Eternal Happiness is Right Now

      My week was amazing. The work is going good in Trowbridge. We had another set back with one of our investigators and he doesn't feel ready for the 2nd of January as a baptismal date. He is not completely lost though. We are just going to have to take a lot more time with him then we first thought we would.

      A really cool miracle we saw this week was with a lady named Katya. This is actually one of my favourite miracles because it is so random, but God works in mysterious ways. So we were walking down the street on Saturday and we see this red-haired lady pushing a stroller with a little one inside and following along was a pink bike with training wheels being operated by another little one. We went up to give her some of the happiness we have and as we started to talk to her we found she was from Bulgaria and had only been living in England for two years. We talked for a little longer and found that she believed in God and even went to a church in Bulgaria. More words revealed that she actually learned English from the American church she went to while living in Bulgaria and she was taught by two guys who looked very similar to myself and Elder Slade. In my head I started laughing and was saying "no way". We walked her to her house and on the way found out that she had attended church every Sunday for a year while in Bulgaria. She was looking for a church here as well. Her husband went to church with her a few times too. She hadn't been baptized and I'm not sure why but it doesn't matter because the Lord guided her to us so we could get her and her family baptized! Pretty sweet stuff eh!

    I had an amazing sabbath day yesterday. The relief society president in our ward gave a talk directed to the women about letting the Saviour into our lives. As she spoke about the all encompassing power of the atonement I got pretty overwhelmed with the spirit. She spoke about how the Saviour is there knocking on our door wanting to help us. We just have to humble ourselves and let him in. It's something that really can be hard but as we submit our will to him we are able to more fully feel his arms wrap around us to comfort us. I love my Saviour. I feel like I can never learn enough about him. Jacob 4:12 says it best "for why not speak of the atonement of Christ, and attain to a perfect knowledge of him" the bishopric member then spoke about how eternity is not just something to think in the future. It's something that is right now. When we hear about having eternal happiness that means right now!!

 

Merry Christmas!

Hiiiii!!

Christmas is almost here! It's weird to think I've been in England for 4 months already. It's weird being on a mission during Christmas time because everything is so different. There's no snow, everyone has an accent, and in England they don't believe in Santa.... Just kidding haha but all the other stuff is true. Also you're not with your family, but it's ok because we are seeing loads of people. We have set up 9 meal appointments with members in Trowbridge just for the next 5 days..... Yeah I'm getting fat, but hey it's Christmas!

I hope you all are have a great Christmas! I hope you also remember why we celebrate too! Something that my mission presidents wife told us that their family does is they celebrate Christ's birth by giving him gifts. Not physical gifts, but commitments or actions. Their family on Christmas Eve all write down their gift to Jesus Christ in a book that they can look at to remind them. Examples she gave was study their scriptures daily for Him, find those who are in need and sacrifice time to help them for Him, and be a more loving family member for Him. This is something that I invite you to do. It doesn't have to be put into a nice book and it doesn't have to be in front of anybody, but I just try and think of something you can give him for Christmas.

I love you!

Miracles Are Real

We are currently teaching a guy named Glynn who has a heroin addiction. He has been addicted since he was a teenager and he has almost died from it. He has been trying to get completely clean for decades and we just recently we found him. We actually knocked on his door the day after he used heroin. We met him last week but this week we got to teach him and it was the best lesson I've had so far in my mission. We taught him the restoration and the spirit was so strong. He was craving the gospel. He has had one of the worst pasts I've ever heard of. He has faced so many different struggles and trials in his life including abuse, early parent death, and drug addiction. He is a single parent of two children, one of which is autistic. He has such a kind heart. When we taught him the first time the spirit was so strong and he really opened up to us! He was so receptive to the message and was eager to read the Book of Mormon. The 2nd time we came we brought Mike Turvey and he completely locked him in by telling his conversion story and ending with a beautiful prayer. He is reading daily and praying as well. We are going to baptize him on the 19th of December! We are so blessed to see that miracle! There are tons of Glynns out there searching for the gospel! When we told the zone leader they kept asking if we're sure he's going to make it because of the drugs. We told them we know he will be baptized because he wants to overcome his addiction through Jesus Christ and I know he can even though heroin is one of the worst drugs in the planet. I have such a powerful testimony that all things can be strengthened through Christ. I've felt it directly in my life and seen it work in others'.

