Crazy Week

Hello to all you amazing people! This week has been chaotic and the
sad truth is that we had no time whatsoever to work in our area. It's
sad but from now on we will get some time in our area and we will be
able to see miracles. We have been busy in other ways with deliveries
and Christmas and more deliveries and church and more deliveries. I'll
go into more detail as I talk about our days but I am excited that the
Christmas rush is now over.

Wednesday we had a zone activity, we had a white elephant gift
exchange and afterwards went home and emailed and finished laundry. We
had to go to the office to fill orders so we could deliver them on
Christmas Eve. It was crazy.

Thursday was Christmas Eve! We got up at 4:30 to get ready and meet
president at 6 to eat some McDonald's before we started our
deliveries. President had a couple more gifts for us to deliver so
after President bought us food we were able to leave right a way and
do the city deliveries. It was probably the fastest city run I've ever
done. There was absolutely no traffic whatsoever. We did the
deliveries and went back to the office to drop a few things we
acquired through the mail run. Missionaries need us to take things to
the office or to other zones. We went and got some Chinese food for
the trip upstate. The Chinese food we got was the worst Chinese food
I've eaten. But we did the upstate route super quick and made it back
just in time for a dinner with the Ciccotelli family. We got there at
about 3 and left at 8, yeah 5 hours there. We played games with them
and ate a wonderful dinner and had good conversations. It was a good
memory of Christmas Eve on my mission. I love being with members and
being able to feel like I was with my family. It was such a wonderful
memory!

Friday we woke up and opened all the presents we got and listened to a
conference call from President and did our studies and ate a bit. Then
we were blessed to be able to talk to our families, so I talked to my
family for an hour and it was nice seeing them and being able to see
how everyone's doing.. It's weird to think that I'll have one more
chance to skype before I go home. It's crazy. After we were done with
skyping we went to President Smiths house for a wonderful Christmas
dinner because no one signed up for us to have dinner. The spirit was
strong as one of the elders there shared his favorite Christmas story
in this book called "Don't forget the star" which I really want to
read for Christmas. He read one of the chapters in the book which
talked about the authors mission and how he came to know who his Jesus
was. That dinner was definitely my most memorable Christmas in the
mission. President Smith shared acouple thoughts he had and I know
that Christmas is about Christ and how we can serve like Christ and
forget ourselves. I love this gospel with my whole heart and I've come
to know my Jesus and it's such a blessing to serve a mission.

Saturday we cleaned the church for acouple of hours and as we were
eating a lot of the zone leaders started complaining because some
missionaries didn't get Christmas presents so we did an unexpected
city mail run. There wasn't a ton of mail but we did that mail run in
the dark, I was awesome. The city is beautiful in the dark, I wish I
could see that city every night. That finished out our night and it
was totally A good day.

Sunday we went to church and there was probably 50 people there
because it's Christmas break so there was some people and it was a
very cool day at church. We taught the young men 3rd hour about preach
my gospel. The ward is trying to get their young men to study preach
my gospel and get ready for their missions. It was a cool experience
to get those youth involved in reading preach my gospel and to get
ready for their missions. We ate, did weekly planning and
companionship study and did a couple media referral look ups with no
luck. That was the end of our night.. It was a super slow week but the
week can only get better from this point on!

Monday we had our normal staff meeting, and I shared the spiritual
thought about setting goals and how we need to be setting goals for
the new year. Goals help us to progress and become better. Pray about
goals that you can work on in the year of 2016. It will bless your
life tremendously. We did upstate deliveries that day and I didn't
feel to well so I fell asleep in the back of the big Van for the whole
time from then on. Until we got to Stamford because we were eating
with Elder Burtons trainer, Elder Johanson who used to be an office
elder. It was a good experience and we had some good hamburgers and
fries. So good!

Tuesday we had our normal city delivery but we also ended up staying
pretty much the whole day in Manhattan. Elder Burton had a doctors
appointment with Bishop Nixon at 4 at the Lincoln Center building. We
were done with city deliveries at 1:15 so we went and parked in a
parking garage, which ended up being $22 for 4 hours, it was crazy. We
ate and waited until his appointment. When Elder Burton was in his
appointment we talked to this guy who goes to one of the Manhattan
wards, and he got back from his mission early because he needed
surgery, but he's going back out in January! He was the stake
presidents son of the Manhattan stake! It was pretty cool. We got home
and did our personal study and that was it for the night. We've had a
crazy week. I cannot wait to be able to work in our area tons more and
meet with people and help them receive the restored gospel.

Today we are going to the temple and I'm excited to go and to be
spiritually fed. I know this gospel is true, I've seen myself grow
over the past year and I know there is tons more for me to do here.
One thing about being an office elder is you realize how nice the
little things are, like having studies, and working every day in your
area. I can't wait to be transferred and to work my hardest in
whatever area I am in next. I know I need to be here at this moment
and I know there is more I need to do.

The before and after pictures of Christmas. I love you and thank you
all for everything you do for me, it means the world to me!