Christmas FaceTime with the family

Elder Holyoak is doing amazing and we had a great time FaceTiming with him today! It's his last Christmas in the UK and next year he'll be back home again with us. Happy Christmas!🎅

Burger King Teaching

Hello! Just a quick update. Transfer calls came and yes I'm staying a bit longer in North Shield. I spent another day with an Italian, taught a teenager in Burger King, operation brownies were a success and Lynsey is gonna get baptized!

     

On Tuesday, we went on exchanges up in Alnwick and I went with the Italian Elder Sicardo again. It's getting pretty cold up there being the Northernmost part of the mission, but we had some good times! One dummy thing about transfers is that the entire North Shields district is staying. No one got moved.... haha. It's because we have a lot of fire!

     

One unique experience this week is that I got to teach teenager in a Burger King. He's actually pretty interested and we should be having a video lesson with him this week. Haven't properly taught anyone his age before, so it was fun and he is chill.

     

Elder Manaligod and I decided to make some brownies for people this week to brighten up people's day. It's been a success and it was my first time cooking them too! The amazing things you learn on your mission.... haha.

  

Anyways, hope you all have a merry Christmas! Cheers!

-Elder Holyoak 

Lynsey

Baptism and Kebab's

What's up! In this weeks update Chris had his special day, we got kebabs with our Bishop, we had a district breakfast, and it's a cold one out there!

     

The highlight of the week was our beloved Chris' baptism! It all happened so fast getting him to that point and we are so excited for him! It was Elder Manaligod's first time baptizing someone and he was super pumped! The whole service went really well. I love the busyness of preparing right before a baptism and then seeing your hard work pay off. Chris McGrath (the other Chris who was baptized) spoke at the baptism. It was his very first time giving a talk and he did a brilliant job!

     

After the baptism, we went over to Sister Thompson's house to have some kebabs. Bishop drove to a take out place and showed up with these monster sized kebabs for us to feast on.... haha. And not a kebab that's dinky meat on a stick. It's a proper portion of lamb meat. It was the Sister Missionaries first time trying it, so now they are officially kebabtized! It was a fun night with the two Chris's over as well. I'm so grateful for these memories that I'm making right now on my mission!

     

It's been a cold one this week. No snow, just cold....brrrrrrr. Elder Manaligod got sick for a little bit this week and I'm praying that I don't catch it. Something fun that happened this week was that we had a District Breakfast! We decided to switch things up a little bit and have breakfast before District Meeting. All of the teams brought different foods and we ate together. The North Shields District is the best!

     

On Saturday, we went up to Ashington to interview one of their Lads investigators for baptism. He passed! In order to get back home, we needed to go through the Newcastle city centre for a little bit to catch our Metro. And guess what, it was right after a Newcastle United Football game! So the Metro was packed with people! It reminded me of after Utah Utes football games with everyone talking about the game and wearing their teams colors. We were sardined on the Metro ride home..... haha.  It was a little funny and cool situation.

     

Wells, transfer calls are next week. We will have to see if I get moved or stay a little bit longer in North Shields. I've really wanted to serve in the Leeds zone at some point in my mission, but we'll have to see what happens. Hope you guys all have a great week and enjoy this wonderful Christmas season. Cheers!

-Elder Holysmokes

Chris' baptism with Elder Manoligod

Lamb Kebab's with both Chris', Sister Thompson, 

the Sister Missionaries and the Bishop

District pot luck breakfast

Package from home

Snow in England!

You alright everyone! It's been another good week in the kingdom. We taught a Romanian lady, went to a groovy ward Christmas party, and I'm dreaming of a White Christmas!

     

Well, it's that time of the year when everyone's putting up their Christmas trees and the sun starts setting at 3 o'clock. I love serving in the North Shields area, because when there are no people in the streets and we don't have any lessons planned, we talk to people on the metro! 

