Our Christmas week has been very busy with some great highlights.I feel sort of guilty because my volunteer work this week was so fun that it shouldn’t be called work.I got to play underwater Santa at the aquarium for Breakfast with Santa.It was crazy to fit myself into a wet suit, a large fake fat belly, thick red pants, a Santa jacket, and funny boots over the flippers.The head stuff was the worse.I had to manage a bushy full white beard and mustache with a regulator mouthpiece in the middle of all that hair.The red cap had built in long stringy white hair and my mask held it all in place.As I entered the water the wig hair covered my face such that I couldn’t see well at all and the hair in my mouthpiece drove me nuts…but when I would brush back the offending white wisps and look at all the children huddled up against the glass Ahhing and Ohhing about Santa’s arrival is was all worth it.They were so excited and jumping around.Parents were going crazy taking pictures and the kids couldn’t get enough of the “wet” Santa.It was a great way to serve and I look forward next year to the pain of dressing, but the joy of seeing those kids faces.
It was a calm Christmas eve with just Don, Danica, and Dave for a wonderful dinner.Mom surprised me with a slue of great gifts that we can do together.Particularly a new camera, a hefty bike rack, and a dreamed for scuba vacation to Bonaire in March and her patience with me for another year.I couldn’t ask for more.Then on Christmas Day we bounced back and forth between the McDonald’s and our place with some fun games, stupendous food, and a happy call with Austin.It was a great Christmas.
We have had a missionary weekend in honor of your nearly completed mission.Last night we had Steve and his wife over for dinner with 4 missionaries and Tiana and Preston.I will be baptizing him in a couple of hours and feel like a little kid so excited about helping this good man into the church.I hope his wife comes to the service.I think you will enjoy meeting him.Then in Sunday School class one of the investigators was asking some very pointed but good questions about “How do you know this is the true church?”His wife just got baptized in September and he is trying to understand the gospel.Mom and Tiana talked to him for about an hour after Sunday School and mom said Tiana was great in bearing testimony to him.Church felt particularly good today with the sweet taste of missionary work.
I didn’t get to tell you all about our Thanksgiving week in Utah. It was fun with food and family and we missed you. I visited a client company in Orem that was employing 128 people last year and they now have one person. They are a home builder and that market has collapsed and so everyone has lost their job. It made me so grateful to be self employed even though there are some rough days, if things go bad I have no one to blame but myself. On the way home we traveled with Dave and Danica. Everything was fine until Vail and then it took two hours to get to Frisco. It was snowing a little bit but the traffic was horrible. The electronic reader board said that is would take 7 hours and 40 mins to get to Georgetown which is normally 30 mins. We were moving so slowly that mom was walking back and forth between our car and Danica’s exchanging food and movies. We made a smart decision and drove down to Breckenridge and stayed the night in the condo. So instead of sitting on the freeway going nowhere for 8 hours we sat in the hot tub, ate delicious burgers, played with the grandkids, and watched a movie. Once in a while we do things right. Thursday night I met with the missionaries and Steve Wilburn and he moved his baptismal date to Dec 28 and asked mom to speak and me to baptize him. What a neat honor. His wife jumped right in and was helping plan the program. I think she will come around someday. I think Don and Melissa will be here for the baptism which would really be sweet. It is so exciting to see the change that has come over Steve – he stopped smoking in Aug and stopped drinking in Oct. Not even the Thanksgiving festivities tempted him. He is saving enough money to pay tithing. Yesterday was crazy around here. We are selling both the Explorer and the Lexus and so mom was working like crazy trying to clean them up. I picked up my new wheels on Friday (a Nissan Murano) and so we had 4 cars in front with hoses and buckets. We also got a new hot tub cover and so all the packaging was out for the garbage. Plus the rest of the raked leaves were piled up. Then we had a contractor guy over to fix up the basement for the missionaries. His truck and all the left over construction material made the garbage pile higher and added cars to the street. Then you throw in Dave and Danica visiting and me trying to put up the Christmas lights it was one wild, busy, and crazy day. The best news is the basement of now almost ready for the missionaries to come live in. We have a refrigerator, sink, cabinets, table, fixed shower, and disabled TV for them. We just don’t know if they will be sisters or elders. It will be simple if they are elders and cleaner of they are sisters.
It was a great Christmas.
I will be baptizing him in a couple of hours and feel like a little kid so excited about helping this good man into the church. I hope his wife comes to the service. I think you will enjoy meeting him. Then in Sunday School class one of the investigators was asking some very pointed but good questions about “How do you know this is the true church?” His wife just got baptized in September and he is trying to understand the gospel. Mom and Tiana talked to him for about an hour after Sunday School and mom said Tiana was great in bearing testimony to him. Church felt particularly good today with the sweet taste of missionary work.
