7/1/2017

Well I have about 5 minutes to write this email. So it will be super short and super sweet haha. So overall it was a lovely week here in London. The weather has cooled down. We are back to the gloomy English days. It's quite nice at times. I've come to love the weather here. It's quite strange haha. But we have been busy. We had a really really good MLC this week and we were up quite late preparing things but it payed off and the spirit was powerful and I learned so much. I'm grateful for president and sister Stevens.

I went out to an area called Dunstable the other day and we had a great time out finding and just enjoying the work. I'm very very grateful for the chance to leave London for a bit and enjoy the countryside for probably the last time. It made me so grateful for my mission as I rode on the train there, being able to look out on the beautiful rolling green hills. England has my heart Haha.

So J.....he is a self referral and long story short, he had met the church 5 years ago and had felt the spirit when he read the Book of Mormon and had put it off and forgot about it. Recently he felt drawn to the church again and re read the Book of Mormon and felt the same feeling. As he met with us he expressed how he felt something he could not describe. He explained it as excitement but peace. We were able to teach with president and the spirit was so powerful. I felt my testimony grow as I sat in the lesson. J expressed his feelings opening and it was a miracle. He expressed how he know God lives because of the way he feels as he reads the Book of Mormon. Just like him I know it's true. J is an example to me and I will never forget the lesson we had with him. Just over the last few weeks he has watched general conference by himself and has read all of 1 nephi and 3 nephi. He is coming to church with us tomorrow and I'm so grateful to Heavenly Father for giving us this opportunity.

I have seen the Lords Hand this week in the small details. We fasted as a companionship to find someone ready and willing to accept the gospel. Our prayer was answered and we are humbled at how well Heavenly Father knows us. We don't have much time to go out and proselyte, and the Lord is mindful of us. I'm grateful for Him.


I love you all! I will see you soon I guess. I love this work. England is lovely. I miss you!

6/24/2017

New Companions

Well, I'm back in Britannia. It has been a lovely time already. We have been pretty busy this week. That seems to be how transfers week always is. But I'm super super happy to be back. I've been able to contact some old people I taught and also some less active that have somewhat fallen away a bit. It has been nice to see some of them and invite them back to church. So it will be good to see them! My new companions are great. One is from Germany and the other is from Northern Ireland. They are both studs. Their names are Elder Falke and Elder Jackson. We get along very well and we are having a good old time!!!!

So a few highlights of the week. Well we were in the office on transfers and Elder Metcalf from slc (went to cottonwood) walks into the office and guess who he is with!!?? Kort!!!! It was so good! We gave each other a big hug and a few more big hugs and we were able to chat for a bit. It was so good to see him. It made me so happy. Nothing had changed. And I'm grateful for that. It will be good to see him soon and play some lax.

Jacob and his good friend Kort!!

2 years ago with Kort at the All-State game!

      

Another highlight was teaching a super cool Chinese student named C. He is a super funny guy and he is very smart. I've missed teaching such humble, obedient Chinese students. It's the best. It's brought back some good memories from Duston and the old days in Britannia.

There were a bunch of new missionaries that came into the mission on Wednesday. We were able to meet all of them! It was incredible. There are 14 new missionaries and 10 of them are converts within the last 4 years. One of them being from Dubai and 2 from India!!!! We have such a diverse mission. The one from Dubai is the first missionary to ever come from that area of the world. So it's super cool!!!!

The mission is the best! I love England. I love London. And I love the people here. I'm grateful for the things I've learned, and the power of the restored gospel. We watched a few videos with a recent convert in the VC, and they were about the translations of the Book of Mormon and the story behind how it happened. My testimony was strengthened and I'm grateful I get to share it. Elder Christofferson taught something very powerful last week. He said that "teaching repentance" means sharing testimony. I'm grateful for mine!

Love you all!

No short cuts!

Elder Parkin

More surprise visitors at church....

Noah Kirk

Aunt Angie, Cousins Eliza and Matthew

6/20/2017 Transfer to London YSA

Well, I won't be emailing until Saturday, but I just wanted to let you all know that life is good. The work is good. We found some solid people this week and a few of them are going to progress quite well! I've been transferred back to the Ysa ward (Britannia) I'm happy to be here and I'm looking forward to it! My new companions are elder Jackson and elder falke. Both good buddies of mine! So it'll be sweet!

