Hello family and friends!

How is everyone doing! Things have been going great here in Stockport. The work is moving along! This week has had a lot of different things going on!

I had the opportunity to go on an exchange with one of the assistants to the President. It was amazing. It honestly changed my entire mission! He took diligence to a new level i didn't even think was possible! We would knock on a door, he would hear a car door slam a hundred yards away and i would turn around and he was already sprinting to go talk to that person. haha. In these last two months i think I've ran more in dress shoes than i ever did in basketball shoes. We're constantly running to be places on time as well. He set such a good example for me and taught me some very valuable lessons.

I got to teach herman again while i was with him too! he's doing so great! He scheduled for baptism in a few weeks!

I got to go on an exchange with Elder Webster this week too. He was in my same mtc group so we had to brand new missionaries out together. haha. luckily we had quite a few service project already scheduled so we didn't get lost. haha that was quite the experience

We've continued working with Stephen. We pushed his baptism date back to the 24 because he's struggling to grasp some of the concepts we're teaching. it's something that's a bit foreign to him. we've taught him the Word of Wisdom and the law of chastity this week and he responded well to both of them. He really wants to be baptized! We're making sure he wants to be baptized for the right reasons and not just because he likes us. haha always calls us up wanting to know if we want to go catch a movie. He's told us quite a few times that we should be prophets haha. After he says that we go into a discussion about what a prophet is. haha :). we've had that conversation quite a few times. You just never know what he's going to say. It's hilarious.

I remember before i left on my mission and at the mtc i was concerned i was going to get fat... let's just say that's no longer a concern haha. at the mtc i weighed myself and i weighed 226. I got the chance to weight myself earlier this week and i weighed 212! I've lost 14 pounds just since I've left the MTC! I was wearing a suit when i weighed myself too! What the.... haha

We had a great turnout at church on sunday too. We had 4 less actives show up plus the investigators for both companionship's. Our gospel principles class was as full as it could be. Next week they're probably going to move us into a bigger room! haha BOOM! Hopefully we can get even more to show up next week! If we could get all of the less actives in the ward to show up we would double our sacrament meeting attendance. It's something we're really focusing on.

We've got Training Camp coming up this week on Wednesday which I'm pretty excited for. Never can have too much training. We'll also get our mail and packages that were sent to the mission office. Rumor has it that mom and dad sent me a quality size package. haha I'm really looking forward to it. Mail is the best!

Not much else going on out here. Just going day to day and trying to do my best. it's hard to believe my first transfer as a missionary is almost over. Our transfer day is next Wednesday. i won't be moving but on transfer weeks our Preparation days are moved to Wednesdays instead of Mondays. So I'll be emailing next Wednesday

I miss and love you all very much! I pray for you everyday! Keep me updated with everything that's going on

Love Elder Ford!

Pictures:
Elder Webster and I doing some power washing for a member.

I fell asleep during our nightly companion prayer so Elder Corbin decided to take a picture! haha. I was out of it.


A view just outside our flat on the main road in stockport.

Hello everyone! :)


I hope everyone has had an amazing week! things have been going pretty good out here. The work is just moving along!


On Monday night we met with a less active man in the ward named Robert. He blew me away! He had such a strong testimony! he served his mission about ten years ago and he just shared all his experiences with us. it was amazing. He said he just got burnt out of actually attending church. So Elder Corbin and I decided, if he loves missionary work so much, let's get him to work with us. haha. We're going to teach an investigator in his home tonight and we're going to get him to go out tracting with us. He really loves having us around. I think it just takes him back to so many good memories that he had on his mission. He's so close to coming back!


We also had our Specialized trainings this week with the entire zone. Best part of it was of course receiving the mail. ahaha. The package from Mom and Dad was amazing. There's nothing like American candy and food. :) The food out here is not even close to as good as American food. I would kill for some Cafe Rio and Panda Express. Don't take it for granted! haha. I also got quite a few letters which was really nice. The only bad thing is that we only have our conferences about every two and half weeks so you don't get mail to often. don't hesitate to send letters to the flat. I'll be there for at least another eight weeks, probably longer. I couldn't believe how much shipping was! Rip off.


I had my first exchange this week as well. I was with Elder Herrin from Sandy, Utah. Exchanges are the best. You get an opportunity to see how other missionaries work and pick up on little tricks that that work for them. I've already learned more in these last few weeks than i have in my entire life!


