Mistaken for Coppers

 Kicked COVID early this week so we were able to get out and about teaching.

We met Christian and his partner Carley this week. We only had an hour to go out walking and no one spoke to us until we were en route back to our flat, then Christian stopped and said he would be interested in hearing more. He is from Ireland, really fun to listen to.

Taught Jasmina twice over video call. We scheduled a time to meet in person and get her a Book of Mormon. The day before that meet-up we randomly bumped into her and got it to her earlier than planned. It was a miracle considering she had to cancel the original appointment.

Managed to get inside a flat complex we were about to give up on entering. A gentleman within had requested a Book of Mormon online. Right as we were about to leave a different resident asked who we were looking for and pointed us straight to his flat when we told him. After dropping it off the resident who helped us asked if we got what we needed, he thought we were cops. When we told him who we actually were he was much less helpful.

Going to have zone conference this Wednesday in the Gadfield Elm chapel. It has alot of historical significance, this will also be the last two zone conferences before the missions splits.

Have a good one!

Elder Killian

Pic #1 - found a "slow worm" while doing service, it is actually a legless lizard (working to find this one)

Pic #2 - here is a strange statue we found out in front of a pub

Pic #3 - we were in Redruth in Cornwall county so we went to a place to get Cornish Pasties for lunch

Staying "Positive"

 The new missionary I am training is named Elder Jaeger Redford. He is great! He is adjusting really fast to what it is like to be a missionary.

Sadly, we only got in two days of street contacting, knocking doors, and teaching in person lessons before I got really sick. Turns out I have COVID. I am doing a bit better now so it should be all cleared up in a couple more days.

Since we have been staying inside the past three days, we have been exclusively doing Facebook work, text messaging, and phone calls. We have alot of people who need contacting so it worked out well.

We had a cool miracle where we found a gentleman in our phone contacts who wanted to meet but had moved, so we referred him to the Manchester missionaries. Another man, named Jeffrery, was currently going through a lot when we sent him a message. Elder Redford related to him and then scheduled a time for us to meet up and chat in a local park.

It is amazing to see the miracles that come from this work, even when we were limited by me being so sick. We are looking forward to being out and about this next week though!

Have a good one,

Elder Killian

Pic #1 - a university student in our ward is moving back to her home town so she cleared out her cupboards and gave it to us

Pic #2 - Elder Redford and I on our way back from Exeter when I first started feeling ill. We took a train

Pic #3 - Elder Cheney's last day in Plymouth before I got Elder Redford. Sunny, a Chinese member, fed us hotpot. The food is cooking by boiling in broth right in front of you

Training in Plymouth

 Hey everyone!

Transfers are happening this week. I will be staying here in Plymouth training a missionary straight out of the MTC.

Plymouth is doing really well. I have never had an area where we worked with members so well. They are all down to help out, we are just giving them a little direction and they are having miracles. I have only been here two weeks though, so I pray there is much more to come.

We had a little car trouble when my companion clipped a wall with the front right tire. We had the opportunity to take a train back to our area. The track ran right along the coast and we gave out a copy of the Book of Mormon that a member put their testimony in.

We have been inviting alot of members to write their testimonies in copies of the Book if Mormon which we then take back and give out. It is really cool to share with them the miracles we see as we prayerfully hand them out.

We also had a really cool experience teaching the Restoration to a family who are all desperately searching for God. The Spirit was really strong and we ended by inviting the husband to say a kneeling prayer. We are going to follow up with them soon. 

Enjoy the pics!

Elder Killian

Pic #1 - collection of coins, most of them work to make the crest so it isn't hard

Pic #2 - "hotdog" from a burger shack on the coast

Pic #3 - car troubles, the little wall came out of nowhere when my comp was driving

Back to Mondays

 Hey everyone!

My preparation day is now Monday once again. I was emergency transferred out of the office last week when another elder went home unexpectedly.

My new area is Plymouth, it has the launch point where the Mayflower set sail as well as a few other sightseeing locations that I know less about.

Within my area are two counties, Devon and Cornwall. They are rivals who argue over such things as the order in which scones are covered in jam and clotted cream. Cornwall is also the place where, if fairies existed, they would call home.

One friend of ours lives in Cornwall and it takes a ferry ride and 45 minutes of backroad driving to get to her home. I thought the roads in England were tiny before, but Cornish roads take the cake.

