Merry Christmas to All

Merry Christmas to all from a much too sunny San Diego. I miss the snow. Everything is still lush and green here, and I'm going insane. We've actually had a rough week in anticipation of Christmas. We've had a couple of investigators drop us, and several others have gone to Mexico for the next 2 weeks, which means that I may be leaving right when they all come back. On top of that, street contacting has gone very badly for the last little while. We haven't added very many investigators in the last month or so. But we keep trying. We keep walking. And the other night, we were walking and this guy introduces his drunk (very drunk) friend to us, and tells us to talk about God with him. The drunk guy's name was S, and he had something to tell us. He asked us what the Lord's name was, and after a lot of drunk confusion, he tells us, "IMAGINE. A guy like ME. On the STREET. With a BACKPACK. Who knows the name of the Lord.", and me and Elder T were like, "Hey. We walk on the street with a backpack, and we know the name of the Lord." Then his friend came back and snatched S away. But just a little way down the street, we ran into a really punk gangster that likes Mormons. And he was just about as drunk as the first guy. He then tells us about how he got stabbed in the head, (shows us the scar), and says that everyone is out to get him, and that's why he carries a gun. But he likes us missionaries, because we're cool. Then he talks (again) about how he got stabbed in the head, (shows us the scar), and talks about some fights that he's been in. Then he says some random stuff, and says "That's in the Bible. NAH HA JUST KIDDING. Heh. Yeah." and proceeds to tell us about how he got stabbed in the head, (shows us the scar) and says "Who wants a stabbing in the head? Nobody. Nobody wants that." and pretty quick after that, we parted ways. Then once we were out of ear-shot, Elder T and I just busted up laughing about the "Who wants a stabbing in the head?" bit. That was fun.

Anywho, not much has happened this week. We had a Christmas program on Sunday, where the primary sang some songs, and they had ward members read scripture passages for the Nativity. Then the S M family got up and sang an acapella piece of Silent Night. And on Saturday morning, we had a Mission Christmas Party from 9-12. They served us some muffins and juice, we had a tie gift exchange for the Elders, and an accessory gift exchange for the Sisters. I got my Zone leader's tie. Don't know who got mine. But after that, we went and watched a slideshow for all of the baptisms of this year, and I saw the ones of me with our recent converts. Then President C got up and announced some things, and announced that the new mission president for our mission had been called. He is President S from Texas, and will be arriving this upcoming Summer. President then bore his testimony to us all, and as we all left the chapel after the prayer, he and Sister C just stood there watching us leave, smiling the whole time. I really enjoyed it.

So I had an amazing miracle happen last Tuesday when I was mailing my packages. I stepped up to the counter with my several packages, one for the family, one for the Crooks in Wisconsin, and a couple for my friends, and it came out to $35 shipping. So I pulled out my wallet to pay, and this random lady walks up and says "I got it.", swipes her card, and signs off the payment before I could say anything. I just kind of stood there dumbfounded, and was like "Why?" and she said "You're on your mission, and you're far from home. Merry Christmas." Then I just sat there with my mouth open. So...yeah. That just happened. She then proceeded to help the other three Elders with their packages as well, helping them wrap and secure their packages. But mine were the only ones that she payed for. So. Early Christmas miracle.

-Love, Elder Crook