A temple trip and spiritual nourishment.

Konnichiwa! And I love you all. This was an incredible week here in Preston. Here are the deets:

On Tuesday, we joined our dear friend Elder Maljanen at the temple with President Ulrich for his farewell. We had a sunny, warm, peaceful, morning endowment session, just the four of us.  Afterwards, while still dressed in our robes, President Ulrich took us into one of the private rooms of the temple...and we had an amazing question and answer session. Powerful revelation. President Ulrich unfolded so many things that I had questions about, and we all received some incredible insights about the temple ordinances that I will remember for the rest of my life. It was a sacred experience to say the least. 

This week, we also had a conference with a General Authority, President Dyches. Once again...another experience I will never forget. 

More on the fun side, we got to hang with all the YSA and we had a chill movie night. Popcorn and homemade sushi, skadoosh. Yuki came with us too, and now she is super tight with most of the other people our age here in the Preston ward. I love it. We are all from all over the world, but it's amazing how we can all just chill together as if we were friends for a long time. 

Saturday, we had the baptism for miss Yuki! It totally topped off my week of spiritual experiences. Elder Candland baptized her, and she came out of the water happy as ever. After they both changed into dry clothes, we performed a song for her. With all the missionaries in my district, we sang the "I like to look for rainbows..." song (yuki's favorite)...and we did it in Japanese!!! With different parts and much needed practice...it turned out beautifully...and Yuki couldn't hold back her bucket of tears. Once again..I will never forget it. 

With all that being said, and finding some new and incredible prepared people and having Hamblin and Lauener spend the night again and getting revenge on them from past pranks (we slipped some laxatives into their breakfast burritos...mwahaha), this week has been awesome. Life is good, and I can't believe it's almost December. 

I miss you all, and I can't wait to see your faces soon. Thanks for all the lovin, and thank you for all being tight! You are a bodacious family.

I love you all, and peace out

Elder BA

The Majestic Sanj.

 Yuki's Baptism

  Our Spirit Animals.

Diversity.

Heyo family! Life is good here in Preston. Just a warning, my brain is so tired right now, so I apologize if this letter is short and sweet. Well, here's what's been goin on in life:

This week was an incredible, multi-cultural week. For a flavor of it...we befriended and ate with a lovely scottish family, I helped teach and interviewed a japanese girl named for baptism for here in Preston (Yuki is the bomb), we taught bulgarians, romanians, polish, and then my favorite...we visited Saroosh. He is a less active man from Saudi Arabia, married a polish woman and now have 4 beautiful. We went over just to get to know them, but were unexpectedly surprised with a whole table filled with a huge variety of home cooked Arabian food. It was...bodacious. I think I tackled and savored 5 full plates of different types of lamb, fish, chicken, rice, squid and shrimp, and all the homemade sauces that mix with them all. Not only was the food awesome, but Saroosh is awesome and he easily worked his way to become one of our favorite people here in Preston. Good times ahead. 

With all 10 missionaries here in Preston, we went to the small and posh village of Ribchester, and had a lunch/fireside with one of the members, Bro. Wellington. At first I thought he was just a posh old man. Wrong. Turns out...he spent over 10 years of his life exploring Saudi Arabia and the middle east in search of possible trails that Lehi and his family took on their exodus out of Jerusalem. He gave us a full presentation, and only later did we realize...he was the author to Lehi in the Wilderness...a book I totally read and loved! It was such a good experience to talk with him, and now i am even more eager to go out and explore something. I just want to grab my backpack and go.

This week, because of their flat being worked on...Elder Hamblin (fellow arizonan) and Launer (swiss) have joined our flat crew...making it a crazy 7 man party every night. Without more detail...we have had some good times. Today, we are continuing on those good times and playing football at the park right by the River Ribble with the 4 Lancaster Elders. 

Other than that, in a couple days, we are saying farewell to our dear Finnish friend Elder Maljanen. We are stoked to go to the temple with him tomorrow, but we are all sad to see him go. He extended his mission time, but now it's time to head back home to the north pole. 

I love you all, and I wish you all well. Keep up the adventures, and peace out!

Elder BA

Preston.

Hello hello hello! Greetings from Preston, the most diverse, character packed place I have yet to serve in. I am beyond happy and well. But because of time, here are this weeks quick deets:

I was kissed by a man.......a chubby, Indian gay man named....Sanj. As of now, he has marked 4 of us with his juicy man kiss....and he has officially became our Preston squad mascot. Haha his name has become a substitute in most of our conversations, and he always randomly appears around town. I don't think I have laughed harder in my entire mission, and if you are lucky enough...I might be able to send you a picture of the Majestic Sanj. 

