I Felt That It Was Riley Speaking

Dont worry, I'm still alive!

This week is changes, so our P day is Tuesday. Sorry I didn't let you know, but I actually didn't find out until Sunday night. Wow these weeks are just flying by. Elder Marroquin and I are not going to change because oros stay in the same area with the same trainer for two changes. But It does mean that one of the Three Musckateers is going to be leaving:( Im sure a new crazy latino will fill the empty spot just fine. 

I am so sad to hear that Bishop Brewster passed away. I always looked up to him so much, and still remember every scout camp and youth fireside that he led. He had such a powerful spirit. But we are sooooooo lucky to have this gospel in our lives. I really have come to cherish this knowledge that I have, because I have seen the lives of people that don't have it... and they are completely different. Let the Brewster family know that I love them. 

As for all of you, you all sound great!!! Haha Mags you crack me up, but I don't like this dating thing one bit! But I'm super glad that you had a fun time at the dance. Dad thanks for the updates, GO UTES! I know that you're going to be amazing in you new calling! You too mom!!!!!!!!! I have realized in this month and a half just how much I dont know how to take care of myself. Like cooking I don't know how to cook anything, but Elder Marroquin does! hehehe Thanks for emails. I love you all! 

This has been another crazy week. The first of the week was pretty hard, I don't know why but I was just a little down in the dumps. But on Saturday we got to go to the temple because some of Elder Marroquins converts were getting sealed. I Love going to the temple! It was so cool to be in a sealing session. Memories of when we went to the Salt Lake temple with Bo started to flood my mind, and I can't even explain how happy I am that I am sealed to you guys forever and ever! I've also had some really interesting experiences. Sunday night we were on our way back to the house, and we passed by Ramiros house. Ramiro is a 17 year old kid that we have talked with a couple different times, but we have tried passing by and calling him countless times so it seemed that he didn't want anything to do with us. Well as we walked past I couldn't help but think about him, but I didn't say anything cause it seemed clear that he didn't want to talk to us. After passing his house I looked back, and right at that moment Ramiro opened his door and then closed it. I then ran up to his door and knocked and he came out. After we greated him, I straight up asked him if he was interested in what we have to say. And he said that he was. I was so happy to hear that, oh and I asked him why he opened his door and he said to look to see if it was raining. haha It's crazy that he opened it right when I looked back. 

This other story happened last night. We were at Agustines house, Agustine is a 14 year old kid that is less active. He came with us to a lot of the lessons with Juan Pablo and was probably the reason that Juan was baptized. Anyways we didn't really know what to teach him, but he had a book about the principles of the gospel or something like that. So Elder Marroquin opened that up, and started talking about I think it was obedience. But then changed his mind and flipped to a different chapter about the Atonement. I was so happy when he turned to this! As we talked about the atonement, I used some of Riley's words to explain to this 14 year old kid just how important and vital the atonement is. I felt a really strong spirit in that lesson. After Elder Marroquin and I were walking back to the house on these railroad tracks in the dark. And I told him that as I was talking about the Atonement and using some of the words Riley used to describe it, I felt that Riley was speaking. I really felt that even though I was talking I felt that it was Riley speaking. Elder Marroquin then said that as I was speaking he looked at my name tag and thought of Riley or Elder England. (Elder Marroquin tried reading Ti Voglio Bene so he knew about the story). But wow I could really feel Riley there in that lesson. Then Elder Marroquin went off talking about how he has a gift about how he can sense when there are spirits close, (I say that he went off talking about this cause he often tells me that he has these certain gifts) Anyways, I wasn't really listening, I was too busy pondering on what had just happened! 

As we were walking in the dark, on the train tracks so we were looking down at our feet, the scariest thing in my life happened to me. We were just walking and I happened to look up and literally like three feet in front of me was a huge white horse. (I think it was sleeping cause it didn't move) Because I had been looking down - I didn't see it at all!  But oh my gosh it scared so bad that I involuntarily screamed, or I should say that I tried to scream but was so startled that I couldn't. haha it was hilarious, I wish I had it on tape, just to see the face I made. Aww classic!  

Well that's all folks, sorry I don't have any photos I left my cam back at the apartment.

I love you all more than you will ever know!

Elder England

Trying To Think And Say What Christ Would

Got a hamburger today from this food cart - It was delicious!

Hello!!!

