Christmas and Such

Well this week is kinda a blur. Mostly because not much happened and I

had a nasty cold. People tend to be busy this time of year, not sure

why 😉. So because of this Christmas season we didn't have any

lessons... lots and lots of walking. This past week our zone focus was

to contact all investigators who have been to church. We have about

16, ranging from 6 years old to a couple months. Positive contacts

from a few!!! Which was nice. Wednesday we had a multi zone Christmas

party. Leeds zone, Huddersfield zone, Sheffield zone, Hull zone.

Wednesday also happened to be the peak of my cold. Chills, headache,

sore throat, cough with phlegm. The whole shebam, got it all. So that

really sucked. Not to mention they ran out of food. And we happened to

be at the back of the line so I was also hungry :/ but Thursday turned

up a little tea at a recent converts house! She's the best.  Her name is

Sue and she house shares with Roger, our long term investigator. No

lesson was taught but we answered his questions about the things that

confuse him in the church. Now Christmas Eve... president allowed us

to stretch the 1 hour tea rule to 2 hours. But our tea appointment

wasn't until 3pm so we had quite a bit of the day to fill. We decided

to knock on investigators doors and wish them a merry Christmas. Super

stellar weather, rain coming down sideways with the nice wind. Walked

45 minutes and our pants were absolutely soaked. First door and he was

a bit surprised but was soooooo nice.  He let us in and made some strong Asian

ginger honey tea and some mini rhubarb pie :))) Our tea was a traditional English Christmas meal. Turkey, mash, stuffing, sausage, gravy, carrots, rolls, bread sauce and breaded potatoes! Yummy for sure! 2 recent converts were also invited. They have a very special spirit.  One

that is eagerly looking for more; for the pure joy that can only be

found in the gospel.  

Christmas Day was different. Church was sacrament meeting only and we

did reading of the nativity and songs.  We spent the afternoon at a members house, 

and had an unusual Christmas dinner. Steak and chips (fries) and some funky 

Portuguese desserts.  I'm not complaining because it was delicious!! Skypd the 

fam as well.

Time is flying by! It's crazy how time works. Thank you to everyone who has

supported me with emails letters and even packages. So greatful!  

Love you all!! Chat in the new year ;)

Elder Pilling

Sent from the land of lads

Time is flying

Hey everyone,

Time is flying by. Happy 2 months!  Couple rough weeks in there but

things are good in Beverley (hills). I found some bikes at the

house!!!! They were in a back room. They had flat tires but I pumped

em up and tuned them. We rode them for 1 night, Monday night. We rode them

to the other side of Beverley which is usually 35 min walk.  It took maybe 10

minutes on the bikes. It was sooooooo good feeling the wind. But the

seat hurt my companions bottom and he prefers walking so we

haven't ridden them since. 

This week we were able to to teach some

recent converts for family home evening at the Turners which was

really fun. Also, we had the ward Christmas party on Saturday which was so

relaxing.  We were able to spend quality time building relationships with ward

members. Sunday the choir (which I am a member of)  sang which I

love!! Song brings a special, powerful spirit to any meeting. Sunday we

had a Christmas lunch with my favourite members. Yummy food!! And good

company. Some recent converts were also invited. My favourite part is

seeing a testimony grow. Wether it's a recent convert or long time member. The

happiness the gospel brings is beyond explanation. I challenge

everyone reading to read 1 thing gospel related per day. And slowly

grow your testimony. A talk or ensign article or scriptures.

Start your day off with prayer. I can testify that as you do these

things you will be happier and you will find more joy in life. As

Christmas gets close I wish all back home a merry Christmas. Hope you

all stay safe. Stay warm. And of course have loads of fun!

Scripture of the week Matthew 10:39.  Enjoy your week everyone!!!! Also

I thank all who have supported me and uplifted me and influenced me to

serve a mission. I know this is where I am needed and I know this is

where I need to be. Thank you.

With love,

Elder Pilling

Sent from the land of lads

Sprockers and Roosters

First, we got transfer calls Saturday night and we are both staying in

Beverley for the next transfer which is 7 weeks.

