Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

Family and Friends,

This week was really slow with all the Holiday commotion. Good new is we taught Jeff and officially invited him to hear the discussions. I didn't know if what he was going to say. It could have gone either way but he said yes. He has already been taught all the lessons when he was sitting in with his kids but now we are going to help him keep commitments and act in faith. We are really excited for that.
I received the news from Elder T. Brown that Gina who I taught like 15 times in Fullerton got baptized on Saturday! It was cool because when I was there I said a prayer after a lesson to help her find out a perfect date for her to get baptized. Right when I finished, Gina said that she saw Christmas time was the right time for her. Well, a week before Christmas she was baptized and It is a miracle with all the opposition that came her way. I am so grateful I was able to be a part of that. She is going to be an amazing member!
Speaking of miracles. A couple weeks ago Elder Anderson decided to go knock on the huge mansions on the hills to see if we could find anyone that was interested. Nobody answered besides like one Filipino lady who is catholic. So we thought that was a waste. Well a couple days ago a lady called us and asked if we could help her and her husband put up a tree. She explained she isn't a active member but she would love to feed us dinner. We get there and this lady was a character. She was going burzurk, so excited to see us. We walk in and the house and it is huge! I repeat huge! It was so nice inside. House was so beautiful! She right then and there opened up to us that she has been suffering with depression for the past two years because of events that transpired. She explained to us that she hadn't gotten out of bed for 6 months. Not showering for that amount of time either. I was like whoa! You were depressed. She told us how she is a convert to the church and how her husband who is a orthopedic surgeon does not believe in God. She said that she prayed to Heavenly Father to deliver her out of this state of mind. Well not soon after, we knocked on her door. She saw our name tags but she was too embarrased to open the door because how big of a mess she was. Well, she is out of bed now and has snapped out of her depression. She is going to start coming to church and wants us to try to teach her husband. She wants to spoil us this Christmas but we are already spoiled to be part of this miracle of being an answer to her prayer. Tender mercies of the lord are every where.
This Sunday I was suprised to get a new Bishopric in the ward. Also to see the Shelly family from my home ward at my sacrament meeting. It was cool to see them and to hear that they have been at Disneyland. I am so close but yet so far away! It was really cool to get a little peice of home. I am very grateful they took the time to suprise me. Thank you Brother and Sister Shelly!
I am so excited for Christmas and to talk to my family! I Love them and miss them very much. I wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Elder Brown