Also put our friend Chin on date for baptism! He wants to join the church, but we need to help him understand a few more things. We meet him on the roof of a library where they have open tables and chairs, we teach there frequently.

Pic #1 - when touring a castle at Mount St Michaels I discovered that people use to be much shorter

Pic #2 - a piece of durian fruit a Chinese member gave us, you either love it or hate it and I love it as much as I love eating any other rancid food I guess

Pic #3 -  last pic in the office with (most of) the other office missionaries

Passing through Buckingham

 Had a real busy week with zone conferences and filming videos.

We were in Birmingham on Tuesday and then Northampton Thursday. Over Thursday and Friday I drove just over 300 miles for more than seven hours to get to all the different places. We did film four videos though and attend a zone conference.

Wednesday was our day to work in our area. We did service for Gondal digging out clay and then we drove to Annerine's house and started clearing out her greenhouse and cleaning it up. It was really nice to serve them and they both committed to coming to church this weekend.

Next week will be a much longer email next week, alot of change is coming!

Have a good one!

Elder Killian

Pic #1 - pic of Hoopes and I filming at a Zone Conference, he's been my comp for the past seven months

Pic #2 - this is all of the tech missionaries in the EBM, there used to only be four of us

Pic #3 - Elder Hoopes and Elder Johnson and I after filming our fifth "Ask" video, this one in Northampton

Short and Sweet

 This week has been really busy with meetings. As my companions and I were training at these meetings, we met with the other social media missionaries and President Gallacher several times over a couple days to prepare. We tried really hard to help the missionaries participate as a discussion so they could learn for themselves and remember.

It reminded me of a quote I once read, "Men must be taught as if you taught them not, and things unknown proposed as things forgot." There is definitely an art to not only teaching people, but ensuring they are learning. Luckily, we don't have to just rely upon our own strength, we also have the Spirit. We are doing the best we can though to invite that Spirit and prompt righteous habits in our friends.

The time we had to knock doors and visit people was short and sweet this week. It may have been the smallest amount of time I have ever spent, but it was certainly miracle-filled.

As we were walking around we stopped to chat with a gentleman who was re-doing his paint on his house. His name is Martin and he told us an elder used to do service for him a couple decades ago. He invited us back to talk more!

Have a good week!

Elder Killian

Pic #1 - this is part of the walking path we take each day to get to the mission office

Pic #2 - when we went out tracting for the first time as a trio

Pic #3 - I didn't take enough pics this week so here is another one from the Salisbury Cathedral

Reaches My Reaching

 Elder Hoopes and I are hashing out one music video and one other video every week. We have done so for the past 5 and a half months or so. This week however, due to no action of our own, the videos happened to be really good ones. Today we posted our ''Ask Cardiff'' video that was filmed last week. It took some creative editing to make that one good though. It is the fourth installment in our mission's series of whiteboard videos. Each one filmed and edited by Elder Hoopes and myself. We did not film enough these week so we had to really utilize what we had. They are incredibly effective for finding and we have actually seen one other mission post one since we did it, and one of the Australia missions sent us an email asking for tips and telling us they filmed one too after seeing ours.

The second video will come out tomorrow at 3 PM (which is actually a really poor time to post so we may change it soon). The video features four incredibly talented missionaries singing ''Where Can I Turn for Peace?'' There are also shots of a cool non-member named Marshall reading the Book of Mormon, praying, watching conference, and meeting with missionaries spaced throughout it. That song has been especially impactful recently as I have thought of the lyrics. I seriously asked myself where I was turning for peace and also where other people turn for peace. Once such friend we are teaching could use the Saviour now more than ever. Her previous outlets keep on providing only temporary reprieve. It has really made me consider how distracting other things can be in turning me away from the only true source of peace.

Another line in the song says''He reaches my reaching.'' It came to mind strongly just the other day when we knocked on Garry's door, a self-referral. We had multiple calls with him but he was always busy. Finally, we decided to walk to his home and as we stood there talking to him, he admitted that he felt it was time that he started bringing God back into his life. He said he was trying to reach out. It occured to me that, for Garry, he was doing the best he could. It was now in our hands to "'reach his reaching.''

Enjoy the pictures

Elder Killian

Pic #1 - we went to the Bristol Cathedral today among other places

Pic #2 - Hoopes and I got locked out if the church so we say there editing in a laptop until the other missionaries arrived for our tech meeting

Pic #3 - our friend Gondal took us out to give us a tour of the city, I aspire to have the level of style he has