Great Week

It's been a great week here in Easley, although a bit more of a challenging one than normal. We didn't have much luck teaching that many of our investigators this week, they were all gone or wouldn't answer their door or were busy. It was really hard for Sister Rowley, because that doesn't usually happen here, while I was pretty ok with it, because that's how most days were in Moncks Corner.

That's something that I've been learning lately, that different things are hard for different people. Something that I struggle with isn't hard for Sister Rowley, and something that she struggles with isn't hard for me. That doesn't make her struggles any less hard than mine though. I've had to remind myself of that this week, when she was really getting frustrated, and I thought she was overreacting. I think that's one of the reasons Sister Rowley and I were put together as companions, because we've had very different experiences on our missions so far and we struggle with different things, so we kind of balance each other out. And she's helping me with my struggles, and I'm helping her with hers.

Their Creative Christmas Tree

One of the investigators that we tried over and over to see is a great guy. He's in his 50s; he's married and his wife has a lot of health problems. He's been investigating the church for about a year and a half now. He feels like he needs to read the entire Book of Mormon before he can know if this is the true church, so at least once a week we go over and read a few chapters and discuss them with him. He's really smart, and he and his wife take very good care of us. They were one of our Thanksgiving dinners, and we're going over to her mom's house on Christmas Eve. Every time we go over there he gives us peanuts and a Hershey's chocolate bar, and we eat that while we read. He's about to finish Mosiah, so he's got a ways to go, but we're really hoping that he'll figure it out soon.

We also started teaching this great guy I think Spencer would want to be his best friend. He's from the Dominican Republic; his family moved to New York, not far from Grandma and Grandpa Rudy, when he was 15. He just moved down here a year ago. He's already living most of the commandments; he told us he doesn't drink, and he doesn't have any law of chastity issues. So we're really excited about him. He's a very sincere, committed person, when he says he's going to do something he'll do it. Which is very refreshing, to have an investigator that actually does everything he says he'll do. It may take him a bit to get his answer, but I know he's going to get baptized in the near future.

As I'm sure you've heard, Charles and Kathie did come to my ward yesterday. It was really weird, but also very good to see some familiar faces. They also happened to come on the day that I was giving a talk, so that worked out perfectly.  [Kathie's mother, Carolyn Aiken Andrus Ginn, passed away on December 10 in Boise; her burial is in Greenville on December 17.] 

I hope by now you've gotten my Christmas package I sent. I was going to write a letter explaining more about it, but I don't know if I'll have time today, our district is getting together to practice Christmas carols so we can go caroling next week. So I'm just going to explain in my email. I was thinking about what I could give y'all for Christmas that would be meaningful, and this idea came to me. I sent 8 copies of the Book of Mormon, all of which I've written my testimony in. 

District Ugly Sweater Photo Op