May 31st: On The Way Home

May 30th: A Note from Jesse Jones

Hi Mrs Tarbet, 

I hope I've found the correct contact for Logan's mom? (As soon as I got home I forgot the name he told me to contact) 

I would just like to say how much your son has helped me on his mission, he is an amazing missionary and an even better friend. 

I saw him off today at Transfer meeting ready for his flight tomorrow. 

It was an honour to meet such a well mannered, thoughtful and compassionate young man and I'm proud to call him a friend. 

I bet you cannot wait to have him home again! I will deeply miss him and cannot thank both your family and Logan for all he has done. 

Regards

Jesse Jones 

Shrewsbury Ward 

EMM

May 29th: A Note from Elder Masekaomeng

Hello Mr and Mrs Tarbet, 

I hope that you've had as wonderful week as we've been able to have. I'm Elder Masekaomeng, your son's last companion. I've only got good things to say about this transfer with him. He loves the gospel and all of you. He knows how to follow the promptings of the Spirit and earnestly seeks to help the people we've been called to serve from a driving, motivating love. We worked well together and I believe that the Lord has been able to use us well in preparing this plot of land for more work. I've been surprised by the successes he's had as he's gone to help people, they love the gospel and him.

     We laughed, we worked, we learned and we taught. We had a good transfer and I'm thankful I could spend it with him. I just finished training and I have to say, I'm happy that he shared his experiences with me. Honestly wish him and you all the best. The only unfortunate thing is that he didn't get that British accent I bet you were hoping he might come back with. Have a great reunion when you do. Hoping for the best blessings upon you and your family.

Elder Masekoameng
P.s. we're apparently known for being a bit quieter here in Britain, but Elder seems to have taken that a bit far :)

May 29th: Things I Will Miss and Things to Look Forward to

Things that I will miss most about my mission?

I will miss the people. I truly love the people of England. I have not gone anywhere that I have not met someone who has touched my life. One of the things from my Patriarchal blessing is that I will make friends here and I need to work to keep them for eternity. The first part has been fulfilled completely. I have made so many friends here. I love the people and I will miss them. I want to come back more than just in August.

Things that I am most excited about when I get home?
The people—that's kinda a copout, but it's true. The other thing that I will be excited for is probably the ability to access full information on numerous topics: Gospel, worldly, and otherwise. I want to be able to continue learning and growing. I look forward to being able to use all of the resources that there are. 

Elder Tarbet
Caelitus Mihi Vires
My Strength is from Heaven

May 26th: Pictures from the Temple

May 22nd—May 28th: The Grand Finale

Well my final week.

It has been a very good week. Monday, we had the chance to go see a waterfall with Jesse and then have dinner with Elder and Sister Bailey. Elder Bailey is a fantastic cook! He used to be a caterer and so he is very talented. He made us a really nice curry. It was good to spend a bit of time with them, they have been very good to me and I've come to care about them. I have generally come to care about the people of England. It's going to be hard to not see them. I'm going to have to find a way to come back to see them more that just in August. These people have become family to me. I truly love this country. 

On Tuesday, we had District meeting and I got to give my final training on the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It was good. In all fairness, I very likely will use if for my homecoming. It was a really fun training to prepare. It brought me to my knees a couple of times in gratitude for the gift of a Saviour. Wednesday, we had a street display in the town centre. It was my last one and it was a real struggle. I just couldn't seem to get anyone to stop and listen to me. I did get some really nice people—they weren't interested in our message, but they did stop for just a second. I remember one quite old fellow who stopped and told me how I was real example of what young people should be like today, that I was doing the Lord's work and then he said a little prayer for me. It was so sweet. He really made the rest of the display doable. I have come to really appreciate the people who are just genuinely kind. 

Thursday, we had a lesson with a young man named Kearen who is a friend of one of the YSA in the ward. We taught him at her family's house. He is super solid. He has been coming to church, seminary, and reading the Book of Mormon. His mom even told him that he needs to read the book. Then, after the lesson he actually invited us to come over and teach his parents some time. Sadly, the family wasn't at church this Sunday because of some health problems, so the other Elders will be teaching him soon! Friday was the Temple. That was a REALLY good day, We left at about 10:30 from Shrewsbury with the Baileys and we got there just after 12:30. We had lunch with the other missionaries and then we caught the 2:00 session. We then went into the Marriage waiting room (President knew exactly what he was doing, he put us in there on purpose) to talk a bit more about the temple and some of the symbolism. It was so good!!! I really loved it. It reminded me of the first time I went to the temple because we got through into the celestial room and there was President and Sister Ulrich waiting for each of us and embracing us. It was just like when I went through the first time and had my family standing there waiting for me. It was really special. We spent 2 hours after the session with President and the senior couples learning more about the temple and some of the symbolism of it. On the way home, there was a bit of an issue with the Baileys and so me and Elder Carre had to get a train home (never a dull moment on a mission). 

