Castin out evil spirits

Well, I've been here for over a week now! I'm still loving it so much. Colorado is indeed a great place.

The giant chili - moving the Zone Leaders

This past Christmas week was a great one. P-Day was good, I got to ball it up a little bit with the zone, super fun. Tuesday was a typical day, working and eating. We also helped the Zone leaders move out of their apartment and into their new one. We found a giant chili pepper in their new apartment that was left by previous missionaries, I'll have to forward some pictures. It was pretty crazy.

Christmas Eve was pretty cool. We went through our regular routine up until about 7:00 p.m. We had a zone Christmas get together which consisted of 10 missionaries out of a lot in our zone. It was fun though! We first went caroling at a park in the middle of town. Because no one wanted to listen to us, we decided to go knock on some doors and force people to listen to us sing. The set of sister missionaries that were with us mentioned how they had an investigator that lived in a nearby apartment complex, so we made our way there. When we found out he wasn't home, we knocked on the next door and sang to a man named Reg. He and his fiance stood in their doorway as we sang to them. We all thought that they were annoyed by us for sure, but as soon as we stopped singing, they requested another song! ..and another, and another. hahah It was so funny, they started singing with us and we had a blast. They thanked us for spreading the Christmas spirit and we moved on.

As we were walking out of the apartment complex, a lady stopped us and asked us to sing a song for her. We sang "Silent Night" for her, and she started crying. When we finished, she explained to us how she was all alone on Christmas Eve and how hard it is for her to be away from her kids. We shared a "He is the Gift" pass along card with her and bore our testimony of how Heavenly Father loves her. It was an awesome moment.

I finally finished my "Christmas Countdown"
thanks Mom

After caroling, we went back to the chapel and had a gift exchange. We talked a little more and then the night was over.

Christmas was awesome. We woke up and headed over to the McConkie's home for breakfast. They are such a nice family! Brother McConkie gave us some Church History quizzes which were pretty fun. We then went next door to the Hendershot's house to Skype home! That was the biggest reason it felt like Christmas. Talking to you guys was the best! Getting to talk to Kaylee was awesome too. Thank you tons for letting her come over and chat for a bit. I was so happy to see each of you. Best Christmas present ever.

After the call, we went to the Dodge's for Dinner...yes..dinner at 2. It was delicious though. Every Christmas and Thanksgiving, I guess they let us watch a G or a PG movie. So at the Dodge's we watched a movie called "Galaxy Quest." After watching it I was just blown away at how it wasn't rated at least PG-13. It was quite an interesting movie.

Christmas was good though.

I'd have to say two of my favorite days over the past three months have been Christmas...and yesterday.
I'll start off by letting y'all know I passed the Sacrament yesterday for the first time in like four years! It was funny because there were all these tiny Deacons, then giant Elder Johnson and I helping them pass. It was good though.

Also, right when Gospel Principles finished, the lady that was sitting a couple chairs down started to talk to me in Mandarin! So I got some good practice with her and her husband! She served in Taiwan, and her husband is from China. Unfortunately, they were just visiting the ward, so I think that's the last time I'll get to see them. But it was a great opportunity to get some practice!

We live on Toaster Strudels

Now I guess I better explain the title of this email. Yesterday at church, we had a less-active couple walk up to us and ask if we could visit their home when church finished. They mentioned to us that it was an emergency and that they needed help with some "unwanted beings" in their basement. So as soon as church ended we left for their house.

They brought us in and gave us some background on some of the encounters they were having lately. They started leading us down they stairs, and as soon as I took my first step down, I got this cold and bitter feeling. My body started shaking and it was then that I realized they really do have some unwanted beings. We went first into the laundry room, then into an office in the back. Elder Guy, Elder Johnson, and I each had very eerie feelings. It was not good.

We then asked the family if we could kneel and pray together. In the middle of Elder Johnson's prayer, he paused for a while. Right when he paused, in the middle of his sentence, I again had a dark feeling and it felt like my body was shaking. But as soon as he resumed his prayer, those feelings went away. He closed his prayer and everybody was silent. For a good 10 minutes, nobody said anything. Then Elder Johnson explained the pause in his prayer. He said it was as if someone was trying to stop him from saying that prayer. He said it was a feeling he's never had before, but then he just had to fight through it and that he instantly felt peace and comfort. I know the spirit instantly came into the room.  What was awesome was that the daughters in this family each explained how they felt warmer, and that the basement felt brighter. One of the daughters ran into the laundry room and came out saying how it felt so different. How she knew whatever it was that was there, was finally gone. I had the opportunity to bear testimony of the importance of surrounding yourself with the spirit. Also how the power of the devil is real, but the power of God, the power of the priesthood, the power of faith in Christ was SO much stronger. It was indeed a great experience!

Thanks for this beautiful gift - Choose The Right...always!

We then had dinner at the Lauritzen's home. That was full of an amazing meal (paleo? meat veggies and fruit. SOOO GOOD!! I think I'm going paleo.), capoeira (Brother Lauritzen served in Brazil so he was showing us some Brazilian martial arts!) and magic tricks. Brother Lauritzen was blowing our minds. hahah They are also a great family!

All in all, yesterday was one of my favorite days.

It's getting A LOT colder here. It's been snowing all day today and it's actually sticking. My companions are still awesome. The ward is still great. Everything is awesome. I love being a missionary.
I'm glad to hear your week was great! Dad, don't worry about cutting back on your eating, just be happy:) (and watch out for dat gout hahah).

I'm getting really bad at taking pictures, but I'll try to be better haha.
I pray for each of you daily. I'm so grateful for your love and support. I think of you guys constantly throughout the week and it's so amazing how blessed I am to have the best family ever. It's so easy to count my blessings. The Lord is definitely being generous. I'm so grateful for this time I have to be here in Colorado. It has been a great blessing. Being a missionary period is a blessing. I feel closer to my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ than I ever have before and it is the greatest. Being in the position I am now helps me realize that He is a part of everything. Jesus Christ is my Savior AND Redeemer. ONLY through Him do we receive true happiness. He is always there for us, we just need to put forth that effort every day to reach out to Him and embrace his Atonement. We all need it and it's there for All of us. I'm so grateful for Him.

I love you guys so much! I miss y'all tons too. I hope you guys have the happiest of all new years. I'm trying to figure out how I can have Christ be a part of my day more. That is my new years resolution/goal. I invite you guys to do the same!

Have the best week this week, and know that I love you dearly.