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

Tracting the Neighbourhood

 All the missionaries we are generally around went to Coventry and then Birmingham for Zone Conference trainings this week while we stayed back. It was nice having some time to really focus on our area instead of going and training with them like we did last transfer. We have even been able to tract just about every day this week. Even the content schedule fell into place perfectly to the point where we have a small backlog of videos building up. Elder Hoopes and I are getting much better at filming quickly and in great quantity!

We are currently planning a video filming trip down to the far southwest corner of England. We are wanting to film three videos in two days and and three different cities. It has been a headache to coordinate but it's coming!

We have a super cool family we are teaching! Carly requested a Book of Mormon but then changed her mind after a quick Google search, happens alot. A couple days later she tells us she still is going to church. We assumed she meant another church but lo and behold, her and her daughter walk in on Sunday. They had an amazing time! We all went with her daughter, Libby, to primary so she wouldn't be alone. Even the primary kids went above and beyond helping them feel welcome. Now Carly is in the ward announcement chat, wants to meet with us, and yes, she even took a copy of the Book of Mormon. We have been in frequent contact with her and she is coming to church again!

Sincerely,

Elder Killian

Pic #1 - eating at a burrito place that just barely opened today for the first time named "tortilla"

Pic #2 - drinking Roman Bath water with Elder Hoopes and Elder Kintner, this is water straight from the spring that fuels the baths. It was kinda gross toasting

Pic #3 - selfie with everyone at the Roman Baths, the whole place was amazing and crazy historic

Sunday Visitors

 Every missionary understands how hard it can be to help people come to church. Meeting throughout the week? Easy. Reading the Book of Mormon? Easy. Coming to a service Sunday morning? Sometimes it seems impossible. Many times they sleep in, or get cold feet, or life happens and something comes up. 

These week is on track to be different though. We met with Danielle, who was referred to us by her friend, Channelle, who we gave a Bible. After that lesson, Channelle made a group chat with all of us. They are both keeping each other accountable to come this week along with Danielle's family.

Then there is Moses, a gentleman I messaged on Facebook who plays the accordion. He came last Sunday and brought his grandson and friend with him and they were all super awesome! Him and his grandson plan on coming again this week.

After that is Annerine. She saw an ad for Bible Studies on Facebook, we got went over and did one and told her about Come Follow Me. This past week we got her a manual of her own. Upon explaining the references to the Book of Mormon within Come Follow Me, she asked if she could buy a copy off of us. We said no, but we can give her one instead, and we put a bookmark in 3rd Nephi 11, but she insists she will read the whole thing! She also says she is coming.

Finally, just moments ago as Elder Hoopes and I were hauling groceries into our flat, our neighbor was putting his German Shepherd out and it barked at us. We just kept on heading in, but he rang our doorbell, apologized, asked if we were Christians, said he was one too, and invited himself to church! He said if he isn't busy he will come by and we will all walk together tomorrow morning!

It has been a amazing seeing so many miracles these past few weeks. Starting up social media again within the mission has been no small task, and many times these past few months, it took alot of faith to move forward when we had no one to teach and no time to go finding. Now that the ball is rolling, about ten people are being being found a day from ads and Elder Hoopes and I have been blessed as we spend whatever little time we can do work for our area rather than the mission social media! Speaking of which, the latest videos we filmed Thursday, edited Friday, and one is out now and the other comes out tomorrow. We went to Bath to film a band made up of three young women who are raising money for a charity in Africa. It was easily one of the easiest videos we have filmed. The Saturday video is them talking about what they do and the Sunday one is of them performing, go check them out!

Warm regards,

Elder Killian

Pic #1 - Elder Hoopes and I editing yesterday, we do it all on one go so we can focus on our area most of the week

Pic #2 - this comes from Dundry, we were up there again because that is where Annerine lives

Pic #3 - dinner at the mission office with the AP's and office elders, a member in our ward feeds us every Sunday

Dundry, Homeless, Shelter Videos

 Elder Hoopes and I have made a goal to teach more this transfer than ever before. This week was definitely a success. We had a couple points where it didn't seem likely lessons would happen, but miracles happened and they did.

For example, on Wednesday we made plans with a lady named Annerine to go to her home and study the BIble with her. The plans were made over a quick call a few days prior, so they weren't super solid. Wednesday rolls around and we had loads to do with planning for meetings, trainings, and videos, so we worked on that all morning and then put it on hold to go and teach.

