Week 20- This Christmas started out as a challenge!

 OOPS!

 I am greatly Blessed!Thank you for the tree!

It's cold and snowy!

Hey Mom and Dad!

Holy guacamole it was a cold one this week. I was outside tracting for 2 hours in -12 degrees.   I had so many layers on hahaha! We taught and found 3 new investigators that day and mainly because people saw how cold we were. But we taught this couple and I felt at that time that I was supposed to be there teaching them! Sometimes I have had those moments on my mission. I got everything you sent except the letter.  I should get that today. I got the Christmas gifts from you and Aunt Karen. I got the hand prints from the brown family and the Anderson's. Hey I am emailing this Saturday because Monday the library is close so p-day is on Saturday. We are calling Sis Bracy to get every detail and I will relay that info to you on Saturday because we are face timing Sunday. Facetime will be okay!  

I'm glad you liked the video I sent. I recorded myself like 3 times. Twice in the bathroom and the one time on the chair that I was leaning back and forth on. The two I thought were way to long and I couldn't send one longer than 2 minutes and After I was done recording the first two I looked at the length and it was like 6 minutes. So I gave up on condensing so I decided to make it short and sweet and funny. Glad that everyone thought it was funny!

 6 more dayzzz......whew!!! I'm excited and am prepared for you too cry. To be honest I don't feel homesick this Christmas at all and here is why.... 

This Christmas started out as a challenge. Being away from home in the freezing cold getting doors slammed in your face isn't what I have ever pictured Christmas to be like haha! But my ward family and all of my extended family sent me little hand prints with little encouraging messages on them which  I taped each individually to my paper Christmas tree dangling from the wall (WHICH FELL 5 TIMES so I finally used duck tape and its been fine) I read every note which was about over a hundred and by the end I was sobbing and just filled with the spirit. You're right, I have a lot of support from my friends and family back home and that made me feel Christs warmth despite the freezing cold hahaha.  I didn't even care for the gifts or packages that were sent because the best gift that was given was Christ's radiant love that he has for Me. And I felt that sitting on the floor balling my eyes out. I haven't felt the spirit that strong in a while.  That gave me a lot of peace and comfort and the motivation to keep barreling out in the snow in -14 degree weather.

I know it is going to be hard for you not to cry and that is okay but let it be a happy time. I don't think I have truly known what the true meaning of Christmas was  till I have been out here during this time. As I sat driving in the car and listening to the lyrics of Josh Groban's song "Believe" I really thought about the lyrics and it is much deeper than believing in Santa Claus.....  " When we feel that we have lost our way...we find ourselves again on Christmas day." I love that verse. We know that we can look to the savior and not just remember his birth but what he has done for us even when we feel that we have lost our way. Christmas isn't a one day celebration it is a gift that is given to us 365 days a year....his Atonement. Thank goodness for Easter because there would be no Christmas. If there was no Atonement than the baby Jesus would be another baby born that day alongside the hundreds of other baby births in the Inn's where there was no room. There is no place I would rather be than here on my mission during these two years and more specifically during this time of year! 

We had zone conference this last week and wow that was amazing. Each zone which were about 6 put on a little Christmas skit. We were assigned to do a skit based on Silent night. We first started off by singing the hymn....but it gets better. Our zone leaders assigned me and Elder Chun to talk about silent night. We decided to make it funny and add some humor in it which was expected when the zone leaders chose me and and elder chun the two goofballs of the zone. Elder Chun is literally another version of Nic Padilla and funnier haha so we had fun with it. We pretended we were two angels that day looking down on the nativity scene. We told the audience to close their eyes and imagine this scene of the baby Jesus. I first started out by saying into the mic.....Elder Chun, do you remember that day....Yes Elder Brown I do...and you guys(the audience) were all there too. Then I said.... we were all cheerleaders chanting something like this. Then me and Elder Chun did this cheerleader chant as girly as could be hahha people laughed at that. Then we explained the nativity scene and Elder Chun asked....Hey Elder Brown, do you hear that....I said what?....Elder Chun said I hear a donkey I said... oh my gosh I hear it too,  then I said....wait a minute that's just President Mendenhall and everybody started dying of laughter.  We went on adding all these funny remarks and then concluded with our testimonies. That's probably the most I have ever made people laugh. Im starting to get comfortable with speaking in front of large audiences. Anyway that was fun, then we went into the chapel. I got to direct the choir and hold a choir practice way before people got there in the very beginning. I also was the accompanist for Elder Olsen who sang O Holy Night. MOM, HIS VOICE IS INCREDIBLE! and It sounded so good and made a lot of people cry. Then we had a special guest speaker and President and Sister M gave remarks. This lasted from 7-4:30 but an awesome day!  

That was this week.  Today is zone pday so we get together with the sisters at the stake center and are doing a white elephant gift exchange. My gifts are funny. The zone leaders used to call me eraser head when I first came into the zone area..Because my head was shaved completely on the sides and then I had hair up top like the shape of an eraser. That stopped when I got my new hair cut before zone conference which they think my hair is awesome because it is slicked back like David Beckam the hot Soccer player! So now they call me David Beckam. Anyway I bought two eraser heads and I wrapped it up and hopefully they get the gift hahaha! 

Anyway Thats all that i got! I love you so much I will email you the face time details saturday on pday....remember....not monday.....saturday! I love you Mom and Dad!