December 23, 2013

Its Christmas!

Hey family! Thanks for the emails and Emma for the sock survey. Heh, it was pretty halarious! But this week so much stuff happened. You will have to remind me on Skype becuse lots of stuff happened. We had the Christmas party on Saturday and the president of the other Branch dressed up as Pai Natal and gave presents to all the kids. There was a show of talents and us, the missionaries, sang a few songs in English. You know, like the classic Jingle Bells and Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. It was a blast! And after we all ate loads of food. Everybody brought snacks, meat, soda, cake, bread or some sort of food. Seeing as we didnt have lots of time to make anything we bought a couple cartons of juice at the cantina down the street. But it turned out to be a pretty hoppin party. Somebody brought a giant Jump roap which of course intruiged everybody. Even the older crowd. We all liked it a lot.

Oh, and thanks for sending the email that Elder Francisco sent. He is a great guy! And thank you for sending him a package. Im sure he loved it! Did dad put a note in it? If its in english Im sure he could translate it.

As far as Skype we will be starting around 15,. (aka 7 oclock back where you are) Im not sure exactly what time I will get but but It will be between 7 and 9 ish. I will send an email Christmas morning to let you know exactly what time I will be getting on. And just a reminder I am only allowed 40 min max. So questions and stuff need to be thought of before hand to take advantage of the time. And dad, Elder Pimentel is planning on speaking with you, so get ready, time to brush up on the ol Portuguese. :) I hope this wont incommodate any present unwrapping or anything... But be assured that the presents will be ther when you return. I want to see all of your wonderful smiling faces.

Did you by any chance recieve my letter with multiple letters inside? Dont read them until Christmas or Christmas eve... your choice.

Tonight we have our Christmas devotional thing with the missionaries President! Its going to be great. We are actually heading over there in a few min. But Hey, Im loving it out here so much! I love this people and my companion. he has tought me so much already. A few days ago, I hit the lowest that I thought possible. Dont ask about the details. But It was pretty stinking difficult. Elder Pimentel talked to me and told me some very key things that I had lost sight of. I owe a lot to him. He is a great man and is blessing my life and the life of so many people here in Angola!!! Since that day, I have been aware of more and more aware of the miracles that taking place around me. I have developed a deeper love for missionary work and for the people. It made me think of the Joseph Smith movie when he says that for the Lord to pull us up we first need to be brought down. I am grateful for the challeges of life. I am grateful for all the hard stuff that happenes. Without it we would go nowhere, without opposition we wouldnt know where we were going or where we have been. I am grateful for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and for the opportunity that I have as well as thosands of other Missionries and members of the church to step into the wine vat and lend a hand. And as members of his gospel we all promised that we would take upon us the name of Christ, take up our cross and "follow him." What a blessing!! To follow in his footsteps, the path that he carved. Its not easy. But that is why he promised "come unto me all ye heavy laden and I will give you rest." We are commanded to follow him but at the same time he has promised that as we follow, if it gets too heavy to bear, will be there with us to take part of the load. The Prince of Peace. The Savior of the World. The Son of God.

Well, its that time of the day again. I love you all and pray for you all every night!! Until Quarta Ferra!! Merry Christmas!!!!!!!

Elder Dredge