Over 9000

Hey all! It has been a pretty great week! And a completely crazy one at the same time! It’s been pretty mad. First off! We had a mission Christmas party which was pretty dank. Well Good to hang with all the Bois. 

After the party I had an exchange with Elder Barney. He is the man. We had a well good exchange and got some good work done so I was happy about that. What a bro. We’ve found a couple nice pi’s throughout the week so hopefully they can go somewhere. 

On Sunday Alex, Emma, and Kieran all came to church! We were well pumped. I was especially excited about Alex, he really really enjoyed it on Sunday. Also it was his birthday! Pretty dope. 

Transfers! Me and elder Arrington are staying here in Colwyn Bay and I’m well excited about it! So pumped to be staying. Things are going good here, we’re hoping to get some of our friends dunked!

My boi Elder Jensen called up cause he needed some help out with transfers. His comp needed to go to Manchester and a missionary in Rhyl needed a comp cause his was going to Manchester as well. So I went on a little split with elder Jensen for the night. It was a well good time, cruising in the car, visiting Dave my fav person in Chester ward, and catching up on the good times in Rhyl. Elder Jensen is the man. Love that kid. 

And thaaats about it! I’ll give a better email next week! Love you all and have a great week!
-elder Edwards

Snu

(Last week's letter--written on December 11, 2017)

Hey all! It’s been a pretty slick week! There’s not a whole lot to report though... we’ve done a butt ton of finding and we managed to find one potential investigator!😄  so that’s pretty dope! His name's Mike and he is some sort of Christian, but when we explained priesthood authority for him it really seemed to sink in and make a good impact. So that’s good! Hopefully gonna see him gain soon. 

There’s also this part member family, where the mom has kinda been grumpy towards missionaries for a couple years. Not sure why. So we bought a buncha biscuits and dropped by and she let us in! So that was great. Nailed it. The mom like loved us too after we did that. Biscuit power. Also for my American peeps biscuits is cookies. Hopefully gonna start teaching her son, he’s a bro.

We taught Alex a couple times this week. We’ve slowed down how often we teach him because he's kinda at a standstill, but we still see him fairly regularly. We have an official cease fire on the air soft guns which has been blissful. I still have little circular bruises all over my legs. We're praying for a miracle with him. He gonna get there eventually. Good lad. 

Church was cancelled! Haha classic Wales, gets like a couple inches of snow, cancels church. Our ward mission leader was a bro though and got permission to do the sacrament so we went over and had the sacrament with him then he fed us.  We did like a finity tracting in the snow and froze our butts off. Didn’t find anyone but had a real good time. Also took a quick ten minutes and made a dope snowman. ✌

Elder Arrington was mega sick on Saturday so we called mission presidents wife and stayed in the flat. To be honest it was really nice. I studied like all day. It was really nice and relaxing, but when we got out the flat I was rip roarin ready to go.😜  one day of sickness flat staying was plenty. 

We’ve still been seeing Tom, that less active from Finland. He’s still a major bro. Good ole t dub.  

That’s about it! We’re workin hard and praying for miracles! Sometimes Gods timetable isn’t the same as our own, but we just need to do our bit.  Here’s a dank scripture for a little spiritual thought, John 14:27 

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

I love this scripture. Things of the world don’t really have that much to offer. But Christ offers us peace. He will give us that peace, we just need to follow Him. Sometimes we might need to slow down to recognize it. I like the story of Elijah not finding the voice of the lord in the wind, or in the earthquake, or in the fire, but in a still small voice. If we pray and ask god, he will bless us with that peace! We just need to listen to that still small, loving voice. 

I love you all! Have an excellent week!-

elder ya boi

Makin this world LIT

(written December 4, 2017)

Hey fam/friends. Hope yall are doing real well. (: its been a pretty good week here, there was a child of record baptism on Saturday and it was really nice. His name is Xreian, me and elder Arrington were asked to do the talks and Xreian’s mom asked me to confirm him, which I enjoyed. It was real sweet and reminded me of the peace and happiness that comes from following the gospel of Jesus Christ. (: we were hopin to get Alex and Emma out, but Emma was busy and Alex had to cancel last minute. So a bit lame but all good.

