December 12, 2011

Querida Família!

Mom, you can not start a letter with Happy Christmas... Feliz Natal! I am loving talking to all the people about the birth of Christ and His life/ministry. Reading about it too! Wow, Torrin is out the door practically! That is so cool. I am so happy for him, And they should have an amazing speaker and fireside in the mtc. And dinner!! I am so happy to see everyone serving mission. The few things i can say for him right now is, love your companion and fear the Lord only. Allegiance first to Him, second to the pres of the mission and third your comp. 

Wow, Torrin got set apart early, are they driving him up or something? It would be really neat to visit the temples on the way up or something. What was the topic of Torrins talk? Hey, Bjorn really will be alone with his parents...that should be weird at first, ha. poor guy. Tell him to serve a mission! I could train him down here. 

Mom you really are going to fatten up the missionaries there...alot. Ha, muddy buddys and cereal. Muddy buddies don´t exist here and cereal is way expensive...but i did recieve some watermelon the other day! :) But keep on feeding them, I bet they are loving it!

Elder Holland´s talk was great, he is an excellent speaker and you can definetly feel the spirit when he is teaching. We recently got the liahona with all of the general conference talks...i am in heaven! Ha, it is so great reading those talks and having an archive right in front of me. One of my favorite things is studying those talks during any moment we aren´t doing anything, rare, but it happens!

Good luck with all the cold up there! I am taking in enough sun for you all ha. I think the peak of heat is in january. But i´ll let you know when i get there. Everyone says that it is cold for this time of year right now. But good news...and a miracle, I haven´t burned yet!! Just a little playing soccer the other pday, but working, nope! and it is funny you should pity the people in santa costumes here because they really are suffering, ha. But the other night we were just going to bed when a parade of coka cola trucks passed blasting Christmas music and had a santa on top! 

Oh and my boxes arrived :) And a package from Nicole and Dan! I know that i got a book of some kind...but i am resisting the urge to peek. And i got some letters too! We haven´t received anything in so long and..boom! I got a ton all at once.  And no, i didnt go to the churrasco english event, only one set of elders went, and they are two americans so it would be better. And i don´t know dad, the practice for bass drum would have been nice...i didn´t know how to play anything! But i got the hang of it. They should be fine!

The phone call, again! Ha, kidding. So it is true, we can use skype to talk to you all! For one hour. I would switch skype for 2 hours, but i´ll take what i can get. We don´t know where or what time yet, but we will get that arranged this week. 

Hope the Christmas party goes well!

Happy Birthday Ashley! Wow, 17, I don´t believe it...more like i refuse to believe it! That is crazy! You must be so big and grown up now ;), one rule, you are not allowed to date anyone, and i lied, second rule, you have to get rid of that Twilight poster in your room. Happy bday stinkypinky, you really are very special and an example for me.Where will be bday dinner?

And Nicole has a bday coming up too! That is way exciting! Congrats! You are how old now?? 26 right? I decided to be nice, i know how the brothers will be playing cruel jokes this next week :)

So it finally happened, Ashley killed the mustang...kidding! But i was kind of expecting it to die any time now. Let me know what the new pick is!

So this week we were leaving a appointment that fell through and while looking down at my planner i heard a lady yelling elders! So we went over, shared a message with her. She has been less active for along time now but she went to church and the Christmas activity and is very back now! Quite eccentric sometimes actually, ha. Her name is maria.

Carlos and Jane- They are awesome and genuine people! We met with them again last night and they are just with alot of doubts. But we talked to them about pray and receiving an answer. So we will see how it goes :) I am really excited about them, they would be such a strong addition to our ward. They have a son Lucas,12, who is way smart. He has already skipped a few grades and when he figured out that i was from Phoenix he went and studied all about it and talked to me about it yesterday, ha! Carlos lived 25 years in Uruguia and has a heavy accent, but it is really cool! 

So yesterday i gave my 25 minute talk on tithing! But they only gave me 15 minutes and i could have kept going for...who knows how long. My notes...a list on the back of the invitation to speak. ha, way cool! 

I am so gratefull for this special time i have to serve the Lord and help my Salvador. This is a very special time of year when we can be closer to the spirit. With everyone trying to do a little better the spirit will be stronger. We can take advantage of this time to grow ourselves too. One of the best ways to grow ourselves is help someone else to grow too. Love you all and Feliz Natal!

Elder Bradley Joseph Dawson