I Have Moved to Worchester

So we got our call last night I am moving to Worcester with elder Devit who I here is a really good guy. I think we will get on just fine and we will work hard to get the work going there. I'm a bit more sad to go now though. Earlier we got another media referral text so I am hoping that we have at least this much or more going for us in Worcester we will see. I will let you know whats up with the Skype on Monday. well got to go say my goodbyes to the members.

So my new companion is great he is from alpine Utah. and yes he is a hard worker so we are getting along good. we don't have a lot of things going on in Worcester at the moment but there is a lot of potential for some investigators. We have 3 at the moment but only one is progressing so we are hoping to fix that this week and also find some new people to teach.

Love Elder Poll

Transfer Week

That's cool the rodeo sounds like loads of fun. that's kind of sad that you didn't get to go to the temple I would kill for a trip to the temple OK maybe not kill but it would be awesome I didn't really go that much before I came out and with the temple being only an hour away and with members willing to take us it would be cool but its out of our mission boundary. Before coming out I used to use excuses to get out of going to meetings now I would use any excuse to go to a meeting and feel of the spirit there. Some times I wish we were the Lichfeild elders because they have the stake center and get to go to all of the stuff that they do there for the stake and some of that stuff sounds really good. But oh well that's not us. As for transfers we get the dodge tonight, if and where we are going and I will get on tomarrow and let you know if I am leaving and where I am going. I have come to the conclution that I could be anywhere and that would be fine with me, but after having this experience with my companion I have learned that it's who you are with that really matters so every night I pray for a obedient, and easy to get along with companion.Ya it will be sad leaving after just having got some investigators. The referral that we got was for this girl named Lucy she seemed really excited at first but she has a really busy schedule so she said that she couldn't really meet with us til the new year. But we left her our number and told her to call us with any questions. She also wanted to try to attend church with us this coming week so we had planned to stop by and see her later this week and remind her and answer any questions.The Romanian family that we went by last Monday night turned out really solid we taught them the Restoration and when we said the opening prayer the mother cried from the desire to go to church and feeling the spirit I knew that the lesson was going to go well. It was a challenge because they don't speak any English but lucky for us their son was there and he speaks pretty good English so he translated for us and they seemed to take it really well. We were able to teach them again on Wednesday and their son Iones came to football with us on Friday night and he brought two of his friends. I think that Iones is key to getting a lot more investigators here in Burton because when we were talking to one of his friends, in his brioken English  he told us that all the Romanian people here in Burton love and respect Iones because he is really generous and tries to help everyone. Like right now he has another family that just moved from Romania living with them till they can find a place to stay. We are hoping to be able to teach Iones separately from his parents so that he can focus more on the lesson and not on translation for his parents. I have also talked to president about it and he is checking to see if we may be able to do a Skype lesson with elders in the Romanian mission to help us teach the parents. The family is really cool and they deserve to know the truth and really understand it.

On Monday we don't have pday ours is moved to Friday because of the crazy Christmas schedule here and with having boxing day right after Christmas most of the missionaries want to go out and shop because its like black Friday here. Speaking of that I had planned on getting a couple of pair of trousers on boxing day to fit my new waist size so I don't have to cinch my belt up super tight to keep my trousers on. 

I will still be able to email you on Monday to set up what time and the other details for the Skype on Christmas.

Love and many prayers Elder Poll

 A Referral Finally

 

