February 27, 2017 Stephen Was Baptised!

This past week was so great! Stephen's baptism was such a special experience. Brian Dunn, our Ward Mission Leader got to baptise him and it was his first time baptising someone. Right after he was baptised, Stephen paused and just soaked in the Spirit and it was so powerful. Moments like that are what make a mission the most amazing experience ever. I was grateful to be able to confirm him. It truly has been a sacred and wonderful experience witnessing Stephen's conversion.

Andy was doing really well at the beginning of the week and then ended up not doing well in the end. We taught Andy a bunch this week and the Spirit was working throughout it all and it was great. He agreed to move his baptismal date up but we noticed a suspicious event on his calendar and then when we went through the interview questions he reacted strongly to question 4 asking why that was one of the questions. So that made us even more suspicious. Then he wasn't able to come to the baptism on Saturday and declined a lift to church. Very unfortunate.

We called Mike and Tricia and they said they were in Scotland for the past week and so they have been busy but they have read a little and talked about it but they will let us know if they want to pursue it further. So still praying really hard for them. We have a few other potential Investigators but nothing super solid so we will be working really hard to find new investigators.

Update on our recent converts: Chris received the Aaronic priesthood last week and will be receiving a calling soon and hopefully going to the temple soon as well. Mohammed is doing really well. He still never lets us down. He loves studying the gospel and does a good amount of study everyday. He will get the Aaronic Priesthood the next time we have church in Warrington (We have a special meeting in Liverpool next week). Chris, Mohammed and Stephen all bore their testimonies in church yesterday and it was so great and powerful. 

Some fun highlights: went bowling last week in Wigan. Had interviews with President Ulrich which was so great. 

-Elder Ludlow

P.S. Story behind the first picture: Stephen's nickname is melon because of his bald head and so we got him a watermelon for his baptismal gift haha. 

February 20, 2017 Happy Birthday Melia!

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my super pretty and talented littlest
sister (and twin) Melia!

This past week was good! Was very happy that Stephen passed his
baptismal interview. He is doing really well. He comments in church
and is going to be a great member of the ward. He makes things more
exciting. We were able to get some more progress with Andy and he
actually brought up things similar to the Word of Wisdom and he is
living it. He is very prepared to be baptised!

Stephen has only a few lessons left until he has received all of them
and he is excited for his baptism on Saturday! It's been amazing and
really fun to see how much he has changed since we first started
teaching him in September. The gospel truly does change people. He
enjoys church and has true desires to change and become a better man.

Andy had concerns earlier in the week about coming to church. It took
a little while to finally see him and he wasn't in the best mood when
we saw him. But we saw him again on Saturday and he was a lot happier
and had been reading the Book of Mormon. He expressed how he had
thought and prayed about coming to church and he promised to come to
the baptism and church this next week!

We were only able to see Mark for a few minutes this week and he is
doing okay. We finally got a set appointment with Oliver and he didn't
show up. Really unfortunate. We don't have too many other solid
investigators but we will be contacting Mike and Tricia this week and
really hope they will be able to progress very soon! Also, had an
exchange in Wigan and that was pretty fun.

-Elder Ludlow

February 13, 2017 Converting Power of the Holy Ghost

This past week was good! Saw Stephen multiple times and he is progressing really well. He came to church and is supposed to have his interview this week. Unfortunately John dropped us because he has given up on praying to God and doesn't think God can help him. His son is a recovering drug addict and so that has been stressing him out a
lot and that could be a big reason for him giving up. It is really sad.

We haven't been able to see Andy and he has been acting weird. We tried by multiple times but haven't been able to see him. We left a map for him on Saturday to help him find the church but he did not come. Our other investigator Mark is doing okay. We saw him briefly on Friday and he said he would come to church but then didn't. We tried to see Oliver this week but lost contact with him.

So we saw Tricia last Monday and it was one of the best lessons ever, the Spirit was so strong. In the beginning we all felt like her husband should be there and so she brought him in (He was originally a concern for her, that he wasn't keen). In the beginning they both told
us their amazing conversion stories to Jesus Christ and their faith is just so powerful, it strengthened me. Mike used to be an extreme Muslim and he had an experience where he felt the Saviours arms around him. We talked about the Restoration and at first Mike said he would pray before he would maybe read the Book of Mormon but as Tricia read from Moroni 10:3-5, something clicked in his mind and he said he would read it! We are just waiting and excited for them to receive their answers, because they are serious truth seekers! They have youth and so they would be so good for the ward. Please pray for them.

Yesterday we gave a lesson in Gospel Principles about the Atonement and I loved it. I am filled with deep gratitude for the Atonement of my Saviour Jesus Christ and how I can change of myself daily. What a tremendous blessing to help others feel the real power of the
Atonement.

-Elder Ludlow

Pictures (from Liverpool a few weeks ago)

1. With Elder Tate and my comp

2. With Elder Tangiora from New Zealand.

Febuary 6, 2017 Lots of Progress!

This past week was good! We have 3 investigators who have agreed to be baptised and we have some others who we hope to be progressing this next week. We were able to give John a baptismal date but it might need to be bumped back but he will be baptised! We haven't been able to really contact Stephen unfortunately. Andy is doing well and said he wants to be baptised and promised to come to church. 

John is so fun to teach. He has great knowledge of the Bible and we have great discussions. He loves cross referencing the Bible and Book of Mormon. He has real intent and recognises that God has been preparing him for this. He still wants to have a sure answer from the Holy Ghost before he fully commits but we know he will! 

Stephen has been struggling with some family issues and we are giving him a little space but we will see him this week. Andy is great. He said that he is grateful that we give him answers to his questions and we have many experiences where the Spirit has lead the lessons with him and we have even seen the Spirit change his heart right in front of our eyes! 

We also found a new investigator named Oliver who seems really prepared. He lived with an LDS family when he coached soccer last summer in California. He says he thinks it's important to have beliefs and that his mom has been wanting to come to our church for a while and so they both should be coming next week! Really excited about the future of this area, get to be here for another 6 weeks. 

I want to share with all of you the full conversion story for Mohammed (we found out more from him about it this past week). So Mohammed was crying out in prayer to God, pleading to find out if He was there and was about to give up. Within days he was approached by Elder Hamblin from Wigan (our new district leader) on the train. Mohammed prayed asking if that was the answer to his prayers and felt an overwhelmingly good feeling and so that is why he accepted literally everything we said. He had many experiences with prayer and feeling the Holy Ghost. He bore his testimony to us after telling this story and it was probably the most powerful experience I have had on my mission. Heavenly Father is there watching over us. I know it. 

So yes there was a new missionary daily schedule that came out this past week. We watched a great broadcast about it on Wednesday in Manchester. We also had "First 5 Weeks" on Wednesday for Elder Audrlicky and it was lots of fun. Had a bunch of trainings and role plays. Meetings are always so uplifting and edifying. Here is an example of the new schedules: