"I am standing on the shoulders of giants here in Preston"

Hello Family!

A lot has gone on in the last 10 days! For starters, when transfer
calls came I was sure that Elder Palmer would be leaving (he’d been in
Swinton for 6 months), and I would be staying. Well, that’s not how
it happened. We soon found out that Elder Palmer and I would both be
leaving, and we would be whitewashing out of our area. This is
because the Zone Leaders are moving to the YSA ward in Manchester and
this calls for Chinese missionaries. So Elder Eggers and Elder Cai
are taking over in Manchester.

Now as for myself, I am following in the footsteps of my father, and
replacing Elder Moss in Preston to serve with Elder Nielson from
Taylorsville, Utah. Elder Nielson came out with me and we have become
good friends whilst serving around each other. This makes the fourth
person that I have served with that came out with me. The others
being Elder Eggers, Rapata, and Harris.

Now it was quite sad to leave Swinton after only one transfer, just
because that is when you start getting to know everybody. The other
thing was that we had been teaching a lot of great people.

Update on a few of them...

We taught Maurice Fox, the member referral for the 2nd and 3rd time
this past week, and he is doing very well. After coming to church on
Sunday, he felt like he belonged and everything about him just seem to
be better. He had such a different countenance the third time we
taught him compared to the first. With teaching the plan of
salvation, it really opened his eyes to what he has wanted to know for
so long. He accepted a baptismal date for the 25th of Feb, if all
goes well I’ll be going down for it.

Anita, and Norbert, the Hungarian couple, are doing very well. Anita
is one of the most sharp investigators I have ever taught. She is
eagerly curious about knowing more and is really starting to come
along. We brought a Hungarian missionary who was serving in Bolton,
which really helped them to understand “gospel terms.”

Jeff, Mandi, Kiron, and Loretta are all progressing towards baptism in
early march. Jeff called us in the middle of the week, and told us, "I’ve received an answer to my prayer.” He went on to explain how after reading and praying he felt the influence of the Holy Ghost, he explained it almost in line with Helaman 5:30. We were able to go over and say goodbye, and told them all we would be back for their
baptism.

I'm sitting now in the Library that is literally feet away from the
Preston Market, which is full of Church History. Actually where this
library is, is where the “Truth Will Prevail” sign was seen by the
early missionaries and coined as their motto. I am standing on the
shoulders of giants here in Preston, and what a blessing it is to be
serving here. And this is my first time being in the North of the
mission, and this part is the scenic part of England, have a look for
yourself, Google “Lake District."

Some other news regarding transfers is that Elder Corbin is training.
That means that 4 generations of missionaries are in the mission at
once!  That is not a common thing, very rare.

Well, I said all four in the mission at once, but that won’t be for
long, because Elder Moss heads home today! He and Elder Cunningham
both go home today, and it will be my first companions that are going
home. It is weird to think that they won’t be here anymore, as my
entire mission has been involved with them. It is sad to see them
go, but it won’t be for long, we’ll be good friends for awhile.

We will speak again on Monday!

Love you all!

Elder Eliason

p.s-  I forgot the card reader, so pics next week..


haha my letter sounds a little bit depressing. I am not down at all,
I actually am the opposite. Change is always exciting, and I know
that the Lord has had a hand in these transfers. That is something
that I have learned over and over!