Miracles are real.


Mormon 9:19-22


We found a midget house!


We went to Bath for p-day (new future travel destination)

It's freezing here in Trowbridge!! It got into the 30s this week and it is a very cold 30s here in England because there is always a bitter wind and it hurts the face. It's ok though, I'm going to buy a coat and hat today! We got transfer calls this week and me and Elder Slade are staying together for another 6 weeks! That means Christmas with the Turveys! We lost 2 investigators this week but all is well because we found two more and we are on our way to baptizing a family! Good things are happening this season. My favourite miracle this week would probably have to be knocking on a guys door named Glynn. We pretty randomly knocked in a street and the first person to answer was this random guy and the first thing he said was I have been meaning to call you guys. He then turned away walked inside and grabbed a really old chapel card and showed it to us. We talked for a while and we set up an appointment to meet with him tomorrow! It was so dang cool! 

My goal for this week is to have more sincere prayers. I've been study on the importance of the power of prayer recently and have found a couple crazy deep insights (alma 27:14). I want to be more sincere and faithful when praying to my Heavenly Father.

I'm am truly doing good aside from the fact that I am sick but I've gotten a lot better. Your prayers having been working big time! Me and my companion hit it off last night. We talked for two hours straight last night and I told him my conversion story and we just talked about life and it was so cool. We are doing so good!! Thank you for the prayers. Life this week was rough. So it gets dark very early here in England and in the winter there is a very cold windy rain that happens every day. Because of this I got really sick. Tuesday I had to stay inside all day and just sleep because I got the flu. My throat is still feeling it but I've gotten better for the most part.

The miracle this week is a woman named Eva. She is a lady we taught twice this week from Slovakia who was introduced to us by a member at church. She came to church a few weeks in a row actually. This week we finally got to have a proper sit down teach with her and she loves it. It's so cool to see people's feelings when they hear about the restored gospel. My favourite thing is teaching the plan of salvation because I think when most people hear it it just makes sense to them and it seems right. It really helps me be able to look back at the basics and see why I'm doing all this. It also helps me focus on what's really important and not worry so much about the things that aren't so important.

Our gift for the members and our investigators

Week of Miracles

My week has been so good. A few reasons for that! One, we had zone conference. Second, there were some amazing miracles. I'll say two of my favourite. First is Samuel and his family. So Samuel was a Romanian guy we met from Frome. We contacted him on the street on the way to catching the train. He said he was interested and we got his number and set up an appointment for a week later. When it came to the day we were supposed to meet we couldn't make it out to Frome due to a previous appointment going over. We kinda thought we lost him but we rescheduled for the following week and he said that we could meet in his brothers flat. We got excited thinking we would be able to teach both of them. When we got there, Sam was waiting for us at the bus stop. He lead us to his brothers flat which is above a shop and inside was his brother, his brother's wife, another brother, and a friend. We taught all of them and they all committed to reading the Book of Mormon and we have a return appointment with them next Thursday!

Second miracle. A few weeks ago we were walking to a place next to our house and ran into a guy and his son getting into the car. We talked to him and he said to come back to his house another day at 4 so we did on Friday. When we came over a girl about 14 years old answered the door and she got her mom to come. The mother was on the phone and when she saw us she hung up and started talking to us. So this completely random woman who we had never seen before and had no record of invited us in to show us something. She went to her purse and pulled out a little note. She got this note and explained a missionary just like us gave it to her about 8 years ago. The family is moving and while she was sorting through some old papers she found that note from an old missionary the very same day we knocked on her door. We talked for about an hour and she was such a kind woman who really loved speaking with us. We learned her oldest son had died less then a year ago, that's why they are moving. They want to get away from the bad memories because he died right before Christmas. He was killed in a drunk driving accident. Another thing we learned is her other son who is 14 loves America especially American basketball and never has anyone to play with. Also they are moving to another town within our area and we can help them with the move and still teach them. We felt the love and kindness this woman had and the real need this family has for the gospel. They are so prepared to hear the word and i can't wait to share it with them! The Lord's hand is definitely in everyone's life whether it is a missionary or a random lady finding an old note.
So at zone conference I learned so many powerful things that are really going to help me as a missionary. Over all I just want to be a more consecrated missionary. I want to do everything in my power to serve the Lord. One really cool spiritual insight I had is that faith can change our desires. The natural man desires a lot of things that are not in line with what God wants for us. As we have faith our desires or natural man can actually change. I've always heard how faith can move mountains. Well i was just thinking that doesn't have to literally mean mountains as in big land masses but it can be the mountains in our life that hinder our progression. I definitely have mountains that has slowed my progression but I learned that through faith i can move those mountains.

