Man
what a week over here in good old Ames. I will start out this email with a
weather report. If I thought that I had experienced cold weather back home in
Utah, I have never been more wrong. The cold here is like nothing I have ever
felt before. No matter how many layers you wear, the wind somehow works
its way into your bones. It is incredible. All part of the mission experience
though right? On Sunday morning, we woke up and checked the weather. At around
eight o'clock it was thirteen below zero base temperature, but with the wind
chill factor it was around thirty below. At that point the mission actually
stops us from doing any tracting so we either go to set appointments or we sit
in our apartment. Luckily we have had some appointments this weekend so we
didn't spend too much time relaxing.
In
case you didn't know just how cold it is here, I will share this to give you an
idea. I have been kind of sick this week and one of the symptoms has been a
stuffed up or runny nose. One of the days we walked outside and I had a pretty
runny nose. The snot in my nose literally started to freeze. It was incredible!
I wrapped my feminine scarf around my face and knocked on the next door. I am
such a trooper.
Last
night it got pretty cold again so we couldn't go out. We did the only logical
thing that we missionaries could think of. We met together in the Ames 2nd
Elder's apartment and shaved our legs. Man what a wonderful feeling. I will
include some pictures of the experience.
We
had Zone conference on Tuesday so I was able to see Elder Dunford and Elder
Zackrison as well! Man it was good to see those guys. Elder Dunford loves Des
Moines. We sure had some good times. Because it was the Christmas Zone
Conference, every District was supposed to make a skit of a Book of Mormon story.
We did the "Roast of Abinadi" good stuff! I will tell you more about
it on Sunday!
Our
investigator I told you about last week is such a stud. He came to church
yesterday and is now officially a progressing investigator. We are stoked for
him. He finished his semester at ISU too so now we will be able to meet with
him more. He even offered to teach us some Chinese. It's gonna be
legendary.
One
thing I haven't mentioned before; we have a family in our ward and both parents
are deaf. A lot of the ward members have picked up some sign language in order
to talk to them. We were helping someone move this week and they offered to
teach us! We got the OK from President Badger and now we are going to be
starting sign language lessons! It is going to be way cool. I am stoked! Who
would have thought that I would actually learn a little bit of a different
language while serving in Ames? Good stuff.
I
can't even explain to you guys how excited I am to talk to you guys this week.
I
will end this email with a thought one of my favorite quotes is by President
Hinckley. He said "There would be no Christmas if there was no
Easter." How true is that statement? During the holidays, it is so
important to celebrate the birth of Christ, but it is even more important to
remember why his birth was so significant. The life of Jesus Christ and the Atonement
of Christ is the reason that Christ's birth is celebrated. I am grateful for
the Savior every day. If you want to
read a cool scripture, read 2 Nephi 9:41. That will get you in the Christmas
spirit.
I
love you guys so much. Have a great week. Merry Christmas!
The
soon to be Multilingual Elder,
Elder
Obray
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In case you were wondering, this is how you write Chandler in Chinese.
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