Christmas!!!

 Merry Christmas Everyone!!

It's nice having preparation day today so I can send this email on the day of Christmas! It has been a great Christmas and my last one as an elder which is sad to think about.

We had a large breakfast with the AP's, Office Elders, and Digital Finding and Teaching Coordinators. We all watched the Christ Child as we ate. It was really neat.

For lunch, President Gallacher invited us and the Chinese Zone Leaders over since we didn't have any members to feed us due to the nature of our callings. It was super amazing. I asked about President Gallacher's Christmases in England as a missionary when he was young so he went and got his old journals and read the entries to us.

The rest of the week has been great as well. Elder Hoopes and I are moving soon to a better flat but we still have a week in Southmead and we are fixing to make it a good one. I had three people we are trying to teach message me over Facebook to wish me a Merry Christmas. That's a miracle because all of them just kind ghosted me weeks ago. One of them is actually Mark, the cop who pulled me over awhile ago. It was cool getting to chat with them over Messenger for a bit.

Enjoy the pictures!

Elder Killian

Pic #1 - dinner with the Gallacher's, those crowns came from the Christmas crackers

Pic #2 - locked out of the mission office on Christmas eve, luckily the office elders came to rescue us

Pic #3 - filming elder hoopes music video, it's posted on Finding Christ in the UK, go watch it

One Week to Christmas

 What a nice week it has been. Back when I first received my call as a Social Media Specialist I just kept thinking, "I can't wait until we get the ball rolling." Well, we are definitely in the thick of it now. So despite having so many meetings to attend and errands to run and different kinds of software to master, I am grateful that the Lord has helped me so far and continues to do so!

We had our Christmas zone conference this past Wedneday. There wasn't alot of training or anything, President Gallacher said it was a time to "unstring the bow" but towards the end he said he hopes we are all ready to get out and see some miracles and push ourselves. Over the course of the conference there were some games, some karaoke, and alot of food. Elder Hoopes and myself also premiered the latest video we made with the help of the young adults in around six different stakes. (https://fb.watch/9ZP3pG7Dug/) 

We then asked every missionary to pull out their phone and share it. It went so well the AP's said they would do the same thing at the next conference tomorrow and we even had some Sisters come up and show us a message thread in which a friend they were teaching said she loved the video and it started a strong conversation!

This coming week we have some big meetings with the area social media leaders over Europe. We also have to get some real big last projects out. We are really going to start prepping for New Years now so we are ready!

Last thing, I noticed in the Book of Jarom that Jarom says "For what could I write more than my fathers have written? For have not they revealed the plan of salvation?" I thought it was a cool verse because first off, it teaches us that the gospel really is simple. We can think about little aspects of it all day, but the core plan is a simple and beautiful one. The second thing I thought was that we should never underestimate what we have to offer, because Jarom said that before we heard King Benjamin's call to action to all his people, or Alma and Almuleks remarkable talk on faith, or a countless number of other inspiring stories we read about. So never be afraid to share! What you have to contribute is necessary!

See ya,

Elder Killian

Pic #1 -  Elder hoopes and I decorating the tree for Christmas zone conference so we could take a break from the computer

Pic #2 - Elder hoopes and I with an extra 30 minutes we decided to spend walking through a cemetery, it was really cool and sobering

Pic #3 - the best curry I have ever eaten.

Strengthening the Stakes

 So I have been a social media specialist for nearly a month now. It has flown by so far, most likely because every day has been so busy and every moment a learning experience.

We have recently started really focusing on helping the ten stakes within our mission develop a stronger social media presence. As we reached out to all the Stake Communications Specialists, we found varying levels of involvement on social media. There is one similarity amongst each stake though, they all really want to start using it to do missionary work. They have the drive to get it done which is easily the most important thing. As a result, we have solid plans on place to help them get where they want to be.

Coming up we have two concerts and a live nativity event we will be broadcasting. Elder Hoopes and myself will be traveling a considerable amount getting it all done. After the holiday season we will slow down on the frequency of posts and focus on getting into a good schedule instead! It has been amazing to hear miracles that missionaries have seen as they use things we post and ads we ran in their efforts.

That's all for now!

