Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone!

We had a good Christmas! Elder Tang and I spent it with two other elders in Cardiff, Elder Larsen and Elder Aresgado. It was pretty fun! We played a good game of darts and Mexican dominos. Our mission president also allowed us to watch Disney movies, so that was fun!

I'm really looking forward to the new year! Each new year seems to always bring a bit of hope and excitement, especially this year! I'm looking forward to making some new year's goals and resolutions. I was reading a good talk from Elder Ballard the other day called "Return and Recieve". He teaches some great principles about setting goals and creating plans to achieve those goals. One of his quotes from the talk says, "Over the years, I have observed that those who accomplish the most in this world are those with a vision for their lives, with goals to keep them focused on their vision and tactical plans for how to achieve them. Knowing where you are going and how you expect to get there can bring meaning, purpose, and accomplishment to life." He mentions that Heavenly Father's goal is to have us RETURN to him and RECIEVE all that he has, and his plan to accomplish that is the plan of salvation.

I love you all and am grateful for the support that you give to me. I know that our Father in Heaven is watching over us and loves us. Keep pushing along and good luck in the new year!

Elder Wray

Merry Christmas!!! 

Wow! This year has flown by! I'm excited for Christmas though! Christmas is always a good time! I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

This past week was pretty hectic to be honest, but it was good! The mission was closing down a flat in our zone, so we spent all of Thursday cleaning the flat out. Then on Saturday we drove around all of South Wales delivering Christmas packages to missionaries in the zone. It was crazy! We did about 8 hours of driving. We drove from Cardiff to Swansea, to Llannelli, to Milford Haven, to Newcastle Emlyn, to Merthyr Tydfil, and then back to Cardiff. We didn't have time to finish all the deliveries, so the next day we drove to Newport then Cwmbran. It was a fun road trip though, haha!

Christmas is such a special time to reflect on the birth of Jesus Christ. One thing that my mission president has said frequently is "We celebrate His birth because of the way He lived His life." That is so true! He was the light that came to the Earth to lead others out of darkness, and we too can be that light for others as we follow Him. 

Love you all!

Elder Wray

What's up everyone?! I hope you've all had a great week!

We had zone conference this past week! It was amazing! It was our first one that we had in person for quite awhile. It was so awesome to see everyone in person. President and Sister Hughes shared great Christmas messages as well. They are the best! On Saturday we got invited by some of our friends to go to this Christmas carol service in the backyard of a Baptist minister's house. We ended up going, and it was really good! They played some classic Christmas songs and read about the birth of Christ as well. We got to talk to the Baptist minister afterwards as well. He is a really cool guy! We also recieved transfer information on Sunday. Elder Tang and I are staying in Cardiff for the 4th transfer! We are glad to stay! We love Cardiff.

I saw a cool little miracle this past week! So I posted on social media about one of my ancestors who is from Leigh, England. And someone I taught in one of my past areas messaged me and told me that that is where she is from and where her ancestors are from as well. Leigh is a fairly small town/city for England, so we were thinking that maybe our ancestors could have known each other in the past. One funny but also interesting thing that she said was that maybe my ancestors tried to share the gospel with her ancestors in the past, and they didn't accept it, but now she is going to accept. I thought it was pretty interesting, and it's awesome to see people's hearts turn to thier ancestors. I bet they are more involved with our lives than we sometimes think!

I hope you are all having a great holiday season so far! I love the Christmas spirit. I hope you are all finding upliftment during this time. One thing that's really given me the Christmas spirit is the "Christ Child" video. If you haven't seen it yet, I would highly reccommend it. It is such a good video that will help you remember the birth of Christ. 

Love you all! Have an amazing week!

Elder Wray