Monday, December 3, 2012

December 3, 2012

Hey good to hear from y'all! (As always)
      This week has been pretty crazy. We took the car into the shop so we've been on bikes all week. Times flying by over here. I can't believe it's already December. But it's been great. I'm loving every moment of it even though things can be pretty disheartening. I just don't like when people reject the gospel. It's a bummer because people don't understand how important this gospel is. We're not just going around promoting a church to get more followers. We have the restored gospel of Jesus Christ in its fulness and people are fine with just waving us off before we even get to say much. But the work will roll forth regardless. What I can have complete control over is how much I let the gospel influence my life. That's always a reassuring thought for me when things aren't going as well as I'd like it to.
       Did you guys get to watch the to First Presidency Christmas devotional? It was really nice. I love the spirit of Christmas even though things will be a little different this year. I'm alright with that though. We've been doing a lot of finding this week and knocking lots of doors so we've met a few cool people. I'll write about them in the future if they start progressing. But onto questions.
 
       1.  Tell us a little about Elder Holley.  Where is he from?  Does he have siblings and if so how many?  Is he the first missionary in his family?  What made him decide to serve?  Elder Holley's from SLC Utah. SO many missionaries coming out of there. He has a brother who went for a few months. He had to come home because he got sick. He's the second youngest of 6. He has three older brothers. The other two didn't go. But he said he decided to serve when he got sick and decided to read the Book of Mormon. After he read it over a period of I think four months, he said he knew it was true and had to serve.
2.  How are you doing as a trainer? Have you felt the Savior sustaining you in this work? I'm doing the best I can as a trainer. God has been helping me a LOT. I've been relying on him for all kinds of strength. I'll have to admit that I felt pretty inadequate on the first day since I had just finished my training and I was by no means a super experienced missionary. But I prayed a lot with a firm hope that God would give me strength. I feel good now. Things have been flowing after the first day I'm confident that we're going to get some great work done here in Gaston.
3.  How is Elder Holley doing.....giving lessons, studying together, praying, etc....?  What goals have you two set?  How is the work progressing? He's doing good. He's a pretty stereotypical new missionary haha. He has a really strong desire to serve and share the gospel with everyone. He has the fire and energy and just doesn't really know what to do with it at the moment haha. But we're working on really getting the lessons down and our teaching skills. He's acclimating well even though these past two weeks have been kind of crazy with not having a car and everything. He's pretty optimistic about everything which is good.

4.  What are my instructions for Christmas?  It will be here before you know it!  Is there anything you would like or need sent to you?  We've started preparing a packet? It includes a tie from Amanda and Solomon.  Do you want sweets or treats?  Do you have enough warm clothes?  I'm good. I don't really know what your instructions are for Christmas haha. The only advice I have is to send anything you want to send sooner rather than later if you want it to come in time for Christmas. I honestly don't care either way. Sweets and treats are good haha I don't really know what you want me to tell you because I've never done this before haha. But I have enough warm clothes so thank you for that. Whatever you feel like sending me is good. The only thing I can think of is that I could use a GPS but I know those are pretty expensive so yeah. I'll Skype you on Christmas and get you more details about that when I find them out.
5.  Do teaching opportunities improve during the holidays, with people at home?  Share with us the things you do in an average day. Teaching opportunities are about the same. Things all just kind of blend together in the field but we've ran into some nice people. Actually we have been getting some more mormon.org referrals with the new Christmas themed site, but until we get the car back we can't go out and see them. 
 
That's all for this week. Love y'all :D Merry Christmas!

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