This week was slooooow only had 1 lesson with our investigator Steve.

So the attitude took a hit and things were not so awesome. But

Heavenly Father knows ME and he blessed me in a few ways. Wednesday at

our lesson with Steve, there was puppy, a sprocker which is a

spaniel cocker mix. Approx 1 year old and the cutest thing ever.

Literally cuddled on my lap for a whole hour haha. He was pretty much

all brown with a touch of white on his neck. His temper was so similar

to Oly 🐶. Tuesday we went on exchanges with some lads serving in

Hull. They travelled up to Beverley Monday night and so that was a good

change. I went with an Elder Tsosie, a quiet guy from Utah. He is new as

well, just 1 transfer ahead of me. We knocked doors and met a lady

named Courtnie who accepted a Book of Mormon and was interested in

learning more, so we set up a return appointment. The day was really

slow but we did have a tea appointment and those are always sooo good.

Wednesday we continued to do some finding and didn't have much

success BUT a small blessing from Heavenly Father. If you've been a

missionary you know that you usually have to find your own bathrooms,

so we were wandering through an estate and found a field to take a wee

and of course a big rooster pheasant was pecking in the sunlight :)

Those small things just make the day way better. Our week continued

and we had our return appointment with Courtnie and we were able to

talk more about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. She made a goal

for baptism with us January 6 :) More finding on Friday and on

Saturday we travelled north to a town called Driffield where we did

tons of knocking and lots of people talked with us which was nice. Amongst

all this finding, we met a boy about 13 years old who has caught the

fishing bug and he goes fishing 4-5 times a week. He is bait fishing but who cares

hahaha. He had a 16" brown trout in the net when we showed up!!!!! And

continued to catch another 14" when we were watching him. He prefers

carp on floating bread (I guess similar feeling to dry fly fishing

haha) but he caught these browns on worms. 

Today we spent the day in Hull where there are many shops and stuff. My companion loves tie

shopping so we did that all day. Not very much time to email. I am

warmer here than you guys back home haha. I am officially acclimatized.

I haven't worn thermal underwear for almost 2 weeks and usually just

wear my Patagonia sweater out. Hope u all have a wonderful week. I

should have way more time to email next week.  

I can testify that God knows us personally and God answers our prayers. So my advice is to pray and talk to him.  Let him help you in your life. He is eagerly awaiting the call for help. Life is difficult but it can be better with God's help.  Love you all very much. Thank you for the support and prayers.

Elder Pilling

Sent from the land of lads

Fruits

Well it's my first bday in the field. It has been good. But this last

week has been incredible. I don't even know where to start. On Tuesday

we were street contacting and met a guy who lived in Utah for 3 months.

We were like, oh neat. Asked him if he has ever met missionaries and he

said he used to fix the sister missionary's bikes....... He's a semi

retiree pro mechanic...... After some more chatting turns out there's

a handmade ti bike frame company here in tiny Beverly!!!! He rides one

and said he'd show it to me. He does about 3-4,000 miles a year. Super

cool. He promised I could check out his bikes sometime. 

Fast forward to Thursday. We decided to knock on a lady's house who we had met my

first week. Quick chat on the doorstep about the plan of salvation

pamphlet, and we invited her to church.  She asked us to send a reminder

text on Sunday. Pause this story for a second. Friday we had the

opportunity to do some service for a couple in the ward. We moved a

ton of furniture around and they fed us lunch. It was THE BEST sandwich

I've ever had. They also invited us for tea later that day :) Upon

further bonding, some of their very good friends moved to Canada.

Alberta. Okotoks. Yes a second family from Beverly to Okotoks. The last name is Collins.

Spencer Collins. If you talk to them, let them know the Pashleys say hi. 

At tea we were chatting about American food and drinks. Turns out 

root beer is quite rare here which I didn't

know. But brother Pashleys quite enjoys root beer. He asked us if we

had ever tried Bunderburg root beer.... Mentioned it's an Australian

company. For those of you who don't know, that brand is my favourite

root beer and my favourite drink. He shared a few bottles with us.

