Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Peoria Week 72 *December 30, 2014


Hey there!

For the past couple of days and basically this whole week we have not been able to do as much real missionary work as I would like. Around the holidays we try our best to stay out of people's hair and let them have their family time. I really think it helps build a unity and a trust within the ward and the people know that we are there for them and to not be a burden. With that being said Christmas Eve and Christmas are days we stay inside and away from members homes. Of course if people want us to come over and be with them for Christmas then we will be happy to oblige. My Christmas eve was really relaxing. We had a dinner with some members in the family ward and then we went to the church to meet up with a few missionaries to burn some extra calories before the big meals the next day. I have really come to have a love hate relationship with sports. When your doing good there isn't anything you would rather be doing but when you hit the other end of the spectrum all you want to do is go home and try again some other day. Luckily for me that night I was on top of the world. It was a small not very populated world but I was the king haha. Then we went home and I opened up my traditional Christmas pajamas to find a sweet great onesie! I rocked it through the the night and enjoyed every minute of it. We had a bottle of sparkling cider to cap off the night and then hit the hay. 

We woke up Christmas morning and decided that cereal just wouldn't cut it for this special occasion so we hopped in the truck and went to village inn for a nice hot breakfast. There was only about two people in the restaurant so it was a blast. We just hung out and talked for a few hours and then headed for home to open up whatever Santa had UPS deliver. I had a nice little bundle of gifts which is great because I didn't get all this "stuff" that I didn't need. Instead I got those things that I wanted and I was a happy camper. We had a waffle brunch with our bishop from the YSA which was to die for. They had these Italian sodas there that I just couldn't get enough of. The family is very nice and welcomed us but it just isn't the same as being home. It tries to compensate but just doesn't quite get there. Then it was off to the church for the long awaited Skype home! That is the best part of any Christmas and I will just leave it up to your imagination to try and figure out what we talked about. The rest of the day was filled with napping, writing letters, drawing, playing sports or eating food. It was a great day. 

We have been working hard to find those people at need/ want us to come over and help them come closer to Jesus Christ and this week we were able to find a really cool guy. Well actually we didn't really find him. He kinda just showed up on our area book so we went and contacted him. His name is Andrew and he has been a member of the church for about 8 months. He moved down her from up in show low Arizona. He is super humble and wants to continue to build and feed the fire that the missionaries were able to instill is him when he was taking the lessons. He asked where I was from and I said California. He mentioned he had just gotten back from a race in San Bernardino. I knew that a major race had just taken place (A Day in the Dirt) and asked if it was the same one he went to. Sure enough it was. Then we went on a long rant all about motocross and the people we knew and I found out that we have a ton of the same acquaintances and that there was probably times that he and I had been at the same race! Pretty crazy to think about. Haha. We have been working with him and he still defiantly has that desire on him! 

So do any of you remember Vanesa from my last area? She was the 15 yr old that got baptized after we started to teach her mom Rachel. Rachel couldn't be baptized right then and there due to some legal issues but they worked through all of those and two weeks ago I got a call from her asking me to be the one that baptized her! It was such a great experience! It was the first time I had ever taught a whole family and had them all be baptized and it was the first actual baptizing that I had done. It was a lot of fun and I couldn't be more excited for her!

Well it's another year gone and one more is about to begin. One of the elders we lived with just went home on Monday and it made us all pretty ready haha. It's weird to think that I wasn't home at all for the whole entire year of 2014. 2015 will be a different story. Thank you all for the Christmas wishes. I hope you all have a safe week and party on. Talk to you next year. 

Until next week,
Elder Cole Safford



Sweet Christmas Onesie

Christmas breakfast at Tiffany's

Baptism Day for Rachel

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