So this week has been pretty good we have done a lot of service. Monday night we helped John get part of the way set up for the Christmas party. Wednesday we helped Ildcko paint her house some more. then we had dinner with the Kinnards and then coordination. Wednesday we had district meeting then we did some finding. then we went up to visit Paul a former investigator and his family. He is a really nice guy but he is heavily involved in his church and doesn't see the need to change but loves Christ and is good he just needs to realize that the restored gospel is not at the church he attends and I think that will take some big change in his life. Then we went to dinner with the Barry's and that was good. then we went around and invited some of the less active members to Christmas party. Thursday we did some finding and met this guy that is Italian and Muslim but he seemed open to talking about religion. Just wondering if Matt Miller ran in to a lot of Muslim Italians on his mission or if that's just a England thing with all the mix of different cultures here. Any way then we met up with Joe and Sean and played some football and taught a short lesson and invited them to the Christmas party. Then we did service for the Oldham's helping them get there outside Christmas lights up, they fed us dinner and we then went by some more less actives to invite them to the Christmas party. Friday we had our weekly planning then we went by more less active and invited them to the Christmas party and we helped John finish setting up the Christmas party decorations and it looked really good. Saturday was a bit interesting we had planned to do service for a sister in our ward helping her move stuff from her moms house to her sisters house because she was moving out, however the other team in Burton b were going caroling in Lichfield with some of the other elders there trying to get the news out about the Church Christmas  program. They were doing that last night. We were invited and couldn't go but the other team got in a big argument and so they needed time to cool off so I went with one to go sing and the other stayed with Elder Bolingbroke to do service. then we came back from singing and did flat inspections with the Hiltons. This is there last week before they go home on Saturday. Atter we were supposed to be practicing the nativity program with the primary because we were supposed to be in it  but when we got there we just ended up being stage help, closing the curtains and changing the set but it was good. We had the ward party and Sean was there and that was good we were able to finally set up something to start actually teaching him not just short spiritual thoughts but an actual lesson this Friday. Oh ya and earlier that morning before we switched with the other elders we found some new potential investigators. One of them we have a lesson with tonight. he doesn't speak very much English so it could be interesting. He is Romanian so we gave him a restoration leaflet in Romanian to read and he seemed very keen to have us over so I hope this goes well. On Sunday we had church then we did some finding and we found a cool guy named Sam, we asked him to watch the Christmas movie and then tell us what he thinks and we also invited him to sports night and he said that he would come. I'm a bit worried though because he said that he lives in Hilton which might be out of our area we are not sure so we will check tomorrow at the Christmas conference. then we had dinner with john and talked with him for a bit on Sundays we have call-ins and after call-ins you are supposed to be in your flat or at a members or a teaching appointment and sitting at our flat is boring so we usually spend that time at Johns. While we were there we got a text from the church for a media referral for a lady that had requested a book of Mormon so we were supper excited we are going by there tonight after our lesson to give her the book of Mormon and see if she would be interested in us teaching her. Elder Bolingbroke has had a lot of success with media referrals in the past so we are excited to see where this goes, hopefully a new investigator and potential convert.

 

Our week this week is looking pretty ok we have zone conference tomorrow. Wednesday we don't have anything planned so far and that means lots of finding and so that will not be fun, I am praying that something comes about from our lessons tonight to fill stuff up Wednesday. Thursday we are doing service again for the Oldham's and I think that we may be redoing the light because he is the one that helped us put them up, but she doesn't like them so we may be changing them. Friday we have sports night and Saturday and Sunday we have stake conference. I am praying that our week fills up more with stuff. Transfers are on the 17th but we could find out if I'm moving today possibly because if elder Bolingbroke trains then he will stay and I will go most likely. They give the trainers calls today for the next transfer, if not then next Monday night they will let us know who, what, and where. and I will email you on Tuesday if I leave and were I'm going and that stuff.

 

well I think that just about covers it this week pray that things go well with Lucy and Ian tonight and that we can begin to teach them.

 

Love you Loads

 

Elder Poll

Well this morning we put up the tree for Christmas and we are helping John set up for our ward Christmas social tonight and on Friday then we will help him take it all down Saturday night after the party.so lots of Christmas trees are in my future. and last week we helped John put up his trees in his house he goes all out for Christmas so it was fun. Thanksgiving was good we has it at Johns with the other elders and I helped him make the pumpkin pie like I always do with you at home mom. and I have to say it was probably one of the best that I have ever had. mostly do to the fact that he home made the pastry and so the crust made the pie taste awesome. We didn't have any whip cream to put on it but that was ok because when we had the pie it was still a bit warm and that actually made it taste even better and I'm not sure weather I like that better or not then with cream. Speaking of Christmas let me know when the package gets there and you can't eat any of it till Christmas eve but there are some cards at the bottom those you can read but don't eat any of it till Christmas eve. And save some for grandma and grandpa when they come for Christmas so I can have all of your guys's opinions on the best stuff. and mom I think the shoe thing is just in Holland or places close over there because its not here as far as I can tell but I have heard of that and we did that in elementary school around Christmas when we talked about Christmas around the world. but I think the traditions here are pretty similar to America as far as I can tell I will let you know as we get closer to Christmas.

