MERRY CHRISTMAS

hey,

how are you doing? I'm super home sick this past week. It is strange to think I'm not going to have a mom nagging me to stay home and not go out with kait on Christmas. haha just kidding.

this week has been a real blur. I really cant remember anything that happened. Tuesday we had zone conference. President Gonzalez came up and talked with us. We talked about supporting the members and investigators and helping them remember the importance of Christ. Just helping them remember why he came. A lot of the time they start to remember the baby. they remember him but not what he did. We were challenged to help them remember why he came. We use Alma 7:11-13 something like that. It explains that he came suffering temptation sickness.....etc. We have had a good reaction from them with it.

Wed. night i went on an exchange with the zone leaders. Elder Taylor and i worked in the English area they cover. I hated it. I have decided Mexican people are better to teach. We talked to so many people. We had door after door slammed in our face. We had people yell at us. There were some people who listened, but i don't think anything is going to come of it. We did get the chance to teach a guy named Aaron. He had a heart attack and is a little more open to listening to the gospel.

Sunday we had two baptisms. Wwere supposed to have three but we couldn't find one of the candidates for the life of us. We called called and called, went by and nothing. Oh well i guess. We are going to have him baptized next week i guess. He will have to have another interview but no big deal. The people who were baptized were Salvador and Alfonso. It was really good i helped Elder Martinez translate the meeting. We had some English investigators in the stake come to the baptism. I looked up the scriptures for him. He translated everything else. It was fun.

Well that is pretty much my week. I cant really remember anything else. It has been really hard this week for me. Elder Martinez is going home and I'm really sad. He is heartbroken over it too. He cries when people bring it up. I got to the point to tell people to shut up. They are starting to get it now. He is a good missionary. I'm glad i got to learn from him.

Anyway i love you lots. Be safe during Christmas. I will be calling about 6 oclock my time about 7 yours. is that ok. i hope so because that is when i am calling. good i love you lots. be safe.

love your brother and son

Elder Taylor Paskett

Breakin' the Pinata

Hey family,

How is everyone doing?

I am doing really good. this last week was crazy. We had five baptisms on Sunday. It was so much fun. We were crunched for time trying to get everyone ready in white clothes, getting the font filled and getting my self dressed.

lLast week i went on a exchange with elder grannis. We worked in the north part of Modesto. It was a little different covering a huge area on bikes. We taught a few lessons. I extended a baptismal commitment but got turned down. She said that she was already baptized and was too stubborn to realize that it really didn't count. That night elder Martinez called me when i was with elder grannis. He was crying. I had now idea what happened. He just told me we would talk when we exchanged back. Later that night we had the interview with president McAndrews. While we waited i prayed like crazy. I got a feeling that everything was ok. We didn't need to worry at all. They passed the interview. Everything was fine.

Sunday we had 5 baptisms! Brenda, Jackie, Mayra, Juan, and Moises. It was incredible. i baptized Juan. He is about my size. The water was low and when he saw that he looked at me and said "there is no way i am going to get under that far." haha. I looked at him and said I'm gonna make you don't worry. So we got in there said the prayer and i dunked him. I had to lay on him to get him to go under the water. After the baptism his family said that I looked funny when i was doing it. I told them what i had to do and they laughed so so hard. Jackie (9 years old) had to be dunked 4 times. She would panic when she went under. I felt really bad. Itwas really exciting.

The Christmas party was crazy. It was kinda like great grandmas parties. Loud. Not that good of food, and a pinata. I loved it. We had recent converts tons of investigators and members that feel like family. Elder Martinez took a swing at the pinata and instead of breaking the pinata he broke the stick. The other half flew off and whacked a kid in the face. i had to tackle a kid who was swinging at the pinata. He was blind folded and going crazy and the kids were all diving in for the candy. I got hit in the leg....hard. The branch president said thank you after that.

My companion and my roommates are like my best friends now. We get along so well. for the most part. I argue with the Peruvian a lot, ha ha, but that is ok. We do the dumbest things at night before bed. I will show you all the crazy pictures i have when i get home. I'm to lazy to print them all off. Anyway.

i love you all so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so much. I pray for you often. I know you love me lots. Don't miss me too much. I promise i am well. Love you lots

Love your brother and son,

Elder Paskett

Christmas Nativities

Hey family,

How is everyone? Sorry my preparation day wasn't till today. We had a temple trip today. It was really good to get a spiritual recharge. I was getting really tired.

This week was really good. We are teaching a family, Linda and Gabriel. They are the parents of a little girl named Jackie, who is nine. She is LD (learning disabled). So they didn't think that she would be ready to be baptized so we didn't really focus on her. We talked with them a little later and they asked if she needed to be baptized. We said that she could and if she had the holy ghost that it would help her through her life. Elder Martinez shared a story about a man who received the holy ghost and walked to his seat afterward. The thing is he couldn't walk. He was in a wheel chair. He said after he received the gift he wanted to walk to his seat, so he did. He is now back in the wheel chair but he knew he could do it when he received the gift of the Holy Ghost. So she is going to be baptized on Sunday, along with Brenda who has been waiting so long to be baptized, Myra, Juan and Moises will be baptized as well. It is going to be really exciting.

Linda and Gabriel are having their wedding not this week but next week and getting baptized the next day.

Alfonso is an investigator who has golden written on his forehead. He ended up in the hospital one day from drinking and realized he needed to change. We talked to him and told him that we could help him change. He said please and we started teaching. We found out that he went to church in Mexico but was never baptized. He loves it. He loves to see us. We told him we could move his date to the 12 but he said he wanted to wait so he could be as ready as possible so we kept it on the 19th.

Nancy (recent convert) had her baby boy. We went and visited her in the hospital. It was really fun. I cant really understand her all that well but i know that she teases me a lot.

Spanish sometimes stresses me out. I don't know what to do sometimes. I panic when people talk to me, and I'm usually to scared to ask them to repeat themselves.

I'm getting really good at teaching. I have been helped out a lot by my companion and of course very blessed by my heavenly father. This work couldn't go on if he didn't help. We are nothing with out him. I realize that everyday.

Our car still doesn't work so we walk in the cold, the rain, the fog, and the occasional 70 degree weather. It is unpredictable here. i don't know if i need to wear a sweater or not i usually have to check outside.

I miss you guys a lot. especially with the Christmas season coming up. We went to a stake activity called the Nativity festival. People in the stake lent their nativities to the stake and they were set up with a note next to them, like where they came from, who made it, what it was made of. It was really cool. There were 250ish of them, they had a scavenger hunt, too. It was a lot of fun. We had investigators come, and then we were able to watch the Christmas devotional.

The Lord lives, and he loves us. All we have to do is follow him. I love you all so much. Keep praying for me I need it.

Love your brother and son