I Got Clothes-Lined!

My new companion Elder Bustamante and Me

Showing off my injured face - Story below!

Heeeeyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow it feels like it' s been so long since I have talked to you guys! Maybe it is because so many things have changed... yes I got transfered. I am now in FERROCARRIL which is in the zone Norte. I am still in Montevideo, but in a different zone. I was sad to leave Carrasco, especially because of the investigators. Okay my new comp is Elder Bustamante!! He is from Argentina and has just over a year in the mission. I am a District Leader again, I am really excited too because the Zone Leaders here are really awesome. I forgot how stressful and overwhelming being transferred is... cause I was in Carrasco for so long. But Elder Bustamante and I get along great! The thing is that I heard a lot of negative things about Elder Bustamante before I knew him. He kind of has a bad rep here in the mission, not really sure why but I heard that he has a very strong personality. When I got here on Wednesday one of the Zone Leaders pulled me aside and just said I don't know if you have heard anything about your comp but he has changed, if you love him then you guys will get along great. So that is what I have been trying to do... and we have been getting along great. He really must have changed because from what I have seen he is really cool.

So Norte... A lot of people say it is the armpit of the mission haha. No just kidding I don't know if they call it that but it is just kind of the dirty part of the city. But I heard that my area is the nicest part of the zone.. yes!! Turns out I really like it here. I have met a good number of the members already and they are all super nice! The people are actually really different here than they are in Carrasco... they are a lot nicer. Okay maybe not nicer but they are a lot more friendly and open.

Carrasco: So we had Sandras baptism and it was so awesome. She was so happy!!! Unfortunately we couldn't find or get a hold of Diego the day of his baptism, It was a real bummer. I had a mix of all emotions during Sandra's baptism. Sitting there before in the meeting while the talk about baptism was being given, I was just thinking about how I felt and I felt super stressed, frustrated, and sad that we couldn't find Diego. But then I realized... Hey wake up, you have a baptism and you are all dressed in white waiting to baptize Sandra who has gone through a lot to get to this day. After thinking that I just felt happy and grateful to be there and to have helped Sandra. We kept passing by Diegos house but I never got to see Diego before transfers. I really hope that Elder Webber and his new comp can find him and help him get baptised. It was so hard to say goodbye to Paula and Raul! They are so awesome and they told me the day before I left that they want to get married.... "Love, true love... marriage is what brings us together today". Anyways so that is stinking awesome and I really hope that is actually happens! I'm not sure if I would be able to go to their baptisms if they did get baptised, but they said they would want me there. We´ll see what happens there.

Norte: I live in a four Elder house with my comp and Elder Ipson (from some part of Arizona I think) and his comp Elder Vazquez (from Columbia) who is an oro or greeny. The house is pretty nice, defintely not as nice as the beach house we had in Carrasco but it's okay. It was actually pretty dirty and nasty, but we spent a good couple of hours cleaning it this morning. It doesn't look like we have very many investigators here. We are going to have to get to work here so that we can baptise this transfer. But, don't worry  - we will :)

Okay I have a story... so Wednesday night we planned to go play basketball at our church early in the morning with the zone leaders. So we went and played for a good 30 minutes and then started heading back to the house in the dark. Well along the way home we had to cross these railroad tracks. Oh and we were running home because it was already seven o'clock and we wanted to get home to shower and get ready. But on one side of the railroad tracks there is a little gateway or passage because there is a fence that runs alongside the railroad tracks. Well while running behind my comp through the passage way I got clothes-lined by a steel wire that was connected by two poles. It knocked me right on my back. It seriously was crazy... I was laying on the ground like what the heck just happened and my comp had turned around to warn me but was slightly to late. So turns out that it gashed my forehead in three places... Stitch face is back!!!!!! Actually I didn't get stitches... I'm not sure if I needed them or not cause we didn't go to the hospital. I don't think I would have needed them but then I kind of think about it now and I don't really want three big scares on my forehead. But nah It's not that bad we just put some bandages and patched it up! It's pretty funny, cause everytime we talk to someone they always look straight at my forehead and then after talking for a while ask me what happened to my face.

