Truth Will Prevail : June 24, 2021

 It's been a strange past couple days just reminiscing on all that's happened the past 2 years. It's really gone by too fast, but I feel like I'm a completely different person from when I began. It's really been some of the best 2 years of my life, I already know I'll miss it.

As I walked through the streets of Manchester for the last time, I couldn't stop myself from having flashbacks to the very beginning of my mission. I was just able to look back and see the changes and the memories that I've been able to make for myself the past 2 years. I feel like there's so many places in Manchester that I attach to a certain memory or person.

In Alma 26, one of the famous missionary chapters of the Book of Mormon, Ammon asked his brethren a question after he finished his mission. He said, "And now, I ask, what great blessings has he bestowed upon us? Can ye tell?”

And then being his overexcited self, he answered his own question, speaking words that have been quoted by missionaries time and time again:

“And this is the blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work.”

I, along with Alma, am so grateful for the opportunity I have had to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord for the past 2 years. I'm grateful for the many miracles I've been able to see, for a deepened conversion and love for Jesus Christ, and for the many amazing missionaries, members, and friends that I've met on this wild journey.

I'm grateful that God sent me to serve in Manchester, Kendal, Manchester again, Burnley, Newcastle-under-Lyme, and then Manchester yet again (It seemed at the time that Manchester really needed me haha, but I feel that in reality, I needed Manchester)

I'm grateful for the companions I served with. For Elder Beam, Elder Chen, Elder Smith, Elder Stayner, Elder Newell, Elder Chen (different one), Elder Cheang, Elder Price, Elder Sewell, Elder Newell (again), Elder Maruhi, Elder Ko, Elder Mortier, Elder Smart, Elder Bridgstock, and Elder  Newell (3rd time's the charm?)

I'm grateful for all the streets I was able to walk, for the doors I was able to knock, for the people who were willing to talk. I'm grateful I was able to serve before and also during the coronavirus, and to see the Lord hasten His work in unimaginable ways! I'm grateful I was able to fill my days teaching and testifying of Jesus Christ, of feeling the Spirit, and becoming a better disciple of Jesus Christ while helping others do the same.

Manchester is sacred ground to me. It's where the Lord has allowed me to struggle, to grow, to deepen my discipleship in Jesus Christ. I'm forever grateful for all that I've learned the past 2 years.

I know that this is His work. I know that this is His restored Gospel on the earth once more, and I know that Joseph Smith is the prophet of the Restoration. And most importantly, I know that Christ lives. 

TRUTH WILL PREVAIL  |  真理必定德胜

Elder Ensign 高长老

Week 102: June 19, 2021

I honestly dont even know what to write about in this email, it's so strange that I'm going home in 5 days, time has honestly flown

Last pday we spent like all day in chester, which basically a really traditional English town! It was basically what I imagined England to be when I got my mission call so it was cool to see all the old english architecture and whatnot. I'm going to miss England a lot when I go

It's been weird to have to say goodbye to so many people. But I know I'll probably have the opportunity to see most people again, technology definitely makes it a lot easier. I got to meet Sophia again in person though for the first time in like a year! We baptized her on my 2nd transfer in the mission, it was really cool to just be able to reminisce on all that's happened the past 2 years. She also got me a stuffed manchester bear which was super nice haha, and we're having hotpot with her tonight which should be good!

We also got to go to the temple this past week! It was honestly just so nice to go inside, it's been well over a year and a half for me so it was cool to feel the Spirit in that way

Today we went to lyme park! It's where Pride & Prejudice was filmed so it was really cool, it's basically just a stately home with really nice grounds. And we also went to Toby Carvery and got a proper British roast! It was super nice, it's been like a year and a half since I had a roast so it was really good

I've found it a lot easier to keep working hard than I anticipated. We've been pretty busy this past week with all the lessons and other activities we've had which has been nice. and I intend to work until the last minute!