On Sunday, the bishop blessed his new baby so for logistical

reasons he switched the meetings around so sacrament meeting was last.

Elder Blonquist and I were passing the sacrament so we didn't get a

chance to see if Alisha and her son came. Well THEY CAME TO CHURCH. So

because of the baby blessing there were easily twice as many people

there, so that was a little different. And bishop fed the entire ward

kinda a linger long deal. So Alisha and her son Adrian experienced an

extra cool sacrament meeting. Hoping to meet with her again later this

week. 

We have this little area close to our house where we have a few

potentials. Every Sunday we spend the day trying to contact them and

knocking on doors in the area. It's the 3rd Sunday we have done this

and every time there's a couple, Tony and Jen, who have been busy every

time we try and visit. This week they were literally headed out the

door BUT they invited us back next week for tea and a lesson!!! We

have never talked for more than 5 min with them haha. This never

happens here,

like ever. So the fruits of this week are; a titanium bike

mechanic guy, Bunderburg root beer, investigator at church, and tea

from a potential.... Today (my birthday) I got a haircut and some jam

filled doughnuts from Cooplands  (so good). And bought some root beer

😜 I think we will get my first fish and chips this week as well :)

Thank you to everyone who sent a letter or package or card. So so

blessed. Garry family, Steed family, Carmen and Kelly, Brad and Kelly,

Brad, Toni, Carmen and Kelly. Elder and Sister Garry, Grams and

Jack, Clair :) Once I figure out how this post stuff works and stuff

I'll send a return. I love getting mail btw. But I have transfers next

week so maybe don't send to my flat until you know 100% I'm staying

here.

Some random guy fishing

Bunderburg Rootbeer (Cale's favorite)

Elder Pilling

Sent from the Land of Lads

#lighttheworld

Hello!

#lighttheworld.  This is the best initiative. Go to Mormon.org to see more. I would like to challenge everyone to do this. It's 25 days and 25 ways to be like Jesus. They have suggestions for each day. I challenge you to pick the hardest one for you on each day and do it. It will help you grow to love Jesus Christ and all he has done for us. It's a magical time of year :) and the best time of year to be a missionary.

This week has been slower on the teaching side of things but we had zone conference. The lower 4 zones met in Leeds. It was awesome.  Six hours on a church bench...not awesome. I learned so much. We taught 3 preach my gospel lessons this week (that's not very many). Spent tons of time knocking doors! Like everyday all day haha.  My favourite part has got to be the fact that you never know what their response will be haha. I am happy. I got so many packages and letters thank you So Much!!! I feel so loved. We also had stake conference yesterday. President Turvey and Sister Turvey attended which was nice. I sang in the choir Saturday night session. It was super good. Some interesting talks were given. The leadership speak with some serious power which is a bit different than what I'm used to.

My spiritual thought for the week comes from my notes and thoughts throughout the week:

God has prepared us for our challenges. He is there to help us so pray and use his guidance. Nothing God expects us to do is too hard. Ask and he shall receive. Study the scriptures. I can testify that as you pray and study the scriptures no temptation or struggle is too great. We have the atonement in our lives to help us so we must use it daily. It will bless us. I love this gospel and love our saviour and redeemer Jesus Christ.

It was a bit warm this last week. But supposed to be really cold tomorrow. It also hasn't rained very much :) I'm looking forward to the week, it should be good. I see at least 5 springer spaniels a day and at least 1 broken down Rover hehe. This week I've seen an orange Lambo, a Ferrari, 3 gtrs, BMW i8, a bunch of m3 and m4. And my fav car of the week ARS 6 wagon in blue 😍😍

Love,

Elder Pilling

Sent from the land of lads

Best Day Yet

Hey Everyone,

Before I start, to all those who have ever even half thought if they

want to serve a mission or not, just go for it.  It's what the Lord

wants and he will bless you with a pure joy and happiness unlike

anything else. Studying the scriptures for 2+ hours a day is the

biggest blessing. I love the Book of Mormon and its teachings. So get

off your moon and serve a mission ya pansies. Don't wait for sports or

school just let er rip.

