Friday, December 27, 2013

Sing, choirs of angels

Oh my days. That was amazing. 
Being choir director was the most fun I've had since being trained with elder Luna and Dixon. It was magnificent... I wish you all could have heard it. 
Eh, not too much else exciting. On boxing day, we played "Zombies!!!" which was great fun... hundreds of zombies on the board... >:D

I loved one message John "the pigeon man" said - we focus too much on the birth of Christ with crèches and miss the huge important part that he suffered for our sins, and made a way for us to live with god again. 
He'll be a mormon one day... 

But I love you all, and hope you had a fantastic Christmas, and I wish yous a happy new year! :) 
With love, from
 Elder William Kevin Black

Me in an octet, singing O come emmanuel: 
Me, elder scheuermann, boehme, heidler, south, sewell, hunter, neilson
The whole gang: 

Monday, December 16, 2013

Hit by a bus

I'm fine though... More accurately, I hit the bus... 
I just mistimed how long it would take for the bus to pass, and sort of walked into the rear end as it drove by. I spun a few times, rolling off the back, but kept my footing. XD So I learned a lesson about looking before I cross the street. 

GAH. So this is crazy. I'm in the mission home right now, and I'LL BE TOURING ALL OF SCOTLAND IN A TRAVELLING CHOIR. And just a few minutes after we arrived in Edinburgh, I was chosen as choir director, so I'll get to lead the missionary choir on to victory! So I'll be gone all this week, having a blast travelling with other musically inclined missionaries!!!!! ^0^

Earlier, we went caroling (the four kilmarnock missionaries) in a wee pub with a few old people, who clinked their keys along with our singing. It was great, because I got to choose the starting note - so for the first time in my life, I could sing all the christmas carols! XD

We finally have a great progressing investigator, who had us for dinner, and is really brilliant. Heaps of other good things have happened, but I'm a tad pressed for time here. 
So I love you all, and am so blessed to know yous! 
Enjoy life, dearies! 
 Elder William Kevin Black

Monday, December 9, 2013

Time is always so fleeting...

So we got to go on splits with the young men of the Kilmarnock ward, which went fine, though it was windy and snowey, to the point that a lot of stuff in the city broke... x)

We had someone ask for a church tour, which went brilliantly. Barry said he felt like home, and when he stepped into the chapel, he felt the spirit warm him, which he told us durring our lesson about the restoration. He said he felt Deja vu so strongly, and he felt all we had taught was true!! Sop Barry is our first solid new investigator! 
Someone who we were supposed to teach was sick, so we brought him a can of chicken soup, which really surprised him! XD The look on his face was priceless... 
I had maybe the most delicious dessert I've ever had before... here you go! 

Margaret Stowe's Apple Crumble
Slice up 4 apples, coer in 500g sugar, cook 5 min in oven
mix 200g plain flour, 250g butter, 500g sugar together, rub together aerating it and making it into wee crumbs
set oven to gas mark 3 (170C), let cook for 2hrs
mix custard with milk and pour over finished crumble

Sorry for using grams instead of other measurements... it works out to roughly
3 cups sugar (twice), 2 cups flour, 1 stick butter, 325 deg F

So I have two voice files attached, an early Christmas present to my dad especially, and for the rest of yous. It's me playing a song I love: "Now the Day is Over" Enjoy! 

Thanks for writing and reading! :) I pray you all have a brilliant week! :D
Ta ta for now! :) 
 Elder William Kevin Black

The lovely Christmas cards we got from the bishop's family:

The view out our window in the mornings: 

Faith makes things possible, not easy. True words... 

Cheerio! :D

Monday, December 2, 2013

Eh heh - already posted that one.

Have a failed jump instead! 

 Elder William Kevin Black

Should have posted it months ago...

Here's a picture of me on a P-day, back in Dublin! :D
 Elder William Kevin Black

Patience is golden

So this week was a bit rouch, physically, but spiritually, it was great! :D
We spent a lot of time knocking doors, which is sort of a last resort for missionaries: idealy we spend our time teaching people, not finding people on their doorstep. But we've been doing heaps of it, and have gotten a few good responses, including a woman initially said "not interested, I'm catholic" but when she listened to us, she began tearing up as we told Joseph Smith's vision, and readily accepted and commited to read the book of mormon. 

You may be wondering what a missionary like me would like for Christmas! 
Not Chocolate, really. UK chocolate is much better... =w= 
Burt's Bees! I miss that stuff... 
Like Dumbledore, I'd love thick woolen socks. They make life much more bearable. 
A deep blue soft warm scarf. I love scarves...
Any orchestral music, especially soundtracks, like how to train your dragon, or similar stuff. 
And I heard of a universal remote control watch, which I could turn off someone's TV with remotely... That would be awesome. 
But you know me better than I know me. 
What I think I'd love most of all though, would be a physical heartfelt letter, maybe with a picture of you enclosed...


Yeah. So. Epic spiritual story time. 
There was a member who hadn't been to church in a long time. He knew the church was true, but was going to the church of scotland. So! He needed to come back. After we taught him clearly that if the book of mormon was true, then the prophet is true, which means the church is true, so he needed to be at our church. Then we invited him to church. 
Silence. 
We could all feel the spirit very strongly, and we knew that he could feel it too. We told him this, and again invited him to come to church. 
Silence. 
This time for five minutes. Then I felt the spirit prompt me to say the following words - it was like an overwhelming need to say it, which I can't really describe... So I said: 
"Alan Cairns: in the name of Jesus Christ, we command you to return to church." Then I said something like: God needs you at this time in his church, and your concerns will be resolved as you come. Will you come to church? 
Then it was pure silence for 30 minutes. We simply looked at him, waiting for an answer. He stared at the ground, and gave several silent prayers. Later, we talked about how we knew he'd turn on the lights (it was 4:30, and the sun was setting) then go to the window to think. He then proceeded to do those things, and just as he was about to give us an answer, his friend burst into the house, and answered for him that he had to ring the bell for the church of scotland, and wouldn't come. Alan never said himself he wouldn't come; he knew that he had felt the spirit and couldn't deny it. 
But his pride got the better of him, and he chose not to come. 

