Merry Christmas! Thanksgiving can step aside, here in Jasper.
Not
that Thanksgiving wasn't wonderful. We ate with a great family, the
O__'s, who are really fun to talk to and be around. They are
actually originally from Utah, but Bro. O moved down here because
the jobs were better. Their daughter is the theatre teacher at Jasper
high school, so that is pretty cool. But that was really good, we enjoy
visiting with them. And they invited us to go fishing in their pond some
p-day, so that was nice of them and we look forward to it. Apparently
ponds in Texas are self-stocked by birds and runoffs, so you never even
have to put fish in. Pretty cool!
We
did a lot of biking the beginning of this week, but it has at least
warmed up some down here. I feel kind of chilly in the 50's, admittedly,
but I think that that is the humidity. I feel bad for that below
freezing weather back home. We are still getting 70's and stuff, and
with its hills Jasper is one of the colder parts of the mission. I'll
probably not be so happy come summer, though ;)
Mom
pointed out that I didn't elaborate much on my cop story from last
week. Well, we were tracting at night at an apartment complex, someone
took offense to that and called the cops. They showed up about a minute
later (such fast response times!) And did the whole "can I help you
gentlemen" speel. He told us not to knock "after business hours" and
that he wouldn't throw us off of the property this time. Well, we went
on our way and are still knocking up until 9 PM, since that's within our
rights. But fun times!
So
for Thanksgiving I studied, surprise surprise, gratitude. I was reading
in Teaching of the Presidents of the Church, Brigham Young, and he said
something pretty strongly. He said that he knows of no sin, save the
unpardonable sin, greater than the sin of ingratitude. Woah. His take on
gratitude is the one expressed in the scripture about if someone
receives not a gift then neither the giver or the receiver rejoices in
it: that is, we have been given our circumstances and we show gratitude
by improving upon what we have been given. I really liked the thoughts
that he gave.
We had a
lesson with F__ this week that ended up being pretty cool. As we were
talking he opened up to us and shared three distinct ways that he had
felt the spirit during this process (though he didn't know that's what
it was) he talked about being prompted to speak to us, that a weight had
been taken off of his chest, that he wasn't having dark thoughts or
desires to do things that are wrong anymore. That was a pretty cool
experience!
For
Christmas Zone Conference I'm going to be performing in a talent show,
singing Because You Prayed for Me by Sally, so that will be fun. I'm
also accompanying the primary for two songs in the branch. I'm getting
plenty of opportunities to improve my playing!
Okay,
as to Christmas. On Saturday, before all the Turkey leftovers were even
out of the fridge, Jasper celebrated Christmas in the Park. Big ol'
festival, lots of people out, live music, all sorts of fun stuff. I'll
include pictures, and videos of the fireworks! What a show! They really
put our meager 4th of July to shame, and this was just for Christmas !
;) I was playing "try and video the finale" and have lots of videos
because there were lots of impressive bits. Pretty fun! We struggled
contacting people, though. Even though it was a celebration about
Christ, nobody wanted to talk about him ;) we did run into someone,
though, who had been baptized as a kid and hadn't been back since, so
that was a blessing. Were going to try and follow up with them this
week.
Alright, well, I
think that is about it. By the end of the week a lot of stuff just
doesnt seem too important anymore ;) but I'm alive and well, and you can
always address any questions to me directly if you want to hear more.
With love,
Elder DeFord
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