Saturday we started off the morning with a nice stake-wide game of football (soccer) that was bunches of fun. Probably the last I will get to play in this country (or possibly ever). It was great because Paul came and he played for a bit before his back packed out. It was his first time playing in about 10 years. It was fun. After we got back to Shrewsbury, we went down to a place called Luddlow which is the very most southern part of the mission. It is actually farther south of Birmingham and its suburbs. We met a really great man that joined the church some 40 years ago, but due to health and the distance to the church, isn't able to come anymore. We had gone to see him last week, but he wanted us to make sure that we came back for a dinner with him, so we went back. It was so good. He is 91 and so he has seen a lot. He was in the Navy in WWII and was a part of D Day. He has had just about every job under the sun from postman to factory and everything between. I love missions because you get to meet these great people. 

Sunday was Church and it was interesting for sure. Since they all knew that I was going home (I didn't announce it, the ward mission leader did), I had the assignment of sharing my testimony. The problem was that I started losing my voice on Thursday and after Friday night, it was gone. I then strained it talking in Luddlow because Rony is deaf-ish. I could only whisper. I have never heard it so quiet in that room before. It was really neat actually. I just whispered into the mic. I had to be very selective with my words because I couldn't get much out, so it was very short. My voice is seeming to make somewhat of a comeback today, I can talk, it's just a bit croaky and quiet. Sometimes it drops back to a whisper.

Well I love you all and look forward to seeing you on Wednesday! I never thought that 2 years would end, but now it has—I can't believe where it has gone.

Elder Tarbet
Caelitus Mihi Vires
My Strength is from Heaven

May 23rd: Manchester Bombing

Dear Parents, family and friends of our England Manchester Missionaries,

We are horrified by the terrible events that have occurred in Manchester last evening. We are saddened by the events of this tragic event. We have contacted our missionaries and found them safe and sound. All of our missionaries have been accounted for.  I have been in contact with the Stake Presidents and we have been informed that no members of the Church were injured in this serious explosion. Our hearts are filled with gratitude for angels watching over and protecting our missionaries. We love our missionaries and are so blessed to have them serve in our mission. Please continue to have us in your prayers as we strive to comfort and bless the families here in the EMM.

With Love and gratitude,

President and Sister Ulrich

President of the England Manchester Mission

May 15th—May 21st: The Final Countdown

This makes me feel kinda sick if I'm honest. I don't know how next Monday is going to work.  I don't know if I will get to email you all again from the blessed land of England. I cannot believe that this time has come to an end. 

What have I learned? I have learned that I never have to be alone—I always have a Heavenly Father that is there for me and a Saviour who loves me. I have learned that even though there are always ups and downs, there is also always a better tomorrow. I have learned that when people say the best two years, they aren't saying the funnest two years, they are saying the two years that even though they stunk at the time, they are the best memories looking back. 

This week has been pretty good. We have had a lot of people flaking on us. They set an appointment and then we come back and nobody is there. This has been the worst area for that. We do have a good number of people set up for in about 2 weeks.  The first appointment coming being on a week from Wednesday. The typical for me. Set it up and move it out. I don't really have to much of interest to report. Elder Masekoameng and Elder Chilipari went and taught Paul but me and Elder Cossa went to see Linda who was baptised about 2 months ago. She is really great. We have been to teach her with the other elders a few times. She is doing pretty well now though. 

Not sure what else to report. Hope that you are all having a great week!

Love

Elder Tarbet

Caelitus Mihi Vires
My Strength is from Heaven

May 15th: Pictures—Jackie and Some Sight-Seeing

Got to see Jackie one more time

Passing through the Birmingham Mission

May 15th: Things I have Learned

How have you grown? What have you learned? How has your outlook on life shifted? What will you take with you going forward?

I think that the last two years have been a time of massive growth for me. I have had the opportunity to learn from some wonderful and pretty terrible experiences. I have been stretched more than I ever thought that I could bear. But because of Jesus Christ I could bear it. 

I have learned a lot about myself. I have learned I don't have to do everything myself. I can rely on others and rely on God. I can be a leader without being bossy. I have learned that in order to be a good leader, I need to follow but be more than just a manager. 

I have learned a great deal about trust. That once it is broken, it's really hard to rebuild—both others trust in you and your trust in others. Think about others and try to see things from their perspective before you act.  Once you act, it's too late and the trust could be broken. It's possible to rebuild, but it takes a lot of work and some time. 

I have learned that "sorry" is a wonderful word when said with real intent. 

I have learned that most of the time things don't go right and so get used to it and make do with what you have. 

I have come to understand what it means to work with someone, not only by someone, but to have the same purpose and be united. We can have the same purpose but still be individuals working side by side. 

"Thank you" is another really good word.

Being volunteered is not fun. Don't do it to others. If you are going to ask someone to do something, be willing to do it yourself. 

We never really get better at handling trials, trials are always hard because if they weren't, they wouldn't be trials. 

Working hard is great. Working smart is far better.

Efficient means nothing. Effective means everything. 

Never let a book tell you what to do in life—use the information in the book and make it your decision to bring into your heart the things which the book contains (don't be robotic).

You are never too old for nerf wars.

You can be miserable, or you can be happy. Your choice. 

Most things that go wrong aren't necessarily your fault. It doesn't matter though because they are going wrong and now you have the choice to try and fix them or not.