     

One cool thing that happened this week was that I taught a Romanian lady in Romanian. Was it the gift of tongues? No, it was the gift of Google translate... haha! This super nice Romanian lady let us in, because she really loves Jesus Christ. Her husband wasn't too bothered. We tried initially to speak very slow in English to her, but she couldn't understand. So we taught her the Restoration through Google translate! We would speak into the tablet, then it would translate into Romanian and speak to her. In the end she is a very busy lady, but we have scoped out someone who speaks Romanian in the stake to visit her.

     

Yes, our ward Christmas party was this week. There wasn't Zumba like in York last year, but there was Karaoke haha! It was a good time. The Chris that was baptized in November, came and is adjusting really well into the ward and is actually going to Institute next week! We tried to get him to do karaoke, but no success. Some ward members brought their non member friends, so we chatted with them a bit. Overall, it was a good laugh time!

     

I'm defiantly dreaming of a White Christmas this year. On Thursday, there was a big snow storm. Like the most snow that I've ever seen in England! I was super exited to for it!! It only lasted that day, but it reminded me of back home and was a nice treat. I'm hoping that we'll get loads of snow on Christmas Day!

     

Another reason why it's going to be a White Christmas is that we are going to be having another baptism this week! Chris passed his interview and is getting dunked on Thursday!! The Lord has blessed me so much with prepared people and it's such an exciting thing to see. There's another lady that we've been teaching that is working towards her goal of the 23rd of December. 

     

Anyways, I hope that you all are having a good one and playing in the snow in America, because I will for sure be doing that next year haha. 

Have a good one ..... cheers!

-Elder Holyoak 

SNOW !!

Ward Christmas Party

Funny Bus Driver

Hey everyone! This week's been a good one! I had a fiery Zone Conference, had an exchange with a piano baby, met a funny bus driver and and helped Chris see what baptism is like!

     

Hiyuh, just a quick update this week. Zone conference was smashing this week! We have an official England Leeds Mission video that shows all of the areas in our mission and videos of people opening up their mission calls.  Idk if it's on Facebook, but it's pretty sweet! (Not on Facebook yet)

     

I went on an exchange with Elder Schmidt. He was a service missionary over in York for a while, so he was updating me on how it's been going down there. One other cool thing about him is that he's one of the Piano Guys sons! It was a blast and I'm excited to be serving around him!

     

This week we were able to invite one of our friends, Chris, to a child of record's baptism. He really enjoyed the service and is going to get baptized this month! After the baptism, Elder Manaligod and I took the bus back home, but we were the only ones on the bus. So naturally we just start jamming out and singing random rock songs.... haha. We didn't realize how loud we were because when we were getting off the bus the bus drive told us, "You better not go. Britian's got talent you two!" We were laughing so hard.... haha!

My companion is cool. His personality reminds me of Luke a lot. He super into basketball and video game. He's got 2 brothers and is the one in the middle just like me! He served with 2 other guys from my MTC group. This is his first proper winter, so we're decking him out with warm stuff today. He's been on his mission for 10 months and he's good lad. I hoping we'll stick together for Christmas, but we'll see. Transfer calls are literally a week before Christmas
and I've been in this area for a while.

     

Life is going super canny, I'll have to catch yous later! 

-Elder Holyoak 

Zone Conference

Elder  Manaligod and I

Fun on the Bus

New Companion

Hey everyone! It's been a super good week with my new Filipino companion. We ate at a posh chippy, had a Chris Kringle at church, and had a fun district meeting.

     

It was a really good start for transfers. My new companion is Elder Manaligod from the Philippines. Elder Manaligod and I got along right off the bat! We taught loads of lessons to people this week. The best lesson that we taught was to a man named Chris and he actually lives super close to our recent convert Chris. We brought the first Chris teaching with us and they (both Chris') took the bus together to church on Sunday. We had, as Elder Manaligod says, "A Nice little Chris Kringle,"(both Chris' at church) haha..... He's hilarious! So that was definitely a highlight in the week.

