Best part of being a missionary

Heyyyoo fam, 

Well it's been a fast 6 weeks which means the end of a transfer. So Sunday morning I was just tying my shoes up when President Turvey called. He asked how our area was doing and if we are teaching many people. After I affirmed him that it was a really good exciting area to work in he asked me to TRAIN A NEW MISSIONARY. So after just 6 weeks Elder Davies will be leaving going up north. I will be getting a fresh lad! I pick him up Tuesday morning! 

This week was a really cool week. In our phone I was able to change Leon from an investigator to a member which was a really cool thing to do. It's really cool helping him learn how to be a member haha. I have been lucky enough to be able to be a part of some truly profound moments in member's lives. To be able to bring others into the light of the gospel is the BEST part of being a missionary. 

Unfortunately our investigator Ingrid had some unfortunate things happen this past weekend. She was unable to come to a Slovak baptism because her husband was being a little difficult. Said she's already been baptised and all sort. It's so hard with the language barrier. She also was unable to come to church so it's been a couple of difficult set backs for her. 

Leon will receive the Aaronic priesthood next week! Gareth and his family have been coming back to church for almost 2 months! He said to me it's good to be back it feels like home. 

I have quite a few quotes from Leon:   

"When I got baptised I just felt so fresh. I was nervous before, and after I felt different and better.  I felt clean after. Lovely that is." 

"Weight of the world lifted off. It's... well, nice." 

"I'm glad I asked Heavenly Father for an answer and I'm glad I got one right after."

"I felt so fresh, different, clean. It's the best."

This week I have focused my study on a few things. Mostly I spent quite a bit of time studying faith and how to have a pure testimony. I would like to share some thoughts. 

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2000/10/pure-testimony?lang=eng

Some things that stood out to me. The Holy Ghost is THE most important part of of a spiritual journey. Ask God and he shall receive. It is through the Holy Ghost that we are able to receive that oh so important witness of the truth contained in the gospel. 

President Joseph F. Smith said: “Every person should know that the gospel is true, as this is everyone’s privilege who is baptized and receives the Holy Ghost. … I know that the gospel is true, and that God is with his people; and that if I will do my duty and keep his commandments, the clouds will roll by, and the mists will disappear.”

We need to follow the teaching of the prophets and apostles and be sincere. Study. Ponder. Pray sincerely, having faith and we will receive the Holy Ghost. 

A testimony comes when you act on the feelings from the Holy Ghost. You come to know the truth! We have testimonies to share them. It may be a friend or a neighbour but I know there is someone in your life that needs to hear it. Open your mouth and it will be filled with the words they need to hear. 

Special shoutout to Allison. Cinnamon toast crunch is my fav!!! 

I have received a load of post cards and I love them.  Thank you!

Elder Pilling :)

Sent from the land of lads 

This is what chavs look like... it's Leon!

Leon's baptism and fun p'day

This week was busy with planning Leon's baptism and interviews with President.  It was super fun though! 

The baptism was I quote "Among the best we've seen." -Assistants to the president.

We had some really inspired talks on faith and the Holy Ghost. They were perfect for Leon. 

I had quite the time preparing for the baptism. So the sister missionaries in our district don't have a font in their building so we had their baptism at 11am and ours was at 1pm. Friday night before the baptism we went over to clean the font out and prepare a few things. Well we filled the font up about 6 inches so we could wipe it all down and clean it up. It was SO dirty the water looked like a bad cup of tea with no milk. Rusty and gross. At the end we went to go drain it and the font pump didn't turn on to pump it out....... so it's 9:00 at night trying to drain some gross font water out.... didn't work. We had to leave to make it home by 9:30 and we left the font pump on over night praying it would drain. So we arrive at 8 am Saturday and I take a peak in the font and... it was full of the gross water still. Ahh panic. Our only option was to use the trash bins and scoop the after out and pour it in the toilet. Got it all out and mopped up with towels and it was finally clean! Hit the button and 50 min later the font was filled all nice and clean!  

Leon was helping haha it was so good we really enjoyed the day. 

