Monday, December 30, 2013 - Happy 2014!

Hola mi familia, I had a super fun time talking to all of you Wednesday. Since we just talked and since the rest of the week was kind of dead, I don´t know how long this email will be. Just warning you. :) So I will just give a little review of the week and tell a few stories that I may have told, but just telling them again for the sake of whoever else didn´t hear it and for the blog. For Christmas Eve we got a few dinner invitations. We started off going with some investigators that had invited us and they filled us up with a good big plate. We ate what seemed like Turkey, with a few cold pasta salads and other things including tamales. We were going to eat a little in every visit that we made that night, but they just filled us up the first go round that we weren`t even hungry for the next visits. We did a few more visits and shared some messages of Christ and Christmas complete with ¨Silent Night¨ singing and all. We ended the night with with a member and her family. Pres. allowed us to be out until 10pm on Christmas eve and this week on New year’s eve too instead of the normal 9PM. As we were done with them, we were loaded up with food to take home and she gave us a ride. We stopped at a gas station to buy a soda and my comp and I stayed in the car. We were just there chillin, and then our attention was drawn to a lady. This lady was sitting on the side of the curb with kind of tattered clothes and only a blanket to cover her back. She had a few simple bags with her as well. We quickly realized that she was homeless and it touched our hearts to think that she was alone and cold on the side of the streets for Christmas eve. We thought of the food we had and assumed that she was probably hungry. I got out of the car and ran and gave her quite a bit of food we had. We had already eaten that food so it was really wasn’t necessary that we kept it especially if someone else in need needed it. As I gave her the food she was very grateful and said thank you. Even as I got back in the car, we could see her staring in the car window at us gesturing her thanks. The member returned and we drove off, and she continued to give us thanks as we continued on home. This had to be one of the most special Christmas Eve activities that I would have participated in my life. I don´t think I will ever forget it and I have made plans/goals to participate in an act like that every Christmas Eve--making a dinner and going around the city looking for those less fortunate. Christmas, the alarm went off and my comp immediately sat up in bed. He seemed happier than a 5 year on Christmas. We went into the other room to see what Santa had brought and open presents! We enjoyed our little gifts and had a good time with the little toys we received. We then headed over to a member’s to skype!!! After, we ate with them and continued our visits. We visited a few more and ate some more. We ended our Christmas visiting a member and her family and see what Santa had brought the Texans! Overall it was a good Christmas and, like last year, a lot more meaningful than past years! On Thursday we had a neat lesson with a guy. We had only met him once before and he seemed interested in going to church to see what was there and what it was like, so we went with him. We taught the message of the Restoration and when we got to the part about Jesus and His church and then the great Apostasy and Joseph Smith, we just had his full attention and he seemed captured in our words. I will never forget how interested and focused he was when we talked about Joseph Smith, especially telling the first vision! It was wonderful! The spirit was truly felt and we left a part of the Book of Mormon for him to read. Friday, we had a special meeting of Zone Leaders and District Leaders of the mission with Pres. and the Assistants. It was pretty good but kind of different. There was a major change announced about the way we will be counting numbers. Instead of counting lessons we have per day and week, we will be counting how many people we teach and contact. So the general just becomes more focused. There are a lot of time when we just get numbers in our head and we try to just meet the quota of lesson the Pres. sets for us a week that we are too worried about completing numbers instead of worrying about baptisms and that these numbers are actual souls and people we are working with. This is a different method and I think it will be good I just felt different in the meeting because a lot of things that they were explaining in the meeting were new and different to the way I have worked for the past 2 years and I don´t react well/adjust quickly to change. But seeing as how I only have 5 weeks left, it will only be for a time that I will have to deal with it. Sunday was a little depressing because it was supposed the last Sunday for investigators to attend church for me to be able to see them baptized...and no body went! It was sad! So we will pray hard for some miracle to be able to see someone baptized in this month. Today was kind of a fun day! We hike the Cerro de la Campana as a zone today and up top we played capture the flag! It was uber fun and I think everyone else enjoyed it. We have a fun zone and I love hanging out with them. Well, sadly I think that is all I have for this week...? Well, I hope you all have another fantastic week and enjoy the end of your vacays! They will quickly come to an end. Just 4 more emails from me so enjoy them while they last! :) I love you all! ¡Yo sé que vive mi Señor! Con Mucho Amor, Elder Joyner