COOL STORY!

It's amazing how much Heavenly Father is in the details!  There's a little circle over there in the England Leeds Mission!  Makes me wonder what role they will all have with each other!

Sister Tuita called me last night.  Her son, Elder Ricky Tuita, has become quite close to Elder Schmidt.  In Highschool Elder Schmidt had a close friend Zayah Campbell.  If I understand correctly Zayah was a soccer player but was struggling due to an injury.  Elder Schmidt ends up giving him a Book of Mormon and he ends up joining the church.

If I have the story right Elder Schmidt writes or mentions to Zayah something about Elder Tuita.  Zayah replies that Ricky was his best friend in elementary school when the Tuita's lived in SLC!

It sounds like Zayah's parents haven't joined the church but we are not sure on that detail but Zayah is going on a mission and guess where he gets called.....Leeds England but SLOVAK speaking!  He will be one of the new March elders!!

What are the odds!  Tyson will be getting another soccer loving Elder so that in and of itself will be fun BUT for Elder Campbell to have a connection to two other England Leeds missionaries that had no previous connection together is amazing to me and now Tyson will be connected to Elder Tuita AND Elder Campbell!
The gospel really is just one big circle!

WEEK 21: With A Grateful Heart

Pictures:  All the "lads on the bus going to zone conference"; their zone with President and Sister Turvey; his "heritage tie" with names of his "dad", "grand-pa", "great-grand-pa" etc; their Thanksgiving dinner :)

We put in tons of work this week with Alex and with the family of Martina. They are both great. Alex has been able to move forward in his testimony of the gospel. He has told us he is trying to stop smoking gradually now. Also, he has told us his testimony and he knows this is true. We are really trying to help him kick his habit of smoking. Martina and her family want to be baptized. Her daughters are excited for it. We are trying to help her stop smoking and drinking.  She already says she doesn't want to drink ever again, but smoking will be a process.

This week was thanksgiving and I realized this year just how much I really am grateful for my family. They are so special and each one of them has made such an impact on my life. I have really noticed how great my parents are. They have helped me to make good choices and
have cared for me so much and it has blessed me more than I can say. I love them and I am grateful that they have loved me so much throughout the years.

I am also grateful for the people here in England that have made me so welcome. The Nettleships and the Crowleys and the Whitehouses and my missionary mates. I am grateful that they have helped me to work through hard times and stay happy on my mission. I am really grateful for my companion, Elder Buckhoff and for Elder Peck, my previous companion who has been a crazy good friend to me already and for my leaders who have lovingly corrected me when I need it.

I am grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ and that I can have a second chance when I mess up. I am grateful that I have been able to feel clean and relieved and I do not have to live in my mistakes. I am grateful that God was willing to send His Son to the earth despite the suffering and the hardships in store. It means so much to me.

I am grateful for amazing leaders in my past that have prepared me to serve.

This week we went to a hockey game with Alex since we got free tickets. It was fun. He loves hockey and tried explaining to me in Slovak the rules of the game. It was difficult to understand it all. We had tons of fun and introduced him to Reese's. He already is hooked.

Love you all
Elder Pace

"all of us lads on the bus to zone conference"

WEEK TWENTY: Testimony

Highlights, I saw a man playing the bagpipes in the centre and got a picture. We have prepared for Thanksgiving even though the rest of England has not. We have stuffing, rolls, chicken, veggies, mashed potatoes, cranberries, olives, strong cheddar cheese, pies and I got chocolate milk. I couldn't hold out any longer. I will send pictures next week. 

We had zone training this past week and will have zone conference this week. I loved the chance we had to hear from our leaders and to improve as a missionary.

One of the best things ever was when Alex read the Book of Mormon on his own!! He has been an investigator for months and this is the first time he has read alone. I was so excited. He said that he feels full of darkness, but when he reads the scriptures, he feels light and like God is there. We love that guy and are hoping for him to keep going.