     

We were doing missionary work in a posher part of our area and we came across a posh chippy. The fish n chips were like £9 each and we didn't realize it, but we'd already pulled the trigger and ordered. 

     

We have three new people in the district and it's been super fun getting to know them. We have a new sister from Utah, a Navajo Elder from Cali, and of course the Filipino. But yeah, other than that there isn't too much else to update on. Life is güd and we have a funky fresh Zone conference tomorrow. Have a good week cheers!

-Elder Holyoak

Holyoake Terrace

Zone Thanksgiving dinner

Elder Manaligod, my new companion

District meeting

Newcastle United and Transfer Calls

Way Ay champions! This week was the final stretch with Elder Davies, we got transfer calls, went on an exchange in Ashington, and I got my favorite gift on my mission from Chris!

     

Well this week was my last week with the Englishman. He went off to Leeds to the mission office this morning and will soon tour the mission with his family. It's a proper weird experience serving with someone going home. It reminded me of how fast this experience happens and that I need to make the most of it! 

     

A couple of nights ago we had transfer calls and..... I'm staying a little bit longer in North Shields! My new companion is going to be Elder Manaligod. He's from the Philippines! I don't know too much about him other than he's a funny bloke who's been on his mission for about 11 months or so. I've served around some missionaries from the Philippines in the past and they're super good people. The district is changing around a lot as well. The Fijian in Alnwick is leaving and we're getting a Native American lad from New Mexico I think, and a new trainee sister missionary. 

     

Last Tuesday, we spent the night in Ashington with Elder's Bennett and Scheffner. It was a freezing blast! I forgot to gear up with warmer winter clothing, so I was colder than an ice lolly (the English word for a popsicle). It was fun because I went with Elder Scheffner from our home town Sandy, Utah. He's really into cross country, so we connected that way and quoted funny movies like Austin Powers and Ace Ventura! It's crazy cause we're only like a 15 minute drive away from each other and we didn't know each other before haha! We found a lady who is a Realtor and they are going to teach her today which is dope!

     
And finally, last but not least, the Chris update. Chris is doing sound! We received his membership number and now we are going to help him make a family history account and get a name for him to take to the temple! During our last lesson with him, he totally hooked us up with gifts. He gave us some delicious Vimto Squash, penguin biscuits and some SWEET Newcastle United jerseys!! Man they're so cool! I was so grateful to get one from him, because I've been itching to get one for ages! But yeah he's doing good haha. That's the main update for y'all. I'll see yous later, cheers!

-Elder Holyoak 

See ya Elder Davies

New Castle United Jersey

Yeah, baby! (with Elder Scheffner)

Baptism of Fire! 🔥

Hello, hello family and friends! This weeks update has a spooky pizza in it, hot peppers, Bon Fire night and CHRIS' BAPTISM!

     

First and foremost the highlight of the week was definitely Chris' baptism. It happened on Saturday and it was so good! The past couple of weeks we've been introducing him to loads of members and teaching him super in depth about the church. We got him doing family history and we'll make sure to get him an account on Familysearch.org once his membership number goes through, so we can help him go to the temple for his family names. Our Bishop baptized Chris, I spoke at his service and Elder Davies did his confirmation. The next step, that's right the temple! The missionaries are now allowed to take recent converts to the temple, which is outside of our mission. The Ashington Elders brought their friend that is learning about the church to the baptism and he's super excited about his baptism next week too!!

     

After the service, Sunday came rolling along and he received the Holy Ghost. It was Fast and Testimony meeting and during the Testimony meeting, guess what happened? Chris asked us if he could go up and speak, and we said of course! He bore a super confident powerful testimony. It was one of the most powerful testimonies that I've heard during my whole mission. And it doesn't stop there. During priesthood, the Bishop asked me if I could give him the Aaronic priesthood and set him apart as a priest. I've never done anything like that before. Speaking of priesthood, my boy Dave over in York emailed me the other day and he is preparing for the Melchizedek priesthood! After Church we gave Chris a basket of surprises with a picture of Christ and a fancy hard bound Book of Mormon oooh! It's the most rewarding feeling seeing people that you've taught make good decisions and progress in the gospel.

