The Last Email of my 2 Year Mission {March 10, 2014} MIRACLES

Dear family and friends,

 

Wow, I cannot believe how fast time has gone. This will be my last email to you all while being a missionary. how crazy is that. Next Monday I will be at the temple doing some work for those who are dead and having a dinner with President Millar, interviews and much more. I will be going up to the temple on Sunday night, or Monday morning, and there we will be saying our last goodbyes to the MTC group and sharing spiritual experiences with each other. I hope I can gather my thoughts and simplify and summarize some life long lessons I have learned while being here. It will be hard to explain, kinda like explaining what salt tastes like ;) ha ha thanks to dad I have been using that example all throughout my mission to help people realize that it is hard to describe the spirit, but in order for them to expedience it, they need to act and exercise faith in order to feel the foretaste of eternal joy.

 

I want this to be short and sweet, because I don't want to come across as "preachy," but I just want to let you know that I love every single one of you and couldn't thank you enough for helping me all along the way throughout my entire mission. You have all been there for me whenever I needed you. You all have been an answer to my many heart felt pleading prayers to God when I have been down at times. I will never forget what you have done for me.

 

My 2 years is up and I can't believe it, these last few months I think has been the best months of my life, I have learned so much from the people and members and the Lord while being here. It really has been a test for me and I have prayed really hard throughout the days for help to keep me focused and finish strong, and also not give into temptation pondering to myself going home in 10 days...It could be easy, but the Lord is keeping me busy which is such a blessing.

One of those blessings that I will never forget is that Colin Sean Peters was baptized this weekend!! It was so amazing! What an experience for me who hasn't baptized as much as I thought I would, to end with a solid guy who will build the kingdom here in England. It was an absolute miracle and tender mercy from Heaven to me and all of us. It meant the world to me you guys, just seeing the hand of the Lord always in his work if you allow it to be His way rather than our own way. I felt like I just sat there and watched the progression of Sean and Anthony and Melanie come about. Though I am very tired, don't get me wrong, but I have literally seen and realized that none of this came about because of me or my companion, all we did was to try our best to do what we were told, and the Lord did the rest. It's a great experience. I hope my life will continue the way it is now and to not ever let off the throttle of the faith that I have now in Jesus Christ. I hope one day I will have an even stronger testimony that I have now, which I know will happen! Amazingly!! ;) And you guys will help me as well!

Right there is Evidence of Gods love for me!

 

I love you all with all my heart! And I am looking forward to embracing you!

 

Cheers from England for the last time my friends. ;)

Elder Keller 

{March 3, 2014}

Hello My beautiful wonderful family and friends!!

 

How are you all doing?! The emails you send me are wonderful! Thank you so much for supporting me all the way! Don't give up yet, I still have a couple more times to email.

 

This week has been amazing and also trying! Last Monday as I was emailing, I received a text from Sean who is working towards baptism, but was struggling to gain a witness of the truth. He has been doing everything right it seemed like, he has kept all the commitments we gave him, he was coming to church every Sunday, he would come to church activities every time they were going on. So he is very solid. So I got a text from him, and he said "I feel like I know what is holding me back from getting an answer, and I'm kinda ashamed of it. Can I see you guys tonight for a lesson?" We said sure! I didn't know if this was a wonderful thing or something he was worried about...I was hoping for a wonderful thing because changes were happening! So we taught him at the chapel and his worry was that he felt like he was blaming the church for not being able to skydive on Sundays. It was really annoying him because he is so involved in skydiving. (He is a pro skydiver for great Britain). So it was a sacrifice for him. I shared my testimony about the sabbath, and we shared some scriptures with him. Last week he had an experience as he watched a movie that I gave him about President Monson, in his words he said "As I was watching this film I was crying most of the time and I don't even know why because I'm not an emotional person at all and I was happy at the same time "HA HA! I was like YES. He told me that on the phone last week and I said "Mate, this is your answer, don't you think?" And he said, "I think its part of it." I was like WHAT?!! What greater witness do you want than from God. Ha ha I already knew he had an answer so when we met up with him last Monday he explained that after he watched that film he was so happy and had a text all written out to send to us to say he want to be baptized on the 8th!!! And of course opposition came in...he had a contentious feeling about the sabbath again and he was annoyed, so he didn't send that text that evening. I was freaking out inside. Ha ha, but luckily the spirit calmed me down and prompted me to share a scripture for that situation. I don't know how I remember the scripture but it seemed appropriate for this experience and future experiences. Alma 34:37-41

 

37 And now, my beloved brethren, I desire that ye should remember these things, and that ye should work out your salvation with fear before God, and that ye should no more deny the coming of Christ;

 38 That ye contend no more against the Holy Ghost, but that ye receive it, and take upon you the name of Christ; that ye humble yourselves even to the dust, and worship God, in whatsoever place ye may be in, in spirit and in truth; and that ye live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon you.

