A Baptism!

Dear Everyone,

Wow. This week has been quite a tough one. I’m not discouraged or upset about that. It’s just been hard! I’ve struggled a lot this week. Lot’s of things didn’t work out, we had some rough lessons, and some non-productive evenings.. It’s been hard getting my footing. But, it’s really been worth it! I have learned quite a lot this week.

Monday was pretty good. Not too stressful. Haha. I am the ward organist (again..) and so I messed around on the organ. It is a proper organ with peddles and everything. So I needed to figure out all the stops and stuff. Will somebody please thank Linda Hellewell a million times for teaching me organ. It has been one of THE biggest blessings. It helps me gain a stronger relationship with members and it is just wonderful.

Tuesday was fantastic! We had interviews and specialized training at Rochdale! I LOVE President Preston so much! He said some really nice things to me and really helped motivate me to do my best. I love him a lot.

That night we saw Paul and Chrissy! I LOVE THEM. They are wonderful. We got to catch up life and I know that I am meant to teach them the gospel. I hope that I can teach to their needs. I want nothing more than for them to be sealed as a family together forever. They are so lovely. I think about them all the time and what I can be doing to help.. now I just have to DO it.

Wednesday was our most busy day. We contacted a referral, had tea made for us by a woman from Sri Lanka (super super super super spicy..). Then we went to contact to potential investigators. One wasn’t even home… the other was.. well let’s just say it wasn’t a pleasant experience. J

Thursday we had tea at a members home and it was just delicious! I love love members! They are wonderful. We also went to Heaton Park. That was beautiful. Unfortunately know one wanted to talk to us…

Friday was the best day!! WE had tea at the Keifers and then I cleaned during language study (because E. Suriyachan works out of a book sometimes.) Then the Hewitsons picked us up for Karen’s Baptism! It was amazing!! I had the privilege of baptizing her. It was such an amazing experience that words can’t describe. Hopefully her husband and Chris will be getting baptized in 2 weeks! I love Burnley and miss it there so much.. I am just so happy that Karen AND Lee are both working towards returning to live with our Heavenly Father again. I have seen them go through so much and change so much. It’s amazing.

Saturday was rough.. opposition in all things right? Well on Friday night I didn’t fall asleep until like 12:30 because we had a sleep over in Burnley. Elder Roberts and I talked forever. I love him so much! He is such a good missionary. I miss him. It was nice to be with him for a bit again. On Saturday morning Brother and Sister Hewitson drove us home. They are so sweet. They go out of their way to help those in need. I was feeling pretty poorly and they bought me some medicine and loads of orange juice! They also gave us rice and noodles.. which we have needed. They are so comforting and I just hope to be in contact with them forever! Hopefully I can help them as much as they have helped me!

Sunday we had tea at a woman’s home. She was from Nigeria and has been a member for a long time! Her kids were there (they are a lot older) and they were so fun! We had a good time and established a good relationship with them. It was fun.

Now it’s Monday and here I am. I love you all so much! I know that Heavenly Father loves us and that He does hear our prayers. I know that when the storms threaten us and the wind blows and everything seems dark and scary if we make the gospel the center of our lives we can be a rock that will never be shaken!

Love,
Elder Humpherys

 Karen, Me and Lee

 Elder Roberts, Karen, Me and Lee

Waiting for Miracles to Happen!

Dear Everyone and Anyone,

I love missionary work. I love it. I love being in England. The members here are just simply amazing! The Whitefield Ward is so fantastic! I all ready love them so much. We went to a members house for tea last night. Mmmmmm.. It was so good. He was from Vietnam and he was so nice! He has the most contagious laugh and smile ever! His wife is the same as well. They both just had the opportunity to go through the temple together. So sweet. They can’t speak English super well but it’s part of what makes them so special! There broken English is so simple. I love it.

Not much to report on this week. I can’t write much because it takes forever to send pictures and I haven’t sent many for a while. I love where I am serving and I can’t wait to see miracles happen. Everyone should just do missionary work. It’s worth it!

