The work in Doncaster

Investigators:

"The work in Doncaster is improving, and getting a little bit better. We found this Latvian family that we are teaching right now and things with them are going alright. They belong to the catholic church, but they want to read from the Book of Mormon, and one of them seems really interested. It is hard to teach them because sometimes they don't really understand and then sometimes they will start speaking in Latvian, and we have no idea what they are saying, and so that makes it a little bit hard, and whenever they start doing that, I just start smiling and look over at Elder Peavler because I have no idea what to do, and it just sounds funny when they start speaking in Latvian."

"On fast Sunday, I decided to fast for one of our investigators named Dan. It was amazing because we were standing outside greeting everyone, and saying hi to them, and then Dan comes up and was all like, I want to get baptized, can I do it next week? Hi is so excited and he already has everything planned out."

"Yes! The baptism did go through, and it was such an amazing moment, and the spirit was so strong and you could just tell a difference in Dan, and it was so amazing because he had a lot of the youth doing stuff, and it was great. For the confirmation next week, there is a kid in our ward who just got the Melchizedek priesthood and he is going to confirm Dan a member of the church. He was really surprised when Dan asked him, and it will be a good experience for him as he prepares to go on a mission."

Weather:

"This week has been a crazy week in England. It snowed a whole bunch on Tuesday and into Wednesday and it shut down the whole city, and it was crazy. We had to end up walking everywhere and it took us like an hour just to get into town, and by they time we made it into town, our shoes were soaking wet, and so we hurried and went and bought some new SNOW BOOTS!!!!! I am so glad that Grandma Nowak and Grandma and Grandpa Moore gave me Christmas money, and I am so glad that they bought me some nice snow boots. They keep my feet really dray and they are steel toe boots and they are so flipping nice, and we got them on sale for like 20 quid. Anyways back to the story, so no buses were running, and on Wednesday we were supposed to go out to Sheffield for a meeting but nothing was running so we couldn't make it out there, and then everyone was walking so we were out talking to everyone, and we found a couple of people who seem really interested in hearing the gospel. It was amazing how much it snowed. We got like 2 feet of snow, and it was so crazy. All I wanted to do was run and play in it and make snow forts. The only thing that sucks is we have been getting a lot of snow balls thrown at us. I am starting to get sick of it and our district leaders tell us how they are having snow ball fights, and so I am going to start throwing them back, and I am going to show them how you really thrown a snowball, because they all throw really bad. This week we also had to shovel snow at our church, and here I was thinking I was getting out of that for 2 years. We had a really good ward turnout and the shoveling went by really fast. But if we didn't shovel, then they would have cancelled church. The only thing with England is that they use all these things like sign post to shovel snow, and they also use metal shovels. So half the time, the snow is getting stuck to the shovel, and I was like what the flip, and no one in England has a snow blower, and all they do is let the snow sit there, and so now everything is becoming really icy, and we have been watching a lot of people slip and fall, and I try not to laugh but sometimes it just slips out and I chuckle a little bit."

Food:

"We ate at this guy's house named John Horner. He mad us muscles, which were alright, and then this last week, we had some lamb's liver which wasn't very good, but I endured it well, and I finished eating it. Anyways, when he makes us a started, he puts his special sauce on it. Like he covered his eggs in it. All it is, is fry sauce. And when we told him that he just started laughing because he thought the name was funny, and he told us how he made it, and we were like, yep, that is how you make fry sauce. It was really funny."

The Fun Side:

"Our Christmas tree that we decorated our flat with, and got it all ready for Christmas time."

"We were helping these members of our ward take in cans of food for this thing they do called like the pampers, or something like that. But he removed a blanket and in the box there was chocolate and he was like Elder, you better stuff that in the box before the young men get to it. And i was like or before I get to it, and then he just laughed. So anyways I took the box in and put it down, and then he brought in his wife and was like Elder Moore was thinking about taking that chocolate, or something like that. And the wife was like, well when you help out the members like this, then you receive a blessing, and so they ended up giving me, and Elder Peavler, the chocolate. They are just this really old couple called the Carr's and I was just like oh thank you so much, I am so grateful for this."