This week was kinda crazy a little all over the place, okay probably not as crazy as the flooding in Colorado, but a lot of stuff happened. Last Monday night we had tortas fritas you probably don't know what that is cause I didn't know what it was, but they are like these pastry kinda tortilla things. Anyways they're delicious especially with dulce de leche! But, we made those with Juan Pablos family and wow we seemed to be like part of there family, Pablo the dad said that we are always welcome in his house. So we we're way hyped about that, well we went back on Saturday with a member (actually our ward mission leader) and it didn't go as great. We were really trying to show them that going to church is such a blessing, and they just didn't seem that interested. And yeah none of them but Juan came to church. It's weird cause having a member at the lessons brings a whole different spirit, usually for the better. But I don't know - it just felt like bringing someone into Pablos house that he didn't know was a little weird for him. Pablo turned back into the same shy not really interested guy that we met the first day we met with Juan. But I really have faith that we can help them recieve this gospel.

Okay about the rest of the week. On Tuesday morning, I went on my first interchange with Elder Bastidas from Peru. It was a really different experience to see how another Elder goes about doing things, but we had a great day and talked to a lot of people. He is an oro too, he has one more month than I do haha. But at least he knew Spanish or we would have been in big trouble! I actually talked more than I do with Elder Marroquin, which was really good for me. I need to tell Marroquin to force me to talk more!

On Thursday Elder Marroquin and I went to Montevideo just to spend a day in the city, I'm not really sure if it was aloud but it was fun! Haha not! We did go to Montevideo but it was for a meeting with all the oros that are in my group. It was so fun to see these guys that I had been so close to in the MTC. And to see that they are all doing so well. I know that I'm going to be good friends with some of them after the mission. That whole day was fun, and I got to have another interview with President Newsome. It went so great, it was really short but it went really well. I can see a relationship starting to form... CHACHING! He really is a great guy, and you keep asking me to tell you about him and I haven't. Okay I think that he and Hermana Newsome are from Virginia, but they moved around a lot. They were highschool sweethearts haha but I don't think that they even wrote each other while he was on his mission. I'm not sure how many kids they have, but I know that they have a 13 year old son that is living with them now. I still don't know him that well, but there is a little something about him. It's funny that Mace was talking about Ti Voglio Bene, cause I feel the exact same way! I feel like I can relate to Riley in a way now. I tried sharing the story with the "Three Musketeers" I live with - but none of them know English. Then I had a thought - hey this story is all about a mission president, so why not share it with my President. So I did, I haven't heard anything yet but I told him that if he had any spare time that he and Hermana Newsome should read it. 

Those two things sound like the highlights of my week, but looking back they really weren't. We had a couple lessons this week, where I felt such a strong spirit that was stronger than anything I had felt before. One of them was with a women named Alejandra. We have actually taught her the first three lessons, and she has a baptismal date for the 28th (Soph dogs B Day!!!!!!!!). But I think it was Friday, she was not feeling well. We went over in the evening but she is a single mother of three kids, and we didn't have another male so we couldn't go in. But we returned with a member named Tomy, he is such an awesome guy! Anyways we just starting talking about how she was doing, and she starting crying. There was some silence but then all three of us just bore our testimonies to her. It really was such an amazing experience. It was not a very long lesson, it really wasn't even a lesson, but at the end she asked me to pray. I can't even describe what I felt, and really don't even remember what I said. But I was just trying to think and say what Christ would have thought and said in that situation. Wow I really just can't even explain what I felt, but I know what I felt and I don't think I'll ever forget that. 

This week really was great, It's great to hear from all of you. And Wow a Japanese student, that is going to be so awesome! Mace sounds amazing! Dad thanks for sharing that email with me, my Spanish is really bad but I think that I understood most of it. 

I love you all more than you will ever know

Elder England

Elder Segura cut my hair, It actually doesn't look

extremely horrible!

Juan Pablo X2

Making some Tortas Fritas at Pablo's house

Just chillin in my bed

Things here are GREAT!

This is like a universal sign for cool or awesome and everyone does it!

Familia!!!!!!!

Sounds like you had an awesome weekend up in Jackson, I'm sure Dalt enjoyed not having to use crutches this time. That's a total bummer that you didn't get an RV! Anyways I just wrote a pretty long email to President Newsome. I really don't know him that well, but I'm going to try to change that. He seems like a really awesome guy. I want to have a real relationship with him, instead of just being one of the hundreds of missionaries in Uruguay. I think that all the "Oros" or new missionaries are going back to the mission home sometime this week to have a meeting, so I'll get to see him this week.