Epic story number two, in brief, because otherwise I'd be here hours:
I was on the phone for 2 hours 13 minutes with a man who basically said he was at a point in his life where he was ready for change, and he was willing to do whatever we asked for as long as it took, and as long as we were willing to, to come to know whether our religion was true. There's heaps of other funny things about the call, but suffice it to say, we're very excited to see him tonight, and follow up on his reading of the introduction to the book of mormon, his reading after that, and the "deep, heartfelt prayer" that he commited himself to do and report on... 
Very cool. ^0^

I love you all! I hope you have a fantastic week, my friends and family! :D Though really, I feel those terms are becoming more synonymous as time goes on... 

Cheers! :3
 Elder William Kevin Black

Here's some Christmas cards we got... 

And me with my best friend Haggis! 

Though I know now what's in it, I'm still in love with it... But I could feel my body getting less healthy by the second... xP

Monday, November 25, 2013

GAH. I HAVE NO TIME TODAY.

But I'll try nonetheless. 
So! This week has been much better! Still no solid people we're teaching, and no one in Scotland keeps appointments we make... 
but it's been fun, and I've been having the time of my life! :D

Quick message on what letters mean to missionaries: THE WORLD
Even just a short message via email is great. Seeing that anyone remembers us is really nice. I love getting your letters! Thank you so much! :D 


Anywho. Here's a semi-typical view, when we were out kn ocking doors


And me and elder goldie! 
Cheers!



 Elder William Kevin Black

Fwd: Because I care

Here's a great shot of me and Elder Goldie being epic! 
 Elder William Kevin Black

Monday, November 18, 2013

A Dash of sunlight

Well, I've learned that it doesn't rain every single day here! This has been such a good revelation! Still, it is very wet. And dark. BUT! This does not diminish our spirits!
But people never keep appointments. Ever. It's really frustrating. But it's okay - we still meet up with them - they just don't see appointments as important or binding in any way... x) 

Some of my favorite people in the world are atheists with good morals. They are so cool - they just decide to be kind and friendly just because it's a nice thing to do! They have been some of the nicest people ever. 

So! Exciting story of the week! A drunk man sort of charged at us, while I was on exchange in Irvine. It would have been terrifying if he weren't short, stout, and running like a penguin. I just stood there confused while my companion ran for it. But I'm alive! :D He stopped running after a few feet, as if he changed his mind about it... 

Scottish word of the day: cuddle [v]: to hug
A member asked my companion if he cuddled his grandma, which sounds funny to Americans, but the Scots couldn't see why we were laughing so much. XD So give someone a cuddle for me! 

European chocolate is so much better than American chocolate. It's much more pure and tasty and delicious and ... you really need to experience it for yourself. In comparison, our chocolate is really waxy and blech.  

I pray you're all doing well, and have a great week! Thank you for reading, replying, or just saying hi! I love even getting short messages from you - it's good to know that you haven't fallen off the side of the earth. x) 

Oh, and one more complaint: people who say they "believe in science" What the does that even mean? No self-respecting scientist would say that... I mean, believe in the results of science, but those who use that prase never know much about science. It's frustrating to have to deal with these people who try to teach me about the big bang and evolution, when I already believe in them, and know more about them than they do. It is hard to keep calm, and just pretend I don't want to slap them. But I'm getting better at it! :D I've been much more tolerant of the less informed recently than I was in the first few weeks in Limerick. 

So keep on being awesome! Sorry no photos today - I forgot my USB cable. >.<

Cheers! :) 
 Elder William Kevin Black

Monday, November 11, 2013

Guess what time it is! 
It's only two o'clock! :D 
This is about the brightest it gets here... As you can tell, the sun is very low... 
Cheers!
 Elder William Kevin Black

From the Land of Eternal Twilight

Cheers, my dears! 
I hope you're all doing well, enjoying your normal human lives... 
I've been enjoying being up north. The main downside of being so far north is the absolute lack of sunlight. At "high" noon, the sun isn't even above the houses, so it always feels really late at night. And the sun is completely gone by 4pm, so the night is long here... 

So welcome to the month of Movember, as it is called here, short for moustache-november. This is simply a lower form of No-shave-november, where citizens of the british isles grow out moustaches. X) 

So this week was a tad disappointing. Out of the 12 appointments with people we had set up, only one went through - and it was the one we were least confident would be there! *shrugs* Shows what we know. X) 

People here are /way/ friendly at the door! We've been instantly invited in at so many doors, whereas in Ireland, people hardly even open the doors, and are very brisk with you. Similarly, irish people are way friendly on the street, but so far scottish people are really cold on the street. Yet another mystery of life... X) 
On a similar note, it's perfectly okay to just chap* a door, and walk in, if you know the person. You don't wait for an answer even, and just barge in. XD So many times here, people have just called "Come in!" and we sort of awkwardly shuffle about until they come to the door like a normal american. X) 

I am absolutely convinced that sleep makes you more tired. I've been waking up earlier, and going to sleep later, yet I feel much more awake than I have for many years. 0-0 It's weird... But like the scriptures say, getting up early clears your mind, and invigorates your mind! (Assuming you're going to sleep at a reasonable hour) 

Thanks for all the letters you write! :) Even if it's just a line or two, I really appreciate anything I get! 
Enjoy life, my friends! :D
 Elder William Kevin Black

Monday, November 4, 2013

Kilmarnock

On a sunny day, that is: 

Kebabs!

