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