Consistently put your faith in Christ

Sorry for the lack of wording on the last bunch of emails.... today

I'm starting at 8:30 am so I should get a nice juicy one done!!

This week Elder Pilling... teaches John over the phone, participates

in a free car 🚗 wash, attends his church meetings and puts on a

jumper :)

As you most all know I moved areas! Side note, it was a surprise because I only have 1 transfer left.... Anyways so 3 elders went home about 10 days early to get to school on time. I figured only 3 naaaa I'll just stay in York might get moved when the actual transfer comes but probs not. JOKES Wednesday night president called and then I frantically said goodbye to all my friends in York Thursday and took a train down on Friday. (This all happened 9 days ago).

I am in the Meltham Ward in the Huddersfield stake. It's in Yorkshire (best county) which is beautiful. Proper green rolling hills, stone walls, tiny roads with random cute little villages. IT'S A BLAST. That was the one thing about York. It was flat which makes things not so pretty haha. So our ward is a collection of small villages and for some reason members of the church love it here! As I said before there are sooooo many members. We have a car because the buses are kinda non existent. Little Hyundai ix20 it's got a nice 1.4L 4 cylinder. Absolutely gutless. Gets good fuel economy tho. 30 English mpg which is I don't know maybe 27 Merican mpg???

Soooooo things have been pretty wild here. We have some REALLY great friends who I love!!! As a mission all you do is INVITE. And for the most part it's a struggle to get people to keep the commitment you leave. BUT our friend, she's 14 and she has kept every single invitation so far. We taught her and her mum the first time about a week ago. And she just finished 1 Nephi !!!!!! I AM SO CHUFFED (google it haha) 

John is 18 and he went on holiday so we just called him Tuesday and started teaching him on the phone. Love technology. It was great he's nearly done 1 Nephi too!! 

Wednesday we had a lovely district council s/o to Elder Cook 🙏🏼. It's sad because transfers are tomorrow (the real ones)  and Elder Cook and his trainee are moving to York and leaving us... bitter sweet because they get to teach Antoinette!!! If y'all remember a year ago I was in the same district as Sister Atkinson for 6 months... well she was in the same district now but is moving down south. So lots of changes, sad days. We are getting lunch with em all today :p :))) 

Saturday we did a FREE CARWASH listen up fellow missionary friends. THIS WAS SO GOOD. So we just had 2 elders in cardboard boxes that said "Free Car Wash" dancing on the street then the rest of us were at the chapel washing cars. We did 5 chapel tours, handed a bunch of Book Of Mormons out and now the missionaries have some really solid return appointments!!!  Huge success. They just got out of their cars and as we washed them while some missionaries taught them or toured them around the church. 

Ah so in my studies I've really focused on conversion (President Turvey asked us).  Anyways there's 1 word that always stands out. CONSISTENTLY. In all the talks I've read and all my studies, to be converted is to consistently live the gospel. Consistently repent and do better. I have really seen blessings as we strive for conversion. Starts with a single step in the right direction. If you feel stuck, put your faith in Christ and take a step. Besides, I think you'll be a little surprised with what is possible. 

Love love love England and the people here. 

Sincerely,

Elder Pilling 

Sent from the land of the lads

The chairs represent how many transfers we've been out.

Bye York

Some may have heard..... I have been moved to Meltham in the

Huddersfield zone :((( I really love york and all the amazing people I

met. It was particularly hard to say goodbye to Antoinette.

Over the course of the last 22 months I have met SO many people. Adam,

Mary Jane, Harley, Carl, Karl, Jack, Jack, Mike, Sarah, Lauren, Grace,

sis Boswell, the Richardsons, all the many missionaries. Needless to

say there have been many who I have felt like I was meant to meet

them. BUT there is 1 that stands out above the rest. Antoinette holds

a special place because of who she is! She had made me a better person

and she has helped me see so many new things when it comes to

spirituality. She is amazing I just have so much love for her. Her

kindness and friendship kept me afloat in York. She works so hard to

please everyone. Life can be tough but with Antoinette we both

learned how true this statement is. 'There is peace in Christ when we

walk with him. I am so grateful for her and her friendship.  You all

need to hear that I have said goodbye many people on my mission but

saying goodbye to Antoinette was the hardest. I know God has a great

plan for her!

Anyways so I moved. It's super beautiful and it's full of small villages. Nothing more than a few thousand people. I personally live in Meltham but the area covers so many other places. We have a little car I named her Lauren ❤️️❤️️... yep I'm driving!  It's a beauty. Not nearly as hard or challenging as I thought it would be.  The roads are just confusing hah.

The ward is the biggest in the mission. Primary has 70 I think. It's a wild ride on Sunday! I've been here 3 days so I don't know much!! Sorry y'all. I've met a few friends so far and they are great. One named John who is 18.  He's just so great. Please pray for him :)

Love you all!!!

Elder Pilling

Peace in Christ

Quite the week.

So I noticed I have a problem.   I never actually make time to email you

all. So once again, rubbish email... maybe I'll do better in 8 weeks.

Things that happened this week include but not limited to: service,

interviews, meal, meal, meal, meal.

I guess I'll dive into the deep end with the Thursday Friday Saturday combo.

***background info***

The last few weeks we have really struggled to set up lessons with

Antoinette. One thing or another always came up so needless to say a

tad bit stressful the last little while..!!

