The Polar Express (our party, not our weather)

Hey everybody!

I was glad to hear that Landon had a good birthday, and that you had some fun parties at the house this week! And if you see Ciera again, you'll have to tell her hi for me!

So this week in the greater Kankakee area, we taught a very nice young man named Travis. He belongs to another church, and we don't know if he's really interested in joining our church, but he loves our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and has a sincere desire to serve them. He's already been on two service missions in his life, and he's planning on going on one, maybe even two this next year. Anyways, we had a really good discussion about the Book of Mormon and how it gives us the fullness of the gospel alongside the Bible. Besides Travis, we met a great guy named Anthony, and he told us that he'd be interested in sitting down with us and talking more about the gospel.

We had an exchange this week, and I was in charge of running our area with Elder Payne (one of our Zone Leaders), while Elder Olsen went out to Ottawa with Elder Staheli (our other Zone Leader). All of the set appointments we had this week fell through, which was no good, but we still saw several of our investigators briefly, so that was good.

Also, Saturday was the ward Christmas party, and it was a blast! The theme was the Polar Express, and the cultural hall was decorated like the North Pole, and there was a big cardboard train that was made for decoration, and the hallway was decorated like the inside of a train, where you could sit and drink hot chocolate and watch the Polar Express movie. It was a really good turnout, I would guess that there were probably over 100 people there. And the food was fantastic!

So I've mentioned before there is a member in the ward named Brother Jim Anderson, and he's just one of the nicest people that you will ever meet. He reminds me a lot of Uncle Ray, because he's got the same really genuine, kind personality, he dresses really classy, and he just loves what he does. He goes out with us a lot, and he's got a great testimony. But anyways, he gave Elder Olsen and me Christmas stockings this week. The stockings had fruit, candy, a Christmas CD from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, a journal, and a tie in them. It was a really kind gesture, and I just love Brother Anderson. Good name.

I don't think I have any real good or funny stories from the week, so sorry about that...

I love you guys, and I'm praying for you!

I hope to hear from you again soon,

Elder Dallas Anderson