January Christmas

I would have to agree that every week seems to go by pretty fast.  I had the same issue with my mail as Mckay did with his.  I have now been at this new area for over a month and a half and somehow my mail is still going to my old area.  Just yesterday I received my Christmas package from Grandma and Grandpa Kimzey that was mailed to me on the 9th of December.  Really surprising to receive a Christmas package in the middle of January, but it was fun to open.  It was also a little fitting because on Sunday we had our first snow of the season and it was looking more like Christmas than Christmas day did.

What?!?!  Jacob and Daniel both have been on blind dates in the past week?  hahhhaha way to go.  Let me know how those turned out!  Gabe and Joe are both doing church ball?  That is something that I never really got into.  Do we even have enough kids in the ward to make a team?

Mom, we actually had both a church tour and a lesson at the house of the Peruvian women (Araceli).  We unfortunately picked the night to do the church tour when two other wards had cub scouts and young women activities.  Needless to say, the little wolf and bear scout age kids were running around the church and maybe it wasn't the most conducive to the Spirit.  The chapel part went amazingly well though when we could have had a little more peace and quiet.  We had a member family with us as fellowship and I think it all went well.  We also found out that Araceli has a 15 year old daughter, who we didn't know of before because she is usually in school when we have lessons, and so during our next appointment with her we brought the Young Women's President.  They both seemed to hit it off really well right as they meet and the Young Women's president even stayed after the lesson to talk when we left.  We quickly noticed while starting the lesson that we needed to go over The Book of Mormon.  She had read the introduction and testimonies of the 3 witnesses, but was still a little confused.  All we did is read the first chapter with her and she absolutely loved it!!!  It was amazing and she wanted to continue reading. :)  The power of The Book of Mormon in bringing people closer to Christ is truly amazing.

We also had a lesson with a man named Eduardo.  He is a boyfriend of a member and they have two kids together.  Just recently he has been investigating the church more seriously.  He already had a strong relationship with the 2nd counselor in the branch presidency because they are from the same town in Argentina and knew each other before they even came to the United States.  (Random side note: If I could ever have a Spanish accent, it would be to talk like these guys.)  So we were just planning on having a lesson with a few people, but somehow word got around and literally 8 people from the branch showed up to this lesson.  We thought it was a little bit excessive and would be a little intimidating for Eduardo, but we decided to go with it.  We started out with a great lesson and got everyone involved with sharing testimonies.  It maybe was a little too much when Eduardo had a question and everyone had to answer it with their own personal story, but over all it went well.

We had a great lesson with a part member family last night.  The Elders and Hermanas visit this family once a week to teach a lesson.  After explaining what the Word of Wisdom was, this guy completely accepted it and said he was quitting coffee.  He even gave his coffee can to the Hermanas to throw away.  He is progressing well and wants to be baptized near his b-day in March.

We have a lot of potential in this area, but have yet been able to capitalize on it all.  We have had a lot of the English elders giving us referrals -- only problem is that they are so spread out over the zone that we can't always get in contact with them in a very timely manner.

Well not too much more to report this week.  Love you all!

 

Elder B