STILL No Snow!

Hello again. Wow, I still can't believe it's December! It's so weird to think that I'm already almost halfway done. I think it's even weirder, though, to think that Justin will be home in less than 2 weeks. That just blows my mind! Pretty cool that he'll be able to watch BYU in their bowl game, even though it's not too much of an exciting game to watch. And yes, I can't wait to hear how badly Boise destroys utah. And I'm assuming that Auburn and Oregon are in the National Championship, so where did TCU end up? Just curious. But yeah, it's so weird to think of how fast time flies. I was happy that Pres. Monson agrees with me too :) That was a pretty good devotional lastnight, huh? I enjoyed it so much. We were planning on watching it at one of our roommates' member's homes, but then we realized that it would be in spanish, so we just went to the chapel and hooked everything up for ourselves to watch it there. It was just me and E. Winslow. I especially liked Pres. Eyring's talk. I am so priveleged to be able to have seen exactly what he was talking about when he told the story about his granddaughters on missions. I love so much to be able to see the Atonement work in people's lives and see how much they can turn themselves around and start to apply the teachings of Jesus Christ in their own life.

I got to witness that very clearly yesterday. Jose was at church again (unfortunately Peter was on some school trip so he couldn't make it) and it was obviously testimony meeting. Things can go somewhat interestingly in our ward on fast Sunday, and yesterday was one of them. It wasn't too bad, but one of our members got up and did some Bob Hope, Dean Martin and Mohammed Ali impersonations...very awkward. Other than that, it was a good meeting though. In Priesthood, the guy teaching the lesson decided that we would just extend the testimony meeting from sacrament meeting to priesthood. It was great. Everyone was sharing their testimonies, and I was feeling the Spirit, and it was awesome. Then Jose stood up and bore his testimony about how he has attended so many different churches throughout his life, and he knows that this is the right one because of how he feels when he comes. He also told us that he knows that Joseph Smith is a prophet, that the Book of Mormon is true, and he can't wait to get baptized. He sounded like he'd been a member for like 15 years already. He also told us that he is so happy that he found our church because his life was pretty messed up. He'd been involved with drugs, alcohol, and was seriously contemplating suicide, but that's right when he decided to change his life and get away from the people he's been hanging around with, and then he moved out here to Lynn. He hadn't told us any of that since we'd been teaching him but it really testified to me the power of the Atonement. He is trying so hard to do the right things. He is still struggling and tells us it's hard, but he is really trying. I love the opportunity Heavenly Father has given me to be able to experience all of the great things that happen as missionaries. We had to push Jose's date to the 19th due to WoW issues, but I really think he'll be able to do it then. Peter is still good for this next Sunday as long as he gets his mom to sign the baptismal record, which apparently might be an issue. Oh well, things will work out with him too.

So besides the update with Jose and Peter, there's not much else to say for this week. We haven't found any new investigators that are solid yet, but I'm sure they will come along soon. Oh, one thing that I've started doing that is pretty cool is every night when I write in my journal, I think of one miracle that happened that day. It's a great way to really recognize the hand of the Lord in our daily life. I would encourage everyone to if not write it down, think about one miracle that happens in every day of your life. It's pretty amazing to see how much of an influence He really is in every single day.

Well, like my subject says, there still hasn't been any snow. Except for this morning, there was a tiny bit blowing around, but I have no idea where it came from cause there was only like 2 dinky little clouds in the sky and they weren't anywhere near our house. I was pretty confused about that. haha. Hopefully we'll be getting some soon though. I really am looking forward to the snow. Other than that, the weather has just been COLD. They say it's in the mid 30's, but with the wind, I'd say it stays in the teens basically all day. Thank goodness for cars and people to teach! haha.

By the way, I'm expecting lots of mail sometime soon cause I haven't gotten anything since Grandma's package 2 weeks ago. Just saying... Okay then, I guess I'm off. I think we're decorating our house today. We're going to get a tree and some decorations and stuff. Pretty cool. haha. Well, have a great week! Love you all!

Love,
Elder Hammer

P.S. Could you by chance get me Sis. LeBaron's address (Brendan's Mom) Thanks.