Patience is a virtue that is very painful to learn but very easy to forget.

(I feel like a fortune cookie.)

Always do your best at that given time. Your best is very rarely 100% of your capabilities. If you try to run at 100% then you will crash and burn. All you can do is what you are able to do at the given time in the given circumstances. 

Elder Tarbet

Caelitus Mihi Vires
My Strength is from Heaven

May 8th—May 14th: 'Twas a Good Week

Howdy all!

This week has been pretty alright. We started off with a street display and exchanges on Tuesday. The street display was the first one I had done in ages! I am a bit rusty in that way of contacting. It was good though—I talked to some really nice people and found a man that was interested. The others didn't have much luck, but it was good fun. The man we found was pretty great. He was walking past when I tried to stop him and he just was like, "Alright I've got a few minutes. What do you want to say?" So we talked for a little bit about what we believe and he is looking for a bit of direction in his life. He has a whole slew of issues that he faces or has faced with mental and physical health. He just wants some direction to be able to rebuild his life. We were able to set an appointment for the next day, so me and Elder Chilipagri (I think, I can't spell his name) went and taught him. It was a really good lesson. I got to share one of my favourite Mormon messages called "Like a Broken Vessel" from Elder Holland and it was a really great way to bring the spirit. Well, after we had taught the Restoration and were able to answer bits and pieces of other things he had questions about, we tried to set a return appointment. Unfortunately, the next time he is free is the first part of June so I sadly won't be teaching him again. 

On Wednesday we had a bit of an issue because we went out to a rather distant part (20 min bus ride) a bit too late and so we missed the last bus back. That meant we had an hour walk to get home. And knowing how my body likes to have great timing, guess what decided to flair up for me? My back and leg. I was not a happy boy that night or the next day. Thursday we had a fun lesson with a 93 year old lady. Her name is Hazel and she is super funny. We went to see how she is doing.  The other missionaries had taught her and a member got to know her, so he wanted us to go back with him. Friday was pretty boring, Saturday was a good day. We had Stake Conference with Elder Deniniachi (once again, I think) and it was so good! I loved Saturday night session. Sister Leece (the temple matron) was telling a story about repentance and a bishop who came back from being excommunicated to be able to stand as proxy for his ancestor who hadn't had the chance at the gospel. It was a wonderful story. I really liked it. The visiting authority was really good as well, very personable and down to earth. He was good. Sunday was also good, but Saturday was better. Sunday, Elder Masekoameng also got to Skype home to his family, which was really good for him. He got to see his new nephew. It was fun for him. 

Well that's been my week! Hope that all is well with you and I look forward to seeing you soon!

Love

Elder Tarbet

Caelitus Mihi Vires
My Strength is from Heaven

May 8th: Pictures of the New Area

Cake

Me and Elder Masekoameng

Me and Elder Cossa and Elder Masekoameng

                     Castle behind flat

May 7th: Missionary Fireside in Manchester

Elder Carling, Paula Warren, and Elder Tarbet

May 1st—May 7th: Multi Zone, Meetings with President, and a Little About the Area

Hi all! 

This week has been pretty boring to be fair. We had some new investigators but all of them have dropped off the earth. We have been trying to find people but with very limited success. We will call this a week of patience. I seem to be needing to learn more of that. We are doing well though and seem to be in good spirits. 

This week we had a multi zone and interviews with President. It was really good to talk with President. We have had our ups and downs over the course of my mission but I'm glad that I've been able to build a good relationship of respect and love with him. He is a very good man. 

The multi zone was really good. I very much enjoyed it and it had a great spirit. The focus was baptism. I have always struggled with that concept but the way it was explained finally clicked for me. It's the key to happiness. It is the way to get back into the Celestial Kingdom. It's the way to feel the joy that we have. It sounds really lame to explain but it finally clicked why we emphasize it so much.
A little bit about the people in this area—Elder Masekoameng is from Kent but originally from South Africa. He moved here when he was 3. His parents are converts and he was sealed to them.   Some of the people from the ward are the Greens who is the ward mission leader. He's good to us. He took us to the temple last week.  We had dinner with them every week after coordination meeting. The only other families' homes I've been to was the Kesle-Fells house yesterday. We don't get fed much here. I need to make my s'mores and start bribing people to like us. We are teaching Paul right now. His family was baptized in the fall but he hasn't committed yet. He just needs to find his own testimony. The family is still quite new and we are working with them as well. They got baptized but need to build their testimony. Jesse is a good man.  He is just coming back from less activity but he is working to go to the temple. He is the member that loves the missionaries. He's been spending pdays with us. 

Hope that gives you the insight. 

Yup. That's kinda it for the week. Love ya. 

