Aug 12, 2013

Hey everyone!

 

It's been another crazy busy week. We were up at the British Pageant almost every night this week, Tuesday-Friday. It made the week feel really short. We would leave Liverpool at 6:00 and we wouldn't get home until close to Midnight. It about killed us because of the lack of sleep but it was worth it. Everyone we took to it felt really good about it and it's already starting to open up some doors for us. I wish you all could have watched it!

 

The full mission conference was insane. We had the entire mission packed into the hot and sweaty Manchester Stake Center. We had Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Elder Russel M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve plus Elder Kearen and Elder Evans of the Seventy. Their wives all spoke to us as well. In total there were eight speakers to fill about 3 hours. It wasn't near enough time. As soon as they walked into the room you could tell they were different. Jeffrey R. Holland is just as intense as he is in person as he is at General conference, There was so pulpit pounding and head shaking.

 

One thing all the missionaries learned that I don't think we all comprehended was how much they loved us. Each of the 8 speakers was in tears when they told us how grateful they were for us and how much they loved us. Elder Holland was in my opinion the best though like always. He started off by saying, "50 years 10 months and 25 days ago I first stepped foot on this little Island. Since then my life has never been the same." He said that in those 50 years there hasn't been a single day where he hasn't thought about his mission. This is where the pulpit pounding started. He told us over and over not to waste a single minute. "NO REGRETS" he kept saying. I was sweating just listening to him, or maybe it was because the chapel was hot. Either way he was intense. Elder M.Russel Ballard was in the mission as well but he didn't come to the conference. We saw him later that evening at the British Pageant.

 

Elder Holland shared this scripture that I've really come to know is true. Mosiah 18:30  And now it came to pass that all this was done in Mormon, yea, by the waters of Mormon, in the forest that was near the waters of Mormon; yea, the place of Mormon, the waters of Mormon, the forest of Mormon, how beautiful are they to the eyes of them who there came to the knowledge of their Redeemer; yea, and how blessed are they, for they shall sing to his praise forever.
He said that this this man obviously really loved the land of Mormon because of the experiences that happened there. For me you can replace Mormon with Manchester and it has the same effect. It's weird when people in the streets ask if you like the area you're serving in. When you say yes they are so surprised. To the average person Liverpool, Preston, Newcastle, Stockport and all my other areas probably seem like nothing special, But to me, just like Elder Holland said, they are special because they are the places where I came to know God. Crazy how that works.
I got to go back to Newcastle this weekend for the baptism of Alan, Lisa's husband. It was such a good experience. They're finally unified. I remember when Elder Sutton and I were teaching Lisa at first he wanted nothing to do with it. We would ask Lisa if he would be interested and she would just laugh. Well he's a different person now! They're working towards the temple now.
This next week should be a pretty normal week. Our area is in a bit of a mess since we've hardly been in it and we haven't been able to do any of the exchanges with other missionaries. We're back to hitting the pavement this week. Pray for us! Thanks for everything!
Love Elder Ford
Picture: Alan's baptism.

Aug 5, 2013

1. The great Space

2. British Pageant

Aug 5, 2013

Hey everyone,

 

Liverpool is great. It feels very different though, I haven't got quite used to the big city feel. The ward is probably one of the biggest in the mission as well. We currently have 8 full time missionaries in the ward just to give you an idea big the city is. We have 4 Chinese speaking sisters and 4 English speaking Elders. They're the highest baptizing ward in the mission as well. We're going through a bit of a rebuilding process in our area right now. There wasn't much going on but we're hitting the streets hard. The Liverpool Zone is one of the biggest in the mission as well. A total of 34 missionaries.

 

I'm trying to remember everything that's happened the last few days. Elder Walker and I travelled to Blackburn on Friday for a baptism. Elder Walker actually replaced me in Blackburn when I left so it was good for both of us to go back to a former area and visit for a few minutes with some of the people we taught and some of the members. Things have been hilarious with Elder Walker. He looks and acts like Chris Tucker from Rush Hour. haha. He has loads of faith and is super outgoing and good with people. We make a pretty good companionship and balance each other out pretty well. We both have pretty strong opinions about things so that can get pretty interesting at times. haha.

 

Good news though. God answers prayers because I found my camera! It was under the seat in the car somehow. Not sure how it got there. I'm really looking forward to this next week though. We're going to the British Pageant twice, we have mission leadership council, I'm going on exchange to Southport so I'll get to see Steve and Naomi! There will be big things this week. I know it! I love you all so much! Talk to you next week! Love ya!

 

Elder Ford

 

Pictures:

1. Elder Peterson, Elaine, and Robbie Donaldson, me, And the Bishop of Warrington ward. I didn't know the Bishop of Warrington but he decided to jump in the Picture. haha

2. Elders Palmer, Beard, Starley, and me. All in the same M.T.C group at transfer day.

 

I'll get some pictures of Liverpool this week.

