1/2/2013

Family,

Happy new year! It was so good to speak to everyone on Christmas eve.
All the kids are getting huge. It's amazing how so much changes in a
year but everything stays the same at the same time. The vanilla coke
stunt you pulled was pretty lame. haha.

A lot has happened over this last week and a half. First thing, we got
transfer calls this weekend. I'll be staying in Blackburn for at least
another 6 weeks with Elder Reali. Elder Adair and Elder Kunzler are
staying as well so no changes in Blackburn this time. Pretty much
everyone in the zone stayed. It was a pretty uneventful transfer call.
This next transfer should be a good one though.

On Saturday we had the baptisms of Steve, Naomi, and Maucaley. It was
so good! It was the most spiritual baptismal service i've ever been
to. It's not often that a family decides to join together. They showed
up about an hour early to get ready and we had a nice chance to talk.
They brought me a little surprise as well. I told them about the
little Vanilla coke trick you did and they remembered me saying that
it was my favorite drink. They found one and brought it to me at the
baptism! Made the day even more sweet!

The baptism went relatively smooth. No last minute things, except i
forgot to bring an extra white shirt so I was soaked for the rest of
the day after I got changed haha. I baptized Steve and Macauley and a
member baptized Naomi. After the baptism Steve got up and bore his
testimony. It was amazing jsut sitting there and listening to him. He
was confirmed after the baptism as well because he had to wrok the
next day. Naomi and Macauley were supposed to be confirmed on Sunday
but one of the daughters got realyl sick so they couldn't make it.
They'll get confirmed next sunday. Now they're members i'm asking
myself, "Well, now what?" let's go find some more families!

I did get a very special expereince on Sunday though. Umesh, (someone
who we taught and baptized a month ago) and Ian (a less active who we
were able to find) got the Aaronic Priesthood. It was so good. Elder
Adair ordained Ian, and I ordained Umesh. They were both so happy.
Steve will probably get teh priesthood next week as well.

Over the Christmas period we did a lot of fun things. December 24, 25,
26, and the 31, as well as New Years Day we didn't do any proselyting.
They try and keep us off the streets those days. They celebbrate a bit
differently here. Maybe it's not that different though, just a lot
more beer. haha. We were allowed to watch family movies and even
played approved video games. It was pretty weird. We ate a lot of
sugar as well. I probably have gained 10 pounds in the last two
weeks... so much chocolate. Elder Reali has said some funny things
too. He's working on his English really hard but he says some funny
things sometimes. He kept getting the word "Treasure" and "Trousers"
mixed up. He kept asking everyone if we could watch "National
Trousers". haha pretty funny. We watched all of the Santa clause films
and watched prince of Egypt. That might be a new favorite for me. It
proved to me that you can feel the spirit even when watching cartoons.
haha.

Well everything is great here. Just trying to work hard and enjoy
every minute(They seems to be going pretty quick) Thanks for all the
support. LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Love Elder Ford

Pictures
1) Me, Ian, Elder Adair, Umesh. Just after being ordained
2) The whole family! Steve, Naomi, Macauley, Josh, Erin, and Neve
3) Playing Fifa 2012