Hawaii Trunky but working hard.

..........................................hold on.....let me kickstart my hawaii trunky brain again. Flip Randi........you are living my dream life! Ok ok focus....being a missionary is cool too. I am helping people come closer to Jesus Christ and back to Heavenly Father. (That's what I have to tell myself everyday to stay focused). Healing people, physically and spiritually, is one of the sweetest feelings I have ever felt, and I am loving life right now, for the place and purpose and moment that I am in. (I am happy....but my hawaii daydreams are still running wild). I will talk to you all more in the personal emails.

Ok, here's this week's quick deets:

Last P-day, I finally got to tour the birthplace of the Beatles!!! It was way cool, and I hope I can figure out this computer and send some proper pictures.

We have been able to once again offer our service to people, and it brought a whole new level of love and trust with our friends! Especially Anna. We went up to her house in Kirkby, worked and prepared her whole property for the winter, and taught her, and after a year or so of missionary visits...she finally came to church!

We have also been making a lot more progress with Lee. We have set up a new system with him. We teach him, give him some scriptures and a pamphlet...then the next day, we swap roles and he teaches us. It has been working brilliantly, and he is well on his way to get baptized on the 24th of October! Just pray that he can totally kick out the cigs, and he'll be golden.

Other than that, it's just been the usual missionary work and meetings, so I won't bother you with extended detail. But just know I am happy, I love these people, and even though my level of hawaii trunkiness is at a record high...I still love where I am at and who I am serving. 

I love you all, and I can't wait to see you all again.

Peace out home skillets

Elder BA


***He hasn't been able to upload pictures on the library computers..... sad face. 

Powerful sermons and Skatepark contacting.

Hello chaps! Life is good in the outskirts of Liverpool. Today I am going to go explore more of the sites and docks and shops and the Beatles home turf, so today will be short and sweet. Here's the deets on why life is good:

Last week, we had an all elders training in Manchester. The entire day was comprised of listening to a powerful sermon on the Atonement from President Ulrich, hanging out with my crew, playing a massive football tournament, and participating in a "deep doctrine question and answer session" with President Ulrich. He is a master teacher, and he inspires me. Getting to relax and play sports and enhance our deep knowledge on the gospel made it an awesome day.

So Lee had his baptismal interview with President Ulrich, and sadly we had to push his date back to the end of October. I know that it's a right decision though. This way, Lee will have more time to totally get rid of his smoking habit, and also time to allow his testimony to really settle and strengthen. We still have high hopes, and Lee is continuing to progress. All in the Lord's time.

I was feeling a bit burned out towards the end of the week, so we spontaneously walked to the Bootle Skatepark, and I did some classic "skatepark contacting". This was probably one of the best ones though! They immediately welcomed me in, and I got to skate around with them for a bit. They were good, down to earth punks. I think I got a little carried away though, and I totally ate it hard when I tried to ollie off of a tall ledge. Scabby palms and a black shirt instantly brought back good memories though.

Other than that, life has been good. We have been getting to know the families here more deeply, and I am amazed at how good these people really are. I love them all. I know exactly how Gordan B. Hinckley felt when he shared his love for the people of England.

I love you all as well! Thanks for all your motivation and love and awesomeness. 

5 months to go!

Peace!

Elder BA

"You must be shapeless, formless, like water."

Heyo you water pirates! All of your liquid adventures are making me crave it even more. This week though, I needed some serious freedom and a recharge to my exhausted battery, so I walked along the coast from Cosby beach all the way to the top of Blundellsands. I made sure to walk well ahead of my companion, just so that I could feel alone and free for a moment. The ocean has become one of my greatest therapies and favorite places of peace. No wonder the Savior spent so much time and delivered some of his most powerful sermons by the sea.

Anyways, I am going to keep this short and simple so I can have time to respond to your individual letters. Here's the deets!:

Lee is progressing like a mad hatter. He is so good, and is already giving away Book of Mormon's on his own like a boss. We have been seeing him everyday, and he has been joining us for member tea appointments, family home evening, church, sitting in on blessings, and is even coming to my district meeting tomorrow. Lee's official baptismal interview is on thursday, so pray and wish him luck! Good times here is Crosby.

We had an incredible Brazillian dinner/hang out at the Patton's. They are pretty much the best Brazillian family I never had.

I got to see Joe (aka dragon (I am nighthawk)) and some of my other good friends from Southport on Saturday. They stopped in Crosby for the WW1 100 year anniversary bike ride. All these connections are awesome.

Other than that, life has been full of experimental cooking, playing my new guitar that Sister Nemec gave to me before she went back home to Austria, knocking on Jehovah Witness's doors, reading JW literature and bashing it to pieces, saying hello to our friendly neighborhood Scousers on the street and day dreaming about my future. Not going to lie, the reality of my mission coming to the end is kicking in, and it's pretty hard to focus a lot. I am living on Sheldon Kent's advice to me though " Towards the end...forget about the numbers. Don't even think about them. Get to know the ward members and people in your area. Explore it. Study the topics you want to study. And just enjoy being on a mission. You will miss it."

