Elder Holyoak is home!

After serving in the England Leeds Mission, Elder Britton Holyoak made it back to Sandy, Utah.  His family is so excited to have him home!!

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Guitar signed by other missionaries 

Spiritual teeth and 1 more week!

Ey up ducks! Last Wednesday almost felt like a proper American 4th of July over here with Root Beers and patriotic flags (the wrong flag though... haha), we had exchanges again, taught some ace visual lessons, we did some nice missionary work in a charity shop and more football madness happened!!

     

First I'll explain how my 4th of July went or treason day over here. We had our district council and naturally we had to sing all of the American patriotic songs before the church removes them from the Hymn books. After that we went and got some Mc Donald's and reminisced on good experiences of lighting off dodgy fireworks and everything else that's required for an American holiday. Even though we were with missionaries from the Philippines, Switzerland and Fiji, I think that they enjoyed the occasion. At a tea appointment the Leyland's gave us some American Root Beer! 

     

We had exchanges this week with the Chesterfield lads and we worked in Worksop. Elder Brown and I had a blast! We went proper hard in the paint and found some new Gators to teach. He's also way into film making, which was fun to talk about and have a potential work partner... haha. The sun was out all day and has been out virtually every day the past 2 months. I'm actually getting semi-tan in England! 

      

We had 2 really memorable lessons this week. One of them was a lady that used to come to church that we've started teaching again. She has a 4 year old daughter that gets really distracted during lessons, so we decided to tailor it to both of them. Before we went over to see them, we decided to nip in the local ASDA and buy a toothbrush and toothpaste. During the lesson we talked about how most people brush their teeth twice a day. We asked, "Why do people brush their teeth that often?" Then asked, "What would it be like if we put all of the toothpaste on the toothbrush in one day?" Then we put 7 days worth of toothpaste on the toothbrush. We asked, "What would happen if you brushed your teeth like this once a week? They would go bad wouldn't they!" They all laughed. We related this lesson to reading and praying daily. If we try to cram it all into one day a week, we don't clean our spiritual teeth. It was a really fun and memorable lesson. I learned the analogy from one of my seminary teachers. 

     

The other lesson this week was from an older man that we met on the street. After talking with a lot of rude and angry people, he kindly invited us over to his home the next day. When we visited him, he showed us to his back garden to have a chat. He started off explaining how he has a lot of questions about faith and how we can come to know the truth of everything. But unlike most people that ask us lots of questions, he actually listened to us! He listened so intently as we taught him. It was amazing! He asked us why there are so many different religions on the Earth. That question is music to missionaries ears... haha. I always love using the glass table analogy of when Christ's authorized followers were killed, just like when you take away the legs of a table, the glass shatters everywhere. He had an aha moment when we taught him this. He's so willing to pray about the Book of Mormon and find the truth for himself! The only problem is that he's a very busy painter that travels all around the county, so we will be seeing him on Saturday. He committed to come by next Sunday, which is the last Sunday I'm in England. We're keeping in touch with him by calling his mobile in the meantime.

     

I might've mentioned in my previous letters that we've been volunteering in a charity shop throughout this month. This was our last week volunteering there. A perk from volunteering there is that I found a posh Topman jacket for £2 to take back! We have become really good friends with the manager of the shop and have talked about the church occasionally with her. So on our last day we wanted to give her a little gift. She's really into reading books, so what better gift than a Book of Mormon! She really appreciated the gift. It wasn't the usual missionary work that we encounter, but it felt so natural and real! I love doing service for others because it opens up opportunities to share the gospel with others in the most genuine way, we can just be ourselves and not feel so much like a salesman. 

     

After we left the charity shop, I felt like I was in the movies for a moment. We walked past a pub and saw that people were watching the England vs Sweden World Cup match. Then suddenly the matched ended and we saw everyone going mental in the pub celebrating! I'm sure that everyone is going bonkers around the country for how well England is doing right now. It's lots of fun to be surrounded by all of the excitement!