 39 Yea, and I also exhort you, my brethren, that ye be watchful unto prayer continually, that ye may not be led away by the temptations of the devil, that he may not overpower you, that ye may not become his subjects at the last day; for behold, he rewardeth you no good thing.

 40 And now my beloved brethren, I would exhort you to have patience, and that ye bear with all manner of afflictions; that ye do not revile against those who do cast you out because of your exceeding poverty, lest ye become sinners like unto them;

 41 But that ye have patience, and bear with those afflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions.

 

It was a cool experience because Sean completely understood what this scripture was saying and in his words "this is exactly what I was going through that night." So after this he said he definitely wants to be baptized on the 8th of march and he will take it to the Lord first that night and text us his answer. So the picture I sent you guys is what he sent us that Monday evening! We were all freaking out in the flat, its a 4 man flat and we were all rejoicing!! Hahaha so funny, but so powerful and great! I won't ever forget this. I think Sean said he wants me to baptize him and I told him to pray first about it and then come back to us on it. We are seeing him tonight to plan his baptism and teach a few things. :)

 

Miracle #2!! On the same Monday with Sean:

Mondays are our P-days, so during our p-day I was looking for a shirt and a store called Superdry. I love this store. I went there to buy a shirt that I wanted for a while now, and when I got there they didn't have my size  (cause I'm fat) They told me to go to another Superdry store that I barely discovered the previous week, it was tiny. So we went there and there was only one guy that was working. I asked him if he had the shirt I wanted and the size, he went and got it for me. When he came back he noticed our badges, and asked loads of questions. We had a good conversation and he was interested in what we shared. We asked if we could meet up with him that week, he said yes, but not till Sunday evening though. We scheduled him in. (His name is Scott) We met up with him last night with an awesome member (Joe Jolliffe, the guy who took me to the temple) and taught the Restoration. It was an amazing teach! Scott soaked it all in and really enjoyed the teach. We invited him to be baptized on the 29th of March and he said YES!! He was so sincere and wants to come back to church. He was kicked out of his last church because he sinned and I guess they don't understand the Atonement at all. (He was from the Evangelical church.)

 

As of now we have 5 baptismal dates and they are solid! Anthony and Melanie just need more time...Melanie has some concerns that she's trying to resolve. We are helping her. I'm really sad that I won't be able to be here for all these baptisms, but I am so grateful that I will be here from Sean's!! SO BLESSED RIGHT NOW!!

 

I love you all so very much you guys!!!

I will see you very soon!! ;)

 

Cheers from England!!

{February 24, 2014}

How are all of you doing? Thank you for your emails, I love reading them to see how you have been doing and of course the inspirational things you share with me! Thank you so much!!

 

First thing...WOW!! We got a new member in the family!!! Good little baby Ollie!! I am so excited to meet all these new babies!! I love their faces!!! We have a beautiful family!!!

So remember how when Whit and Dane had a baby...little codie, and when she was born my companion at the time was named Cody! Weird huh!!

And now Oliver has been born. Guess what my companions name is now...you guessed it, Oliver!! How crazy you guys! Now every time I play with my nephews and nieces I will be reminded of my companions! Ha ha so I thought that was funny!

Congrats again Steph and Colb!! :) I love all the pics! Keep sending more, all of you! :)

 

This week has been great!! We are teaching so many people it's insane!! I feel like I'm in a different mission because people are keeping their appointments with us and also commitments. So the Lord is blessing us like crazy and I am pretty happy! I didn't think my mission would end like this. So this is what's keeping me going! It's just awesome.

 

Anthony & Melanie, they are wonderful! I treat them like they were my own brother and sister. I was on exchange with a kid in my district named Elder Wolfgramm. He's half Tongan and he's huge!!! He has one leg, he lost it from cancer when he was 13. He's a beast, but the most pure and holy missionary I have ever met. He was called at first to be an English speaking missionary, and Pres. Miller randomly called him to speak chines down here in Plymouth with another American Chinese speaker. It's only been a few weeks, and he can already speak Chinese really well, he can have a pretty good conversation with Chinese people. I have been experiencing miracles every time I see this kid, because the Lord is blessing him with the gift of tongues, like hard core!! He came with me to teach Anthony and Melanie, and it went really well!! Wolfgramm is a powerhouse teacher, they were really touched by his testimony and story. They still want to be baptized, but they don't know if they have received an answer yet, that the 8th is their date. I so hope so, but we are shooting for it!! Please pray for them!

On the exchange, we were walking down a really steep hill, and we came across a little ally way, and a car was backing up to turn around as we were walking across that street. Randomly we hear yelling in the car and this guy gets out of his car and just starts freaking out at us and is swearing like crazy! He continues for a few minutes and he threw a coco cola bottle at us and completely missed by a very long shot and we were only like 40 feet away from him. We were even on the bottom part of the hill and he missed that bad. Ha ha I was laughing and the guy still continued to swear and yell at us to fight him. Ha ha Elder Wolfgramm was so ready for a beat down, but we just laughed and said "have a good day" and slowly walked down the hill as he was yelling at us...ha ha so funny.