Anyways sounds like everything is going great. I want more emails siblings... you guys are a bunch of slackers.

But have a great week, love you all.

Elder England

Clearly Elder Bustamante fit under the wire...

NOT me...it threw my on my back!

The injuries after the incident...

all bandaged up!

I Really Can See How Much I Have Learned And Grown

Hola como estan????

So we are in the mall writing, and a Coldplay song came on... yeah I miss music a lot. Anyways summer is here!!! I really can't believe that Mace has been out a whole year, and that I've been graduated for a year. I always remember those crazy last weeks of school. It was the best time of the year though... other that Christmas obviously. It's still slowly getting colder, but this week wasn't as wet luckily. Yes I do have an umbrella dad, but we foolishly forget our umbrellas a lot last week. When we would leave the house we would ask each other, should we take the umbrellas today and we would always say nah it's not going to rain... We know now that it's better to just drag the umbrella the whole day and not use it, than get stuck in a down poor without. But this week was great... and guess what! We have two baptisms tonight. Sandra is going to get baptised and also Diego. Getting everything ready for baptisms is always, to me, really stressful!!! So this week has been pretty busy and quite stressful. But have finally got everything ready. Oh and the sisters in our ward are going to have a baptism too. I had the opportunity to do the baptismal interview for their investigator. It was a really cool experience.

So I've almost been a district leader for a whole transfer... yeah we have transfers next week! I don't know what is going to happen but I think that I am going to be leaving Carrasco. I would seriously love either way. I have been here for a while, but I don't want to leave our investigators. Especially Paula and Raul! They seriously are so awesome and I feel like there is just a bond between us. They say that they want to get baptised but Raul says that he doesn't want to get married. Paula wants to get married so bad and told us that she has been talking about getting married for the 13 years that they have been together. On Wednesday we had an awesome charla with them and we read The Family A Proclamation To The World to help them understand the importance of marriage. It was a great lesson. Haha and we were fasting that day because as a zone we were fasting to help us reach our goal for this month, but Paula and Raul were offering us food and we were like no thanks we are good, but Raul was like guys just eat the food... so we sheepishly said that we were fasting. They were really nice about it, and acutally gave us some banana bread to eat the next day.

The fast really helped though!!!! Especially with Sandra and Diego, because we couldn't get in contact with either of them on Wednesday but then on Wednesday night we went by Diegos house and talked to him and set up a charla for the next day. And there were just a bunch of difficulties with trying to get these two baptised. It seemed that just everything was going wrong. I heard one time from a missionary that he said that in his whole mission he never had one easy baptism, and I think I can understand where he was coming from. There seems to be things that pop up, especially the week of the baptism, that try to stop these people from making these steps in there lives. Sandra even told us that she has had thoughts that tell her to just stop, or for instance she told us that the day of her interview she said that she had those thoughts that told her to just not go. But she is so awesome, and told us that she had remembered us saying that there will be opposition... we just have to fight it. I am so happy for everything that is happening here.

Being a district leader has been a very humbling experience. I find myself being held more accountable for everything, which is awesome. Especially because I have to verify with the zone leaders every night and let them know how the district is doing. But I have learned so much in this last change. The mission is interesting, I often thought to myself that I had reached a moment where I knew sufficiently enough to complete my objective as a missionary... but then I continue to learn more and more. Looking back I really can see how much I have learned and grown. The district meetings are fun, I have only actually done two due to zone conferences and a special conference with Pres. Gonzalez (a member of the seventy that we had this week). It was seriously such an awesome conference. I was so impressed with President Gonzalez and his public speaking skills. Missionaries would make random comments or questions that he would respond to but he somehow kept it all on topic and focused on his main points.

Sounds like the summer fun is a comin! Have fun. Love yall

Elder England

All Part Of Mission Life

 Elder Webber and I are ready to go!

