December 29, 2009

Hey Everyone!

This week was a pretty awesome one I'm not going to lie! Thursday was Christmas Eve! It was a lot of fun. We had our weekly planning session for the whole morning but then we went out and saw some people that we could. We ended up only being able to see a couple of people but it was pretty awesome! We stopped by Laura Hummell, the lady that is less active and just had a baby, she was so nice and so excited we could come over. We talked to her for a while and then Elder Byington gave a sweet thought about the three births of Jesus Christ. It made me really excited for Christmas and got me in the right spirit of Christmas even more! Then that night we went to the Davis's for dinner. It was pretty fun. They had her sister over and her non member husband. So that was awesome! We had steaks and twice baked potatoes. It was pretty good. And then we played some Christmas songs on some metal chime things they had. It was lot of fun. Then we went over to the French's house, the family with the kids we baptized, and they had a family night thing where they acted out the nativity and had some musical numbers. It was so awesome! Jordan, one of the girls that we baptized, is an amazing singer. It was so fun to hear her sing! Then we stopped by the Hawkes. We were going to go there for a first dinner but Brother Hawkes got sick so we just stopped by before we went home for the night and we talked to them for a bit. It was a pretty awesome Christmas eve!

Then Christmas day was pretty sweet too! we woke up and opened our presents. It was awesome! Being on a mission I didn't really need anything but I got things I could use like 12 ties, haha. and I got a lot of candy! Oh man... too much candy... I've given most of it away to people haha. But then we went and picked up some presents that Santa had forgotten to give to a less fortunate family in our ward and we went and delivered those for him. That was such an awesome way to start my Christmas day. They were so grateful for the presents and the kids were so happy to see them when we brought them in. It made me so excited that I could be a part of that wonderful thing and to see it all happen.

Then we had our Christmas calls! Oh man that was sweet! It was so nice to hear my family's voices! We only had 45 mins so we didn't get long but it was definitely amazing. But then after I was done while Elder Byington was talking to his family I went and made pancakes to keep my mind off of home. And yes dad, I did put salt in them this time. haha. But I didn't make syrup... and what we had wasn't very good... so it wasn't as good as I hoped haha. But it was still fun.

Then we went over to the Selways and we talked to them for a while and they fed us a little lunch before they went to their family. They are a really fun family and their kids are hilarious! Then we went over to the Lacustas for dinner. They has a couple family members over. We had an awesome Christmas dinner. They had a whole bunch of turkey and potatoes and stuffing and corn. It was pretty darn good! And the dessert was alright too. Not the biggest fan of it though. But then we played bingo for a while and then they gave us some presents to open and they opened some presents to each other. It was pretty sweet. They are such a fun family. And they are really nice to us since they have a son on a mission. It seems like that helps people be nicer to the missionaries around them haha. Then we played some more games. We probably stayed to long, but it's not like we would have been able to do much else. Everyone else was doing their own Christmas stuff.

Then Saturday was boxing day!! And no... there are not just a bunch of people fighting each other on that day... yes, I was disappointed too. haha. It's just a big day of a lot of sales. It started out as a day you would box up to things you didn't want or need and give it to the poor but it basically just turned into a big black Friday type thing. But since everyone was out shopping we didn't do much. We spent all morning and afternoon trying to find people at home. But nobody was home. So that was kind of a slow day. But the night was pretty good. We went over to Jason's and invited him to church. He didn't end up coming... but he still seems really excited to take the lessons. We just can't seem to find a time that ever works. He works a lot. And his family isn't all that into it. So hopefully we can start doing that.

Speaking of church. In Priesthood we had a very interesting lesson... Alan Dickson, a very strange man whenever I have talked to him, gave the lesson. But he basically just talked about the Masons the whole time. He is a Free Mason himself so he thought he would enlighten us. haha. It was so weird and definitely not a church lesson... and he definitely told us things that he wasn't supposed to say. Not really about our church but about them. I can't even really explain it but it was definitely weird. And he asked for questions and he never really answered them... like Bro Gardner asked him why he was a Mason since there wasn't and benefit for him and he was just all... I don't know. My family was just in it. And some one else asked something and he just said... ya I don't know. And then went of on a big tangent about something. I don't really know what he was doing. But he is pretty high up on the food chain in their organization. He said he is Master of the Lodge. But even he couldn't answer our questions... It was definitely weird. Made me happy that we didn't have any investigators there... not that we have any investigators anyway haha.

Well that was pretty much it for this week. But we found out who is getting transferred today. We thought a lot of our zone was going to leave and get split up. But most of us stayed. I'm staying and Elder Byington is too. He is not very excited about that though. He was all ready to leave. He has been here since July and we are in the smallest area in the mission so there isn't much to do that he hasn't done yet. He was pretty sure he was leaving. His bags are packed and everything. So we'll see how well he does this transfer. I am going to try my hardest to keep him motivated and try to find new things for us to do. But I have a feeling it is going to be rough. I am going to pray a lot and try my hardest so hopefully everything works out.

This transfer has kind of shown us that Gods ways are higher then our ways. So me and Elder Byington are here for a reason still. So I know that if we continue to try our hardest that God will bless us and hopefully well see some more good come out of this area!

Well, I am excited and nervous for the things to come. But I am ready for them to come. I am so thankful for all of you and the support that you give me. I love and miss you all so much and can't wait to hear from you again next week!

love

Elder Townsend