July 6, 2009

Greetings to you all from the place that can't make up it's mind concerning the weather. It is honestly worse than Utah in this way. It has switched between pouring rain and sweltering sun 3 or 4 times today. It always seems to rain when we go out. Lovely, in' it?

Today, we went to Conwy Castle. That is on the Western Coast of Northern Wales. Absolutely Amazing!!! Wales has everything. Unfortunately, as I was taking a picture of the castle as we were approaching it in a car, my battery declared itself dead! That was not fun. But, the other Elders got some pictures, and I am going to transfer them over to my camera so I can have them. I love technology, and mostly I love knowing how to use it.

Conwy is completely surrounded by walls, one of the few cities that is still like that. From the Walls you can see Lladudno, which is a resort town; and Snowdonia, which is where all of the really tall mountains are(amazing!); the Ocean; and some of the fields and valleys of Wales. Pretty sweet, eh?

There was a very cool shop there that had a lot of stuff on family crests and stuff. You could get your crest framed and it described the background and everything. Our Crest is pretty cool. The Welsh crest for Davis and Davies are the same. I bought a little magnet of our family Crest with a very brief description. I guess the ancient motto of the family was 'HEB DDUW HEB DDIM, DUW A DIGON' meaning 'Without God, without anything. God is enough.'

They also had a lot of Medieval stuff in that shop. Real swords, and helmets, and shields. I quite enjoyed the history of it all. The town is a very old town. We had a good time.

Yesterday, we took some less-active youth to a fireside. They would only go if we went, which isn't the best reason to go, but we tried to stay as far out of the equation as possible. I think they had a good time. While we were there, a woman walked into the church. She says that she drives by often trying to get in, but no one is ever there. She said she saw cars today, and was really happy to get in. She only knows bits about the church, and she wasn't ready to give us her address, but she said she will come to church next Sunday. I hope C**** (that is her name) is there on Sunday.

I don't know how much I have told you about a family we have been teaching. They are very 'well-off' and are christian themselves, but it seems like few religious people are as serious about church as we are. I am sure Taylor has a different experience in Georgia. We haven't been able to get far with them, because all three of their kids do a million things, and they go on vacations, but the mom is especially wonderful. She reminds me of my Mum. She treats her kids so well, she has short blond hair, and she is always interested in what other people are saying. We still don't know how she feels about the things we share, but she sure is a nice lady.

That is about all for this week. Kind of a fun e-mail. A couple other things, Elder Parker and I have a goal to read all of the New Testament, Book of Mormon, and Preach my Gospel in this transfer. We planned out how to do it, and we have been able to keep up with our schedule so far. Imagine that, all three books!! I don't know why I didn't do this earlier. It is great.

I also had a wonderful experience Friday night where Heavenly Father strengthened my testimony of the Atonement. I just knew, maybe more than I had ever known before, that Jesus DID perform that incredible act. I will never be able to understand fully how, but I know that he did. It was also communicated to me that He Lives, not Lived. I pictured the joy of our reunion, and I know that we are the luckiest people in the world to have the gospel. I wish others could see. I will keep trying. I love you all. You are an inspiration to me.

Elder Jo