I almost committed manslaughter

This week is the week of the mission Christmas get together and Temple trip. We are all super excited down here. Everyone has there new companion and are ready to rock and roll! With regards to missionary work, of course. Actual rock and roll is not approved... :(

Anyway! I'm with Elder Young again and he is excited to be killing me off. I'll do my best to stay focused and not make my companion trunky. I'm not trunky, really, which is the words missionaries use for someone who wants to go home already. I'm going to be way sad when I leave! But change is a part of life I suppose. 

Nothing has really happened that is worthy of report. We didn't have a baptism this past weekend because it was postponed on the request of the investigator. We are meeting with him tonight and will talk about it then. Some people just need a little more time than others. That's alright :)

One more thing, I accidentally hit a little girl with my car. BUT DON'T WORRY! She is fine :) It was a small townhouse complex and there were a lot of little kids running around at a hispanic birthday party, pinata and all. I wasn't paying attention and neither was she when she ran into the middle of the parking lot. I stopped when I finally did notice but still knocked her down with my headlight. Everyone screamed and her dad kicked and dented the car. I had no idea what to say to them! She was fine though. After driving off then concluding that we needed to fill out a police report for legal purposes we went back and talked to the parents. They turned out to be nice and not angry and the police came and took all the info they needed and it was over. In the end we said a prayer with the family and I got a little card with my report number as a souvenir :) the little girl who I had hit, who I found out was celebrating her fifth birthday that day, came up to me and gave me a juice box, which I saw as a peace offering :D 

After it all we took our dinner hour at the Waffle House down the road. Man, it was just a weird day that day.

But any-who! I love you all! Stay warm! Build me a snowman if you have snow in your area!

-Elder Vance :D

Who shall go up to the Mountain of the Lord?

Seasons greetings! Happy holidays! Merry X-mas! 

Just wanted to be politically correct, you know? Who's to say that someone might read my email who doesn't like 'Christmas' and gets all offended. we wouldn't want that to happen, now, would we? 

Just playing! MERRRRYYYY CHRISTMASSS!! Well, not quite yet. Still a few days til the actually 25th, but close enough! this is the time to sing loud a clear that 'Christ' belongs at the forefront of Christmas. Did you watch the Christmas devotional last night? I did. It was great! 

What was also great is that we had a baptism for the little sister of Pedro and went to the Temple and did Baptisms for the dead the following day! Oh how sweet the Gospel sound! We attended the Temple with two of our recent converts, Pedro Chavez and Martin Alanis. IT was a really sweet experience for everyone and made for some great Temple-side photos ;D

We are planning on having the Baptism of Christian Gutierrez this Saturday. Then maybe we'll be able to go to the temple again and do some more Baptisms. 

So transfers are this week and I am pretty sure I am staying here in Norcross until I go home in January. My companion is leaving and actually getting switched to a Portuguese branch. Haha, fun for him! And I have yet to find out who I'll be receiving here in the Norcross branch. We'll see. It'll all turn out fine.

'Til we meet again. Or until I email next week.

-Elder Vance

Dreaming of a White CHRISTmas

I didn't have to look at the calendar to know that it's December already. Why? No, it's not snowing yet. Just that all I am hearing now is that classing Christmas music wherever we go! I don't mind it or anything. It actually brings back a lot of memories of Christmases in the past. 

We are all dreaming of a white Christmas down here as well. Again, not referring to snow. But to people dressed in white standing in a baptismal font. We had a lovely baptismal service this past Saturday for the daughter of one of our other recent converts. And we will be having another one this upcoming Friday for the sister of a different recent convert that we have. If we can keep this up our Christmas will be the whitest one I've had yet! 

Among the various miracles we've seen recently is one of Jesus. No, not the one from the Bible. But the one from El Salvador (which is funny because 'El Salvador' means 'Savior'). Jesus Ventura is a 23 year old who has only been in the USA for about a year now. Upon arriving, illegally, he was apprehended and incarcerated. While in jail he came to the point of praying and pleading with God that if he were allowed to stay he would serve him, he just needed God to guide him. Later he was told he would have to go to court once a year for four years and was allowed to stay for at least that time. Once freed he began searching for a church and happened upon the number of the Mormon misisonaries. He remembered having seen them in his country but never attended before. So around Friday Elder Galvez and I get a message from Jesus saying he wanted to come to church. We got him a ride and stayed by his side for all three hours of church yesterday. We can't say for sure what will happen next but he has expressed desires to become a missionary himself and serve like we do. What a miracle!

I'll keep my eyes, ears, and heart out for more to tell you next week. Love you all!

-Elder Vance

Miracles!