 

Well I have no time, sorry, but I sure love you all so much!!!

I'll hear from you soon!!!!

 

Cheers mates!!

 

Keep Anthony, Melanie, Sean and Molly in your prayers and for baptisms on the 8th of March!!

{February 17, 2014} Melloney loves her tea...Oliver Scott is born!

Hello everyone!

This week was another great week of success!!

We have been working pretty hard, but I can point out the days easily where I could have definitely done better which is a shame. We take the buses all of the time, and it's really difficult to talk to people on the bus about the Gospel, it's pretty awkward at times. And the bus driver will chew us out at times too, so it's not so good, but that is something I want to improve on is doing it secretly and lovingly so people will want to talk to me ;) Maybe I'll just take off the badge while I'm on the bus so they won't know ;) 

Anyways, its been good! Though we taught Anthony and Melloney the Word of Wisdom and wow...they LOVE their stupid TEA. Melloney wasn't too happy about that. Right before we started teaching them the lesson Anthony was drinking tea and I was like shoot......ha ha, but we did it anyways, and I saw him slowly put his tea cup down on the floor ha ha. Melloney kinda argued with us. It was a completely different side of Melloney that I've never seen before. She had a bad week. There are some signs that aren't looking as great as it used to when we first started teaching her, but now Anthony is the guy that is more solid. After a very long lesson on the word of wisdom, Anthony committed to live it and that he will stop! Melloney said she will think about it. So its not going as smoothly as I thought it would, but this is the trial of all our faith. They will continue to progress I know they will!! I'm not as confident that they will be baptized before I leave, but I've decided to let Gods will be done. I just want to leave England knowing I helped people see something that will bless their lives, and they will continue to walk to that light/happiness. So that is my goal for the next 4 weeks. Just simply trying my best, doing what God wants me to do rather than what I want to see before bouncing back home. But continue to pray please!

It is so WET here in Plymouth, it is constantly raining and the wind is crazy!!! It's always been wet in England but now its ridiculous how much it rains. I do not like the rain anymore I decided ha ha, but it's still good.

STEPH!! I am so pumped to see a new nephew again on a screen!! But not too long until I'll see these babies in real life!! GOOD LUCK STEPH!!! Please send me pics!!

I love and miss you all!!

{February 10, 2014} Baptismal dates all-around!

Anthony & Melloney

Hey guys!

Hows it goin?!

This week was so amazing!! A lot of harvesting was happening here in good old Plymouth!!

First things first...I am staying in Plymouth thank goodness! My new comp is Elder White, who reminds me of Forrest Clark, a lot ha ha.

Anthony and Melloney now have a baptismal date, March 8th!! They are solid!! This Sunday Melloney was really ill, but Anthony and his 2 year old daughter came to church anyways!! It was a total miracle!! It was amazing! Even though these members teach too complicated here, and not in the saviors way might I just say...It was a dodgy Sunday of meetings, but Anthony still enjoyed it!! I love these people so much! I sure hope they will be baptized before I leave.

We picked up another baptismal date named Lydia! We found her last week, she is Jamaican and has a son who is 7 years old I believe. We taught her at her house a few days ago and we taught the restoration. When we pulled out a copy of the Book of Mormon she pointed at it and said, " That book is true, it talks about Jesus Christ" ha ha we were like "Yes it does!! It is true isn't it?!" Ha ha so the lesson went pretty well and we invited her to be baptized on the 1st of March. We taught her the plan of salvation 2 days later and by the end of the lesson she was in tears, and said "The spirit has told me that I must be baptized, that it is the right thing to do." WOW! It was really amazing to feel the spirit that strong in that teach. (Keep in mind that this doesn't happen very often at all) So now I've been thinking about all those in other missions that experience this almost every day. How blessed are they! And I feel blessed for having this unique experience. I sure hope she will continue to progress!! She does have some health issues, not too serious, but she is Jamaican...They flog appointments a lot, but so far not her!

We taught Sean Peters (our other baptismal date) for the 1st of march! We taught him the word of wisdom and we talked about conversion. He thought he needed to be completely converted to be baptised. So this has been a confusion for a little while, but we explained that we are all becoming more and more converted to the Gospel. We just need a witness that these things are true, that they are good, and that they will change and bless our lives etc. He understood it well, and shared spiritual experiences and said he feels ready for the 1st of march!! YEAH!! :)

Things are going really well here in this area, I love it! Hard work is so worth it at the end. And you can't stop, there is still much work to be done!! Please keep these wonderful souls in your prayers!! They need a personal witness in their hearts to make that step closer to our Father in Heaven.

