12/30/2013 Christmas Fun

me with a mustache??

This has been a crazy week. To be honest, it has just been a crazy month, but Christmas was the icing on the cake, so to speak.

Monday and Tuesday were P-Day. Kinda. We had a half P-Day on Monday, and then we finished it on Tuesday because it was Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve was pretty fun, we didn't do a whole lot because we were all so tired from all of the activities we have been doing lately as a mission, so a nap was welcomed, and much needed. But Christmas Eve night we did something fun! We went out as districts and went caroling. It was super fun. The weird part about it was that we went to go sing to our investigators, but like in Hispanic culture it's not normal to go out and sing hymns or Christmas songs in front of someone's house. So that was kinda interesting. They didn't know what to do to us when they answered the door and we just started singing... So they ended up just trying to give us food,

Elder Baker and I opening up PJ's Christmas Eve

which is one thing that we don't need more of. Oh yea, and on Monday I bought settlers of Catan at Walmart. Best purchase ever.

Wednesday was Christmas!!! Which was so awesome. We had pretty much the whole day off, we just had to do personal study and comp study, and of course get up at 6:30 like normal. But then we went to the church and did our skyping! That was awesome to see you all again, for the first time in about 6 months. Even Tillie haha. I'm so glad that you're all doing well, and grandpa seemed really good, better than I expected. Sorry I couldn't see you Andrew and Shannon! We couldn't use skype on our hastening devices, and we were only told we could even use google+ 2-3 days before Christmas, so it was very short notice.

Ready to Skype, wrapped as a present

Then Thursday and Friday it was back to work! We went out and taught some people, did missionary stuff, ya know, the usual. We also got a new ward mission leader! His name is Hermano Galindo, and he's super cool. He's a great guy who really just wants to get to work, so I'm excited to work with him. Friday night (December 27th) was crazy....

Okay so we were going out with Hno Galindo for some visits, and we went by our investigator, who was on date for the 28th of December, but we hadn't seen him all week, and we still had to teach tithing. So we stopped by his house and we just straight up asked him "do you want to get baptized this Saturday (tomorrow)?" And he was like "yea! I do!" So we were kinda thrown back, but we were like, okay well we gotta talk about a few things. So we taught him the law of tithing, and went over the baptismal interview questions, and he passed! So we call up the Zone Leaders and ask them to do a baptismal interview right then (at this point it was 8pm on Friday night) and they were free! So we got the interview done and passed that night. Then Saturday, the next day, the day of his baptism, and we can't get ahold of him. He's not at home, and not picking up his phone. Finally, at

Merry Christmas MOM!!

5:30pm, 30 minutes before his baptism started, he answers and I go " Where are you? Your baptism starts in 30 minutes!" And he says "Oh. I'm at work, and I won't get off for 3 more hours." ........ My heart sank. I was just flabbergasted. So he didn't get baptized. The good news about this is that the baptism wasn't only for him, it was for the Zone Leaders, and the Sister missionaries in our district. So we actually still had 4 baptisms that night. The bad news was (other than our investigator missing his own baptism) is that President Toone, his kids and most of his grand kids were there! Talk about embarrassing. But we explained it all to him, and he said he understood. So yea. That was Saturday.

Then Sunday was pretty normal. We had our last meeting at 7am! For the past six months I have had church at 9am, which means I have meetings that start at either 6:30 or 7 every week. Which means I have to get up at either 5:40 or 6 depending on the Sunday This upcoming Sunday I will finally know what it's like to "sleep in till 6:30 on Sunday" and then we had dinner with Gicela who is a saint.

I love you all so much! It was so awesome to talk to you all on Christmas. I hope that you all liked what I sent, and that it was a wonderful Christmas. I can't wait to talk to you on Mother's Day! It'll be exciting. I love what I'm doing! I love being a missionary, and being a member of this church. Words cannot describe the happiness it brings to me, but especially the happiness it brings to men when someone else understands the gospel is even better. Love ya!

P.S. I got some more Christmas cards!

Nancy and Jason and family: first of all, happy birthday Jason. And second of all, congrats on the dog! Sounds like it's a keeper. I loved your Christmas card, thanks so much for sending it to me! So cool to see Alison and Ash and the twins. Glad all is well.

The Johnson's: all the boys were home! How exciting for you. Thank you so much for the card, it's so nice to hear that you're all doing so well! And that the move to Washington has been relatively easy and good for the family. We all miss you dearly (I think I can speak for the skyline ward, I mean my records are there haha)

The Fishers: I always love your card. It's always something amazing. Crazy that you went on so many awesome trips this year! Sorry to hear about the losses you had, but glad you're seeing things in a more positive light! It was awesome to hear from you, and I loved seeing the Christmas town picture on Facebook.