Christmas in York

No official email this week, because Elder Holyoak Skyped with his family.
He is doing amazing and LOVES his mission and the people of England.

Make sure that you scroll down and watch his Christmas Zone Conference videos.  You won't be disappointed!

Skyping with my Family

Boxing Day and I got a bargain Suit

Christmas Zone Conference Videos

                                       

Merry almost Christmas

Merry almost Christmas from England Everyone! It's been another mint week here in York. We got to hear more from President Kearon, we were in contact with C again (the foot lady), we had a chapel tour with Uni kids, and a ward member took us to a farmers market.

We had a meeting with President Kearon again this week. He is such an awesome General Authority! His mum passed away a week before he came and talked with us and he was still excited about helping us with missionary work. He talked a lot about thriving in adversity and choosing to be happy. He's been a really good example for me to look up to.

We were in contact with C again! She's been reading the Book of Mormon and she said that she likes it a lot. She told us that she's having a homeless man over for Christmas. D is doing really good. We have a Christmas present for him (large print Book of Mormon).

This week Brother Cosens invited University students to have a little Q and A and a chapel tour. They're taking a religious education course and it was a lot of fun teaching them in such an open situation. 

And finally President Kimberling took us to a food market after he went teaching with us. I got to try mince pie and other British Christmas food. It's been a really fun and action packed week out here. Our zone is practicing for our mission Christmas party talent show, so I need to go. I love you all! 

-Elder Holyoak

I'm staying in York for Christmas!

How's it going everyone. This week we painted a member's kitchen, we double knocked some doors, we met a lady who joined the church in Cyprus, and the blessed transfer calls came again and...

I'm staying in York for another 6 weeks! I was super relieved because I really wanted to stay here for Christmas and the work has especially been going really good lately. There were only a couple of missionaries that got moved in the zone this transfer. But yeah, the work is going really well and people are a lot friendlier on the streets. Just a quick change that I have to make to the blog is that here in Europe, people are really sensitive and I can get in trouble if I post something about them without them knowing. So I'm gonna have to stick with the first letters when I talk about anyone who isn't a ward member to stay safe. 

On Thursday we painted Liz Brown's kitchen. I really enjoyed just listening to Christmas music and doing some service. Her 12 year old son was in the other room playing Skate 3 and yelling at the tele as well. It was a lot of fun! 

A different day this week, Elder Peña and I were knocking and we saw a door that someone had left their keys in. So we knocked on it and we met a super nice lady named R in her 20s and we talked about the Christmas video on the Church's website. She told us, "Oh wow! So God's online now." She had a really funny sense of humor and we left her a Christmas card. Then after we left, Elder Peña said that we needed to go back and give her a Book of Mormon. So that's what we did. We went back and gave her one and taught her about the Plan of Salvation. 

We met Trisha this week too. She joined the church in Cyprus a couple months ago. She was telling us how she's been investigating the church for 50 years and that she finally decided to join and be baptized in the Mediterranean Sea. Haha! She's such a funny lady. She lives in York and in Cyprus during different times of the year. 

I can't believed that Christmas is in just 2 weeks!! The missionary Christmas party is next week and Elder Peña and I are planning something big for it.  I'll let you guys know once it happens haha! Life is gr8 m8s! D keeps coming to church and F can't wait to keep learning more! I love all of the lads and lasses that are reading this and I hope that Utah is nice and snowy, because there's no snow in York! 

Cheers again from Elder Holyolyokie!

My new coat

Feliz Navidad familia y amigos!

Feliz Navidad familia y amigos! It's been a mint week here in York. The ward Christmas party happened, Elder Peña got to speak Spanish to two families and we started teaching Josh's girlfriend.

Hi, are you alright everyone! The ward Christmas party was this Saturday. It was a nice break partying it up with the ward members. I got a picture with Father Christmas (Santa), did some Zumba and ate English sweets! It was also a great thing to bring investigators to. James' mother came and now I know for sure that he's getting baptized at the end of this month!

This week we had tea with the Cosens and the Trochez families. Both of them are Spanish speaking families, so almost the entire time over there they spoke Spanish. Elder Peña was a bit thrown off, because he didn't expect to be speaking Spanish the majority of the time. With it being in Spanish, I only understood bits and pieces of the conversations. The Trochez family is less active. They are such an awesome family and they have a daughter that's 8 years old that isn't baptized, so we're gonna get on that!

With the Church's new Christmas video, we've been challenged to share it 10 times a day. English people are always in a rush, but when they have 2 minutes to spare we almost always get a return appointment with them. The Christmas lights are going up around the city and downtown York is getting more and more busy. 

The highlight of my week was definitely teaching Freya (Josh's girlfriend). She's 16 and she's always excited to meet with us. We've taught her twice and she's getting baptized on the 23rd of December. We told her that she's receiving the best gift that anyone could give, the gift of the Holy Ghost! I'm so excited for her! After we taught her and Josh the first time, Josh let me play around on his electric guitar for a little while we ate pizza. Elder Peña and I have had so many little miracles happen to us throughout the week. We're going bowling in an area in our zone called Selby today for P Day. So like always, I'll talk to ladies and gents later! 

Cheers,

Elder Holyoak

Father Christmas 

Bowling in Selby

Eating real food in our flat