Hola:) 

So it's been a rainy kind of week with the weather... but in regards to our investigators everything is looking quite great! St. George weekend... that is something that I miss a lot is the fun super tranquilo trips to St. Geezy and Cali. Enjoy the fun.. and the sun for me will ya! It's gettin chilly... but like really cold. And it doesn't help that we are right on the coast. The majical beach house has now turned into the freezing igloo. haha no it's not that bad inside... YET. But I am super glad for the thermals. So like I said it was raining a lot this week and the rain is absolutely horrible as a missionary not only because we are just walking around outside in the cold but because we also have scriptures and pamphlets and agendas to keeps dry... and yes all of the above got wet this week. Also, we have to put our clothes outside on lines to dry. So now all of the chairs and cabinet doors have turned into our clothes lines. Also it's so humid that it takes a solid day or so to dry everything out... but it's just all part of the mission life:) 

But the investigators are going great! Sandra, we have already taught everything she needs to learn and she has accepted everything. About the situation with the boyfriend.. she realized that she does not want to get married to him and that it would be better for her and her kids if she tells him to leave. So she did.. she is really awesome, oh and also she lives with two of her sons who are 12 and like 16. The 12 year old is already baptized and is an awesome example for the family and the 16 year old kid has talked with missionaries before and has actually read like 300 pages in the Book of Mormon! When they told us that we were so shocked. They didn't seem like it was something that extreme, but what they don't realize is that that is more than a lot of members have read. So she should be baptized in a week from today.. I'll let you know how that goes. 

Diego is doing good, we had a lesson yesterday with him. The problem with him is that he doubts a lot and doesn't feel that he is sure about a lot of things, so we asked him is he has been reading and praying and he said no:() So he told us that he would and we are going to verify today with him. 

Sergio is doing good too. We are working with him to stop drinking and smoking. We also had a charla wih him yesterday and we are going to go by today to see how he is. Hopefully they can all make it to church on Sunday. 

OH and Paula and Raul... we came out and told them that they need to get married and Raul didn't take it very well. But after a good charla he agreed to pray about it and we are going to see today. Seriously we have seen so much help from God with all of these investigators. We just have to keep going til they make it to baptism... and then keep working even harder haha it never ends:)

Have an awesome week, say hi to the St George crew.

Love you all,

Elder England

Out and about in Carrasco!

We got some icecream...Yummm!

Awesome Opportunity To Use The Priesthood

Just having some lunch!

Hello fam bam!!!

So we switched P day... again. We were going to go get a package for Elder Webber that is stuck in customs or some place, but they were not open on Saturday so we changed our P day to today. But this week I will have P day on Saturday again as usual. So it was super awesome to talk to you guys!!! I feel like such an awkward missionary, and it's so frustrating. After skype both Elder Webber and I were saying how weird we are and how there was so many things to say but we didn't know what to say in the moment. We were both so out of it and thinking about the family that we missed our bus stop for our house and had to run super far back to the house to make it home on time. But the next day we were better. Holy cow this week has gone by so fast, I feel like I talked to  you guys yesterday. I think I'm turning into THAT awkward missionary, haha and it's just going to keep getting worse. 

I'm sorry to hear about Cole, I'll keep him in my prayers. I loved how he raised his hand and made an L with his fingers.... classic Cole. He is such a strong kid!!! School is almost out... wow I can't believe that it has almost been a year since I graduated. And I can't believe how big everyone is getting, especiall Soph. She looks so big, but I realized while skyping that she is still the same weird little sister as before. Summer plans sound super fun. The tables have turned once again, i'ts getting to be summer there and the winter is a comin here. The thermals are going to work like a charm;)

So this week was actually a pretty awesome week... up until Sunday. On Saturday night we had everything set up for Sandra, Sergio and Diego to go to church. But the only one that got there was Sandra, but with Sandra we just found out that the father of her two sons, I guess her boyfriend, might be living with her now... Noooooooooo!!!! That means that we have to help her get married or that he can't live there with them before she is baptized. We have a charla with them today, and we are going to explain the situation. But the good thing is that she really wants to get baptized. I don't know if I told you very much about her, but Sandra has talked with the missionaries a lot before but has had a lot of trials, especially with her health. Yesterday she asked us to give her a blessing. It is such an awesome opportunity to use the priesthood I hold to help other people. I thought a lot about the scripture in D&C 121:45 about how our confidence will wax strong in the presence of the Lord and the doctrine of the priesthood will distill upon our souls if we let virtue garnish our thoughts unceasingly. I felt an amazing feeling of confidence when giving that blessing. Confidence in God. Confidence in the priesthood and the things that it can do. And confidence in myself and that I am living worthily to use the priesthood I hold. About the other investigators, Sergio and Diego, we are just trying to get in contact with them and help them to progress. 

