December 28, 2009

Hey everyone,I don’t have much to say ha-ha I just spoke with you all. I just want to thank everyone for the Christmas cards and for the presents. I thought Christmas on the mission would be a depressing experience but it was the opposite. It was so good. We got fed 3 times on Christmas day, watched a cool missionary DVD and talked to the family. It was nice living with 10 missionaries. It made things exciting. We met with one of our investigators on Saturday. His name is Melvin, this is a funny story. We were gonna baptize a guy named Gomez a week ago but due to some things he can’t get baptized right now. The baptism was announced in the ward and everyone knew. Melvin’s last name is Gomez also and he’s a 22 yr old Dominican, coolest guy ever too! His wife is a member but she can’t come to church due to work. He has been coming by himself to church and loves it. Two weeks ago at church everyone thought it was him that was getting baptized and going up to him at church saying congrats. He just thought to himself, isn’t this my decision? However he just went along with it. We called him last Sunday to tell him church was cancelled and he said he was so relieved cuz he thought he was getting baptized that day. He told us the story on Saturday and we were dying laughing. He totally thought he was gonna get baptized. We told him that it was another guy and everything was clear. He has been looking for a job for a while and our bishop gave him a job last week. He had to work on Sunday and couldn’t come to work. Yeah kinda weird, bishop giving a job and has to work on Sunday? Oh well. We don’t know if he has to work all Sundays, hopefully not, if so ill talk to bishop. Melvin is ready for baptism and wants to get baptized. When he doesn’t have to work he will go down. Church was really good yesterday. It’s been 2 weeks since we've been so it was nice to see everyone. We have a really cool ward. The sister had been teaching this guy named Gerardo. Every week at church I would sit with him and talk to him. I taught him a couple times me because he lives with a member in our area. We became pretty good friends. He asked me to baptize him but I told him no. I wanted his cousin to do it who is a convert of 1 year and is a 40 year old guy. Gerardo didn’t want him to do it and told me he wanted me to baptize him. I ended up baptizing him yesterday. It was a really great experience. The feeling of helping that person reach salvation is incredible. Its awesome being able to perform such a sacred ordinance; the spirit is always so strong.Not too much new is going on. We have been playing soccer in the basement of the church every morning at 6:30 for morning exercise. My comp stays in bed till late though so I go with a couple other Elders. It gets me up and ready for the day. I hope everyone had a great Christmas. It is a better experience being able to focus more on Christ. Being able to enter into the houses of members and investigators and sharing a message of our savior. Focusing on Christ helped me to feel of his love more on Christmas. I was able to try and share that love with others. All you at home are pretty fortunate getting to spend time with the family together. People here don’t have that privilege. Most had to work or members of their families. It’s not as big of a deal over here to people because they can’t afford to take off work, it’s just another day. Be grateful for all you have and give thanks everyday. I love you all and hope you have a great week. Love,Elder Breinholt