Email received 12/29/09

YAY!! Christmas! My favorite time of year!

Hope y'all had a great Christmas and were able to feel the real spirit of Christmas. Not all the hustle-and-bustle of the shopping or the rush to get things mailed, but to remember Christs' birth and how in that humble setting the Son of God was brought to the earth for the purpose of teaching the people and to atone for all our sins. It's wonderful to think that that baby Jesus grew up to set the example that we all need to follow, and suffered for all our sins in the Garden of Gethsemane then on the cross at Calvary that we may come unto Him and be forgiven.

I know that Jesus Christ came to set that example and to atone for our shortcomings! I know that He lives! I know that he has called prophets to preach and prophesy of Him! I know that He called Joseph Smith to restore the gospel that Jesus established during His mortal ministry! And I know the Book of Mormon was translated, with the gift and power of God, by Joseph Smith, from a record of an ancient people that lived here 2000 years ago is another testament of Jesus Christ and that he did visit that people and teach them the same plain and precious truths that he did to the those in Jerusalem! This testimony I bear, at this time, as a solemn witness of Christ and His church, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Now that I???ve got my spiritual thought put down, I???ll go on with the happenings of the week.

Newsletter 10

Alrighty, on Tues. we went and did all our normal p-day stuff. Nothing special. On Wed. we tracted into a nice older lady. We taught her the Restoration and she seems open to hear what we have to teach. We also went to see another investigator we found last week. On Thurs. we did some Christmas card and gift delivering. Then we headed up to Rocky Mount to stay so we could go to Roanoke on Fri. Fri. was our mission Christmas party and president interviews. It was so fun! We had a little singing/reading devotional and then we got to do some Christmas activities. Our zone bought our mission president and his wife a Christus (a statue of Christ)! It was sooooo nice! We also got a new car. Now, I should probably explain how that works???when we have a car in our area, the church keeps them for 3 years or 50,000 miles (whichever comes first). After that, we drive it to where we are going to trade it for our new car. Then our old car is taken and sold dirt cheap (between $4000 and $9000). Right now we have an ???08 Malibu; nice car, but horrible gas mileage. Then, as we were leaving it started to snow. Now, down here, snow is an alien weather phenomenon, so people were freaking out! It took 3 hrs to get from Roanoke to Rocky Mount (a usually 1 hr drive). Then we decided to stay the night because it was getting dark and icy. The next day we wake up to a foot and a half of snow. They finally get it plowed at noon, and we can get our car out! Well, we get back to Martinsville, and almost nowhere has been plowed! So we have to bum around until we got tired of waiting for them to plow the snow so we parked at a member???s house and hiked the half mile to our apartment with all our stuff (suitcases and backpacks). Arrival time: 5:30PM! Needless to say, we didn???t get too much done that day. We did some visiting the next day with members and broke the sacrament (communion) with a family on Sun. And we didn???t have church either???sad day. Luckily, Mon. was mostly cleared up and we could get around to more people.

Newsletter 11

Tues. was a normal p-day, nothing out-of-the-ordinary. Wed. we did a lot of visiting and got a couple of lessons in. Then, it was Christmas Eve. Didn???t do much prosyliting. But we did a lot of visiting. Finally, Christmas! YAY!!! I had only 1 package to open, whereas Elder Ingram, my companion had like 6. Oh well, that???s not what Christmas is about. My favorite part of the day was when we got to call home! It was great to hear from mom and dad. We got to call from a member???s home and they even invited us to have breakfast with them. We did lots of running around that day too. Then back to the normal routine. On Sat. we did some tracting and visiting of less active members. Then on Sun. we had church. YAY!! As Elder Ingram said, ???I???m starting to feel like a less-active member!??? We also found out that someone was getting transferred. On Mon. we found out who: Elder Ingram. He???s going to Morgantown, WV. The farthest north part of our mission. And where we are at right now is the farthest south. So he???s going from one end to the other! LoL. My new companion is going to be Elder Rivera. So I???m nervous and exited at the same time.

Well, that???s all for now, I???ll talk to y???all next week!
Bye-bi!!

Elder Mulks
xSOIx

-A mind without purpose will walk in dark places.
-Psalms 23