There are definitely some hard days though. I swear sometimes the whole country must wake up and decide to be grumpy some mornings. haha. probably the lack of sunlight. some days no one wants to hear us. we'll have people yelling at us to go get jobs and stuff like that. haha. On the days were there is heavy opposition is when we see miracles though. We know Satan is just trying to discourage us because something really good is about to happen. We just push through it.


We also got a new senior missionary couple in our area! They're amazing! They had us over for dinner then went and fellowshipped at a lesson with us. They have insights and advice that no 19 year old missionary could provide. they're going to help out here so much!


The investigator we're really working with right now is Stephen. He's dated for baptism on the 17th and he's already attended church twice. He has a strong desire to follow Christ and be baptized. Our challenge as missionaries is to make sure he understands what we're teaching him...a lot harder than it sounds haha. the first few times we met with him he didn't understand anything we said. it's been a real learning experience for both of us. We're going to try and meet with him 4 times a week to make sure he's ready for his day. Pray for him and us!


We got the approval on March 1st that we didn't need to wear our suit jackets anymore! i was so excited! I've been trying to look for another suit but all the stores don't have any that fit me. i need a tailor and they're REAL expensive. I was looking for a nice grey one but no luck. luckily we only have to wear suits to our church meetings until November so i won't need to worry about it for a while.


Things are going real good out here. I Love and miss everyone so much. I pray for you everyday, don't forget to pray for me and the people of Stockport too! Keep me updated with everything that's going on. Love you all


Love Elder Ford

Hi everyone!


I hope everyone is doing amazing! Things have been going really great here. Every day i get a little more used to missionary life and I've seen big improvements in myself in just these last few weeks. Good things are definitely happening in Stockport!

This past week has been pretty eventful. It's hard not to have an eventful week when your schedule is so jam packed. haha. I've seen miracles, had odd experiences, and seen a lot of crazy things already.

At the very beginning of the week we ran into one of our neighbors from just a few doors down who we've met quite a few times before at the bus stop. We've approached him before but he seemed uninterested. On Monday, we met him and he asked us "have you found any customers yet". we told him he could be the first. haha he told us we could stop by later and we ended up teaching him. we taught him again throughout the week and he came to church as well. he's progressing very quickly and we have high hopes for him. he's said that he has a strong desire to follow Christ. He really just likes our company too. haha. He's said that he is already planning to add me on facebook....oh stephen.

We had an odd experience as a companionship. We do a lot of our contacting on buses. We both hop on and then split up and start talking to people. I sat next to a man and just started talking to him. It was horrible. He was one of the most mislead men I've ever met. He sat there for about a half hour and just started letting me have it. He was way off the deep end. but I've learned already that when heavy opposition is thrown your way something good is about to happen. At the exact same time i was talking to this man, Elder Corbin met a young kid named Brad. We ended up getting off the bus together and teaching him on the spot! We also taught him again a few days later in a members home. He has a lot of potential.

We also had to hand of Herman, one of our investigators who was dated for baptism, to the assistants to the president because he was YSA age. That was really hard to do. He was so prepared! haha

We had an amazing lesson with Gerald! We were teaching the Word of Wisdom which was really big because he had a tea problem. The spirit was so strong! we asked him if he would live the Word of Wisdom, he took a deep breath and said " If it's for the salvation of my soul I'll do it" BOOM! haha. He gave us all of his tea bags and we got rid of them for him. Elder Corbin and I were high fiving all the way home. ahah

After that things kind of started going down hill unfortunately. I got way sick with the flu Thursday night. i was throwing up all night! Completely miserable. We ended up staying in most of the next day because i felt so sick. I started feeling a little better so we decided that we should go to our ward coordination meeting. on our way there we got a call from Gerald. He had attended a Catholic funeral earlier in the day and had suddenly decided he was going to stay catholic! That about killed us

We met with him the next day. As soon as he opened the door i could tell something was wrong. The light he had as we'd been teaching him the previous few weeks was completely gone. Something must have happened at the funeral but he wouldn't tell us what. he told us he didn't believe our church was true and that he didn't believe the book of Mormon. which was completely the opposite of what he had been saying. we found out that he hadn't really been praying to know whether it was true or not. He told us he was going to stay Catholic and that this was goodbye. it was pretty safe to see we were bummed out. He was sooo solid!

