The Logical Ones

...our last appointment for the day was to teach a 7 year old girl and her mother about our church. Her mother took the lessons in 2005. 

"We are not sure that evolution is the thing we came from?" 

...so we taught her the plan of salvation. The girl had intense questions and is very logical (maybe her mom told her to ask). This lesson 1, turned into 4, then 5. Then the whole family was listening.  The father was skeptical at first, and when the plan of salvation lesson wasn't going so well we switched to the restoration by spirit. Incredible. The spirit was in the room. The oldest son prayed for the close of our meeting and he is 13. Afterwards, he was just beyond excited to have talked to God. 

"How do you feel?" 

"Good."

The kids were begging to have us back everyday. This was just the answer to our prayers.  

The Bike

...another miracle was on Sunday night and we had chosen three streets the night before. Then we got to the first and totally forgot to watch for it. We turned around and then my MTC teacher voice came to mind, 

"if you forget something you felt was good once but you still forgot...that's the spirit telling you now that it's not what should be used." 

    Confused, I told my trainer and he said, "okay. Let's skip it." As we walked to the third street we came across a man on a bike. I waved and said, "Hello Mate. How are you?" 

He was an ex-communicated member 12 years ago and wanted to get his life bake together. We expressed to him that it was no accident that we were guided to him this night. 

The Field

England Leeds Mission

6 September 2013

Mr. & Mrs. Erman Ivins
10126 Millbury Way
Sandy, UT 84092
USA

Dear Brother and Sister Ivins,

It is with pleasure we welcome your son, Elder Isaac Caleb Ivins, to the England Leeds Mission.  We find him prepared and committed to serve the Lord and to share the message of the Restored Gospel.

Your son's first companion is Elder Dotschkat who was prayerfully selected to ensure the best introduction to missionary work for Elder Ivins. They will be serving in the Hull 2 Area of the Hull Zone.   We are confident their relationship will be a mutual blessing.

Weekly encouragement from home will certainly help inspire Elder Ivins' missionary effort.  We encourage you to write him once a week with your letters uplifting in spirit.  Please let other family and friends know how important it is to write positive, encouraging letters that support missionary work.  Your son's permanent address is now:

Elder Isaac Caleb Ivins
England Leeds Mission
Lister House, Lister Hill
Horsforth
Leeds LS18 5AZ
England

Families and friends are asked to not visit or call their missionaries in the field.  Such calls and visits will undermine the effectiveness of missionaries and their companions.  Please feel free to call the mission president in the event of an emergency at home.  Missionaries are not to call home without the president's permission.

Any anxiety of the missionary about finances will hinder the work.  Please do not send excess funds, too much money can be as detrimental as not enough. Personal, practical and inexpensive gifts from home for birthdays or Christmas are encouraged.  However, because missionaries move frequently, and space is very limited; large, heavy or unnecessary items are discouraged.  Your missionary is limited to two bags and a briefcase.  The best gifts are consumables, such as ties, socks, small personal items, and goodies.

Also, if sending packages from abroad that have a large declared value (US $50.00 or more) there may be extra Duty and Tax charges incurred, which may cause unnecessary expense and delays.  It has been our experience that packages sent by US Postal Service and Parcel Post usually arrives without any further charges.  Please do not send via Federal Express or other ground delivery service.  This may incur duty charges for which your missionary will be billed before the package will be delivered.

I want you to know that Sister Pilkington and I consider it a privilege to serve with your son and promise to help all we can, and strive to direct his efforts in the Lord's way.  We are available at all times, and Elder Ivins' physical, emotional and spiritual welfare is of utmost importance to us.

Sincerely yours,

Graham Pilkington

President

The District

This is the district in England. Here is the nice letter we received.

The Tag

well i cant even send the one improtant thing which is a picture of me and my companion but it is all right, you miht get worried because he is literally just like Rob...i mean the guy even lookslike him AND acts like him, really it is strange but so awesome becaue we arre bes friends already ahahaha but aside from that we are also a killer companionship. we teach "investigators" in a room dressed as a living room and it can seriously be a challenge, especaillly the first time which was out second day.the second day! mostly i put this all in my journals and i now have to tell you so much in suh a little amount of time -_- i love it here and the people are...ineresting. there is oe elder in my district that reminds me of harison and that is just...yea not good ahaha. but then there are tons of interesting and eciting people ive met too like our French, Elder Neville, who is having a blst learning english and will serve in texas haha he loves the word fart and such hahaha but his accents makes it sound like fawt ahaha really we all just get along great and try our mbest with all our investigators. man the keyboards here are terrible and they have diferent keys... ummm well we also taught a "gay" investigator that was just impossosible. we had no clue how or what to say i mean...once he said "yea i like men, i mean girls, women, men, no definitely not men im not gey...you look gey." and that was all uninterupted haha. just bizarre really. im not too home sick. found a lot of things i deffinitely did not pack like a sand bottle landon made and a few notes but it was cool finding it (: Audreys gift helps a lot too and he dads package. i have so much more i want to tell you but thats all that comes to mind... the MTC is not a prison here we really can go and study just about anywhere and outside is always best because the AC sucks in England with all the cold they specialize in heaters... the siters in my district are way fun too because one is from tonga and the other australia...just lots of diversity..im friends with a duth, a german, and tongan, 2 austalians, and an austrian, and then there are just tons from Utah...and one elder from china haha. shoot! 5 min left and i still need to email audge,

tell kaylin i do miss everyone and that im sorry that i needed to go.

i love and miss everyone! seeya again next week and ill let you know my next pday should be wednesday but it could change once im out in the field.

The Post

Kaylin Ivins

It's not always easy saying good bye to your brother or sibling for 2 whole years.
Today my oldest brother, Isaac left to serve a full time mission in England Leeds. It was the hardest day of my life. 2 years is a really long time. But I know they will go by fast. Bye the time he comes home, I will be 15, Jaida will be 17, landon will be 13, and last but not least marissa will be 6! Isaac will miss everyone's birthday atleast once or maybe twice. But I know it's for a good reason. I know he will be a Great one! He is a big brother and example. I will surely miss him a ton. But when he returns with honor i will be able to give him the Biggest hug. People are going to love him. I know it. He got to call us to tell us he got to Chicago safely. We didn't have much time at all but it was worth it! It was great to hear his voice again. Well I just want to say that I'm very proud of him and I know he will do great and be watched over and pretected. Love you a bunch big brother! Or known as Elder Ivins!

The Funeral

Elder Ivins left today. It feels a bit like a funeral. Kind of like a death in the family. You try to be happy but you can't do anything but wonder what he would be doing if he was home right now. I know he is where he is suppose to be. He phones from Chicago and had met up with about 14 other missionaries all heading to Leeds! I am happy for him! His brothers and sisters miss him. I would have to say that it was extremely helpful to have an RM here with us, Zac, his cousin. He helped answer all those little questions.Thanks to all the support of friends and family!!