As for things here in Florida Uruguay they're GREAT! haha When I wrote that I pictured Tony the Tiger from the Frosted Flakes commercial saying that. Some days were better than others obviously, but this past week really was great. In a letter from Dalton he emphasized something that Jason said to me the night before I left. And that was to enjoy every second of my mission. I really tried to do that this week, and it has helped a lot! Also something that dad told me was to try not to compare everything to home, and that has also helped me sooooo much.

Elder Marroquin and I are working great together. There were many times when I would feel like we need to go down a street or go somewhere and then Marroquin would say let's go to this area or down this street, and it is the same place that I was thinking!!!  I can really feel the spirit or understand the promptings that I get in a whole different way.

Juan's confirmation was yesterday, and his father came (also named Juan Pablo) He stayed for like all of sacrament meeting too. At first when we met Juan and his family his dad was super closed of and didn't want anything to do with us. But he is lightening up to us, we even went by last night and had a lesson with him about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and he understands it all! haha Oh and a couple days earlier we were walking down the street and there was  big construction going on on the side of the street and we usually say hi to almost every person we walk by, I'm pretty sure everyone here thinks we are "mental people", but one of the construction workers was Juan Pablo the father and he came up to us and said hello. Also later today we are going to go over to their house and make tortas (fritas with dulce de leche:) I really think that through Juans example, we can help his whole family to be baptized or at least listen to us. 

"So theres the update... who are you talking to? whoaaaaaa" 

Sounds like everything is awesome there! Keep giving me updates on stuff everyone, I might not write you back but I love hearing what is going on. 

I love you all more than you will ever know;)

Elder England

I didn't know there were moose in Uruguay!

(Just a reminder he is an 18 year old boy)

I Remember That I Am Here For A Reason

Baptism pic with Juan Pablo and his Dad and brother

Juan wore dark underwear - haha

These are some shady guys!

Hello Family!!!

I had my first baptism yesterday!! Juan Pablo!!! He was so excited to get baptized, and the baptismal service was awesome, his dad and brother came who are not members and aren't really interested or I should say weren't really interested. I'm hoping that this makes them a little more interested in what we have to say. For the rest of our investigators, I can't say much.  None of them are really progressing. But we are talking to a lot of people everyday. It's difficult sometimes when we are talking to people, cause if I can't understand the conversation then it's hard for me to input something. I didn't really have any very spiritually impactful experiences this week, and I was a little bummed about that. But I have been trying really hard to understand more and really listen so that I can say more and be a bigger part in the lessons. And I'm understanding and talking more and more. A good majority of everything is still Elder Marroquin talking. Sometimes I think that I should just stay quiet because Elder Marroquin can teach a lot better than I can and with a lot more clarity. But I remember that I am here for a reason, and I have something that I need to share with everyone! So this makes me open my mouth and talk. I still need to talk a lot more though!!!!! and pay better attention to what people are saying. Sometimes at the end of the days my brain just gets fried from all the Spanish and kind of just shuts down. I really try but sometimes I physically can't focus, and I'm pretty sure that I've fallen asleep with my eyes open in some cases:) But, things are getting a lot better. And things with my companion are great, he is an awesome missionary. Actually really weird I am finding out, but he is an awesome missionary and I am learning a lot from him. Oh and he loves to cook, I don't know if I told you that before but he made this chicken this morning it was delicious. "Why you always got to be biten on my moment, does it taste good?... delicious" Uh it's killin me that I can't quote anything "ugh what do they teach in this place?"

OOOOOOHHHHHHHH I got my packages!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It seriously made my whole day actually my whole week. Thank you so much! I think that all the food is already gone, except the pancakes, I'm saving those;) And we had a squirt gun fight earlier today it was crazy! "Hey good news, I saw a dog today" actually I see a dog every two seconds of everyday there are literally thousands of them. I'm going to pack a squirt gun in my back pack so I can squirt the dogs that bark at us. Everything in the packages were genius, the Mickey Mouse suckers and sour balls made me a little homesick, but I enjoyed them very much.

Sorry this email is really short, I really don't have much to say things are going great, I'll write a better email next week and hopefully I have some cool experiences. But I have some pictures this week. Oh yeah and GO UTES! I'm still mad about the loss last year but we got them back! That is so awesome that all of you are getting new callings! You guys are awesome! Thank you all for everything, I'm going to try to send some letters soon.

