Transfer to London North

Well it looks like Sam and I are on the same transfer schedule! Haha so that's pretty sick! I can't believe he only has 3 left. That blows my mind. Well I'm assuming you want to know what's going down here in London. So I will be leaving Britannia and I will be going to London north! So I will still be in London just not around Hyde Park. President called me to be a zone leader with an elder named Elder T. He is a super cool guy from Viewmont! He actually knows Haden Heath hahah! So that was a cool connection. He has been out the same time as Sam pretty much so he will be going home soon. I hope he can help me figure out what the heck I'm doing because I have no idea. But it'll all work out. It'll be a great learning experience for me. So I'm stoked! Let's get errrrr done!

So this last week has been pretty good. Lots of street contacting and talking to people in the rain. It's also been a slower week especially because every single one of our friends we are teaching has gone back home for spring break so we didn't have any lessons this week. It's also tough because they are all gone for like a month or so. But I'm not worried, Elder Hinatsu is a beast and he will help them out when they get back! And guess who is replacing me here in Britannia......yes, the one and only Elder Burgess(MTC companion)! Hahahaha he's such a stud. I'm going to leave so many pranks for him in the flat it'll be legendary haha. But he will love it here and him and Elder Hinatsu are going to work super hard. They are both awesome. Well nothing else has really happened this week except we found some pretty cool new people that we will see this next week. I'm assuming you saw my picture with John Morgan haha. So we were walking down the street finding and I swear I saw him. And we both made eye contact and it was crazy! We just gave each other a big hug and chatted! It's crazy the timing too, he just walked around the corner onto exhibition road. It was so good to see a familiar face. He seems super happy.

Jacob and our neighbor John Morgan!!!

So the tube stations are like red alert so there is security everywhere now after the Brussels attack. It's pretty sketchy cus the tubes are like a no escape zone. But I think it'll all be okay. Crazy story about the 3 missionaries in Brussels though. But don't worry mom I'll be careful haha.

Well today has been super super crazy! Hahaha so we got a call from the APs at like 9:45 telling me that I have to go take a driving test for 3 hours in central London. So yaaaaaa, that was a wake up call. We got in the car and pulled out onto exhibition road and it was straight chaos. Hahahaha I was driving in central London on the wrong side of the road getting honked at and yelled at. So that was a super awesome experience. So I can now drive in the UK until August 20. So that will be sick. But wow it's a lot different but I'll figure it out! I've also been packing all day so not much has happened today. But it has been good. I'm sad to leave but I'm stoked to move too. I know the Lord needs me somewhere else! Just gonna send it!!!!

I love you guys so much. Newport looked amazing. Ben’s hair looks a lot better hahaha. Love you guys! Love you momma! Hope you had a great birthday!

No short cuts

Jacob

Jacob likes all the really cool cars around London!!!

Baptized after 43 sets of missionaries!!!

Well this week has just been another week! It's gone pretty dang fast again. It's been a quite stressful end of the week but that's Okay! We have met some cool people and we have taught a few lessons this week so that kept us busy and not street contacting every second of every day haha because that gets taxing at times haha but I do love finding and talking to people and just getting to know different kinds of people.

So the week just flew by. We had district meeting on Wednesday and it was great. We talked a lot about working with the members in the ward because that is something we have all been really struggling with. We can't seem to break the wall between members and missionaries because no one else has. But we are really trying, and with 8 missionaries in one district, we think we can do it. The ward is great and they love missionary work, they just don't know it yet haha.