We have also found 5 new investigators this week!! And four of our investigators came to church yesterday. I think that's the most I've ever had come to church at the same time!

I love you all so much! Thank you for your love and support! I can feel it every day!

Cheers loves!:)

---Pictures---

Last p-day I got a haircut by a black man! Ha ha it was so funny, I have a proper black man/ Englishman hair cut...I think I look fresh, don't you?! I'll send another pic of me, I got thrown into a wall while playing soccer at the chapel with investigators and members! Ha ha it was pretty funny!

Elder White & Me

Elder Francis & Me-He's a Chinese speaking Elder from Brigham City

{February 3, 2014} New Investigators

Hey guys!

This week has been one of the best weeks of my mission! And I know there are future best days to come because we have been teaching Anthony and Melloney!! They are absolutely prepared by the Lord. We taught them the Plan of Salvation on Thursday with a great member (stake pres. son). It went really well! They didn't have many concerns about it, they felt it all makes sense and they like the teachings of this church more than what the Catholics teach, it goes on and on with solid comments. We gave them a soft commitment to be baptized, soft because we were at their house way too long, and needed to get back to the flat. They said if they knew it was true by then, then yes they would! So that was a decent answer, but they came to the Chinese new year party at the church the following day. They got there late due to NO GAS in the car, so they said they wouldn't be able to make it really, I said "Well we will be there with a member in 10 minutes to help you out" we bought a gas can, filled it up enough, and helped them out. They were so grateful and payed us back and things, so they came! That was the main focus! (Just to let you know, they were completely out of gas...they didn't use it as an excuse to not come, they were on there way and their car stopped completely, ha ha) So they had a wonderful time at the party, the members were so  great with fellow shipping, they all became friends immediately! That is always good to see! Then the next day (Saturday) Anthony came and played football with the us and the ward! It was so fun!! So more friends/fellow-shippers are involved. Then Sunday they came to church and they looked really nervous, but it went really really well!! In priesthood, there were 2 Indian kids that were ordained the Mel. priesthood...ha ha that was a little nerve racking to have our new investigator see stuff like that ha ha, but I quickly explained it to him, with using pictures in little pamphlets we give out, and there are pictures of Christ ordaining his Apostles the priesthood. So I told him its completely normal, we do what Christ has done, because its his same church he established. He took it in really well! The relief society's lesson was on gift of tongues...again, not the best first lesson for a solid family to come experience ha ha, but it went really well, they loved it all, they love the members and how the family is very focused on. U could say so much about yesterday but I don't have the brains to explain it all that well ha ha, but it was all wonderful and many good experiences! I have felt the spirit so much this week!

We will be seeing Anthony and Melloney on Wednesday, teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and emphasize on BAPTISM!!! So pray for them and for us to deliver the message in the Savior's way!

Transfers are this Wednesday. I heard rumors that I'm leaving, but its not true. Ha ha I better not leave, I'll be so mad, but it's not going to happen, I don't think it's part of Gods plan.

Anyways, I love and miss you all so much! Thank you for your love and support, couldn't do it without you!

Hope all is well!!

Cheers!

{January 27, 2014}

Hey Fam jam!

This week was good....;)

In England it is hard to teach people at times...mainly to get them to calm down and realize we are normal people just sharing a wonderful message that will change their lives now and in the Eternities. That is all. It is really hard to teach people in this country cause most of them are Atheist and it drives me crazy. But we are here to find the one family. So I've seen miracles happen, and the more we pray in faith, the Lord will prepare miracles for us if we are willing to sacrifice and do a little more. So the first night I arrived in Plymouth, we were stopping by people all day and had no success at all...I think maybe 4 people accepted a little pass a long card. We were walking back to the flat and it was pouring rain, we were completely soaked. We still had about 20 minutes left until we needed to be in, and my comp wanted to run back and get warm, but I have a strong testimony of the last hour of the evenings, especially in the rain. so I said let's say a prayer and knock this street. We prayed for 2 lessons and 2 new investigators (which doesn't really happen with 20 minutes left) but we prayed for those specific blessings and we put in the work. We taught 2 lessons and got 2 new investigators. The 2 people are Anthony and Melloney, they have a 2 year old daughter. We briefly taught them a few principles about family & Christ, they aren't too religious, but they wanted us to come by again, and they invited us over for dinner (which NEVER happens). So that was so amazing! We went over on Saturday and ate a huge dinner and taught them the restoration. It was one of the best lessons I've ever been involved in I think. The spirit was SO present! The Lord is really preparing this little family, and for the first time ever they prayed in front of each other, while we were there! It was a powerful experience! They said that this is what they have been looking for. So we will invite them to be baptized on Thursday!!

I love you all! That is just a quick update, but things are wonderful here in the south west of England!! (have you guys ever looked up Plymouth or Cornwall on google?? You should, it's so beautiful!!!)

Cheers buds! ;)

{January 20, 2014} Miracles Happen

Miracles Happen!!

