2nd Christmas as a missionary

This was a hard Christmas. Don't be alarmed tho I received some tender mercies for ssuuure. 

So start of with non Christmas stuff. In case you missed it, I moved. So it's been a little bit of a gong show. My comp has only been here 2 months and we had meetings and parties that we tried to sort out and wow it's difficult. 

So my new area is in the middle of nowhere. It's tough to describe. So take a peak at this map. 

Blue pin is my new flat!! Blue arrow is our chapel. The red pin on the far right is the stake center (where we have all mission meeting for the north.) green pin on the bottom is the Darlington Elders flat. (In our district)

So from our flat to the chapel is about 50 minutes on bus. The stake center is like 2 hours by bus. Darlington is 1 hour 30 min via bus. 

So Monday we were at the stake center for pday and the zone leaders were like oh ya you have to be in Leeds for 9 am tomorrow for a new leader meeting. So we had to shuffle our butts and cruise back to our flat.  We got our stuff then went to Darlington flat to sleep over. I then took a 2 hour train to Leeds yay!! Such an incredible meeting, so good!

So we finally made it back to Darlington, got our stuff and made it back to our flat at 9pm so it was a really long day. Really, really long. We knew we had a Christmas social with the mission on Thursday at our stake center so we were trying to sort out where to stay and when to travel...  well we had to sleep in Darlington to make it to the stake center for 8:30. Super awesome. So we left at 7 pm Wednesday to get to to Darlington took a snooze then to Billingham, the stake center, for Thursday! It was super good. Spent the day with Elder Walker!

Elder Walker from Calgary

After that party we set off and made it to Darlington but missed the last bus to bishop Auckland so we stayed over in Darlington again haha classic. Friday we made it back finally. Wow, long days. 

Saturday the zone leaders delivered the packages :)) I feel spoiled. Such a goodie this year! Sunday of course was Christmas Eve. Had a wonderful sacrament meeting. 

Now at this point I don't know any members. So I wasn't too excited for the holiday festivities. But a family made it all better. The Cox family and their extended family. We had a killer meal, it so good. And fun games! We really really enjoyed it. Now this shows you how small the world is. Their son, Brian Cox just got home from the Adriatic South mission.... his best friend from the mission is Chris Mero from back home!! Like legit. 

Ah yes Christmas Day we hung out with some lonely people at church and had a meal. I Skyped the fam. Finally met Will! He didn't say much. Ian has such a deep voice. Clair, well she's getting married so there's that. Brad hasn't changed. Toni you haven't either. It was exciting to hear Oly the wonder dog is getting a puppy friend!! Love the fam. Oh and I got to skype with Joe (or should I say Elder Pilling) for a little bit. Crazy he's a missionary haha! 

The weather is mild which I enjoy. 

Saturday evening we were able to light the world for a single mom named Kay. She didn't have food or anything so we hooked her up. Nice little moment. 

We are working with a few different people for baptism which is really exciting.  

So from here on idk what to say. 

It's been wild to say the least. 

All my pics from the last month are still on the camera, but here's one.

Package delivery from the zone leaders.  My comp is tieless :)

Love Elder Pilling 

Sent from the lad of lads

New Area - Bishop Auckland

I don't know where to start...

Monday night I said goodbye to my little German friend, Elder Uter and I also found out I was moving on Thursday. So it was a speedy week.

I lived with him for about 4 months it was great. I love him. 

I had about 3 days to say goodbye and to introduce the new elder to all the people we were teaching so it was crazy.

I need to talk a little about Tuesday. Probably the best lesson I've ever been at. I was in a trio still awaiting my new companion. So Elder Beadle and Elder Seno were with me and we went and taught Adam and Mary Jane. We took brother Hancock with us who was Mary Jane's bishop when she went to church. So it was a big lesson. They all knew I was leaving. Sad moment there. Anyways we carried right along. THE SPIRIT WAS SO STRONG. We all had comments flowing perfectly. Excellent questions and really powerful scriptures. It was one of those lessons where you can say this is why I'm on a mission.

Later that night at 11pm Elder Killpack finally arrived. Had a stellar sleepover then spent some time visiting the people who really changed me. Sister Page and Brother Ashworth. We also tried lighting the world with free hot chocolate but only 1 man took some. He had a giant sticker of the catholic pope's face on his back window. Needless to say he wasn't interested. He did enjoy the cup of cocoa though.

So ya I am super sad to be leaving Keighley. I have so so so many memories there. Lots of free ice cream, enjoyed my first English summer ☀️ , and I met a family that have changed my life...

Mary Jane, Harley, me, Adam and Aubrey

There are many reasons why I am serving a mission. A major reason is the desire I have to help others. I am blessed with an amazing family. We have so much fun and have so many great blessings because of our membership in the church. So on a mission it is great to be able to build friendships but it's even better to see someone experience the blessings from heaven! (This family mean a great deal to me) I teared up when I said bye... 😭

Ok so I'm a bit further north now. I live in a place called bishop Auckland. The ward boundary is absolutely massive. The ward name is Newton Aycliffe. I don't know a lot yet but the ward is pretty busy I'd say 70-80 members which is a nice change. Finally some younger people which is so different. My district is a little different now. There are 2 wards and 2 pairs of missionaries in each ward. So there's another set of sisters in our area and a set of elders and sisters in Darlington ward. Bigger district!!! Our mission is pretty split in half so I don't know as many missionaries up here but there's plenty of time to get used to them.

