Bank Holiday... Library closed... late and short email! ;)

"This has been a week full of growing experiences! The Lord definitely knows both mine and Elder Hill’s weaknesses and has been helping us a lot to just grow so much!

I love my calling to train! I think you find out more about yourself when you are training than any other time! I guess that is what it will be like to be raising children. As for my son, he is doing so well! He gets better and better by the day! He calls me his daddy the whole time so you bet I feel like a dad! haha Something I love about Elder Hill however is how teachable he is! He sees Improvements as a way to learn and grow, not as criticism. I am so happy about that as I am always scared I will offend someone’s feelings whenever I give improvements. He also understands the WHY behind the things we do. He understands that every single principle we learn is there for a reason and can help our investigators get where the Lord wants them to get.

 

 

Our flat is spotless! <3 You should have seen our half hour cleaning yesterday! We were machines!But neither of us is brave enough to even try to clean the microwave :/ BLEURGH! haha

 

 

I am also having some of the best companionship studies because him and I keep on speaking about the things we have learnt throughout the day. I am so happy to have Elder Hill as my new companion!"

In Ashton 2 with... my son Elder Hill!

"I am still in Ashton 2! However, Elder Lesueur has moved in the Chorley Stake. My new companion is my new born son Elder Hill from Layton, Utah! He is just as tall as me. xD He is a basketball player. He is SUPER spiritual! He is always looking for ways that we can help others and has CRAZY AMMOUNTS OF FAITH! Oh my goodness! It is so good to be around someone with so much faith! :D

I'm so grateful for the opportunity to train Elder Hill! I am so excited for our time together! We have been together for nearly 24 hours now and I already love him! He is so excited about the Lord's work! He is very excited about working with the members and so I just know that Ashton 2 is going to keep on seeing Miracles happen.

If that wasn't good enough, I get to have my trainer in my Zone as well! So that's three generations in one Zone! I am so excited! Wow!

As I have spent some time speaking to Elder Hill, it has already reminded me of what I felt like and the sort of person I was when I first got to the mission. I have changed so much. The Lord has changed me so much! I feel comfortable in situations that 1 year ago would have terrified me. I love speaking to people, and I love going to bed at 10:30pm!

I did love my 6 weeks with my great friend Elder LeSueur here in Ashton 2 though. We were blessed to see great Miracles happen with J., T. and M.'s baptisms. They are all so solid as well!

One of the greatest Miracles this week though was on Sunday. As we were seating in the chapel waiting for Sacrament Meeting to start, Elder LeSueur and I look to the side and B. and B. are standing at the entrance!! We met both of them during my first week here and they said they'd like to come to church someday. There they were! 5 weeks later! They loved it and they said they were really glad that they made it to church.

I am excited for this transfer! Hopefully I get to spend 2 transfers with my son as this is only a 5 week transfer... But whatever the Lord has instore for both of us, "come what may and Love it"!"

 

From right to left: Elder Hill (Elder Pereira's son), Elder Pereira, Elder Lesueur...



Elder Pereira's family would like to apologise for not updating his blog in 8 months, but we promise to be much better at keeping you updates with what's going on in his mission from now on!

The Gospel is true! :D

"This has been quite a crazy week! In a good sense though! I am just so happy to be a missionary! It was my 10 month mark yesterday... It is weird to think that one day I won't be doing this anymore. Well, not as rigidly as I am right now anyway. I love my mission. I don't want to stop being a missionary. I just keep thinking each day that I have to work that much harder, be that much more diligent and obedient, and speak to many more people. The Gospel is true! :D

 

Our dated Investigator, M., is amazing! Even though she is 9 she sounds like a 20 year old. Every time that we go over the lessons with her, either she already knows it or she will try to understand it. She asks such good questions as well! I see exactly why the Lord wants us to be as humble as a little child! She is so teachable! And, if we ask her if she has any questions, she does, which always gives us something to study about the next day. She is starving for knowledge! She is such a good example.

 

 

During Weekly Planning we were able to put into practice skills that we had learnt to help us have a better revelatory experience than we’d previously had. As we put these new skills into practice, the Lord blessed us with a referral! I love referrals!

