MERRY CHRISTMAS - it's YOUR ELDER! - Monday, December 30th, 2013

Hey family!

It was great hearing from you this week! It was awesome! Made me a little home sick, but I feel okay now! :) (we got to skype with Micah on Christmas Day - it was soooo fun to see him and talk to him and spend time with our missionary on Christmas Day!) So this week unfortunately we had to drop a couple investigators. Patricia Vespoli and Maria Santamaria. :/ They just will not progress!  But it's ok. They have their free agency. Sometimes I wish they didn't haha, but their lives just aren't ready at this point. 

Teagen and Tish, I hope you got to hear from everybody on Christmas day! :) (Tish and Cami have four brothers on missions! So, it was crazy for them going from house to house to house to get to skype with each one of them and Micah) 

Thank you everyone again for the Christmas packages! They are awesome! I am still so pumped to see Elder Holland speak! I'm trying to prepare myself spiritually so I don't catch on fire when I walk in the same room as him haha! 

Well after skyping you guys, we went and visited a whole bunch of hospitals and shared a lot of lessons, and gave 4 blessings! It was awesome, but unfortunately, the next day, Elder Kellogg and I got really sick, so we had to stay home. I wish I had more to talk about, but this week has been crazy with talking to you guys and a whole bunch of meetings! I love you guys, and hope you have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! :) 

CHRISTMAS IS COMING!!! - Monday, December 23, 2013

Hey family!

Everything is going great here! This week is like a giant p-day. Today is p-day, tomorrow is the Christmas conference; By the way, Sister Killpack heard I sang, and she called me and asked me to sing "I Feel My Savior's Love" for the Christmas Conference. I don't think that's a Christmasy song, but nonetheless, I will be singing in front of 300 missionaries. YIKES! Mom, I know you want that on film, I gotchya ;) Then Wednesday is CHRISTMAS! I am so excited to see you guys. I will be skyping at the Frederico's. They are awesome. Brother Frederico looks JUST LIKE Leo Decaprio. Anyways, let me know what time works best for you guys and tell my your skype information. 

Anyways, this week was pretty great. Maria got out of the hospital. Yak is still taking finals, so we can't meet with him for a while. But this week we came across this HUGE apt complex fuuuuull of Muslims and people from the middle east. I told you earlier that Tucson is FILLED with muslims and Middle Easterners. Almost as much as Hispanics and definitely more that whites I think.We have been going through this apt complex aaaaaalll week, and EVERYONE LOVES US! It's awesome. We had about thirty four lessons this week, and had 8 at sacrament. Their culture is pretty cool and they're really nice. I hate how the media portrays  the people from the middle east as scary or bad.

Anyways, I love my companions. I think Elder Kellogg is my best friend on the mission now. He is awesome. He has such a strong testimony. He is a little quirky, but I love him. This week, I had to say bye to the YSA 3rd ward. It was tough. But I took a final tour of the U of A campus. That place is pretty cool. I got some pictures of it.

Spiritual thought; This time of year we celebrate the birth of Christ. And through this we should remember all that he has done for us. I have a strong testimony of the Atonement. It is crazy to think that he bled and died just for us. What is even more crazy is that he bled and died just for me. I know that if the Atonement was only for me, he still would have done it, because he loves me. He is MY personal Savior. And it makes me a better person to know this, because doing things that are contrary to what Heavenly Father wants for me is kind of a silly way of thanking Jesus Christ. So I encourage everyone to think about that.

 I love you all, and can't wait to see you in TWO DAYS!!!!!