 

This week has actually been really good and seemed to go by really fast mostly because we weren't out finding all day and night. we didn't make a lot of progress with teaching new investigators but our friendship with one of the ones that we have and his friend Joe who is less active definetly grew this week. Monday always goes well because it pday. Tuesday I went on exchange to Burton B with our district leader and even though I have been in Burton for a while it was the first good look I got of their area in the day light. The only time that I have been there before was to ride with John to drop them off after coordination or sports and games nights so that was cool. It also made me realize that I am ready to move to a new area because even just spending the day there made me want to go some were new and try some new things so I want to move, but at the same time I want to stay for Christmas. I wish that our transfers were right after Christmas instead or right before but oh well. Oh and on Tuesday I missed out on a dinner at this family in our ward who usually don't make the best food and this week was espesally gross I was told so that was nice. We had a oven frozen pizza intead... yum.  Wednesday we had zone meeting and it was cool they showed us the new video that the church has put out for Christmas and we got some new pass along cards with the birth of Christ on them that we are supposed to use so that was cool. Oh and we did a kind of Christmas gift thing. We all brought flat find gifts and then we pulled names out of a hat and we get to pick one and open it. I kind of cheated because we had to be there early for district leader council so we got to see the Hiltons put there gifts on the table and kind of know what gifts were given by who so when it was my turn I picked one of the Hiltons and as they are leaving on the 10th they were getting rid of some decent stuff so I got a nativity set and some Nesquick chocolate milk stuff which is usually a couple of pounds booya grandma good stuff. On Thursday it was good we haven't really been able to get to know Joe one of our less active members we are working with and he asked us to come play football (soccer) with him on Thursday and so we got to know him a bit better and left a spiritual thought with him at the end. Oh ya and I got a bit of a surprise this week Jonathans sister just got a new puppy and he was able to find a really cheap coach ride up form London so he came up and we spent time talking to him and catching up because it was the last time that I might see him so that was nice. Then we had Thanksgiving with John that night and it was awesome. Friday we had a service project with this Hungarian family that is moving back into our ward. We were helping them get there house all painted and carpeted so they can move in. We have been going there for the past couple of weeks once a week helping them and they are just about to get the carpet down and then they can start to move in. They were in the ward before but had to move for work and now they are back so that's cool. Then we had dinner with the Watsons, an awesome family in the ward and then we had sports night and it went great. We had lots of peoples there and most importantly we had Joe and Sean there and so that was great. Saturday we did a lot of finding and we thought we had a solid guy that was a cage fighter coming to church but he gave us a fake number and didn't show up so darn, but we went buy a less active guy who is not really less active at heart but because of health reason he can't come to church so we went and visited him. He likes the company so we go and talk to him. He usually tells us some stories from (back in the day) when he was younger and it is pretty cool. Then we had games night and that went really well. I was in for a surprise again because Jonathan missed his coach back to London so he stayed and came to game night and to church on Sunday. Sunday we had church and then we went to the Manners for dinner she is American and she made Thanksgiving and it was good for the fact that it was American but I think that Johns food was better, but it was nice to be there and enjoy a more American experience then at Johns. The food back home is definitely  better especially the yams. John didn't make us any because we told him not to worry that we were going to the Manners and she would make them. but she tried to be healthy with them and so they weren't very good but they were American so I can complain.

Tell Macey that I am proud of her for getting baptized and that I'm sad I can be there for it but thanks for the announcement and that a letter is coming but I will be late due to slow mail around Christmas.

 

Love you Elder Poll

Thanksgiving Week

This week hasn't been to bad but at the same time disappointing all of our appointments fell through so we did a lot of finding this week and the weather hasn't been the best.

Our week this week looks pretty good for lessons set up. We have one for tonight with a Latvian women that we met yesterday when we were going around to less actives to invite them to the Christmas social and I guess that the lady that had lived there had moved and this lady answered the door a didn't quite understand us at first until we slowed down and she said that she wasn't the person we were looking for but we told her that we would love to come and talk with here about our church and that we had some material in Latvian and that sparked her interest and so we are going back there tonight. 

We also have a few other appointments for latter this week pray they don't fall through. we also have games night this week which will be good for us to invite people that we meet to. The last one went pretty well so we are hopeful that this one will go at least as well. We also have another zone meeting on Wednesday about this new campaign the church is doing with Christmas so we are getting some training on that so that will be good.

I got your package and I was happy to see the advent calendars and a bit sad that the tree thing that you sent to both Ben and Chelsie with notes from the family for all the days of Christmas wasn't in there but thats okay.

The package I am sending you is actually not me sending it John offerd to send a package to our families for us and we told him that we were good but he insisted so don't wory about the money the stuff in it wasn't all that expensive and I'm not paying the shipping. We haven't heard about our special Christmas rules yet I imagine that they will come on Wednesday at zone meeting and hopefully they will also tell us if we are having Christmas conference and when that will be.

