week 67

So this is the last time you will hear from me before transfers lol, that sounds pretty dramatic.  YOU'LL NEVER HEAR FROM ME AGAIN! lol  So transfers are Monday this time, so the 29 of October. They have some fancy Mission President meeting on that Wednesday, so Pres. Rasmussen moved transfers. So you will hear from me either Monday or Tuesday! :) happy days.  So last week we had presidents interviews, but I asked President bluntly, "am i going to be here for the open house?" 
and he said, "well Elder how long have you been in Milford Haven now?" 
"9 months sir."  
"no probably not."  
So I'm planning on getting transferred Monday. So what will happen is on Saturday we will get the dodge (the what's up with everyone--who is leaving/staying/new comps, everything). So I have begun packing a bit so I don't have to stay up all night Saturday.  Because Sunday is Stake Conference in Merthyr Tydfill and then we are going to Abberystwyth.  So it's going to be a pretty crazy week.

The weather here is pretty bleek and boring now, about 14 degrees or so and in a couple of days its supposed to drop to about 7 degrees so that's about 45. It will be winter soon!  I love it!
Bro. Dickie is the man!  He is like 94 years old and still going strong!  Like today actually, he took us to see St. David's Cathedral.  It is a beautiful cathedral!  It was way fun!   

Brother Dickie is the oldest member of the branch.  He is a retired GP and he lives alone.  His wife
died a while back.  He goes to the temple 1 week every month.  He is just one of those awesome old funny guys everyone loves.  i don't have a picture of him because he hates pictures lol but when I get one I will send it.


So Milford Haven is seeing miracles.  We got a media referral and so we tried visiting and nothing. So we had a night of appointments and Bro. Dickie  was with us and all our appointments fell through. So we decided to stop by this referral and the mum answered and she was super excited.  She was like, "Oh I love your religion, I've read the Book of Mormon, you are all so pleasant!" And I'm like, "WHAT!!  GOLDEN!"  So she says, "let me go get my son, he was the one that wanted you to come." So he comes down, and this kid is 17 and elect!  The whole family is elect. Well the mum was busy speaking to dad so we taught the kid and invited him to be baptised and he sad YES!  We are seeing him tomorrow and we are going to put him on a date for the 1st of December!  Then we checked the building schedule for the 1st of December and it's free, so we booked it having faith he will say yes!  Oh man I'm sooooo excited!!!!  I'm not going to lie I'm kinda sad that the second we have a golden elect person I'm leaving.  But..this is how I feel.  I have been here 9 months, I've worked hard, and tried to find people.  Now the Lord led us to this elect kid and his family, and I'm so grateful for the opportunity and blessing I had to meet him, becasue it is proof to me that even in a really hard area when it seems "dead" that there are people prepared to hear the gospel and I saw that.  I saw and taught him because the Lord allowed me to, and now I can leave this area happy because I feel like I was led and guided and found the person the Lord wanted me to find.  So I don't need to see the blessings.  I
feel I have left this area better than when I found it so I'm happy.

The chapel is looking really good, it should be handed over the end of November!  Man I'm sooo excited for this area!  It's going to explode and not slow down for a long time! I'm so happy!

I'm loving my mission so far, I'm learning soooo much and trying now to apply and really build habits and my testimony in things by doing them1

week 66

Mission football WAS awesome.  I'm finally not sore anymore from it.  It took a while to recover.  Just a little about some of the other missionaries:  Elder D is from France, he is the district leader and he is pretty cool, he is way funny.  Elder P is
from Arizona and he is a stud and a way hard working missionary.  Sister L is from India!  That's pretty cool, I haven't met her, but she sounds legit.  We just have a way cool district, everybody gets along and loves each other!  It's brilliant!

So I learned how to play some songs on the ukelele.  I have a little collection of songs now. It's pretty awesome, because it's my mission uke-- all my companions have signed it!  So it's just a way cool memory of my mission.

