Weeks are Flying!

So I have no idea what to say. Ya pretty good week I must say. Decently warm fall weather and not too wet. Unfortunately nothing super exciting happened. We haven't had an investigator at church for a long while and it's really taking its toll. We need some new faces to visit! 

We had some good visits with members where they have noticed how the missionary work is really picking up and people who they never guessed would come back to church have asked if they could come or a non member friend will ask about their beliefs. We are in the beginning stages of a true hastening. 

So since not a lot happened this week, you guys all get some more of my spiritual study input! Or whatever you want to call it! 

So I gave a little talk on Sunday. Classic- asking the missionary 5 minutes before sacrament meeting starts... so I was drawn towards the sacrament and the atonement of Jesus Christ (probably because I was thinking of what to say during the sacrament).

First off a quote from President Packer.  He said: “The Atonement leaves no tracks, no traces. What it fixes is fixed. … It just heals, and what it heals stays healed.”

What a special gift to have from our beloved Saviour Jesus Christ. Often quoted at Christmas or Easter "because of him"  fits perfectly into the thoughts. Because of him we can look to the future with a certain hope and peace. Knowing that we will be able to live with our Loving Heavenly Father for all time and eternity because of him is so comforting! 

Now it's difficult to express what Jesus Christ went through while speaking let alone an email but I will give it a shot. 

A scripture from Mosiah helps us understand what Jesus Christ would eventually go through to complete the atonement. 

Mosiah chapter 3 verse 7 says, And lo, he shall suffer temptations , and pain of body, hunger , thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer , except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people.

He suffered all pains and afflictions of every kind for us so we can make our mistakes right. He paid the price only he could pay. We no longer are held hostage by our sins. We can now, through repentance and the sacrament, be forgiven... I am beyond grateful for this blessing. 

The sacrament should be a focus for us during the meeting we attend at church. Jesus Christ didn't do all that he did so we can sing a song during priesthood opening exercises. But he did do it all so we can be forgiven for our sins. So let's take a peek into what we can do to prepare for the time we have to partake of the sacrament. 

Elder Jay E. Jensen gave a great talk called "Arms of Safety" in October 2008. Talking about the atonement of Jesus Christ and how it connects to the sacrament. About the sacrament he has said,

"By coming humbly and fully repentant to sacrament meeting and worthily partaking of the sacrament, we may feel those arms again and again." 

There's a lot of fire power in a short sentence there. I will try to break it down. Coming humbly to partake of the sacrament is recognizing that as to our strength we are weak. But through the saviour we can be made strong. How does being fully repentant help us be prepared for sacrament? I believe at the moment of fully repentant we are ready to feel the cleansing power of the atonement. We have done our part in the repentance process and the rest is up to the saviour. Worthily. Well if we intend on receiving any sort of blessing we should be worthy. So if we want the blessings of the sacrament let's be worthy. "We may feel those arms again and again." Those arms are the loving arms of the Saviour. He will love and and support us and build us up so we can fight back with more strength! 

I know Jesus is the Christ. Our Saviour and Redeemer. He literally saved our spirits and our bodies. Such an impressing act of love. He has once again called a prophet to guide his church. Don't think he is here to handle the structure of the church. He is the only man on earth who has authority to use all of the priesthood keys. He is a seer and revelator. He loves us and guides us with love. Take the time to carefully listen to his council. It is full on revelation from God for us. Now. 

I send my love to all my family and friends! 

Elder Pilling 

Sorry no pictures :) 

  

Sent from the land of lads

Plant the seed, it will grow!

Hey everyone! 

Well winter is definitely coming fast!! People here would always say there is no fall, just summer then winter... it's true!! It got chilly really quick, I do love the fresh air in the morning though! 

So Facebook brought another cool experience! Wednesday we were sitting in our district meeting talking how we can use Facebook  and such and one of the elders said have you added all your investigators and members as friends. Elder Uter and I said yes but we didn't do anything after they accepted our friend requests haha. So we quickly messaged one of our members who hasn't been since she was 15, and she's 23 now. She was pleased to hear from us and after a few messages back and forth she mentioned she is taking wallpaper off her walls and re-decorating. Quite instantly I said we'd love to help can we come over? This led to that and before we knew it we were stripping wallpaper with Leon and our new friend! So all through Facebook we have created a friendship and now can teach her and her non-member husband! 

Next coolio thing. Our mission has monthly mission home firesides and we were unable to attend this one but they did a live stream of the whole thing on Facebook! I had a number of non-member friends watch some of it! Now I just need to follow up on how they liked it. 

This week has been sorta a drag in terms of finding new people but none the less I did enjoy the things I learned. In my studies I stumbled across Matthew chapter 13 and all the parables Jesus Christ used to teach the people. I would like to share some. 

Matthew 13:

31 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:

32 Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.

Jesus  talks about the mustard seed and how such a small seed can make such a difference. He says it is " the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becomes a tree, so that birds of the air come and lodge in the branches Thereof." 