The German market was cool but I didn't get anything. There was stuff like at a state fair cool looking but nothing you really need. and nothing that I really want to hall around for two years before I come home. The only thing that really got me was this cool nativity set but John said that if I still wanted one I could probably find one on line after the mission.  Transfers are on the 17th of December and I think I will probably move. to be honest except the move right before Christmas thing I think that it would be nice to see another area.

I love John because he is cooking us Thanksgiving on Thursday then we have it again with an American member on sunday so it will be good.

Love you tons mom and tell every one that I love them and I will figure out the Christmas stuff on Wednesday.

 

 

Love Elder Poll

So this week has been pretty good we have found some new investigators and we had a lot of dinner appointments thanks to Elder Bolingbroke. I had heard from other missionaries that he wasn't much of a worker but I think that it just depends on his companion because he has been doing pretty good with me so far we will see how it goes after we get more comfortable with each other if he starts to get less obedient as time goes by.

I'm not sure were I will be then we have transfers right before Christmas and I am pretty sure that I will be moving now because Elder Bolingbroke only has 3 transfers lest after this one so he will probably train next transfer. 

So we have some new potential investigators but nothing solid at the moment but I am hoping that with the new potentials that we are finding that at least one of them will be solid. We also started a games night on Saturday nights that we can invite people to for them to get to know the ward  in a setting that isn't just church and it seemed to go really well. We had planned it for every other week but we may move it to every week, It is probably the best thing that we could be doing at that time of night because nobody is out in town and we get yelled at by people for knocking doors that late so unless we have a lesson it's the best use of our time.  Today we are going to the German market in Birmingham and I have heard that it is really cool and lots of little shops that sell cool stuff.

We have some appointments set up this week with some of our potential investigators and I am excited to see where that will go hopefully we can started doing more teaching.

 Give my regards to the Galbraiths. and I hope that things with the new bishopric and stake presidency go well.

 

 

Love and prayers

Elder Blake Poll

Transfers

So this week has been good we didn't get a chance to teach Luke and Alice on Monday they canceled again and we didn't know why but we called them Friday and they said that they have been in and out of the hospital with there 2 month old daughter so we can understand. Since jonathan was up we had dinner with him and talked for a bit with him then did a bit of finding. then we went back to the flat to wait for our dodge call (our call to tell us about transfers) and they told us that Montague was moving to Litchfield and that I was getting elder Bolingbroke as my new companion. He is from Reno Nevada he has been out 18 months. any way Tuesday was for elder Montague to say his goodbyes to the ward and get packed for most of the day then we had dinner with john on wedsday we got all of his and Elder Smart, the other elder in our ward moving as well stuff to the mission home and then switched and made our way back. On our way back we did get in a bit of a hitch with the trains in getting all of there stuff on because the trains were really packed so we had to wait for like two trains that were going our way before there was room enough to get there stuff on.

 

We came back and droped elder Bolingbroke's stuff off and went out finding.

Thursday we did some finding in the morning then had district meeting at Litchfield ( that's right elder Montague only moved down the road about a half hour) then we came back and went by some less actives and then went to coordination meeting.

Friday I had the dentist then we came back and had weekly planning and then went out to see a less active that we had an appointment with but it was quite a hike to get there in the rain and cold out to the edge of our area. then we came back and had dinner.

Saturday we did some finding in the rain had lunch then went by some less actives and luckily the weather cleared up we had dinner and then went to sports night at the chapel.

Sunday we had church did some finding and then had dinner with john and that's been the week.

In our finding just in the last couple of days we have been able to set up a few appointments with some new potential investigators.

Love you, 

Elder Poll

Been a busy couple of weeks so a little behind but here are Elder Polls posts for the last couple of weeks.

 So because this could be elder montages last week here Jonathan came up from London to say good bye and stuff and so we had him up and that was awesome. We don't know for sure about transfers we get a call tonight letting us know who all is staying and going so we will see. if I go I will get to send a small email tomorrow to tell you where I am going. Jonathan is doing good and is really happy with the ward that he is going to it is the only single adult ward in all of England and it is pretty big and we got him set up with a good set of elders down there so its good.

 I will admit I am nervous for transfers and a bit excited but mostly nervous because I'm comfortable where I am but I also want to try new things

We are trying to set up something with Peter an Lizzie for late this week. and the couple we have a lesson set up with for just about every Monday night that canceled on us last week is Luke and Alice they haven't cancelled on us yet today but we will see. that is about all of our investigators at the moment but we do finding just about every day so hopefully we should get some new investigators soon.

