Ball is Life - Liverpool, England

Hello hello!

I want to go play basketball with the other elders so here's my rapid fire email for the week:

Liverpool is grand

It rains all day every day

I make killer omelets

We accidentally killed a squirrel

Miracle: We met an Italian named Salvador in pouring rain who brought 5 friends to a lesson 

Our investigators Ewan and Kay are getting baptised on Oct6!

I sang in the primary program!

You already know the Brazilian kids and I are working on our secret handshakes

The Book of Mormon is amazing

Go read your Book of Mormon it's amazing

I drove on Penny Lane (If you're a Beatles fan you'll get it)

Skauss is not English

I love contacting!

I love my companions!

I love my mission!

I love this gospel!

Spiritual thought woot!

Take advantage of the power of prayer!! Pray sincerely and often to your heavenly father! He loves us so much and wants us to talk to him and ask him for help. Pour out your heart to him! Tell him your hopes and dreams, your worries and fears and then have faith that he will help and guide you. Prayer is powerful!

The only picture I took this week was of me and my killer pasta salad haha sorry

Have a lovely week everyone!

Elder McConkie

jmcconkie@gmail.com

- Liverpoool, England

Hello Loves!

It's been another grand week here in Liverpool! We've been so so busy but it's been great. 

This week my trainers had to go to a mission leadership council in Manchester so I got to go on splits with the phenomenal Elders Li and Chen. We had the craziest day ever and so many things just didn't work out. But then I contacted a lady at the bus stop and she wasn't super interested but she liked how willing we were to talk with her that she gave us 20£!! So we went to KFC and spent every last pence and had a feast. It was a bit of tender mercy haha.

I am so so happy I get to speak English on my mission, but also, I'm learning a little bit of lots of languages! There are so many different languages and cultures here that it helps to be able to connect with people a bit in their native tongue. 

The other day we went to visit our friends in the hospital and we read scriptures and taught them about prayer in Portuguese. At a street display, I contacted a lady in very broken Czech and tried to understand Skauss. Later that night we had Chinese festival we put on as a district that was aimed at bringing in ysa and there was a testimony meeting after in Chinese. After the testimony meeting, our companionship grabbed elder Brochu from France and we went and taught the restoration to one of our investigators in French!

I've realized this week how universal our church really is. It doesn't matter who you are, where you come from, what language you speak, or anything! We are all sons and daughters of God and he loves us all so much and wants us so desperately to return to him. That's why the gospel needs to be preached in every nation and every tongue! That's why we need missionaries! God speaks to his children through the spirit but how are they supposed to know that if we don't spread the word that everyone has a savior to turn to and a father in heaven who is mindful of everything they're going through. Spread the good word! Love the people!

Everyone go read Helaman 5:6-12 and then go tell someone why it's so important to have a testimony of Jesus Christ. Verse 12 is a classic but it's so important in this day and age.

This was a lengthy email sweet goodness

Love you all!

Elder McConkie

jmcconkie@myldsmail.net

Elder McConkie, Elder Li, Elder Chen

One Month! - Liverpool, England

Hello! This week has been lovely. My trainers are working me hard and we've been able to teach a lot this week! I don't really know how to summarize everything so I'll just share the 2 most memorable moments from the week:

1) We accidentally set the church kitchen on fire

2) We have had a few street displays in downtown Liverpool this week where there have been some very interesting encounters while contacting. Most of the time people just try to avoid you or pretend they don't see you (but I know they can, I'm 6'9 for crying out loud). One time I tried to stop a man and he said, "sorry brother I've gotta keep walking" and I was kinda tired of people giving me that excuse so I said "alright I can walk with you" And he was kinda surprised haha but I walked with him and ended up giving him a book of Mormon and bore my testimony of it. One thing I've learned is if you can crack people's worldly shell and can really start seeing them the way God does, your love for them (even if you've only met them for a minute) grows and you want nothing more than for them to realize how much God loves them! The gospel can fill any problem or worry or concern someone has, you just have to find out what it is.

Find someone this week who is struggling. Be there for them, love them and let them know that their father in heaven loves them unconditionally! Be bold enough to share something from the gospel that you think will be able to help them!

Missions are so hard and can be discouraging but I've already been able to see how the Lord is helping us find those who need the Lord. 

My motto this week has been:

Have Faith! Act in Faith! And see the blessings! 

Love you all!

Elder McConkie

jmcconkie@myldsmail.net

LIVERPOOL! - Liverpool, England

Elder McConkie, President McReynolds, Sister McReynolds

Hello! 

Last Tuesday we were shipped out of the MTC and took a bus to the mission home in Manchester! President and Sister McReynolds are fantastic. My whole companionship thing is a bit complicated haha. I'm in a trio with two Zone Leaders! My companions are Elder Auderlicky from the Czech Republic and Elder Masekoameng from South Africa/London. They've been working me hard and I've learned lots from them already. Because they have lots of ZL responsibilities I'll sometimes go on splits with Elders Li and Chen from China and Taiwan. So I've got essentially 4 trainers. It's grand.We are serving in the central Liverpool area and it's a beautiful city. Reminds me a lot of San Francisco.

Some highlights from the week:
Meeting the members! The Liverpool ward has a lot of different nationalities especially Brazilians and Chinese so I'm learning a bit of Portuguese and Mandarin from the members. They're all so joyful and I love em already.

We hosted a fireside in Liverpool last night where recently baptised members told their conversion stories and bore their testimonies. Missionaries from around the mission brought people investigating the church to listen to people who were in their shoes just a few weeks ago. It was a great night and I think it really impacted some people we are teaching.

The 21 day BofM challenge!
There is a challenge going around the Europe area that invites people to read a passage from the BofM that correlates with some big questions that some people might have for 21 days. It's a fantastic challenge and if you want to try it(you should) you should be able to find it on LDS.ORG.UK We did a street display advertising it downtown and I really enjoyed talking to people about it. It's funny though how people have such strong, negative opinions of the BofM when they haven't even read it haha.

I love you all, please please read your Book of Mormons every single day. In a world filled with so much chaos and distractions, it can give us such great peace and happiness!!

All the loves
Elder McConkie

Tour of Liverpool with President and Sister McReynolds

Elder McConkie and companion Elder Auderlicky from the Czech Republic