Teaching in Chinese and Jousting!

Hey there, how are yous! These weeks are flying by and mushing
together, but it was a good week nonetheless. I shared the gospel with
Chinese people, turned 21, watched some jousting, and found a lot
more Geordies to teach!
     
It's mental that this transfer is already coming to an end. We'll
be getting transfer calls this Saturday. It's a strange feeling,
because this coming one will be my final one. So we will see where and
who the Lord places me with!
     
This week I was privileged with going on an exchange with the
Chinese Elders. And we did some Chinese finding. It was
loads of fun! I learned how to say, "I'm from America" in Chinese.
Every time I would say it, I would get a funny reaction. I took a
little video during my extravaganza of a day.
     
We are teaching a load of new people this week. So that means we
did a lot of finding this week. Elder Kearl and I are proper being led
by the Sprit, but it's just the matter of helping these people get to
church. Loads of lessons are lined up this week. I'll let you know how
it goes next week.
     
For P Day / my birthday, we went to Alnwick to watch jousting!! It
was ace! Nothing is better than having fun in the sun with your mates!
It's getting very difficult to email, but I hope yous have a brill
week, cheers!

-Elder Holyoak

-Happy Birthday jousting-

Watch the jousting

Saying, "I'm from America" in Chinese

Royal Wedding and Durham Cathedral

Oi there! It's been a sound week here in Newcastle. My typing game is weak, but I have lots of pictures to make up for it. We started teaching a member's brother that we met street contacting that we are excited about! Hope yous have a good week cheers!

-Elder Holyoak 

Watching the Royal Wedding 

Courtyard from Harry Potter

We're coming to help Harry!

Durham Cathedral

Mummy's Day Facetime

Elder Holyoak is doing amazing!  He is excited to serve strong for the last 2 months of his mission.  His family LOVED spending time with him via technology on Mother's Day!  Here are a few photo's.

P-Day  

Driving and Castle Hopping!

Hi there. It's been another Belta week here in Geordieland! We had loads of meeting this week, went castle hopping, and did some service in Gateshead.
    
One little extra thing. After the long wait and hard work, I finally have my driving licence...... haha. I still accidentally sit in the passengers seat every once in a while, but I'm pretty used to the roads here now.
    
This week we had Zone Conference and MLC over in Leeds. Loads of meetings makes the week fly by. During Zone Conference, the departing missionaries of the nest transfer, gave their Testimony to all of the missionaries. All of the people in my group were like, "Next Zone Conference it's going to be us up there!" That's so mental to think that I only have one more Zone Conference and time is flying by.
    
This week we did some service with some other missionaries over in Gateshead. Basically what we did was sweep the extra gravel and dirt off a tennis court. I got a gnarly blister on mi hand but it was a blast.
    
In Newcastle for missionary work, we are hunting out new people to teach. But in the our zone there should be 5 baptism on the 19th of May!!
    
On P-Day we went castle hopping and got some really cool pictures at the Alnwick and Bamborough Castle.... Champion! Also, hope all of those mothers in America have a well good Mother's Day.
I'll be Facetiming mi mummy. Cheers!

-Elder Holyoak

Newcastle Update Mate

Hey, you alright everyone! It's been a very eventful week here in Newcastle. First off, it's a new transfer so I've got a new comp, I went on exchange in Gateshead, we've been bringing friends to Institute and someone got baptized!!

     

These past couple weeks have been super fun and busy. I'll summarize what's happened. My new companion now is Elder Kearl. He's from Ogden, Utah and likes to party. He a chill bloke and has a good mix of working hard and having fun. At the start of the transfer, we made lots of plans to serve the missionaries in our zone and show them love and help them grow their areas. For the most part, things have been working out pretty well. Our zone is the 3rd largest zone in the mission, so it doesn't take ages to visit the other missionaries luckily.

     

I was able to go on an exchange with Elder Lopez again. He's a super funny kid from Idaho. It's mental, because he's been out for like 3 months and I feel like a dinosaur compared to him. An interesting thing about Gatehead is that it has one of the largest Jewish communities in the world. In their faith they are told not to talk to people like us. It was very strange approaching them and getting stared at in response. I felt like I was an animal at a zoo exhibit! I could tell overall that they were good people and that they had strong morals and families. The light of Christ is everywhere!

     

These past couple of weeks we've been bringing our friends that we've been teaching to Institute. They've been loving it! The YSA are hilarious in this Stake. They're ace at fellowshipping as well. It's amazing how captivating the lessons and the atmosphere is overall. It got me excited for Institute back home!

     

That transitions over to the biggest miracle this week. One of our friends, Dean got baptized!! It's been about a month since we first taught him and brought him to church to watch General Conference and look at where he is at now! The actual service was as they say "Belta!" It was really good..... haha. There was a couple of hick-ups with the pianist not being there and other things, but there are always those little things that happen, so it's alright. I learned as well how cheeky this ward is during the baptismal service. During the talks everyone was taking the mic out of each other hand and laughing. It was perfect for Dean's sense of humor. During the baptism the Mandarin branch was putting on a BBQ. It was funny while we were taking pictures a large group of Mandarin speakers came in the church to go to the BBQ. It was funny and Dean thought that all of these random people were coming to his baptism for a moment. After the baptism, the Mandarin speakers invited everyone to come and join in and have some food at the BBQ.

     

Overall, it was a really good start to this transfer. I love this work so much and seeing the effect that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has on people and myself included. It isn't an instantaneous thing, but those little things that we do everyday, cause us to change into the people that we want to be! 

Talk to yous lata cheers!

-Elder Holyoak 

New companion Elder Kearl at Dean's baptism

Dean's baptism

The Prophet in England and exchanges for days!

Oi! Guess what, transfer calls came again! This week we had a special broadcast in the U.K. from President Nelson, we had exchanges for days, and more miracles happened!

     

Hey everyone, so transfer calls came again and I'm staying in Newcastle and Elder Winegar is moving to Beverley near Hull. My new comp is gonna be a bloke named Elder Kearl, I'm pumped! So this week we had a big U.K. broadcast from President Nelson and Elder Holland. It was superb nonetheless and they really showed their care for the people in this country and pumped up the missionaries. 

     

We had loads of exchanges this week, one for almost everyday. I learned loads from other missionaries and we had some really cool experiences. Elder Gray and I got let in knocking and taught a really cool lady. Elder Luo and I found a guy in a park and scheduled him for baptism. Elder Edwards and I taught a man and he came to church! So the work is going really well! That's my main update you yous alls has a goods dee cheers!

-Elder Holyoak 

Exchanges....

Sunshine😎

Hi, how's it going! This is gonna be a quick update, because my last P-day was just 5 days ago. So this week I went to my first MLC (leadership training) in Leeds. I witnessed a Filipino family get baptized in North Shields and the end of the transfer is next week!

     

This Friday I went to my first Mission Leadership Training or MLC down in Leeds. It was lots of fun and I learned loads! We are making a big focus on ministering with love to people. 

     

The North Shields Elders had a baptism this week. An entire Filipino family got baptized and it was such a cool sight to see. It definitely lifted my expectations and got me more excited about the work! It was ace seeing the members supporting the baptisms again too.

      

It's crazy how the end of this the transfer has come up again. This last week of this transfer we have been going on loads of exchanges with people. On Thursday, there's a broadcast from Elder Holland and President Nelson which we are all pumped for! That's the main update, cheers!

-Elder Holyoak