 

but I will admit I am nervous for transfers and a bit excited but mostly nervous because I'm comfortable where I am but I also want to try new things 

 

So Luke and Alice are a young couple that we got a referral for from the other elders in the ward. The Elders were calling there former investigators and found that they were interested in having them come by but that they had moved in to our area so they passed them on to us. the last set of elders that they had over though were lets just put it this way... they weren't out on a mission for the right reasons. and they got the wrong Impression of us and so we need to set that right before we can start to really teach them. but they seem cool and they have a 8 week old daughter.

Peter and Lizzie are cool and they like us and are cool with talking to us but they haven't got the right impression of why we are there either so we need to get that sorted then we can teach them more but they seem to like what they know of the church thus far and said that when I get home they want me to take them on a tour of Utah because they have always wanted to go there but didn't know anybody from the states that live that far west.(and chelse he is way into camo and browning last time we were there he was wearing browning camo it was funny but I didn't get a chance to bring up that you work there)

 

With reference to Christmas it weird there are already Christmas lights going up all over town center but they haven't turned them on yet. but they don't have thanks giving here so the next big holiday that they have is Christmas so people are already talking about it and have all of there presents bought and wrapped. no one has trees up yet but I don't think that it will be long before they do go up. Christmas is going to be weird this year.

I love you and Pray for you

Love Elder Poll

So this week has been pretty uneventful the lesson that we had for Monday night cancelled on us then on Thursday I went on exchange to Cannock with the district leader and we went and taught some people that live in an assisted living center and they are both pretty old and not all there but it was good to see and I will tell you the ones that we have back in the states are nicer than the one I've been to here. Wednesday we had district meeting and switched back then on Thursday we did lots of finding and stopping by some less actives and some formers with no success although we did have the interesting experience of finding out that the ward list that we had is old or that no one bothered to remove or find out about a Laddie that died 10 years ago was still on the list. Friday we spent most of the day on the bus going to and from my dentist appointment. It shouldn't have taken that long but the appointment time I had made us have to be either an hour early or be late and that on the way back the bus was late by an hour and then there was crazy traffic all the way back. then we had dinner with John and had our ward sports night. Saturday we did lots of finding then we had dinner and a sort of lesson with Peter and Lizzie and we got the feeling that they were open to talk but that the lesson wasn't what they really wanted but we are going to continue to try. Sunday we had church and then we did some tracting and then we had dinner with john again and we talked with him for a while because on Sunday we have call ins at 6:30 so we either have to be in our flat or at a members house after that so we stayed and talked with john.

On a bad note on district pday I got hit in the face with the ball and my glasses got a little bent and the lens popped out I am trying to get them fixed here but I will let you know because if not they are the Oakley's that I broke last time and I think they still are covered by the insurance and I may have to send them back to you to have them fixed but I will let you know, if you will look into if they are still covered or not that would be great.

 

So transfers are on the 5th of November and I will probably stay in Burton but Elder Montague has been here for six months and we have already been 2 transfers together so we are both guessing that he will leave but that is no guarantee.  About half of our district will probably change as well and it is kind of stressing me out a bit because I just go used to mission life (well as much as can be expected for being out for 3 months)  and now the whole district has the potential to change completely so I'm a bit nervous about most specifically my new companion and looking out a bit further the whole district.

 

 

Love you and Pray for you always

your favorite elder

Elder Poll

so this week not much excitement but we have a few new investigators one that the other Elders in our ward gave us because they were framers and they called them up and they had moved to our area and were interested in us coming by so on Tuesday we had a lesson with them and then the rest of our week has been pretty normal we have transfers on the 5th of November and the 17th of December I will probably be stay for at leat one more and then I might go but I'm not sure on that. We have 8 in our district all elders we have 4 sisters in our whole zone. I will up date you when we get back about everything else because we have to go back to Burton because we have been in Lichfeild so update you later.

I don't know the Merril girl but the elders in my district know her she should be coming home soon is what they said. they also say that she is awesome. well some bad news though for today from between the time that I last emailed and now our appointment for today cancelled so that stinks but we will get through though

Love Elder Poll

So nothing happening for my birthday we had cake but that was it and ya I do feel a bit older. The investigators are sort of coming we did have the lesson on Monday and that went alright but we haven't been able to meet with them since but it has been a pretty good week we have spent a lot of time getting John moved from his flat into the new house that he is renting as well as we went and visited a few of our members that have been sick

We met Shannon a couple of weeks ago and we set up an appointment to meet with her and her friend Emily and it seemed to go well but they have cancel on us a couple of times now for more lessons at the last minute so we will see were that goes, and that couple we met a month ago has finally set up a time with us to come over so that should be good. and tell dad that they fixed the mold on our wall finally.

