Happy Holidays!

Sounds like it has been a busy week in the family!

 

Congratulations to Erin, Dave and Nolan!  I can not wait to see pictures!  I am also excited for Melinda and Brian for #4 due in July!  What a great blessing family is.  I know I have taken my family for granted too many times.  We truly find the greatest happiness when it is with our family centered on the teachings of Jesus Christ.

 

I would also like to congratulate Dad on his traffic ticket.  Well done!    Before my mission (pre-missionary life) I would love to speed.  But I guess the guilt got to me, and I'm not doing it any more (at least knowingly).  It is amazing how it it the 'little things' that get us.  The frog in the pot of water is exactly how it works!

 

This has been an interesting week...

 

First off, Hope.  She was delivering newspapers and her son jumped in the trunk while she ran inside to drop off the paper.  Somebody saw him jump in their and called the cops.  Apparently that's like a huge No, No.  So she has to go through a bunch of court stuff.  The stress of it all is just building up.  There are a lot of trials she is going through right now.  So until it is cleared up, or taken care of, we have to move the date back.  Pray for her!

 

We have not been able to meet with many of our other investigators, but I guess that could be mainly due to the fact of Thanksgiving.  We did find a new investigator though!  His name is Bob, and he has been going through a hard time, fighting cancer.  He is SUPPER humble.  We have not had too much time with him (we are seeing him tomorrow), but what a awesome guy.  People are so wonderful!  Sometimes we can get caught up in thinking about their faults or negative attributes, but they are children of God!  Why do we do that!  We are all brothers and sisters.  I am always humbled when I try to see people the way Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ sees them.

 

Thanksgiving was weird.  No way around that.  We started out our day tracting in the morning for two hours.  We found someone going to school in Buffalo who said he would be interested in missionaries vising him there.  We had dinner with the Sanders family who also had Bill Capron over (baptised about 8-9 months ago).  Dinner was good (though not as good as the cooking at home)  What wonderful people though, the Sanders.  They have so many things that gives stress into their lives, yet they sacrifice and consecrate hours of time to the Lord.  We also had weekly planning (3hours) and we visited some less-actives and people who might be alone for the holidays.

 

Saturday we took Dana, a new investigator on a church tour.  Our first time doing that before!  It went well, and she understood the importance of church and sacrament vs. staying at home and worshipping.  She is an awsome lady, who we tracted into at 8 at night, and said we could come back. 

 

We had no investigators show up to church on Sunday (first time in awhile).  But we are excited to find those prepared and helping those who are we are meeting with progress.

 

Today we are going to play some basketball with some of the district.  It is going to be a busy day.  I don't know if we even have enough time to go shopping today!  We will see, and survive.  It is the best thing in the world, that we are able to dedicate ALL our time and effort to the Lord.

 

Have a great Week!

 

Elder Shurtz