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Thanksgiving was great! We went with the Taylor family to "The Delta King," a steamboat on the river in Sacramento. We drove through Old Sac and boarded the ship. It was a buffet style Thanksgiving dinner. Super delish. It was awesome to spend Thanksgiving with them, and afterward we came home to hang out with the McClellans, the family we live with. They had all their kids and grandkids over. It was awesome. After eating so much Elder Villalva and I had to play basketball with the McClellan grandkids to burn it all off. The picture above is Elder Villalva and I on the dock of the the Delta King.

On Saturday Claire O'Shea in the Wilton ward got baptized! She is the result of the hard work of dozens of missionaries. She has been off coffee for two weeks, and we are super proud of her. Her husband is a less-active member, and he is in a nursing home in Sacramento. Claire was baptized by Br. Telford, her hometeacher. She is from Brooklyn, NY and has the greatest accent. Very classy.

After the baptism of Claire I headed up to Jackson to witness the baptism of Steve Larson. I taught Steve for almost six months in the Jackson ward and Elder Gurr (my companion in Stockton) and his trainee have been helping him progress. I am so happy for him. Steve is completely blind from an accident years ago. I was so happy to see many of the members of the Jackson ward that became family to me -- Br Martinez, Br Ward, Sis Saldate, Br Fedena. 

Well, the Church is true and I've got to go. Love you all!

--

Elder Chris Andrew

California Sacramento Mission

8267 Deseret Ave

Fair Oaks, CA 95628

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

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Happy Thanksgiving! It's been a long week without pday on Monday, but all day today is pday. We are going with the Taylor family in our ward to a restaurant in Old Sacramento. Elder Villalva and I are pretty excited. After that we will come back and eat with the family that we live with, the McClellans. They have had all their kids and grand kids home this week. All this is new to Elder Villalva, of course they don't have Thanksgiving in Ecuador. We decided to fast this morning before eating two dinners this evening :)

Investigator update: Claire is getting baptized this Saturday! She has waited so long for this. She overcame coffee and has a testimony. Before she lived here she lived in my old area of Amador County where she met the missionaries. She moved to Wilton with her less-active husband and the missionaries tracked her down and have been working with her for years.

Steve! Remember Steve Larson in Jackson ward? He is getting baptized this Saturday as well. He is my favorite investigator/best friend that I taught. Elder Gurr has been working with him, and he received an answer to his prayers after listening to General Conference. He is awesome.

Jocie in Wilton ward has also set a baptism date for December 29th. Oh yeah.

We added a new investigator named Cheryl in the Wilton ward also. She is so humble and willing and prepared. When I think about all of the investigators and people that have been prepared to hear the gospel, each of them have had a great friend or family member that has led them to the church. It's a testament that we need to share it with everyone.

Well, here's my thank-timony --

I am so thankful for my mission. I love it. I am grateful for my family that loves me and supports me. I am grateful that I have such an awesome companion and a great district. I am thankful for President and Sister Lewis and the guidance they give me. I am grateful for my Heavenly Father and the prayers that He answers. I am eternally grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ.

Well, love you all and have a great Thanksgiving! (write ya on Monday)

--

Elder Chris Andrew

California Sacramento Mission

8267 Deseret Ave

Fair Oaks, CA 95628

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

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Sorry it's a short one this week w/out pictures. Last Monday our zone played glow-in-the-dark ultimate frisbee in the church gym, with glow sticks around our necks and taped on the frisbee. That was fun.Tuesday was great. Wednesday we taught Clair, one of our most promising investigators. On Thursday it rained, that was cool. We had training from our zone leaders instead of district meeting this week, so I didn't have to prepare a district meeting. I'm cool with that. On Friday President and Sis. Lewis came and taught us about faith. That was awesome. We studied scriptures, Preach My Gospel, and discussed how we can increase our faith and the faith of our investigators. I'm always amazed that even though faith, repentance, baptism, and the Holy Ghost are such simple gospel principles, we can always talk about them in such depth. I love it.

Saturday was great, Elder Villalva and I taught a lot. My favorite days are the ones that we are rushing between teaching appointments and are constantly teaching lessons and reading the scriptures. Those days we see the most miracles in finding as we teach, and as we invite investigators to be baptized.

Church on Sunday was crazy. We are still getting to know ward members and leaders, so it's awkward when someone comes up to you and you know their face... but you forgot their name in the plethora of new names and faces jumbled around in your brain. I feel like an idiot sometimes. Oh well. Love ya!

Love,

Elder Andrew

--

Elder Chris Andrew

California Sacramento Mission

8267 Deseret Ave

Fair Oaks, CA 95628

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Woah, what a crazy week. On Wednesday I got a ride to my new area, the Wilton and Sheldon wards in Elk Grove. It's the countryside kinda near Sacramento. It's a little like Jackson and Ione, except not as hill-y. Beautiful area. We live in a member's guest home by ourselves. My companion is Elder Villalva! He is from Ecuador. He is awesome. Elder Villalva has been out for 5 months and this is his first time serving in English work. He speaks it very well. We still do language study every day for an hour, and I study Spanish while he studies English. I told him my goal by the end of the transfer is to be able to talk about the gospel and pray in Espanol. Elder Villalva is funny and we get along great.

 

Being shotgunned into an area is an adventure. This week was kinda hard to find the people that we are teaching and have been taught in the past. Church was great though. We meet in the biggest building in the stake, the Vintage Park building. It has two chapels so two wards can meet at the same time. We have to bounce between both of our wards so we can be where we need to be for ward councils, sacrament meetings, and gospel principles. Good stuff! These wards are great, and we have a lot of support.

 

On Saturday I was able to go back to Stockton for the baptism of Jacob Lemon! That was awesome.

 

The missionaries in my district are awesome. On Thursday we had district meeting. Elders Nalesoni and Gottfredson are in the Waterman ward and Elders Scalese and Kafton are in the Elk Grove ward. Great Elders.

--

Elder Chris Andrew

California Sacramento Mission

8267 Deseret Ave

Fair Oaks, CA 95628