Oh another cool thing that happened to me this week is i was assigned to give a talk in sacrament yesterday and it was an open subject. I revolved my talk around the Matt 5:14-16 and a talk by Pres Uchtdorf "Summer With Great Aunt Rose". I prepared all week and wrote all my notes down on a notebook. When I was sitting on the stand right before my talk I realized I forgot my notebook... I was freaked out but I said a little prayer and when I gave my talk I felt completely guided by the spirit. I went in a different direction which the talk then what I prepared and I was so cool to feel the spirit just kinda take over!

Rugby Player Jonah Lomu!!

Zone Conference

It was a "treat yo self" kind of p-day

The Turveys have a shock therapy machine.. we turned it to 99 power

Peace and Happiness in Life

I'm am doing splendid. I'm loving England and the people here. A cool miracle I had was we had two different appointments and both of them cancelled and our backup plan was to go to the chapel and do something but we felt like we should knock on a random street before we went there. Door after door slammed into our face we finally found a person willing to talk. After 3 words into speaking I stopped and said "you look really familiar." I realized we had met her about a month before. We found her on the street one day in the centre of town. We taught her a little about the book Mormon and got a return appointment. She never actually made it to the appointment, which was at a park, and she didn't return any of our calls or texts. We kinda forgot about her but now we were standing in front of her. Turns our she got a new phone in between the time we met her and the time we were supposed to meet again. Our appointment had slipped her mind and she lost our number in the phone exchange. This sounds like a great excuse but it was legit. She gave us her new phone number, which works, and we have a return appointment at her house! The Lord is awesome!!

My week has been so blessed. I was told that while being a missionary you get many chances to do service. I always thought that this meant yard work or helping people carry their groceries in and things like that. Well people here in good ol' Trowbridge don't really like strangers helping them. We do however get to many opportunities to give people priesthood blessings. This week we got asked 3 different times to give people blessings. They were all people with health issues. One of them was Brother Turvey. He called us up around 10 in the morning laughing asking if we were busy. We said no and he said, "well I'm sorta on the floor and can't move... I think I slipped a disk in me back" so we rushed over and he's laying on his bedroom floor and he said to us "hello there chaps" in his bright pleasant manner he always talks in. He was cracking jokes the whole time we were there haha but we did administer to him a priesthood blessing and he was able to stand up and he saw a doctor and is recovering well now. I love being able to bless people and help in any way I can.

I love being a disciple of Jesus Christ and helping people who haven't been happy for a very long time find true peace and happiness in their life. It is so powerful and helps me a lot to see someone go from being in a dark place in life with only artificial and temporary happiness to being in a place where no matter what happens to them they have peace and can rely on a faith they slowly built that their Heavenly Father is there and loves them. It's something I don't always remember but can always find strength in. Heavenly Father is always eager to help us. We just have to ask and he is there.

Dinner at a French family's house = escargot! It was lush. Tastes like a mix of mushrooms and muscles

The Gospel is Great.

This week has been amazing!!! Rebecca got baptized and the service was so special. Brother Turvey baptized her and the spirit was so strong!. Afterwards she bore her testimony and it was so solid! She talked about how if it wasn't for the gospel and for the members in the ward then she wouldn't be here.  She said she isn't 100% in most things but she knows the the church is true and the Book of Mormon is true and that Christ is her Savior. Her testimony really strengthened mine. I think everyone is at that point in some regard. We're are not 100% on most things but as long as we push forward with faith in Christ we will be blessed and our faith will grow!
Recently I was listening to a talk by President Uchtdorf from the October 2009 General Conference entitled "The Love of God." I got some helpful personal insight. He says:

"My dear brothers and sisters, don’t get discouraged if you stumble at times. Don't feel downcast or despair if you don't feel worthy to be a disciple of Christ at all times. The first step to walking in righteousness is simply to try. We must try to believe. Try to learn of God; read the scriptures; study the words of His latter-day prophets; choose to listen to the Father, and do the things he asks of us. Try and keep on trying until that which seems difficult becomes possible--and that which seems only possible becomes habit and a real part of you."

