Rockin' Around the Christmas Trees

It's the most wonderful time of the year down here in Beach, Green Cape (literal translation) and I'm just having the hollyest jollyest old time down here! Last week I recieved some Christmas music (special thanks to my mom) and I just got so stoked for Christmas to come! We saw the church's new Christmas video and now we get to use it along with christmas.mormon.org and I just got so stoked! Christmas trees are coming up around town! I even heard a worldy Christmas song playing in someone's house! Get pumped, people!

Well, the great news is that our boss investigator André is progressing along very well! He accepted the date of the 19th this month to be baptized! He passed by us the other day and reminded us about church on Sunday, haha! Also, the last time we talked to him, he brought in his friend who was a little drunk at the time. We had planned to teach him the Word of Wisdom, and he ended up basically taking over the lesson and teaching and supporting his friend as we explained it. It was so cool. His friend also wanted to talk with us more, so we're going to teach him this week. His name's Cebola, which literally means Onion. He's a pretty funny guy.

As for how the rest of the work is going, I feel like we've run into a little bit of a stunt right now. The investigators that we thought were really progressing lost interest in progressing, a lot of appointments that we set up fell, and I just felt like we did a lot more walking than sitting and teaching. Our investigators Giovana and Zekinha pretty much fell, and we had to drop a lot of others who weren't progressing either. These moments happen in the mission, and you just gotta push through it until you reach a breakthrough. They always come, if you try hard enough. The Lord rewards you for your work, you just gotta find out where He's put it.

Some cool news though is that Elton John's girlfriend had her baby this last week! We showed up to our appointment and it took us about 3 seconds to understand why everyone was at the hospital. We've been working a lot on helping him find the courage to start working towards marriage with his girlfriend, and I think that his feelings for his newborn child will help him out with that. We're praying for it, we've got the faith, now we just need to put the plan in action! Also, in funny news, we learned that he's got a brother... named Elvis. We think his mom is a fan of the classics, haha.

I think one of the biggest things I've learned on my mission so far is to have patience. Patience with a companion who I don't agree with, patience with people that need more time to progress, and especially patience that the Lord's timing is much better than mine. I understand much better that some people aren't ready to make huge changes in their lives until they see and understand the smaller changes that happen from following simpler rules. For example, if an investigator has a job on Sunday and doesn't want to lose it no matter how we explain the Day of the Lord to him, I like to focus more on their reading of the scriptures and following other commandments that aren't so much of a struggle. As they realize the blessings that come from doing so, they'll feel more confidence that the Lord is also there to help with bigger challenges. As the scriptures say, we learn line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little. A little.

Well, that's all I have for this week. Spread that Christmas cheer! Start jingling them bells, dangit! Make sure you have a not so silent night!

Abraço para todos,

Elder Kringle-Penner