Letter from Kelson - Week # 32 - I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas!!!

Good Morning From Sunny California!!!!

I know that you might be wondering why I said good morning when it is clearly almost night time...Well It is morning somewhere and that is all that matters. I apologize for the amount of time it took to write today, we have had a day full of pictures and service and Christmas card making. If you would like to receive a Christmas card, let my mother know and I will have her send me the list of addresses that I will then send out cards to. 

It has been an interesting week. We started it off with a bit of craziness. We had a few FHE (Family Home Evening) appointments and some jumping around to accommodate all the people we wanted to and needed to see. We taught many lessons this week and most of them were Member Present Lessons, so that is good for all around happiness. I do want to say thank you as always for the prayers of all those who feel so inclined to pray for the missionary work out here in Sac Town...We are being blessed exceedingly well. This past week we had 2 baptisms!!! Austin McD was baptized first, by yours truly, at 10 in the morning on Saturday, and Michael Z was baptized by our ward mission leader at 2 in the afternoon. It was a full Saturday of baptisms!!! The great blessing from these baptisms, doesn't just come from being a baptism...although that is great in any span of the imagination...The great blessing that comes from these baptisms is our mission is doing a push to have a White Christmas!!! Not of snow, but of people dressed in White. I am not sure I told you already, but in case you are someone new who hasn't been reading until now, White Christmas is where the mission wants every companionship to baptize at least one truly converted person in the month of December as a gift for our Saviour on his birthday!!!  And the cool thing is Elder Baryshnikov and I have already been blessed with 2 people baptized in December and we have prospects for 2 more on the 15th!!! I love Missionary WORK!!! Plus we are being blessed because of your prayers and the good people of the in El Dorado Hills area!

This week was super busy! We had Zone Conference this week and we had a guest general authority in the mission for it. We had Elder Bruce D. Porter of the First Quorum of the Seventy come and tell us how to be better missionaries. We also found out that because of the new influx of missionaries into the field we will be going from a mission of 170 missionaries to a mission of 250 missionaries. This huge influx will cause an exponential growth in the need for trainers. President Lewis said that every missionary we have right now may become a trainer in the near future...This is freaking not ok!!! I can't even handle myself let alone train someone. I am not ready for any kind of responsibility other than junior companion...at least I don't feel ready or want to be ready...I like being able to just be the Junior Companion and follow the Senior around and have the great blessing of being a teacher, but there is one thing that is certain, the Lord is going to put me somewhere where I don't feel comfortable and then expect me to become comfortable...grrr Whatever; thus is life.

I think that is about it for this week. It was really full, but not of anything that I really can recall and tell you, my readers, other than I am very thankful for this holiday season. I am very thankful for our Saviour Jesus Christ and his Atonement. I love the Christmas season because it reminds me of the most important birth of the whole wide world, followed closely by my own...hehe. I know that our Saviour Lives and He is watching over us. 

I exhort you to just think this season about the true meaning of Christmas and give more than you take. This season may have become all about the latest video game console or who has the coolest stuff, but I can tell you one thing...That stuff stays here when you're dead. The spirits in the Spirit World don't care if you have an Xbox 10 Bagillion!!! Their cares are focused on eternal happiness and great wealths of knowledge. 

I love you and I don't want to sound like I am condemning anyone...heck I was thinking that I needed the latest video game system, otherwise I would die when it came to Christmas...but then I saw how much richer my life became without it. I have friends all over the country and some of them will be my friend forever because we share a special bond that comes from sharing the Gospel. 

Go forth with a Heart full of service and you will have a life full of Happiness!

Love,

Elder Wheeler

p.s. Mom TYPOS!!!! They are the most important thing this holiday season...jk

Mom's Note:  Next week is transfers, so Kelson's letter will not come until Tuesday.