Elder Killian

Pic #1 - my first visit to a carvery, it's like an all you can eat buffet, but you buy a plate and can only fill it once so you stack it high. English people know how to make proper roast dinners

Pic #2 - Elder hoopes and I walking around a park while waiting for a bus, we found these trees near a castle in the middle of bristol

Pic #3 - one of the double decker buses, we ride for 45 minutes on one, then get off and change buses, ride another 30 minutes, and we get the office

Office Full of Idaho Elders

 For the majority of my mission, I only really attended three meetings every week. There was church, district council, and then generally an extra one that came up. Now Elder Hoopes and I are averaging about ten a week. Its really cool getting to collaborate with so many different people all over the UK. Also, by necessity, my note taking abilities have dramatically increased.

We started posting on our social media profiles recently. There have actually been posts rolling out everyday! The best video we have whipped out so far is "What I Love About You" on the Finding Christ in the UK page. We posted it in December 1st. I would recommend checking it out, if you like it enough feel free to comment and share it too!

As far as ads go, we made it our goal to get them running and, spoiler alert, we were able to accomplish that. The day we chose to sit down and grind them out was a long one though. We had taken a couple trainings on ads and produced some good images so we felt like we could get it done pretty easy. In theory it was going to be a walk in the park. Sadly, our theory didn't take into account the fact that there are two different business accounts contains 6 different ad accounts between them which were all disabled for some reason. We had to dig for about 30 minutes to uncover all of that and then another 30 minutes of troubleshooting led us to find out there was a substantial charge (90£ or $120) from way back in April that had never been paid. Once that was laid we posted our first few ads and since then they have done incredibly well! Our guy back in Utah who trains us said he never would gave guessed our first ad would have performed so well. We have generated a list of over 60 people who want missionaries to drop of a card with a unique code to download some Christmas choir music. While dropping it off they then have the chance to offer to share a Christmas message and from there they can be taught!

That is all for now!

Thanks!!

Elder Killian

Pic #1 - all of us here in Southmead, minus Elder Palmer, I'll get him in a pic for next week

Pic #2 - our lunch on Friday, we all had like three bread bowls worth of chicken and rice soup I made and they made it crazy hard to stay awake

Pic #3 - all of us office elders, fun fact, we are all from Idaho, Elder Pincock (right in front of me) lives 24 minutes away in Idaho Falls

Two emails, One week

 First off, you are probably wondering why this email is coming on a Saturday rather than a Monday. It started back during one of our technology councils on Thursday. We were informed of some stake events going on that would be ideal for gathering footage for the Facebook pages we now run. I asked how we could be on the loop so we don't miss future events and President Gallacher said we need to start coming into the office every Monday at 2 for the calender meeting with the Stakes. Fast forward to yesterday at another meeting with all the zone leaders and sister-training-leaders. After that meeting we asked President Gallacher if our P-day could be Saturday rather than Monday and he said that would be best. The AP's and office elders also have it today so we aren't completely on our own luckily!

In other news, Elder Hoopes and I are going to move to a newer, nicer flat in January that is MUCH closer to the mission office, within walking distance in fact! Until then we are going to keep bussing a few hours each day. It works out though because we have seen some miracles!

Just yesterday we spent five hours in a meeting, another hour assigning missionaries to create social media content, and then two hours producing a Christmas Ad for our mission to run. We were constantly busy, but it wasn't directly finding and teaching people the gospel. I was having some difficulty excersizing faith that my efforts were a worthwhile use of time. While caught up in those thoughts we missed our stop because we were trying a new route home that requires two busses. By missing that stop we had to wait 45 minutes to catch a different bus. When that bus finally came, a man in front of us called us Elders and gave us fistbumps so we started talking to him. His name is Ricardo and he was taught by Sisters in Spain seven years ago! During that time they taught him all about the church and he frequently attended, he was even the driving force in getting the rest of his family along! After moving to England he lost touch with the sisters and we were the first missionaries he has interacted with since! In the course of that 45 minute bus ride we got to know him really well, we sent selflies over Messenger to the Sisters who taught him and also his cousin who is a member, and also got his contact info and invited him to church! It was a major testimony builder that this is God's work, He knows that we want to help people. I know that no effort is wasted. Success isn't based upon our efforts, but rather on our desires.

It has been a great week and I will start sending all these emails on Saturdays!

Till next week,

Elder Killian

Pic #1 - the chicken and rice soup we made to eat at the office, we literally just packed a cup of rice and can of cream of chicken soup

Pic #2 - the first kebab I have had here, I was told every missionary needs to try one, it was pretty good!

Pic #3 - p-day shopping with the district followed by football