HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

Happy New Year all!

Can you believe that the year is coming to a close? It's insane how fast the time flies. Well it was a good week. I can't process that I talked to you all this week. This email is going to be short. Sorry!

One quick thing before; one of the reasons I like teaching so much is because of how much I learn in preparation for and in the presentation of lessons. I always feel like I take more out of appointments than my investigators do. 

MONDAY! It was a good day. We talked to an interesting man. He told us that the true Israelites were blacks and he had a lot of scriptures to back it up which was interesting too. We hear a lot of different religious view points out here and a lot of them contradict and most are backed up by the bible. It's interesting. It's almost universally accepted as God's word but very widely disputed as to what it actually said. We thank thee o God for a prophet. After that we went to the Mag's to teach Robert and we read 2 Nephi 2 with him and talked about agency and the Plan of Salvation. Robert is a really cool guy. He is set to be baptized on the 18th of January. We are going to do all we can to help him get there. The Magdaluyos are so supportive. I want to be more like them when I grow up. Robert knows that the Church is true. We just need to teach him the remaining lessons and help him to fully integrate into the ward.

TUESDAY! Oh man. Good day, but it was hard. In the morning we had a great District meeting about the power of the Spirit. Then we did a mail run from the mission office up to north town and all over. We had a really hard lesson with Stephanie. So Sunday night we confirmed everything with the baptism with her and got that all set up. She was excited and ready. She told us how she knew that more blessings would be coming her way. So Tuesday we are teaching her the law of tithing and she commits to pay it. But then she asks us about the Law of Chastity. She told us how she'd been thinking of having her 'old man' (the father of her children) move back in and she asked if that would be a sin. So we teach her the law of chastity and we watch her face just drop. All that excitement and energy just drained out of her. She did not want to live it. We talked about it with her but she just kept saying, "I’m going to have to decide." We invited her to pray about things and she said that she would but you could just feel that from that moment on she was closed. It was hard to compare her happiness Sunday night with her attitude right then. So we said that we'd come by tomorrow to see how she was feeling about everything. It broke my heart; that was the hard part, the rest was good. We went to the Marx' house for Christmas Eve dinner and that was a blast. I love that family so much. Well I love everyone, but it's way easier to love the people that love you a lot back. I know I know, even the publicans do that. But still! We watched an interesting music video there; it was of that song "Did you know?" about Mary. The video that went with it was clips from the bible TV show that came out earlier this year and I think it was by cee-lo green. I imagine it was really popular when it came out but,,, we're not really on the cutting edge. Then we went to the Mag's house for dinner with them as well. I could rant about these favorite families almost as much as I do about how awesome Elder Slik is. A lot. Then we went to eat with the Lawter family and we had a big Mexican Noche Buena party. The food was sooo good. And we spoke in Spanish which was fun too. I was so impressed about how many people gave us gifts. Floored actually. Lots of families gave us gifts. And pretty much everyone gave us candy. I don't need any more candy for like the rest of my life. People like us and we can't figure out why. 

CHRISTMAS! We got up real, real early to play soccer with the zone. That was fun. We were playing before the sun was even up. I'll remember that for forever; singing and playing and having a good time with friends. It was so cold too, like 40 degrees. I know, I know, it's colder in Michigan or Utah or almost anywhere else, but I thought it was cold. After sports we went to the Iverson's house and we opened some presents and had breakfast and skyped.

Christmas morning at the Iverson's in the PJs they gave them.

