He is the Gift!

Crazy comps

Sister Harvey (the 2 transfer missionary is being re-assinged to the Seattle, WA mission! :) 

Sister Harvey's mom and grandparents(?) picking her up :)

Pappa Bear, 

 I am really glad the family is doing well, I know there are some challenges happening but I know they are just minor setbacks so that they can learn and decide which way they want their lives to go. In the end, it'll all work out. I'm glad your giving was full of thanks!! BAHAHAHA I crack myself up. Honestly though, I'm glad it went well. The turkey must have been DELISH! I'm so stoked the kids will have a good and hopefully long boarding season ahead. I loved the family pics of the Christmas tree! HOW FUN! 

To answer your questions about the area, it is THRIVING. We have 3 people with a baptism date and a couple more to set on date this week. We taught 26 lessons this week and found 2 new gators. It's CRAZY. I love going to bed at night exhausted in every way possible. At this point I am trying to take all the things I learned last transfer and apply them to this transfer so I can get a good balance of loving and caring about the sisters we are over, the area,  and my own companions. BALANCE, man. It's a hard principle to master. I'm trying to get it down though. The trio has been really interesting, there have been a few times where there has been a third wheel but I think for the most part its going well. It's always a little weird when you have a companion who is so close to the end but you have a long way to go. There are just different things that you think about, and I have found recently that it's hard to separate things in my mind so that I don't feel trunky or whatever. For the most part, its going well. We are all trying to figure out how to work together and teach together especially. It'll all work out though. I want to tell you about Ruth, we picked her up as a new investigator this week. She was a former investigator and we stopped by her house later one night. She lived in ID and had taken all the lessons there. She has read all of the D&C and has wanted to be baptized for a while. For whatever reason the sisters before never really stopped by or when they did she wasn't there. We met with her for the first time this past Wednesday and she told us that she wanted to be baptized on her birthday which is December 27th (also just so happens to be a Saturday).... She smokes but she told us she wants to quit that asap. I have never met someone so prepared to receive the gospel. Her biggest inspiration is her mom. She passed away earlier this year and she was the one that read the whole D&C with Ruth. Ruth loves her mom so much and wants to be baptized for her in the temple. None of her other family members are living and she knows she needs to be baptized so that she can do their work. AMAZING. We are meeting with her tonight and we are so excited. Yesterday at church we got to be in ALL of ward correlation. Our Bishop is amazing. We talked a lot about leadership and one of the stake high counselors made a comment that really stuck with me. It is about leadership and what kind of leaders church members need to be. He said, "A leader CANNOT push, because they are in front."  I have pondered on that a lot and that's really the kind of leader I want to be. I don't want to push people mostly because it feels awkward and hypocritical a lot of the time but when I really thought about it, that's how the prophet and apostles lead, that's how fathers lead, how mothers lead and ultimately that's how Christ led. Really cool. I want to lead by example and I want my example to emulate Christ. I am thankful for the opportunities I have to grow and learn, even when they can be unpleasant learning opportunities. I am thankful to be a missionary, especially at this point in time when so many people are prepared to come unto Christ. I am loving the holiday season already and loving the chance I have to represent the reason for the season. We have had the unique chance this year to share a video with people called He is the Gift. It's so touching and really has helped me to understand why we do what we do around the holiday season. I am excited to share the gift this Christmas. If you all have time as a family maybe y'all can watch this video together, the link ischristmas.mormon.org #ShareTheGift 

I LOVE YOU POPPA BEAR! XOXOXO