I'll talk to you on Saturday!!!! Love you lots!!!

No short cuts

6/12/2017 "Elder Christofferson, restoration DVDs, and Russian Art"

Well it was a solid week here in London! Life is good! The city is just being city haha. Always going 100 miles an hour. But we are loving it. The more people the better haha. There are always people to talk to here so it's always super super nice, we always have opportunities to talk to someone about the gospel, if it's on the street, in the tube, or on the buses. There are always souls that are searching for the restored gospel. And we have it and it's the best!

So first things first, Elder Christofferson of the 12 will be coming to the mission on the 16th. So this Friday! We are totally looking forward to that! It has been such a blessing as a mission to have such special visits from apostles of the Lord. We will also have President Kearon there and we love him too! He was here for a mission tour last year. It will just be a solid, spiritually uplifting Week! So we are pumped. We had a zone conference this week with the Watford zone so it was good to see some missionaries and most importantly being uplifted from president and sister Stevens. They are the best.

So we were giving out restoration Pass along cards the other day, like the super super old school ones from like 5 years ago hahaa, and on the back it talks about a free restoration DVD that we give out. To be honest we were using these cards because we were out of the normal Mormon.org ones. So we were giving these cards out last week and just this week we received a call From this man saying he wanted a free DVD. Hahaha we got a bit worried and didn't really think about the whole DVD thing. We booked it to the flat and checked our DVD section. We were blessed to have one more of them!! We were able to meet and teach him about the restoration. He came to church and is now progressing quite well! We were super super happy and felt beyond blessed to have found him. His name is Twan and he is a legend.

LDS Russian Artist Damir Krivenko

Today was cool. We were doing service for a Russian member who was holding an art galley in London. He was here for 2 weeks and heads back to Russia today. But his work is amazing and we were able to help him pack it up today. He gave us each a gift which was just a small piece of his work. It was cool to be In a little studio with all of this amazing art work. But that was super cool!

Lords Hand
I saw the Lords Hand this week in a woman we found on the street. She comes from an Islamic faith and she was expressing how she felt a closest to Jesus Christ. We went on to talk more about why we feel that way and where it comes from. She shared some experiences with us and she explained how when she thinks about Christ there is more than knowing he was just a person but that He brings a special peace into people's lives. We were able to share our testimonies of Christ with her and share scriptures with her from the Book of Mormon. I'm grateful for my testimony of Him, I'm grateful to know he lives.

I love you all!!! I hope you have a solid second week of summer!!!

Elder Parkin
No short cuts

6/5/2017

Wow! It's June!!!! Time is flying out here. We don't have much time today. We get to plan a family home evening for some older woman in our ward so we are pumped about that! But I will just give a quick update.

So the highlight of the week was receiving an email from Elder Williams (my old comp) with a picture of a girl we found in Watford. Her name is N. But the message had a photo attached and it was a picture of her in a baptismal dress. She was baptised and confirmed this Sunday. I felt an overwhelming sense of peace as I saw the picture. She received a very powerful witness of the Book of Mormon within a few days of us meeting her. I remember receiving a message from her saying "it's true, I know that the book is true".  I'm grateful that I could play a part in that. She will be an asset to the Watford ward!!


We found some cool people this week. We have been out talking to people in the streets and just inviting everyone to church. We are being blessed by the Lord in all that we do!

Lords Hand I saw the Lords Hand this week in all the missionaries being safe after the attacks in London. As well as seeing the people of London love and serve more. After serving here for about a year, I have seen how Londoners usually are, but with the last few months, in a way, especially in the last few days, people are more loving, and charitable, we have witnessed it first hand. I know the Lord is preparing the hearts and the minds of the people of London to receive the gospel. I'm grateful to serve here. I love the people of this city. They are unique in all aspects of life.
I love you!!! It sounds like it will be a great summer! Everyone sounds excited. I love and miss you!
No short cuts

Jacob