It's a weird sensation. I almost feel like I haven't been gone very long especially after talking to you all. But anyway. By this point we were not hungry. We were still full from the dinners the night before! But we ate at the Iversons, and it was real, real good and then we went to a members house for lunch and we tried our hardest to eat the food. He even said, "Hey elder, you're not eating your chicken very fast, do you not like it?" something like that. That day the scripture was fulfilled "that there [was] not ... room enough to receive it." We were like totally up to capacity. We went by Stephanie’s afterwards and dropped off a gift to her but she did not want to talk. She told us that she was depressed. We tried talking to her about things of the spiritual nature and she even said something like "Come on guys! You've got to give me a break!" Oh another knife to my heart. She was so excited, and so happy just days before and then her whole countenance changed. It hurt me to see her so, so sad. But we went to see Toni and Severina and that made it all okay. Toni expressed her love to us and she told us how happy she was. She explained the peace and joy she'd received from joining the church. She talked about how she feels loved and wanted. I sit and think about where she was when we started and where she is now? It's incredible. She's a completely different person. She recognizes that too which makes it that much better. Severina did the same. We are so blessed to be able to devote two full years to blessing our brothers and sisters. Coming to know and love them. Then we went to the Banks family; another awesome family that we love so much. UPDATE! Rigdon's dental papers are signed and so it's the home stretch to getting them in now! He just needs a physical and then to send them off :)) (my double chin). Then we went to see some of our other favorite families.

THURSDAY! We had a good district meeting and then we .... surprise, surprise. I don't even remember too much. I didn't write it in my journal. :(. But what I do remember was a few visits and our lesson with Stephanie. ... We went by and one of the first things that she said to us was, "I think I'm going to stay Baptist." That was the killer. That was soooo hard to hear. She was so, so sad when she said that to us. We tried our best to understand what happened and why. She told us that she's always wanted to stay Baptist. But as bad as that lesson was for Stephanie, it was there that Andre really understood what the Restoration was. He realized the boldness of the claim that we make and we directed him to the Book of Mormon as the evidence of the claim. It was a lesson of mixed emotions. I love when people commit to read the BoM but I don't like when people tell us that they are going to "stay Baptist." But we set up a time to come back Saturday. Stephanie said that she will still keep coming to church and meeting with us but she's not going to get baptized. We'll have to see how things pan out with them. 

FRIDAY! We had a lesson with Norma first thing in the morning. It was crazy. She fed us Mexican food and we talked about death and her brother's passing and Sister Jewitt came with us and shared her experiences. Norma is grieving so much. We try, but it's almost like she's too sad to learn the things we are trying to teach her. She's scared and feels lonely. She said that we are her only friends. She's pushed everyone away and she often tells us that she tries to be happy for her children, but not for herself anymore. It's a humbling experience every time to meet with her. I don't have much life experience to share with her, I don't know what to say to a woman who has lost her brother so recently. But the Lord does. He knows and loves all of his children. Plus, when women cry, it freaks me out and I don't know what to do. Awk. We coordinated with the Bishop and with the Egans and Brother Odulio, which was good. Bishop Waite always tells us how much he loves us which makes a big difference. Even when you know you are loved, hearing someone tell you, is nice.

SATURDAY! We went to the temple. That was such a good experience. We missed our session so we went to do initiatories, but they were full so they sent us up to do sealings. Those were incredible. I'd never been in one before and it was very, very powerful. The sealer was Elder Ballard's cousin and in between families he taught us a lot of doctrine. Like almost randomly. He just started asking us questions and teaching us stuff that I’d never even heard about before. Then after a while he decided that we should go do initatories. So he sent us down and told us to tell them that Brother Ballard sent us. It worked and we did those. Then we did a session. Having done all three at once makes everything make more sense in the grand scheme of the ordinances we do in the temple. God promises us a lot of blessings. The temple is a place of worship. We learn about God's plan for us as his children. So that was good. We went out with another prospective missionary and we had a good time with him. Saturday night we had a lesson with Stephanie. We mostly talked with Andre. He read Alma 40 and really, really understood what it was saying. He had some great questions and some good insights. I am always so, so impressed with him. He is leagues ahead of most people we come in contact with. He really understands spiritual things. And he learns them quickly too.