This week was way sweet. Met some more ward members for tea

appointments and they are sweet! There's a family that grew up here in

Beverley and moved to Canada...... Alberta..... Okotoks hahaha. They

are the Fsher family.  I went to seminary with the daughter hahaha

Crazy coincidence. I think they are in Crystal Ridge? Anyways,

Tuesday my companion had mission leadership training so he traveled to

Leeds for the day so we left Beverly Monday night took a train to Hull

and we did mini exchanges. I spent the evening and most of the day

with Elder Callahan from Edmonton!! He is cousins with Potries lol

and Elder Larson from Utah.  He is a polish speaking missionary here.

It's interesting how each person does missionary work differently. Very

bold, upbeat und fun day. I learned so much and had a blast. Wednesday

we had zone training in Hull so we went back on a train early morning.

It's about 25 min train ride and 30 bus ride. Zone training was great!

Learned tons about listening to investigators and tons about how

important the Holy Ghost is in lessons. Teach as the Saviour teaches;

with charity.  D&C 42:14 invite the spirit through prayer and obedience. It 'twas a

good day. 

We had a couple different tea appointments which went good. I've

had meat pie with mash, ham and mash, sausage and mash, fish and mash.

We did have a pumpkin squash soup that was yummy. Thursday I got

soaked!  We were knocking doors and it poured for 3 hours haha. The rain

beads off my jacket right on the ankle of my pant haha.  It was a wet

day. 

Friday was THE best day yet. At 1:30 we taught Freida our newest

investigator :) We actually street contacted her the third day I was

here. Set a return appointment with her. Taught her with a member,

Brother Drane.  It went so good! I bore testimony on the Book of Mormon

and spirit was so strong. She is excited to learn more and wants to come

to church but she is out of town for two weeks. Scheduled baptism Dec

17th. We then travelled to Sue and Roger for tea.  She got baptized a

year ago and he has been investigating since. He is so great and we're excited

to teach him more. We are the first set of missionaries who he has let

teach him in awhile. After our message on the plan of salvation we

went to Steve Roberts house who has been investigating for 12 years.

Good chat, nice guy. So y'all my day was awesome! Saturday was slower.

We had a family history event which we were at for a couple hours but

then we left to go knock doors. For 4 ish hours and had a couple

people want return visits.  Yes! There is about 8-10 families who feed

the missionaries regularly so I've almost met them all haha. Here are some pictures from the week.

It was a great week! Looking forward to the next week. Not to wish the time away but 5% done the mission already.  Haha.  I'm spending pday with the zone in Hull and having Thanksgiving dinner. Should be fun!  Have a great week.

Love,

Elder Pilling

P.S.  Whenever I introduce myself I always say I got replaced by

donkeys.  They love it.

First week in the first area

Hey!

To start, my mission president is great. I didn't spend a ton of time with him.  Like only a 3 min interview and a 15 min lesson. But I can tell he is super in tune with the spirit. We have around 200 missionaries in my mission. I am about 2 hours via train and bus from the mission home. My area is called Beverley. It's small and full of old people. The ward boundaries are similar to Dewinton and it's the whole town of Beverley and 4-5 outlying villages. IT IS NOT A BIKING mission. Very few cars as well. So I average 16-20 Kms walking a day. My companion is Elder Blonquist from

Spanish Fork Utah (worked at essential oils factory before mish). He has been out 14 months I'm his second trainee. He turned 19 in June I think. He had a car in this area with his last companion so he's a lil sour.  I lead everywhere so I'm getting used to the roads. This last week we did 20+ hours of

finding. So tons of door knocking and street contacting. We have maybe talked to 6 people longer than 2 minutes. No progressing investigators atm. 2 converts in the last year tho. So we meet with them a bit. The ward members are awesome.  It's small, maybe 60-70 people. Loads of the nicest

old people. We get fed 2-3 tea meals a week (dinner).

