Week1: 1st Mission Field Letter -Southport- from Elder Starr: September 30, 2010

Hello Family!

It has been an incredible and very busy couple of days and the second day hasn't even ended yet!  Elder Jolliffe is fantastic and we have excited times ahead of us.  I will try to solve the scripture problem by the way.  My flat address is

4 The Academy

20 Manchester Rd.

Southport, Mersyd,

PR9 9HG

England

United Kingdom

My P-Day is on Monday but I was allowed to right home as soon as possible following transfers.  Elder Jolliffe is from England and is so awesome.  He has a great desire to be exactly obedient and do the work of the Lord.  We are serving in area called Southport which is outside of Liverpool.  We are a part of the Liverpool stake.  After transfer meeting, we went to flat leaving from the Liverpool station to Southport.  After walking a long ways with luggage to the flat, we finally arrived, dropped off my bags and went street contacting.  We didn't have much success but we followed that with an amazing teaching experience. 

Her name is Anna and we met with her at a member's home.  She is from Estonia and speaks Russian.  Her english is good but she has a hard time understanding sometimes what we say with words like "Atonement" and "Restoration"  We showed her "The Restoration" DVD in Russian.  We each testified to here of the truthfullness in her study of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, and the gospel.  She believes that it is all true.  She committed to baptism shorlty thereafter!  We are really excited but have a few more things to teach her.  She is scheduled for Oct. 16.  What an amazing first day it was! 

We did a little shopping today and got myself a library card so I can go on the internet for email.  Following that we did our weekly planning, had lunch, and some more weekly planning (which takes a long time).  After this email, we will be doing some more street contacting, tea (dinner), tracting, and a lesson with another investigator.  His name is Terry and has been taught all of the lessons and just need to come up with a baptisimal date that he is committed to and go over some little things.  He also has a desire to be baptized and we are excited about that.  So hopefully two for this month.  Excited for General Conference on Saturday and Sunday.  I'll miss being there with all of you though.

Keep me up to date with basketball with Colton.  Really excited to hear about that situation.  I have been praying that he and the team will have a successful year and that if it be the Lord's will Colton can have an oppurtunity to play after high school with a scholarship offer.  I don't have a left foot baby hook In Soccer) yet.  In fact, my left foot is terrible.  Some of the lingo I dont understand but most I do and am starting to get used to using those words everyday.  I have been working on not using slang (not bad words slang) and have done a good job of it thus far as it is one of the mission rules. 

I pray for you everyday and love you all!  May Heavenly Father bless you in all you do.  Thanks for sending all of those things to the mission! 

Love,

Elder Starr/King Cam/Son/Brother

P.S. I got Tom and Lonni's letter and all of the kids as well.  I'm pretty sure their letter sat at the mission home for a while until I got into the field. 

Week 1: Mission Field: Letter & Photos From the President

Dear Parents,

Your son has arrived to the England Manchester Mission (EMM) safe and ready to go to work as a missionary.  We held a training session Wednesday morning where we covered many things including their mission finances, their first three month training schedule, becoming a “Sacred Missionary” and the EMM vision and guiding principles.  We concluded with a testimony meeting and afterwards Sister Bullock fed the group a warm hearty meal.  I held a personal interview with each missionary and we then transported them to the Manchester Stake Center where they were introduced to their first companion and trainer. 

As parents, the most important thing you can do for your son is to be supportive and encouraging.  The first month or two can be challenging for a missionary with many adjustments in their life.  But it normally does not take long until they capture the full vision of their calling, gain a love for the people of the U.K. and get lost in the work. 

Please be supportive of the church’s policy on communications which allows missionaries to send and receive emails only with family members which in addition to the immediate family includes grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.  Anyone not part of the family must communicate through letters.  Occasional efforts by some to circumvent this policy, such as family members forwarding personally directed emails from non-family members, are outside the spirit of this principle. 

We often talk and train on the principle of “Becoming a Sacred Missionary.”  While it is good to be an Honorable Missionary, there is higher principle and that is becoming a Sacred Missionary.  This involves many things but it primarily is a commitment by the missionary to purify and sanctify their life and fully commit their heart and soul to their mission.   The happiest and most effective missionaries are those who limit thoughts of their pre-mission life, put the world behind them and get completely lost in the work of serving the Lord.  Your encouragement and support of this will help your son grow personally, gain a greater depth of spiritually and impact the lives of others. 

Attached you will find a picture of your son  with Sister Bullock and me in front of the mission home and a picture of his first companion and trainer.  Sister Bullock and I have three sons who have served missions with another one currently in the Japan Tokyo Mission, so we fully understand the emotions and joys that you are going through right now.  Know that we love the missionaries in the England Manchester Mission and watch over them with care.  May the Lord bless you during this wonderful time of your life.

With warm regards,

President Bullock

England Manchester Mission

Elder Starr w/ President and Sister Bullock

Elder Starr and Elder Jolliffe from England

Week 3: MTC Letter: September 28, 2010

Hello Family,

Just letting you know that I am getting picked up by the A.P.'s tomorrow (Tuesday), so the MTC has given us only 15 minutes to write.  I dont know if Ill be able to write home unfortuantely tomorrow due to the fact it is transfer day.  So dont be suprised if I dont write tomorrow.  

Pretty excited about the experience of finally getting out there with a wee bit of nervousness.  I hope everything is going okay with ya'll. As an MTC, we went tracting for 4 hours the other day and I will give you the details on that later.  It was not quite as good as street contacting but still a great experience.  We have played a lot of football since I have been here and have really started to enjoy it.  I've had two goals in two games but I dont know if thats really saying much with some of the athletes we have here. 

I'm excited to finally get the oppurtunity to meet President Bullock.  I've been looking forward to meeting him for quite a while now.  I have a feeling he will be fantastic.  I hope that my companion is awesome and will teach me a lot of what I need to know.  Im praying that he will be a good example to me. 

I love you with all my heart and look forward to hearing from you soon.  I pray for you everyday as  you continue to pray for me.  Thank you for them.  I truly feel your prayers each day and how much strength they really give me.  

I love and miss you!  I know that God will bless you in all you do! 

Elder Starr/King Cam