"At a tea appointment, we were eating at this ladies house named Sister Kilburns, and she made this amazing cheese sauce, and don't worry, I got the recipe. She like me so much, but don't worry, I am humble about i, and we just talked, and she was all like you remind me so much of the missionary that baptized me, and I was like oh thank you, and then we laughed some more."

Doncaster

Missing Grimsby:

"The new area in Doncaster is really big, the area is so huge, and I liked the smaller area of Grimsby better. I haven't had fish and chips here yet, but I have been craving them so badly, and I want some so bad, but everyone says Grimsby is the best place to get them."

The Fun Side:

"We went to visit this less active family named the Barber's. They had this snake and it was feeding time and guess who got to feed the snake......... ME!!!!!!!!!! I was so scared at first the snake was going to bite my finger, so I used the clamps, and held the mouse really far away, and they told me to stop being a wimp and to get closer, so I slowly moved closer, and closer and then all of sudden the snake jumped up and took the mouse right from me. It was really scary but I did get a really good video of it, and we just had a good laugh."

"The flat is Doncaster is really nice, and guess what.............................we have a DRYER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is going to make things so much nicer and easier and I am so excited!"

"I was joking around with the assistants, Elder Weggersen and Elder Hull, and they were like you need to come to Leeds so we can serve around you and all this other stuff. It was so much fun, and I just love joking around with everyone and having lots of fun. I think that is what I love about being a missionary, is how much fun I am having, but still working really hard at the same time, and it just makes everything fun."

Doncaster:

"Doncaster is really good, and the ward is really great and funny. They had me fill out this paper with a little bit of information on it, and I put the home address on it and told them to write you a letter saying how great of a missionary I am, and then our ward mission leader, Brother Hall, was like or maybe we should tell them how big of a waster you are. I thought it was really funny, so I laughed."

Investigators:

"Some born again Christian let us into her house and we thought it was because she was interested, but when we got in there it was just like she wanted to bible bash with us, even though it was really tempting to want to bible bash with her, we didn't do it, and we talked about Joseph Smith with her, and tried to teach her a little bit of the first discussion, and then we asked her if she was interested and she said she was, so we will have to see how things go with that matter."

Teaching from President Lindley:

"We had a specialized training, and Presidnet Lindley came and talked to us about some stuff. It was really good, and I learned a lot. He told us how he thinks we as missionaries are working really hard, but we need to work more smart, and better. Then we found out that right now, the England Leeds Mission is the highest baptizing mission in all of Europe, and that was really great to hear. But out of all the people we schedule for baptisms, only like 11% end up getting baptized and so he taught us ways on how we can improve that, and what we are going to do to make that number go up. It was really good, and I love learning new things."

Goodbye Grimsby

This last week was transfer week for Brady. He will be leaving the Grimsby 1 area and will now be serving in an area called Doncaster. He is also switching companions and his new companion will be Elder Peavler. So this post will be all about his last weeks in Grimsby.

"In this picture I am wearing a dopple. In England they wear them for the month of November for something with world war 1 & 2. And the missionaries don't get respect unless they have one, so I decided to wear one."

Weather:

"It is starting to get cold England and even though it hasn't really rained, and it looks like it would be warm because the sun is shining , but it is pretty cold. Some lady told us last night that this guy who predicts the weather said it is going to be colder than last year, and last year was the worst winter they have had in a long time. I hope he is wrong, and that it doesn't get that cold."

