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

Week 91: April 6, 2021

What a week it's been! Easter and general conference! And it's transfers tomorrow!!

And after 7 1/2 long months, I'm going back to Manchester!! I'm soooo excited, I love newcastle but am absolutely gassed to be going back to manchester. I'm gonna be whitewashing into a new area in the YSA ward, and we're gonna be focusing on the chinese work. I'm also gonna be training! So whitewash training ahah, but also gonna have an Elder from Hong Kong, Elder Ko with us which should be really fun. Our trainee is Elder Mortier, he's from France but learning chinese! I'm so excited I cant even put it into words!! Next transfer will be my 9th transfer in manchester in total, in the same flat too. Which will add up to over a year total in manchester, and I'm assuming I'll stay until the end of my mission. Very excited!

I've been learning a bunch of french the past couple months with Elder Maruhi haha, which is only fitting cause I'll be serving with Elder Mortier from France and keep getting to practice! It's pretty basic right now, I can really only say a food prayer and a couple other sentences but it's really fun. Definitely would want to learn french if I didn't learn Chinese. So catch me speaking fluent french once I'm home.

It was really nice weather for like 2 days this week, it's always funny when its warm outside cause literally all of england goes to the park and basks in the sun  it was probably like 60 degrees for 2 days and everyone was outside. We definitely took advantage of the sunshine though. We also feasted for conference/Easter this past week with the sisters in our area! We cooked 10 frozen pizzas, had a gammon, whole chicken, pasta bake, plus a multitude of other foods haha. It was amazing but I feel so fat now 

Conference this past week was so good as well! I feel like they just keep getting better and better, it honestly might just be that I'm preparing myself more and more though. It's always so nice to hear from living prophets and apostles, and I just wanted to reextend the invitation give from the prophet to remove any debris in your life :)  

Hope yall have a good week!

Elder Ensign 高长老

The Church of Jesus Christ 

Altrincham Road

Manchester M22 4BJ

England 

 

Week 90: March 29, 2021

 Hey everyone!

This week I got sung to by a bunch of older Chinese ladies - multiple times so that was pretty fun haha. They were both in english classes, but for different reasons. The first was cause it was my birthday last wednesday, and someone in the class somehow found out it was my birthday so they led everyone else in singing happy birthday in Chinese to me haha, it was super nice though, I felt so honoured if not  little embarrassed 

On a different day, I was teaching English privately to just 2 chinese people who weren't able to understand anything in the other class, because they couldn't speak any english whatsoever. So I was teaching them the alphabet and naturally the alphabet song came up  so I ended up having to teach two 70-80 year old chinese ladies how to sing the alphabet song, I literally couldn't stop laughing the whole time ahah

In terms of other random things that happened this week, everytime we park our car at the chapel a ton of birds poop all over the windshield which is super annoying. So I decided instead of having to scrub off all the bird poop, I would dump buckets of water onto our car from the 3rd story of our flat complex. It actually worked really well and now our car doesnt have bird poop all over it haha

I also cut my hair for I think the 5th time with the help of Elder Maruhi. I feel like my hair gets a little worse each time, I already feel bad for the barber that has to fix the past 5 months of poor haircuts 

We have a friend, Jordan, who had accepted the invitation to be baptized. He was supposed to be baptized last saturday, but had some concerns come up last second so we took him off baptismal date. But we felt like we should invite our mission president, President Johnson, into our next lesson with him and have him help us resolve his concerns. It ended up being one of the most powerful lessons I've ever been in on my mission, President Johnson led out the whole lesson and literally resolved all of Jordan's concerns within 15 minutes. All Elder Maruhi and I did was bear our testimony and I shared a scripture I was prompted to share. It was sooo cool to watch and now Jordan should hopefully be baptized next monday! So we're excited for that!

Elder Ensign 高长老
The Church of Jesus Christ
Altrincham Road
Manchester M22 4BJ
England

Week 89: March 22, 2021

 Hey everyone!

It's always hard to remember things that happen throughout the week as I sit down and try to write this email haha so bear with me

Not too much happened this week! We've just been busy teaching and finding! We have quite a few friends that we've been working with so it's been good to have some success, especially through social media. Lots of the members still dont think we really do anything since we dont go outside much, even though it's been a year since lockdown started (wowwww time flies), but it's been quite the opposite!

This last saturday we drove up to a town just north of Manchester, Bolton (Elder Maruhi's old area), because some old friends he taught were getting baptized! And they mainly speak french, so he went to baptize and confirm them in french. So we got to go on a little roadtrip, got to see Manchester's skyline  and on the way back we stopped and got some 5 guys because Elder Maruhi had never been!

But the baptismal service was honestly the craziest I've ever been to haha, it just went completely against all the plans the elders had set. The baptism was scheduled to start at 3 but the people to be baptized didnt even show up at the chapel until like 3:20. And then they had to get changed which was another 30 minute fiasco. The rest of the baptismal service went alright except they had me play piano cause turns out that nobody else was really able to play from the hymn book there. But after they were baptized, they spent at least 30 minutes getting changed, which turned the service which was supposed to be 30-40 minutes, into like 2 hours. It was pretty stressful, especially for the elders in the area, but it was still so cool to see them be baptized, especially in a different language! The Spirit was definitely there.

Thats basically all the highlights in one day though haha, 5 guys and a baptism.

Elder Ensign 高长老
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Altrincham Road
Manchester M22 4BJ
England

Week 88: March 15, 2021

 Hey everyone! 

Hasn't really been too crazy of a week, I started using my Chinese though for the first time in like 7 months! We have our english classes every week which wasnt new, but I started teaching a Chinese family that lives near manchester which is exciting! They live in one of Elder Maruhi's old area, Runcorn, which is like 30 minutes away from manchester. But they had a hard time teaching them since the missionaries didnt speak chinese over there. But Elder Maruhi remembered them so reached out and now they're being taught again which is exciting! It would be so good for manchester to get a chinese family so we can open up the chinese group again. Hopefully that happens soon!

Poor Elder Maruhi's diet is starting to fail more and more every week, no thanks to me or the members. I buy chocolate every week and have been convincing him to have some. We also made cookies and then the members brought us a bunch of cupcakes and a carrot cake last night so his diet is really struggling at the moment. We still eat salad everyday though which ngl is getting kinda old  it feels really healthy afterwards

On a side note, elder maruhi's been teaching me some french so now I can say “hi”, “good night”, and “I love you”, so I'm basically set if I ever go to france

And our friend Jordan accepted the invitation to be baptized! He'll be baptized on the 27th of March which is super exciting, hes so elect and the members have been sooo good with him. We're really excited

A year ago tomorrow our mission went into quarantine, and then next week will be the year mark of the first national lockdown. Hard to believe it's still going on, we're in lockdown number 3 with hardly an end in sight. What a wild year it's been, but the Lord is definitley in the details, providing us with more effective tools to do missionary work without ever having to leave the house.

Elder Ensign 高长老