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

Yo.

So this week was pretty good. Yep.

Nice view of Wales

Monday! We called up Cheryl to set up an appointment. Cheryl told Elder Artates not to come around anymore (we got dropped) cause she talked to her pastor and her pastor told her a bunch of rubbish about us. So I was like NOPE not having any of that and cruised right on over to her house. I was pretty straight up with her, talking about the Book of Mormon, and restored Christianity, and she committed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and the restored church! Undropped! Two thumbs up. (: haha we did it in a nice way so no worries.

In honor of DP

We met a really crazy lady. She was great. I also ate a lot of ice cream this week. We got dropped by a couple other people who we thought were promising. That was too bad, but we haven't given up hope on them. (:

We taught Alex again a couple nights this week. We had some proper good lessons with him, and he is now reading and praying. He's a homie. Him and his sister Christina came to the chapel and played some pingin and pongin then we had a lesson. Well a chat really about Jesus Christ. (: it was the good stuff!

Last week p day we cruised around the great orme chasing goats. It was a real good time.

Emma unfortunately cancelled tea this week so we weren't able to teach her. But! She signed up for tea again this week so hopefully it goes through this time. (: Kieran's mom still doesn't really want us missionaries coming around, so we're still looking for a way around that.

Oh yeah! Super solid thing that happened this week! In my first transfer when I was in Rhyl I was on an exchange with Elder Kaonohi. We were just rockin some tracting in Abergele. We met this nice lady Zoe, who her mother had passed away recently. We had a good chat with her. Then I forgot about it for a year. But Saturday night we were deciding what to do, cause we weren't really feeling what we had planned. And I remembered Zoe! So we cruised on over to Abergele, and the spirit led us to her house! Cuz I didn't really remember. She was in and we had such a great chat. We really felt the spirit and it was just good stuff. So that was the best. Unfortunately she is moving, staying in the area though. She isn't giving out the address yet, because she doesn't have the house for sure and doesn't want to jinx it. So we gonna be praying hard to be led to her again. (:

Boyo

That's pretty much my week! Oh yeah Emma came to church as well which was great. I love you all! Keep fightin the good fight! (:

-elder edwards

Kong strong

(written September 18, 2017)

Hey! This has been a killer week. We out here in Colwyn Bay, we doin it for the children. Haha but yeah it's been real good.

Elder Artates is the man fo reals. I love serving with him haha. So we have bunk beds, and I'm on the top. One night he came in and climbed into his bed and he said get outta my bed. I was like what the heck is this kid talking about. I was already up top. I was like what, and he said there was a man in his bed. So I asked if the man left, and he was like yeah he's in your bed now. I said what does the man look like. He said A clown. I was like what eva and he just started howling with laughter. Haha only Good times here. (:

Elders Artates and Edwards.

Lots o miracles this week! We have really seen God's hand this week. It's His work not ours. We walked out to a little village this week and met a man named Shane. Man he really needs a testimony of Christ. He feels like if there's a God he's gonna go to hell for all the bad things he's done. He's been living with that guilt for a long time. He took a Book of Mormon and we left him with Alma 7. That's one of my favorites y'all should check it out. We will be seeing him on Tuesday. Good man Shane.

We met quite a few other new friends this week which was really good. Emma, a long time investigator came to church yesterday! She's the one that I taught while on exchanges when I was serving in Rhyl. She is great. We are going to hers for tea this week, so keep her in your prayers! Hopefully we can get her dated for baptism again.

We found A&W Rootbeer in this totally dodge shop.
It was the best day of my entire life. I made a rootbeer float. (:

Kieran came to church again as well! He is the son of a member. He came wearing a suit! Haha he is the best, and apparently he's been researching the church on his own! Me and him talked for a while after sacrament and he's into like nitro circus and all that good stuff. So we bros. (: things are looking good for him!

When your homie Stevie B leaves for a phone call

Also the best part of the week is my main homies Sian and Rob came down to Colwyn Bay for some lunch. My fav people. (: so good to see them again.

Don't even know

Things are going great here! I love serving the lord. I know for sure, that it's His work. He will hasten the work in his own time. It's up to us to give our everything, and rely on Him. There's a quote I love, "do your best. Your very very best. Say your prayers, work hard, and leave the harvest to the lord." I try really hard to emulate that in my life! I know that God lives and He loves us. love y'all!

-elder dallen edwards

Hello!

Sorry this email is probs gonna be well short, not in the biggest mood for writing. But! It's been a great week!

We had a zone conference where we learned how we're gonna use Facebook for online proselyting. That was pretty good. We also had interviews with president which was a good time. He's a good man. 

Not a whole lot to report on this week, we've got quite a few people we're trying to teach but it hasn't quite happened yet. We've been seeing a lot of members trying to help them out, and been trying by loads of inactive members. Haha we always get good responses from them. 😜 man opens door "nope! Nope! This is a strictly no jesus household!" Man shuts door. Haha it was funny. (: 

One man we are working with is super good! He hasn't been to church since he was a teenager but has been wanting to turn his life around. We saw him this week, and had a great chat about the Book of Mormon and Jesus and all that good stuff. Unfortunately he can't come to church, because he takes care of his 10 year old grandson who has a couple mental problems. But he's doing everything he can to change even though he can't come. Hopefully he'll be able to come soon. Also his grandson is the funniest kid I've ever met. He told me he's already married, him and his wife had been seeing each other for 5 years before they got married, and they both like different football teams. I asked him how he made it work even though they support different teams and he said we make our relationship work because we look past our differences, and a whole bunch of stuff about how they make it work. Funny kid. (:

Sister lomas brought her non member son to church yesterday! And he was super super nice! We're going to stop by them this week and try to start teaching him. We're still working with a couple other part member families, which is going good as well. We also found quite a new friends, not all of them kept their appointments though. Good peeps tho. (:

I watched the Mormon message, "you never know", last night. It's a good one. Sometimes we feel like we aren't so great, and that we can't do everything we want to. And we feel like nothing really comes from our efforts. But President Hinckley said we never know how much good we do. That's true, there's no point in beating ourselves up because you never know how much good you do. God knows though, and he's grateful for us and the effort we do. Love you all! Have a great week. (:

--elder edwards