Deciembre 19

Querida familia,

iCuan asombroso es! . . . que ustedes estan en Texas esta Navidad. :)

Well, good news, we recovered from the stomach flu. That bug went around (is still going around) like CRAZY! I think no less than 25 people have contracted it so far.

Zone conference last Wednesday was awesome! Of course. Zone conferences now are very fast-pace. You look at your watch after half an hour and realize you've actually been there 3 hours. Then you look again and it's been 7 and you never would've guessed that. Lots of practices, lots of different speakers in different rooms.... it's good. It was a little bit of a repeat from the training the APs gave at the last interviews, which is fine because it was good and useful.

So yesterday G got called into work, V went to Alabama and J was sick so the people who came to church consisted of the females in the E family plus some friends. (Last week it was all the males plus some.) Now we just gotta get ALL of 'em there! Anyway, still a blessing. M (the mom) was really touched by a certain talk in Sacrament Meeting. She was crying. It was on the companionship of the Holy Ghost. Super neat. And M is partially paralyzed and she walked [with her walker] all over that church... she was exhausted, but she was a trooper.

She and her husband accepted baptism the other day when we invited them, but they do not yet have a date. We have a feeling the Word of Wisdom may be an issue. But they have seen a transformation in their family since we started coming and they openly acknowledge that. And then the other day Elder H had a brilliant idea of offering to M a priesthood blessing to help her with her recovery and physical therapy! The ward has been awesome with our investigators. They are offering to help out with Christmas for both the Es and G. Sad news, though. G's roommate is a woman so we're praying hard for him to find other living arrangements. He and his roommate have never had a sexual relationship and there isn't an ounce of chemistry between them and he was already planning on getting out of there asap after the lease was up, but his kind heart hesitates I think at pushing too hard at this point considering it's not just him that will face a financial challenge, but her as well. They live together for financial reasons. Just pray for them, please.

Last night was also President's Devotional where recent converts come and give their conversion story and testimony. I had to call half the mission and it was a lot of stress, frankly, putting it all together, but in the end it turned out really well and the people that came to speak were so neat! Their stories were all awesome. I also love these meetings because I know it helps them to have the chance to bear their testimonies and hear those of other people in their situation. RCs very rarely will get up in Sacrament or anywhere else to say what they know to be true...and yet your testimony is so strengthened by doing so... so I love giving them that chance with these devotionals. I notice that their words get stronger as they speak, like the Holy Ghost bears record to them once again that they really do know it's true as the words come out of their mouths... Super cool.

I'm so glad Christmas is on Sunday this year. Man. Best day it could've fallen on.

Have a wonderful week, and have so much fun together doing Christmasy things and remembering the Savior, His birth, His life and His sacrifice.