SUNDAY! No investigators came to church in BV. Robert came to church in FH. We had a really good lesson with Suzie at the Kuhn's with Chelsea. We get to work with some cool people. Suzie is one of them: a great, great girl. We talked about the Plan of Salvation and about prayer. She is really seeking to feel God's love and presence in her life. Honorable. But her life is so busy it's hard for her to find time to read and pray which is how we feel and speak with God. We also got back in contact with Randy, which was good. 

Overall. It was an amazing week. We got to spend a lot of time with our dream team families. I love being a missionary. Life is good and things are going forward. 

I'm happy :)

I love you all so much!
Sam

Merry Christmas!

As someone said yesterday, Christmas without Christ would just be a miss.

I said that last week was like the best week ever, this week I think was even better.

So much happens in a week it's hard to process it all. I'm just always so happy. It's hard not to smile all the time. I could just rant all day about how good life is. 

It's an interesting experience to be able to look back upon where I was this time last year and see how far I've come. It's crazy to think about, how much I've learned and developed. Not to mention look at the lives of people we've worked with. For some, there has been a complete 180. They have left behind their past life, along with addictions, guilt and pain behind. 

I'm going to highlight Stephanie. She's awesome. I think about the first time we met Stephanie. A great woman but you could tell, that in her own words, she was "going through it." She was sad and quiet. Now I love going there because it fills me with so much happiness. Even in all the trials which continue to mount for that family, they are happy and full of faith. We go in and sit down and it is all smiles and praising the Lord and his goodness. I have really grown a lot in my testimony of the blessings of the simple things: reading and prayers. It has changed her life. She tells us all the time how much peace she feels. It brings me peace as well. To see her smile and laugh and just truly enjoy life: there is nothing greater. No greater blessings. It's interesting. As I write about this I really am trying to compare other times when I've been happier and they are quite few. I've made a difference in someone’s life, in their faith, and I’ve helped them to be happier. What could be better than that? But anyway, we go to her house and I am left feeling spiritually uplifted by just rubbing shoulders with someone with so much faith. :) It's hard to explain. I know the Book of Mormon can provide peace, happiness, answers and safety for the soul http://bcove.me/wy27ezhf . All we have to do is read it. 

MONDAY! We had a great FHE with Chelsea and her mom at the Mag's house. It was a real good experience of talking and laughing and reading together. They really stand out to me as doing what the prophet has asked us to do in regards to missionary work. They live the best life they can and do their best to follow the Savior and then they invite others to be a part of and feel the goodness of their life.  I think the world of so many families, and they are one of them. Brother Mag served his mission in Puerto Rico. He was a good missionary. He has so many cool stories to share. He and really his whole family seem like fireballs to me. Just love to do what's right and will get it done. But anyway. Chelsea is dating their son Kaden who is serving a mission in Argentina. She got baptized 16 months ago. Her mom is a non-member, great, great woman. Just not ready to commit right now to changing her life. But we had a good, spirit filled time reading Alma 32 and discussing. She shared some powerful experiences, about feeling the Spirit in the past. It strengthened my testimony that God loves all of his children. Period. Robert was supposed to come but he was still sick so he couldn't make it. Chelsea is really cool. She wasn't religious or spiritual before taking the missionary lessons, but now she is on point. She'd make a great missionary.

