4 Investigators and 4 Less Actives

 I love service!

FAMILIA!!!!

Okay can I first just say that I am so jealous of your New York trip pics! Mags and Soph you are two lucky girls! Mostly jealous that you saw Newsies...dying wish right there! Lucky duckies! Also I hear Bo is killin it at soccer camp! Keep it up dude!

Another week full of greatness here in the mission field! So many great things.....

First miracle of the week is that we had 4 investigators and 4 less actives at church! It was amazing! Heavenly Father is blessing us so much! And to make it even better they all have good fellow shippers who took care of them at church so it wasn't so stressful for us! I mean it's always a little stressful because you want to make sure they all have a good experience but the members helped SO MUCH! It will be weird when church is no longer a stressful experience. haha but hey it's all in Lords work! The less actives were again Patty, Freddy, and Gela! :) yay! Reactivation in process! And also Mel (the wife of one of the less active families we are helping progress toward the temple) They all had a good time and enjoyed the spirit at church.

One of the investigators that came to church is named Yvonne. She came to a branch activity on Saturday night which was a huge miracle because the reason she wouldn't come to church was because it was unfamiliar to her and she was scared to try something new. After the activity we gave her a church tour and taught a lesson in the chapel. I love teaching lessons in the church. The spirit was so strong. She started crying at the end and explained how she felt. (little did she know she was explaining the influence of the Holy Ghost) and then she came to church the next day! It was such a huge miracle! Yvonne is also really good friends with Patty so they can come to church together! :) YAY! Church buddies are great!

The other investigators at church were Miguel, and Luisa and Luis. We had to re-teach and re-teach again the word of wisdom to Miguel but we think he finally gets it! We will be teaching him the church's quit smoking program tomorrow and I really think that will help him! When we told him that he has to live the word of wisdom before baptism he said..."Well then I must do it...I have to do it!" Hahah he is so awesome! Our investigators are such huge examples to me!

Luisa and Luis are our other investigators that came to chruch. They are a Mom and son. I know...Luisa...Luis...I don't know what she was thinking. But she is so prepared by the Lord! She is from Nicaragua and took the missionary lessons while she was there so she knows a bit about the church. She also met Hna. Leos (amazing member of the branch) when she moved here so she has been to church a few times in the past. We started teaching her last week and she accepted the invitation to be baptized. We will be setting her with a baptismal date of July 19th tonight, so lets all pray that that goes well :) haha Luis is 8 years old and we are hoping he will be able to get baptized as well...we have to get his dad's permission who I guess is not too fond of the church. We pray that we will be able to see them both get baptized!

Last night we had the funniest lesson ever! We taught Miguel the law of chastity! Last week the Hernandez family had their son Miguel (yes his name is also Miguel) return from his mission in Ecuador. So we thought okay we have a 5 day returned missionary...let's take him to a lesson with us! So we invited him to the lesson with Miguel last night. When we all arrived at the lesson Hermano Miguel was sooo excited! When we pulled out the Law of Chastity pamphlet he got this huge grin on his face and almost fell out of his chair he was so excited! He basically was so excited that he almost taught the whole lesson by himself haha and throughout the whole lesson he kept getting so excited that he would do little fist pumps and have investigator Miguel repeat things after him. haha it was SO FUNNY! For example after committing Investigator Miguel to live the law of chastisity, Hermano Miguel says..."Ok Miguel....Que va a vivir????....la ley de???...." and investigator Miguel was like....."Castidad!!" hahah it was so funny!

Well I'm out of time

Love you

Hermana England

Exchanges with Sister Tafengatoto

She is from Tonga! We built a house - no biggie!

Habitat For Humanity Service...

Pretty good work :)

The Courage Of One Person

Getting ready to help with the

Primary Activity!

FAM!

Oh my goodness it sounds like things are even crazier than normal around there! Everyone's emails were full of lots of events that happened last week! It all sounds exciting! Soph I heard you did awesome in your recitals! Bo it sounds like you are killin it in soccer...you watching the world cup?? Davis keep workin hard, you are amazing! All the Mexicans here won't stop talking about the world cup either! And mom YOU DID IT! Girls camp is over! Hahah It sounds like it was AMAZING!...even though it snowed! You are incredible!

