Week 14 Happy Thanksgiving!

Whaaaaats up!?!? 

Hope everyone had a stellar thanksgiving!! We had a good one out here and we were  definitely fed to the max. Somehow I still haven't gained weight so that's cooool. We also had a really good week even though I thought it would be kinda hard with the holiday and everything! 

Here's what happened:

Tuesday

Had a good day! Tuesday's tend to be slow for us for some reason... We usually don't have any set appointments so it ends up being a day with a lot of trying and just talking with whoever we can find! We ended up talking to Douggie (one of our investigators) for a little bit, which was awesome! I feel like he is ready for the gospel in his life! He's only 14, but his family seems to be awesome. I hope we can get back to teach all of them! We also talked with a less active named Bryan! Bryan is a funny dude. He Loooooves to talk! He's a senior in high school and just loves to tell us about everything. Haha we had a good lesson with him about Hope, because at this point in his life he really needs it. He's made some bad choices in his life, but he's doing his best to fix them which I really admire!! He's soon to be a daddy and told us today he wants to be there for his kids and make it work out. He comes from a broken family, and doesn't want to repeat the cycle. I admire the guy. He moved here from Puerto Rico a few years back and is just doing his best to make a life for himself! We also had dinner with the Pryzybsz's. They are hooking it up this week for sure. They're amazing!! I love being over there! We had a good lesson too with Rob who isn't a member and the spirit was definitely there. He said the most amazing prayer at the end of the lesson. Holy. Amazingly worded, I was like dang. He's just an awesome guy. He's taught me a lot! 

Wednesday

Had a stellar day. We had district meeting in the morning and after we cooked our own thanksgiving dinner!! Never thought a bachelor district could pull off a thanksgiving dinner but we honestly did! I was so impressed!  Hah after we went to the Nichols and gave Sister Nichols a blessing because she's been having some rough health challenges! We also went and saw Faye who is one of our investigators. She's in 4th grade so it's a little different than some of the others we are teaching! But she's awesome! It's been fun to teach her and she's really getting a hold of everything! We set her with a baptismal date for January 9th so we hope it all works out!!!! At night we came back to Jamestown and saw the Matos! They are kind of struggling too so we gave them blessings! My main main Elipido isn't doing so well.... But he was super grateful to have a blessing! Milagros was really frustrated when we got there, but after the blessing she was crying and just telling us thank you, thank you!! Special day. 

Thursday 

We started out with an awesome turkey bowl in the morning here in the Jamestown ward! We had teams of 8 or so, so it turned out to be fun! Man I miss just throwing a football around haha it was so good to be out there!! We were invited to go eat at two houses for Thanksgiving! One in Jamestown at noon, and another in Fredonia at 4! So we went to the one at noon and it was a little weird. It wasn't our area, so I'd never met the family and I kinda just felt out of place! They were super nice to feed us, but to be honest it didn't feel like Thanksgiving at all. I guess I was feeling a little down, and after that I told Elder Renteria this just doesn't feel right! I said: "This is my first real family oriented holiday away from home and it feels weird!!" Hah I was really hoping it would kind of turn around with the Pryzybszs, and it did!!! They are amazing! We walk in and they just immediately start treating us like we're their own. That made such a difference for me! I feel comfortable there too so I finally was just happy! They had amazing food and we ended up just talking and playing games with everybody! It kinda felt like thanksgiving should! Talking with people who are important to you and just laughing and having a good time. So remember boys and girls: "It's not about the food, but who you share it with." Or something like that haha.  Anyways although it was totally different than any other thanksgiving I can remember, turned out to be juuuuuust dapper. 

Friday

Weekly planning. Enough said. Haha we also had a lesson with Sis. Beattie! She's the one who's getting ready to go to the temple after being less active for a lot of years! She's a great lady that has taught us a lot! Sis Beattie also likes to get mad at us if we don't wear coats. Goodnight of living. The first time we go there it's like 55 degrees outside which for me is short sleeve golf weather ya know!? Hah first thing she says to me is: "Now where is your coat?" I'm like "Uhhh in the car." She says: " You know, you're gonna catch a cold." Haha so yes, people like to pretend to be my mother out here. Annnnnd  to make the story better... she is wearing flip flops when she tells me all this. Go figure. Must be in the New York blood. Anyways we had a good lesson with her and also dinner with the Yarbers! They need to invent a word to describe the Yarbers because I don't think there is one yet.  Quite the crew. They're honestly the most interesting family in the world. Haha gotta love them! 

Sunday

We were in Jamestown for the 5th Sunday and the meetings were really good!! Good speakers and everything! Plus I wasn't translating so I could really take in what was being said!  After the meeting we went to the Young's house for Thanksgiving round 3... I was sooo full! Haha it was amazing though! They're from Heber, and moved out here about a year ago! Super awesome family! Later that night we went to talk with Howard who hasn't been to church in over 30 years and is starting to fix his life around! There's this amazing Mormon message that the church has called "The Hope of God's light." Do yourself a favor and watch it. It's awesome! Anyways one day in the CCM, I watched it and had the stroooongest feeling that I was going to show this video to someone in the mission field and that it was going to be  important for them. So we showed it to Howard and after I told him: "Howard, I had a strong impression about 2 months ago that I was going to meet someone that needed to hear this in their life, and I'm pretty sure it's you." He kinda sat there silent for a second, and then started to cry. It was such a powerful moment! There was a tangible spirit there, and just power! Afterwards I was just draaaaained!! Something about super powerful spiritual experiences just drains ya!! Anyways he said he felt the spirit for the first time since he was a kid. We challenged him to read the Book of Mormon again, so we'll need to follow up on that and see how he's doing!! It was an amazing night!! 

To wrap this up I read a really awesome talk this morning from Brad Wilcox called "His grace is sufficient." Suuuuuper good talk!! He explains grace so simply that it's amazing. He explains it with a story of piano lesson. He starts by saying that our mothers have paid the debt in full to the piano teacher. Symbolizing how Christ has paid the debt for our sins. Now that Mom has paid all the money for our lessons, what do we need to do? Does our practice pay the teacher? No. Does our practice pay our Mom? No. Then why do we practice? To get better, and show our mom that we are thankful for this gift that she has given us!!! This really hit me hard today and I hope you can take something out of what I've paraphrased here! Remember to show our gratitude for the savior by continuing to "practice" the piano that is our Lives! 

Hope all is well in the promised land. 

Elder Halls

Men in Black?