July 29, 2013

Hey everyone,

 

Liverpool is great. It feels very different though, I haven't got quite used to the big city feel. The ward is probably one of the biggest in the mission as well. We currently have 8 full time missionaries in the ward just to give you an idea big the city is. We have 4 Chinese speaking sisters and 4 English speaking Elders. They're the highest baptizing ward in the mission as well. We're going through a bit of a rebuilding process in our area right now. There wasn't much going on but we're hitting the streets hard. The Liverpool Zone is one of the biggest in the mission as well. A total of 34 missionaries.

 

I'm trying to remember everything that's happened the last few days. Elder Walker and I travelled to Blackburn on Friday for a baptism. Elder Walker actually replaced me in Blackburn when I left so it was good for both of us to go back to a former area and visit for a few minutes with some of the people we taught and some of the members. Things have been hilarious with Elder Walker. He looks and acts like Chris Tucker from Rush Hour. haha. He has loads of faith and is super outgoing and good with people. We make a pretty good companionship and balance each other out pretty well. We both have pretty strong opinions about things so that can get pretty interesting at times. haha.

 

Good news though. God answers prayers because I found my camera! It was under the seat in the car somehow. Not sure how it got there. I'm really looking forward to this next week though. We're going to the British Pageant twice, we have mission leadership council, I'm going on exchange to Southport so I'll get to see Steve and Naomi! There will be big things this week. I know it! I love you all so much! Talk to you next week! Love ya!

 

Elder Ford

 

Pictures:

1. Elder Peterson, Elaine, and Robbie Donaldson, me, And the Bishop of Warrington ward. I didn't know the Bishop of Warrington but he decided to jump in the Picture. haha

2. Elders Palmer, Beard, Starley, and me. All in the same M.T.C group at transfer day.

 

I'll get some pictures of Liverpool this week.

July 25, 2013

Hey everyone!

 

Transfers have come and gone! I've left Newcastle and I've been transferred to the Liverpool zone to serve in Liverpool! My new companion is Elder Walker. I'm pretty excited to be here. I've wanted to serve in Liverpool my entire mission. It's a big city, just a bit smaller than Manchester. It's right the west coast of the country. Most of the pioneers who left from England sailed from the Liverpool docks. There is loads of history here. This is where "The Beatles" are from as well. The Liverpool accent is by far the best in all of England. So funny!

 

I'm going to enjoy serving with Elder Walker. He's from Savannah, Georgia. He's been a member of the church for just over two years. He ran for BYU's track team and was the fastest person is the U.S under the age of 20. He raced for team U.S.A is well. My companion is an olympic runner! I told him I would give him a run for his money though. haha.

 

This past week has literally been insane! So many things have happened. I travelled to see the baptism of Elaine who I taught while I was in St. Helens. It was such a good service. She's got such a good support network with the Ward as well. No worries with her. The last week with Elder Beard was a lot of fun as well. It brought back a lot of memories. It was pretty sad to see him go. The last few days have been hilarious though. We drove down tuesday night to drop luggage off for transfers and as soon as we dropped it off we had to go to the mission home. We dropped the luggage off got in the car and....the car wouldn't start. Broken down on the bussiest day of the month. So we ended up running around everywhere and shuffling cars untill the next day. Plus, I lost my camera on the coach to Liverpool. A year and a half of pictures gone :(. Hopefully someone finds it.

 

We got some big news last week as well. On the 8th of August Jeffrey R. Holland, Russel M. Nelson, and some seventies are coming to the mission and we're having a full mission conference in Manchester. It'll be so good! They're coming over here for the British Pageant that will be running for a few weeks starting on the 31 of this month. That should be really good as well. We're already planning going to that with a few peolple we're teaching.

 

I think that this transfer is going to be really different. I'm back in a big city, in a new zone with loads of missionaries I've never served around before, and we're not teaching very many people right now. It'll be a really good growing experience because I was getting too comfortable in Newcastle. Things were going too well there. haha.

 

Well thanks so much for everything. I love you all. Pray that I find my camera so I can send some more puctures. Talk to you on Monday!

 

Love Elder Ford

Hi everybody,

I can't believe it's July... This is insane. It was another great(And very quick) week. Things are going super well with Elder Palmer and myself. The work is starting to snowball now. We're just getting ready to go along for the ride!

We had Lisa's baptism and confirmation this weekend. It went so well and there was a lot of miracles that happened because of it. Elder Sutton and I both were in the font to perform the baptism because she was REALLY scared of water. We she was coming up out of the water she let out a huge yell and just started saying "That was horrible! That was horrible"...Super spiritual. haha. I was making fun of her afterwards that it was more like an exorcism than a baptism and the yell was just her demons leaving her. haha. I confirmed her the following day and it went great.

