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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

Bounteously bodacious

Hey all! As the usual, it has been an excellent week. Little sad to see elder Artates go, but it's all good, just how it goes. Elder Stutz is great! He's a good lad and we're having good times out here in WALES.

Artates peacin out

We met this couple Mary and Steve who invited us in. They were really passionate about Jesus Christ and their bibles. We had a good chat with them. They started getting a little bashy at times but it's all good. Great people who love the lord. (: we left a Book of Mormon for them to read. Fun fact. Some people think that the Holy Spirit and the priesthood are the exact same thing. I hadn't heard that one before. They were great though, were probs gonna go by again this week, they want us to bring our bibles when we come again so were hopin it won't turn into a bash sesh.

We saw Alex a couple times this week. He had crazy bad migraines for like two weeks straight so we gave him a blessing. He's feeling a bit better now which is good.

Practicing my modeling

I'm super crazy excited about Emma. Her boyfriend Stevie B called us up asking if we could come over and give him a blessing, so we did do. And Emma was there as well! We chatted it up for a bit, then gave Steve o a blessing. We offered Emma one as well and she kinda reluctantly agreed. They had me give both of them cause they weren't very comfortable with a stranger holdin their heads haha understandable. 😜 but Emma got really emotional and felt the spirit super strong during her blessing. Ive never seen her react in the way she did, I think it may have been one of the first times she truly recognized the spirit. She was so happy after the blessing and it made me super happy. (: they are getting married on the 18 of November so hopefully we can get a baptismal date for after their wedding! They are the best, I'm feeling super good about them. Emma came to church again as well. (:

My estate

That's about it for me! We did a whole buncha other stuff, but can't remember any of it. So, I love you all! Be excellent to each other, and party on dudes!

-Eduardo

Bippity bop doo ah

Yo what's good fam. The week has been pretty sick. I'll try and remember some highlights.

We saw Cheryl again, the one who undropped us. She had read one verse of the Book of Mormon and felt it contradicted the bible so we sat down and read 3rd Nephi 11 with her. She loved it, and felt the witness of the spirit that those were truly inspired words. So that was some good stuff. We gonna show her the Jospeh Smith movie soon.

We finally had a lesson with Emma this week! It was really good. The only thing holding her back from getting baptised is that she doesn't have a testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon yet. So she's gonna be reading and praying everyday. We didn't see Alex this week which was a bummer.

I had the sickest exchange of a lifetime with ya boy Kellogg. Man it was so fun. That man is a legend. We cruised on over to Bangor for the exchange and did a bunch of service, finding, teaching, eating (my favorite part), and being hoopdys. It was most excellent.

Conference was killer. I loved it so much. And the best part... we went to Rhyl for conference! I got to see so many of my favorite people. Sian, Peter, brolo, and many many more. It was the best. (:

Transfers! Elder Artates shall be leaving. Super sad day. Funnily enough my mtc companion elder Stutz is coming here to be my comp. crazy eh?

Alright peeps, Ive been thinking about the fact that there's opposition in all things. Satan is always doing his best to screw things up. To make you afraid, angry, and upset. God never makes you feel those things. If you feel like there is so much opposition that you must be doing something wrong, I say your doing something right. Joseph smith said "the nearer a person approaches the lord, the greater effort the adversary will manifest against them." So if you're experiencing a lot of opposition, take hope! Satan fights against all things that are good. He wants to destroy heavenly fathers plan. BUT HE WILL NOT SUCCEED. Stay true to what you know, stay true to yourself, and stay true to God. As my boy bob Marley sang, don't worry about a thing, cause every little thing, is gonna be alright. That's true, every little thing, is going to be alright. I love you all, keep being awesome. (:

-Elder ya boy