 

Love you and pray for you always 

Elder Poll

So nothing much happened this week it has been a very rainy week for us so there have not been very may people out and personally if it wasn't my calling to be out finding I would be huddled inside probably watching TV and sitting by the heater because it is cold outside already. Most of our finding has been for not this week but there was one girl that we met that we have an appointment with tonight but it is in the park and its raining so it may not happen unless we can find a member to come with us so we can move it inside somewhere. but we will see. 

Saturday night we were able to watch Saturday morning conference session live then yesterday we watched the priesthood session in the morning then we had lunch and then had the Saturday afternoon put up on the screen. then we waited till 5 to watch the Sunday morning session live then we went home and we have not seen the Sunday afternoon session. I was a bit bummed out that we didn't get to here Elder Bednar speak he is one of my favorites but I will get to read it in the ensign so that will have to work.

So after we watched the Saturday afternoon session we watched the work report which is kind of like the stuff that we get back home in between the sessions and the same channel back home. we heard about the "Meet the Mormons" and the different things that the church has been doing through out the world this year since the April conference. So we are not completely out of the loop with everything and it was cool to see the difference we are making throughout the globe. That is about it for me this week I am praying for some new investigators this week.
I have a question for you and kind of for grandpa as well. What area of England are we from what area does the Poll name come from. People keep asking me where the name is from and I can't tell them because i don't know myself.
Love you and pray for you always Elder Poll

 

Two posts this week since I missed last week. Read the other one first so they go in order.

Hello
Its been good but also disappointing because we had a talk with Michael and were straight up with him about picking a church and we told him to pray and ask Heavenly Father and then to get back to us and he didn't for quite a while so we called him and he said that he hadn't had the time to pray and think about it so we may not have any investigators if he decides to go the other way.
So we get to see all of conference except the Sunday evening session but the Saturday evening and the priesthood session are not live but we still get to see them. when we have conference though we have to go to the stake center in Lichfield so its not really anything special for finding investigators.
I am really excited for tonight because I am always supper pumped after talking to you guys back home and it makes it easier to step out of my comfort zone knowing all is well at home so I am excited to see how we will do tonight as we go out finding.

Love you tons have to go

Elder Poll

Sept 22,
 

So this week not a lot happed we had a few lesson with Michael in which we learned that he still had not stopped going to a Jehovah witnesses church so we had to push his date back. Micheal has been to many diferent churches and just basically has a belief in Christ, baptism and God and he goes just about anywhere for church but before the missionaries ran into him he was attending the jw church and yes he comes to church with us every sunday but the jw meeting is after ours and so he goes there after he gets back from going to church with us. His mental state is similar to Katie and Megan's but a bit more high functioning and so getting him to understand that he can only go to one church and that is ours if he wants to be baptized I hard to get him to understand. and he lives right next to the jw church and so after we leave he says that they come around and pick him up for church and that he has responsibilities there that he can't just leave but he also makes a lot of stuff up so we don't really know how to proceed. We also went on exchange this week and I was with elder Michelson who does not talk at all unless he decides to talk to some one on the street and so I suffered through a day of silence, but it sort of helped as well to get me to talk to other people because he wouldn't talk so if I wanted to keep my sanity I had to talk to others. Then we had general priesthood meeting in our stake on Thursday night and that was good and inspiring then on Friday we had weekly planning and fixed elder Montague's bike and did some finding.  Then on Saturday we spent most of our day with sister Smyth digging her pond for her with a really small shovel and just one shovel. She is a less active sister and she dosen't get around well and she needed to get the pond dug and the fish in befor winter or they will freeze she is really nice always gives us a goodie bag to take home and to its always fun to go over and help her and she is a little crazy but she always tells fun stories of when she lived in spain with her late husband. Then on Sunday we had church and some finding and then dinner with John.

love and prayers Elder Poll

Hello Family,

The baptism went really well he was supper nervous and worried before but it all went well and when he got done he had such a peaceful feeling. then yesterday Brother Watson gave him the gift of the Holy Ghost and confirmed him a member then we talked for a long time after sacrament meeting and now he is gone. He moved down to London this week and we passed him on to the missionaries down there and to the bishop, so now our teaching pool is just down to Micheal who we put on a date for September 27th so by the end of this transfer we will have no one to teach if things continue as they are. so this week we will be doing a lot of finding and I'm praying that we find at least one person to teach but I'm hoping for 3. this week has gone by really fast but I think that is just because we had so many meetings we had zone meeting and the follow up training meeting then we had the baptism and then church then pday so the last half of the week has gone by like nothing. and it was a GREAT week.