Today is gonna be legit.  We are just gonna chill out, write some letters, clean, eat, sleep, and then tonight we are meeting with a couple of members and we're gonna play some squash, which is just like raquetball, except smaller.  And then have a FHE with the sickest family EVER!!  It's gonna be a good day.  

The chapel is looking soo good!  We get the keys the 23 of November!  It's just around the corner!  I'm soo excited for the branch, they deserve it and need it!

Things are good here, we are working hard and have some solid potentials.  We're going to see them all this week so it will be good.  Hopefully we can get one with a baptismal date.  it will be good!

I have learned that God truly does love us. Just like a parent who does all they can for their children and give them
opportunities to have a good life.  Well I know God is the same way.  He is our loving Heavenly Father,  he gives us opportunities to do things that will make us happy because when we are happy He is.  It's a fact.  In our white missionary handbook it says "your loyalty is first to the Lord, then to your mission president and then to your companion."   It keeps us focused.  If we're not focused on the list,  we can change our efforts a wee bit.

week 65

Sorry I didn't email yesterday.  It was the Thomas S Monson Transfer Football tournament (aka mission football)  so we were in Cardiff all day.  Man it was sooooo muddy because it poured that morning and then it was misty all day but it was so fun to play in--we all were soaked and covered in mud hahaha I scored 3 goals!  It was awesome!

Our little mission footy team!  We rock!!

So conference was awesome!  The announcement!  Oh man that is absolutely crazy.  Missionary work is being pushed so hard and do you know why?  Because it is an experience that will set you up for the rest of your life so they want everyone to have the chance.  I loved Quentin L Cook's talk in the Saturday morning session.  It was really good. That Saturday session really tugged on the ole heart strings and I was able to learn and receive some good insight.


So we left Haverfordwest Saturday morning and got to Cardiff, where the Zone Leaders picked us up and we chilled and got all ready for conference by making our food and stuff.  Then we went to the Saturday morning session at 5pm. hahaha crazy time change!  Then the Zone Leader's did a baptismal interview so we split up with some other missionaries and went out and did some finding.  That was really cool, and cold.  It is most definitely autum time because the leaves are changing colours and it is getting cold!

Then Sunday came and at 10 am we watched the Priesthood session live lol.  Then at 1:00 pm we watched the Saturday afternoon session, and at 5:00 pm we watched the Sunday morning session.  We cant see the Sunday afternoon session because it is at 9:00 pm, so that's kind of lame, but oh well it's a privilege to see what we can.

Monday morning we drove to Cardiff from Ponty Pridd, the ZL's area, and played footy from like 1130 to 1500.  We played hard, our little team of 12, and we got 3rd place out of 4.  Not bad, we could have gotten second but we had to
cut our last game short because we basically got kicked off the field.


I have learned on my mission, especially in the last 3 months or so, to just ask.  You never know what the answer might be--so you might as well just ask it anyway. 


So some news with our District. there are 3 new missionaries coming in on Wednesday. Mid-transfers, from Provo because they had to learn English.   So here is how our district is now:
New Castle-                  Llanelli-

Sister Lafevre                Elder Parham
Sister Benson                Elder Destriboui(DL)

Abberystwyth-                Milford Haven-
Elder Mucca                   Elder Dutton
Elder Quilter                   Me


Since last night was a mid transfer dodge night, here is our new district:
New Castle-                  Llanelli-
Sister Lafevre                 Elder Parham
Sister Lewis                    Elder Kulows

Abberystwyth-                Milford Haven-
Elder Mucca                   Elder Dutton
Elder Destribuoi(DL)     Me

So Elder Destriboui just moved areas in the same district and Sister Benson is opening a brand new area and training a new Sister missionary from Armenia! And they are on bikes! hahaha its absolutely crazy!  

All is well here, we are working hard to get a baptism still this transfer.  I know this week will be good, I'm pumped to be effective, smart, and work hard this week and see what happens.  We are trying this week to hit standard of excellence and hit all of our goals!  It is going to be a good week for sure!

