Week 35: March 9, 2020

Hey yall!

I hit my 8 month mark tomorrow which is soooo crazy! I'm already 1/3 of the way done! It's going by wayyyyy too fast, I never wanna leave!

But it was a really good week! We ended up finding like 12 new friends to teach which is like the highest I've found in one week on my mission! We found a couple people who are actually insanely prepared as well! There really are people ready to hear the Gospel!

Theres been a lot of talk about the coronavirus the past couple weeks which is a little crazy. Literally every chinese person on the street now wears masks and lots of them won't come meet with us or go to church cause they're scared to get the virus. Which seems a little rash cause we're in England of all places haha but apparently theres a lot more cases than what you'd expect here. Theres also apparently a bunch more outbreaks in European countries like Italy and stuff. Hopefully it dies down soon! Also see some pictures attached related to the virus (michael saw us on the street randomly and gave me and Elder newell masks haha) (plus a newspaper headline we saw about the queen haha). But weve had to video chat or teach some of our friends over phone call cause they're too scared to leave their flat except for class. And we've had like 5 people say they cant come to church cause of the virus. Which is honestly so heartbreaking. The mission is also making us store up on nonperishable food just in case haha

Sophia, who Elder chen and I baptized back in october, has been pretty inactive for the past couple months. But this past week we had this really good lesson about putting God first and why coming to church is important. Shes gonna start coming back which is nice! But I guess I've been thinking a lot about church and how we can put God first. And this scripture has just come back to me probably like everyday this past week, so I thought I should share. 2 Nephi 31:20-21 “Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life. And now, behold, my beloved brethren, this is the way; and there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God. And now, behold, this is the doctrine of Christ, and the only and true doctrine of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, which is one God, without end. Amen.” Honestly sometimes I feel like we get so caught up in the world that we forget what's really important. “This is the way”. This isnt a religion. This is a reality. We need to endure to the end! Please go to church every sunday, say your prayers, and read the scriptures every day. Nothing is more important than that. Love you all!

-Elder Ensign 高长老

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Altrincham Road 

Manchester, M22 4BJ

England

Michael gave Elder Newell and I masks when he saw us on the street haha

Museum that's literally like Hogwarts

Michael gave Elder Newell and I masks when he saw us on the street haha

Bowling last pday :)

“Crownavirus”

Week 34: March 2, 2020

大家好！

Seriously one of the most memorable weeks of my mission. I've honestly had such a good time this week. So we started off on tuesday morning and picking up our trainee, Elder Newell! Hes from Orem Utah, also learning Mandarin. It's actually soooo fun being in a trio. Definitely a little hard to have good comp unity but we're working on it haha. All 3 of us have soooo much fun, it's actually the best haha

On Wednesday night we ended up going to this Romanians house, elder stayner found them before I guess. But we went into their house and sat on someone's bed, and then literally like 8 people walked in. It's a huge family and they all live together. They're all like 30+ too haha. But they hardly speak any English at all so we basically taught them over Google translate which was soooo fun haha. I'll attach a pic. The dad is super religious and he wants us to baptise all of them so I'm excited to see where it goes haha

On Thursday we had zone conference which was probably the most spiritual day of my whole mission. Zone conference was focused on the restoration which was seriously so amazing. One sister mentioned that the Spirit was so strong there probably cause oftentimes theres so much hate regarding the restoration. And I think it's true! This past week I've been thinking a lot about my testimony and what it's really based on. And I feel like in my life I've had so many doubts, even recently. Whether I doubt the Plan of Salvation, that God's really there, that Joseph Smith was a prophet, that this church really is the true church. But for some reason, I cant doubt that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. And because of that I know God exists, I know Joseph Smith is a prophet, I know that everything in this church is true. The Book of Mormon is seriously so amazing! I've seen its power in my life as I've read it everyday! I've literally been on such a spiritual high this whole week because of zone conference. Church is true!

Also this next Thursday is my one year mark of getting my mission call so that's pretty exciting! It feels like I got it yesterday! But honestly I just love serving here. I'm already dreading going home, even though I'm only like 1/3 of the way done. I love this work!

-Elder Ensign

 

Elder Newell and I

Fish & Chips shop

District run (peep Sister Bullock decked out in USU gear haha)

At the Romanians house haha

Week 33: February 24, 2020

大家好！

I decided I'd do something a little different this week. I'm gonna pick a couple highlights from each day (if I actually have highlights) and write it down to see how it goes.

Tuesday: Went to the World of Beatrix Potter attraction in the lake district. Lets goooo Peter Rabbit haha

Wednesday: I got back to Manchester YSA! My new comp is Elder Stayner, he used to be my zone leader so hes amazing. It's actually so fun serving with him. I seriously missed YSA so much, there's way too many highlights to pick one so I'll do a quick 3. 

1: Street contacting on Oxford Road! Literally did it everyday for 3 transfers but I lowkey missed it. 

2: Met Michael again! My first baptism, he's amazing! I saw him randomly on the street and that was the happiest moment ever. Literally couldnt stop smiling :)

3: BEST CHAPEL TOUR EVER. We gave a chapel tour to this really young Chinese couple, they're both students at the RNCM (Really good music uni like right across the street from the chapel). But zhaoyu (the husband) plays piano and jiayi (his wife) plays violin. When we got into the chapel, we asked if he wanted to play a song from the hymn book! He sight read “I Believe in Christ” and played it soooo well. The Spirit was literally so strong in that chapel tour, they're definitely getting baptized haha. I might've almost cried like 6 times while he was playing but don't judge yall would've too

Thursday-Saturday: just a lot of finding on Oxford road :)

Sunday: chinese group! I got to talk with all the members again, have church in Chinese which was soooo fun, and I got to see Jeremy again! I seriously love the people here

I'm actually so excited for this next transfer! Elder stayner and I get along super well. We both work really well together, we have good unity in lessons and everything! Also, the new chinese speaking missionary is coming tomorrow so we're both really excited for that!

爱你们哦！

-Elder Ensign 

Also godfrey (one of the Chinese members) taking us out to eat :)

Elder Stayner and I