I definitely have times where I feel "unworthy" to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, not from sinning but just because I feel inadequate. The words of this apostle strengthen me so much to know that all we have to do is try and when we try, with help from Christ, we will grow. He goes to to talk about how this gospel is centered around love. The first and second greatest commandments are love. We should show love to all, most importantly to those who are closest to us. Rebecca has expressed how we have shown her so much love and how it has helped her learn and grow in the gospel. 

My "high" of this week besides Rebecca getting baptized would be my personal and companion studies and just getting along with Elder Slade. We have been killing it this week as far as following the spirit and doing work. In my personal studies I was studying a lot about the atonement. Because it is the best subject ever! I'm actually just reading the Book of Mormon and highlighting anytime it mentions Christ. I have learned so so much!!! I feel like I'm really getting the scriptures now for the first time. An hour of personal study is way too short. My testimony of Christ grows every time I read the scriptures. I love how you can read the same thing 100 times and continue to learn every time. The gospel is great.

Poly Family!

General Conference!

My top 3 favourite were Jeffery Holland's talk about the sacred role of motherhood and how no love comes closer to the Savior's than a mother's love for her child. And then Vern Stanfil's talk about how sometimes we find ourselves in darkness and we can't make it through the tunnel just with our own light. We need to rely on the Savior's light to guide us and also the light of others. And then Elder Cook's talk about Bristol (which is the zone I'm in haha) I was actually in Bristol when I was watching that talk. But he said we need to be "ship shape and Bristol fashion." He talked about how to protect ourselves from the unseen danger of Satan and how Satan can hit us with unexpected temptations or trials at any time so we always need to have ourselves prepared. He talked about righteous self-control which I loved!

Watching conference as a missionary is so stinkin cool. I felt a lot more in tune with what was being said and I picked out some different things specifically for investigators but so much was for me. I need to continue to strengthen my own conversion to Christ so I can help others come unto Him. I loved the analogy by Elder Maynes about centering our clay because I love ceramics and it made me think a lot about myself. It's so hard to make a bowl on a potter's wheel if the clay isn't literally perfectly centered. If it's even the slightest bit off, the bowl will have imperfections and air bubbles.  It's funny because we had zone training with the mission president this weekend and I went on splits with the zone leaders. I was talking to my companion about how I feel like the mission wants us missionaries to be kind of like robots. They want to to always be exactly on time and say all the right things all the time and just be perfect. But I realized that in order to be 100% obedient we must have our lives centered on Jesus Christ or when we are obedient we will just feel like robots. We need to do things out of love for the Savior not just because we are told to. I'm not sure if any of that made sense haha.

Testimony of Christ

I have an unshakable testimony of Christ. I know that this gospel can make anyone happier no matter where they are in life. I wish people could just see how amazing it is and actually use it because then their lives would be so much better and they could have so much happiness. Being a missionary is different than I thought it would be. I thought I would put on the badge and transform into another person but I'm definitely still me. It's just as a missionary it's a lot easier to see the gifts I've been given the biggest one being the gift of the Holy Ghost. It's something I've always had but hardly ever used. I'm learning how to listen to the Holy Ghost and trust in Christ more then ever. I know that if I'm keeping the commandments and do what I should be doing i don't have to doubt whether or not i should be doing something or talking to someone. The spirit is my guide. It's such a powerful gift that all baptised people have. We just need to exercise the faith to follow what He's saying. I'm am eternally converted to Christ and His gospel. He is my strength and the reason I feel like the happiest person alive. 

A scripture I love that helps me through trials is  D&C 121:7-9

7 My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;

8 And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.

9 Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands.

"Thine afflictions shall be but a small moment." They may seem overwhelming now but they are going to make you into someone you never thought you could be, someone more like Christ.