TUESDAY! It was a crazy day. We started it out by contacting a referral. We talked with him for a bit and he told us how his family was afraid of us. We get that more often than you'd think. I don't really know why though. But he said that he'd set something up and we could come over sometime for dinner and a lesson. We get that more often than you'd think too! Members are always asking to feed us but non-members ask us frequently. I mean I'm not complaining. People like feeding us, and we like to eat! So it works out (which we need to do more hahaha). We took a while to plan for a training we had to give in zone conference Thursday. Then we went to some families to deliver Christmas cards. It made a big difference. Sometimes the littlest things make people so happy. Like going to Severina's and eating her Filipino food and singing her some songs. She loved it.  She recorded us (and I wish she wouldn't have. We sounded soooo bad.) Then we visited a few members. We had a crazy experience. So Patrick, the guy that came to church the last 2 weeks. He's awesome. Nice guy. We went by in the afternoon to talk to him and his girlfriend came out. Oh man. She was dark, not physical, but she had a weird vibe about her from the moment we saw her. The first thing she said was, "Well look at these three handsome young men." Boom from then on out things just got worse. We asked for Patrick and she told us that he was inside and then described in vivid detail the bad things he was doing right then. It was messed up. Then she tried to get in each of our heads. When we asked for Patrick’s phone number or a better time to come back to talk to him she told us that he was going to get kicked out of the apartment that night and he would probably OD and die that night. Then she was telling us a bunch of other crazy stuff and we just left. It was messed up, just sad, and dark, and messed up. We see first hand how many people and family's lives are ruined by the influence of substances. It's depressing. Then we went to go contact a referral. On Monday we got a call from one of the sisters in the other ward about someone she had used “the willing and brief invitation” on and they had said “yes.” She was sooo excited to have done her part in the work of salvation and she set up a lesson for Tuesday. So we went and talked with this young man named Matt. He lived alone and worked a lot. You could tell that he really wanted people to talk to. He told us about his life and his cards and his guitars and everything. It turns out that he was a member. So we got him hooked up with the singles ward. Then we ate dinner with the clan. That was an interesting experience. They live a crazy lifestyle. We then taught Stephanie and Andre the word of wisdom. It was awesome. We started teaching it and Andre was interested and sat down. We gave him a pamphlet and he opened it up and the first thing he says is "Dang, Joseph Smith was a handsome dude." It was pretty funny. The Spirit was very strong as we talked about the blessings they could receive. Both of them committed to stop right then. We took their coffee and tea and poured it out. They were both happy too, which was the best part. Andre has grown so much in his faith. He mentioned that in the lesson. Little by little he is getting happier and happier as he opens up more and more to God :). Then after that we had a good visit with Bishop Waite. He's a great man. He got a little emotional talking to us. It made me happy to see how much he loves Elder Slik and me. Oh, I haven’t ranted about how awesome Elder Slik is this letter. He's the best! I couldn't have gotten to where I am today if it wasn't for his good example and guidance. But anyway. 

WEDNESDAY!  Oh man. Bomb day. We started the day with a lesson with Susana and Chelsea (the one who we talked about earlier.) They are both 19 and went to the same high school so it was awesome. They turned out to be a great match. They really connected and the lesson was very powerful. Susana told us about her experiences reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. She said that he felt warm and had goose bumps and she was crying while she prayed. She recognized that that was a different feeling than she had ever had before in her life and she knew it was God's spirit answering her prayer. And then Chelsea had a very similar experience and they were able to bond really well over that. The youth. They are the best. She told us that if all of what she has been learning and feeling is from God then the Catholic Church is not right and she'll keep going just to support and be with her parents. It was so cool to see this new light and fire starting within Susana and for Chelsea to be there to share her own similar conversion story. It was like straight out of an Ensign article. We invited Susana to be baptized and she said yes. :) Then we visited some of the elderly people in the ward. A few were less active and while talking with them Elder Slik and I both felt that if they would just be fellowshipped a little more they would come back to church. I want to always be a proactive member in the work of salvation when I get home from my mission in two years. I wasn't the best home teacher before but I don't ever want to miss a month again in my whole life. I've seen the difference it makes. Plus the prophet asked us to step it up. Anyway. Then we taught Gloria and Kimberly. Man, Kimberly is really special. She's super smart. She asks lots of questions and you can tell that she is listening and really trying to understand. I was impressed about how much that she retained. It was cool. She thought a lot harder about spiritual things than I did when I was 13. Then we ate dinner with a cool family. We got to help decorate their tree, which was nice. I felt like part of their family. Then we went to the chapel to help set up for the zone conference for a little bit before we had a lesson with Stephanie. It was good. She is a great example of relying upon the Lord through trials. Then we visited a family that is trying to return to activity. They made us food and talked with us. They were so grateful that we came over that they literally sang to us. Then we sang a song with them. I wish I would have took singing lessons and stayed with the piano. 

