Sept. 24 - Awesome

Moms and Pops,

It's great to hear from you both this week. Glad to hear that things are cooling off over there, here in Santa Rosa it has been in the mid 60s to low 70s all week. It's glorious! Everyone you talk to here talks about how gorgeous the weather is. Some of the church members will say something along the lines of "the Celestial Kingdom will have the weather of Santa Rosa, CA!" It's funny stuff. I'm not complaining.... yet.

I miss Cocoa Beach. I'm jealous that you got to go out there! You both read 7 books combined?! That is ridiculous! You were both a bunch of beach bums! I have so many different books that I want to read when I get home... I have developed a thirst for knowledge on my mission. I'm almost done with Jesus the Christ! It's taken me around 8 weeks to read around 30 chapters! Woo!

Ben is going to Ft. Lauderdale, FL?!?! That's crazy!! There is no way that he is that old yet! I would have figured the he'd go to some school first, but hey, more power to him. I know he doesn't turn 19 until November, but I forget the specific day. That's incredible. Ft. Lauderdale is where my companion is from, weird. Speaking of missions, I am done in 4 months... that continually blows my mind! When a missionary is about to be done with their mission, we say that they are "dying." So, as I am on my "deathbed," I have had some weird dreams about going home. Oh, and other missionaries who know that you're going home are never slow to remind you... But, I had a dream just last night about going home, or in missionary lingo, "dying." My dream was that this time, when you go home, you actually die. It was 2 days before I left to come home, and I just had the anticipation of dying... It wasn't my favorite dream. I didn't end up dying though, all I remember is showing up at home and then it went from there to more weird stuff about black people and spicy chips... Believe me, this one was weird!

This coming weekend we are having another baptism! Nathan is going to be baptized. He is 58 years old, and he has some kind of auto-immune disease. He is very weak and ill. He grew up Jewish, and then started to read the Bible and the New Testament. Later in life, he began to study with Jehovah Witnesses, but he was never baptized because he was very adamant about not wanting to be affiliated with a specific religion. But now, as we are teaching him and as he has grown (he knows the scriptures very very well and is very spiritual) he said that he received confirmation that it is time for him to get baptized. He came to church yesterday for the 5th time in a row, and he loves it. He asked me if I would baptize him. It is such a great honor and privilege to not only participate in such a saving ordinance, but to be worthy to have and exercise the authority to do so. I am very grateful for that. Speaking of...CAN YOU PLEASE SEND ME MY PRIESTHOOD LINEAGE????

So, it has been a great week working with Nathan. He is such a great man, and he is so full of love! There isn't a mean bone in his body... I love that man! Tony is doing great as well, he continues to come to church and to participate. He will be a very strong member as he receives the priesthood and moves forward.

Also, this week we had a half mission conference and Elder Gavarret of the First Quorum of the Seventy came and visited out mission. As we were all going around to shake his hand, he gave us all hugs. So, now I have hugged my first General Authority! Whenever I see him , I will remember that awkward hug... :) It was a very inspirational conference, and we were fed soup for lunch. That was a change, but it was tasty!

It seems as if I'm writing you a book today, but I don't think you'll mind... It didn't sound like a very good weekend for football... It's weekends like that that make me grateful that I missed it! By the time I'm home, the season will be over, and next year will be a great one! I have also introduced the Edwards' family nacho recipe to a few missionaries; their lives have been changed forever.

I'm not sure if I thanked you, but thank you fro the package of shirts and especially the razor!! It is a great razor and it makes things SO much easier for me.

Oh, we also had our Primary Program as well this last week. It was hilarious! I love watching the Sunbeams go up, they're so funny. I can't wait to have some of my own children up there some day. We were combined with the Spanish Branch (the YW, YM, and Primary are combined with the Spanish Branch) for that sacrament meeting. The Spanish missionaries in the Branch were translating, similar to Belgium, but it was so hard to hear some of the children that they couldn't translate anything... Not only because they spoke so quite sometimes, but also because no one has any clue as to what they were saying in English! It was awesome...

I love you both very much. Thank you for your prayers and support that you continue to give me. Keep on keepin on! I hope Colin and Tanner fix things up, not only with each other, but with themselves. Tanner will learn what is good for him one of these days... It'll probably take him getting burned again, unfortunately.

Pray for the family that we found!!! Their last name is Swank! Did I tell you about them? If not, here is a quick overview. We found them, they all live in the same home, there are 3 LA's that all have a desire to come back to church (they have come the past 2 weeks) and then there are also 4 non-members in the home (all of them have been to church at least once in the last 2 weeks). Gold mine... This is what missionary work is all about! Also, it's what the Abrahamic Covenant is all about!!! "that all the families of the earth may be blessed..." - somewhere in Abraham.

Love,
Elder Edwards