Happy New Year!

Well... to answer some of your questions to start off, no I didn't stay awake for the new year haha because it really wasn't any different than any other day, other than the fact that we had to be in by 7 and not 8:30. I am glad you guys had a good New Years though!!

Things have been going pretty well for us here though, I don't know if I have talked to you guys about one of our investigators and his family or not yet, but we had a visit with them on Tuesday, and pretty much the whole time he and his wife were getting into dumb little arguments that they just can't let go of, that went on for about 30-45 minutes, so finally Elder Postma says to them, "How about you guys come to church with us this week?" And they accepted! And all 8 of them showed up! It was sweet! and plus we had 2 additional investigators at church this last Sunday, and they all had a really good time and will all hopefully come back again! Keep your fingers crossed! The work is starting kick into gear here, so hopefully Elder Krugman and I will be able to keep up with it all!

I also had a cool experience this last Thursday, I was actually on and exchange with Elder Mataele (my roommate who is a greenie) and we met this guy for the first time who is from Ethiopia. He is probably the most humble person I have ever met, and he is having a rough time finding employment and a place to stay etc. and he was very open to just about anything we taught him. But there was one point during the lesson where he just broke down to us and started to tell us his whole situation and how he normally wouldn't ask for help but he had no other options at this point. It was about this time where we told him that we couldn't help with anything like that, but that we knew people in the ward that have a calling specifically to help people like that, it meant so much to him that after we told him that he just started crying and said to us "I have found my brothers." Holy Mackerel, I don't know if you guys have ever been in a situation similar to that before, but I had to try really really hard to not cry with him, it was a very powerful experience, and it just made it even more clear to me that my purpose for being out here is to help people like him.

Anyways, that is all I have for you guys this week, I love you guys, and have a good week!!!


- Elder Schaap