Elder Edholm -- week 80

Well not much to say today because I pretty much told everything to you guys yesterday. But it was really great talking to everybody. We had a really cool zone activity today, we went on a hike through a jungle to a waterfall, then we went through a cave that had hundreds of bats, we were pretty much crawling on bat poop.

Anyway, I promise I'll send a picture of the baptism next Monday.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...oh wait, I'm not dreaming

2 feet drifts on our back deck

Last minute Christmas happenings

Lucy sings in the Glee Club at school and they sang their songs on Friday.  It was very cute.  In one of the songs they are singing about pumpkin pie and at the end they all put their faces into the pie!
Lucy is standing next to one of her good friends, Elliza:

Lucy is in the pink shirt

I drove up to Cody yesterday to pick Audrey up from the airport.  While I as waiting I saw this Bear Spray sign and had to laugh.  Only in Wyoming would there be a bear spray deposit sign at the airport!

It's good to have Audrey with us:

As per our tradition we opened Christmas jammies on Christmas Eve:

Christmas tree #1

Emma is home and she wanted us to wait to cut down the Christmas tree until she was able to go with us.  So today Brian, Emma, and I drove to Ten Sleep, bought the tree permit, and headed up the canyon.  We didn't go as far as we normally do and turned off at the Ten Sleep Fish Hatchery.  We parked and hiked amid the bushes and snow drifts to find out smallish tree.  It was beautiful out there and had warmed up a bit, in the 20's, much better than the below zero temps we've been having.

Brian and the chosen tree

Beautiful Ten Sleep Creek

Emma getting ready to throw a snowball at me

Pre-snowball throw

Lights added

Finished product

We are planning on getting tree #2 when Audrey comes this weekend.

After our cold adventure, we came home to eating Elk tonight!  YUM!

Elder Edholm -- week 79

So... Christmas is almost here, and I can't wait to call because it seems like so long since I've called home. But everything is going great here. Elder Alyk and I are working really hard, we're trying to find new people to teach every week. We found a pretty cool girl the other day. She told us that she has gone to basically every church, and hasn't felt good about any of them. She also told us that there are many people that join our church because they think that they will somehow be able to go to the United States. She told us that she doesn't like that. She said she would read the pamphlet and if she likes the religion, then she'll join it. She was very straight forward, I loved it, we'll see how she does.

Elder Alyk and I have also started this process of forty days called the purification process, which is basically just where you start with a fast and then you make a list of all the things you do that don't allow you to have the spirit as your constant companion. Then you make a covenant with God that you won't do any of those things in the next forty days. So far it has gone great and I have already noticed a huge difference. It's amazing how the biggest changes that I'm making are happening at the end of my mission.

Anyway I hope you guys are enjoying doing the calendar of 25 days, and enjoying sharing the christmas spirit with everyone. I've really enjoyed that. A cool mormon message I found that kind of talks about that, discovering the Christmas Spirit, is called The First Christmas Spirit, it's really cool.

Anyway, I'll talk to you guys on Sunday, love you all!

Winter Wonderland

It's winter in Worland!  -23 this morning. 

It looks nice and sunny, but it doesn't feel nice and sunny!

Peter sang in the Eastside Elementary Christmas program.  He did a great job!  It was just the Kindergarten through 3rd grade, so this was Pete's last year to participate.  The 4th through 5th grades don't do a Christmas program.

Pete is the farthest left against the wall.

Peter's class

I've been busy at the Museum.  We sponsored a Christmas party for the boys and girls club, the 4-H, and the Youth Learning Center on Friday.  It was a Dr. Seuss themed party and Santa came to visit as well.  I got to do a story time with the kids and I dressed up as Cindy Lou Who.

It was a lot of fun!

While Andy was driving home with the basketball team from Green River and Brian and Emma were driving home from Utah Eric, Lucy, Peter, and I were invited to the Tejada's to make and decorate cookies.  We had a great time and the kids made some cool creations.

Not sure what Peter is doing in this picture

Nice face Eric

Yum!

The whole gang: Lucy, Eliza, Eric, Millie, and Peter

Elder Edholm -- week 78

So, sorry I didn't tell you guys last week, but Elder Florentino left and I'm here training in Don Gregorio. I'm training a white guy named Elder Alyk from Syracuse, Utah. He went to Clearfield High School. He's a really cool guy and I can already tell we'll have a good two transfers together. I really love this area, the members are really awesome. 

Anyway, we have another investigator that is progressing really well to get baptized on December 31st, yeah that's right, he'll be getting baptized in one year and confirmed in the next, haha. But he's a great guy. He actually used to be a member, 30 years ago he got baptized but since he has like 20 years innactive his information isn't there. So he's been going to church again and progressing really well. He knows so much, we had a family home evening with him last night with some members and we talked about humility and it was really great, he participated a lot.

So, some bad news, Elder Powell went home last week. He had some problems that he had to go home and fix, but if he does what he needs to do he should be back on the mission after one year. I've been praying for him a lot because I can't imagine how hard that would be, going home early, but I have faith that he will do what he needs to do.

Anyway, just like two more weeks and I get to skype you guys!

For Van Fans

Van is 5 months old exactly in this photo.  He is sucking on a washcloth, which is what Lauren used to do as well.

Me and Momma

Look at those eyelashes!

Me and Daddy

zzzzzzzzz

Christmas parties are starting

Eric was awesome at the ward Christmas dinner.  Click on the link to watch him lip sync.  It's a little blurry, but he is the second one up, then he does the batman song and Michael Jackson.  I think he's found his calling!

Eric at the Ward Christmas Dinner

Peter singing Little Drummer Boy

All the primary kids singing

Eric eating a cornflake wreath

Peter eating food

Lucy's primary class singing Stille Nacht

Lucy and Santa

Elder Edholm -- week 77

So Christmas is finally coming around and I love the thing that the church is doing about lighting the world in 25 days in 25 ways. We're trying to do it as a mission, plus the cards really help to give to everybody so they can see the video. It's probably the best way to proselyte this time of the year. Since Christmas isn't really that big of a thing here, it's a good thing to do so that people can understand what Christmas is really about and what they should be doing instead of just sitting in the street drinking.

Anyway Elder Florentino is going home tomorrow which is a big shame because we had an awesome transfer together. I think I've probably learned more from him than from any other companion I've had about doctrine and how to teach more effectively. But that's ok because he lives super close and he'll be coming back in a couple weeks to visit again. It was cool to see how much love he had for all the people he's taught. He cried the last visit we had with Ibelize, so that's something I've learned from him as well.

Besides that I'm hoping to start preaching even more effectively with my new companion, helping people understand the true meaning of Christmas.