O Holy Night

Hello Family,

Sorry I am writing so late. The missionary mail service wasn't working until a few minutes ago.

So...first off....don't worry. That recording of me singing was at a ward activity. That was not during sacrament meeting. Here, the cultural hall and the chapels are the same room. It was an awesome Christmas party with piñatas, food, and a lot of dancing. (Of course we didn't dance....but it was so much fun!!!).

As for facetiming...we have permission to facetime on the 24th, 25th, 31st or the 1st. So....whenever you guys want to and can do it. I will get on tomorrow to finalize the details with you guys:) I'm going to need the factime account that I have to call!! I am so excited to see you all too!!!!

So...this week has been crazy awesome. We have been so busy. This past week, as zone leaders we were put in charge of finding a service project to do as a zone. We found an investigator that was going to paint his house, so we offered to help and made plans to do it. We worked out all the details of travel and tools, and had everything ready Thursday night to start early Friday morning. Friday morning, we woke up to pouring rain, and a text from our investigator canceling our activity. We went crazy calling people trying to put together a back-up service activity because all of the Elders in the zone were planning on arriving in our area at 8:00 in the morning. We were not finding anything so we decided to pray. We asked our Heavenly Father to help us find someone to serve. Someone who needed something big enough for 8 missionaries. As soon as we said amen, a brother called us and asked us if we could come and help him cut a bunch of grass. We told him of course and that actually we were going to come with 8 elders to help him. He was so happy and so grateful. I am so glad that we did that as a zone and not just me and my companion because I felt like we were chopping through the jungle. It wasn't just grass....it was weeds, trees, bushes, vines...everything. It was super cool.

Zone Service Project

After the activity we showered, changed and rushed into Coatza for our Christmas dinner with President. That was a lot of fun. They catered food from a restaurant. It was super good. It was an all you can eat buffet with shrimp, steak, crab...and best of all....potato wedges. By far the best meal I have had here in Mexico. I was asked by the assistant Elder Johnson to prepare a special musical number for the dinner. That is where I first sang the Oh Holy Night. It was really cool. I got to perform for like 40 missionaries, and President and his family. Then later the stake president in Coatza came, and presidente asked me to sing it again. President and Sister Morales were blown away, and they told me that I should never ever again travel without singing on the bus. So now whenever I travel, I carry my speaker, and sing....then we contact. It's awesome. Sister Morales is planning with the restaurant that fed us that night, to have me come and perform this week before Christmas and to contact everyone there. They were a little mad that they didn't know I could sing for almost an entire year, but they now want to use my voice. They also asked me to prepare a solo for the mission leadership council in January. We are now also planning a Night of Hymns...it'll be like a devotional put on by us missionaries here in Agua Dulce. It should be really good.

On Saturday we had our Ward Christmas party, and I sang again in that for the ward. It was a lot of fun. We also had a baptism on Saturday!!!! We baptized Hermana Mari. She shared her testimony after her baptism, and it was so sweet. It was really cool to get to hear such a strong testimony from a recent convert. We also have another baptism tomorrow of Romario. I am very excited for him too.

Christmas baptism of Hermana Mari

We are so proud of our Zone right now. In the first two weeks of the transfer, we are only two baptisms short of what the zone had in the entire last transfer. We are the smallest zone in the mission, and we are only one baptism short of being the highest baptizing zone in the mission. (The highest baptizing zone is twice our size and only has one more than us!!!). Our Elders are working very hard and we are very proud of what they are doing. It is making my job as a zone leader a lot easier. The assistants still get mad at me for numbers, but they are very happy with the changes we are making in this zone. (Elder Johnson, the assistant that I always report to, told me that our zone was the worst zone in the mission and has been for a long time. We are working really hard to get it up and going, and Elder Barrientos and I have the goal to be the best zone in the mission by the end of the transfer.). All of the Elders in our zone are awesome and we are helping all of them keep up their desires to work hard!

Christmas presents with President and Sister Morales

I am learning to be very organized. As a zone leader I have to know everything about almost every investigator in the zone. Their doubts and their goals. It is a lot of information that we have to keep very organized because the assistants want information fast and accurate. I am learning a lot. Life is crazy, but I am loving every moment of it:)

I am going to go shopping tomorrow for the shoes. Thanks for the help with that.

I can't wait to see you all this week and talk to ya'll. I Love you a ton and want to wish you all a Merry Christmas.

Love,

Elder Cavenee

Pictures:

Service Activity and Christmas Presents with President