This week was busy.

How about yours?

We had a wedding and knocked on some doors.

Said god bye to our friend and wished him farewell.

Hope he reads his scriptures so he won't end up in....a bad situation.

How are we doing? I don't have much time to type but in brief we had no baptism this week but are planning on having one this Saturday. We did have a wedding, though, of our recent convert Kiet. They are moving back to his place in Massachusetts today which is sad. :( But he was able to get his old job back and continue supporting his new wife's family from there. He is such as good guy! I'll miss that Korean-looking Vietnamese kid!!

I have two more things to say. One sweet and the other not so sweet but pretty funny. As we were driving to the library today to email we noticed a little kid in the car next to us looking at us while we were at a red light. One of the Elders in the car starting waving at him and as well got the attention of the dad. We rolled down our windows to be friendly and say hi and it turns out he spoke Spanish. He looked at us for a moment and then said, "Oh, are you from the Churcho f the Latter-day Saints? I am a member who just came from Mexico about a month ago and I don't know where the church is!" The light turned green so we couldn't talk much but we then pulled over and exchanged info. He said his wife was not a member either and was wanting to be baptized. It was just a crazy 'coincidence' that we found him like that but we know that wasn't just a lucky situation. God works in mysterious ways for the Salvation of his children. I'd count that as a nice, mini-miracle!

Thing number two: it was raining yesterday. But that's not any surprise. The funny and sad thing was that our driver-side front window was stuck down all day. We couldn't roll it up. And we got wet. It was open all night before we found out and then we tried to use a plastic cover to keep us dry but it didn't allow me to see as I drove. (my companion made me drive :p ) But it's not raining today and so far the car has not been stolen. Yay! :D Other than that we are all safe and sound down here in Georgia.

I love you all. Happy Thanksgiving! Merry Christmas! Happy New year! ..Just in case I forget to say those later. 

-Elder Vance

When Elders find an emergency blanket in their apartment...

Wedding time!

This new scarf makes me feel kind of fashionable

Brrr. It's getting chillier down here in the south. No presence of snow yet but the signs are pointing to it soon. And after last winter I hope we are more prepared :/ Jeez, a little ice and these people go nuts...anyway!

We are pleased to announce we had another wonderful, successful baptism and confirmation this past Saturday and Sunday. Pedro Chavez is the oldest of four children of a family that has met with missionaries for a little over a year. They are related to a member family and have loved the missionaries coming over. Pedro was the first to take the steps to change his life, which he really did, and the rest should follow shortly. He is only fifteen but he has made a strong start for the rest of his life. I'm really happy to have been a part of it all.

No planned baptism for this week but we have a few goals for the following weeks. I'm not trying to slow down now that I'm reaching the end. I'm really trying to not even think of the end of my mission, which isn't made any easier by telling you all about it. :P But it's true, I am an oldy-folgy here is the GANM (Georgia Atlanta North Mission) But that's okay. I'm not worried about it. Just keep setting goals and knocking doors and koo-koo-ka-chu, soon enough I'll be heading out to the big ol' BYU... I'll come home for a little first, of course, Mom. :D But for now I'll enjoy what I'm doing more than ever. 

-Elder Vance

It's getting chilly!!

Greetings from way down here in the southern parts of the USA. Well, I'm not that south actually. But compared to some it's still pretty low. I have a question, though. I was always taught the further south you go the warmer it gets. But it is still super chilly! Jeepers I miss the heat. I mean, I like the change of season but overall I'd rather be hot than freezing. At least it hasn't snowed yet. But I hear next week it might. We shall see. Hmmmmm. But if it does I will have an excuse to use one of the only lines from 'Frozen' that I know of while I'm tracting. 'Do you want to build a snowman??' I can see it being a great proselyting tool. Hearts will be touched.

We were able to have a wonderful baptism and confirmation this weekend for our great friend Kiet Anh Le. Born in Vietnam and raised in Massechusets. He found the Gospel through his girlfriend who was baptized with her family when the missionaries found them one day. We only had to teach him for about a month before he was ready to be baptized unto repentance, as we read in the Book of Momron. He is a really smart guy and we feel luck to have been a part in his entrance to the Gospel. 

Really, the friends one makes on a mission, with the other missionaries and with the people they teach, are ones that will be kept forever. I'm so grateful to have been able to come here to Georgia and learn so much as I tried my best in helping others learn about who they really are.

Best of luck this week with all your goals and endeavors! And if you have no goals or endeavors I invite you to repent and get off of the couch and go get some! :D

-Elder Vance

Baptism for "Two"

District Meeting

Baptism of a pregnant Becky

Elder Houtz and Vance