There was so great things that happened at the baptism though. She had a friend there who was really going through a hard time and she ended up having loads of questions to ask us. We taught her in the hallway for almost 30 minutes after the baptism. Lisa's husband, Allen, went into the chapel by himself after the baptism and just sat there on his own for 5 mintues. He said that he started to feel some feelings that he didn't really understand and that kind of scared him so he walked out of the chapel. He went back into the chapel a few minutes later to see if the same thing happened at it did. He now wants to be baptized and he has a baptismal date for August 3rd! Miracles.

We had our temple zone conference on Tuesday as well which was an all day things. We're pretty lucky to be able to have a temple in our mission. We were the farthest zone away from the temple so it was a bit of a drive but defitely worth it. I got a lot of answers to some questions I had. Plus we had our individual interviews with President Preston this week and he gave me tons of good advice. Just such a good spiritually upifiting week. They had "The Work of Salvation" broadcast last night as well. So many changes. Elder Palmer and I don't think the changes will affect us too much. President Preston doesn;t think our mission wil be authorized to use them until next year. No Ipad for me :( oh well though. haha. Other than that it's just been loads of exchanges. We have 8 new misisonaries in our zone so they've kept us pretty busy. Trying to squeeze 9 exchanges into 6 weeks can be hard. Elder Palmer and I feel like we've hardly served together. haha. We only have one this week so that'll be nice.

Hope everyone has an amazing week. Love you all so much!

Elder Ford

Pictures

1. Elder Palmer and I at the croxteth abbey

2. Lisa's baptism.

June 24, 2013

Hey everyone,

 

It's been a busy week full of new experiences(And a new member of the family. Congrats Brianne and baby Luke!) I never thought I would be involved in planning a wedding on my mission but it happened. Lisa's wedding went great and she'll be getting baptized next Saturday! It was a very different experience to be there. I don't really remember going to very many weddings so it was almost like the first time seeing one. She happier than I've seen her in a long time as well. Things are looking good. The wedding at the church seems to have influenced her husband, Alan, quite a bit as well. She said that now he wants to be baptized as well as a few of their daughters! The ward really did a great job planning it and supporting them. It was really fun to be a part of.

 

We had a pretty funny experience the next day though. Lisa didn't show up to church. We went by to see her after and her excuse was "The degue's (Small gerbil things) at my trousers!" When I heard that I just rolled my eyes. One of those "My dog ate my homework" excuses. It turns out though, she was being serious. They had a small cage of the little mice things and they somehow got out. She brought out her trousers and they had little holes nibbled through them all over. I thought it was pretty funny.

 

We're hoping to be setting up another wedding with Margaret, another one of our investigators, in the near future. She's been to church three times now and is really progressing. She knows she needs to get married with her partner but she's nervous because of her previous relationship. We're hoping that Lisa can be the good example for her.

 

This past week I've learned a lot about our potential. Being able to see people change is one of the greatest things I've seen on my mission. It happens so slowly that you almost don't notice it until you look back to where they were when they started. I think this is true especially with our own progression. It's helped me a lot to be able to understand my potential and the potential of the people we teaching and work with. I read this from President Uchtdorf this last week.

 

There once was a man whose lifelong dream was to board a cruise ship and sail the Mediterranean Sea. He dreamed of walking the streets of Rome, Athens, and Istanbul. He saved every penny until he had enough for his passage. Since money was tight, he brought an extra suitcase filled with cans of beans, boxes of crackers, and bags of powdered lemonade, and that is what he lived on every day.

He would have loved to take part in the many activities offered on the ship—working out in the gym, playing miniature golf, and swimming in the pool. He envied those who went to movies, shows, and cultural presentations. And, oh, how he yearned for only a taste of the amazing food he saw on the ship—every meal appeared to be a feast! But the man wanted to spend so very little money that he didn’t participate in any of these. He was able to see the cities he had longed to visit, but for the most part of the journey, he stayed in his cabin and ate only his humble food.
On the last day of the cruise, a crew member asked him which of the farewell parties he would be attending. It was then that the man learned that not only the farewell party but almost everything on board the cruise ship—the food, the entertainment, all the activities—had been included in the price of his ticket. Too late the man realized that he had been living far beneath his privileges.
Think of all he missed out on. He just didn't realized what his potential was. There are 2 really good scriptures I think highlight this point as well. It's from Adam and Eve after they ate the fruit in the Garden of Eden. The went and hid themselves. The Lord comes and asks them in Genesis 3:9 "And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?" The same story is told in Moses 4:15 "And I, the Lord God, called unto Adam, and said unto him: Where ^agoest thou". The Lord is asking "where are you at right now?" and "Where are you going" , what direction are you pointed in? We all just need to realize how much potential each of us has. I Love you all! Talk to you next week!

Pictures: Alan, Lisa and all the missionaries that helped

1. The gerbils ate my trousers so I couldn't come to church

2. Elder Palmer's special blanket. I messed around with it while he was on exchanges! haha