But even though we lost gerald we met many new investigators! there are still plenty of people to teach.

I'm starting to get a lot more comfortable with just going up to people and talking to them. something just clicked for me yesterday.

Today is P day and I'm really looking forward to it! We usually go grocery shopping, sometimes we go play basketball, sometimes we go look at all the shops. it just really depends what we're in the mood for. P day only lasts till six then it's just a normal night again.

I look forward to hearing from everyone soon and i hope you all have an amazing week! i pray for you every single day without fail.

Love you all so much
Elder Ford

Picture description:
Me getting rid of geralds tea bags
Elder Corbin decided to poop with the door open
One of the rare clear nights

Vimto and moutain dew. greatest drinks ever. The mtn. dew is the same here but because the caffeine is so high it's considered an energy drink. haha

1 Month Down!

I hope everyone has had a great week! I know I sure have. I miss all of you a ton but I’m starting to get used to it out here. I can't believe I’ve already been gone a month. it doesn’t seem that long... but it does seem that long at the same time. It's weird. I can't explain it. ha-ha. I’m sure anyone who has served a mission knows exactly what I’m saying. The Days feel like weeks. The Weeks feel like days.

Things have been going a lot better in the Stockport area. Things are really picking up. There is only one ward here and so we have 4 missionaries serving in the same ward boundaries. The other elders live on the other side of the town though so we don’t see them a lot. The members love the missionaries. We always have people willing to have us over for dinner which I’m SO grateful for. I'm getting REAL sick of peanut butter are jelly sandwiches. Shopping here is hard because everything is so much more expensive. You really have to be careful with your money.

Since I’ve been out here I’ve met some amazing people. I’ve also met some not so amazing people. haha. There will always be a few people each day that will yell at us or start bible bashing against us. We’ve been told to just wish those people a nice day. ahah it's so much harder to actually do it. I’ve had to work on it

The amazing people I've met make the rude people disappear in your mind real quick though. It's so amazing. I’ve only been in the field a week and half and I've already seen miracles.

One of those miracles names is Gerald Dwyer. I told you a bit about him in my last letter. Earlier this week he told us he no longer wanted to be baptized. He said one of his friends told him that Mormons are too persistent and that we were going to brain wash him. We told him that it wasn't true. He said he still wanted to go to church but he wouldn't be baptized. It almost killed me to hear him say that.

We met with him at a member’s home a few days later. We felt really strongly that we should teach him about the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. We really focused on the gift of the Holy Ghost so he could see what baptism could really do for him. We each shared personal times in each of our lives when we were grateful to have the gift of the Holy Ghost. The spirit was so strong there. We asked him what he thought about all of it. What he said is legendary. haha " I think i need to join the Mormon church". BOOM! haha. It was amazing. He's been reading from the book of Mormon every day and is starting to gain a strong testimony

Last week I mentioned about the kid who showed up to church, Herman. We taught him this week as well. He also committed to be baptized. Unfortunately he's 19 which is Young Single Adult age and all YSA age people are covered by the assistants to the president. We told him that someone else would be teaching him on his next visit and he didn't like that very much. He said “I feel like god lead me to you two!" So me and elder Corbin we'll be going on splits with the assistants and one pair will go teach Herman to introduce him to one of the assistants. I'm secretly hoping he'll be persistent and only want us to teach him :) haha.

Another miracle happened just last night! We met a young man on the bus named Danny. We talked a bit on the bus and we both got off at the same stop. He agreed to sit down with us for a bit and we ended up teaching a full restoration lesson on the spot. He was so prepared to hear us. He said that he had just started praying again the week before. The spirit was very strong, especially when we recited Joseph Smiths first vision. I don't think anything brings the spirit quicker or stronger than using Josephs own words from the first vision. It's Amazing. Danny also agreed to baptism. We set up a return appointment and walked with him for a bit. He said he was going to meet a friend. Eventually we turned a different direction to go to another appointment we had.