HOW ARE YOU!!

This week went really well guys! I am so grateful for all that has happened! I'm slowly getting used to this big city, and I'm really enjoying it. This week was about getting to know the members really. Saturday was the day that Susan, Binky and Elian went to the temple to make some more covenants!! I was able to go as I shared from last weeks email! I am so blessed that the Lord provided a way for me to have that experience. They all loved it! In the Celestial room we had a nice chat, and caught up on things. They are all so strong in the church and know how much the Gospel has changed them and brought so much happiness in their lives! I'm so happy!  

During the session...wow!! I was able to see a couple familiar faces...that a boy Jeff! Ha ha to be honest I was so distracted with my mouth open ha ha. I learned a lot from my cousins though! I'm so happy I was able to see it on my mission with the recent converts there! Every time I go to the temple I will always be reminded of these people iI taught.

Joe Jolliffe so kindly took us up to the temple. About a 4 and a half hour drive one way, it was a long day of traveling, but it was so worth it! My recommend expired, so Pres. Millar was there on time to interview me. It was so cool! Everything just all worked out! Anyways, sorry if I'm not making sense, so many thoughts are in my head right now, but I need to go now. I love you all!! Thank you so much for your emails and your prayers, everything! You are all blessing my life so much.

I love you all to bits!!! :)

Cheers!

Sweet Church

Elder Ye & I on exchange! He makes great food.

{January 13, 2014} Answered Prayers

How are you family and friends!!

This week was pretty sweet, full of how answers to prayers through other people.

Sorry I didn't email last week, I was really busy as you probably understand. So I am in Plymouth city, I've always wanted to serve here!! Always!! So now I'm here! PRAYER ANSWERED! So far it is really good. We have a baptismal date named Sean, he is awesome! He's in his late 20's in the Navy. He is solid! He has come to church, we have taught him twice, and he wants to be baptized. He reads and prays every day, after reading he always ends his studies by reading Moroni's promise, and then says his prayers. So he's awesome. Now he just wants a solid confirmation of actually knowing that Pres Monson is a living Prophet. He is willing to put in the work to get that solid answer! It's really cool! PRAYER BEING ANSWERED.

My last area Washford, they are doing well!!! Maria was struggling a bit after I left...she was kinda close to me. It's hard to explain...she looks at it as a mom and son relationship...so she would call me her 3rd son ha ha, so when I left it was sad. She later said she wants me to baptize her, and she will only be baptized if I can do it... so it was a struggle. I asked Pres. Millar and he said no...she should have gotten baptized earlier, but I wrote her a letter, and when I sent it she said she received answers to her prayers and knows she needs to be baptized!! PRAYER ANSWERED!! Though I won't be able to attend her baptism, but it will be ok!

NEXT, I got a call from my ward mission leader in Epsom (ward when I was serving in REDHILL) and Susan, Binky, and Elian are all going to the temple to receive their Endowments on the 18th this saturday! They are recent converts while I was serving there. I baptized Susan, and Binky I confirmed! So I was told I could go if I got permission from President!

So I called Pres, and he said if I lived closer to the temple then I absolutely could go, but the answer is no cause I'm so far away. I was really sad that night. The next morning Pres called me and said, "Hey, I've been thinking about you after we talked last night, and I think you should go to the temple if you can find a ride from a member." PRAYER ANSWERED!!

The next trial was trying to get a member to take me and my companion 4 and a half hours north east (London). I didn't think it was really going to be possible cause it was a lot to ask. A couple days later, I came to church, and the announcement in priesthood was that there was a temple trip this weekend! I was about to scream with joy!!!! Ha ha but it was almost a prayer answered till I found out they were going for 3 days...I was a little bummed after that. Then an hour later, brother Joe Jolliffe (Brett Jolliffes from Helston, his younger brother) came up to me and said, "Hey, you want to go to the temple this Saturday right?" I said yes ;). He said , "Well when I was on a mission, I had some recent converts and my dream was to be able to go through the temple with them and I didn't get that opportunity, so I'm not going to let you miss this opportunity, so I'll take you" PRAYER ANSWERED!!!! I was about to cry my eyes out, I couldn't believe how amazing these experiences were about how all my prayers were being answered! It was awesome!!! And the subjects in all 3 classes yesterday at church was about Prayer! My favorite topic.

So I have a stronger testimony than ever about the Power of prayer, and how clear answers can come if we are listening carefully, and seeking for them. Though my experiences were given to me on a silver plate! :) I am so grateful for these experiences that I'm having and that I'm about to have this Saturday!!