Thursday a nice member named Bro Hemingway was taking us out for a

meal. When he heard his favourite elder who is now an assistant (Elder

Schmidt ) would be in town, he invited them and us to his favorite

restaurant. Yummy yummy

So during interviews I was sitting with President Turvey loosely chatting about DISC behaviour profiles. He perked up and says I think Antoinette should talk to Sister Turvey. She joined when she was 15 maybe they can relate to one another! So then we switched and I was chatting to Sister Turvey and mentioned president's idea. She said, "I'd love to when are you seeing her next?".... "Well we are trying to do a video lesson right after this!!" That's perfect Elder

Fast forward about an hour. She was a little late and Sister Turvey finished interviews.  The time was 8:45. She poked her head in and we had a fantastic lesson. We really just discussed the last few months and some of her FAVORITE things that have happened. Joking I said, "Hey let's go get Nando's chicken Saturday after your done work." Antoinette was excited. Sister Turvey sarcastically said thanks for the invite and poof Antoinette invited the Turveys!

Friday we had interview training. Basically the assistants train us and help us improve our skills. They did some training on how when we show gratitude we are 4-19% happier than if we do not. So there you go dad, I sent you the gratitude video because I am grateful you are my father :)

Saturday we had some lovely service. Elder Campbell and I have a skill in building something called a dead hedge. Basically poles hammered into the ground 18" apart then you weave and stack dead branches!  So fun! I'll snag a pic next time we go. Some really great people I've met there!

Evening time about 7pm we had our meal with President Turvey and Sister Turvey.... don't get me started, I forgot to get a pic !!! Ugh we had Nando's chicken. It was good stuff. We talked about faith and a foundation on Jesus Christ.! HAPPY DAYS PEOPLE. THERE IS PEACE IN CHRIST!!!

Tuesday Rose Richardson (her 2 brothers are in the bishopric in Beverley) took us and a new member named Vikki for burgers!!! It seems like a ton of past lesson I've been taught flooded in. We talked about the "better-than hat" and discussed how we can better improve ministering companionship unity! I really love the members here!

Congrats to Mr. Mrs. Garry. Welcome to the fam Lyss!!!

Bye peeps

Elder Pilling 
Sent from the land of the lads

Seeking miracles

Sorry about last week.  We did have quite a good time hiking tho!

This week includes details of jeopardy, mission home fireside, some sort of tango ice blast slurpee thing, and a nice clean flat.

Yah as you read, not a super hype week. Had some meetings as per usual and some pretty norm days. I'll be as detailed as I'd like and I hope you enjoy!!

So a while back a nice member named Seb Wilkinson (so cool) invited us and the York 1st Ward sisters to do an activity for the youth 14-18 at the start of their youth convention. A 4 day 3 night party!! The vision was for the youth to have an experience with the Holy Ghost about missionary work. So the jeopardy was fantastic. Some really challenging questions but very important in missionary work. They were all quite surprised and didn't know much haha. Jeopardy was the first half then we transitioned into a spiritual aspect by singing 'As sisters in Zion and Armies of Helaman' Q&A with the missionaries!! They asked lots and lots of questions and the spirit was so special!! After so many youth thanked us 💙💙💙 made us so happy.

Elder Örtegren and I on splits teaching Nancy about the Book of Mormon.

Fast forward to Wednesday, we had a pancake breakfast as a district followed by a nice meeting where we all learned about the importance of the spirit in all things. Using the spirit in finding and teaching is possibly the most important when it comes to missionary work. If the Holy Ghost isn't leading your actions then you might as well give up because it's near impossible to teach spiritual things without the spirit. We talked about prayer and scripture study and striving to be more like Jesus Christ. The more we involve the Savior in our work the closer inline we can be to doing the what God would have us do. Seeking miracles.

Saturday we went and got tango ice blasts which is a slurpee but much more refined. Antoinette and a few other older youth from the ward. The ice blasts are special, y ou know when you drink too much slurp and all the juice runs out and it looks like snow capped mountains, well that never happened!  It was carbonated (I think) tasted magical 🌈

Sunday was such a fantastic day. Testimony meeting was really good I could feel the spirit confirm so many truths to me. I love the ward here ❤️. Something special happened for the 3rd hour! We 4 missionaries in York went to Relief Society!!!! It was definitely a different experience. We counselled with the sisters on how they can better help the missionaries in their efforts.

The first Sunday of every month there is a mission home musical fireside. On Sunday we got to go with Antoinette. I had a super special sabbath day. I think it was a combination of things but the grand slam was when we had a little testimony meeting at the fireside. A real gem of a missionary shared his conversion story. The spirit testified to me that the blessings from God are innumerable. The blessing that come from making those sacred covenants at baptism. Simply put, taking the moment to follow the Saviour Jesus Christ.

In my personal study recently I have been mid way through Alma. Chapter 36 stands out. Alma is testifying to his son H elaman. Repentance comes through faith in Jesus Christ. One of the biggest focuses I have had recently is helping others experience the joy of repenting. I know my Savior lives. He loves you and loves me.

Catch you all later!! Enjoy the wedding and gma and paka!!

Love,
Elder C. Pilling

Photos, but little words

 Listen up folks, Elder Pilling has some great things to say.

This week's epic blog post involves a fire 🔥, the greatest lesson with

Antoinette, Bunderburg Rootbeer, zone conference  training done by yours

truly, taught primary (5yr olds), RAIN, youth convention jeopardy, and

finally a rad hike that took up all of my pday because of traffic.

Beautiful York

Tennis in a steamy bubble 

Our drive to go hiking 

Elder Ward :)

Love you guys!!!

So very sorry for the lame sauce email :(
Elder Pilling

Sent from the land of lads