It is getting cold and rainy here, but we are still enjoying ourselves.

Spiritually, I have realized that I have been praying for the wrong thing. I have been praying that our investigators will come to church, but I realized that God will never force us to do anything. He loves
us and will allow us to make choices for ourselves. I have begun praying that they will be able to understand the importance of going to church and will receive an answer when they do go.

As well, I took the opportunity this week to think back on my testimony. I wanted to see if I really had a belief of what I testify about all day. I took the hour of personal study one day and wrote out
my testimony and why I believe for each principle of the restoration.  It was amazing to see that I really do know this gospel is true.

With that in mind, I can tell you all with 100% certainty that I know Jesus Christ is our Savior and He died for our sins. I know that He has felt my pain and all of my sadness and has paid the price for my
sins. I know that through Him, I can be forgiven. I know that God and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith. I know that he was a prophet and he was the tool God used to restore the fullness of the Gospel. I know that anyone can find out these things if they read the Book of Mormon and pray. It may take time, it will take effort, but it is the most rewarding knowledge we can come to have because it gives us direction as to how we must live to receive eternal life.

Love you all and miss you so much!
Elder Pace

PS we heard about a few new missionaries who will come to England speaking Slovak in March. We are so excited

PPS to be honest I forgot what I was going to say here, but it felt wrong to get rid of it when I had already typed the PPS

WEEK NINETEEN: Snow!

This week we had some serious miracles and I loved it. I only have a few minutes, and then I have to leave so I will be brief.

First things first, I experienced SNOW! It was amazing. It was kind of weak sauce snow but I loved it. I sent a picture from my camera. Tell me if you get it. I hope you do, but if not this is awkward.

This week, we worked hard and found lots of new people to teach. I think several are willing to act which is the best thing to hope for.  One drives food for a job and gets tons of free stuff and feeds us all sorts of good stuff when we come. It is all packaged and therefore safe.

On Sunday we talked with Ondrej and Monika who have been struggling to follow through with what we ask the to do. This meeting at the end, they told us that there was something different today. We spoke with power and they felt the truth of everything we said and they could feel it from the second we walked in. They said that we did not always have this same effect, but today it was really strong. Specifically, the wife pointed at me which made me so happy because she does not usually listen. I need that power with me so that people will be able to feel the truth of this message. It truly brings us closer to God and is the only way to happiness forever with our families. I am glad to get to share it.

Love you all,

Elder Pace

WEEK EIGHTEEN: The work is progressing

This is my Great-Great-Great Grandpa and myself I have met him and my great great grandpa but not my great or my normal grandpa. I hope I will meet them all. To explain for those who do not know, your trainer is called your dad, and his trainer is your grandpa and so on. This guy served in 2009.


Transfers were this week and nothing happened as could be expected.  After a crazy change last go round, not much will happen for a while I think.

I am going to start off with my miracle for the week because it is the most memorable thing from my week. This happened this Sunday. We had a fast Sunday and I was fasting for our members to come to church since they have not been coming for a while. Specifically, I was fasting so that one man and his family would come to church. He has not come in six months because he does not feel worthy to be there. We visited him with Brother Nettleship and he talked to him about coming back. He promised us he would, but he has done that ever since I have been in England. Sunday morning came around and we went to his house and to our surprise he was awake. We had called him and it was off. It turns out, his clock was broken and his phone was dead so he had no idea of the time and he just made his kids get ready and got ready himself and when we showed up was ready to go. The man looked so happy and you could tell the joy of the gospel was touching his life again I cannot even begin to express how happy we were to see him and three of his kids there. As well, another man who has not come in probably half a year or more came this week. He is super faithful still and cannot
come because of his work on Sunday, but he could get it off this week.  He brought his family with him as well. This was the most people that have ever been at church and we even had four youth come! It was so much fun to be there with them. I taught two of the boys about basketball after church while we waited for their dad. It was the most beautiful thing to see some good friends of ours who have been struggling in their faith take a step to returning.