We’ve been trying to find some new people to teach. I’m trying to change my attitude to be more optimistic about finding people so that’s fun haha. (: we also got to do some good service this week which we enjoyed. We helped Steve move into Emma’s house then Emma cooked us some bacon and sausage baps. Well nice.

 

We had a multi zone conference this week! The conference was good, but extremely LONG. Haha it was good though and I learned some good stuff. It was well good to see all the boys as well. Super fun. (:

It's the most wonderful time of the year! #lighttheworld! We’ve been thinking about how we can light the world! John 8:12 says 

“Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” 

Jesus is the light of the world! There’s so many people in this world who are crying, who are walking in darkness. They need somebody to reach out to them. The darkness of sin can be pretty dark and hopeless sometimes. But what a wonderful opportunity we all have to light the world! Little things make the biggest difference in people’s lives. You never know how much good you do, and by small and simple means are great things brought to pass! I know Christ lives! And I know as we all try to do a little extra to reach out to somebody who needs lifting up, we will change lives. I love you all! 

Have an excellent week, hope some of ya are getting some snow!

 
Love, elder Edwards

Thankgivurs

Hey! This week has been pretty sick! We had the slickest thanksgiving dinner, the Carder family had us over. It was well good. I ate so stinkin much, and it was excellent. The members here are still great, they still feed us all the time and it’s great. (:

Alex is doing pretty good. We see him everyday. He’s a major bro. He’s making super slow progress, but progress nonetheless. We feel really inspired to keep working with him even though it’s slow going, and it’s nice having a good homie to go to since nobody else wants to talk to us.😜 I feel like I say that a lot, and I don’t mean to complain, just how it goes here in Colwyn Bay. Great place though! Love it. Anyways, yeah Alex. We started messing around with his air soft guns, and I usually leave his house with multiple more welts on my body. It’s pretty great. Getting shot point blank is a blast 😜  

Also got to see Sian and Rob this week! It was great to catch up and eat some good food. (:

Oh yeah! Big ole miracle! Ya boy t dub! So we were waiting at a bus stop a week ago and this dude walked past us then turned back and came up to us and was like yo I’m a Mormon. We was like yo! And we got his number and all that good stuff so we could play football with him sometime. Then he rolled out. We were like heck yeah. Then this member whose name is Regan had us over for tea, and he is her cousin. They are rooming together while they are both going to college, and he hasn’t been coming to church for quite a while. But we went and had tea with both of them and it was super solid. Tomas is Finnish and a major bro. We homies now. Back home I used to watch these dudes on YouTube who are from Finland and they just do stupid things like joust from the tops of cars. They’re hilarious. So me and t steak had a good laugh over them. We shared a message and he was really grateful for it. So that was really great! 

We’ve been seeing a lot of good things happen here in Colwyn Bay over the last little while, a couple of less active members who have been coming out on the weekly so it’s some good stuff. We’ve been focusing a lot more on helping the branch peeps out.  There was a fam Christmas party that we were invited to. Us and ya boy Alex were the wise men for the nativity. 

That part was fun but then Alex bounced outta there and We got roped in to having to stay for the whole thing afterward because they needed us to lock up. Tbh (to be honest) it was a little bit miserable. Haha the whole time we were just getting attacked by kids. Like 3hours straight of getting attacked. But it wasn’t in a fun way. These kids were vicious. I love kids, but these ones were nutters Lol.  

So yeah! Things are good, Arrington is the man and we’re having a good time out here. This homie in our ward was like you two seem like brothers. Killin it. (: 

Well I Love you all! Have a great week!

