon, gotta head over to the local surgery to pick up my supply of asthma inhaler, as the cold weather in Toronto is not going to do my asthma any good, fortunately, my asthma hasn’t related affected me much generally, so the inhaler is just a safe guard more than anything else.

Finally posted the last of my required details to the Toronto East Mission address, should’ve really done it sooner, but my poor organisational skills is one thing I definitely wish to rid off during my mission,  also took my best sunday suit to the dry cleaners, who charged an extorionate £9 to clean it.

Another noteworthy mention is my attempt to buy shoes, went shopping at www.office.co.uk, to my surprise, the prices there are fairly decent, been looking to buy myself a pair of Onitsuka Tiger trainers to use on during my daily morning excercises, there are probably cheaper options out there, but I’ve always wanted a pair, and my failure to buy a pair on Tokyo trip has only made me wanted them even more.  I will head out to Bromley tomorrow to try them out, if the price is the same as the website, buy time there as well, if not, I’ll just buy online.

So it begins…

Hello.

Today is the 15th October 2009.

I’ve started this blog on wordpress.com for the sole purpose of recording my experiences, just as people of the ancient times have done. This record this for my benefit to look back upon and to reflect as well as for anyone who is interested in reading about all manner of things will happen to me and people around me during my time as a missionary.

From this point onwards, as I count down to the day when I will be departing from Gatwick Airport, London to fly to Salt Lake City, Utah, where I will be properly be enlisted as a missionary of the church, and serve as a soldier in the Army of God against the ever increasing evils of this world in these latter days.