Another Filming Trip

 

Elder Hoopes and I went to Wales again this week! We had two separate districts invite us to come and film them doing whiteboard finding activities. President Gallacher let us pick between going to Cardiff, Wales and Birmingham, England. We figured only one of those locations was actually staying in this mission so we should probably go there. To maximize the trip (which was about and hour and ten minute drive) we also coordinated with the Zone Leaders in Cardiff and they prepared a music number which we will be posting before too long.

The finding activity went incredibly well. I gave out a couple copies of the Book of Mormon and luckily was also able to get numbers for the local missionaries. Welsh people are really cool. Additionally, almost every sign in Wales has both an English and a Welsh version of the text.

In other news, our teaching pool will potentially double this week. One of the cool miracles there involves a couple named Nick and Tanya. We first ran into them on the bus when they loudly started questioning what our church does with tithing. It wasn't a very positive encounter by any means. We next saw them as we were walking from our flat. They were just going down the road and they greeted us like old friends. They are both over forty but kind of act like teenagers. We gave them a copy of the Book of Mormon and had faith it would end up where it was suppose to go, but I didn't think they would be the ones to actually read it. It came as quite the shock just two days ago, when we once again bumped into them in an entirely new part of town, and they told us they read. They proved it by telling us the main character had a weird name that started with "N". So now Elder Hoopes and myself will be going over to their place to watch Book of Mormon videos and start teaching them! 

Those are some of the highlights from this week! Have a good one!

Elder Killian

Pic #1 - Hoopes and I at poutine box, a crazy good restaurant only in Wales, highly recommend. Look up poutine box if you are wondering what it is

Pic #2 - a nice view of bristol we found while out tracting

Pic #3 - pic Hoopes took of me near the Salisbury Cathedral last week

Another Reassignment

 Hey everyone! As far as big news goes, Elder Hoopes and I were fully expecting another set of elders to come and help us do social media stuff. In fact, there was no question in our mind it would happen. Things changed when President Gallacher surprised us with the news that they called Sister Mitchell and Sister Cloward in to help us. It is looking like it will be a great transfer. While Elder Hoopes and I are still going to be responsible for filming and editing videos, the sisters will start up Instagram and take over advertising. At our leadership meeting, lots of companionships were surprised to see Hoopes and I together for another 6 weeks.

In other news, our friends are doing wonderfully! The two new tech sisters are sharing the ward with us and the AP's. The Wells Road Ward really needed some sisters. There are alot of single women we are teaching, but it is hard with not being able to go into their homes. One such friend came to a games night at the church (she got a ride from a member) and she loved the sisters. Her name is Carly. She also stayed after the party to rehearse for the Mother's Day Program with her daughter coming up this Sunday at during sacrament!!

It's been a great week, we are looking forward to many more!

Have a good day!

Pic #1 - my friend Moses from Facebook brought his grandson to church and played the accordion afterwards in the parking lot, the members loved it

Pic #2 - a pair of shoes I found in a closet and cleaned up and polished

Pic #3 - dinner provided by brother Evans for us, the AP's, and the office elders

Video Stockpiling

 

It has been an amazing week. Elder Hoopes and I went on an adventure to film videos in the far reaches of the mission. All of the content we have been putting out on the Consider Christ page has been set in Bristol and Bath, because those are local and easy on travel. That will change here soon though. We left Thursday at 7 AM to and went to Exeter where we dropped off two other missionaries for an exchange. We then continued south two more hours to Helston to a chapel. We filmed the audio of two sisters singing as well as a few shots with members for an upcoming music video. Afterwards, we sent even more south to the farthest southwest corner of the mission to Porthleven. While there we filmed the sisters singing on the beach. Everytime a a group stopped to watch and listen (which was frequently), a set of sisters who came along would talk to them. They had some great conversations and we even had a mini concert at one point right there on the beach by the clocktower. After that we drove to a college town called Falmouth which was a weird blend of England and Florida in my eyes due to the palm trees. While there we filmed another whiteboard video for Mother's Day. We had six sisters with us and we completely dominated one section of road. A person couldn't pass through without receiving a dozen compliments and several questions trying to prompt a convo. We had a couple finding miracles there.

That night we drove north an hour and a half to stay in Plymouth with some other elders. In the morning we went on a walk for our exercise where we saw the steps that the pilgrims walked down to board the Mayflower. We also had lunch in Plymouth at a nice little cafe where we had devon scones and finger sandwiches on fancy tea platters. I felt like I was in a Jane Austen book. The rest of the day was spent traveling to Exeter to film another video, and then back home to Bristol by Friday night so we could get footage for a Relief Society event today. We filmed four videos across five cities and three hundred miles in three days. Now we are looking forward to hopefully seeing four of our friends at church tomorrow so we can keep on teaching them!

Here are pics from last week's P-day, pics from this week will come later since they are on an SD card!

Have a good one!

Elder Killian

Pic #1 - me at the Roman Baths

Pic #2 - me in bath again (they weren't home I guess, no one answered)

Pic #3 - Little victorian garden we found, my finger is pointing to the flat the Plymouth elders live in