Leon's baptism

Let's jump back to the actually baptism now. The service was all-star and really good.  We had some excellent music choices and like I said, best talks. So I've pondered how I can describe Leon's baptism the best to you all. I think the only way is to just tell you how it went. After the talks I said Leon let's go he said wait now!? Haha we walked from the chapel to the font and as we entered the toilets he was shaking and way nervous. We said a quick prayer and entered the font. It was warm and he was overwhelmed but I just said it'll be fine. Quick reassurance and I said I'm going to start. Nailed the prayer and the dunk was 10/10. He came up and said that was nice. 

Sitting during the rest of the meeting he leaned over and said, "I feel really really happy." I instantly felt so much love. I can't even describe how happy I felt. I love you all. I love the power I felt being able to baptize Leon and helping him make covenants. It's amazing the love I have been able to have with Leon and the spirit and my testimony. I felt so much cleansing as I baptized Leon. The love of God overwhelmed me. It was a pretty great day!

Today we went hiking. Man it was pretty. Good quality time with the district. One thing we discussed was that it seems like everyone is going on a mission, like girls and guys. 

Hiking Pen-y-Ghent in the Yorkshire dales.
It's about 2,300ft high haha. 

Have a great week everyone!

Elder Pilling 

Sent from the land of lads

Step of Faith

Mates, there is a baptism in Keighley!!!

Leon Spearman will be baptized on Saturday at 1 pm.

This week, as always, has been really good. I continue to see blessings and miracles everyday. Leon our investigator is a walking, breathing miracle. He has received so many different answers to his prayers. He is an example of being prepared and he has accepted most things. A few were difficult for him to understand and difficult for him to follow. When we first met him he had an addiction to every single part of the word of wisdom. Teaching repentance has been a key part of his conversion. He knows his saviour loves him and he knows that through Jesus Christ his burdens can be made light. Only through Him can these blessings be brought forth. By taking a step of faith he quickly felt Heavenly Father's love and was able to feel the cleansing power of the Atonement. His mind was a mess and he was not in a happy place. But through the teachings of the Saviour his desires and thoughts became clear. We have put a temple focus on and he is quite close to having a family name prepared to take with him . Should be able to attend the temple quickly after his baptism, which is so exciting! Such a bummer we are not allowed to go with, but the members will take care of him. 

This week we finally began teaching a potential named Ingrid.  She is a Slovakia Lady and is so kind. She went to church in Bradford a few times but due to health she could no longer investigate. I was prompted to drop by one evening (Tuesday).  She accepted us with happiness and was over joyed to see the Book of Mormon in Slovakian for her. She thanked us and started reading right away. She is scheduled for the 2 of September and is so excited for it! She found her old Book of Mormon in a dresser and is now reading with her husband! She has the funniest kid named Patrick. Not to be stereotypical but many Slovakian kids are majorly overweight. Patrick is no exception. He's 5 and easily could pass for a 9 year old (minus his reading and writing).

We had the funniest first lesson with them. We got there early and started teaching before our Slovak Skype started. Patrick had a neighbour kid over and they were playing. He is 8 I think and so we were trying to talk to him but he didn't really understand. We tried to figure out what language he speaks.  Patrick didn't know and Ingrid didn't know haha. So we used google translate and didn't really understand any of the languages. Closest we got was Czech maybe? 

Oh I almost forgot. On Wednesday we had a visit from some general authorities and an Apostle. It was a mission-wide conference.  Specifically Elder M. Russel Ballard, President Patrick Kearon and his wife, President Johnson and his wife, Elder Nielsen missionary executive director, Elder Summet and his wife. Wow was it cool. Our mission had the most successful July EVER. Like ever recorded. In July, 40 were baptized, they had a record number of people at church, and most new investigators in a week. They really praised us for our efforts. Because most of them served in England they had noted that the Leeds mission had been struggling for a while and they were very pleased with the hastening that is happening. We had a question and answer time as well. Not much new stuff. My favourite was Elder Ballard or Sister Kearon. She's such a beauty - she did a little instruction to all of Europe and it was on how ward council is like an engine. All parts need to work. Super coolio.

Elder Walker from Calgary

My MTC friends 

My trainer goes home in a week!

Bye bye for now,
Elder Pilling

Sent from the land of lads