This week was just amazing!!! We saw so many miracles with less actives this week! One of them is named Patty. She is 21 and has a baby. Her and her boyfriend are both less active as well as her boyfriend's mother Gela. They all live in the same house. We have really been working on getting all of them to church. Patty is really the only one that has been progressing a lot, so we focused mostly on her. She told us that she didn't know why but she didn't feel ready to come back. We taught her about the blessings that church attendance will bring to her family as well as how she will receive added strength to live the gospel. She was still reluctant. Patty and her boyfriend have not been to church in over a year and Gela has not bee in months. We prayed that they would find the motivation to come. Well lo and behold ten min late they come walking into church and sit in the second row. We talked to Patty after sacrament meeting and she told us that she got up and put her church clothes on and started ironing her boyfriends shirt just in case. When he came in the room she said...I'm going to church today. And without delay he just put on the white shirt and said he was going with. THEN they went down stairs and Gela saw them all dressed up and said...OH I'll come to church with you!!! We were so happy to see them there!!! It is amazing how the good example and the courage of one person can change the lives of many!

Anyway we had 7 less actives and Miguel our investigator at church. It was amazing! Our lesson with Miguel last night went so well! Last week we taught the word of wisdom and when we called to give him some encouragement throughout the week we realized he didn't really understand what it was. So we retaught it. It was awesome! The spirit was really strong in the lesson. He struggles with smoking and drinking and coffee. I have never had an investigator struggle with smoking. So this will be interesting haha but really the spirit was so strong. After he understood it better we really focused on how he can turn to the Lord in prayer and scripture study and fasting to help him have the strength to quit. I know he will be able to do it! I pray he will have the strength to better his life by living the word of wisdom and still be baptized on July 12!

One other HUGE miracle!...Some back story first. When I  got to the area our top progressing investigator was Sol. She was ready to be baptized and so prepared by the Lord but her "esposo" (boyfriend) is a less active member of the church and would not marry her. Hence they were not living the Law of Chastity, hence she couldn't get baptized. So unfortunately right when I got here she had to leave to Texas for a month and right after Mexico for a month to visit family. She will not be back for a while :( we were so bummed!!! But here is the miracle part. We stopped by her house the other day to see if we could talk to Juan (her boyfriend) He invited us in to talk. The first thing he says to us is...It's time for me to go back to church! We were like....Uh whaaaaaa? And he went on to explain that he missed the spirit in his life and he wants to come back and have the gospel in his life!!!! We were just stunned! I think both of our jaws were on the ground. He was going to come to church yesterday but he had to work. He said he went and bought a white shirt for the next Sunday he has off! Hermana Snow and I were thinking about why he had this change of heart. And we really think it is one of the blessings of living the Law of Chastity. The second Sol moved out he was able to receive revelation through the spirit! Powerful stuff! Keep the commandments people! They will bless your lives! So now we think when Sol gets back he will be more willing to marry her and Sol can be baptized and they can live the gospel together! We continue to pray for this!

Oh so the other day we start talking to this guy on the street and teaching him about the restoration and mid lesson this lady comes out of the house and she looks SO MAD! She comes over to us with this discussed look and grabs the guys arm all possessively. Then he tells us that this is his girlfriend and he was picking her up for a date. hahah We were like...Hey lady we are missionaries! He's all yours! But would you be interested in hearing a message about Jesus Christ?? haha

Another thing...We met this man named Richard Ricks at the library last week who is a strange little man who uses weird words all the time like....."Hello there I am Richard Ricks pleased to meet your acquaintance." (in kind of a squidward voice) and we invited him to church. Well after we invited him he informed us that he is Richard Ricks from Ricks ministry but he supports all churches. Well yesterday he actually shows up! haha he comes and we had him go to the English ward. Later we find out from some members in that ward that this guy goes around to all the churches then tells people he has been there and shared false doctrine about them. I guess that member was asking who invited him but we weren't there hahaha Ooops :) Maybe he felt the spirit at our church and had a change of heart:) hehe I think Richard Ricks should be welcome any time!

Anyway there are just miracles all around! I love being a missionary, it is the best thing EN TODO EL MUNDO!!!

Love you all!

Hermana England

I love being in the Spanish Branch!

We taught the kids at the

primary activity!

The Blessings Of Being Exactly Obedient

Yahoo...We're comps again

And, we have our own apartment!

MI FAMILIA!

