Dear Family,

       Man it's been a beautiful week. I love Wales.. rain. shine. rain. shine. I never have to worry about a drought.... nope filling up the tank for the rest of my life here in Wales. That's how I am choosing to view it. The members just say I will catch a cold, but I don't care. Brollies are for sissies.. ... when I say sissies I mean younger sister missionaries. of course. You just get used to it. The problem is that where there is rain there is wind and brolly's and wind don't work very well, especially if you want to talk to anyone. oh well. The Lord will protect me and it's all good. I love the rain though. I love walking in it and just soakin... and then coming home. so not coming home afterwards is kinda uncomfortable.. but none the less, I feel like i am sacrificing something minor for sometihng greater I guess. Weird? yep. This mission isn't full of scary things, it's not full of bad, yucky, no hot water flats, in fact we are spoiled rotten here. So being soaked is just great!!! That is what we have to make up for the rest it all. Rain.

       Brian= best man I have ever met... today. He is amazing. We had that lesson about being forgiven and repentance.. what it truly is. Since then he has made restitution above and beyond what he thought he was capable of. He came to church yesterday and just gloried in it. He knpows this is where he needs to be. The week before he had gone somewhere else and felt without. He is so excited for his baptism!! today I will send you a poem he wrote with a few other things i was planning on sending last week... sorry it didn't go yet, just crazy stuff here. I am so grateful for him. He is helping me see that there are such elect people that God is working with and the miracles are outstanding. I can not tell you how this man and his repentance process are a miracle. I will one day though, but not today over email. Still a little personal for the internet.

     Steven is donig well and is gaining the promise given in Moroni 10:3-5.. He has been reading the scriptures daily and even understanding enough to ask questions like, "if we believe in the BoM, and Brigham Young was a prophet of our church and read the same things I am reading right now.. then how did he miss Jacob 2?" hahaha I was dying. So funny. He is a total joker. But none the less, the power of God is working within him. He said as he reads, even when he doesn't understand fully, he feels something stirring inside. yay for the sprit and I know that it is true. I love this gospel so much. There is nothing greater than seeing someone else love it as well.

     The Jones family are some members in the Beacon Heights ward. Arnold nd June Jones are who I want to focus on though for a moment. The grand parents of the family. They served a mission at the temple in Preston and worked in the London temple all right after their son died in a tragic accident, not a car accident mind. They told me of some of their experiences and we just enjoyed time talking about the joy of the temple. Oh my goodness me i reckon I will take a temple prep lesson for RM's from them right before I come back. They said they would do it for me for a dinner appt. around that time. it is amazing the spirit that was in their home because of the type of communication they have, the spiritual things they have on the walls, and the fact that you can tell they LIVE the gospel of Christ. No doubt about it. I thought about it and I feel like our home is like that alot of the time.. well at least when I was there ;) But isn't it interesting that whjat we put in our homes reflects a different kind of behaviour. I think that is true.

     This week I have been reding 3 Nephi 11-18. I love my Saviour. I love His teachings. I love that He tarries with us and perceives our thoughts and the intents of our hearts. I love that He gives commandments that help us find, live and experience joy. Real joy. He warns us not of what HE will do, but of what SATAN will do if we do not live His commandments. In Ch.18 I was reading about the importance of prayer and of partaking of the sacrament. v. 25: "And ye see that I have commanded that none of you should go away, but rather have commanded that ye should come unto me, that ye might feel and see; even so shall ye do unto the world; and whosoever breaketh this commandment suffereth himself to be led into temptation." Now this verse in particular is talking about church and not dismissing anyone from coming, but the same can be applied to prayer. Sometimes we don't feel comfortable or worthy to obey these two commandments. Sometimes we lack desire to do so. When these times come and we feel no spirit, and feel as if God has forsaken us we must recognize that in the scriptures there are invitations that if read correctly also have warnings attached to them. v.7 "and this shall ye do in remembrance of my body (talking about the sacrament), which I have shown unto you. And it shall be a testimony unto the Father that ye do always remember me. And if ye do always remember me ye shall have my spirit to be with you." If we remember Him we will have His spirit, but if we don't and infact reject what we know.. maybe we won't. but He never rejects us. v.32 "Nevertheless, ye shall not cast him out of your synagogues, or your places of worship, for unto such shall ye continue to minister; for ye know not but what they will return and repent, and come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I shall heal them; and ye shall be the means of bringing salvation unto them." God loves us. He gives us commandments that we may be safe from the adversary. Steven asked us why God is so strict and if we do anything wrong He will punish us. We were able to explain with scripture, "Wherefore men are FREE according to the flesh; and ALL THINGS are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, THROUGH THE GREAT MEDIATOR OF ALL MEN (Jesus Christ),or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and POWER OF THE DEVIL; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself." It is not punishment of God, it is punishment of the devil. We choose punishment or blessings. None the less it's our choice, until we give our choice to the devil so much that he starts to take it away and we are caught, but still if we turn to God with FULL PURPOSE of heart- He will save us. I know that to be true. I that God's comandments keep us safe, happy, and drama free.. if we CHOOSE to obey them. The greatest part is that we can live in full confidence knowing it is our choice.. so don't ever give it away.

I love you family. I pray for you always and hope that you know how much I care for you. I hope that everything made sense in this email and that it all came off how i wished for. I love being a missionary and just want to give him all my time and attetion for the little time I have left. I hope that I can do so and that you will pray for me to be able to do so. Life is crazy and I have ALWAYS been one to plan for the future, whether I am focused or not on the present. Right now i am focused on the present, but need help NOT to plan for the future in my down time.. solution equals no down time. i am working on this and hoping that you will pray for me. I just want the Lord to know how grateful I am to be His missionary and to be able to give my whole heart and know the moment it's over that I did so. No questions or opinions needed. Thank you for your examples!! I lvoe you all!!

oh aunt mell tell Tommy congrats on the engagement!! hope everything works out with getting to Peru in time!! super quick!

Romans 15:32

         Sista Fili