I believe all of our faith starts off the size of a mustard seed. But as Alma teaches faith is like a seed when planted... IT WILL GROW. This world is full of growth and so much goodness. 

Now a mustard seed of faith is not that much so surely it isn't that hard to plant. May I share my testimony of the goodness of faith and the goodness of Christ. I have seen a seed grow to become a marvellous tree. What a sight! The Gospel is good and it can do so much good for others. Let us all be farmers and plant fields of mustard and may the earth be covered in yellow! 

I'm trying to think of a funny story...... well you'll have to settle for a cool one. 

We finally had the chance to teach a less active family! I've spent weeks talking to Gareth on the doorstep but was finally let in to meet everyone. We are teaching them because their daughter Starr wants to be baptised! They haven't been to church in a few years so we have a lot to teach them! But they have puppies 🐶 two 9 week old Jack Russell's. And a Tarantula. Which I held. English people like their pets so I might as well find out why.... the spider was pretty boring but I kinda want a snake! Sorry Sister Garry haha. 

Some mid transfer changes though. Our district leader (who I love) is being moved to another area in Leeds zone 😥 new zone leaders and wow just craziness. 

Anywayyys we also took a "short cut" through a farmers field to get to an appointment. 

Ya, felt pretty good to be in the middle of nowhere :) 

Love yous :)

Elder Pilling 

Sent from the land of lads

Finding and Teaching through Facebook

Welcome to this week's edition of the what did Cale do, live from The land of lads. I hope you enjoy the stories and scriptures shared. 

Firstly, if you ever have a question about England or questions about me or if you want more stories drop me an email :) 

Pretty interesting week because on Thursday I logged on to Facebook! It's still pretty crazy but so far it is really useful. 

Some may ask why Facebook? The prophets and apostles have begun a time of hastening the work. There's a quote from a long while ago by John A. Widtsoe October 1946:

"Missionary work must grow in foreign fields as never before; missionary work at home must increase as never before. We shall employ every modern device--the telephone, telegraph, radio, printing press, the short wave systems … , and the other devices that are coming. We shall use them all in our attempt to win men and women from wickedness to righteousness, from untruth or near truth to full and complete truth, which is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ." 

So the whole purpose of Facebook is to be able to easier connect with members and new friends we meet! We have found that people would rather give you their Facebook than a phone number. It's crazy. We add them and then message them and can easily set up appointments or teach over video chat or even teach over chat. We also have a wider reach. With approval from our mission president, we can teach our friends and family. 

We are pushing the work forward and it's incredible. Already we have found 1 new person who wants to learn through Facebook! I'll touch more on this later. 

So the weather has been crazy. Usually really heavy rain on and off. So perfectly sunny, then pouring down. So we got wet pretty quickly a few times. 

I broke down and bought an umbrella. Cost £1 which is 1.50$ cad. My goal is for it to last the rest of my mission :)

So we got Facebook on Thursday. And Thursday night our zone leaders were able to teach Leon's sister with Leon. So it was a triple video call. This turned out to be an extra big miracle. Not only did she accept a baptismal date, but Leon has an uncle who was in the room and heard the entire lesson. He got quite emotional when he learned what the gospel can do for him. He doesn't really find joy in his life and to see Leon turn his life around made him want to be better. 

All from 1 Facebook lesson. 2 new investigators. And they are really good. We have tried for weeks to teach uncle Ivan but he always goes upstairs when we show up. :/now he is learning and reading! 

I have been able to create some really good friendships on my mission. I can quite easily find a friend in most people. Especially if they are nice. So we have a nice lady who owns a fish n chip shop! Very nice. She genuinely cares about us and about our families. She hooked us up with free food! Then we proceeded to get soaked by rain. Some good times. 

Went bowling today.... first round I was struggling wow. Like at 45 till the last frame. 3 strikes in the last frame!! Nailed it. Second round was better 120. We all got smoked by a sister. She got 187 😳

One of the biggest FOCUSES we have as a companionship is to teach from the Book of Mormon. One thing I have noticed is as my scriptural knowledge grows, the influence the scriptures have on my life also grows. I apply the doctrine taught and really see so many more ways I can be happier. 

Mosiah 24:15 says; And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.

We have all heard this scripture. The point I want to focus on is the "lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease". The lord did not take away these burdens but he is strengthen us enough to carry them. We all go through burdens, we all suffer greatly and only through Jesus Christ will we be able to "bear our burdens with ease".

I love the Book of Mormon. I have come to know its goodness through diligent, prayerful scripture study. Prayerfully study the Book of Mormon every day and you will see your life change beautifully. More peace, more direction and more HAPPINESS. 

LOVE U ALL,

Elder P

Wöchentliche Mail!!

Haha I love it (my attempt at German).  I have had a roller coaster of emotions this week.

Some stress, pure joy, spiritual goodness, love, and a whole load of

excitement. I have loved the time with Elder Uter!

