December??!

Yeaha, so Thanksgiving was super radical. We ate at this awesome family’s house called the Smurthwaites. They’re a fun old couple, it’d probably be like eating at home with you Mom and Dad, if all us kids were gone. Really good food too. I love food. I’ve surely gained 5 pounds over the last 5 days. At least. Plus I’m not running anymore cause my companion can’t really handle mornings so well. He’s pretty rad though besides that. Anyway, ho…ho ho man… football. Remember back on Memorial day that awesome softball game I was talking about and how that’s what heaven is gonna be like? Well, I don’t know if heaven is gonna have football, but we played football thursday morning first with some of the ward members, and then with a whole bunch of missionaries, and it was absolutely the funnest thing I’ve done in such a long time. Ralph, remember playing with all the Biaggis guys? Its kinda like that. So much fun! It was so nice to get out and move around like that. To be all quick and explosive and athletic. Its been a while. Ah man it was so awesome. Geeze but I was mad sore the next couple days. Like really really sore. Ouch. Oh but it was so worth it. Yes. Thanksgiving is great. I love food.

So this girl Natasha we’ve been teaching, she’s gonna get baptized! We knew it was coming, but its surely going down now. She is amazing. She is such a testament of the truth of the gospel. It has changed her. Over the last 3 months or so that I’ve been here, it has changed her. She made the sacrifices. She didn’t want to, but she knew if what we were saying was really true, it was pretty dang serious stuff. She recognized that, and was willing to try it. So she’s been trying to make some changes in her life and see if it actually did make her happy. Living the gospel and such. That’s what it takes. Ya gotta DO something. She’s getting the light in her eyes. Its so wonderful!! Ah man I just can’t even explain it to you. To see this happen to someone, to see the changes…it makes me proud. It’s an interesting feeling, I don’t think I’ve ever felt extremely proud of anyone. Laura. I’m proud of Laura for being so awesome and all that she’s going through and how she seems to be dealing with it. I’m proud of Laura. But I am also very proud of Natasha. It makes me real happy. I hope the people around her are able to see the changes too. She’s positive and optimistic. She’s motivated and proactive. To say this about Natasha is amazing. Two months ago I would have laughed at those statements probably. She is being blessed for embracing truth. For showing her faith and putting it to the test. The gospel is real! Its true! I love it!

In church yesterday, 5th Sunday, it was combined priesthood relief society and we talked about self reliance and stuff like that. Things we can be doing and working on, goals people can think about setting for the new year and things like that. The make up of the church, they things they suggest we do and tell us to be doing, its all so perfect. It all makes so much sense! I feel like its truly inspired. If there was such a program that worked as well as the gospel does, someone would be making millions off it. Well, maybe they wouldn’t. There’s that special kind of motivation I think we gain from having a more eternal perspective on things. There’s a lot to say about it, but I was just noticing how perfect the temporal ways of the church seem to be. How much sense they make and how strange it is that many people can’t seem to figure these things out to help them improve their lives. Everyone wants a quick fix, maybe that’s why. Heck, I want quick fixes! Patience is a virtue I suppose. So is virtue a virtue too then? Ha.

Ya know how I was talking about forgetting things a while back? How it amazed me with the people in the Book of Mormon? I noticed it in another way this week. I was having kind of a rough day. Everything was falling through and I wasn’t really impressed with myself for a few things. I’ve noticed that when I get down and depressed, its pretty much always because of sin. So anyway, I had a few things on my mind that I felt I needed to change and repent of and work harder on. It was a rough day but we were being diligent and just “kept swinging.” At the end of the day we had a really good little lesson with a lady we had talked to several weeks ago, and it really brightened our spirits. I love that, when after a long hard day, something so small can totally change it all around. So that happened and all was well, and then I was like wait a sec…I still have these things I wasn’t really happy with myself for doing, and I nearly forgot about them. Things I wanted to change, and I nearly forgot them because suddenly all was well again. So I was thinking, gosh, it’s a bummer to see people forget the blessings of the gospel, but it would be another bummer for me to forget my sins when they’re still on my shoulders. Something like that. Maybe I’m crazy, but I think it makes sense.

I also had an awesome experience with the scriptures this week. That’s been one great blessing of the mission so far is the scriptures. I’m starting to really find a passion for them. They are amazing! And I think that’s pretty cool for me because prior to deciding to come on a mission, I NEVER read the scriptures. I knew some of the stories, but that was about it. So now for them to really be important to me and help me and comfort me and make me so happy is really awesome and a great blessing. I feel like they really feed my soul. My spirit. It sounds cheesy I know, but its totally true. The scriptures are so cool. And the other day during studies they totally came alive for me. There was a strong spirit and I was just on this adventure! I was in 2 Nephi trying to figure out the relationship between the truth of the coming of Christ, the law of Moses, and the doctrine of Christ. (2 Ne 11:4 got me started). It was so sweet. I was flipping all over the place looking at the footnotes and thinking about stuff and taking notes and it was great! Ah man I want to tell you all the details but I think I don’t have time. It was a really cool experience though. The Book of Mormon folks were super righteous in their good times, when they were on top of things and keeping the commandments. It seems they were shown a lot more and understood things A LOT better than the Jews. I feel like things were a lot more simple for them though. In the Book of Mormon. Like stuff was all crazy over in Israel . I don’t know. There is so much to learn about history and the gospel and million other things it blows my mind sometimes. Definitely a life long pursuit.

Alright that’s all! I know I tell mostly spiritual stuff in these emails, the days are still filled with regular human temporal talk and such things, but those aren’t so memorable ya know? So I don’t really need to write about them. I walk around all day and try to talk to people that are never home. Nah its better than that.

LOVE YOU ALL!

Brotha Dave

boy this is a long one