THURSDAY! We got up early and went to set up for a five zone conference. It was really, really good. I learned a lot and it was good to see so many missionaries that I knew, and weird to see so many that I didn't.

Christmas Central Zone Conference

Elder Slik and I trained on the “Blessing Contact” and we talked about faith and prayer a lot. It was pretty good. I think that we did a very good job, a lot of other missionaries told us we did too. It's nice to do your best work and then have it recognized. I really like training. I get really scared because when you look out and see like 40 other missionaries it's intimidating but exciting all at the same time. It's funny to think about me in May when I was scared to train eight missionaries and then last week we trained 80 over two groups. We saw Gloria with Brother Martinez. Man the Martinez family so, so cool. We took Bro M and his daughter came and Taylor. She is very quiet but she bore her testimony of the Book of Mormon unprompted which was really cool. And she said a great prayer. I'm always so impressed with the young people here. Then we went up the hill to eat dinner with a part member family in our other ward. It was a great dinner and lesson. Then we went to the Jones' family, a recent convert family. We had a good visit with them. Again, us just showing up and thinking about them really made them happy. Sometimes I forget that. We can make people so, so happy just by showing up and letting them know that we are thinking about them.

FRIDAY! We had a good morning Friday. It was unique. We set out to visit a few members and see how we could help them but instead, member after member gave us food or presents. It was crazy; cheese ball, pictures of Christ, fudge and more. Sister Gammon made us lunch and that made me happy. We stopped by to talk about her daughter coming to teach a family with us and she said something to the effect of "No! You can't give them cookies, I have to make them lunch first. Then they can have some." Her love for us has really made an impact on me. She reminds me a lot of you mom, which makes me happy. She's stake YWP and everything. She's almost as cool as you, but not quite. Then we visited some other people. It was a good afternoon. No lessons but a lot of time to grow closer to the members in our area. Then we saw Stephanie again with the Bishop. Andre really likes the Bishop. They connected over football and I think that Andre can see he is a person to respect. Then that night we had a lesson with Susana and her parents. She had asked her Dad for permission to be baptized and he wanted to meet with us to understand what was going on. We had a great visit with them. He said that he would allow her to make her own decision and we all were so grateful for that. Susana bore her testimony to us and told us how grateful she was and it was so powerful. She said that for the first time she really felt God in her life. It was funny too, we ended the lesson with a prayer and she said "well the way we pray... I mean they pray." It was just a little thing but you could tell that she had already adopted 'our' way of prayer as her own. It was cool. She's really, really special, young and smart and seeking for God. I'm so glad that we've been blessed with the opportunity to work with her. I am humbled daily by such amazing people in and out of the church. The road to becoming Christ-like is long, but joyous. 