A little bit about him: He's 2 months older than me, lives near Munich, attended music school for 4 years, DJ for work, trumpet player 11 years, he pretty much teaches, breathes, and lives music haha. He is a convert of 22 months.... ya I know so cool! He is the only member in his family. And of course he is German 🇩🇪!!!! His English is about 80%, he understands less than he can speak tho.  The accent in Keighley is proving to be difficult.

It has been such a crazy week, I'll try my best to fill you in on the important bits. So some may know, Sunday morning President Turvey called me to train a new missionary. So Tuesday morning, I dropped Elder Davies off at the train station in Leeds and cruised over to the church and had a pretty weird training meeting. Some very good missionaries were there also training. So we got some very brief instruction on what to do to best help our new trainees in this journey.  It's been interesting!

So training... all the trainers and the missionaries going home (Elder Charman) were all sitting in the chapel awaiting the new missionaries. They all file in and go to the choir seats and one of the assistants to the president reads off the name where they are from and their companion. There was a Canadian! Elder Duce from Cardston Alberta! Crazy huh. But there were 8 elders 3 sisters: 2 Germans, 2 English, 1 Canadian, 1 Philippines and a bunch of Americans. Anyways we get started about half way through and my bestie, Elder Walker gets assigned to train Elder Müller ( 🇩🇪 ) . I'm like that'd be cool. Then it gets to the last one haha.  It's Elder Uter.  He's German and I was hyped! So much love and excitement! After that we got pictures and ate some lunch then took a coach to this place called the Cow and Calf for basically just some time to set goals and expectation for the mission. It was good. Then something new. On the way home president dropped us off near his house and said go do some finding..... meet at my house in 1 hour for a meal. So that's what we did haha. After all that was over we finally got home at 8:15. Long day. Especially for Elder Uter.

I  remember so many memories from my training and have tried to help Elder Uter feel comfortable. We are doing good. It's a little bit interesting training him because he moved out 4 years ago so he isn't homesick.  He just misses friends which is understandable.

Now some cool moments this week. Thursday we met with a less active member named Joanne. She is so nice, very funny and honest, which is key. We really just wanted to know why she doesn't attend. It is a tough one but as the spirit entered the lesson, Elder Uter could understand her perfectly and asked so many important questions. She really opened up.  I was stunned because he had only been here like 2 days!

The next important part would be Sunday. A very nice member named Jack was driving us home and I briefly saw a girl and thought to myself  that looks like Mary-Jane. Well as we pulled away from the light she was waving haha. The really cool part is I had planned to visit her after church- so inspired! We did go and visit  and had an awesome chat about

church and what it will do for her and her family. She opened up and trusted us with all her concerns. In the end she said, "It's weird, I am normally the quiet girl in the corner but to you I feel totally different!" It truly is amazing what Heavenly Father will do to help his children!

My studies have been stellar this week. Lots in preach my gospel but some really good stuff about the importance of the Book of Mormon. In these last 10 minutes I have seen the correlation between my study and our teaching. I can see what the Book of Mormon has done for me. Specifically on my mission. I have put the promises contained in the

blue book to the test. I have relied on the Saviour for strength and guidance and he has always  delivered.

I was speaking with a member about what we must do  to receive those blessing that are waiting for us. It really comes down to living the commandments. It's pretty simple and yet so many of us fail to achieve the standard. I have heard people say I left the church because it has done nothing for me. Well what were you doing to receive those blessings? Often times not a whole lot! The time where you will grow the most is during PERSONAL, PRAYERFUL scripture study. Sacrament meeting is where we will gain the knowledge, the comfort and the power needed to handle the days and the temptations. Only through the Atonement of Jesus Christ can we be saved.

Mosiah 4:6 says "I say unto you, if ye have come to a knowledge of the

goodness of God, and his matchless power, and his wisdom, and his

patience, and his long-suffering towards the children of men; and

also, the atonement which has been prepared from the foundation of the

world, that thereby salvation might come to him that should put his

trust in the Lord, and should be diligent in keeping his commandments,

and continue in the faith even unto the end of his life, I mean the

life of the mortal body--"

When you come to know the goodness of God you will notice a difference

and a draw to follow him.

Verse 7 says :

"I say, that this is the man who receiveth salvation, through the

atonement which was prepared from the foundation of the world for all

mankind, which ever were since the fall of Adam, or who are, or who

ever shall be, even unto the end of the world.

The atonement of Jesus Christ isn't a new idea. It wasn't created after God saw all the wickedness.  It came from the foundation of the world. It is for us, so use it!

My awesome mom had clarified something I had recognized recently.

We are not perfect and we also make mistakes but what the is neat part is, we have a weakness. Yes just 1. This great weakness is that we are human, not Gods! So of course we will struggle and hurt and have hard times! But as we recognize that we can't be perfect we will seek to be better. Our saviour Jesus Christ loves us. Heavenly Father has given

us what we need! Follow the commands of our Living Prophet! We cannot go astray!

I love you all very much. If you want an English post card, email me your address! :)

Elder Pilling

Sent from the land of lads