Later that night during call-ins the other elders in Stockport asked us if we taught a young man an on the spot restoration lesson. We told him that we had. They told us that they met a young man named Alex at the bus stop and taught him a full restoration lesson on the spot as well. They also committed him to baptism too. Alex said that he was just waiting for his friend at the bus stop. Right after he said that Alex’s fiend walked up to them with a book of Mormon in his hand. It was Danny!!! They both looked at each other and were like "no way". They had been planning to meet up but were both taught by missionaries at the exact same time. It blew my mind when i heard that.....amazing!

Things are going really well for me out here. I've still got so much to learn but I’m doing my best. I’ve learned more in this past month than I have my entire life! I love and miss you all very much!

Talk to you soon!

Love Elder Ford.

Happy Valentines Day from 1st Area

February 13 2012

How is everyone doing?! hope everyone has an amazing valentine’s day tomorrow! Just wanted to let you all know how much i love all of you!

Congratulations to Kyle! Going to Louisville Kentucky! That's so cool. He'll be great

  

Mom and dad told me that little Carson’s baptism is coming up this week too. That’s awesome! He should be so excited. It's such a big day for him. Congratulations buddy!

Well to catch you up with me a little bit. My first area is stockport. It's a huge town/city on the outside of manchester. It's kind of in an older area...I think. haha. I really couldn’t tell. Everything here is so old! It’s much different over here! I’ve definitely had a bit of culture shock. It’s safe to say that America is definitely the place to be. USA!

I probably should've gone to the Provo mtc for some language training. It’s a foreign language! There are so many different accents and dialects it's not even funny. i sat through all of sacrament meeting yesterday and I didn’t understand a word! haha. The language is so weird. People from the town of Liverpool have one of the worst accents. they sound like they're literally choking on every word. ahha. It’s been a challenge so far. i can honestly say that I have zero desire to come home with an accent. My goal is to get them to talk like me! the people here are convinced that they speak English and we speak American. haha still a bit of a rivalry going on I think. ahah

We’ve been doing a lot of bus riding. That’s our main transportation. I had to dish out some serious money for a monthly bus pass too. We do most of our contacting on busses too. I’m still not very good at it. It’s extremely awkward to be constantly moving up and down the aisle and changing seats when you get rejected. ahha most of the people you go to already over heard what you were saying to someone else. it's something I defiantly need to get better at. Finding people to teach is probably my biggest obstacle. It’s tough to just walk up to people and to start talking to them about the gospel. I just need some more practice

We’ve had a few good teaching appointments so far. One night after we got done having dinner at a member’s house we knocked on a few random doors just hoping to get lucky.

We knocked on a man named Gerald's front door. He let us right in! First thing i noticed was how many books he had. Piles and piles. He had to move stacks of books off of the couch to find a place for us to sit. We ended up teaching the whole restoration lesson to him. The most powerful part was the joseph smith story. We asked him if he believed that Joseph smith was a prophet of god. He said yeas without hesitation .and....... He committed to be baptized! We set a date for march 10th so we'll see how that goes. We still have quite a ways to go but i know he can do it.

We walked to his house again Sunday morning to pick him up for church. Unfortunately our ride fell through. We had to walk all the way to church. And it's not like Utah where there's a church on every corner. I’m talking about walking for an hour! (Joys of being a missionary) haha. I almost died.

He really seemed to enjoy church though. He was a pretty hardcore catholic so everything was a little different for him though. He only could attend sacrament though because he was going to his brother’s house for dinner. But...an even more amazing thing happened on Sunday.

About a week and a half ago elder Corbin talked to a young African kid on the bus. i guess he was completely drunk. Elder Corbin invited him to come to church and got his contact information. He said his name was Ryan. Elder Corbin knew he wasn't going to come to church and he didn't. But he went yesterday we were so shocked! he stayed for all three hours too. He actually knows a guy in the word and so he sat with him during classes. Afterwards we talked to him for a bit. He asked for a book of Mormon. He was so excited. He told us that his name was actually Herman. He said that he lied to elder Corbin because he had no intention of coming to church. He said that on Saturday the Holy Ghost told him he needed to come to church... I couldn’t believe it. ahah. He’s a really good person and I’m excited to start teaching him.

That's pretty much all that's been going on with me. I’m just trying to get used to it our here. I’m trying to put one foot in front of the other and take it one day at a time. i love you all very much and I want to hear from you! The best way is to probably send everything to the mission office.