Investigators:

"We went and taught this part member family, and we just tried to get to know them a little bit, and then we followed the spirit with what we wanted to talk about with them. Tyra is a member, but her husband Tony isn't, so we went and had a really amazing lesson, and the spirit was so strong. Then this other member we took out with us named Keith was talking about the spirit, and how people can tell when they received an answer, and what the spirit feels like. And then Tony was like well that was weird because when Elder Moore was testifying about Christ, I had this warm relaxing feeling come over me, and I felt calm, and at peace. We then quickly told him that was the spirit, and that he just felt the spirit in his life. We then asked him to be baptized, and he said he would. So it ended on a really good note."

"Things with Emma Gould are going really well. She has been holding appointments, and we have been having really good lessons with her. It was funny, Elder Reidhead told her that one of us was most likely leaving, and so after the lesson she was going to go and give Elder Reidhead a hug, because she didn't know who was going to leave, so she went to hug him and he like jumped in the corner and put his hands out and said we don't give hugs. It was really funny, and it got us out of the situation."

Time with President Lindley:

"The interview with President Lindley went really well, and don't worry, of course I didn't get into any trouble. We had a good chat, and then I got to ask him some questions. Afterwards, we went teaching and President Lindley came with us. I am not going to lie, I was kind of nervous, but we had the most amazing lesson with an investigator. The spirit was so strong in the room, and it was amazing how I felt like I was a tool in the Lord's hand, and I was saying what He would want me to say. It was a really neat experience. We had planned to teach him about the law of chastity, but going in that just didn't feel right, so we ended up talking about prayer, since he hadn't been praying about the Book of Mormon, and then it went really good. Then President Lindley wanted to see what our flat looked like, and I was kind of scared. Luckily he said it looked really nice, and the only thing we really needed to do was vacuum it a little bit, but it was really great, and I enjoyed going teaching with President."

Bonfire Night:

"There was a holiday in England know as Bonfire Night, where they celebrate the fact that Guy Fox didn't blow up parliament or something like that. It happened a long time ago, and lots of people for Halloween, and also until November 5th carry around this puppet of Guy and say penny for the guy, I don't know why but it was kind of weird. Then it made sense once someone explained it to me. So when we had to go in and do our weekly planning, it was crazy with all the fireworks, and the bonfires, but it was also really great to see. We had a lot of fun with the glowsticks you sent on Bonfire Night."

The Fun Side:

"The O'rielly's gave me the picture on Selena Gomez and we now practice teaching on her. I figure it is good practice for the future."

"Lately I have been getting really good at stopping bikers. I got 4 of them to stop in one day, and I find it so much fun to try and stop bikers, and it amazes me when they do actually stop!"

"Me and Elder Reidhead baked the cookies. They actually turned out pretty good, and we were really excited. The O'rielly's gave us the egg we needed, so we are going to take them some of the cookies, and hopefully they will like them. It was so much fun, but it took Elder Reidhead so long to figure out how to turn on the oven, and since it was in celsius, we had to figure out the right degrees, and all that other fun stuff, but they ended up turning out really good."

"Last P-day, me and Elder Reidhead went and bought England football tops. They were on sale for 10 quid, and we were like booya and got some. Then I even splurged a little bit, and convinced Elder Reidhead as well, and ended up putting our names and numbers on the back. It was 1 quid a letter and 4 quid for the number so I really ended up spending like 19 pounds."

"I have really enjoyed my time in Grimsby, and I am really sad to be leaving. I have heard Doncaster is a nice place with nice people and I am excited to see what it is going to be like."

Good times in England...

Leadership Training in Leeds:

"Things in England are going really well, and Leadership training was really good. The first day we talked about who the perfect leader is, and was, which is obviously Christ. Then we talked about the leadership skills he had, and then we talked about how we need to apply them into our lives as missionaries, and as leaders of the mission. It was really great, and then we went through the fundamentals of preach my gospel, and as we start applying these principles it is going to be really great to see how missionary work improves. I have also wondered how it is going to change in 2012. I have often wondered if people are going to be softened or worried about the world ending, and if baptisms are going to take off, it will be interesting."