Love,

Elder Humpherys 

The Hewitsons! I love them so much. Such a great family

Me and Bro. Crowder. He is HILARIOUS

Me and e. Peterson. ah. He's the best.

Mission Transfers (and I am now a trainer)!

Dear Family and Friends,
 Wow. I know, again, I say this every week but SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED. I don’t even know where to begin.
 Sadly, I had to leave Burnley. I will always love my first little home in England. I was heart broken saying goodbye to the members and the people I was teaching there. I love them so much. But change is inevitable and the Lord needs me else where and where has he called me?
 TO WHITEFIELD! Wooooo! It’s near Manchester but we are in the Ashton Stake. I love it here. So far the people are really friendly. The librarians are especially nice. I am excited to get to know them better. Let’s see.. I will just start with earlier this week.
 Monday we taught Chris. Ahh! He is amazing. I am going to miss him so much.
 Tuesday we had Zone Meetings which I loved. It’s so amazing to see the other missionaries. It is such a blessing. It’s like going to a big family reunion. It gives me so much strength. That night we taught Chris again.
 Wednesday we went to Karen's Dad’s funeral at St. Catherine's church. It was a nice service. Karen read a poem she wrote about her dad and it was very sincere and sweet. Then we went to the Hewitsons that evening for tea.. They are such an amazing family and so nice! I loved going to their house.
 Thursday Elder Roberts and I gave a blessing to Sister Slade. She was pretty ill. It was a very spiritual experience for me though. We went to the Anderson’s for tea that evening! Ahh they are so good. We watched a video about “The touch of the Masters Hand” and it was all about the violin. I was reminded of so many violin memories. It was really good. That evening we watched the whole Joseph Smith restoration video with Chris. It was soooo good.
 Friday was MEET THE MORMONS!! It was soooo good. We had a lot of positive responses from the people who came to it. They said it was really impressive, which is good. The Burnley Ward represented the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints so beautifully. It was so amazing.
 That evening I got a call from President. He called extended the invitation to be a trainer! He said I would be whitewash training into Whitefield. Woah. So I was super shocked and surprised and I didn’t really know how to feel. But I said “Okay.” And so here I am. I love it! It is a bit difficult. I will tell you more about training and my new area later.
 On Saturday I spent the day saying goodbye to everyone and packing. It was also Meet the Mormons from 10 – 4. So it was good because I got to see everyone. That evening we went to a recent converts house for tea and visited the Palmers. I love them sooo much!
 Then on Sunday, it was CRAZY. It was Rob’s baptism (the other elders were teaching him). It was so good. There were quite a bit of non-members at church there to support Rob. There was like 6 extra missionaries and so it was quite exciting. Then we went to the mission home fireside that evening. We took Karen and Lee and I think they quite enjoyed themselves. I will miss them a lot. I am excited to go back for their baptisms!
 Monday we spent the day saying good bye to everybody and seeing a ton of members. We had tea at Sis. Pickles house (which is funny because it was my last tea appointment and she was my VERY FIRST tea appointment when I came out into the field).
 Then Tuesday I left to go to “Train the Trainers.” It was really good. They talked a lot about what we need to do as trainers. I was just mind boggled that I was still a trainer. I felt so inadequate. I still feel inadequate. White-washing is difficult within itself, but whitewashing and training is pretty hard as well. I would be a lot easier but my trainee is from Thailand and is still learning the language… so it’s an incredible learning experience and I love him so much!
 On Tuesday night I got to see Elder Peterson!!!! I am so happy. It was so good to see him. It made me so happy.
 Wednesday we work for two hours and met a man named Samuel from Nigeria who’s preacher USED THE BOOK OF MORMON with the bible in his meetings! WOAH! So that was good.
 Then it was transfer meeting. The trainers lined up and the trainee’s walked in and we gave them all hugs and everyone is singing called to serve… ahh it’s so fun! Then they go up on the stand and when they called my trainee’s name I was like “YAAAAAAA!” and he stood up and everyone started to laugh and I saw my trainee come down. Elder Suriyachan. He wants to be a professional singer and dancer. He is good. He doesn’t know English very well and so we have to do an hour of language study a day. Did I ever think I would be teaching someone vocabulary, phrases, and grammar? No. I really have no idea what I am doing. But that is why it is such a blessing to have the spirit.
 Now, we both know nothing about the area, we have no investigators, I know none of the members, talked to the bishop once over the phone and now we have to figure out what to do! HA. Again, I am grateful for the spirit.
Now here I am. E-mailing home. Pray for me! I love missionary life!!
 Love
Elder Humpherys