Me enjoying a scottish kebab! [Sorry for poor quality]

Fwd: Photos


Fwd: Photos

A beautiful bridge over a root beer river: 

Derpy would be proud.

So. Kilmarnock is small. Very small in comparison to Limerick. 
And dark. As I type, the sun is setting at 3:36. And the first three days we were here, it was raining nonstop. So we were very wet. 
AND I MISSED HALLOWEEN. I don't mean I didn't get to celebrate it; I was ready for that. I mean the holiday didn't happen. The people of Kilmarnock celebrate Halloween on the fourth friday of october, so by the time I was here, it was over. So I missed halloween completely... 

So my new companion is Elder Goldie! I'll get yous a picture later, but he's cool. He's quite a bit like me, just a bit less nerdy. XD He actually has the same birthday as me! 4 March 1994! So we're exactly the same age! And he was at BYU the same time I was, in Fall 2012, which is why I remembered seeing him before... 
Unfortunately, he's quite a bit like me, which means we're both a bit more introverted and quiet, so it's a bit more of a task for us to talk to people on the street and in lessons. But we get along well, and have heaps in common. 

So my mailing address (just for post, not parcels) is: 
1/2 6 Jeffery St. 
Kilmarnock
KA1 4EB
Scotland

As for the title, I haven't seen more wall-eyed people in my life than I have in Kilmarnock. So many people have derpy eyes here... X) 
And the people are really cheeky. But they're way friendly, once you're talking with them. Before then though, they are pretty reclusive, and never initiate conversations on the street, and don't always reply if I say hi to them, which is pretty different from Limerick. 

So I hope you all have had a fantastic week! I love getting your emails and post, and I hope you're all doing smashingly! :D 
Cheers! :) 

* For exclusive content, check out the blog, at williamblackmission.blogspot.com
 Elder William Kevin Black

Fwd: Harley Davidson

This is a letter I typed for elder Walker, before I left Limerick. Enjoy! :D
 Elder William Kevin Black

Dear Family, this is Shaun. 

All right.  *clears throat* 
This week, in Limerick, was a great one! 
On Tuesday, we went down to Tralee for their district meeting. Tralee is a very small and pitiful branch, kind of like Sligo. Needless to say, the missionaries there sometimes struggle - but it was great to be there with them, and hopefully cheer them up a bit. 

---
Oh Brother. 
After we got back into Limerick, we drove to Kilkee, to someone who we thought was an investigator, but turned out to be the father of a recent convert. It was almost two hours away, but they did feed us. And it was raining really hard, and the roads were really narrow. They live on the west coast of Ireland, and you could see the ocean. They were very grateful to have us in their home. because of their distance, they have limited contact with the church. They are the Clark family. Tim, the father is not a member, but hopefully in the future, we will work with him. 
On Wednesday, we spent about an hour trying to print off our plane tickets at the church for mission leadership conference on Thursday. ... Church computers are terrible. Like this one. Maybe they are built to build patience in missionaries. Ha. Ha. Ha. 
After that, we went to go see the excommunicated man, who we are teaching, who is preparing for baptism. We watched prophet of the restoration with him, and he fed us the best spaghetti I have ever had in my entire life. 
And then, we left Elder Black in Limerick with someone from the other trio, and elder luna and I went to the club. I mean, I mean, Dublin Zone Leader's flat. I slept on a bed made of couch cushions. It was not the most comfortable. 
By the way, my companion, elder Black, is typing this email as I speak! He is a much faster typer than me. 

On Thursday, I woke up at 4am to get to the Dublin airport, uh once we got on the plane, I fell asleep for the whole ride. It was great. But my neck hurt when I woke up. It's only like 45 minutes. 
We arrived in Edinburgh and were picked up in the mission van in the airport by the Edinburgh Zone Leaders. They took us back to the mission home, for a delicious mission home continental breakfast. 
We were there very early, for the conference, so we helped set everything up. Most of leadership council was about logistical things, that we have to do as zone leaders, and how we can be more effective with it. Then during the council portion of the meeting, we talked a lot about the happiness of missionaries around the mission, and how we can help them... 
and at lunch time, we ate at a table with President Brown. It was just Elder Luna and I, and President and Sister Brown on a little table next to the giant mission home table. We talked about the excommunicated man we're teaching, and President Brown said he would make it a priority to get his records ---I don't know how to say that--- get his records of excommunication? So hopefully, he will be cleared to be rebaptised within weeks! 

After the conference was over, we had loads of time before our flight, so all the irish zone leaders ran errands for President Brown and the office staff. 
Luckily for Elder Luna and I, we were asked to pick up President Brown's car from the repair shop ---this is going to be my longest email ever!--- We got there, and elder Hansen, one of the mission office senior couples, dropped us off with --er-- and no, we had the keys. And we got in president Brown's car, and tried to turn it on for about ten minutes! hahahh We had to find the instruction manual, hahah. Needless to say, it's the nicest car I've ever driven. It was so posh, that you didn't even have to use keys to start it. 
I probably drove about five miles per hour all the way to the mission home. 
We got back, and Elder Hansen wondered what took us so long. 

