Christmas

Dear Friends and Family:

Elder Hunt and I are so excited to be working and preaching the gospel here in Florida for this Christmas season! We don't miss the snow even a little bit!

As far as we can tell, we will start Skyping around 2 or 2:30 PM (our time). But it's still up in the air a little, so if this doesn't work for all of you and you are online when I send this, respond quickly so I can try to work out a better time. Otherwise, I'll talk to you this Thursday!

We're really excited to go out and find Christmas week miracles! I remember last Christmas being slightly odd for me. Christmas came really suddenly, and it really just felt like any other day, other than getting to talk to all of you. This Christmas will be different. I have a personal goal to be happy and cheerful and to be excited about and help other people be excited about the birth of our Savior! (Not that it actually occurred in December, but that's OK.)

This last week was a little rough for Elder Hunt and me. We went out and worked, and we had several people who committed to come to church, who seemed to have a genuine desire and commitment to come. Even our most promising investigator, Johnesha, had a last minute emergency and... slept in too late. None of our investigators came. We were discouraged and upset, and we finished the day worn out unhappy. But this morning during studies and as we have been preparing for this week we have been able to raise our spirits a lot and raise our visions for the potential miracles and blessings this season can bring.

One of the strengths we had this week was, again, our member work. We exceeded standards in member-present lessons, and we had a member out with us almost every day. One of the things that we have decided to do to improve is to be more consistent with our work ethic and motivation each day, so that we can use every day to its fullest potential.

In other news, I was accepted into BYU-Idaho a few days ago. I just found out today. I'm still waiting on finding out if I am accepted into BYU, which I probably won't know until some time in February. And my mission still doesn't end until September 3rd. But it's comforting to know that at least one of the plans I made for after my mission is working out.

Thanks, Elder Slade