P.S. NEW ADDRESS. *HINT* 

Elder Humpherys
5 Speyside Close
Whitefield
M45 8SP
United Kingdom

October 7, 2013

Dearest Family and Friends,
Wow. This week went so fast.. but so slow at the same time. Haha. So basically it was normal. We have had such a successful week! We have 3 investigators who are dated for baptism! WOW! That is such a miracle. What a wonderful week.
Last Friday, Sister Moore called us and told us her leg started hurting so she sat down on a bench and this man came down and sat next to her. She decided to give him a pass along card. They got talking and she had the courage and faith to invite him to meet the missionaries! So that night she called us and gave him his information.
On Monday evening the Moore’s, Elder Roberts and I went over to this man’s house (his name is Chris). Sister Moore was the first to greet him and then we introduced ourselves. We went into his home, taught him the restoration, and invited him to baptism and he said yes! The spirit was so strong. Ever since then we have met with him and have been teaching him. He loves the atmosphere and principles of the gospel. He has never been religious before so it is COMPLETELY new to him. He is the nicest man though. Kind of like a big teddy bear! Ahh, I just love him. He came to general conference and loved it! He is going to be baptised on October 26, 2013! Wooooo! The gospel has already started affecting his life. He tells us he feels happier, more confident, and not as afraid of life.
So throughout the week we have been teaching investigators and members and less actives and so forth! I love it. Not much really happened this week. I was attacked by a viscous swan. Haha. That was funny.
On Friday we were doing an AUF and we found a less active woman with like 16 children and also taught the restoration to a woman (on the spot lessons are the BEST! Especially the restoration!)
So I have to go now. I had a short amount of time this day. Thank you for all your e-mails though!
Love,
Elder Humpherys
P.S. Transfers are this week so I will not be e-mailing til thursday! LOVE YOU!

Mission Life is GOOD (especially when there is a singing tree)!

Dear Family and friends,

This week has been amazing! I have been gone for four months! Wow! I was so lucky to go on an exchange with Elder Webster this week. It was so good! I had the opportunity to teach their investigator, Paula. It was her last lesson before she was getting baptised. That was such a special experience for me because I have never seen an investigator progress that far. She is so amazing and I wish I could’ve gone to her and William’s (her son) baptism. Elder Webster is such a good missionary. I hope I can be as effective as Elder Webster. He is such a good example
We had a miracle this week. We have been working with two investigators named Karen and Lee. Well, she never got baptized because circumstances outside of her and our control. But, we had the chance to teach her and her husband, Lee, this week. The lesson was on The Gospel of Jesus Christ and it was amazing! The spirit was so strong and was doing all the teaching. The member we had with us was superb in helping Karen and Lee. We actually used a video from "The District 2" DVD. We watched "The Purpose of Missionary Work: The Robles Family." It was amazing. The spirit prompted me to share that video. I think it helped Karen and Lee finally understand what role we as missionaries are trying play in their lives. They BOTH set baptismal dates and want to work really hard to reach them.
Unfortunately.. Karen's dad passed away the next day.. so we may have to push her date back. But at least we are making progress! Also, as far as investigators go, Adam (our newest investigator), bore his testimony on Sunday. Wow! He is amazing!
The members here are fantastic. We are going to the singing ringing tree this week! WOOO! That will be fun. But I gotta get going. Hope you all have amazing weeks. Go and share the GOSPEL!
Love,
Elder Humpherys

The Singing Tree

Elder Roberts and I

The Burnley District of amazingness!

Elder Webster and I