January 4th 2016, letter

Christmas Day

Hey everyone!

So this week has been pretty interesting. On Tuesday we skipped district meeting to go to a funereal of one of our investigators. This is like the third investigator that has died on me since I have been here. I must be bad luck or something. His name was Denise and he was about 65. I only taught him about two times, but he was a really nice guy and was really fun to talk to. We came to find out that he was a marine. So they had the marines there at the funeral and it was pretty cool. There was an Indian guy there that played a flute and it was funny in the beginning because he ran out of breath and said, "Sorry I have asthma" I don't know why but that was so funny to me and my companion. We got a video of it ha-ha, but we talked to him after the funeral and we set up an appointment with him. So that was good. 

       Sooooo we got a flat tire on Monday. We came out from our apartment to leave for a lesson and found it like that. I looked at the tire and we had run over a screw, just our luck, and so we changed it right there and got our white shirts all dirty. So we went inside and changed then brought the tire to Firestone to be repaired. I figured it would only take about 15-20 minutes. I did flat repairs all the time at Doug Smith so I knew how long it takes to do it. We ended up waiting 2 HOURS. So ridiculous. I was so frustrated. I was about to walk in there and just do it myself. My boss would have fired me if I took that long to do just one flat repair. So that put me in a bad mood for most of the day. Which is stupid I know. 

        We started teaching this guy named Ricky. He is....interesting. He definitely has some sort of learning disability. He can’t read and changes the subject a lot, but we did set a baptism date with him the first time we met him. His heart is in the right spot and really just wants to follow Jesus Christ. So we will see where that goes. 

       So 2015 ended.....what the heck? The year went by way to fast, but I'm really looking forward to 2016 and dedicating the whole year to being a missionary. I have set a lot of goals for myself this year and I hope all of you have as well. The only way we can progress is if we have something we are striving to achieve, a goal in mind. So that’s something I have been focusing on lately. 

       On Saturday we had 2 baptisms! They are a part member family and it was the husband and daughter that got baptized. My companion baptized the husband and I baptized the daughter. It was so cool! It was my first time baptizing somebody. I felt the spirit so strongly while I was performing the baptism and it's crazy to think of how great of an impact that has on their family! They will be able to go to the temple in one year and be sealed as a family. I feel so blessed and privileged to be able to have that authority and power to baptize and bless people. It is a really special thing to me. 

      That's basically all that happened this week and its getting easier and easier to be away from home. I know that it takes time to adjust and to be a missionary. It’s a totally different lifestyle and can be really hard at times, but with Christ anything is possible, if we have the faith. I love you all so much and have a happy new year!! 

love, Elder Hudson