On a more serious note, we met an incredible lady from Bermuda! Tamara has lived in England for over a year, and told us that we were the first people to really stop and talk with her. Now, she is a solid, new investigator and is living proof that the Lord is directing prepared people to England to hear the gospel, even if they might not know they are looking for it. This is exactly what Elder Nelson was prophesying about last year when he and Elder Holland spoke to us. 

Other than that, we have just been meeting more crazy characters that keep the entertainment alive in our days. Also, the five of us are still really tight, and the laughs and pranks and spontaneous exchanges never cease. Today we are going to check out President Hinkley's and Heber C. Kimbals old missionary flats, then go try out a local buffalo wings shop, then probably play some football at the park, right next to the historic River Ribble. Sounds like a good day to me.

I love you all, I love my mission, I love daily adventures, I love Sanj, I love life.

May the Sanj be with you...

and peace out!

Elder BA

Lee's Baptism and Adventures In Preston.

Heyo everyone, greetings from Preston! Life is so good right now. The 5 of us are super tight, and we are conquering and having radventures in this historic place. It's been one of the continuously happy times in my whole mission, and I am trying to savor every moment of it.

So here are some of this week's deets:

 

Many times this week we have discussed..."if we were not on missions....we would never experience things like this". For example, we knocked on a door and 2 sketchy, shirtless men came to the door and started harassing us. Then their lady friend came to the door, cussed them out, calmed them down, invited us in...and soon we found ourselves in a random home with 3 catholic, alcoholic heroin addicts, their ex-mormon mother, and their Church of England friend, who kinda reminded me of an old, wise hermit and his dog Bonzo. At first, it was a bit dodgy. Then, everyone got to know us, and we got to know them, then Elder Moljanen, Schofield and I were basically teaching 3 separate, simultaneous lessons to the crazy crowd. After a while...everyone meshed together, we had a final spiritual thought, and they agreed to come to church with us. It was all just so...random. But it was incredible. Would I ever go inside a home with those people in it if i wasn't a missionary? Answer=heck no. 

We have had so many things like this happen, from an insane dog-loving Irish lady, to a whole Ecuadorian family who barely spoke English, to a Sikh man who attempted to foretell our future while sitting at the bus stop. Out of all of it though, it just proves that the gospel is for everyone, and it connects us all.

On a different subject, Halloween was pretty fun. All of us played some intense chair football at the chapel, then we put on the "haunted hallway" for the church halloween party. Us three were zombies who chased after the kids...until one of the kids got brave and punched Elder Schofield right in the gonads. He dropped...haha and it was flippin hilarious. The ward is really good though, and I am already growing to love them. 

The best part of the week though was Lee's baptism! He finally made it! Seeing him come out of the water, and do a double fist pump of pure happiness made all the stress and persistence worth it. Lee will be a friend forever. 

Other than that, the week has just been full of work, and pulling pranks on Elder Candland till he almost poops himself. This is such a good adventure right now, and I am surrounded with such good friends, and I am so happy and at peace. 

I love you all, stay fresh, and peace out!

Elder BA

Lee, Elder Plumb and the Patton Family

The Preston Squadron.

Heyo everyone!!! This week has been gnarly so far. But I am loving life. Being in a trio, and serving in a 5 man flat has been such a new and awesome experience. Not only that, but even more new missionaries were added to my district, making a grad total of 14! I have officially renamed it to Preston Squadron, and instead of district leader I am squadron leader. But seriously, being in a flat with 4 other elders is so fun. Besides Elder Maljanen, the other 3 elders have all been out under 3 months...but they are all so good, and we are already all tight knit. We have been walking the streets as a 5 man squad, and all we are missing are earpieces and concealed weapons. CIA status. 

Alright I am going to finally send some pics (hopefully this computer will be nice and cooperate), and I need to reply to all your individual emails...so I am going to keep this short and sweet, and give you more deets next week.

I love you all. I miss you all. I am stoked for my next 4-month radventure...then I will see all your lovely faces again. Good times ahead. 

Take care, and peace out!

Elder BA

p.s. The trio (Maljanen, Schofield, BA)

p.s.s. The squad (BA, Schofield, Maljanen, Candland, 

Mongie)

new address:

Flat 1, 36 Bairstow Street, Avenham

Preston PR1 3TN

England

Farewell to Crosby.