Food. The dinners we are fed are very good. Classic Sunday meals like potatoes, meat pie and carrots with gravy. The meals we cook are ok. Noodles with beef and tomato sauce or we made some curry. My companion doesn't like to spend a lot of money on food so we eat cheap. Like 20£ a week. The milk is good. About the same as home. I had cereal every morning.  It was some healthy raisin bran type stuff. Food is so cheap here. Box of cereal is like 1£. Noodles 50 cents.

Our flat is so nice. 3 bedroom. 1 shower and 2 toilets. I sleep on a single bed and I'm super warm at night. We have a washer, but no dryer, so we hang dry.

It snowed in Leeds Tuesday night but not in Beverly. I'm freezing!! I wear a sweater, both jackets and scarf and gloves almost everyday. One day I even had to wear thermals it was so cold. I'm doing good and working hard. Everything is so small here. Small cars, small houses. 80% of vehicles here are diesel. Most BMWs I've ever seen haha. My favorite one is a BMW 140d m touring. So sweet. Tons of diesel for cars and Nissan. Loads of Vauxhall and citreon too. All stick shift too. I've seen 1 Land Cruiser and about 3 dozen Land Rover defenders hahaha. 

Transfer day is December 13th. My companion says president likes to switch trainers for the new guys so he thinks I'll get a new companion.  We'll see though.

Gotta run!

Elder Pilling

Cale's flat

Elder Pilling Selfie!

Elder Pilling has arrived!

Elder Pilling left the MTC on Tuesday, November 8th and made his way to the mission home.  We received an email from the mission president telling us he arrived safe and sound and will be serving with Elder Blonquist in the Beverley area in the Hull zone.  We're so happy to know he's there and the work has begun.  And of course we love the pictures!

Elder Pilling with the map of his mission.  His first area; Beverley in the Hull zone

President and Sister Turvey

Elder Pilling's first companion, Elder Blonquist

Learning So Much

I've been in the MTC for 2 weeks and I have learned many things, including to never get seconds at meal time even if it was the best meal yet. Always regretting that choice. I have also grown in many ways. Before coming out, Elder Webster had told me how important your attitude is as a missionary. When he told me, I was like of course sure whatever.  I can tell the difference between the people who have worked to get on the mission and the people who are just expected to go. And the attitude towards mission life is the game changer. Some will sleep in and be late for class. Some will sleep during class. But the difference is how hard you work and what attitude you have. My companion flew from Tahiti to LA, then to Paris, then to England. It took him just under 48 hours and only slept for 4 hours. wwoowow. He has never complained and when I ask how's he's doing, he always says I'm great!  I ask why and he comes back with, "Well I'm great because I'm a missionary. I'm great because I get the privilege to wear this name (pointing to Jesus Christ). Mark chapter 9:23 Jesus said unto him, if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.  I love this scripture!

The mtc is still so awesome. I'm learning sooooooo much. One elder in my district will often make complicated questions to simple doctrine. It drives us crazy but it's been good as we answer with doctrine. We had 2 area 70s talk with us. Pretty good, nothing spectacular. Everyone loves the talks I brought with me, especially the lock your heart one haha. I think every single girl has read that talk in the past 24 hours lol. We have about a 25-30 min walk to get to anything half decent but it's good to walk and talk. We got the opportunity to travel to Manchester by train to do a proselyting activity. About 30 of us went to a park and talked to just about everyone who would listen. Elder Turina and I placed 2 Book of Mormons in about 45 min. We met a french Canadian from Quebec hahahahaha so he spoke french and she loved the message. Pretty neat.  We have the Temple this afternoon. 