This week should be a good one!!! I have faith that these people are going to progress.

Fun fact: Uruguayans love driving motorcycles and and vespas... even in the winter. Also it is pretty impressive how many people and just stuff they can fit on their motos. Also many times I see people drinking matte while driving their whole family on their single person mo-ped... It's a skill only Urugauyans possess, and probably a skill that only the Uruguayans want, but whatcha gonna do?

¨Well, I forgot my check book. Hope you don't mind I pay you in change.¨  ... If you got that quote I commend you. I tend to say it a lot when there is nothing left to say. Or this other one, ¨Big gulps huh? we'll see ya later!¨ 

Have a great week everyone, I love you way more than you will ever know!!

Elder England

I almost got it!

Mother's Day Skype

We had a great time Skyping with Davis on Mother's Day

Enjoy!

See You Guys Tomorrow!

This is a little place with a bunch of little houses

or ranchitos we call them in Spanish

Hello!!! Happy B day Mags!!! 

It is so weird to me that you are 17. I think a lot about how we are both going to be going into college when I get home... freaky! But have an awesome day, you're the best. And happy Mothers Day mom, I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow so I can say that in person... I'm sooooooooooo excited. That time will work great. Hopefully I can see Kenna and Dalt. 

I got my packages:) Thanks so much. It's not quite cold enough to use the long johns but it'll get there. Everyone is saying that it is going to get so cold this year. Also our house is right on the coast so it's going to be extra cold. I made the alfredo noodles that you sent yesterday and it was quite scrumptious. All the missionaries hoard their good food from packages so that they can have some later but I don't know why I just can't. I see all the good food and eat it all!! I'm super jealous of the carb bread bombs Mace... sounds delicious. We are going to skype tomorrow with the GIles, I think I already said that they were temple missionaries, but they are the best... and yes sister Giles is an amazing cook. I have had several roast and mashed potato meals at their house, which makes me super trunky cause it tastes just like mom´s. 

Kinda bummer news... So Isabel lives with her mother, well it is her adopted mother because she was adopted but it is weird cause she was adopted when she was like already an adult. Anyways on week days Isabel lives with her mother and watches over her in the house, and on weekends she goes to her sons house which is in a different area it's actually Elder Tucker's area. Well apparently one of the sons of the mother, who is the owner of the house in our area, found out that we were going by and he didn't like that and told Isabel that we couldn't go by anymore. So we thought about it and we decided to give the referal to Elder Tucker and his comp so that they can go by her house on Sunday and teach her in her son's house. Oh also funny background, on Sunday she told us that she was going to come but for the whole first hour we didn't hear anything from her. Then we got a text from her saying that she was on her way, so we were thinking that she would show up perfectly for sacrament meeting. Well sacrament ended, and then Isabel decides to show up... right after!!!! It was good though because she got to meet some members. So yeah that's Isabel, I kind of feel like I just went through another break up (like the Lucia situation where we gave Lucia to the sisters to teach) but it'll be better for Isabel this way. 

As for Endira we haven't been able to have much contact... it is so frustrating!! We set up charlas and give her a commitment, then we say to ourselves if we go and she hasn't done her commitment we have to explain to her that we can't keep coming by. But the thing is that every time we set up a charla she is never there!!! So then we are like well we can't just drop her, we need to actually talk to her. It's a pitiful cycle, but hopefully we can break it this week.