Then we had dinner with President Brown, the assistants, the irish zone leaders, and President Brown's son, who is temporarily living in the mission home. 
After that, he drove us to the airport. 
We got back at like 10:35, and everyone was very very tired. 

On Friday, we had dinner with the Faloon family. They are from Australia and New Zealand. 
On Saturday, we sang hymns in city centre. 
I think Irish people hate hymns, because everyone was really mean. 
There was six missionaries there, four would sing, and two would go and talk to people, and get chewed out. We must have sounded really bad. I also played my trumpet in the city centre. It echoed a lot because of all the buildings. 
That evening, we celebrated MANOK which stands for moves anticipation night of kebabs! So while we were doing the district report, which is a report we send to the district president with all the various ... missionary ... things ... We ordered some kebabs. They were delicious. But the next day during church, I had to run for the bathroom! hahah
I hope everyone gets the blessing of consuming a kebab someday in their lifetime. 

Sunday was great: we sang for Elder's Quorum, and we went to President Murphy's for dinner (he is the district president). 
Before church, I called and asked a member if they would bring someone that we were working with to church, and he got mad at me, and told me that we [irish / european members] don't give rides to people to church. 
I was... pretty upset. Thankfully, most people in the branch are more willing to help. 

All Sunday night, I was a nervous wreck, waiting for moves, call, and I 
couldn't focus on anything. Finally, moves call came, at around half eight. 
Elder Black is moving to Kilmarnock, in Scotland; Elder Luna is moving - not too far - to Dublin; and I will be serving with a missionary whose name is Harley Davidson. 
Loads of people are moving this moves. 
Elder Thompson, who might move to Utah, with us, will be in my zone. I'll finally get the chance to go on some exchanges with him. 

Anyway. Today, we've been sitting at the computer for five hours! along with all the other Zone Leaders, arranging travel plans for the entire mission. 

Thank you for listening! Tune in next week ... That's it. 
Shout out to Elder Black for typing this! ahahh
The End. 
I love you all. 
Thank you and good night! 

could yo forward this to everyone?


Monday, October 28, 2013

Kilmarnock!

is the place I'll be for at least the next six weeks! And I know absolutely nothing about it. It's by Paisley, and is in the SW of Scotland, which is more north than the northernmost part of Ireland. 

So here's a bit of accounting for my week: 
On Monday, we double booked, so had two lessons set up for Monday afternoon, but both fell through, right after the member called and cancelled, they didn't show. :/ So that was a disappointment. 

We saw brother O'Rourke again, the excommunicated member who is coming back - he's so humble, and is very receptive to the spirit! 

We took a 1.5hr drive out to Kilkee, a bit to the NE of Limerick. We saw a former investigator, who is basically a dry mormon - that is, follows the teachings of the church and believes them, but isn't baptised yet. But he's ready, and will soon progress. 

Uhm... I'll see if I can attach some pictures...
Eh... 
There! 
This is me and Elder Green, in Brother Kurvink's neighborhood, just sort of typical of ireland. :D 
This is Dan Crotty, also known as Dan the Man, Dan the Candyman, Willy Wonka, the Great Wuzzah, that crazy irish man, and many other names. X)  We love him to bits, and he always comes out with us when we ask, and feeds us well! :D He's also 75, despite having the spirit of a 19 year old. XD 
(my haircut was given by Elder Walker)

So I hope you're all doing well! Thank you all so much for writing me! I really appreciate all of you, and hope you're all doing well! :) 

Cheers!
 Elder William Kevin Black

Monday, October 21, 2013


And some pictures!

Here's something from ~5 wks ago, when we went to a museum with some Ireland missioanries: 
[picture forthcoming]
And something from like the second week of my mission, when all the missionaries went out to eat with the Browns, and a few members: 

 Elder William Kevin Black

Catchup, verse two

Okay. So. My mailing address will probably be different, starting wednesday next. Throughout my whole mission, you can mail to: 
Scotland/Ireland Mission
51 Spylaw Road
Edinburgh
EH10 5Bp
Scotland
and it will be forwarded to wherever I am. But I'll let you know next week what my actual address is. 

Thank you everyone for your prayers, and for your letters! They mean a lot to me, even if I don't respond immediately or ever, I really love just seeing a few of your words! 

This week was zone interview training, which was great, as was our district conference (like stake conference, but limerick district is too small) at which we got to sing Let Zion in her Beauty Rise, which went wonderfully! I may have a recording to share next week... 

We got to do a unique service: take part in someone's survey, testing our mental health! Thankfully, I passed! 

I also made pancakes for my companions, which were great, though I accidentally used twice as much lemon. Still tasted awesome though! >:D

I love you all, and am so thankful to have friends like you! :) I hope you all have a brilliant week! 
Cheers! 
 Elder William Kevin Black

Catch up, part one

first off, from last week: 

some investigators: 
Joshua - awesome indian guy into astrophysics, working on the space elevator, in finding higher strength carbon nanotubes. So much fun to talk to! 
Esau - malawi man, very sincere, in college, very fun to be with
And some other people: 
Anthony - man dealing with medical malpractice, sees irish doctors as all in conspiracy
Donal - knew that Obama was in the illuminati, and did human sacrivices
Mary - woman who came into church on whiskey or something similar, kept repeating herself, and asking nonsensical questions like "but why would you" why would you what? "yeah, but why would you?" It was really confusing. 

Uhm... Have a picture from an ex member's house, who is so ready to be baptised now: 

He's awesome, and so cool! 
 Elder William Kevin Black

Monday, October 14, 2013

Grr

I forgot my plannar which I draft my email in, so this week will be a bit abbreviated. 
So we had a family history even, which we got into the newspaper:
The response wasn't huge, but we only got the one ad into the small section there. 

