12/20

Hey everyone! So..i don't know what it is..but for some reason i'm finding this Christmas season to be a little bit harder than last year. Not harder as in discouraging..but harder as in..i miss y'all a little more this year. Christmas really didn't even phase me at all last year..I guess it's because of all the talk about going fishing and dove hunting, and it makes me a little jealous! =) haha.. Or it could be the fact that all of our investigators have gone on their Christmas leave and noone is in town anymore!! haha..that's a little frustrating, but i know things will work out! So..a miracle happened..Ryan Dudash was able to get some money and fly home to see his family..which is great because he hasn't seen his family since before his deployment to Afghanastan over a year ago. However..he doesn't get back until the 29th..and his baptism is scheduled for the first..so we're just hoping for another miracle to happen so that he can be baptized before he leaves for Fort Stewart, Georgia on the 10th. But yeah..this week has been really good..we had our Christmas Zone Conference on Tuesday..there's supposedly some really embarrassing videos of us singing on youtube if y'all wanna look them up. =)

Well..i'm truly grateful for the Christmas season. Something that we're doing as a mission is giving the Savior the gift of perfect obedience. It has really helped me to spend a little bit more time pondering about the Savior and all of the great stories of his life! It has made me a lot more grateful for the things that i have. I am grateful for these 2 short years that i have been given to represent the Savior full time as His servant. There's a man in the singles branch named Brother Brack who goes out with us quite a bit. But he can't serve a mission because of a back injury he incurred while deployed in Iraq, and he really wishes that he could be out here on the mission serving the Lord. He has helped me to truly be grateful for the ability to be able to do this, and has helped me realize the importance of the Christmas story, because without Christ, i wouldn't have the ability to do anything. I know that's true. Well..i hope y'all are doing great! I miss/love y'all a ton! I can't wait to speak to y'all on Saturday! Merry Christmas! =)

Elder Johnson

Brother Coleman's Baptism