Hi everyone!
This week has been weird. For one, it was really hard to stay busy. We still haven't been able to get a hold of some of the people who cancelled last week. Several more appointments cancelled due to
illness (there seems to be some stuff going around). And Thanksgiving made it REALLY hard to find anyone at home. Even a lot of the members weren't home. So it's been a slow week. But we did have some really good lessons. One highlight was our lesson with Dan and Elizabeth. It was "CPR", which stands for Church, Pray, Read. It was such a good lesson! We had a lot of great scriptures too about keeping the Sabbath Day holy, prayer, and scripture study, as well as how the Holy Ghost speaks to us. It's nice to have a lot of scripture references because it really gives weight and validity to what we teach, and it usually says it way better than I could say it. I especially enjoyed teaching about the importance of prayer. Here's the scripture references we used in the lesson about prayer: Alma 34-17-28, D&C 10:5, James 1:5, Moroni 10:3-5, D&C 8:2-3. A couple of these are some of my favorite
scriptures.
Sunday evening was pretty good. We actually had appointments not cancel! And they went really well, too. We also got a lot of stuff set up for next week. Between lots of appointments, zone meeting, district leader training meeting, and ward Christmas parties, our schedule is going to be pretty packed! I'm really excited for this week!
So we did have transfers this week. On Tuesday, Elder Bright went to Canyonview, and I got Elder Christensen. I miss having Elder Bright as a companion, but luckily he's just down the road (we actually saw him the very next day), and Elder Christensen is pretty awesome too! We're getting along really well and he's really fun. We also found a small Christmas tree and a box of Christmas decorations, so our apartment is looking more festive than usual.
Thanksgiving was fun, and kinda painful. Thankfully, we only had two dinners on Thursday. Some missionaries have been known to get stuck with 3-5 dinners. I can't imagine that. I was ready to be done after the first one. I thought I was going to die after the second one. But it was fun. Our first dinner was with the Sessions family. It was our ward mission leader and his family, and his dad, and a couple of his brothers and some of his extended family. Brother Sessions and his Dad are so awesome. They're fun to hang out with and they're super missionary minded. It was fun to spend part of Thanksgiving with them. It was also fun because some of Brother Sessions's friends came over
from Blanding, and they know a bunch of my relatives! So we got to talk about Blanding and people we know. We got a picture that they posted on Facebook, so some of you who are my relatives, especially if you're a Flavel, may have seen that.
So, there was another snow storm this week, and it has been FREEZING! It's okay when the sun is out, but nights have been getting down the single digits. And the wind is always blowing in Cedar City. And here's the best part. Our landlords went out of town for the week, and I guess they forgot we lived there in their basement because they turned their heat off (or at the very least, they turned it WAY down)! It's still definitely warmer than outside, but it's still been super cold in our apartment, and night time is almost unbearable. Our mission issued blankets are really thin, but I've been using two of them, which usually works okay. But I've just been freezing! I keep having to sleep curled up in a ball, and even then I'm still uncomfortable. Our landlords should be getting back soon, if they're
not already back, so hopefully the heat will be back on soon. I barely got sleep last night because it was so cold.
All the Christmas lights in town are up! A lot of people have their houses decorated, and the town town area of Cedar City is all decorated and lit up. It reminds me a lot of downtown Marshall's
Christmas lights, but Cedar City is something like 4X the size of Marshall.
The Church released its new Christmas initiative! Honestly, I much prefer the He Is The Gift video over this new one, but the new one is okay I guess. What matters most is the message. You can find it, and other cool things at mormon.org/christmas. You can also still watch last year's video, He Is The Gift, on YouTube and lds.org. Now that Thanksgiving is over, we are "officially" in the Christmas Season. I want all of you to remember what the season is really all about. It's a great time for us to renew our appreciation and love for the Savior, and outwardly celebrate His birth and life.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
-John 3:16
That's what Christmas is about, and it truly is something to cause joy. So discover that gift for yourself, and then share that joy and message with others.
Have a great week!
-Elder Oswald
PS- On Tuesday, a couple hours before transfers, Elder Bright and I pranked the the Spanish Elders (Elder Harvey and Elder Castillo) and it was pretty funny! I'll send pictures.
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