Elder ensign 高长老

 

Week 101: June 12, 2021

 Hey everyone!

Been a really nice week, have a couple highlights! 

First is that the chinese missionaries are allowed to go street contacting again!! Only the Chinese missionaries though, and we get about 4 hours each week to do it. The reasoning behind it is just that most Chinese people don't tend to use facebook or instagram very much so finding them online isn't as effective or plausible, so we've been allowed to go out on the streets and just talk to chinese people! And it's honestly been amazing, I didnt realize how much I missed street contacting, but it's literally been the best. Talking to people on the street is actually so fun and we've been able to find a couple new chinese people to work with which is fun! Finding people online is more effective in general, but it's just been an exception for chinese people, which has been a huge blessing

And then more food! Theres 4 companionships of missionaries in the Manchester YSA ward,  so we have a lot of fun. We had a waffle party last saturday and made a tonnn of waffles, and we're gonna have another one today with even more waffles  so excited for that! we also tried black pudding together, which is something english people traditionally eat for breakfast. But the catch is that it's literally congealed pigs blood and oats mixed together, it sounds super strange haha. It actually doesnt taste bad though! It kinda tastes like stuffing. I couldn't really get over the texture though, it didnt sit too well in my stomach.

I feel like my stomach and taste buds are very strange though, I cant really figure them out. Because yesterday, a Chinese member made hotpot for us because I'm going home in like a week and a half, and he bought a couple strange things. He got 黄喉， 牛肚 (ox stomach and ox throat), and chicken gizzards. it looked super nasty, the texture was super strange, but I actually didn't mind eating it ahha, it didnt taste weird at all to me. I guess my body's fine eating Chinese food but when it comes to a british person's breakfast it freaks out.

Last thing! Just want to invite you all take a couple minutes and watch this video the church released this past week. It's the story of my mission president, President Johnson. It's super powerful, you won't regret it!! 

https://youtu.be/7kbPgQflp4I

Elder Ensign

Waffle party, hotpot

Also theres a man that rides his bike around Manchester like everyday and is really famous to mancunians, everyone loves him and calls him boombox Barry! Finally got a selfie with him and it is high quality, probably my favourite selfie of all time.

Week 100: June 5, 2021

Hey everyone

I had to talk with my mission president this past week, and I won't be able to extend my mission after all. I'll be coming home at my original release date in 3 weeks, on june 24th. While I'm a little disappointed I won't be able to extend, I know that God has a plan. And my pdays will be on saturday for until I get home

Not much has happened this week

-Week 100 though! Triple digits 

-gave a couple chapel tours to some more Chinese people

-had ice cream from an ice cream truck for the first time ever! It was really nice too

-We had a barbecue last night! With the covid restrictions lifting, we're allowed to meet outside with more people. So the Elders Quorum had a barbecue which was super nice. They also got all the ingredients and whatnot from Costco so it was all american haha

-I'm with Elder Newell again! And Elder Bridgstock, he's from Huddersfield in the UK but was serving in Brazil before, he's a reassigned missionary. President Johnson wants me to be in a trio for my last 3 weeks

Elder Ensign

 

Week 99: May 31, 2021

 Hey everyone! Super cool week!

Lots of chinese miracles! We've really struggled the past basically year trying to find chinese people to teach, it's hard to find Chinese people who use white people social media like facebook or instagram, and because we can't really talk to them on the street, it makes it extra difficult. But for whatever reason, the past 2 weeks have been so good for finding chinese people on social media! And I've found that chinese people are super open to getting chapel tours, so we've given 3 people chapel tours this week and have like another 3 this upcoming week! I'm really excited :)

