Elder England: Just Know That I am Happy

I had a leaders meeting this morning and we do it over the phone because I am so far away from everyone, AND the zone leaders were traveling too so we were in three different locations so I had two phones... but I figured how to manage it...

Hello!!!!

Thanks everyone for the B-day wishes. You're the best! I also got the packages you sent Mom. Thanks so much! I love Cliff Bars! Wow the house does look a lot lighter. I really haven't seen many pics, but I like it. I'm sad to here about brother Sorenson. I don't remember having much contact with him personally, but I definitely remember who he was and I always remember everyone speaking very well of him.

I guess I'll have to hold out another week to know where I'll be going to college. Elder Perry went to BYU before the mission and has been talking BYU up a lot haha, but he said that the acceptance letters come in February... so we´ll see. But the UTES are in the tourni!!!! Dad you need to send me pic of what the bracket looks like. Arizona is going down this week.

Otra gran semana en la mision Uruguay Montevideo. The temple was such an amazing experience. As a zone we really focused on things that we can change to be better missionaries and also things that our investigators are struggling with. We actually fasted the day before, it was a great experience. We were also able to think about our investigators. I was hoping that I would have had more time in the celestial room to ponder, but like right when we entered a worker asked if I wanted to participate in some sealings. I obviously accepted, so I got to be a witness with Elder Ashcraft a missionary from my group. After doing quite a few sealings we realized that we should be going, but I honestly could have stayed in there for hours.

Rafael is going to be baptised this week!!! We have had some really great lessons with him, and he has been progressing really well. He is reading all of the assignments that we give him, and I can tell that he is trying to apply the doctrine to his life as well. We are really excited for that and will let you guys know how that goes.

There is also a little kid from a member family, who apparently isn't on the records of the church. I guess his baptism record got lost or something so he needs to be baptized again. We are going to check everything today if he really does need to get baptized or not, but that should be on Saturday as well.

Marcela and Nicolas went to church!!! I don't know if I have mentioned them much. But Marcela is Nicolas´ mom and they went to church yesterday, but only for the first hour. Because Marcela works at 11 on Sundays. It really is the only thing that is impeding her right now to progress towards baptism. So we are on the search for a new job for her.

Cristian and Maria... We don't know what to do with them. Cristian was doing amazing. He was reading and praying leading up to Sunday and we passed by on Saturday and he had shaved and everything for Sunday. He said that he was excited to go. Then we called him on Sunday from church and he said that Maria left to go do something and left him with all the kids and he said that he couldn't take them. We couldn't go by yesterday due to lack of time, but hopefully we can talk to them and explain that if they don't come through with their commitments we aren't going to be able to teach them anymore. It's really sad, but we´ll see what happens.

Oh yesterday in church they gave us four missionaries the opportunity to give talks. They had told me, and I had actually forgot until like Friday or Saturday. But it went really well. Elder Perry did such a good job. Just seeing him up there speaking Spanish was a special moment for me... he makes his daddy proud ;) I based my talk on a quote from Elder James E. Faust that says, ¨Faith is the power, Love is the motive, The spirit is the key, and Christ is the reason¨ I had the quote in Spanish, and I think I like it better in Spanish but it says, ¨Le fe es el poder, el amor es el motivo, el espiritu es la clave, y Cristo es la razon¨ It was cool to see all the members eyes glued on us. It was a really great way to express to the members how they can help us in the work. Hopefully we can see some results from that meeting.

Tomorrow we have a seventy coming to the mission. Elder Viñas is coming to do a tour in Uruguay, so we are going to Minas for a conference... A lot of traveling lately, but its' all worth it.

Anyways I love you all so much. Just know that I'm happy and that I will have a wonderful B-day in the best place in the world.

Have a great week.