Hump Day!

HAPPY "HUMP DAY!"

Thanks for the "Hump Day" gift...

We named him Humperdink

(Like in Princess Bride...

Humperdink, Humperdink, Humperdink!)

Hanging out with Humperdink

I'm freaking out...I'm in a

mid mission crisis!

Menudo - Cow Stomach Soup - Yum!

Menudo Soup...smells like sweaty boy
and wet dog!

Hola mi familia!

I hope you are all having a great week! Seems like it's been busy. Mom and Dad with your talks, Kenna with parent teacher conferences, Soph getting voted "best hair" at Albion. :) haha so awesome. OH! Can I just say that you sent Davis a bowling shirt therefore everyone has a sweet Corster bowling shirt except me...not cool people. Yo quiero uno.

This week has been great but crazy. Bad news is my 

Spanish scriptures are missing...I have been looking all week with no luck :( Triste. I hope they turn up.

I have been going on lots of exchanges with the sisters in my zone as the (Sister Training Leader). Most of them have been great. The last one was with Sister Steward (Sister version of Arvig) It was awesome. So entertaining. She has these great 30 second stories from home all the time that just kill me. She is one of the English sisters in our same ward so we eat dinner together every night. She doesn't really know how to teach and her companion does most of the talking but it was very cool to see on exchanges that she has so many other gifts as a missionary. She is very intune with the spirit. I was happy I got to do exchanges with her and learn from her.

Her companion Sister Plentert is struggling alot. Her mom is dying of cancer back at home. She has had a pretty rough life. I have been trying to talk to her at dinner appointments and P Day activities and I think it helps alot. She is pretty quiet but I can tell she needs to talk about it. She will open up to me a little bit. I pray for her alot..and that I will be able to know how to help her. I gave her this blue watch I have...I love it but I never wear it because I have nothing that it goes with it. It looked like her style and I knew it would cheer her up. She loved it :) Made me happy.

This week we made lunch with Graciela a less active in the ward. It was so much fun. She even invited her Sister-in-law Rosa who is also a less active. Good part was that we made sopas and they are the most delicous thing of my life...we learned how to make them. We will have a sopa party when I get hom! Bad part was she made us menudo...for those who don't know menudo is a cow stomach soup. yum! Hermana Stratford had already tried menudo in her last area so she politely declined. I was like..."Heck ya I'll try some bring it on!!" haha So she ladelled me up a super chuncky bowl and plopped it down in front of me. I totally thought I could handle it. (I have tried some other gross things on my mission and I can stomach anything). So I leaned forward to smell it and realized that I was SO wrong. The best way I can describe the smell is a mix of sweaty boy and wet dog. Blah! I looked down and played with the chunks with my spoon....noticing that the stomach chunks were a little furry looking. So I take a spoonful of broth and swollow. It was bad but I got it down no problem. Then I went  for the chunk...Probably the worst thing I have ever eaten. The texture was discusting and the taste was just as bad if not worse than the smell. I got all sweaty and almost gagged then took it like a man and swolled. I had to tell her that I couldn't eat any more of it...I think she was offended but I couldn't do it. haha best part is Hermana Stratford got it on video...coming soon :) So yucky!

Well other awesome things happened this week but I am out of time so I will write more next week! 

Les quiero!

Hermana England

Me about to eat menudo....NOT yummy!

Let it SNOW!

Glad it's finally warming up

It's been SO cold...

Valentines Day and District Meeting

VALENTINES DAY CELEBRATIONS

Dinner with the McDonald Family - 

Love them!

Cutting Aubry's hair...

Me,Caitlaine and Hermana Stratford at the

Lafayette Ward Valentines Dance Party!

Caitlaine and I dancing it up!

(Don't mind her really short dress...she's

an investigator okay - we haven't gotten

to modesty yet :) Love this girl!

Hermana Graciela's salsa

Muy picoso Que Rica!