SATURDAY! I was on exchanges with Elder May (from Mexico) here and we had a good day. We didn't have any lessons set up, but we talked to a lot of people. One guy, Chris talked to us on the street and gave us a blessing. It was pretty funny, he just said, "Grab my hand." Elder May went to grab it but then he said, "The other hand," and then Elder May switched hands and then he said, "My other hand." It was like straight out of Napoleon Dynamite. But then the guy prayed for us. He was nice. He talked to us about suicide for a long time. It was whack. Life is really hard for a lot of people. Later in the night we had a really cool experience. I felt like we needed to be somewhere and so we were walking around the place and figured it was to go visit this one former investigator so we walked towards her house and then I felt like that wasn’t the right way, so we walked a way and as we did two cops ran up and started knocking on the same door that we were about to not 30 seconds before! So we walked back onto the street and a car pulls up behind us just then and the door opens and a man yells, "Hey! Are you going to visit my sister?" and then he told us that we should because she was waiting for us. Then he told us where they lived. So we went and they invited us in and offered us food. We sat down and were talking and shared a little bit and I said something like we'd love to leave a blessing on your home and then come by another night and share a message of how your family can come closer together. And she said, “You could just teach us now, if you wanted.” It was cray. Things like that don't happen too often. So we shared the Restoration and the Book of Mormon with them. Turns out she was a former investigator six years ago but never got baptized because she moved. She had forgotten pretty much everything though. It was really cool to have an experience like that. Then we talked to two really cool guys on the street and they asked us why there were so many religions. We taught about the great apostasy and it answered a lot of one guy's questions. It was cold, but cool to be able to talk with two guys that were super, super smart and interested in what we had to say. One of them had even read some of the Book of Mormon so he was curious about what we believed. I dunno. They were like two intellectuals and we kinda interrupted their convo but they let us be a part of it.

SUNDAY! Stephanie, Andre, Susana, and Pete. All came to church. Except for Stephanie it was all their first time! And then Chelsea's mom came to FH [Frenchman Hills ward]! It was an awesome day. Everyone had a really good experience as well. It makes me so happy when people come to church bc it s a big step. It takes a lot to put three hours especially early in the morning into something that you've never done before. It's a sacrifice. Then we visited the Tachouets and gave them the Sacrament and taught them the Restoration. Rigdon helped out and did a great job. We have good experiences with them each week. Then we saw Stephanie and set things up for her baptism this Saturday!!! She's so excited and just so happy. Both she and Andre lovvved church and the Spirit in their home was so, soo strong, just all smiles and not a word of complaint. Stephanie feels really peaceful every time she thinks about it and Andre said that he's proud of her for making the decision. You can feel that he'll be making the same one soon. Then we visited other families. I love both our wards so much and the amazing people we get to serve alongside. I've learned so much from the great examples of all the wonderful people. That's all.

I love life.

I love the Lord

I love you all so much

Sam

It’s been a really busy week

So. People love us.

That's like the root of anything I could say/ it's borderline weird. Both of our wards think we are the greatest things since the Book of Mormon. Members are always asking us what they can do to help or what they can get for us. I'm always taken back by the love and generosity. People who we haven't even directly served tell us how great we are and both of us just walk away like.... what? I can't describe the experience. It's nice to feel so loved. I don't think I've ever felt this way before in my whole life, loved definitely, but not like in such a general or personal sense. I hope I don't sound whiney or anything. Moving on.

Life is good. This week was awesome, especially good. So, so much has happened andddd regrettably my journal keeping slacked, hard this week. It's crazy how tired we always are when we get home, planning, area book and then bed. I feel like this has been one of the best weeks of my mission, I just can't remember why hahaha.

MONDAY! The big event was teaching Robert. He's such a good guy. I really like him a lot. So we went over and the Mag's bought us dinner - Thai food. I love Thai food and it'd been the longest time since I had had it. Delish, but, to the more important - we taught Robert the Plan of Salvation. It went really well. I've gotten way better at teaching it as my mission has gone on. As well my understanding of it has increased dramatically. I really enjoyed it. The lessons are pretty low key. It's us and Brother and Sister Magdaluyo and we sit in their living room and discuss. The Spirit is always very strong. I realize that, that is the way the lessons are supposed to go in the comfort of the member's homes. It makes a big difference. Robert does have some health issues which makes it hard him to be real active. He's really seeking for answers. I like the guy a lot. Brother Mag also has a lot of really cool mission stories that he shares.

