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It's December! I can't believe how fast this year has flown. I'm so excited for Christmas! We are looking forward to a White Christmas. Even though we don't get any snow in the valley where we serve, we are working to help truly converted people enter the waters of baptism this month. It's our "White Christmas," the white baptismal clothing representing purity. Elder Villalva and I have set up a little Christmas tree in our house, we listen to Christmas music, and we share Holiday videos and scriptures with members and non-members. Yay!

This week we taught our investigator, Cheryl. She is incredible! She has been searching for the gospel for a long time, and now she is prepared for baptism. She has lived with a member friend for 20 years, and within the last year her friend has returned to activity and has helped Cheryl learn. I have a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ being the "good news." As we have taught Cheryl she is so eager to learn and understand and enjoy fully the blessings of the Atonement. Through Jesus Christ we can become clean from sin. The burdens of guilt and sorrow can be washed away. I love being able to help someone else understand our need for Grace and change their lives! Cheryl is amazing.

As a side-note last week Elder Villalva and I got a call from Elder Clifton in the mission office (he's our vehicle coordinator). He switched out our old Chevy Malibu (we call it a Mali-boat for it's lousy turning radius) for a brand new Chevy Cruze. I'll probably never drive a newer, nicer car for years! We like it. They are better than the Toyotas that the Church used to buy.

We had a mission conference this week and found out that by middle of next year, we should have about 250 missionaries serving in our mission. Right now we are below 190. Holy smoke! I'm stoked. This means that every single ward in the mission will have it's own companionship. No more two ward areas. It's a struggle to balance and serve effectively in two wards. Oh yeah baby.

Hey, the Church made a Christmas website! Check it out, check it out.
mormon.org/christmas

Love to all and Merry Christmas!



--

Elder Chris Andrew

California Sacramento Mission

8267 Deseret Ave

Fair Oaks, CA 95628

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