Tomorrow we have a Zone meeting in Swansea, so that will be good.  The Zone leaders will teach us a bit and train us so that will be good!

It's been a good week!  And it will only get better!

week 64

The weather here is... hmmmm...., it's raining and getting cold and soon it will be freezing.  Hahaha oh well it's autumn now so we will prep for a cold winter.

Things are good here.  The chapel is looking amazing and everyone is sooo excited to get in it.  We were able to get a new investigator.  She seemed really excited, well so I heard because I was on exchanges when it happened, which is how it always seems to go down hahaha.  Good things happen when I'm on exchange lol.  But it's all good, she is busy for about a week so we won't be able to see her til next week.  Things are good we just need to find someone to teach this week because I think I told you that this transfer is the Thomas S. Monson transfer.  The goal is to baptise 1 this transfer so we really need to find that person this week so I'm putting everything to God.

For Conference on Saturday and Sunday we are going to Abberystwyth again for the weekend and spend the night with the elders there.  It will be a good week.

I know that this area is being blessed, and i have learned that it isn't about me receiving the blessings, but the area receiving them because the people need it.  This area is being blessed, a chapel, excitement, and then missionaries will reap like crazy!


It will be sooo good!

week 63

I'm still in Milford for the 6th transfer so at the end of this it will be 9 months in this area.  Unfortunately if I do get transferred on October 31st I will miss the opening of the chapel, but its alright because we don't ever really see the ending result in this life anyway.  We work and work and work then in the next life we see it and how much joy will we have when we do.

I'm working on improving myself, one thing i working on is saying better more meaningful prayers that are guided by the spirit.  If I pray with the spirit he will tell me what to say and I will know that is the will of God.  I'm working on working smarter.  I think and feel I am a hard worker but if I can now work smarter as well that will help.  So many things i want to learn and apply.  It's ok i have time. I want to get in habits of doing things that way when I come home I can still do these things.

Well that lady we found because I wrote down the wrong address is moving back home to North Wales, which is out of our area and out of our mission.  That's ok, we are going to see her tonight and get her details so we can refer her to the elders up there, then she leaves tomorrow.  i hope she continues to progress and wants to learn more.
We got a media referral the other day actually.  Basically if you go on mormon.org you can request a missionary visit and it goes to SLC and then distributes to missions, then to missionaries. so we got one who lives in a small town/village about 30 minutes away.  So we called him and I can't tell if he is a nonmember or a Less active but we are seeing him
tomorrow night so we will find out for sure.  He said he really wants to come back to church so whether he is a member or not, he wants to come to church which is the important bit.


This transfer is dedicated to Thomas S Monson because October will mark 49 years of being an apostle. So everyone in the mission is setting a goal to baptise once this transfer, so that is our goal and I know we can accomplish it!
So we are going to rely on God, work smart and work hard and we will be blessed with a baptism.

My mission is shaping me and giving me these experiences and trials because I have a sneaking suspicion that I will have similar trials later so God is preparing me for that.  I am grateful I came on a mission. The experiences, the friends the memories I have had are amazing and I will never forget them. Tell your seminary kids to go on missions because it is the best decision they will ever make in their life.  It will give them 40 years of life experience crammed into 2
years,  it will make them better than when they left and they will see the change and be grateful for the opportunity they had to be shaped by the Lord.  It is an amazing experience.

week 62

The library internet is under the works so we went to the senior couples home to email.  

This has been a long week, but the Lord is for sure blessing us.  Well so here is the news-- I'm staying in Milford Haven with Elder Dutton so I'll be here for another 6 weeks the next transfer day is 31st of October--Halloween transfer!