     

I'm not sure if I'll be able to send an update next week as I'm traveling to Leeds to prepare for my return home to the promised land. I love this country so much! I hope that whoever has been reading my updates has grown more of an appreciation for the gospel and strengthened their testimonies. My last week out here I'm going to continue to do the best I can to give others the opportunity to accept the gospel! Love yous and hope yous have a good week, cheeeeeeeerrrrs!!

-Elder Holyoak 

GO ENGLAND!!

World Cup Pride

Posh Topman Jacket

Finding and Preston, England Temple visit

Hey again! Here's a 2 week update because of my Temple trip. Time is flying by quick. It's mad! Elder Legisma and I have been proper stuck in to the Lords work lately. We've had some funny experiences and went on a trip with a recent convert to see the brilliant Preston Temple.

     

So first off, the highlight was definitely the temple visit. We set off from Worksop at 10am with a couple of members and Elder Legisma's recent convert. The 2 hour drive was quite beautiful through the fields of Yorkshire to Lancashire. The member driving us is originally from Preston and was telling us all loads of interesting stories about the church there and the whole process of building the temple. Once we arrived we had a few minutes to spare, so Elder Legisma and I popped into the MTC for a little. It was so strange being their again after almost 2 years! I've learned so much on my mission. It's like a lifetime of knowledge crammed into 2 years. It was some quality reminiscing. We timed it perfect, the sun was out and the Temple grounds were beautiful and peaceful. Richard, who is Elder Legisma's recent convert, was in awe. When we walked up to the actual temple building we asked him, what do you think? He said, "It's Brilliant!" 

With the help of the members, we were able to get 14 of Richard's ancestors baptized in the Temple. I've never done baptisms for my own ancestors either, so I took a name as well. It was was my Great Grandpa Balen's grandad, named Marko Balen. So he is my Great, Great, Great Grandad who was from Croatia. Overall, it was an amazing experience and I'm so grateful that I was able to see The Lord's house here in England one last time.

     

Throughout the week we've been doing lots and lots of finding the elect via buses, streets, doors, members and charity shops. And it's gone pretty well this week lads and lasses! We're getting let in to people's homes and sharing with them the teachings from the one and only Jesus Christ. We've gone through loads of Books of Mormon's this week, good thing we've got an extra box of them! We are seeing our new friends again this week and are right chuffed to share more. Has it been hot? Yes! It's probably been one of the hottest weeks on my mission! 

     

A quick funny experience to share from all of our finding. We went to an outer village called Clowne a couple days ago to visit a woman that we met the previous day. Her partner open the door and started chatting with us in his front garden and sat on his brick fence. He was very open and wanted to hear more of what we had to share. Then a man working for some electric company came by to check their electric. He was kind initially and then saw that we were Mormons. He told us that he was a Baptist and talked with our lot before. Then fire and brimstone came down! He started preaching against us and to our friend we were teaching. There was so much contention that he caused our friend to say, "Hey lads it was nice meeting yous. I'll have to see you another day." Then he went back into his house........ Gutted! We continued to calmly talk to this angry man. We noticed that he was trying make us lose our cool. We shared with him Galations 5:22 about the fruits of the Spirit and how we didn't feel he had the Spirit as he was talking with us. Then we heard the door behind us open up and we heard, "Do yous wanna come in for some tea?" The woman we met yesterday let us in and we got away from that prideful man who as the Book of Mormon prophet Jacob says, "persecutes the meek." We went in and had a really good lesson with them and taught them about the peace and love that God has to give them. It was a funny experience and a reminder of how important having the Spirit really is in this work!

     

I'm going to do everything that I can to help as many people as I can, with the time I have left here in England. Hope everyone has a good week. 

Talk to yous later cheers!

-Elder Holyoak 

My Great, Great, Great Grandad Marko Balen from Croatia

More England World Cup pride

Reminiscing at the Preston, England MTC

Preston, England Temple