12-19-10

Dear Mom,

I have not received any instruction for a specific time to call on Christmas. I will call you in the morning and then set up a time to talk.

I sent you a picture of our "Christmas Bush" we were using before the tree came. I have enjoyed opening a package each day. It has been fun. Elder Frazier opened all of his packages from home already. He spoiled Christmas but I am waiting. I have enclosed other pictures. It has started to get cold but it looks like we will be having a brown Christmas this year. no snow. Just like home.

We worked hard this week. Drove everywhere. Matthew did not come to church this last Sunday. We will have to move his baptism date. We have been very blessed with people to teach. We are working hard in the day to find people and then the nights are filled with teaching. We are off. Have a Merry Christmas and I will talk to you Saturday.

Love Elder Durfee

PS the package is great. Elder Frazier received three thermals. He is very happy and warm. Thanks for passing the message on to his parents.

It has been a eventful week. I am quiet tired and will probably take a nap today. It has been hot lately. 60 degrees with hardly any snow these last few weeks.

We have been making tons of calls and visiting everyone. We have been blessed with lots of lessons and people to teach.

A visiting teacher made contact with the Gonzolus family and found out that the mother was going in for surgery the next day. She wanted a blessing and gave us a call to go by and give her the blessing. The surgery went well and the mom is doing much better after the surgery. The family wants to be active in the church and get their ten year old son baptized. We taught them the first lesson, set the son for baptism on the 31 of December and made arrangements for church. The boys (age 10, 13, 17) came to church for sacrament meeting and the ward party the day before. Heavenly Father did everything to make this happen. We are just hear to teach. Their hearts are already prepared.

We contacted a referral we had received from Church Head Quarters. She lives 19 miles from town. When we called she was interested in meeting with us. She already has a book of Mormon from a friend and has lots of questions. We drove to teach her with our ward mission leader and had a wonderful first lesson. She is excited to read and pray and she even said the closing prayer. Heavenly father has prepared her too.

We have a family in the ward who’s mom moved in to live with them. The mother recently had a stroke and is learning to walk and be self sufficient again. Most of her life she has been anti towards the Mormons but since the incident she has had a change of heart. She has been coming to church, reading the Book of Mormon and watching BYU TV and following along in the scriptures. We were invited to come and teach her. Once again Heavenly Father has prepared the person for the gospel long before we ever arrived.

Many home of the less-active members have been opening up. Some great people have been prepared and are ready to come back to the church. We are seeing the Lords hand change peoples hearts. I love you mom, family you too.

Elder Durfee

12-5-10

Dear mom,

I also watched the Christmas devotional. It was wonderful. We had hot chocolate with pumpkin pie after for dessert. It was delicious.

So I have compiled a Christmas package for the family. Will Celeste and Casey be joining you for Christmas Eve? I want to send them something too.

Lets see… the baptism was wonderful Jackie, Derek and Tori are so special. We had a great turn out from the ward. I heard that we had a hundred people show up in support for the baptism. It was wonderful. The Rydzeski’s dad came for the baptism and even showed up for the confirmation at church. He is such a nice man, fits right in with High Priests. At the baptism Elder Frazier and I taught the Restoration.

We had zone conference this last week. Lots of fun I saw many missionaries that I have not seen in weeks/months. Sister Ely was there she too a lot of pictures. She took a lot of pictures which I am sending.

Thank you for the wonderful package again. I have some pictures. It was a wonderful last week. At zone conference I received a phone call from a member who had someone for us to teach. His name is Jody. All we were given is a name and a number. We contacted Jody by phone. He is needing God in his life, he has gone threw a lot of trials. We told him the church address and he said he would come to church. Sunday afternoon we gave him a call. We haven’t heard form him since. Hope he is ok.

Mom I love you, have a great Christmas. Love Elder Durfee