It has been good here.  We are working hard and more importantly trying to work a lot smarter. We are trying to be more productive and plan better and be more organised and it is paying off.    It's all about on Friday weekly planning set up all your teaches, dinners, everything then over the next couple of days confirm and get people to come teaching with you, then Sunday confirm the fellowshippers, then your week is set.  It's perfect!  so that's what we are going to do this transfer and we are going to see success.

So here is the update of what has been happening.....

Last week we had a zone meeting and training in Swansea so that was good.  

We have been doing loads of finding trying to find people to teach. 

We have been able to do a couple of service projects for some members

more finding and

more finding

I have learnt on my mission that no matter how much you go out and work if the desire to go out and work and the right attitude isn't there then to be honest your just wasting your time and the Lord's time.  So I have prayed everyday to have a better desire, a better attitude, to be happy, be filled with love, and have faith.  i feel those are the most important qualities we can develop.

On monday we stopped by this potential with a member and we pulled up to the house and I realised I had wrote down the wrong address. and so we were like oh well let's knock it, so we did, and this lady and her sister let us in and we had a lesson and we are going to go back tomorrow and they want to come to church!  The Lord is blessing us for sure!  

Then we spent all day in Pembroke Dock an area about 1 hour away on bike so we bike out there and spend all day and get 5 potentials and a couple of those are families!!! Miracles are happening.

In district meeting we talked about families and how the gospel can bless them and how most of our drive to be on a mission is because of our families and how the gospel has blessed us.  So we are striving to find a family to teach.  So our goal is by the end of Sunday to find a family!  We want it soooo bad!  

Things are good here. I love this area, I love the people, I'm trying my best to love my companion, and I want to see success-- but something we always have to look at is why do we want success, is it for recognition or because we want to bring children of God back.  

I love my mission, even though it can be hard, I have learnt some of the most valuable life lessons ever!!!  I will appreciate my mission forever and everything that it has taught me.  

week 61

Here is a shout out to Cameron for the blog.

Hey Cameron!  It's Michael!  I love you and hope you have an amazing birthday!

Hey Katie!  I miss you and hope you are loving school and Girl Scouts! 

On my mission I have gained a strong testimony that everything that happens, God has a role in it. I know that to be true.  Our agency and God's plan, and desire to help us return to live with him is what composes our life really.  It's amazing though because for me it gives me an opportunity when something amazing happens to say thanks Heavenly Father and when things don't work out I can say alright Heavenly Father what was I supposed to learn from that, and I know its all part of his plan.  My goal for the remainder of my time left on my mission is to build a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father.  I want to be able to trust and rely on Him at all times.  I want to be able to know he is hearing and answering my prayers and i want to be able to recognise the answers.  That is my main goal before i come home. 

I have studied the war chapters in the Book of Mormon and I love them!  I know that when i pray for something 50% of the time my answer comes through reading the Book of Mormon.  Someone said that praying is us speaking to God and reading our scriptures is us allowing God to speak to us.  

I have to give a talk next Sunday on Coming unto Christ, and my approach to it is to come unto Christ through his atonement and sacrifice, being made clean through him and being able to push a reset button in a way.  

Things are good here.  im learning patience, love, charity, dilligence, perserverance, hard work, hope, faith, trusting in God, and sooooooooo much more but i am soo grateful for the decision i made to serve a mission.  God is literally our father, he loves us, and cares about us.  Jesus is the Christ and Saviour and redeemer of the world and through him we can return to live with our Father and families.  I know the atonement of Jesus Christ is real!  i have seen it work in others' lives but more importantly in my own.  You feel our Saviour's love and you know he knows exactly what you're going through.  

week 60

Michael giving a Book of Mormon to a squirrel

You have no idea, well you probably do, but post makes my day!  I love it soo much. 

 

This week was a trying week yet again.  We find all day, every day, hoping that someone will want to listen. Then by the grace of God on Saturday we found someone.  She is mid to late 20's with a little son.  She was really interested in the plan of salvation.  We were able to leave her with a Book of Mormon and she said we could come around next Saturday, so I'm looking forward to Saturday! 