One of the people we gave a chapel to is nothing short of a miracle!! His name is Percy, he's from Shanghai and is studying at university of Manchester. He actually reached out to me first after I followed him. I invited him to come to the chapel for a tour on Saturday afternoon, and he texted back like an hour later and asked if he could come to the chapel later that night! so we changed our plans and he showed up at the chapel like 3 hours later for a chapel tour. And it went so well!!  He loved it and ended up coming to the church yesterday to partake of the Sacrament. We met him again after Sacrament meeting and he talked about how much he loves being in the church and the feelings he has. He asked how he can become a Christian, so we invited him to be baptized! And he said he will be baptized as soon as he finds out that God is real. So pray for him! Such a miracle :)

I feel like I write about food in like every other email but it's fine. We had a friend who wanted to meet with us for breakfast so we went to an English breakfast place - Wetherspoons and we had  a full english breakfast! It was super nice, I've actually never had a full english breakfast my whole time in england so it was nice. Its honestly not too different from what you'd have in America besides the baked beans ahah. We also had tea with a Chinese returning member and she bought us a ton of really posh waffles and macarons which was nice

Gotta do exchanges with Elder Newell AND Elder Ko this past week which was super cool as well! It's always really fun to serve with old companions

Just a really fulfilling week! also the area presidency officially accepted my extension request so I will be here until August 6th! :)

Elder Ensign

Week 98: May 24, 2021

Hey everyone!

Just a little update, I had a prompting about 2 months ago that I needed to extend my mission. At first I kinda fought with this prompting and wanted to just come home at my original release date, which is in 4 weeks from now. But after lots of prayer, fasting, and just general pondering and talking to others about it, I've decided to extend my mission for another transfer! So I'll most likely be staying until August 6th (unless the area presidency doesnt let me), sorry if that inconveniences anyone, but I believe theres a reason the Lord wants me to stay in england for another 6 weeks. So see you all in a couple months!

This week was really nice though! There's just been sooo many miracles, especially when it comes to finding people to teach. We had zone conference this past week and a big portion of it was spent on helping us improve our finding skills. Basically we've been seeking to build connections in Christ from the very start!

But I messaged this one girl, and on the second message I sent to her, I felt prompted to invite her to come to church and partake of the sacrament. It felt a little weird and super random to do that to someone I dont know at all haha, but the message I got back was honestly such a miracle and testament! She said that she's grown up technically being catholic, but only been to Mass once in her life with her nan, and she really enjoyed it. She's just moved to manchester to study and said that she's really wanted to come to church here, but just doesnt have any friends or people to go with, so was scared to. But she said she was so grateful for my message and now she'll be coming to church!! So honestly really excited for that, God is in the details.

This week has honestly been a testament to me of how important it is to always live worthy to have the Spirit - especially as a missionary. “Sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.” 

Elder Ensign

 

Week 97: May 17, 2021

 Hello!!

Not a ton happened this week honestly, I just had transfers and moved flats which ended up being literally a block away. So transfers this time was pretty easy. It's a little strange being in the same ward but different area, flat, and companion. I've had to get used to a new teaching pool and we dont have any chinese friends which is kinda sad. But I'm working on finding more! 

Our district is basically the exact same though, only one Elder left and then I replaced him. So it's cool to still know all the missionaries in the district really well!

Elder Smart is pretty cool though! He's from Cardiff in wales, he was serving in south Africa for like 6 months but then was reassigned here. We get along pretty well, he has a lot of crazy stories from the 6 months he served in Africa for haha, it's wild. We've been working pretty hard the past little bit which has been good!

We also have bikes! I guess the elders found some bikes in the chapel that ended up belonging to the mission so they started using them and now I get to ride them as well haha. It's kinda fun, it makes a 25 min walk to the chapel like a 5 min bike ride which is really convenient. It's kinda cool being able to bike around manchester as well, manchester has really safe bike lanes and stuff so it's cool to be biking alongside double decker buses and whatnot haha

Elder Ensign

Also we got matching hoodies before transfers ahah

Week 96: May 11, 2021

 Hey everyone!