But I found out I'm related to a gandolf! 



Oh, and Robert is FREEEEE!!!!! 8D
He ended up only getting a few months parole, rather than the 3-5 years they expected!
That was probably the highlight of the week...
Here's some about Elder Walker. He played trumpet in blue devils for two summers, and has a cornet he fiddles with now and then. He's quite a bit like me and elder luna in his sense of humor... X) Anywho. I love him, and wish you all the pleasure of getting to meet him someday! XD
  

Thanks to all of you who write me! :D I really appreciate anything you write, even if it's only a few lines.
Wishing all the best~
 Elder William Kevin Black

Monday, October 7, 2013

Fwd: Socialism is the plan of the devil

Said president Reed, in exasperation. XD 
There is much truth to that statement, though - the irish government gives out a dole, helping everyone, paying them for not working. The incentive not to work is so huge - it feels like most workers are foreigners here... The irish children are more often uneducated, called NEDs - non-educated delinquents. And they're more scary than drunk adults - they have no restraint or sense of consequence. 

Anywho. Sadly, the person making the most progress, Robert, the sweetest and most humble man I know, is probably going to jail for a robbery in 2006 he admitted to, despite no evidence being present. 

AND NO ONE TOLD ME AMERICA SHUT DOWN. I have absolutely no idea what's going on, and it's frustrating hearing only 3rd hand what's going on. It didn't sound too serious, but I just wish I could be more in the loop. Not that it would help me at all as a missionary. But it's just odd not hearing about it... 

So! Conference was fantastic! If you didn't see it, I highly reccomend it! 
I loved SatAM: Edward Dube, David A Bednar; Priesthood: Uchtdorf, Eyring; SatPM: Gifford Nielson, Holland, Ballard; SunAM: Eyring, Scott, Monson; and I didn't get to see the PM, since it was from 9 to 11 my time, so we'll listen to it in the car. 

And here's me and elder luna and walker in our flat! 
Meh. Nevermind. The picture wasn't loading. 
Aha! Okay, it worked! 
Have a great week everyone! :D 
 Elder William Kevin Black

Monday, September 30, 2013

Re: Phwew

So these are all the missionaries in the branch. I love them to death, and hope you all get the chance to meet them! 

Until next week! 

 Elder William Kevin Black


On Mon, Sep 30, 2013 at 2:17 PM, William Black <william.black@myldsmail.net> wrote:
So though this week felt a bit slower, it's been getting faster. 
The more I love my companions and the people of Ireland, the faster days go. 

Our trio has been getting closer, partially thanks to the great sense of humor elder Walker has. 
Not much too exciting has happened this week though... 
We got to see several muslim families, and there were a few funny moments. Like a mildly crazy man who cornered the other trio and told them jokes for a few hours, like: One shepherd said to the other, let's get the flock out of here!! 

This Saturday and Sunday, God's prophet and apostles will speak to the world in a meeting called General Conference. If you just google it, you can easily see where to watch it. I advise everyone to watch it. Bring with a notepad, and be ready to write, because all they say is relevant to today. And the world could use a bit of guideance. 

I hope you all have fantastic weeks! 
Cheers~
 Elder William Kevin Black



NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.


Phwew

So though this week felt a bit slower, it's been getting faster. 
The more I love my companions and the people of Ireland, the faster days go. 

Our trio has been getting closer, partially thanks to the great sense of humor elder Walker has. 
Not much too exciting has happened this week though... 
We got to see several muslim families, and there were a few funny moments. Like a mildly crazy man who cornered the other trio and told them jokes for a few hours, like: One shepherd said to the other, let's get the flock out of here!! 

This Saturday and Sunday, God's prophet and apostles will speak to the world in a meeting called General Conference. If you just google it, you can easily see where to watch it. I advise everyone to watch it. Bring with a notepad, and be ready to write, because all they say is relevant to today. And the world could use a bit of guideance. 

I hope you all have fantastic weeks! 
Cheers~
 Elder William Kevin Black



NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.


Monday, September 23, 2013

Transfer No 2!

So this week, we got a new companion: Elder Walker, and Elder Dixon is chilling at home with his family. 
He is much more intense, and has a bit more aggressive attitude towards missionary work, which doesn't jive much with me and elder Luna. But it works, and we had two great lessons yesterday, with Esau, an african who just walked in to the church off the street, and Connor, who is a lot like elder Luna and me. I'm more of a 'follow the spirit' guy than the business like attitude of Walker... Sort of like Qui-Gon-Jin versus young Obi-wan. x) Just different styles... 


Anyway! This week was sort of low on drama... Not much really exciting happened... X) But I got to go to Dublin for P-day, and we stopped by a nerd shop, which had loads of cool things I couldn't play with for two years.... But browsing was fun! ^0^

And we got to progress a bit with a little 8 yr old daughter of a recent convert, who was getting ready for baptism. She's clever, but really strong-willed, as her mother isn't quite strict enough. But our lesson was so much better - she didn't throw anything, and stayed sitting for almost the whole lesson!! Which was a huge improvement... 

And a few words of wisdom: Serving others is the best way to be happy. 