Weird beware signs

Floating bikes

I was able to bear my testimony yesterday and I know that Heavenly Father knows and loves each one of us.  He is concerned for us.  "We are the very reason that there was an atonement and that there is a plan of salvation and exaltation." Elder Holland.  I have learned that we laugh at the Lamanites and their eternal pride cycle and we laugh at Laman and Lemuel and how daft they were. But I have noticed how much of a Laman and Lemuel I am and can be and how my pride cycle can sometimes spin faster than the Lamanites.  We are quick to point at others and don't notice that we have it as well.  I know my pride cycle is whizzing around and I'm constantly either humbling myself or unfortunatley for me being humbled.  I am trying my best to really be a Nephi.  When asked to do something just to have a good attitude in doing it.  It's not a difficult thing to do but it becomes hard when something hard is placed in front of us. 

We had Zone Conference and Elder Donaldson of the area 70 came and spoke to us and he gave us a formula that fits in with this.  DESIRE=FAITH+ATTITUDE=ACTION  so our desire is shown by our faith and attitude and if we have both then we can really transform our desires into realities.  I thought that was so cool because you see it.  It is an amazing thing, I love it.

 

Most of the time we cook for ourselves, which involves pasta and sausages and pasta sauce or rice and chicken with curry sauce.  But members feed us pulled pork sandwiches, mexican food, lasagne, spaghetti bolonase.  It's all good food.  

 

I've learnt so many things on my mission.  I dont know if so far on my mission ive done any good for others but one thing is for sure, i learnt to trust in god and know that He loves us and is always watching out for us.  

 

week 59

Hahaha nope never a dull moment in the mission field!    I love President Rasmussen he is the man! He loves EVERYBODY!!! And he is just an example to me on how to have charity.  And how we find happiness and joy through love and charity. I was reading in Alma 43-44 today and I need to trust in god and do all I can to develop love.  So that is my goal.  We have a zone conference tomorrow so we will see him and Elder Donaldson of the Seventy come and speak to us.  

Well we are finding all day everyday and it's not going anywhere to be honest.  It's pretty dry at the moment.  We are trying our best and coming up with new ideas but it's difficult.  The members are amazing they are so supportive and willing to come out with us which is more difficult because we don't have anyone to teach so it's just stop by potentials and knock em out.  

I don't have any pictures really lol I'm sorry. I'll take more this week and send loads next week is that alright, plus I'm emailing from a members iPad because today is a bank holiday so the library is closed lol iPads are awesome!!!!  

Instead of pictures how about a testimony:

I know this church is true.  The gospel of Jesus Christ can bless our lives.  I have the strongest testimony of the amount of love God has for each and every one of us.  He really does love us and wants us to be happy.  The atonement of Jesus Christ can change lives and I've learnt that we can use the atonement for really anything that causes us pain or suffering.  It has a power behind to heal and cleanse from anything and everything.  I love our Saviour for the sacrifices he has made, is making and will make for me.  It is an unending line of me owing him everything I have but I love it, because It testifies of all the things Christ does for me.  I love this gospel, through it we can really come to know and love our Saviour which I feel I have come to do.  

week 58

Over the past couple of weeks our luck has taken a turn for the worse and anything and everything that could happen that is bad, has happened.  We constantly miss trains, the tracks flood so they dont even run, appointments flogg us, people dont even stop on the street to chat, and more.  I'll go into detail for this one.

