Aug 27, 2013


HEY!

Wow this transfer has flown by. It's already the last full week of the transfer. Transfers are next Wednesday. Not sure what will happen though. A lot of things are up in the air. Sorry I didn't get to email yesterday. It was a lame "Bank Holiday" so everything was closed. We had a really good week though. Super busy. We spent a lot of our time doing service. By the time I leave Liverpool I'll probably have enough work experience to be a professional mover, and painter. Seriously though.

The church history tour was pretty good. It was basically a refresher of all the same sights I saw when we did the tour in the M.T.C. They stopped doing the tour in the M.T.C a while ago so it was the first time for the majority of the mission to see all the sights. Made me feel old. We started at the docks in Liverpool, Then went to Preston where the first missionaries came, we saw President Hinckley's house where he lived on his mission, we saw the River Ribble where the first baptisms were, and we went to Downham. Downham is a small village where the apostles went a baptized the majority of the village. Most of the day was riding on a coach from place to place so it was a good time to catch up with missionaries who I hadn't seen for awhile.

Other than that things in our area are still going well. Shannon is progressing towards her baptism on the 13 of September and we're still looking for more people to teach. We got to go to the temple yesterday. It was sooo good! It felt like a totally new experience. I got a lot of answers to some of the questions I had. I've been taught a lot about humility this last week. Elder Walker and I have made that a focus because to be honest it's not one of our strongest attributes. haha. I did a few studies on it this week and my mind keeps coming back to some things I read in Deuteronomy 8. Here are the verses I liked.

10 When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.

 11 Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:

 12 Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;

 13 And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;

 14 Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou ^cforget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;

 15 Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery ^aserpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth ^cwater out of the rock of flint;

 16 Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;

 17 And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.

 18 But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.

 19 And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.

It's pretty straight forward. We always need to remember Who it is who gives us all we have. Humilty is remembering. Pride is forgetting. I'm grateful that I was able to learn that now it;s up to me to apply it this week! Wish me luck. Thanks for all the support. I love you all!

Love Elder Ford

Pictures: 1. Race at the River Ribble. The day of the first baptisms they had a race to see who would get to go first. We did a reenactment. Elder Walker won easily. haha

2. The Liverpool Docks.

Aug 19, 2013

Hey everyone,

My goodness I don't even know what happened this last week. My brain is absolutely fried! haha. We did have some pretty great experiences though. Elder Walker and I haven't really beed together all week. We had a few exchanges back to back. I was in Liverpool on exchange with another missionary and when that was over we drove to pick him up. The we drove to the next place we were exchanging and he dropped me off. We really only spent saturday together. haha. Pretty weird. With all the exchanges it seems like you only spend 3 weeks with your actual companion in the 6 week transfer.

Some really good things are happening here in our area. I'm still trying to get used to the massive city. It's so big and the ward is so big that you could be here forever and still not no anyone or where you even are in hte city. We have another dated investigator now though. Her name is Shannon and she is dated for 14 of September. She part of a part member family so it's a really good situation. It's been really fun teaching her so far. We had another great experience while doing work out in the rain. Since being a missionary it's been a bit hard to trust people's intentions when you first meet them. You set up appointments, they fall through, and sometimes people tell the most ridiculous lies. But something happened to us this week to help Elder Walker and I know that there are genuinly good people still. We were working out in the pouring rain and we knocked on a lady named Jenny's door. She wasn;t interested. We went a few doors down and Jenny came back out side a shouted at us to come back. We weren'e wearing jackets or anything so we were getting soaked(We thought people would have pity for us and let us in :) ) She randomly gave us an umbrella and told us to keep it. 10 minutes later when we were at the opposite end of the street she drove past us and handed us another umbrella out the car window. She drove around looking for us just to give us another umbrella. I was pretty shocked to be honest. haha

We're looking forward to this week. We're going on a church history tour as a mission so that should be pretty fun. Thanks for everything love you!

Elder Ford

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