SDSU YSA: CHRISTMAS TIME (not weather) IS HERE

I've got two packages but I haven't opened either of them yet... but I will in a little while.  But this Christmas is going to be really odd.  I was thinking about it earlier today and it doesn't really feel like Christmas yet with the weather being in the 70s and not being around family.  So I was thinking of calling somewhere around noon UT time on Christmas.  Just be available... or else i will have to call Ryan again! haha We went up to the mission office to get the mail today and normally we pick up our mail and the Spanish zone's mail but there were so many packages we could barely fit ours into our car.  We had to use every inch of that Corolla to get Christmas back to the missionaries.

So, First a silly story that Dad and the brothers will like.  So you remember Manti Te'o.... yeah the Mormon football player from Notre Dame who plays for the Chargers now. So... He is in our ward :) and we were texting him the other day about Church! We will have to see if we can get a lesson with him sometime at his place or something! haha

Speaking of which, we gave talks on Sunday.  Mine was on Why I believe the "Church is True". It was actually a lot of fun because I just talked about experiences I have had in my life that have helped me come to know that the "Church is True". This next Sunday is the Christmas program in our ward and I am singing a solo... ugh... solos... It is going to be "he sent his son" from the children's hymnbook so it is all good because that is one of my favorites!

The students are all heading home for Winter Break but luckily a few have stayed for the time being.  We had an awesome day a few days ago where we sat down and had lessons with 3 of our most "solid" investigators. First we met with Allie (the girl we saw at the temple a few weeks ago) on a moments notice.  She broke the bad news that she wasn't able to get into all the classes she needed for school so she is going back to Arizona for a few months this week.  But we had an amazing miracle with her boyfriend Juan.  So we met with Allie, in the afternoon and had a lesson with the 2 of them later in the day.  We talked about the Law of tithing.  They had read a story online (never a good thing...) about this guy who didn't pay his tithing to pay some medical bills and because of that wasn't able to see his son be married in the temple.  However, by he end of the lesson and explaining everything they understood why everything happened and the steps the man should have taken to be able to pay a full tithing, his bills, and then see his son be married in the temple.  Allie and Juan always ask a lot of questions but we love it because they are always on point and are learning from the answers rather than letting it distract them.  Them reading that story actually led to them learning about tithing in more depth than they originally would have if they hadn't.  So it was a blessing in disguise!

Next we had a lesson with Mileena and talked more about preparing her for baptism.  She is being baptized in Colorado so we just have to make sure all goes smoothly up there and she is good to go.  She is way cool. And she is from Carmichael area! But right after our lesson with her, we got a text from Juan saying, "I think the LSD (he meant LDS, but it was a good laugh in the serious matter) Church is for me!!" We were freaking out so we said, "Awesome! When do you want to be baptized?" haha basically he said he wanted to think about a date a little more but we set a date with him yesterday for February 1st.

So yeah, that was my week... It was pretty fun! we are having a ton of fun doing the Lord's work! I got a card from Allen and Kymbra and wanted to say thank you for that! I love you all and hope you feel the special Spirit of Christmas his time of year!

Love,

Elder Ethan John Rowbury