I love you all! Have fantastic lives!! :D
 Elder William Kevin Black

[Attached is Jaffa. (really named Jeff Kelly) He is an amazing man, a spiritual giant, and a fantastic teacher. His philosophy is to teach as the savior did, with parables. I love him to death! He has the energy of a 20 year old, despite being 45 years old... x]



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Monday, September 16, 2013

Another week, another cruel irony

So Elder Dixon is going home now, and it's just me and Elder Luna for now. He had always had the phone, but tried to pass it off to me, saying "I'll never touch it again." Of course, he broke his oath ~20 times this week, but it only mattered tomorrow - as we drove away from the train station after saying the final goodbye, we realized he still had the phone. We swung the car around, and thankfully he had missed his train by a few seconds, so we were able to get the phone back, and he took a later train. 
So like always, everything worked out. ^-^

We were lucky this last week, in getting many dinner appointments - we milked the fact that Elder Dixon was going home, and were able to get DAs nearly every day - we had to play tetris with a few, moving them around, trying to get them to fit, and even had a few lunch appointments! ^0^ So it was great. 

One of our investigators, Vinnette, has a facebook page -> "Irie-jam Boutique", and really wants to start off her business, but her page needs more likes. So if you want to help a sister out, like the page! She's jamaican, so it's even better! :D

Oh, and Elder Dixon said I was "like the powerpuff girls. And the professor. But male." X) Maybe the strangest thing I've been called, but accurate to some extent... 

I also realized why mormonism is called a cult: anyone who actually researches the church by reading the book of mormon and going to a church meeting gets converted (in a large majority of the time). So only mormons really know very much about mormons because once you learn about mormons you become a mormon. 
It's a lot like science - once you know enough science to fight against science, you become a scientist yourself. (qtd from one of my favorite parodies in the world.)

I love you all, and hope you all have fantastic weeks! :D 
Thanks for being my friends, and for being great people! 
Until next week~
 Elder William Kevin Black

[Sorry, no pictures this week. :/ I'll try to do better next week. I also lost the usb / mini usb cable I need for it anyways. So yeah... Wish me luck! :D]



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Monday, September 9, 2013

Re: I'd pick miracles over numbers any day

Oh, and pictures!! 
141 - the last view of Pegasus - but now we have Hermes! Same kind of car, but brand new, with fancy bells and whistles!! Hermes - messenger of the gods. Very fitting. ^w^
143 - double rainbow we saw directly over our flat! :D 



 Elder William Kevin Black


On Mon, Sep 9, 2013 at 1:25 PM, William Black <william.black@myldsmail.net> wrote:
Wow. Okay. So. We got a new car, which was clamped the day we got it, though it was a misunderstanding, so it was fine. 
I was called bubbly for the first time, which was odd for me. XD I always saw myself as more serious... 
So one of our investigators has a nephew who just returned from his mission, which was exciting to hear! 'Olatunbosun Borsman Anifowose' - solid african name. ALSO: See pictures of me at an african church at 'Banky Media Xpression' facebook page, run by Vinnette Golding, one of our investigators. 
A investigator named Justine agreed to come to church for the first time in about three years! It was way exciting. And she loved it, as did her kids. 
Elder Dixon (Omar Roy Collin Rashid Dixon) is going home next Sunday. He was amazing. He loved america more than me. He just glorifies it, and loves the law system in the US. 
We had eight investigators at church, which is amazing considering the previous numbers for Limerick being {0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 8} or something like that. XD

There is a great talk in oct '07 by jeffery R Holland, which talks about the godhead - we showed it to a stubborn old man, who finally got it the 200th time. Holland is boss. Check out the talk. 

I hope you all have the chance to be persecuted for your beliefs. Whether it be good or bad, it is good to be pushed against, so you can grow stronger. You have to break muscles to build them. Opposition is necessary. 
Oh, and Kebabs. Properly pronounced, this rhymes with "stabs", and is {meat, salad, sauce} all wrapped in pita bread. I highly reccomend them. =w= So good, that the first time missionaries eat them, they are considered Kebabtized. 

And elder Dixon is nearly a master of Capoeira, a sort of martial arts dance. Check it out. 

Also, it's odd not being in the main stream. We only hear news events second hand, so the whole Syria business - I haven't really heard much about what's going on... 

Anyway, love you guys, and I hope you have a fantastic week! 
Enjoy life! 
 Elder William Kevin Black



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I'd pick miracles over numbers any day

Wow. Okay. So. We got a new car, which was clamped the day we got it, though it was a misunderstanding, so it was fine. 
I was called bubbly for the first time, which was odd for me. XD I always saw myself as more serious... 
So one of our investigators has a nephew who just returned from his mission, which was exciting to hear! 'Olatunbosun Borsman Anifowose' - solid african name. ALSO: See pictures of me at an african church at 'Banky Media Xpression' facebook page, run by Vinnette Golding, one of our investigators. 
A investigator named Justine agreed to come to church for the first time in about three years! It was way exciting. And she loved it, as did her kids. 
Elder Dixon (Omar Roy Collin Rashid Dixon) is going home next Sunday. He was amazing. He loved america more than me. He just glorifies it, and loves the law system in the US. 
We had eight investigators at church, which is amazing considering the previous numbers for Limerick being {0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 8} or something like that. XD

There is a great talk in oct '07 by jeffery R Holland, which talks about the godhead - we showed it to a stubborn old man, who finally got it the 200th time. Holland is boss. Check out the talk. 

I hope you all have the chance to be persecuted for your beliefs. Whether it be good or bad, it is good to be pushed against, so you can grow stronger. You have to break muscles to build them. Opposition is necessary. 
Oh, and Kebabs. Properly pronounced, this rhymes with "stabs", and is {meat, salad, sauce} all wrapped in pita bread. I highly reccomend them. =w= So good, that the first time missionaries eat them, they are considered Kebabtized. 

And elder Dixon is nearly a master of Capoeira, a sort of martial arts dance. Check it out. 