 

 

The other piece of training that we really wanted to apply was the Member Lessons Skills, but, to do that we needed to meet with people!
 

Our first opportunity was at the M’s home. We shared with them the message of the Restoration of the Gospel and there was such a sweet Spirit in the home! We invited them to renew their testimony of the Book of Mormon often, and the next time we go over we will definitely make sure we sow and harvest and sow some more! I am sure that is because we were working with one heart and one mind, to build the Faith of all those around us rather than just sharing a nice spiritual thought.
 

We also had the opportunity to visit the W.’s on Sunday evening and share a Message with them. Oh yeah! And they had T. (Our Recent Convert) over! How great is that?! We were planning to share with them about the Plan of Salvation, but as we got talking about Preach My Gospel, we felt the need to adapt the lesson slightly. We spoke a little bit about “Teach when you find. Find when you teach” and about how people are accustomed to brief and powerful statements. Once again, there was a really sweet Spirit in the room as we shared testimonies with one another.
 

But my favourite part of the week had to be Sacrament Meeting. I don’t know why, but as a Missionary I just keep on loving church meetings more and more! The talks in Sacrament meeting were given by Bro Lowe, Sister Longmore and Brother Bell. I absolutely loved Bro Bell’s talk, as did everyone else. I don’t think I have ever felt the Spirit so strong in a sacrament meeting before, but it was such an amazing talk that even the children were listening. Yesterday, throughout the whole Sabbath day, I really learnt about who I am, about who I need to become like and how I can do it. I thought I already knew the answer to those questions, but turns out that when you think you know something the Lord humbles you down to the dust and tells you need to become better.
 

I love the Plan of Happiness so much! I am so glad that I can be sharing it with others at this time."

This is the Lord's work!

"What a great week it has been!

 

 

On Monday I had the opportunity to teach my very first Restoration lesson in PORTUGUESE! It was kind of crazy as the words at first were simply not coming out, but as I relied on the Lord and kept a prayer in my heart, we were able to teach a man and his two children about the Restoration of the Gospel. We are seeing them 3 again tonight so that should be exciting!

 

 

Tuesday started out with a huge District Meeting! We have half the Zone in the District, but I love it! We spoke about listening to our investigators and the Spirit as we teach, as well as developing love for those whom we work with so that they can feel like they can talk to us. Then I went on exchange with Elder Adair!

 

 

The exchange with Elder Adair went pretty well! On my first day there we went to a Park to do some park contacting as the sun was out and we knew it would be full of people. We met such an amazing man. When I said hello to him, he actually turned around and came over to us. He was in the park with his daughter and so we knew that we could talk about how the Gospel blesses family. He seems so solid and I am sure that when the Elders in Ashton 1 meet with him again he will continue to be amazing.

 

 

When I got back from the exchange, I had a wonderful surprise! T. and J. were going to the Temple on Thursday! It was so great to hear from them about how they enjoyed their experiences there and how they felt the peace and love that comes from God.

 

 

But my favourite part of the week was definitely Sunday! I just love how Sundays usually have so many Miracles!

 

 

In the morning, when we went to pick G. up from his house, his mother told us that when we got back she wanted to talk to us about her niece, so I was pretty interested about that. After church, when we got to G.’s house, his mum told us that her niece wanted to be baptized! Her niece then came downstairs, she is Portuguese. When her husband heard that the niece wanted to be baptized he said “A., you do realise that if you get baptized you have to go to church every week, right?” to which she replied “I can do that!” We are going to go see her tomorrow and I am so excited about it! Now I just need some Portuguese copies of the Book of Mormon! 

 

 

Yesterday I also receive a letter from my best friend serving in the Sierra Leone Mission, who I hadn’t heard from for 10 months! He hadn’t received any of the 3 letters I had sent. Turns out that that letter was the third letter he was sending me, but it was the first I got! It was so good to hear his testimony and his experiences from his missionary service in Africa!

 

 

It is so great to know that this is the Lord’s work!"



Current district!

Going clockwise: Sisters Allston, Orr, Ballantine, Longmore and Dunn; Elders Pereira, Lesueur, Webb, Adair, Omot and Miranda. Elder Miranda is the one at the bottom