Correction on my current address though. It’s actually Romany court. Not Romney court. I don’t know if it really matters but though i should just throw it out there. Love you all very much and I can't wait for the day I get to see you all again but until then I’ll pray for you every night. God be with you till we meet again.

Love Elder Ford

 

Skyler's First Area: Stockport

February 9th 2012


hi everyone! 


i've survived the mtc and i'm out in my first area!. my first area is...drumroll....the city of Stockport! 


My first companion's name is Elder Corbin. he's from marrieta california. he's a pretty good guy. he's been out for about a year now so he know's what he's doing and is doing his best to show me the ropes. 


the last few days have been really eventful. we woke up at 5 yesterday. the busses came really early to ship everyone out to there seperate missions. it was really hard to leave. i really grew to love the mtc and made a lot of friends there. i thought the mtc was hard work, i didnt know anything!


the busses took us to president prestons house where we at breakfast and had some trainings and a personal interview with him. he is awesome! during our trainings we practiced a lot of role playing. i hated role playing! we do it all the time at the mtc. its something im getting used to now though. ahaha.


after that we went to the stake center for our transfer meeting to find out who our trainers were and where we'd be serving. there is about 120 missonaries in our mssion and about half of them were there. a few of them were on their last transfer and would be going home then next day. they looked so much older than me! you could tell they are were awesome missionaries and knew exactly what they were doing. they were a great example to me.  all of us new missonaries were scared out of our minds. i was terrified the entire day! i hope i can adjust to mission life as quickly as i adjusted to life at the mtc.


when we found out we were going to stockport we dropped out stuff off at the appartment and then immediatly went out finding. in this area we ride busses to get everywhere so we mainly talk to everyone on the busses. and we talk to EVERYONE. its crazy. i'm really not used to it because it goes against what i've been doing for 19 years where i don't want people to bother me and i don't want to bother anyone else! it's really tough because it seems like almost everyone is an extreme athiest. they won't listen to a word


i need to practice getting good at rejection too. haha. for some reason i just figured everyone would hear what i was saying and say yes. 


i also taught my first gospel lesson today. his name was john and we talked with him for a little over an hour at his house. we discissed the restoration of the gospel. i know that he could feel that it was true but he chose to ignore it. it was very frustrating. i could tell he believed it. he just didnt want to take a chance and change his life. i felt really bad for him.


i've really stretched myself the last 48 hours. this is the hardest thing i've ever done in my life by far but i'm doing my best. i'll be in training for 12 weeks (two transfers) and i'll probably be in stockport the whole time.


it's been freezing cold here. it was snowing a bit early today. our appartment is freezing! i wanted to send some pictures but i forgot to bring me camera so i'll to try and get a few next week. i wanted to take a picture of my tiny bunkbed. my feat hang over the edge! definantly need a king size bed when i get home. 


my P day will be on mondays now. i'll have a lot more time to email now too so i'll get some better responses for all of you. i'm sorry they've been so short lately. they only gave us a half hour at the mtc. my new address is


Flat 3
Romney Court
286 wellington road north
Stockport
Cheshire
England sk4 2qs


like i said i'll probably be here about twelve weeks.


you can also send mail and all packages to the mission office.


England Manchester Mission
Springwood suite G5                                                       
Booths Park
Knutsford WA16 8QZ
England


i love and miss you all very much and i want to hear from everyone. make sure to remember to pray for me and the people of england. they need to hear the gospel


god be with you til we meet again!


Love Elder Ford 

Last Day in the MTC

February 7th 2012


Hi Guys,


Today is my last day at the mtc! i've just started to get comfortable here and now they're making me leave! haha. i'm ready to get out and get started in my first zone though. when i first got here they told me that on my mission everyday will fee like a week and every week will fill like a day. its so true. i've learned more in these last three weeks then i've ever imagined was possible. it's realy is amazing. i'm doing things and learning stuff i'd never even thought about before. the whole process just blows my mind! i miss everyone o much but i'm starting to get used to being away. it's going to be hard to leave the mtc and watch all the friends i've made go to their seperate missions. because our group is so small we really have a special bond with each other.


My p day will most likely be on mondays in the field. i'll let everyone know my first area as soon as i find it out! i love you all very much. make sure you keep in touch. Your supporting words mean the world to me. talk to you all REAL soon. love you


Elder Ford