     

Now for the funny stuff in this week. Tuesday was Halloween, so we were required as missionaries to be in our flat by 6:00 p.m. The next day was district meetings early in the morning in Gateshead for another day of service. During service, we raked and got rubbish out of the creeks with super fashionable wellies(rain boots). The other lads spent Halloween night in our flat in order to get there on time the next day. So we had a mini Halloween party! I got a spooky gummy pizza from Aldi, it was delectable. After district meeting, Elder Bennett gave Elder Davies and I some chocolate, aw so nice of him. No! It had the Carolina Reaper Pepper inside of it and it burned my mouth...... haha! 

     

Bon fire night was last night. We didn't need to stay inside this time. As we were walking around, we saw loads of fireworks going off.  Nothing like the 4th of July, but it was the most I've seen in England. 

     

I can't believe that I've already been in North Shields for 4 months. Transfer calls are next week and we'll see if I stay a bit longer. Hope you all have a good week, take care cheers!

-Elder Holyoak 

Chris' baptism

Halloween party 

Chalk Finding

Hiyur everyone! It's been another canny week over here in North Shields. I did some chalk finding with an Italian lad, went to York and Huddersfield for some meetings, Spooky season is coming and some super good news for next Saturday!

     

Hello peeps! I did a lot of traveling this week... haha. On Friday, I went all the way to Huddersfield, which is the most south that I've been in the mission so far. We had a leadership meeting with Elder Foster of the 70. It was a proper good meeting with a lot of traveling. The next day we took a coach with everyone in the zone to go to York for Conference from Elder Bradley D. Foster. It was really good seeing my homies around the other north zones! I was sitting next to Elder Anderson during the meeting and was able to do some catching up with him. I saw Elder Livingston, Lewis and more! 

     

Something unique that happened this week was doing some chalk finding! When I was on exchange with Elder Sicardi, my Italian hitman, we went to the fish quay in North Shields. It was right next to the Tyne river, so there were a lot of people walking around getting fish-n-chips. So we got some chalk out and wrote on a busy part of the pavement, "What makes you happy?" We had people write their answers down on ground. We had some good conversations with people and gave away some Plan of Happiness pamphlets too! We will defiantly try it out again in the future. It's good to mix things up!

Yes, they Trick or Treat in the dandy old UK. It's not as popular as the US, but it happens. York was a bit more festive than North Shields. Our ward had a little Halloween party last week for the youth, and the stake did a Trunk or Treat that we weren't able to go. 

     

So the update on Chris is... HE PASSED HIS BAPTISMAL INTERVIEW!!! It's official, he's getting dunked this Saturday and I'm so excited! Bishop is going to baptize him and Elder Davies is gonna confirm him one week before he's released as a missionary. Chris is loving the church! He just finished reading the Book of Mosiah and is doing great! The ward is excited about him too! But yes, I will keep yous posted on it. Until then, I hope you all have a good spooky week, take care cheers!

-Elder Holyoak

"What makes you happy?" - chalk finding

Elder Anderson

                                                             

                                                                          Why I went on a mission.

Hiyerr! This week I spent a day with a Canadian, I saw the coolest tattoo and investigators are a rollercoaster!

     

Hello hello, it's been another canny week up here in Norf Shields. I went on 2 exchanges in one week. On Monday and Tuesday, we spent it with Elder Watson and Kull (From Idaho and Germany) over in Newcastle. I love the city of Newcastle so much! I've been pretty lucky in my mission to serve in or near a large city. All I need to do now is serve in Leeds. When I was with Elder Kull, we spoke with loads of Uni students, which is always a funny experience. 

