SO life is weird being on your mission for the holidays...

So the question was, “What did I do with my Christmas money that my mom gave me to give to someone who needed it” (or something like that she can explain), but what I did with it was:

So a couple of weeks ago Elder Anderson and I were walking next to the highway on a side road and we saw a father and son picking up cans on the side of the street. So we went up to them and asked them what they were doing. And the little boy was like “WE ARE PLAYING A GAME!” super excitedly, and the dad was acting kind of awkward, so we were like "can we play?" And the little boy was like, "yes, whoever picks up the most cans wins"! So we helped them for a while and then I got talking to the dad. And I was like, wow this is a cool game and he was like, “I wish it was a game. I was laid off from my job earlier this year and I haven’t found one yet, so I don’t have enough money to buy my son a present for Christmas”... and then he started to get a little bit emotional, but he was holding it together. So they invited us back to their apt. and we sat on the one chair they had and we taught them about how families can and will be together forever through Christ’s gospel. And on the way out I gave him the money so he could buy his son a present. We have been meeting with them ever since and I don’t want to say his name because it is very personal. But I know he needed it, so that’s what I did with my Christmas money this year.

SO life is weird being on your mission for the holidays, it was awesome being able to talk to the/my family and loved ones. It really helped me remember why I’m here, so that others can be with their family forever. My New Year’s resolution is to be a better person, it goes more into depth in my mind, but New Year’s resolutions are important so I challenge everyone to make one. Also as New Year’s Eve comes up, everyone remember who you are and not to party too hard....but just enough haha.

I was blessed this week to hear that Michelle in my last area was baptized on Saturday and I am pleased to announce, I will be entering the waters of baptism with Alex and Aaron this Saturday. So pray for everyone and everything to go through. I love you all so much and man I just love life, haha it’s so rad.

Story of the week….Went to a Waffle House...I may be the first missionary to come home from a parasite in the United States. Haha, exactly what you would expect. I love y’all and I am stoked to be here. I will write next week. I am fixin to go to the Cadillac Ranch (a public art installation and sculpture in Amarillo, Texas) right now so be safe and have a Happy New Year!

Elder C.

I love Christmas...

Hey and fam bam, sorry I was gone last week but I was just sharing the love with everyone!!!! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!! I’m so stoked haha, I love Christmas, everyone is so much nicer! I didn’t really realize it! I got a hug today from a lady who was a member of the Church of Christ and she doesn’t celebrate Christmas, so she whispered in my ear “Celebrate the birth of Christ for the both of us”. So we all have to be celebrating Christmas, the birth of Christ, for those who are not allowed too!! 

This is such a good time of year. I always took it for granted. I took Christ for granted....and Christmas. I took the event of his birth for granted, the single event that people had been prophesying about for thousands of years and people years later think about how big this is. Think about how big Christ is. I love him! 

And I love my family! Guys don’t take your family for granted, they are everything and this time of year especially I want everyone to know how much I love you and how much I miss you guys. But more importantly, I want you to know how much Christ loves you. So this time of year take some of this Texas Christmas spirit and be nice to everyone even the people that you are usually mean too! haha life is too short guys...So live it to the fullest and do what is right. We are supposed to be happy! So be happy! 

This week I was able to use my priesthood in the form of a miracle.

So the Oklahoma Mission President called me and asked me and my companion to go to the hospital here and give his best friend a blessing. We get to the hospital, but before, I said a prayer to help me do whatever I was about to do! We walk into Alton’s room, there are doctors in there and they are saying that they are going to have to amputate his leg because of the infection. His leg almost made me want to throw up everywhere haha, it was so gross. But we were like hey, we’re the missionaries and we are here to give him a blessing, so they all left the room. Then he was like I’m scared and I said, Alton if you have the faith to be healed you will be healed. Then I laid my hands on his head and gave him a blessing of healing and many other things that the Lord wanted him to hear! Then we left and went back the next day and his leg was almost completely healed and the doctors said it was a Christmas miracle and I was like yep :). So it was awesome.

We also got to park in the clergyman parking at the hospital which was one of the highlights of the experience hahah.

I love y’all and I miss you, stay strong and be safe. I will see you in two. Elder C.

Just trying to keep things fresh here in Amarillo haha...

Hello....I Love You.....Wont You Tell Me Your Name?

