MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Hey guys Merry early Christmas!! I can't believe it's almost Christmas already, times flying by right now! The other day, I was riding my bike and had like my eighth bike crash so far. My comp decided to take a shortcut in an apartment complex and we were riding through the grass and it was soaking wet and we were riding over some roots popped out of the ground and I hit one at an angle and my tire slid along the wet root and my bike slid out from under me and I like went hardcour face first into the grass and literally slid across the wet grass on my face like three feet and my body landed on my bike hard enough to snap my whole chain off. I literally had a mouth full of mud and grass and was putting my chain back on while picking grass out of my teeth and spitting out mud in the dark because my comp didn't see that I had fallen. God really tested my patience in that moment but it's funny now haha. It should be good though cause my Uncle Steven sent me some training wheels that I've been using lately, so thanks Uncle Steven!

Another funny moment this week, me and my comp went to dinner at a members house and my comp left to go to the bathroom while I was talking to the elderly couple. About five minutes after he left, I'm talking to the couple and I hear the most explosive sounds coming from the bathroom. I sat there stunned because I couldn't believe it and I tried so hard not to laugh, and then, like two minutes later, I hear the exact same explosive sound erupt from the bathroom and I had tears running down my face while trying not to laugh and the couple wasn't laughing. (To all my boys reading this, it was just like sophomore year with freaking Mrs Tolliver and we always were having to hold in our laugh in class lol.) He came out of the bathroom with his head down and he just started apologizing and I fell to the ground and I could not stop laughing it was so bad. The lady said "it's OK, we just got that bathroom redone anyways." And I said "you might wanna get it redone again cause I think he just exploded it" lol. We left early cause we couldn't share a spiritual message cause I couldn't stop laughing and I felt bad.

We had our mission Christmas party this week and it was so fun! I got to see my boy Elder Austin before he left to Peru yesterday:( I'll be there soon though! Our mission president got us all these little gifts and I never thought I'd be hyped out of my mind for some highlights, shampoo, and notebooks, but I was so excited, it felt like Christmas morning to get them haha.

My comp and I have been knocking so many doors, so we played this game one day where we had to say a certain word during a contact at the door and we had to say swimming pool, Spider-Man,Kolob, and The Bubonic Plague. It was so funny and made it so much more fun, but we decided to stop cause it definitely took away from the spirit.

Anyways, I've met some awesome people here and I'm having so much fun! We've done sooo much service this week which kinda blows but it's still really good. I met this little black kid who's probably like 12 a d his name's Jamaal and the kid just started talking crap to me. He walks up to me and he's with his little buddies and he goes, "bro when are we gonna 1v1 in basketball, cause I'm gonna cook you up?" And I have no idea who the kid is and I was just like "bro what is going on I don't even know you?" And he was going off about how I was too scared to 1v1 him and how that we were supposed to 1v1 a couple weeks ago and that I didn't show up to play him and he was saying that all of these high schools are recruiting him and I was like "bro aren't you like 11 years old?" And he goes, "naw bro I'm 12." And then he was telling me to pull up to his elementary school during his recess at 12:15 to 1v1 him and I was like, "bro I'm not tryna go to jail, but I'd cook every single one of you boys." Anyways, he kept talking crap, so if you wanna see me absolutely COOK Jamaal, pull it to Parkridge elementary school at 12:15 on Thursday haha.

Spiritual moment: We have this guy named Troy on date for baptism, but we keep putting off his date because he won't follow one of the commandments. He goes to church every week for months, and knows it's true, but won't follow it which is so frustrating. We finally met with him and just addressed his issue and I said "Troy, do you know the Book of Mormon and the church are true?" And he said "yes of course." And I said, "do you have a desire to be baptized?" And he said "absolutely." I then shared the scripture Alma 34:31-33 where it talks about how the day of our salvation is now and not to procrastinate our salvation. Its a FIRE scripture, and he started crying and said that he would live the commandments and be baptized. It was sooo cool!! He should be baptized in a few weeks and I'm so excited for him. This church is so true!!

I love and miss you guys so much! I think about you all the time and hope you all have a great week! If you want to send me anything, my address is 6833 W Bell Rd, Glendale, AZ 85308.

Pics:

Peep my training wheels on my bike now