Hiya mates! 

Well we found a couple new people to teach this past week! We texted almost everybody in our contacts awhile back, and this one chap texted us back! He has a friend in our ward and went to church with him a few times awhile back. He said he's been doing a lot of pondering during this time which I think has led him to be more receptive to the message at this time. He's really awesome though! It's been fun teaching him so far! We also found this lady on Facebook who we had a lesson with. She is from Indonesia. It was kind of hard to understand her English, but from what we could tell, she really liked the lesson. So that was sweet! We also had a few lesson with one of our progressing friends, Courtney. She is doing awesome and really doing her best to come closer to Christ. I've really enjoyed teaching her! We also taught quite a few members this past week. It was nice to see them and to be able to practice our teaching skills.

I might of already mentioned this in a previous email, but every Thursday evening at 8:00, everybody goes outside to clap for the NHS. It is one of our highlights of the week. We just get the pots and pans and start going crazy! It's pretty funny!

It can be hard to stay motivated sometimes, so my companions and I have started watching some of Eric Thomas's motivational videos during lunch. He is a beast! If anyone needs someone to motivate them, they should watch some of his videos. They are great!

For exercise we have been throwing the football around a little bit. That has been really fun! We also bought a frisbee to throw, but we're all trying to get the hang of it. I don't know why frisbees are so hard to throw... but it's all good!

I hope you all have a great week! Stay safe! 

Love ya!

Elder Wray

What's going on everybody? 

I hope you all had a fantastic week! Hopefully this Corona virus will start dying down everywhere, and we can get back to normal life soon! But I hope you all are staying safe and making the most of it anyways.

It's funny how the world is basically running through Zoom right now! I'm not sure what us missionaries would do without it. This last Monday we had our interviews with President Hughes through Zoom. It was really nice to talk to him and hear some good advice from him. He's a great leader!

Missionary work is still going despite the fact that we have to do it all online. Our leaders have told us to try to find people to teach through Facebook. They've encouraged us to join Facebook groups to try to find friends with some of the same interests as us so that we are able to have some sort of common ground. So this past week I friended some people from some U.K. football groups. It was really fun to talk to them about football. I was surprised at how passionate some people here in England are about American football. It was awesome though! Sadly, none of these people were interested to learn more about the gospel though. However, we had some great lessons with one of our friends this past week. She is really learning and changing so much! I'm excited to see how she continues to change and grow.

On Friday this past week we drove up to Bristol to pick up some masks for the missionaries in our zone, and then we drove around the zone to pass them out to the teams. It was a great change of pace for us to do something different.

One lesson that I learned this past week is how important it is to be where you are. We had a zoom meeting with our mission, along with a psychologist from Utah. The psychologist taught us all a lot about meditation and focusing on the present moment. She mentioned a pretty staggering statistic that around 50% of the time, humans aren't even thinking about what they are doing while they are doing it. So we basically miss half of the moments in our lives. So I decided that I'm going to make a conscious effort to focus on the present moment from now on. One of the quotes that she mentioned was something like "If you focus on the past, you'll feel depressed. If you focus on the future, you'll feel anxious. If you focus on the present, you'll feel peace."

Well, I hope you all are doing great! Keep pressing forward! 

Love ya!

Elder Wray

Pics:

1. Here is a picture of me and a swan that I found on our walk around a pond.

2. The elders with the Bane masks!

Hey everyone! 

I hope you all aren't going too crazy with this quarantine. So far I've been able to stay somewhat sane, so that is good! I hope you all had a Happy Easter as well! I was definitely grateful to be able to reflect on the Savior and his glorious resurrection. We were able to have a meeting with our whole mission via zoom which was really great! We read some scriptures together and learned more about the Savior's resurrection. It was a great Easter!

Lately I've been thinking about a quote that I saw that says that "the best things in life are the people we spend it with, the places we go, and the memories that we make along the way." I really like this quote, and I definitely believe it to be true. I especially think that the relationships that we have in this life are very important. The relationships that we have with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will enrich our life just like our relationships with our family members and friends will. Since I've been on my mission, I've come to know more than ever that it's important for all of us to have our own individual relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I think many people would agree that it's important to have their own relationship with God or a higher power, but they might not agree that the church needs to play a role in that relationship. I wasn't always sure about this either, to be honest. I've definitely wondered sometimes why we should go to church and do a bunch of other stuff when our relationships with God are all personal and individual. But I've learned a few things that I would like to share about how the church, the same church that Jesus Christ established when he was on the Earth, plays a role in our own personal and individual relationships with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I think one of the biggest roles of the church is the role that priesthood authority and keys play. Because of the priesthood we are able to be baptized and make covenants, or promises, with God. These promises will bind us to God and bring us closer to him. We are able to partake of the sacrament each week and renew those promises with him. Through the priesthood, we can all receive blessings of comfort, healing, and counsel. We are also able to make additional promises with God in his temples and, most importantly, our families can be sealed together forever. Because of the church we are also able to receive guidance from a prophet of God. Times are constantly changing, and we need guidance from a prophet to stay on the path that leads to God. Because of the church we also have the scriptures that allow us to learn more about God and Jesus Christ and come closer to them. At church we are also strengthened by the community of saints and are able to learn from them and teach them as well. We have opportunities to serve and lead that allow us to grow and become better. None of these things would be available without the church. I'm very thankful for the church and how it allows us all to strengthen our relationships with God, Jesus Christ, our family, and friends. I hope you all have a great week! 

Love you all!

Elder Wray

Hello! 

I hope you all are doing wonderful during this quarantine! I also hope that all of you who watched General Conference enjoyed it! I know I definitely did! I think one of my favorite talks was Elder Neil L. Andersen's talk about spiritual memories. He said that "When personal difficulty, doubt, or discouragement darken our path... The spiritually defining memories from our book of life are like luminous stones that help brighten the road ahead." I really like this quote and Elder Andersen's talk because I feel really strongly about this and I can add my witness that what he is saying is true. 

It was also interesting because the day before this talk was given my companions and I had a conversation together about this very topic. We talked about how spiritual or sacred memories are just different than other memories and how they can give us so much strength. I'm definitely grateful for the spiritual memories that I have in my book of life. They've helped me to keep moving forward with faith and they warm my heart as I look back on them. I'm certain that God wants us all to have these kinds of memories, and if we pray to see his hand in our lives and seek ways to "hear him", we can have these spiritual memories. 

I hope you all are doing well and are safe. Love you all!

Elder Wray