Great song but I found out this week it is not a good way to contact a man on the street working on his car that you just met. Worth it…

Just trying to keep things fresh here in Amarillo haha.

Being on a mission is fun because you are talking to everyone you see and you get to know so many people and I feel like I could say anything to anyone because religion in Texas is probably one of the most touchy subjects ha-ha, it’s awesome.

My new companion Elder Anderson is a nice guy. He is from Rigby Idaho, found out he’s 6'7" 300 pounds. We came out together. He is a huge basketball guy and loved to play/talk about it, so my knowledge of the sport has gone up tenfold. We get along well.

So I have learned a lot in the past couple of days about the Book of Mormon/ Bible. I have had to study that much more because I do most of the talking now.

We haven’t really been able to get out much this week because my companion has been sick or "Bed Ridden" if you will haha, but we still managed to set a baptismal date with Fancy.

She was just walking her dog and I felt compelled by the spirit to open with inviting her to be baptized.....Mind you, I would never do this every time, because that is crazy, but for some reason Fancy needed it. So my message this week is to follow the spirit, even when it maybe super weird or lead you into an uncomfortable situation! It will never lead you away.

And always try to feel the spirit, it just makes you feel good, like I can’t explain it, but the scriptures can in Galatians, look it up.

I love yall it’s been fun, sorry this week was kinda unfruitful, but we found Fancy.

Love, Elder C.

Here are some pics of me with a shaved head.....in the last one our windows froze shut instantly haha, it got to -15 degrees with wind chill this week, it wouldn’t be that bad if the wind wasn’t blowing so much, but since it is, it is impossible on the bike haha.

 

 

This is a season of peace, the season of Christ’s birth...

Hey everyone, I haven’t seen y’all in a minute, I miss you guys this beautiful holiday season!

So transfer calls are in and I am staying in Amarillo and I am stoked about it. There is way too much work to be done to leave here, but Elder Chuck’s fate was not as joyous as mine. He is being transferred for the last transfer of his mission and I am getting a new'er missionary Elder Anderson who’s been out for a transfer. I know absolutely nothing about him so it’s going to be a ball.

I was very Thankful:) for Thanksgiving it was awesome, no joke, I loved it. We had it with Alex and Aaron and Erica Martinez and their grandma, no joke, it was so freaking good. Apparently the lady who cooked it, Erica’s mom, cooked for Rosa Parks, so I was pretty blessed this week, God bless America.

Man time is going by fast, I’ve already been out 4 1/2 months, it feels like I’ve been out for a couple weeks I like it.

Fun fact: I speak Ebonics now...yep haha, it’s sweet!

This week was kinda hard, only one of our six baptismal dates came to church, so I was livid and stormed around town to see why! Not really that mad haha, and we went to Mario’s home and we sat down and talked with him for a little while. He couldn’t come to church because of the hole in his foot. Did I tell you about that? He has diabetes, so he can’t feel his feet and a nail got in his boot for like a week and it is this huge hole in the bottom of his foot it is pretty gross. But we didn’t think that Mario really liked us that much and we were kinda getting frustrated, but then his wife came in who hasn’t participated in the lessons once and she starts talking to us and is like yah, Mario talks about you guys all the time and how much he loves you. You are blessing my family so much by coming over here, is it alright if I listen in on your lessons........GOD is so freakin cool!!! Hahaha I’m smiling like a little school girl at this point trying to keep my cool and say "yes". So pray for them.

We also taught the Plan of Salvation this week. Man are we blessed to know where we come from, where we are going and why we are here. These people had so many questions and I thought to myself, wow, how could you live your whole life to this point without knowing this? Life would be so much harder without the knowledge and it would have almost no point. We are truly blessed.

This is a season of peace, the season of Christ’s birth. Remember Him always and remember you and your family can and will be together forever through God’s plan for us. We are where we need to be, so make every second count. We were walking this week and as we were walking by this house, this car pulls up the second we are walking by, we start talking to them and we teach them the restoration. If they would have pulled in a minute later we would have never found them. So look around every once in a while and see why you are where you are and what you need to do. It will make everywhere that much better I promise.

Thank you everyone for reading my letters. I really hope that I can bless y’alls life just as much as every one of you has blessed mine....

I truly love you and I truly love God

Love elder c