So on Wednesday we were out finding and we got a call from the sisters saying they needed an emergency baptismal interview for their investigators E! I was so so happy! Our zone set a goal for 5 baptisms this month and it didn't look like we were going to have any. We prayed and fasted that we could help one of our investigators commit to be baptized this week. E was totally ready and committed and it was a miracle! The baptism went super super well and she was totally ready and prepared. She's a funny tiny little Chinese girl who is hilarious. The sisters did a great job and it really boosted the confidence of the zone and district. So ya we are pretty bummed but D doesn't look like he will be ready for baptism. He can't find time to come to church with work and everything. We are going to continue teaching him and trying to help him talk to his boss or even find a new job. We are teaching a really cool Hindu guy named H. He is super super cool and loved meeting with us. We are also teaching two Chinese guys named K and C. They are also super super cool and interested, it's just a struggle getting young people to church. Especially with studying and finals and work, but we will figure it out.

Okay so on Sunday E didn't show up for her confirmation haha so we were freeking out, but like 15 minutes before the meeting ended she came running into the chapel haha. We were able to confirm her right before the end of the meeting.

OKAY SO MIRACLE OF THE WEEK!!!! WILLIAM MOLSWORTH IN BEDFORD (the eternigator who met missionaries in 1990 and has had like 43 sets of missionaries) GOT BAPTISED ON SATURDAY! Wow haha I was so happy when I found out. Oliver messaged me and told me. It made my day. Elder Fisher and I spent hours on end helping him make that decision. We watched general conference at his house in a tiny little English village, we helped him with his garden, we taught him every single week. And it finally payed off. Every missionary in the mission that has served in Bedford was totally freaking out haha. No one knew when that day would come and it did. So we are all super happy.

William from Bedford was baptized!!

Well that was our week basically. Nothing else really. We watched Meet the Mormons with our Spanish investigator named P. She loved it. I love the Navy football pre game. It pumps me up haha.

LORDS HAND

I saw the lord’s hand this week in William in Bedford. We spent so many hours trying our best to help him as well as all the other missionaries that taught him. It's so cool knowing that this was his time and of course it could have happened a long time ago haha but the Lord knows best and I am grateful for that. I have also seen the lord’s hand in the sun coming out this week a few times. It's the best!

I love you guys so much and I pray for you every day! It's crazy how soon Sam comes home....it's freaking me out haha. It seems like just yesterday that he got his call but it's been over 2 years now. Crazy stuff! I love you guys!

Let me know where everyone is serving their missions! Calls should be coming soon! I'm stoked for Andrew! Ah let me know!  Love you guys!

Jake

Queen Sighting...not!

Sunny Day!!!!

Hello fam!

Well this week has been super super good! It's gone by so fast! It's crazy that I'm emailing already. The first of this week has been really really great. We have met lots of really cool people and we have taught some awesome lessons. We have met a lot of new people. Lots of Chinese people haha. And a few others. And the best part about this week was that the sun came out on my birthday and it actually got pretty warm and it was amazing! I was street contacting in just my white shirt! It felt soooo good! It was a great birthday present haha. Thanks for the package! I loved everything inside haha. I actually saw Ruby again haha she came with the Utah state group to the visitors centre right when Elder Hinatsu and I were bringing someone inside haha, so that was super super awesome!

   

We were able to see D this week! It was great to see him after a couple weeks. He has been super super busy with work and supporting his parents and he has been super stressed. He brought up baptism and that he wanted to be baptized but he knows he cannot until he comes to church. It was hard for him to say that because he wants to be baptized but he just needs to make the sacrifice to come to church. We talked alot about sacrifice and he is going to talk to his boss and try and work out a different schedule! So we are praying that he can figure something out!

So on Saturday we were teaching one of our new friends named H! He's wayyyyy cool! He is from east London but his parents are Indian. We met him on the street a few weeks ago and he said he couldn't come to church for a few weeks, but when he was able to come, he showed up we taught him a short lesson and it was so awesome! We saw him again on Saturday and We taught him about the restoration and we had a great recent convert in the lesson with us who bore such a powerful testimony about Joseph smith and the Book of Mormon. We then asked if he would be baptized (which he said no to last week). He sat in silence for about a minute and the spirit was totally in the room and it was really so powerful, and after a minute or so he said he would be baptized! It was such a great experience!