Reunion:

"After Leadership training, we went out knocking in the Leeds 1 area, my first area. I was with this missionary named Elder Balls. He is really great, and likes the Yankees, so it was fun. Anyways, he stopped this guy on a bike, and guess who it ended up being???....... John Carson! The person that I got baptize. I was like hey, how ya doing, and we talked for a while and it was really fun to talk to him. He said that he is still going to church, and he has been to the temple and really loves it, and so now he is doing family history, so he can take names with him to the temple. Then he was also telling me how he is starting to take piano lessons so he can play the piano better, so we will see how things work out."

"Then, we were were walking down the street, and ran into this girl who fed us all the time. She started to scream when she saw me, and was like I cried for a week when both you and Elder Remington left. Then she let me talk to her brother, who is a chav, and is investigating the church still and it was fun."

Being Bold:

"We went and visited this less active who hadn't been to church in like 6 months. She said she didn't feel ready to go, and that the time isn't right, but she wants to come back. We told her that there is no better time to come back, and that the longer she waits, the harder it will be for her to come back. We were both pretty bold with her, and she ended up coming on Sunday, and had a good time. It was so neat because the spirit was so strong. It was amazing how I just kept saying things that I don't think I would have normally said as a normal person, but as a missionary it is weird how different it is, and I notice how important different things are. It has been really neat and I just love that feeling, and it makes me feel like, yeah, this is why I am here, and it is just a great feeling to have. I love being bold with people."

Classic Brady:

"Our ward had a talent show and it was so much fun. For our talent, me and Elder Reidhead, well I played songs on the mobile. Afterwards, the judges were like, well... I don't think it is going to get you in any doors, but if our pianist is ever gone, we know where we can turn to. Our bishop was laughing and said it was awful. Then we were in a skit where the guy makes fun of Americans. It was great and they laughed. I played on the mobile, Come Thou Font, Called to Serve, Bring the World His Truth, Joseph Smith's First Prayer, and Mario. It was grand, and if only I could play the piano like the mobile!"

"I did all the crosswords and word searches. I know you said to share with Elder Reidhead, but I just had to do them all, and I kept them for myself, because I love them so much."

"Thanks for the package! I also loved the paddle ball! We are going to try making cookies, and hopefully they will turn out. I got it while I was in Leeds, and it is amazing how everyone wants to be your best friend when you have candy."

150 Days Served!!

Transfers:

"So last night I found out that I will be staying in Grimsby 1, and that I will be staying with Elder Reidhead. I cannot believe how fast this transfer has gone by. But I am really surprised that I am staying another one. Another thing that I am excited about is our whole district is staying. I am so happy because the district I am in right now is so great, and I enjoy it so much. "

Weather:

"This last week in England has been getting colder and colder. I even broke down and bought a v-neck sweater. It keeps me warmer, but I cannot believe that this is what it has come to. I guess that is what happens when it starts to get cold."

Conference:

"Conference was really good, and it was really weird how it all worked. So for the Saturday morning session, we watched it at the church at like 5. It was really sad because at our church there were 6 elders, and 3 members of the church, which is even more sad because there are 3 wards that it included, and then there was 1 investigator. To make things even more sad about conference, a guy came down from Louth which was like an hour away from where our chapel is. Then Sunday morning at 10 we watched the priesthood session, and it was once again amazing. Then at 1 we watched the Saturday afternoon session, and this time there were like 40-50 members there so I guess it is still better, but not very good when it includes 3 different wards. Then at 5 we watched the Sunday morning session of conference. In between the 1 and 5 conference we went and did some knocking to try to find some people to come to conference. We didn't get to watch the Sunday afternoon session. I was gutted because Elder Bednar, Elder Perry, and Elder Ballard spoke and they are my favorite to listen to, as well as Elder Holland, but the rest of conference was still really good, and I can't wait to read from the ensign and read their talks."

