Elder Boothe's Christmas Post

Dear family and friends,

 

            This week was pretty cool in terms of the stuff that's been happening. Since we had stake conference two weeks ago it felt like forever since we were in the church even though it hasn't been all that long. Holly passed her baptismal interview! She's getting baptized on Christmas Eve! Man that's what I'm talking about when I say "White Christmas". She's come a long way spiritually speaking. She came to us originally and claimed that she was going to church "because her mom made her" now she loves church. I only wish she didn't work the graveyard shift so she could've given the interviewing missionary a super hard time like we'd been plotting for weeks. Oh well! She passed and that's all that mattered. She barely quit smoking too which we've been trying to get her to do that since the second lesson. She's awesome though and I'm glad I met her.

 

          We have another baptism coming up on New Year's Eve and he's ready to go too so not only will we be having a baptism but also a baptismal interview! Man those are the best two Christmas presents a missionary can ask for. The man that's getting baptized on New Year's Eve is Henry Gobah, who is a professional soccer player for the state of Arizona. He was born in Liberia and played soccer on the Asian circuit. He told us to go look him up, before we explained our rules to him. He introduced us to this interesting cream soda/fruit soda called Vimto which is from Quebec. It tasted pretty good. We went through the baptismal interview questions with Henry and he totally aced the questions! He even gave some hilarious responses too! 

 

           Outside of these two life is still pretty darn awesome! On Friday our mission had it's annual all-day Christmas zone conference/endowment session at the Mesa temple. The Christmas conference was wonderful. We had a companionship sing "Angels We Have Heard On High" in Tongan which I thought was amazing! Both of the elders did a great job of singing too! It felt good seeing lots of missionaries that I knew there. It makes the conference that much more meaningful. I met most of my MTC district which was really cool! Apparently I'm the only one who's lost weight since I came out. One missionary was surprised when he learned that I lost 30 pounds. As part of the conference the Taylors had their son Brayden dress up as Santa Claus and all us missionaries got to sit on his lap. That was funny. The endowment session was neat, I love the overwhelming feeling of peace and comfort one that I get from going to the temple. That feeling of peace and calm and holiness is fantastic and is proof of God's love for us all. Afterward we walked around the grounds and saw all the Christmas lights which again was a wonderful sight to see. Sister Minton, the member whose basement we live in, just gave us a fake tree that we set up. Yes it looks funky which was what we were going for. 

 

           I received a lot of Christmas packages this week and I'd like to thank Dad (for the Pizza Hut gift card which I am extremely grateful for), Grandma Barbara and the Modesto Fourth ward for their amazing gifts and for the love and the thought that was put into them. It truly makes Christmas that much more special! Speaking of Christmas I am looking forward toward speaking with you all this Sunday! Wow! Time flies by so much! For this call I want you all to think about what you want to say to me so the call will be the most effective it can be.

 

Well I love you all and HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 

Love,

 

Elder Boothe