So I'm on exchanges with the District Leader and we are coming back from Camarthen to Haverfordwest and we miss our train because we went to talk to someone. So the elders in Abberystwyth come pick us up, we detach the bikes and throw them in the boot and drive to Milford Haven to a dinner appointment.  The dinner appointment goes fine and we bike up to some potential investigators to stop by and do a bit of tracting.  None of the potentials are home and it's off and on rain all night with the strongest wind ever, I almost got knocked of my bike a couple of times.  So we get done knocking and we try to unlock the bike lock and it isn't working hahaha great!  So we get kind of frustrated, say a prayer, and continue knocking doors then come back, note our train leaves in about 45 minutes, we try again and nothing.  So we look around trying to find something and we look over and see oil sitting on the pathway so we run over grab it and pour it on the lock, try again nothing.  Then this man is walking by and we say,  "sir do you have any bolt cutters or a saw we are trying to get our lock off."   And he's like "don't you have a key?"  probably thinking we are dodgy chavs trying to knick these bikes haha.  But he says "hold on a second" and he comes out with a saw and 30 minutes later he has successfully sawed through my lock hahaha.  So we bike fast to the train station and miss it by minutes, so we are like wow! what more can happen, boom rain, haha.  Then we bike to the senior couples home and fortunately they were able to give us a lift home. Then the bad luck continued the next day when we were supposed to switch back but the tracks flooded so we were stuck hahaha oh man its been crazy. 

The Lord has been saying hey muppet did you forget about me, I can do anything!  Ask me for some help in finding people, because I can guide you to mine elect!  The Lord rebukes but shows his loving kindness through a man with a saw and the senior couple who was so willing to give us a lift home.  We are going to be more bold with the Lord in our prayers.  We are going to expect to see miracles and do our best and then tell the Lord we are going to work hard, speak to everybody and be dilligent and obedient.  I know we are going to see miracles this week in Milford Haven!  God is going to guide and lead us to his prepared children and we are going to see miracles. 

I know that Jesus is the Christ and through him we can gain salvation.  Through the atonement we can find peace and happiness.  Heavenly Father is our father and loves and cares for us enough to allow trials to happen so we can learn and grow.  i know this gospel is true because Satan is working hard to make sure it doesn't move forward.  We are at war and we need to stand up and say enough is enough, we need more than ever to be Captain Moronis and Ammons and Aarons and Amuleks and stand for the truth and rely upon God!  I know that God loves us and desires our happiness and all we have to do is simply follow his commandments and we will find hidden happiness we never thought was possible.  I know this church is true and that the gospel was restored through the prophet Joseph Smith and the plan of redemption is a pathway to happiness.  Just like jeffrey R Holland said,  "I testify we are all individually loved of God.  We are praised and prayed for by the leaders of this church we are the very reason there is a plan of redemption and exaltation." 

I feel I have learnt so much on my mission but a couple things I've learnt is to love the scriptures becuase as we read them we really can find answers and feel that God is speaking to us.  I learnt to trust in God and rely upon him for direction because im 20 years old, I have no idea what im doing or where I'm going, but he does so I need to turn to Him for help because I can't do it alone. 

We are having a zone meeting Wednesday and I'm way excited for that, we also have 5 DAs this week a record breaker! 

week 57

The new companion is happy, and I think he is adjusting.  He came out pre-trained, he knows a lot already.  I need to study charity and humility and patience and love because i have realised that I'm lacking in those things.  I don't really know how to explain it, training is difficult but it is a growing experience for sure.

We have one pretty good investigator we are hoping will progress.  I'm excited for her.  She is from Scotland and she has the two cutest kids in all the world haha.  We are seeing her on Tuesday. 

We are not just placed in our jobs or neighbourhoods, or friend groups or areas and companionships for no reason, we are here because we can influence someone or ourselves grow and learn.   I hope that I can make a difference in someone's life and I hope and pray that I can influence someone for the better 

I know that Satan is at work the hardest when you are close to where you need to be.  He knows that the work I'm in, and where I'm at is exactly where im supposed to be!  So he is going to work as hard as he can to slow down that work and to stop me.   I know the only way stop him is to get on our knees and earnestly plead with the Lord and then get up, change, and go and do, having faith that God will provide opportunities for us to get what we asked for. 

