Merry Christmas!

We had a hard time connecting with Tyson but finally managed through his companion's Skype account. Pheww!

It was SO good to see and hear him. He has definitely picked up some English words and ways.  For one thing he lifts his words at the end of the sentence.  There wasn't nearly enough time but it was wonderful to see him "right happy"!

He said there were six people at the branch service:  four missionaries, the branch president and one of the speakers who spoke for 40 minutes!

WEEK 24: A Modern-day Miracle

This week was great, but I am running out of time because I still have to email President this week. This week has been spectacular. We had a meeting with President Turvey and President Kearon. President Kearon is the one in charge of all of Europe. He is so amazing! We got to shake his hand and heard from him about a lot of things. He promised us miracles if we improve the quality of our mornings by exercising hard and being up on time and studying effectively. The next day, Elder Manu'a was miraculously healed after he tried. His foot was messed up and the sole of it had been bleeding tons and gushing pus. He had already been seen at the hospital, but nothing had helped. The
day after the meeting, he was up on time, exercised as hard as he could despite the pain. He studied focusing on the needs of others around him and did everything that he was asked to by President
Kearon. At the end of personal study time, he looked at his foot and it was fully healed. The only thing we can attribute it to is the miracles promised. It was amazing.

I loved the meeting and we were inspired.

This week as well we had a ward Christmas party at a carvery which was amazing. It was tons of meat, stuffing, and vegetable. I loved it. At church, we performed the nativity with the primary(children) and I got to be a wiseman. It was fun.

I had a great time with Elder Armstrong and we are excited to celebrate Christmas. I am especially excited to Skype my family

As well, I am excited to be serving my God at the time we remember His sons birth. It is such a blessing to be here and to be among the Slovak people. I am growing to love them.

Love you all and hope you have a merry Christmas,
Elder Pace

FACEBOOK PICTURES

Here are pictures different members in England have posted recently on Facebook.  It looks like Elder Peck and Elder Pace were two of the three Wisemen today in a reenactment of the Christmas Story.  Elder Poggemon narrated in English and Slovak!

I'm assuming they went out to eat for their branch Christmas party?

The bottom picture was from a recent meeting.

WEEK 23: Confidence Booster

First things, I was able to go to one of the local football (soccer) teams stadium today. It was sick. We asked if we could go to the field and
they let us. I will send pictures afterwards. It was like an American
football stadium but there is one or more in every city. We are going
to try to visit Rotherham United soon. It was so cool.

This week was such a confidence booster. We finally had someone come to church. Her name is Martina and she has taken so many steps forward in life. She used to smoke tons, but now she only smokes 4 daily and is cutting it back all the time. She has told us in the past that she didn't have money, but we have talked a lot with her and have helped
her understand why church is important. That was the focus of this
week and she told us this week that money wouldn't be an issue this week. We knew that once she understood she would want to come. She enjoyed it and is super excited to keep making changes in her life and
take a big step on her path of following Christ through baptism. We
are excited and the baptism should be on the 30th of Dec.

As well, a younger girl we have been teaching named Ramonka has been
moving forward a lot as well. She loves learning and she loves Jesus.
She is an inspiration to her family. We are so excited to be teaching her.

As well, I should let you all know that I have a new companion.  Elder Buckhoff is in Leeds now and Elder Poggemon is back here. He is now serving with Elder Peck and I am serving with Elder Armstrong. It is
going to be a great time. I am looking forward to serving with and learning from Elder Armstrong. We have already had some good times.

We have met some new people that speak Hungarian. They also know
Slovak, but they only know a little. It is strange, but there is a part of Slovakia that doesn't really speak Slovak. They mainly know Hungarian. We are going to try learning some basic Hungarian to help them understand the words we use. For someone who doesn't know a language much at all, words about religion aren't in their vocabulary.  It should be fun.

This week was full of miracles to help people make changes in their life so that they can more fully experience the blessings that God has in store for us. It is spectacular to see how willing the Lord is to guide our lives. As we reach out to him through prayer and act in faith to do what we believe He would want for us, His blessings will be poured out on us. This gospel is true. God has a prophet again on the Earth. He loves us all.

Love you,
Elder Pace

WEEK 22: The Temple!

So I can't start this week with anything but the events of Saturday! I had the most amazing experience. The temples in England, for those who do not know, are not in the Leeds area. This means that they are not in my mission boundaries and I was expecting to not be able to go to the temple for two years. It had made me really sad because the temple is amazing and as you are in there, you can feel so close to God. This week, the Slovak members were taken on a temple trip and they needed translators. Elder Buckhoff and I were invited to be there. As I was inside the temple, we were unable to go further than the front desk with them as they do not have recommends. Even though that was as far as we went, I felt such strong peace and the Spirit of the Lord filled me. It was so refreshing. I don't know how to describe it.  (He didn't say but I believe this is the Preston England temple which looks to be over an hour away from Leeds.)

The church has put out a campaign called Light the World. I would invite everyone to look at the video and take the challenge. The dad of a friend of mine I met in the MTC created the videos and they are great. They share a quick message about the life of Christ and invite us to perform a simple act of service to spread the light of Christ this Christmas season. These simple acts go farther than we think.  They often touch someone who is hurting inside and we wouldn't know otherwise that they needed help.

The rest of my week was pretty normal. I am out of time so I will spare you all the description of it, but I did translate again in church. It has been happening more frequently these days, but it still stresses me out.

Love you all,
Elder Pace

Side Note:  Their zone leader, Elder Rhea, was transferred and the new zone leader is  Elder Boswell who is 6'8" and is going to be playing baskeball at BYU when he returns.  Tyson says Elder Boswell is a nice guy and he's glad to have him but "he isn't Elder Rhea.  It will take getting used to."  Tyson gets attached to people and is sad Elder Rhea has been moved so far away (Billingham) so they won't see each other at their big meetings.  Elder Rhea is no longer doing the Slovak language so President Turvey has mixed things up a bit.  Elder Poggemon was also transferred away from the Slovak branch so who knows what will happen over the next 1 1/2 years!