-elder Edwards

I broke my coccyx but I still believe in Heavenly Father

Hey all! It has been one. Sick. Week. Haha Arrington (new companion) is the man. We are having hecka fun and working super hard. We saw Alex like every day, he’s doing good, unfortunately he didn’t come to church even though he said he would. It was a lil sad but he’s still the man. Nothing much else happened... lots of cruising and trying to find people, with not a lotta people listening. All good though. (:

Elder Arrington

Elder Edwards

Sorry I feel like this email is hecka lame. But little story. 2 weeks ago me and Stutz were hiking around this mountain. There was this steep muddy path and I had the bright idea to sprint down it. And film myself at the same time. (see video below) Well. I slipped, and landed right on a rock on my tailbone. Like really hard. It hurts to sit. Haha the mission nurse told me to take hecka ibuprofen but I don’t want to. It’s getting better quick though. The legend Arrington dropped the line “I broke my coccyx but I still believe in Heavenly Father.” It really helps with our finding.  😉

With Elder Stutz and Steve.

Well that’s about it! Steve and Emma got married yesterday! 😊😊😊so excited for them. The best. 

I think I’ll share a little thought... there’s this picture I’ve got on my iPad, I will include it.

It’s about how pottery can get broken, but you repair it with gold. One of my very favorite people I’ve met on my mission was having a hard time a while ago. We were at his house J chillin and I shared that picture with him. I told him how when he got broken, and his life was shattered, God repaired him with gold. The man seriously has a heart of gold. I know that that happens to all of us, sometimes we get broken and chipped, but God repairs us with gold! Everyone of you are amazing! You are all gold. (: 

love you all! Have an excellent week!

Edwards

£

My boy

I typed out my whole email, and then it disappeared. |: flippin iOS 11 trickin me out. Haha I will try to put effort into this email for the second time, no promises though.😜  

District

This week was excellent because Alex came to church again! That kid is the best. He is really startin to feel the spirit and it’s the best. I like teaching somebody my own age as well. We saw him quite a few times this week. Watta bro. He’s the best. (:

Cruisin

Emma and Steven are getting married this weekend! I’m so pumped! Steven is taking us to a lake today to muck around at which should be a good time. (: 

Yeeee
(see video at end of this post)

My fav people the Baileys are leaving us. They are the senior couple in the branch. Their mission is over now, it’s pretty lame. All goods though, they did a lot of great work here. (:

Baileys (:

Thaaaaats about it! Haha we’ve been doing lots of finding and such, but nobody wants to talk to us. Lol. All good though! 

An old pic. Love those dudes #EKitchOffACliff

Transfers! Elder Stutz is bouncin outta here and cruising up to Kendall. It’s been fun he’s a good lad. New comp is elder Arrington. Don’t really know anything about him. Should be good. (: 

love you all! Have an excellent week!
-elder Edwards 

Sacrament drum off

Hey! It's been a pretty good week, slow, but still good. (: I was talking to This man Richard one day this week, and he was telling me he was going to come to church for sure this week (this being the like 27th time he's told me that and never came) then he said church would be a lot better if we had 2 sets of drums. Then for sacrament we could just have drum offs. I thought it was a rather killer idea, and think I'll suggest it to our branch president.  Thanks Richard. (;

We saw Alex quite a few times this week. He's doing well, we played ping pong one night with Alex and our branch mission leader and his wife one night. It was great. It was good for him to hear the testimonies of some people other than us. (: Unfortunately he got sick Saturday night and had to cancel on church. ): hopefully this week though.

Emma and Stephen are still getting ready for their wedding. Good people. (: excited for them to get married already so we can start teaching her again. 😜

Not really sure what else to tell y'all... we met a couple new friends this week. One is Nathan. He's a major bro. Me and him are super similar and we talked for ages. Hopefully we can see him soon. He's having a rough time. ):

I had a hecka good day on Tuesday. Ive been trying different ways to contact people, cause people seriously don't like listening to us. On Tuesday I saw a group of 4 kids doing some flips and stuff, so I joined em! And it was the best time. (: haha I had so much fun with those dudes, doing flips, and they all said they'd check out Mormon.org. So that was real fun. I'll send a video or two. (:

(If you are reading this blog via email, you'll need to log onto the blog in order to see the videos.)