"During Priesthood session, Elder Nelson asked all the missionaries from the world to stand up, and so me and another elder, Elder Ferona, like jumped up, and then Elder Reidhead kind of did, but I was like yeah, Elder Nelson wanted me to stand up, of course of course I am going to jump right up."

"This picture is of the Grimsby district. We decided it would be fun to get matching ties for conference and to wear them. It was my idea and it worked out great, and everyone was asking what's up with the ties elders?"

Thank you for the Comments:

"Thanks for sending me the things people say on the blog. It was really fun to read and I really enjoyed it!"

So keep on leaving Elder Moore a little note so we can forward it on to him!

Still in Grimsby

Exchanges:

"I got to go on exchanges with Elder Calinuc. He is from Romania, and he use to play division 2 football. It was so much fun and I am really impressed with how well his English has gotten in the 3 months that I have been in Grimsby, and the 6 months since he has started to learn English. We talked a lot about football and he taught me some sweet tricks and told me how to kick the ball properly, and said I will be able to control the ball more, if I kick it with the inside of my leg."

"I went on exchanges with Elder Otte, our district leader. It was really fun. I spoiled him because he was out of money, and he said that is the way it is to be done while on exchanges. I am really ace at managing my money, and it is really easy. I never have to worry about the end of the month. Then we went to the church because we had a ward coordination meeting. While we were waiting, we were kicking around a football, and then Elder Otte got it stuck up in the window cell. We tried so hard to get it down by stacking chairs, and then someone was like is that safe Elders? It most likely wasn't, but I wasn't scared. So then we had to get a ladder, and we found a really long pole, and after like 10-15 minutes we finally got the ball down. It was so funny! Then, I was telling Elder Otte how you can play church hymns on the cell phone because that is what Elder Remington told me. He figured out how to play Joseph Smith's First Prayer, and taught me, so I am now trying to master it, and it is so funny that it actually sounds pretty good, and I love playing it."

Investigators:

"We were blessed this week to be able to find 16 new investigators!"

"We met a couple that is young, and guess what? They are MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jonny and Becky are doing well, and since we started teaching them, they have cut back on their smoking and drinking, and we haven't taught them the word of wisdom yet. It is also so much fun to teach them because they take it in so well, and they understand things so much, and you can tell that the spirit is definitely there, and it makes things go a lot smoother, and better."

"We taught Jonny and Becky the word of wisdom last week. We set up a plan of progression to when they will give up smoking, and right now they are scheduled for the 9th of October. Jonny was telling us how he really wants a monkey, and we told him that with the money he will be saving from not smoking, he will be able to get his monkey license, and then a monkey. It is like 500 pounds for the monkey and another 500 pounds for the license. That is really expensive. Becky wasn't too happy with us for saying that, so she banned us from talking monkey whenever we are in their house. They are so much fun and it is so fun teaching them and getting to know them, and it is amazing that you can notice a difference in their life since they have been meeting with us and I just love watching them learn and grow. It makes missionary work so much flippin' fun!"

The Fun Side:

"So this last week, this lady in our ward has been giving me and Elder Reidhead some cooking lessons. We have made chili, and we cut up the vegetables, and all that other fun stuff. Then she taught us how to make this lemon bread, which we have made really good and it is amazing how well me and Elder Reidhead can cook. Then for dessert we have been practicing making sponge cakes. Our first one didn't turn out too good, and our second one was alright. We figured out the problem though, so tonight when we go back for our third cooking lesson we are going to do it right. We have been putting in the eggs first, and then the butter, and then the sugar. But, really we need to do the butter, then sugar, and then the eggs. Hopefully it will turn out good tonight."

