2nd week in Brid

Hello, hello my American friends.  My second week in Brid (Bridlington) has been super decent. It's been full of Blink-182 and snow and tea at the branch President's house in an amazing location.

My 2nd week here in Brid has been treating me well. We've been getting a lot of wind, rain and a bit of snow lately. We made some little snowmen from the snow that stuck on the cars. So with the whole Blink-182 thing haha, a bunch of members have randomly brought up how they're big fans of that band and it's become an inside joke between Elder Wilkey and I. One of the less actives has actually met Tom Delong, the lead singer, and he was telling me all about it today.

Last P-Day the branch president, President Gregory, invited us over for tea at his bungalow, so we could talk about how the branch is doing. He lives in a village just outside of Brid called Flamborough. It's a beautiful area! We did some finding, but it's mainly full of retired people. When we were there we saw on the map "Flamborough Castle" so we were expecting an awesome castle. As we went around the corner, we started laughing when we saw the tiny remains of what is left of it in a horse pasture, haha!

The work has been a bit slow lately. We've been mainly getting to know the members and the area. There's a lot of former investigators that the last lads in the area worked with and I'm excited to work with them. 

On Wednesday, we went over to York for some zone training and interviews. Brother Stevens gave us a ride over, instead of us having to take the train. At the training, we talked about the new mission schedule and just how to be better missionaries.

There is a lot work to be done while I'm here in Brid and I'm excited to bring more people into the gospel! On Sunday, I saw a member from York 1 and I gave a talk in Sacrament on the Holy Ghost. There are a lot of funny quirky members in this branch that I'll tell you all about next week. 

Cheers - Elder Holyoak

The Brid Boyz

Flamborough Lighthouse

Huge Flamborough Castle

Snow!

Dr. Who

Beach Boy @ Brid...

Lots and lots of new stuff here on my mission like: my new area Bridlington, teaching a man in a bar, the soda man and more!

Hello, hello from Bridlington! My first week in Brid has been brilliant so far. I'll just give you guys the rundown on what it's like here and then I'll talk about the missionary work. I am currently living in a 4 man flat with my new companion, Elder Wilkey, who is from Rexburg, Idaho. He's really into music and theater. The other two lads living with me are Elder Vickers from Bristle, the south of England and Elder Mills from a little town called Kuna in Idaho. So, I'm livin with 2 Idaho boys and a local. This last transfer had a lot of changes in the York Zone, including moving 3/4 of the Elders that were here in Bridlington. Elder Wilkey has only been in the area for 3 weeks so far, so it's practically been a white wash.

Bridlington is a medium sized city that's right next to the North Sea. It's a fairly large branch that's getting pretty close to becoming a ward. Their goal for this year is to get 6 new members and 16 re-activated members in order to become a ward. So yes, we've been working with a lot of less active members. There is a man that's friends with a member that we're teaching. And the member, Brother Bentley is a Californian that runs a bar! That's right, a Mormon runs a bar here in Bridlington. Haha. He's a great member and he openly shares with his costumers that he doesn't drink and that he's a member of the church. We taught his friend in the bar and we're giving him a church tour next week.

Here's a random experience that I thought I'd share with you guys. Elder Wilkey and I were knocking doors and I hear the song "Pinball Wizard" playing. It was man delivering soda to people's doors. Elder Wilkey asks him, "Are you delivering soda to people's doors?" And the man just laughed. "You guys deliver soda in England? You're like the soda man!" We then bought one from him and had a good chat with him. I guess that gives you a taste of Elder Wilkey's fun, awkward personality haha.

It's been a great week and a fresh new start to a new area. The funny thing is that I'm going back to York on Wednesday for interviews, so I might run into some members I know or Peña. Anyways you guys have a good one. Take cay ye sens! (Take care of yourself in Yorkshire)

-Elder Holyoak

North Sea beach panorama 

Ponies!

Beach fun, missionary style

TRANSFERS............

What's up my cheeky Americans. Tra tra tra transfer calls are in and I'm.... MOVING TO BRIDLINGTON! Some more news in my missionary life include: missionary daily schedule changes and D's BAPTISM!

