"We must constantly dedicate ourselves to the work"

Hello family!!!

hahahahahahahahahahahahaha that story about Bennett makes me so happy! Bennett you're not supposed to get caught;) I'm glad you guys had a fun time in cali it sounds like a blast. It's winter here so, I'm pretty jealous, but it's really not even cold here... we still go outside and play soccer, basketball, football, and volleyball. That stinks that Macy deleted her whole email! She sounds like she's doing awesome though.

 

Well another week has gone by, wow that was insanely fast! It's hard to remember all that has happened in a week. Well first we got a billion more people here, which means long lines for meals, colder showers with less water pressure, and the bathrooms smell a billion times worse. But there are some cool guys... oh I mean Elders and Hermanas here haha. Like my friend Travis Devashrayee!!! It's so good to see someone that I actually know; this place isn't exactly like provo where you see everyone like everyday... so I'm really glad that he's here. Anyways we got new roomates, 2 latinos who are pretty dang funny and 2 north americans who are kind of really weird, one of them is actually from Fort Collins but he didn't know Mace. I think I liked the old group better but there are some really cool people here.

 

Proselyting... wow it was really hard. I had heard so much that the people in South America are so nice and love hearing the gospel. I can assure you that's not true! haha just kidding we found some really nice people. but seriously we said hola to literally everyone that walked past us, and 90% of them didn't even look at us or register we were there. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. But even with that we stll handed out three Book of Mormons and a handful of pamphlets. We had some good conversations with some people. Well I should say that some people had some good conversations with themselves cause I didn't understand anything that anyone said. Well I understood some. But anyways  Elder Patton and I walking past these five guys that were drinking and smoking on the side of the road. So I was like let's go talk to these fine gentlemen Elder Patton. I think that I should probably be more cautious about who I talk to in the future. but these guys were pretty funny and we gave them a word of wisdom pamphlet... oh yeah! They probably just threw it away or were laughing at how crazy we are. Oh yeah and Patton and I - well Patton was too scared to do it, but we slipped a law of chastity pamphlet in someones mailbox:) I just felt like the people living in that house could really use it. Anyways we later found out that we aren't supposed to slip stuff into people mailboxes, oh well. But overall saturday was a really great learning experience, and it really helped me a lot!

 

Sundays are always awesome here, and this Sunday we watched a video of Elder Holland speaking at the Provo MTC. He gave this talk or speech in January. It was awesome Holland's talks are always awesome. He speaks with such power. It reminded me of in the movie The Greatest Game Ever Played Francis Ouimet the main character goes to an oprah and after he says that the sound or music seemed to be just coming through the singer from somewhere else and he said that is what he wants for golf. Well thats what it seemed like when Elder Holland was speaking and that's what I want to have when I speak.

 

Another cool thing that happened, I think it was on Sunday but Hermana Openshaw was teaching us and she was talking about the first vision and the power of memorizing it and reciting it with power. Well she first asked the crowd of North Americans if any of them had it memorized in english and there were a good group so she had one person go up and recite it. Then she asked if anyone had memorized it in Spanish, and some people in my district knew I had memorized it so they raised my hand. So I went up and recited it in front of everyone, my heart was pounding so fast but I think it might have been cause the spirit was so strong. It was awesome, and I felt pretty cool. "Im now cool enough to be in the band"... (School Of Rock reference... no one gets my quotes here:(

 

I love reading your letters that I get to open every Sunday Tuesday and Thurday and so does my district cause I always share the quotes with them. Oh and Maggie some of the guys saw that picture of you and me and were like oh is that your girlfriend and I was like eww no that's my sister and they're like dang she is cute;) anyways I share like all the quotes that I get and elder patton loves The Office too, not as much as me but I still respect him for that. I taped the quote where Dwight says "Before I make any decision first I ask myself, would an idiot do that thing? And if the answer is no then I do that thing" It's something like that, anyways I taped it up on the wall in front of the classroom. Oh and I told my teacher  Fiormanti to watch kid president videos cause he has never seen them, he is going to love them. I love my teachers! They are awesome. For the first half of the day we have Hermana Ferreira and the second half of the day we have fiormanti.

 

I heard a cool quote I don't know if I already told you it but it says, "We don't just make the decision to go on a mission, we must constantly dedicate ourselves to the work" Just thought I'd share that cause I like it a lot.

 

Okay no I had not heard about Porter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! that is scary gosh, please keep me posted on him!

 

Today is p day, the best day ever. we get to go to the temple every p day it's awesome. Anyways sorry I dont have my camera so I cant put any pictures on. Love you all.

 

I love you more than you will ever know,

Elder England

I Am Doing Great!

