Hello everyone! 

I know that not everyone who reads my emails has the same faith as me or is religious, but I just wanted to ask everyone a question.   I get asked this question literally every single day. The question is, "If there is a God, then why does he allow bad things to happen to people?" Since I get asked this question just about as often as I get asked if I'm an American, I decided that I am going to make a list of responses for that question. If anyone has any thoughts, I would love to hear them. I have found a lot of answers to this question in The Book of Mormon. From The Book of Mormon, we learn that the purpose of life is to have joy and to prepare ourselves to meet our maker. We learn in 2 Nephi 2, that it is impossible for us to experience joy unless we also know what pain and sorrow feels like. In life, we are all subject to diseases and suffering; But we are all promised a perfect immortal body in the next life because of Jesus Christ. We also cannot grow and become better unless we face opposition. Sometimes we have to be beaten down so that we can grow stronger. I think if we understand why we came to Earth in the first place and realize that through the Atonement of Christ everything wrong in this life will be fixed in the next life, it will help us understand better. Helping people to understand that is definitely easier said than done though. 

A belief in God is becoming less and less a part of England's culture. I really admire the members of the church here though because their faith is so strong. But, it is because it has to be. The way they live and the things they believe aren't really normal in their culture and they have to constantly withstand the pressures of their society. I've heard people say that people are a product of their environment. And I think that can be true a lot of the times; but it still doesn't change our ability to choose and make decisions for ourselves. For example, many professional athletes grew up in drug and crime ridden communities but they chose to pursue sports rather than the lifestyles around them. So I know that if we want to we can all still have faith in God and his plan for us, even if people around us don't. 

This past week has been really good! We had zone conference, which was great! President Hughes talked a lot about how important using The Book of Mormon is in missionary work. Elder Kozma and I have made some new friends which is exciting! We talked to one of our friends on the phone the other night.  She basically just broke down and shared all of her problems with us. People in this world really are suffering. I think we all are in some way or another. But it's our job to help each other out and pick each other up. That is the whole reason why I'm still out here on my mission. We can ask ourselves why God is allowing bad things to happen, or we can tell ourselves that he sent us here to change it and help others. 

One thing that I have tried to do on my mission is pretend like every single day is my last day on Earth. This helps me to not take things for granted and to find joy in the little things. And to be honest, we never really know when our last day will be. I like thinking about the lyrics to one of my favorite songs that I listened to back home. It says, "Sometimes I lay under the moon and thank god I'm breathin, and I pray don't take me soon, cause I am here for a reason." Sometimes we just have to thank God that we are still breathing.

Elder Wray

*People ask Elder Kozma and I if we are brothers. What do you all think?

*We went on a walk with a great member of our ward today. It was a lot of fun!

*I thought I'd share a few church memes with you all! Don't laugh too hard.