Another random experience. I am still a DL, and I have Chinese Elders in my district, they speak English and Chinese, obviously, but they are mostly called to be Chinese speaking. So I went on an exchange with the Chinese elder in his area, and we were street contacting all these Chinese people, and I was laughing my head off cause it was so different and the people are so funny! They mostly make fun of me cause I'm a tall American white boy and the elder I was with (Elder Ye) is so hilarious!! He is a typical Chinese kid. He waves really fast at people and approaches them really fast and says "heello heello" ha ha it was the funnest exchange I've ever had! We contacted 22 Chinese and got their details and set up a few appointments!! I also learned some Chinese!! It was sweet!!

I love all of you so much!! Thank you for all your prayers and emails that keeping me going!

The Church is true!

Cheers!! ;)

***I got a call...and the office said I'm going home on the 19th of March.

All the info was sent to mom's email address.

Love you all!! ;)

Goodbyes...

{January 6, 2014} Plymouth Address & Pictures

My new mailing address:

50 Aberdeen avenue,

Manadon Park

Plymouth

PL5 3UG

Love you

I wallpapered a whole room, it took like 4 weeks of 
service hours allowed to do.....

I think I did alright for my first time wallpapering? Yeah?

I hate Snakes...

{December 30, 2013} Letter to the Mission President & Transferring to Plymouth!

This is my President Letter..

---This Christmas week was better than we thought it was going to turn out. I felt we worked hard and didn't give in to temptation to lounge around just because it was Christmas. I learned a lot this week on how the Lord will bless us if we are willing to work, even though we may not get the amount of teaches as we'd like, I feel that the Lord sees that we are here trying our best and that more blessing are in store for us. We just need to keep the momentum going and keep progressing.

I am grateful for the interview we had, I received many answers to questions I had. Concerning Elder Mansfield, I am also grateful that you spoke to him about the missionary schedule. After the interview he was much better for a small time. But I still am trying to be an example to him, and invite him to stay obedient and diligent. This morning he wasn't taking companionship study seriously at all. At the end of personal study he got up and went to the toilet for 25 minutes and came back as if nothing really mattered. I asked him why he doesn't take these precious hours in the morning more seriously, he said that its a waste of time and nothing happens during comp study. I was pretty upset with him, and I simply, lovingly, boldly shared with him my testimony of effective companionship study. I shared a few experiences with him how it brings so much energy, confidence, unity and happiness into our day, but he didn't seem to care. I hope the spirit touched him somehow, and that he will find the importance of study time. And also prayer, I feel like he doesn't like praying, its almost like trying to get an investigator that doesn't pray to pray when I ask him to. We have had quite a few discussions  about that. I don't mean to put Elder Mansfield down, I just feel like this is something that you might want to be aware of, if you already didn't know. I love the guy to bits, but I just can see so much potential in him, and hes not willing to take that extra step so that the Lord will bless him with many more talents, that he potentially already has.

In Washford we have 3 people who are really likely to be baptized in January. Don, Maria, Denise. These people I have been working with for some time. Mainly Maria, she is a Scottish lady that I started teaching when I first came to Washford over 6 months ago, she has been up and down the entire time I've been here. This time she has been up a lot more. She is preparing for baptism for the 17th of January. She and I are really good friends. She has taught me a lot, and she expressed that I have as well. Though I know the Spirit has worked through me to comfort and work according to her needs I am very sad that I will be missing her baptism, especially when she asked me to baptize her.
Don has a baptismal date as well 31st of Jan, and Denise I've been working with for about 4 months. All these people are solid at the moment, and I am so excited that they are working towards baptism.

-I do have a question, I know I will be out side this area in Plymouth, but when the time comes for Marias baptism or at least one of these baptisms, would I be able to be there? I haven't had too many baptisms during my mission. The 3 names here are people the Lord guided me to to find, and teach so far. I feel like I have given my all for these 3 people and I was so excited to be a witness to see them enter the waters of baptism. If I could go to at least one of their baptisms, that would bring me much joy. If not, I understand.
  

...................................................................................................................................................................

HELLO FAMILY

It was so wonderful to see all your faces!! I was so nervous you guys...holy cow...so if you thought I was weird or mean, or just odd...it's cause I was nervous and I didn't know what to say really, but you sure brought me a lot of happiness!! 

Everyone at the house loved to briefly meet you as well! They look at you guys as family! Thank you so much for your bright spirits and personalities! I love all of you so much.

This week we had interviews with President Millar,

I had a great interview, though I found out at the end that I will be moving to Plymouth being in a big district, with Chinese speaking elders. Ha ha so it's going to be interesting, but I am excited. I am also very sad that I will be leaving this beautiful area in Minehead. I am so bummed that I will be missing out on 3 baptisms...as you read my president letter I did express that I felt like I worked my tail off for these people, and prayed harder than I ever have before about any other investigators. I sure hope President will allow me to go to at least one of these baptisms. I will be so happy. Cause I can say that the Lord led me to these people, meaning found, then we taught them pretty much everything, enough for them to have the desire to be baptized. So I'm praying that the pres will let me. :)

Last night we gave Don Perkins a baptismal date! It was a great experience!! That guy has changed so much in the last 4 weeks, he even bore his testimony to us last night about prayer, and what we have taught him. He said that we have restored his faith, and pretty much that through his personal prayers the Lord has blessed him with better health, and that his leg that was supposed to be amputated will be saved!!! :) How cool is all this!! And I'm missing out once these miracles start happening. But I try to look at it as my purpose was to teach them what I have taught them, and the rest is what the other elders are there for to give the investigators that extra power and witness to help them enter the waters of baptism. So that's the way I look at it.

