The Non-Existent Neighborhood and New Years Eve

I was super happy to talk with you guys over Christmas week. You guys are all grown up. I didn't really realize how long I had been gone until i saw how much all the kids have changed, except for Avery.  I could still take him fairly easily in my sleep. Nah I'm just joking, but not really. You guys all look good. But it was really good to see all of you and you all look great.

This week there was like a leadership conference so i went to a different area to work with Elder Keller.

He is another missionary that is in training right now, he is from Texas. We had a ton of fun and we worked super hard. He is funny and we get along very well. He has absolutely no fear to speak to people which is funny because he is still learning Portuguese, but it is also good.  I was able to help him out a bit. I do have a funny story though.

He said he thought there was a neighborhood on the other side of a cornfield that he had never knocked doors at before so I was like lets go. We started walking and after about 2 and a half hours without water in the burning sun and we had only passed like 2 houses. I said i don't think there is a neighborhood here. He agreed with me and then said, well I'm thirsty so lets keep walking because I don't want to walk almost three hours back without water.

We walked a little further and we heard like a goat screaming.  We came up to this fence and the goats head and horns were stuck in the fence. It was hilarious,. We then searched a while for the house on the land and we went with the dude to free his goat and then we got some water from him, taught him a lesson and then we walked back. We basically wasted a whole day looking for the neighborhood that doesn't exist lol, but we had a lot of fun. That was also I think the most English I have spoken in my entire mission. We also got to teach a lot of good lessons and I was able to teach him some stuff as well. It was super fun. I kind of look forward to being a trainer now.



Anyway we didn't get to go see Shiela this week because of the splits that we did. I ended up staying there longer than I had planned because of the bus routes and stuff. Anyway it was still good, I will try to visit her this week.

For New years Eve our whole zone spent the night in the same house. It was basically a Missionary Frat house if I were to compare it to anything. 

It was super fun though and I was able to talk a few missionaries out of setting off fireworks that they somehow bought. So it was a success, also I was super tired the next day.  But, it was fun.

We grilled steak on the grill and all jumped up on the roof of the house to watch the fireworks and everyone went crazy. It was so funny because several elders were trunky and just kept talking about how much time they had left until the will go home. I don't even want to go home.  I have been surprised to see a few missionaries sleep all the time and appear to not love the work. I have made it pretty clear to myself that it doesn't matter what the other Elders do or don't do...I WILL DO MY BEST TO BE OBEDIENT!

This week we started teaching Mari and Amanda that is Alice's mom and sister,. When we asked them to pray about the Book Of Mormon Mari cried because the Spirit testified so strongly to her. We should be marking a baptismal date with them her soon. They are awesome.

We also started teaching this guy who wants to get baptized so bad and has already been taught by the missionaries.  He will need to quit smoking though. He went almost a whole week without a cigarette on straight will power and he was literally going crazy. He was like, "I will not smoke anymore".  Unfortunately he did have a relapse the the other day but he went 49 years smoking 40 cigarettes a day and he was able to stop for an entire week, so that's pretty awesome.  I'm sure we can work with him and get him to stop. He certainly has the will and desire. We just need to work with the Power of God a little to help him out.

Love you guys.