Final Letter - Manchester, England

This week I finished my service as a full time missionary. I love England with all my heart. That place is sacred ground for me. 

In verse 2 of Alma 26, Ammon poses a question to his brethren after completing his mission. He gets too excited and ends up answering it himself so I thought I'd do the same. He says, "What great blessing has he bestowed upon us? Can ye tell?"...

I'm grateful that God sent me to Manchester, Stoke on Trent, and Liverpool. I'm grateful that He had me serve with Elders Audrlicky, Masekoameng, Carlson, Pohorelicky, Dawe, Nathan, Pohorelicky again, Crawford, Stephens, Pohorelicky again haha, Elder Dixon, and Elder Lima. I'm grateful I was able to teach such wonderful people the gospel from countries all over the world. I'm grateful for the humor, love, and sarcasm of the members and their willingness to help us build up the Lords kingdom. I'm grateful for every single minute I was able to talk with people on the streets, testify of the savior to strangers, and share scriptures and pass along cards with anyone who'd let me. I'm grateful that I was able to be a missionary during Corona virus and go through the challenges of finding and teaching online. I'm grateful for my mission President and his council, leadership, expectations, and profound example of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for my mission president's wife and her selfless character and charitable soul. I'm grateful for every missionary I was able to work with, the Christ like attributes they exemplified, and the brotherhood we established on British soil. 

As I go forward I want to remember the words from Alma 7:7...

7 For behold, I say unto you there be many things to come; and behold, there is one thing which is of more importance than they all—for behold, the time is not far distant that the Redeemer liveth and cometh among his people.

I hope and pray that the world will be able to recognize the magnitude and importance of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I have seen a knowledge of these things transform the lives of many souls including my own. True and enduring peace comes only from Him, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Hurrah for Israel!

Elder McConkie

I'm Home! - Liverpool, England

Miracles have not ceased... here's a group email!!

Hey!
It's been ages since I last wrote. Last transfer was a rollercoaster, our Zone got combined with another zone so we had a whopping 36 missionaries. I was with my trainee Elder Pohorelicky again and we went on like 15 exchanges and were crazy busy, it was good fun! I'll attach some pics of our many adventures

After 7.5 months in Newcastle I've moved back to my first area in Liverpool!! It's so good to be home. My companions name is Elder Crawford from Alabama. He likes his kool-aid and his grits and is a killer missionary.

2 Nephi 11:5
Jacob 4:11

The Atonement! How Incredible is the Atonement. The Atonement is all encompassing and the central aspect of God's great eternal plan, but it's purposes are meant to be individual and personal. To help each of us, one by one, to be cleansed from Sin, free from pain, and return to our father in Heaven. All of us, regardless of who we are or what we've done, can be "at one" with God, because of the Saviours great sacrifice for us all. The Atonement brings us in unity with God, but also unifies us as people together. A home and a family focused on the Atonement is one that will be blessed, strengthened, and unified.

I'm so grateful to get to share this with people! And also increasingly surprised that God trusts a bunch of 18-21 year olds to bring it to the whole world... There's lots to do!

Be brave for Jesus!
Hurrah for Israel!

Elder McConkie

Pics:

Teaching my boy how to drive

Waaay back to Exchanges in Rhyl!

The boys at MLC!

Back in Beatles Country

BofM musical pt. 3

Driver's License! - Liverpool, England

Transferred back to Liverpool, England

Back with my mates! One year and a week apart.

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

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