Transfers came this week, it's been really fun serving with Elder Ko and Mortier and training, but sadly I'm getting transferred out tomorrow. Elder Ko and Moriter will keep serving together and I'm gonna have a new companion. My new companion is Elder Smart, he's from Wales and was reassigned from serving in South Africa like a year ago! That's basically all I know about him so far though. The funny thing is that I'm actually still gonna be in the same area, I'm literally moving to a different flat about a block away. So I'll be in the same area and ward, just different companion and flat. It's a little bittersweet though, he's an English missionary so I'll have less opportunities to speak Chinese, but I'll still work on finding and teaching chinese people. I'm also gonna be moving away from the flat that I've lived in for over a year now which is giving me a whole lot of mixed feelings. It's kinda like moving away from home, but my home will just be a block away haha. It's really sad just seeing my mission coming to an end, I will most likely finish my mission in the Manchester YSA ward now though which I'm excited about. This will be my 10th transfer here!

It's been a really nice week though, lots of Chinese work going on! It's been really cool to see the progress of the chinese work, basically everytime we've taught a chinese person this week, they've brought a friend or two with them. It's been such a blessing and I have a lot of hope for the chinese work here

We also had a hotpot this past week which was so fun! One of the Chinese members, godfrey, wanted to have hotpot with us so we ended up inviting a couple chiense friends with us and we basically had a big chinese activity, it was really fun. Godfrey bought ox stomach which honestly was pretty good, I feel like I can just eat anything now haha. We started preparing for the hotpot at like 6 PM but it took a lot longer than expected - we were supposed to start eating by 7 but didn't start until 8:30  as missionaries we're supposed to be back in our flats by 9 or 9:30 normally but we didn't leave the chapel until 10:20 pm and got home probably at 10:45 haha, it was a crazy night

I've spent a lot of time the past couple weeks just reflecting on my mission and how much I feel like I've changed. Just so grateful for the Gospel and the Atonement of Christ and that through them, we're able to change our lives around and be better everyday! :)

Elder Ensign

Week 95: May 3, 2021

 Hey!

It feels like things are finally getting back to normal over here haha. With the government restrictions being lifted, we've been able to get out and meet more people more than basically the past year! It's been really nice to talk to and meet people in person, over the phone has gotten a little exhausting ngl. We played basketball with some Chinese people and also gave some chapel tours to some new people which was really fun, it's been a good week.  

Honestly not much else went on this past week! It's been fairly normal. Except I finally had good mexican food in England, I mightve spent £8 on a burrito but it was well worth it 🤤

Our mission has been putting a huge emphasis on family history the past couple months which has been really cool to be involved in. Family history can seem really boring sometimes but theres honestly so many blessings that come from doing it. A member mentioned in our come follow me lesson yesterday that to gather Israel, we need to not only be doing missionary work, but also temple and family history work. Without doing all 3, we wont be able to gather scattered Israel and find those willing to let God prevail in their lives. So I'd invite everyone to get more involved with family history if you arent at the moment!

Elder Ensign

Week 94: April 26, 2021

 Hey everyone!

It's been a pretty cool week! It's been good to have Elder Mortier with us in person, being in a trio again is kinda weird but I guess I'm kinda used to it now. We all get along really well, and we're working hard which is good! Just trying to help Elder Mortier learn Chinese which is an adventure for sure. We've found a bunch of chinese people this week though which has definitely been such a miracle! It feels like a lot of them have honestly been coming to us, it's been so cool to see the way God works.

It feels like so much is getting back to normal in terms of the virus. We were able to give a couple chinese people chapel tours for the first time in more than a year which was really nice! It's so nice being able to meet up with people in person, over the phone is alright but it's a little easier to build up relationships with people in person! 

One of our chinese friends, Wangyue, invited us over to her place to have Chinese hotpot with her and her friend which was soooo nice! It's been well over a year since I've had hotpot haha, it was really good. Poor Elder Mortier struggled to understand what was going on the whole time though haha, he'll get there eventually though! He's also like never eaten spicy food before, we made him some chinese black pepper beef this past week and he was absolutely dying so he's lucky they didnt make a super spicy hotpot haha. But Wangyue and her friend came to church together yesterday which was cool! 

