Elder Joshua Thayne in Indiana: Week 68 - My Last Christmas in the Mission - I love being a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This week flew by! It was a really rough week for the work and we weren't able to do much this week. Tuesday night we drove down to Indy and slept over with some Elders down there. Wednesday we had our mission-wide Christmas conference which was a lot of fun. We listened to stories and feelings on Christmas from the mission presidency, and later had a white elephant gift exchange. I was left with a game of battleship which was decent compared to some of the other gifts. After the gift exchange we had a talent show and it was a lot of fun! Later, we made the long drive back up to Elkhart and got home around 10.

Christmas Eve was great! We had a baptismal interview with K and her kids, A and A. They were baptized yesterday by the Elkhart Elders. They are such a humble and converted family! After the baptismal interview we went to the Alarcon's house for Christmas festivities. In the Hispanic culture, Christmas is really celebrated on the 24th. They stay up wayyyyy late and eat and talk and then at midnight they open all the presents, eat some more, dance, and then go to bed. The next day is still recognized as Christmas, but it's not as big of a deal as Christmas Eve. At 10 we got permission from Pres. Cleveland to go to the Lutheran Candlelit mass on Christmas Eve. It was really interesting to see the differences in the Lutheran Church. After mass we went and ate a bit at Juan's house and then went home to sleep.

Christmas morning, Juan asked if we wanted to go to the Basilica of the Holy Heart, a catholic church on Notre Dame campus in South Bend. It's a beautiful and famous church and it was sooooo cool. Catholic mass was weird as well and really interesting. But just like you said Mom, the best part of my Christmas was when I spoke with my wonderful family! :) It was so good to see you all and to talk to you face to face. I love you and miss you all dearly.

Saturday night I had the feeling to call this lady named G that we had heard about whose ex-husband is a member. I called her and she was excited to meet with us on Sunday. Juan came with us to the lesson with her and she is such a sweet lady. Her husband was deported about 5 years ago and has been a member for a long time. She used to go to church, but is now attending another Christian church every once in a while. We have another appointment with her tomorrow and we will bring the branch president and his wife with us. We're hoping she'll be our next baptismal date!

I thoroughly enjoyed my last missionary Christmas! It is one I will never forget. I love the Spirit of love and giving that permeates the air during the Christmas season and I am excited to share that with my loved ones next year. It is a blessing to share this good news with the Hoosiers here in Indiana and I love being a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. Have a great week and a happy new year! I love you Mom!

Love,

Elder Thayne