Just Another Week In Paradise. I Mean Paisley...

 It’s been another action packed week in the Paisley Zone! There's no time to kill, so lets dive right in! 

Sept. 12th

P-day, we planned to go on some epic wilderness adventures, but ended up just eating a ridiculous amount of food and taking a nap instead... So worth it! Today for P-day we will either go to Glasgow or to the Isle of Aaron to scale some beastly mountains! After P-day we had a really great family home evening with some recent converts. 

Sept. 13th

Tuesday morning we had district meeting in Greenock! On the way over, our Satnav took us on a sketchy dirt road into the middle of nowhere that just lead us to a field of sheep. After about an hour we finally got back on track and made it to my sweet birth place of Greenock. That place is still exactly the same, it felt like coming home! Sadly it wasn't long lived, and soon enough we found ourselves back in Irvine on exchanges with the Pollock Elders. I was with Elder Smith for the day. Elder Smith and I found two new investigators and taught them on the spot! One of them had recently lost her Grandpa and felt the spirit so strong she ended up crying most of the lesson. We finished the night off strong with Pizza at Nicola's home!

 Sept. 14th

Today we taught a lady who ended up being pretty drunk. This woman has had one of the most messed up lives I've heard of! She married a 54 year old man when she was just 18 and a the man who at one time was with her Aunt, her Grandma, and her Mom. And that’s just scratching the surface! It was a real eye opener to me, and helped me to remember just how blessed I am to have such a perfect and caring family! 

Sept. 15th

The main event of Thursday was our second lesson with Amy. She just understands the gospel so easily. All we have to do is show up and she figures things out for herself as the spirit teaches. #KingdomBuilder 

Sept. 16th

Today Elder Wilson and I were on exchanges with the Assistants in Edinburgh. I spent the day with good old Elder Crowe from the boy band Beyond 5! He's a good man. We had loads of fun strolling around town and a getting everyone we talked to excited for baptism! We also got to visit my good friend Anne who had us all over for dinner! She told me that she’s going back to Utah in November and is planning to spend  time with my family again!

Sept. 17th

Saturday started with a long drive back to Irvine. When we finally got home we tried to catch up with some finding, and found ourselves teaching an atheist. Atheists are all pretty crazy but this one was especially bonkers! I'm sure she knows we're right deep down inside though! 

Sept. 18th

Sunday was especially rainy, and sadly none of our investigators were able to make it to church. Pray for them, they all NEED to be there for the rest of their lives starting next week! One of the best parts about today was teaching Margret. She is making some major changes in her life and seems to finally be ready to start progressing towards baptism. What a champion!

That about sums it up, all in all I am just grateful to be here. I’m having so many amazing life changing experiences! Helping others to feel a pure love of Christ is pretty much the most rewarding thing of all time. Thank you so much for your love and support. Thank you for your prayers! They are heard and make such a big difference.

Love you all!

-Elder Cluster 

Raining Down Blessings!

This week was absolutely wild! And wet... VERY WET! Sounds like a normal week in the Scotland/Ireland Mission eh? Let me throw some of the highlights at you!

Sep 5th

Elder Wilson and I had an epic P-day walking around a sweet place called Englenton Park and posing like models inside castles and majestic wooden glens! In the afternoon we taught a couple of solid lessons, one was with our Norse Pagan friend. After talking to her all I could ask myself was "And people think Mormon's have weird beliefs!?" 

Sep 6th

Tuesday was filled with loads of success! We started the day in Ayr for a Stranraer district meeting, then took the Stranrear Elders back to Irvine with us for an exchange. I spent the day with an English man name Elder Sheppard. We bought some flowers and used them to speak to people on the street! Between us and the other two we got a total of 5 new investigators! We also saw someone get hit by a car right in front of our flat, and had a dinner appointment at an Indian member’s home. I’m still not sure what they fed us, but it was the hottest stuff I have ever put in my mouth in my life. Ha!

Sep 7th 

Today we helped an old Lady move, and found a new super solid investigator named Marlene! She has a Christian background and has been looking for a church to go to... Miracle!! We had a super spiritual lesson with her on the spot. I'm convinced she will be our next baptism! 

Sep 8th

Today we taught John about tithing; he took it straight on board and is planning on doing a fast soon to help him get an answer about the church! He is a definite champ. Another highlight was our dinner appointment with old man George. He's gotta be one of the funniest old fella's in Scotland! 

Sep 9th

Today it rained all day and nearly every single appointment cancelled. All but one...this place was literally the grossest place I have ever seen/stepped foot in, in my entire life. I couldn't even breathe. There are no words to even describe the things we saw that day. But... he is still a Child of God and the Gospel will change his life!

Sep 10th

Today we taught Marlene again! We shared the Restoration message with a focus on priesthood authority. It went beautifully and she committed to pray about everything we shared. She said if she got an answer she would love to be baptized and is now working towards October 1st!

Sep 11th 

Church is always good; unfortunately Marlene was unable to make it due to babysitting. However we did have a really great family come with her nonmember children. We have been working with them a little while now, and they too should be getting baptized soon! Apart from that, Sunday consisted of a lot of running around. We made the most of it though! 

Well hey, thanks for reading this!! I'm going to go do some cleaning then go on an adventure... Love you all!!

Elder Cluster 

Two Weeks of Finding, Teaching, And Baptizing

Hello everyone!! I'll apologize for not being able to send a big email last week as we had some running around we had to do last minute. I'll try my hardest to fit in the excitement of the main events we had within these past two week with the little time we've got left! 

 As for last week, pretty much every day was a new adventure! Because of time I’ll just share a bit of the experience we had with Nicola's baptism on Saturday and her Confirmation on Sunday. Nicola is a complete Champion! She was so ready for the gospel, and being able to watch her prepare and make these sacred covenants with the Lords was a huge blessing to me. Her baptism was absolutely perfect. I wish you could have seen the smile of her face as she came up out of the water... Nicola asked me to confirm her the following day in Sacrament Meeting. That was a massive spiritual experience for the both of us! I know that the blessing I said was coming straight from Heavenly Father. When I finished the blessing I opened my eyes and was literally so confused because I had completely forgotten where I was! I don't remember hearing a single sound during that blessing; it was like it was just us and Heavenly Father in our own little world! What a blessing. 

Time is dwindling fast and we have to get back to the flat so some guy can fix a window.... I'll fit as much of this week as I possibly can in the 4 minutes! P-day, P-day was FANTASTIC!! Elder Wilson and I played some Putt Putt at the park, got some fish and chips, and then chased sheep around for two hours and made an amazing video to welcome in the new missionaries into the Zone! I felt so free leaping through the green fields with the fuzzy sheep and my South African Friend!  

On Tuesday we had a massive Zone conference in Paisley, it was sweet and inspiring! Wednesday we were in this homeless shelter teaching our investigator  (Who had a date to be baptized) and only five minutes into the lesson the police walked in and told him that there was a warrant out for his arrest. Then they cuffed him and took him away... We were just sitting there awkwardly. What the junk??

And that’s us out of time!! You'll just have to trust me that the rest of the week was just as exciting!!

Love you all!!!

-Elder Cluster