"For P-Day we played football, and it was really cold, but also really fun. I am amazed by how much football is growing on me, and I have a blast every time we play it, and I think I am getting pretty good at playing football. But, anyways, it was really cold and rainy, but it was a blast. We were playing with the other Elders. Elder Calinuc was kicking the ball so hard, and Elder Reidhead and Elder Otte were scared to be in the goal. So I went in, and was the goalie. Elder Calinuc kicked it really hard, and I stopped it, and it hit my wrist really hard. My wrist was really numb and I was like Elder Otte, I think I broke my wrist! Don't worry, everything is fine, and just to make things even better, I ended up keeping the ball from going in the goal, and I ended scoring a goal as well, so I was really happy."

"Elder Vaughn is from Australia. He is so funny and every time we talk, we have a good laugh."

"These are the stickers on the back of my badge. Some girl gave me the one less lonely girl sticker and said it will apply in 2 years when I get off of my mission. And I was like ok, whatever you say, and she said I had to have it."

"The pop rocks were so amazingly good, and made the day so fun."

"Thanks for the package! We had a lot of fun with the glasses! We just laughed our heads off. Once again, those glasses were so much fun."

Testimony of Temples:

"I hope that you are going to the temple a lot. I really miss the feeling of going to the temple, and the spirit that you can feel when you go there. It is amazing, and I wish that I could go more often. How blessed are we living in Utah, to where we have temples that are 5 minutes away, and we should be using them to our benefit, and going a lot."

Who's the Greenie?

"I had a huge surprise come and hit me. As you know this week (16th August) is transfer week, and I found out that I am staying in Grimsby 1, and that I will be training a missionary. I still feel so new myself, and I feel like there is still so much I need to learn, and become better at, I feel very privileged though, and I have learned that when the Lord calls you to do something, or go somewhere, there is a reason for it, and so I am excited but still very nervous to train. I just hope that I will be a good trainer, and Elder Gentry was really excited, and he was like freaking out, while I was in a huge shock, and was so surprised when President Lindley told me that."

Brady has been training since the week of August 16th, and here is what he thinks about training.

1st Week Training:

"Being a trainer is alright, but it is a lot different than killing off companions. I was so nervous the couple days before that I didn't sleep really at all, and I was in so much shock that President Lindley asked me to train. There are also 2 other elders from my group that are training, and I guess they were just as nervous as I was, but it was really fun. I guess one thing I do miss is the fact that we both knew the area so we knew where the places were. Now, everywhere I turn it's like BOOM! Elder Reidhead is right there!"

2nd Week Training:

"Training is going pretty well. We have been doing a lot of knocking trying to find new people to teach. I think Elder Riedhead is kind of frustrated because we get a return appointment, and then sometimes the people aren't there. I try to set an example by trying to find people who are ready."

Investigators:

"Last night we finally got a return appointment that held up. His name is Lee, and I was really surprised. I have to start off the lessons now and make the decisions, which is really different, but I do really enjoy it. We were able to teach him about the restoration of the gospel, and the lesson went pretty well. Then I had to extend the invitation to be baptized, and I was kind of nervous, but he accepted it and he seemed really excited about it."

Soccer:

"For the past 2 P-days we have been playing football with these 14-15 year old kids, but that is going to have to stop now, since they go back to school next week. The first week we played, I played a little bit of defense, then I got to play a wing position. They were impressed I think with how well I could pass the ball, and I was really surprised myself! It was so amazing, my passes were spot on, and they were able to just keep on continuing, it was really fun. I also scored a GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so amazing, and it felt so nice to score. Then I kind of struggled, and I missed a couple of easy shots, so all the kids on my team were yelling don't shoot, so I didn't, I would just pass it. Then yesterday, they put me in the goalie's box, and I had no idea why. I actually was really good at it, and I made a lot of legit stops, and all the kids on my team were like YEAH!!!!!!!!! Then I made a stupid mistake, and I kind of did something like the England goalie. I went to catch the ball, and it went through my arms, and into the goal. I should have just gotten in front of it, and then I would have been fine, but I just tried to stick my hands out and stop it, and it just went right through. It was kind of frustrating, but then they still kept me in the goal."