Primero...HAPPY FATHERS DAY DAD!!!!(yesterday) I am so sorry I didn't get something sent off last week. There is something comin to ya this week! :) I love you and you are the greatest dad in the entire world! It is thanks to you and your rock solid testimony that I have had such a desire to learn and grow in my own testimony. You da bomb Corster! ALSO HAPPY BIRHDAY TO LISSY AND KENNA!! You are both such amazing examples to me! I miss you both dearly! M4 forever! :)

Oh my goodness this past week has been one of the best of my entire mission! Greeley is amazing! It is just unbelievable what happens when you and your companion want to be exactly obedient!!! We see miracles every day! We are teaching a man named Miguel and he came to church yesterday for the 5th time! He should be baptized in July, he says he has some things in his past that he needs to clear up before he gets baptized. We don't know what they are but last night we taught him a lesson about the power of the Atonement and I hope that will help him. We are praying that he will feel ready in July for his baptism. He knows the church is true! 

The branch is awesome!!! The members are very willing to help. We actually still teach a lot in English because a lot of members are more comfortable in Spanish so they go to the branch but they speak to us in English :( Lame. We try to speak as much Spanish as possible. There are a million less actives here!!! Lots of Hispanic people who have been offended and don't come back..story of our lives on the mish. But we are working with ALOT of less actives!

One miracle we saw this week was with Mel and Steven a less active family. They have been wanting to come back to church but haven't been taking the necessary steps. We got them going on family prayer this week and talked about the temple. The second time we met with them they told us they want to go to the temple in December!! THEN they showed up to church!! Amazing! I know they have amazing desires and it is inspiring to see them act in faith! Steven's brother Freddy committed to live the word of wisdom this week (he struggles with that) He works up at the oil rigs and he said he didn't drink at the rigs all week!! And his wife Maria taught the lesson in Relief society! They are progressing so much! We also had a new investigator at church named Ramon. He comes to our English class (which by the way is so much fun) and he came to church!! It was so cute, at church Miguel was like..."Ramon, how do you feel at church? You feel peace and happiness right?" haha they are both so awesome! Also Miguel brought his friend to church who we will hopefully be teaching this week!

One of our recent convert named Julian received the Aaronic priesthood yesterday! He is only 16 years old and he was so excited! The spirit in the room was so strong when he was ordained! I love seeing people accept the gospel in their lives!!!

Anyway there are just so many miracles happening here! I really believe it is because Hermana Snow and I are working so hard to be exactly obedient! It is so refreshing to have a companion that is on the same page as you! We got 39 lessons last week! And next week we have a goal of 60...we are never going to eat...haha just kidding. But we will do it! :) Oh and we are both Sister training leaders over our zone. So it will be fun to get to know the sisters better and do exchanges with them!

Oh also we live in an apartment here. It is really weird not living with members but from what we have heard we have to nicest apartment in the mission! We are just so blessed this transfer it is insane!

Well hope you are loving camp mom! Good luck with that and recitals and drill and everything! Have an amazing week! Do some missionary work!

LES QUIERO!

Hermana England

Dad you would be so happy!

We won the clean car award at Zone Meeting

This is a big honor in the FOCO CO Mission!

This little guy brought home the clean

car award for us!

 Elder Litster - almost done with this mish

District P-Day and Transfers

Approved District P-Day

Walking the tight rope!

All the Sisters waiting for transfer info!

 Hermana Straford - mi amor @ transfers

Sister Smith me and Hermana Stratford

And my new companion is...

Hermana White!

She just got dont training her greenie

Hermana Ferrell so this is the three

of us together!

My Jaw Just Dropped

I am so suprised I am being transfered!

OKAYYYYYYY...

So this week..oh man...where do I start. We'll start with transfer info. So I was not worried about transfers at all because I just barely got back to Longmont and Hermana Wilson has only been here for 3 weeks. I was positive that nothing was going to happen. We usually talk about transfers with members and I'll mention that it is coming up in my emails but no...I didn't even mention transfers to anyone because I was so sure we were both going to stay. So we get the transfers voice mail and I'm like...okay play it so we can just see who is leaving our zone. So we start listening to it and all of a sudden I hear them say...and Hermana England will be leaving the Longmont zone. My jaw just dropped! I was so surprised. I really thought in my heart of hearts that I was staying. My thoughts immediately went to Bertina and how scared I was that she will loose interest after I leave again. It was eating me up...but then I decided to just relax and pray about it. After doing that I felt so much peace. I am still a little nervous about it but I know Heavenly Father wouldn't transfer me if it wasn't for the best. I think I was supposed to be here to remind her of how wonderful it is to live the gospel but now it is time to let the other sisters teach her and trust that she will be okay without me here. It will be super hard to say goodbye again tonight but I know it will all be okay.

