Dear Family and Friends,
it feels like it’s been forever since I have gotten an email sent out! There’s a lot of stuff that has been going on… mainly just Christmas things!
Well, as y’all know Elder Cope got transferred last week. I was glad to be staying in Beaumont but really sad to see him leave. He was really bummed too. He’s probably been my favorite companion so far. I feel like I have just been blessed with companions. We all have gotten along so well and worked so hard. The good news is that Elder Cope didn’t get sent back to Houston like we thought he would. He got changed to an English missionary and made a Zone Leader here in Beaumont! So he still lives in the same apartment complex and we see each other and will get to go on exchanges and stuff so that’s good!
New Missionary, Elder Jones
Also, I got a call to train a new missionary. Last Tuesday, we drove out to Kingwood to pick him up. His name is Elder Jones. He’s from Lindon, UT. He’s a great kid and everything but it has been really different than all my other companions. I feel like with Elder Bruneel and Sorenson and Erickson, Hatch, and Cope. We would work hard but also converse about normal things and interests throughout the day so there was some bonding. Elder Jones is really different than that because first off, he will not talk to me in English. He really wants to work on his Spanish so he just talks to everyone in Spanish all the time. But he is fresh out the MTC so I can’t understand him half the time. Plus, he won’t talk to me about anything normal. You know, like the things you usually talk about when you get to know someone. I have been with him for over a week and I don’t know anything about him. In the car, he is quiet. We won’t even talk. He just studies. On p-day, he studies. Before bed, he studies. Man, he is really going to be a great missionary. It’s awesome that he is willing to work so hard with me which I appreciate. Anyway, I don’t want y’all to get a bad impression. He really is going to be great and we are doing well together. Which is good, because it will be a learning experience for me even though it’s a little hard. We will be together until March so I am sure that we will do great things together and get a lot done.
Juan and Armando
Juan and Armando came back and man Armando’s family is amazing! They are a super solid family from Mexico and it sounds like they are here to stay! His wife was relief society president and she is awesome! They’ve really been helping Juan a lot. Juan committed to a date for January 26th but for some reason his wife is still really opposed to it. Even though we thought she was warming up to us she has told him that she will leave him if he ever becomes a member. But Juan and Armando think she is bluffing. So Juan is still working for that day and with help from Armando’s family he will get there we just really need a lot of prayers for him and his wife.
Maira and Others
We have a couple new investigators. we set a date with a lady named Maira for the 26th as well and it looks like she is doing good. Elder Jones and I have a lot of work to do here but we are excited to do it. We have a lot of potential here and we also have a lot of work to do.
Christmas Wishes
Thanks to everyone that sent me Christmas wishes! I really appreciate all of you, even if you didn’t. We had a great day, we spent both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at Presidente Garcia’s house. I love their family so much. They made Christmas for us and since this was their first Christmas away from all of their family they said we made Christmas for them too 🙂 it was awesome. We went to some old folk’s homes and caroled. President Garcia played his guitar and I played a violin. It was a lot of fun!
Love,
Elder Viitanen
