CHRISTMAS TIME

"Balance your life with spiritual experiences that remind and prepare you for continued, daily ministering to others." 

M Russell Ballard

I really don't feel like typing a lot today so I'll add my highlights and then a bunch of pictures. We hangout with members so much this week which was amazing.  We had a big Christmas party on the 23rd and ate a bunch of Mexican food.  Then on Christmas Eve we had a dinner at 4, then went to a zone Christmas party where we played chair soccer, signs, volleyball, and ultimate dodge ball. It was so much fun and really nice to hangout with the whole zone. On Christmas we we opened gifts nice and early, and then went to church and had 2 dinners after church. I think I gained like 10 pounds just yesterday.  We also got invited to basketball tonight. We had zone conference last week so we had a big meeting and then watched a christmas movie. Movie was really weird but we just chilled and took a nap! It's been a great week.

Pictures:

Taco bell!!

Service

Our Christmas tree

Sunrise!!!

Ward Christmas party

Zone Christmas party pics!!

 

INSANELY COLD

"Now is the best time to start becoming the Person we eventually want to be."  

We had so many things happen this week but at the same time it felt so long... these last two days flew though. It was really sad seeing Elder Marble leave this area, but we got another elder who's super cool so it'll be fun to get to know him more. Couple highlights this week.  Running into this kid who had Pokémon and he was so excited to see us, so he took out his favorite cards and gave them to us.  So we returned the favor and gave him 2 pictures of jesus and he was happy. We had an awesome member lesson with the Arroyo's where we talked about fútbal and Fifa for a solid 10 minutes, in Spanish.

  

 ENTER THE WATER OF BAPTISM

"May we see the light of Christ in others constantly and help them to see it in themselves."   -Elder Bragg

 What a fun week.  It's freezing cold so there's an inch of frost on everything. To start off we went to the giving machines on Wednesday, and had so much fun chilling there for 3 hours. It was in downtown KC that was fun to go and see everything. The giving machines are so cool and we had quite a bit of people come and drop like 5 donations which was awesome. The weirdest thing happens at the giving machines, the missionaries can't wear their tags and we have to go by our first name.  The most exciting thing happened on Saturday, we had a baptism Esteban was baptized this last Saturday and I got the opportunity to baptize him.  It was such an amazing experience and I could see the light inside of him the exact moment he came out of the water. He was so ready and excited. It took almost 8 months to actually get him baptized and keep commitments so it was so amazing to see him finally enter the water of baptism. The baptism was in spanish so that was really fun haha it went well and I didn't have to say it twice which was nice. Spanish is still kicking my butt... but I know I'll get there one of these days or years. We had transfer texts this week on Saturday and my companion and I are staying together for another transfer which is awesome.  Only sad thing that happened on transfers was Marble leaving.  He's one of the missionaries in my house and we were super close so that's going to be sad. Yesterday was crazy we had 4 hours of church and it was the primary program in the spanish ward. Then we found 2 people right before going home after knocking doors 2 lessons fell through so we started walking around and this spanish family was just walking outside taking videos of their Christmas lights and they invited us in and they want to be taught all 5 lessons!! So that's really really exciting as well. 

pictures: Esteban's baptism, light the world, Hector & his family

 HAPPY TO BE BAPTIZED

"When you do your part the Lord adds HIS power to your efforts."

What a crazy week we've had.  We had so many awesome things happen and saw so many miracles.  To start off we went bowling on last P-day and I beat everyone in bowling, yes that is very important. Then we played laser tag, halo, and some other fun games. So that was an awesome P-day. We got to put the Christmas tree up and the lights as well. We have been jamming out to Christmas music all day. This weekend was so crazy.  We had 2 baptisms, one was the English elders and the other one was Devon.  Devon was so excited and happy to be baptized. He said he's never smiled so much in his life, and that he feels like a new man.  It was so good to see how happy he was after he got baptized. I had the chance to confirm him a member to our church and give him the Holy Ghost which was so powerful and such an amazing experience.  I was super nervous, but I didn't mess up the first part so I was all good haha.  On Friday and Saturday we had 2 members come down from Cameron and feed us and do some lessons.  The first night we got some pizza, and the second night we went to Golden Corral Golden.  Speaking of food, last night we went to Hecrors and had really good tacos that he made from his cow.  Plus it was to end our fast which was really great as well. It's also been really fun just seeing all the Christmas lights and decorations up. Next week we find out if we get transferred... so that'll be fun. 

Pictures: Freddys, Fun Center, Christmas Tree,  Devon's baptism, Golden Corral, Hectors House