We are just busy trying to find people that will listen to what we have to say.  People that want to find happiness and to look into the church. 

week 56

I have loads of pictures because I wasn't sure if I was leaving:

Michael and the Williams family

Michael and the Prior family 

Michael and Alex Edge

Michael with the Prior and Edge families

Well transfers came and are gone.  We got the call Monday night and I am staying in Milford Haven.  Elder Brewer is leaving to Cheltenham to be a Zone Leader, and I am training a new missionary.  I'm excited for the chance I have to train, i just hope I don't mess up too badly.  I will do my best, because that's all anyone asks for.  So we got home around 10:30 last night and I was dead tired, and he was as well, he had gotten up at 4:30 that morning.  Poor kid.  But he really is the man and I'm glad I have the opportunity to serve with him. 

Michael and Elder Dutton

So my boy is Elder Dutton from Riverton, Utah near Draper.  He is the mans mans man.  He ran track and cross country in high school and went to UVU for a year before the mission.  He is excited to work and get going!  I'm excited for him as well, he is a good lad!  I am super nervous, but excited as well.  It will be a good experience that will definitely force me to stretch and grow.  I'm excited for the things that will happen in these upcoming transfers together. 

Sometimes we think we are not qualified enough or experienced enough, but the Lord knows exactly what we need, and maybe we are unqualified for most of the job, but one part we will be really good at and we will excell!  The Lord knows and loves us and wants our happiness!

week 55

New Testament will be so much fun to learn and teach, I absolutely love it, I just finished reading Matthew and it's brilliant, you can feel Christ's love for the people in the way he teaches them. 

Things are pressing on.  We really don't have anybody to teach, we have one pretty good potential but she is out of town this week so we can't teach her.  We are just finding all the time and trying to find the elect.  Yesterday we had this guy come up in our face and say "show me God!"  We were like well the earth is a creation of God.  He was like "no! show me God!"  We were like mate I can't show you physical proof.  He says let me show you something, so he takes of his sunglasses and drops them, "there is gravity, proof"  I wanted to say, show me gravitiy!  I want to physically see gravity.  You can't show me gravity just like I can't show you God.  It takes faith that gravity is there just as much as it takes faith God it there.  But I didn't, I just walked away because he was too angry and hard-hearted to listen to anything I was gonna say. 

So we didn't have church yesterday, that's the second time that's happened on my mission.  Since the chapel isn't built yet, we are renting a hall and they called and said they were doing construction on the hall so it would be out of use Sunday.  I was like wow the same time we meet, and have met for like 30 years, rubbish.  So we went around and gave the sacrament to some people--it was an interesting day.  

The Lord puts these trials in front of us to help us grow and build.   I've learned to perservere and to be happy and that there is no point being down and sad because it's only causing yourself misery, so be happy!  The best lessons are learned the hardest ways.

Bike Ride on the way to Broad Haven

week 54

We had a heat wave the past couple of days, it's supposed to roll into this week, but right now it's looking pretty cloudy.  So we will see.

The teaching pool is negative 5 right now, no I'm mucking about. We don't have any proper investigators, we have a couple of good potentials that we are trying to get to new investigator status but we are just not sure.  We are speaking to everybody.  Some days it's good and others no one wants to even say hello.  The sun kind of helps a little so I like it!  We did some painting for this one bloke, who is having us around tonight!  So that looks promising.  We are just speaking to people, doing service and just trying to have faith in Jesus Christ and hope that everything is going to work out for the best.  It is rough some days when no one says hello, not a door opens, but it becomes all worth it when you keep pushing through and you meet someone really cool.  

So a dodgey story: we were biking home from church, which is about 8 miles, and we were cruisin' down this hill.  We get to this roundabout, a tiny one, and there is no one there but one car in front of us and the car is slowing down and then it stops completely.  I'm behind it and I pull the brakes and I'm getting closer to this car, and my back tyre slides out and I go drift onto the footpath.  Elder Brewer is cruising down and screams to me elder b my brakes dont work move, so I scooted like an inch and he whizzed by.  in the meantime this lady is still sitting at the roundabout so we bike off.   Thanks to Heavenly Father and good brakes we got away unscratched and alright.