Wise words.

I love you all, 

and peace out

Elder BA

p.s. random Bruce Lee quote

“You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend.”

New Investigator, Lee.

Malo e leiei! (Sister Fonoifua is teaching me a bit of Tongan). Life is good here in England, even after the change of transfers and after saying goodbye to some of my dear missionary friends going home. I hate goodbyes with a passion. Anyways, Elder Plumb and I are staying another transfer together in Crosby (no surprise there), but we are sadly saying goodbye to Sister Fonoifua. She was the only change really to our district, with it now being Me and Elder Plumb, and Sisters Toly, Dugan-Jones, Fetuli and Dargyte. Two Americans, one Canadian, one English, one Tongan, and one Lithuanian. It's a multicultural party.

This week has been pretty amazing though. Not even a week after Gary got baptized...Elder Plumb and I found Lee. Lee...is definitely one of the most prepared and knowledgeable and ready people I have ever met on my mission. We have literally been seeing and teaching him everyday this week, and his progression is smooth and strong. It's kinda funny, the biggest disappointment we had from him...is when he found out he was too old to serve a mission of his own. He is 31, and he was destroyed when he found out he couldn't be a "missionary" like us. I was just like "flip....if that's your biggest problem with the church, then we have nothing to worry about." Lee is amazing though, and is strongly committed to be baptized on the 27th of September!! Do you want to know something awesome though? He wants to be baptized in the ocean!!!!!! I am so stoked! Pray for Lee, that this all won't be too good to be true.

Other than that, this week has been filled with the usual missionary work, but also some hidden adventures, like when Elder Plumb and I went on a spontaneous trip to the dunes and beach in Formby to scout out locations for Lee's baptism. Redneck Plumb hated the sand, I was in barefoot heaven. 

We were also able to go to the missionary fireside yesterday in Manchester with Lee, and the stake center was packed with everyone that I love. It was way good to see Diederich and Hatch and Bradley and Robinson and Klingonsmith and so many others once again.

Well, that's about it for now. I love you all, and even though I am still very very Hawaii trunky, I am happy to be here right now. I love you all, and peace out!

Elder BA

Gary's Baptism.

Aloha family! So, I am totally going to avoid the topic of Hawaii right now, because you would get nothing but a very long, envious rant...but as for now, I am happy and well and I had an incredible week! Here's the deets:

Between going to the temple on Monday and Saturday, the week was crazy slow and pretty uneventful...but Saturday has ranked to be one of my very favorite days of my entire mission. 

 the morning, we boarded a bus and headed back to my Southport home. It was a very strange mix of emotions, driving past all the sights and streets that I have worked for the past 4 and a half months before Crosby. It was weird, but when we entered the chapel, I had a sweet reunion with the members of Southport that I grew to love. But the best moment, was obviously seeing Gary there. He made it! After a few months of miracles and heartaches, Gary the man finally made it to baptism. Haha it will definitely be a baptism I will never forget too, for a completely different reason! There was a technical difficulty with the font, and we could only get about 2 feet of water in it. So...for the first time I experienced a "sitting baptism". Basically, Gary had to just sit on the font floor and slowly lean back until he was completely under the water and laying on the floor. Haha it was pretty unique, but it totally worked. He went completely under, even though it was awkward. Too legit to quit. Especially with baptisms being in very short supply here in England, this day had already been made one of my favorite memories so far.

After the baptism in the morning, we then traveled back to Crosby for another baptism! It was for Anita, one of the sister's investigators that has been investigating for over 3 years.She pretty much already seemed like a member, but finally made up her mind and gained the confidence to go through with it all the way. The baptismal service was incredibly spiritual, especially with President Ulrich giving a powerhouse talk on the Holy Ghost. At most baptisms, the talks are usually really light and happy and a little fluffy......nope, not this one. This talk was powerful and deep and intense, and we all learned so much more about the Holy Ghost. President Ulrich is pretty much a living Bruce R. McConkie, and I love it.

The thing that made this day the most special though, happened after the baptism. Sister Klingonsmith was able to make it all the way here from Shrewsbury because her companion taught Anita in the past, and the reunion with her was awesome. However afterwards, she asked President Ulrich if he could give her a blessings for more health issues that have just come up, and she asked me to join. So the three of us went into a room....and I experienced the most powerful blessing I have ever experienced in my entire life. Like, Sister Klingonsmith and I walked out of the room and all we could do was look at each other and say..."wow, that just happened." Without getting into the sacred details, I just want to tell you all that I have an even stronger testimony that God is real. He speaks through his chosen and ordained leaders. Angels are literally by our side. Elements obey righteous commands. And the Holy Ghost can empower and sanctify us. I know this to be true, amen.

I love you all, and even though I fight Hawaii trunkiness everyday, I love being a missionary here in England. Transfers are next week, and even though I'm pretty sure I am staying in Crosby, I will let you know the final deets on Monday. Till then, peace out!

Elder BA