Elder Jakob Lutze: Semana 18 (Officially Merry Christmas!)

So if you remember my last email, I said something along the lines of `This was my Christmas week, it can't be more Christmas full than this week`..... yea, I lied. Because this week was definitely more Christmas full!!! It was a pretty hype week!

It started off with a good old white elephant gift exchange with the Zone on PDay. That was a lot of fun! We also had a really big water balloon fight which was epic! I never thought I would have a water balloon fight for Christmas.

We had intercambios again this week which was pretty fun! Nothing too exciting there.

We had a Noche de Hogar with my favorite family this week too! La Familia Mela. They are so awesome. It was a really fun time! Food, music, games, and of course spiritual messages. We brought an investigator with us (Angel), and it was really awesome! He really liked it, and we are hoping to get him on date soon.

However, the biggest Christmas event was our Christmas Zone Conference!!! Man was that fun! We got to see the temple and take pictures with it! We weren't allowed to go in though. In fact, we aren't ever allowed to go... kinda lame... Then we listened to some messages, got to watch people perform their talents, and ate Chinese food! It was so much fun! Then we got to watch Encanto! I really love that movie, and it was cool to watch it in Spanish. The music goes hard, and it was definitely stuck in my head for the rest of the week. We got some gifts, and that took up pretty much that whole day. Super, super fun!

The other highlight of the week was our baptism!!! Angela Pinto. This was super special for me. I baptized her nietos, and we have been working hard to get Angela baptized. And finally, we did. I wanted Elder Hansen to baptize her, and I confirmed her. It made me so happy to help put this family together. Said and Rosemary (her nietos) were so happy that their grandma (she takes care of them too) got baptized. So, so special.

Other fun Christmas times ~ jamming out to music, obviously. We decorated the inside of our house for Christmas! I messed around with my new Etch-a-Sketch. And I did a tiny puzzle. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day it was literally impossible for us to set up lessons. So, Elder Hansen and I just enjoyed each other's company. We played card games, shared some of our past Christmas memories, read our books (I'm obsessed with reading, gotta get that knowledge! I've read 4 books already, not including scriptures), E. Hansen and I had a little date night with food-made gingerbread houses and spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day together. It was a lot of fun, and it made me happy!

Also fireworks go crazy here for Christmas!! And music too! Literally so loud that our house was practically shaking! I didn't think I would be able to sleep! But then, after 5 minutes of trying, I was out like a light!!!

Another fun thing was Christmas caroling! We went with our district, and I thought it would be kinda lame, but it honestly was so much fun! It was fun to see the joy on people's faces as we sang to them, and it was fun to just sing. I love singing so much, and I really miss being a part of Skyridge Singers. I'm glad I had the opportunity to sing to others, and I'm glad I was able to do choir in high school!

That was pretty much my holiday! Pretty fun times!

Other updates. Transfers are happening this week! I'm staying in Samaria for another transfer and Elder Hansen is leaving. So I'll have a new companion ~ Elder Buhler. I'm actually super excited for this transfer. Elder Buhler and I are pretty good friends, so it will be fun times. Hopefully we will work hard.

I also want to include what happened on this fine PDay as my spiritual thought. Today we went to what we call "The Egg." It is a temple of another religion (Budahai) that looks like an egg. It was pretty dang cool not gonna lie. I don't have any pictures of it because they are on a different phone, but hopefully I will get them soon. Anyways. The area this temple is located in is beautiful. Super high up and away from everything. It was the quietest place I've been to in a long time. It was really peaceful. This reminded me of our own temples. Temples are places we can go to for peace and to get away from the world. They are God's house. They literally are to help separate us from the world. I miss the temple a lot. I know that when we get out of the world and spend time with God that we find happiness and peace. I encourage you all to find time to go to the temple at least once a week, and I know the blessings will be innumerable.

Love you all! I'm happy to be a Samarian for a little bit longer! Pray that we can do good work here! Thanks for all the support and prayers!

-Elder Lutze