Hola Familia,

I just read through your emails really quick and don't worry I will obviously write you guys the longest and make sure that I spend most of my time talking to you. Mom you still over explain everything to me haha I feel like im back at home. Anyways I''ve had a great week, It's gone by so fast! I have had plenty of cool spiritual experiences. for example, my teachers (who I love, they're awesome) were stressing one day about the importance of making sure that we show our investigators that we love them and that we are there to help them. and the next day Elder Patton and I were teaching our "investigator" and I had been thinking that I needed to lose myself in the work. So I tried to stop thinking about myself, and I tried to think about my investigator while doing everything. and our lesson just went really well, and we did a better job of letting her know that we love her and are there to provide support and help with anything. Oh then the next lesson with her we got to the restoration and we were talking to her about Jose Smith and I had memorized the first vision in Spanish so I recited it with her, and the spirit was seriously so strong! It was awesome and that same lesson we got her to commit to be baptized! Elder Patton and I work really well together and his spanish is pretty good for being here for two weeks, its definitely better than mine. but I can see definite improvements in my spanish.

I just feel great, ever since that first fast sunday things have been going great. I only wish I could say that for some of the missionaries in my district. Some are struggling with the language and others with being away from home. I've prayed for them a lot, but some of them just don't seem to be getting better. I just wish that they wouldn't get discouraged because the language will come. It's just like a scripture Ether 12:4 it says something like you won't recieve until after the trial of your faith. But then with all that one missionary told us his conversion story cause he is a convert, and he said that his family does not support him and when they found out he had been baptized like three years ago they just shunned him pretty much. This all got me thinking and I was confused about why I am so blessed? Why am I blessed with such a great family that is strong in the church and loves and supports me? Why am I doing so great out here while others are struggling? I haven't yet got a real answer to my question but I read my patriarchal blessing the other day and it said that I am a pure vessel, a chosen individual. and I guess that just gave me peace and helped me understand that all of us are different and all of us progress at different rates. it's just hard for me to see my district struggle... but I am doing great.

Anyways on a lighter note, I play soccer like everyday with the latinos, or I did. Everyone that was here left on Tuesday for their missions except for my district and another district. It was pretty sad, cause I had made so many new friends, most of which were latinos. I think we really bonded when playing soccer. Elder Venagas gave me a tie the day before he left, it is now my favorite tie and I'm wearing it right now. On the back of it it says Para Elder England De Elder Venegas. I'm going to miss Venegas a lot. Also Elders De La Serna and Cantero were really cool I would play soccer with them and eat with them like everyday. haha then there is Elder Tellez the funniest guy I'll ever meet. I don't even know how it started but we called each other Tupac and Eminem and we are going to make a rap video some day together it's gonna be awesome. I really am going to miss them all. oh and there is our roomates... we had two chileans in our room with us. They were the nicest guys, and one was really small and suuuuuuper cute. We had some really good conversations with those guys, only because one of them spoke pretty good english.Yeah Im going to miss them a lot, I'm starting to realize that a mission is chuck full of goodbyes.

Some other funny things that have happened, in sacrament meeting the presidents wife spoke and she read like a story/poem, and I could have sworn it was grandma Joan up there reading one of her stories! Um yesterday morning I tried to pop a zit, but yeah it definitely wasn't ready. IT HURT SO BAD! I felt bad that Christ had to suffer through that cause I'm pretty sure that was the most painful thing that I've ever felt.

Everyone left, which means that we have more coming. A butt load to be excact, there are like 30 latinos and 40 North American's coming in today, and I know one of the kids coming down. his name is Elder Devashrayee, he is really cool. Anyways I hope these latinos are as funny and cool as the last group.

On satruday we get to go proselyting!!! We can actually leave this prison... No it's not that bad, but I am way excited it's going to be awesome! I love reading the letters that you packed me, in fact I get to open one today. but I haven' t gotten any dear elders at all. Yeah it was nice hearing from ya fam, oh wait I didnt hear from you until today. Anyways I love you all keep writing and letting me know what's goin on. I'll update you on mailing and dear elders.

Te amo,

Elder England

Me and Elder Patton and my District in Front of 

the Buenos Aires Temple

First Week In The Argentina MTC

HEEEEELLLLLOOOO!!!

It is P day, yeah sorry I didn't tell you in my first email but p day is on Thursdays. uhhh where to start, this has been a pretty crazy week! First our whole adventure getting down here was crazy, and now I'm in the MTC for 6 weeks. Thank you for the letters I really just wanted to open them all up at once, but I haven't. I get really excited to open them even though they are just little things, they make my day and really brighten my spirits. The first couple days were really hard for me. I was really homesick and I was just really overwhelmed with everything. Our schedule is rough, we are always doing stuff and never have any time to even think about anything. But yeah so I was a little depressed like the first three days. But Saturday night I just prayed really hard that things would get better, that I would get better with the language, and be able to handle the schedule, and that I wouldn't be homesick (oh and dad that letter really helped me). and then Sunday was just awesome, it was fast Sunday too so I'm pretty sure that just amplified the spirit all day. We had an awesome sacrament/testimony meeting and I literally could not stop crying the whole meeting, yeah I'm pretty sure my companion was like oh boy I got one of these kids, haha no but I really like my companion. His name is Elder Patton, and he is our district leader, but it is kind of weird because I am the senior companion. Anyways ever since Sunday I have been having a great time here. My district is really cool, there are four of us that are going to Uruguay and then the rest are going to Paraguay. haha that other elder, that was kind of short and stalky and he was singing, is Elder Tucker. He is pretty hilarious, but also gets pretty dang annoying sometimes. but he is in my district, so that makes the day less boring. I really can tell the difference in my spanish already. Elder Patton and I have an investigator named Jacquelline, and we have to teach in Spanish. Elder Pattons spanish is better than mine and at first I was a little envious but through our lessons with Jacquelline I have come to be veeeeerrry grateful for that. I think that our lessons are going pretty good though, it's hard because she isn't a real investigator, it's just our teacher pretending and also it's really hard to get her to understand when speaking spanish; but I can tell that I'm improving. It's pretty crazy, but just like Macy said, my prayers are being answered with such clearness (I dont know if that's a word or if it makes sense that's just the best way I could describe it) and it's not just some of the things I pray about but literally everything I pray about or i ask for is being given to me! So if you guys want me to pray for anything, I'm pretty sure it will happen! Just let me know;)

