Seguimos adelante!

Letter from Dec 30, 2013

Merry New Year and Happy Kwanzaa! Hasn't 2013 just been a blast? I'm sure many of you can hardly believe that another year is rolling around already. (Spoiler alert: It does that every twelve months or so.) I hope all your Christmases were white and full of Joy! I want to thank everyone who sent me a Christmas card or a nice email! I loved every one of them! I wish I had the time to reply to all but sadly that is one thing as a missionary that you lack. Suffice it to say the candies were eaten, the socks are being worn, and the Holiday greetings were all taken to heart. :)

In many ways I'm bummed to say that it wasn't a completely 'white' Christmas here for my companion and I because we didn't get to have a December baptism. But one ability that every current and future missionary should quickly gain is the ability to not get discouraged and just move forward. Seguir adelante! Even though we didn't see anyone get baptized we still did meet many new people and share a small part of many different lives as we shared bits of the Restored Gospel with them. It really is sad when we see someone flat out reject the Restored Gospel. It's even more sad to hear that the ones I baptized in the first area of my mission might be inactive. But that's just part of being on the front lines of God's army. You get to see the successes and joys of people letting Christ in their hearts, but also you get to feel the sorrow God has when he sees His children fall into obscure and dark paths. :( But I'm a man so I don't cry! Nah, I'm just kidding, I'm a mushy-gushy marshmallow. No shame! But just like Adam and Eve i'm learning that with all the sorrow and trials I can now ever so more enjoy the sweet moments and the happiness. :) No efforts are wasted here.

In other news my companion and I have discussed it and we agree that we are converting to Catholicism. We already attended a Catholic Mass just last Saturday. It really was a beautiful building and a beautiful service. No, we aren't becoming Catholics but I do really enjoy the opportunity to actually go and see and get to experience how others practice their faith. Besides, we mostly do work with Catholics so we thought it fitting to actually see how they have church. Overall great experience :) 

Happy new year! (I would have said it in Spanish but without the Spanish 'N' with the squiggly on top for the word 'year' it kinda changes the meaning O.o)

Elder Vance