Snowflake Central

Sunnyside is something else I tell ya! I am loving this place more and more each day. You never know what to expect in the streets of Sunnyside. Thanksgiving was awesome. We had a Thanksgiving lunch with the Sampert family. They are super cute! Sister Sampert is Japanese so she talks to her kids in Japanese all the time it is pretty cool. Both her and her husband served their missions in Chile so they both speak Spanish. Hermana Shill enjoys that and I try to keep up as much as I can. The kids are with me trying to understand. The Sampert's invited Larry, one of our investigators over for Thanksgiving. It was quite the group. It consisted of an active family, the missionaries, an investigator, and a family that claims not to be Mormon anymore. It was something else, but we had a great time. We went over in the morning to help Sister Sampert cook and there was a lot to be done. We finished just time for everyone to come over. We were stuffed with our first plate but it was so good I had to go for seconds because of all the hard work that was put into dinner. After we went to Raven's to help her clean her room before we ate again. We went to town throwing things away!! I think we took out two or three bags of trash and shredded a mountain of paper. Raven had her aunt barbecue the turkey and that was awesome. We didn't eat much because we were still stuffed from the first dinner. We went out and rode our bikes in service clothes to see if we help anyone out. Instead we played basketball with some kid and just talked to everyone we could. No one wanted our help for anything but we got quite a few potential investigators from it. We used the new Christmas initiative pass along cards and they were a hit. President has asked us to hand out 10 each day. This has been a challenge yet super fun to try to do. With each person we have talked to they take two cards so they can give it to someone else. Everyone loves Christmas and it is the best way to start a conversation with anyone. Again while riding our bikes we ran into the gangsters on horses they are just too funny. This week after Thanksgiving we have been having some fun with some snowflakes. We have been "snow flaking" members instead of heart attacking them and giving them some of the He is the Gift pass along cards. It has been a blast doorbell ditchin' people. I never thought I would ever do that as a missionary. Sadly it has shown us how out of shape we are. We better start running our stairs more! The members have loved it though. It seems to be a great way to reach out to them and gain a relationship with them. One member told us she looked at each snow flake in detail to see what each one represented. We didn't think that deeply when we were making them, but it was nice to see how much she loved them. The work is going well though. We are working a lot with Larry who is the most active Catholic man I have ever met. He loves his church but he loves reading the Book of Mormon and says he knows it is true. We are trying our best to help him understand the importance of the Fall of Adam and Eve. Oh man he has given us a run for our money, but I am confident that we will help with understand and he will be baptized in no time. He is also talking to temple square sisters so he gets two lessons a day! Satan is real though. We were in the middle of a lesson and the spirit was strong. We were about to extend a baptismal date to him and then BAM the freaking phone rings. He answered and it was his "DNA cousin" from ancestry so he just went along and chatted with her for awhile. When he hung up the moment was gone to extend so we prayed and set up another time to see him. Satan really likes to get in the way here. We are working hard to bring the spirit around more here. Christmas is just an awesome time of the year. It is crazy to think almost the whole world is thinking about the same thing around this time of the year. Christmas just brings us one step closer to our Heavenly Father without us changing much. I love that is easier to talk to people and share my testimony that much more. Remember to focus on the important part of this Christmas season. Christ is the gift and he is what we need to share with everyone. The church has another awesome website that has come out for this Christmas season. I hope all of you take the time to look at it so you can share it with others. The website is christmas.mormon.org the video is awesome and I couldn't even hear it. I am sure it is ten times better with sound! I love you all and hope you have a great week!