12-27

Hope you each had a Merry Christmas & will have a Happy New Year! Another Christmas season come & past ... & now we have 363 days to wait for another one. [count-downs on yet?] I can't believe how fast this year has gone ... & now it is going to be fun to try to convert my mind to writing 2011 on mission reports & papers instead of 2010.
This week has been full of fun eventful things; for the past couple of days it has been raining like crazy down here, (some people even asked us if God was sending another flood) streets were literally flooding, gutters were full and california drivers...can I say more ;) We were called Tuesday by one of the wards recent converts to come to her mothers house that lived right down the street to dig a trench because her house was flooding - we jumped for the opportunity to do service (a lot of prideful people down her wont let us do service for them here in Temecula.) Since it was pouring rain the lady that we were digging for went out and got us this whole get-up complete with a BRIGHT AS THE SUN YELLOW button up suit and hat, and huge boots and gloves - we pretty much looked like the bomb ... we had her take a picture on her phone .. we will see if we can get it off - you would laugh at the moment. After some hours work & a lot of fun & laughs the trench was dug. On Sunday the convert came up to us and said that her non-member mother was so grateful that we had comeover & that it had opened up so many doors for her to gain interest into the church. It is funny, we were talking with her mother & she was astonished that we would even think about helping out for free, she asked "who does this?..." Funny, yet sad that the world has come to not even knowing what kind acts of service is...
We finally got in contact with one of our part-member families this week that we have been trying to teach - The Simons (they have been sick for quite some time.) We went over on Monday & talked to them about their goals that they have & what they want us to help them with. They each had set as the ultimate goal to go to the temple and steps to get there by doing family home evening, paying tithing and for their 10 year old daughter Lizzy; getting baptized. We are excited to teach them more & set up a baptismal date for Lizzy in January... hopefully the 23rd! Oh, & a little miracle we witnessed, Sister Simon was catching the sickness that has been going around the family & she didn't want to have it for the holidays, so in the closing prayer we all got down on our knees & in the prayer I asked for a little miracle that Sister Simon would receive full health & be able to enjoy the holidays with her family. After the prayer she sniffed and was thankful for the prayer. Two days later we came back for a follow-up visit & to read a chapter in the Book of Mormon and she was so excited to tell me that ever since that prayer the it was like she instantly got feeling better! I just thought that it was kind of a cool little prayer answered - "ask & you shall receive" right?!
With all the greatness of cheer in the Christmas season... Heavenly Father had to send some opposition to test us. One day this week we were out tracting in the pouring rain. Everyone passing by looked and yelled that we were crazy. As we knocked on doors people turned us away because we were soaked & responded "it is raining" & slammed their doors. We finally found a house with a covered front porch and relaxed from the rain. We knocked and rang the door bell, but no one answered. We then thought we would send a text to our zone of missionaries encouraging them to remember the "reason for the season" & to work hard inspite of the rain. Right after I sent the text the door that we had knocked on a couple of minutes previous opened and a lady stood there and yelled, "what are you doing on my porch?!" I told her that we were just sending a text to someone where it wasn't raining & then told her what we were doing as missionaries. She then told me that she didn't care if we were getting soaked, but just to get off of her porch and away from her house. I just stood there & was like... 'serious lady.. serious?!' On Christmas Eve we went to iHop with Brenda Franklin and me and my companion were talking to this family that was in the waiting room. We asked them what they were doing fun for Christmas & then the manager from iHop came out and started yelling at us and said that we had no right to be here & that we were disturbing everyone and that we needed to stop talking to people. The family that we were talking to looked at her & had no idea what she was talking about, so the manager lady turned around and walked back into iHop, then 2 minutes later walked out again and said that she didn't mean to come off that way, but nobody likes us and we really shouldn't be talking to people and ruining peoples Christmas. Haha, we laughed.... hmmm what and Who is this Christmas season for again? But with all the persecution I have faith & know that miracles will follow.
I love you all, Thanks for the minutes of talking to you on the phone, I loved every second of it! Take care, Libby be safe in surgery! My prayers are always with you, and thank you for your prayer for me and the people our here in Temecula California. Have a Happy New Year! -- Love, ELDER PATRICK McBRIDE