I bore a testimony similar to this in sacrament yesterday, and thought I'd share it with yous. (: so there's a book by Bear Grylls called "Facing the Frozen Ocean". It's about Bear wanting to cross the Atlantic, starting in Canada all the way to Scotland in a tiny little boat called a RIB. I think it stands for rigid inflatable boat. Or something. Anyways. It's a tiny boat, has no cabin, and is only like 10-15 feet long. It's hecka small. And they are completely exposed to the elements. Bear had a five man crew for this expedition. So they start cruising, and they run into some insane weather. They face multiple massive storms. And they are all just absolutely terrified.

Bear talks about how in the middle of that storm that he has no control over his fate, how he was comforted. His dad passed away a couple years before, and bear talked about how he felt the presence of the "unseen crew" as he described it. He could feel his dad, and he could feel Jesus Christ there helping them. Way out in the middle of the Atlantic. I know that our Lord Jesus Christ is so very aware of each one of us. Whether we are in Kaysville Utah (yeah boy), Wales, China, or anywhere else. The lord will be with you wherever you go. 

Please don't forget that even if you may feel like your crew is only yourself, and it's you on your own, there is always the unseen crew. Our loved ones, and the man that we can put complete and total trust in, Jesus Christ. He will never fail us. 

Also if any of you are having a hard time, or a looking for a killer book, I highly recommend "facing the frozen ocean". It helped me through a really hard time. I know Christ lives! I know he is with each one of us. I love you all!

-elder edwards

Elder Edwards with companion Elder Stutz

Llywelyns hall older than Edwards wall

Found this on my map 😂

YA BOY ALEX CAME TO CHURCH!! Best Sunday ever! Haha so Alex who we've been hangin with/teaching since I got here came to church! It was absolutely the best. He was really nervous about coming, but just kept saying thank you over and over again for getting him to come out. He absolutely loved it. So that was basically just the best thing ever. (: he hasn't really been willing to read the Book of Mormon or pray, but the spirit really got him good yesterday and he said he was gonna start reading and praying! What a bro. It was the best day of my life.

Emma came as well too! So it was just the slickest day. It makes me so happy when I see my friends experience feeling the love of God for the first time, and seeing them be so happy. Being a missionary is great. (:

J chillin

In other news... there isn't much other news haha. Last night we tried by this kid Oliver and he was like yooooooo, let's go for a cruise! So we got in his car and just cruised around hangin, having a chat about Jesus Christ and all that good stuff. TBH it made me mega trunk. It was really nice to be hangin with someone my own age cruisin around in a car again. Also he played us his Christian rap music. 😂😂😂 haha this stuff was legendary. It was like hardcore rap music, but singing about how great God is and all that stuff. Oliver is a bro, it was a slick time. He gonna read the Book of Mormon now.

Dolph

I've been pretty sick all week, but kept working all week and it's proper worn me out. Well tired. All goods though. Also the whole week was pretty slow haha I think like 2 people would talk to us up until Sunday. 😂 gotta love This place. Wales is number 1!

Me and Elder Sengson

I had a pretty sick exchange with Elder Sengson from the Phillipines this week! It was a good time. We're mission brothers, Elder Korth trained him as well! Haha. (: dad Korth.

Kinda weird pic

I think that's about it! Love you all! Keep fighting the good fight!
-Eduardo

We don't deal with Americans

As you can probs tell from my title, my fav thing that happened this week was when a man told us when we knocked on his door that they don't deal with Americans. I think people usually intend to make us feel bad, but it probably startles them when I start laughing. I busted up when he said that then he just shut his door. 

