Alma 38! - Manchester, England

Hello Loves!

It has been a rollercoaster of a week as well as a rollercoaster of a P day and I have no time to write an email. But people say a picture is worth a thousand words or something like that so you can make up your own stories of how my week went!

If I had time for a spiritual thought it would be on Alma 38 it's brilliant

Love you all!

Read your Book of Mormon every single day!!

Hurrah for Israel

Elder McConkie

Elder Carlson & Elder McConkie

Elder Carlson & Elder McConkie

Tallest Companionship in Church History - Manchester, England

Hello loves!

I'm loving Manchester South and my new companion Elder Carlson is fantastic! He's from Utah and is probably the only other missionary in the world taller than I am. He's 7 foot and I'm 6'9 so we've had some funny reactions this week to our height and multiple drunks have tried to fight us to show their buddies how tough they are. Good fun.

We've been working really well together. We've found loads of new people we hope to meet up with this week and start teaching. I am consistently astounded at the influence our Heavenly Father has in this work and how he leads us to those who are ready to hear the gospel. It is truly a blessing and there's no way we could do it by ourselves. 

My trainer Elder Audrlicky told me the day before I left Liverpool that the best missionaries are like Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan could go into any game at any time and instantly make a difference and change the game. Man South is my new arena and I'm here to make a difference! I don't want to just go through the motions on my mission, I want to teach repentance and baptize converts. I want to invite as many people as I can to come unto Christ. 

As I've been thinking about the change in church schedule I've studied the talks from general conference. Over and over they say that this will help "deepen conversion". I think this change has come because far too often members just go through the motions and aren't building their testimonies or faith as frequently as our heavenly father would hope for us. If you feel like you are just going through the motions of the gospel, that's OK. You can change! I invite and plead with you to start thinking how to make your homes and lives more centered on the atonement and gospel of Jesus Christ. Take the necessary steps to build your faith!! Be a spiritual Michael Jordan yeah? 

Much Love to all of you! 

Hurrah for Israel!

Elder McConkie

Pics:

Me, Elder Carlson, and the new Elder Chen!

Me and elder C

Manchester-Bound - Liverpool, England

Hello Loves!

Crazy crazy week, sweet goodness it's been busy

Some highlights:

Elder Audrlicky and I went to Manchester on Wednesday for a new missionary training and it was so fun to see the MTC group again

On Saturday we woke up early to go fill the font in Liverpool. The font was pretty filthy so we spent a good hour cleaning it so there wouldn't be hair and bugs in the water. We finally finished cleaning the font and then started filling it and after a few minutes it started spewing this nasty thick yellow water and we flipped out. So we drained the font, cleaned the font again, and Thank goodness it all worked out eventually. 

Ewan and Kay were baptised later that day in clean water and it was wonderful.

I loved conference so much!! I am grateful for a living prophet who has a vision for this church and is actively making great strides to further the work of the Lord. 

I'm leaving Liverpool tomorrow! I've been transferred to the Manchester South area and I'm stoked for this next transfer

Much love! 

Hurrah for Israel!

Elder McConkie

jmcconkie@myldsmail.net

1.the MTC crew

2.baptism day

3. My man elder Chen!

4.cleaning the font/I fixed the mirror thing woot

the MTC crew

baptism day

cleaning the font/I fixed the mirror thing woot

Faith Cereal - Liverpool, England

Hello Loves!

It's been a crazy week!

A lot of our plans fell through over and over this week and there have been some hefty days of street contacting and door knocking. We've been able to find lots of great people though that I'm looking forward to teaching this week.

Who else is STOKED for General Conference

Liverpool is great because there's 3 other companionships in the ward and we get to go on tons of exchanges because my trainers are zone leaders! We've been with the Southport, Warrington, Crosby, and Liverpool B elders and it's so much fun

I just burned my pizza because I spaced out writing this spiritual thought so please enjoy it:

I've been studying lots about faith and decided that faith isn't like a little seed it's more like honey hoops (off brand honey nut cheerios). When you pour cereal into a bowl, then the next step is to add milk. You naturally think "Oh yeah this needs some milk" because who wants just plain cereal. The difference between faith and belief is that faith naturally invokes action. You can't have genuine faith, not do anything and pack your bags for the celestial kingdom, that's nonsense. If you have genuine faith then you're going to naturally apply some sort of action in response. For example, if you have genuine faith in Jesus Christ then you will NATURALLY want to repent frequently and sincerely, you will NATURALLY want to make and keep covenants with God and you will NATURALLY have a desire to endure to the end and remain worthy to have the holy ghost with you. So yeah, faith is like honey hoops! The more you act on your faith (add your milk to your cereal) then the more miracles you'll see (The more tasty your bowl of cereal)! 

Metaphors are pretty neat aren't they

Have a great week everyone

Listen to General Conference!

Much love

Elder McConkie

Jmcconkie@myldsmail.net