December 14, 2015

This week has been sweet!! Transfers were Wednesday and since then I have been in the new area! It's COMPLETELY different. I'm in the Gresham stake, but technically my whole area is in Portland.

There is some extremely interesting people and places to talk to and see.

We already had a pretty cool experience the first day I came out. We were finding and tracked into a family that had just moved here from Africa(Congo). They have a really hard time speaking and understanding english, but are able if we speak slowly. We ended up coming back and teaching the restoration, and they all believe it's true! Saturday we took a couple investigators to a child record baptism and after they said they were certain they want to be baptized as well. The ward is a lot different than my last for sure. It's kind of cool to be totally caught up in one area and kind of have a formula for what you think would help the people you are serving in a specific area, and then move areas and have to start from scratch because what worked in the last area will be totally different in every area. We are determined to hit the pavement hard this transfer though and are relying on the Lord to open our spiritual eyes for how we can really boost the work in this area. Despite the contrast of needs and trials in every area, there is one thing every area, even person in the world, needs the same...and that's a savior. For those who haven't seen the Mormon message "a savior a born" , I like it because for one, I never cease to feel the spirit when I watch it(I've have seen it like 35 times), and two, it does a good job depicting that a savior was born not just for us, the American people, but was a gift from our father to the WORLD(1 nephi 10:4). I like to resemble gift giving as a representation of the great gift we celebrate and had been given to us by the Father. In the video, it sais rejoice three times(with sincerity and enthusiasm). Do we really rejoice? I will honestly say I haven't done enough to show my gratitude for my savior, and never will be able to show enough appreciation for the gift that had been given in Bethlehem. I invite you all to pray in gratitude and an opportunity to walk in the steps of our savior this Christmas season. Peace, happiness, and joy is promised if we do our best to walk as he walked. I can testify to it because I feel that as I do my best to serve him out here in good ole Warshington. Love you guys! Have an awesome coming week!

Sincerely,

Elder Andrew

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