Another wonderfully amazing thing that happened this week was a crazy old lady chased us off her porch with an air horn. I laughed even harder during that process, which made the lady a little more upset. People are great. (:

We had a sick lesson this week with a man named Martin. He is proper interested and has read like half the Book of Mormon already. He started it over cause he felt like he wasn't understanding it. So that was great. It was also on a super rainy cold night, so major bonus. 

We had lots of food this week as well. Not much to report on the peeps, Alex is reading his Book of Mormon and is coming to church this Sunday. Watta good lad. He's a homie. 

We also taught this 10 year old kid named Patrick! We went to a members house for tea and her grandson was there! So we ended up basically just teaching him and it was proper good! He's the best. He came to church with his grandmother so hopefully we can start teaching him a bit more!

Our oven decided to break this week, so that was a pain. We couldn't eat anything. ): but we got a new one so that's the good stuff. We also wired it ourselves, which apparently is illegal and we got raged at a bit for doing that. But. You gotta do what you gotta do to survive. 😜

haha well That's about it for this week. Super boring email. Sorry lads. Love yall though, have a killer week. (:

Righteously right on

Hey fam. It's been a pretty slick week. It's been enjoyed. I never know how to start an email.

Emma and stevie B are excited for their wedding! So the plan is, marriage on Nov. 18th, then hopefully Emma's baptism 4-5 weeks down the road from the wedding.  I love those two people. I just love people in general. There's a lot of wonderful people of all faiths and of no faith which I realized more this week. But yeah back to Steve-o and Emma. They are the best. I'm super happy for them.

We played some pinyin anda pongin with Alex again this week. We also had some super great chats with him this week about prayer and all sorts of good stuff. I love that kid. He's a true homie. He agreed to come to church next week which is a huge step for him. I'm pumped.

Other than that... basically we've just been doing the plain old plain old. Knockin doors, talking to peeps in the street, stopping by members who aren't quite so active, dropping by people who were formerly investigating the church and all that good stuff. We've met some great people! Had some great discussions and all that good stuff. Life is gewd. Also I love this branch. They are such excellent people, and they feed us every day. Haha we've got lunch and tea appointments all week this week. Most excellent. (:

We had the killerest of p days today. We went to the village Abergwyngregyn then hiked for ages to Aber falls. And hiked up above the falls. 'Twas the goodest of times. Pics included 

"If you're going through hell, keep going."                     ~Winston Churchill

I know that was a terrible transition but that's alright. 😜  I love that quote and I wanted to share it with you people. Life can really be hard sometimes. There's so many incredibly hard trials people go through, so many mental illnesses, so much feelings of worthlessness. My heart goes out to people who struggle with depression and abuse and all other terrible things like that. Depression has been something that's been a presence in my life, but not to any sort of degree that other people face it. It seems to hit harder at points in my mission though, and I had a couple of really rough days this past week. Depression kinda just hits for no reason, and it's like your own personal little bubble of hell. I know that sounds well dark and depressing. But... 

The God I know, is a God who loves me. His love is always there. It's like the waves rolling in from the ocean, it never stops. There's nothing we can do to make him not love us. It just takes us to be still enough to feel Him. And the God I know has never ceased to pick me up. There's a Japanese proverb that I love. "Fall down seven times. Get up eight." And when I truly don't have the strength to pick myself up, God has never failed to get me back on my feet. He always picks me up. So to anyone who may feel like they are going through hell. Please, please keep walking. There is always hope, and there is always light at the end of the tunnel. I know that. 

I love you all, but more importantly God loves you all. And that is the anchor to my soul, the very fiber that keeps me going. I love God, I love the trials that I've overcome, I love skiing, I love being a missionary and being able to help my friends, and I love life. 

The very object of our existence is to have joy. And whether we are struggling to have that right now, it will come. Maybe in this life, maybe in the next. But the special thing, is that it will come. Keep walking everyone. (: God is on your side. Just a couple things that have been on my mind, hope it might help somebody. (: love you all, have a killer week.

-elder edwards