(I had asked Michael about a word I read in a newspaper article--whinging and this was his response: "yea they use that and these words too

minging-gross

muckin about- messin around

gobsmacked- shocked

lad/bloke- man"

All is well here!

week 53

I have been a missionary for 1 year now.  It is absolutely crazy how fast it has gone, and how incredibly fast it will continue to go.  I have learned so much over this year and now comes the application part, I need to apply what I have learned and that's when I can become the best missionary I can be. 

We have been working so hard and everybody has dropped, about 99% of our teaches flogg us, it's just been difficult. I am so grateful for my mission and the experiences and opportunities I have had because even though many have been hard, a lot have been joyful.  And 1 joyful experience balances out with 10 bad ones.  But all these experiences, bad and good, have shaped me and helped me to become a better person.  I am so grateful for that because of those experiences I have learned a little more about the Saviour and how he works with me and how through him I can find happiness. 

One lesson I have learned that means more to me than anything is God is our loving Heavenly Father.  What is important to us BECOMES important to him.  The things that we want and need, he wants to give to us if we work for it.  We just have to be patient and trust in God.   We are just working hard and trying to trust in God a little more than we have been. God works in mysterious ways but if we just give ourselves to him the mysteries of God will be unfolded.

week 52

The sky on the way home from Zone Conference

We had Zone Conference and interviews with President Rasmussen.  They have a son on a mission in Nashville Tennessee, and I realised that I know their son Tyler!  We went to BYU-I together and I had a class with him.  I feel President is going to be fairly strict. At Zone conference he whipped out the white handbook and told us some things he feels are important.  He seems like a good, loving man.  At interviews we had a good chat and he just wanted to know more about me and things and he said I'm glad you have a year left we can get to know each other really well.  He told me "Elder Barton the Lord has big and great things for you to accomplish in this next year so keep working hard and you'll see the blessings."  Here is a little fact for you, at the moment 60% of the mission has been out under 6 months.  We are such a young mission. I'm probably in the top 20% if not higher.  It's crazy, so I have a feeling that this will be my last transfer in Milford and I'll get moved to another area with a younger missionary because President wants to spread us around and take advantage of the older guys.  It will be good.

Unfortunately I have sad news about the family we were teaching.  The husband completely hardened his heart toward the gospel.  The tithing thing really stuck and he wouldnt let us read from the Book of Mormon when we saw them last or anything, so we won't be seeing them for the time being.  We are going to sit back and let them figure it out and we will pop by in a couple of weeks to see what's up.  So back to the drawing board.  We are finding loads which is hard because your results are pretty slow for a while, but then suddenly boom 20 new investigators.  We have a couple of teaches tonight and then tomorrow from noon til 1730 we have a teach every hour hahaha we will be packed with people.  I have faith that they will all keep their appointments!  

As we study the gospel we gain knowledge, but I've learned the best and quickest way to gain a testimony of the gospel is to live it.  As we live the principles, we come to know they are true.  That is why, as missionaries, we invite people to do things to build their faith. Because even though reading will help, if they live a principle it means more and lasts a lot longer.  And as we live a principle we gain a piece of the puzzle and slowly our puzzle starts to form around the edges and then we fill in the middle pieces because those are a lot harder to get. 

The rain is still coming in (wettest June in history!).  Right now it is like a really thick blanket of mist so I feel like you get wetter that way, but its all part of the experience.  We are already getting tourists down from all over the place because Pembrokeshire is so beautiful.  There are alot of caravan parks here so we usually have some tourists.  And since it's supposedly summer, the surfers are here and the caravan parks are full and people are coming for the Olympics!  It's gonna be crazy!  

A castle in Aberystwyth

Another castle in Aberystwyth