Thursday, December 4, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving!

Date: November 28, 2011 Area: Santiago, Chile Companion: Elder Metcalf


Hola Familia,

How are you all doing? I loved the pictures that Mom sent me this last week of Thanksgiving! It looked like you really had a great time. The food looked really good.... really good haha. Especially the sweet potatoes! But it was great to see everyones smiling faces!

Last week was good, I was thinking about you guys on Thursday! I was like, "Man, my family is all probably in the kitchen right now making the food... now they are all probably eating the food... now they are all probably sleeping after eating the food!" Haha. But know that I was thinking of you and miss you. That was the first thanksgiving that I havent had turkey!!! Even when I was in Italy over thanksgiving sophomore year we had turkey. I was going to buy some but I ran out of money for the month so that was like, oh well. But Elder Lopez and I have a plan to save our money in the begining of December and spend it all at the end and just feast!! Well, feast as much as we can =)

This last week was pretty good but still kind of slow at the same time. The last week with nobody really being in the sector really kind of killed the work for this week but that just means that we need to work that much harder. I love my new companion, Elder Lopez, from Ecuador. He talks faster than the Chileans and has a pretty cool accent. He speaks well so I[m lucky to have him as a companion and am going to try to use him as best as I can to better my spanish while im with him. President Essig was told by the area 70 to start putting latinos with north americans to help everybody out with both the spanish and english. So i{m guessing that in the future I am going to have a fair number of latino companions. But Elder Lopez is a convert to the church 3 years ago. He played soccer semi professionally for a while and was making quite a bit of money while doing it but then someone deliberately hurt his knee and he had to have surgery and had to stop playing for a bit. He then met the missionaries and, long story short, ended up getting baptized. He is the oldest in his family and lives with his Mom and little sisters. His mom isnt a member but his sisters are, though they are inactive. He is a really hard worker and very outgoing, hes always smiling so I really like him! We are having a lot of fun together! Hes only been in the mission 6 months, one transfer more than me, and so we are both learning =)

But this week was good. We have been working with Nicole but things in her home arent going too well. Her step dad moved back in permanently and thats definitely BAD! we want him out of the picture. And shes been grownded for the past little while because of bad grades so she hasn{t been able to leave the house and go to mutual or church. Hopefully things will move forward with her.

Jose is doing well. This was his first week in church since his confirmation and he is doing good. We have been doing family home evenings with different members in the ward to get him out of the house. The family home evenings are GREAT! I hope you guys can do family home evenings. I know that everyones busy but it is completely worth the time and effort to do them. It is a great way to strengthen the family and share spiritual experiences and learn from one another. When Elder Cook came to the stake conference he talked a lot about family home evenings and how important they are, and if he thinks that theyre important, I sure think so too.

CUTLER!! Way to go on that drivers test!! I knew that you could do it! No doubts. You{re super smart, it just takes a few minutes of studying. Way to go! Keep up the good work and do the same in school!!!

SPENCER!!! I loved the stories from last week and this week. The voice messages are great! Mom sent me some pictures of you too and of your hair. I like it, you look good! But what is growing on your face??? hahahaha jk!

LINDY!!! Hang in there, sorry theres not too much time to respond personally today but just hang in there. You have great support and just focus in on the school (which no doubt you already are doing). Thanks for the things you told me, they mean alot to me as do you!

Dad!!!! Thanks for the update on everyone, I always love getting the little snapshots into everyone{s lives! And I loved staying informed on the stuff thats happening so thank you. Thanks for your love and support, You are a wonderful Dad and a great example for everyone in the family. Love you Dad!

Mom!! Thank you again for everything you are doing for me, You are the BEST!!!! I love you!!!

Being away from you for thanksgiving really made me think about all the important things in my life. Its so true that you don{t really appreciate something until you dont have it. I love you, my family, my friends and the gospel. Thank you for all the support that you give me and all the things that you are doing for me. You are the best family. I love and miss you and think and pray about you all the time. That last sentance has way too many ands. Sorry, my english isnt very good anymore. But I do love you mucho. But on Thanksgiving I was thinking about you guys and what a blessing you are and the rest of the family. I thought about what we were doing the last thanksgiving and I could remember practically every detail like it was yesterday! All with the family (well this was our thanksgiving on saturday I think it was) But all together and then Cutler came and slept over in the dorms with me and a few of my friends. I have so many blessings in my life, my friends, FAMILY and the gospel. Although Im not there right now the time will go by fast and then it will be back to normal. But in the mean time i{m blessed to be able to spread the gospel, the biggest blessing that anyone could have in their life. I love you all so much and well be talking before you know it on skype!!!

Love,
Elder Holland!

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