As for the rest of our week, we had branch coordination with Brother Whitehouse for he last time as he was released from that calling. We had the customary baked potato and chilli. Myself and Elder Peck loaded up on it since we knew it would be the last time. Elder Armstrong and Buckhoff did not since they have had a potato almost every Wednesday since February. They are glad to be done with them.

I had an exchange with the Zone Leaders this week so I spent the day on Friday with Elder Klingler. We did some service for a lady in the branch and it was trimming an apple tree. We did so much work on that tree. We cut a solid half of it off, but that is what she wanted so that is what we did. Afterwards she fed us Shepard's pie and apple pie. I enjoyed at quite a bit. We also got to go to a baptism for a man that two other Elders had taught. We did the intermission presentation on the fly. It ended up okay.

Fun stuff, I bought an England Soccer jersey for £10 today which was such a good deal. We played soccer today for p-day as well. I love it at every chance I get.

Another exchange I had this week was with Elder Armstrong. That was fun and we are together a lot so we teach pretty well together.  Nothing too crazy happened.

This week, I have  reflected on whether or not the Book of Mormon is true. I have really wanted to gain another confirmation that it is the word of God. As I have read it every day in sometimes three different languages, I have felt so much peace and comfort come into my life. As well, I have realized that everything inside of it testifies that Jesus is the Christ and is our Savior. It teaches that we can be saved if we come to Him in repentance and ask sincerely for forgiveness.  Everything contained in the book leads us to do good and follow the commandments of God. As I have prayed about it, I have found out for myself that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and it will lead us to him. I invite anyone who has not done this to do so and sincerely seek an answer from God of whether the Book is scripture or a lie.  Those really are e only two options. He will answer our question.

I love you all,
Elder Pace

WEEK SEVENTEEN: Moving Forward

Playing basketball; his new haircut; the Sheffield Wednesday scarf (I have no idea); and Elder Klingler (zone leader) getting a calf massage.  He said they all got them and it hurt pretty bad (not sure why they did it then?) I should have had him practice taking pictures before he left! :)

Well this week I do not have much time but I will put in some stuff. I had a good week. We taught tons of people, a lot of them our new. The people here are prepared to hear so it is good to see the work moving forward. I got a haircut this week and it was good. I got to play more sports  this week than before.

This week I was reading in the Bible about the story when Christ is in the ship with his apostles and the storm is blowing. They are frightened by the storm and they ask for the help of Christ. He rebukes them for their little faith. It is hard sometimes in our lives as we see the storm raging to trust it will be all right. We many times do not have faith to get us through and we are feeling as if we will sink at any time. But if. We remember to reach out to our Lord, he will carry us through in mercy and love. I know that we can get his help to make it through our trials if we rely on him and try to follow His will.

Love you all,
Elder Pace

He did email me a couple of times.  I try and ask him questions each week and I'll share some of his answers here....

The Nettleships (branch presidency) try and feed them every week.  They do a Thanksgiving dinner for the missionaries so he will get a Thanksgiving feast after all!  Love those people!

I asked what he loved most about his companion, Elder Buckhoff, and he replied "I think I am most grateful for his example of loving the Slovak people.  He really has developed a great relationship with so many of them."

I asked what he wished he would have done differently in preparing for his mission.  "I wish that I would have reviewed Preach My Gospel so that I am more familiar with it and I knew what I had to teach.  It helps so you can focus on the language if you know.  But I would focus on the other chapters as well."

I asked about the food.  He said "I have not found a good chocolate milk. (He'll be excited to get his Christmas gift then! :)  I have really missed the homemade meals.  Even when I cook, I have to substitute some things and so it tastes different."

I also asked about the weather.  "The weather is brilliant right now.  We are not having much rain and the sun shines a decent bit.  Also, I am seeing the trees change colors for the first time and I Love it so much!  It is beautiful!  I do feel fine about the gray skies, so that is okay."