A Long Sunday and Calling Home for Christmas

Dear family,

      It's great to hear from you all! I've kept every letter that's been written to me and I re-read them when I have time. As of Thursday I've been out on the field for an entire month! This is the last week of the transfer. Elder Mortimer's been doing a lot of "transfer speculating" meaning that he's been wondering about who's going where and who's going to stay and all that. 

     Speaking along the same lines as transfers one of our zone leaders, Elder Bergeson, got sent home on Saturday. He finally finished his mission. Things have been a little hectic since his companion Elder Bouwhuis (pronounced "bow" as in to bow down-his so bow-his) hasn't been assigned a new companion yet. He's been moving around a lot. Sometimes Elder Bouwhuis will be with the Elders in Sedona, which is southeast of here, or sometimes, like last night, he stays with us.

     Sunday was pretty interesting, even for us missionaries. There are three wards that meet in the building that I'm going to right now. I only have to go to two of them and usually I'm only attending sacrament meeting for the first ward (a.k.a the Black Hills ward) since PEC for the second ward (the Mountain View ward) starts during the second hour of the Black Hills ward. Since Elder Bouwhuis covers the third ward there guess what: We had to attend all three wards today. So basically I attended three sacrament meetings with Gospel Principles and Elders quorum in the Mingus ward. I was at church from 7:00 - 4:00. Yeah I was wiped out by the end of that.

    The highlight of this week was the baptism on Saturday. We baptized a 14 year old girl named Aussie Marie Carter. Her baptism was a spectular event and very well attended too if I do say so myself. We set up about 40 chairs and I think they almost all got filled up. Elder Mortimer did the baptism. I was one of the witnesses and I gave the missionary presentation along with Elder Bouwhuis. Hopefully I can get the pictures to Dad who can send them to you all. The Spirit was incredibly strong though, which is always nice to feel.

     I've received letters from Dad, Ryan, Grandma Boothe and a Christmas card from Aunt Cindy. I received Grandma and Grandpa Boothe's package on Saturday and I am very thankful for it. I especially like the pants since I didn't bring any long pajama bottoms with me and I only have shorts to wear for bed. I've been keeping warm though because I have a lot of blankets. I still haven't received any of Dad's packages yet.

 

Bytheway if you want to send things to the Connolly's go ahead. However, my only concern is that I might get transferred since this is the last week of this transfer but you do what you want. Sooner or later I'll get the package. 

 

On Christmas I get an hour to talk to you all. We're going to be calling you at about 1:00. To make things easier I'd prefer calling one phone and having people switch off when it's their turn. I'll probably be calling Dad's phone since his number is really easy for me to remember. I don't know what I'll do with Ryan since he's in Michigan. I might call him, I might not. It depends on the circumstances. Christmas is going to be interesting this year.

 

Well, I love you all and hope you all have a Merry Christmas. With much love from,

Elder Boothe :)