In all seriousness, there are two latinos that we share our room with and one of them was asking questions and just talking to us about how we knew that things were true and how we knew when we were feeling the spirit. So we were talking to them and trying to explain all that we knew, but I could still feel that he needed something more. So I prayed that he would feel the spirit and that he would know that he is feeling the spirit -oh and we were also sharing some scriptures. He showed us some cool scriptures and told us of some spiritual experiences he had, and I showed him a couple too one was in Moroni 10 and it said that you can come to know the truth of all things by the power of the spirit or something. Anyways the next day we asked him if he felt the spirit and he said yeah and he said that his testimony is growing. Anyways just simple things like that that I pray about that are all happening, it's really strengthening my testimony.

I feel like I'm just all over the place so sorry about that, I'm just trying to fit everything in. Oh and they said that we couldn't take pictures until like the last day in the MTC! I have no clue why but they just said that. I'll probably sneak some pictures in, cause all of my latino friends are all leaving before then. But, once I'm in the mission field I definitely will send pictures!  Um the mailing situation I'm still not sure about, I haven't gotten anything yet. But I heard that dear elders usually come every week on P day so Thursday. But I have an HOUR of emailing time, so that's good. Anyways I've made a lot of new friends, everyone here is really nice... except the president. haha just kidding he is just really strict and really scares me. El Presidente you frighten me.  But I love all the latinos they are so funny, there is this really crazy one named Elder Tellez. He is literally insane and cant hold still for even a second but he is the funniest person I have ever met and I'm being completely honest. And there are actually quite a bit of latina sister missionaries. Some of them call me Peter Pan cause apparently I look like Peter Pan, and they have also called me a golden retriever... I dont see it. Oh and this weirdo in the airport was talking to us for a little bit and he seemed interested so we were trying to talk to him about religion a little but he was like wow what are you trying to do proselyte (dont know how to spell that) and I kind of wanted to say umm yeah we are missionaries! ...but we were like oh we were just wondering what your religious background is. And he was like I dont want to talk about it and then he said that I have a baby face! Okay thanks random guy in the airport that wants to talk to missionaries, but doesn't want to talk about religion. Oh and it's not like I was already depressed about leaving my family for two years or anything. Haha no it was actually pretty funny!

Hey let me know how everyone is doing!!! And send an email saying that you sent stuff, cause I dont know how long it takes for stuff to get down here. I'm sure your sending dear elders or something, so I'll probably get those next week. but you can write me emails to, I have an hour so... also let me know how Mace is doing. She is in Colorado already right? Well I'll talk to you guys in another week. It'll come fast! There is something that I've heard a lot - that while your on your mission espescially in the MTC, "the days feel like weeks, but the weeks feel like days." I dont know if I can say that about this week, it's been more like the days feel like months and this week has felt like a lifetime! It really feels like so long ago that I said goodbye to  you guys at the airport. But it's starting to speed up and nest week will come in no time.

Te amo,

Elder England

I'm Alive

Hola!

We are finally in Buenos Aires. After our flight to Atlanta was delayed a couple hours, we missed our flight to Argentina. So we stayed in Atlanta Wednesday night - then our flight wasn't until 9:15 last night to Buenos Aires (which actually got delayed by like an hour too!) We are finally here! I am a little overwhelmed because I can't understand anything!  There are seventeen of us new missionaries, 14 elders and 3 sisters and I traveled with all of them here, so the traveling wasn't bad. I feel like I've known some of these guys for a long time.  Saying goodbye to you guys felt like forever ago, but I am doing great. 

I have to go bye!!!:)

Airport Drop Off

July 3, 2013 we loaded up and set out for the airport to say

goodbye to Davis for two years!  He is on his way to the

Argentina MTC for six weeks then onto Uruguay

Checking in for his flight...

Last hugs for a while

Goodbye Elder England - You will do amazing things!

Open House and Farwell

June 30, 2013 Davis gave an amazing talk on "Praying With

Faith In Jesus Christ".  Here are a few pics from his open house

Fun Photo's

Missionary Photo Shoot...

Called To Serve

On March 21, 2013 Davis received his call to the Uruguay, Montevideo

Mission.  He will enter the Argentina MTC on July 4th and begin his

service as a full time missionary!

Our two missionaries!

"And faith, hope, charity and love with an eye single to

the glory of God, qualify him for the work" - D&C 4:5