We stole what, from England?

Elder Young in Wrexham Wales

It is true! Alberta has stolen England's rain! I have photographic proof above! Dry skies!

This email just arrived this morning and I have already re-read it over and over! Without further delay:

June 23, 2014

Some of the kids asked about the plane: The plane flight was good, but I didn't get to see that much of the landscape for most of the flight. There were always clouds under us. The first flight I sat behind Elder Ferguson and the second flight I wasn't even close to him, but we were together at the airports and got to be lost together. haha. I'm now out of the MTC and am with my first companion, Elder Oakey, He's cool. The MTC was good, nice food, but I'm so glad to be out, and I now see how hard it would've been to learn a new language. There were a lot of German speaking missionaries there. 

Elder Young

It feels like I've only been gone a couple days but it has been weeks now. I'm in Wrexham Wales right now with my first companion, we had to white-wash the area, which basically means starting the area over as if the missionaries before us weren't here... in simple terms. So we've been tracting ever since we arrived here. Its been tons of fun, and a lot harder than I thought it'd be. The ward is really nice hear and we have a bunch of dinner appointments already, actually we had one on our first day here. 

I need to get better at talking with people on the street, I don't know what to say most of the time so my companion has to cover... which sucks, im working on it though. I'm working on the accent too... I think I'll actually need two years to perfect it. haha. I have seen little of the culture and nice architectural walls and buildings.

Elder Young

At one point we were trying to go to a recent convert's house, ended up getting lost and found an old telephone booth... had to take pictures of ourselves haha!

Elder Oakey

We also found a beautifully built stone bridge so we took photos of that too.

Umm, not really any stories yet but I'll keep you posted. It's only rained here a couple days, and those days were all at the MTC, there hasn't been a single drop in Wrexham... Yet. So much for the stereotype. YOU STOLE ALL THE RAIN!! 

That was the basic email. You guys had a lot of questions so I wrote down most of them and am now getting to them. haha. Umm... it sucks that you all got sick hope your over that now, ever since I got to the Preston MTC I've had hay fever and I wish my nose wasn't on my face most of the time. I keep sneezing and my nose is always dripping. At one point I had half a roll of TP in my bag for emergencies haha. 

Like I said I'm in Wrexham Wales, with my new companion from Nebraska. I like him, he does most of the cooking so I've taken it upon myself to do the dishes... its a lot easier to clean them right after your done eating! Insane RIGHT! HAHA, that was for you dad ;) Thanks so much for the letters and my suit, the candy is really nice, I probably wouldn't buy any because I'm wanting to save as much money as possible. Oh, the church gives every missionary a given amount of money every month for food which is really nice. I'm not sure how expensive it was to send stuff over but the mission president recommended using amazon.UK.  They say there are no extra fees other than the initial cost.

Where's Will? Wrexham Wales...
say that ten times fast!

 I also got the other letters you sent me, the ones with all the drawings, its nice to look at them, and good attempt Morgan haha. I got the online mail you all did too, so thank you. 

Now that I'm out here its a lot harder than I thought, especially since neither of us have ever been in this area before and we know absolutely no one. I trying to work on speaking to more people on the road or when we walk past them. There was one missionary who said he had a testimony of "fake it until you make it" so that's what im trying to do. Act more confident, and then I will be. 

I have a blister on my baby toe... sooooo annoying, it keeps getting bigger everyday. The majority of what we've been doing is street-contacting and its been a lot of 4hr times where we just walk and walk. This is supposed to be a bike mission but the bikes that are here are junk so we use the buses, when we aren't walking. I actually got to go on a double decker which was kinda cool, when i get to the higher deck I have to duck to keep walking. 

There are no trucks here, and the ones that are here are flat nose semis (lorries) or small small pick-ups. The traffic is crazy here and seeing other vehicles coming at you on the wrong side of the road make you think your about to crash every other second, and the amount of roundabouts is insane, there's practically one every other block. 

Roomies

Mom I'm so glad I brought my cleats, at the MTC we tried to play "fut-ball" as much as possible and the field was usually slippery. Almost all of the other Elders were better than me so having cleats when they didn't helped make it more even. I liked your plant analogy, very clever haha. All the mornings are terrible! We get up at 6:30 and then prepare and I'm falling asleep during personal study time which is from 8-9. Hardest part of the day so far. 

OH dad, one thing that made me think on Sunday, we were talking about sins and stuff, but I remember my companion say that those who do harm to you, you will stand in on their judgement day and they will be accountable for it. So if anyone ever does something to you, react calmly and remember that after this life we all have to atone for what we have done. So the propane theft is a good example for that, which is really frustrating. At this point, a few weeks into my mission, I'd say the gospel basics are the most effective thing you can do even though they are "primary answers". Pray as much as possible, read the scriptures daily, and try to treat others the way you want to be treated. I'm still working on all this, and I know I still need to gain a stronger testimony, I've heard of some crazy examples of miracles missionaries have had, and I want to have the same amount of faith. I'll be expecting those apricots haha. My side bag is really convenient but I learned that I need to carry less stuff in it, the weight is painful. 

Tell Dave and Amy congrats for me. (a new little cousin was born!)

Temple

Yes, I am able to print emails. 

Monday is my official P-day for the rest of my mission.

If its too late thats fine, but try to save my journal notes that are on my phone.

There are pillows here at the flat but they are disgusting, so I need to buy a pillow case here. I currently have my sheet over-top my bed and pillows. haha

I have two belts here so I don't need another one, but thanks anyway. 

Put whatever you feel people want to know on the blog. 

Missionaries

Thanks for being my parents Mom and Dad, I'm trying to use as much of what you taught me here on my mission, and thank you for raising me in the gospel. Mom remember you said you had a goal to be "unrecognisable" when I get back ;) LOVE you Mom and Dad.

...It's true, I have a goal to get fit in the next two years. Way to hold me to my challenge Will!