Anyways, I'm off for Plymouth on Wednesday, I am excited too, it's bitter sweet, I've always wanted to serve in Plymouth, my greenie area was in that same stake/zone. And I've worked in Plymouth with the Zone leaders many times there and I loved it every time. 

A lot of cool converts of the church lived there right before they received the call from the Prophet to move to America, so that is cool! Have you heard of the "only a stone cutter" story? Yeah, that's where the guy is from!! Ha ha.

Anyways, love you all so much! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and your thoughts were focused on the Savior and our wonderful families! :)

I love you!!

Cheers!! ;)

{December 23, 2013} Merry Christmas!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!

The second Christmas away from you guys...wow...that is a weird thought. This Christmas will be great! We have some good plans with members here, I'm looking forward to it. I am also very excited to see most of your beautiful faces on Christmas!! Hopefully mom and dad got better internet if they didn't realize our internet is terrible...it'll work out! 

This week was one of the greatest and most trying week I've had on my mission. Bad first: my companion and I are friends when it comes to worldly terms, but as missionary WORK terms we aren't on the same page...I've really had to hold back on many things to say to him...ha ha sounds horrible...but you guys, I came here to work, and work to the end. Though the temptation is there to kick back and relax and say I've done enough, I haven't done all that the Lord has sent me here to do. So I'm going to force myself to finish strong, even if we don't get many baptisms. With or without my companion I'll do my best. I've learned a lot about patience and telling off. D&C 121:43. that probably changed my life this week. 

GOOD: Maria is still having challenges, but she is still going strong! She's so much happier than she was the first time I met her, she is a completely different person!! Denise, we haven't heard much form her, as she is crazy busy with her family, but she still is solid! And we also have a new guy named Don, we have been teaching him for some time, and he's taking in everything we teach! He is close to losing his leg, he has some disease in his leg and had many surgeries on it. He just had another surgery last week, and they are confident that the leg will be saved. We taught him yesterday about the Plan of Salvation and the spirit was very strong! He's lost a son and other family members, and he said that he knows what we taught is true! He had some belief in deity, but everything that we taught him he agrees and has prayed about and knows its true! It was amazing! And also he said he's been telling his daughter about our lessons and at first she was not happy about him visiting us, but now she is interested to hear what Don has learned! He wants his daughter to be involved as well!! So things are going well!! We soft committed him to be baptized and he said YES!! I love these experiences that I will never forget! 

I love you all so much! I am so excited to see you!!

Cheers!!

{December 16, 2013}

Hello family and friends,

How is everyone doing? That's nice,

Well I am happy to hear back from my family after they have been cruisin around on a titanic having fun right before I come home! I think that trip was set up purposely before I came home to start the REAL party and the REAL FUN. Ha ha no I'm just kiddin. Dad sent me some pics and they are so hilarious, I am so grateful that you guys had a wonderful safe time together, though I am jealous that I missed out, but next year right?

This week was a bit all over the place, we had our mission Christmas party up at the temple, it was lovely! We did a session in the temple, and no I didn't see Jeff...I was a little disappointed, but I am so grateful for the changes, cause I learned so so much, it is so up to date, and more clear. Wow it was great. I absolutely love the temple you guys. We are so blessed to be living so close to temples. Being on a mission, and being so far away has made me think a lot more how truly blessed we are to have so many near us. 

We had a big dinner, and I did NOT have seconds, cause I am in the process of losing weight, so hopefully I'll look skinnier in the next few months. Ha ha.

We have done loads of traveling, so the first 4 days of the week we have been traveling to London and back, then I had exchanges with the ZL's, then we drove sister missionaries all over the place for their exchanges, then the next day we did all that travel again for the sisters, so it's been many hours of traveling, and a lot of precious hours outside of our area. So we didn't teach as much as we would like...Denise came to church again!!! 3 times in a row baby!!! She even came to the Christmas party!! Maria is doing well too! She didn't come to church cause she was sick, but she's progressing still!!

So all and all this week was good! I learned a lot, and I hope I will stay motivated and stay obedient enough to see at least a couple of baptisms happen before the end.

I love and miss you guys!! 

I will see some of you in about 10 days on a screen!! So hopefully you guys didn't forget about me skyping home!

I love you all!! 

CHEERS!!!

{December 9, 2013}

Hello guys,

This week has been good.
I don't remember what I told you last week, so if I repeat myself, I'm sorry...

