Lathered Up in Good Company

December 27, 2009 Hello again! It seems like yesterday that I was talking to you guys. It was really good to hear your voices again. This last week was really good. I am glad to hear that everyone back at home is doing well. Tell Miles hello for me. That is such a bummer. Oh, and if you could get me Austin, Kyle’s and Travis’s new address. thanks. This Christmas was definitely different for all of us. It was probably the most humble Christmas that I have had, but it will always be a special one to me. After you guys called me Suzuki, Magidman, Escalante, and some investigators and members went to the zoo. Do you remember Mamor? Me and Harris taught him and he was baptized in Higashi Osaka. Well he came with us to the zoo. He hasn’t been very active in the church since he was baptized so he really appreciated the invite. The zoo was way fun. I realized that the people I went with were good friends of mine that I have taught the gospel to. That is a special relationship. Mamor and Hiroki, ( an English student) both have tons of tattoos and just look wild. It is pretty funny to be with them. After the zoo we had the Christmas dinner. there were about 25 people that showed up! A lot more than what we had expected. It was way fun and it was a potluck dinner thing. A member made tons of curry so that was the main course. All in all it was very humble, different, unorganized, but I know that all that were there went away knowing that Jesus Christ is their Savior. I mean when you have a bunch of 19 year old kids trying to run a Christmas party you can’t expect much more. I feel so young. After dinner we taught a short lesson about Christ and the spirit was really strong. During the dinner I took time to observe all the people that were there. More than half were not members, 2 were recent converts, 7 missionaries, and some returned missionaries in our ward. There was people from Australia, Canada, china, Japan, Brazil, and America. Definitely the most diverse group I have ever spent Christmas with. Mamor was pretty deep in thought a lot of the night. He said that when I called him to invite him to come it was the highlight of his week. I know this was something very simple but it really touched me. This Christmas really made me think about Dad’s term, "lather up in good company" I was definitely lathered up in great company this Christmas. It was very special to me and I will never forget it. This doesn’t mean that I forgot about my family or anything. I just know that I simply won’t see you guys for a while so I am making a new family that I will always remember. Thanks for everything and I really love you guys. I really am learning how to love everyone. My companion, other missionaries, investigators, people that are rude, and myself. I hope I can keep on improving and become like Christ. Thanks again for everything and I will talk to you guys next week.