December 16, 2014

Dear Family,

The Christmas tree looks good, and I wish I could see it in person! Liv I hope you had fun at the Christmas dance. I miss doing the candles with you guys, and reading all about the saviors birth. I still read about it and it's awesome to read about and to feel of the Christmas spirit! Yes missionaries do use the "He is the Gift" video a lot! We actually were given pass along cards at the beginning of December and we were told to pass out 10 of them a day, so we each got a stack of 125 cards and we have to get rid of them all by Christmas! It makes OYM's a lot more fun and also more effective! We have shared the video with a lot of people and every time I watch it I wish it lasted longer! It's an awesome video and to all of you that haven't watched it, watch it!!  Anyways, This week was pretty good, I got my new companion, his name is Elder Gardner! We actually came out on our missions at the exact same time, so we knew each other in the MTC and we came on the same plane to Albuquerque together! When we heard that we were companions we both were going nuts! We work really well together so we are super excited for this transfer! We had three lessons with Randy this week and during the first one he had a seizure... We were watching a video on LDS.org  and he just had a seizure. Luckily we had a member of our ward with us who knows a bit about seizures so he was able to help him and keep us both calm haha. Later in the week we found out that it was from the new medicine that he's taking to help him stop smoking. He said the doctor took him off a couple of the meds that he was taking before but now his depression is coming back and he started smoking again and it's just going downhill... We have been praying hard for him and we follow up with him every day to help him out with everything, but it's going to be hard. We actually set another baptism date with him since he missed his last one, so if he can go 2 weeks without smoking then he can be baptized on January 18th! We also had a lesson with Rebecca! She came to dinner one night to a member's house and we were able to teach her there, and also we went over later in the week and showed the "He is the Gift" video, and she loved it! She still wont come to church and she wont get baptized until she moves so idk what we're going to do with her... We also had a lesson with a lady named Jackie who is one of our investigators! We have been trying to get in and have a lesson with her and every time she makes us stay out on her front porch. So we shared a scripture with her and gave her a priesthood blessing because she is going in to a surgery, and we also set a return appointment with her for this week so hopefully we can get in and teach the Restoration to her! 

I am loving every second of the mission and it seems like time is just flying by!! I feel like it should be December 1st and not the 16th! It just makes me realize that I'm not going to be a missionary forever and I have to make the most of every second of every day! I love being able to wear the tag with the Saviors name on it and I can't wait to bring people into the kingdom! Love you all and hope you're doing well! Thanks for all the support and everything! Talk to you later

Love Elder Summerhays

Pres with new companion Elder Gardner

(they need to clean their bathroom mirror)