So this week was nice, though kinda frustrating.

Good news first is that we are most likely going to have 2 baptisms in the month of January!! Denise and Maria! Maria's date is the 17th of January and Denise is praying about a date right now. She told us that she wants to be baptized! Both of them came to church the last 2 weeks! So this is amazing! This really makes me the happiest person I realized actually seeing people progress in the gospel. I can only imagine serving in south america somewhere where they have like 5 baptisms every week. Holy cow!! How I wish it was like that here! Since it doesn't happen as often here and when it actually does happen, it's a huge amount of joy that comes into our lives!! We aren't there yet, but when they do get baptized I will shed some tears I know I will. I can honestly say I have worked my butt off to try to get these people to understand and feel the spirit, and help them keep their commitments. I still need to work harder. It won't be enough until they are actually in and out of the water. :) 

The frustrating part is my companion. I love this kid so much, we laugh a lot, but maybe too much, and maybe it gets too far, and my comp doesn't have that common sense of when we should actually do missionary work time and effectively and with all our hearts. So my comp and I are getting along, but I have been really close from punching him cause this guy has no manners and he simply does not care about the work. He just wants to go home. But again, President Millar asked me to serve with him, and I also need to realize that the Lord needs us to serve together. So I just need to humble up and I guess I need to change rather than him. So I am just praying that we will keep the spirit with us always and that we won't blow it for Maria and Denise. The Lord trusts us with these 2 wonderful sisters of ours so I'm not going to let that happen.

Well family and friends, I sure love all of you.

I am so grateful for all your love and support, and the things you have and are teaching me. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you and your testimonies.
This church is true and I hope I will give it my all these last few months. Keep Maria and Denise in your prayers! :)

I love you all!!
Cheers!

{December 2, 2013}

Hello everyone,

This week was nice.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! I CAN'T believe I've missed out on 2 Thanksgivings with my fam jam, but for how much the Lord has blessed me I think it is absolutely worth missing for Him, for how much He has changed my life.

For me, our Thanksgiving was great, the members did well providing a wonderful thanksgiving feast. They tried, and I approve:) but nothing is like Mom and Dad's cooking. 

So this week was wonderful, like all of them, even if they are really rough and long, I still learn loads each week. This week we had a zone conference and we had Elder Texiera and his wife come to speak to us. He is in the seventy, and he's an amazing guy. I learned so much it was insane. Basically how to work with the members better and to know what to teach your investigators. A lot of my questions have been answered, and I'm trying to apply them now, and I see fruits from it! So this is good. 

Maria and our other gator Denise came to church yesterday!! I was happy!! Denise had a wonderful experience yesterday during the Gospel Principles lesson on forgiveness, she had a rough childhood and she finds it hard to forgive her parents for what they have done, and in order for her to be forgiven she needs to forgive...she had a lot of questions, and we will be teacher her more tomorrow about it, but she did say at the end of the meeting that she feels very good and feels like it is possible to forgive her parents and move on. We are working with her to get herself a date to be baptized!! I know both Denise and Maria will be baptized!! In January!! So keep them in your prayers please! ;)

My comp is great, he is tough to work with, but we are really good friends I'd say. E. Mansfield, I might have mentioned this last week, but he's had 2 strokes, and his left leg and arm don't work properly. He has lost vision in the the left parts of his eyes, so he's shaken up, but he's made dramatic changes in his life to be here. I admire him a lot, but I also know he can do a bit better with timing, and participating in lessons and planning. So I hope I can help him, and he can help me with my many weaknesses.

I love and miss all of you! I hope things are going fantastic for you all! :)

Pray for the U.K. they need some help.

Cheers mates!! :)

My boy elder wood,

He's a way cool kid, we became friends immediately cause we both LOVE BALLIN!! 

He plays in Texas and is going to play for BYU in baseball, he could have played football and basketball, but he chose baseball...lame. 

{November 25, 2013}

Hey everyone,

This week was good. I get to go mix some cement with Chris, so I have to be quick.

Maria Law now has another baptismal date and it is not until the 14th of Feb. So it's a ways, but we are going to try to get it sooner, cause she can be ready if she is willing to DO SOMETHING!! She expressed her gratitude to me for the things I've taught her...she was really kind to me this week, she called me on the phone a few times and told me she is proud of me and things. I felt like mom was talking to me, ha ha but she was kind. Hopefully those things she expressed to me will start applying in her life and change will start for her. 

I ordained the Mel. priesthood to Chris yesterday, it went really well, a bit terrifying in from of the stake presidency. We had stake conference this weekend and a new presidency was called, they are all great guys. 

I love and miss all of you. Thank you for your love and support.

Cheers mates.

                         A street we knocked, I was laughing so hard.

                                    Most of the Washford group. Maria is the blonde lady on the

                    left of the couch, she looks kinda creepy in the picture, ha ha.