 

So I have a dentist appointment tomorrow with the private dentist in Sutton Coldfield and I'm not sure how long that will take but they say that it is just an evaluation to see how much work they need to do then I will set a return appointment for the actual work I will keep you posted on that.  (He had a crown fall off a couple of weeks ago)

 

There wasn't a lot to talk about this week and I'm not good at coming up with things to talk about so if you want more info ask more questions.

 

Love you loads and pray for you always Elder Poll

So not a lot to say this week we had a pretty normal proselyting week by that I mean we did a lot of trackting and had very little success. We had zone conference on Saturday and that was good but no huge news to report no ipads and no members of the quorum of the twelve or any of that but it was good still but it just felt like church. Then we got home and had a lesson with Michael and that went good then we had a ward activity which was a quiz night. then we had church on Sunday and had a baby blessing and here that is like a home coming and they have dinner after and we got invited to that then we did some try by's with less active members and no one answered had our call in and then after that we chilled in the flat had district prayer. Today I got a hair cut we shopped for food then played some basketball with the other elders walked around a bit and now were at the library emailing that's about all that's happened this week but I'm really excited for this week though because we have a baptism and we will probably put Michael back on date this week because he really wants to be baptized but he is a lot like Katie and Megan with his mental state so we have to be sure that he really understands everything and get the go ahead by president.   We also have dinner with john this week and those are always good as well as zone meeting and we have a follow up trainers meeting on Saturday and I should be getting my tooth fixed in the next couple of weeks at this private dentist. I'm mostly excited to see some of the elders from the mtc because they were awesome and I only saw some of them at zone conference. they all have to come for the trainers meeting that's about it for this week.
Love and Prayers Elder Poll

 

So the couple that we tracked last week and her husband are in Florida on holiday and wont be back until the end of September so we haven't gone back yet. Jonathans baptism got pushed back till the 13th so that his family that lives in Summer Set could come up for it so no baptism this week but we have zone conference this Saturday. Last week at district meeting president told us that we will have two special guests and that all he said so we have been wondering who it will be because according to elder Montague they usually tell us who it is that is speaking so that  leave a few possibilities for us. One they just aren't telling us and its a 70 or it could be one of the 12 or it could be the apple ipad guys because the England missions are supposed to be getting ipads sometime towards the end of the year but we will see.

Things are better on bikes to a point but bikes get stolen all the time here so unless be are going to a known investigators house or church we don't usually bike. Elder Montague is on his 4th bike and he has only been out one year and a month..

 

We are the only ones in our flat and our flat is kind of crappy it looks ok on the outside but on the inside its crap and we have a noisy family that lives above us. Right now they are just fixing the mold problem we have. Our shower has been leaking into the wall and has caused mold onto the wall behind. So we have had to take bathes instead of showers for the last week and 1/2. They are just caulking it this afternoon so by tomorrow we should have our shower back. It rains a lot almost every night but not usually till we are back in but it also is just cloudy all the time and rains at random so we don't go anywhere without umbrellas and rain coats and rain pant (which are basically snow pants without the insulation). 

 

Our week here has been good and wow a month has already passed since I left home.

 

Love you, Elder Blake Poll

 

 

About the area Burton Upon Trent it is the brewing capital of the UK there are two areas here Burton A which is us and Burton B which is Elder Smart and Elder Mortenson. We have most of the town and they have a sort of smaller suburb called Swadilocote. It broken up in to a couple of different section you have town which has a shopping mall and other big city stuff then there are a bunch of other areas around it called Stapenhill or Horninglow. There are about five others as well. Anyway we live in the section called Branston its about a 10 min walk to town. We go there at least every day to walk around and talk to people. We also go out to some of the other areas as well knocking doors and checking on less actives. I get turned around a lot because none of the roads make sense and I mean none of them. We have to look up the streets in the index then find them in the square of reference it gives us then remember all the little streets that we have to take to get there because there are only about three main roads that lead around and if you get off of them then you are pretty much lost. Also in the UK they spell things differently they don't use z's if they can help it. They spell tires like tyres and some other weird spelling. Also the accents change with every part of town you are in. You have those up on the hill that talk all proper and then down lower in the valley that talk with slurring all there words together so that's a little hard to understand, but I can usually get it. The hardest thing to understand is the different terms they use here. Some words from back home that are not appropriate and which ones are, but then there are also words here that aren't bad that would be cussing back home. Then just a bunch of other words I had never heard used in the context that they use them here so they may not be speaking a different language but sometimes they might as well be because I always have to lean over to Elder Montague and ask him what there talking about.