Elder Pilling checking out the view from his desk

The food is good. I usually have yogurt and Cinnamon Toast Crunch for breakfast. The other meals are all over the place, usually pretty good tho. I have white milk every meal hahah. Elder Turina is doing good. Slowly learning more. I would love to be companions again in the field. He can do 15-20 muscle ups. and can do 20-25 handstand pushups without a wall. He is way strong.  I def am missing exercise. Even fishing is more exercise than I get now. We have time for sports every day, but we usually only have ping pong unless the field isn't wet haha. I have one more week in the MTC. Only 4 sisters and Elder Turina and I are going to Leeds. We get 14 new missionaries tomorrow which will add excitement.  I probably couldn't handle 6 weeks here just because of the food.   We have district meeting right after sacrament.  I shared many of my favorite scriptures on missionary work and blessings from obedience. The devotionals are ok I guess. Usually President Preston does one and we watch one from Salt Lake. P-days are really good because we have the temple!!!!!!  love it. 

Cale and his companion, Elder Torina

I've seen literally 20 Land Rover Defenders and 1 cruiser. So many BMW wagons. Seen a few road bikers on Cervelo bikes and 1 Trek. I would love to find bike trails here because it would be so pretty. I hope you kept the Rockport shoes Dad, cuz they are awesome. Tell me more about the cruiser!!!!!!! Donkeys look pretty useless tbh haha.

Gotta run. ttyl

Love Elder Pilling :)

First Week in the MTC

Wassusp Fam Jam,

The MTC is sooooo goood. But to start, my flights were nice. I actually flew from Calgary with 3 Elders from Cardston. So all 4 of us travelled together. The time difference sucked and jet lag killed everyone hahah. First day was pretty relaxed but after that it's been gogogogo from 8 am till 9:30 pm lol. Well, my dream about me speaking french did come true. My companion is from french Polynesia. He learned english in school but it's not great.  I have to explain almost every question in class but we get along great. He is the most positive missionary here for sure.  I am district leader hahhahaha.  We have 6 elders and 2 sisters. Some from Utah, one from Idaho, a couple from England, and my companion Elder Turina from Tahiti.  He traveled 2 days to get here!!  My teachers are good. Sister Botts from Johannesburg, South Africa.  I told her my Afrikaans lol.  She's as high "I" as they get. Then Sister quilter is from Magrath hahaha.  She served her mission here and didn't want to leave lol. I have made some friends in the zone. Elder Quinton from Cardston and Elder Jensen from Blackfoot Idaho are my favs. Good old farm boys. 

I absolutely love it here.  Some of the best times so far. President is classic english guy. He was Manchester mission president right before being MTC president. The people here love their jobs so they are nice. Only Elder Turina and I are going to Leeds, and a couple of sisters. Most of the elders learning german are 18 and about 3/4 in my zone are 18..... What I have noticed is that they are definitely not as mature. Some are, who have had serious responsibilities, but the ones that have no real life experience struggle to stay focused. They goof around so much and they struggle with being obedient. The first few days Elder Turina struggled with his english. He knows every single scripture mastery and has the strongest testimony. He's always happy so it made me sad when he would struggle. He would say I know the answer in french but too hard in english. So I started to pray for him. Just yesterday Heavenly Father answered my prayer. Elder T. told me he is good enough that he can understand our jokes and most if the lessons!!  I have been role playing as a non-member which has shown me how we need to be better at sharing the gospel. We have a few progressing investigators that we teach who have real conversion stories. Awesome team with Elder Turina. I share doctrine and questions and he shares scriptures and personal experience. I am in love with missionary work. This last week crawled by, so I hope the next goes a little faster :)

Elder Pilling and Elder Turina

View from MTC

This next section was an email Elder Pilling sent as soon as he arrived at the MTC last week:

It's sunny at the MTC and super pretty and green.  When we got off the plane, it was 12 celsius and you could see your breath hahah.  From Calgary, I flew with 3 elders from Cardston; 2 going to Scotland, and 1 to Manchester. I sat next to the nicest old couple on the flight from Chicago to Newark. Both 78.... they said Ireland is full of terrorism so they said that they have lived a good life and are ready to risk it and travel to Ireland haha.  They said it would be ok if they died. 

P day is on Tuesdays.  Everyone at the MTC is so happy haha I love it. We have a pretty chill day today. 

Gotta go but ttyl

P.S.  I forgot lotsa stuff but don't need it till the mission field.