You had snow... we had rain. 12/9/09

First off, sorry. I forgot to tell you its Temple P-day, so that's why you're getting this on Wednesday.

There is so much to say! What a week and a half!! To make sure I don't miss anything I'll go by day.

Tuesday the 1st:
Elder Thiriot went on splits with our district leader in his Area, so it was me and his trainee Elder Davis for tuesday. Well we didn't get a lot of work done on account that Elder Davis got some kind of Stomach bug and was confined to his bed all day. So Elder Thiriot and Elder Clark took the scheduled appoitments we had that day and I got caught up on my BOM reading. I don't know if I told you but the mission is trying to read the BOM and the New Testament before December ends. So I sat in and read all day while Elder Davis slept off his sickness. Also what happened tuesday was that Christian and Jasmine had their baptismal interviews. About an hour before we had them scheduled the mom calls me. We have had a hard time getting the mom to be supportive of her kids getting baptized. I talked to her for an hour on the phone and convinced her to let the kids be interviewed. She hates me now, but they were interviewed. She wasn't there for the interview so she couldnt sign the form saying it's ok for us to baptize them.

Wednesday 2nd:
Did a lot of tracting, with little success. A lot of riding too, If I did gain any wieght, it's gone now. Tried to go by Christian and Jasmine to get the mom to sign the paper, but no one was home.

Thursday 3rd:
A lot more tracting, some return appointments, some less actives who still aren't very interested. Tried Christian and Jasmine, no bueno.

Friday 4th:
We wake up, do our studies, then half way through our language study we have to go to the store to get some immodium and some gatorade because Elder Thiriot is sick and we will be in the apartment all day. I read from the beginning of Jacob to the middle of Alma within those three days. Elder Clark and I try to stop Christian and Jasmine, still no answer.

Saturday 5th:
Elder Thiriot is up and running and we're both eager to get some work done. First thing, GET THE PAPER SIGNED!! We got some luck this time and found Rosa, the mom, home. We talked to her on the porch, she told me she didn't like me, actually wouldn't talk to me for the first few minutes and made her some translate because Elder Thiriot's spanish isn't that great yet. We told her that Missionary's have been coming by for months now and there isn't anything else we can teach the kids. She still didn't think they were ready for baptism. So we said if they don't get baptized, we don't come over cause we are on the lords time and need to be teaching the people ready to do his will. She said fine and that she'll still take them to church and everything. So we dropped C&J, the day before their baptism.

Sunday 6th:
Church was good, Guadalupe came and her husband!!! They also came to the Christmas Devotional with us that night and watched Lilia ( the referral I had from Compton) get baptized. Guadalupe really liked the baptism and the devotional. Then we went finding for the rest of the night.

Monday 7th:
You had snow, we had rain. All day. Lots of it too. Cold rain. On bikes. Wet. Cold. Hard.
My rain jacket and sweater work really good. Just that I think I lost a couple fingers and toes. I'm suprised I'm not sick from Monday. We tracted most of the day in the rain. One of the last doors we knocked on was a guy named Jose. In his mid 20's from mexico. We didn't even say what we were doing and he let us right in. He said he had been praying all night the night before that God would send him some one to teach him the word. He knew that we were answers to his prayer. He had a lot of questions, we had a little bit of time. So we answered as many as we could and set up an appointment for the next day.

Tuesday 8th:
Did some good tracting with some good success. Met with Jose, who still had a lot of questions and really liked to talk. It was hard to get controll of the conversation but when we did it was really good! We gave him a Book of Mormon and he told us when he knows it's true then he'll need to be baptized. He just needs to come to church and then he's practically wet.

So this week has been pretty crazy. The last couple days have been pretty cold. I don't know if it's just cause I'm already used to California weather but it's been pretty cold here lately. We had a good day at the temple today, a little scary half way through our session when the lady in the head couple passes out at the alter. She hit her head on the alter and on the floor when she went down. They brought up a wheel chair and she's going to be fine. Apparently she had been sick, still not something you usually see during an endownment session.

I got that it's starting to look more like Christmas in Utah. I see decorations, we sing songs, but it still doesn't feel like christmas until there is snow. So could you just send some our way. It's kinda sad the only Christmas Decorations we have are a nativity Elder Thiriot's parents sent, and a Santa in a Jet Airplane throwing out gifts. (The airplane is my favorite) Don't worry, you'll get my SD card soon Mom.

Well that's about it for this week. We got a lot of follow up appointments for next week with some promising people. We're working hard, but so is the advisary. Hopefully the spirit of the season will help us out.

I love you all and hope you enjoy the snow for me!

Elder Groves