Elder Tarbet

Caelitus Mihi Vires 

My Strength is from Heaven

April 24th—April 30th: Birthday Celebrations, a Temple Trip, and a Few New Investigators

Hello ALL!
Thank you for all of the Birthday Wishes! It was a pretty noneventful day. We just did normal missionary stuff besides when we went to visit a recent convert named Lin with the other elders. Her daughter (not a member) had made me a cake and it wasn't just any cake.  It was a death by chocolate cake.  It was so nice! They also made Elder Cossa an apple crumble because he doesn't care for chocolate too much.
Today we went to the temple and it was really great! I love getting to go to the temple and feel of the peace that it brings. I just feel so much happier when I go. It's really nice. I want to continue to do that when I return home. Yesterday, we met one of the investigators that the others had been teaching but I had not met yet. His name is Paul and he is married to Liz who was baptized about 6-ish months ago. They are a really funny couple that can run with a tangent like you wouldn't believe.  I thought that I was bad haha. We were all over the place but we were able to answer some of their questions about why bad things happen to good people. They have a son with autism and I think that makes it hard for them sometimes. Paul wants to be sure before he commits because he said that he has jumped into bad things before and he doesn't want to again. He wants to make sure that he makes the right choice.
We have also been working with a man named Jesse who has struggled with his health but he has been pushing through so that he can make it to the temple. He is an Afghan vet and a paramedic. He is a good lad. I really like him. I think that he is one of the people that I was meant to meet here in the area.

Well that is about my week but thank you for all of the emails!

Love ya
Elder Tarbet
Caelitus Mihi Vires
My Strength is from Heaven

April 17th—April 23rd: Where Has the Time Gone?

What on earth has happened? Where did time go? I am now in my last transfer of my mission...how did I manage to get here? It is unbelievable how fast things have gone.

I am so grateful that I got transferred to Shrewsbury. I'm so glad to be serving here and getting to continue to learn and grow. Not becoming stagnate and dead in an area. This week has been really good. I just feel happy.  I was talking to Elder Masekoameng (from Kent) and I just said that I feel happy and it's really weird, I just feel peaceful and happy, like I've never felt before. It's nice. Not really too much to report for now just trying to get adjusted to the area but we are finding people to teach. We have a few new investigators to follow up with next week. We are just doing finding and working with people here. The people are super nice here. Yesterday we met a catholic priest and we just talked about what we both do for our churches for a good 20 min. So nice.

Well that's me for the week. Not much to tell. Have a great week!
Love

Elder Tarbet
Caelitus Mihi Vires 
My Strength is from Heaven

Pictures from Recently

From February's New Member Fireside: 

"Look who I bumped into this evening! He looks really well and 

had an investigator at the mission fireside.

 Hope all is well with you guys, Bishop Fullwood (Southport)"

Mission Historical Tour

Mission Historical Tour

Mission Historical Tour

April 10th—April 16th: The Final Transfer begins

Hello! 

First things first. It's transfers and I am leaving! I am going to Shrewsbury, which is quite a ways down south. I will be serving with Elder Masekoameng (don't ask how to say it, I will be practicing all week).  He is from down south and has been out for about 3 months.  I will be his second companion as he has just finished being trained. 

Righty-o. In other news, we were able to see Jennifer again (the lady that I told you about last week who was excited about prophets) and we had a good chat with her. We talked about the Restoration a bit more and were able to mostly just listen to her.  It was the 1st anniversary of her mother's passing that day and so her heart was a bit tender, so we just mostly listened to her and it was good.  She has a great testimony of Jesus Christ and so we were able to build a bit on that. 

We taught another person this week named Kailee who was taught by the last companionship that was here. There were some serious misunderstandings but she was nice enough to let us come visit her.  We had a really good lesson where we just tried to set things straight but then taught her about the Restoration (she had been taught before but she had no clue who Joseph smith was or anything). When we finished she was quite happy to have us come back and she was glad that she was better able to understand where the Book of Mormon comes from. This week we also saw Sky and she is doing well. She had been on holiday and when she came back she found out that she was getting the new job that she wanted and so she was on cloud 9. It was fun. Oh and let us not forget about Chrissie. She had her baptismal interview and passed this week and then she also had an interview with bishop (no clue what for or what about) and they both seemed quite happy about that. Bishop is a great man and I will miss working with him. I will also miss a lot of other people here in this ward. There are good people here in Burnley and they have taken good care of me.

I think that that is about the excitement of the week on my end. I was still feeling the after effects of the flu the first part of the week, so we were a bit slower this week. But I am all better now, so I can hit the ground running in Shrewsbury.  Ready or not here I come.

Love you alls!

Elder Tarbet

Caelitus Mihi Vires

My Strength is from Heaven

April 3rd—April 9th: Exchanges and a Miracle

I'm sick...again. Its ok I actually am getting better this time.

Anyway.

This week we had exchanges and I got to go with Elder Oswald who is from Toronto, Canada.  He has been infield for 3 weeks now so bless his heart he is doing pretty well. Better than I was at that point, I think. We managed only to get lost a couple of times when the plans changed that we had originally planned, but he is great. We had interviews with president on Thursday.  It was good—we talked about some different things that I need to do to make this last time successful.  It was funny because Sister Ulrich didn't realize that I went home before them but then president as soon as I walk in is like YOU'VE MADE IT!   You only have 50 days left!! You have made it! It was funny.

