DUSTON WEEK #2

Hey Guys!  This was another really solid week and it flew by so fast.  Holy cow it was crazy.

We had exchanges on Tuesday with the Milton Keynes Elders, who are Elder Vuki from Tonga and Elder Davey from Australia!  Elder Davey was in the MTC with me so it was fun to see him again.  It was a good exchange.  We did some service for an older family in the ward and then we did some finding in Northampton Town Center and had like a 30 minute sermon given to us by an evangelical preacher, so that was an experience.  Overall it was a good time though.

We also did some service on Saturday for a guy in our ward who then took us out to a Mandarin Buffet for the second week in a row and it is so good there I could honestly go at least once a week for the rest of my life.  Aside from that not much else has happened.  The area doesn't have lots of people to work with right now but we keep busy with other stuff so that's good!

My testimony of Spirit-led scripture study has grown a lot lately.  My study has been loads better and I've seen a major difference as I've made a bigger effort to be taught by the Spirit when I study.

Love you all.  Have a great week!

-Elder Lott

Exchanges in Milton Keynes 

(L-R:  Elders Tollestrup, Lott, Vuki and Davey)

Exchanges with Elder Vuki

Duston District

DUSTON WEEK #1

Howdy!  This has been a really good week!  My new area has been great so far and the ward is really good too.  There are around 180 people out on an average Sunday which was really strange to see after so long in a ward that got 30 on a good week.  The ward is great though.  They've been really welcoming and feed us loads. #blessed

I'm still getting caught up on everything in the area but it looks like the work here is going quite well too!  We've got a lot to keep us busy and we're always doing something which is great.  I really like having stuff to do. 

Sorry I don't have much more but it's just been a crazy week and I don't really know what else to say!  Sorry I don't have any pictures either.  I'll get some next week.  Love you all!

PACKING UP AND SHIPPING OUT

Hello everybody!  We've had a really good week in Cannock!  We got transfer info last night and I'm leaving to go to Duston in Northampton Zone.  My new comp is named Elder Tollestrup and I'm pretty sure he is from Alberta, Canada.  I also think I'll be getting a car in my new area so hallelujah!

But anyway, as for this week!  We taught Jamie about temples and he really liked the concepts of ordinance work for the dead and eternal marriages.  It was a really good lesson and I'm going to miss teaching him a lot.  We've seen him progress loads from when we first started teaching him and he has such incredible faith!

There was an activity this week at the Lichfield chapel which is in our District.  Chloe and her daughter Neveah came to that!  It was a "Western Night" because both of the Sisters in that area are from Arizona and in England that equates to them being horse riding maniacs who can lasso with the best of them.  (Fun fact:  British people say lasso like "lassoo".)  The activity was really good and I think Chloe is realizing more and more that she wants a better life than what she has now, and that the church is where that better life lies. Chloe can't get over how happy and kind all the members are.  When she met the Sister missionaries at the activity she couldn't believe how nice they were.  She said that all the girls she has ever met just try to cause fights and problems except these ones. haha It's been really good seeing her progress as well. I love it when people realize the blessing that the gospel can be in their life. I hope she is able to stay focused on the things that really matter!

More exciting news with Isaac too!  Antony, our Elders Quorum President, who Isaac lives with, let us know this week that Isaac has decided to go on a mission! He needs to do another year of school before he can go, but he seems really excited about it.  Over the last week I think he's said, "When I'm on my mission" about a million times, which is so good!  It's been loads of fun to see him progress while I've been here as well!

To be honest, I don't really feel ready to leave Cannock.  I've really loved my time here!  We've had loads of stuff happening in the work.  The people we have worked with are so great and their faith has grown so much.  I'm sad to leave the members as well, because there are some really incredible people here who I've grown very close with over the last couple of months.  But such is missionary life.  I'm excited to go to Duston and see a new part of the country!  I might even be south enough to get a posh accent!  It's a Zone that is new to the mission too, so that's exciting!

Love you all!  Have a good week!

with Isaac

with Antony and Maddie Jones, 

legends of Cannock

with Brenda, and awesome and hilarious

lady in the Cannock ward

CANNOCK WEEK #11

ANOTHER ONE GONE!!!

This week was stellar!  We had some really cool stuff happen and it was a good missionary week as well.

We had Zone Conference on Thursday and we had Elder Sabin, one of the members of the 70, there and it was a really good conference!  I really like having conferences and hearing the testimonies of other people because that is where my testimony started.  It's a good reminder about where I came from and also how far I've come, to the point where my testimony can stand on its own.  I'm really grateful to all the testimonies that I leaned on until I got to this point.  It was a really good conference and we had half the mission there, which was wild.  We had like 100 missionaries.  It was fun to see so many people.  We also got to stay the night with the Wylde Green Elders (Bahena and Snoozy) before the conference and that was good fun as well!

We taught Chloe again this week and she came back to church!  She even brought her daughter Neveah!  Right before they left Chloe was talking about how she had such a good time and felt so good, so we were like, hey man, that's the Holy Ghost that we were talking about in Sunday School!  So that was pretty good.  When we taught her we had a really good conversation on how she has seen her life improve since she met the missionaries in February.  It was really good and she is making progress.  It may be slow, but it is progress.

We also got a referral from some Sisters in our Zone this week.They have been teaching a lady in Tamworth but she actually lives in our area so we are going to start teaching her.  Hopefully that all goes well!  The work here is going really well and it is so good to see!

Something that was really cool was that Isaac got up and bore his testimony yesterday in Sacrament Meeting and it was so good!  It was great to see because when I got to the area and we started teaching Isaac about a week after I got here, he would have never done that.  Seeing the progress he has made has been really great.  He's done most of the work, all we've done is help him realize the potential and faith that he already has.  It was a great moment though, where we got to see the results from the work we have been doing, something that doesn't often happen over here. 

Good stuff is happening in Cannock and life is very good.  Good comp, good area, good ward, good people we are teaching.  I love you all and hope that you have a great week!

-Elder Lott

MTC Friends at Zone Conferennce

with Elder Orr at Zone Conference

our District on P Day

Cannock Week #10

Hello everybody!  This has been a good week!

On Tuesday we had interviews with President  Hughes.  He is such a stud and I like him so much.  Interviews were pretty intense for everybody that I spoke to though. haha  He was pretty much calling the whole mission to repentance and obedience.  I think I got in like 10 sentences the whole 15 minutes we were talking.  It was pretty good.  Motivating for sure.

After that we did exchanges with the ZLs in Wolverhampton and it was good fun.  I was with my good buddy Elder McKenzie and it was a great time.  We found like 4 new people for his area in about 3.5 hours.  It was wild.  By far the most productive finding I've ever done in my mission - it was insane.  We also had BBQ pizza from Domino's and it was good.  I liked it.

We were able to meet with Chloe again this week and she got a job which is fantastic!  Hopefully she can figure some stuff our now!  Jamie got hurt and we weren't able to meet with him this week.  He was swimming in a quarry and he got a big cut on his foot and he needed to chill out for a couple of days but we will meet this week.  Isaac has been in Manchester on holiday and we weren't able to meet with Stefan - we aren't really sure what is going on with him.  Exciting news though!  We are going to start teaching a member's partner, Peter, who has been planning on getting baptized for awhile now!  Stuff is going crazy in Cannock and it is really exciting to see.  When I got the news I was coming here, all I had heard about Cannock is that it was a really dead area and everybody said how hard it was.  It has been insane over here and it's so exciting!

Love you guys!  Have a good week!