Dec 7 and 14

Dec 7 - I'd like to explain a missionary term. It is called "Black hole year". That is the calendar year in which you don't see your parents..while on your mission. Hmm... so we didn't have as many investigators in church this week. Two didn't come and another two are now being counted by other Elders since they don't actually live in our area. Gospel Principles / Gospel Essentials Sunday School class was a small group of seven (four of them we found). Since I've been in this area I haven't had any recent convert lessons becuase we don't yet have any recent converts but we should soon. Our investigator baptism was postponed two weeks, but things are looking really good for that date.
Another investigator...is still asking a bunch of questions, including about UFOs... but at least he's providing his own ride to church.

And I got a new companion. He is Elder Lewis from Idaho. We were roommates in the MTC so we're going co-senior now. He did ballroom dance and volleyball and he's a pretty fun character.

To become a Senior Companion there's no lessons to pass off, but in this mission your Spanish has to get pretty good to function as an effective missionary, maybe that's because of the non-memorized lessons.

At the Masonic Lodge, we actually did both preparing and serving. Some meals we prepared to be delivered, but many people actually came to the lodge to get food, and to eat, so we served those people there.

Dec 14 - We visited again with one of our contacts and he wants to take the lessons and quit smoking. He smokes a pack to a pack-and-a-half a day so that's going to be quite a challenge. When we stopped by we also gave a blessing to his daughter because she had been in a car accident (hit from behind at a red light). They were grateful for our coing even though we had biked in the rain to get there and were quite wet.

Also another investigator came with her sic children (four of whom are of baptismal age). She was a referral from a member family in another city. We've been reading the Book of Mormon with them.

Our baptism is coming up soon (on the 20th). Somehow I don't feel prepared to organize it but I will probably get some help from Elder White who is in our apartment.

Things are going great with Elder Lewis. It's a weird sensation, having met him first as not my companion. Kind of like having someone I can actually think of as a friend. It kind of feels less like we're companions, too.

We got to bike in the rain Saturday. That was quite the adventure. Some of the streets were even a little flooded as we rode through. But we had a few good lessons that day.

Well, I sure have plenty of opportunities for spiritual experiences. The light and knowledge we have is amazing, and the Lord is with his church. With such an important work, the burden is also quite heavy in the work of the Lord. Which is why we count on the Lord to fulfill his promises.