Miracle of the week: After the interview with president, we went to dinner with a part member family who gave us a lift to our next appointment. With the lift we had a little extra time, not much, but we went to try to find someone. The hard thing is that this family lives in the country a little so there aren't many track-table houses (most of them are huge and have gates) so we were walking along trying to find a house and we are running out of time. We find one and so we knock. The lady looks through the window and she did not look so happy. So I brace myself for the onslaught. She was actually quite pleasant—we find out that she loves Jesus Christ but is nondenominational. We share with her about a modern prophet, she was fascinated. We share with her the Book of Mormon, once again she is very intrigued with why she has never heard that there is a prophet on the earth today telling people to read a book she has never heard of. So we left her with a copy of the book and a return appointment for Thursday. This time we were smart enough to give her Mormon.org and LDS.org so she didn't find the dodgy stuff of youtube and google.

So yeah, that's my week. Saturday and Sunday, I was pretty dead. I made the first half of church and even managed to walk there by myself, but we then got taken home by the ward mission leaders because I looked so unwell. I felt pretty unwell so I was just grateful for the lift. I just had the nasty flu/cold thing that is going around but for some reason it really effected my balance and just motor senses. Oh well, I'm feeling better now so no worries for me.

Love you all!

Elder Tarbet

Caelitus Mihi Vires

My Strength is from Heaven

Pictures from the Mission Historical Tour and Pendle Hill

March 20th—April 2nd: Mission Historical Tour and a Conference Surprise!

Right so these last two weeks. I guess it's catch up time. The only problem is that it has been pretty unexciting and I have no idea what to write. 

So this week we had the mission historical tour, hence why I didn't email, and that was a lot of fun. It was the third one that I went too.  It made me feel really old since we were the most senior missionaries there. It was a good experience though. It was fun because two of the major stops in the tour are Downham and Chatburn, which are both in our area. The previous day we had also hiked Pendle hill which was good fun. Pendle hill is the place where George Fox had his vision that started the Quakers. It is also famous for witches (see picture). It's very pretty from the top but the pictures didn't turn out because it was in a cloud and mega windy so you can't really see much of them. We went up a path called the steps (made me think of Lord of the Rings) and it is literally just stone steps up the side of this hill (mini mountain).

Other things of interest this week are we had a couple of good lessons with Chrissy but we have to postpone her baptism for the 29th of April because she is in France the week before and so her date got messed up.

We didn't have many come to conference, just the Sunday afternoon session (Saturday afternoon on tape delay) got about 6 people besides us that came to watch it. The big shocker was that 2 of them were a less active couple of 30+ years. First time in the church in all that time. Really neat. They were really glad to be there and very warm with the other members and us. She said that she wants to come back to church if her husband is willing. Hopefully that all works out [the home teachers were a huge influence here—a story worthy of a general conference talk].

So general conference was great. I loved Elder Eyring and Elder Uchtdorf's talks from Priesthood (I think)—they were so great. I got to see all of the sessions except Sunday afternoon. I will be reading that when it comes available. 

Yeah so that's about my week. I got my phone call from the office just now asking about my departure plans so I am officially going on the 31st. 

That's all folks.

Love ya

Elder Tarbet

Caelitus Mihi Vires 

My Strength is from Heaven

March 26th—English Mother's Day

Life Lately

Elder Cottrell must have practiced growing up! 

Elder Cottrell and Elder Tarbet

Elder Tarbet and Jackie

March 13th—March 19th: New Transfer with Elder Cottrell

New transfer. So this transfer I am serving with Elder Cottrell from Garland, Utah. He has been out for 6 months and this is his second area. He is a good kid (I say "kid" because he's only just turning 19 on Wednesday!!) and has a great desire to do missionary work. It has been a night and day difference from last transfer and I am absolutely exhausted.  I've never been more tired in my life. Even when I was really ill last year and was falling asleep at the drop of a hat, I still feel more tired. It's just deeper now.  But we have been working hard this week. We haven't really found any new investigators but we have found some less actives to work with. One is a really lovely girl named Sky.  She was baptised about 3-4 years ago but had moved and slipped away from the church. Well, she referred herself on mormon.org and wants to try coming back to church as soon as she can change her job. We also had dinner with bishop again this week on Friday. The bishop and his wife are fantastic, such a great example to me. The bishop took us to meet a less active lady that lives out by them and we talked about how we can help her.  She wants to be retaught all of the lessons again. That makes 2 less active that have just appeared out of no where who want to be retaught. There might be something in this. We are also just trying to find new people to teach. Of the people that we have, Alisha's nan Carol is doing the best. we just really need to get her to church. I think that once that happens she will get baptised.

Other exciting things:
Elder Cottrell is lactose intolerant, which keeps things interesting.
Alisha gave us ghost chili wings which destroyed out mouths.
It has been horrible weather this weekend and we all got drenched.
I think that I know more missionaries that are home than are still out (that scares me and makes me feel super old).
I saw Jackie today and it was fantastic. She is such a great lady. Love her to bits.

I think thats all.  My emails seem to get shorter every week.
Love ya lots!!!