Also, it's odd not being in the main stream. We only hear news events second hand, so the whole Syria business - I haven't really heard much about what's going on... 

Anyway, love you guys, and I hope you have a fantastic week! 
Enjoy life! 
 Elder William Kevin Black



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Monday, September 2, 2013

Traveling...

So wow. Most of this week, I spent travelling back and forth, and there was also Zone conference, so our numbers were historically low. 0-0

First, down to Cork. We did a transfer with elder South and Star, where we split up, and got to learn from new companions. Nothing much exciting happened, but it was fun to see how others were operating. 

Second, right up to Dublin. I was with elder Parry for the day, who was out six more weeks than me. It was AWESOME because A. We were walking and got to see many more people than us in Limerick do, because we only drive to appointments and B. There were two Polish people who were going to walk away from us, but I asked if they spoke german, and they stopped, and listened. ^-^ It was great. We also met a nun, which was cool. 

After driving to Dublin, then back to Limerick, then back to Dublin, then back to Limerick, I got many hours of practice driving stick. But we were out of gas on Sunday. So we walked everywhere... Which was tiring, considering no one we went by was home. Four hours of walking wasn't that fun... XP 

Oh. And last Monday night, I was kissed by a drunk man on the neck, despite my best efforts of pushing him off me. So that was a tad scarring. But he called me the handsome one out of the three of us, so I guess that's an upside... Maybe... XD

Until next week!
 Elder William Kevin Black

'best before end' Yeah, I don't like the taste of fire and brimstone in my KitKat bar. XD

Our mega-posh house in Dublin we stayed at. So posh, it was only a bit below the average American house. It even had a dishwasher! :D 





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Monday, August 26, 2013

Re: ==> ==>

Uhm... It sent early for some reason. Anyway. Back to writing. 

We met a man named Shamus Maloney who blessed my by the power of the Holy Ghost to have the word of god with me, which was nice of him, but I already had it! ;D  He was nice though, and very religious. 

We got to go to a redeemed church service, so there was a bit of noise, tamberines, yelling and dancing, but we got to see two investigators there, and one had orchestrated it, and is taking the lessons well. 
(view of Cork I took hurredly while we were there for a district meeting)

And then there was Jerry. 
Jer. 
Goodness, he was fun. We met him while we were walking back to the car.
He's really nice, and firmly believes in a god. And in quite a bit more. 
After a few seconds of good religious discussion, he asked us if we believed in dragons. 
'I mean, they certainly could have existed...'
"Well I've seen them. Up there! IN SPACE. I was on LSD at the time, but I know they're there!!"
And he went on to talk about the lizard people under our cities, and how the moon was a spaceship. 
And how he collected mushrooms, and wove a wand over them to make them magic mushrooms. 
But thank goodness he doesn't do black magic, as he said, he only does white magic. 
He tried to get a magic wand by jamming a spoon between two molars, cracking his tooth and levering it out. It didn't work this time, but he's pretty confident it will work later on... 
And Zeus is really god. 
Yeah... It was fun talking to him. It's sad how much drugs have hurt his life, but he was still really nice, and was charitable. 

So that was my week! :D 
Enjoy life! 

 Elder William Kevin Black


On Mon, Aug 26, 2013 at 12:34 PM, William Black <william.black@myldsmail.net> wrote:
So this week has been fun! 
I've started learning stickshift, which was very rocky at first, but I've been doing much better. We'll be getting a new car soon, but it looks like it'll be automatic, which is a bit of a downer now. :/ 

A russian said english was a 'poor language', which is funny, considering how unintelligent we portray the russian accent - but it is righer in its descriptions. She also said russians and americans were alike in that they're both really nice people. x) 

We got in a mini-accident, just a paint scrape, but the paperwork was dreadful. xp and the Guarda (their police) is soooo slow. =__=

 Elder William Kevin Black



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==> ==>

So this week has been fun! 
I've started learning stickshift, which was very rocky at first, but I've been doing much better. We'll be getting a new car soon, but it looks like it'll be automatic, which is a bit of a downer now. :/ 

A russian said english was a 'poor language', which is funny, considering how unintelligent we portray the russian accent - but it is righer in its descriptions. She also said russians and americans were alike in that they're both really nice people. x) 

We got in a mini-accident, just a paint scrape, but the paperwork was dreadful. xp and the Guarda (their police) is soooo slow. =__=

 Elder William Kevin Black



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Monday, August 19, 2013

Level Two

So this week has been a bit slower, since all our investigators were out of town. And man, did we have some odd experiences. We met this guy in a park, who said a terrorist group was after him, and the 60+yr old woman at the bed and breakfast he was at was a part of it too. Why? Because she was old, but acted young. So she was a bad person. Yeeeeaaahh.... So as the son of a psychiatrist, I diagnosed him with Schizophrenia. Not out loud, that is... But I don't think we'll see him again. He's trying to run to America and become a monk. Good luck to that... 
Speaking of Elder Dixon's wild dance moves, here's him halfway through a flip. >:O Pretty awesome. 
So there was also an elder brown, and an elder white in the area, and we snagged a photo together! ^-^

I also spoke in church yesterday. I had a great talk planned out. 
Studied it, tried to perfect it, and left the outline at the flat. The talk still went great, since I remembered all the points, but man, that was disappointing moment, when I realized I had left it... 

