Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Happy Christmas/New Years!!!!!!!

January 2, 2013
First off, sorry about not writing for 2 weeks, I know how you guys LIVE for my e-mails right?? Hahaha, just kidding, it's probably not quite so special. Anyways, I gotta catch you up!
First off, I just wanted to let you all know that the Holidays are really.... not so different than any other day as a Missionary. We do the same work, teach the same gospel, and visit people. Sure there is a theme and everything, but this year... just felt like another day really. We went caroling and teaching people as a district on Christmas Eve, after having a great meal and playing a little ping pong. That was really fun, and that was the only... different thing that we did really. Other than that... Nothing too special. We definitely felt the spirit more strongly, at least I did. But really it was another day as a missionary. Kind of weird being away from home, but nothing too crazy this year. Maybe next year eh?

I'm going to be going pretty out of order as far as what's been going on in this e-mail, I just have a list of things I want to cover.
So just last week me and Elder McBride had a LONG day. We didn't have any appointments, and our investigators were busy. So we had a full day of tracting! In total I think we tracted for a good 5 hours or so. Just knocking door after door after door, and that last door? Nothin. I hope 'yall got that reference just now, it's from the Best Two Years. Haha, great movie. Anyways, we didn't have any success that day, really. We passed out some pass along cards but really that was it. Nobody let us in, nobody wanted to hear what we had to say. And I actually just recently found out that the ward i'm serving in is usually REALLY slow as far as the work goes. All of last year this ward has only had 2 baptisms. So we're going to keep working but the stats don't look too great! Haha.

2 weeks ago, we got a referral for a girl named Tara. We contacted her and she seemed REALLY enthusiastic about learning the Gospel and reading the Book of Mormon. We were getting really excited about it, and then we talked to some other missionaries about her and guess what? Apparently she's clinically insane. And she is a missionary hopper, she takes lessons from anyone and everyone, and doesn't really commit to anything. However, Pres. Keyes has said that we cannot deny someone else's salvation. So we are going to continue teaching her but... it doesn't seem too promising anymore. So that's a bummer :(

OH! 2 weeks ago, on the 23rd. Kapono (the future missionary i've talked about?) had a super cool video presentation going on at the visitors center. He made a video of himself, about his family, and about why he's going on a mission. It's a SUPER cool video. Anyways, he had his entire family there, as well as a bunch of extended family. The spirit was so strong there, it was incredible! After the video he bore his testimony to them, and they were all VERY moved. The whole place was crying. It was awesome, he's going to be a fantastic missionary!

Oh my gosh! To close my letter I just have one more story to share. Super cool! We had a miracle happen to us! So, we were just walking back to our apartment, no more appointments and it was about 7:30 or so. As we were walking back we saw a girl walking the opposite direction, she was smoking a cigarette and didn't look too happy to see us. But, we both felt the spirit tell us that we needed to talk to this girl, so we did. It turns out that she was going to the bar! So, we talked for a little while and ended up walking and talking with her, as we made our way to the bar. When we got to the bar, we asked if she wanted to go in, or come to the Visitors Center with us. She decided to go to the VC!?!?!! Way cool! So we got to talking about church and everything even more on the walk to the VC. And we had an amazing lesson with her. She is going through a lot right now, and she really needs God in her life. Her name is Jessica, and she doesn't have a job, and she is getting kicked out of her place real soon. So we found a few places that can help her get a job, and find housing and all that. She enjoyed our message so much that she wants to meet us even more! We are actually meeting her today going to the VC again, as well as the mission office/employment center. So we are super pumped about that!

Anyways, I hope that all is going well with everyone there! Make sure to keep my challenge going, invite someone to church! And keep those letters coming OK? I need all of your support! I love you all,
Elder DeFreese

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