DISTRICT MEETING

With Hermana Smith and Sister Taliulu - 

Loveland Stake was giving away their priesthood

manual - thought we would brush up!

Me and Sister Rosier 

(particularly love this one!)

My district last transfer was weird...

Zone leaders coming to say goodbye - 

Elder Lister is the new A.P....

(Jordan McDonald doing bunny ears :)

Elder Payne ...also known as Pello Fuege

and

Elder Fied...He was a Visa waiter and got

got his Visa - off to India with him!

It was Elder Patterson's birthday and for some

reason Sister Plenert threw a pie in his face!

...estoy Confudido...

To Teach A Muslim

A beautiful day in Boulder!

FAMILIA!!!

First I would like to say I am so sorry to hear about Trudy Budge. I can't remember if I ever met Trudy but I have heard her name so many times. Every time I heard about her it was something positive. I have a lot of respect for her and her family. They are in my prayers. How blessed we are to know of the Plan of Happiness. Families are forever!

This week was awesome. Valentines day was great. We had dinner at the McDonalds (The one Tammy Covey knows...they were roommates on a study abroad in Israel) And it was a blast. Their daughter Aubrey who we got to know and love left for college a while ago but she was visiting so it was great to see her!

THANK YOU SO MUCH for the package!!! I LOVE the shoes and I am OBSESSED with the book! It is so cute! I can't stop looking through it. I miss you guys so much! It makes me happy to see all the fun things you are doing! Thank you soo much! Oh also, Claire sent me a package for Valentines. That was so nice of her!Thanks!

Guess what!? Neilee is getting baptized!! :) March 8th is her bap date. At church on Sunday she was telling everyone! Her kids are not ready yet. Geena and Matthew were taught a lot of Catholic ways by their grandparents so they are taking a litte longer to warm up to church and everything. But that's okay. I know they will be baptized some day and Neilee wants to set that example for her kids. I am so excited for her! Caitlaine also wants to be baptized but like I said she is moving soon..and she also has word of wisdom problems. We are trying to help her stop smoking. I think the move will help her, then she won't be around her friends that she smokes with.

Another awesome investigator we have is Fariba. We have to be super careful with her because she is Muslim. She is from Iran and she lives here because her sons go to CU and she wanted to be near them. She is not a devout Muslim...does not wear the scarf on her head and she wears short sleeves and such. To teach a Muslim they have to be interviewed by President Brown to make sure it is safe for them. (Some Muslims could be harmed or even killed if they convert to Christianity) Fariba seems to be completely fine with it. She says in her part of her country things are not that bad. We are still being careful and President will come to interview her soon. Anyway the first time we met with her she said she doesn't believe Jesus is the son of God. They believe he was just a prophet. So the next few lessons we taught about Christ and the restoration. She was receptive but still didn't really say anything about what she believes. So the next lesson we felt that we should watch the movie "Finding Faith in Christ" with her. We watched the movie and the spirit was so strong. After we asked her if she believes that Christ is the son of God. In her cute accent she just said..."Yes, I do believe that" It was a powerful lesson. She has so much faith. She loves when we come over and is trying to get work off on Sundays to come to church. We are praying that everything is okay with her Muslim past and we will be able to continue to teach her.

Also it is so true what Mo said in that email. There is for sure a language part of your brain because everytime we have a lesson with her I hear her accent and start slipping into Spanish. haha She looks so confused when I do that. So strange.

Last night Hermana Monreal invited us to her 4 year old daughters birthday party. We just thought it would be this little get together with food...we were wrong. We got there and there was pinatas and clowns and games etc. It was crazy! (Note to self...Hispanics never throw a small party) Videos and pics to come...loco!

Well I hope you all have a fantastic week.

Les quiero muchisimo!

Hermana England

"Hispanics never throw small parties"

These clowns were hilarious!

Sister Plenert and me

"las unicas rubios enel cuerto"

Always fun with little Paula!

