Let's tie it all together

Good day to you all,

Have you all seen the new Christmas video, #ASaviorIsBorn? If you haven't, I would urge you to do in soon. If you don't, I will urge you to do it again. If you repeatedly fail to watch it, I will shun you for a while to show you how serious I am about it. There is always a spirit that is hard to replicate that come from the yearly church videos we get. Better yet, how in the world can you reject children? "And they shall call his name, EMMANUEL *head shake*."

I am quite surprised by the lack of cold weather thus far. Only a sweater has been required at the worst of it, and only barely. I haven't yet needed to break out the coat yet. I remember last year in Universal City, the cold snapped at you. Biking down through cold wind didn't really help I suppose.

We had an exchange with Elder Fish. He's an area leader that came out just a transfer after me. He humbly taught and had a pretty spanking-good vocabulary.

Elder Fish in Our Apartment

This last week we found plenty of people to teach. Two families were interested in seeing the new video, and we are set to go by them again. A teenager, D, and her family, and a younger father, J, and his. I will refrain from listing all the names for cause of my laziness. I do not encourage you to follow this example I suppose. It will be exciting to see where the two families go, and if they make it as far as the temple soon. We had the opportunity to share the video with many other people, as it has been a great advantage to carry the video with us, instead of hoping that those we meet have smart phones and internet connection. It's several times easier to share the video this year than it was last year.

The food highlight this week was "Promised Land Eggnog."  It even had a scripture printed on the carton. Does this stuff exist back home? Anybody know? It's probably the best eggnog I have ever tasted. All three of us bought a half gallon jug of it last week. BEST. BEBIDA (drink). EVER. Who needs alcohol when you have eggnog (the problem being that people occasionally put alcohol in the eggnog (grrr.)). Otherwise we had spaghetti for the first time this transfer yesterday. The family that fed us was bilingual, making it a bunch easier for them to consider spaghetti.

The other day the child-lock got engaged on the backseat door. None of us know how it happened. As a result, I had to wait for my companion to let me out of the car. Finally I was fed up enough that I opened the window and reached over to let myself out. Funny thing being, the next day the child-lock disengaged. Elder Bartier and I switch off who gets the front seat every day. With my luck, the child-lock will re-engage when I take the back seat again.

I drove the other day. Our zone leaders needed an extra missionary to go to a dinner appointment of theirs with single sisters in their ward, so I drove that day. We found a few interested people. No crashes (especially into house pillars (I actually think it was better for the house that I hit those pillars. They didn’t have cement set into the pillars, so getting them replaced increased the integrity of them (I only hit one pillar though.))).

I'm hoping that I receive another chance to train a missionary. It makes me glad to invest a little into the future of future missionaries. Who knows what will happen.

Questions and Answers

Is your next transfer date the week before Christmas or after? 

The transfer date is happening a week earlier than normal (on the 17th). I might stay, I might go.

How are J and J?   

J got sick again. We're hoping they get well enough for the Tuesday night event. Elder Pino of the seventy is coming to address the Spanish speakers here in San Antonio. What's better, the event is happening in our zone. We're trying to invite a bunch of people to attend so that they can feel the spirit coming from a Special Witness of Christ. Hopefully those two will be there.

How has the Spirit guided you this week in your service? 

I'm beginning to realize that I'm not as respectful of my companions as I could be. I tend to take their help for granted. The Spirit helped me to realize that by increasing in love for my companions, I can increase in love for those we teach as well.

How is the speaking of Espan~ol going?

Diariamente (daily)! It's great to teach in Spanish, write in Spanish, study in Spanish, and practically think in Spanish. We make it a goal to speak nothing but Spanish after dinner time each day (6pm on). I want to go an entire day without speaking English.

Have a good Christmas season! Don't get too caught up with the commercial aspect.

We went to a restaurant courtesy of a member and bough big smothered burritos. Elder Bartier said he was still hungry after eating it. ???

Still Hungry??

Elder Hall

Texas San Antonio Mission