Chinese people are so random  We have an older chinese lady we're trying to meet with more often now that we're back in Manchester, I actually went to her house on my 2nd day in england. So we went to just stop by her house the other day and it turns out her neighbourhood has a ton of chinese people there! But one older Chinese came over while we were there and they had the most weird conversation while we just watched on haha, they were talking about dirt, mints, and helping each other with technology haha, it was super random but it's good to understand chinese culture I guess...? 

Elder Ensign 

Week 93: April 19, 2021

 Hey everyone!

What a week it's been! We've gotten so much busier which has been really nice! We now have returning members and friends to teach which is a relief haha, it's been weird whitewashing cause everything is new but also not really at the same time but we're finally getting into the flow of things now!

Elder Mortier is here now! He got dropped off this morning by a senior couple and now we no longer have to work with him virtually. So thats kinda a relief haha, videocalls all day is kinda fun but not really 🤷‍♂️ he's pretty fun though! We went to Chinatown and city centre today, he's pretty excited to be out of quarantine now. Itll make lessons, finding, studies - basically everything a lot easier  we had to buy a TON of food this morning though so itll take some getting used to the trio life, it'll be fun though!

Elder Mortier also told us that he doesnt like running/he has flat feet so he cant really run for long, so Elder Ko and I went all out with our runs this past week before all our morning exercises are spent inside haha. We went on a really long run from our flat well into Manchester city centre which is like 2 miles away. It wasn't an insanely long run but it was honestly just fun getting out more and seeing Manchester!

Elder Ensign

Week 92: April 12, 2021

 Hey everyone!

What an amazing week it's been being back in Manchester in the YSA ward!! Literally my first day back, we called a chinese member to tell him we were back and 30 minutes later he showed up at the chapel and took us out to a really nice chinese restaurant. It was sooooo good, I've actually really missed speaking Chinese the past 8 months too so it's been good to practice a bit more. It was good to see all the YSA members at church yesterday as well and talk to them! There's a lot of familiar faces but also a ton of new students that I don't know at all so it'll be good to get to know them all a little better the next couple months!

It's honestly been so surreal being back. Being in the same flat, walking the same roads, it's been so cool. The first 3 days I literally couldn't stop smiling just walking around manchester, it's been amazing. I'm so happy to be back, we went to Chinatown and some other places which was pretty cool, I also had some brown sugar milk boba for the first time ever which was really good, highly recommend

Elder Ko and I are getting along really well and speaking more chinese together which is a blast! He's actually hilarious, we have a pretty similar sense of humour so the past week has been a blast haha. We're whitewashing into the area though so we've only had like 1 lesson so far but we've been trying to find more people to teach so hopefully we'll have more lessons and things to do soon!

But the highlight has probably been training Elder Mortier! It's all been virtual - he's in quarantine with a couple new missionaries for 10 days - but he's actually amazing! His chinese has a ways to go but I guess so does every chinese missionary straight outta the MTC haha. He's from Mulhouse in France and is learning both Chinese and English, so he's an absolute legend. We've basically video called for like 8 hours everyday - for planning, studying, finding, and lessons. So basically everything but meal times, personal study, exercise, etc. We're really excited for him to get out of quarantine and be with us, he's honestly like the most humble missionary I've ever met. He's gonna be such a good missionary

Also he said he's gonna make us some Ratatouille so basically all my childhood dreams are unfolding right before my eyes at the moment  I don't know if I've really been as happy as I am right now on my mission, it's so cool to see the way God works

Anyways hope you all have a good week!

Elder Ensign 高长老

The Church of Jesus Christ 

Altrincham Road

Manchester M22 4BJ

England

Manchester

Elder Ko

Elder Mortier