     

On the other day I went with Elder Watson. We had a proper miracle I'll illustrate it for yous. So we were walking up this street right, and we see these two blokes with loads of tattoos... haha. We were asking them if there were any Christians around and one of the guys pulls off his shirt and tells us how hardcore of a Christian he is. Check out the picture! We told them about how God has called a modern prophet and they let us in! We taught their whole family, consisting of a mum and dad and their 3 kids in their 30s. It was a really cool experience to see. They live in the Newcastle area, so I haven't heard back about all of the details and how they're doing.

     

The other exchange I went on, I was with Elder Bennett who is from Spring Coulee in Alberta, Canada. He knows about "homestarrunner" so we were quoting it a bunch... haha! We taught a guy about the Restoration on some stairs near a bingo too. It was minter than Colgate toothpaste! We're still teaching good old Chris and we had to move his baptismal date back a bit, but he will get baptized!

     

Life is good, Elder Davies has 3 weeks left in his missionary life. So I'm making sure he's sprinting to the end. Next week we have Elder Foster from the 70 speaking to our mission, oh and he's someone I knows grandpa too! Talk to yous later, take care cheers!

-Elder Holyoak 

Hardcore Christian

                                                     

A day with a Fijian and loads of conferences!

Hey up everyone! Just a quick update this week. We had glorious zone, stake and European conferences, I spent a day with a Fijian, and we chopped down a tree!

     

So the main miracle is the metro man from last week. His name is Chris by the way. He's been making so much progress and growing in the gospel. He's super excited to get baptized on the 27th this month! He has completely stopped drinking tea and smoking and we've introduced loads of members to him. He's a super cool guy. He's in his mid 30s and is super into the Chinese culture. He's currently learning how to speak Chinese. Maybe we'll introduce him to some of the Chinese speaking missionaries over in Newcastle.

     

Yes, we've been having loads of conferences lately. I'm a bit tired of sitting down and talking about how we can improve ourselves, rather than actually going out and working. This next week is gonna be pretty action packed though. On Sunday, we had a big European conference broadcasted to us from Germany. Elder Ballard spoke and it was really, really good! After the conference we got a lift back to our flat with the Bishop and Bro. Johnson. They are seriously the some of the funniest guys in the ward... haha! 

     

We chopped down a tree over at he Millington's this week. We took a canny pic too! Also, this week we went on exchanges over in Alnwick again. I went with Elder Hawea from Suva, Fiji! It was so fun spending the day with him! It was crazy, because we were talking about my trip over there in 2014 when I was with my HEFY group. He says that he remembers seeing a bunch of kids come to one of his Stake dances.... haha. That was probably us! He is such a good missionary already and he's only been out for 2 weeks. He reminds me of why I came out on my mission and has helped me to love the people of England even more! Anyways, that's my update for the week. Hope you all have a good one. 

Cheers!

-Elder Holyoak

Welcome to our flat

Stretching  after another meeting

Chopping down a proper tree

Elder Hawea from Suva, Fiji

                                           

The Metro is #1

Heyuh everyone...... This week has had one of the biggest miracles in my mission so far! I went to Leeds with people from around the world for some training, we're getting smart phones, we did some more service over in Gateshead and the biggest miracle we found was on the metro!

     

North Shields is still on fire guys, man it's been such a good start to the transfer! I'll give you the run down. So on Tuesday, I was able to party it up in a 2 hour drive to Leeds with a bunch of good lads. I was in a car with a Canadian, a Norwegian, an Austrian, and a German. The meeting was super good. Some big changes are going on in the mission. We're getting smart phones tomorrow! I've gotten so fast at texting on the old Dino phones, but it's gonna be nice to have a phone from the 21st century. Some missionaries are freaking out, because they want to be separated from the world, but to be honest, it isn't going to change too much. One funny thing that I forgot to mention, is that a member in our ward is actually making the phone cases for our mission, so we got it leaked to us early.

