Sup...

Welp, it's been good. I had fun talking with y'all yesterday. Let's see if I can fill ya in on what else happened this  week.

On Wednesday we had a Christmas Conference with a ton of missionaries. I got to see Elder Watson and Elder Everett and Elder Clarke and Elder Andersen and Elder Blanco. Pretty much all my friends except Elder Galvin. They let us watch a new restoration movie the church made that doesn't come out until next year. It was from the perspective of Oliver Cowdrey. Kinda funny how he and David Whitmer ended up leaving the church but never denying their testimony of the Book of Mormon. We also played a giant game of jeopardy which was super fun.

I kinda had trouble explaining what I'm studying in the Book of Mormon. When you receive the Holy Ghost when you're confirmed you receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, but the Holy Ghost can be felt in different radiances just like how light has different brightnesses. Just because you've received the gift of the Holy Ghost doesn't mean you have it in full radiance all the time. That doesn't really happen until you're perfect. So what I'm studying and looking for is how you fully receive the Holy Ghost to be able to feel it in greater radiance more often.  Sometimes we feel the Spirit a lot in Sacrament or during prayer, but I'm wondering how you can feel that amount of spiritual light when you're out and about playing sports or driving to work or whatever. Should be fun.

Thank you again for all the Christmas presents! I loved them all of them. And tell grandma lark I laughed opening most of the ones she sent.

I think I've read that talk you sent dad. It sounded pretty familiar, I like that each of the three groups lacked either faith, hope, or charity.

Alright I love y'all here's a ton of pictures.

Howdy fam,

Yesterday was like the best day ever. Brother Cartrette confirmed the priesthood on his son Zemore and then baptized and confirmed Zianna. When I got here six months ago they were less active because the mom had to work on Sundays. Then God blessed them with a job so they could attend church and they started taking the temple prep class and everything fell in line. We were visiting them one or two times a week. They're going to the temple next month to be sealed as a family and I'm so happy!!!! Brother Cartrette suffers from severe nerve damage, so he asked me to get in the font with him because he was worried he'd fall or drop Zianna. Luckily he did just fine and remembered the prayer perfectly. I had to whisper the confirmation in his ear, but we're getting there. He's only been a member three years or so and probably has only had the Melchizedek priesthood for a year or so.

Nancy is getting baptized this Friday!!!!! She told us this week she considers herself a nonsmoker and at church yesterday she was inviting people to come. She's probably been my favorite convert to see progress through conversion. It's crazy how much she's changed lately. I'm pretty sure she suffers from depression, but lately you wouldn't even be able to tell. We were going to have Tony baptize her, he's a recent convert that got baptized in March and just got called as the second councilor in the Sunday School presidency, but it sounds like he has to work so I may end up doing it. Either way it's going to be a white Christmas.

Shirley and the Crouses came to church yesterday. That made me pretty happy. Sounds like the Crouses' grandson Dwayne, who we were teaching for a while, just got a girl pregnant. Bless his heart and Lord have mercy on that child. He's crazy and according to Brother Crouse the gal is clinically insane. There's never a dull moment in that household. Did I ever tell you about Sister Crouses' mother? She's tried to kill Brother Crouse twice and when we were filling out the baptismal record for them we asked Brother Crouse how to spell her name and he said "D-E-.....let's see, oh V-I-L." The funny part was Elder Toki wasn't paying too much attention and he wrote devil on the record. Don't worry, we scratched it out.

We also had Zone Meeting this week and it went super well. We had everyone write things they want to start doing and things they want to stop doing on each side of a paper. At the end they tore it in half and put the bad stuff in a fire. Also President came which made it even more fun!
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Okay so I have a ton of pictures for this week I'll send in two emails.

Howdy y'all!

Time is going so fast. Nancy is getting baptized in two weeks!!! She gave up smoking this week and has been doing SOOOO well. I'm super happy for her. We gave her a blessing and she hasn't smoked since. That night she messaged us that her son-in-law smoked in front of her and she didn't even have any desire to smoke. Plus all the Relief Society sisters are swarming around her. There's been a few times they've gone over there without us even asking them to see her. This ward is so perfect.

Millicent is also doing pretty well! She told us she definitely wants to be a member of the church and committed to come every single week so that's looking pre' fly. Now we've got to just figure out the law of chastity details with her.

We also had MLC on Tuesday. It was a pretty good one we counseled a lot about a mission culture document we're doing. Afterwards we went out to sushi and got a $50 sushi boat. I've never had sushi before, turns out it's not too bad. I was pretty surprised when Elder Craig just grabbed a raw piece of tuna and threw it in his mouth. Elder Clarke was there, he goes home after Christmas. That's going to be super weird because that means I'll only have 7 months left when he leaves.

We also had the Ward Christmas party this week! The food was pretty good. Sadly no flaming hot chili.

I went on exchange with Elder Grieve this week too. He was serving as a zone leader and is a district leader here now. It's been really really nice having him as a district leader because all our other district leaders are super young and have only been a district leader for a transfer. We talked about different leadership styles. There's a chart that depicts what motivates you as a leader and has a color for each one. Red, Yellow, Blue, and White. Everyone has a primary and secondary. Turns out we're both Red with Blue. You'll have to look up what all that means because I can't really remember.

That's pretty much all I've got, but here's a bunch of pictures! We went disk golfing today and there's a picture of Dusty at the temple!

Wow, what an amazing week! So this week I went down to Matthews for exchanges with Elder Peterson. It was pretty great, they have a really nice weight set for working out in the morning. It was pretty fun being in Charlotte again. Transfers are in a few weeks and it's likely I'll get transferred, maybe I'll end up in Charlotte again! Charlotte is a lot better of a place for P-Days and shopping I tell ya! Don't worry, the transfer day is after Christmas. As far as the works toilet cleaner, I actually already have some. When I was in Danville I lit one off and about scared the other missionaries living there to death.  

After exchanges with Elder Peterson I went on exchanges with Elder Snyder. Funny guy. We had a good laugh talking about the good ol' days in Providence. And while I was gone Elder Hampshire and Elder Blanco set a baptismal date for Nancy! She gave up cigarettes yesterday and attended the ARP class too! I'm real excited for her and I really think she can do it this time. Please pray for her! Also Millicent came to church too!!! And we found 3 more people to teach this week! One of them is this great guy who's a child of record and wants to be baptized. His wife and kids aren't members either and it sounds like they're coming to church next week.

We've been doing a lot with the Light the World stuff. Mostly just inviting other people to join in. Our Elders Quorum President had us teach the lesson yesterday on service and talk about it. We've got Lisa, the lady at the soup kitchen, doing it too and giving out cards to all her SDA friends.

It's kinda starting to feel like Christmas here. The 70 degree weather at the lakefront today playing beach volleyball kinda didn't but, ya know... We do have a Christmas tree and it's pretty swagger. The only Christmas traditions I can really think of is the whole open one present on Christmas Eve kinda thing and then taking turns opening them all together. That's always fun as a family.  How's Vickie doing? I kinda miss that lady. Tell her I say hi! Also how the heck are the Lakeys!?! Remember that sweet walking stick he gave me? For some reason I'm super excited to use that thing when I get home. You should take a picture and send it to me!

So yeah things are pretty fantastic here! Hope the nutcracker goes well and that Jonas keeps teaching like a champ! Love ya!

Sam