Hello hello! Yes it is true....I am leaving Crosby. I was so stoked when I got the transfer call!!!......I am going back up to Preston......to serve in a trio with a Finn and a fresh-out Englishman (follow-up training again), with two other brand new elders...all in the same flat (5 Elder flat= party time)....and I am still district leader...over 4 other sisters and Elder Hamblin (origin member of the Barrow Tribe, hoorah) and another fresh missionary. So this is going to be a massive 11 member district, and this is going to be a crazy adventure. Especially with the holidays coming up...there is so much potential for good times ahead. I am so pumped!

Needless to say, my mind has been pretty elsewhere this week...but we still have had some good times here. 

In the beginning of the week, I had an exchange with my dear Russian friend Elder Nebesnii. He is going home tomorrow, and it was one of his dying wishing to go on exchange together. And it was incredible. Bro Romero in Liverpool picked us up and we went to my new favorite restaurant in England. It''s called Jimmy's BBQ, and it was incredibly fresh and crazy tasty Iranian food. Best kebab I have ever had in my life, and it didn't even make me feel like death afterwards. That was really good, but still not the highlight of the exchange. The best part was when we were invited to a house party for a local ecclesiastical church. Elder Nebesnii got the hook ups through his neighbor who was a member of that church, and so we showed up to this really small house, that was crowded with 20+ people or so. We both went in with the mindset of "ok, have fun, be smart, make some friends, but don't try to convert anyone". For a while we had a really good time, just eating and socializing with all the people. I was amazed to see how good these people were, even being a part of a different faith, with so many different backgrounds. Eventually though, Elder Nebesnii and I got separated. He was simply in the room next to mine, but that's when their Pastor leaned over and asked me the classic bashing question "obviously we have differences in our faith, and I don't want to offend you or anything, but I heard some interesting things about Mormons. Do you really believe....?", and then he unleashed all the questions that he could about how our doctrines contradict with his. Then....the quote came into my head "never bash with people....but if you do...make sure you win". Haha so looking back on it, I can see how the spirit really took over as I clarified and simplified and unfolded our core doctrines to him....and soon the entire room got involved, and it turned into one big sermon. It was all very peaceful though, and I could see so many of them open up their hearts to the things I had to say. It was a powerful moment, and the Holy Ghost was definitely present, softening everyone's hearts and allowing us to still all be brothers and sisters, even though we were of different faith's. 

When Elder Nebesnii and I got back to our flat, we were so pumped that it worked out so well, and it opened the doors for future missionaries to continue to see them. Being a missionary is so cool! And then he gave me a sweet Russian jacket as a farewell present. I love that Russian.

Well that's about my update for the past week, and the next time you hear from me, I'll update you all on my new Preston adventures. Time is going by so fast, and I love and miss you all. See ya soon. Peace out!

Elder BA

Patton Family on the right, Lee and Elder Plum

The blessings of the gospel.

Hola mi familia. Greetings from Crosby! This could be my second to last time emailing from this place. Transfers are right around the corner and I'm pretty sure I'm headed out next week. I am stoked for whatever adventure lies ahead.

This week has been really really.....good. I don't know what it is exactly, but there has just been a flood of peace recently. Elder Plumb and I are really getting along, the connection with the members is brilliant, Lee is on his way to baptism, we found 4 new investigators to teach, we have been able to do a lot of service, and all worry seems to be out of my mind. Also last night, we were able to go to the missionary fireside in Manchester where all the recent converts get up and bear their testimony and share their story. The spirit was so incredibly strong and radiating from everyone....especially Gary. Gary, from good old Southport, humbly got up to the podium and gave a beautiful testimony, and gave Elder Frandsen and I a special shout-out. Not going to lie...my eyes may have gotten a little sweaty to see how our good friend has completely turned his life around, has totally embraced the gospel, received the priesthood, is now on the young mens presidency, and has become our eternal friend. Words can't really explain how I feel, but...life is good. 

I have been so blessed to personally help and see people embrace the gospel in every area that I have been, and now it is Lee's turn here in Crosby. Please send some prayers his way, because even though he knows the truth, he still has some internal demons to fight. I love him though, and I have no worries that we will be baptized and carry on, either on the 24th of October or on some other day. 

Other than that, life has been full of walking in the rain, restoring a whole box of vintage tools that Elder Plumb and I found during service, making mexican food, eating mexican food, proselyting to uni students at the Liverpool University campus, and reuniting with Elder Diederich, Robinson and Sis. Thomson in Manchester. I am in a happy place right now.

I love and miss you all.

Peace out

Elder BA