British Church History Tour

Hey hey!

Well the past week was also amazing! We had a lesson with Josh and turns out, he's already following the Word of Wisdom! Hes also been reading from the Book of Mormon every day! He came to YSA Sports night on Friday and on Saturday he came to a baptism for a girl the elders taught. All that AND, he came to 3 hours of church! He's so good! Still not dated, but we're hoping this week!

So I've got a brilliant excuse for why my email is a day late. Yesterday the north half of the mission got together and went on a church history tour. Some of the sights we saw included:
-Preston Town Centre where the first missionaries arrived and saw a banner which read "Truth Will Prevail" which is our mission motto still this day!
-The flat Gordon B Hinckley received his father's famous letter instructing him to "forget himself and go to work".
-The flat the first missionaries lived in and were attacked by evil spirits on the morning of the baptism of the first British saints.
-The River Ribble where the first baptisms of the British saints were held.
-The oak tree where Elder Holland pondered at during his mission, "Holland Oak".

There were some more but thats all I can recall. I cannot even begin to describe the incredible spirit that was with us this day. This month marks 181 years since the first British saints were baptised. Since then, 7 prophets and numerous apostles have shared the gospel in this beautiful country. I feel blessed every day to walk in the footsteps of so many amazing missionaries (that includes you, Dad!).

I've also been so happy to hear Sister AnnaClaire Smith and Hermana Aubrey Conrad's farewell talks and hearing the stories of their relatives leaving their lives in England to emigrate to America for the sake of the Church. In this tour, we saw a tiny glimpse of what those early saints went through.  I am so grateful to be serving somewhere with so much history.  I just can't put into words how much I love my mission!

I know that this is the lords work. A scripture I loved this week was found in section 112 of the D&C (This revelation was received on the day Elders Heber C. Kimball and Orson Hyde first preached the gospel in England)
Verse 28 "But purify your hearts before me; and then go ye into all the world, and preach my gospel unto every creature who has not received it;"

Every second I'm here, I feel so much that I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be. I love this gospel and I love this chance I have to share it in a country so close to my heart.

Love you all!

Sister Gilland
England Manchester Mission

District Pics in the beautiful land of Downham, Half the mission in a chapel, cute sister Dunlavy (beastie from the MTC). I love my mission family!

Make England Green Again!

Hello everyone! It's been a doozy week but we made it through! We finally got some rain! However, I think the gloomy weather put all the Brits in a bad mood unfortunately haha. But we definetly need the rain. The green grass is back! It was starting to feel like I was back in west Texas. Also I heard Trump was in England last week so that's where the title of my email came from (clever I know).

We are buzzin about our investigator Josh. He's 17 and he is so ready! He just gets it. He comes to church and agrees with everything and has so many intelligent comments and views. He gets along so well with the ysa members and everyone already treats him like family. We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ on Friday and invited him to be baptised. He's not committed to a date but he is sincerely praying to know what date the Lord wants him to get baptised. He was telling us that he wants to be baptised in the River Ribble which is where the first saints of Great Britain were baptised (just about 10 minutes away from me). So keep him in yalls prayers!

Sunday was kinda a struggle. The member scheduled to take Josh to church flaked and we weren't aware until second hour because we have Relief Society first (because 4 wards in 1 chapel). Other than that, my companion and I were both asked to speak in one of the wards and I spoke on how personal prayer can give us strength.

This week was really hard, finding wise. Nobody seemed to want listen to us. I talked to this man at a street display for about 30 minutes and he just bashed me which normally just rolls off my shoulders but for some reason, it really put me in a sad mood the rest of the day. He just kept insisting that faith was all rubbish and not logical and the feelings that I get from the spirit can all be explained by science. He was super pleased with the fact that Europe is becoming extremely atheist he just wouldn't let me get a word in. The longer I've been on a mission, the more I've come to appreciate the gospel and I just wish so badly people would listen to us. A scripture I found in my study this week in 1 Nephi 22: (the whole chapter is a 10/10 go read it!)
11 Wherefore, the Lord God will proceed to make bare his arm in the eyes of all the nations, in bringing about his covenants and his gospel unto those who are of the house of Israel.
12 Wherefore, he will bring them again out of captivity, and they shall be gathered together to the lands of their inheritance; and they shall be brought out of obscurity and out of darkness; and they shall know that the Lord is their Saviour and their Redeemer, the Mighty One of Israel.

We live in a dark and obscure time. I'm so grateful for this promise that one day, everyone across the world will come to know Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ, as I have. I'm grateful to be able to share my testimony with people here in England even when they're too stubborn to listen ;) I know that they're not rejecting me, they're rejecting who I represented and He already paid the price for that rejection.

I love my Saviour and I love you all! Happy Pioneer Day tomorrow to all my Utah friends!

Sister Gilland
England Manchester Mission

My birthday pictures took precedence over last week's photos so these are like two weeks old sorry.

This Nineteenth Year Did Pass Away (3 Nephi 4:15)

Hello everyone! This week was so crazy I don't even know where to begin! Well to start off, thanks for all the birthday wishes! I thought it was super funny when I read that scripture in 3 Nephi 4 #relatable. As gutted as I am not to be a teenager anymore, I'm grateful that I was able to celebrate it here in what has become my second home. I always worried what a birthday on the mission would be like, but in all honesty, there's really no other way I would've liked to spend it. My birthday fell on the Sabbath day so we did our usual 9-5 church routine and I got loads of sweets and birthday wishes. The Zone Leaders even surprised me with pancakes at church and put candles on them lol. We celebrated after church with some YSA Recent Converts whom I have come to love, Emma, Georgina, and Jess. They made me a gorgeous cake and we had really good pizza. What could've made this better!! 