Elder Tarbet
Caelitus Mihi Vires
My Strength is from Heaven

March 6th—March 12th: Transfers and A Good Talk with the Bishop

This week has flown! It's already transfers as well. I will be staying in Burnley and Elder Koh will be going to Ashton. I will be getting an elder that I know nothing about and so it will be a chance to meet him. He has been serving with Elder Morgan whom I trained so it should be interesting. This week I had an exchange with Elder Anderson from Canada (he's the district leader; and is different from the Elder Anderson that is the zone leader) and it was really good. It's just a 4 man district and all 4 of us have been struggling with unity and working with our companions. It was good to just talk to him and "clear the air" so to speak. It was good to discuss with each other how we can help our companions and how we can be better. It was really good. He's a good missionary. He is going to be training this transfer.
The other major thing that happened this week was that we had a really good discussion with the Bishop. He is a brilliant bishop, one of the best I've served around. We talked about the work; we talked about how we can work better as a companionship; we talked about the Priesthood. I think that was the best part. There is so much that I do not know about it. He gave us the challenge to study it more and then he gave me a blessing at the end and in it he told me to understand the priesthood and to live worthy of it. So for the last few days I've been studying section 121 of doctrine and covenants (again, love those sections 121-123) and also have been really pondering what it means to hold the priesthood. What the Priesthood means to me and to others. and so I have a question for each of you. If you were to share with me one thing that you are grateful for about the priesthood or were to explain something to me about it that would be wonderful. I want to hear about it from your different perspectives in addition to my own study.
Nothing else too exciting happened this week—most of the appointments that we had set up fell through which is a pain. Joe came to church again with his dad so that was good. His dad told us that he isn't interested just wanted to have a look around. A seed is planted.

Well hope that you all have a great week!
Love you lots!

Elder Tarbet
Caelitus Mihi Vires
My Strength is from Heaven

Pictures of Recent

Elder Koh after stripping wall paper

The great orm in Llandudno

My trainer going home

My Pie!

February 27th—March 5th: A Busy Week with Unexpected Meetings

Hello!

This week has been kinda eventful (nice change).  Time is really speeding up and it is strange. Right, anyway, this week. Beware my brain is super frazzled today so I hope that at least some of this makes sense.

So we taught Carol on Tuesday and it was a pretty decent lesson. The lesson was not totally focused because there was a lot going on around the house but it was good. We talked about the Plan of Salvation. It's so simple but yet is so profound. I love it.

Wednesday—we had the doorbell ring at about 9 in the morning and it was the zone leaders. Very unexpected. They wanted to go on an exchange with us. I went with Elder Tate which was good. I didn't really know him at all, so it was a good chance to kinda get to know him a little. It put the whole idea in a bit better light than the last time I had zone leaders show up to go on exchanges randomly. 

Thursday—we found a new friend named Tom. First person that we have really found since I've been here. We were just tracting and he answered the door.  We talked to him for a little then just gave him a Book of Mormon, super awkwardly, and he just looked at us and said, "So...you want me to read this...?" Such an awful door approach.  He invited us to come back in an hour though and that went a lot better.  He invited us in and we had a good chat about the book and answered some of the questions that he had. We are going to see him on a week from Thursday—just enough time for him to get very acquainted with our dear friend google and youtube :/

Friday—we got a call at about 10:30 from President, "Elders, I want you to meet me at the Chorley chapel at 2:30. You need to get a ride to save time."  We were scrambling all morning to get the stuff done that we needed to and get to Chorley. Luckily, members are really nice and we managed to find a lift. We had a good interview with President and he gave us more things to work on.

Saturday was pretty boring. Nothing particularly exciting happened.

Sunday was good.  We had a broadcast stake conference.  Elder Ballard was the principal speaker and Elder Clayton and Elder Dykes spoke as well.  The second councillor in the Relief Society spoke and they were all quite good.  I think that the best part of it was Elder Ballard said to find those quiet moments to "be still and know that I am God." Sound advice. 

So thats been about the week 

Love y'all

Elder Tarbet

Caelitus Mihi Vires

My Strength is from Heaven

February 20th—February 26th: A Busy Week of Tracting

Hello all!!!
This week has been pretty straightforward. Lots and lots of finding. We are still trying to build our teaching pool.  We are having very little success at the time being though and so we keep trying. Some of the members are starting to make a bit of progress with people and so that will hopefully bare fruit at some point. We did teach the couple of people that we have. Joe, Chrissy, and Jessica.
Joe—He has a few things that are holding him back but he seems to have a sincere desire to be baptized and to come to church and do all of those things.   We will keep working with him but he has to keep trying too.
Chrissy—She is 13 and a bundle of energy.   She is really pretty spot on though with what we are teaching and she gets it really quickly.   Sometimes it is chaotic to teach her, but she is so funny and her mom is a less active so some people at church know her and they all think that she is great. The trick is just teaching her for now.
Jessica—She is someone that Elder Koh and Elder Berretta found and had kinda dropped off the radar until recently.  We just had a lesson with her yesterday.  She is so open and sincere.  She wants to know so bad and she seems to have a lot of potential if she has the real intent.
Well, that's basically been my week. Besides those lessons we spent most of the week tracting. Living the dream.
OH! I made pumpkin pie today!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I totally forgot to bring my camera so I can't send you pictures today but will try to next week.

Love you all!

