Christmas is coming, the goose is getting FAT!

Hello everybody!

Man I LOVE this time of year!  It's so great to be able to get to email the ones I love back home at this wonderful Christmas time.  

Well, I guess I'll start off with the bad news first.  Soooo...this past week we met with Michael once, and everything went really well and the Spirit was strong and everything, we read the children's Book of Mormon with him, and said a prayer and left.  He seemed extremely happy.  About 2-3 days later, we stopped by again, and there was a note on his door that said, "DO NOT DISTURB, MISSIONARIES DO NOT DISTURB."  Elder Navarrete and I looked at each other and we were super confused.  We knocked on the door anyways, but nobody answered.  Michael didn't go to church, and we got worried.  We've been trying to go by with his new home teacher but have been unsuccessful.  He won't answer the phone or anything.  This is what we think:  We think that because of his autistic state, he was really angry that Elder Canzona was no longer here and the whole change of the routine threw him off.  We've been trying to get his new home teacher there and everything, but we've just never had the chance.  We're sorta stuck with it all... and that's where we're at with him.

Well, now that that's out of the way I want to share a cool story with all of you that that happened this week.  We were tracting out some adjacent apartment complexes, and we saw a man walking down the street in the distance.  We had the feeling that we should talk to him.  So, we ran down the stairs and met him on the sidewalk.  We stopped him and asked if we could leave him with a card, and he said no.  Elder Navarrete got kind of discouraged and I told him that sometimes the Lord just gives of promptings to see if we'd follow them.  As we were walking back to the complex, there was another man who was walking down.  His name was Jesus (Hey-Zeus) and we talked with him for 20 mins!  We talked about baptism with him and he gave us his number.  We've been unable to contact him but we're still trying!

Jose has been sick with the flu all week and we've been unable to meet with him. :(  We saw him a few times though and gave him some scriptures to read.  He is set, however, to be baptized January 9th.  I'm crossing my fingers and praying that it all works out.

We invited Yvonne to our ward's Christmas party and she came!  It looked like she had a lot of fun and she sat with some members.  It was cool to be able to go to the ward Christmas party because it reminded me EXACTLY of our ward's back home.  It was just so awesome to feel the same spirit there.  Speaking of Ward Christmas Parties, I got a letter this week with letters and pictures from OUR ward!  I loved it!  Thank you to all who helped with that!  22 Missionaries?? Wow.

OK, so to answer questions about the Christmas call.  I'm not allowed to do it.

Just kidding. :)  We will be calling from a member's house around 10-10:30 ish so be ready!  Sorry, we are not allowed to Skype unless it's to another country.  I don't know why...but oh well.  We were told to try to keep the calls short, but yeah...we know how that works. :)  Let's still try though. haha.  What number am I calling?

I'm glad everyone had fun at the Progressive Dinner.  I was thinking about that yesterday.  Just for kicks and giggles, was it the Survivor finale too? :)  From the looks of it, Lincoln had a blast!  Thank you for the video, Cam and Lex!  

This week is going to be great!  On Wednesday, we get to take the bus to the temple!!!  It's Elder Navarrete's birthday this month, and we're super excited!  On Friday, we have a Christmas devotional in Santa Barbara and it's going to be great!  

Thank you all so much for your love and support.  Other missionaries do not have that same opportunity and blessing, and so I am that much more grateful for all of you.  I love you!  One more email until I call, mommy!  One more!

Love,

Elder Harper