TUESDAY! We had district meeting which was really good. Then we ate with Severina. Whenever I talk to her I am always so humbled. She is such a talented woman with such a love for God. I want to be more like her. Then we had a lesson with Patrick, the guy who showed up to church last week. It went pretty well. We talked about the Book of Mormon and shared with him the message of the Restoration. When we were giving an overview we said something like "the church Jesus Christ established was lost after he was killed, but now it has been restored through a living prophet." He said, “Woah, woah, woah wait. That's a lot to think about. Can you say that again?” So we talked about that for a while. He's going through a lot but he definitely wants to learn more and feel more of the spirit that he felt at church. Then we went to Gloria's house to teach her and Kimberly. It went really well. We talked about the Restoration and baptism. Both felt the Spirit very strongly. Gloria is a very humble woman. She's a breast cancer survivor too. When we talked about baptism Kimberly was asking if she could get baptized again. That was cool. I dunno. Both of them don't really have super strong Christian backgrounds but they are very open to learning more. Then we saw Stephanie. Man. That woman is going through hell. I'll try to briefly explain the situation. She has no job. She's really, really sick. Her son lost his job. He's sick and he has pink eye on top of that. He also has a warrant out for his arrest because of traffic tickets. Because of that, when his crazy baby momma came to steal his son (who she's not even allowed to have custody over) he couldn't deny her because she called the cops. It's crazy. And more bad is happening too. That's just the surface. But Stephanie, she's great. As missionaries we always talk about the importance of reading the scriptures and praying and we promise (as do the prophets and scriptures) a host of blessings. Stephanie is a great example of that. Her life is like falling down around her shoulders but she reads and prays everyday and she is just so happy, big huge smile and so much faith. You like being around her because she is so lively. And she tells us it's because she's reading the Book of Mormon. She's in Ether.... It's awesome. She really just loves the Book of Mormon, me too. It's brought her so much happiness in this hard time in her life. And Sister Justice has as well. She is the perfect example of member fellowship. We brought her to a lesson, and Sister Justice invited Stephanie into her life and family. She takes her places (like for example this week to the temple. Stephanie lovvved it soooo much.) and she helps her with things. They are friends. Whether Stephanie gets baptized or not this month, S. Justice has changed her life forever. It's amazing to see. I want to be a Christ-like friend like Sister Justice. But in this lesson Stephanie called us her angels which made me feel really good. It's things like that remind of me of the instantaneous good that we can do as missionaries. Reading the scriptures makes us happy. That night we went to a meeting with the stake about the Christmas open house. I loved it. I just loved counseling and talking and taking notes on how we can improve for next time. It was a really cool experience and I'm so grateful to have had that privilege. I feel like that with the whole mission. So many cool things I've gotten to do and see and be a part of. What a blessing. 

WEDNESDAY! A tonnnn of our appointments fell through. That was tough. It's interesting how it happens like that. We visited some people in the morning, some new members of the ward. Then we sat in on one of Vicki's new member lessons with the Egan's. It was good. I love her and Sister Marx a lot. They are like a power team in my mind. We had a great lesson and then Sister Marx bought us lunch. Vicki is such a good woman. She just has such a strong spirit about her. She's always so happy too. I always want to surround myself with people who are happy and excited; life is happier and more exciting that way. We saw Toni later and she told us all about her baptism and how she felt clean for days after the ordinance. It was interesting to hear her testimony like that. Then we went to eat at the Iverson’s. They are the best. They've done a great job in welcoming us into their family and it feels good. Then we went to see Stephanie which went good too.

Okay I'm running out of time. I’m just going to hit some experiences sorry.

We taught Johnathon and Fabiola, a couple who we had the blessing of contacting a while ago. We felt prompted to go there when we hadn't originally planned to and we knocked right in the middle of a huge argument they were having about the future of their family. We came in and taught the Restoration and the Spirit was really strong. Both of them felt it. When we were sharing the BOM with them, Fabiola said, "I have to read it" and she asked to keep my picture of the first vision that I showed them. That was my last one... but I was happy to give it to them. Then Johnathon said his first prayer ever and it was really, really sincere. He was just humbly pleading with God for the things he needed.

