Jan. 3, 2012

Dear Family,

First things first, since when did Hansen start wearing V-necks. Y'all have become more California than I have. Well, anyways now onto the less important matters. It sounds like this week was one to remember, i am surprised everyone survived. I am glad that BYU won, and the mavericks, and that you got to hug a six foot Elmo. It sounded like the real highlight of the trip. I did hear that the BYU game was a thriller, and in fact got invited to watch it with a couple of members that we had to stop by that morning. They said surely if missionaries were allowed to go to the game, surely we would be allowed to watch. Unfortunately our mission president is not as cool as president Durant, and didn't give us permission. Something about salvation of souls taking priority over football, or something along those lines was his reasoning. Oh well. I can't believe its already 2012 and that it has only been about a week from Christmas, somehow it seems like a lifetime. But now that the holidays are over, things should start going faster again.

Part of the reason for how long this week was though was the fact that it was so good. The main highlight was that we picked up some new people to teach. One was a family of six, a single mom trying to raise five kids. She said that she only realized a couple of months ago that in order to do it, she would need to learn how to forgive and allow God into her life. She said she was interested in our church and even asked what we do for people who want to start investigating it. We were all to happy to tell her. Her name is Tammy, and she is about as gracious as could be, meaning she actually invites us in. We are pretty excited and are going over tomorrow to teach them again and they should be going to church with us this Sunday.

We also started teaching a kid named Bubba. He is a senior in high school and has moved in with some members in the ward. He comes from a very hard background. His dad died when he was little and so he was raised by a very abusive step father. Finally just a couple of months ago he decided he had had enough and just ran away. His member friend found out about it and took him in. He has been going to seminary for the past couple of weeks, and young men. Well anyways the highlight of it all was this week we were able to teach him about the plan of salvation. Before we got half way into it he started asking questions about his dad, where he was and was there hope for him. We were able to teach him about the spirit world and about baptisms for the dead. Before we had finished the lesson he had probably asked three or four times whether we would help him go and get baptized for his father. He expressed how he had always been worried about him, and how he knew his real father was one of the only people that had actually loved him. Well needless to say he is pretty amped about the gospel, and has committed to getting baptized. We should set a date for him in the coming week. It was one of those moments where i became very thankful to come out on a mission to have experiences like this.

After that everything kind of pales in comparison. Especially our new years. We came in at 6:30 and were in bed at 10. We were able to make it fun though. Transfers are a week from today, and all indications are that i will probably stay in Temecula but get a new companion. So we will see how things go but I am optimistic that things will continue to go forward here in Temecula. Thanks again for everything. It is exciting to know that 2012 will be spent in the service of our Lord. Love you all.

Elder Blake

PS. I cant think of anything for my birthday except that calender and yeah that's all I got. Good luck shopping with that direction.