Greetings From San Jose

Hello Everyone,

Well I don't know about you but my Christmas was pretty great. Hopefully yours was special. My week was actually pretty boring until the holiday came closer. My family started sending me a "12 Days of Christmas" package a day type thing which was super fun. Among top gifts, my sister sent me a pretty legit ninja throwing star which I have always wanted. It's kind of sad that I got it on my mission where I don't have much opportunity to really use it but nonetheless it's pretty cool. Normally I open things and see that they're made in China and think to myself that it's a little less authentic than hoped for, but a ninja star being made in China really made it way cooler in my eyes. Anyway, my other sister sent me some fake mustaches which are awesome, and I got some much needed sweatpants and an amazing t-shirt made by one of my many sisters which says "Keep Your Friends Close And Your Sandwiches Closer". And a hacky sack and delicious mudbars and the fixings for Tim Tam Slams which I got to make use of while skyping with my family.

On Saturday we had a mission wide breadfast. We all congregated in San Jose and were fed steak and eggs and pancakes and pop tarts. Then we had a white elephant gift exchange. We separated according to which zone we were in so we exchanged with the missionaries that we see all the time and know best. If I learned anything from that it would have to be that our zone is full of a bunch of cheapskates. Myself included. I just regifted. Other zones had like Chinese yo-yos and nerf guns and nice ties and candy. I got an old teddy bear. Anyway, that's not important. That night was pretty neat as we got to eat dinner with a family in the ward who was baptized 364 days ago. Last Christmas they became members of the church and Christmas eve a year later we got to be with them for dinner. It was great, and I had a fun time teasing the little girl about Santa Clause. Her mom mentioned that she knew about santa and so I asked the girl, "You know who Santa is?" in my most serious interested voice and stare. She said "Yeah." and so I had to ask, "Well who is he?" and she replied "My Dad." I kept it going and asked if she had let any reporters know cause this was newsworthy information. I should have asked her why her Dad was still at the dinner table with us if it was Christmas Eve shouldn't he be out making deliveries. Perhaps it was stupid but I had fun and so did the family.

Christmas was fun. We were invited to have breakfast with a family in our ward and I had some of the best waffles of my life. Putting blackberry jam on there is the key. They were so generous. Their son used to come out with us all the time to help teach lessons but he is now in the MTC and I guess they don't have missionaries in the MTC call home cause there probably aren't enough phones or just too much of a hassle maybe so they were slightly bummed about that, but he'll get to call when he flies out of Salt Lake in a few weeks I guess. Then we had church for just one hour which was kind of neat in that we were able to convince some less active members to come. Church only being one hour sealed the deal a little bit. This only happens once every like 7 years I guess so better advertise it well. One less active guy actually came to perform "Oh, Holy Night" and he has an amazing voice. It was great, and members handed us goody bags with candy in them. After that we went to a recent converst house and he let me use his iPad to skype with my family. That was fun. Catching up with everyone and doing synchronized Tim Tam Slamming. Which if you don't know is taking pepperidge farm cookies called Tim Tams and using them like a straw for hot chocolate so the hot chocolate melts the inside of the cookie and then you eat it and it is divine. I had fogotten how good those molten cookies are. My companion called his family all normal like on our cell phone and talked for a long time. I figure since a picture is worth a thousand words my skyping and his extended phone call are about equal.

Then on Monday I exchanged some shirts my sister had gotten me for the most expensive pair of pants I've ever owned, and then we got to play some basketball, volleyball and then ulitimate frisbee which was super fun. I'll likely be transferred on January 3rd and I hope my new zone gets together as often for sports on P-day as this one cause it's really great to get to play sports each week.

This whole week past we had a great time going around and sharing Christmas messages with our investigators and members. Nothing too special but I guess recounting the Saviors birth and discussing the atonement is always special. I mentioned how happy I was with all the Christmas gifts I recieved this year and that's not a bad thing as long as I remember that in reality they are to be representative of the ultimate gift that comes from our Heavenly Fathers love for us. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son..."

I hope everyone had a great holiday season.

Sincerely, Elder F. Miller