Christmas is Here December 21, 2015

First great news. These 2 people that Elder Fernande's and I were teaching in my last area got baptized this past Saturday. We put in a lot of time with these two individuals so when I heard they finally were all in I was so excited. 

So where did time go? I remember Christmas last year just as if it was yesterday. I cant say it enough time is flying by. So this week we saw some really awesome miracles. We were on exchanges with a companionship in our zone. During the exchange we had made specific plans to contact certain people. As we were on our way to go knocking doors I felt the need to go to another area. So we drove to the area that we felt we should go. Said a very sincere prayer, got out of the car, and went to this door right in front of us. We then proceeded to talk with this man for about an hour. They recently moved from Utah. While there his daughter got baptized. So we talked with him and committed him to a baptismal date. It was a really cool miracle. But then after the exchanges talked with Elder Boy and found out that he isn't in our area. He is across the street from out area so we cant teach him. It was a huge let down. You would think that being here for a month already I would get to know our area boundaries but i guess not. In my defense they are really weird. So also this week we saw another awesome miracle. We got a referral from the mission office. There is someone in the YSA that wants to learn more. So 1st he came to us. That always means there is a better chance of him progressing. Next he is engaged to a member. So he told us he wants to learn so they can get married in the temple. Were making sure though he is doing it for the right reasons. Which it looks like he really truly wants to know. So he will be a baptism coming up here soon. We are seeing a lot of success. On Saturday morning this side of the mission got together and watched Its a Wonderful Life. It was super funny. It was great to see old friends in the mission field. So altogether it was a pretty great week and we are looking forward to an awesome week this week. 

So this week something cool that i learned was this 

J.O.Y. 

Matt. 22:39

 34 ¶But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.

 35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,

 36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

 38 This is the first and great commandment.

 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

So lets break it down.

 J= Jesus & God. First we should love and serve them with all our heart, soul, and mind. 

 O= Others. We need to next serve and think of others before

 Y= yourself. We should be last in our thoughts and look to serve Jesus and others first. 

If we do those things we will have JOY. I just thought that was cool because I have not heard that before. 

-Elder Loertscher

These were right outside out church building.