Christmas

Merry Christmas – 12/26/11

Crazy week. Christmas was definitely different this year. We had a mission Christmas conference. That was good. All the missionaries in the mission were all together. President Prieto always has a Christmas Tree full of chocolate in his house and he carried on the tradition here on the mission. It was good to see all my old companions. Everyone is doing well and we had a lot of fun. The mission staff put on a nice Christmas program with lots of music. Afterward, there were quite a few games, including a banana eating contest.

Christmas was good. The members fed us really well Christmas Eve and Christmas. To top it all off we had a baptism on Christmas. We baptized a young man who we found a few weeks ago. He had already talked to the missionaries when his sister was meeting with the missionaries a long time ago. He was ready and wanted to be baptized so we had a good Christmas. I got to use Skype to call home and it was really good seeing and talking to the family. Everyone looked good and happy. Only one more week left in 2011. 2012 will be interesting. 70% of the missionaries in the mission arrived in 2011 with me. There is only 30% that has more than a year on the mission. There will be a lot of leadership positions to fill here in the next few months. Lets see what 2012 brings before the Mayan calender runs out. :p

I hope everyone had a good Christmas, and have a happy New Year!

Elder Siemers

Feliz Natal! – 12/19/11

Another good week in Franca. Another week with un-Christmas like weather. One of our investigators works in an ice cream shop and we have discovered that they sell buckets of10 liters of ice cream for really cheap. That was a good find. Before church yesterday, we went to pick somebody up to bring them to church. At the meeting spot there was a bunch of vulture like birds that were eating a dog that was hit by a car on the highway. On our way back a little puppy came out from under the bridge we were on and started following us. You could tell he was hungry and thirsty but he followed us anyway. We decided to bring him to a church member's house just to feed him a little bit before sending him out to the street again. We were also pretty sure that his mom was the dog that was on the side of the road. The little guy followed us for a super long distance but then he got tired. Just then, a church member pulled up in his car and offered us a ride to church. I couldnt just leave him in the street so we brought the puppy with us. At the church we found some water for him, and a woman gave him some milk. During church he kept coming in the building, but everyone was very good about it. After the second sunday school class I didnt see him again. I heard that a member took him to an animal shelter, but I have no idea if that really happened. I hope he makes it. He was really cute. It was a very Where the Red Fern Grows type of experience. I gave a talk in church about Happiness in our lives. I think people enjoyed it. People were paying attention anyway. =) There is a Sister missionary who is completing her mission. Her family came down to pick her up and tour Brazil. They are from California also, so it was fun to talk to them, and translate for them. They even have been rafting on the Lower Klamath, so they are somewhat familiar with Northern California. They've got family in Auburn, and so I told them Ive got family in Lincoln. Last night was our Ward Christmas Party. It was a lot of fun. We have been filming ward members, and a man in the ward made a video of everyone saying Merry Christmas. At the end of the film, Carolyn showed up. I was in the back, next to the food table, but I ran to the front to watch. Next was Calvin, Sam and Taron. Next Jay and Rachel and the kids showed up, with Mom, Dad, Ty, Tam, and the kiddos finishing up the Elder Siemers segments. It was awesome. Im not going to lie. The Man of Steel almost shed a few tears. It was a wonderful surprise. Thank you very much! I hope everyone is having an awesome winter. And Merry Christmas!!!!

Elder Siemers