January 2

I actually spoke this week in church too. Last week I got the assignment at about 6:30 am so I had a few hours to prepare, but this week I had about 20 minutes to prepare. No stress though. Last week I spoke about the true meaning of Christmas and something about how we need to remember the Savior by caring for others. I also read the words to Hark the Herald Angels sing. I love that hymn. I don't really need anything right now. Everything is going great.

We have been finding a lot of new people tracting and only time will tell how serious they are about investigating the church. There was one 18 year old boy and his mother that we tracted into a while ago, when I was still with sincreah. We have seen the boy about 5 times since then, but we only saw the ma once. We gave the boy a book of mormon on the second visit, and he shared it with his mom. Apparently, she's not very busy during the days, so she spends her time reading it. We found out on saturday that she has nearly read the entire book of mormon. I was absolutely shocked to hear that. We taught her once, didn't even give her a book of mormon, and she's nearly finished with it. I expect great things to happen in their lives very soon.

You had decent grades. I'm really not surprised. You complain all the time about how bad your grades are then you end up beating me and dad. Also, as we attend the temple regularly and put the things of God before the things of the world, He will bless us. You are doing that, therefore, I am not surprised. Congratulations! Nana truly is an angel in everything she does. I used to wonder what made her do all those things for us and for everyone. I also used to think that the answer is very difficult, but it's really not: she does it because she loves us and is filled with charity. I would love to be like her someday. Driven by love for people--just like the Savior. I'm sorry that this email is short. I will write you a letter soon and you will receive it eventually. I love you so much mom and family!     Happy birthday Ariel!!!

Love,

Elder Steed