     

We did some more service over in Gateshead with the different peeps in the zone. We painted a shed. I was chatting with Elder Bennett about Bridlington, where he just came from. It's always fun talking about all of the funny stuff that goes on in areas that you have served in with other missionaries and getting the update on the area after you leave.

     

So I've been saving this miracle for the end of my email. Last Monday night, Elder Davies and I were talking to lots of people on the metro and we got off at the Wallsend stop. When we got off, we walked around the corner and a man stopped us and asked us if we were lost and that my accent didn't sound like from around here. We chatted for a little bit and of course talked about the Book of Mormon with him. He told us how he had been really struggling in life lately and how he recently lost his job. When we gave him a Book of Mormon he held onto it like it was precious gold! He asked us if we could meet with him that next morning. When we saw him the next morning, he was super open to hearing about the Restoration. We've seen him almost every day since this week. He came to Amelia's baptism on Saturday and had a really good spiritual experience! He came to church as well yesterday and really enjoyed it! It's a proper miracle to meet someone so willing to accept the gospel in their life! He keeps asking us what can he do next.... haha. He's been asking so many questions about the church and I love it!! 

     

So, a lot of new stuff is going on! Hope yous have a good week! Cheers!

-Elder Holyoak

District Leaders Training

                                                        

Life on the Metro

Update!

Hiyuh again everyone! So the transfer calls came in and...... I'll be staying in North Shields for another transfer. I'll also be serving with Elder Davies for his last transfer. This makes it the first time I'm "killing off" a missionary, so wish me luck.... haha. This week was Mandy's baptism, I interviewed another person for baptism, General Conference and Moana!

     

I'll give you guys the run down of transfer calls before I blue scadoo into the week. The North Shields district is going to look quite different in couple of days. In Alnwick, Elder Mills is leaving (R.I.P previous companion. He gets moved around so much, bless him.... haha) and the legendary Italian Elder Sicardi will be training and Ashington will be getting Elders instead of Sisters. During district meeting last week, it was Sister Filikitonga's last one before she went home to Tonga, so naturally I had to get a hold of a Moana clip and tie it into the meeting. It was a nice touch. We are are swapping out those lady legends for Elder Sheffner from Sandy, Utah.... Hey wait a second that sounds familiar? Sheffner is from my MTC group and he want to Alta.  I mean the Bengals are still better than the Hawks, which I'm sure my freshman little brother well understands. It'll be ace being around him again. His companion is gonna be Elder Bennett, who is coming from Bridlington and was trained by Elder Livingston (my old companion). The North Shields sisters are staying the same. So lots of familiar faces, iz gon be lit!

     

Mandy's baptism went really well, the Sisters organized it amazingly! The highlight of it was definitely hearing James give a talk during it. I teared up when I heard him say, "Mom I know that this church is true and I know that you know that it's true!" Everyone in their family is now baptized and we just need to get them to the temple! It's amazing how much the gospel can transform someone, if they just accept it in their lives.

     

Speaking of baptisms, the Sisters have another one in the works. The Bishops 9 year old niece is getting dunked this Saturday and I interview her a couple of days ago. She is one of the sweetest little girls that I've met! Now it's up to Elder Davies and I to find the next person!

     

General Conference was sound. Holland was savage as always. We watched it in the Newcastle chapel with the other members and missionaries. So overall good stuff going on! I'll be spending the spooky season in North Shields. Hope you all have a rubbish week and remember, life is as short as a British summer, so make it count! Cheers!

-Elder Holyoak 

District Meeting

Whoa! It's a double rainbow all the way!

Wake me up when September ends...

Hey everyone! There's some big stuff going on in the ELM. First off, I interviewed Mandy for baptism and SHE PASSED, Facebook Facebook and more Facebook, we ate at a Carvery, and we did a Ward service project.

