MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!

Things are going alright. We were supposed to have 2 baptisms this weekend but it looks like neither of them is going to happen. I'm not happy about that.

We had a couple of interesting days this week, on Monday it was a national holiday and there was no power on the island for most of the day Tuesday.

Can you believe that you haven't seen me in 7 months? Sometimes it feels like it's been so long and others it feels like a flash. I always try and focus on the fact that I have done 7 instead of looking ahead and seeing 17 still in front of me!!!

On Christmas day, we will study as normal, talk to you, do our weekly planning, sing at a retirement home (my idea), watch a movie with a member family, and then just try and bring cheer to the other members that are single or alone by visiting them and playing games.

I am in Mosiah 2 in my personal study. I have also started the New Testament and I am in Matthew 4.

The scripture of the week is Luke 2:1-21. I bet you were already going to read that one anyway!

Thanks for the stocking full of candy! Well, Merry Christmas!
Talk to you Thursday!

Jonathan sent these pictures today. The first two are from his Branch Christmas Party. He said that it was a blast!

These are some of my friends in the branch.

These are more of my friends and Elder Nielsen. Their names are Dolly and Praw, they moved to New York this morning. : (
They were super strong members and they fed us a lot.

I took this picture this morning while we were supposed to be on a fishing trip. The guy didn't show up. In the distance is the island of
St. Barth. It was a pretty amazing view from up there!

We have 5 progressing investigators!

We are still in Egypt and hope that this works to post Jonathan's
e-mail on the blog again this week. As with last week, we are unable to attach the link for the scripture of the week.

Here is Jonathan's e-mail from today:

Sounds like ya'll are enjoying Egypt. I would love to be there with you but... I get to live on an island for a while. I guess I can't complain (too much).

Things are going well. We have 5 progressing investigators right now. We are looking for 2 baptisms by the end of the year and hopefully 3 or 4 more in January. President Robison is really pleased with the work that we are doing here. He visited us on Friday because zone conference in Guadeloupe got cancelled for us and Elders on Martinique. The whole island of Guadeloupe went on strike and it shut down the airport. So President came here on Friday and taught us the same lessons.

I am sending you a flashdrive with the best of my pictures so far. It will be in the mail in about an hour from now. (We will add a new slideshow to the blog when we receive it!)

While I'm thinking about it, Happy Anniversary this week Dad & Mom!

For Christmas, you guys have to call us. You need to call me at 7 o'clock your time so that we can talk. I'm sorry that it's so early but it's the best we can do. I'm looking forward to hearing from you!

I am in Jacob 2 in my personal Book of Mormon reading.

The scripture of the week is 1 Corinthians 15:26 & 52-58.

I received a bunch of letters last week that were sitting in Guyana. I am going to answer some of those questions and the questions I have received recently.

1) I keep the music that you sent me and I try and learn how to play it when we have some free time and we're around a piano.

2) St. Maarten's Day was really fun. I didn't take any pictures though. I will try and get some copies from the senior couple.

3) Our mail comes straight to our apartment. "Cul de Sac" is the name of the city that I live in.

4) I hope to be on St. Maarten until April 1. The transfer on February 18th is the earliest that I could leave.

5) There are definitely some humble areas here. There is clean water everywhere though. Most people would be surprised if they saw as much of this island as I have. They would realize that it's not a paradise for the people that live here!

6) We teach about 1/2 as many lessons here as we did in Guyana so we look for a lot of service projects. We've been doing a lot of painting and yard clean-up.

7) We had a 6 child primary program yesterday. It was really cute. Guyana doesn't really have a primary so they don't have programs there.