This week hasn't been too great, kind of been rough finding people to teach. But I don't know if I ever told you about Paula and her family. Elder Ochoa and I found her but never really could find time to have a charla with them... Until this week. We have had two awesome charlas with Paula and her boyfriend Raul, yeah boyfriend. They aren't married, but they have two little boys. Tiago who is 6 and Camilo who is 4... I think. But they are super awesome, like they invited us to come make pizzas in their brick oven some day!!! Haha and Paula said yeah we need to make a little coffee next time you guys come over cause it is getting kind of cold, and Elder Webber was like ugh oooor hot chocolate, we really like hot chocolate. I guess we will have to explain the Word of Wisdom next time if they bring the coffee out. 

But things are going super great down here, I'm super excited to see you guys tomorrow. 

Mags have an awesome day again!!! love you all.

Elder England

Typical street...

Works Every Time

England clan,

Yeah those were some long emails, but I read all of them... probably the first time that I read it all thoroughly and didn't just scan over it. Haha example, There is an Elder Burnett who is serving here with his wife and he is from Dan's stake, and he just told me like 5 minutes ago that Dan is the new stake Pres. and I was like what? I didn't know that! So yeah iI'm not really sure if that was something that I just skimmed right over or what, but good luck Uncle Dan, you'll do awesome. 

Okay first of all, I can't do skype at 8 sorry. We have to be in the house at 8 doing the weekly numbers. We talked with a couple who are temple missionaries who said that we can do skype with them. So because we have to be in the house at 8 we were planning to do it at 5:30 Uruguayan time. Also I have only 40 minutes to skype. Really sorry if this doesn't work well with the schedule. I'm thinking now that we could do it here at 6:45. because the Giles (the family that we are going to) have a computer and an ipad so we can do it at the same time. And it's like 15 minutes away from our house. So we will plan on 6:45 Uruguayan time. I don't know if Mace will be able to do it at that time or if Kenna will be home, but that is the latest that I can do it. Just let me know next Saturday:) I'M SO EXCITED!

So this week has been pretty awesome. Elder Webber and I are getting along really well. He is a super low key, fun type of guy but also a really hard worker. We have seen a lot of success in this past week. We found a lady named Isabel in the street last Saturday, I think I told you guys about her. But we had an awesome charla with her yesterday and she says that she is going to come to church on Sunday and try to bring one of her friends that she thinks could use some help... already being a member missionary! But we put a baptismal date with her for Mother's Day!!!! I really think and hope that she can progress and make it to baptism. We also have a lot of other investigators that have a lot of potential, for instance we still have Endira. We have been having more contact with her this week, and have had some really great charlas with her this past week. Elder Webber and I have actually been teaching her in English because she says that she likes English better and she speaks fluently because she lived in the states for like 7 years. But anyways teaching in English is stinkin weird!!! It's kind of hard... we always talk in English (Elder Webber and I) but when we teach it's always in Spanish so my mind was in Spanish mode. But I actually really liked it because I could use big sophisticated words, haha but I feel like I can teach more efficientlty in Spanish... it's just weird.

Oh cool story, I had an intercambio with Elder Eraso who is the new zone leader here. He is from Columbia (oh side note our investigator Isabel is apperently the neice of like one of the biggest drug lords in Columbia. He actually was killed a while ago but Elder Eraso was telling me that he was this crazy drug merchant who killed a bunch of people. Good news is that Isabel wasn't involved with any of that really, she moved out of Columbia when she was two and didn't really have contact with much of her family after that. I think the guys name is Pablo Escobar) But Elder Eraso is super funny and an awesome missionary, and we are pretty good friends. But we had a great day, and at the end of the day we were waiting for the bus and I was just saying that I don't like that fact about this area that we have to rely on the bus to get home on time. And Elder Eraso just asked me if I wanted to pray. So we bowed our heads at this bus stop and I offered a prayer for about 30 seconds. While praying I was just hoping a bus wouldn't come and go while we were closing our eyes. But sure enough as we finished the prayer we saw our bus coming down the street. I just looked at him with a shocked/excited face, and he just said that it works every time. He said he did it a lot with some of his older comps and that it worked every time.

AHHH I'm out of time! I love you all so much. Have a great week, and let me know about skype.

Elder England