I love you all more than you will ever know!

Elder England

Just getting a little sun tanning in - 

It's starting to warm up!

Played some futbol last week!

Here is our bedroom and the three crazy latinos I live with!

That's all folks - love ya!  Hasta Luego

"Let Me make of you all that you can be"

Hola Familia!!!!

Thank you everyone for the emails!  I loved them, and I have really missed you guys this week! Wow I loved the pics of Mace, and I love reading her emails. It really does help me so much knowing that Mace is doing the same thing that I am doing! It gives me strength to do everything and anything. This week has been pretty hard for me, I've really tried hard to try and stay focused and try to understand the conversation, but a lot of the time I just can't. It's hard to tell if my Spanish is increasing, obviously it is but I just wish I could explain to people what is in my head in Spanish. Thank you dad for that email, and for all the good advice I really needed it. I've realized that if I don't try to talk then my Spanish won't increase. I'm just going to try to be always engaged and try to say stuff even if I don't know what the heck is going on. I also need to use my time more wisely in studying the language. 

Anyways one thing that I love love love about my day is personal study... oh and waking up at 6:30 and working out. Haha just kidding but seriously I'm going to be huge when I get home. Anyways back to personal study, it is so awesome to have an hour set apart every day for studying. Before the mission that just didn't happen. But it has been such a blessing. A couple days ago I read "The Fourth Missionary", and wow it was a lot different reading it now than before, a lot more meaningful! One thing I loved in it says, The United States Army says "Be all that you can be". But neither the army nor you knows all that you can be. The Lord says "Let me make of you all that you can be." I love this, it reminds me of the quote from my talk, "Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure." The fourth missionary is an awesome talk, I'm so glad that I brought it. Oh and Ti Voglio Bene has helped me a lot too! Oh that reminds me can you send me a copy of my talk? The address is "Mision Uruguay Montevideo, Dalmiro Costa 4635 Montevideo, Uruguay. And that address is the same for both letters and packages - for the packages just write missionary supplies on it. 

Okay to tell you about Florida, so far I really really like it. It is super low key and the people are really nice and receptive for the most part. The food is actually pretty good, we eat lunch at a members house almost everyday and I have liked all of the food so far. Oh we got that food that Britton made for us at home, it was way good and way better than Britton's... haha just kidding it really tasted the same! Oh and we get bread almost everynight from a member, well it's actually like crescents and stuff like that ooooooohh, everytime I get discouraged I just think - okay make it to the end of the day then you can have some cresents! All my food from home is gone now - I just ate the last of my ritz crackers today, and Elder Marroquin made pancakes this morning - they were pretty darn good and I was way happy that I had some peanut butter to put on them. The weather is not the greatest, actaully it stinks - it is freezing cold and I feel like it is colder inside than out, good thing I have my huge jacket and my gigantic boots ;) 

About Juan Pablo (haha not the bachelor Juan Pablo), he is doing awesome! He came to church yesterday with us and is going to get baptized this Sunday if everything works out. I am so happy for him. He is such an awesome little kid, no one else in his family wants to listen to us. It is going to be hard though, because Juan is the youngest and he has an older brother and sister, and his dad is taking care of them by himself. I'm afraid that once he gets baptized and we leave he Isn't going to be very active, I just wish that his family especially his dad could see how much this gospel could help him. Hopefully through Juan the family might be open to the church. But everything is awesome with him, none of our other investigators are really progressing so we are trying to focus in and try to help them progress. Hopefully we have a good week, I'm feeling like we will.

Well "I miss you like the flower misses the sun" - A Knights Tale

I love you all more than you will ever know :)

Elder England

I'm in Uruguay!

Elder Devashira and me in front of temple together! 

Finally a familiar face in the MTC  

Elder Hicks and me in Uruguary!

Hola Familia!

I'm in Uruguay! Wow that is still weird to say! My companion is...  Elder Marroquin!!! He is from Mexico, and does not speak any English!!! Oh and we are living with two other elders who are also latinos and also do not speak any English, yeah it's a little hard sometimes. This is so nice to actually talk to someone in English!:) We are in Florida, Uruguay and I love it already. The people are so nice and welcoming, a million times better than where we went proselyting in the mtc. Anyways it was pretty hard to say goodbye to my district in the mtc I really loved them, but I know that they are doing the same thing right now. 