There are heaps of Africans here, which is great, and we've met a few brazilians as well! Man, is brazilan food good... 
I got this great cake recipe: 
Corn Pudding Cake
2T butter
1 can condensed milk
3 eggs
1 cup cheese (mozarella, or cheddar)
1 cup maize meal (Fuza)
2T flour
1T baking powder
3 cups milk
Preheat oven to 200 deg Cel, grease cake tin
Blend butter, condensed milk, eggs; blend cheeze, maize meal, flour, baking powder
Add milk gradually, blending well between cups
Bake for 25 mins


The guy's name from last week is Debeikis, by the way. 

We met a guy named Jaffa, who has a blog named "Jaffa's LDS Blog" which you should check out. It talkes about a few parallels he has seen in the scriptures, and a few of his personal beliefs. 

Love you all! Until next week! :D
 Elder William Kevin Black



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Monday, August 12, 2013

==> ==> ==>

Wow. Well, they tell you the first day in the MTC is the longest. This is incorrect. They wree really alll equally long. 16 hours or so, with an extra hour then added on for the British pagaent (an awesome lds play about the roots of the saints in the british isles.) which we got to be featured in at the end, singing 'called to serve'

Having an Aussie (pronounced 'ah-zee') companion was heaps of fun. He's taught me heaps about Australia. I'd be keen to visit some day. I reckon. 

So P-days will be on Mondays from now on, so since I transferred on a Tuesday, that's why I didn't write last week. I almost had three p days, but ended up with only one. :/ 

I am currently serving in Limerick, Ireland, which is in the SW edge. I'll be here for the next 12 weeks or so, maybe more. So parcel mail is trikier, and it would probably be easier to send money, but the mail address is easier, and you can send anything directly to me at: 
5 Curaheen 
St. Nessans Rd. 
Dooradoyle 
Limerick
Ireland


So on Wed and Thurs and Fri, I spent almost the whole day travelling. Once I got into Limerick, I got to teach a lesson immediately, then we had a baptism, and dinner, all in the first day! ^0^
While we were chapping (knocking on doors) we came across an african woman named Olabasi ('oh-lah-bee-see') who was wonderful to talk to. And we taught an african man who escaped his warring country, named Yakub (ya-koob)

Oh, and my companions are Elder Luna and Elder Dixon. Elder Luna looks like Patrick Colosimo, but with black hair, and elder Dixon is a tall black Jamaican, who loves dancing and wants to be a judge. Elder luna wants to be a journalist. Both are fantastic missionaries, and are the zone leaders, and I've been privledged to learn from them. 
We also taught a man named Zebulon, who was very stubborn, and didn't really listen to anything we taught... And we were teaching really clearly (a member named Jaffa came along)
Elder Luna said "He reminds me of Korihor - but Korihor had better arguments"

So it's been a real party here! :D Lots of work, so it's been really fun! 


So I hope you all have a fantastic week! 
Some of you asked what I'd like to get from you, and I think the nicest thing would just be to see your smiling faces! Preferably with people you love... 
Enjoy life! :D
 Elder William Kevin Black



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Wednesday, July 31, 2013

To get the full effect, read this in the following accent:

60% light austrailian
20% american
15% british
5% scottish

So currently, I'm at the MTC still, in Preston England, training to become a missionary. Next Wed, I'll get to finally actually go out to the field, to Scotland and Ireland.
So my companion, the other guy my age who's paired up with me, is Elder Costigan, an australian, who is awesome. He's hilarious, and love to joke around, but has a strong testimony of the truth of the gospel, and is a fantastic teacher.
These days here at the MTC feel so long, like five days of information crammed into one day. So I've been here now... 30 days? So about a month. I was initially disappointed I wouldn't get to learn a foreign language, but now I'm sort of glad... I can't imagine staying in here for twelve weeks. I would go insane.

England is awesome, and has great weather. We were lucky enough to already have two cloudless days, so I got some nice pictures I'll attach.
I've learned a lot about teaching people. It's odd that I can't use my normal argumentitive style, since people need to believe it themselves, rather than having me convince them. So it'll be quite a different experience.
I loved all your letters you sent me, but my time right now is severely limited. But thank you all so much! I loved hearing from you!

Also, if you'd rather follow my blog, that's fine by me. Just send a message with <BLOG> in the subject line, and you can instead follow my blog WilliamBlackMission.blogspot.com
 
Until next week!
 Elder William Kevin Black

PS: I was considering calling this post "Holy Timechange Batman", but didn't for obvious reasons.



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Thursday, July 25, 2013

Fwd: Chicago Picture

Here are the pictures of all the missionaries which were at the Chicago airport:
 

 Elder William Kevin Black



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Day One. Or maybe two. It's a bit unclear...

As many of you know, I find it hard to pay attention to things.
So at the Chicago airport, I was just sitting happily by myself, at gate k12, waiting for the plane to come. After a long while, I checked my watch. And I was supposed to board a half hour ago. Frantically, I ran for the desk, and begged for mercy. Calmly, they responded that I was at the wrong gate, and my flight had been delayed. In hindsight, I should have noticed the ~35 elders wearing their suits in the terminal across the hall. But everything worked out, and I'm typing mostly happily here in England. I'd be all the way happy, but the keyboards are weird. The keys are in all the wrong places, like where the left shift key was (rectangle), there are two square buttons: "\" and the shift key, so I keep on typing I like \i, and I have to go back and correct it. Also, finding the ", @, and ~ keys were a chore, since they were scattered around the keyboard.
So my mission has officially started, me being badged and all.
My P-days, the days I get off, are on Wednesdays, so you'll all be hearin from me in a week or so. Until then! :D

>If you want to unsuscribe from these emails, just reply with a message, with STOP in the subject line. Otherwise, enjoy getting an email once a week for the next two years! :D
 Elder William Kevin Black



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