Email from Elder Lofthouse 1/9/14 Temple Trip!

Sorry my e-mail is a little late this week.  Our zone leaders didn't realize they were supposed to plan a temple trip this transfer and we found out at zone meeting last week (the day after preparation day) that we were going to the temple today.  It was a wonderful trip, but temple preparation days are always a little crazy.  Thankfully we have tons of food, our apartment is pretty clean, and we had permission to do our laundry Monday morning, so we don't have to worry about that either.

After reading about all my friends in Missouri, Alabama, Canada (-75 degrees??), and Japan I have to say that I am very thankful for the weather in California which currently isn't even going below freezing. Woohoo!  But it's supposed to be raining a lot by now, and we haven't seen any.  Forecast says there won't be any for two more weeks.  That's not good for this agricultural community.  People are starting to get worried.

Holy cow, a lot has happened over the last week and a half!  Okay, I'll tell you the coolest story from this last week. M and S  were fasting, right?  We went over Monday night, and M said that she has no more doubts, she knows this church is true and she's going to get baptized.  But she wants to do it with S.  So, the next night we started going over the interview questions.  We weren't able to finish because we had to be back at the apartment by 6pm (New Year's Eve can be crazy), so we went over again on New Years Day and finished going over them.  She said that yes, she was willing to keep all those commandments and make that covenant, but she still wasn't going to get baptized yet.  Elder Moody asked, "Why not?"  And then  wonderful Sister M, said, "What's keeping you from being baptized?"  And S said, "You know what?  Nothing's keeping me from being baptized.  And you know what?  I'm going to get baptized!  When should we set the date for?"  So we set a date for Jan 11.  Sadly, they drank coffee Sunday morning, so we're pushing the baptism back one more week. 

Sad news.  Somehow, the screen on my camera got crushed.  So I can't see what I'm taking pictures of.  My track records with cameras on my mission isn't so great.  First one, in the baptismal font.  Then, I lose all the pictures on my memory card from the first eight months of my mission.  Then the screen breaks on the one my aunt sent me.  I think I'm just going to give up of keeping a visual record of my mission.

Anyway, I hope you're all doing well.  If I forgot to write about anything, I'll be sure to let you know on Monday.

Love ya!

Elder Lofthouse