Great News and Some Bad News

Sweet Neilee in the Hospital

Hola Todos,

So this week I have some great news and some bad news. Great news is that Neilee came to church!!! :) Bad news is that she had a minor heart attack during Sacrament Meeting....Ya she left to go to the bathroom and didn't come back for a half hour so we went to check on her. We found her in the bathroom stall drenched in sweat holding onto the wall. She had calmed down a bit but she said her heart felt like it was going to pop out of her chest and her left arm hurt really bad and it was shooting pain up into her neck. It was pretty scary. Some lady gave her some sugar crackers and after she ate them she felt a little better. We had the Elders give her a blessing and she decided to say for the rest of church. In Sunday School one of the men asked her what happened to her and she just said in a calm voice..."Satan is trying to attack me because I'm doing the right thing" hahah I love her so much. So she went home after church and slept for a little while but woke up with the same heart and arm pain so she went to the hospital. They admitted her and ran a bunch of test. She stayed the night and seems to be doing okay now. We visited her this morning and took her flowers. She looked really tired but seems to be doing well. Keep her in your prayers.

Another really cool story about her is that in our lesson with her on Tuesday we were talking about how we all have the light of Christ and know between right and wrong. Long story short she confessed to us that she had stolen groceries in the past to provide for her kids and she had recently stolen a gallon of milk. We basically just left the lesson and focussed on repentance and how God is always willing to forgive us if we want to change. So we go back for another visit on Thursday and she said she had something to tell us. She explained to us that she felt bad for what she did and she wanted to change. She told us that the day before she went into the store and apoligized to the store manager. She said she felt so small and embarrassed but she knew she had to do it. The store manager explained that they actually saw her on camera talking to herself; debating whether or not to take it (totally Neilee haha) and saw her walk out with it and let her go. The store manager just hugged her and said if your family is struggling just come ask and we will give you a gift certifacate. She was amazed at the reaction she received. She also went to the food bank and they randomly had all this extra food to give her. She told us that she recognized that because she repented the Lord has blessed her so much. It is amazing to see people change. The Neilee we met a short while ago never would have done that. The gospel really changes lives! I am so gratefull for Neilee's example!

Also, Caitlaine (one of the kids Neilee took in...her daughter but not really her daughter) Came to 6 hours of church on Sunday and loved it! She went to the family ward and the YSA ward. I love her so much! She is moving in a week or two :( She will be doing job core...in....UTAH!!! It is in Clearfeild. I don't know much about job core but I know it is at least a few years and they help them get their GED and eventually a job. Anyway I really hope the missionaries can visit her there. She really wanted to be baptized before she left and wanted us to cram the rest of the lessons in but then she realized she wants to feel ready and prepared for baptism so she wants to wait...which I agree with. She says she will continue to learn in Utah but I am super nervous that she won't be able to get in contact with the missionaries or what not. I told her that I will have you guys go visit her! :) I will let you know further info...address, times etc. But I really want you to visit her mom! And Kenna...and who ever else wants to go. She doesn't really have a family and she just needs people to love her. She is 18 and darling and ya I would be forever grateful if you could visit her when she moves there. Just so she feels welcomed in Utah. She said she's excited to be around Mormons in Utah! :) haha I love her so so much!

Okay I am so sorry this email is forever long. So many cool things are going on...I even have more but I will save them for later. Everyone have a fantastic Valentines Day :)

I love you all so much! Thank you for your love and support! 

Love, Hermana England

P.S. It was -8 this week....pray that I don't freeze.

P.P.S. The "Frozen" sound track is SO AWESOME! We can listen to Disney music on P-day and one of the Elders has it...obsessed! Almost stole it from him!

Visiting Neilee in the hospital

after her heart attack!

We love her so much!

Glad she is ok

I'm Staying In Boulder

Thumbs up to staying in Boulder!

With Hermana Stratford!