That's basically all that has happened this week. We did meet a cool Spanish girl named P when came to church with us, it was a miracle because we couldn't really think of any member that could fellowship her so we just prayed that it would work out and right when she showed up a member from the London north ward who was also young and spoke Spanish showed up! It was perfect. They talked all day and got to know each other super well. So we are hoping we can see P again soon.

Well that's basically my week! I had a great birthday! Elder’s P and L were super nice and made me a cake haha and the APs made some pretty disgusting pudding haha but that's okay.

Lords Hand

I saw the Lords Hand this week in helping H feel the prompting of the spirit and to also act on it! So that was a great experience. I also saw the Lords hand in the sun coming out this week and warming up. I know it doesn't last long but it is so nice when it does come out. It makes you appreciate the sun so much more haha.

Love you guys! Miss you! You're the best!

NO SHORT CUTS

Somehow on the way home Jacob missed this sighting of the Queen mum!!! Everyone else in his group saw her!!! 

RUBY!

Jacob and his cousin Ruby who is in London for a week with Utah State.

This week has been really really good but super stressful. We had lots of meeting this week and trainings but I learned a lot and I am excited to apply what I learned to the work. So we have had some tough things happen this week. First off, F, the man who had been looking for me ended up dropping us because he is moving away. So that was tough for us after the miracle that we saw with finding him again and bringing him back to church. But we hope and pray when he comes back he will contact missionaries again. We also found out that D's boss changed his work hours and he now has to work on Sunday's and every other day from 6 in the morning to 6 in the evening. All he wants to do is come to church but he also needs to support his family back home in Africa. So he will not be able to make his baptismal date on the 12th of March. He was super sad about it but he said he still is willing to work towards baptism no matter how long it takes. He really loves the gospel so much so I'm not worried. We fasted with him on Sunday for his job and that he would be able to find a way to come to church.

So I was on exchange this week with one of our zone leader Elder cook. He's a way sick guy. He's from Heber Utah and knows a few of our buddies from the MTC. Anyways, we had a pretty crazy lesson and some guy freaked the heck out at us and told us we were preaching false doctrine to this girl and it made me super angry haha so we just left.

So this week we were finding on Exhibition Road and I stopped this man who looked a bit sad. We started talking and he said he was in a hurry. I knew he was from South America so I asked him where he was from. And he said CHILE! Hahaha I was pumped! I told him Sam was living there and he got all stoked and we started talking about Chilean life and he was just super super cool. He had seen missionaries in Chile but he wasn't interested. We asked if he would like to come take a tour in the VC and he said no. He wasn't very interested, but we did share our testimonies with him and it was one of the most spiritual experiences I have had. I don't know why, but I do know he felt the spirit and he was very humble and grateful for our testimonies. I hope he can find some missionaries in Chile one day. But that was super cool. We later on found a super cool Mexican guy who loves the Book of Mormon but he lives far away so we referred him to some elders in Gilford.

Well something crazy happened on Saturday hahaha. So we were contacting all over London and we were heading back to the chapel and while we were walking up the stairs I hear "JAKE!" I flip my head around still in normal person mode because I responded to Jake not just Elder Parkin. And sure enough Ruby was walking up towards the chapel! It was so awesome haha. We gave each other a big hug and talked for a bit. Thanks for the packages! It was so good to see her haha. It almost felt normal and like I hadn't seen her for just a few weeks. But it made my day and it was totally unplanned but perfect timing haha. I guess Parkins just have connections haha.

This makes me sooooooo happy!!!!

Lords Hand

I saw the lord’s hand in D this week. I received an email from Bedford ward news and it had a picture of D and his son C in the baptismal clothes. D was able to baptize C on Saturday and it made me so happy. I know the Lord is really helping that family and I'm so glad I was able to get to know them.

Two months ago at D's baptism

D baptizing his son on Saturday!!!

But my week was good. I hope all is well back home. I love and miss you guys. Keep being the best family in the world. Thank you for everything. I love you!

Jake