DD 13.15 ... Well la dee da, I got my death letter today! ...

Do you all shower in the mornings? If so, do you have enough hot water? Do you use a tankless hot water heater that heats the water as you use it?

Yes, we all take showers in the morning ... and yes ... it's all tankless ... and yes, it's always 60 degrees ... and yes ... I'm using Celsius ...

Did you get any packages?

So far two!! And I'm way excited, I'm on a sugar fast until Christmas Eve so I'm way excited!!

Was that a picture of the Abiko chapel that you sent us? Is it finished?

The outside is done, they're just finishing up the inner parts now.

When did you start meeting there?

Next month

If you are meeting there, does it make it easier to get investigators to come to church?

It will be much nicer!!

Who were the people who were singing with your missionary group of carolers?Some members!

Who did you guys go caroling to when you went as a district?

We went to an Eki, and then sang to some random people that walked by!

Did Ipson Shimai come out with you or before you? We don't remember her coming out in your group.

We were in the MTC together, she was one of the other 27 people, that came with me.

Are the Sister missionaries who came out with you going to be home for Christmas?

Yes, they went home yesterday!!

How is the mission goal of 100 baptisms for Christmas coming along?

Okay I think!!

How is your contribution to the goal going?

Mmmm, I baptized Sister T-San two days ago, and Sister U wants me to baptize her this weekend as well!

How is Brother A. doing? How about Brother K.?

Okay ... kinda dropped off the face of the earth little bit!

Is the plan for the most wonderful phone call of the year still on for 10:30 am your time and 6:30 pm our time? Or is there a new plan?

Yeah!! Sounds great! So excited!!

Where will you be calling from?
The church!

Did you get Sam's letter yet?

Yes!!! It was so funny!!

How cold is it there now? Snow?

No snow, I wore a sweater and a thermal shirt and was warm.

Are you having a ward Christmas party?

On Tuesday!

Do you all have Christmas plans besides skype calls?

Eat candy and dendo! No one here has a day off, so it's just like a normal day!

Did you get gifts for each other at all? Draw names? Get gifts for everyone? or nothing?

Didn't really get into it this year. We kinda forgot about it.

Is your companion homesick or is he doing ok?
He's totally fine!

How much have you worn your boots? are they holding up ok?

I haven't gotten them out yet this year ... no snow so I don't really need them yet!

Do you ever teach at church? in sunday school?

Every three weeks we teach gospel principles!

Do you go to all of one ward or skip around to different wards for different meetings?

All the areas which I have been in are in a single ward boundary ...

Father! It's always good to hear that you are not suggesting we save candy for a year ... that sounds like a terrible idea if you ask me. Glad to hear that your visiting is going well, I can't imagine what it would be like to be alone this Christmas time of year. I'm in a country where they don't even do anything for Christmas, and it would still be the worst to be alone on Christmas!

Mothers! I've gotten two packages thus far ... don't you fret. The ward also gave us a ton of stuff for Christmas! It's crazy! Like a whole cardboard box, that I could fit inside of comfortably, filled with gifts! It's crazy! And awesome. Crazy awesome. 

Jandee! Your kids are adorable!! I'm excited to be with Waylon as well! I love those kids!   And I will have to have Jayli teach me all the reindeer names next Christmas ... I'm a bit rusty!! Tell them all I love them, and I'm way excited to do Christmas with them all next year!!!

Smashed! Thanks for all the info, I might have passed on the running in the rain as well though. I love the image of you playing basketball!! I like this whole idea of having a party from three to ten at night ... as long as we eat three different times and we get to eat dessert every time!! I love that idea!

Storm ... I wanna eat all that sausage so bad right now ... you have no idea! I love America. But we're getting sushi this week, and ramen like every other day from our friends, so it's all good.

So this week was pretty good. It's like K dropped off the planet.  He's way stressed with work and what not so we're just gonna let him chill for a little bit.  We hope he'll come to church and feel the peace and then he will realize that he can have it in his life all the time!!

Also, this week I was able to baptize Sister T-San! The sisters investigator! She's way great!! Also this coming week, a sister that we found and referred to the Shimai a couple weeks ago, Sister U-San, is getting baptized. She actually has a different story, well she's just  cool, but she did palm reading and stuff. She said its not like mystical and what not, she just used the lines on your hands and then said that statistics indicate this about it.  She said that I was going to be a spiritual servant for a long time. And that God would use me to do cool stuff ... she also said that I won't get married for a little bit because I'll be too busy with stuff of religious importance ... I worry that the discussion about Patriarchal Blessings will become confusing? She said that if anyone but the missionaries had knocked on her door, she wouldn't have let them in, but she felt something!!  She says that she wants to get baptized as soon as she can!! So she's going to get baptized this Saturday, and asked me to do it! She's way legit!

A keeps coming to church, but not to sacrament, not really sure why, but we're working with him. He kinda believes everything we say, but at the same time really likes studying from a historical standpoint, but sometimes he gets hung up on that; but he's still doing good!! I just realize that I use a lot of !!s; like all the time!! (We edit many of them out :-)

Spiritual thought for the week!!!

I did six hundred push-ups this morning!

This week we saw a lot of miracles! And it was all because we were willing to work for it! It was so cool; it was pouring rain, and we didn't want to go out in it and find people to teach! But, that's exactly what we did, and we found people to teach! It was way sweet, I learned that the Lord gives back the same percent that we give back, but His percent is a lot more effective than ours, so us holding back one percent, results in a loss of a huge lot of miracles!!

This is kinda short, but I'll talk to you all on Thursday (Whoo!), but I just wanted to invite you all to find some way that you are holding back from the Lord, and give a little more effort this year! Give a little more to Him and watch the large amount of blessings come from it!!

I love you all, and I am so excited to see you all on Thursday!!

Love you lots!

Griffiths Choro
10902 9529