Geordie Land and a big snake!

You alreet everyone! It's been a good first week back up in Geordie land. This week I'm learning loads and getting my new assignment down. I held a huge snake and went to a baptism in Ashington.

     

It was an ace week with Elder Wineger! It was a very, very busy one too..... haha. There is a completely different dynamic in missionary work when you need to look after a Zone. We have 3 new trainees in the Sunderland zone, which is definitely going to give us some fire! We have some proper canny missionaries in the zone and I'm super excited to work with them. 

I'm taking more driving lessons next week as well. Driving in Newcastle is mental! But I should be able to adjust. The members here are really cool! They've started experimenting with making a YSA branch in our stake, which will be located in the Newcastle chapel.  This is really exciting for missionary work.

     

I was able to hold a pretty big snake! We taught a bloke named Danny who was recently baptized. He was showing off his pet snake and he asked if I wanted to hold it. Of course I did! Life is super good! Spike ball is super fun and General Conference is on its way.

Cheers!

-Elder Holyoak 

Elder Winegar my new companion 

P-Day Spike ball with my mates

I'm moving again!

Ey up friends and family! Sorry for missing last weeks email. I got you guys a fresh one this week though. This week we got transfers calls, crazy snow, and cancelled church.

     

Something surprising happened at transfer calls, I'm moving! I'm going back up to Geordie land in the city of Newcastle! I was pretty pumped to hear that. I'm being assigned as a Zone leader. So I need to pass my driving test soon! My new companion will be Elder Winegar from Herriman, Utah. He was the first person I went on an exchange with at the very start of my mission. He is a proper legend in the mission and I'm excited to serve with him!

     

I was gutted to leave Wakefield and Elder Barff so soon, but I'm excited for a new adventure! I've made loads of homies in the wards here and I'll miss them. This week started off with an exchange with Elder Clain over in the land of Dewsbury. We went finding around a really hilly area for most of the day. There were some really beautiful views. I love seeing the rolling green hills of Yorkshire. We didn't get any strong return appointments that day, but we had a lot of really good conversations.

      

Elder Barff had a "missionaries going home soon meeting" over at the Leeds institute building this week, because he only has like 4 weeks in England! I wasn't allowed to go to the meeting, so I went with another Elder and we talked to a bunch of Uni students around the area about the superb gospel of Jesus Christ. After their meeting was over, they weren't allowed to tell us what it was about, but my speculation is... that it was about the new and everlasting covenant... haha.

     

There's a really cool bloke that we started teaching this week. We met him in the street last week and he told us that he recently found his faith and wanted us to come over, so we did of course! We taught him the Restoration in a really cool way, with cups! Elder Barff is super creative. The first time that we taught him we found that he had a really short attention span, so we decided to teach him by using labeled plastic cups. It reminded me of how simple the Gospel really is and it turned out to be a really good lesson. 

     

We got some more spontaneous snow this weekend.  It was so mad that church got canceled! I've never seen church get canceled and it was proper weird. 

I'm buzzing for some more adventures up in Geordie Land again! I'm taking the train tomorrow morning and I couldn't be more excited! I love this message that I'm sharing with people so much. Serving around Elder Barff, who is going home so soon, has reminded me of how fast time goes by when you're on your mission, so I'm gonna make the most of it! Love yous all, hope you have a canny week.

Cheers!

-Elder Holyoak 

Sunny day after the snow

Cool bloke we are teaching

Plastic cup teaching

Siberian Blast!

Hey Up everyone! My iPad is literally about to die, so I'm sorry for the short email. This week we had a Siberian blast, everything in the UK got canceled, and a little miracle at the Toby Calvary.

     

Hello all, here's my update of the week. We had really unusual weather this week. It snowed from Thursday to pretty much Sunday and loads of things got cancelled. I booked 2 different driving tests and both of them were cancelled! Haha... I have another one scheduled for Thursday, so hopefully it will go through. It was hilarious seeing cars drifting everywhere in the snow again. People in England do not know how to drive in the snow.

     

A cool experience I want to share. We've been struggling with finding new people lately and helping people keep commitments. We had a big planning session for a woman we are teaching and we really prayed and thought about plans to help her out. Later that evening, the Burnetts took us out for a nice meal over at the Toby Cavery. When we walked in to take our seats, guess who we saw? The investigator we were praying for was in there eating! She greeted us warmly and even told us, "You guys haven't lost me!" This shows that our planning and praying put us right in her path again.  It was so great to see her and it made us so happy as well.

     

Again, sorry for the short email. I hope all of you have a good week. We took more pictures on our phone, so I'll send more next week. 

Cheers!

-Elder Holyoak