Elder Tarbet
Caelitus Mihi Vires
My Strength is from Heaven

February 13th—February 19th: All or Nothing

This week has been really pretty boring as far as missionary work goes. We have just been finding all week this week with almost no success. We did meet a man on Saturday that was really nice and was willing to have us come back. That was solid. He was just outside modifying his car while we were tracting and so I got talking to him about his car and what he was doing.  Well, we talked to him for a while about different things and then at the end left him with a Plan of Salvation thing and said we would see him next week. Still really not that interesting but it was pretty much the highlight of the week. 

This week I have been contemplating a lot about the concept of submitting to the will of the Father. It is pretty hard, but also a very simple concept. It is something that I really am seeking to do. I am here on His mission so I might as well be doing it his way. Easier said than done. When I tried it at first, it didn't feel any different but after a few days I just got this feeling—all or nothing. You cannot hold back. I think that is really telling. How often have I tried to do things His way and yet still held back things and said I'll do it your way but... well now I am trying to to it His way and it has made things a bit better this week. It was still a long boring week, but I'm able to get through it because that's what Heavenly Father wants me to do right now. My challenge to all of you is to in your prayers ask Heavenly Father what He wants you to do and then have the faith to carry it out.

Love you all!

Elder Tarbet

Caelitus Mihi Vires

My Strength is from Heaven

February 6th—February 12th: Testifying of the Simple Truths of the Gospel

  This week has been pretty straightforward. There were a few fun bits, so I will just briefly cover them and then try and to better with personal emails. 

   So a lot of people this week have had some interesting questions but 2 of them were great because of the response that we got from them. The first was a lady that was asking, "Why do bad things happen? Where was God when my Mother was dying, my dog died, and my daughter had meningitis, all in the space of 4 months?" The only response that I could think to give was the one that I simply believe—he was there crying with you, he hurt just as bad as you did because he knew that you hurt. She really liked that answer.  She told us that we were the first people that had been able to answer that question.  I thought it was a pretty simple and maybe even a lame answer but she liked it. 

   The next question was fun as well. I don't really understand it though. Another lady asked if this was Heaven or Hell? We just said that this is mortality and then went on to explain the basics of the Plan of Salvation. It was really nice actually. We didn't get a return appointment with her but she was friendly and really happy that we were the only ones that could. Once again, nobody seemed to be able to answer that question.

   This week has been mostly tracting and trying to find new people to teach with little success. The Jehovah's Witnesses are very active in this area and so most of the places around here have been knocked a thousand times over by them so as soon as people see us they either shut of the door or don't open the door and hide. It is frustrating.

   Other exciting news is that we are teaching a lady named Carol who is one of the recent convert's grandma, so that is nice. 

Thats been about the week.

Hope that you are all well!

Elder Tarbet

Caelitus Mihi Vires

My Strength is from Heaven

January 30th—February 5th: Back Again Among the English

Right so I am now back in England!  

  This week has been pretty interesting. I am completely and totally lost though. I have no sense of direction here. I had kind of gotten used to the mountains as being a direction and also I am very used to the ocean as my direction as well but now they are both gone. No more coast for me. Burnley is a good sized collection of town/small cities. They are mostly just housing estates all around.  The flat that we are in is right in the centre of the town and so it makes getting around reasonably easy, which is nice. The Chapel is just a short walk away as well.   

   The ward here is pretty good sized—about 60-70 I would say.  Big difference from good ol' Colwyn haha.  We have an interesting teaching pool at the time being. The ones that I have met have very mixed potential.  We have a man that is dated for baptism but has a few things to fix still. Then the rest of our teaching pool here is mostly trying to convert us to whatever it is that they believe. We had some great chats with Jehovah's Witnesses. They have very different beliefs. I'm not to sure about this area yet, but I'm sure that I will find the reason for me to be here but it's not too obvious yet.  

   Elder Koh is from Spain but was originally born in Singapore. He came out the same time as me and he has been here with Elder Berretta for 6 months and so I am the definite stranger here. He is really, really quiet which is a big switch for me from Elder Cossa who was always quite animated.  Love ya lots!

Elder Tarbet

Caelitus Mihi Vires

My Strength is from Heaven

January 23rd—January 29th: Onward to a New Area and a Date for Emma's Baptism

  Right, so this week is transfers.   I will be going to Burnley to serve with Elder Koh, he came out at the same time as me but was really quiet in the MTC and so I don't know him too well.  The scary thing is that this could easily be my last area. Lucky 7! Companion number 11.
  So this week has been good. We had a lesson with Josh and Christina whilst I was on exchanges with Elder Plaizier from Bountiful, Utah (home sweet home).  It was an interesting lesson. We talked a lot about forgiveness and about the Atonement. That is a topic that I love to talk about.  I could talk about it for ages. It has been just a great and powerful influence in my life. I am so grateful that I've gotten to learn so much about it while I've been here in the UK.
  The big news of the week is that Emma now has a date for baptism. We are super excited for her. She set the goal for the 25th of February. She just has to overcome smoking. We still have a hard time meeting with her regularly but we set up a calendar with her that should hopefully help the new missionaries. She didn't come to church yesterday, which was a let down. All good. She really wants to go through with it all so we are praying for her success.
  Saturday, I went to the doctor's about my migraines.  The doctor explained what it was that creates migraines but he didn't know what is specifically causing mine. He just said that I would need to kinda figure that out.   He said to just avoid caffeine or any kind of stimulants—chocolate, cheese (weird but thats what he said), stuff like that.   He said it could be anything but those are typical.   It will just be a game of dealing with them if they happen.  He said that there are other things that they can do, but for right now with where I'm at he recommended that I just kinda plow on and not mess with any of the other stuff.  The migraine officially ended Saturday afternoon I would say so that made it a beautiful Sunday.

