Sister Macy England: The Rains Came Down And The Floods Came Up!

Dear Family....I am alive!

Wow this week has been crazy! As I'm sure you all heard Colorado has been experiencing crazy amounts of flooding! I'm glad you got Sister Bade's email mom! haha She was serving breakfast with us at one of the shelters and said since she is a missionary mom she has to send an email to her fellow missionary moms to let them know we are okay! haha She's so funny. Her daughter is in the mountains of Guatemala...I think she has more to worry about than you do :)

Well anyway our ward is the highest spot in Longmont, so luckily our ward is pretty much untouched. The only family that got flooded in our ward is the Guttierrez family. They are in the Spanish group so they live a little further out...hence the flooding. There was basically a huge river running through south Longmont and the Guttierrez's house was right next to it. It was the very last house that didn't get basically washed over. They got like three feet of water I believe. So they are living with another family in our ward for now.

The Left Hand Creek ward. (Our zone leaders ward) Got it really bad! Alot of their houses basements were completely full of water, some even filled to the main floor. (Not as bad as Boulder and Estes park though where in some trailor parks the trailors are just floating) But anyway we have been helping out ALOT with their area! One neighborhood we have been helping alot is a circle that is basically full with thick mud! Same with all their basements. So needless to say we were covered in mud after helping out. We were shoveling and bucketing mud all day for like three days straight! But we were able to clean out a whole basement! It was crazy! We have also been helping out serving food, cleaning, and sorting donations at the evacuation shelters. SO many people were evacuated so they have a few main shelters that people can stay at. It's been a good experience working at those sights. They also have a bunch of animals at the shelters that have been lost or what not...and Sister Martinez was a vet tech before her mission so we were able to help out with those...As much as I didn't want to (animals are discusting!) haha but I'm glad she could help them out. And we also walked dogs at the humanitarian shelter which was gross because it smells like wet dog in the dog area but once we got outside with them it was actually pretty fun. And the chihuahua I walked was named Champion...and he was awesome!

Anyway It's been such a mess here but it has also been such a blessing to have so many opportunities to serve! The community is coming together to help each other so well...especially the saints! The church has such a way of coming together in an organized way! There has been alot of unorganized help that actually has been counter productive because of the craziness. But whenever we come in with a group from our ward things get organized quickly and efficiently! Man, as members of the church..we are GOOD! haha just kidding. But really the church is amazing in these kind of situations! Pres. Brown, Our stake pres, and all the bishops have been working together to send us where we are most needed. It's awesome!

Some times as missionaries people ask us why God lets bad things like this happen...well I believe one of the reasons is to make us stronger. When things like this happen we have no choice but to lean on each other. As a community, as a ward, as a stake, as children of Heavenly Father. We all have to be there for each other. AND the biggest part is we have to turn to Heavenly Father. We can't recover from something like this without His help. Like you both said in your emails Mom and Dad...we are hoping that people will open their doors to us for service and because of our work, be open to hearing the gospel! It is already starting! Some of the members have had a chance to share the gospel with their neighbors because we showed up to help. And we are continuing to search for opportunities to teach as we serve! What a blessing!

It is a little frustrating that this is slowing down the work we were already doing with our investigators...Like our investigator Sandy had a baptismal date for Sep. 21 and that probably won't happen now because we couldn't meet with her this past week..remember how I said there was a river runnning through Longmont, well that was separating us from like 3 of our progressing investigators. :l ....Not cool! haha But the water has gone down and more of the streets are open so hopefully we can get to Sandy and the others this week. We have faith that the Lord will help us keep in contact with them! He always provides a way :) 1 Nephi 3:7! (fav scrip!)

Well I hope you are all doing well! Sounds like Mags had a good time at homecoming even with a gimp foot! Soph is staying busy at Albion!...knocking all those middle school boys dead with her good looks!:) And Bo scored 3 goals at his soccer game! Man you guys are cool! Mom keep up the good work with your new calling! I know you are already killing it! Dad good luck preparing for your first High Council talk commin up...you are going to do AMAZING! (as always) Kenna and Dalt hope everything is going well and your apartment has cooled off :) And Davis....man he sounds amazing! I knew he would kill it in Uruguay!...One baptism already....who does he think he is? haha I'm so proud of him! Just knowing he is in the feild with me keeps me going! You guys all keep me going! Thank you for all your emails, letters, love...everything! You all insire me to be the best missionary I can be!

Keep being amazing!...Davis and I have this thing in our emails back and forth where we say...WE ARE ENGLANDS AND WE CAN DO THIS! haha and I believe in that full heartedly! Keep moving forward Englands! We got this missionary work in the bag!...FOR NARNIA!!!!!!!!!!

Love, Hermana England

First basement we helped with-

the water level was up to the top of the

basment doors!