On Thursday I was on exchanges in Montebello West again! I love it the most. There are so many people and so many prepared families. I want to serve in that area again before the end of my mission. I still have two years to go so chances are high.... but it was a really good day. We talked with a lot of people and saw a lot of investigators. It was the birthday of the virgin of Guadalupe or something like that so there were tons of parties in the streets which was pretty crazy. I learned a lot about communication on the exchange that I went on. The elders in the area are doing very, very well in their indicators, but they aren't happy. And we know it's completely because they aren’t communicating. They don’t talk to each other about their feelings. They hold in their anger and frustration and then get even more mad at each other because they continue to do the things that the other doesn’t like! It's sad. I've been blessed to communicate fairly well with all of my companions but my skills have grown a lot in my time in the mission and especially with Elder Slik. Transparency is important. We don't always agree, but we always get along. We are different people, so we think differently but we don't let it get between us. We talk and that solves everything. Unity, it goes a long way.

Friday we had a lesson with Norma that went really well. Norma is our referral from Gladys Knight. She's not progressing very quickly, but she is really, really cool. She wants to learn, but she's not sure yet if she's committed to act on the knowledge. During the lesson she was asking lots of good questions like, "How do I know that Thomas S. Monson is the prophet?" and other things like that. I like having lessons with her a lot because she is thinking and that makes us think more. They are a little more scattered than other lessons because she is alllll over the place. Anyway. She's cool. She's only 26  too which is weird to think about sometimes because she's so young. Oh man. Then we had the sickest experience with Gloria. One of her granddaughters was visiting and got delayed. She said that she knew that she was going to not be able to leave because Gloria told her we were coming. She's being going through a inner spiritual battle recently. We taught our lesson about the BoM and then we were reading a part of Alma 7 and she was really feeling the Spirit. When she had to go she asked us to take down her information and she told us, "I'm taking this with me" referring to the Book of Mormon. That was cool. Powerful experiences all over the place this week. Friday night we also had a great lesson with Stephanie in which we mostly focused on Andre. He's an amazing man but as he's said before he said again, “I'm not ready to stop running from God yet.” He will soon though. He's opened up a ton.

Saturday! We had our stake president’s breakfast which went well. Then for the afternoon we delivered Christmas cards to the ward members. It made me feel good. A lot of people told us how much they liked them which made me feel good. I love these two wards so much. Such incredible people that I’ve gotten so close with. That afternoon we had a lesson with Susana. It was good, but tough because she believes in God but has never really felt him in her life before. So that's our new focus with her, helping her to feel and then recognize the Spirit. Then that night Brother Cotner took us to Outback Steakhouse. Man. I've never eaten like that before in my life. Sooo much food. Sooo good.

Sunday was pretty bomb too. Patrick walked to church. He told me after sacrament meeting that he had to leave because it was his daughter's birthday but he wanted to make sure he came but that he'd be there all of next weeks. Man I was floored by that. Tyrone invites the guy to church to help him feel better and he feels the Spirit so strong that he commits to coming back every week. The Spirit. Stephanie loved our gospel principles lesson on exaltation and Gloria just loved church so much. :) Man I love it when our investigators are happy. It makes me happy. Then we took the sacrament after FH to a family that can’t come to church because of the husband’s back problems. We had another powerful experience there. In our short message she told us that for the first time she understood the point of church, religion, and everything. That was cool to talk to her about. Then we had dinner with the Martinez family. Man. They are the coolest. There are like seven or so families that are all just neck and neck for greatest families I've ever met and they are one of them. Just incredible people. I love them a ton. Then we visited a part member family and that went super well. Return apt and dinner for next week. Things are happening here in central. I love it. Elder Slik is like my hero. I'll be grateful forever for the things he's taught me and the great example he's been. 

Life, my brothers and sisters, is good.

I love you all so much!

Merry Christmas

Sam

PS. To the ward, thanks for writing me all the cards, I loved them!