Annerine's address took us through the standard English streets lined with crammed houses until one such street on the edge of town turned into a single lane muddy country road lined with hedges. Traversing that resulted in an incredibly dirty car and one period where I had to back up about 100 yards to let another car pass who was heading the opposite way. After continuing into the countryside surrounding Bristol another 15 minutes, little cottages start sprouting up. Then, out of thin air, a massive gothic spire springs out from behind the trees. Around the spire, sprouting from the Church of St. Michael the Archangel, is the village of Dundry. The address Annerine first provided took us straight to the pub, so we went in asking around for her with no luck. A couple phone calls and some door-knocking later, we found her house and she is actually super-interested! We are going to start doing Come Follow Me with her each week and hopefully help her start coming to church.

After studying with her we zipped back into the heart of Bristol to a homeless shelter ran by the Salvation Army to teach a man who referred himself. The shelter had signs saying "No Visitors" hung on doors that were locked and secured. We hit the buzzer though and they let us in. The people were incredibly nice and happy to see us. They had us fill out some waivers for visitors, and then let us commandeer the chapel for our lesson. It was really cool, the gentleman has had a lot of hard points in his life but he seems ready to turn a new leaf. We have weekly lessons set up with both Annerine and the other man for the foreseeable future!

We had some other lessons through the week, all of which forced us to push our Social Media obligations closer and closer to the deadlines. We had faith things would work out as we were trying our best however, and as a result, the Spirit truly helped us accomplish what we could not do alone. The videos will he published today and tomorrow, check them out!

Sincerely, 

Elder Killian

Pic #1 - the spire at Dundry as we searched for Annerine

Pic #2 - high winds from Storm Eunice, this pic was also taken at Dundry, you can see Bristol in the distance behind us

Pic #3 - our video set for our video which will be published today, it's just the inside of our flat haha

Staying at the Office Elder's Flat

 First off, before I get into all the new changes for these coming six weeks, go and check out the latest video on Finding Christ in the UK! We got it finished in the nick of time, wrapping up the captions just last night! There is also another video on that same page coming out tomorrow featuring a unique song written by a sister who just went home. So check that one out too!

Elder Costello, one of the AP's from Exeter just barely went home yesterday. At the beginning of the week, all the AP's were crazy busy preparing for the new missionaries coming in, and Elder Costello wanted to end his mission proselyting rather than building furniture for flats so while his two comps went on a roadtrip, I went on exchanges with him for two nights doing lessons, transfer calls, and some service. It was amazing, but the day I got back to my own area was the day we had our trip to Birmingham to film a video with Rising Generation representatives for the area. Birmingham is a two hour trip from Bristol that included a bus ride, two train rides, another bus, and a small walk. 

After filming for a couple hours, Joel (the Rising Gen rep) bought us kebabs. We were starving so we hurried back to the church and were just about to tuck in when a lady came in and said her car got a flat and she wanted to know if she was okay to park in our lot. We offered to fix her flat and she said she hoped we would help but didn't want to ask. I would like to say this is the third flat I have changed as an elder, but I really just watched my comps do it as I got the lady's number and talked about the Bible Study she was going to when she got a flat. We have been messaging her since then and are hoping to have a lesson soon! It is amazing how God leads us to people and puts us in the right place at the right time.

Anyhow, after all the filming we stayed with a couple elders at their flat in Solihull. We got up at 5:45 the next morning to catch our 6:22 train which got us back just in time to drop Elder Hopkins off at the church since he was leaving. We then picked up a couple new missionaries from a hotel who got left behind, dropped off a couple other missionaries at the train station, and then trained at a stake wide meeting over zoom. The meeting was cool since I knew most of the ward mission leaders. I have only been in the Bristol Stake my whole time here in England, but it has been in three different areas, two of which Elder Hoopes and I opened! Either way, it has been a great week and we are looking forward to this coming transfer!

Sorry for the long one, they will probably be shorter for the next couple weeks!

Elder Killian

Pic #1 - the original SMS crew, sister sowby and elder Hopkins both left this week

Pic #2 - filming Joel in Birmingham for a video

Pic #3 - service with Brother Arnold, a really cool member from Australia who does major landscaping projects. He goes home soon though, great guy though