Christmas Week

Last week was a pretty long week. but it was really good. I started it out going to Lakeland on an exchange. We went for lunch to a Chinese buffet called "Yummy Buffet." I am not sure if it was the name or the decorations that drew us in, but we ended up ditching Taco Bell in favor of the Buffet. After gorging myself with food I found out we had a dinner appointment with one of my favorite families in Crystal Lake. So I was painfully full the rest of the night. We also went to the hospital to visit one of the English members that got in a car crash recently. Tuesday we went to see the Vazquez family. They are good, waiting to go to the temple. They have the recommend so I'm not sure what they are waiting for.

Wednesday I went back to my area. It's always good to go back to your own area. We got Kevin interviewed on Wednesday and got his mom to sign the BCR (Baptismal and Confirmation Record). She said she was going to invite us over for lunch one day so we could see how messy Kevin's room is. I think she is warming up to us, especially after the baptism! But I'll get to that later.

So this story begins on a slow Thursday night. It was about 9:00 and the English elders were over at our place doing laundry. Getting bored, I broke out my dart guns and started an all-out offensive on my companion. Soon I had Elder Rhodes in on it with me. We had him pinned down with some suppressive fire with the occasional dart flying back at us in opposition. In a last ditch-effort to get in a head-shot or two Nav dived on the ground attempting a ninja-roll. From outside we hear a voice saying, "Stop running! Get on the ground NOW!" Obviously, this caught our attention and we ran to the front door, dropping our toy guns as we saw a police officer chasing our neighbor down the street, Taser aimed at his back. Down the street we saw them tackle the guy and throw him into the back of a patrol car and they brought him back behind our house to where the chase had begun. There were 4 or 5 cars there with lights on, officers questioning our neighbors. The guy in the back of the car was yelling to his wife, "Abreme la puerta!" which translated is, "Open the door for me!" The wife kept denying adamantly that she knew the man in the car and was having a hard time keeping her story straight. She was telling the officer that she didn't know the man and outright lied to him (I knew because I was listening to their conversations in Spanish. After a while I went outside to the officers and asked if they needed any translation, since it was obvious they didn't have anyone who spoke Spanish. They told me to keep listening inside and to tell them if we heard anything suspicious but that they had everything under control. After a good 30 minutes of the neighbors yelling at the cops and the cops threatening to take them all to jail, they all left and we went to bed, adrenaline still coursing throughout our veins. Gotta love living downtown.

On Friday we had our branch Christmas party, which was way fun! I enacted the angel that announced Christ's birth so I was in baptismal clothes the entire party since I forgot to bring extra clothes. Elder Navarrette played Joseph. Lots of good food and, of course, lots of dancing. Saturday we had another party, a wedding reception for a kid in our branch. His wife is in Crystal Lake so the 2 branches combined for an awesome party!! I got to see almost everyone from both branches that night. We got a ride home with some members so we didn't get home till almost 10:30.

Sunday we had a good turn out for sacrament meeting. After church we had the baptism!! It was scheduled to be at 1:30 but Elders Park and Martinez didn't get there until almost 2:00. Kevin wanted Park to baptize him and Martinez to confirm. I conducted and Nav said a prayer. We all had a role. His mom actually enjoyed the whole thing! She said it was "very beautiful". Afterward she fed us and a few of his friends from the branch and we taught her a little bit. I think she will get baptized, it will just take time. She really warmed up to us and jokes around a lot.

Well that was pretty much my week! It was really good and next week we will have the baptism of Ariel. He said he wants me to baptize. Luisa will get baptized the 2nd of January and I think I will also be baptizing her. The transfer is quickly winding down and I am nervous about leaving. I have repeatedly mentioned to President that I would love nothing more than to finish my mission here. He told me he has the rest of my mission planned out but I doubt he'll tell me. I really love it here. I am now getting to know that it is so much better getting to know the members personally rather than just at church. I think I'm closer to a lot of the members here than I have been in any other area. I know the people and their problems and can actually try to help them better. I'll definitely have a lot of long term friends from this area. I can't believe I'm looking at the end of my mission already! I still feel like a greeny sometimes. Life is crazy.

~Elder Alex Talbot