As for where I am going...I will be serving in Greeley with HERMANA SNOW AGAIN!!! I am SOOO excited to be her companion again. I have been praying to be put with someone who will help me finish my mission out strong and Herman Snow and I both want to work SO HARD! It is going to be amazing!! AND I will be going to the one and only Spanish BRANCH in the mission! Booo ya!! Spanish ALL the time...well we're still in the states so I guess it's more like....Spanish MOST of the time! haha but I am really excited to serve there. It will be a great transfer! I hear the branch is amazing!

Since I didn't bring up transfers with any of the members they were all so surprised when the bishop announced that I would be leaving. It was actually kind of funny...right after he said it there was an audible gasp from the whole congregation. haha Everyone after sacrament was like that gasp means we all love you. haha It was funny and also really nice to know that I am loved here. The Ute-creek ward feels like home. I will miss it! 

Greeley is known for it's smell....and it's not a good one. There are LOTS of cows...and any big food place in Northern Colorado buys their meet from the slaughter place in Greeley...so on Fridays (slaughter day) the smell is especially potent. Not really excited for that part but nevertheless it will be great! 

As for this past week we had so many miracles with our less actives!!! So Michelle first. We taught her a lot when I was in Longmont before and a little while before I left she got pregnant and married her boyfriend like really fast! So when I left I was really worried about her. Well the missionaries continued to visit her and unfortunately she wants to come back to church but her husband is pretty against it and won't let her come. So lately we have been working with her to be able to soften his heart and let her come to church. After lots of prayers and faith and Michelle finally taking action. She talked to her husband and he is going to let her come!!! I am so excited for her. She is so strong! I am so happy that she will be able to come and enjoy the blessings of church. And she will be able to raise her son in the gospel. He is the cutest baby I have ever seen!! 

The other one is Nicole. When we first met Nicole she was...umm....a hot mess. She has major addiction problems and is dealing with A LOT of consequences from her past. She is going to move soon so we have been helping her with boxing things up and such. And amidst the packing and everything we have been sharing messages with her and helping her come back to the gospel. It has been AMAZING to see how much she has changed over that last transfer! We challenged her to pour her heart out to the Lord in prayer and then make an appointment with the bishop to talk about things she has done and to get help. That same day we had that lesson with her we were at the church for a meeting and we saw her going into the bishops office. :):) She said it went amazing and that she already feels a weight lifted off her shoulders. Since then she has continued to progress. She has been coming to church regularly (and bringing her mom who is another less active I worked with before) And last fast Sunday she got up and bore her testimony. It is unbelievable to see the power of the Atonement in action. She is such a different women today then she was 6 weeks ago. I said goodbye to her last night and she told me and Hermana Wilson that we felt like her real sisters and how grateful she was for our help. There are no words to describe those moments. My heart was so full of just pure joy. I am going to miss her so much! 

I am going to miss everyone here in Longmont so much! It's hard to say goodbye AGAIN! haha but I know the Lord needs me in Greeley! 

Haven't heard anything else from Alejandro...thank the good heavens. So no worries Dad..:) 

Sounds like things are extra crazy at home! Sounds like camp prep is busy but amazing. Mom you always kill it with those kinds of things. I wish I could come. Bo, it sounds like you gave an AWESOME talk on Sunday! Proud of you! Hope you are all livin up the summer break. Go swimming for me! 

Love you all
Hermana England 

Saying goodbye to Longmont...again!

There are SO many people her I love!

Juan and Ivon - part of our investigator family

 Another investigator family - 

Preciliano and Sanjuana with their girls

Precila, Xitchaly, and Betsy

 All my Hermanas from the Longmont

Ute Creek Ward Spanish group

Brother Baker and kids -

ward mission leader in Longmont

 The Robison family - They are so funny!

Syaing goodbye again to Liz and Dave

I told Liz she had to play her banjo for

me before I left!

 With the Sanchez family...

Eddy and Valeria are the ones on the left -

they are the ones that became active when

I was gone...love them!

 Nicole - the lessactive we helped re-activate

I love her so much!

 Oscur - otherwise known as Scurrs

 Ya...we ate these!

 Nicole with Baby...

 Saying goodbye to Lindsea...

 The Angiano's - never a dull moment!

 Sister Bagler...I have loved living with her!

District Photos and Exchanges

District Photos...

Exchanges with Sister Smith...

saw this lady "walking her dogs" :)

Hair

Shaving Spika's hair with Bertina...

What I would look like with if I had

Hermana Chico's hair...

Giselle Chico - I love her!

Giselle's spotlight at the church...

"Carna asada with rice and guacamole with a

side of tacos and a Mountain Dew"...

She is SO Mexican :) haha