I've loved it here in York so much. I can't even explain in words how much I love being a missionary serving and connecting with people. I've been here for almost 6 months though, so I'm pretty excited to be getting a new area. Bridlington is on England's east coast, so I'll get to eat some fresh fish and chips. It's still in the York Zone, so I'll still see the Harrogate lads when we get together as a zone. My new comp is Elder Wilkey from somewhere in Utah. I've met him once on a zone P day and he seems like a good chap. So yeah new area, I'm pretty sure that it's a 4 man flat. I'm excited! I take the train tomorrow (Tuesday) to leave.

This Wednesday we had interviews and we watched a worldwide missionary conference thingy. The church made some minor changes to the daily schedule that go into action next transfer. The biggest change that was made is the key indicators and we only report 4 now. 

My first baptism was this Saturday! Elder Peña and I put tons of planning into it and it payed off. More people came to the baptism than we expected and it ran super smooth. And yes, I baptized him the first try haha. He was smiling and social the entire evening. F  said the opening prayer and had a really good time too!! It was such a miracle the whole evening and the best way that I could end my time here in York. I'm super excited for what the future holds in Bridlington and I'll let you all know how it goes! Talk to you all next week. 

Deuces and cheers!

-Elder Holyoak

My main man D

D's baptism

Sharn the rapper

The legend Brother Wilkerson, my first ward mission leader

                     

York chapel

Saying goodbye to Sister Hickton and her daughter

Our Homie D is getting baptized!!

Hey family and friends, 

Man, there has been so much going on this week and I have done the most teaching than any other week on my mission. Some of the highlights are: finding a man that flat out told us that he want to become baptized, buying Shawn some fish and chips via scooters and D is officially getting baptized on Saturday!!!!

Hi there people reading this, that's right it's official, we are having a baptism on Saturday! Elder Campbell did the final interview with D and we brought our ward mission leader along. The service is being planned right now. We asked him who he'd like to baptize him out of all of the members of the ward and the missionaries with the Priesthood. He looked at Elder Peña and said a bit of banter, "I don't trust you, because you'll probably drown me." Then he looked over to me and said, "Elder Holyoak I think it would be a good experience for you, could you baptize me?" I was shocked and of course I accepted! 

After the interview, we went to this restaurant called Belly Busters and we got Kebabs to get "Kebabtized" before our baptism. I think it's a tradition. I don't know how much longer I'm going to stay in the area, but I'm going to do everything that I can to keep in contact with D and help him to stay active. I'm so buzzing for him! It's amazing to see how much this gospel can really help and change people. When I first met him, he was very reserved, anxious and unhappy. And now he's a lot more outgoing, relaxed, and super happy whenever we see him in his home and at church. I have so much love for this man and I'll definitely get you guys pictures next week!

The next highlight of this amazing week would definitely be this Jesus loving 30ish year old man that we found. We found him while knocking doors and shared the Book of Mormon with him. He said, "Yeah, I've just been looking for a church to get baptized in." So we scheduled him. We're seeing him next Friday and oh man, he's so prepared. He has all sorts of Jesus tattoos and he placed the Book of Mormon next to his bible in his room. He couldn't come to church this Sunday, because he was going to a rock concert in London. I'm really convinced he'll come the next Sunday though. So yeah, that was exciting!

We delivered Shawn some fish n chips because she was sick. And guess what I saw on the tele? Trump's inauguration, hahah crazy! We got to her house via scooters that D gave us to drive. We've been using them every once in a while to get around.

This Wednesday, the 25th, there's a missionary broadcast that we all have to watch titled, "Changes to the daily missionary schedule."  I don't know what is going to change, but missionaries are trying speculate. Also, TRANSFER CALLS are this Sunday! Everyone is saying that I'm leaving and there's a high chance of that. There's also a chance that I could stay and train too, but we'll see. 

I'm hitting my 6 month mark this Friday! I'm gonna see if I can burn a tie legally. Also, Happy birthday Mum! I forget tell you last week and Dad, I finally went to the York Castle Museum. It was awesome! Well, I'm gonna love and leave you all. 

Cheerio from York, 

-Elder Holyoak

Kebabs after interviewing D

 The castle museum. I would definitely recommend it to anyone visiting York.

Some fun at the Minster

Snow in England

Hiya fellow church goers,

My update for you dudes this week includes, a bit of English SNOW, more prep for D's baptism, meeting with Shawn the rapper, and my first time hearing a Geordie (accent from north eastern England).

On Friday this week it snowed! It melted once it hit in the afternoon, but it actually snowed and stuck on the ground! I feel like it isn't winter, because I'm so used to seeing snow every year. It was only Elder Peña's second time seeing snow and he was so excited. I've been really lucky this winter and haven't experience the brutal English rain and wind, yet *knock on wood.