      

So, for the highlight of the week, it was definitely interviewing Mandy for baptism. It's been amazing seeing how much joy the Gospel has brought her! She and her husband have both said that they feel so much more peace in their home now. The Sisters did a really good job teaching her and she's very prepared for her baptism this Friday.

     

On Wednesday, we went over to the Stake Center in Sunderland to be trained on how to use Facebook haha. It's funny because most of us already know how to use it, but only for entertainment purposes. I'm excited to be using it to be able to talk to more people about the Gospel on the global inter-webs! Also, it feels a lot more comfortable and casual asking people, "Hey do you have a Facebook so we can talk to you more about this?" And if people are too busy, we can video chat with them! So yeah, lots of new stuff going on! 

     

On Friday, we went with the Priesthood to eat at a Carvery. I had no idea what a Carvery was until I got there. It was basically like an English dinner buffet. They had all sorts of meat, gravy, veg, and Yorkshire puddings. I'll make sure to take pictures next time. It was quite delectable! We were able to catch up with James because he was there too. On Sunday, he passed the Sacrament for the first time. Everyone in is family has just been beaming the past couple of weeks.

     

On Saturday, we did a ward service project. We went to a park and picked weeds and other stuff. It was good because I got a free Mormon Helping Hands shirt! One last thing, I forgot to mention to you is that it isn't just General Conference weekend that's coming up, but it's transfer calls as well. I'm predicting that I'll "kill off" Elder Davies with his last transfer, we will see though. I'm loving it here in North Shields, so I hope that I'll stay a bit longer. I'll keep you guys posted, here and on Facebook haha. Hope you have a canny week! 

Take care, cheers!

-Elder Holyoak

Hogwarts and an Italian

Here's another weekly update from the land of North Shields, England. This week has flown by again! Some highlights in this juicy week include, spending a day with an Italian, the Whinhams being canny, and going to Hogwarts!

     

Man it's crazy, I feel like I was just barely writing my last weekly update. Time flies! On Tuesday, I was able to go on  an exchange with the one and only Elder Sicardi from Rome, Italy. We went up to the Alnwick area to a village near the boarder of Scotland called, Berwick. It was such a beautiful drive! Elder Sicardi is a really good bloke. He's a very diligent missionary and although English isn't his first language, he's very confident in the way that he speaks with people. I learned a lot from him on that exchange. Elder Mills and Davies found them an investigator as well, which was ace!

     

So back to the North Shields area. You guys remember James, the 14 year old boy that we baptized a fortnight ago? His mum is super interested in the church! She's come to church the past 2 weeks and it's been so good to see the whole family sitting there so happy. The sister missionaries have been teaching her and her baptism will be soon. So they are doing very canny!

     

This last P Day we were able to go somewhere brilliant, THE HOGWARTS CASTLE! It actually called the Alnwick castle, but it's where they filmed a lot of stuff for Harry Potter. We timed it just right going there as well, because a really posh family owns and lives in the castle from October to next spring. It was such a breathtaking place to be. Elder Davies had a wand and we brought it with us and were messing around quoting Harry Potter....haha! Another thing we did was that we drove to the Boarder of Scotland. Don't worry, we didn't cross the boarder, but we got a picture of it! 

     

The missionary work is going alright too. We're just trying to find more peeps to teach again. We found one bloke named Colin, the same name as my brother back home. Shout out to him! Colin is from a place called Wallsend. There's something really cool about Wallsend that I learned too. It's where Sting from the band The Police are from. I'm going to try and scope out the exact house that he  grew up in... haha!

     

On Wednesday, we're getting trained on how to use Facebook in our missionary work, so that will be interesting. It's fun being creative and trying to brainstorm ideas on how to find more people to teach. It should be another smashing week coming up. I'm super pumped! Hope you guys have a great week too, cheers!

-Elder Holyoak 

Scotland border

England border

Missionary exchanges with Elder Sicardi

Alnwick castle "Hogwarts"

Performing a magic spell