A Spot of Red in a Sea of Black: Merry Christmas!!!!

I realized that last week I forgot to title my email Merry Christmas so I did that again this week! Well, I have some sad news. Sister Turtal transferred on Wednesday. So once again, just like every other transfer day, I have a new companion. Her name is Sister Maningas. Shes really nice. Guess what? Her birthday is July 12. I keep getting companions whose birthday is right next to mine. Sister Turtal was July 9 and Sister Maningas is July 12. Crazy right? The only difference is the year. Shes a lot older than me. Sister Maningas is 32. But thats okay because shes really nice. She got to the mission one transfer after me. So things are going good. Its been a pretty good week. On Monday, before Sister Turtal transferred, we had a FHE at the Descotido family. It was fun. They are less active and the dad isnt a member but he joined the FHE so it was great! We had a lot of fun. Then on Tuesday we got the transfer call and we went out and worked and Sister Turtal told a couple people she was transferring and it was sad. But literally everyone has been so shocked because I got to the area first but she transferred out before me. It was funny. But it was still okay. Sister Maningas is really good at teaching though. Our lessons go a little longer because she really likes to talk so we havent been able to teach as many people this week as we normally would but its okay. The lessons are good so its okay. I kind of feel bad though because we havent been able to visit all of our investigators. We will work on using our time wisely. Aaron is doing okay. He said he stopped smoking this week but he was still drinking coffee but we went back last night because he didnt come to church and his friend told us hes still smoking. We were really sad. We are trying to figure out how we can help him but I dont know. We will keep trying though. Victoria is doing good. She also wasnt able to come to church though because she had a fever. But she reads the Book of Mormon everyday and she wants to get baptized. We will visit her again tonight. Raymund is doing great! He passed his baptismal interview yesterday and will get baptized on Saturday! He was really excited. It was great! We got to talk to his parents and I finally met his dad. He was really nice. He said he has seen a change in Raymund and he likes it. He also said he would come to his baptism. We hope he does. We really want to teach them but they still wont let us right now. Hopefully they will see a big change in Raymund though and want it for themselves too so they will let us teach them. We will see. Also, we have a recent convert named Benny. Hes really great. He is 48 and doesnt have a wife but he is so converted to the gospel. He has been bringing his dad in lessons with us because he really wants him to listen. And this Sunday he brought his dad to church with him! His dad is actually really interested so we are excited to keep teaching him. Hes great. Overall it was a good week. Im glad you all had a good week too! Im excited for general conference. I wont get to see it until the 11 and 12 though. So it will be a week after you. But Im excited. Also, this week I heard a lot of people listening to Christmas music. I also saw a few Christmas trees. I thought of you mom. It was funny. I feel better this week. On Monday after I emailed my fever came back and my head, throat, and stomach still hurt. But it slowly went away. My fever was gone by Tuesday and my head stopped hurting by Wednesday so Im okay now. Also Im a little jealous that Curtis got to talk to his dad. But thats okay because I will get to see you on Christmas! I hope you all have a great week! I love you all!

Sister Remund