Ahhh like so much to say but I don't want to bore you all. Christmas is next week!!! So crazy!

The work here is different but very exciting!! I'm quite uneasy with the move right before Christmas. But so excited as well. I was in Keighley for like 8 months... Ahhh all so crazy.

Harley is a beauty!

Also congrats to Clair Pilling. Soon to be Clair Evans.

Love,
Elder Pilling

Sent from the land of lads

Snow and birthday wishes

Hey 👋🏼 

Some may know that my brother's mission is on fire! Like literally 🔥 burning. It's super sad to see and I know many people are affected. 

My mission is covered in snow. Hallelujah! I threw my first snowball in over a year last night. My hands instantly regretted it! Lol 

Short little story. So last night we had set up to go to the mission home fireside with some of our friends. They said they'd be home about 4:50. So we show up a little early and I got bored real quick. So with the extremely fluffy 2" of snow on the path I'd started to slide back and forth in my Sunday best shoes. Well it quickly became very slippery and awesome. I was sliding like 30 feet. Never had so much fun. Turns out our friends were like 30 min late. So we ended up waiting for ages. Got a little chilly. It's all good though I'm thoroughly enjoying the snow. 

Unfortunately Elder Uter has been really sick with a bad cold. It hit him pretty hard Wednesday after district meeting. We spent some time inside trying to recover. We did manage to get out and visit our friends which was a good break. A few highlights* not in order.

The mission home fireside!! Amongst the snow we managed to go to the fireside with Mary Jane and Adam! We were a little late but it was a good. Really enjoyed feeling the spirit and of course Christmas time is the best.! President Turvey even did a solo!! 

We watched a film called Jospeh Smith the Prophet of the Restoration. Once again with Mary Jane and Adam. I enjoyed it. Love that film. I like it because it really helps us see more of what Joseph Smith's life might have been like. To see how God qualified him in the troubles is pretty neat. Helps me when I face hard times to know God will help me. 

This is Michael. We all got matching ties. Pretty awesome. 

We had stake conference at a hotel event centre which was a bit different but an excellent learning opportunity. I love being able to take questions and see where God is answering them through the people around me. The main theme of the commerce was to help us and others experience the coming home feeling. One speaker spoke of 6 P's that will help us in our journey. 

Prayer- talk to our father in heaven 

Page- study the scriptures a page a day. It protects you. A force field 

Ponder- ponder on the things taught(listen)

Praise- compliment a person a day. 

Purity- let virtue garnish thy thoughts then be confident. Turn away from evil. 

Play- wholesome recreational activities. Spend time together! 

Often times I get a little bit overwhelmed with all the things going on. So many lessons and so many things to learn and so many people you can help. Then I always get reminded you can just do the small things. Prayer is the greatest thing to help us. God will communicate if we ask. He WILL help. I know sometimes I feel I can do it on my own or I may not need help. Well in reality we may be able to survive without God, but we cannot live. Life will be dull and lonely. God brings so much joy and happiness. Love beyond bounds, waiting for us. 

Anyways enough ranting. It snowed and I love it. 

Also my bday. Pretty awesome. So there's a family who we absolutely love. They had us over for a birthday meal and wow so yum! Even got me a cake 🎂.

Elder Pilling is 21!

The sister in my district pulled through with a gift..... I kept in for a couple days then gave it to Leon who has other fishies. It did crack me up when I saw it in the bag. 

We have transfers on Friday. Yep, so weird.  So I'll find out if I move tomorrow. Yes, I'm sorta really nervous.

Elder Pilling

Sent from the land of lads

21 years old, well almost...

For some reason this winter hasn't been nearly as cold as last. My

toes have only been numb once so far. I know I have quite awhile till

spring but still I feel blessed 👏🏼

Some exciting things going on here in the England Leeds mission. But

also things I'm not excited for. Transfers are less than 2 weeks away.

It's a little funny this time. It's on Friday the 15th. So ya my time

with Elder Uter probably will end. It's been great though.

So first off. I mentioned I wasn't well last week. Well doc said I've

got a swollen lymph node. Yea so it's kinda hit and miss some days

totally normal others feel pretty horrible. Hoping it will go away in

the next week or two.

Back to the good stuff. So there's lots of little neat things that

happen every week. But I always forget about them.

We had a really cool lesson with Adam and Mary Jane. Our bishop tagged

along this time which was neat. We taught them the plan of salvation

and helped them see how God can bless us in all we do. The best part

of this lesson was that Adam already knew most of it because he had

been reading up on it in the pamphlets we gave him. He knew the

degrees of glory and all the steps we need. He even knew what a

covenant was!!! My favourite part of this all was when we walked in on

Saturday evening and Harley their 5 year old came running up to me and

gave me a big huge and said goodnight best friend. Turns out he stayed

up and waited for us to say goodnight ☺️it's got me feeling all gooey.

Haha

We did a little Christmas chalk art in Keighley town centre. Basically

our district gets together to ask loads of people what makes Christmas

so good. So varied responses. But we did find a few people which was

nice. Some good times. Except we froze, my feet were numb!! Then we 
snagged some chicken burgers 🍔

It has a hash brown stacked on there!! So yummy.
I only had one.  The other two had 2 each! At 2.50
each, it's a steal with a drink and chips.

Bye guys! 

Have a blessed week!

Elder Pilling,

Sent from the land of lads