Another New Companion

Hello my dearest family,

They bought a real Christmas tree!

So this week was really awesome with Elder Baker. We had a fantastic week and we got a lot of work done. We've been working very hard with E and with the family we've been teaching, and they are all still planning on being baptized!! We met with E the other day and asked him about his parents allowing him to be baptized because he said it was a bad idea for us to come and talk with his family about being baptized. So he came to us the other day and said that his dad wouldn't allow him to be baptized because his dad is a different religion.

After talking a bit longer we found out that his dad is really just frustrated with him because he's been sluffing his last hour of school almost every day and he's starting to get bad grades. So I told him he needed to go to school and to be a good kid and then we asked if he had prayed for his dad's heart to be softened and let him be baptized into our church. He said he had so we told E that his prayer would be answered very soon. 

The next day was Sunday and he came into sacrament meeting with a huge smile on his face saying that his dad had given him permission to be baptized!! We were all super stoked and jumping up and down like little girls. Good day!!

So that's all the amazing stuff that happened this week. This last Tuesday though, Elder B and I were walking after a District Meeting and we were just walking and chatting about life and in front of us is this 16 or 17 year old boy. Pretty tall and big and I was noticing that he was flipping something in his hand. I thought it was just keys to a house or something and then he turned around and approached us and Elder B got this big concerned look on his face and then I heard him ask if the kid had a problem. I watched Baker grab the kid, twist his arms around his head, and then B slammed him into the side of a parked car that was off to the side of the road. I guess this kid didn't have keys to someone's house, he had a butterfly knife. Thankfully B saw it and realized what it was. The kid just walked away and we went our way. So that was kinda crazy. 

Missionary life!

But I had to say good bye to Elder B today. Elder O (An Albanian elder waiting for his visa.) left today to start his mission and I am being put with Elder A who is going home in 15 days. He's really excited to go home but we are super excited to serve together for a short little while. He was on Special Assignment with Elder W but they got taken off that and now I'm with A. (Special assignment missionaries work strictly with men working to get the Melchezadic Priesthood.  Albania is hoping to form their first Stake in the next few months, and they need a lot of priesthood leadership.  Exciting for Albania!!)I'm really excited to serve with him. He lives close to us and skiis all winter long. So we have a lot in common. We've talked about Lee's Mongolian  BBQ a ton and lots of other stuff about Utah. It should be fun if he doesn't get me too trunky and stuff. 

Cleaning out the baptism font this last week.  Jed said it was growing some serious mold, and these missionaries are having a lot of success and baptizing, so it needed a good cleaning!

Sunday dinner at the Senior  Missionary couple's home.  This wonderful older couple feeds this group of missionaries every Sunday.  So kind!!

Dinner must have been good!  

Thanks for telling me about Gus. (One of our dogs died this week.  It was so sad.)I'm incredibly disheartened that he is gone though. I honestly thought Lucy (Our other dog.)was gonna go first but I guess not. I feel bad if he was hurting before he died. It does break my heart though. He was a stud of a dog. His ridiculous crooked run. Or when the hay in the field would be up super high and you'd see his head bobbing up and down like a rabbit. 

Our favorite Gus died this last week.  He's been with our family for almost 13 years.  Such a good dog!  He will be missed.

Well I haven't gotten any packages yet. I did get the one from Erin though and it was awesome! She made me a sweet pillow case for Christmas and this fantastic peanut butter jello stuff that I ate for breakfast one day. It was amazing. 

Well I love you guys so much. I'm glad you got to see Kirsten this week at the farewell. She loves seeing you guys. Enjoy your week and have a good time getting ready for Christmas. I'll be skyping you at about 6 o'clock here which is about 10am there so be ready in the morning. I"M EXCITED!!

Love, Jed

Dear Mother,
those cookies on the blog look fantastic. Elder Brown is also sitting next to me and he was stoked to see his pic on the blog. I love you so much and thanks for writing me every week. 

Love, Jed