TRANSFER NEWS! We got transfer calls Monday morning and Sister Hawkins and I are both staying in Chorley! Which is good because we have such work to do!

Josh came to church Sunday! He is absolutely amazing. We found out his Nan (Grandma) and Dad are actually members! Anyways on Friday, we taught him the Plan of Salvation on the temple grounds and explained to him the purpose of temples. He is really open minded and comes to all our activities. He loves church! We are hoping to put him on date this week. He's more than ready!
 
Some funny things that happened this week:
-ENGLAND MADE IT TO THE SEMIS! We weren't allowed to be out of the flat past 6pm on Wednesday because the England Croatia game. But the afternoon before the game we went into a pub to use their bathroom and then started low key teaching the first lesson to people at the pub. Unfortunately we lost:(
-Many British people are really scared of number 13 so on most streets there no #13. You can imagine how serious people take Friday the13th.
-On Friday the 13th, I locked the keys in the flat and a senior office missionary had to drive up our spare key from the mission office! Oops!

D&C 31:3 "Lift up your heart and rejoice, for the hour of your mission is come; and your tongue shall be loosed, and you shall declare glad tidings of great joy unto this generation."
I'm so happy to be doing the Lord's work. 10 months has flown by out here and I can't even begin to tell yall how much I love it. It makes me so excited to see friends and relatives getting their mission calls! I know this is the Lords work!

Love you all! Thanks for all the birthday wishes!!

Sister Gilland
England Manchester Mission

Birthday Celebration! Pancakes provided by the Zone Leaders, Elder Adams and Casadibari, a gorgeous cake from Emma, Georgina, and Jess, (Chorley YSA memebers) , and a beautiful drawing of the Chorley Temple done by my sweet companion!

Happy Birthday to America, the Original "Brextremists"

So apparently the only thing the brits celebrate in regards to the 4th of July is the fact that they got rid of us 'Arrogant Americans' ! I've never felt so loved!! This week went pretty well. The heat wave is still happening. Yall it's only rained ONE TIME in the past 2 months. I feel like I'm in Midland Texas. I really miss the rain. Most the British people are starting to hate it as well.

Well we are nearing the end of another transfer. I really hope to stay in Chorley! We get calls next Monday. By the way my pday will be Tuesday next week so yall get an extra day to send me a heartfelt Happy Birthday Email!!

This week we had Bishop meet with Cassandra and her husband Gavin! They both want to be rebaptised soon and Bishop says they're ready! Other than that, not much to tell. We have a lot of investigators. We just can't quite get them to progress.

We had an AMAZING New Member Fireside yesterday and Chorley hosted it! This is a night when members and missionaries throughout the mission get together and Recent Converts prepare to share their conversion story. We are only allowed to go if we bring an investigator. We had THREE! I got to see some members from my last two areas! And of course all the missionaries. It was great and our investigators loved it!

This week I testify that the Holy Ghost speaks to us. On Thursday whilst walking in a park, I felt an extreme prompting to run up this hill and talk to a man. It was almost like my body listened to the holy ghost before my heart and mind did. The man probably thought I was a loon but sure enough I ran up this hill panting like a dog and had an amazing conversation him. His name is Gareth and he was so nice and wants to meet with us again and come to church this week. I could tell in his eyes that he was looking for something!
I know that each of us are given the opportunity to act on a prompting more than we think. May we all be in tune with the spirit and act on those promptings the second we get them! My challenge to you all this week is to pray to be prompted! And when you're prompted... Act on it!

Love you all, happy fourth, also... ENGLAND'S IN THE SEMI'S! LET'S GOOOO!

Sister Gilland
England Manchester Mission

Super proud of this pic

Oh Lord It's A Fire

Hey everyone! This week was good! It's getting so so hot right now. Since I've been here, the winter was unusually freezing and the summer has been unusually HOT. So I guess I'm just super lucky. Also I totally made fun of British people for complaining about the heat. But I've since repented and learned that a dry Texas or Utah heat is 10 times more bearable than a muggy humid England heat. Anything close to 80 degrees feels like death! Also something kinda scary is the amount of fires we've had the past week! It's insane. We haven't had a proper rain in a month! This isn't the England I imagined!

Well Cassandra, our friend who had her records removed years ago is getting baptised! We don't know when because the bishop wants to meet with her and evaluate but probably this month! I'm excited for her. We had a great lesson with her and shes so ready. Her and her husband came to church on Sunday! Well other than that, our lesson we were meant to have with Josh got cancelled but we hope to meet with him this week!

Little update on Pat, for those who remember, Pat is a recent convert who I taught in my first area. She recently has been diagnosed with brain cancer and the doctors gave her 6 months to live. As upsetting and as hard as it is, I take comfort in the fact that God has a plan. I know her faith will get her through the remainder of her mortal life. I love that crazy lady and I feel so blessed to have gotten to know her so well. Keep her in your prayers.

To close, I just want to share quote from our investigator Cassandra that I loved, "If you look in the past you get depressed. Look in the future, you get stressed. But if you look where you are right now, guess what... **cue British accent** It's just lovely!" I love that. So often I find myself dwelling on the past or fearing the future but it's rare for me to be happy in the now. My challenge to you all and to myself this week is to find happiness wherever you are at this very moment right now!

Love you all!

Sister Gilland
England Manchester Mission

Pics are from our Pday hiking the Darwin Watchtower and the chorley temple surrounded by the burning hill from behind.