These first couple days have been pretty rough, I thought my Spanish was just mildly horrible when I left the mtc but I have soon realized that it is soooooo bad. It's hard for me to say stuff while we are talking to people, because Elder Marroquin is so good at it I'm scared that if I say something it will mess it all up. Especially the first couple days I didn't really talk like at all, but I'm trying to talk more and more cause I know that's how I'll get better. On Sunday we met a bunch of members, there are actually a lot of members, and they had us introduce ourselves in front of everyone and bare our testimonies. I dont think anyone could understand me cause I was like half crying cause I was bearing my testimony and then I was trying to think of words and conjugate them in my head, It's so hard not being able to express things that I want to express, especially to people that we talk to on the street. 

Anyways okay my mind is all over the place, um my companion is an awesome missionary, I was praying for a trainer that would push me and that obeyed all the rules and Elder Marroquin does exctly that. He is awesome, but also a little weird. He is like super dooper spiritual which I guess is good, but sometimes he just comes off weird. Also he loves to sing hymns, all day long! haha but I sing along with him. Oh haha and when we got to our apartment he pulled out a shoe box that had a cake in it, but hey it was pretty darn good. And he also calls me his son and he wanted me to ask you guys if he could adopt me. 

Yesterday I had a pretty cool experience, we were walking around looking for some references that we had gotten, and we couldn't find any of them. And we just ended up walking around asking people and we weren't having any success with anyone. So I just said a prayer in my head, just a simple prayer that we would be able to help someone or that we would be able to find someone to share our message with. And after that we walked down this one street and saw Juan Pablo who is this ten year old kid that wants to be baptized, we had talked to him and his family a couple days before and he was the only one that was really interested. We actually got a reference to go talk to Juan from the sister missionaries who had gone there and talked to them before. Anyways we had a good talk with Juan and he says that he wants to get baptzed, I'll let you know how all that goes next week... but then after that we kept walking and I saw these ladies in this one house so I told my companion we should go talk to them, well they said no right away so we just went to a different door that was like ten doors away, and no answer. But, as we were knocking a lady from the previous house walked up and said that that was her house. Oh and her husband walked up right then too. So we talked to them for a while, and they actually seemed pretty interested. So that was a cool experience. I'm sure that I'll have a bunch more to tell you next week. 

I have gotten a little homesick sometimes, especially cause I can't talk to anyone in English. But it help`s me to think about Macy, and I think a lot about how if dad and Dalton did this and loved it so much, then I can do this! I wish I could just fast forward until I could just understand and be able to actually talk to people in Spanish. But I know that that will come.

I have learned so much while being out here, mostly about myself actually! It's like the scripture, I think it's Matthew 10:39 but it says "who ever will lose his life for my sake the same shall find his life" or somehting like that. It is so true, by pushing myself I can see my strengths and weaknesses so clearly. I think the biggest thing is staying focused mentally for me, cause if I'm not putting everything I have into trying to understand what people are saying, I don't understand anything and my mind starts to wonder. But I can also see my strengths and I can also feel the spirit in a much stronger way out here, it's fantastic.

So there is an update of what is going on! It's so fun to read about everything that is going on. Keep it coming! Wow school is starting already that was a quick summer, I'm sorry!!! Oh I didn't get any packages or anything:( I'll figure the mail thing out and tell you next week but I think that you have the address right, you just have to write missionary supplies on the packages and then customs will usually let it through.

I miss you all!

I love you more than you will ever know!

Love,

Elder England

Elder Tucker and Me

(He is the one in the airport when I was leaving that was singing :)

My mission boundaries!

My new companion Elder Marroquin

He Arrived With Excitiement And Enthusiasm to get to work!

Dear England Family,

Tuesday we went to the airport in Montevideo, Uruguay, to pick up Elder England and welcome him into our mission.  He arrived full of excitement and enthusiasm to get to work. We have spent the day getting to know him, and we recognized that he will be a great asset to us here in the mission.  We know that he will bless the lives of many wonderful people.

Wednesday was transfer day and after meeting with his trainer, he headed off to his first area so that he could start ¨[bringing] to pass the immortality and eternal life of man¨.

We are now sending you a photo that we took with him.  As you can see, he is extremely excited and ready to start.  We are so excited to have your son with us and hope that you receive this photo with excitement and pride in all that your son has done to prepare himself for the opportunity that he now has to serve the Lord for the next two years.

 Love,

 The Newsomes