Happy Almost New Year!!

I can see all those blessings as well. Never have I seen, or dealt with people that don't have as much as us. I do know that it is from the Gospel, and hard working parents! It isn't easy to always do what y'all do. I am very grateful for it!

We have been working at a slow pace, and it's hard to get out of this slump because of the negative influences out of my control. But I do know that even when life is hard, and frustrating, that there is still good going on. Last night I reread some of my old letters, and it was refreshing to remember where I was, and to remember when there wasn't so many frustrating things going on. I felt real good to read those. I then related the past experiences with mine right now, and I made the conclusion that I have been focused too much on the negative. It's very easy to be consumed with all the bad in our lives, but unless we focus on the good, and try to improve that, instead of the bad where we have no control, then things will get a lot better! Thank you for your emails. They added to the testimony that I received last night. I also thank y'all for your prayers, I have felt them tremendously!

It seems things have slowed down a bit, but we have made progress with some investigators. One we will baptize this next month is back and we are going to finnish the lessons. But I know that reading the Book of Mormon brings peace in our lives, and in the lives of others if we read it together. One investigator was having a horrible day. One that seemed that everything went wrong. We went and visited her with her family, and talked. We could've taught her anything thing, but the spirit prompted me to read the Book of Mormon with her. We did just that and her countenance changed and she even told us that she felt a lot better. We helped her recognize those feelings, and testify to her of the power of the Holy Ghost. Now what would I do in my life if I didn't know that that feeling comes from God? I don't know.

But thanks again, it was awesome talking with y'all and seeing everyone! I am kinda sad that I didn't see Coree, but that was my fault for forgetting to tell y'all to wake her up! I expected to see everyone looking different, but the only changes I noticed, first Dwight, which was obvious! Then Casey getting a foot taller, and having normal sized teeth! :)

Love all of you, Thank you for the encouragement!

12 Your Time

Sorry, I made a mistake. I will be on 12 your time. Hopefully that'll work fine. No Pre call this time, pres canceled it....dumb missionaries. Hopefully y'all will see this! Thanks for all the presents, I did eat all the candy already, but no presents have been opened.

December 17, 2012

 Y'all look similar... but not the same, Dad's nose is too big.... :) haha. Y'all look great, and It's good to hear everything is going wonderful! I did get the box, and I loved the Christmas card you made, it looks professional! Casey is getting tall! I got the package, and I haven't opened the presents, I'm waiting for Christmas. I sent y'all a package and I know that some siblings will want to borrow some of those things and that is fine, but y'all can have everything, but the pants and t-shirts, and maybe a couple of ties. I specifically gave the silver and white dotted one to Casey, because it is small and cool. The SIM card is in there also, I know y'all will enjoy those pictures... :). I am currently working on my Christmas card, we are trying to have it professionally done for free, so we'll see what happens.

 We heard about the shooting, and the horribleness of it. You probably heard also about the teacher that hid her class and saved their lives, while she was killed. You know at these times people really question if there is a God, and why he would let that happen. I do know that God has a plan for all those people, and that even though tragedy strikes, he is in control. But in the last days, the bad will get worse, and the good will become greater. As you can see from everyone going out on missions, He is gathering Israel in great abundance. We have 300 baptisms so far this year, which doesn't seem that great, but it would put us 56 people shy of a baptism a day. When all these missionaries start coming out, our force will double and most likely that number will double, if not triple. There is a prophecy that in the south, there will be thousands of people joining the church. It will come true this next year. So much is happening it's crazy.

 We had our half mission Christmas devotional, and it was great. Pres Jensen let us watch Brave, which is a hilarious movie. I think they shortened it because it seemed a little choppy... There were many talents, good and bad, but we enjoyed them all. One of the best parts about it, was that Elder Danner, who went home in the MTC, came out, and we talked a while. I was super excited to see him. It was weird when he tapped me on the shoulder, and I turned and saw him. It took me about five seconds to recognize him, I'm pretty sure he saw my mental process show on my face.... But all of our MTC district was there, so we got a picture together, it was great. 

 Christmas day, at 11 AM, we will skype, or I will be on, hopefully y'all will.

 Love you LOTS and I'm praying for Dad's team to win, even though I don't know who they are. And I still feel bad that I lost Dad's basketball secrets book.... Talk to y'all next week!

December 10, 2012

That is pretty sweet that Dad has a basketball team that is winning! It seems that he always had bad players and I always gave him a hard time because he is my Dad. He is doing right by studying the Jazz's Strategy, it's one of the best, especially if it is Coach Stalone's. It's great to see that his dream is coming true, maybe he'll be a high school coach someday!

 The weather here is pretty nice, some days are freezing and some are dreary, but it's mostly good. We were planning on taking pictures today, but it's going to rain... :( Everyone is excited for Christmas. We still need to prepare our Christmas lesson that we are going to share with people. I'll have to take pictures of our decorations and stuff we've collected. We did service for a member, cleaning out his shed, and he gave us some pretty cool stuff, I think it's valuable.

 This week seemed to go extra fast, and we've exceeded most of our goals! We were actually surprised. It seemed as if God prepared our way everywhere we went so that everything happened perfectly. Almost every place they let us in and we were able to teach a lesson and leave with a prayer, it was great! We have an investigator that is really strange, but is a real good guy. He had to show us something cool he picked up after we had a lesson. He took us outside and around to his truck to look in the back. There he had a dead bobcat, and it was as stiff as a board because of rigamortis. It was nighttime so I couldn't see the bottom most part of it but it looked in perfect shape. I asked him how it died, because it didn't look as if anything happened to it, except for the fact it wasn't moving. He moved a bucket that covered the lowered legs, which were ripped bare because of a car hitting it. It was disgusting. I have no idea why he would want to pick it up. What's even funnier is that he isn't a hick. He goes to college and looks like a normal student. He just has this thing where he loves picking up things he thinks are cool. Sadly, we went back and found the cat still in there, and it smelled horrible.... He said he really needed to get rid of it....

 

 For Christmas we are going to skype, don't know where yet, but we will find out. We do know where we are eating dinner at, and I'm super excited. I'll let you know more when it gets closer and when we schedule it.

 

 Love you and talk to you next week!