Love ya all and have a great week!
Elder Tarbet

Caelitus Mihi Vires
My Strength is from Heaven

January 16th—January 22nd: A Migraine and A Room Full of Questions

Hello all!

   This week has been pretty boring. I am currently on day 5 of a migraine. It's been a bit better today but the screen is destroying me so this week will be kind of short.
   On Tuesday, we went on exchanges. I went with Elder Jensen. He is so tall (6'7") but is a great missionary. We had a pretty discouraging start but stuck at it and ended up in an incredible set up. We went to help Christina with her lesson for young women's.  We started helping her (Josh was there too) when another of her friends shows up. We had been there maybe 5 minutes at this point, so Josh and Tom get talking while I kind of keep Christina on track so that we can get her through the lesson. It was not too long until Elder Jensen (who is a legend) jumps into Josh's and Tom's conversation and starts teaching the restoration "just so that you understand what we are talking about" and Josh started helping to teach too.  He had a pamphlet and was saying what he believes right along with Elder Jensen. I kept working with Christina on her lesson but was listening out of one ear.  Elder Jensen has only been out for 3 months now but is a great missionary. Then Christina's brother named Alex, who also isn't a member, comes in and is listening and asking questions. Tom then starts asking questions so me and Christina start teaching Tom while Josh and Elder Jensen and Alex are having a lesson about the Book of Mormon and Plan of Salvation. It was incredible! So much goodness going on in one room. Overall, it was a wonderful lesson. Tom left with a Book of Mormon and wants to learn more. Alex really likes us and now comes out and talks with us when we go over there. He almost came to church yesterday. He has trouble sleeping and was finally able to sleep so fair dues.
  That's about the only thing to report from this week. Thursday my head was dying and light felt like a dagger, then Friday my eyes just wouldn't communicate with my brain and my head felt like a drum. Saturday, my head was exploding again and light was the devil. Sunday I was out most of the day, but by evening my head was absolutely killing me. Today we went out, but my head is hurting really, really bad so I'm going to close. Been doing everything I know how to do to help it, but nothing seems to touch it.

Love
Elder Tarbet

Caelitus Mihi Vires
My Strength is from Heaven

Sent from my iPad

January 10th—January 15th: An Update on our Investigators

Hello Everyone! 

I hope that everyone had a great week! I believe that this is the first or second week of school for everyone? Lucky you. School has started back up here so its good to have the crazy teenagers back off the streets. This week the weather has been pretty bad for this area, high winds and just not very nice. Friday the wind was crazy, then it started to hail. It was a wonderful day of beautiful weather. Wales is so pretty though the mountains on one side and the ocean on the other. It's just great.

The people that we are working with:

Christina is doing well—Josh is really a great influence on her. He gets her to read and to come to youth and everything. Josh is really self motivated, it helps a lot.

Emma—we haven't seen all week.  She is really hard to meet with. She leaves early in the morning and gets home late at night. We have been trying to keep contact with her via text and call but that is a challenge sometimes as well. We try though. She is really enjoying the Book of  Mormon and prayer. She says that she feels great. We would love to date her for baptism but we can't ever seem to meet with her. She didn't make it to church on Sunday and we haven't been able to get ahold of her. Hope all is alright! 

We taught a man named Boo again this week. He is a bit of a philosopher, so we struggle to really go anywhere with him but he likes what we teach and what we believe. He is a really nice man, but also very busy so the struggle is once again meeting with him. 

The newest person that we have right now is a lady named Patricia and her son Antony. Patricia is in her early sixties, from Liverpool and been living here for about a year. She is super nice, not really overly keen on the gospel but enjoys having us come around and talk to her and Antony.  They are both really nice people.  

So transfers are the end of the month. I don't know if I will stay or go. I don't think that me and Elder Cossa will stay together. It's been loads of fun to serve with him but I'm not sure that they will have us both stay, might not be good for the area. We were told by one of the members that has been here for about a year that we are the most successful missionaries they had seen here, so that was a great thing to hear.  It's really slow here, we don't find many new people to teach—maybe three in a really good week. We didn't find any this week but the people that we are working with are slow and steady progressing. 

We went on exchanges this week with the elders from Rhyl. I got to go with Elder Cepeda who is from Dublin, Ireland.  I kept trying my horrible impression of an Irish man and it was good fun. I think that if anything my American accent has gotten stronger whilst I've been here.  I'm going to come home sounding Texan not English ahaha.

Love ya all.

Elder Tarbet

Caelitus Mihi Vires

My Strength is from Heaven