Mi familia,

Okay so transfers happened....and.....I'M STAYING IN BOULDER! YAY!! I am so happy! I feel like I need to stay with the people we have and find more people here in Boulder! And I love everyone so much here I would be so sad to leave. I really thought I was getting tranfered slash training because on Saturday morning we got a call from President Brown. I was like crap here it comes hahah but then he told us that Sister Stratford and I would be staying in Boulder together. So were like okay why did you call...He went on to tell me that he would like me to be the "Sister training leader" over the Boulder zone. (basically like a zone leader for the sisters) So I was like sure! If I can stay here and keep my companion I'll do anything. haha So that will be interesting. I will be going on exchanges with all the sisters next transfer to check in with them. I will also go to Mission Leadership Councils (MLC's) and stuff like that. We'll see what else it entails I guess :) I don't know if I am good enough for this job but the Lord qualifies who he calls. Hopefully I don't let down all the Boulder sisters haha. Oh and Rach also just got called to be STL! Best friend bonding moment. haha

Anyway all of Boulder (actually all of Colorado) is depressed because of the big loss in the Super Bowl. Especially our bishop...he wore a blue suit with bright orange tie, pocket square, socks and shoes to church. haha poor guy. But hey, maybe this humbling will open the hearts of the Boulderites. hahaha Anything will help:) At least Colorado beat the Utes in basket ball...sorry dad :)

This last  week was awesome. We have been teaching Nielee and her family really consistantly and she said that they want to be baptized!!! YAY! Unfortunately Devon is never there anymore because he got a job in Denver. But Nielee and her kids Geena and Mathew, as well as two friends they took in Carlos and Caitlyn are all wanting to be baptized! It might be a ways out because we have only taught the first two lessons but we are really excited! They were all supposed to come to church but Nielee got sick so they didn't :( We were bummed! But it was so cool because Caitlyn has made good friend with some of the young women and she called her friend to give her a ride. So she was at church. I was so proud of her. She is going to leave soon for job core (super intense...look it up) So we are so happy that she has been coming to church. I think she will get baptized before the rest of the family. She is such a good example for all of them. She goes to all the Young Women activities and reads and marks up her Book of Mormon. Ahh she so great. I love her! 

In other news this week our car almost broke down. We went to a service project in down town Boulder and had to park on a super steep hill. When we tried to get out we were stuck in the ice/snow. So we (me, Sister Clark and Sister Metzger) were pushing as Sister Stratford drove. Well long story short our car did something weird and it was accelerating at all times the car was on....with no pressure on the gas pedal. Kind of concerning. So we finally got out of the spot but the car accelerated itself up the icy hill with no feet on any petals. Luckily the brakes still worked so we were able to slow it down and pull into a parking lot. We look up and realize that it's a St. Johns baptist parking lot and there is a no parking sign. So we had to go in and be like....Hey we are Mormons and our car broke down in your parking lot. Awkward. haha but they were okay with it and Elder Jensen (mission car dude) came down that night and fixed it. So we basically had to hang out with the Louisville sisters all day...it was fun :) haha And we had to cancel our dinner with Hermana Lastiri...(Her food is ALWAYS what we call hot dog suprise....so mysterious) So we were happy about that. And we got free Chipotle because some members in Lousville ward works for their company. It was great.

Anyway I'm pretty much extremely jealous of Davis because we are suppose to have single digit tempuratures here and he is on the beach. Not fair. Also I'm sorry if I am unrecognizable in my pictures I send home; because my skin is so white it is see through. Triste! 

Love you all!!! Have a fantastic week!

Hermana England 

Family Home Evening at the Moreal's home!

(Less active family...becoming active - Booya!)

Viki (the most hyper kid you will ever meet)

Adolfo, Hermana Moreal and her cute mom visiting

from Mexico, and Hermana Stratford and me 

with the kids!

Visiting the Lastiri Family...

Alexa and Mia

(Cutest kids ever!)

 Alexa and me!

Hermana Lastiri with her Grandaughter Jemena

This pic was taken by Alexa - 

She loves to take pics with my camera!

I