[The first part of Coleman's email is his response to our news that James was just asked to be the bishop of our ward/congregation.  Here is a definition from our church website about the duties of a bishop:

A bishop is the leader of a local congregation (known as a ward) with duties similar to those of a pastor, priest or rabbi. In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, this position is unpaid.
Each bishop is assisted by two counselors. Together, this bishopric oversees the spiritual and social needs of their ward members. The bishop helps each member of his congregation in their efforts to follow Jesus Christ. In addition to spiritual matters, a bishop helps members who are struggling financially or in other ways to become self-reliant through welfare assistance. A bishop also oversees practical matters such as records, reports, finances and the meetinghouse where members meet.]

And now, from Coleman:

Hi guys!

That is really crazy news. I didn't see that one coming at all! Dad being the new bishop.

Dad's gonna be a great bishop, I know that already.

Good luck with the new calling Dad! You're gonna be great! 

That is going to be a lot of work - with the business and being a bishop, but you can do it.

But yeah this week for me in Hull has been a really good one! Some interesting things have been going on. Funny enough, just like Dad was saying, a lot of the English people are not very receptive to Religion. A lot of the time even just seeing Jesus Christ on our badge is enough to turn them away from wanting to talk to us. However, in Hull there are a lot of immigrants. Funny enough I think the biggest group of immigrants in Hull are people from Poland, I have gotten to the point again where I can walk down the street and recognize who the Polish speakers are. Ironically right now I'm typing away on a public computer and there are two Polish girls chatting away in polish right next to me...

But we have been teaching a lot of people who come from other countries. A lot of Africans especially. 

Another thing that started this week, the senior missionary couple in our ward, the Whipple's, organized a Free English Class, and they asked us if we could help teach. So on Friday Elder Stahle and I took a little crash course on how to teach basic basic English and then on Saturday we taught our first class! There were three guys from Sudan and a couple from the Czech Republic, and none of them spoke any English, they spoke only a few words. We literally started from the very beginning, you know like using gestures explaining like ''My name is'' over and over until they could say it and understood what it meant and then moving on. Anyways I was really nervous to teach it, but it went great and we had a lot of fun doing it! So our next class is next Saturday and we're going to be continuing on! It's hard, but it's rewarding service. Plus, we got a return appointment with some other lads who came to sign up for the intermediate level class. 

 

On Friday we were walking through a park and there were a bunch of lads playing basketball, so I went over and started shooting a few baskets with them and talking to them (in my suit, and they thought it was great and a couple of them are going to meet with us and learn more about the church as well! 

And yesterday we were walking along the road and there was a bunch of guys from Nigeria just standing and talking, so we talked to them and they were all coming from church, and they are going to meet with us this week (4 of them) to talk about our church to see if they want to come to that. 

 

So yes, I've found that the most success has been coming with the foreigners as well. But we have taught a lot of English people here as well.

So there are some examples of the ways that we find people to teach here in Hull, mostly just by talking to people on the streets, it works well. 

Love you guys! 

Elder Thompson