D has been doing really good. The Scottish Lad, Elder Campbell, gave him his baptismal interview and he passed it! Ever since I've been serving with Peña, D has only missed one Sunday at church, so he's really ready to be baptized. We introduced him to a tea famous amongst UK members of the church. It's called Red Bush Tea and it's the closest thing that someone can drink to regular tea without breaking the Word of Wisdom. I tried some and it tastes pretty good. I'm not much of a tea goer myself, but with lots of sugar I can force it down haha. So yeah, he's still preparing for the 28th.

We visited the baby rapping gangsta Shawn, a couple time this week. She's had a lot of problems that have happened in her life lately and when we got there she was really stressed out and anxious. We gave her a blessing and right after it, she calmed down and was just smiling. She said that she felt peace and that everything was going to be ok. This was such an amazing experience for all of us. The Priesthood is real! 

In Sacrament meeting a man from Gateshead, which is Geordie land, spoke (sounds very Scottish). It was my first exposure to the exotic accent, haha. 

Well I hope that all you peeps are doing good in the slowly land of Utah. 

Cheers and talk to you next week!

Elder Holyoak

Big snow storm in York

Hola!

Hear ye hear ye, 'tis I Elder Holyoak from the land of York again! It's been a solid week of missionary work here. We're helping D prepare for baptism by buying him some herbal tea, Josh's girlfriend is seeing the world through a Mormon's eyes and we had some fun as the Harrogate district.

What's up my people! It's been a pretty warm week, with only a couple days of rain and its been full of finding. Our investigator D is making a lot of progress and he's preparing for his baptism on January 28th! One of his concerns is getting off of tea. So we bought him some Herbal tea from Morrisons and he's gonna try it out this week. We've also been taking a lot of different members to teach him with us. 

We taught Josh's girlfriend again this week and she is doing really good too. She said something real mint while we were teaching her. She said, "I just see the world different now. I'm more compelled to see the good in people and I love being around people in the ward!" She also said, " Can I say something weird? I'm seeing the world through a Mormon's eyes now!" Haha! We're going to make the transition of teaching her in her home this week and it's so exciting.

Something funny happened this week. Elder Peña and I were walking next to a red light. And we hear, "Peña!" We walked over to see a missionary that used serve around Peña in our mission, Elder Russburg. He said that he was visiting the mission and then he drove off. Haha! 

So yeah, life is brill! Lots of missionary work is in the water works here in the Kingdom of York. 

Love you all, Cheers!

Elder Holyoak 

Here's a video of the Harrogate district jamming out to Called to Serve.

Happy New Year / Christmas from your Yorkie Boy

Happy New Year / Christmas everyone! It's been a gr8 holiday season over here in the country that has 90% beautiful warm tropical humid weather. Just kidding, it's been a cold week here! A lot of things have happened including: spending Christmas Day at the Mayalls, I had American burgers after district meeting, meeting D's crazy friend, and New Year's Eve with a Dominican.

     

Christmas was great here in York. The ward gave us lots of sweets and little presents and I wore my Christmas jumper(sweater) to church on Sunday. We spent Christmas Day at the stake president's home, President Mayall. Peña and I hung out with their kids and of course Skyped with our families. 

     

We had a district meeting and another exchange in Harrogate last week. As a district, we went to a restaurant called "The Damn Yankee." We had authentic American burgers while listening to country music. I spent most of Friday in Harrogate with Elder Campbell. We knocked at some really really posh houses and taught some Uni students about the restoration.

     

D introduced us to his friend this week. She has a really strange belief in how the stars align to make you who you are and that she's going to be reincarnated into a parrot after she dies. She's a really nice lady and we invited her to read and pray if the Book of Mormon is true.

     

New Year's was pretty fun too. We spent the night at Josh Kimberling's house and played a bunch of games with his family. No, we didn't stay up until 12, but we did get to sleep in until 8 which felt amazing! I've had a cold this past week, same as half of the mission. Haha. And this humid freezing British weather hasn't been helping either. I'm pretty much not sick anymore, so that's good. 

     

Life is good over here in the kingdom of York and I'm really excited for this year of missionary work I have in 2017. Oi mate, how about that new president of yours taking office this week? Love you all haha!

-Elder Holyoak

Harrogate District at "The Damn Yankee"

Posh Cheese!