 

So this week we didn't have anything really exciting happen. We taught Jonathan and Michael a couple of times but Michael doesn't seem to be progressing so we are trying to reevaluate where we are at with him and work from there. Jonathan's baptismal interview is this Thursday so everything should be on the up and up with him. Last night we met a couple that when we knocked on there door it was like they were expecting us it was cool they had previously had the missionaries over last year so they kind of knew some stuff. They are headed to Florida for holiday next week but they invited us over for dinner when they get back at the end of September so we were excited about that. Other than that its been pretty normal mission stuff. 

Love Elder Blake William Poll  

 

                                           Elder Poll with President and Sister Rasmussen

 

Elder Poll at the Preston England Temple with his MTC District.

Thanks for all you help and support. So I got to the mission home and we had a few short interviews with President and Elder and Sister Gray the we had lunch then a meeting with all the trainers then at the end they told us who we were going to be with. and the whole meeting I kept looking over and I kept saying in my head any body but the Hispanic kid I can deal with just about anything else but I'm horrible with language barrier stuff and then they read off elder Poll and elder Montague and that was the kid that I thought was Hispanic and I was like crap this first few months will be a struggle. we didn't say anything to each other until we got outside then I found out that he is from Ogden' Utah and that we know some of the same people and we just kind of hit it off from there so far it has been great Brother Dimetia picked us up from the mission home He said that he served in the Scotland Edinburgh so I asked if he knew an Elder Lubeck and he said that they had served in a lot of the same areas but never as companions but he really liked him and so I told how I knew him and I was happy. He dropped us off at our flat (it looks nice on the outside but is really quite rubbish). then we changed out of our suit and went to a teaching appointment with a 19 year old named Jonathan we were on our way over and I got all the details and how I was supposed to invite him to be baptized on the 6th of September. so we got there and everything went really well I felt like I should pop the question so I did and he said that he wasn't ready so we asked him to pray about it and he said that he would, then last night we called him because he like us to and him and elder Montague talked about the baptismal questions and he thought that he could do that so he said put it on the calendar. So I have a baptism set for the 6th of September for him. Thursday we had district meeting and so we went straight to the bus station and rode it to Lichfield and I met our district and they are awesome. Saturday was a lot of tracking and I met Micheal who is our other investigator he really wants to be baptized but we haven't taught him everything yet so he will probably be baptized when we finished teaching him next Saturday. Saturday night I forgot to tell you the we went over to Brother Demitas for dinner he is a chef for a living so as you can imagine the food was awesome then it is holiday here so tracking Saturday night was a no no so we just chatted with john dimetia and shared a spiritual thought then he gave a lift home. On Sunday we went to church and the ward building is so small that the chapel is also the cultural hall when all the chairs are down. but it was a good, Sunday we had Michael out to church with us with the Kennard's. we had a member teaching appointment with brother and sister Galiker he is recently returned missionary and we told him a little about our experience with Michael and he wanted to hear us give the same lesson that we gave Michael then he gave us some pointers and that was good.Thank you all so much for all of your letters and support.

 love elder poll

 

 

			I don't have a lot of time today we are transferring this morning to our missions, but I'm alive and doing as well as I can trying to get adjusted. Happy birthday mom and Katie I love you all so much and i pray for you every night please let everyone know that I am doing well. Some how I keep becoming the leader of every thing from zone leader to transfer leader but i will keep you posted. I'm scared out of my mind and not sure what I'm doing here but I will give it my best shot. love you all so much i pray for you i know the Lord will bless you and keep you safe till we meet again love Elder Poll

Elder Poll arrived in the mission today. We are excited to be working with him.

He will be serving in Burton on Trent with Elder Montague. P-day is Monday.

More photos will be available in several days on the mission picture blog:

ebmission.blogspot.com

President and Sister Rasmussen

Things have been going ok I've been sick the last couple of days but I'm sure I'll get thru it. For those first couple of days I was very home sick that satan was able to work on me pretty hard. My companions name is Elder Barton he is from the Salt Lake. We got made zone leaders here and we are over all the two week missionaries. He isn't going to my mission though he and most of my disrict are going to scotland \ireland. but the majority of the elders here are going to my mission and about 15 of them are from various parts of Utah and Idaho. There are also a few from other counties as well. please send me your prayers and I will keep sending you mine Love Elder Poll