12-5-11

Dear Mom,
  Tell President Warnick hi for me as well. Thanks for that quote, it's a good one. We too had a ward Christmas party this week. It was really neat, a lot of non-members showed up. A couple of people we are teaching showed up and that was neat.
  We are teaching a guy named Lucious, he isn't really all there in the head, he is in a program for people with disabilities but he's enough there to teach and he knows a lot, But he came to the Christmas party with his friend David, who is in the same program, and they absolutely loved it. Lucious is the greatest. He is so funny. He pointed out the other day during a lesson that he feels like the scriptures are racist at times. We read Alma 34:33 with him that says don't procrastinate the day of your repentance for when darkness comes there can be no labor performed. And he looked down at his skin and looked at us and said that his skin is dark and he can't work because he is disabled. He got that from that scripture. It was pretty funny. He is just a great guy, and I fear that I can't get my point across well enough so I will just have to tell you about him face to face in 2 years.
Ryan Jones is pretty solid also. I'm not sure if I've told you about him but he just showed up to church one day. He has a friend he met over World of Warcraft that got him interested into the church more or less and he is just great. We pretty much are only teaching him cause he has to have the lessons before baptism. He already knows all this stuff and so much more. He is scheduled to be baptized Jan 7 and the reason it is so late is cause he wants his friend to be there for that. But he could get baptized today if he wanted to.
There is a billboard that we pass that is counting the days until Christmas and it whigs me out every time. First of all it doesn't feel like December at all. Well, in the mornings it's pretty cold, there is actually frost on the ground most days, but other than that it's still pretty warm compared to what I'm use to. Plus it's weird not being with my family during the holiday seasons. But it'll be a good one.
Yesterday we had dinner at a members house (the Nestor's) and we had pumpkin pie for dessert and oh my goodness it was fantastic! I haven't had pumpkin pie in such a long time. I have realized how much I just love desserts, any kind really. On Friday we taught about keeping the sabbath day holy to a member family that the youngest is about to get baptized and so for the object lesson we made sundaes because there are certain things that don't go on a "Sunday" that are OK on other days of the week. It was fantastic to have ice cream like that. I could've sat there and ate that for a whole lot longer than I did ha ha.
I had my very first interview with President Jensen this past week and that was neat. Talked about a lot of stuff and he asked me if I was ready to switch companions. I told him if that's what is needed sure, I'll go anywhere you ask. So more likely than not I will have a new companion next transfer. He also apologized that it took him so long to get out to interview me but he said that he felt like he could trust me and he had no reason to feel like I needed an interview with him other than just to catch up. He just made me feel really good about myself and what I'm doing. I loved it and I could go for another one ha ha.
  I was studying about hope the other day and during my studies I found myself looking up 1 peter 3:15 I think it was that said always be ready to let people know what you hope for and why you're happy (Well, along those lines. Read it for yourself, it's a good one) But I really like that. We should always be willing and ready to share what we know about the gospel and why we are so happy all the time even in times of trial. I know that as we willingly and openly share our testimonies with are family, friends, and those we are around, not only will their testimonies be strengthened but your testimony will be strengthened as well. That is something that I have experienced for myself. It's fantastic. The church is true and I absolutely love sharing it with anyone that wants to listen because it brings me so much happiness and joy.
  During this holiday season go out and do something kind for someone else, and think about what Christ has done for you :)
  Love Elder Klingler